INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: I have been talking to you about Leadership and Service Excellence. After introducing the theme of Excellence, our first sermon was on Excellence in Influence. Last week, we began talking about Excellence in Integrity. Today, I want to continue to talk to you about Integrity. You see, integrity is a leadership essential. I am not just about filling up pews. My objective is to creative leaders of those sitting in the pews through what I say, how I say it, and what I demonstrate.
Series Review: We continue our series on God-glorifying excellence. We’re not about perfectionism. Neither are we about a snooty sophistication, elitism and professionalism. Rather, we believe that excellence in Christian living and work, when expressed with humility and authenticity, glorifies God and inspires people. When we do all we can within our God-given resources to pursue our tasks at hand with excellence in mind, that moves people toward the majesty and beauty, and order of God. It makes the New Community an inviting place to be. People love to be around excellence.
Illustration: If you heard my introductory message on this subject, you will recall my story about Roy and Ethel Nelson and how we decided we would really do an excellent job at hosting them, how that they loved it, and how they just went on and on about their entire weekend. In fact, Roy said, “Now Joey, sometime I just want to come back and sit in your living room for a while. I don’t want to teach or speak or anything like that. I just want to be there.” At that point, Dot and I looked at each other and thought, “Man, we were way to nice.” [By the way, if they come back, please don’t offer to get them a copy of the cassette tape the day that I told that story.] Well, I got an email not long after I told that story and once again they were grateful for all that we did for them. And then, just last week, I got a brief letter. I’ll share it: “It was just WONDERFUL to be in your house and church. We enjoyed it so much. God is so good. We have asked people to pray for your brother Jeff. Please pray for our scheduling. We want to go where the Lord wills.” Roy & Ethel Nelson.
Application: People love excellence. It makes a lasting impact. That’s why I’m moving you toward this noble, high-calling.
Title: Excellence in Personal Integrity, Part 2
Definition: The idea of completeness or wholeness is at the root of the Hebrew term (thamam) for integrity. The term “integrity” has within it the idea of an integer. What is an integer? Within the realm of mathematics, it is one whole number. It is not one number and part of another number. It is not fractionalized. Rather, an integer suggests completeness or wholeness.
Application: When we apply this concept to our lives, we understand that we are considered whole or complete people when our beliefs have been integrated into our behavior. A person of integrity is not fractionalized with duplicity or hypocrisy. A heart and life of integrity is consistent in one honest, simple direction. If a person of integrity begins a job, they finish it. If they make a promise, they keep it. If they commit a huge mistake, they admit it. If they believe something, they support that belief with their lifestyle. In this sense, they are whole and complete without a fractionalized life.
Illustration: We live in a world where a good impression is all that matters. But if that is merely the extent of our integrity, we can never be a woman or man of God. We will never graduate with our MOG or WOG degree if impression and personality projection are all that matters to us.
Key Word: Peter Deison has noted THREE MAJOR EVENTS in the life of David. It’s my contention that these THREE MAJOR EVENTS demonstrate for us what integrity is. We will take these in reverse chronological order and we’ll deal with the first of three events today. We will start with a major event later in David’s life, then a major event in young adulthood, and finally a major event in adolescence that defined how he was a man of integrity and a man after God’s own heart. Each of these major events will be treated as individual messages.
Text: 2 Samuel 11:1-27; 12:1-7,13
OUTLINE
First, David’s Sin with Bathsheba – He was Willing to Face Sin (2 Samuel 11:1-27).
Opening Statement: In the book Strengthening Your Grip, Charles Swindoll tells the following story about integrity.
“Some time ago, I heard about a fellow in Long Beach who went into a fried chicken franchise to get some chicken for himself and the young lady with him. She waited in the care while he went in to pick up the chicken. Inadvertently, the manager of the store handed the guy the box in which he had placed the financial proceeds of the day instead of the box of chicken. You see, he was going to make a deposit and had camouflaged it by putting the money in a fried chicken box. The fellow took his box, went back to the car, and the two of them drove away. When they got to the park and opened the box, they discovered they had a box full of money… He realized there must have been a mistake, so he got back in his car and returned to the place and gave the money back to the manager. Well, the manager was elated! He was so pleased that he told the young man, “Stick around, I want to call the newspaper and have them take your picture. You’re the honest guy in town.” “Oh, no, don’t do that!” said the fellow. “Why not?” asked the manager. “Well,” he said, “You see, I’m married, and the woman I’m with right now is not my wife.”
Application: On the surface of life, we demonstrate integrity. We return money that’s not ours. We pay our bills on time. We work hard at our jobs. We volunteer at church. But if someone were to write a story about your life, would we really want them to write everything?
Transition: You see, David was a good man but vulnerable to failure. This is the same guy that wrote all of the hymns and Psalms. It’s the same guy that defeated Goliath. It’s the guy that wanted to build a splendorous temple for God. And yes, the Bible recorded his failure for the Bible does not flatter its heroes. This fact actually authenticates the Bible.
Background: Allow me to summarize the passage. Fifty-year old David committed adultery with Bathsheba and she gets pregnant. To cover it up, he pulled her husband out of battle, gave him a months leave, got him drunk and sent him home, hoping that they would do what husbands and wives do after a long period of separation. But that didn’t work. Eventually, David had him killed by sending him into the most dangerous situation while in battle and then abandoning him in the fight. When the smoke finally cleared, two people were dead and two families destroyed. After learning of Uriah’s death, David sends for Bathsheba and marries her. Not long afterwards, he buried their newborn child. David then covered the whole affair (adultery and murder) for at least a year. In a most dramatic moment the prophet Nathan told a story to David that would later implicate him in his crime. Nathan pointed a long bony finger at the king and said, "You are the man!" {2 Sam 12:7 RSV}. David knew then that his sin was uncovered. His tender heart was moved. Nathan the prophet confronted David over his sin in the entire Bathsheba episode. David could have killed Nathan and still covered his sin. But instead, he dealt with his pride, lust, and passions. It was not David’s sin but his response to his sin that marked David as a man after God’s own heart.
Recitation: 2 Sam. 12 1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 "The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 3 [Nathan uses common sense and God’s guidance. He’s going to tell a former shepherd a sheep story.] "But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb [a female sheep] Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him [He was too stingy!]; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." 5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 "He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion." 7 Nathan then said to David, " You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ’ It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. [He goes on to explain all of the blessings that God had given to David. It is clear that David was like the rich man with plenty. He had all that he could ever want and then some. But instead, he took the one thing that poor Uriah had going for him – a beautiful wife. David was stood aghast when Nathan turned the story on him. - skip to verse 13] 13 Then David said to Nathan, " I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die [Why a story? Why not just let David have it head-on, with both barrels? Many will point out that this is a skillfully employed tactic, which gets David to pronounce judgment on the crime before he realizes that he is the criminal. I think this is true. David is angry at this “rich man’s” lack of compassion. If he could, he would have this fellow put to death (!). But as it is, justice requires a four-fold restitution. But having already committed himself in principle, Nathan can now apply the principle to David, in particular.]
Observation: At some point in your life, all of you will face an experience that God will use to surface sinfulness within you. Your response to that experience will determine your integrity. Will you stand as an entire unit, an integer to face the fact that your behavior did not match your belief? Or, will you fractionalize or compartmentalize or cover the stumble and act like it didn’t happen. You see, people who pursue excellence in integrity do mess up, but they come clean and that makes all the difference with God.
Exposition: What does integrity look like when facing the truth? Psalm 51
Recitation: As we read, keep in mind that David is suffering from intense guilt. He’s not necessarily concerned with putting his thoughts in a nice, neat order. He rushes from thought to thought, trying to regain some sense of spiritual balance.
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love! Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! Generous in love – God, give grace! Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.
51:2 Scrub away my wrongdoing! Cleanse me of my sin! Scrub away my guilt, Soak out my sins in your laundry.
51:3 For I am aware of my rebellious acts, I am forever conscious of my sin. I know how bad I’ve been; My sins are staring me down.
51:4 Against you, especially you, I have sinned, I have done what is sinful in your sight. So you are just when you confront me, you are right when you condemn me.
You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil.You have all the facts before you; Whatever you decide about me is fair.
51:5 Look, I was prone to do wrong from birth, I was a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, In the wrong since before I was born.
51:6 Look, you desire integrity in the inner man, you want me to possess wisdom. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
51:7 Sprinkle me with water and I will be pure,Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, Scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
51:8 Give me the ecstatic joy of being forgiven! May the bones you crushed rejoice! Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, Set these once-broken bones to dancing.
David wasn’t relaxing and taking life easy, sipping lemonade on his patio, during the aftermath of his adultery. Count on it . . . he had sleepless nights. He could see his sin written across the ceiling of his room as he tossed and turned in bed. He saw it written across the walls. He saw it on the plate where he tried to choke down his meals. He saw it on the faces of his counselors. He was a miserable husband, an irritable father, a poor leader, and a songless composer. He lived a lie but he couldn’t escape the
truth. Sin does this to you.
51:9 Hide your face from my sins! Wipe away all my wrong acts! Don’t look too close for blemishes, Give me a clean bill of health.
51:10 Create for me a pure heart! Transform me and give me integrity! God, make a fresh start in me, Shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
51:11 Do not reject me! Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me! Don’t throw me out with the trash, Or fail to breathe holiness in me.
51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance! Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! Bring me back from gray exile, Put a fresh wind in my sails!
51:13 Then I will teach rebels your merciful ways, and sinners will turn to you. Give me a job teaching rebels your ways So the lost can find their way home.
51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, O God, the God who delivers me! Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, And I’ll sing anthem to your life-giving ways.
51:15 O sovereign master, give me reason to celebrate! Then my mouth will praise you. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise.
51:16 Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it, you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
A flawless performance is nothing to you.
51:17 The “sacrifices” of God are a humble attitude. O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject. I learned God-worship When my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love Don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
51:18 Be favorably disposed to Zion! Build the walls of Jerusalem! Make Zion the place you delight in, Repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
51:19 Then you will accept the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings, Then bulls will be sacrificed on your altar. Then you’ll get real worship from us, Acts of worship small and large, Including all the bulls They can heave onto you altar.
Identification: I dare say that all of us here have lived through that moment of defeat, when integrity was compromised; a student cheating on a test, caught by the watchful eye of a teacher; a spouse cheating in his/her marriage, caught by the by the other spouse; a respected businessman caught by the IRS for lies he told on his tax forms. In small ways and large, we have ALL felt the agony of compromising integrity. David was caught. He felt the agony. He felt the pain of realizing his cover up had failed to hide the ugly truth. Every one of us has a sin-story to tell; stories where we take charge of our own lives and assert control over the lives of others. The precise details of our sin may not correspond to David’s, but the presence and recurrence of sin does. When integrity is compromised, the Christian has a unique place to turn that will take him past the sin and on to forgiveness. The secret to peace when we lose the battle with sin is found in the confession of David (51:4), “I have done what is sinful in your sight.”
Quotation: I love the Eugene Peterson quote that balances this message: “In the Christian life our primary task isn’t to avoid sin, which is impossible anyway, but to recognize sin.” What he’s driving at is that our primary role in the Christian life is not to be a “sin-watcher” as if we should go looking for sin and issuing warnings and threats about sin. When Christians devise “checklists of things to avoid” what they are doing is training Christians to become “sin-watcher” Christians and thus are robbing others the full meaning of grace. That’s not what the Christian life is about. The Christian life is about really living life to its intended fullness and when a sin-story mars it, then we quickly and readily admit our role and guilt in the story. I make this important point because it is our instinct to hide our faults, and to keep our shortcomings from the view and knowledge of others. But the person who is aware of the greatness of God’s mercy and the extent of God’s love, knows that he can know no blessing or joy until his sin is laid bare before God, recognized, acknowledged and confessed.
Quotation: Another author has suggested that: “When you can sin and live with it, you’re in trouble.” When we learn to accommodate our sinfulness, we can’t find resolution.
Application: You need God, peace, and his forgiveness, more than you need Bathsheba. I don’t know what your Bathsheba has been. But there’s a price to pay for going after Bathsheba! When you and I sin, and our sin is made known, we may very well suffer for years or even our entire lifetime because of our sin. David’s life proves it. After Uriah and Bathsheba, David lost the illegitimate child; David experienced rape within his own family; he lost his son Absalom; he was never able to build God’s temple – something he desperately longed to do.
CONCLUSION
Illustration: Oley (Olay) Boule (Bull) was a marvelous classical violinist of a preceding generation. He went all over the world giving concerts. In fact, one of the greatest concerts he ever played was in Paris when right in the middle of the concert all of a sudden his “A-string” broke on his violin. Instead of saying “Hold it! Hold it! Everybody wait a few minutes while I restring this.” Right there on the spot, Oley Boule just transposed the notes and finished the entire concert on three strings. How many of us have had to live out life just like that? It may be the most thrilling part of all – the fact that we wanted four strings and one of them is broken and we’ve just got three strings left and the most thrilling part of life is to be able to finish strongly on just three strings. As much as we would have liked to have listened to this great concert violinist with all four strings marvelously tuned, I dare say that most of us, if we could have watched this renown violinist just once, would have chosen to see him on that night in Paris when his “A-string” broke and he finished out the concert on just three strings. Some of you are going to have to live and finish life on just three strings. You’re going to have to improvise and be creative, but by God’s grace you can do it. And in the end, your life, though marred with sin and broken strings, can be a marvelous work of art, all because of Christ. There are some Psalms that we would have never had if it had not been for David being forced to deal with life on just three strings.
Point Conclusion: God loves us when we fail and when we allow impurity into our private worlds, but He also loves us too much to leave us there. While we do make mistakes that we do face, would it not be far better to avoid through God’s power as many spiritual failings as possible so as to avoid all of the heartache and grief that such failings produce in our lives? So while we believe that it was not David’s sin but his response to his sin that marked David as a man after God’s own heart; we also believe that living a life of integrity through the enablement of the Savior and Spirit to avoid failure, positions us to be a greater blessing to our community, our church, our family, and our God. So, while integrity causes us to be honest with our sin when it happens, it also positions us to live a life free from guilt with the assurance that we are being positive role models, that we love and walk with God in unbroken fellowship, and that God can use our lives for a great impact in our community and places of employment. But this all begins with the basic belief that I will always be a man or woman that it willing to face and deal with my transgressions.
Question: Is your heart completely his? No locked closets or secret places. God is allowed full and complete access to all parts of your heart. It’s so important to give Him full, unrestricted access. It’s so important to decide ahead of time to do the right thing so that there are no regrets.
Illustration: Bernard Shaw, the winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize for literature was asked by a reporter if he could live his life over, and be any person he has known, or any other person in history, who would he be? Mr. Shaw replied, “I would be the man that George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was.”
