Integrity:

• Doing what you said you’d do
• When you said you’d do it
• In the way it’s supposed to be done

At the heart of The Sermon on the Mount is an invitation to live a life of integrity.

Bottom Line

Jesus wants us to be a people who prioritize word integrity.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:33-37

The very existence of oaths is proof that there are such things as lies. If lying were unknown, there would be no need for oaths. Oaths are intended as a barrier against untruthfulness.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Don’t shrink back. Don’t puff up. Stand your sacred ground.
— Brene Brown

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
Psalm 34:13

The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.
Proverbs 12:22

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Ephesians 4:25

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:9-10

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Genesis 3:1-10

The more masks we wear and walls we erect the less honest we become.

The less honest we are the less real relationships we experience.

Untruthfulness destroys fellowship.
— Bonhoeffer

An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
Proverbs 24:26

Action Steps

Pray - Create some space with Jesus to prayerfully reflect on the following:

• Do I tent to be more like a turtle or puffer fish?
• What does it look like when I shrink back or go into hiding?
• What kinds of masks do I wear? What kinds of walls have I erected?
• Do I invite other people to be honest with me? Am I safe person for others?  
• How might Jesus be inviting me to show up more honestly with others?
  

Practices:

• If you’ve been showing up dishonestly, confess and own that with the other person
• Stand your sacred ground by being honest without shrinking back or puffing up
• If you tend to puff up, come back next week :)