Sermon Tone Analysis

*A Life of Integrity*

Psalm 15

A number of years ago the Douglas Aircraft company was competing with Boeing to sell Eastern Airlines its first big jets.

War hero Eddie Rickenbacker, the head of Eastern Airlines, reportedly told Donald Douglas that the specifications and claims made by Douglas’s company for the DC-8 were close to Boeing’s on everything except noise suppression.

Rickenbacker then gave Douglas one last chance to out-promise Boeing on this feature.

After consulting with his engineers, Douglas reported that he didn’t feel he could make that promise.

Rickenbacker replied, “I know you can’t, I just wanted to see if you were still honest.”

·         What makes the difference between someone you admire and a person who disappoints?

·         What causes you to change your view on a person?

·         What is it that causes you to loose respect for someone?

·         What is it that can ruin our witness?

·         Spend any time with someone else and you will soon discover what makes them tick.

·         You will begin to understand if what they do and say matches up with what they believe.

·         This is the essence of integrity.

We may not be able to always control what others think of us but we can be people who are trustworthy.

·         We can be people who honor Christ and the relationship we have with him and demonstrate this in how we proclaim Christianity to others.

·         In the end we do not have much if we do not have integrity.

If our character is tainted or spoiled it is pretty difficult to regain it.

·         So what does God consider some of the qualities of a person of integrity?

·         Psalm 15 gives a good understanding of what it means to have a character that pleases God.

 

 

\\ Why should we live a life of Integrity?

(15:1)

 

*15:1* Lord, who may be a guest in your home?

Who may live on your holy hill?

 

·         The Psalm attributed to David opens with a simple question seeking to understand who may have fellowship with God.

·         It is a question that every person serious about life must ask.

What am I here for?

Why do I exist?

·         I come out of womb, get wiped, burped and changed, grow up, get a job, raise a family, retire, spend time with grandchildren, get wiped, burped and changed, and die.

What is the point?

·         Why should I try to be a moral person?

Why does it make a difference whether I treat others with dignity?

·         What do I have to gain by thinking of others before myself?

Why should I be a good husband, wife, mother, father, child or student?

·         David asks a similar question.

Who is good enough to enter God’s tent.

Who has the integrity, the noble life, the moral existence to be in the presence of God in all his majesty?

·         The very question is much deeper than we may at first realize for it presumes that any meaning in life, any person who wants more out of this life should be wondering where God is in it all.

·         It leads its readers to ask another question.

Why would I want to be a guest in God’s home, why would I want to be in God’s presence continually?

·         It asks more.

What is needed for me to be in God’s presence?

What allows me to be included in God’s home and family?

What must I be like in order to enter God’s presence?

·         While in the form of a question that seems to not relate to the issue of this psalm the question asked by David is asking a question about the essence of why we are created.

·         It asks a question about why it is important that we live a life of integrity.

The final answer is only given in verse 5 but David wants to spark our interest, get us to reflect deeper on who we are and why we do the things we do.

Greyhound racing, a popular betting sport in some parts of the country, attracts crowds who enjoy watching incredibly sleek and beautiful dogs run as fast as they can around a track.

Unlike racehorses, greyhounds run without the assistance of a jockey.

To keep the dogs running in the right direction, they are trained to chase a mechanical rabbit made of fur as it zips along the track in front of them.

A man in the press box electronically controls the speed of the rabbit, keeping the rabbit just out in front of the dogs.

The dogs never catch up to it.

At a Florida track some years back, a big race was about to begin.

The dogs crouched in their cages, ready to go, while betting spectators finished placing their wagers.

At the proper moment, the gun went off.

The man in the press box pushed his lever, starting the rabbit down the first stretch, while the cage doors flew open, releasing the dogs to take off after the little rabbit.

As the rabbit made the first turn, however, an electrical short in the system caused the rabbit to come to a complete stop, to explode, and to go up in flames.

Poof!

All that was left was a bit of black stuff hanging on the end of a wire.

Their rabbit gone, the bewildered dogs didn’t know how to act.

According to news reports, several dogs simply stopped running and laid down on the track, their tongues hanging out.

Two dogs, still frenzied with the chase, ran into a wall, breaking several ribs.

Another dog began chasing his tail, while the rest howled at the people in the stands.

Not one dog finished the race.

·         Are we asking the right questions or are we living life thinking we have the answers?

·         What is your purpose and how does that purpose affect how you live?

·         Maybe you have not thought much about it.

The question we then need to ask ourselves is how has the purpose of others shaped our lives?

We are all going in a direction either passively or actively we are fulfilling a purpose.

What Kind of life must we live?

(15:2)

 

*15:2* Whoever lives a blameless life, does what is right, and speaks honestly.

·         Verse 2 has three clauses that provide for us a general overview of what it means to live a live of integrity.

·         What does it mean to live a blameless life?

Does it mean that we can never do anything wrong?

Could any of us ever hope to be a person of integrity worthy of being in God’s presence if we are to be completely blameless?

·         Can we be people who always do what is right?

Is it reasonable that we can go through our entire lives without ever making a mistake?

What is God calling us to do?  How can he expect so much?

·         The third clause is better translated “and speaks honestly from the heart” providing us with the idea that the source of integrity and a place before God must have a heart that is true, righteous and blameless.

What we say should be the product of our pure heart.

·         How can we ever always have a heart that is pure?

Is there any hope for us before God?

·         This verse uses three words that demonstrate the direction our lives should take.

We are instructed to live  (or walk), do (our actions) and speak (our words) in such a way that has integrity.

A life of integrity allows us to be close to God.

·         Being blameless, righteous and honest in our hearts are all trying to reinforce the same thing.

·         So our question is still before us.

How can any of us possibly live up to this?

·         It is important for us to understand that the word blameless has a range of meaning.

Often it was used to describe the sacrificial lamb worthy of being offered.

It has also refered to a life that is considered not guilty and held to account.

It refers to that which is undamaged.

The meaning that is being used in this psalm is one that defines blameless as “one who’s heart is completely undivided.”

Psalm 119:80:

 

May I be fully committed to your statutes, so that I might not be ashamed.

·         The life of integrity is one that is completely undivided, it has no other focus, intent or purpose.

We need to be undivided in our life, actions and words.

·         What does it mean to be undivided?

What is God expecting of us if we are to live a life that is not distracted and concerned with things more than Him?

There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves.

The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other.