Finicial Integrity

Our mighty God and Heavenly Father we turn to you, very conscious that apart from you we can do nothing. Conscious that we are prone to wonder. Therefor we pray that you would send the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts to hear from you this morning. May we also be conscious that all we do, is for your glory and not our own. Hear us, we humbly pray to you our Father, in Jesus name. Amen.

If you go to the average person (Christian or not) and you ask, "Should anyone ever steal from you?" “No one should ever steal from me ever. That's my right.” Do you know you have a responsibility not to steal from anyone? "Well, you know, there's circumstances--my life is hard. You don't understand."

We should say, “I have a right not to be stolen from AND a responsibility not to steal from others."

And what starts to undermine an entire culture is when people are far more committed to their rights than their responsibilities and getting what they think they should get, rather than giving generously what God wants them to give.

We all here have stolen! At first, we steal our parent’s hearts. Then a cookie from the kitchen, a pencil from a classmate, money from someone’s change jar, we have stolen time at work, fudged on our taxes, and downloaded something we had no rights to.

I want you to momentarily think about the areas in your life where you have stolen in the past, and are tempted to steal today.

*PAUSE*

So, the question is not if you are tempted to steal, but when are you tempted to steal – will you instead pursue a path of integrity?

The question of why people steal is explained by sociologists using a theft triangle.

According to this concept, theft occurs when three elements are present: (1) Desire, (2) Opportunity, and (3) Justification.

1. Hey - there it is. It looks good and I want it.

2. I can get away with it.

3. It’s someone’s fault that I don’t have it.

That’s EXACTLY HOW Genesis 3 went down!

1. Hey, there’s some fruit!

2. I want that fruit! Ignore all the fruit I already have. THIS fruit is the source of all goodness.

3. It’s God’s fault I don’t have the fruit.

The human equation never really changes, does it?

That being said, I have a list of ways that we steal. I'm sure it's not an exhaustive list, however, let me just give it to you so you have some concept of how deep and how broad the problem is, SO that we see it as God sees it.

Just for a moment, consider the following:

These would constitute stealing:

shoplifting,

underpaying your taxes,

filing false insurance claims,

false billing clients and/or false billing an employer,

misusing company funds,

killing time at work,

not paying your employees a fair wage,

taking supplies and/or stocked goods and items from your employer,

plagiarism,

illegal downloads, etc.

Psalm 26:1 (ESV)

Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have walked in my integrity,

and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

It damages the reputation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when those who fly the Jesus flag don't have integrity when it comes to the issue of money. They raise their hands, they sing their songs, take notes from the sermon, but when they come to the proverbial fork in the road, they're takers, not givers.

SOLUTION (SCORRE):

Psalm 7:8

The LORD judges the people.

Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

We all desire to be men and women of God with unwavering integrity so let’s look at our integrity in a few key areas.

Integrity in the workplace

Killing time at work:

A survey by Salary.com found that 89% of workers admitted to wasting time at work every day. Of these people, 61% claim to waste between 30 minutes to an hour a day. While this may not seem like much, it can add up to 5 hours a week or 260 hours a year - per employee.

1 DONUT SHORT EXAMPLE

Stealing goods/services from your employer

10-10-80 rule: 10% will never steal, 10% will steal as soon as the opportunity presents itself, 80% will go either way. Business owners are more fearful of the staff stealing than the customers. They are aware that more theft goes out the back door than the front.

False billing of hours for client or employee

Have you been deceitful when it comes to billable hours? Have you billed a client for 1 hour when it took 15 minutes? Have you had a co-worker edit your timecard to benefit you (showing up late, leaving early)? Have you changed the price for an item or service depending on the customer? Oh, “Pastor Dan” is here, he’s loaded! Have you seen his house? He can afford a bit extra.

So, God’s blessing on Dan’s life has caused jealousy in you, discontentment with God being a Sovereign God, and a justification for stealing from this fictional “Pastor Dan”. Feeling convicted yet? Okay… Let’s look at our homes.

Integrity at home

Proverbs 20:7

The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

What in your home is stolen? Close your eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind’s eye, the items that you have stolen.

*PAUSE*

Do you have pirated music, movies, and games? Do you have things in your possession that you borrowed and never returned? “Well, they moved away”. Okay, contact them, apologize, and pay them for it. Have you taken anything from a member of your family without consent? Money, clothes, tools, treat food (our home), really really good left-overs? For the more tech-savvy among us, do you use a VPN?

Integrity before God

Tithing

Proverbs 19:1

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity

than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

Story of giving my kids money to buy Slurpee

As we’ve learned though Finical Peace University, giving back to God is a way of saying thank you. It’s a form of worship. But today I’d like to share why I am such a firm believer in tithing. Tithing allows the church to continue to operate and be there for the NEXT person to learn about Jesus. It’s not about me. It’s about them. I was once lost. Seeking to learn about Christianity. I went into a church that others paid for by others. I listened to a band that used resources paid for by others, listened to a pastor that was paid a salary by others. Who had a staff… you can see where this is going, that it was all paid for by others. My family and I, faithfully giving every week, gives me hope that other seekers will be able to come and learn about the Gospel. The Good New of Jesus Christ.

Being a good steward

Are you being a good steward of what God has entrusted to you? Are you blowing your resources on foolish living? Gambling, multi-level marketing schemes, bad investments, are you just lazy and not working as unto the Lord? Do you stay up late, wake up at the crack of lunch, show up to work late, get fired, and try to claim discrimination, attempt to get some sort of government hand out? Or when you work, do you do it with integrity? Have you been doing your utmost to glorify God with everything He has entrusted to you?

Closing:

REVIEW

If we are not content in our relationship with God and with what He has graciously provided to us, we WILL be tempted to try and find our contentment in other things, and if necessary, steal that which we think will help us feel content. God knows that will make us miserable in the end, and so He calls us to be content with what we have.

APPLICATION – DO NOT READ

What steps will you take to live a life of integrity before God and others?

James 1:5–8 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Trust – Seek – Write

· Trust that God is going to give you wisdom

· Seek through His Word for the wisdom He as already poured forth

· Write it down so that you don’t forget it.

James tells us, if any of us lack wisdom to ask for it. Obviously, this means that we should ask God the Holy Spirit for wisdom, but I want you to also look around for the people God has put in our life who have gained wisdom in the areas that you are lacking.

· Talk to those who have great marriages

· Talk to those who have obedient children

· Talk to those who understand Biblical finances

· Talk to those who have a great work ethic

· Talk to those who have overcome addictions

· Talk to those who are passionately perusing Christ

Those who have a bible that is falling apart, usually have a life that is not. Talk to them the most.

CLOSING - The grace of the Lord Jesus has been poured out on all of us and there is never an excuse for us to steal from God and others. My purpose today was not to beat you up, but to build you up. For the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas of your life that you have perhaps become hard hearted and closed fisted. Martin Luther said that a Christian’s life is one of repentance. I do love you, and in that love I pray that we would have a soft heart to repent of what the Holy Spirit has brought to mind. For strength to follow where Jesus would leads us. To be content with the life He has given us, to be a good steward of His resources, and to generously use them to bless others. May our commitment to biblical integrity be used to glorify God and be a light in our community.

The best way to make your “yes” be a yes and your “no” be a no - is to align yourself with God’s great calling upon your life. Commandments only get us so far; trying to white knuckle it, doing it by your own strength will only lead to pride and eventual failure. Identity in Christ and the Spirit’s work in us will take us where we need to go.

PRAYER – Father God, thank you for being our Father. Lord Jesus, we thank you for being our Savior. Holy Spirit, we thank you for instructing us, convicting us, leading us, empowering us, and transforming us. God, it is it is all about Jesus and I do pray that our finances would be most utilized for the ministry of Jesus. That our external influence would be leveraged for the cause of Jesus. That our leaders would follow Jesus, and that our community would gather together in homes and small groups to read the Bible about Jesus. To confess our sins to Jesus until one day we get to see you Lord Jesus face to face. We pray for our town, we pray for our church, we pray for the pastors and teachers in our community, and we come to you with just humble gratitude that grace has been given and that we have received it. Amen.

Related Media

Related Sermons