A Man Of Integrity

Job is a man of integrity. His integrity is legend.

The backwoods preacher found a small boy all alone, playing in the dirt. “Where’s your

father?” the preacher asked. The boy said, “He was hanged last week.”

“Where’s your mother?” “She run off.”

“Where’s your sister?” “She’s in jail.”

“Is there anybody else in your family?” “Yup, I’ve got a brother.”

“Where is he?” “At Harvard University.”

“Well, at least one member of your family is doing well. What is he studying?” “Nothin’. They’re

studying him.”

I’m sure you know the story. God permitted Satan to destroy everything in Job’s life, almost everything that he had. And then at the end of the story, God restored double what had been destroyed, because of Job’s patience and obviously because of the faithfulness of God under trial.

I’m much more interested in looking into the man’s character than I am into his circumstances. I want to see what made Job tick. This man who couldn’t curse God. What kind of a man was he? We want to look inside of Job, to get to know his heart, to find out what was at that very warp and woof of his being. What is it that made him respond to this tragedy in the way that he did? And when we accomplish this, I think we’ll be better prepared to handle those disasters that come into our lives as well.

can of shaving cream, and read the words on the label…

In fact, those words have me reading labels these days, on everything…

Those words said; Warning; contents under pressure, Do not puncture or incinerate…. Do not throw into fire… It even said, keep out of the reach of children… Harmful or fatal if swallowed…

And the words caught my attention, because they summarize the situation going on in so many lives of the children of God….

They are living under pressure… They are on the verge of an explosion…

They are just a few degrees away from losing it… They can’t stand the heat, but they don’t know how to get out of the kitchen… The pressures, and the calamities of this present life are destroying them… They are living under pressure, wondering just how much anyone is expected to take…

Many of them ought to wearing a sign this morning, saying warning, stay away…

Warning… danger approaching… Many of them ought to be wearing a sign saying keep out of reach of children…

What kind of a man was he? What was down there deep inside that showed up on the outside? Well, today our focus is going to be on Job’s integrity.

Chapter one, verse one. "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, one who feared God, and eschewed evil."

’perfect.’ Everything about Job’s character will relate to these two words. The word is perfect. The second word is upright.

"upright" simply means to be straight or not deviating from any of God’s standards. I think it reinforces the description of Job as being perfect.

If we were to look into a Hebrew Bible, we’d learn that the word perfect is the Hebrew word tam. And it means to be complete or entire, not lacking in any respect. I suppose an equal word to that would be the word "blameless." Corresponds to the Latin word integer. And obviously, we get our word integrity from that word.

He was a man who was blameless. He was a man who was upright. He was a man who had absolute and complete integrity.

Today, integrity is a word that’s losing a lot of its meaning. It means to be sound in moral principles, being upright, honest or sincere. Job was all that and more, but he was a man of integrity. He was a man without moral blemish. In these waning years of the twentieth century, I wonder how many of our politicians we could say are men and women of integrity. I wonder how many preachers are like that?

Sixty-five percent of America’s high school students say that they would cheat on an important exam. What are we teaching our kids about integrity? Fifty-three percent of them said that they would lie to protect a friend who vandalizes school property. All this is based on a LOU HARRIS poll of more than 5,000 children between fourth and twelfth grade, in public, private and parochial schools.

What does integrity mean? How will you and I know if we have integrity?

Ted Engstrom "Simply put, integrity is doing what you said you would do." It means you keep your promises.

If you promised the Lord that you would give Him the glory, integrity means you keep on doing whatever you need to do so that you give Him the glory.