Integrity: Don’t Leave Home Without It
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Take out your message notes and we will continue our series Living a Happy Life. Jesus said that there are 8 things that bring God’s blessing into your life… 8 things that bring happiness into your life and I want you to be blessed and happy. I want the same for me. So let’s read the 6th statement Jesus makes.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
Question -
What please people, and what pleases God?
What please people, and what pleases God?
Culture is impressed with how you look. Research has shown that tall thin people are more likely to receive promotions and to be elected to a political office?
Culture is impressed with success. If you are considered the best at something, the world will be impressed.
However, God doesn’t focus on your appearance, your achievements, acquisitions, or your popularity. He does however care about your heart… your integrity or character.
Our world is impressed with appearance and achievements, but the Lord is impressed with our hearts.
Our world is impressed with appearance and achievements, but the Lord is impressed with our hearts.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
God is not talking about the muscle in your chest that pumps blood. He is talking about the core of an individual. It’s the seat of our emotions, our will, and our minds. It’s the inner person or the master control of our lives.
The heart of a person is the core of a person and it dictates the character, directs the will and dominates the affections of a person. That’s why Solomon said,
23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
The condition of our hearts is what we see Jesus emphasizing in this passage. God blesses those who have a pure heart… for they will see God.
Being Pure in Heart doesn’t mean someone is perfect, but it means they have integrity in their hearts and lives.
Being Pure in Heart doesn’t mean someone is perfect, but it means they have integrity in their hearts and lives.
Although the sentence infers cleanliness, it has to more with unity, or singleness of heart and mind. It’s not mixed with anything. So he is saying Blessed are the unmixed.
It doesn’t mean that we are without sin. Only Jesus was without sin. So let me give you four words that will help us understand having integrity in our hearts.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by totality.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by totality.
IOW, what we believe and value impacts every area of our lives.
This means we don’t compartmentalize our lives. Too many people think their life is like a pie, which has many slices… work slice… church slices… personal time slice… family slice… etc. That’s not the case. If you segment your life like that, you do not have integrity. Integrity is like the filling in the pie, it affects every piece of the pie.
Totality means that our relationship with the Lord impacts every area of our lives.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by authenticity.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by authenticity.
Authenticity means that we are completely honest and transparent in our circumstances and relationships. If you have integrity, you are the same with different people and with different groups.
Greek Plays - one actor would play many roles by holding up different masks. He was called a Hupokrites. We get the word Hypocrite from it. Hypocrite means that you are not the same with different people or different groups. You wear a mask to fit in. Integrity means that you do not pretend to be something you are not.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by sincerity.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by sincerity.
Sincerity means that we do the right things for the right reason.
IOW, you don’t have mixed motives. You are pure in heart saying what you mean and meaning what you say. You do what you do for the right reasons. It’s how you think, speak and act when no one will ever find out.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by reliability.
Living with integrity means our lives are characterized by reliability.
Reliability is when we are consistent in the way we live.
Do you know people who are unreliable? They don’t finish what they start. They are always late. If we struggle with these, it means that we struggle with integrity because integrity is related to reliability. Solomon said in Pro 25:19
19 Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.
Pure in heart involves being reliable and living with integrity.
We’re so interested in our pursuits, pleasures, possessions and prestige, but the Lord is interested in purity and integrity of our hearts.
We’re so interested in our pursuits, pleasures, possessions and prestige, but the Lord is interested in purity and integrity of our hearts.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
How many of you are interested in living a blessed life? a happy life? According to Jesus, those who are most blessed are those who are pure in heart, those who live with integrity. So let’s answer some questions about integrity.
Why should we try to live with integrity?
Why should we try to live with integrity?
Living with integrity brings balance to our lives.
Living with integrity brings balance to our lives.
9 A good man has firm footing, but a crook will slip and fall.
When we have integrity we have firm footing. When we don’t have integrity, it’s like walking on slippery ice like we had this last January. All of your energy goes into not slipping down. All of your energy goes into putting up the false front. It would be much easier to just be yourself.
When we don’t live with integrity, we make messes for ourselves and others.
When we don’t live with integrity, we make messes for ourselves and others.
When we live without integrity, we will always be off balance. IE: when you lie, you have to remember what you said… Integrity will simplify your life and give you confidence that you didn’t have. It makes you strong, secure and brings balance in your life.
Living with integrity brings boundaries to our lives.
Living with integrity brings boundaries to our lives.
3 Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.
Despite what too many people believe about boundaries, we need boundaries in our lives. Boundaries keep us from going the wrong way.
When we have integrity, we are able to see the Lord and His will for our lives in better ways.
When we have integrity, we are able to see the Lord and His will for our lives in better ways.
Living with integrity brings benefits to others lives.
Living with integrity brings benefits to others lives.
Integrity is your greatest legacy. Everything else will disappear. Money goes to someone else as does everything you accumulate. Your character and integrity will be remembered.
7 The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.
We all need to work to leave a legacy of integrity.
33 The Lord curses the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be in the blessed side of that verse.
Living with integrity brings blessings into our lives.
Living with integrity brings blessings into our lives.
5 But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, 6 and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. 7 And though you started with little, you will end with much.
These words were spoken to Job, but they are applicable to us today. If we learn to be pure in heart and live with integrity, God will restore to us anything we have lost. That’s what Job did in the middle of losing everything. He remained faithful. God wanted to see if Job would love him even if bad things happened to him. He wants to know the same thing about us. If you remain faithful, you will have more in the end than at the beginning.
Maybe you are thinking, I have messed up… I lost my integrity a long time ago. Listen to me. Your greatest legacy of your integrity might just be the integrity you show after you lost your integrity. Someone who is watching will mess up one day and they will be able to see how you showed integrity after you lost it.
Living a life if integrity will bring us rewards in this life, and in the next life.
Living a life if integrity will bring us rewards in this life, and in the next life.
21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
Jesus is teaching that every little thing we do will be rewarded on earth and in heaven; and that the small things lead to bigger things and responsibilities which lead to bigger blessings.
What does it take to live with integrity?
What does it take to live with integrity?
Remember that I said that living with integrity demands that every area of our lives are treated the same way. We have to say that I am going to have the same commitment to excellence in my career, my marriage, my parenting, may making money. I’m going to have as much commitment to the right motivation as I do to the doing the right thing.
So let me give you a check list of 6 activities that will demonstrate that we’re living with integrity.
Living with integrity involves telling the truth.
Living with integrity involves telling the truth.
Lying has become an accepted part of our culture unfortunately. Years ago, there was a survey done titled:
The Day America told the Truth. That survey discovered that;
36% of Americans confess to big lies.
86% of Americans lie to their parents.
75% lie to their friends.
69% lie to their spouses.
91% lie routinely.
Since social media has grown, I am sure that lying is even more prevalent.
Another survey by the Institute of Behavior Motivation determined that 97% of Americans lie… telling over 1,000 lies per year.
We have become a nation of liars. Husbands lie to their wives. Wives lie to their husbands. Parents lie to their children. Children lie to their parents. Employers lie to their Employees and vice versa. Salespeople lie. Advertisers lie. People in the media lie. People in the entertainment industry lie. People who lead Business corporations lie. Even Politicians lie. We’ve become a nation of liars.
Lying has become common in our culture and too many people accept it as the norm. Lying may be accepted by our culture, but it is never accepted by the Lord.
The Lord is a big proponent of verbal integrity.
The Lord is a big proponent of verbal integrity.
22 The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.
If you want to be on God’s good side… tell the truth not lies.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Joke - A little boy was caught telling a lie. His father said to him, “Son, you know there are no liars in Heaven.” The boy asked, “Dad, have you ever told a lie? Has Mom ever told a lie? Has our Pastor ever told a lie?” The Father responded, “Yes we all have.” So the boy said, “It sounds to me like the only two people who are going to be in Heaven are God and George Washington
People who lie will go to heaven, but not habitual liars according to GW.
Why does God hate lying?
Why does God hate lying?
Being a liar indicates that the devil is at work in our lives.
Being a liar indicates that the devil is at work in our lives.
44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
This passage does a couple of things. It kills the idea that we are all brothers and sisters… universal brotherhood of man or universal fatherhood of God. There are 2 families in this world, God’s family and the devil’s family. The way you become part of God’s family is through receiving Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
Jesus said Satan is the father and originator of lies. Lying then is an indication that the devil is at work in someone’s life.
Ananias & Sapphira who lied about what they had sold some property for and the amount of money they had given to God’s work. Peter asked, Acts 5:3 “Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.” Lies originate with the devil.
BTW, Being honest 80-90% of the time is not integrity. You won’t have integrity in your life until you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Living with integrity involves keeping our promises.
Living with integrity involves keeping our promises.
There are too many people who don’t keep their promises.
14 A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
We need to be careful about keeping our promises.
Have you ever told someone you’d call them back later and didn’t do it? Have you ever said the check was in the mail and it wasn’t? Have you ever promised to pray for someone and forgot to do so? Have you ever told your spouse or kids that you’d be home at a certain time but didn’t keep your word? I have and you have. When we don’t keep our promises, we become liars and demonstrate a lack of integrity in our lives. It’s important to keep our promises. Pro 20:25
25 Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.
According to the Bible, when we make a promise and then change our minds, we invite God’s judgement on ourselves. The Bible says that that’s a trap and it’s foolish.
Resentment is a big problem in relationships and is often caused by broken promises.
Resentment is a big problem in relationships and is often caused by broken promises.
Husbands, what promises do you need to keep that you made to your wife?
Wives, what promises do you need to keep that you have made to your husbands?
Parent’s, what promises have you made to your children that you haven’t kept? Are your kids going to grow up seeing you as a promise breaker or a promise keeper?
God blesses the one who walks with integrity who keeps his promises even when it hurts.
God blesses the one who walks with integrity who keeps his promises even when it hurts.
4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts.
Living with integrity involves refraining from stealing.
Living with integrity involves refraining from stealing.
How do you feel about stealing? Do you ever steal from others? Lots of people steal from others and that shows a lack of integrity.
Some people are involved in simple stealing. They take property, or money that belongs to someone else.
Shoplifting is huge. Hundreds of millions of dollars per year by over 40 million Americans. 5 million are caught. That’s why stores have cameras everywhere.
You might not get caught at Walmart, but God sees you. He see everything.
Some people are involved in more sophisticated stealing. They embezzle and defraud people.
Others are involved in spiritual stealing. They rob the Lord of time, talents and tithes and offerings.
Another way we steal is when we don’t pay our bills. When we don’t pay our bills, we are stealing from someone. You may not think that this is a big deal but it is. The Bible says over and over again that the way we handle our money is a test of our integrity.
21 The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers.
The Lord is serious about us paying our bills. If you don’t, he says you are wicked and you are stealing from the people you owe.
We must pay our taxes in addition to paying our personal debts.
We must pay our taxes in addition to paying our personal debts.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
A man wrote $10,000 off on his 2024 tax form for a bad investment. He was contacted by the IRS and asked, “What kind of bad Investment was that that you made in 2024?” And the man responded, “The taxes I paid in 2023.”
You can’t do that if you are going to be a person of integrity. You may be thinking, Pastor, the government is wasting my money. That’s true and why we should be glad that Doge is doing. They are doing what Obama set up with the US Digital Service (300 employees) and Bill Clinton with REGO (Reinventing Government).
When governments spend more than they take in, and waste it and commit fraud with it and spend it where they should not, they do not have integrity. But we can’t do that as a child of God. We are accountable to the Lord to pay our bills… if we don’t we lack integrity.
11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
If you can’t be trusted with money, God will not trust you with more important things and responsibilities.
When we don’t give our best at work, we are stealing from others.
When we don’t give our best at work, we are stealing from others.
Too many people only work hard when the boss is looking. The rest of the time, they hide and goof off. They stand around talking, get into social media, take extra or longer breaks than they should. Listen, everyone else may do that but as a child of God who wants to be a person of integrity, you don’t get to goof off at work. You should be the best worker your company has.
9 Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism.
This is what God says about you if you are goofing off at work. So if you are goofing off at work, you are vandalizing your employer. Look at what Paul said in Col 3:23
23 Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters,
Imagine the impact we would have on the world if all 3 billion Christians went to work Monday and worked with integrity? What if all 3 billion Followers of Jesus said, I am going to do my best… don’t care what anyone else does… What if Christians had the reputation at work that caused businesses to hire only Christians? (work hard, don’t steal or cheat, good attitudes) Think about the witness we would be… Millions would come to faith in Christ!
Living with integrity involves refusing to gossip.
Living with integrity involves refusing to gossip.
The Lord is a big proponent of relational integrity.
The Lord is a big proponent of relational integrity.
This means we don’t talk about people behind their backs. We don’t talk one way with one group and another with a different group. Many people will flatter someone in front of them and talk about them away from them. If you do this, it’s gossip and you lack integrity.
13 A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.
In today’s culture, we need men and women who will keep to themselves things that were told to them in confidence, whether you like it or not. We need people who will not post all of their dirt or someone else’s dirt on social media.
Everyone needs a safe place made up of some friends with whom you can be real and not have your stuff posted on Social Media.
If you lack integrity, it makes you look foolish. Pro 10:18
18 … slandering others makes you a fool.
Living with integrity involves being transparent.
Living with integrity involves being transparent.
You become a person of integrity by being real. Bridge city guard – you are real. Being Transparent means we don’t wear masks… We are the same whether we are in church, at work, with our kids, or the President…
2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.
People with real integrity are real with others.
In a world that is absolutely obsessed with appearance, how do you keep it real? There is only one way. You have to care more about God’s approval that the approval of other people. That’s the only way you will ever become a person of integrity. If you care about what God thinks, you will do the right think every time. If you care about what other people think, you will most often do the wrong thing.
The only way to have and maintain integrity is to care more about hearing God say, “Well done good and faithful servant.
Wrap Up
To become a person of integrity we need to be faithful in small things as well as big things.
To become a person of integrity we need to be faithful in small things as well as big things.
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
To become a person of integrity we need to live daily by the principles of God’s Word.
To become a person of integrity we need to live daily by the principles of God’s Word.
9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.
We have to learn to live out on a daily basis what we have learned from God’s Word. If we don’t, we are not going to be pure in heart. We will not be living lives of integrity.
To become a person of integrity we need to honor God in everything we say or do.
To become a person of integrity we need to honor God in everything we say or do.
17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
We will either represent him with integrity or not. Either way we represent him to others. The only way we can be men and women of integrity is to care more about what God thinks than what other’s think.
Listen,
The pure in heart will see God. They will experience the best of God’s presence, power and purposes in their lives.
The pure in heart will see God. They will experience the best of God’s presence, power and purposes in their lives.
1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.
How many of you want to stand firm forever? Become a person of integrity.
Titanic Myth - You can segment your life and it would keep you afloat. The titanic had a segmented hull which was to keep the boat from sinking. When it comes to your life, a hole in the boat is a hole in the boat and it will sink you. So live to develop integrity in every area of your life. The holes in our lives will sink us… sink others.
or this…
If I take a drill and drill a hole in the bottom of a boat you are fishing in, you would be concerned. You might say, what are you doing? You’re going to take us down… In life today, people would say, it’s my life… You can’t tell me what to do… I can si and get away with it. No you can’t.
You can’t sin and it not affect other people. It affects us all. You may think your sin is a secret sin, but it will hurt your wife… husband… kids… anyone around you. You can’t do anything in life and it not affect others in your life. So when you say it’s your business and no one else’s… that’s just plain stupid. The Bible says Be sure your sins will find you out. That’s why we all need a Savior. Why we all need grace… Why we all need forgiveness.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Thank god he forgives our sins, frees us from strongholds, makes us people of integrity and gives us an abundant life here on earth and an eternal life in heaven.
Bow Heads
God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but he does expect you to have integrity which means you own up. The beginning point is for you to become a man or woman of God is just admit your need for the Lord… for integrity in some areas of your life.
It starts by saying to God: “God I don’t always tell the truth, but I want to start doing so. I don’t always keep my promises but I want to. God I don’t always pay my bills, but I want to. And I don’t always give my best at work, but I want to start doing so. God, I haven’t refused gossip; I’ve listened to it. But I don’t want that anymore. And God I have to admit I’m not real a lot of times. A lot of times I’m faking it, but I don’t want to live like that anymore.” When you come to God and say God this is my heart, “I really want to become a person of integrity,” you will experience the Lord’s forgiveness, freedom and fulfillment in your life in fresh new ways.
Thoughts to meditate on and Discuss
What does the word ‘integrity’ mean to you?
What are some principles that you need to live by to be a person of integrity?
What are the benefits of ‘living with integrity’?
