Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope with Rick Warren. We are so glad you’re here with us today. We’re going to continue our series called The Keys to a Blessed Life. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful and purpose-filled life. Today, we’re back with part two of God Blesses a Heart of Integrity.

Rick Warren: So how do you get it? How do you get integrity? What does it even look like? In Psalm chapter 15, David gives us eight characteristics of what it means to walk or live with integrity. Let me read it to you. Psalm 15:1–5: "Lord, who may stand in your sanctuary, and who may live on your holy mountain?" What’s he talking about here? This is a metaphor. He’s saying, "God, who gets to be close to you?"

That’s what he’s saying. Who gets to be your friend? All that stuff I was talking about earlier—who gets to live in your presence? Who gets to experience your power, who gets to understand your peace, who gets to live your purpose? God, who gets to be your friend? That’s what he’s saying. Who may stay in your sanctuary and live on your holy mountain?

Here’s the answer: "The one who walks with integrity." Circle that, walks with integrity. Then he gives us eight characteristics of a man who has integrity or a woman who has integrity. Here’s what they are. Number one: he speaks the truth from his heart. You don’t lie when you have integrity. He refuses to slander others with his tongue. Anytime you put down anybody else, you’ve just lost integrity.

Anytime you slander anybody else for their politics, or their religion, or their lifestyle, or any other difference, cultural difference, whatever, he says you’ve just lost your integrity. He refuses to slander others with his tongue. He won’t listen to gossip. If you listen to it—not share it, but even if you just listen to it—you’ve lost your integrity.

He will not cast a slur on his fellow man. Instead, he honors those who fear the Lord and he keeps his promises even when it hurts. He lends his money freely without charging interest; in other words, he’s very, very generous. That’s a mark of integrity. And he cannot be bribed by money. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

You want to have security in your life? You want to get rid of all the insecurity in your life? Get integrity in your life. You want to have stability in your life? Get integrity in your life. You want to have the confidence we talked about? Then you’ve got to get integrity in your life. When you lack integrity, you go through life insecure. The Bible says the man of integrity walks securely.

The whole reason you don’t have security, the whole reason you feel insecure so much of the time, is because you lack integrity: wholeness, authenticity, and an unmixed motivation. What I want to do now is give you a little checklist. It’s a pretty quick checklist. It’s not going to take a lot of time for me to explain it. In fact, I don’t have to illustrate it because once I say these things, you’ll understand it.

Integrity demands that every area of your life is treated with the same intensity. That you say, "I’m going to have the same commitment to excellence in my marriage as I have in my career. I’m going to have the same commitment to excellence in my ministry and in my parenting as I do in making money. I’m going to have as much commitment to the right motivation as I do to doing the right thing."

Let me just give you six of the common ways you can work on these this week from the Bible. Number one: you become a person of integrity by keeping your promises. People of integrity keep their word. If they say they’ll do it, they’ll do it. If they say they’ll be there, they’ll be there. If they say you can count on it, you can count on it. People of integrity keep their promises. This is verbal integrity.

The Bible says in Proverbs 25:14, people who promise things that they never give, he says they’re like clouds and wind that bring no rain. He says they’re worthless. It's just a bunch of hot air. It's just vapor. There’s nothing to them. They don’t bring rain, they don’t bring any benefit, they’re just all smoke and mirrors. So my question to you is this: what promises have you made that you have not kept?

You need to keep them for integrity's sake. Have you made some promises to your kids? Broken promises are the number one cause of bitterness in children. I said, "Mom, you said," "Dad, you said," and they break a promise. Have you made a promise to your spouse about something you’re going to change and you haven’t done it? It’s a broken promise. Have you made a promise to God—a spiritual promise, a vow—and you haven't kept it? That is a lack of integrity.

Now I know that what happens is we say, "Well, the circumstances have changed." Doesn't matter. If you made a promise, you’ve got to keep your word even if it is not beneficial to you. Do you remember that Psalm 15 we just read? Let me look at it again here on the screen. Psalm 15:4: God blesses the one who walks with integrity, who keeps his promises even when it hurts. Even when it costs you more than you thought it was going to cost you, you keep your promise.

I remember when Matthew, my youngest son, was young and he really struggled with panic attacks as part of his mental illness. He struggled with a lot of fears in his life. I really wanted him to go to camp, but he was afraid to go to church camp. So I made a promise to my youngest son. I said, "Matthew, if you’ll go to camp, I promise to go with you. Then you can handle it. You won’t be afraid. I’ll be there with you. I’ll be your camp counselor. I’ll go with you."

He decided he didn’t want to go. So I went ahead and I took some other commitments that week. Then he decided he wanted to go. I had made a commitment to speak to 100,000 men in a stadium of Promise Keepers in Atlanta. So I broke a promise to speak to the Promise Keepers to keep a promise to my son. I have never, never regretted that. I would have had a whole lot more fun speaking to 100,000 men than being a camp counselor in sixth-grade camp. You become a person of integrity by keeping your promises.

Number two: you become a person of integrity by paying your bills. You may not think this is a big deal, but it’s a big deal to God. This is financial integrity. The Bible says over and over and over again that the way you use your money is a test of your integrity. Do you spend more money than you make? That is a lack of integrity. Do you get yourself in debt to things that you can’t pay off? That is a lack of integrity.

The Bible says people of integrity pay their bills. It’s like keeping your promises financially. I’m not going to go into all the different ways, but let me just give you a couple of verses. First, you don’t default on loans and you pay off your credit card. Psalm 37:21 says, "The wicked man borrows and never pays back." Not only that, you don’t defraud the government of taxes.

The Bible says in Romans 13:6–7, the authorities working are working for God. Pay what you owe them. Pay your personal and property taxes. You say, "But Rick, the government is wasting my money." Of course, I know that. And the government lacks integrity because they’re spending far more than they take in and they’re doing deficit spending. But you don’t get to do that if you have integrity.

What they do with my taxes they’re going to be accountable to God for, but I am accountable to God to pay my taxes and to not cheat on them. Because if I do, I lack integrity. The Bible says to do that. Number three: you become a person of integrity by keeping your promises, paying your bills, and by refusing to gossip. That’s what the Bible says. This is relational integrity.

That is, you don’t talk one way with one group of people and then go talk about them behind their back. If you flatter somebody and you butter them up and you act like they’re best friends, and then behind them you cut them off at the knees and you say one thing here and one thing there and you gossip, the Bible says you lack integrity. You don’t have it.

You’re not going to have God’s blessing on your life if you keep on gossiping like that. The Bible says if you listen to it—did you know that accepting stolen goods gets the same criminal indictment as stealing it? Accepting gossip is the same thing as offering it up. It’s a wrong thing. Every time you gossip, you lose integrity. Do you talk about other people behind their back? Can you keep a secret?

The Bible says this in Proverbs 11:13: "A gossip can't be trusted with a secret, but someone of integrity won't violate a confidence." Do you know what we need today? We need men and women of integrity who know how to keep a secret and not put it on Facebook or blab it on Twitter or pass it around on social media.

One of the rules of our small groups is what’s said in the group stays in the group. Why? Because everybody needs a safe place of a few friends where you can be real and be yourself and not have everybody go publish it about you. Real friends walk into your life when everybody else walks out. That’s the purpose of a small group, one of the purposes.

So what’s said in the group stays in the group. Can you keep a confidence? Or as soon as somebody says, "Now I’ve never told this to anybody," you immediately go tell it to somebody else? If you do, you lack integrity. The Bible says here on the screen, Proverbs 10:18: "Anyone who spreads gossip," God says, "is a fool." It’s a foolish, destructive thing to do.

Number four: integrity is developed by keeping your promises, paying your bills, refusing to gossip, and by faithfully tithing. Did you know that the Bible says that tithing is a test of integrity? One of the ways God tests my integrity is through tithing. Do I trust Him with my finances? Do I put Him first? Wherever you put your money first is what’s most important to you.

Wherever you put your money first is what’s most important to you. The Bible says that tithing is a test of integrity because Jesus said, wherever your heart is, wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart’s going to be. You can always know what’s important to people by looking at where they spend their money. Here’s what God says about this in Malachi chapter 3: "Is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not. Yet you are robbing me," says the Lord.

"How?" you ask. "You’re spending my money by withholding your full tithe and offerings. Bring to me the full amount of your tithe to my house. Put me to the test and you’ll see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you that you won’t even have enough room to receive it all." This is a test and this is a promise. God says, "I dare you to trust me on this." Do you have the integrity to put me first in your finances?

Number five: you become a person of integrity by doing your best at work. This is business integrity or vocational integrity. Spiritual integrity: tithing. Relational integrity: not gossiping. Financial integrity: paying your bills. This is vocational integrity, of having integrity where you work. Do you do your best at work or are you just sloughing off when the boss isn’t watching?

Some people only work hard when the boss is around, when the supervisors are around. The rest of the time they’re goofing off, they’re playing around, they’re standing at the water cooler gossiping, they’re playing solitaire on the computer or reading some online magazine, they’re taking supplies home to their house, ripping off the office. They’re taking breaks, coming in late as long as they’re not being noticed.

You may have never realized what a serious sin God considers it for you to give a full day’s work when you’re paid a full day’s wage. You don’t have the right to goof off. You say, "Well, everybody else is slacking off, nobody else works hard in my office." So what? They’re not a follower of Christ. Maybe they don’t care about integrity, and maybe they don’t care about leaving a legacy, rewards for eternity, and personal stability.

But you do. Whether they work hard and well or not is irrelevant. Let me show you just a few verses about this here on the screen. Proverbs 18:9 says this: "Slack habits and sloppy work are as bad as vandalism." That’s what God says about it. He says, you know, if you’re just goofing off and you do poor work and you think, "Oh, that’s good enough for this, nobody’s going to even notice," he said that’s like vandalism.

The Bible says this: "A lazy employee is as destructive as a saboteur." If I am not giving a full day’s work for a full day’s wage, I may hate my job—it doesn’t matter if I hate it or not—I am actually vandalizing and I’m sabotaging somebody else’s business if I’m not giving it my best. If I don’t give it my best, then I lack integrity.

Let me show you a couple of other verses. Ephesians 6:6 says this: "Don’t work hard only when your master," that's your supervisor, "is watching and then shirk when he isn’t looking. Work hard and work with gladness," that's enthusiasm, "all the time, even if you hate your job, as though working for Christ, doing the will of God with all your heart."

It is God’s will that you work hard and with gladness all the time as if you were working for Christ. If you’re a believer, your boss isn’t your boss. Your real boss is God. Whether anybody else sees it or not, God does and He’s your boss. Your boss isn’t watching you all the time, but God is watching you all the time and this is a test. It’s a test of integrity.

It’s God’s will that I not waste the time and the money and the resources of the owner of the business or my employer. Let me show you another one. Colossians 3:22 says this: "And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best." That’s integrity. Are you doing your best at work? If not, you need to change. You need to repent. I need to not just do the minimum, I need to give it my best shot. Do your best.

In fact, the next verse, Colossians 3:23, says this: "Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord." It said it twice. Anytime the Bible says something twice, you better pay attention. Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than people. That is a mark of integrity.

Hi everybody, this is Pastor Rick. I would like to thank you. Thank you for being a part of our Daily Hope family. I don’t get to say that often enough, but your generosity is helping us share the hope of Jesus with people here at home and literally all around the world. Even in places where it’s difficult and even dangerous to get the good news.

I recently heard from a woman named Eunice in Cameroon. Cameroon is a country in central Africa. She wrote to me and said, "Pastor Rick, I lost both my son and my daughter in the war. Now I’m raising four grandchildren on my own. I was overwhelmed with grief. But through the Daily Hope devotionals, I have found strength, and comfort, and peace in God’s word. So thank you for helping me hold on to hope."

That’s powerful. And that happened because your giving is helping Eunice find the strength to carry on, to raise her grandchildren, and to keep trusting God even through the deep loss of her kids. Right now, I want to tell you about this because we have a special opportunity. Some generous friends have offered a matching grant. What that means is whatever you give will be doubled.

They’ll match it. That means whatever you give today will go twice as far to reach even more people with God’s word. So can I ask you a favor? I want to encourage you to give your best gift you can today. Together, let’s keep bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to people like Eunice and to the billions of other people who still need to hear. There are still people who’ve never heard the name of Jesus. We want to keep expanding to get the message to the whole world. Help us out. Let me just close by saying I love you. I thank God for you and I am so grateful that we are in this mission together. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Hey, if you’d like to support Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, just go to pastorrick.com. That’s pastorrick.com. Or you can text the word "hope" to 70309. That’s the word "hope" to 70309. And really, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Be sure to join us next time when we look into God’s word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.