Your Reputation Is Priceless
4/1/07
(The following was used with
a PowerPoint presentation, the asterisks indicate slide changes.)
Angry driver
A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a
busy boulevard.
Suddenly, the light
turned yellow, just in front of him. He did-the right thing, stopping at the
crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the
intersection. The tailgating woman
was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her
chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in
mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very
serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands
up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed,
photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a
policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the
booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal
effects. He said, "I'm very sorry
for this mistake.
You see, I pulled up
behind your
car while you were blowing your horn, and using hand jesters to the guy in
front of you,
and cussing a blue streak at him. I
noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life
License plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, And the chrome-plated
Christian fish emblem on the trunk….Naturally I assumed you had stolen the
car."
*Your Reputation Is Priceless
*Pr. 22:1 A
good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
*Ec. 7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume…
Here are some very notable
quotes….
*A
good name, is got by many actions and lost by one.
*Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked and
never well mended.
Benjamin Franklin
*What people say behind your back is your standing in
the community.
Ed Howe
*What other people think of me is becoming less and
less important; what they think of Jesus because of me is critical.
Cliff Richards
*(Blank) Would you be willing to put your
reputation at risk in order to achieve your personal goals?
People do it all the
time. For example….
Since 1797 the House of
Representatives has impeached sixteen federal officials.
These include a cabinet member, a senator, a justice of the Supreme Court, and
eleven federal judges and two presidents (Andrew
Johnson, the seventeenth chief executive, and William J. Clinton, the forty-second which
after a Senate trial in Jan.–Feb. 1999, Clinton was acquitted on both counts.)
Of those, the Senate has convicted and removed seven, all of them judges. Not
included in this list are the office holders who have resigned rather than face
impeachment….
*most notably, President Richard M. Nixon.
“Watergate” is a general term
used to describe a complex web of political scandals between 1972 and 1974. The
word specifically refers to the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.
Richard Nixon is one of the
most fascinating political figures of the 20th Century. His long political
career began in 1947 when he was elected to the House of Representatives. By
1952, Nixon had been chosen as Dwight Eisenhower's vice-presidential running
mate.
Nixon served as
Vice-President for eight years, then lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy.
He recovered from political defeat to be chosen again as the Republican Party's
candidate at the 1968 election. Nixon
became the nation's 37th President on January 20, 1969. He won a landslide re-election. He was sworn
in for a second term in January 1973.
Nixon's last days in office
came in late July and early August, 1974. The House Judiciary Committee voted
to accept three of four proposed Articles of Impeachment, with some Republicans
voting with Democrats to recommend impeachment of the President.
The final blow came with the
decision by the Supreme Court to order Nixon to release more White House tapes.
One of these became known as the 'smoking gun' tape when it revealed that Nixon
had participated in the Watergate cover-up as far back as June 23, 1972. Around
the country, there were calls for Nixon to resign.
At 9pm on the evening of
August 8, 1974, Nixon delivered a nationally televised resignation speech. The
next morning, he made his final remarks to the White House staff before sending
his resignation letter to the Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger.
*Cable Car Crash - February 3, 1998
Marine pilot Capt. Richard
Ashby, flight navigator Marine
Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, and two others who were manning the rear--Capt.
William Raney II, and Capt. Chandler Seagraves. Interestingly, this
crew had maintained an excellent flight record, with no accidents since their
first flight in 1984--together, they had flown over 60,000 flights.
Summary: A U.S. Marines plane on a low-level flying mission in
northern Italy cut the wire supporting a cable car on its way down from a ski
resort on Cermis Mountain. All twenty passengers, including the cable car
operator, perished when the gondola plunged 260 feet to the mountain below,
where it was smashed flat. Each of the four men manning the plane was initially
charged with negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter, but only the two
men actually flying the plane were court-martialed. Over the course of the
trial, it was found that the plane was flying at speeds in excess of 500 miles
per hour--faster than military regulations allow--when it hit the cable car
wire. The cable car wire hung at 260 feet, over 700 feet below the
military-approved altitude of 1,000 feet. Additionally, it came out in the
trial that the military-issued map that the pilots were using did not show the
cable car. With a decision that enraged the Italian government, both men were
acquitted--only to be court-martialed a second time when it was discovered that
they destroyed a videotape that had been recording from the plane on the day
that the cable car wire was clipped. Both men were found guilty of obstruction
of justice and dismissed from the marines; the pilot served six months in
prison.
*(Blank)
Would you be willing to
compromise your commitment to Jesus Christ in order to have a good name among
men?
*Jo.
12:42 Yet at the same time many even among the
leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess
their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
You don’t get a good name by
trying to please people.
*Gal. 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or
am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be
a servant of Christ.
We need to do everything we
can to have a good reputation before man, but never at the cost of compromising
our obedience to Jesus Christ!
Here’s a man who had an
impeccable reputation before God!
*Dan. 9:23 As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I
have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed….
*Dan. 10:11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider
carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now
been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
*Dan. 10:19 “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace!
Be strong now; be strong.”
Let’s go back to our
reputation among other people.
*1 Tim. 3:1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on
being an overseer, he desires a noble task. ……7 He
must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into
disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
*(Blank)
If you have to sell your own
name, you have to question it’s worth.
I’m not talking about putting
out a résumé or performance record that is job related.
If you boast in your own
accomplishments, that does nothing for establishing a good name.
*Ps. 75:6,7 (Living Bible)
For promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only from God. He
promotes one and deposes another.
*Pr. 27:2 Let another praise
you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
*(Blank)
Hezekiah fell to one of the
greatest traps set before man.
Hezekiah was miraculously
healed and God gave him an incredible sign to show that He would in fact heal
him.
*2 Chr. 32:31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to
ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God
left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
*Is.
39:2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed
them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine
oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was
nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3Then Isaiah the prophet went to King
Hezekiah and asked,
*“What did those men say, and where did they come from?”
“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from
Babylon.”
4The prophet asked, “What did they see in
your palace?”
“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is
nothing among my treasures that I did not show
*them.”
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the
word of the LORD Almighty: 6The time will surely come when everything
in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will
be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 7And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be
born to you,
*will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of
the king of Babylon.”
8“The word of the LORD you have spoken is
good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in
my lifetime.”
*(Blank) Hezekiah showed
these men all that he had as if his worth, his success was measured by what he
had attained.
The Queen of Sheba journeyed
to meet Solomon. Not because of what he
owned, but because of his fame of who he was.
*1 Ki. 10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and
his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard
questions….she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on
her mind. 3Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard
for the king to explain to her.
Those who measure your value
by your wealth are those who do not understand the meaning of success!
These are some of the virtues
that build a good reputation and a good name….
Truthfulness
*Our
world is so exceedingly rich in delusions that a truth is priceless.
It’s impossible to have a
good reputation if you can’t tell the truth.
Reliable
*Pr. 25:13 (The Message
Bible) Reliable friends who do what they say
are like cool drinks in
sweltering heat—refreshing!
Consistent
*Consistency:
“It’s
the jewel worth wearing;
It’s
the anchor worth weighing;
It’s
the thread worth weaving;
It’s
the battle worth winning.”
Charles R. Swindoll
Respectful
*1 Pet. 3:15 (Living Bible)
Quietly trust yourself to Christ your Lord, and if anybody asks why you believe
as you do, be ready to tell him, and do it in a gentle and respectful way.
How many people can you think
of who have a good reputation and are disrespectful at the same time?
Humility
*Pr. 15:33 The fear of the
LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
If you can’t admit your
mistakes, if you can’t admit when you are wrong, if you can’t say you are
sorry--how can you have a good name?
*(Blank)
King David just about ruined
his reputation. He paid a high price
for his sin with Bathsheba. But his
genuine repentance, humility and brokenness maintained his integrity.