How a Hawk Behaves

Text: Eph. 4:25-5:2
Title: How a Hawk Behaves
8/9/09 Clarksville

Last week teachers, administrators and maintenance staffs all over Montgomery County were working hard all to prepare for the first day of school. They were setting up classrooms, decorating bulletin boards, unpacking new text books, holding student orientations, meeting parents, and somewhere in all the mix there were also writing lesson plans and attending mandatory meetings.

On Wednesday at the new Rossview Elementary School, one teacher’s meeting focused on the expectations they would be communicating about students’ behavior. Using the acronym REACH, they talked about Respect, Effort, Attitude, Cooperation, and Honesty. Each of these words are displayed in red letters on large yellow banners that line the hallway at the school’s main entrance. On Wednesday, teachers broke up into groups and came up with scenarios where students might need to be reminded how to behave. For example, Darrel (pic of sr. adult pastor J) was saying nasty things about Elissa (pic of worship pastor) that weren’t true. He called her bad names and started spreading a story about…
Little Dwayne (pic of associate pastor) is sharpening his pencil and he’s having a hard time. He sharpens it but it keeps ending up dull. He stays at it while the pencil is disappearing further into the sharpener with every turn. The frustration is mounting. Finally, when there is nothing left but a nub and an eraser, Dwayne yells out an expletive he heard his dad use when he got behind a bus taking him to school that morning, and throws his next-to-nothing pencil on the ground in a fit of anger.
The teacher is looking right at her when Rachelle (children’s pastor) peers at her neighbor’s test and steals an answer. The night before, instead of studying for her test, Rachelle watched Hannah Montana,. When test-time came, she wasn’t ready so she stole an answer from the smart, good looking, model student seated next to her who’s name was (you guessed it!) Steve. J

The goal of the Wed. faculty meeting was to help teachers motivate students to a specific way of behaving not by using threats, but by appealing to a sense of identity. So the teacher’s practiced putting their arm around a shoulder and saying things like, “Darrel, I heard you call Elissa a bad name which showed disrespect. That’s not how a Hawk behaves.” “Hawks don’t talk like that…” In other scenarios it would be, “Dwayne, Hawks don’t throw temper tantrums.” “Rachelle, Hawks don’t steal answers.” What they are trying to do is something bigger than behavior modification. They are trying to shape character, help form a way of life that is based on who a Hawk is supposed to be.

The whole idea of a code of conduct goes far beyond rules that keep a school from falling into complete chaos. Qualities like honesty, respect and having a good attitude apply to adults too. In the US Military there is an expectation of behavior for officers. In the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) there is a section called Article 133, titled: “Conduct Unbecoming and Officer and a Gentleman.”

“Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Explanation:
(1) Gentleman. As used in this article, “gentleman” includes both male and female commissioned officers, cadets, and midshipmen.
(2) Nature of offense. Conduct violative of this article is action or behavior in an official capacity which, in dishonoring or disgracing the person as an officer, seriously compromises the officer’s character as a gentleman, or action or behavior in an unofficial or private capacity which, in dishonoring or disgracing the officer personally, seriously compromises the person’s standing as an officer. There are certain moral attributes common to the ideal officer and the perfect gentleman, a lack of which is indicated by acts of dishonesty, unfair dealing, indecency, indecorum, lawlessness, injustice, or cruelty. Not everyone is or can be expected to meet unrealistically high moral standards, but there is a limit of tolerance based on customs of the service and military necessity below which the personal standards of an officer, cadet, or midshipman cannot fall without seriously compromising the person’s standing as an officer, cadet, or midshipman or the person’s character as a gentleman. This article prohibits conduct by a commissioned officer, cadet or midshipman which, taking all the circumstances into consideration, is thus compromising. This article includes acts made punishable by any other article, provided these acts amount to conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Thus, a commissioned officer who steals property violates both this article and Article 121. Whenever the offense charged is the same as a specific offense set forth in this Manual, the elements of proof are the same as those set forth in the paragraph which treats that specific offense, with the additional requirement that the act or omission constitutes conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.
(3) Examples of offenses. Instances of violation of this article include knowingly making a false official statement; dishonorable failure to pay a debt; cheating on an exam; opening and reading a letter of another without authority; using insulting or defamatory language to another officer in that officer’s presence or about that officer to other military persons; being drunk and disorderly in a public place; public association with known prostitutes; committing or attempting to commit a crime involving moral turpitude; and failing without good cause to support the officer’s family.

I’m sure he wasn’t a hot as one of the 3rd grade teachers at RES (Michelle), and he wasn’t wearing a uniform while teaching commissioned officers a code of conduct, but in Ephesians 4, Paul is addressing some expectations for behavior for those who have put on the name “Christian.” He’s addressing specific behaviors, but he’s after something more, something bigger than just “these are the rules.”

The church hasn’t always done such a great job of making Christianity about something bigger than following the rules. In our lesser moments, we (Christians) have turned the Christ-following life into a list of do’s and don’ts. There are people all over who have misconceptions about the Christian life because they were brow-beaten, pistol whipped, and disciplined by folks who turned life with Jesus into rules without a relationship.

Now, before we get too far down that road, I need to say that there are certain behaviors that are and are not acceptable for followers of Jesus. In Ephesians 4 Paul names some of them. I can almost hear him correcting them, even as he appeals to their identity as a motive for their behavior.
To believers who have practiced deception, and stretched the truth to make themselves look a little better, who had a practice of telling lies for so long that they’re having a hard time putting it behind them, Paul says “that’s not OK. It may be how you used to live before you got connected with Jesus but that’s not OK anymore. That’s not how a Christ-follower behaves.”

Paul said the same thing about throwing pencils, trash talk, and fights on the playground too. Not only is it “Not how Hawks behave” or “conduct unbecoming an officer,” it’s conduct unbecoming a Christian. In your anger do not sin. That doesn’t mean we’re not supposed to feel the emotion of anger, but it does mean when something gets us fired up we’re not destined to fly off the handle or jump all over someone because of it.
Don’t let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up. Unwholesome talk isn’t just using profanity. It’s speech that degrades, defames, or otherwise brings people down instead of building them up. Paul says to the Ephesians that this may have been the way they acted before they got right with God, but it’s not how a Christ-follower behaves. He also hits the whole laziness thing. He says if you’re not working because they’re unwilling, it’s time to get a job, not just so they can provide for their own family (also an expectation for officers) but so they can be involved helping other people.

What prevents us from sliding down the slope of self-righteousness that turns Christianity into a list of do’s and don’ts, or a religious attempt at behavior modification is the whole concept of grace which Paul talks about in Eph. 2. We aren’t Christians because we don’t do this list of things and do this list. We aren’t Christian because we are truthful, don’t sin in our anger, because we have wholesome speech, or because we have put away things like holding grudges and refusing to forgive. We are truthful, don’t sin in our anger, have wholesome speech, and intentionally put away things like holding grudges and refusing to forgive not in order to become Christian, but because we ARE Christian. We live this way because this is the identity we have been given in Christ. Grace says that God loved and accepted us even before we knew how to behave. Grace says that a God-changed heart results in a desire to live a God-led life of holiness, and in part, this (Eph. 4:25-5:2) is what it looks like. Grace says that we don’t live like this so that we can somehow gain God’s favor -we live like this because we already have God’s favor. When we forget that, our life with God can be perverted into a list of rules instead of a loving relationship. And when we forget that following Jesus comes with a code of conduct called Christ-like living, well, that’s when we need the Spirit of God to put His arm around our shoulder and give us a reminder: “Hey, that’s not how Christians behave.” And that reminder - that’s a gift of God’s grace too. So as we start a new school year, start a new work week, start a new day - remember who you are. By the Grace of God you are sons and daughters of God who are called to be righteous and holy (vs. 24), called to live and look like Jesus. That, my brothers and sisters, is, by the grace of God, how Christians behave.

Communion
Benediction: Eph. 4:25-5:2