Your Integrity Our World | Week 3
Your Integrity Our World • Sermon • Submitted
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Scripture: Proverbs 11:3; Matthew 21:46; 22:16–17, 34–39; Galatians 5:13–14; Luke 18:21– 22
Idea: Jesus is integrity personified. Follow Jesus.
Introduction
[Here are a few thoughts to get us started today. It’s 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 and uncaring, or blameless and unsympathetic. It’s possible to keep your hands clean without offering anybody else a hand. In summary:]
It’s possible to be good without doing any good.
It’s possible to be a good person...
without doing good for another person.
[The first-century Pharisees thought so. Then Jesus came along and changed the end game and turned it all upside down.]
[Over and over, Jesus would say, “You have heard it said... but I say. You’re not really a good person if you’re unwilling to do good for another person.”]
[Today, we’re wrapping up our series...]
Graphic:
Title slide for Your Integrity, Our World
[Our working definition for integrity is...]
INTEGRITY: Doing what you ought to even if it costs you
[We may not always do what we ought to do, but we expect others to do what we think they ought to do. Our actions may not be consistent, but our reactions are. They point to an ought to that we hold others accountable to. We didn’t create it, but we can’t shake it.]
[When you don’t do what you ought to do, it costs the folks around you. A lack of personal integrity always impacts some other persons. The consequences are transferred. Thus, our title for this series is Your Integrity, Our World. Your integrity impacts our world, and my integrity impacts our world also.]
[Here’s our anchor verse:]
Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright will guide them. But the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them.
[People who maintain their integrity are guided by it. But for Jesus followers, there’s more to it. It’s what real-world integrity looks like and behaves like. If we choose to follow Jesus, it’s what we should look and behave like.]
[Toward the end of Jesus’s ministry, his adversaries make a startling observation about him. They’re trying to set him up. Here’s the context: Jesus had just taught a series of parables. The priests and Pharisees realized they were the punch line, so they decided to arrest him. But they have a problem.]
Matthew 21:46
... but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
[Three groups get together and come up with three questions to ask Jesus. The goal is to trap him with his words. So, they drew straws and sent three teams. The Pharisees went first. They sent their minions to be less obvious. They make this observation about Jesus:]
Matthew 22:16
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity...
[They’re saying, “We know you love what’s true and never depart from it.” It was Jesus’s uncompromising love of truth that exposed their love of approval from other people. They would do bad if it made them look good.]
... and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.”
[The way of God is the path or road to the will of God. The implication is...]
The way of God is the way of integrity. The will of God for us is the way of integrity.
[God’s personal will for you will be most apparent, obvious, and most easily discerned when you are living according to his general will for your life. God’s general will for your life is the way of integrity. It’s doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do and trusting God with the outcomes. To the degree that we live that kind of life, it’s much easier to discern God’s general will for our lives.]
[The conversation continues:]
Matthew 22:16
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
[“And Jesus, because the way of God guides you...”]
You aren’t swayed by others...”
[There’s an application in this for all of us. When you are more attuned to an ought to rather than what others think of you, you’re less easily swayed by what others want you to do. When integrity guides us, we’re not easily swayed by what others think of us, and we’re free. But not just free from what others think. We’re free to do for others regardless of what they think.]
If I’m overly concerned with what you think of me, I may not do what’s best for thee.
[If I’m consumed with me, I may not say or do what’s best for you because I’m so concerned about me. Back to the conversation... they continued:]
Matthew 22:16
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
You aren’t swayed by others... because you pay no attention to...
[Not what they say.]
who they are.”
[Jesus wasn’t easily manipulated or swayed by powerful people. He didn’t live as if their favor determined his destiny. This is the benefit of integrity anchored to the divine. Do what you ought to do and trust God with the outcomes.]
[The moral of this story isn’t that the Law or being good doesn’t matter. The moral is the why behind the what, and that’s what separated Jesus from the Pharisees. His integrity was so anchored to the divine and his confidence that God controlled the outcomes that he wasn’t swayed by their influence. This was so irritating to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. They were consumed with position and status, or how many followers and likes they got. Jesus was free. They couldn’t get past that...]
Jesus wasn’t good for goodness’ sake.
[... Or his sake, either. He didn’t maintain integrity for his reputation’s sake. Jesus’s integrity was a means to an end that wasn’t him.]
[The Pharisees were good for goodness’ sake and for God’s blessing’s sake. I can relate to that. It’s the version I was raised on. If I maintained my integrity, things would go better for me. I wasn’t wrong about that, but I was so judgmental. I wasn’t very compassionate either. Secretly, I was jealous of sinners. Welcome to the world of the Pharisees. I’m going to be a good person, but I’m just going to be good, for goodness’ sake.]
[If you just want to be a Christian, that’s fine. You can be good for goodness’ sake. But not as Jesus followers, which Jesus made clear as that day wore on. They questioned, “Since you’re not easily swayed...”]
Matthew 22:17
“Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar?”
[Jesus calls them out of their hypocrisy and sends them scurrying. Next up were the Sadducees. They taught there is no resurrection, but they knew Jesus believed in it. They present a hypothetical story to demonstrate the absurdity of the idea of a resurrection. When they finish, Jesus scolds them and ends with a statement that’s a dig. He says, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures.” The crowd goes wild.]
Matthew 22:34–39
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
[Jesus recited the standard answer. They all mouthed along.]
37 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
[First-century Judaism taught to keep the Law. To love God equals to obey the Law. Be good and stay out of trouble. It was about being good for goodness’ sake and being good for blessing’s sake. Before the lawyer can ask his follow-up, gotcha question, Jesus says:]
39 And the second is like it:
[It’s second in the sequence, but not second in importance. These two commands are equal and inseparable. The lawyer probably said, “Hang on. We just asked for one.” Jesus would have responded, “Of course you wanted one.” You want to know what to do that’s all about you, and you want to justify and isolate yourself and keep your hands clean.]
39 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
[Perhaps the lawyer responded, “We prefer to love God and stay out of trouble, and be good for goodness’ sake.”]
It’s easier to be good than available.
[You can be good and unavailable. Here’s Jesus’s point:]
Ought to isn’t just about you.
It’s about the folks around you.
[It’s my integrity for my world, and it’s your integrity for our world. The religious leaders were technically “blameless” but practically worthless.]
It’s possible to be good without doing any good.
[The integrity of the upright will guide them. It will guide us beyond them and to the people around us. This brings us back to where we always seem to end up. It brings us to where you always end up when you follow Jesus. It’s where Paul, the best Pharisee ever, ended up when he met Jesus. He experienced a heart and behavior change. Here’s what Paul says:]
Galatians 5:13–14
13 Serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
[But Paul, what happened to “Love the Lord your God?” Paul would say, “That’s how you love the Lord your God. It’s not enough to keep the Law or commandments or to be a good person.” He would say, “You’re not loving God if you’re not leveraging your integrity beyond yourself.”]
[Paul also said this: “If you’re not good for somebody, you’re just a sounding gong and a clanging cymbal. You’re a nuisance or bag of noise.”]
[Remember Jesus’s conversation with the law-abiding rich boy? This young man asks Jesus, “What must I do to be assured of God’s favor?” Jesus rattles off a summary of the law. The young man listens and says:]
Luke 18:21–22
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
[“I’m a good boy and a good person. Are we done here?” Jesus says:]
22 “You still lack one thing.
[“Hit me! I’m ready.” He took out his pen.]
22 Sell everything you have and give to the poor...
[It’s important to understand Jesus was not talking to you. He was making a specific point to a specific person. But it applies to all of us. This was Jesus’s hyperbolic way of saying, “You are good, but your goodness is all about you. I want you to understand how un-good you are within the context of God’s value system. So I’m going to confront you with the heart that’s driving your behavior because it’s all about you.]
[The rich young man responds: “Wait, what? Sell my stuff? And give it to the poor? If I sell everything and give it to the poor, I won’t lack one thing; I’ll lack everything!” Jesus smiles and says, “I’m not done.”]
22 Then come, follow me.”
[The text says that the rich young man went away very sad. But not as sad as the day he realized who Jesus was. Not as sad as the day he realized he had missed the opportunity to be an original Jesus follower.]
[In the end, Jesus took it up a notch. At his final Passover meal, Jesus gave a new command to replace all others. Paul would call it the Law of Christ. It’s to...]
GIVE
SERVE
LOVE
[... others and each other as he...]
GAVE
SERVED
LOVED
[... us. Jesus wasn’t satisfied with being good, for goodness’ sake. He came to earth to be good for your sake, my sake, and for the sake of those who aren’t all that good. His end game wasn’t simply to keep...]
The Law of God
[His end game was to demonstrate...]
The Love of God
[... so that it would become our end game as well.]
It’s possible to be good without doing any good. That’s not a good idea.
[So, Jesus followers, let it be said of us what was said of our Savior.]
Matthew 22:16
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are.”
[... that we are known for our integrity and that we walk in the way of God. As a consequence, we would not be easily swayed by others. Instead, we are free to love others.]
[When you follow Jesus, your integrity will guide you, but it will guide you beyond you to the you beside you. It will guide you to the “you’s” who are nothing like you and who may not even like you. And 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
[Our integrity will guide us beyond us and into the lives of the people around us. Then our integrity will most certainly shape our world.]