Integrity: Walk the Talk
I John 2:6
Dec. 2001
Integrity is tough to find these days. Osama Bin Laden says he is innocent, and now we have video evidence that he was indeed behind the Sept.11 attacks. The new Notre Dame football coach who was just hired, worked all of five days, and is now out of the game cause he padded his resume i.e. he lied.
How many of us have heard of or hurt by scams? Brux Austin, the editor of Texas Business magazine, has written rather despairingly: "What is going on in North America?. . .We have no built-in beliefs, no ethical boundaries. `Cheat on your taxes, just don’t get caught. Cheat on your wife, just don’t get AIDS.’ Our high-tech society," he writes, "has given us everything - everything but a conscience," It appears integrity is a mangled casualty of our times.
There is a terrible price to pay for the lack of integrity:
So fearful were the ancient Chinese of their enemies on the north that they built the Great Wall of China, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was so high they knew no one could climb over it, & so thick that nothing could break it down. Then they settled back to enjoy their security.
But during the first 100 years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded 3 times. Not once did the enemy break down the wall or climb over its top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper & marched right through the gates. According to the historians, the Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.
If we say we follow Christ, we need to live with integrity …
A. Walk the Talk. 1 John 2:6
Matthew 22:16 (NIV)
“Teacher we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God
in accordance with the truth. You are not swayed by men, because you pay no
attention to who they are.”
i. Who said this?
i. Why is it important we know who made the above statement?
i. What are the implications for us?
Scientists now say that a series of slits, not a giant gash, sank the Titanic. The opulent, 900-foot cruise ship sank in 1912 on its first voyage, from England to New York. Fifteen hundred people died in the worst maritime disaster of the time.
The most widely held theory was that the ship hit an iceberg, which opened a huge gash in the side of the liner. But an international team of divers and scientists recently used sound waves to probe the wreckage, buried in the mud under two-and-a-half miles of water. Their discovery? The damage was surprisingly small. Instead of the huge gash, they found six relatively narrow slits across the six watertight holds.
Small damage, invisible to most, can sink not only a great ship but a great reputation. (Just as the ex- Notre Dame football coach found out.)
USA Today, April 9, 1997.
Jesus cared more about what His Father wanted than what other people expected. A good definition, then, of what integrity is about - Jesus!
B. Integrity: It starts with the heart.
i. Admit who we really are: Romans 3:9-14 (NLT)
9 Well then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. 10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is good—not even one.
11 No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.
12 All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong.
No one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their speech is filled with lies.”
“The poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
Look at Jesus assessment of the human heart: Mark 7:20-23 (NKJV)
20And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22“thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23“All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
A poll done by The Minneapolis Star Tribune a few years ago found that 65% of the people in Minnesota believed in hell. That is a pretty high number. Only 15%, however, said they knew someone who would be a sure bet to go there, and only 3% felt that they themselves deserved to end up in hell. In other words, most folks accept hell as a reality, they just don’t see it as a danger. Most folks believe they are pretty decent, but God procceeds to point out to us why we needed the Christmas story, why we needed a Saviour whose name is Jesus “he will save his people from their sins.”
i. Realize how often we just go through the motions of worship.
Have we not on many an occasion come to God thoughtlessly? With no heart? With no real worship? Are we even aware what an affront that is to God? How often we go to worship as a rule rather as a matter of the heart? Isaiah 29:13 (NIV) The Lord says:
"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
i. Lead a life of dependence on God’s grace and forgiveness.
We can’t get away from the fact that we do sin, we are only fooling ourselves, if we say we don’t sin. Praise God He provided a way for us through Jesus, our Savior. Thank God for His mercy, that His lovingkindness is awesome!
1 John 1:8-2:2 (NLT)
8 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. 2 He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
ii. Integrity starts in the heart, with the confidence that it comes as a gift from God.
II Cor. 3:2,3 (NIV)
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”
Like Paul we can get the confidence/competence from God, stand with integrity because of all God has done for us. See Hebrews 10:19-20 (NLT) 19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us.
C. Practical Ways to Live with Integrity
First question is, "What is the source of my values? I’m getting them from someplace. Where am I getting them?" Now that is an important question, because where I get my values determines how valuable they are.
Would you consider the National Inquirer a good place to get your values? Would you consider TV talk shows a good place to get your values? Yet, if you are an average American, you’ll spend 1,000 hours in 1997 watching television. Which means that by the time you’re 65 years old you will have spent 15 years, 12 hours a day, 365 days a year just watching the tube - 15 years of your life.
In contrast, if you go to church every Sunday of your life for 65 years you will have spent a total of 8 months receiving spiritual teaching - 8 months compared to 15 years. That’s a big difference, isn’t it?
As a nation, we’re largely being molded as to what morality is, what decency is, what integrity is by what we see on the TV set and Hollywood. Take a look at the way you budget your time, money, energy, relationships, go through it and see if you have
i. Submitted to the truth of God’s word.
Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)
For the word of God is living 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. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Implications?
ii. A commitment to please God alone.
Are we swayed by human opinions easily?
Matthew 6:16 (NIV)
"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Implications?
iii. Committed to help each other out
Galatians 6:1-3 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.
Implications?
iv. Met regularly before God in worship
Hebrews 10:24-25 (CEV)
24 We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things. 25 Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.
Implications?
D. The Benefits of Integrity Filled Life
i. Personal Satisfaction: Galatians 6:4 (NLT)
Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.
ii. Personal Witness: 1 Peter 3:15-18 (NLT)
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
18 Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
iii. Protection from Evil: Proverbs 11:3 (NKJV)
The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
iv. Pleasure of God: Proverbs 12:22 (NLT)
The LORD hates those who don’t keep their word, but he delights in those who do.
v. Principle of Reward: Matthew 6:18 (NIV)
“…and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
