Someone had said that integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching. Of course, we had this situation in Deut 12:8 where there may have been some confusion over the eating and sacrificing of meat in worship, You shall not at all do as we are doing here today – everyone did what was right in his own eyes. During the dark period of the Judges there was a breakdown in spiritual integrity where everyone did what was right in his own eyes, (Jdg 17:6b; 21:25b). The lack of spiritual integrity has a negative consequence; according to Proverbs, There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Prov 14:12; 16:25; Jer 23:24). It doesn’t get any more negative than that.
So, we need to refine this definition of integrity by what is meant by “the right thing” and put an enhancement to “when nobody is looking” (contrast Psa 3:13; Prov 5:21; 15:3; Jer 17:10) and offer a positive motivation to have spiritual integrity in a world that has only a native capacity to do things contrary to God. One motivating factor is Christ’s love for us ( 2 Cor 5:14; Gal 2:20; 1 Jn 4:10, 19), and the other is our love for Him (Jn 14:15-16, 21-24; 15:10; 1 Jn 2:3-5; 5:2-3).
Our meaning of spiritual integrity here is doing what is right according to the Scriptures in the sight of God in every situation, being moved by the love (agape) of Christ for us and love (agape) and reverence (eulabeia) for Him.
With that working definition, let’s talk about keeping the mask off.
I knew a man who was an excellent electrician who believed in doing the job right even when nobody was looking. The vast majority of his work was hidden behind walls and ceilings. He always performed everything according to code, but his work was elegant as well. It was his personal signature though often hidden from view.
Everything he had done passed inspection, and his ability to shape conduit known as EMT (electrical metallic tubing) was a virtual work of art. I asked him one time why he went through the trouble of making it look like a circuitry board when other electricians could pass inspection with cruder layouts of conduit because no one was going to see it behind the walls anyway? He said to me, “I would know.” The quality of his work was driven by personal pride.
If I ever needed electrical work done for me, he was the one man that I would choose without hesitation. I could hand him the keys to my house without ever wondering about his honesty or worrying if the job was going to be done right or not. I greatly appreciated it. Trust me when I say this, having a house recently built in 2016, how rare it is today to find people like him who possessed that kind of ambition of integrity, quality, and pride in their work!
Sadly, he died never knowing the Lord; so, his ultimate objective wasn’t to glorify God in what he did, or how he lived. He was offended years ago by something that happened in a small church that he and his wife attended. Afterward, he made a decision to never step into another church again, except for weddings and funerals, until the day he died. Tragically, he chose to allow a negative circumstance to shape his destiny.
From the time I knew him, he had shown zero interest in the things of God throughout the years, but that did not mean that he was not a good man in many ways. He was a good husband and father, faithful to his wife and kids, a good neighbor, and a good citizen, but salvation is not based on being a good person or doing good works (Eph 2:8-9).
He chose to base the worthiness of Christianity on some misconduct of a local church rather than on the merits of Jesus Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Religion will always disappoint us, but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will not. Christianity is about a relationship with God; Churchianity is about religion. You have heard it said, and it is true that it is not the circumstances of life that determine our destiny, but the choices that we make. As a capstone to his life, his atheistic son gave his eulogy, having the coldness of secular humanism.
With futile thinking, often people look for an excuse to avoid submitting to God’s authority. Often the critical eye is focused on others masquerading as believers. The faulty conclusion often reached is that “There is nothing but hypocrites in so and so church!” Really? Nothing but? We are all hypocrites to some degree!
We all can agree that no one is perfect, but there are tares among the wheat, non-believers with a wheat look about them, attending evangelical churches. I wonder how many tares got the evil eye from those who thought they were true believers? Carnal-minded believers do not help the cause of Christ either, and authentic believers, though fewer in number, are not flawless! What am I saying? Not even sound biblical churches are free from those sporting a mask!
But honestly, can we go anywhere where no one is wearing a mask? They are at work; they are at play; they are in church; they are everywhere and found in every organization known to man! I can look in the mirror of the Word and see the hypocrisies of my own soul. I am imperfection at best saved by the grace of God Almighty who knew me at my worst (cf. Rom 5:8)! This is not an excuse, of course, but Hamartiology 101 [the study of sin]. We all are sinners not because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners (Rom 3:23; 5:12)!
This electrician’s morality and ethics were reflected in his work and life more than in some so-called believers that I had known. If morality and ethics were the way to salvation, this man would be in heaven right now, but it is not. If salvation was of works, I know a bunch of believers who would lose their salvation over the lack of integrity alone. Thank God that salvation is not merit-based but by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9). Those who have been born from above are eternally secured in Christ alone! Glory!
Remember statements like these, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31), or whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men (Col 3:23)? These are spiritual integrity statements. It is about doing the will of God when nobody is looking, day in and day out. What a contrast to the Pharisees who paraded a veneer of outward religious integrity but inwardly, they were nothing more than white-washed sepulchers!
As spiritually regenerated believers, we must relentlessly be about the business as believers of doing everything heartily, as to the Lord because Christ died for us, and our love for Him is reflected in our obedience to His commands. In His all-knowingness, He sees and knows what you and I are about and up to and rightly knows if our love (agape) is true at any given moment in our lives or if we are wearing a mask.
In the pursuit of par excellence in our service to God in all that we think, say, and do, it should never be based upon any personal pride, “I would know,” as my electrician friend had said. Rather, it should be grounded, no pun intended, in the fact that the believer knows that God knows, and our love is reflected in obedience to His commands (Jn 14:15) because He first loved us (1 Jn 4:19).
There should be no evidence of any shortcuts, shoddy workmanship, or anything that would not bring glory to God in whatever capacity through our service to Him. With all thoughts said and done, the intent and content of our works should be able to withstand the fieriest scrutiny, the most fervid heat, and emerging from the examination as gold, silver, and precious stones, a testimony that our works were for His glory. Having spiritual integrity in all that we do means there is less smoke from wood, hay, and straw kind of works being burned up at the Bema!
Yep, you might say that love (agape), expressed down here for God, pays great dividends in glory. Until then, maintaining spiritual integrity, as defined above, helps in keeping the mask off so that we can realize those eternal rewards for faithful service to God and avoid the temporal works of wood, hay, and straw found outside the will of God (cf. 1 Jn 2:16-17). <><
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