LIVING WITH
INTEGRITY
Introduction:
2006
started as a bad year for Charles Moore. He lost his job as a roofer in Toledo,
Ohio, and decided to return to his hometown of Detroit in search of work.
Things progressed slowly, however, and Moore soon found himself living on the
street.
Then, in July, he stumbled upon 31 U.S. Savings Bonds
in a city trash bin while searching for empty bottles to return for deposit
money. Amazingly, Moore tracked down the family of the bonds' owner with the
help of a local nonprofit group called the Neighborhood Service Organization. Ernest
Lehto had initially purchased the bonds during the 1980s at a face value of
$8,900. Having matured, they were worth $20,738.88 when Moore found them.
Ernest had passed away in 2004, but Moore returned the
bonds to his son, Neil Lehto. For his honesty and effort, Moore was
given $100. "I was thankful for it," he said. However, when local
media picked up the story, Neil Lehto began receiving scores of vitriolic phone
calls and e-mails from angry community members decrying him as cheap and
ungrateful.
Lehto, a lawyer, blamed his 82-year-old mother, saying
she was the sole beneficiary and had determined the reward amount. "That
generation of people would consider $100 an adequate reward," he said. The
community went ahead and rewarded Moore handsomely.[1]
What reward is genuinely adequate for integrity? Here's
a man who should be worried and thinking about himself by all rights but took the
time to think about others," Isn't that what we're all supposed to be
doing?" The homeless man Moore exemplified integrity.
That's how God wants us to live a life with integrity.
The apostle Paul showed the Corinthian believers how he lived with integrity
and was straightforward and honest in all dealings with them. He pointed them
to God, who values and rewards integrity. II Cor 1:12-24.
I.
Paul's life of integrity. (12-14)
Integrity is the quality of honesty and strong moral
principles you refuse to change. In the OT, the Hebrew word for "integrity"
means "the condition of being without blemish, completeness, perfection,
sincerity, soundness, uprightness, wholeness." Integrity in the New
Testament means "honesty and adherence to a pattern of good works."
Among the other letters from Paul, the II Corinthians
is the least systematic and doctrinal and the most personal letter that he
wrote. Paul's intense emotion and fiery personality are revealed more clearly
here than in any other Epistle. In verses 12-14, Paul clarified how he lived a
life with integrity in front of the believers and the world.
Paul said with confidence and a clear conscience that
he and the disciples lived among the believers with God-given holiness
(honesty) and sincerity in all their dealings. What a powerful assertion, not
in some transactions but in all. Could we say the same with confidence?
How do you conduct yourself in front of your family, Church,
and world? Unfortunately, these days we cannot differentiate between the
followers of Christ and non-believers. It is hard to tell who is right or
wrong, who is telling the truth or not. Some Christians conduct their dealings
as crookedly as others. Can you and I confidently say that we live a life of
such Integrity as Paul's? God expects all of us, his children, to live with integrity.
Paul exhibited integrity through his words and
actions. How about his writings? Paul's letters to the believers were
straightforward. They didn't have to read between the lines to make sense of
what he was writing to them. They were profound, yet people could easily
understand them.
In other words, he did not mislead people through his
writings but pointed them to God, who desires honesty and truth from our
inward parts. That was the proclamation of David after he was confronted
and exposed for his adultery and murder of Joab.
Psalm 51:5-6, "For
I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 But you
desire honesty from the womb, (heart), or inward parts." On the contrary,
these days, some political leaders, even after confrontation and exposure, do
not admit their sins or wrongdoings. Their followers cannot care less if their
leaders are living with integrity or not.
Why was Apostle Paul insistent on defending his life
of integrity? The answer is found in verses 15-18. The Corinthian Church had
been infiltrated by false prophets challenging both Paul's Integrity and his
authority as an apostle. Because he had announced a change in his itinerary, he
would now pay the Corinthians one (spending a long winter) visit instead of two
(short) visits, one on the way to Macedonia and the other on the other on the
way his return.
These adversaries asserted that his word was not to be
trusted. In that context, Paul said, you may be asking why I changed my plan.
Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the
world who say "Yes" when they really mean "No"? 18 As
surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between "Yes"
and "No."
Do you say yes when you mean no, and
no when you mean yes? God wants us to be the men and women who would be
straightforward in saying a yes or a no. It is hard for many of us to say no.
Sometimes, out of our need to please others, we say yes, when we mean no.
II.
Jesus lived with integrity
When Paul said, in verse 18, "As
surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between "yes"
and "No," on whom was he basing his confidence? Or who was he
imitating? It was Jesus who unwaveringly lived a life of integrity. Jesus is
the perfect example of a man of integrity. Jesus was wholly man and wholly God
at the same time, and He was tempted in every way we are, yet He never sinned
(Hebrews 4:15); that is the definition of integrity. Jesus is the only one who
was ever without blemish, perfect, and wholly truthful.
Paul exalted Jesus' Integrity in verses 19-20,
recognizing Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who doesn't waver between "Yes"
and "No." He and other apostles preached of Jesus, who always did what
he said. Then he proclaimed, "For all of God's promises have been
fulfilled in Christ with a resounding, "Yes." God's promises of
forgiveness, salvation, peace, joy, hope, love, etc., have been fulfilled in
Christ. Paul encourages us to imitate him as He imitates Christ.
III.
Living with Integrity
Why a life of integrity, you may wonder? If you are a
follower of Christ, you are called to follow in his steps by living your life
with integrity. What does living with integrity practically mean? We must obey
God rather than any human authority (Acts 5:29). We are to be people who keep
our word (Matthew 5:37; James 5:12). We are to love those around us in both
word and deed (1 John 3:17–18; James 2:17–18; Ephesians 4:29).
Living with integrity means managing our time wisely
and not taking the things that do not belong to us in the workplace or returning
the borrowed items. By the way, I may have one of your books on my shelf that I
need to return. None of us are perfect, but as God enables us, we will do our
best to live with integrity. Why should we live a life of integrity?
Living with integrity requires personal sacrifice, but
the eternal rewards outweigh whatever we give up in this life. God watches over
people with integrity (Prov 10:9). God is closer to people with integrity
(Psalm 24:3-4). Integrity guides us (Proverbs 11:3).
Integrity delights
our God (Proverbs 11:20). Danny Anderson notes, "Integrity is like the oil
in an engine. It makes the whole thing run smoothly. Without it, everything is
in danger of a breakdown."
Can God count on his children to live a life of
integrity in this broken world where there are alternative facts and people who
tell perpetual lies? By seeing our lives of integrity, someone might come to
believe in Jesus, who is the truth, the life, and the way to God. Amen!
[1] Source: Kim Kozlowski, "Virtue, $100 Not His Only Reward," Chicago Tribune (7-26-06), A1, p. 3
