Conscience, Courage, Honesty

CONSCIENCE:

• "A clear conscience is the greatest armor." Chinese proverb.
• "There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience." French proverb.
• "You ask me what forces me to speak? a strange thing; my conscience." Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
• "A clear conscience laughs at false accusations." Author Unknown.
• "I believe that we cannot live better than in seeking to become better, nor more agreeably than having a clear conscience." Socrates.
• "Happiness consists of three things; Someone to love, work to do, and a clear conscience. " Anonymous.
• "I want to make this perfectly clear: you can be sure that I will never be a yes-man except to my own conscience." Charles Edison
• "A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory."

Only 1 in 5 Christians Read the Bible Daily

How often do Christians read the Bible?

A 2013 ABS (American Bible Society) poll says Americans love the Bible but don't read it much:

• 88% of respondents said they own a Bible, 
• 80% think the Bible is sacred, 
• 61% wish they read the Bible more, and 
• the average household has 4.4 Bibles.

Doug Birdsall, president of American Bible Society, said he sees a reason for why the Bible isn't connecting with people: "I see the problem as analogous to obesity in America. We have an awful lot of people who realize they're overweight, but they don't follow a diet. People realize the Bible has values that would help us in our spiritual health, but they just don't read it." If they do read it:

• the majority (57%) only read their Bibles 4x/year or less.
• only 26% of Americans said they read their Bible on a regular basis (4 or more times/week).
• Younger people also seem to be moving away from the Bible. A majority (57%) of those ages 18-28 read their Bibles < 3x/, if at all.

A Celebration of God's Word (Psalm 119)

Psalm 119 is a celebration of God's gift of the Scriptures and uses ten synonyms for God's word:

1. law (25 times).
2. testimonies (22).
3. ways (5).
4. precepts (21).
5. statutes (21).
6. commandments (21).
7. judgment(s) (19).
8. word(s) (25).
9. sayings (19).
10. path (5).

ABCs of Practical Christian Living: Review and Overview

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you..." (Phil 2:12-13).

1. Accountability: Who are you accountable for (Gal 6:1)? To (Heb 3:13)?
   
2. Beauty: Are you enraptured by the beauty of Christ (Ps 27:4)? Or by a sense of duty?
3. Community: Do you sense the unity of Christian community (Ps 133:1)? Or the pressure of a wish dream?
   
4. Delight: Are you happy? How do you find delight (Ps 37:4)?
5. Experience: Do you taste the goodness of God (Ps 34:8; 1 Pet 2:3)? Or is it just head knowledge?

What the Bible says about Gentleness

"Let your gentleness be evident to all" (Phil 4:5, NIV). "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone" (Phil 4:5, ESV). "Let your gentle spirit be known to all men" (Phil 4:5, NASB). "Let your graciousness be known to everyone" (Phil 4:5, HCSB). "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do" (Phil 4:5, NLT).

Theme: Gentle does not mean weak. It takes real inner strength for one to be gentle toward others. A weak person will not have the inner strength to be gentle, for true gentleness requires power and strength that is under control.

(This is the tentative theme and outline for my sermon on 7/20/2014: G is for Gentleness.)

I. What the Bible says about Gentleness

• Church leaders should be gentle: "...not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome…" (1 Tim 3:3, HCSB).
• Christians should be gentle: "They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone" (Tit 3:2, NLT). "Always be humble and gentle. …making allowance for each other's faults (Eph 4:2). "…you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Col 3:12).

Gentleness

Philippians 4:5: "Let your gentleness be evident to all" (Phil 4:5, NIV). "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone" (Phil 4:5, ESV). "Let your gentle spirit be known to all men" (Phil 4:5, NASB). "Let your graciousness be known to everyone" (Phil 4:5, HCSB). "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do" (Phil 4:5, NLT).

Are Christians gentle? Gentleness, humility, meekness, mildness, kindness, consideration are attributes of Christ and the attributes that are attractive to all people. Yet when we think of Christians these attributes may not stand out prominently as being descriptive of some of us. Might we not sometimes think of Christians as being rude, judgmental, critical, sanctimonious, condescending, arrogant, ungracious, etc.? It is evident that gentleness is not common in the world, and sometimes does not even seem common in the church either.

Random Verses about Kingdom and Church

Ekklēsia (115 times in 12 verses): An assembly (of Israelites, of Christians); a congregation; a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place. Mt 16:18; 18:17; Ac 20:28; 1 Cor 3:6; 12:28; Eph 1:22; 3:10; 5:23-24; Col 1:18, 24; 1 Tim 3:15

Basileia (160 times translated into different words): a kingdom, the territory subject to the rule of a king. Mk 1:15; Mt 6:10, 33; Lk 9:2; 17:21.

ἐκκλησία βασιλεία