All
followers of Christ should have certain core values. These are the philosophies, practices, and truths
which together define the foundation of our worldview, or the manner in which
we perceive the world around us; both the events that transpire and the nature
or shape of reality which causes those events.
One such core value is Integrity.
The Elders of Daniels Bible Church have chosen to define this as “a
discipline of life presented in the Scriptures, modeled by Christ, and
empowered by the Holy Spirit, in order that we become blameless in all things.” That sounds real nice, but what does it
actually mean and how does one go about practicing it?
The answer to the first part of that question is hidden
in the definition of Integrity that we are using. The key word to focus upon is
“blameless.” It is by being blameless
that we can prove our integrity.
Webster’s dictionary defines blameless as “free from guilt”. Immediately a problem should present
itself. How can we possibly be free from
guilt when every single day our own sin convicts us? Perhaps if we had a day or two here and there
that were free from sin we might possibly be able to get a grip on this elusive
blamelessness. Unfortunately, God’s word
assures us that will not happen. 1 John 2:5
puts it this way; “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.” “Great”, we might
be prone to think sarcastically, “The bible itself tells me I’m a liar if I say
that I don’t sin, sin convicts me of guilt in the court room of God, and
blamelessness requires me to be free from guilt. Therefore I’m hopelessly incapable of ever
being blameless and thus it is impossible for me to have integrity. I might as well give up and stop trying.”
If we were to think thoughts such as these we would be
partially correct, but only partially.
We would be correct in the sense that we might as well give up trying to
acquire integrity and blamelessness on our own.
Isaiah 64:6 makes it clear that “all our righteous deeds are like a
polluted garment.” Instead of relying on
ourselves to live a blame free life we must look outside of us to the one who
already did live a blame free life; the person of Jesus Christ. Romans 3:21-22 reveals the key to our
dilemma: “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;” It is Christ’s
perfect righteousness which is laid on our accounts in the sight of God at the
moment we express the faith He has given us through the action of belief. This is called justification and it is the
only way to become restored to a right relationship with God.
But we’re not discussing salvation here. We were talking about integrity. The truth of justification by faith in Jesus,
apart from works of the law, helps us to understand how to become blameless in
the first place and therefore, with the definition being used here, to have
integrity. But that doesn’t seem to help
figure out how to practice this integrity on a daily basis. In fact, it actually sounds like practicing
integrity is irrelevant, since we are already seen by God as blameless. Paul puts it this way in Romans 6:1: “What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in
sin so that grace may increase?” Said
another way, our sins have been covered by Christ’s righteousness, we are
already justified in God’s sight, so practical Christian living has nothing to
do with any kind of practice of a blameless life full of integrity. Luckily for us, Paul answers his own
rhetorical question immediately in the next verse with the following words:
“May it never be!” And he elucidates
further in verses 8-12 of the same chapter.
“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to
die again; death no longer is master over Him.
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God. Even so
consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal
body so that you obey its lusts.” It is
a fallacy born of twisting Paul’s words to say that we don’t need to live lives
characterized by integrity simply because we have the righteousness of Christ
“in the bank.” The truth is that the
righteousness given to us freely as a gift and a life characterized by the
evidence of that gift go hand in hand.
You can’t have one without the other.
Anyone who claims that you can is under a satanic delusion that is not
consistent with the word of God.
At ths point someone may say “Ok, ok, ok, enough
already! You’ve convinced me that
integrity means blamelessness and I can be counted as blameless and thus as
having integrity through faith in Christ.
But you still haven’t answered the second half of the original question;
namely, how in the world do I go about practicing this? Because I sure don’t see much of this
evidence of blamelessness when I look in the mirror. In fact, what I see is failure after failure
after failure. What you’re telling me I
already have and what I see in my own life are not jiving at all.”
The answer to this dilemma is really very simple...
Integrity has nothing to do with
the magnitude of your failures, and it has everything to do with the
sincerity of your repentances.
In retrospect this should be obvious. If justification is granted as a free gift
apart from any works that we do, and if being justified grants us
righteousness, blamelessness, and thus integrity, then it stands to reason that
the living out of that should have very little to do with us. I say very little because, although as Jesus
said in Matthew 11:30 “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”, the yoke and
burden is still there. We are still
required to be obedient. But the
obedience God asks of us is not born of our striving unto perfection. Rather it is born of our sorrow and
broken-heartedness over the sin that we see when we gaze at our corrupted
reflection in the mirror. This grief
will be present in the heart of one who is truly born again with the spirit of
almighty God living within them. And it
will absolutely cause a person to have an attitude of repentance which serves
not as the means by which we obtain righteousness, blamelessness, and integrity
but as the evidence that we have already been given them.
That is how we are to practice integrity on a personal
basis. But is there another dimension of
the human condition upon which these principles operate? Yes, and it is called spiritual
leadership. When we demonstrate
integrity as a proof of the righteousness and blamelessness of Christ which has
been granted to us, what we are really doing is demonstrating leadership.
Obviously this principle applies to a husband
and/or father fulfilling his role as the spiritual leader of his family. But it has a broader application and extension
to Christians from all walks of life because every believer, at some point, in some
fashion, and to some degree, will be called upon to lead another human being in
a spiritual capacity. It could be an
older child with younger siblings. Or
perhaps an employer with his or her employees.
Maybe a mother “training up her children in the way they should go.” Possibly a teenager in the midst of a
Christian culture increasingly seduced by the attractive façade of sin that
permeates our society. Alternatively, an authentic disciple of Christ who has an unbelieving spouse. Or even just an older Christian who Titus charges to disciple younger ones. Regardless of your socio-economic position, if you are a follower of Jesus you will be called upon eventually to model spiritual leadership. And when that call comes in what will be primarily put
to the test is not your wit, charm, or teaching ability. It will be your integrity that comes under the microscope, modeled here by the twin facets of blamelessness
and righteousness.
And there-in often lies our problem. Our contorted and self-centered minds, even
as believers, are often the victims of the lies spewed out by the “god of this age”
(2 Cor. 4:4), the “ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the
deceiver of the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).
In this case Satan will gleefully tell you that because you just
completely blew it and sinned your filthy little heart out, you have no
business providing leadership in the context for which it is relevant for
you. He will plant a seed of doubt. A nagging little voice that says you’re not
worthy. An unbiblical and self-pitying
conviction that you should abdicate your God-given responsibility to lead
others and allow someone better qualified to take the reins. And it is in those times of self-doubt and
self-recrimination that we must learn to brand the point of this essay upon our
hearts. Again:
Integrity has nothing to do with
the magnitude of your failures, and it has everything to do with the
sincerity of your repentances.
Christ Himself bought and paid for your soul on the
cross. The will of God has sovereignly
placed you where He desires to use you.
And are you so small minded and self-oriented that you honestly believe
that your particular flavor of sinning somehow circumvents, nullifies, or
invalidates God’s choice of you to be His adopted child? Wake up!
It’s not about you and your sin.
It’s not about you and your failures.
It’s not about how you don’t measure up.
It’s not about how others are better equipped. If you could see inside their hearts and
behind the closed doors of their homes I absolutely guarantee that you would
see a tapestry of failure just as epic in scope and broad in extent as your
own. Stop making much of yourself and
your part in this and start making much of God and His power which will work in
and through you.
As stated earlier, I am not saying we should gloss over
our sinful failures. On the contrary, I
am advocating that we acknowledge them in the most decisive and effective
method available; namely a change of mind followed by a change of action that
the Bible calls genuine repentance.
Practicing this on a daily basis will result in your life becoming a
model of righteous, blameless, and integrity filled spiritual leadership that
will influence, impact, and exhort the people around you by pointing them to
Christ through your example.
