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The Conundrum of Integrity By Pastor Dan Kennedy © July 12, 2015b www.pastorkennedy.com Not long ago I was reading in Proverbs 11; verse 3 intrigued me. Proverbs 11:3 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. What Guides Us in this Life? We live in a world that needs positive guidance, because we constantly need to make decisions. • Where we live • What we do • Where we go • Who we marry • What occupation we are seeking • What friends we have • What happens to our children • Who we are • Who we trust • Who is our God How do we make good decisions? How do we know how to make the best decisions? • What benefit is it to live the life of a Christian? • Why trust in Christ; seek to avoid what is wrong, and honorably follow what is pleasing to God? • Why spend time in prayer; read, study, and meditate on the Word of God? • Why choose different associations than those in the world around you? We build these spiritual activities into our lives because what we put into our lives will more and more become who we are. We make decisions based on all the factors in the Reservoir of “Who We Are”…still within the reality of our own carnality – because we are creatures in a fallen world struggling with the world, the flesh and the devil. However, people who have, by the power of the transforming Spirit of God, consistently put into the Reservoir of their life, the principles of God’s Word (Rom. 12:1-2) through the transformation of their minds, make decisions throughout life from what they have allowed into the core reservoir of their mind and heart. Games... My wife and I were playing a game on the picnic table as we were camping on our 40th Anniversary, and I thought to myself…people could cheat playing this game in order to win – but we have no desire to cheat, because of something deep within the core of our being. That “something” is called “integrity”. We could lie or cheat, but because the dimension in the core of our heart called integrity it would make us feel guilty if we participated in deception. If you and I have been filling the reservoir of our soul with that which is honoring to God, then when we come to making decisions in life there is something that guides our decisions and, by the oversight of the Holy Spirit, gives us wisdom to make good decisions. Who a person is, is often obvious to others. A person’s speech, reasoning, logic and bearing, portray what they have allowed, for many years, to fill the reservoir of their being, often reveals the character of a person. The “fruit” of their life is evident for all to see…it is only hidden from themselves. People may outwardly look more sophisticated – they my live in “high society”, have financial security, portray religious posturing, or have positions of power, while also embroiling themselves in serious depravity. They think no one can see who they are – cloaked in self deception, when in reality, that which they continually allow into the core of the reservoir of their life will reveal itself to others...and in the end they will stand before the Living God. In considerable contrast, people with integrity carry with themselves the truth of who they are. These too, do not have to explain themselves to those seeking to live honorably before God, because their presence reveals who they are. There were three young men who rode up to the church on bikes the other evening…riding highway 101 in anticipation of a future trip for charity. It was obvious to those who met these “strangers” that they were young men of integrity, and, as we later found out, they were men who willingly confessed their faith in Jesus Christ. Who they were, was evident. What is “Integrity” and how is our life and the decisions we make affected by this quality of our character? Most people feel they have integrity, but their opinion of integrity is often based on their opinion of themselves and the foundations on which they build their life. Integrity in every Society Stratum The concept of “integrity” is a conundrum because its definition of terms seems to fluctuate, and its advantages become a benefit (and even expected) in every stratum of society, good, bad, or in-between. Honor Among Thieves There is an old adage: “honor among thieves.” But is this “honor” the kind of integrity that God wants His Children to have? This is a conundrum! Yes, thieves seem to have honor among themselves, but If they do not keep honor and trust among thieving associates, they could easily die for their miscalculations. To simply have honor among our carnal selves does not mean we have integrity before God. It simply means we are feeling good about how we are living life among our peers, in respect for each other’s values or non-values. These fluctuating expectations often do not include the dimensions of integrity that God expects from His Children. • Persons can rise in the world’s spotlight through extraordinary gifting, diligence, hard work and perseverance in business, religion, science, athletics, music, politics, or many other fields of expertise. Some spend years in study, practice and/or physical exercise so they can excel in their discipline. It is a tragedy to see some of these gifted individuals who have excelled in his or her field, only to succumb to broken relationships, illegal activities and/or substance abuse in the years following their golden successes. Are they now revealing who they have been on the inside, all along? The values of integrity affect every level of society, but the variations of integrity so highly expected in each stratum of society do not necessarily include the integrity that God expects from His Children. Who is a Christian? • “By their ‘fruit’ you will know them.” How is fruit revealed? It rises from “who we are”. Who we are, rises from our relationship with God Our relationship with God focuses our attention on what we should or should not allow into the core reservoir of our being. What we allow into the reservoir of our life not only bears fruit revealing who we are, but also guides us in the decisions we make in life.  The Presence of the Holy Spirit Those who by faith believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin are redeemed from the guilt of their sin, before God, by Christ’s blood (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:12-14; Rom. 3:21-26). These are indwelt by the Holy Spirit 2 Cor. 5:17; 6:19-20, being transformed and “born again” into the family of God (John 1:12-13; 3:3-7; Titus 3:5-7). Through the Holy Spirit’s power those so changed are empowered to endure and overcome to live honorably before God, in this sin-ridden, kingdom of darkness (John 16:33; Rom. 12:21; 1 John 5:4-5).  Believers in Christ still struggle with: the World, the Flesh, and the Devil Dying to Self and Living to God (Romans 7; Gal. 2:20). Christians can also struggle with “sins, which so easily beset us” (Heb. 12:1). If we do not “put off” and “die” to these sins, how will they affect our integrity before God and others? As we seek to have integrity before God, that same integrity will guide us in the decisions we make in life, together with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Blessing of Forgiveness 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Integrity in the Life of the Righteous According to Proverbs 11:1-21 Righteous • Honesty: Accurate weights (v. 1) • Humility and Wisdom (v. 2) • Integrity guides them (v. 3) • Delivered from death (v. 4) • Blamelessness makes a straight way (v. 5) • Righteousness delivers them (v. 6) • Rescued from trouble (v. 8) • Through knowledge the righteous escape (v. 9) • The city rejoices when the righteous prosper (v. 10) • The city is exalted through the blessing of the upright (v. 11) • A man of understanding holds his tongue (v. 12) • The truly righteous man attains life (v. 19) • The Lord delights in those whose ways are blameless (v. 20) • Be sure of this: those who are righteous will go free (v. 21) Wicked • Dishonest Scales (v. 1) • Pride and disgrace (v. 2) • Destroyed by duplicity (v. 3) • Wealth worthless in day of wrath (v. 4) • Wicked are brought down by wickedness (v. 5) • Unfaithful trapped by evil desires (v. 6) • At death his hope perishes…all expectations from their power comes to nothing (v. 7) • Trouble comes on the wicked instead of the righteous (v.8) • With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor (v. 9) • When the wicked perish…shouts of joy (v. 10) • The city is destroyed by the mouth of the wicked (v. 11) • A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor (v. 12) • He who pursues evil goes to his death (v. 19) • The Lord detests men of perverse heart (v. 20) • Be sure of this: the wicked will not go unpunished (v. 21) The Benefits of Living a Life of Integrity before God 1. God is honored by a life seeking integrity before Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him. Job 2:3 3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 2. According to God’s Word, maintaining Integrity in our life will give us the best opportunity to make good decisions throughout life…and life’s final outcome for the believer in Christ, when we stand before God, could never be better. 1 Kings 9:4–9 4 And as for you (Solomon), if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’ ” Proverbs 11:3 3  The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Proverbs 2:7 7 he (God) stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, Proverbs 10:9 9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. Proverbs 20:7 7 The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! Proverbs 28:18 18 Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall. 3. Integrity reveals itself by its unsuspecting presence in our life and the blessedness of its precious fruit. Proverbs 11:30 30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. Proverbs 12:12 12  Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit. Isaiah 3:10 10  Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 4. We face God’s Judgment when we do not walk in integrity before God – either in this life, or after life, before God, at His Judgment. Hebrews 9:27 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment… Matthew 16:27 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Examples of Earthly Judgment of Wrongdoing Jotham confronts Abimelech and his king-makers Judges 9:16-20 is Jotham’s condemnation of those who placed Abimelech in power. Jotham was Gideon’s (Jerubbaal) only surviving son of his 70 sons murdered by Abimelech in his ruthless power grab to become king. Judges 9:16–20 16 “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal (Gideon) and his house and have done to him as his deeds deserved— 17 for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, 18 and you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— 19 if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” The leaders and cities of Shechem and Beth-millo, who gave money and supported Abimelech’s violent rise to power, were shamefully destroyed in war, and King Abimelech was killed when trying to burn down a tower full of people who had rebelled against him. A woman, on the tower, threw down an upper millstone and crushed Abimelech’s skull…fulfilling Jotham’s words. Jehoshaphat and Ahab God heard the cry of Jehoshaphat and the king was saved in his integrity, while the wicked King Ahab could not hide and avoid being judged and killed. 1 Kings 22:29–38 29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 35 And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!” 37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. What is the benefit of a Godly life? Conclusion Benefits of a Godly Life? • What benefit is it to live the life of a Christian? • Why trust in Christ; seek to avoid what is wrong, and honorably follow what is pleasing to God? • Why spend time in prayer; read, study, and meditate on the Word of God? • Why choose different associations than those in the world around you? We build these spiritual activities into our lives and “put off” things of the world, because what we put into our lives will more and more become who we are. They become a guide in how we make life’s decisions. These decisions will follow us to God’s Judgment. The Integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Proverbs 11:3 http://www.pastorkennedy.comshapeimage_2_link_0