Rick Warren - God Blesses A Heart of Integrity—Part One

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 Now. In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus'

Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to live

a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. Today we begin

part one of God blesses a heart of integrity.

Our culture is absolutely obsessed with appearance, how you look.

We're all about image, and if you're beautiful, then you're

considered bright and you're considered the best, which leaves most

of us not in the brightest and best. Now, you

could be sexy like me, But the Bible says God

couldn't care less how you look. God is not into appearance.

God couldn't care less about your achievements, your accomplishments, or

your acquisitions. God isn't interested in how educated you are

or how wealthy you are. God doesn't care about how

popular or how famous you are. What God cares about

is not your image. But he cares about your health

and your heart and what's inside you, the real you,

the Bible says in the Book of First Samuel chapter sixteen,

it says this in verse seven, man looks at the

outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And

so today we come to the sixth of Jesus' eight

beatitudes of ways to be blessed. And in Matthew chapter five,

verse eight, talking about heart, it says this, God blesses

those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Now,

what in the world does that mean. God blesses those

whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. First,

what does it mean they will see God? This verse

says the people whose hearts are pure, they're the ones

who get up close to God. They get to experience

the presence of God. They get to feel the power

of God. They get to know the purpose of God

for their life. They get to live in the peace

of God. They experience the pardon of God. These are

the people who really have it, he says. God blesses

those who are pure in heart. They're the ones that

God says. This guy, he's my friend. This woman, she's

my friend. So what does it mean to be pure

in heart? That's not a term we use in today's language.

We don't talk about saying, oh, she's got a pure heart.

The word for pure in heart today is the word integrity. Integrity. Now,

the Bible uses the word integrity a lot, but it

actually even uses the word blameless more. Now, what does

it mean to have integrity? Because if God says I

bless those who have integrity, what does it mean to

have integrity? Well, it doesn't mean sinless, and it doesn't

mean perfect. Then it doesn't mean you don't make any mistakes.

If you have to be sinless to have integrity. Nobody's

got integrity because we all blow it. It doesn't mean

perfect because if you have to be perfect and never

do anything wrong to have integrity, then none of us

will ever have integrity. It doesn't mean you never make

any mistakes. If that were true, none of us would

ever have integrity. So it's not talking about being perfect

being sinless. What does it mean to be pure in heart?

Let me explain something to you. God is more interested

in the direction of your heart than he is in

the sins you commit. He's more interested in your attitude

even than your actions, more interested in why you do

what you do than what you do. In the Bible,

there are many examples of people who did the right

thing for the wrong motivation, and God says doesn't count.

It doesn't count at all. On the other hand, the

Bible tells us about a number of leaders, different kings

of Israel, who actually didn't always do the right thing

and actually did some sin, and yet God said they're okay,

They're okay. They didn't remove all of the idols that

were in the thing, but they were a good king.

And so God is actually more interested in your heart

the direction of your heart, than he is in your

actual sins and what you do and don't. So what

is integrity. The Bible says that Noah had integrity. The

Bible says that Abraham had integrity, that David had integrity,

that Moses had integrity, that Paul had integrity. Yet none

of these guys were perfect. Let's just take David an example.

God says about King David, there is a man who

has a heart like mine. He's a man after my

own heart.

You read that.

You know what?

This is a guy who committed adultery and murdered the

girl's husband one time. He pretended he was mentally insane

to get out of a thing. He did all kinds

of weird things he was not perfect in any sense,

and yet godsys that guy over there, Yeah he's really

messed up, but he's got a heart like mine. I

want you to have a heart like God's. I want

to have a heart like God. I want us to

be people of integrity. Three words that define what it

means to be a man of integrity, what it means

to be a woman of integrity. The first meaning of

integrity is wholeness. Wholeness it means your life isn't divided

up in the compartments. It's not divided into segments. You

don't have your life all divided up in little, little categories.

Your life is one large whole. We get the word

integrity from the word integer or integer. You remember in math,

an integer is a whole number. It's not a fraction,

it's not a part of a number, it's not a decimal.

It's a whole number.

And integer means whole, and integrity means your life is

a whole. We get the word integration from the word

integer or integrity. Integration is the opposite of segregation. Segregation

means you you divide things up, or divide people up,

or whatever into different categories. Integration means no, no, we're

all part of the same family. We don't think the same,

look the same, smell, the same, act the same, don't

have the same background, don't have the same skin color,

don't have but we are all in the same family.

We are integrated. That's part of integrity. When you segregate

your life, you don't have integrity.

You see, it's like this.

A lot of people they think of their life as

like a pie, and the different things in their lives

are the different parts of the pie. And I see

this slice of the pie is my career. That's my

work life. And then this slice of the pie, this

is church. This is my spiritual life. And then this

is my family life. That's the slice. And then over

here this is my social life, my sports life. And

then here is my sex life. That's a part of

my pie. And then over here is my secret life.

My compulsions, my addictions are the things that nobody else

knows about my secret life. And then over here this

is like my friendship life. If you segment your life

like that, you lack integrity because it's the exact opposite

of your life being a whole. Integrity is not the

parts of the pie. It's the filling and the whole pie.

And it means you're exactly the same with everybody you talk,

no matter which part of your life you're dealing with.

You don't change, You don't wear a mask, you don't pretend.

And that's the second word I want you to write down.

Integrity means authenticity. Authenticity. It means you keep it real.

It means you're the real deal. You're not a fake,

you're not a phony. You're not blowing people off with

some scam. You're not faking it till you make it.

You're not pretending, you're not copying anybody else. You're not

trying to be somebody you're not. You are exactly who

you appear to be. And if you have integrity, you

act the same no matter where you are. That is,

I act the same way with my grandkids as I

do with you, as I would with the Prime Minister

of England. It's what you see is what you get.

It's worts and all. It's not like I'm trying to

be one way here and one way there and one

way here.

Now.

You're just who you are, for good or for bad.

Thousands of years ago, during the Great Greek culture when

Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and Euripides and Aristophanes and

all these guys are writing these plays, these classic plays,

Homer and the Iliad and the Odyssey, all of these things, well,

they used to have in Greek plays multiple roles by

one actor. And what is a guy would come from

backstage out into the forum to play a part, and

he would hold up a mask, and he'd wear a mask,

and he would say certain things and play that role.

Then he'd walk backstage, get another mask, come back out,

and he'd play another role wearing another mask. Then he'd

walk backstage, change it, get another mask, and come back out.

And in Greek plays, one guy could have multiple roles

in many masks, and he was called in Greek the hypocritos.

The hip is we get the word hypocrite from it.

What does it mean to be a hypocrite. It means

you're not the same with everybody. It means you talk

one way with this group, and you talk another way

with this group, and you use this kind of language

over there, that kind of language over there, and you

actually are wearing masks. That is the exact opposite of integrity.

You lack authenticity, you're not the same with everybody. Integrity

means you don't pretend to be something you're not, So

it's wholeness and authenticity. The third thing that antigrity is

write this down is it means unmixed motivation. It means

you do the right thing, but you do it for

the right reason. Unmixed motivation. It means you're sincere. It

means you're straightforward. It means you are pure in heart.

Pure in heart means you don't have a mixed motive.

In other words, you're doing it for the right reason.

You can pray to talk to God, or you can

pray to impress other people. One has integrity and one doesn't.

Integrity is what you are when nobody else is looking.

Integrity is what you are in the dark. Integrity is

what you really think, act and do when nobody else

will ever find out. That's the real you.

Integrity.

You see, we're more interested in image, but God's interested

in integrity. We're interested in reputation. God is interested in character.

Reputation is what everybody thinks you are. Image, I mean,

integrity is what you really are. Reputation is what you

are in public. Integrity is what you are when you're

all alone with God. It's just you and God. And

God says, God blesses those who have integrity. They get

to be the friends of God. Now what does God

say about this? Look at this verse up here on

the screen. Proverbs chapter three. The Lord hates people with

twisted hearts. What's a twisted heart, a perverse heart, a

perverted heart, a deceit full heart, a demeaning heart, a.

Fake, a phony heart.

It's not you know, you don't really, you're not the

real you. The Lord hates people with twisted hearts, but

he delights. He delights in those who have integrity. I

want God to delight in you. So what we're gonna

do this weekend is two things. First, I want us

to look at some of the benefits of being a

man of integrity or a woman of integrity. And Tom

is going to come and share in just a minute,

two or three benefits. There are many, many benefits in scripture.

We just don't have time to cover them all, so

we'll only look at three of the promises of God says,

if you live with integrity, then this is what's going

to happen in your life. And then I'm gonna come

back and we're going to look at a little checklist

on how to get started and how even this week

you could start working on becoming a woman of integrity

or a man of integrity. So let's have Tom comment

talk about some of the blessings that happen when I

get this quality in my life.

One of the great blessings, one of the great blessings

that comes when we have integrity, is the blessing.

Of personal confidence.

You just live with a different kind of confidence because

you're not trying to be a phony all the time.

You're not trying to make sure that you're putting the

right front with the right person all the time, so

you're able to have a different kind of confidence.

When you have integrity, you become.

The kind of person that other people like to be

around because you know who you are, you know where

you're going. You're even able to be upfront about your faults.

You're not to be a phony. And there's just something

about that kind of confidence that not only is it

attractive in others, it's relaxing, it's strengthening in our own lives.

I've always loved this picture of Proverbs ten to nine

of the kind of confidence that integrity brings. It says here,

people with integrity have a firm footing, but those who

follow crooked paths will slip and fall. So when I

have integrity, I'm standing on solid ground.

But when I don't have.

Integrity, it's like back east in a snowstorm that passes

all icy and you're trying with all your might not

to fall, and every bit of energy is making sure

you don't slip and fall.

That's what it feels like not to have integrity.

You're putting too much energy into making sure that you

put the right fault front when you could just be honest,

just be yourself. I'll never forget talking to a business

guy years ago and I asked him, what's the number

one thing that changed in your life now that you've

become a follower of Jesus. He just started following Jesus

a few months before, and he said, the number one

thing that's changed, said it right away, is the way

I answer the phone.

He said.

I used to answer the phone and I would tell

a different lie to everybody in my business, and I'd

have to look at their name and realize what lie

did I tell?

This guy? And before I answer the phone know what

lie in my mind. But now I.

Can just answer because I tell them the truth, I

can just answer and they not even have to look

at the name. That's what integrity does for you. It

gives you this different kind of confidence. The Bible says

in Proverbs eleven three, let's read this one together. The

integrity of the honest keeps them on track. So integrity

shows you the right way to go. It also shows

you what to do next. Sometimes you start to wander

through life. You're not sure what to do next, maybe

in a transition, maybe when your kids is going off

to college, maybe you just change jobs.

What do you do next?

Well, the Bible says that when you have purity of heart,

when you have integrity, you see God better.

When you see God, you know what to do next.

Because God has a purpose. God has a plan for

your life.

Integrity helps you to see God's plan and purpose for

your life better. That's one of the things that gives

you a greater confidence to live with. One of the

great blessings of integrity, a second blessing of integrity is

a lasting legacy. You get this lasting legacy. In fact,

if you think about your life. Your greatest legacy is

in your integrity, because it's a legacy that will last

from generation to generation to generation. Everything else that we do,

it gets lost. The money that you earn in the end,

it's going to get divided amongst your kids. If you

have any money left, and it's going to get spent.

The work that you do, it's going to be given

to somebody else, and then you're going to be forgotten.

All the trophies that you've earned, it's going to be

thrown in the trash someday and taken to the dump.

Isn't this encouraging about our lives?

But the integrity that you have, the character that you have,

it's going to be translated into the lives of the

people that are around you, and then into the lives

of the next generation and the next generation. It is

a lasting legacy. Next erson you're outlined. Proverbs twenty seven

is especially encouraging for parents. It says a righteous person

lives on the basis of his integrity. Blessed are his

children after he is gone. It's the blessing, moms and

dads of the character that you've given. I know, there's

no such thing as a perfect parent here. But you've

made some good choices, and in those good choices, you're.

Passing them on.

Now.

You might think, not me, I haven't made any good choices.

I mean, I messed up on this one. I did

not show integrity in my relationships, and because of that,

I guess I don't get this blessing. Well, I just

want to say to you, the story is not over.

You can still have integrity in your life. And sometimes

the greatest integrity you show is in a time when

it seems like there's no blessings.

A lot of us know the story of Job.

If you're brand new in church, you might even know

that story the guy who lost it all and he

decided to have integrity.

Even though he lost it all.

He didn't know why he lost it, but he decided,

I'm going to have integrity through this and the next

verse in your outline Job eight five to seven, one

of his friends gives him this advice. If you pray

to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, if

you're pure and you live with complete integrity, God will

rise up and restore your happy home. And though you

started with little, you will end with much. And that

is exactly what happened. Job decided to have integrity even

through a difficult time, and because of that, in the

end he was doubly blessed.

He was blessed even more in the end. Some of you, you've.

Gone through a tough time that maybe even a loss

of integrity, and because of a loss, you start to think,

what does it matter. I already messed up, so I

may as well just keep messing up, because what does

it matter now? But I just want to say to you,

the story is not over. And the truth of the

matter is your greatest integrity might be what you do

after a loss of integrity.

You can still.

Respond with integrity then, And somebody's watching, and you know what,

They're going to have a loss of integrity someday in

their life, and you can show them even now what

to do. You can still leave a lasting legacy. It's

never too late. The story's not over. It's one of

the blessings of integrity, a lasting legacy, a personal confidence.

And then there's this.

Third blessing amidst all the others that we're looking at today,

and that is the blessing.

Of rewards in eternity. Now, this in one sense.

Is the greatest blessing because it's the one that lasts forever,

the rewards that we get in eternity. Look what the

Bible says about this. In Matthew twenty, God will say,

one day, well done. You are a good and trusted servant.

Because you were faithful with small things. I will now

put you in charge of much greater things. So come

and share your master's happiness. Now, would you circle for

me two words in that verse? Would you circle the

words small things? That's where the rewards are. We think

that the rewards, the real integrity is in the big

moments of life.

It's easy to have.

Integrity, easier because you know everybody's watching.

You can build yourself up for it.

But it's in the small moments that you show real integrity.

As Rick said earlier, integrity is who you are when

no one's watching, no one's noticing. So what kind of

integrity do I have in the in the small things

of life? Now, when it comes to integrity in the

small things when no one else was watching, we can

all list the areas we've failed there. No one would

want all of the small choices we made in our

lives this last week, even put up on the screen

because there'd be some things we did not want people

to see. It's easy to make a list of your

sins and failures in the small things.

But let's put those.

Let's take those and put them on the forgiven in

Christ's side of the ledger, because he forgives those things.

But I want to remind you, and this verse reminds us,

there is another side of the ledger, and that is

when you choose to have faith, when you choose to

have integrity in the small things, that is on the

rewarded side of the ledger. Every small word of encouragement

you give this next week, it is rewarded eternally. Every

small kindness, act of kindness that you give towards someone

else rewarded in eternity. Every time you reject a temptation,

rewarded in eternity. Every time you pray a small prayer

of faith, just a quick prayer of faith in a moment, that.

Is rewarded in eternity. That's the power of integrity.

That's the difference that integrity makes, not just here but forever.

That's the blessing of integrity.

It's tough in the small things because in the small things.

It's just easy to get our perspective off, to get

our perspective on the wrong thing. I told some of

the story a while back, but it's worth saying again

because it just fits so well here. While back, I

was at home depot getting some sod from my backyard

at a dead area, and I counted down and I

thought I needed about twenty two pieces of sod. So

I went down and I bought it, and I said

where do I get it? And they said, oh, it's

out in front. You just load it yourself. So I

backed my car up and I start loading this sod

in counting one, two, three, four five. About halfway through,

I think maybe I might need twenty four pieces. I

don't know if I'm getting enough, but I didn't want

to go back in and get and pay them again

and have to come back out. So I start looking around, thinking,

who's gonna notice if I take two extra pieces while

I'm doing this. I mean, no one's gonna notice. And

then I looked down and thought, there's just gonna be

a few pieces left. They're going to die out here

in the sun anyway. I mean, it's not gonna hurt

anybody if I take a couple of extra pieces, counting

them in, and then all of a sudden, the perspective

hit me and I started laughing out loud in the

parking lot. I thought, integrity issue I'm facing here is

God or sad. Which one of those of them am

I going to choose in this moment? Am I going

to give up my integrity for a square of dirt?

Is that what I'm going to do? And really, in

one way, it's all dirt.

It's all dirt in this world compared to the integrity

of the choice that you make for eternity. And when

you make these small choices, and when you make these

small choices for eternity, it changes not only your life now,

but also your life forever.

Now, if you're talking about what Tom just talked about,

I don't know about you, but I'm interested in these benefits.

I'm interested in personal stability, I'm interested in leaving a legacy,

and I'm interested in rewards for eternity. And God says

all three of these are wrapped up in having integrity.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

tell you how you can help support this ministry.

Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives

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love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love

your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.

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them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign

of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything

I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the

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