MORE TO THIS LIFE: Arenas of Integrity 8-13-23
INTRODUCTION
God is doing
a new thing!
There has
got to be more to this life!
The
ontological question - What am I? The
inevitable question about God
The existential
question - Who am I? How should
we exist?
Whose are
we?
Why are we
here?
What is your
choice?
What is the
point?
My story -
How I got here? How we got
here?
What is your
story?
Phase 2:
Integrity - tests - honesty, hope, Lordship
Integrity is
tested in various arenas of life. Today we
will look at what we say, what we do, and how we interact with others.
I. WHAT WE SAY
“We all
stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect,
able to keep their whole body in check.”
James 3:2 NIV
A woman who
traveled abroad without her husband got to Paris and found this fabulous
bracelet she'd been looking for. And so she sent a wire back home saying,
"I have found this beautiful bracelet, one I've been looking for all my
life. It only cost $7,500. Do you think I can buy it?"
Her husband
wired back a short but firm reply, "No, price too high!" And he
signed his name. But in the transmission the comma was left out and the message
read, "No price too high." Oh, she was thrilled!
Carl Allen
A. Honest
communication
““Again, you
have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath,
but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear
an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for
it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And
do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from
the evil one.”
Matthew 5:33-37 NIV
In the book,
“Men of Integrity” Mark Moring shared this story about his son, Peter.
He said, “It
was late, and my young sons, Peter and Paul, had been in bed for at least an
hour. My wife and I had just returned from our Bible study group, and I snuck
into the boys’ room to say good night.
"Dad,
can I have some ice cream?"
"No,
Peter, it’s late, way past bedtime."
"But
Dad, you promised.”
He was
right. Peter had asked for ice cream earlier in the day, but we didn’t have
any. And I had said, "I’ll get some for you later, I promise.”
Dinner came
and went. We cleaned up the kitchen; the boys picked up their toys. The sitter
arrived. And my wife and I left for Bible study. I’d forgotten all about the
ice cream. But Peter hadn’t.
So, even
though it was after 10 o’clock, I hopped in the car, drove to the convenience
store, got a half gallon, and hurried home.
Peter and I
enjoyed that chocolate-vanilla swirl together. After all, I had a promise to
keep.”
Once you
consider and say “Yes” you need to commit—even when it costs you!
Just as Mark
Moring became aware of his need to fulfill his oath to his son even so you must
fulfill your oaths.
B. Unwholesome
talk
“Do not let
any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for
building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who
listen.”
Ephesians 4:29 NIV
“Nor should
there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but
rather thanksgiving.”
Ephesians 5:4 NIV
II. WHAT WE DO
A. The golden
rule
“Do to
others as you would have them do to you.”
Luke 6:31 NIV
One of
Grimm’s fairy tales tells of an old man who lived with his son, the son’s wife,
and the young couple’s four-year-old boy. The old man’s eyes blinked, and his
hands shook. When he ate, the silverware rattled against the plate, and he
often missed his mouth. Then the food would dribble onto the tablecloth. This
upset the young mother, because she didn’t want to have to deal with the extra
mess and hassle of taking care of the old man. But he had nowhere else to live.
So the young parents decided to move him away from the table, into a corner,
where he could sit on a stool and eat from a bowl. And so he did, always
looking at the table and wanting to be with his family but having to sit alone
in the corner. One day his hands trembled more than usual; he dropped his bowl
and, and broke it. “If you are a pig,” they said, “then you must eat out of a
trough.” So they made the old man a wooden trough and put his meals in it.
Not long
after, the couple came upon their four-year-old son playing with some scraps of
wood. His father asked him what he was doing. The little boy looked up, smiled,
and said, “I’m making a trough, to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big.”
The next day the old man was back at the table eating with the family, from a
plate, and no one ever scolded him or mistreated him again.
James Emery
White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life, p. 59.
B. Our new self
“You were
taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which
is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of
your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV
C. Not our old
self
“Therefore
each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for
we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun
go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone
who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something
useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those
in need.”
Ephesians 4:25-28 NIV
In his book
Integrity, Ted Engstrom tells this story: For Coach Cleveland Stroud and the
Bulldogs of Rockdale County High School [Conyers, Georgia], it was their
championship season: 21 wins and 5 losses on the way to the Georgia boys’
basketball tournament in March, then a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the
state finals.
But now the
new glass trophy case outside the high school gymnasium is bare. Earlier the
Georgia High School Association deprived Rockdale County of the championship
after school officials said that a player who was scholastically ineligible had
played 45 seconds in the
first of the
school’s five postseason games.
"We
didn’t know he was ineligible at the time; we didn’t know it until a few weeks
ago,” Mr. Stroud said. "Some people have said we should have just kept quiet
about it, that it was just 45 seconds and the player wasn’t an impact player.
But you’ve got to do what’s honest and right and what the rules say. I told my
team that people forget the scores of basketball games. They don’t
ever forget what you’re made of.”
III. HOW WE
INTERACT WITH OTHERS
“Now about
your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves
have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of
God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do
so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should
mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that
your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be
dependent on anybody.”
1
Thessalonians 4:9-12 NIV
A. Love
B. Live a quiet
life
1. Mind your
own business
2. Work hard
C. Daily impact
1. Win the
respect of outsiders
2. No be dependent
on anybody
The greatest
proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his
reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his
belief.
T.S. Eliot
CONCLUSION
“Do not
merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks
at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and
immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the
perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they
have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
James 1:22-25 NIV
What we say,
what we do, how we interact with others. These arenas
of integrity are where the real battle is fought. Integrity
wins when Jesus wins. The battle
is not ours. The battle
is the Lord’s.
INVITATION
It is our
custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want
to follow Jesus. You may want
to proclaim your faith. You may want
to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you
want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if
you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to
become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have
been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come
forward now. If you would
like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God
is doing in your life.
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