When His enemies were fully arrayed against Him near the end of His ministry, they still could not directly accuse Jesus of anything heretical in His teaching because it was marked by integrity. There is a telling verse in Mark (12:14) where they admit as much;
They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
As a Pastor, I long to hear the same thing said about me and yet, on the day after the message is delivered you can’t help but reflect on whether or not your sermon compromised at any point. Did I soften a hard passage in order not to offend? Did my application call a radical reordering of the lives of the Church or did I simply “suggest” some things that they might do? Integrity can be chipped away in countless ways each time we compromise the message that we care called to preach. Compromise comes from a lack of trust; we carry the burden of the church on our shoulders rather than trusting in the true owner of the Church to manage things. The good news is, it’s not irreversible. We can return to the Truth Giver again and again and refuse to be swayed by men & women knowing that one day we will hear the words “Well done, you were men and women of integrity. Welcome home” from One that really matters.
LOVE | ACCEPT | FORGIVE 