Jesus did two things that turned the major institutions of his day against him:
First, he pointed to the real condition of the institutions of his time: In Matthew 23:13-32 he says, "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You travel across land and sea to find one person who will change to your ways. When you find that person, you make him more fit for hell than you are. How terrible for You! You guide the people, but you are blind. You say, 'If people swear by the Temple when they make a promise, that means nothing. But if they swear by the gold that is in the Temple, they must keep that promise.' You are blind fools! ...How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You give to God one-tenth of everything you earn - even your mint, dill, and cumin. But you don't obey the really important teachings of the law - justice, mercy, and being loyal. These are the things you should do, as well as those other things. You guide the people, but you are blind! You are like a person w!
ho picks a fly out of a drink and then swallows a camel! How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes, but inside they are full of things you got by cheating others and by pleasing only yourselves. Pharisees, you are blind! First make the inside of the cup clean, and then the outside of the cup can be truly clean. How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside, those tombs look fine, but inside, they are full of the bones of dead people and all kinds of unclean things. It is the same with you. People look at you and think you are good, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evil. How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets, and you show honor to the graves of those who lived good lives. You say, 'If we had lived during the time of our ancestors, we would not have helped them kill the prophets.' But you give proof that you are children of those who murdered the prophets. And you will complete the sin that your ancestors started. You are snakes! A family of poisonous snakes! How are you going to escape God's judgment?" The church leaders turned against Jesus because he exposed their idealized version of reality which was that theirs was the only true church which God would bless.
The second thing Jesus did was to point to the ideal of the Kingdom of God. The political leaders turned against him because his idealism was dangerous to their idealized reality, which was that the Roman Empire was the greatest empire that ever was and ever would be.
Realists idealize the real and are the ideal idealists. Idealists realize the ideal and are the real realists.
We don't usually execute idealists who make us as uncomfortable as Jesus made the institutions of his day. We just dismiss them with pejoratives like "radical" or "extremist" or "crazy" or, in our kinder moments, with "Oh, the idealism of youth. They'll be more realistic when they grow up."
So, what does all this about idealizing the real and realizing the ideal have to do with integrity? Let me ask you this - Who had integrity: the institutional leaders who built their lives around an idealized reality or Jesus who sacrificed Himself to realize the ideal of the Kingdom of God?
Let me ask you another question: Do we have integrity as individuals and as a church?
We build our individual and institutional lives around the 5 P's of human pursuit - Prosperity, Pleasure, Power, Prestige and Prominence.
The world defines prosperity as "The one who dies with the most toys wins" to which God says, "If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow me. Those who want to save their lives will give up true life. But those who give up their lives for me and for the Good News will have true life. It is worth nothing for them to have the whole world if they lose their souls."
The world defines pleasure as "If it feels good, do it" to which God says, "Enjoy serving the Lord, and he will give you what you want."
The world defines power as "I'm in the drivers seat and the bigger the engine I control the better" to which God says, "'My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.' I am very happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ's power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong."
The world defines prestige as "I've made a name for myself" to which God says, "Be careful! When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to the poor, don't be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honor them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. So when you give to the poor, don't let anyone know what you are doing. Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you. When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogue and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you."
The world defines prominence as "I've reached the top of the corporate, political, social, or religious ladder" to which God says, "Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons. She bowed before him and asked him to do something for her. Jesus asked, 'What do you want?' She said, 'Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right side and the other will sit at your left side in your kingdom.' But Jesus said, 'You don't understand what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?' The sons answered, 'Yes we can.' Jesus said to them, 'You will drink from my cup. But I cannot choose who will sit at my right or my left; those places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.' When the other then followers heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. Jesus call all the followers together and said, "you know that the rulers of the non-Jewish people love to show their power over the people. And their important leaders love to use all their authority. But it should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant. Whoever wants to become first among you must serve the rest of you like a slave. In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people."
Are our individual and institutional lives built around the idealized reality of the world's definition of the 5P's or are our individual and institutional lives built around the realized ideal of the Kingdom's definition of the 5P's?
Psalm 127:1 says "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain."
A church can be filled with the most moral people in town, but no matter how good they are, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
A church can be built with a highly trained, dedicated, full-time, witnessing force of thousands with an enormous work ethic, but no matter what materials they use, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Christ is the foundation upon which our church is built, but a foundation is not a house and no matter the foundation, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Some of us live as though God's saving activity in our lives is a one-time event and, having experienced it, we are able to live good lives without ever again experiencing it. We don't realize that, unless God continues His gracious activity in and through our lives, we continue to live the deprived lives of depraved men.
In other words, some of us live as though an acceptable relationship with God is the product of our good works when the clear teaching of Scripture is that acceptable works are the product of our good relationship with God.
God wants to be continually at work in, through, and with us.
God works through those who allow Him to work in them and God works in those who allow Him to work through them.
But God won't work in or through us individually or institutionally if we don't think we need Him because we've idealized reality to make ourselves comfortable with who we really are.
Jesus told this story to some people who thought they were good and looked down on everyone else: "A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. I give up eating twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!' The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not. All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great."
Those who most think they deserve God's loving kindness are the least likely to experience it.
Those who least think they deserve God's loving kindness are the most likely to experience it.
Confession means to say the same thing about something that God says about it. When we confess our sin, we are saying the same thing about it that God says about it. That means more than just reciting the list of our transgressions which God is already well aware of. That means seeing it the same way God sees it and saying the same things about it that God says about it. In order to do that, we have to remain sensitive to God, give Him time to speak to us about our sin before we start speaking to Him about it, and realize what sin has done to our relationship.
God isn't interested in dealing with our behaviors as much as He is interested in dealing with our being. He wants to help us to put away the old man, the sinful nature, and continue to be new men. He can't do that if all we are doing is reciting a list of unacceptable behaviors which He already knows we've done. We come to a place where God can change us when we realize that those behaviors are the fruit of our very nature, the nature that God wants to help us overcome with the spiritual nature He has given us. God wants us to deal with being bad, not just with doing bad. He wants us to be good, not just to do good. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the inward parts. Confession means that we are looking where God is looking and seeing what God is seeing.
We need to see ourselves as God sees us, agree with Him, and depend solely on Him to make us a people through whom He works.
When we see the gravity of our depravity and God's evaluation of our situation, the magnitude of our gratitude for the greatness of His graciousness leads us to repent and depend on Him.
That's how we can have integrity as individuals and as a church.
