Intergrity

Good afternoon, everyone! Good to see everyone. I tried to talk to Rhonda and convince her that I was senior enough to have the banquet and she said no. So clearly you need to work with that lady. Her eyes aren't helping her. It worked! As you all know, we are in the middle of yet another presidential race in this country. Now, it's very scientific. I want you to know the way I determine it's the middle is because it seems like we've been hearing from these people forever and yet it's an eternity until November. So therefore, we're in the middle. But around this time of the year, you tend to get the same thing that happens. You would have politicians that start pointing out and making accusations about other people. And they point out all the things that you shouldn't like about that person. I guess the reason they do it is because that helps them build themselves up, make them look like better people. Of course, what happens in response? The other people go and start saying, oh, but you don't know about this first person. And it goes back and forth and we have the joy of experiencing this for a very long period of time. What are the things that they normally point out during this time? Usually when they're picking at somebody, they're pointing out either their character, their morality, their integrity, or their ethics. Isn't it? Something within that area starts to be where the fingers start pointing. So which of the accusations are true? We don't know. And that's what always makes it so crazy this time of year. But you know that the given part is that any time a person decides they want to run for leadership, their integrity is going to be brought into question. And that's the topic that I'm going to be talking about today. The topic of integrity. Because integrity is vital. If you think about it, it's what we expect, not only of our leaders, what we expect of our teachers, our salesman, pastors, everyone. It kind of is what is an undercurrent of what we expect that all of life has. So for example, you wouldn't expect your child to go to school and be deceived by their teachers. You don't go to work with the expectation that your employer is going to take advantage of you. You expect them to treat you fairly. It's almost this foundational point that you think, well, this has to be what it's going to be. I don't expect to go to a store and have a salesman lie to me. But for all of those situations, you all probably have at least one example of when the opposite has happened in your life, right?

If you look at something, if you see an advertisement on the TV or an advertisement on the internet, do you believe every advertisement you hear? No! But what parts of it are wrong? This is the rub. We don't know. So it's an interesting thing. There are a lot of factors that have made our country great.

Some of them are natural. You look around and it almost seems like we have unlimited natural resources. We are very blessed to have favorable climates, to have a free enterprise system, to have a favorable form of government. However, nothing has been more responsible for the success of this country than the blessings that God extended. And that goes all the way back to the blessings that went to Abraham and to his descendants because of their obedience. Right? Well, that is absolutely true. And that is the most foundational area for why we are blessed. But I would argue that also, our country has been blessed over the years because our forefathers trusted in godly principles.

It's part of the tenets that you see the writings of this country that everything was founded upon. And in times past, the greatness of America was reflected in the integrity of her people. And not so much anymore. It's on a downward slope. And so there's this gap that's forming in the integrity of Americans. And you say, well, how do you know that, Dan? Well, you can look at countless number of surveys because they ask the same questions over time. And you start seeing the effects. There is a book. Well, let me first toss the question out to you. What are you willing to do for $10 million? What are you willing to do for $10 million? There's a book that's called The Day America Told the Truth. And it's stated that two-thirds of the Americans polled agreed to at least one, some of them a vast number, of highly low character actions. So I'll just show you a couple of them. These are individuals. The two-thirds is the collective. 25% said they would abandon their entire family. You give me $10 million, I'll ignore that I even have a family, a wife, a kid, parents. Ignore them. I'll live on my island. 25% said they would abandon their church. How important is God to you? Not worth $10 million. It's a one out of four. 23% said they would become prostitutes for at least a week. Maybe longer. 16% said they would give up their American citizenship. So you keep going. I'll only show you two different sources. We have psychology today that had a survey. And so some of the things they found is more than half of the people surveyed said if their tax returns were audited, they would probably owe the government money. Admit it. Then you have about one out of three people admitted to having deceived a best friend within the last year, though 96% of them felt bad. And you have nearly half predicted that if they pulled out of a parking lot and scratched the car, they would drive off and not leave a note. But interestingly, 89% agreed that that would be immoral. So you start seeing what's going on with the integrity of people. Why did we do that? What has happened to the passion for truth and honesty that we once had? Well, George Gallup came up with one reason in his investigations. And one of them is he said that Americans have incongruent values or lifestyles. What in the world does that mean? Incongruent values or lifestyles. What that means is what we say as Americans and what we seek or want to do are two totally different things. And I can give you examples. If you pull the average American, they would say the materialism isn't important to them. But they want a lot of things. Just watch the commercials, right? If you talk to a father, he would say something like, I want to spend a lot of time with my child. But he doesn't. You talk to a couple and they say, I want to have intimate conversations with my spouse. But they don't. And it goes on and on.

So one of the problems in our country is that what we say and what we do aren't consistent in our lives. And there's another phrase that when I was starting to look into this topic, I thought, well, I haven't seen that one in a long time. How many of you remember the phrase, his word is as good as his bond? That used to be a very common phrase, but you really don't hear that anymore. And the reason is because few people, after making a statement with their mouth, back it up with their actions. So today I'm going to cover the topic of integrity. And I found so many wonderful stories and phrases that I thought it would be best to absorb by using a PowerPoint. As with any PowerPoint I use, just give me your email if you want it and I'll send you a copy of it. That's fine. But hopefully it helps. If you'll turn next to Proverbs 11 and verse 3.

The life we live today is a training ground, right? We're going through this journey to become future rulers in God's kingdom. And so as a result, it's important that we live a life of integrity. And this next verse shows us how important integrity is to God. Proverbs 11 and verse 3. It says, the integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. So that's like a math formula. Ultimately, not living with integrity is going to come back and it's going to bite you. So God requires us to have integrity. And one side of a person will say, well, why does God require that? But I think probably the better phrase to ask is, why do we tolerate such dishonesty? I read an interesting story about Teddy Roosevelt. And Teddy Roosevelt was out with one of his cow punchers. And they were last knowing a maverick steer because he owned a lot of property. And so they grabbed it and they lit a fire. They pulled out the iron brand and they were about to brand the steer. Well, the land they were on was claimed by Gregory Lang. In these wide open expanses, the cattleman's rule is that wherever the steer is found, that's who it belongs to and you brand it accordingly. So as a cowboy was about to buy the brand, Roosevelt said, wait, that should be Lang's brand. That's all right, boss, said the cowboy. But you're putting on my brand, said Roosevelt. That's right, said the man. And Roosevelt got extremely angry and he said, drop that iron, get back to the ranch and get out. I don't need you anymore. A man who will steal for me will steal from me. Interesting example of characters. How do we slip that far? How do we explain all the dishonesty that's around us? Why are we this way? I don't think we need a Gallup survey for that one. If you will turn to Jeremiah 17 verse 9. Very well known verse, a memory scripture, Jeremiah 17 verse 9. We all have our reasons, we all have our justifications along the way, but at the end of the day, humans accept and rationalize dishonesty. And Jeremiah was dead on when he said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. So our hearts and our minds are easily influenced by Satan. That's what we struggle with every day. And he's always trying to manipulate us so we will please ourselves, make decisions that aren't ethical. And that is why I would wager that most people don't even like the truth if it reveals what we don't want to hear.

Isn't that interesting? But that's true. Most people, they're okay with the truth as long as what they want to hear. If they're hard words, it's like, oh, I don't like that. That's painful. So most of us can sympathize with the man who got a phone call from his wife who was coming home from Europe. And she said, how's my cat? And he said, dead. Oh, honey, she said, don't be so honest. Why don't you break the news to me slowly? You've ruined my trip. So he said, what do you mean? And she said, well, you could have told me he was on the roof. And then when I called you from Paris, you could have told me that he was acting sluggish. Then when I called from London, you could have said that he was sick. And when I called from New York, you could have said he was at the vet. And then when I arrived home, then you could have said he was dead. Husband had never been exposed to that kind of a protocol. But he thought he'd give it a shot. I'll do better next time, he said. By the way, she said, how's mom? He was real quiet. Then he said, she's on the roof. All right. So what exactly is integrity? The best combination of definitions I was able to find is that integrity is a possession and steadfast adherence to high moral principles or professional standards. It's also described as being completely honest and upright with no masking of intents. What you see is what you get. There's a gentleman who wrote a book, and I'll quote him another time later, but his name is Stephen Carter, and he wrote a book called Integrity. And he made the observations that the word integrity comes from the same Latin root word as integer. And so what he said is, historically, it has been understood to carry much the same meaning, the sense of wholeness. A person of integrity, like a whole number, is a whole person, a person somehow undivided.

I think that's a good way of capturing it. But at the end of the day, integrity is one of those things that you can throw a bunch of words at. But we know it when we see it, right? It's probably easier to recognize than to define. We usually say that a person has integrity to the extent that they act according to the values, the beliefs, and the principles they claim to hold.

And I found so many different quotes, but I grabbed three just because I thought they were really fun. So here's three quotes along the lines of integrity that I'll start you all with. First one is, integrity means that you have more in the warehouse than in the showroom. I like it. It's not about a show because at the end of the day, what's inside is going to come out. Another one says, wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. Right is right even if no one is doing it. And the third one, you know, those could be on a bumper sticker. This was actually on a bumper sticker. And it said, actions speak louder than bumper stickers. So there you go. But when a person is said to have integrity, what we think is that that's the person who seeks the right thing to do first. Right? And that's something that all of us are to do because that's acting godly. Integrity is a team who decides not to take on and compromise their sexual purity even though it's going to mean that they're being in the out group. Integrity means a person in business who doesn't take attempting offer to make a whole lot of money by breaking one of God's commandments. Integrity would be a student who is willing to fail a test rather than compromise and cheat. Integrity would be a church member volunteering to serve when it would be easier for them to be somewhere else. When they'd be doing a task that needs to be done, but you know there's nobody supervising and nobody would notice, but they do the right thing. Those are all common examples of integrity. It means putting on no false fronts. Actually, the opposite of integrity is hypocrisy, which if you know comes from the root word of acting. So I found a number of online religious sources that refer to the fact that today's society is plagued with what they call integrity deficit disorder. I love the phrase. I'd love to give somebody credit, but frankly I saw it in so many places I don't know who came up with it, but it's a good phrase. The concept here is best seen with a contrast. Integrity comes from the inside out. So sure, there's still pressures and temptations from bargaining, but integrity has this protection around it because it's coming from the inside out.

Integrity deficit disorder comes from the outside in. From outside in thinking. It doesn't have those ethics and morals and values that somebody holds themselves accountable to, so it's constantly being targeted from all the influences around it. And it's easy to see how that happens in our world around us, especially as entertainment centered as our society is. Because you have whole TV channels that are devoted to nothing other than an outside in approach to life, right? And I'm just picking on a couple, but you have the e-channel and you have style, which you're just talking about how to be the most in whatever part of life you wish.

Then you go to the magazine racks and you have journals devoted to glamour, to image, to being popular. Let's talk about who has what, who is the it person, who is the one that really can, you know, what four steps to make you a superstar or whatever.

There's a couple steps in those books that will solve world pieces. Only you'd apply it just right. And it goes on, because then you have our children with a steady diet on TV of things like The Bachelorette or The Bachelor and the Wonders of Liposuction and Temptation Island and The Homes of the Rich and Famous.

And not all these things are wrong. I actually get a kick out of watching The Homes of the Rich and Famous. It's fun to see what people do to their homes. But think about the influences that are hitting us constantly. And that impacts us. It's no wonder that a lot of the young people will be more focused on the perks and the entitlements of the job versus the fit or the mission of the job. Because at the end of the day, we have to have all the it's in the world that are out there that will make us feel satisfied, right?

That's what's bombarding us. And over time, people develop a very small internal motivation, a very small internal moral compass. And the focus becomes on the ends, right? And if you're focused on the ends, then the means really don't matter. I may run a couple people over, but I got there, so it's all good.

Now, we know that spiritually speaking, that's not acceptable to God. What the Bible tells us is the true fulfillment comes from having our inside put right. That's what the Bible teaches. But that's also been taught over centuries. I found an interesting quote by a Confucius who said, to put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order. To put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order.

To put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life. In short, we must first set our heart right. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. That's what he was saying. So this is something that's been recognized for years. But the tough times are when challenges come, right? When we're at crossroads, it's really where a lot of these challenges come. Sometimes they're at exciting points. Sometimes it could be at the end of a chapter in life.

You just graduate. But that's oftentimes when you're faced with a lot of decisions. Sometimes it's after a crisis that you've had to endure, and you're sitting there and you say, whoa, did I make those choices? Sometimes it's after you've accomplished a special goals, and other times you've just really failed, and you look in the mirror and you say, what in the world am I doing here? But all those situations, what you're faced with is yourself, right? Those are the times you really stare in the mirror and you say, wow.

If you'll turn to Proverbs 28 and verse 6. Proverbs 28 and verse 6. God places a very high value on integrity. It's something that he expects us all to learn. Now this next verse is interesting to me because remember we talked about integrity deficit disorder.

That inside out verse outside in way of thinking. God tells us what he values in this next verse. Proverbs 28 and verse 6. Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways though he be rich. That's totally different than what's taught with the integrity deficit disorder, isn't it? That's different than what you see in the the magazines that are out there on the racks. God places much more value on integrity than on material possessions.

He says that that integrity is a lot more valuable. So when we choose to live with integrity, God promises to provide us some very special blessings. For the majority of this sermon, I'm going to talk about the characteristics of integrity. But I'd like to first focus on three different blessings or rewards that God promises to us because I think they'll help show the importance of it. So for the first one, if you would turn to Psalms 25 and verse 21. Psalms 25 and verse 21. A lot of people in this world live in fear. Fear about what could happen, fear about what has happened, fear about the impacts of something bad occurring in their lives. Fear. Promise one is this. God's word tells us that integrity provides protection. God's word tells us that integrity provides protection because integrity takes us past the fears of today and the fears of this life and points us to something that's future, that's permanent, that's reliable. So let's read Psalms 25 verse 21. It says, let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait for you.

If we fear what life will throw our way, then we're going to live our entire life in fear. You know? If we're waiting on God, then we can be at peace knowing that our integrity and our uprightness will preserve us in the long run. That's a benefit that integrity provides. He promises to protect those who have integrity. Let's go on to the second one. The second promise is this. God's word tells us that integrity provides security. Integrity provides security. And for this one, if you would go ahead and... oops, I don't know if I clicked the right button. Why don't you turn to Proverbs 10 verse 9. I have my laptop facing me, but I tend to look at you all and not at either of these two. So if I'm ever far off, let me know. I'll look at the screen and decide if I'm on track or not. Proverbs 10 verse 9. The first promise was about protection. Protection allows us to move away from living in fear. Security allows us to live with confidence. And we see that in Proverbs 10 verse 9. He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his way will become known. Interesting word choice. Will become known. They're going to get caught in time.

And we're going to talk a whole lot more about honesty later on. That's going to be one of the characteristics we talk about. But one characteristic about honesty alone is you don't have to remember your last lie. I thought Mark Twain had an interesting quote about that. He said, speaking honestly is better. It takes a lot of stress out of our lives. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. But if you don't tell the truth, you have to remember what he said. There's truth in that, isn't there? So when we're totally honest, we can walk securely. Let's go ahead and go on to the third promise. And for that one, turn to Proverbs 11 verse 3. Proverbs 11 verse 3. And if I remember right, I think that's the scripture I started with in the sermon. But the first promise protects us from fear. The second promise of security moves us to a state of confidence. The third promise tells us that God's Word tells us that integrity provides us with guidance. Integrity will provide us with guidance. It will help us have a direction. In Proverbs 11 verse 3, it says, the integrity of the upright will guide them. Remember we read that as the first verse? But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. So integrity helps us make better decisions. And if you're facing a tough choice in life or someone of those tough moments, then I encourage you to study integrity. It'll help you out. It's a good thing for you to research this time. It'll guide your path. So we're probably all on the same page. We all agree integrity is a good thing. It's the right thing. Acting with integrity is acting like a Christian. And it really affects everything we do. It affects what we say, how we act, what we think. I read one thing that said acting with integrity is God's way of acting. So if that's the case, then why don't we act godly all the time? Why don't we act as Christians all the time? Well, as I mentioned, we have that influence of Satan that keeps testing us and showing us that this path of life, if nothing else, shows us how weak we are and how much we need God on a constant basis. And the best place I know to turn and try to understand that struggle is Romans 7 verses 14 through 25. This is the example of Paul. Now Paul, he was a man with a strong will. His will, which I feel the silly analogy, but the Lord of the Rings, that the rings were forged in the fires of something. I forgot the, you know, the strongest thing you could do. He had a strong will. If anybody could will themselves into obedience, it seemed like it'd be Paul, because he's pretty resolute in what he decided to do. And so what he talks about here is soapering on one part and in a very humane way it's encouraging, because it lets me know that even the strongest struggle. In Romans 7 and verse 4 he said, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand, for what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. Go ahead and jump to verse 21. It says, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bring me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

There are a lot of us today who feel less than able to live a full life of integrity. I'll tell you, just taking the topic on to talk on with intimidating. You start reading some of the verses in the story and you're like, oof, I'm not qualified to talk about that topic, but it's the journey we're on. And we can all take heart with what the apostle Paul said, that it's a struggle for every person. But then you say, okay, so do we just give up? No. And the example I would want to contrast with is the example of David. Turn to Acts 13 verses 21 to 22. David was this interesting dichotomy. He was a huge example of contract, because he blew some really, really big ones. When he blew it, he blew it well. He murdered out of jealousy. He committed adultery out of lust. He counted Israel out of pride. You could keep going. But God loved him. Why? What did God love about David? You get a little bit of a glimpse here in Acts 13 verse 21. And afterwards, they asked for a king. So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them. David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. But he was a sinner. Yes, but look at why. Who will do all my will?

What God loved about David and the difference he saw in him was his integrity. David would make mistakes, but when he realized that he repented with all his might and tried never to go there again, he faced the same things we all do, but he was a man of integrity who was constantly trying to get closer and closer to God. And he might say, well, I don't have the strength or the skills of David. No. But all of us can have the same characteristics that God loved about David, and that's integrity. That's what kept him close to God. If you'll turn next to Psalm 78, verse 72. Psalm 78, 72. Integrity also describes David's leadership style. Because David was this wonderful leader. He is going to be a leader in the kingdom. And we see his leadership philosophy, in a sense, summarized in this next verse. Psalm 78, verse 72. It says, So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hand.

And that describes David's leadership style. It's interesting, the Bible doesn't talk much about management, but it talks a lot about leadership. And what this verse tells us is that there are two critical pieces. You need to have integrity, and you need to have skills if you're going to be an effective leader. We all know people who have integrity, I'm sorry, who have great skills, who are polished, who can smooth anyone, who just light up a room and quick as a whip in their mind, but they lack integrity. What happens with them? Sooner or later, you see corruption. Think of any scandal in business or politics in that situation that's happened. Now, on the flip side, you can have a situation where you have a person who has great integrity, but they lack skill. In time, what you're going to find is a person who has great intentions, but very limited in their ability to get anything done effectively. So they're both necessary if we're going to be effective leaders. But what's most important? If you will turn next to Psalms 15 verses 1 through 5.

Psalms 15 verses 1 through 5. Because in this verse, David without a doubt shows and recognizes that integrity is the foundational part. Integrity is what's most critical. Because no matter how smart the smartest person is in the world, they're nothing compared to God. God has so much more knowledge, and He can give us that knowledge like that. But He will only give it to us if we have the integrity to use it right. Psalms 15 and verse 1. Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. He who does not backfight with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up her approach against his friends, in whose eyes a vile person is despised. But he honors those who fear the Lord. He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

He got it. And it's something that's been recognized throughout history. In China's late Han era, there was a person who was a politician and he was known for his upright character. His name was Yang Zen. When he became a provincial governor, one of his old constituents came and gave him a surprise visit. So they sat and had a good conversation. And this gentleman's name was Wang Mi. After talking for a while, Wang Mi pulled out this large gold cup and he gave it to him. But Yang Zen refused. And Wang Mi responded and he said, there is no one here tonight but you and me, so no one will know. You say that no one will know, Yang Zen replied, but that is not true. Heaven will know and you and I will know too. And in time, Wang Mi was ashamed and he backed down. And over time, that integrity of this gentleman made him move to a very high position in the central government. But it's a great example because we face those challenges in life. And as humans, we're weak. And oftentimes, we think about what others see. Don't we? I mean, it's been a proven situation that without a police presence, people will break in and steal. So therefore, just having a policeman there makes them think, oh, maybe that's not a good thing to do. But that's the world we live in. We're going to do bad things. We're going to make mistakes. But are we growing? Are we trying to make integrity? What's a key part of our character? That's the journey we're on. So for the rest of this message, I'd like us to focus on six characteristics of integrity. Six characteristics of integrity. And for the first one, it is this. Integrity starts with us deciding to integrate. Integrity starts with us deciding to integrate. What does that mean? Integrity comes from the word integrate. So integrity is the ability to integrate the values of our heart into our daily actions. But how do we do that? That can only happen when we decide. You don't one day wake up and say, oops, I have integrity. It doesn't work that way. Integrity isn't something that happens accidentally. It takes work.

Throughout his administration, Abraham Lincoln was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And people were always trying to find fault with him or trying to trick him. And Lincoln will be the first to amend his writings, but he knew he would make mistakes. But he resolved early on that even though he'd make an error, he never wanted to compromise his integrity. And one of his quotes, a well-known quote, says, I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me. It takes a decision. It takes something that comes from within. I mentioned earlier the name Stephen Carter, who's a lawyer and he's written a book on integrity. I love the simplicity of how he defined integrity. He defined integrity in these three steps. It starts with discerning what is right and what is wrong. Okay? Next, it's acting on what you've discerned even at personal cost.

And thirdly, it's saying openly that you're acting on your understanding of right and wrong.

Very simple. Turn next to Proverbs 20 in verse 7. If you think about these three steps, the power of them is that it captures in a very simple way better than a definition of what integrity takes. Because integrity starts with a person no one actually believes articulating what he believes and then conducting his life based on those beliefs. And if you do that, you'll live a life of integrity. Let's go ahead now and... Oh, okay. One thing that you see, though, when you look at that, you see that it's not that common. You think of schools and there's cheating that happens all the time, right? And then you catch somebody cheating and what's the first thing they say? Well, everybody's doing it.

It's this social feeling that if others are doing wrong, then it's not really wrong. I read an interesting quote from Voltaire that said, no snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. Isn't that great? No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. But it's that feeling, the herd mentality, if the herd's doing it, it must be okay.

But the beauty of this next verse that we're about to read shows us that integrity not only benefits us, and it does, but also benefits others. Proverbs 20 and verse 7 says, the righteous man walks in his integrity, his children are blessed after him. What a wonderful thought. The reality is that if we live a life that's represented with integrity, it will not only benefit us, but it will help our children, it'll help our relatives, it'll help those around us. And also, I'm the first that's just benefited from that. I've been very fortunate to have parents that are well respected, and I've had doors open to me as a result of my parents' integrity and their service. And that's a wonderful thing, and maybe I'll be able to do the same for Drew along the way. But that absolutely is a biblical principle. But it only starts with us deciding to integrate integrity into our lives. Let's go ahead and go to the second point. And the second point is this. Always speak honestly. Always speak honestly. Picture a person standing before a judge as a witness.

They place their hand on a Bible, and they affirm that for the next few minutes, everything they say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

That's what our legal system is based on. Because if they do anything less, if they make up stories along the way, then justice has no chance. But if they say exactly what they know, I mean, then there's a possibility that the outcome will be right. If you will turn to Acts 1 and verse 8. Acts 1 and verse 8. As Christians, we are called to be witnesses.

Now, just like the witness in court, we're called to tell the truth. You may not see the judge. You may not see the jury. But we're the primary witness. And you could say in this next verse, we've been subpoenaed by nobody less than Jesus Christ. Acts 1 and verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That wasn't spoken only to the people at that time. That's speaking to all of us, that we are to be witnesses.

We're called to testify to what we've seen from our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, there are differences, obviously, between a physical witness and what we're called to do. First of all, we're required to do more than just say the truth. God is looking at our actions that we're supposed to think, and behave, and do everything, and not just what comes out of our mind with integrity. Not only with truthfulness. The second one is, a witness gets to get off that stand. In our lives, we're a witness for our entire lifetime. And so, as a result, we have that responsibility to be a witness for Christ in everything that we do, in all of our decisions. It's never okay to be a Christian and be deceptive.

Well, like I mentioned earlier, that's hard for us, because at the end of the day, humans don't even like the truth.

It's something that people struggle with. It's only ideal when it serves our purposes. And when it's not, then it gives us that little queasy ouch feeling. And I see that with true, but it's common for all of us. You know one of those times where somebody catches you, and they ask you if you did something wrong, and you know you did it, and you know it was wrong, and you start, um, yum, and the mind starts thinking, okay, what's a clever way I can get out of this? It's that uncomfort that we tend to have along the way. But that's not acceptable to God. Fudging, bending the truth. We call it the American way. God calls it a lie. If you will turn next to Acts 5 verses 1 through 5, God doesn't want us to go around exaggerating or making things up. Actually, let me tell you a story first. But while you're turning to Acts 5 verses 1 through 11, many years ago, there was a man who conned his way into the orchestra of the emperor of China. None of you have heard this story. He would go up with the orchestra, he would hold his flutes, and he moved his fingers, but he didn't know how to play the instrument. As a result, he made a decent living. He was well respected. He was doing quite well. Well, one day the emperor requested a solo from every musician that was in the orchestra. He didn't have time to learn the flute. So he tried to be a little cunning at first, and he said he was sick, but the royal physician wasn't fooled. And when his day came for him, actually the performance from the end of the emperor, he committed suicide. He killed himself. There's a phrase that you know and you use that came from this situation. The phrase is, he refused to face the music. That's the origin of the phrase. He refused to face the music. Now, what we're turning to is a biblical example of two people who refused to face the music, Acts 5 and verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sophia and his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not your own? In your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. If you read in verse 11, it says something similar. So great fear came upon all the church, upon all who heard these things.

And niceness of fire represents all the humanly we struggle with with telling the truth.

Selling the property wasn't bad. Giving part of the money wasn't bad. What cost them their lives was the fact that they lied.

Now, many of the thoughts in this one section on honesty come from a book called Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado in the chapter that he wrote on Nothing But The Truth. And what I really like is the way he phrased this. Because he said, many people would walk up to him, or he'd hear with a little nervous chuckle and say, I'm glad God doesn't do the anodized and survivor thing anymore. And his response was this.

I'm not so sure that God doesn't. It seems to me that the wages of deceit... Oops, did I not go far? The wages of sin is still... I'm sorry, let me start from the beginning. I'm not so sure that God doesn't. It seems to me that the wages of deceit is still death. Not death of the body, perhaps, but the death of a marriage. I love this next phrase. Falsehoods are termites in the trunk of the family tree. And that's very true. Falsehoods are termites in the trunk of the family tree. The death of a conscience. The tragedy of the second lie is that it is always easier to tell than the first. Death of a career. Just ask the student who got booted out for cheating or the employee who got fired for embezzling if the lie wasn't fatal. Death of faith. The language of faith and the language of falsehood have two different vocabularies. Those fluent in the language of falsehood find terms like repentance hard to pronounce.

It's so true. And the cure for deceit is simply the lesson from the Chinese musicians. We have to face the music.

We have to be honest. And some people spend their whole life trying to cover over what their last lie was so they don't get caught for any of them. That is not living with integrity. Lies, another phrase that Max DeClayto put, lies cause some people to bury a marriage, others bury part of their conscience, and even parts of their faith, all because they won't tell the truth. Dishonesty is totally against what God would have us do. If, well actually why don't you go ahead, I'll just read you a scripture. In Hebrews 6 and verse 18, it says that it is impossible for God to lie. That's Hebrews 6 verse 18. Now I love that, because if you think about that, that's not saying that if God chooses not to lie. That's not what that says. God by his will is choosing not to lie. No, that is saying that God can't lie. For God lying is like an elephant flying. It's not going to happen. But that's reassuring. Isn't it? That's wonderful, because what that means is what God promises in the Bible is true. We can rely on it. We don't have to say, 90% of the time he's been true to me, but the last 10, I don't know. Which one's this? What do I believe? Everything God tells us, everything he promises is the truth. Now Satan is the opposite, right? Christ said that Satan is the father of lies. What was the first thing he did to Eve? First thing he did was he said, God doesn't save you that if you eat that fruit, you'll die. You shall not surely die. So that raises the question, are we more like God or are we more like Satan? How honest are we? If you will turn to Ephesians 4, verses 14-15, a simple definition that I saw on integrity is that you can count on me, I'll keep my word, I'll be true. And that really captures it well. Integrity means that we're not for sale at any price. Are we? Can that be said about us? Or would that be something that somebody say, yeah, but I remember this situation along the way. Now, let's read Ephesians 4, verse 14, because it adds an interesting part to honesty. It says that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. So Ephesians 4, 15 says that we must speak the truth but it doesn't stop there. We must speak the truth in love.

All of you probably have had situations where somebody told you the truth, but they said it in a way to hurt. Right? You're going to see people get a little chuckle like, oh, I can't wait to tell them on this one. That's not speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love is recognizing the situation and the time and not wanting to hurt people along the way. So it's not strictly about only speaking the truth. So, about to go to the next point, but I'd like to throw a couple questions about honesty up and just have you think about them. First one is, do you tell the truth always? Are you being completely honest with your spouse and your children? Are your relationships marked by loving candor? Is it the same when you're at work? Is it the same when you're at school? Are you honest in your dealings? Are you a trustworthy student if you're in school? Are you an honest taxpayer? Say, well, it's past April. I'm okay.

Are you a reliable witness at work? I think this is something that we should examine ourselves on. Because we all have areas to grow. We're all human, but it's something that's important to think about. And if you found in one of these situations that you're not going to be able to do, you'd have to answer it no, then repent, ask God to correct you, face the music, and be better. I'll leave you with one final quote that Max Lucado said. He said, the ripple of today's lie is tomorrow's wave and next year's flood. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I think there's a lot of wisdom to that. Let's go on to the third point. The third point is this. Be reliable and trustworthy.

Be reliable and trustworthy.

Our calling is very personal. I read—I didn't realize it was a person who was named Rabbi Zusha, but I found him quoted in many different places. So, I don't know if that means he's a well-known rabbi or he's a fictitious person. I like one of the quotes that he said. He said, in the afterlife, God is not going to ask me why I wasn't Moses, why I wasn't Abraham or Gandhi, why I wasn't some bigger-than-life person. No, he said, God will ask me, why would you not Rabbi Zusha? And I think there's a lot of wisdom to that. At the end of the day, we're to be the unique people God created us to be. But that's tough. That's where the challenge starts. You can't be a fraud because God knows what's inside. He knows what he made us to be. Are we being that? Are we reliable and trustworthy? The well-known writer Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

We're our own biggest project, I guess you could say. And that's a lifelong project for us to work through. And the point that God wants us to know about Christian integrity is that we are not to expect to live a morally perfect life. That's the goal. But we're human. I mean, we see the examples of David. We see the examples of Paul. The question is, are we making less mistakes today and tomorrow than we did yesterday? Are we making the same mistakes? Are we on a path of being more reliable and more trustworthy to God? That's what God's on David. That was his character of integrity. Does that represent us as well?

At the end of the day, God and his family members are going to be the ones who he can rely on. And that means you could say that they are a group of forgiven sinners and growing sinners, is what they'll end up being.

Throughout our life, though, what God is going to do is God is going to try our fidelity. He is going to try our constancy. He is going to be testing us. And you say, ouch, why would he do that? Because God wants us to become reliable and trustworthy, and that usually comes from testing. That comes over time. Let's look at an example that I think is a wonderful one on this one. And that you'll find in Matthew 15, verses 21 through 28. We're about to look at the example of a woman whose daughter was bothered by demons.

Now, this woman did the right thing. She went to Christ and she begged for him to help. But rather than heal her, Christ tested this lady. And I'll circle back and ask how you would do in this situation. Let's start Matthew 15, verses 21. Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely demon-possessed. But he answered her, not a word.

The lady did what we do. What we do in prayer, what we do, we come before God and we ask God for his help. And what do we expect when we do that? We expect him to hear us.

In this situation, he didn't.

Christ could have easily healed her, but instead he tested her.

Now, let's see the example of her integrity. 22 And his disciples came up and urged him, saying, Send her away, so she must have continued to plead. 23 For she cried out after us, but he answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Think about that. Those are tough words. I'm not set for you. You're not quality enough. What if somebody said that to you? How would you respond? How do you respond when somebody puts you down as being something lesser?

But instead, what she did is she worshipped him. She knew that God was not a respecter of persons.

So did Jesus heal her then? No, he tested her some more. But he answered and said, It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. That's almost too much, isn't it?

And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, Oh, woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. This woman was put to the test. And I don't know how all of us would do if we were challenged in that way. What a tough situation. But she acted with integrity. Would you? Would you be reliable and trustworthy in that situation? And your situation may be a little different, but you will face situations in life where God will be testing you. And he will see what's your fiber. Because of her integrity, her daughter was healed.

Well, today's sermon is all about integrity. It's all about... I found that the concept works best with stories and illusions and analogies. So I'll give you another one. You all know the Titanic. A little bit over 100 years ago now. 100 years and so and so many months. You see all the TV shows about Titanic nowadays. But the Titanic sunk. It was this 900-foot ship that was just the pride of the day.

But it sank on a journey from England to New York, and 1,500 people died. But what caused it to sink? They keep learning more and more along the way. But initially there was this huge thought that there was a gigantic gash that tore this massive hole in the ship. What they found over time is that's not exactly right. Yes, it hit the iceberg pretty seriously. But it wasn't this one gaping hole. It was a long string of small holes that tore through six different panels on that ship. And the result of that all of the giving and the water coming in ended up causing other things to give and the ship cracked and things along that line. But a very interesting analogy. It's not always the massive thing that tears us apart. Spiritually, we can have small invisible tears that will sink our spiritual ship. Are we reliable and are we trustworthy? So something to think about. Let's go on to the fourth point. And the fourth point is we must live consistently. Live consistently. We can make a great decision today in a really, really tough situation, and that's a wonderful thing. But if we turn that around and then make bad decisions on simple situations, what's the game? We have to live consistently. Another simple definition of integrity I saw, which I like, said, I am the same at home as I am here.

Common English can make concepts much easier. We have to be consistent in how we live our integrity. Do we do that?

In his book, Lyric, by Oscar Hammerstein, he made an interesting observation I've never really thought about. So I'm going to read his words on this. It says, a year or so ago, on the cover of the New York Herald Tribune Sunday magazine, I saw a picture of the Statue of Liberty. Take it from a helicopter, and it shows the top of the statue's head. I was amazed at the detail there. The sculptor had done a painstaking job with the Lady's Quaffort, and yet he must have been pretty sure that the only eyes that would ever see this detail would be the uncritical eyes of Seagulls. He could not have dreamt that any man would ever fly over this head. He was an artist enough, however, to finish off this part of the statue with as much care as he had devoted to her face and her arms and the torch and everything that people can see when they sail by. When you are creating a work of art or any other kind of work, finish the job off perfectly. You never know when a helicopter or some other instrument, not at the moment invented, may come along and find you out. And it's interesting. Air flight first took place, and you know how a little bit of a lift, in the very end of 1903. Statue of Liberty was built in 1882. So, he wouldn't have known that somebody would have in 20, 25 years come up with the first airplane. If you will turn to Matthew 7 verses 21 through 23. We are called to be consistent. Be consistent in our life, our public life, our private life. And we're turning to a scripture that is really intriguing. This verse talks to Jesus saying that people will approach him on the day of judgment and point out good things that they did in his name. Matthew 7 verses 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness. What good is it if we get all the money of Donald Trump? But end up losing our family and our spiritual relationships. I'm going to read you this same verse in what's called the message. It's a transliteration. It is not a literal translation. But sometimes it's interesting to see how it paints scriptures. And I think it really presents this in a very modern way of saying what's being referred to here. It says, knowing the correct password, saying Master, Master, for instance, isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience, doing what the Father wills. I can see it now with the final judgment, thousands strutting up to me saying, Master, we preached the message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects, had everybody talking, and you knew what I'm going to say. You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourself important. You don't impress me one bit, you're out of here. Interesting way of casting that set of scriptures. But what it says is that actions are important, but our motives and our intentions are far more critical. A great example of this one is Daniel. If you think about Daniel, he was facing a world where people would bow down to idols, but they did it because they didn't want to be killed. Their biggest priority was fame, it was money, it was power. But when Daniel went to translate the dream, Nebuchadnezzar offered him all that. He said, I'll give you all these different things. And Daniel said, I don't want it, you keep it. I prefer my integrity, but I'll translate the dream of what you saw. And throughout Daniel's life, those are things that he did.

He wasn't willing to compromise his integrity, do we? Turn next to Colossians 3, verses 23-24. Colossians 3, 23-24. Integrity has to become a consistent part of how we're defined, a consistent part of our makeup. That's our journey, that's what we're working through. In Colossians 3, verse 23, it says, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.

So integrity is more than avoiding being deceitful. Integrity is doing everything consistently and in a godly way. Let's go ahead and we'll go now to the fifth characteristic. And that is that we must obey unconditionally. What would make your integrity conditional? You ever thought about that? We started this sermon by talking about money, 10 million bucks. People would do a lot of different things. What would make your integrity conditional? What might seem so unfair that would make you respond? I read an interesting story about coach Cleveland Stroud and the Bulldogs of Rockdale County High School in Georgia. He coached a championship season. 21 wins, 5 losses. And it was full of all your drama. It had these last-second comebacks and all the rest. But if you were to go and look in their trophy case, the trophy isn't there anymore.

Shortly after the final game, the Georgia High School Association deprived them of the championship after school officials informed them that there was a scholastically ineligible player who played 45 seconds in the first game of the playoffs. Here's what the coach said. We didn't know he was ineligible at the time. We didn't know it until a few weeks ago. Some people have said we should have just kept quiet about it. It was just 45 seconds and the player wasn't an impact player. But you've got to do what's honest and right and what the rules say. I told my team that people forget to score a basketball game. They don't ever forget what you're made of.

As a person who enjoys sports, that would be a tough situation if I was on that team. What could challenge you? If you'll turn to Job 1 in verse 1, when I think of a person who went and really struggled and suffered, I think of Job. He faced amazing challenges. Job was an exceptionally wealthy man. He had a big family. He had huge possessions. He had a lot of respect.

And then everything was stripped of him, except for his wife. And you could argue if that helped him or hurt him along the way.

For time, I might speed through this a little bit, but let's start at the beginning. Job 1, verse 1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright.

And one who feared God and shunned evil. Notice how God describes it. We would all love to be described that way, wouldn't we? That's the way God saw him. Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, from whence do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? That there is none like him on earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. God described him the same. God saw him as this person who was blameless and upright. He knew he was self-righteous, but he was using a different way to train him and to teach him to help him obey unconditionally. So Satan answered, and the Lord said, does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the works of his hand, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out in the presence of the Lord. We use Satan's logic from time to time. We try to justify and say, the only reason that person is doing good things, because of what they're getting on the other end of it, he took those away from them, and they wouldn't make those good decisions. If we think that way, that's not thinking with integrity. That's thinking more of the influences that Satan wants us to rationalize things with. Even despite all these, you can look in verse 20. It says, Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshipped, and he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall her return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrong.

And you know the story. Satan then came back and said, Well, it's still only because he's not physically hurting. And he tested him, and tried him. And you see it again in Job 2 and verse 9. We'll finish on that thought with the story of Job. But it says, Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. She recognized that he was holding to his integrity. But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speak. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin. Now, Job complains. He asked why. Because he didn't understand. Only God and Satan knew what was going on. If that happened to all of us, we'd ask a lot of why's. We'd ask to understand. But Job didn't make his believing conditional. And that's something that's a good lesson for us. Do we do that? Because we may not face all the different things that Job faced in life. But at the end of the day, we're still going to face suffering. Because anything we give up is suffering. It could be that we lose something that's material, that we've spent money on, that we've, you know, what we own physically represents us. It represents our hard work. It shows our sense of security, our taste. It could be when we lose a family member. Hopefully we don't lose a family member like Job did. But either way, when somebody dies, or when we lose access to them through other means, it takes away someone we love. And during those times, being conditional starts coming to mind, and we start to struggle. When we lose our health, Satan recognized this one, it makes everything in our life, our mood, our outlook totally different.

And those are times when we start wondering about, okay, are we going to obey unconditionally? Or are we not?

Through all these things, any time we lose things, those are the times that we can easily become angry, or we can become bitter. Those are the times when our conditional way of following God can become the choice, first, being like Job.

But that's something that we have to grow past. Let's go ahead and go to the sixth point, to the final point. And that is that we must show mercy in all relationships. We must show mercy in all relationships. Integrity and being merciful, those are links, and they're the foundation of any relationship, whether it's a marriage that's successful, whether it's work relationships, whether it's friendships, whether it's using a good neighbor. I saw a good quote that said, integrity has the power to build trust. Trust is what fuels a relationship.

And there's just so much profoundness and depth to that quote. You can never have a strong relationship when trust is missing. Right? It's the core.

One day, there was a songwriter named Johnny Mercer, who received a letter from a widow grandmother named Sadie. And she wrote a simple phrase. She said, I suggest you write a song called, I Want to Be Around to Pick Up the Pieces When Somebody Breaks Your Heart. Well, five years later, Mercer got in touch with her and said that that song that he'd written was going to be recorded by Tony Bennett. If you look at the album, called I Want to Be Around, you'll notice that credit for the words are shared by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vermerstedt. It came up with the one phrase. He also split royalties with her 50-50, and her family has had 100,000s of dollars brought to her because of that. That's using integrity in relationships. If you'll turn to Colossians 4 in verse 6. Colossians 4 in verse 6. When we act with love, we're acting with integrity.

And part of that, like we talked about earlier with honesty, is knowing when to speak, speaking the truth in love, things along that line. We don't always pay attention to those things, though. Colossians 4 in verse 6. It says, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each other. If we want God to show us mercy, when we screw up, we know the Bible says we have to show mercy and extend that to others.

Do we do that? To have God on our side, we have to walk with integrity in our relationships. It's a critical thing to keep in mind.

I'm not going to have you turn there. I'll just read to you Micah 6, verses 6-8, because I think this also speaks to the person of where to become. It says, With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sins of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

That's what's expected of us. And so, as I close, I encourage you, if you want to think on integrity, look at the example of Christ. Christ had this amazing example because he taught the highest principles, but then he lived his life perfectly conforming to those principles. That is integrity. And I'm not going to have you walk through this area, but you can put in your notes Matthew 5 verses 3 through 12. You know them as the Beatitudes. But I encourage you to look at those. Does that make sense in our integrity deficit disorder?

Or does that show us what Christian integrity is about? Because who in this world would naturally say, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the poor in heart, blessed are those who suffer for righteousness' sake, and so forth.

But one of the ways that Jesus showed us his example is he was able to recontextualize his suffering. What happened to him, he didn't let be more critical than what he was doing for others and what he did to serve others. And that's an example that we need to learn. And so as a result, selfish humans don't see blessings in the same places that people of integrity do. Look at that set of scriptures and that thought, because it's very interesting. So I hope today has helped you see a little bit more about integrity. It's this big concept. It's something that's aspirational. But it's also something that's required of us.

And when we do it, we will see blessings in places that we wouldn't otherwise. So the question I guess I'll leave you with today to think on is, are you a person of integrity? And I hope that your life will be one that those who run into you will come to be able to say yes, when I see so-and-so, they represent integrity to me.