Sermon Tone Analysis

A Call to Integrity

Let’s start with a hypothetical question.

Let’s say you are out in the county and you approach a crossroads.

You see a stop sign for your direction.

You can also see for miles in every direction.

There’s not another car in sight.

You are the only car at this intersection at this time.

There is absolutely zero chance that another car will be anywhere near you when you get to the intersection.

The question is this, do you stop?

Or do you just slow down?

Or do you “California” stop?

Or do you just blow off the sign all together and continue on your merry way?

That question is more than just hypothetical to me.

The first church I pastored was a very rural church.

And we had just such an intersection.

And while I couldn’t see anyone anywhere as I pulled up and stopped, one of my deacons congratulated me later because I had stopped.

He had seen me.

I was so glad I stopped at the sign.

I had considered blowing it off.

I was running late.

Nevertheless, I stopped.

You may be wondering what in the world that has to do with Joshua.

Let me make the connection for you now.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines integrity as “ 1 the quality of having strong moral principles.

2 the state of being whole.

▶ the condition of being unified or sound in construction.

▶ internal consistency or lack of corruption in electronic data.

You see, to act with integrity is to be consistent in our actions.

Having integrity means I keep my word.

It means my actions won’t change because circumstances change.

The best example of integrity I can think of is God Himself.

You see, to act with integrity is to be consistent in our actions.

Having integrity means I keep my word.

It means my actions won’t change because circumstances change.

The best example of integrity I can think of is God Himself.

You see, to act with integrity is to be consistent in our actions.

Having integrity means I keep my word.

It means my actions won’t change because circumstances change.

The best example of integrity I can think of is God Himself.

God’s love was consistent.

It was and is the same.

His love is so complete that it was DEMONSTRATED by His one and only Son dying on a cross.

That’s integrity.

That’s meaning what you say.

That’s living what you claim to believe.

And I wanted to start out this morning defining integrity, because as we dig into this next scene in the book of Joshua, we’re going to see someone with absolutely now integrity demand that another maintain perfect integrity.

It is quite the story.

Strong and Courageous

I’ll remind you that we have been looking at the book of Joshua this summer in a series we titled “Strong and Courageous”.

We have worked through Joshua taking the reigns of leadership of the nation, the nation miraculously entering the Promised Land, the fall of Jericho, the sin of Achan, the fall of Ai, and, last week, the renewal of the covenant with God.

We looked at how Scripture was central to that renewal and I challenged you to let Scripture be your guide for all areas of life, including worship.

Yes, Joshua had the nation pause in their conquest of the Promised Land to worship, but as we come to our story today, we will see the battle will come to them.

They don’t have to go find the fight this time.

Before I continue let me say that these 2 chapters in Joshua are not limited to the theme of integrity.

Please understand that I am not mining the full depths of what is here today.

Instead, I believe God would have us learn this one lesson today.

If I were to preach on this passage again, God could lead me in many different directions.

There is much here.

So, I am going to read a few verses and demonstrate how integrity is part of those verses and then move on through the whole story.

We won’t read all of chapters 9 and 10 this morning.

Take those chapters as your homework.

So, let’s look at a couple examples of integrity beginning in

Josh 9:1-2

A Call to Integrity

The word is out.

Joshua is leading Israel to take the land.

Jericho was a might city and it fell, so all the other kings decided to make a pact.

Jericho and Ai fell alone, maybe they could survive together.

6 city states banded together to try and stop what God was up to.

But, remember, God told Joshua that they were to be defeated because of their own sin.

The battle is brewing.

These 6 decide to make a pact.

But there was another who did not band together with these 6.

Josh 9:3-

A Call to Integrity

Gibeon plans carefully to deceive Joshua and Israel.

They get old clothes and moldy bread to make it look like they had been traveling for weeks.

They put on sandals that had been patched like they had been walking for a long time.

They planned their deception very carefully.

No detail was left out.

They looked like they had been on the road for a long time.

The whole reason was because they had heard what happened at Jericho and Ai.

Rather than play the victim or join the rebellion, they decided to try deceit.

Remember, the point today is integrity, but that is not what Gibeon is about.

After careful planning, they bring the lie to Joshua and the leaders of Israel.

Josh 9:14-15

A Call to Integrity

The lie goes from what they are wearing and carrying to what they are saying.

And they heap it on deep!

The leaders are initially suspicious, but they give up their doubts with the visual evidence.

Notice how the Gibeonites used God to help advance their lie.

They came because they had heard of the name of the Lord God of Israel.

So, between pretending to fear God and some worn out clothes, shoes, and wineskins and some moldy bread, they begged the Israelites to make a treaty with them.

There is no integrity here, just lies upon lies.

We would hope that God’s chosen people would see through this mess, that they would ask for God’s wisdom before making any treaties.

Let’s read on

Josh

A Call to Integrity

The worst phrase in this whole story for me is there in verse 14.