Integrity: Beyond Goodness to Genuine Service

It is possible, and this is kind of strange to even think about, but it is possible to stay out of trouble and do nothing for someone who is having trouble. It's possible to be financially responsible and selfish. It's possible to be self-controlled and judgmental. It's even possible to be careful personally and uncaring. It's possible to be blameless and unsympathetic. It's possible to keep your hands clean without offering anyone else a hand. In summary, it's possible to be good without doing any good. [00:00:08]

Jesus came along and he turned everything upside down because as we say all the time, Jesus was the king who came to reverse the order of things. Over and over he would say, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, "You have heard it said, but I say, you have heard it said, but I say, you have heard it say, but I say, you are really not a good person if you are unwilling to do good for another person." [00:01:03]

We said that integrity is, essentially, doing what you ought to do even if it costs you. Doing what you ought to even if it costs you. And as we all know, we don't always do what we ought to do, but we certainly expect others to do what we think they ought to do. Again, our actions may not be consistent, but our reactions are very consistent. [00:03:18]

The way of God, the path of God, the road of God, specifically, this is the will of God. And the implication of the statement which is so powerful is that the way of God is actually the way of integrity. That the will of God, we can say it this way, that the will of God for us is the way of integrity. [00:06:24]

God's personal will for you will be most apparent, most obvious, most easily discerned, when you are living in accordance with God's general will for your life. And God's general will for our lives is the way or the path of integrity, which means that to the best of our ability we do what we ought to do and we trust God with consequences. [00:06:47]

When integrity guides us, we're not easily swayed by what others think of us. When integrity guides us, we're free. We're free not just from what others think. This is where this whole story's going. We are actually free to do for others regardless of what others think. We're not just free from what others think. We're actually more free to do for others regardless of what they think. [00:08:03]

Jesus is like, "Of course I do, but you see, my integrity guides me and my integrity is anchored in the divine and so I am free. Not that I don't care what other people think, but I'm free from being swayed by what other people think, which means I'm free to do for other people." [00:09:22]

The moral of the story is the why behind the what, and this is what set Jesus apart from the Pharisees. Again, his integrity was so anchored to the divine and he was so confident that God controlled outcomes that he wasn't swayed by their influence. They were concerned, this group, and if you've read the Gospels you know this, they were so consumed with position and power. [00:11:20]

Jesus says, "And the second one is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself." To which perhaps he responded, I know I respond sometimes. I think I would just rather just love God and stay out of trouble. Just, you know, me and God, we got a thing going on. I read my Bible and I'm a good person. I'm just gonna stay out of trouble. Just good for goodness' sake. [00:17:26]

The integrity of the upright will guide them. But the integrity of the upright that our savior has called us to will guide us beyond them, will guide us to them, will guide us to the people around us, which again brings us back to... And if you've been attending here for a while or listening for a while, if you feel like, "Hey, it seems like you always go back to the same place," I do, because it brings us back to where we always seem to end up. [00:21:04]

Jesus came to be good for your sake and for my sake, and for the sake of the world, for the sake of those who, well, in my case, maybe your case, for the sake of those who just aren't all that good. This was his end game. His end game wasn't simply to keep the law of God. His end game was to demonstrate the love of God and to demonstrate it in such a way that we would embrace that way of living. [00:28:02]

If we get this right, if we get this right, it won't be how well we behave that gets people's attention, it will be how well we love, because our integrity will guide us to beyond us into the lives of the people around us. And then just as happened in the first century that could perhaps happen in the 21st century, then our integrity will most certainly shape our world. [00:30:02]