[Gary Petty] I read one time that this was something that was posted, a notice that was posted on an employee bulletin board at a business. It says, "Due to increased competition and a keen desire to stay in business, we find it necessary to institute a new policy. We're asking that somewhere between starting time and quitting time and without infringing on the time devoted to lunch, coffee breaks, rest periods, storytelling, tickets selling, vacation planning, and rehashing of gossip, each employee endeavors to find some time to set aside as what we're calling the work break. This may seem a radical innovation, but we believe the idea has possibilities. It can conceivably be an aid to steady employment and regular paychecks. While adoption to the work break is not compulsory, it's hoped that each employee will find time to give it a fair trial."

But the six years that I spent working in radio advertising, I came in contact with a lot of different businesses, small businesses, big businesses. And one of the problems they all had every one of them was how do we find and keep good employees? That's a problem that they all faced. You say, "Okay, employees, what does that have to do with what we're going to talk about today?" Are you a good employee? Do you work hard? "What's that have to do with my Christianity?"

Actually, the Bible talks about having a work ethic. What does that mean? What does it mean that we are to have a work ethic? What does the Bible really teach us about work? There's an interesting story that we find in 2 Thessalonians 3. That Paul is making some personal comments here to the people of Thessalonica about a problem that they had. Picking it up in verse 6. He says, "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which you received from us."

Now, these people were disorderly. And he's actually saying, you know, these people have become so disorderly in the congregation that we're just suggesting you don't even talk to them. That's a pretty strong statement. Like what in the world were they doing? I mean, disorderly means that they're causing problems, they're destroying relationships. I mean, what in the world are these people doing to cause that kind of problem? You think well, they must have some heresy, you know that they're teaching or what are they doing? He says, "For you, yourselves know… He says… Let me give you an example here. "For you, yourselves know how you ought to follow us."

He's talking about him and some traveling companions who had been with him when he went to actually visit the church of Thessalonica. "How you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you." Okay, well, we didn't create this problem when we were there so we tried to show you an example. He says, "Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we did not have authority, to make ourselves example of how you should follow us." So he uses himself as an example. He says, “You know, when I came there,” with his ministerial companions, he says, “we didn't taking money from you to serve you while we were there.” But they worked day and night. And of course, we know that he was a tentmaker.

So he says, "We worked our own jobs and didn't take money, even though we could have. I mean, it would only be ethically right for the church to support us while we were there." But he says, "No, we didn't ask anything from you." So there's a problem here he's getting to that has to do with disorderly conduct. He says, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but they're busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread."

Boy, what kind of major problem were they having? Now, I don't know exactly, but the cause was that there was a large enough group of people in their congregation who just refused to work. They just didn't work. And it says there were busybodies. They spent their time just meddling in everybody else's business. So they were creating this constant problem in the church. Which I mean, that seems sort of odd to us today. I mean, I don't think I've ever been in a congregation where I've seen this exact problem where you had a large number of people just creating all this problem at church because they just refuse to work.

But there's an important statement he makes here. He says, "For even when we were with you…" I'm sorry, he says, "For if they shall not work, they shall not eat… If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” That's the point he's making. Now, the Bible is very clear in the absolute command to take care of the poor. Everyone has a responsibility to take care of the poor. Poor people who are there because some calamity has happened, because maybe they just don't have the skills to get certain jobs. Maybe they… you know, there's all kinds of reasons why someone could be poor. And the church is given and ancient Israel were given explicit commands to help take care of poor people. What Paul says here is, if a person is poor because they won't work, you don't take care of them.

Now, that seems strange too in the society we live in. And why would he say that? If the person is hungry, and he says no if it's because they refuse to eat, let them get hungry, and then they will go work. Let them get hungry then they'll go work. So he's making a point here. Now, once again, we have to put this in the context of why he makes this statement. There is in the congregation a group of people who cause nothing but problems in the church. They're meddling in everybody else's business or probably just showing up at people's houses expecting to be taken care of.

Although I have had… I have had as a pastor, a few people that do that. I've come across people who will go from church to church. And they'll come in and they'll spend three-four months in a church living with people, being taken care of by people always saying they're going to get a job. Sometimes I've seen it go on for six months and the people will take them in. A lot of times it's older people. Then they'll wear out there welcome there, and go someplace else. And eventually, it comes down to this person doesn't even look for a job. And so you have a conversation and say, look, "You just can't come in and take advantage of these people." I mean, in some cases, large amounts of money were given to then and then they disappear.

Then I get an email from another pastor that says, "Hey, so and so has showed up at my church and they just moved in with a couple of the elderly people." And I've seen men… it's always men. But I've seen men be able to do this sometimes for a couple of years before they get caught. Now, Paul would say, "Sorry, you don't work, you don't eat. We don't give you anything. You don't work, you don't receive shelter." He's talking about Christians taking care of Christians here. He says, "If you refuse to do certain things, then the church is not to take care of you." So this means work is important. This is an extreme example but this is where I want to start. It must be important for Paul to make these instructions to a church. If a person refuses to work, it's not that they can't work, or maybe they just don't have a lot of skills or whatever. And you know, they're doing the best they can, maybe they have a real low paying job because that's all they can do then we're supposed to take care of them, help them. “But if they refuse to work,” he says, “then you don't take care of them.”

So work is important. Work is an important part of who we are because work is part of our Christian character. Now, I'm going to talk about being a workaholic here. I might mention a couple of times. Being a workaholic is the other end of the scale. Being a workaholic is spiritually wrong also. When we put ourselves into our work so much that we're not having a right relationship with God, we're not taking care of our families, we're not taking care of ourselves. And recreation is part of life. Fun is part of life. So that's that other extreme.

But usually, we as human beings tend to fall on the sort of lazy side than the workaholic side. So we're going to talk about work today. Because it is an ethical issue. Now, I will say this when I talk about work here, and I've seen this happen in the church. I've actually had people come to me and want to counsel because they'll say, "You know, I realized that I'm preparing for the Kingdom of God. And since I'm preparing for the kingdom of God, I'm just a" and you can fill in the blank. “I'm just a construction worker. I'm just a salesman. I'm just a housewife. I'm just a office worker.” And whatever they fill in and they say, "Probably I need to get another job to prepare for the Kingdom of God." Your career isn't the issue, it's your work ethic that's the issue. It's your work ethic that's the issue, not what you're doing.

I used to tell my kids, "Find out what you're really good at, that makes you happy and go become the best at it. You may not make the most money, but you will be happy." When you're doing work you love, you're happy. Now, unfortunately, every job has drudgery. We'll talk about that in a minute. And you can be trapped at a job sometimes for a while that you hate. Okay, what do you do with that? Well, we'll talk about that in a minute, too. These are all real issues. This is practical Christianity, practical Christianity. So it doesn't matter what job you do. God doesn't care if you're an architect. God doesn't care if you're a boss with 100 people. God doesn’t… Well, I say He doesn't care.

What's really interesting is go through all the scriptures about employers. There are lots of scriptures in the Old and New Testament about employers. There's one of the laws in the Old Testament that says, "If you withhold your wages that you owe people as an employer, God will punish you." Is that a little scary? God says, "I hold that, personally, that's a personal issue. If people work for you, and you hold back their wages, then that's personal between Me and you. I will deal with that." So there's a lot of instructions about bosses and employers. But we're going to talk about employees today. Most of us are employees. There's a few here that might own your own business, but most of us do not.

So what does the Bible teach about work? You know, I talked about your jobs. Most people will have multiple jobs in a lifetime. What's really different than say 50 years ago, my dad, his dad, back then, most people had one career. Many times they worked for the same company their entire lives. That's not true today. Most of you, if you're young, you're going to have more than one career. You actually have more than one career. You may start out in something and end up doing something totally different by the end of your life.

In fact, the average person today will have three different careers. Now, we're not talking about three different jobs. You may have a career which you work for three or four different companies, and then another career and you work for three or four different companies. So it's changed from… it used to be you get hired by somebody, you work for that same company maybe your whole life. It's not that way anymore. Remember, it's not the specific job. It's the work ethic that's the Christian part of what you do. God doesn't care if you're a farmer. Be a good farmer. Like I used to tell my son he loved working on cars, I said, "Go be a car mechanic." "I can't make a lot of money." "Just go be the best car mechanic you can be." Now, he's selling insurance and loves it. So I was wrong on that one.

I used to tell my kids, "I can't determine what you're going to do, you have to decide that. You have to decide what you're going to do because it's your life, it's not mine." So, learn the work ethic, and you're going to be pretty much successful in everything you do. Now, I say successful, even if you do it right, bad things happen. In preparing this, I looked up probably 10 websites. They were business websites. They were management websites. One was a college website giving advice to students on reasons people get fired. And, you know, the number one was they just don't do their job. Like, number two was people fall asleep. That kept showing up all over. People sleep, you know. Number three was they're spending all their day on their cell phone, or, you know, they're just not involved in their work. There was all these reasons.

But then I saw another list from a business magazine. It was pretty interesting. It said, "We're going to tell you some other reasons why people get fired. The boss wants to give the job to his nephew,” okay. And then there were reasons why you get fired, which you are doing a great job and your manager becomes absolutely jealous of you and gets you fired. And I've known people that have gone through that. Got fired because they were doing a good job, and somebody got jealous.

So, okay, life, you know, there's no magic pill that says do this equals perfect success, that's not life. Sometimes you do it right and something bad happens. The difference is when you're doing it right you will find something else to do. You can recover from the problem if you're doing it right. If you're doing it wrong… I mean, you get fired from someplace three or four times just because it says you're insubordinate. You just aren't going to listen to your boss. You think he's an idiot, and you've been fired from three places because you think the boss is an idiot. Guess what the next boss is going to do, not hire you, right? They don't want to put up with that. So if you do it the right way, you have a much better chance of recovering from the bad things when they happen. Do it the wrong way and sooner or later you dig yourself in a hole.

What does the Bible say about work? Let's go to Colossians. Say well, this isn't a spiritual issue. Whether I daydream on the job, whether I play video games on the job when I should doing something else, that's not a spiritual issue. Colossians 3:22. Bondservants, now bondservants, so that was you worked for somebody because you owed them something. This is a type of employership. I mean, there were businesses in the Roman Empire where they hired employees. There were people that had bondservants. In other words, "you owe me something so you got to work for me."

There were people who… if you were craftsmen, especially, you would be hired out to different people. Of course, they had slaves, too. So Paul is just talking to a class of people that work for other people. He says, "Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh,” what? Now, not if they tell you to do something against God. Now, if your employer tells you to do something dishonest, you say, "No." And sooner or later, most of us have had to face that. I've had to face it earlier in my life. Or you just say, "I can't do that. That's immoral. That's wrong, whatever you're asking me to do."

I remember one radio station… I probably should have mentioned this before. I was really supposed to go date all the young girls that worked at the advertising agencies after… you know, not date, just go to the bar with them. I said, "I got a pregnant wife at home. I'm not going to go out after work and take these young single women to a bar." He said, "Well, you don't have to let them know you won't do anything." That's literally what I was told. "Just, you know, have some fun with them and then you get the account." And I said, "I don't want the account that bad." The owner of that radio station told me you know… it was the number one radio station in Austin, Texas. He said, "You know, you're a nice guy and in my experience, nice guys don't make it in a lot of companies." I didn't.

So you obey them in their job what they're telling you to do not with eye service as men-pleasers. In other words, you're not doing this because you just want to get on the good side of your boss. But in sincerity of heart. In other words, you do your job, you do it because you want to do the job right. Why? Because you're fearing God. "And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Jesus Christ." What? He makes this a spiritual issue. When you go to work, you give all that you have because you think that you're serving God. "I'm serving God."

Why would you do that? Because to your employer, to the people you work with you are representing God to them. Believe me, they all figure out you're a little bit different. They know your religion is a little bit different. Wherever you are, you represent God. And it's that way when you go to work. So when you go to work you give everything you have. Look what it says in 1 Timothy. Here, Paul writing once again, 1 Timothy 6. He really spells it out here. He says, "Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke…” in other words, sometimes when you work with somebody else, you're under a yoke, right? You don't show up on time. And by the way, that's one of the reasons that kept coming up, people were getting fired. Now, certain companies are very loose with that policy, certain aren't.

And if you work for a company and said, "What time we start?" "Oh, 9, 9:30, you know, just sort of whenever you come in." And there's companies like that. Then you get a company that says, "We expect you here at 8:30." And you're there at 8:40 and they fire you. And you can say, "Well, the last company was like this. This isn't fair." And they say, "But you don't work with the last company. You work for us." And so it is a yoke to work for other people. Now it doesn't mean it can't be fun. I mean, I enjoy being a pastor. No, I love being a pastor. But there are days where it's tough. There's days where it's tough.

He says, “yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor." Why? I mean, all of us here have worked for some person that you know, wasn't worthy of honor, right? We've all been there. So why would you do that? And here's why. "So that the name of God and His teachings will not be blasphemed." So that the name of God won't be blasphemed. They may say, "I don't like you." They may not like you because you are so honest. They may not like you because you are obeying God, but God won't be blasphemed. And that's why I said, when you go to work, you represent God. When you go to work, you are there your work ethic is part of your Christianity. So yeah, we should talk about this. Yes, it is important. And yes, it is one of the keys to success.

And sometimes younger people, you know, struggle with… you know, we all did when… Although I didn't. When I was young, I figured out somehow, I don't know why, when I was about 15 years old, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do in life. You know, get baptized. Find me a good woman that will take me, have children. Okay, that was number three. After that, it was work in radio, become a television talk show host, become an author of books, work as a reporter for… I had all these things I was going to do. Some of them I've done, I tell you what, being a minister wasn't on the list. Some I've done. Some I haven't.

But we all struggle with, "What am I supposed to do with my life?" You will have lots of choices in life and you probably… whatever choice you make at 18, you're going to change. The important thing is, what is your work ethic? Because you can change. I mean, I've known people who were doctors and became something else at age 30 and have been very successful. They were successful doctors. Now, they're successful with something else. I mean, what a change. You become a doctor at 28, at 35 you change jobs. You can have lots of choices in life. The important thing is if you learn how to work, you actually are equipped to make those choices. And you'll be equipped to make the changes if you want to.

If you don't know how to work, you don't have the ability to make the changes. There are people who are trapped in jobs because they've never learned how to work and they can't get out of it. It's all they can do. Now, some people, it depends on your personality. You find a job and you like it, and you stay in it for the rest of your life. And that's great too. But you have the equipment to make the decision. You see what I mean? You have the ability to make those decisions because your character is right, your work ethic is right. Otherwise, other people make those decisions for you. So that's what this is about. And so you are following God. You are doing this because you represent God. Now, that would change a lot of things, how you handle a lot of things at work.

So that's the first point I want to make. You know, when you go to work, you're going to work there as a representative of God. Now, you have to accept that. If you don't accept that it's like everything else. You either accept you're a Christian or not, but we shouldn't call ourselves Christian if we don't believe that we are followers of Christ and represent Christ. If we're Christians, we're representing. What we do at work counts. What we do at work matters. I mean, you spend 8 hours, you know, 40 hours a week at least at work probably more.

And a lot of even your happiness depends on what happens when you work. You know, a lot of times people will drag home their problems from work and bring them home and have a rotten marriage because of the problems they have at work. Especially if they're both working, they both drag it home and, you know, one can't help the other and they're unhappy. And the real issue sometimes isn't the marriage. The real issue is what's happening at work.

The second point… Now, we're going to get down to some real practical… the first thing here is a little bit conceptual. We work to represent God. Okay, so that means what I do is important. The second is that a proper work ethic requires that there's a list, you accomplish the work that is assigned to you in the way that it has been assigned to you and in the time allotted. Here's your job, do it this way and do it in this amount of time. Now, sometimes you go back and say, "Hey, this way doesn't work." Sometimes you go back and say, "Hey, I can't do it in this amount of time." Sometimes you go back and say, "Hey, I finished early so I didn't go to sleep, or I didn't sit around and, you know, just call up and look at pictures of puppies. Instead, I've come and said, "What do you want me to do next boss?"

I mean, one of the reasons we hate work so much is we get bored because we're bored with what we're doing. You're never bored when you're locked into doing something and you're putting your effort into it. Proverbs 26. Here's where it shows laziness is a moral deficiency. It is a moral problem. Proverbs 26:13, "The lazy man says, ‘There's a lion in this road! A fierce lion in the streets!” In other words, "I can't go outside." They have an excuse for everything. I mean, the excuse is there's a lion in the street is silly. There's a lion in the street, it doesn't matter. In other words, the excuse doesn't matter. "I'm just not going to do it. I just make up an excuse."

"As the door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed." I love that one. You know, you've heard an old creaky door that's all rusty and will hardly open. Although I have to admit it at 63 there's days that getting out of bed is like that. But it's literal, because that's the sound of my joints, okay. But we have to make ourselves get up and go. And there's a few people, most of us really can't believe it, they just wake up, jump out of bed. They're happy. They're ready to go. And it's, like, the rest of us, we just sort of walk around in a stupor for a while, and grunt for coffee and, you know. But you make yourself do it. More people have lost jobs because they simply won't make themselves do it.

And he calls this a lazy person. "The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; and wearies him to bring it back to his mouth." Now you can imagine, you take your spoon and you stick it in the bowl and you just sit and stare and say, "Would someone feed me please?" It's an absurdity to this. "The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly." And that's very true. The more lazy we are, the more reasons we have for being lazy, the more reasons why it's somebody else's fault. And the more reasons why, everybody that tells us, "No, that's not how the way it works," we say they're either wrong or they don't understand, or "Hey, get out of my face. You're oppressing me." And so we stay the way we are.

So there is an amount of effort that we have to put into this. A small business had a sign hanging on the wall that said, "If you don't believe the dead come back to life, you've never been here at quitting time." You know, all work does have some drudgery. I mean, I have to admit, when I'm doing paperwork sometimes, I'd rather be out visiting people or, you know, working on a Bible study. I have certain paperwork I have to do. But it has to be done. So you pile through it, you know. I'll tell my wife, "I'm going up to my office. I'll be up there for three hours. I'm doing paperwork." And I find out when I tell her that she won't even talk to me for three hours. It's, like, "He's up there. Leave him alone." But you got to plow through it, you got to make yourself do it. It has to be done. There is a point we have to face no matter what the job you have. And sometimes when you start out in a job, you know, they give you the worst jobs to begin with then you have to do the worst jobs.

I think I've mentioned this before I worked… In the Worldwide Church of God, I worked in SEP. And I worked two summers, where I was in charge of the janitorial crew. Now, one of the things we had to do was the bathhouses every morning after hundreds of teenagers went in and destroyed it. We would get a dorm of maybe, you know, 30 teenagers, and now we had to go clean up something that was, like, out of a horror movie. I can't explain what 200 teenagers will do to a bathhouse, okay. And they would all be, I mean, griping and complaining. They didn't want to go in, So I had to give them the little speech all the time. That little speech was, "in life, you're going to be asked to do things you don't want to do. We have an hour to do this. We can go make this a game and I am…" the other two people I had working with me "we'll go in and help you do it. We'll get right…" I mean, the toilets were always clogged up. It was just horrible. "We will help you do this. And if we work as a team, and you do what we say, we'll be done in a half-hour. And then the other half hour, you have off. You can do whatever you want. You can go sit around." You know, all they ever wanted to do when they were done was just is sit around and talk. "You can do that. If you don't, you'll be here the full hour and only half the job will be done and you will hate it every minute."

And so we would go in, and for, you know, 20 minutes to a half-hour, we told them how to work as a team, we told them what to do, how to motivate each other. When one person slacks, everybody's got to make them work. And you know, they were always done in a half-hour. And then they had a half-hour off. Well, I can't say always. Because sometimes you get a group that just wouldn't do it. And an hour later, they were mad and grumpy. They'd be mad and grumpy the whole rest of the morning. They were upset. They hated it. How dare people make them have to do this? And they were miserable.

Now, everybody had the same job and it was just as bad for everybody. And you know, some groups came out of there, fired up ready to go, "Hey, man, we got a half-hour." Other groups after an hour were, "We hated this." And you know, it would take them a long time to get over it. The idea is at times, we just have to say, "The job has to be done," and we throw ourselves into it completely.

Many years later, I had a man come up to me and say, "Hey, you changed my life." I said, "I did. How did I ever change your life?" He said, "At SEP, that little talk you gave to us every time when we had to go in and clean out the bathhouse." I said, "Yeah?" He said, "I applied that to my life." And he says, "Now I own my own business and I'm quite wealthy." You simply attack the job at hand. And then you go do something else. But you attack the worst job by attacking it. You go into it. You do your work. Now, work ethic requires that you accomplish the work assigned to you, the way that it has been assigned, and in the time allotted. And so you do it.

The third point, a proper work ethic requires you use your time to give your employee a full day's work. You give them a full day's work. Say, "Yeah, but sometimes, you know, eight hours is a long time." I understand. But when I started to look at the reason people get fired, and so many of the times is because they're not working. They're talking, they're gossiping, they're texting, they're doing all different kinds of things.

Understand this, what if a friend of yours said, "Here. I can't go to the store. I'm going to give you $100 to go to the store and get all this stuff for me. Here's a $100. And since you're doing this for me, and it's so nice, you know, get yourself some lunch." You say, "Okay," and you took their $100. And you're supposed to be back in an hour. You come back three hours later and instead of the list, you have two things in a bag. And they say, "Well, wait a minute, you know, I had all this stuff." And you say, "Yeah, but, you know, I was having such a good time at lunch, picked up a couple of other friends and we used your money buying lunch and all I had enough was to get you this." You'd say, "You stole my money," right?

If someone did that to you wouldn't you say, "You stole my money?" When you go and work for a person and agree to work for them for a certain amount of money, and you don't give them a full day's work, I don't care how much the money is, the money isn't the issue. It's you that's the issue, who you are. And you don't give them a full day's work, you're stealing from the employer. You're stealing their time. "Here. I'm going to pay you to work for me." "Thank you. I'll take the money and I won't work." It's stealing. There's a point of dishonesty here. So we don't think that way. There's a point of dishonesty.

Ways that we waste time at work. "Oh good, another survey." No, I'm going to go to the Bible. Proverbs 14, a couple of places in Proverbs. Proverbs 14. There's a lot of benefits to work in our character and even some happiness. We'll talk about that in a minute. Proverbs 14:23. "In all labor, there is profit." There's a benefit from work. And once again, being a workaholic isn't the issue here. It's working that's the issue. When you are supposed to work you work.

"In all labor there's profit, but an idle chatter leads only to poverty." In other words, you spend all your time talking at work, on your computer at work, unless you're working on a computer, obviously, texting at work, sharing all your different plans and, you know, getting together all the people you're going out to dinner with afterwards, and you do all that while at work. You can end up in poverty because you're not going to have a job. You say, "Boy, that employer sure is mean and tough. What's their problem?" Now, remember, they paid you to work. They offered you money to work and you agreed to it. If you don't like the agreement, quit but don't steal from them.

You know, you're going to get in a bad job some point in life too. Once again, if you have the right character, if you have the tools, you'll be able to get out of a bad job. If you don't have the tools, guess what happens? "I can't get out of a bad job because I can't get any job," or you quit and end up what, doing nothing. I've seen people quit jobs. I knew a man one time who had been fired… I don't remember the exact number… It's been so many years ago. This was, like, 35 years ago. But I think he'd been fired from 12 jobs in 16 years all because of the Sabbath. I don't believe that. You might lose a job or two over the Sabbath, but if you're a good employee, you're going to find a job someplace. I think he's a bad employee. Now, a couple of times might be over the Sabbath but I don't believe all of them were.

Look at Proverbs 12:11. "He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, but he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding." In otherwise words, he who just…"All I want to do is have fun." Well, there's a time for fun, by the way, God is not against fun. There's a time for fun. And it's great when your work is fun, too. I mean, I have fun times at my job sometimes, and sometimes it's not. But when you just pursue having fun, instead of getting joy out of your work, he says, you don't understand what's going to happen to you. It doesn't work that way.

Proverbs 19:15 "Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger." In other words, when we are lazy, you know what happens? We get tired all the time. We lose a desire to achieve anything. Part of work is achieving something. It's achieving something. Now, some of you remember a couple of years ago, I kept using the example of how I told my wife I would paint the bathroom and then didn't do it. Okay. Well, I don't know, about nine months ago, I painted the bathroom, okay. But I have to tell you when I finished painting the bathroom… she wasn't there I thought I'd surprise her. And I looked around and I thought, "I really feel good about this." And then she walked in and said, "It needs another coat." So I put another coat on, and I felt good about that, too, right. When you accomplish something, you feel good and that is worth… You know, sometimes you don't work because of your boss and you don't work because of the money. Sometimes you work because in the end, "I did a good job. I did that." It's your character that counts. It's who you are that counts. And so you do what's right. Otherwise, you just get… the more lazy you are… Here's the strangest thing. You ever say, "Oh, I wish I had a day off with nothing to do."

Yeah, I do that and every once in a while I try to take a day off with nothing to do. And it's okay for a while then I start getting antsy and sort of nervous and sort of crazy like and then… then I have to tell myself, "Settle down. There's work to do tomorrow. It's okay." So you can't be a workaholic either. But it's funny, if I had nothing to do all the time, I'd be miserable. Wouldn't you? If you had nothing, no goals, nothing to do, nothing to achieve, you'd be miserable.

"Oh, I just wish somebody would take care of me." No, you don't, you wouldn't live life with somebody just taking care of you every moment. We're not designed to be that way. We're designed to go work and produce and achieve. All of us are every human being. Or we just get sleepy.

A fourth point is that a proper work ethic means that we exhibit a very high standard of honesty and morality. Let's go to Titus 2. Titus 2, I'm going to read this from the NIV. In the King James, it says bondservants here which is more of an employee relationship. But here in this translation… this is Titus 2:9. "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not talk back to them." Okay, you just don't talk back to your employer all the time. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't give good suggestions. Most employers want a good… I mean, you might get some hard-nosed person that doesn't. But most employers want a good suggestion if they can see it's good. "Hey, if we do this would this make this better?" You know, because they know you now hey, you're concerned about the job. You're concerned about what you're doing. Your work is important to you. But he says, "And not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." He says you be so honest, such a good upstanding person, such a moral person, that you make Christianity attractive to pagans.

"Boy, I wish I had more Christians like you working, you know, for me because you're good workers. I can trust you, people. You're not going to steal from me. I'm not going to have to worry because I can't figure out why.” You know, “I just bought a box of copy paper and half of it it's gone." "Oh yeah, I took it home. You know, my kids use it." That's stealing. And so we are to make… It's so fascinating here. Paul over and over again says, remember when you're out there working who you represent. Be moral and be honest. We should be very, very, very honest.

And don't think they don't notice. People notice whether you're honest or not. They do. They will notice whether you're honest or not. And this is more important than your job title. This is more important than how much money you make, your honesty. I've seen Christians sacrifice their honesty for more money, or sacrifice their honesty to get a higher position. And that's not what this is about. That higher position or more money means nothing to God. Honesty means something to God. So don't buy into this sort of American dream. "The more power and money I have, the more important I am to God," because that's not true. It's just not true. It's who you are as His child that's important to Him.

Let me just sort of wrap up with a few things here. Why do we work then? Okay, we work to… What's our benefit, if you will, from working? Constructive work gives us a sense of purpose and a sense of accomplishment in your daily life. You know, I'm 63. I know a lot of men and women that retire at 65. I couldn't imagine retiring at 65. I can't even imagine… I’ve got so much more to accomplish. In fact, I'm getting to the place that I'm even more serious about what I have to accomplish because, well, you know, I don't have a lot of time left here. I'm going to live another 30 years. I got more things to accomplish.

And so this constructive work gives us a sense of accomplishment. Even if our boss… see once again it's you get a benefit from working. What did God tell Adam and Eve? Go to Genesis 2:15. Genesis 2. It's a very important passage here. "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it." "You are to work this garden." He didn't say, “Oh, here's the garden. It'll sort of grow itself. Just let everything run wild, it'll be fine." He says, "You are to tend it and to keep it." "You have work to do here, son, and you're going to like working. You're going to get up in the morning and you're going to enjoy going out and tending the garden." Without a sense of accomplishment, without things to do, Adam would have been bored, even in Eden. We are designed to accomplish things.

There's a study that was done in Harvard. And it's an interesting study because the first time I read of this study was in the 1980s. And it had started kind of back in the 1940s. I just read this week because I was looking at the study. The study continues on. Some of the people involved in this study in the 1940s are still alive and they're still studying them, these people at Harvard. The people who started the original study are all dead it's new, but they've been studying these… I think it was 465 boys. And they were all from inner-city, Boston. And they had all different backgrounds, and all different economic backgrounds, and educational backgrounds, and ethnic backgrounds. You know, they're just from all over the place. And so they started to go through them. What were they like at 15 or where were they at 25? So in the 1980s, these guys are in their 40s and 50s. Well, they're in their 50s at this point. And they found some very interesting things.

Now, as they continued on as they got older, into their ‘70s and ‘80s now, and '90s, they found that there were two things that changed their lives more than anything. One was the quality of relationships they had when they were younger. Were there adults who loved them or not? Oh, yeah that makes sense, doesn't it? That was the most… The number one impact on their lives, whether there were adults that loved them and interacted with them as children. The second one was whether they had work to do as a child.

You say, "Oh, we just put our kids in the salt mines." This was as simple as mowing the grass. It was as simple as cleaning your room. And in doing so, they found out that these young boys who had interactive relationships, people who actually cared for them, and taught them and interacted with them, and then they were made to work. Those were the two greatest factors in their success of life and how happy they were.

People who work and put themselves into their work are happier. They're not bored. They have purpose. And like I said, these jobs were just… "Okay, you're 15. Go get a job," you know. No. It could be as simple as, "Okay, you have chores, and you have to take out the garbage and you participate in what the family does." Or sometimes a lot… These boys came from broken families. Still, there was always some adults somewhere that interacted with them in a positive way. And they always had some value in their work. "I'm producing something, and as I produce something, I have value. I produce something and therefore I have value." And as they grew up that changed their lives.

One of the greatest gifts you can give your children… the greatest gift you can give your children is your love and your time. A second greatest gift you can give them is teaching them God's way. Now, you have to give them love and time before you can teach them God's way. "Okay, we're going to have school today. I'm going to teach you God's way and the rest of the time I'm going to ignore you." That doesn't work. You give them love and time first, and that builds the relationship that you can say, "let me tell you about God," and it means something.

If we don't give our children of ourselves, then somebody else gives them of themselves. And it's probably be the other kid next door. You see what I mean? We can't let other people raise our children. We have to give them our love and our time. Then the second most important thing you could do is give them God's way and teach it and live it for them. And the third most important thing you can do, make them do some chores, make them do some work. That there's purpose in work. There's meaning and work.

I could remember my dad telling me… we’re sanding floors, which is hard work. I was a teenager. He said, yeah, he says, "I worked hard, worked hard. My dad pushed me and pushed me. Because he was pushing me all the time. “Do this better. Work harder, do this,” you know, just all the time. He said that one day, he said, “Okay, you got to finish this job.” And he left. And he said, I thought, "Good. I'm going to take a cigarette break." Because he was a chain smoker before he came into the Church. He said, “But I couldn't. I tried, and I couldn't light it I had to go finish the job."

So when I was about 17, one day he said, "You got to finish the job." I said, "Oh, good." And when he showed up I'm just finishing it. And he said, "Yeah, that's what I figured how long would it take you to finish it." I thought, "Yeah, I just finished the job." He did the same thing to me that his dad did to him. We have to realize we teach them to work. And I sure was proud of that floor. I still remember it. I still remember that it was a Lebanese club and they had, like, a meeting room, ballroom in it. And that looked like a sheet of glass. That floor had been just sanded perfectly and finished perfectly. And it looked like… And I still remember that. I was probably 17 years old. I don't remember any of the girls when I was 17. But I remember that floor.

A secondary reason we work is to support our families. This is important to God. 1 Timothy 5:8. I don't remember any girls because it seems to me that I've been married… it seems to me, I've known my wife since I was a baby. It seems somehow we've been connected since we were children. I know that's not true. But it seems to me that way. So I don't remember anybody else. Yeah, she's always been there. 1 Timothy 5:8. "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Think about that statement. If you can work… Now, once again, sometimes we can't work or sometimes we're limited at what we can do or sometimes we just don't have opportunities.

I mean, sometimes you look at some… Darris McNeely just got back from a trip to Africa. And some of those people are doing as hard as they can and there's only so much money they can bring in. You can work 15 hours a day and you're never going to get out of a dirt hut. But they work, you know. You do your part. He's saying here the person says, "Nah, take care of me." He says you're worse than a person that's not even a Christian. See how much he ties this into our Christianity?

We have responsibilities. We work for other people. You know, and I will speak to the young men here. Guys, young men, when you marry and you have children, and especially if your wife says, "I need to stay home and take care of those children," your God-given responsibility is to take care of them. I don't care what the cost. If we can't do that don't get married and don't have children. Be man enough not to do it. Our responsibility is to take care of those if they need us. And, you know, sometimes women will have careers and then have two or three children say, "I can't do this. I can't do both of them." And we man up. How many hours a week do you work to do that? As many as it takes. As many as it takes. That's what we do.

And if we aren't willing to do that, you're not worthy of a wife. It's that simple. That's what Paul is saying. There's a loss of manhood that I'm concerned with. We sacrifice what we have to sacrifice for our families. That's part of work. Now, fortunately, hopefully, you have a job you don't have to do all that. But believe me, I know years ago, when I was a kid, I saw men work two or three jobs to feed a family, not because they had a great career. They worked two or three jobs just to feed a family. They would do whatever it took.

People had bigger families. The woman couldn't work. She had six kids. And that's what they did. Did they want to work three jobs? No. Why did they do it? It's what we do. We work to help those who are in financial need. I know sometimes some of these ideas are not popular in our society. The destruction of manhood is one of the most terrible things that's happened to our country. And now what's happening is destruction of womanhood. I mean, what God expects of women. If you destroy the men, what are the women going to do, right, what choice do they have?

And now where we have little three-year-olds that have decided that they're of a different sex. And parents who say, "Okay." A society cannot survive that, understand that. A society cannot survive that. Oh, it won't fall tomorrow, but it will fall. That is totally against the way anything is worked. Even the pagans knew that much. Even the ancient pagans knew that much.

Ephesians 4:28, "Let him who stole steal no more." So he's just telling people in church look, you got to change your… you know, if you used to be a thief, you're a Christian now. You got to stop being a thief. But notice what he says, "But rather let him labor, working with his hands, what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Paul actually says to people in the Church, "Okay, not stealing is the letter of the law. You and I have to go way beyond the letter of the law." He says, "Go work so you can help somebody else and give them a hand up. Go work so you can give to somebody else. Somebody gives you a hand up you go work and get somebody…" It's not, like, "Oh, good, somebody give me a hand up," keep giving your hand out. No. If someone gives you a hand up you go work and give somebody else a hand up. You and I are required by God to help each other in our times of need, and our times of poverty, and our times of old age, and our times of widowhood. We are required to help each other. It's at the center of God's way, that kind of love. And he says, start in the Church of God's, start in the house of God. And obviously with our own families, whether they're in the Church or not. That's where we just start.

And then the last reason, of course, is you and I have a duty to pay tithes and offerings to God. It's a duty. We should work because we wish to fulfill that duty. The work habits we form are part of our character. It's part of who we are. This is practical Christianity. "Wow, you've made looking at my cell phone, at my desk, some church issue." "No, it's practical Christianity. This isn't a church issue. It's Christianity issue." Work is important. And every day you have an opportunity when you go to work to be dependable and responsible and to show people what a Christian looks like. We're honest, we work hard, we're trustworthy. Those are all words that came up in what we've talked about here.

Also, you could be a whole lot happier when you just work hard. I don't care what it is. Scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets. I mean I think of all the things I've done in my life, sanding floors, painting houses. Well, I did have one job I failed miserably at. It was being a roofer. And the guy hired me… his son hired me and I said, "I don't know anything about roofing. I know nothing." He said, "Yeah, well, don't tell my dad. We just need some guys to work." So I spent 12 hours on the roof, trying to watch everybody else and figure out what they were doing. So at the end, the guy said, "You know, you're a hard worker, but you know absolutely nothing about roofing." And I said, "I know I don't." He says, "Well, I'm going to pay you because you're a hard worker, but I got to hire somebody that knows about roofing." I said, "I understand. I didn't tell your son I knew anything about roofing." And of course, they all laughed. They thought it was sort of funny. I was so glad I got fired from that job. I hated that job. But you know, I wasn't going to quit. I had told him I'd work the summer. I was going to work the summer and I thought, "By the end of summer I'll figure out how to be a roofer." But I was so glad I didn't have to figure out how to be a roofer. But I said I would. You know why I was going to do that? Not because I have great character because my dad had drilled me so much I had to finish the job. Even it was going to be all summer, I was going to learn how to be a roofer. So I was glad. And don't ask me to roof because I have no idea how to do that.

But these things make us happier. And it's these things that make up our work ethic. These are the traits that God is looking for. And these are the traits, not your job, but these character traits that God is going to use to serve Jesus Christ when He comes.

[Troy Phelps] A successful businessman was growing old, and he knew that it was time for him to choose someone who would succeed him in his company. Instead of choosing one of his directors, or maybe one of his children, he decided to do something quite different. He called all the young executives in his company together, and he said, “It's time for me to step down and choose the next CEO, and I've decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked. They looked around, wondering who would be the next CEO. He said, "I'm going to give each of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, I want you to water it and take care of it, and then, a year from now, I'll have you bring in what you've grown, and I'll evaluate it and judge it, and I'll choose the next CEO."

Well, one of those men – his name was Jim – he went home that day, and just like all the other people who had received a seed, he was really excited. He told his wife all about it. She helped him pick out a nice pot. They went to the store, they got some dirt – some nice compost – and they planted this seed. Each day he watered that seed, doing everything he could to take care of it, but nothing grew. Three weeks went by, four weeks went by, five weeks went by – still nothing. By now, others in the office were talking about their plants that were growing, but Jim didn't have a plant. He felt like a failure. Six months went by. He continued to do all he could to take care of it and water it, but still nothing in his pot. He just knew he had killed the seed. Everyone else had tall trees and plants. He had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues. He just kept watering and fertilizing the seed. He so wanted something to grow there.

A year went by and the CEO told all the young executives to bring their plants in to work for inspection. Jim told his wife, “I feel like a fool to take in an empty pot.” His wife said, “Well, just, you know, take it, be honest, tell him what happened.” Jim felt sick to his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, he just knew it. But he knew his wife was right, so he took the empty pot, and he took it to the boardroom. When he got there, he was amazed by all the beautiful plants and trees and flowers that he saw all around him, in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Jim put his empty pot back on the floor, tried to stand in the back of the room behind some other people, hoping he wouldn't be noticed – other people did notice – they saw the empty pot. Some people laughed, some people – you could tell – felt sorry for him. He just tried to hide in the back.

The CEO came in, he looked around and he said, “Wow, what great plants and trees and flowers you've all grown!” All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim in the back of the room with his empty pot. And he asked Jim, “Come up here. Come to the front.” Jim was terrified. He thought, “Aaah, the CEO knows I'm a failure, and he might even fire me.” When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him – he said, “What happened? What happened to the seed?” So Jim recounted and told him the story.

And the CEO had everybody sit down, except Jim. He looked at Jim, then he announced to all the young executives – he said, “Behold, your next chief operating or executive officer/CEO” – this Jim. Jim couldn't believe it! He couldn't even grow a seed. How could he be the next CEO – the head of an entire corporation? How was this guy the right choice? The CEO then went on to tell, “One year ago I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But you see, I gave you all boiled seeds. They were dead. It was not possible to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found the seed wouldn't grow, you substituted it for another one, instead of the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and integrity to bring me the pot with just my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the next CEO.”

What would we have done in that situation? Today, I'd like to talk about being a person of integrity. Being a person of integrity. Integrity is a dying trait in our world, and it has been for some time. Mankind has always struggled with it, but it seems in our world today that integrity is getting harder and harder to find. It seemed the trait that used to be critical in all of our leaders, and even people in general, has lost its importance. The Barna research group, that does studies on a bunch of various topics, did a survey on parents, and they asked the parents to list the qualities that they found were, or thought were, most important for them to have in order to be effective parents. What was interesting is, only one percent of those parents listed having integrity or good character as a significant characteristic for them to have to be effective parents – one percent. Not only that, almost half of these parents also said that they teach their children there are no moral absolutes that they can live by – no moral absolutes – no principles that you can take to the bank – that you can live by.

About a month or so ago, my wife and I were watching one of my favorite movies – I finally convinced her to watch it again with me – it's called, Cinderella Man. It's based on a true story about a boxer named Jim Braddock, and his family's struggles through the Great Depression. In the middle of the story, this family has really fallen on hard times – they're struggling. The electricity had been turned off, they owe everybody money, they barely are scraping by to get enough food. Jim got hurt. He can't box anymore. He goes down to the docks. He occasionally gets picked for shifts, but there's tons of men trying to get shifts, so they're just really struggling. And then, there's this scene where he comes home at the end of the day, and he finds out that his son, Jay, had stolen a salami from the local butcher. Now, put yourself in that situation – your kids are going hungry, you're going hungry – the boy didn't get caught. You guys really need the food, but when Jim comes home and was informed of the theft, he marches his son right back to the butcher, makes him return it, and apologize. And then after they leave the store, they walk outside, and he looks at his son and kneels down and says, “Just because things ain't easy, doesn't give you the right to take what's not yours, does it? That's stealing, right? We don't steal. No matter what happens, we don't steal – not ever. You got me?” That left such an impression on me. What an example!

People used to have integrity, even in difficult times – absolute values that they didn't break. Where's integrity gone? What would happen now if we had another Great Depression? I sometimes wonder that.

Based on the research I've done, it seems that up until the 1950s, that integrity was important to people – a good family name, moral values, trust on a handshake – but since then, it seems that integrity has been disappearing at an alarming rate. In the 1960s they talked of that. There was this huge knowledge explosion that has continued all the way through our present age. In 2 Timothy 3, and verse 7 – we won't turn there – we're probably familiar with this – it talks about things that will happen in the last days. It said that people will always be learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Is that true about our times? Certainly. People are learning, knowledge has exploded, but with it, evil and moral decline has exploded too. What has happened to integrity? Our politicians rarely have it. Wall Street can't seem to find it. There are new standards that are now becoming mainstream: cut corners, lie to get ahead, step on people if necessary. It's okay if everyone's doing it. Negotiations don't have to be honest – get the deal done, make the sale. It's okay to cheat in school, because everybody's doing it, so, it's really a level playing field. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood. The virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are: prosperity at any price, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory.” Wow, doesn't that describe our America, and probably our world?

Integrity is vanishing. Do you have it? Would people describe you as a person of integrity? We'll use a simple definition today for integrity. It's always doing the right thing, no matter what. Always doing the right thing, no matter what – even when no one's looking, even when the choice isn't easy, even when there's consequences for the choice you're making – always doing the right thing, no matter what. Our simple definition starts with always, and that's one aspect of integrity. You either have it, or you don't. People can either count on you as a person of integrity, or they can't. It's not some light switch that we can turn on and off. In an on position, we have integrity. But, when it's off, we don't. True integrity is something you always are – a way of living. It's the choices that you make in life. And you make those right choices consistently, no matter what. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 30, and verse 19. This is a memory scripture for many people. And like many memory scriptures, they almost can, sometimes, lose some of their real punch, because we've read them so many times. But, it's interesting what God tells us here in Deuteronomy 30, and verse 19. He says:

Deuteronomy 30:19 – I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you – choices – life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

God made men and women to have free will – to be able to make choices – good choices and bad choices. It started a long time ago with the choice between two trees. The choices between a way of life and a way of choices that produces pain and difficulty and death. And thankfully, we aren't left to guess which of those choices are good and which ones of those are bad. We're blessed to be living with copies in our hands of God's instructions – His life-instruction manual for us – informing us of which choices lead to blessings, and which choices lead to pain and things that are contrary to God's way – that lead to bad consequences. One of the scriptures that has just constantly been coming up in my mind lately is Galatians 6, and verse 7. I'll read it, it's pretty – Galatians 6:7. God promises through His inspired word, He says:

Galatians 6:7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

God is not mocked. What it says here is true. What a man sows, he will reap. We all have choices that we make. Throughout this message, we'll look at some of those choices that we each will have the opportunity to make. One of the surest things I've come to believe, with all certainty, is, if we make choices that go against God's principles, that there are always consequences. We can't be smarter than God. We can't go against them. Otherwise, God would be a liar. God would be mocked.

This year I had the great opportunity, once again, to go out to Hye Sierra for camp – just got back about a week-and-a-half ago, I think. And this year at camp, our United Youth Camp theme was, Leaders –  eople with Character. We talked to the campers about their choices – about their influence and how all of them are leaders – how their influence and example, you know, it's always being shown to people. These principles we're teaching our campers are going to affect their lives. They're going to go with them through their entire life. It's going to affect them in school. It's going to affect them in their first real jobs. And the sooner they learn to be people of real character, the better, and the better that life will go. Businesses and organizations want people that they can trust – that demonstrate a high level of integrity. It's no surprise, but studies show that people of integrity receive more promotions – do better in business. Yet, our world still doesn't seem to place that value on it in their daily lives. They seldom teach it and hold people to it.

I imagine most people are familiar with who Warren Buffett is. This year he's listed in Forbes as the fourth-richest person on the planet. He has a net worth of 62.9 billion dollars that was self-made. He was once asked the question of what he looks for in people that he hires. He said, three things: integrity, intelligence and energy – and if they don't have the first one, the other two don't matter. I have proven this to be true.

At work I have the responsibility for hiring and firing analysts for my team. And I love the interviewing process and that whole process that takes place there. I was at dinner a month ago with some of my senior leaders of my company, and they were praising the high performance of my team and the happiness they have with the group, and they asked about the background of each of my analysts. And I told them what their degrees were and what their previous jobs had been. I could tell – they weren't all that impressed, nor should they be really. The individuals on my team don't have fancy degrees. None of them even have a Master’s degree, let alone some doctorate in statistics or something. They don't have what a lot of the people in my company have – these health scientists, or health outcome scientists – with long titles after them. So then they asked me, “Well, how did you go about hiring these individuals?” And I told them, “I don't interview for traits that I can teach. I interview for the traits I can't teach. I told them I look for bright, hard-working, honest people, that get along with others.” And I told them, “I can't teach them integrity, honesty or hard work, but I can teach them how to use programs and how to get better at Microsoft Excel, and things like that.” And I could tell by their look and the conversations that continued afterwards, that they were pleased with that answer. You can't teach integrity.

At camp each day, we took different aspects of character. And I had the pleasure and opportunity to speak one day to the campers for the morning compass check on integrity. After talking with them for a little bit about integrity and the choices that they make in life, I asked them, “Now what if integrity wasn't something that was invisible – that you couldn't see? What if your integrity was physical – something that you had with you at all times? And every time you made a choice, you would see the impact on your integrity? You could see when you made a choice that was good – that everything with your integrity was just fine. But you make a bad choice, you could see its immediate impact.” I asked them, “What if today, your integrity was like an egg? And what if every choice you can make, you see whether that egg remained intact – your integrity remained intact, perfect, unharmed – but if you do something wrong, you get a little crack in your integrity? Another bad choice, another crack in your integrity. A little white lie, maybe a little bit of damage, a big lie….” I don't want Tim and Connie mad at me, so I won't bust up the egg anymore.

Because in a very real sense, that's what happens with every choice we make. We might not be able to see it in something physical, like this egg, but every choice we make, either our integrity remains perfect and intact, or it's damaged when we compromise on our values. So then I gave each of the campers an egg. For that day, a hundred eggs went around camp to every single activity they went to. From activity to activity, we wrote the word integrity on the side, and they wrote their names on it as well. And at the end of the day, we saw what choices they made and how it affected their physical integrity that we gave them. Would it show neglect or abuse, or would it remain perfect? I came around to them throughout the day, and I started to see some that were showing some wear and tear. We talked about their integrity, and we talked about, more importantly, their integrity that was on the inside. So at the end of the day, at the last evening campfire, we collected all the eggs back and we wrote down the statistics of how many were completely destroyed, how many were cracked a little bit, and how many remained perfect. About 25% were completely destroyed, usually because, while they had been diligent to be careful and watch and protect their integrity, there was a moment of carelessness – a temporarily taking the eye off the ball, so to speak. And then, in that moment, wham! – something happened to their integrity. Their integrity took a major blow. Isn't that how real life is? We can go through life making many good choices day to day, protecting our integrity. Then, all of a sudden in a moment, wham! – damage to our integrity.

Didn't this happen to David – a man, that throughout his life, had been such a model of integrity? He stood up to Goliath. After that, when Saul was trying to kill him day to day, he still showed honor and respect to that authority position. Yet, one day, he's up on the roof, and he spots naked Bathsheba. And then, the series of events that transpired after that and, wham! – his integrity took a major bashing. Now, he would repent and change – and I think all of us would regard David as a man of integrity at the end of his life – but will we ever forget the cracks in his integrity? We almost can't talk about his good without mentioning the cracks. Another 25% of the eggs came back with some cracks, some minor cracks. They weren't perfect. I was pleased to see how successful many of our campers had been with their eggs. About 50% of them came back perfect. They were constantly guarding and protecting their egg. Some of them even made contraptions to keep them extra-safe throughout the day, so that they would be well-protected.

Satan is constantly trying to smash our integrity. As these last days approach, Satan is methodically attacking our moral values and Godly principles, undermining their importance and the need for them in our lives. Now the world we live in will afford us many opportunities to put our integrity to the real test. To be successful, we must constantly be focused on protecting our integrity. There are many areas that can trip us up. One of the greatest and most often that will present itself in front of us is the love of money. Let's turn to Acts 5. Previously, at the end of Acts 4, we see many Christians have begun to – in the New Testament and the early church – begun to sell off their possessions, their properties, their homes, and give monies to the apostles, so that all the followers could be taken care of. And then, in the next chapter, in Acts 5, starting in the first verse, we're told of a husband and wife – you probably know where I'm going – the names of Ananias and Sapphira. They are known for the quality of their integrity, or perhaps the lack thereof. Let's pick up the story in verse 1:

Acts 5:1 – But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession – turned out to be land – and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?” Peter's saying, “You had choices here. It was your own. No one made you do this. You could have kept it for yourself. Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. He dies and men carry him out.

V-7 – Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.

They had choices. Satan put before them one that is commonly difficult – the love of money. They obviously didn't want to give all the money away. But, there was also a status, an image that they desired. They wanted to be considered generous. Their integrity was tested. They could have been honest. They could have been people of integrity, but they weren't.

This dishonesty over money and a desire to look generous isn't unique to just Ananias and Sapphira. Another one of the Barna research group's studies – they did a study and they found that American adults who said that they had given 10% or more of their income to churches and related ministries, in the past year. So they got that group of people. And then they did an examination on their finances. And they found that two-thirds of all those people were lying about their generosity. Two-thirds of people weren't giving what they said they were to their churches. Have you ever withheld money that belonged to God? Malachi 3 and verse 8, again, we won't turn there today, it says:

Malachi 3:8 – Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings.

Tithing is a matter of integrity. God clearly shows that it's His money, and that He considers it robbing Him if it's kept back. Does our integrity have a price tag? Can our integrity be bought? What would you be willing to do for a million dollars? Would you compromise your integrity? Would you steal? Would you lie for a million dollars? What about a small little white lie? What if it was ten million dollars? Does your integrity have a price?

A man asked a woman – he said, “Would you sleep with me – have sex for a million dollars?” She said, “Yeah, I guess I would.” He goes, “Would you sleep with me for ten dollars?” She goes, “No, of course not. What do you think I am?” He said, “We've already established what you are. Now we're just haggling over the price.” Now, that's kind of a silly joke, but numerous studies have shown that peoples' integrity often does have price tags. If the amount is raised high enough, then the values are negotiable.

In a book called, The Day America Told the Truth – the authors are James Patterson and Peter Kim – it revealed some shocking statistics on how far people in this country are willing to go for money. People were guaranteed anonymity, and they were asked, “What would you be willing to do for ten million dollars?” Simple question – What would you be willing to do for ten million dollars? And they gave them choices. One in four people – 25% – said they would abandon their entire family. 23% said they would become prostitutes for a week or more – one in four. 16% would leave their spouses. I guess in this world that's not too surprising. 10% would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free. That's one in ten people. The last two I find even more disturbing. 7% would kill a stranger – that's almost one in ten. And 3% – three out of a hundred people – would put their children up for adoption. That's disturbingly shocking. Yet, on the other hand, maybe it shouldn't be. That's the world that is developing around us.

All these shocking stats aside, for us today, a much bigger question is: What's our integrity worth? And does our integrity have a price tag? Proverbs 28 – Dan's spent a lot of times in the Proverbs – today we'll hit a few more throughout the rest of this message. Proverbs 28 and verse 6 says:

Proverbs 28:6 – Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity. What is more important to us? Our integrity or getting wealth? God says it's better to be poor.

Yesterday I was late to the office, and I was required to stop and buy donuts. Required? Yes, required! My team and I started a couple years ago, a self-policing policy that says, “If you're late for work, you have to buy donuts for the 13 people in the office, or in our group.” I like the policy, because (1) my group isn't late very often, and (2) when someone's late, nobody is upset about it. Hey, free donuts!

I bring this up because it reminded me of an article I read by Mark Sieverkropp. He has a Website about business and leadership. He was purchasing some food for an office meeting that he was having, and as he got up he picked up a dozen donuts – a box of a dozen donuts – and got up to the cashier, and the cashier asked – amongst the other things he bought – he said, “How many donuts did you get?” And he said, “Twelve,” which was accurate. And after paying, he began to walk outside, and he got to thinking about the amount he just paid – that was too low. He got the receipt out and realized he hadn't been charged the $5.99 for the donuts. Now, this is where our human nature kicks in, right? He began to rationalize, “Well, it's not my fault. It was the fault of the cashier. He knew I had the donuts, I told him I had twelve. Nobody's going to know the difference. I'm running late for work. I really need to get to work. I don't have time to go back and pay. It's only $5.99. It's not going to bankrupt Safeway.” Then he heard the words in his head, “Would you sell your soul for $5.99?” He walked back to the check stand, stood in line, and informed the cashier that he had neglected to charge him for the donuts. The article ends with, “What's the result of me doing so/him doing so?” He said, “I paid $5.99 more for the refreshments than I would have otherwise, but I reinforced it within myself that integrity is important to me. The cashier will, from now on, think of me as a person of integrity. The next time I'm faced with having a choice of being a person of integrity, I will have another reminder of the importance of honesty. I have a story to illustrate this to my children, and I have a clear conscience.”

Whether it's a box of $5.99 donuts, or a deal at work for 5.99 million dollars, we must always do the right thing. What's our integrity worth? And does it have a price? We've probably all found ourselves in similar situations before, right? I used to play Monopoly with my nephews a lot, and there's a card in there that says, a bank error in your favor, collect $200. Do we apply the Monopoly principle if we get back too much change – a buck fifty? Is that just a bank error in our favor? What about it? Does the answer change if it's a $150, instead of just a buck fifty? Is there a value that would lead us to do the wrong thing? If so, then our integrity does have a price. Let's go to Luke 16, and verse 10, and read some of Christ's own words. Luke 16:10 says:

Luke 16:10 – “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.” Like we said before, integrity is not a light switch. It cannot be turned on and off again. You either have it or you don't. If you have it, you always have it, regardless of whether it's a small matter or a large matter. Regardless of whether it's a box of $5.99 donuts, or again, a 5.99 million-dollar deal.

Verse 11 – “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon – money – who will commit to your trust the true riches?”

Verse 13 – “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Is money our desire? Is that our idol? Is that what we serve? Or is God our Master? Does God and His ways – is that what we serve? What if the love of money comes in the form of our job? What would you be willing to lose your job over? What if you were told to cook the books, which financial analysts are saying is happening more and more, as the pressures from Wall Street to keep stock prices increasing, is becoming even more intense. You can't just keep a flat line. You've got to always be growing your stock prices. They're saying more and more books are being cooked. What if you're told you had to lie to a client? Work on the Sabbath? Our integrity is always being tested. Does our egg remain perfect, or does it get cracked?

What about non-mammon things? Non-money things? Would we be willing to compromise our integrity to impress friends, or have friends? Or do we always do the right thing, no matter what?

Our integrity can be tested in materialistic things, in opportunities for advancement, in relationships with the opposite sex – either before or after marriage – having a good time at the expense of right decisions. Let's turn and look at some good examples in the Bible from Daniel. Let's go to Daniel – we'll start in Daniel 3. The book of Daniel has many wonderful, inspiring examples of what true, uncompromising integrity really looks like. Daniel 3 and verse 15 – here is a common story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. They have been commanded to bow down to an idol and break God's commandments. Did their integrity have a price? Daniel 3 and verse 15 – again, this is a common story, but let's look at it from the standpoint of integrity:

Daniel 3:15 – Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king – I love that. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.

This, of course, makes the king angry. They're thrown in a furnace that's heated many times over, but the fire has no effect on them. Not even their clothes smell like the smoke. And they live. But they've proved that their integrity did not have a price tag – not even if it cost them their physical life. And their integrity made a huge impact on the king himself. Let's turn over a few pages to Daniel 6, verse 9. We'll hit another one of the amazing examples here – Daniel 6:9. From children, we're often familiar with Daniel in the lion's den. The king had been conned into signing a new law that whoever would petition any god or man for thirty days, except for the king himself, would be cast into a den of lions. Verse 9:

Daniel 6:9 – Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home – now notice – when he knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down – three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

The law was signed. Daniel does exactly what he's always done. He didn't hide. He didn't keep the windows closed. He didn't rationalize and somehow try to convince himself that it's okay not to pray for these next 30 days, and stay close to God. No, he opened his windows and he prayed as he always did. He put his life on the line for his integrity. And he was thrown into the lion's den, but God protected him from them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and Daniel are amazing examples of integrity. And their examples impacted those around them, and they still set an amazing example to us today.

Another major aspect of being a person of integrity, is maintaining honesty. Maintaining “honesty, no matter what. A man's word used to be valued. It could be trusted. Two-hundred-page legal documents weren't necessary for every little thing. There weren't teams of lawyers trying to find loopholes to undo deals and go back on an agreement. Actually, my wife and I just recently bought and sold a house, and my wife was commenting to me, “What happened to the days when you could, you know, put your hand under someone's thigh, or give them your sandal, to seal the deal?”

Jon Huntsman is another self-made billionaire. He wrote a book called, Winners Never Cheat. And the book has the sub-title, Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten). The book is a quick read. It's a small book, but the book is a call to business people everywhere to return to the principles of integrity in business. He says that the fact that everyone does it – everyone cheats, everyone lies – doesn't make it right. And that you can succeed at the highest level without sacrificing the principles of life that makes it really, truly worth living. In the book, he shares a powerful example, where he agreed to sell a division of his company back in 1984, for fifty-four million dollars. It was 40% of his company – fifty-four million. After long and difficult negotiations, they finally settled on that price, and ended the deal with a handshake – he and the other CEO. It took then, 6-1/2 months for the lawyers on the other side to get the papers drawn up and to get them back over to him. In the meantime, the profits for his company had tripled. The CEO from the other company, realizing this, called him and said, “40% of your company, Huntsman Chemical, today, is now worth two-hundred fifty million dollars, not fifty-four million. According to my bankers, you and I shook hands at fifty-four million – I'm willing to split the difference with you – willing to split the two-hundred fifty million. I'll pay one hundred twenty-five million now, instead of fifty-four million.”

Jon Huntsman said, “No.” He said, “It wouldn't be fair to you to use the appreciated value, nor should you split the difference. You and I shook hands and made an agreement at fifty-four million dollars, and that's what I'm going to have the lawyers finish drafting up.” This is almost five times less than now what that segment of his company was worth – almost a two-hundred million-dollar difference. And this other CEO was fine paying half. Nothing had been put in writing. They hadn't signed a thing. They had nothing on paper. But, Huntsman valued his word – his handshake. In the book he said, “Your word is your greatest asset – honesty your best virtue.

Integrity does still exist. It's just becoming more and more rare. Let's go to Psalm 15. It's one of my favorite Psalms. It's a short, five-verse psalm that has a great deal to do with our integrity. It's packed with how we should be living our lives. It starts with asking, in Psalm 15 verse 1. It says:

Psalm 15:1 – Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

And then it goes on to list a number of qualities that we should all strive to have. Qualities that a person of integrity has. But, I want to focus just on one today, in the last part of verse 4. The last part of verse 4, Psalm 15, says:

Psalm 15:4 – ...He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.

We won't go there, but in Matthew 5, and verse 37, Christ said that we shouldn't even swear. Our no should be no and our yes, yes. Often in life leaders often will choose to go to the same people. People that they typically use – not because they're unwilling to go and use someone else, but so often, because people don't keep their word, and when they find somebody they can truly count on, they tend to use that person over and over. Because some people, even though they say, “Yeah, I'll do such and such,” they either call and back out at the last minute, or don't call at all, and they drop the ball. This is a key part of integrity. God just says that whether we say yes or no, that we should keep our word. And it says, even to our own hurt. Even when it causes us difficulty. That's when many people go back on their word – when they're put out – when something isn't going to go really well for them – to keep it, or they'll be impacted negatively in some way. But God says, when we say we'll do something, whether it's big or small, we do it no matter what, even if it hurts. In our definition of integrity, we said, “Always do what is right, no matter what. No matter what. Do we have that kind of integrity? We must always tell the truth, regardless of the consequences – regardless of what's at stake.

Michael Josephson started the Josephson Institute. He's conducted over a hundred thousand different leadership workshops for influential leaders, and the mission of his company and Website is to improve the ethical quality of society by changing personal and organizational decision-making and behavior. He occasionally writes an article on a blog called, Something to Think About. Something to Think About is his blog. He told a story of when he was a law professor, and he would administer multiple choice questions or tests, and he scored them by hand. One day a student came to his office, informing him he'd made a scoring error, but it was in his favor. He got a better grade than he deserved. He was so impressed with the student's honesty, and he told him so. And then he got out his book and he began to change the grade. And the student was horrified. He said, “You're going to lower my grade?” And the professor said, “Of course. I'm entering the correct score.” The student said, “I would have never come to you...” and he stopped. He didn't have to finish. It was obvious he expected to be praised for his great integrity, but he thought that the professor would reward him with letting him keep the grade. He left the office angry, muttering at the professor that he'd punished him for being honest.

The story should really make us think about honesty, integrity, and our motivation for doing the right things. The student hadn't earned a better grade than all the other students. Should his GPA honestly reflect a better score than theirs? Would it be fair to those other students? Integrity is about doing the right thing because it's right, not because it gives us some advantage. If the student hadn't said anything, he could have kept the better grade, sure, but it would have been no different than keeping more change when you went to the cashier. The student wasn't punished. He received the exact grade he had earned. But in this case, his honesty and his integrity was counterfeit. Honesty is an aspect of integrity that we must dedicate ourselves to.

Let's go to a few more proverbs as we wrap up. Let's go to Proverbs 13, and verse 5. We'll stay here in Proverbs. Proverbs 13:5 says:

Proverbs 13:5 – A righteous man hates lying. Does this describe us?

There is no such thing as an innocent white lie – a little lie. A lie is a lie. As people of integrity, we must always tell the truth, no matter what. As I studied this topic of integrity, I found a number of common steps that I was able to put together from a variety of places – one being Stephen Carter, a Yale law professor who wrote a book on integrity – an article called, Preserving Integrity from MyTools.com, and also from the book from John Huntsman, Winners Never Cheat. I found that, basically, there are three things we need to do to have integrity

(1) Define right and wrong. We must know what we believe before we can always live by those values, no matter what. These core values are the values that no matter the consequences – no matter what those may be – we'll always live by them, We won't compromise. We get our absolute core values from one place: God's word – our Bible. We must know it, we must search it, we must study it. Only then will we know the principles like Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abed-Nego applied, and are willing to lay our very lives down for. That we will not compromise from or stray from. So, number one: define right and wrong.

(2) Analyze every choice. As we read in Deuteronomy at the beginning, God has given us free will. And we have the choices between good and evil that we must make every day. Our integrity is constantly being tested, and therefore, we must take each and every opportunity seriously. Even when no one is looking, even when we think it doesn't matter, or no one will notice. We must always do what is right. The Preserving Integrity article gave two helpful questions to ask yourself when you're analyzing a choice – if you're not sure which one's the right way. You know, you got this extra buck fifty, what should I do? A. If my choice was printed on the front page of a newspaper for everyone to see, would I feel OK about it? If my choice was printed on the front page of a newspaper, would I feel OK about it? And B. If I make this choice, will I feel okay with myself afterward? Those are two questions when we're analyzing our choices.

We're still in Proverbs. Let's turn over to Proverbs 11, and verse 3. It says:

Proverbs 11:3 – The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

When we have and use integrity, it will lead us down the right path. It's not convoluted like the world likes to make it seem. There's a right path.

Matthew 7:14 – another memory scripture says:

Matthew 7:14 – “…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

There are few who are willing to live this lifestyle. The choices aren't always easy, but there's a path.

(3) Act on what you have discerned, even at personal cost. Once you have evaluated and analyzed your choices, you must do the right thing, even if it comes at a cost, even if it's unpopular. Right is right, no matter what. If you've made a mistake, own up to it. Take responsibility, and do what it takes to make it right. Choose to stand out – to go against the grain in this world around us. God is not mocked. We will reap what we sow, and so will our family.

Another Proverb, Proverbs 20, and verse 7 says:

Proverbs 20:7 – The righteous man walks in his integrity – and notice – his children are blessed after him.

There are blessings to our children and their children, based on our integrity – possibly financial or other physical blessings – but certainly blessings from having a strong, right example to follow. And that will produce blessings for them and their own individual lives, and so on.

We read at the beginning to choose life, not just so that we can live; so that you – both you and your descendants – may live. Our choices and our integrity isn't just about us. It affects our family and others.

And our final proverb – Proverbs 10, and verse 9:

Proverbs 10:9 – He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.

When we always do what is right, no matter what, we don't have to worry about the direction our life is heading. Our path is steady and secure. We don't have to remember what we said yesterday, or watch our back, due to some shady deal that we made. But if we walk in a crocked path, we surely will fall, because God is not mocked. We could read so many more examples – the Psalms are full of promises from God to take care of those that have integrity. The Bible is full of other examples from Job and Ruth, but it's also full of people who lacked integrity. Which will we be? Which will you be?

Brethren, integrity is disappearing from our world. But, at the return of Christ – which, hopefully is in the very near future – there will be some that are people of integrity, who always do what is right, no matter what – whose integrity cannot be bought – does not have a price – people whose word is true, and will even place a value on integrity above their own life. Let's choose life. Let's each be a person of integrity.