MORE TO THIS LIFE: Integrity and identity 8-27-23

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Integrity and identity 8-27-23

 

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?

Integrity - tests - honesty, hope, Lordship

Integrity - arenas of life - what we say, what we do, and how we interact with others.

Integrity and its impact on purpose, mission, and vision.

Integrity and personal ministry.

 

Integrity and acceptance of who we are

 

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. He wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for filling Chicago with everything evil. How did he keep himself out of jail? That is where his lawyer came into play. Big Al’s lawyer was nicknamed “Easy Eddie.” He was excellent at keeping his boss out of jail and Al Capone paid him well. Eddie lived the high life and cared little for what happened around him. He only soft spot was his son. He gave his son everything. He tried to teach him right from wrong.

 

He wanted his son to better than him. Yet, with all his wealth and influence there was two things he could not pass on to his son: a good name and a good example. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. He wanted to rectify wrongs. He decided he would tell the truth about Al “Scareface” Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son a semblance of integrity. To testify against the Mob would cost him a great price, but he testified.

Within a year Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire. In his eyes he gave his son the greatest gift he had to offer and it cost him his life.

 

World War II produced many heroes. One such was Commander Butch O’Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent out on a mission. After being airborne, Butch saw that his fuel gauge was low and knew someone had forgotten to top it off. He would not have enough fuel to complete the mission, and was commanded to return, but on his way back he saw a squadron of Japanese headed for the Americans.

 

The fighters were gone and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t get help in time. He had to divert the enemy from the American fleet. He dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 calibers blazed as he charged in. he fired until he was empty and the began clipping wings with his own plane. The Japanese took off in a different direction and Butch O’Hare limped back to his carrier. Upon arrival he reported in and film from the gun camera showed the story. He had destroyed five enemy aircraft. This took place on Feb. 20, 1942 and for that action Butch became the first Naval Ace of WW II, and was awarded a congressional medal of honor. A year latter at age 29, Butch was killed in action. His home town would not allow his memory to fade, and today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in his tribute.

 

And by the way, Butch O’Hare was the son of Easy Eddie. I just thought you ought to know the influence of a father.

          Contributed by Jeffrey Dillinger (many uses found, no attestation)

 

I.  ACCEPT WHO WE ARE

 

               A. Our good name

 

“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”

               Proverbs 22:1 NIV

              

B.  God’s children

 

“And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.””

               2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV

 

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

               1 John 3:1 NIV

 

C.  Special/unique

 

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

               Genesis 1:26-27 NIV

 

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”

               Psalms 139:13-15 NIV

 

“Did you ever notice a tag on a piece of clothing saying, “The irregularities in this product are not flaws, but are a natural result of the handworking of the fabric.”?

 

That’s the way we are, too!

 

God put into your very being certain things that reflect His nature and His character in a way that no one else ever has or ever will.  That doesn’t necessarily mean you have certain characteristics that no one has ever had before.

 

But no one has the unique combination of characteristics that God has placed in you.

 

David likens God’s work to that of a weaver.  He picks the exact color and thickness of every strand.

Then He carefully puts them together to create a unique and beautiful creation.”

               Mary Lewis

 

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

               1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV

 

II.  EMBRACE WHO WE ARE

 

"Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."

               Judy Garland to her daughter, Liza Minelli 

 

               A.  We are what we are.

 

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

             Ephesians 2:10 NIV

 

“But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”

               Romans 9:20-21 NIV

 

               B.  We are useful to the Kingdom

 

“God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?””

               Genesis 17:15-17 NIV

 

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,”

               1 Corinthians 1:27-28 NIV

 

               C.  God uses the weak to demonstrate His power.

 

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

               Isaiah 40:29 NIV

 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

               2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

 

               B.  Are we unsure of who we are or who He is?

 

III.  CELEBRATE WHO WE ARE

 

“The picture you have of yourself, your self-esteem, will have a profound effect on the way you see the world and the way your world sees you."

               Earl Nightingale

 

           A.  Witness

 

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

               Galatians 2:20 NIV

 

       B.  Testimony

 

“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

               1 Corinthians 15:9-10 NIV

 

“I am what I am”

 

CONCLUSION

 

As D. L. Moody said, "Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity." Luther gave a similar testimony when he said, "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess."

 

We are what we are.  Let us accept who we are, embrace who we are, and celebrate who we are.  Trust God and be faithful!

 

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.