Think Before You Act

Revival Fires Baptist College
Christian Ethics
Professor: Dr. Dennis Corle
Think Before You Act
I. Matthew 1:18-21, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick
example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people
from their sins.”
A. Joseph was a just man.
B. He could have made it an embarrassing situation.
II. Most unethical things that we do and say are because we act first and think afterwards.
A. We have an impulsive response to a certain situation.
B. If we would have thought it through we would have done differently.
C. You will always come to different conclusions when you think a thing through than
when you act on your initial response to how you feel about it.
III. God wants me to act on principle, not just react to circumstances.
A. The only way I can act on principle is if I think before I act.
B. I must think so that I can apply principles to this situation.
C. Everything else is an emotional response.
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D. When we act first then think later, our thoughts later are usually thoughts of remorse.
IV. Joseph was not that kind of a Christian.
A. His character is seen in this passage of scripture.
V. Many leave a church because of something that shouldn’t have happened.
A. They make that decision before they think.
B. People cause problems, and usually after they thought it out, if they had to do it over
again they would not have done that.
VI. They must think before they act.
VII. This text not only tells us about the virginity of Mary, but it tells us about the integrity of
Joseph.
A. It tells us about the justice of Joseph.
B. It tells us about how Joseph thought before he acted.
C. It tells about the fact that he thought things through and acted on principle instead of
reacting to circumstances.
VIII. Espousal was the legal binding of marriage.
A. They were legally married, but did not yet come together physically.
IX. Joseph perceived a definite problem.
A. They had not come together and she was with child.
B. The birth of Christ was unusual, it was supernatural.
C. Your first thought would not be, “I must be married to the virgin Mary.”
D. The first thing that Joseph thought was betrayal.
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E. He realized the situation.
F. He recognized there was a legitimate problem.
X. Things aren’t always what they look like.
A. Sometimes your perception is not clear.
B. Sometimes you don’t see things the way they really are.
C. Sometimes there are factors that aren’t very evident.
XI. The obvious was that she had been unfaithful to him.
A. Obvious that she had violated her vows, been with another man, and been immoral.
B. Fact was that that wasn’t true at all.
XII. It is ethical not to make everything public.
A. It is unethical to voice and publicize things that are not so.
B. I am not supposed to put legitimate problems public.
C. He planned to handle it privately.
XIII. Reasons why he did not want to make her a public example.
A. He was a just man.
1.Equal balance.
2.For me to execute justice means I treat people the way they ought to be
treated.
3.God is just.
a. He always treats people like they ought to be treated.
b. He never mistreats anybody.
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c. He never treats them differently than they ought to be treated.
4.Until the verdict is passed down, nothing should be public.
a. It is a sin for me to start deciding who is guilty and who is innocent.
b. It is unethical for me to make anything public that is not for certain.
5.It may be ethical even if something is for certain not to make it public.
a. It is certainly unethical, no matter what our opinions are, or how obvious
it seems, to make something public.
6.If Joseph had made it public, he would have been retaliating.
7.He was hoping there was some solution to the problem, an explanation.
a. You ought to want to give people the benefit of the doubt.
b. You ought to want them to be innocent.
8.Joseph had a right to put her away as a public example, but he forfeited his
rights to do right.
a. He had a legal right to put her away.
b. He had a legal right to make her a public spectacle.
c. Proverbs 17:9, “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he
that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”
i. This does not mean that I am to cover up for some criminal.
ii. Means that I don’t make public things that I am aware of.
iii. Even though they may need to be dealt with, they don’t have to
be publicized.
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d. Just because something seems obvious to you, doesn’t make it right.
e. In Joseph’s case, it seemed foolish not to accept the obvious.
i. There had never been a virgin birth.
ii. What were the odds that he would be married to the woman who
would bear the Christ-child?
f. He felt betrayed.
i. It wounded him.
g. David said, concerning the death of Saul and Jonathan, “Tell it not in
Gath.”
i. Some people destroy themselves in the ministry.
ii. We would be better off if we just didn’t tell everyone about it.
iii. Better off to be the subject for a sermon.
a) Tell people how to keep themselves from self-
destructing instead of naming the people who have.
iv. If the man is a snake in the grass and is not self-destructing, is
dangerous still moving around, he might need to be exposed by
name for the protection of the people.
v. We publicize too many things that aren’t good for:
a) The hearer
b) The person that it happened to.
c) Us to do it.
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vi. It is unethical.
vii. We know it happened, but we don’t have to propagate it to the
world.
B. He thought on some things.
1.The angel of God came to him while he was thinking, not while he was acting.
2.It takes no thought to believe the obvious.
3.It takes no self-restraint to say everything you believe to be so.
4.Joseph did not want to believe that Mary was guilty, so he tried to figure out
any way that she could be innocent.
5.He got instructions from God while he was thinking, not while he was acting.
6.Because he was ethical, he got the mind of God before he did any further
damage.
7.Often our reaction will do more damage.
8.We need to have principles that are checks and balances in our life.
a. When we face a certain situation, run it through the process before you
take any action.
b. You need to laboratory your mind with the Bible principle that you have
established and govern your life by those things so you come to a
determination of what you should or should not do.
c. Psalm 119:59, “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy
testimonies.”
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i. To think means to muse.
a) I think something through, to meditate.
b) To reason your way through something.
c) To consider the outcome before you take action.
ii. When I think about something, I am thinking about what did
happen, how should I respond, and if I respond this way, how is
it going to turn out?
9.What is it going to do to everybody else, not just me.
a. If you are going to be ethical, you’d better start thinking about others.
10. Luke 14:28-33, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not
down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest
haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that
behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not
able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth
not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet
him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other
is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of
peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple.”
a. Don’t take action too quickly.
b. Make sure that you think it through before you act.
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c. If you start and are not able to finish, it is going to be a reproach and a
waste.
XIV. When David dealt with Saul, he thought before he acted.
A. He didn’t act first then thought about it later.
XV. People who acted first then thought later.
A. Moses acted first then thought later when he smote the rock.
1.If he would have thought about it, he wouldn’t have done that.
2.He was a bad example to those people.
B. Peter acted first then thought about it later.
1.When he denied the Lord, he wasn’t thinking.
2.When he was embarrassed about it later, he had a bad impact on someone.
C. Nabal
1.Hadn’t been for his wife, they would have all been dead.
2.David had been using his men to protect Nabal’s flocks and herds with no
pay.
3.He didn’t think before he acted and he didn’t think after he acted.
4.He was totally unethical.
5.His wife carried cheese and other things.
6.David was stopped from his attempt because someone was thinking.
7.It is never ethical to have a smart aleck attitude toward people.
a. It is never ethical to be unkind to people who have been kind to you.
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b. It is never ethical to not help someone who has volunteered and helped
you to not help them with their basic needs.
XVI. People who think before they act are usually a little more kind.
XVII. God knows my thoughts.
A. If I spend some time thinking, God can change my thoughts before they become
actions.
B. Instead of waiting until they become actions and have to do reverse.
XVIII. Ethics are a result of someone thinking before they act.
XIX. Joseph loved God and was ethical because he was a thinking man.
A. He had good character because he was a thinking man.
XX. A person who thinks, thinks things through to their logical end.
A. They will run them through Bible principle.
B. If you are not using the Bible, you are thinking with nothing to examine the situation
with.
XXI. He got leadership from God while he was thinking.
A. If Joseph was unethical:
1.He would have missed the privilege of fulfilling the role of the earthly father
of the Lord Jesus.
2.He would have missed that sweet relationship he had with the Son of God.
3.He would have missed the wonderful marriage that he had with Mary.
4.He would have missed the will of God for his life.
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5.He would have brought reproach upon the name of the Lord Jesus.
a. The devil pursued Joseph and tried to get him to act without thinking.
b. Because Joseph was a man of character, he thought before he acted.
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Think Before You Act

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Revival Fires Baptist College

Professor: Dr. Dennis Corle