February 12, 2023
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:33-37[1]
In our world
today, integrity seems hard to find. Saying what you mean, letting your yes mean
yes and your no mean no, is a virtue that is becoming more rare. The idea that “the
end justifies the means” is an acceptable school of thought for many. We see it
when sales people over-promise and under-deliver. We see it when business
executives hide reports of pollution or toxic spills in order to keep their
profits from being used to fund clean-up. We even see it in churches who post
signs saying “All are welcome” yet make it clear - through side glances and
shunning - that some people really are not welcome.
This is not a new problem. All the
way back in the time of Moses we can read the call to live according to the values
claimed by a people. “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity,
death and adversity.”[2]
Live according to the commandments, decrees, and ordinances, and your virtuous
life will be rewarded. God will bless you and your descendants if you observe
the law. But turn away, follow other gods and serve your own interests, and you
shall not live long. Even so long ago we hear the prayer in Psalm 7, “Judge me,
O Lord, according to my
righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.”[3]
Integrity means “firm adherence to
a code of especially moral or artistic values.”[4]
A contributor to Forbes magazine once wrote, “Integrity means doing the right
thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is watching.
It takes having the courage to do the right thing, no matter what the
consequences will be. Building a reputation of integrity takes years, but it
takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to ever do anything that
would damage your integrity.”[5]
Another definition is offered by
Barbara Killinger, an author and clinical psychologist in Toronto who
specialized in workaholism. In a book she wrote on integrity, she said,
“Integrity is a personal choice, an uncompromising and predictably consistent
commitment to honour (sic) moral, ethical, spiritual, and artistic values and
principles.”[6] We
judge the integrity of others to the extent that they act according to the
values, beliefs, and principles they claim to hold.
From an ethical perspective, an
individual is said to possess the virtue of integrity if that person’s actions
are based upon an internally consistent framework of principles. “You’ve got to
stand for something or you’ll fall for anything” is the line in a country song
by Aaron Tippin.[7]
Yet what we stand for should also
conform to reality. We must be willing to adjust our principles when they are
proven to be inconsistent. If what I believe to be true is shown to be false, I
must try to incorporate the truth into my internal framework. This is where our
media and political systems fail us, by allowing false equivalencies to rule
the day. False equivalencies give plausibility to each side even if one side is
provably wrong. False equivalencies encourage one to mislead in order to
maintain a narrative, even when it has been proven to be wrong.
As Christians,
we adhere to the importance of loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
And yet those values are not always reflected in how we live our day-to-day
lives. As Jesus reflected on the world around him, he saw a great lack of
integrity from the leaders of the people. Those charged with teaching and
keeping the laws would make bold promises, swearing by heaven, earth, or
Jerusalem, and then continue to lie, cheat, and steal. The laws of Moses, meant
to free the people to live together in society came to be used to oppress the
poor and enforce power and control over the people.
Judaism had developed
a system of oaths and vows to guarantee that at least some words would be
especially true. In both the Gentile and Jewish worlds, an oath invoked God to
guarantee the truth of what was said, or to punish the one taking the oath if it
was not true.
“You have heard
that it was said…” proclaimed Jesus, “But I say to you… Let your word be ‘Yes,
Yes’ or ‘No, No.’”[8]
Your integrity matters. Doing what you say you will do matters. Jesus
paraphrases the Old Testament teaching about oaths, then commands that his
followers take no oaths at all. Jesus sought to abolish the distinction between
words that must be true and those that must not, between words one is compelled
to stand behind and those one must not, and called for all speech to be
truthful. I say that there must be truthfulness in all that we say.
The importance
of integrity can be seen in the final days of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem. The
act that set the ruling priesthood against him came when he took up a whip and
angrily drove the money lenders and merchants from the grounds of the Temple.
By profiteering from pilgrims coming to worship, they had corrupted the
integrity of the Temple as a holy place.[9]
Later, he preached a lengthy sermon condemning the Pharisees and teachers of
the law as hypocrites, claiming that they and their followers obeyed the narrow
letter of the law on the outside while they were corrupt, greedy,
self-indulgent, and spiritually dead on the inside.[10]
For Christians, integrity and faithfulness
is about more than simply following all the rules. It is about doing the work of the heart, of living
up to the values we claim even when it’s hard. It is embracing the challenge to
reflect God’s grace, God’s goodness, and God’s integrity in what we say and do.
What Jesus was saying is that following the law is easy, but it does not
transform. Living with a God-formed
integrity of heart, speech, and action is what truly makes a difference in
people’s lives.
Jesus calls us to have integrity
in how we live. There are so many
ways we separate ourselves in this world – nations war against nations;
political parties slander and undermine each other; religions seek to kill one
another’s followers; wealthy and poor seek to protect themselves from each
other. The destruction brought about by this division is devastating. If we can
begin to find our common humanity within, and begin to live, from a Christ-like
heart, perhaps we can begin to heal some of the damage we have done.
Christ’s challenge is to refuse to
allow ourselves to live only according to the low standard of law, but to go
beyond it to living from the heart – serving, seeking justice, offering welcome
and compassion, protecting the vulnerable, and preserving our rich ecological
heritage on the planet. There is no question, though, that to adopt Christ’s
heart-driven life can be painful and difficult. It will, however, also open the
doors to life for us and others. Integrity is a spiritual gift, and through it
the Spirit can empower us to change ourselves and the world.
When we allow God to capture our
hearts with love, when we allow God to grow our hearts, when we live in a way
consistent with Christ’s love for God and others, and allow that to guide our
speech and actions – then we become those who make a healing, restoring impact
on the world around us. We will find, and bring to others, fullness of life, a
deeper connectedness, and a more gracious community.
Do not be lead astray. “Choose
life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying and holding fast
to the Lord; for that means life
to you and length of days.” Live a life of integrity, and the world will be
transformed. Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Deuteronomy
30:15.
[3]
Psalm 7:8.
[4]
Webster’s Dictionary online, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrity.
[5] Amy
Rees Anderson, “Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity Is Forever” November
28, 2012, online: https://www.forbes.com/.
[6]
Killinger, Barbara, Integrity: Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reason.
McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010, P.12.
[7]
Aaron Tippin, “You’ve God to Stand for Something” on You've Got to Stand for
Something, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, 1990.
[8] Matthew
5:33-37, selected.
[9] See:
Matthew 21:12-13.
[10] See:
Matthew 23:1-39.
