Integrity in Living
Design for Discipleship • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:16
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· 356 viewsJeff Curtis leads us in communion through reading about the crucifixion of Jesus, in John 19:16-37. Pastor Chase continues in the series titled "The Character of a Follower of Jesus" talking about living a life of integrity.
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Intro
Intro
When you hear the word integrity, what pops into your mind?
Who, in your life, has shown you the greatest example of integrity?
Why is integrity so important?
The english word integrity comes from the Latin word Integer, which means whole or complete.
We know this term mostly from mathematics however it plays into our character as well.
If we have a pizza which a lot of people will later today...
The Super Bowl is to the food industry what Christmas is to retailers.
The only other holiday where we consume more is Thanksgiving.
During the Super bowl over 12 million pizzas are consumed!
But if we took a pizza and cut it into separate pieces and ate some of it we would not have a whole pizza, would we?
As we look at this concept of being whole, when we as humans feel we are missing part of us we begin to fill it with things whether emotionally or physically.
But as believers we have experienced that Jesus fills our life to make us whole again!
But when we question our purpose as a believer, we can not live with true integrity.
Because our purpose is to glorify God through our words, thoughts and actions living with integrity is the result.
When we question our purpose we can often fake our walk with the Lord to others instead of pursue a life that pleases and brings glory to God.
Integrity is aligning our beliefs about God, His Word and bringing Him glory through our words, thoughts and actions.
When we don’t align our actions with our beliefs we easily become hypocrites.
A hypocrite is a theatrical term which refers to those who wore masks to pretend to be someone they were not.
Jesus calls out the Pharisees who acted this way in Matthew 6.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Rather than make ourselves look more spiritual or full of integrity we pretend and eventually get found out that we are a hypocrite.
Today we’re going to look at the topic of “Integrity in Living” through the lens of Scripture.
The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for integrity “Tom”, means straight.
A few words that are described in this way in the OT are:
Righteousness
Let the Lord judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity, O Most High.
Uprightness
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, Lord, is in you.
Blameless
I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.
Also in the OT there were some said to be designated persons of Integrity...
Noah
This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Abraham
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Job
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
David
“As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,
In the NT the only reference to integrity is in Titus.
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
We can of course look to the Beatitudes for this concept of integrity before the Lord.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
And later we can look at the book of James for this concept of being a person who is not a hypocrite...
That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
We can get a sense from a lot of these Scriptures that being a person of integrity is a person who is not double minded or a hypocrite but someone who is thought to be blameless and upright in character.
Read page 61 in “The Character of a Follower of Jesus”
Let’s look at some ways that we can be deceived away from integrity:
By ourselves...
James 1:22 says that we can be deceived by only hearing God’s Word and not doing what it says.
In 1 John 1:8 we can deceive ourselves by pretending we don’t have sin in our lives.
We can be deceived by others:
In Romans 16:17-18 Paul says that we can be deceived by those who are out to cause division and create obstacles to God’s truth by spreading lies that sound so close to the real thing.
And Paul says they do this by smooth talk and flattering people.
In Ephesians 4:14 Paul tells the church of Ephesus that these deceivers are crafty and filled with schemes.
We can obviously be deceived by Satan:
In Genesis 3:1 it is recorded that Satan is craftier than any other beast.
John 8:44 says that when Satan lies he speaks his native tongue.
And in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 Paul says that Satan attacks our thoughts with imposters of Jesus, lying spirits and different gospels.
Why do we talk about deception?
Because if we have understood that our purpose is to pursue a life that pleases and brings glory to God by our thoughts, words and actions- Satan is going to try and stop us in different ways.
Satan can’t be everywhere at one time, because he is not omnipresent like God is, but with the distractions we have today, he doesn’t even need to be!
A person of integrity is a person who does a few important things:
1) They allow Go to search their hearts and lives for faults.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
2) They allow the Word of God to penetrate their hearts and lives.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The more we get away from accountability before God and other believers pursuing the Lord we more we hide in darkness and isolation.
As Moises brought up last week, in the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus he says this:
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Here’s the reason we hide- we have a tendency to sin and we think we can’t be seen in the dark- but God sees us.
Others may not, until we’re caught, but God always sees us and He is the one we should be worried about.
The part that is freeing but not always comfortable is that God’s light exposes our sin and what we do in the darkness.
It’s never fun to be caught in sin, whatever it is, but when we are it exposes us for who we are and from there we can take two paths.
Pursue forgiveness and restoration or go back into the darkness.
A person of integrity chooses forgiveness and restoration.
Not because it’s pleasant but because it is what glorifies and pleases God.
Read Acts 5:1-5 of an example of someone who choose not to pursue integrity.
Lies compromise trust and respect.
Two attributes that are required for integrity.
It may seem like a picture is being painted that we must all have integrity and therefore be perfect.
But integrity is built up over a lifetime and doesn’t come over night in the same way our trust and respect is built up by others.
Our integrity is only as good as our walk with the Lord is.
What does Integrity protect us from?
READ 1 Thessalonians 2:4-10
Paul gives us 3 examples for what integrity protects.
False gospel
Dishonoring God
Glorifying our egos or other’s egos
People with integrity should be honest, this would seem to be a given but what about these areas in our lives that don’t seem as important:
1) Taxes
2 ) People in authority
3) In our jobs and with our co workers
4) Paying our workers fair wages
5) Our time spent online
We could go on...
Here are a couple practical standards that this study guide book mentions having to do with honesty:
Make sure that all you own was/is obtained honestly.
Speak only what is true, there is no such thing as a white lie.
READ Matthew 12:34-35
A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
As we said before a person with integrity is a person seeks forgiveness...
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Accountability is so important, for all believers!
It is impossible to be a person of true integrity without accountability.
I am thankful for other believers in my life who hold me accountable, first and foremost my wife.
Who do you trust in your life enough to know the “real you” and to hold you accountable as a follower of Jesus?
If you don’t have this person pray for God to send that person in your life.
And if you are one who is hiding in darkness, find that person to help, and hold you accountable even quicker!
READ quotes on pages 58 & 59 “Measure of a Man”
Integrity is so important, not only because we are expected to pursue it as followers of Jesus, but because we are to set an example- and witness through our lives to those around us who do not have Christ in their life.
Integrity is one of the best ways we can share Christ with others.
Jimmy Needham, one of my favorite musicians wrote this earlier this week...
“One of the best tools in evangelism is genuine curiosity about the other person’s life and opinions. It’s amazing what doors open to me to share Christ when the other person feels heard and not patronized.”
Lastly, to be a person of integrity we must be a person who is patient in listening to others and first of all to the Lord.
We do this through a lot of prayer.
Prayer and humility before the Lord is the ammunition to live a life of integrity.
Today I want us to close by reading through Colossians 3 together, I will pass the mic around.
As we read this and close I want you to think of all the things in this passage that go into living a life of integrity before the Lord and then if you are moved, when you get home write them down, and pray over them for your own life.
Let’s Pray