Over the next several weeks we will be going through Arron Chambers' new book called 'Eats with Sinners.' If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them here or email me.
Eats with Sinners Chapter 1: Integrity
One impurity in our lives can pull us and others off course. But this is our problem, not God's. He never changes, He has always been and always will be the same. Perfect. We on the other hand are not. That is why we swear on our momma's grave and sign contracts.
There is only one human in history who has ever had absolute integrity. And I'm not sure if it really counts because He was also fully God. His name was Jesus. As soon as He came up out of the waters of baptism He was lead out into the desert to be tempted, and He passed with flying colors. Scripture says that He was tempted in every way, just like we are, yet He was without sin.
In those moments when we are tempted, we have the opportunity to grow into something more, or shrink into something less. Before we can even think about leading others to know Christ, we too must face our deserts of temptation. None of us are perfect, but that doesn't mean that we can't live a life of integrity. We can't allow the mistakes we make to pull us permanently off course and away from integrity. If we are willing to learn from those mistakes God can and will use us to do great things. "You can have integrity without a ministry, but you can't have a ministry without integrity."
Jesus tells us to pull the log out of our own eye before we try to remove the speck of dust out of our friend's eye. In other, words, don't be such a hypocrite! Jesus wants our lives to be characterized by integrity. "Hypocrisy is cancerous to evangelism, rendering Jesus a joke and His message a punch line in the hearts and minds of lost people."
Hans Christian Andersen tells a famous story about an Emperor who was tricked by two swindlers. They claimed to be able to make the finest clothes, but only those with great taste could see them. So naturally, everyone in the palace raved about the clothes when they were "finished." The king even agreed to have a parade to show them off. Everyone in the kingdom pretended to see these fine articles of clothing until they passed by one little boy who yelled, 'the king isn't wearing any clothes!' Relieved that someone had finally said it, everyone in the kingdom, including the king had to admit that he was parading around naked! Is that how our spiritual lives are? Are we pretending to clothe ourselves in righteousness but in reality parading around naked in our sin? This has to stop.
Sin makes us cowards, but integrity makes us bold. Its hard to help someone come through a sin that you are stuck in yourself. If you are addicted to porn it would be extremely hard to preach about the evils of porn. "Private sin is an evil warden that Satan employs to keep us locked up, silent, and hopeless in a dungeon that reeks with fear. But private sin is also an illusion. We can't fool God." He already know what we do when no one else is looking, and He wants to forgive us if we'll just ask!
God doesn't expect perfection. Only faithfulness. You see God knows that we are all flawed and that we are going to sin everyday of our lives here on earth. But He wants us to be faithful to Him. Don't let your life be defined by a moment of weakness, but rather by years of loyalty to the One who redeems us from sin.
At the end of the chapter Arron gives 3 tips toward walking with integrity:
1. Personal Devotions- are you doing them? Are you spending time in the Word of God?
2. Accountability Partner- find someone of the same gender who will help you stay on track.
3. Local church- find one and stick with it. We need each other!
Enjoy the Journey
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