Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Motivational and functional virtue. Pastor Joe Sugrue.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Without a clear understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, you will never understand the heart of God the Father.
The more doctrine you learn, the more you know about the Cross, the more simple things get.
Every member of the human race must come to the knowledge that he is a sinner and is in need of a Savior.
The change exacted to the believer at the moment of salvation is reconciliation.
The barrier between God and man has been removed and anyone who believes in Christ as their Savior has been drastically changed into a new creature through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Once Christ is real to you as the God-Man who died a spiritual death for you your perspective on this universe around you changes drastically.
1 Jo 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love
1 Jo 4:16 And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love , and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Personal love for a member of the human race can be wonderful and rewarding, but it is not a virtue.
Motivational virtues: directed toward God.
Functional virtue: directed toward mankind.
1. God loves you because He has integrity and with Christian integrity you can love Him in return.
You acquire virtue, honor, and integrity not to impress God but to gain capacity to appreciate Him and enjoy His blessings. The Mind of Christ, Bible doctrine, in your soul forms the character of Christ in your life.
2. Christian integrity and virtue is first directed toward God and then toward man. God emphasis must precede people emphasis.
Humility stands alone as the foundation of all the other virtues and it is directed toward legitimate authority, both God and human.
The functional virtues toward mankind always depend on the motivational virtues directed toward God.
3. The motivational virtues are worship, confidence, and personal love and they are all directed towards God.
4. The functional virtues are morality, courage, and impersonal love and they are all directed towards man and circumstances.
5. The motivational virtues are all a function of your priesthood while the functional virtues are all a function of your ambassadorship.
6. If these virtues are mixed up then your priesthood and ambassadorship will be mixed up and then you’ll be mixed up.
a. To worship man and to have confidence in man is absurd.
To be moral towards God, have courage towards God, or to impersonally love God is absurd.
I. Worship and Morality.
Worship is directed toward God, which motivates morality as a virtue directed toward man.
True worship of God is a function of your priesthood. Assembling in the local church (HEB 10:25), singing hymns (EPH 5:19, COL 3:16), offering prayer (EPH 6:18; 1 Thess 5:17), giving money (2 Co 9:7).
The greatest form of worship, which makes all other forms of worship possible, is the perception of Bible doctrine.
II. Confidence and Courage.
Confidence in God is the invisible courage that lies behind every circumstance that requires courage toward man.
III. Personal Love and Impersonal Love.
The pinnacle of motivational and functional virtue is virtue-love: personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind.