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Jan 30, 2022

Integrity

Preacher: Andrew Repsold

Series: Essentials for Spiritual Strength

Keywords: truth, character, integrity, consequences

Summary:

This last in our short series on Essential Character Qualities for 2022 and Beyond deals with INTEGRITY. This message will help you see the vital necessity of this quality in your life if you are looking for a meaningful, full and God-glorifying journey.

Detail:

Sermon: INTEGRITY

Mosaic Fellowship

1/30/2022

 

Today’s Biblical character qualities needed for 2022 and beyond: INTEGRITY.

  1. What is it? (Integrity)

example definitions:

-strength of character

- a person of integrity is someone who keeps their word (especially when it costs them to do so)

-reliable

-faithful to the promises they make (ex. being faithful to love Katie (care for her, remain faithful to her…sexually) even if she gets in a terrible accident or has a stroke etc.)

-true through and through   (A diamond has integrity if it has internal abilities…structural integrity….no flaws in it…only as strong as its weakest link)  strength, visible cracks

durability/integrity issues that are invisible: put the diamond between cross polaroid filters (turned 90 degrees to another

-moral incorruptibility… no moral compromises. (You cannot buy off a person of integrity)

 

The Slogan of Integrity would be:

“Do the right thing.”

In other words, if someone asks a person of integrity why they did something honorable, they will respond,

because it is the right thing to do (or at least, I was convinced it was the right thing to do.)

examples:

-George Washington cherry tree at 6 yrs old.when dad asked he told the truth.

Bible Verses:

  • Mark 12:13-14

13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[] to Caesar or not?

  • 1 Kings 9:4 ESV

4 And as for you, 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

(notice how it is tied in with observing God’s decrees (designed into the fabric of his kingdom) and laws (rules/guidelines flowing from his character on how we are to conduct ourselves within the kingdom he decreed)

  • Nehemiah 7:2

I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do.

  • Job 2:3

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

Biblical definition of Integrity: an individual who fears God above all other things. (audience of one mindset

  • Proverbs 29:10

The bloodthirsty hate a person of integrity
    and seek to kill the upright.

  1. How do we get it or strengthen it?

How do we become people who fear God above all else? Who know his character and decrees and commands and are so convinced of them (convicted of their truth) that they then live it out no matter the cost.

-you have a relationship with him.

-you seek to learn more about his decrees and laws by reading his word.

-community with those who are more mature in Christ (have deeper conviction/greater faith, and thus greater integrity)

1 Kings 9:4-5a again…

            4 And as for you, 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

To be people of deep we must KNOW the commands and decrees of God.

We can have zeal and be upright in heart and if we have no knowledge of God’s character and his decrees and laws, we could be promoting damage!

  • Romans 10:1-4

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

  • Philippians 1:9-11

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

  • 1 Corinthians 4:4

4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Wherever my life does not line up with God’s decrees and laws, I am a transgressor of the law and at fault…guilty. Just because you have good intent and a clear conscience (one you never violated, does not mean you are a person of integrity….biblically speaking. You are a person of zeal without knowledge, and that is not a good thing).

Milton Friedman — 'One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.'

Proverbs: simple, fool, mocker.

  1. What can we expect when we live lives of integrity? If we live with growing integrity, what can we expect to experience in our future days?

-it could shorten your life. (not because you are more anxious and have a heart attach, but because people of integrity stand in the way of ‘bloodthirsty’ men and women).

-it may cause you to be in prison longer. (our judicial system does not always reward integrity. example: a less severe sentence if you confess to a crime you did not commit.

  • 1 Kings 9:4 again…

4 And as for you, 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

More positive things:

  • Psalm 41:12

Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.

  • Psalm 25:21

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.

  • Proverbs 10:9

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

  • Proverbs 11:3

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

But we have loads of negative results from integrity:

-Joseph goes to prison because he won’t sleep with his master’s (Potiphar) wife.

-Job loses all of his children, his wealth (crops and livestock) and his health because he is a man of deep integrity.

-Daniel gets thrown into the lion’s den

-Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abed-Nego) get thrown into a furnace.

Integrity in Daniel

(scriptural references of his story)

(parallels/lessons for us when we pursue integrity)

  1. Expressing integrity is inconvenient. by definition! You cannot display integrity if there is no cost in displaying it.

King Nebuchadnezzar sacks Jerusalem and decides to bring back young jewish men who are gifted with “knowledge and good judgement” and are suitable to serve in the royal palace. Train them for 3 years during which they are assigned daily rations of food and wine to eat.

Daniel 1:8 (NIV)

8 But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.   

(Q. why was he determined of this? how did he know which food/drink would defile him?

  1. He knew God’s laws and sought to obey them above all authority…fears God above the most powerful King in the world)

Ashpenaz (the kings Chief of Staff) is worried that they will become “pale and thin” compared to the other youths and the king will have him beheaded for not raising up strong young men for his service.

Daniel’s response: shows wisdom and discretion!

1:12

12 “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. 13 “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” 14 The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.

After 3 years, they enter the kings service and part of their work involves consulting the king:

20 Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.

One night King Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream and he gathers his astrologers, magicians, sorceress and demands they interpret the dream AND first tell him what he dreamed. They cannot so he orders that all the “wise men” in Babylon be executed.

So a soldier goes to get Daniel to kill him and this is what it says,

14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” So Arioch told him all that had happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant.

God reveals the dream to Daniel that night while his three friends pray for him and is then rewarded and appointed to a high position in the kingdom.

(interlude between bowing down to gold statue and his three friends)

Later in his life, Darius the Mede takes over and also sees Daniel’s great ability and makes plans to put him in charge of his entire empire in some way.

6:4

4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

7b

Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions.

10

10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 

If someone were to ask Daniel why he continued to pray with his window open, he would say., because it is the right thing to do.

21

21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.

Benediction:

We want to be wise and full of integrity like:

The wise men

The men of Isachaar (1 Chronicles 12:32)

-people described in revelation? …so that we might understand.

1 Peter 3:13-17

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Where are you likely to break?  (diamond analogy)