Grace Bible Church
PastorTeacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Integrity ‑ “The Man In The Glass” When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what the man has to say. For it isn’t your father or mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass. You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum If you can’t look him straight in the eye. He’s the fellow to please‑‑never mind all the rest, For he’s with you clear to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
EPH 6:14 Therefore, hold your ground “AFTER” you have buckled on your combat gear around your waist with truth, and [“AFTER’] having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
“Breastplate of Righteousness” = the application of the believer’s integrity in the midst of the angelic conflict and spiritual warfare.
The “integrity of God” begins with your relationship with God because without a relationship with God there is really no true integrity.
JOB 8:20 “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. [those under the influence of evil thinking].
1. Integrity is the spiritual strength to put into operation that which you claim to believe.
1CH 29:17 “Since I know, O my God, that you test the heart [right lobe] and delightest in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things;
In a pressurized situation, an individual with integrity willingly puts into operation that which he claims to believe.
2. Integrity also is the means conforming to certain standards or rights.
PRO 11:3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the evil of the treacherous will destroy them.
3. Integrity is the quality of “life and power” needed to live because integrity gives the believer capacity to act and to “perform properly.”
Integrity is the actor that plays out the part or the role.
The one thing in life that really counts and is the basis for building integrity in the spiritual realm is metabolized doctrine.
PSA 25:21, David wrote Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for Thee.
God will vindicate and preserve the believer who operates in integrity no matter what the situation may be.
“All Christian activity has no meaning in itself unless you have integrity.”
Just because the Bible says “do certain things” that doesn’t mean that if you do them you have fulfilled the “Christian way of life.”
You see, it’s easy to do something wonderful for someone you love.
“Motivation by love” eliminates the strain and the sacrifice of life.
2CO 5:14 For the love of Christ controls or motivates us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
If you have true love, it isn’t a sacrifice. ”You’ll love giving to the One you love.”
One of the most important goals of the Christian life is to develop integrity or to put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Motivational integrity which is personal love toward God. Or functional integrity which is unconditional love toward all mankind.
You would have wood, hay, straw at the judgment seat of Christ, 1CO 3:11-15.
4. One writer said that: Integrity is for a man to know what is good and what is evil, what is useless, shameful, and dishonorable.
5. The Romans defined integrity as devotion and loyalty, especially to your family.
In fact, integrity is what the Lord pointed out to Satan, that Job still had in spite of all the pressure Satan placed upon him.
JOB 2:3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil.
And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
There are some believers who have no loyalties in life, none whatsoever, accept they are only loyal to themselves i.e. arrogance.
Or, they are preoccupied with themselves ie. subjectivity.
Integrity always meant that you had developed loyalties in life.
Unfortunately, many believers lose their loyalty toward others when others do not live up to their unrealistic expectations.
Unrealistic expectation causes frustrations which distract from Bible doctrine and destroys the true focus of the Christian life, which is occupation with Christ……not people.
This, in turn, destroys all human relationships, whether your relationship with your pastor-teacher as his student, or whether friendship, romance, or marriage.
And, as long as people react to others who do not treat them the way they want to be treated it is impossible for any virtue to exist.
The focus that is substituted for occupation with Christ is eyes on self, eyes on people, or eyes on things.
This is when you desire to have or possess what someone else has or possesses.
This is usually because they really don’t understand what the Bible has to say about Hamartialogy, which is the study of sin.
PSA 130:3 If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
1KI 8:46 For there is no man who does not sin.
PRO 20:9 Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin?
ECC 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
1PE 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
JOH 8:7, where He said, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.