Integrity

7 October 2015

Opening Prayer/Worship

Hymn: Immortal, invisible, God only wise

Theme: Spirit of Life

Topic: Integrity

Reading: Job 1:1, 2:1-10

There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

^{2 1-10} One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before theLord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ²The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satananswered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ ³The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ ⁴Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. ⁵But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ ⁶The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’ ⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. ⁹ Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? CurseGod, and die.’ ¹⁰But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Introduction

Integrity is synonymous with truthfulness, honesty, honour, without compromise or corruption, reliability and so on.  One of the hallmarks of being a Christian is a life of integrity.  This does not mean that we are devoid of trials, temptations or sin, but rather that we do not allow sinfulness and evil to rule our life and hearts.  A good example is the difference between pigs and sheep.  While pigs love to wallow in dirt, sheep may fall into it but will fight to get out.  We know that we do not live in integrity in our strength; God sustains us through His Word and the Holy Spirit.  When we are weak, confused or discouraged because of circumstances around us or in our lives, we can seek restoration, direction and purpose through strength from the Lord.  According to the Psalmist, the Word of the Lord is a lamp unto our feet, and light unto our path.  As we serve the Lord, it is important to remember that our lives are letters from God to the world, and be careful to live in integrity of God’s calling.

Questions/Discussion

1) What is your understanding of integrity? 

Psalm 26:1-12

¹ Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity,
   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
² Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.
³ For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. 

⁴ I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites;
⁵ I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. 

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O Lord,
⁷ singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds. 

⁸ O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides.
⁹ Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
¹⁰ those in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. 

¹¹ But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.
¹² My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

Titus 2:1-15

But as for you, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. ²Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. ³ Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behaviour, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, ⁴so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. ⁶ Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. ⁷Show yourself in all respects a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, ⁸and sound speech that cannot be censured; then any opponent will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. ⁹ Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to answer back, ¹⁰not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour. ¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,¹²training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly,¹³while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. ¹⁴He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. ¹⁵ Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you.

Hebrews 10:19-39

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ²⁶ For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ²⁹How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ ³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ³² But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. ³⁵Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. ³⁶For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ³⁷For yet ‘in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; ³⁸ but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.’ ³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

2) What are the lessons for us in Matthew 11:25-30 regarding living in integrity?  

Matthew 11:25-30

 At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

3) In what ways do the Holy Spirit and Word of God help us live in integrity? 

Psalm 119:105-118

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances.
¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your ordinances.
¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your decrees are my heritage for ever; they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes for ever, to the end. 

¹¹³ I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.
¹¹⁴ You are my hiding-place and my shield; I hope in your word.
¹¹⁵ Go away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.
¹¹⁶ Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
¹¹⁷ Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually.
¹¹⁸ You spurn all who go astray from your statutes; for their cunning is in vain.

John 16:5-16

But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocatewill not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ¹² ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.¹⁵All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁶ ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.’

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

^{2: 5-12} Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. ⁶But someone has testified somewhere, ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? ⁷ You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
   you have crowned them with glory and honour, ⁸ subjecting all things under their feet.’ Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,⁹but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. ¹⁰ It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ¹²saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’

Intercession/Worship

Conclusion

As we serve the Lord, it is important to remember that our lives are letters from God to the world, and be careful to live in integrity of God’s calling.

Closing Prayer (Collect for Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Almighty God, you have built your Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Join us together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may become a holy temple, acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.