“A Closer Look: Integrity”
Introduction:
We live in a world which lacks character and integrity and in a world like this the church does not stand out as a group of people who have integrity. As you look across the world you can see that it is integrity starved. From the White House to Hollywood, we have seen that America has very little integrity. What about us as the church? Where do we fall into the picture?
Documented in a book by James Patterson and Peter Kim, the Day America Told the Truth, (1991), Americans were asked: “What are you willing to do for $10,000,000?”
Would abandon their entire family (25%)
Would abandon their church (25%)
Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)
Would give up their American citizenships (16%)
Would leave their spouses (16%)
Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
Would kill a stranger (7%)
Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
Don’t you want to be a people of integrity like God calls us to be?
Integrity is who we are when no one else sees what we are doing. It is easy for us to come to church Sunday after Sunday and be religious and say and so religious things. It is easy to say, “Amen” and “brother”, but where there real difficulty lies is living out our faith day after day when we are all alone. Integrity shows us where our hearts are. It does no good to just act or play church. I believe that there are a lot of Christians who are just good actors. There are people who put on a show when they are around Christian people, but then they become just what the world is when they are in the world. Those people are just what Jesus called the Pharisees, whitewashed tombs who make the outside look good, but are dirty on the inside. Are you a whitewashed tomb? Are you putting on an act? I believe that there are some people in the church who are putting on the best performances of their lives. I hope that your faith is real and that you are not just playing Christian, but have truly been changed by the gospel and grace of Jesus. I hope that when you are away from the church and away from Christian people that you live a life of integrity.
In a world which is not concerned about the way that we live and how we live, we have more need to live a life of integrity. You may think that no one knows what you do sometimes and it does not hurt anyone so it is alright. Many people think that the only way that you sin is if others are hurt by it. The truth of the matter is that even if no one sees your sin, or the things that you do, God does. God sees all and we must give an account to him for everything that we do. God will one day expose all of our sin and bring it into light. We cannot hide sin from God and what more reason to live a life of integrity. Perhaps the world does not care what we do, but God does.
I hope that we all want to live lives that please God, not just in the sight of men, and to gain respect, but because we really want to please God.
Joseph is a great example of integrity in his life.
Text: Genesis 39:1-15
I. People of Integrity run from sin
The thing I love about Joseph was his desire to flee from sin. He ran away from sin at all costs. When you think about the situation that Joseph was in you see that no one would have known if he would he would have given in to the temptation. He wasn’t concerned about that fact, he was concerned because he knew that God would know about his sin and he didn’t want to sin against God. Don’t you want to live a life like Joseph’s?
It is so temptation to sin when you think that you may get away with it.
Four high school boys were late to their morning classes one day. They entered the classroom and solemnly told their teacher they were detained due to a flat tire. The sympathetic teacher smiled and told them it was too bad they were late because they had missed a test that morning. But she was willing to let them make it up. She gave them each a piece of paper and a pencil and sent them to four corners of the room. Then she told them they would pass if they could answer just one question:
Which tire was flat???
The truth of the matter is that we never get away with it. There are always consequences for our sins. Do you do your best to run from sin? Perhaps the sin that tempts you is not the same temptation that Joseph dealt with and ran from. A person of integrity does everything they can to avoid sin, because as the scriptures teach if we fear and love God we will hate evil and run from sin. There are many Christians who set themselves up in situations that make it easy for people to fall into sin. People so often don’t seem to mind to face temptation. I hope that we can all be like Joseph and run from sin so that we do not fall into that sin.
I understand that sin can be appealing, and tempting. Sometimes it seems like sin might feel and look really good for a time. Maybe you enter situations thinking nobody will know and it won’t hurt anyone. The truth of the matter is sin destroys and separates us from God. Sin might have pleasure for a while, but sin has punishments that are not worth it. As you talk to people who have lived lives full of sin, you learn that it does not satisfy and please. Only a life dedicated to Jesus can fulfill you.
I hope that you are not playing church. I hope that your faith is real, and not just an act. In a world full of people acting and playing Christian, I hope that each of us will be people of integrity. I hope that we live our lives alone before God the same as we live here at church in front of all these people.
It may seem impossible to live a life of integrity in this world that is so full of sin, but it is not impossible. I’ll admit it is never easy, but if we view sin like Joseph did it will not be as difficult. When we hate sin the way that God does, violating the law of God will seem disgusting to us. We should hate the things of the world that God hates, and do what we can to avoid participating in those things. We need to run from sin because we are people of integrity. We need to strive to be more that whitewashed tombs, but to truly live out our faith even when no one else is there to see what we are doing. I want to be a person of integrity and character who lives for God as best as I can. Sure, I know that no one will know those things I do in secret. No one will know what I do when no one else is around. No one will know the thoughts that come into my head, and the language I use when I am alone, but God will. We are not going to stand at judgment before the preacher, or the elders, or church members. We are going to stand before God and give and account for those things we do, even the things we do when we are all alone.
II. People of Integrity repent of their sin
While we are called by God to live lives of integrity and are called to be sincere in our faith and for us to live out the faith that has already changed our heart, we all are going to mess up. We will all sin, we will all for short of the glory of God. No matter how good we are, and how much integrity we strive to have we all will sin against God. A person of integrity can admit those mistakes that they make.
David is called a man after God’s own heart. Was this because he was perfect? Was it because he was more righteous than anyone else? Of course not! David had serious issues in his life. When David saw Bathsheba he conspired in his heart a way that he could son. He committed adultery and then devised a plot to cover it up, having her husband killed. David had sinned big time against God. When David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, he fell down before God and repented of his sin. He felt a sincere remorse for the horrible thing he had done against God. He prayed to God to purify his heart. King David was not by our standards a man of integrity, but he was sincerely repentant for his sins.
Perhaps today you have sin in your life. Perhaps you feel so deep in sin that you don’t see a way out. A person of integrity can admit when they are wrong. I believe for the most part David strived for godliness despite given in to temptations. The Proverbs teach us that a person that is wise is able to accept instruction and to admit their mistakes. I am thankful to God that we have a way out from our sins. Just because we sin does not mean that we stand judged by God. We have a way out from our sins. God promises that if we simply confess our sins and change for the better that he will remember our sins no longer.
Do you stand here today wanting to be forgiven and to find a way out from your sin? If so, God can wipe those sins away. In fact, God wants to forgive your sins, but that forgiveness is contingent on your repentance. I hope that no one is too proud to admit their mistakes. One of the greatest things about being able to admit your mistakes is that it gives you a clean slate and a fresh start.
Just because you have sinned does not make you evil or incapable of doing right. Just because you have made mistakes does not mean that God cannot use you and that you are a wicked person. We all are going to sin, even the best ones among us. The difference is, who is going to have the humility to confess their sins and strive for godliness. The worst type of sin is the unrepented ones and the worst sinners are the ones who are too hard hearted to admit they are wrong.
Ananias and Sapphira were an example of people that could not admit they were wrong. It started when a man named Barnabas sold all his land and gave that money to the apostles as a gift to the church. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be generous too and wanted to give to the Lord. They took their land and sold it, and came to lay the money at the apostle’s feet. Instead of giving all the money the withheld some of that money for themselves. When they were questioned by Peter if that was all the money they both lied and said that it was. They were given a chance to admit their mistakes, but they did not repent. The truth of the matter is that if we have been forgiven of our sins God will not remember them, but if we are too proud to admit our mistakes here on this Earth we will face punishment for them when we die or when we stand before God. I hope that we all want to be forgiven. Perhaps you have made mistakes and have not been the person of integrity that you would like to be, you can find grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
III. People of Integrity strive for godliness
While we all do sin and fall short of what God expects of us that does not mean that we do not strive for perfection. We are all called to live at a high standard. A person of integrity will live their lives striving for godliness. Just because we miss the mark, does not mean that we cannot strive to do right. So many times people give up and give in and stop striving for godliness, but we are called to persevere. One of the greatest calls for godliness is found in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:1-2
A person with a heart for God is going to always strive to please God. It is so easy to get down in the dumps and to feel inadequate, but we need to live as close to the Lord as we can. This means that we deliberately strive for this. I hope that we all have the same goal and that is to be a godly person. I want people to see Jesus in my life. I will never claim to be perfect or without sin, but I always want to strive to do right in the eyes of God.
I Timothy 4:8
We can strive to do a lot of things in this world. We can train our bodies to build muscle. Obviously as you look at me you can tell I have spend a lot of time in the gym training my body and pumping iron. You don’t get a body like this over night. Physical training has some value, and I recommend that we all strive to be in shape and to take care of our bodies because they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but godliness has much greater value than all that. We can strive at the work place to make a lot of money and to make good impressions on people and that has some value here in this life, but godliness has value in this life and the life to come. You have never seen a hearse pulling a U-haul. We can accumulate masses of things here, but we cannot take it with us. We need to be striving for things that matter, things that last forever, things that will matter in the end of things. Perhaps the world may think you are odd, perhaps you will loose friends being a Christian, but we are going to Heaven, and nothing here matter except what we do for Jesus. I hope that you are striving and training yourself to be more like Christ that you are striving for godliness. Are you striving to become more like Jesus every day? Maturing as a Christian and becoming more Christ-like is a process it does not happen over night. It happens by doing things deliberately. It happens through the study of His Word, because faith comes from hearing the Word of God. It happens through building a relationship with God and communicating to God through prayer. It happens through being the fellowship with other believers.
A person of integrity runs from sin the best that they can, and when they fall into that temptation they are willing to repent and change for the better, and then they are willing to continue to strive for godliness and to become more like Jesus every day.
