Father’s Day - “Integrity”
INTRO
In the book “The Day America Told the Truth” (1991), the authors (James Patterson & Peter Kim) relate the stunning results of a question which was asked of Americans. The question was simply this: What are you willing to do for $10 million? 2/3 of those polled said they would do at least one of the following ... some said they would do several of the following:
- Would abandon their entire family (25%)
- Would abandon their church (25%)
- Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)
- Would give up their American citizenships (16%)
- Would leave their spouses (16%)
- Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
- Would kill a stranger (7%)
- Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
Why would people do such things? There are some obvious reasons. First of all, such a person could have no love or fear of God. Second, greed would obviously be a factor. There’s another that also tops the list with these - it’s “lack of integrity.”
Unfortunately, in our society there’s a lot of that going around. In fact, in this week’s issue of Newsweek (June 19, 2000) there was an article titled “When Teachers Are Cheaters.” It tells of how some teachers throughout the country are urging and even helping their students cheat on tests.
The reason of course, is because if their student’s grades are up, they can receive bonuses worth as much as $25,000. Some are also doing it because if their student’s test scores aren’t as high as they should be, they could lose their jobs. So what do some of these teachers do? They forego their integrity!
It’s a sad fact, that integrity is so rare, that when someone sees it in another it often becomes big news. It’s like making a rare sighting of Bigfoot.
Remember Tom Landry? He was the legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys who passed away in February 2000. He was one of those rare sightings. His legacy is far more than just being the NFL’s third-winningest coach of all time. It’s far more than his two Super Bowl victories.
He was a man whose priorities were in order: God first, family second, football third. One person said, “Tom Landry provided significant leadership ... through a strength of character and faith with his priorities in tact. He knew that football was just a game and that integrity mattered on the field and off.” As former Cowboy Drew Pearson said, “Landry was a teacher. He taught a lot more than football.”
There have been many great football coaches - but being a great football coach is not the reason the USA Today ran the headline “Landry’s death leaves Texas-size legacy.” No - his legacy is that his career was marked with outstanding integrity.
What is integrity? Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says it’s: “incorruptibility, soundness, and/or completeness.” It’s primary synonym is “honesty.”
Today, on Father’s Day, guys I want say this: the world needs men with integrity! It needs men who are incorruptible, complete, and honest. There’s 3 verses of Scripture I want us to think read this morning.
1. Integrity means incorruptibility (Prov 10:9).
The first one is this: “He who walks in integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be found out” (Prov 10:9).
That speaks to the fact that integrity means incorruptibility. And when you walk in that manner, you walk on good ground that keeps you standing upright.
In Chicago, 1929, a 26 year-old government agent named Eliot Ness formed an elite team of 9 incorruptible men to bring down Al Capone’s $120 million mob empire. At the time, Ness was making $2,800 a year working for the government. One day a young man walked into his office and handed Ness an envelope with 2 one thousand dollar bills and promised this weekly if he would lay off Capone.
Ness sent the money and the messenger back. Desiring to make a point, Ness called a press conference. Newspapers and newsreels from various agencies were in attendance. Ness told the story of Capone’s attempted bribe and his response to it. The next day, headlines read “Ness and his men are UNTOUCHABLE.”
That’s integrity. It reminds me of something that happened to Raymond Floyd one time. Raymond Floyd is a professional golfer. One time he was getting ready to tap in a routine putt, but nudged the ball ever so slightly before he stroked it. According to the rule book, if the ball moves in this way the golfer must take a penalty stroke.
Yet consider the situation. Floyd was among the leaders in this tournament which offered a top prize of $108,000. To acknowledge that the ball had moved could mean he would lose his chance for big money.
Writer David Holahan described what others might have done: “The athlete ducks his head and flails wildly with his hands, as if being attacked by a killer bee; next, he steps back from the ball, rubbing his eye for a phantom speck of dust, all the while scanning his playing partners and the gallery for any sign that the ball’s movement has been detected by others. If the coast is clear, he taps the ball in for his par.”
Ray Floyd, however, didn’t do that. He assessed himself a penalty stroke and wound up with a bogey on the hole.
As Christians, our morals must remain untouchable by this corrupt culture. We need to be people with integrity. For by doing so, we’ll not only please God - but we’ll also be among those rare sightings that people take notice of. And it’s when that happens - Jesus is lifted up for the world to see.
2. Integrity means completeness (Prov 2:7).
The second verse of the day is this: “He (God) stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity” (Prov 2:7).
When I read that verse the other day, I said to myself, “Oh, now that speaks to the fact that integrity means completeness.”
Now I know what you’re thinking - “Scott’s crazy. I mean, integrity means completeness, but that verse has nothing to do with that definition.” Well, from a technical standpoint, that would be correct.
If you like science fiction stuff where guys are flying around trying to shoot each other’s crafts out of the air, you’ve surely heard a pilot or two say something about the integrity of the hull - and if it’s holding up or not. See, in that context, “integrity” refers to “soundness” or “completeness.” Is the hull breaking up, or is it in tact - complete? Is it still maintaining its integrity? That’s how the word integrity means completeness.
But as a Christian, I think integrity can mean completeness in another sense. The Scripture said, “He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” Now let me substitute the word “completeness” there and read it again. “He is a shield to those who walk in completeness.”
How is it that a person can walk in completeness? And why is God a shield to those individuals who do?
Well, Col 2:10 says that in Christ you are complete. See, without Jesus in your life there is something missing. And without that missing element - your level of integrity is always compromised.
It’s when you clothe yourself in the completeness that God offers that true soundness is achieved. And when you walk in that integrity, God is your shield.
If we can go back to the science fiction thing again - think about Star Trek. When the U.S.S. Enterprise gets into a battle with the bad guys, the first thing the captain yells is “shield’s up.” Now if that invisible forcefield shield ever gets compromised and goes down - then the hull is in danger next time they get hit.
In Christ, our hull is sound - complete. And we never have to fear that it’s integrity will be compromised, because our heavenly Father is our defense shield that surrounds it. See, God is a shield (an impenetrable shield) to those who follow after His Son.
See, Christians can walk in integrity - integrity that comes from following Jesus Christ.
3. Integrity can be modeled and transmitted (Prov 20:7).
The last verse of the day is this: “A righteous man who walks in his integrity - How blessed are his sons after him” (Prov 20:7).
That tells me this: integrity can be modeled and transmitted.
Jerry Steen tells of an experience he had at the first church he ministered at. He had a job of mixing feed to supplement his income. He says this: “For a period of about two weeks, each day that I came home from work, my two boys, ages 2 and 3 would look at me, smile, and would say, ‘Boy, dad, you sure are dusty!’ I would reply, ‘Yes, I sure am dusty.’ Then I would get cleaned up.
I didn’t think too much of this until I was washing my car and saw my oldest son doing something very strange. He was picking up the gravel and stones that were in our drive and rubbing them into his pants. I asked him, ‘Want are you doing?’ He replied, ‘I want to be dusty like you dad!’
It was then that I realized that if a child would look up to his father for being dusty and want to copy his father, a child could look up to his father and follow him for anything.”
What are you passing on to your children?
Several decades ago actor Charles Coburn told that when he was a teenager his dad always tried to dissuade him from ever going to see a burlesque show. He would say, “Don’t go there son, you’d see things you shouldn’t see.” But some time later he went anyway.
Coburn said, “My dad was right, I saw things I shouldn’t see, I saw my dad there!”
Father’s need to be good examples and model integrity. Let me tell you of one who was.
Gayle Erwin tells of his father in his book “The Jesus Style.” This is what he said:
“When I was six years old, my father was severely injured in an airplane accident and was left partially paralyzed and brain damaged. My mother then became the breadwinner of the house. Since my mother was often ‘not there’ as she attempted to make a living and my dad was ‘not there’ physically or mentally, the stage was set for family failure. But our family did not fail!
Through difficult times, both parents stayed faithful to God and to us. Prayer, belief, steadfastness and love surrounded us -- money and fine homes didn’t. When my father died, my two brothers and I stood in front of his casket and made the following statement to the friends who had gathered for the funeral service:
‘Our father did not leave a financial empire for us to carry on. Many things that a dad normally does with his sons, our was unable to do. He was unable to teach us many things that a dad normally teaches. But he did leave us something that he had. He left us with a love of God, a love for the Bible, a love for people, an understanding of worship and an inability to hate. We feel that he has left us only those things that will last. So we stand here before you as his sons and declare publicly that we will follow his God.’”
That’s the kind of integrity I want to model - I want to leave behind.
CONCLUSION
In his book, “Living Above the Level of Mediocrity,” Chuck Swindoll says this:
THE WORLD NEEDS MEN...
who cannot be bought;
whose word is their bond;
who put character above wealth;
who possess opinions and a will;
who are larger than their vocations;
who do not hesitate to take chances;
who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
who will be as honest in small things as in great things;
who will make no compromise with wrong;
whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
who will not say they do it because everybody else does it;
who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning success;
who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
who can say “no” with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says “yes.”
And let me just add, the world needs men with integrity - the integrity found in Christ.
