Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 21, 1996
Titus 2:7-8
ARE YOU THE REAL McCOY?
I. We yearn for integrity and things that are authentic.
A. We rebel at what is fake.
1) U.S. Treasury and new $100 bills. [Hold one up]
Lots of details to slip up counterfeiters.
An answer to the "Superbill" Mideast terrorists are
producing.
Billions have already been shipped to Russia.
But old bills will always be good.
2) Jesus also rejected fakes.
a) He calls hypocrites "whitewashed tombs" - clean on
outside, filled with bones on inside. Matt 23:27
b) Could he be describing us?
B. Jesus was always searching for genuine faith. Matt 8:5-12
1) A Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant.
Jesus didn't have to come, just say the word.
Jesus was astounded at his faith and said he was a stronger
believer than anyone he had met in Israel.
The centurion had an authentic faith and would have a seat
in God's Kingdom.
On the other hand, people who thought they had a birthright
to the kingdom would be shut out.
Only "Real McCoys" are allowed in.
2) If this is what stirs Jesus's heart, I want to be someone
who has the same level of spiritual integrity.
II. Not everyone is what they seem.
A. Playing a role, badly.
Some years ago Hollywood made a folk hero of a man dubbed
"The Great Impostor."
In the real life that inspired the film, the impostor, though
unqualified, assumed the roles of physician, college professor,
priest, military officer, and diplomat.
Eventually he even posed as a Baptist preacher and pastored in
the Pacific Northwest.
But his undoing was his inability to give evidence of authentic
spiritual life.
He found it harder to be an impostor in faith than in medicine
or a university.
Only true faith can stand such tests.
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B. Superficial versus genuine.
A Peanuts comic strip is set in a classroom.
It's the first day of the new school year, and the students
are told to write an essay about returning to class.
In her essay Lucy wrote, "Vacations are nice, but it's good
to get back to school.
"There is nothing more satisfying or challenging than
education, and I look forward to a year of expanding
knowledge."
Needless to say, the teacher was pleased with Lucy and
complimented her fine essay.
In the final frame, Lucy leans over and whispers to Charlie
Brown, "After a while, you learn what sells."
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1) Are you a real Christian, or playing up to what others want?
2) Others can be fooled - but not God.
3) He will unmask us sooner or later.
C. Even sincere people are not perfect.
A young man filled out an application for admission to a
university.
In response to a request to "List your Personal Strengths," he
wrote,
"Sometimes I am trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous,
kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent."
Where the form said, "List Your Weaknesses," he wrote:
"Sometimes I am not trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean
and reverent."
None of us is perfect.
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1) Integrity means we try to be more consistently good.
2) Virtue and character are important to us.
3) Honesty about our flaws is one of the greatest signs of
integrity.
III. Be genuine Christians.
A. Note key themes in Titus: Titus 2:6-8
1) Self-control. (inner consistency)
2) Setting an example. (outward consistency)
a) Do what is good. (not just good intentions, but actions)
3) Character that can't be condemned. (consistent consistency)
a) Integrity and sound speech.
B. What integrity means.
1) The word "integrity" is curious.
You will hear dozens of different applications of the word,
but they all boil down to one succinct thought:
A person of integrity is one who has established a system of
values against which all of life is judged.
2) For the Christian, this system of values is determined by a
careful study of God's Holy Word.
New insights may modify our system from time to time, but
the entire system remains unchallenged and unyielding.
3) Integrity is not what we do as much as what we are.
And what we are, in turn, determines what we do.
Our system of values is so much a part of us that we cannot
separate it from who we are.
Integrity becomes the navigating system that guides us.
It establishes priorities in our lives, and it judges what
we will accept and reject.
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IV. We also need genuineness in churches.
A. Lack of genuineness discredits us. [added during sermon]
(story of SBC leader with AIDS in family. Christians are
good to him, churches are not...]
B. Genuine Christians sharpen us.
I am grateful to be in the midst of genuine people of God
almost daily.
When we encounter a woman or a man with spiritual integrity
we are enriched, expanded, nurtured, and admonished,
all at the same time.
Such people of faith fortify us against the many counterfeit
expressions of piety we may be tempted to embrace.
C. Genuine worship and fellowship.
1) We need activities that encourage honest spirituality.
a) Small Bible studies.
b) Even Sunday School can help us dig deeper.
c) Retreats and rallies.
2) Spiritual partners.
a) (several are springing up in the church)
3) Service opportunities.
D. Genuineness enhances evangelism.
In 1979, Lee Strobel's wife became a Christian and she invited
her husband to church with her.
Lee is a journalist with legal training.
He claimed to be an atheist.
He observed great positive changes in his wife once she gave her
life to Christ.
Once shy, her faith had brought her out of her shell.
So Lee agreed to attend a service with his wife.
He was astonished by the way the service "seemed to hit me where
I was at."
That morning the sermon spoke to him.
The pastor even used illustrations about motorcycling which Lee
liked and could identify with.
Lee made an important discovery, "The church could be relevant,
that it could have implications for my life today."
The people in the church were wonderful to him.
They took his questions seriously, they responded non-defensively
and more importantly non-judgmentally.
They didn't pressure him.
They gave him time to reflect at his own pace.
He discovered the genuine faith of the people in that church.
"They believe this stuff!" he later wrote.
Lee's wife helped him come to a faith that he could claim as
his own.
"That's when I committed my life to Christ," Lee said.
At that point I had to be taken by the hand with someone saying,
`This is your next step.'"
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V. Take a Spiritual Integrity Test.
Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) was a bishop in the Church of England,
theologian and devotional writer.
He gives these 7 points on how to know if your faith is pure.
A. Your soul's health is more a concern to you than your physical
health.
B. You are not concerned about the effect of actions, but leave
them to God.
C. You are not concerned about the opinions of people, but only
of God's.
D. You are not anxious concerning money or the lack thereof,
but use those means God has made available to you.
E. You despise the world and all its vanities.
F. You are in private what you are in public.
G. You love and honor virtue wherever it is found.
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