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Lead with Integrity
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Judges 3:12-31
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Transcript
Understanding Integrity
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Speaker
Integrity. What does integrity mean in 2025? Does it mean the same thing it did when you were growing up? Integrity. It means being honest and consistent and upright in character, doing what is right even when no one else is is watching you.
00:00:20
Speaker
Friends, that's what integrity is. It's being the same person you are in private as you are here in public. And it reminds me of the story of a skillful carpenter who was ready to retire after many years of faithful work.
00:00:37
Speaker
And his employer, this very kind builder, had reached out to him and said, would you mind just building me one last house?
00:00:50
Speaker
Well, he said, I'm just getting ready to retire.
00:00:55
Speaker
I understand that, the builder said, but but would you do me this one last favor? Would you would you just kindly build this house? and And the carpenter, he reluctantly agreed to do it, but his his heart just wasn't in it.
00:01:09
Speaker
And so he decided to use cheap materials and cut corners, and he rushed the work. And when the house was finished, the builder reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a set of house keys.
00:01:23
Speaker
And he tossed him to the carpenter. And he said, congratulations, my friend. This house is my gift to you for all your years of faithful service.
Integrity in Building and Biblical Stories
00:01:36
Speaker
If the carpenter had only known that the house he was building would be his own, he probably would have built it with integrity.
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Speaker
Integrity, brothers and sisters, is much like building that house. Every choice, every action, every word you decide to use is a nail or a brick or a beam in the house in which you build with integrity.
00:02:06
Speaker
So the question this morning is, how can we lead a life of integrity before God? that That's what we're going to answer today as we look here. and And I'm just going to tell you, i love I love this story today. It is the most fantastical, crazy, biblical story And I'm going to try to make it kid appropriate. But I'm also just going to share the way it is in the original Hebrew. It is fantastic. And I and i can't wait to teach it to you.
00:02:32
Speaker
Chapter 3, Judges chapter 3. Turn with me there in your in your Bibles. You'll remember last week as we have been taking this journey that we saw the Israelites were stuck in this cycle of unfaithfulness.
00:02:44
Speaker
And I gave you an acronym to write down so that you would remember. Who remembers that acronym? ah S-O-R-E. are SORD, right?
00:02:57
Speaker
Sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance. It's this cycle that we see the Israelites go through. If you didn't write down that acronym, now's a great chance to write it down.
Ehud's Deception vs. Integrity
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Speaker
S-O-R-D, SORD, because we're also going to see that sword and a S-W-O-R-D today in our passage.
00:03:19
Speaker
Brothers and sisters, it is a play on words and I will tell you in the Hebrew, chapter three, this story that we're gonna see is nothing but a mastercraft of wordplay.
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Speaker
And if you don't know the Hebrew or you don't have somebody to point out exactly what's going on, I will guarantee you that you have read this story probably in your Bible study class at times.
00:03:42
Speaker
And if you don't understand what's really going on, you'll miss the point altogether. And you'll end up thinking our main character is some type of hero. But I'm going to let you know he's anything but a hero.
00:03:53
Speaker
um I'll point that out as we go along. Chapter 3. starts, like we said last week, um they were sinning, they were crying out, they were oppressed. He sent them Othniel, right? You remember Othniel?
00:04:08
Speaker
He came and he delivered them. And they had 40 years, verse 11 tells us, 40 years of peace. And now verse 12. twelve picks up our story today. and How does verse 12 start? Well it says, once again the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
00:04:28
Speaker
They're starting the cycle all over again. What's our first letter stand for? Everybody say it. Sin. They did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
00:04:39
Speaker
And I know what you're thinking. You're saying, wait a second pastor, just one verse before they were experiencing 40 years. why Why going right back into sin? Well, I'm going to ask you today, brothers and sisters, why do you keep going back into sin?
00:04:57
Speaker
Put a pin in that. We'll get there. So what happens? They sin. What's our very next acronym? O stands for? Everybody say it.
00:05:09
Speaker
Oppression. The very next verse. says what? The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because of their evil. Quite quite literally, Yahweh gave Israel into the hand.
00:05:26
Speaker
the original translation says, they gave Israel into the hand of the Moabites. We'll see this hand motif, if you want to call it this. This hand keeps showing up over and over and over in scripture today.
00:05:42
Speaker
He gave them into the hand of the Moabites because they sinned and they were oppressed. In verse 13, look with me, says what?
00:05:53
Speaker
13 says, and Eglon enlisted the Ammonites and the Amalekites as allies and they went out and they defeated Israel, taking possession of Jericho, the city of the palms.
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Speaker
And the Israelites served Eglon of Moab for 18 eighteen years
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Speaker
Put that in your mind for just a second. Because they were sinning, they became oppressed. The result of being oppressed is the people that they were supposed to drive out of land are now running them for 18 years.
00:06:29
Speaker
But what do they do? What's our next acronym? They are. they Everybody say it. They repent. What does repenting look like? Well, it says right here, verse 15, but the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.
00:06:45
Speaker
And God sends them rescuer, your translation may say, or a judge, or a deliverer. What's our last acronym? D stands for? Deliverer.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yes. So they sin, they're oppressed, they repent, they cry out before the Lord, and he sends them ehuod Ehud, you say?
00:07:08
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Ehud.
00:07:10
Speaker
I'm going to talk about Ehud in great detail, but I want to pause real quick. But striking to me, if you don't read this story quite often or you've been taught once before,
00:07:24
Speaker
The very lack, if you simply flip over in your Bible from chapter 3 where we're at, if you just keep following the rest of chapter 3 pretty much to write the beginning of 4, God is only mentioned one other time in this entire account.
00:07:39
Speaker
Isn't that interesting? Sometimes the author is doing something simply by not putting God in the story. He's wanting you to know all the shenanigans that Ehud's getting ready to do, Ehud's doing all by himself.
00:07:52
Speaker
i But you're probably saying to yourself, Pastor, I don't get it. God raised up this deliverer, this judge, to save the people. You're right, he did. But Ehud is a fallen man, and Ehud's going to go off on his own and do some crazy stuff that we're going to see in just a minute.
00:08:11
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The author's letting us know God's not in this picture, and you need to
Everyday Choices and Integrity
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Speaker
write that down somewhere. Ehud is a man raised up by God, but not a man of God.
00:08:27
Speaker
Look with me, verse 15. This is where, friends, it just gets beautiful. And I'm going to try to, as a curator would do at a museum, I'm going to show you some interesting things that are going on in this picture, this story.
00:08:41
Speaker
Verse 15 gives us, he says... He saved them, he rescues them, he brings up this deliverer, Ehud, who is the son of Gerah, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin.
00:08:56
Speaker
How many people of y'all are left-handed here? Raise your hand if you're lefties. Yeah, this is great. Don't take offense to this. I'm just going to tell you right now. Here's the beauty of the story.
00:09:08
Speaker
The tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin means son of, Ben is son, Yahmin is right hand. This is the son of the right.
00:09:21
Speaker
This is what Benjamin means, right? But what Ehud is described as the left-handed son of the right-handed. That's the more literal translation, right? The author is already giving you a little hint, something's not right.
00:09:38
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Something's
00:09:42
Speaker
crafty with Ehud. I'm going to start by saying that. He may have some other endeavors going on, being left-handed, or maybe we say he's little underhanded, as we see the story play out.
00:09:56
Speaker
Why is the left hand so important? Why does the author take time to tell you Ehud left-handed guy from Benjamin? Well, if you've studied the ancient Near East at any length, you'll know exactly what the left hand is used for.
00:10:10
Speaker
and I'm going to tread real lightly here. You don't eat with your left hand. You don't shake with your left hand if you're in the Middle East. It's because the left hand is used for cleaning yourself in the Middle East. Does that make sense to everybody? If if everybody's following me, just shake your head.
00:10:31
Speaker
ah Okay.
00:10:34
Speaker
Here is a man who is left-handed. The author is already giving you this connotation in the ancient Near East. He's not a right-handed guy from the tribe of Benjamin.
00:10:45
Speaker
He's a left-handed guy. And oh, by the way, if you get caught stealing in the Middle East, guess what they do? They chop off a hand. But which hand do they chop off? Your right hand.
00:10:57
Speaker
basically leaving you with only your unclean hand and effectively ostracizing you from the community because nobody wants anything to do with you if you're a left-handed person with only a left hand.
00:11:08
Speaker
All that to say we have Ehud, the left-handed, unclean, scrupulous guy, who's going to hatch this very deceptive plan to kill King Eglon. Look with me here, verse 16 and following. 16 says, So Ehud made a double-edged dagger, or a dagger of two tongues, may be a better translation here. I'll tell you what that means.
00:11:35
Speaker
This dagger was about a foot or cubit, your translation may say. And he strapped it to his right thigh, keeping it hidden under his clothing. And he brought tribute money to Eglon, who was very fat.
00:11:50
Speaker
Matter of fact, Eglon means fat calf. That's the literal translation, fat calf. Kim and I got to see a few fat calves yesterday at at the 44 Farms... forty four farms Auction that went on. We saw a bunch of fat calves. This is Eglon right here.
Living a Life of Integrity
00:12:09
Speaker
After delivering the payment, Ehud started home with those who would help carry the tribute. But when Ehud reached the stone idols near Gilgal, he turned back.
00:12:20
Speaker
So understand the picture here. He's went and presented this tribute to the king, and now he's going back home, but he gets to these idols that are placed there. Put in the back of your mind idols. I'm going to circle around back to that just a second.
00:12:35
Speaker
So he turns back and says, wait, no, I've got to go back to the king. And he goes back and says here to King Eglon, he says, I have a secret message for you. And the king commanded his servants, hey, everybody be quiet, and he sent them out of the room.
00:12:50
Speaker
Now Ehud walked over to Eglon, who was sitting alone and in a cool upstairs room, and Ehud said, I have a message from God. for you right so now he's he's just brought it up a level not only do i have a secret message for you I have a secret I have a message from God for you and as King Aglon rose from his seat Ehud reached with his left hand the unclean hand the scrupulous hand which was hidden going to grab this hidden dagger which was strapped to his right thigh he takes it out and plunges it into the king's belly you can't make this stuff up folks
00:13:30
Speaker
22, just picture with me, 22. The dagger went that so that the handle disappeared beneath the king's fat.
00:13:41
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Ugh.
00:13:44
Speaker
So he who did not pull out the dagger, which means he left it and the king's bowels emptied. Yikes.
00:13:57
Speaker
Then Ehu closed and locked the doors of the room and he escaped down the latrine. And after Ehu was gone, the king's servants returned, found the doors to the upstairs room locked and they thought the king might be using the latrine in the room.
00:14:14
Speaker
And so they waited. They're waiting outside the door. But when the king didn't come out after a long delay, they became concerned and got a key. When they opened the doors, they found their master dead on the floor.
00:14:28
Speaker
I mean, I couldn't have written a more crazy, gory story.
00:14:34
Speaker
What's going on with this story? ah Brothers sisters, I love just the intricacy of what's going on here. Let me see if I can break it down for you. He uses this double-edged sword or this double-tongued sword.
00:14:50
Speaker
and And the author's almost giving you this idea that Ehud is talking out of both sides of his mouth, if I can use that expression. He's going to see the king. He's going to deliver this sacrificial offering.
00:15:03
Speaker
But what he's really going to do is he's going to sacrifice the fatted calf, Eglon. right You see the picture what's happening here? He tricks him into coming close and he stabs him so bad that with his left hand, his unclean hand, it goes so far into the king's belly that, well...
00:15:24
Speaker
The excrement comes out. if I could just clearly paint a picture for you, you're welcome on Sunday morning.
00:15:34
Speaker
But friends, this is what the author is doing. He's painting this picture for you. All along the way there's this deception, this hidden knife, this sword, this fake secret that he tells them to get them too close, to draw this blade and shove it so far in that the the dirty stuff from the inside comes out and it basically probably pours all over the left dirty hand of Ehud.
00:16:03
Speaker
And I know what you're thinking this morning. This whole story reeks of dishonesty. Okay, that's that was good quality humor right there. I worked all week on that one and I didn't get one laugh. Let me try that again. This whole story reeks of dishonesty, of deceit, of a lack of integrity.
00:16:22
Speaker
And to top it off, verse 26 says, Ehud, while he's escaping again, sees these idols. You'll just remember last week, what did we talk about the command of God was to the Israelites?
00:16:35
Speaker
Drive them out and do what to their idols? Destroy them. Here, Ehud's had two chances. He could have knocked him down when he went in, kills the king, goes out, could't could have trashed him some more, but he doesn't do anything. He leaves the idols.
00:16:53
Speaker
father's doing something with this. he He's saying something's not right with this picture. It's shady. It's dishonest. if The whole story is just a lack of integrity. And I'm here to tell you, brothers and sisters, none of us would ever do something that shady.
00:17:08
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Right? Right?
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Speaker
Definitely not us right handers.
00:17:17
Speaker
I'm here to tell you this morning, friends, that integrity isn't about doing these big moral decisions. It's about these very small day-to-day decisions, choices that you and I have. And if no one is watching, how we respond matters.
00:17:37
Speaker
Integrity means being the same person in the pew that you are in private. God values that consistency of our character over this perceived performance. James 1.22 reminds us, he says, Don't merely listen to the word, brothers and sisters, but go out and do it.
00:17:56
Speaker
Be doers. It's an active word. Don't just listen. You have to do. Don't just listen to the pastor say, hey, don't be dishonest. Don't be deceiving.
00:18:06
Speaker
Live a life of integrity. It does me no good. It does you no good for me to preach it, and then you not do anything with it. You must do something with it. It's the person who comes to church each week, who sings passionately, figuratively. I'm not pointing at anybody at the choir. Calm down.
00:18:24
Speaker
It's the volunteers who come and serve all throughout the week on every committee. But then they go home and they treat their spouse or they treat their kids with disrespect. Two lives, two people, they're not the same in public and in private.
00:18:41
Speaker
It's a double life. It's a double-edged sword.
00:18:46
Speaker
We've got to be real careful of that, brothers and sisters.
00:18:51
Speaker
Ehud...
00:18:53
Speaker
There's so much going on in this this little bit, i had ah I literally had to cut out some stuff that I wanted to share. What's interesting to me is I diagrammed the going ins and the going outs.
00:19:06
Speaker
I don't know really what this does for you, but I just find this really interesting. Can I just share real quick? Verse 19, the servants go out. Verse 20, Ehud goes in. Verse 22, the sword goes 22, the excrement comes out.
00:19:18
Speaker
twenty two the excrement comes out
00:19:22
Speaker
23 and 24, Ehud goes in. 24, the servants come out. There's a lot of going in and got a lot of coming out in this section. It's a deliberate tool that the author is using here to highlight what a life that looks like of one with integrity and one that lacks integrity.
00:19:42
Speaker
And we know this because there's all this detail, all this coming and going, all this deception from Ehud, and now we have Shamgar.
00:19:53
Speaker
Don't you just love that name, Shamgar? Ladies, I know you were just thinking to yourself, I wish I would have named my son Shamgar. Look at me, verse 31, Shamgar. Ehud gets all of this black and white ink.
00:20:10
Speaker
Shamgar gets one verse. That's all this guy gets. But I want to point out, it says, After Ehud, Shamgar, son of Anath, He also, he's a rescuer, he's a deliverer. He rescued Israel.
00:20:24
Speaker
He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad, period.
00:20:29
Speaker
Isn't that interesting? The author is giving you this huge story of Ehud who was supposedly raised up by God but who didn't really have God in his life. He was deceptive and cunning and full of deceit.
00:20:44
Speaker
God says, I'm not pleased with that. Matter of fact, let me show you who I'm pleased with. I'm only going to give him one sentence, and that's Shamgar. Shamgar, too, delivered Israel. How did he do it? Did he do it with a hidden sword under his belt, under his cloak?
00:21:00
Speaker
No, it says right there, he mowed him down with an ox goad. What's an ox goad, by the way? Anybody know? It's a weapon, but it's not a double-edged weapon.
00:21:12
Speaker
It's very important. only got one sharp side to it. I think the author is doing something with this. He's saying Ehud's story points to what it but we're not to do.
00:21:25
Speaker
Shamgar's story points to what we can do if we lead a life of integrity. You don't need all that other stuff. You don't need all that other deception.
00:21:36
Speaker
All you need is integrity. So what do we do with that today, brothers sisters, as I look out to you and I think to myself, how do we walk a life that speaks or cries out or screams integrity?
00:21:50
Speaker
Is it the big decisions? Is it the big things that they go, wow, ah Frank, or wow, June, boy, those those people, they just lived a life of integrity. They were so upright. They were pillars of the community.
00:22:05
Speaker
Or is it the small things in life?
00:22:09
Speaker
Like when you have that opportunity to fudge the numbers a little bit on your report at work to make it look like you did it a little bit better than you did.
00:22:21
Speaker
Or is it when you're filling out your taxes? Uh-oh, I got everybody's attention right now.
00:22:28
Speaker
And you start thinking, you know what, maybe that was a write-off, that 80-inch TV that's in my back porch.
00:22:37
Speaker
Friends, it's about these small daily decisions that you and I have. They're choices. And that's what integrity is. People will often say integrity is is a character trait. you either have it or you don't.
00:22:52
Speaker
And I'll tell you that's not true. Because if you're leading a life now of duplicity, meaning you're one person here in the pews and you're somebody else when you get home, today's the day where you can start making a choice where the two align.
00:23:05
Speaker
Or that choice, by choice, by choice, you start doing the right thing today. It's a life of integrity. It's a life undivided, I put, when it comes to our devotion to God.
00:23:20
Speaker
Matter of fact, integrity, sweet Autumn asked me, can you spell that for me today? And then I was all fumbled up. I think I messed it up two or three times. You know where we get that word integrity from? Integer.
00:23:31
Speaker
Whole number. Right? That's what integrity means. Wholeness.
00:23:38
Speaker
Single-mindedness. We don't shift our morals depending upon who's watching. What we have to gain or what we have to lose. My prayer for you this week is, brothers and sisters, that you will ask God for a single, united heart.
00:23:56
Speaker
That your faith won't be just something you do or show to us on Sunday when you're here in the pews, but it's something that when you go home and throughout the week you're living out. One of the best compliments I've ever gotten from somebody at our last church, they said, Patrick is the same person at the pulpit as he is in the pew.
00:24:16
Speaker
I thought, how great is that? what ah I would love that on my headstone if I ever had a headstone. To be known the same no matter who you see.
00:24:28
Speaker
All right, second. What else do we do with this?
00:24:33
Speaker
I put integrity is isn't just about what we believe, it's about what we choose. Let God's truth shape your choices. Ehud chose deception and deceit.
00:24:44
Speaker
He didn't act from conviction, he acted from convenience. Integrity means doing the right thing, especially when there's a cost. Oftentimes we don't realize that when it comes to integrity. that that that That what we do in the moment may have a real cost.
00:25:00
Speaker
People may look at you differently. Why didn't he fudge that number and make a little bit more money? Doesn't he want to become rich?
00:25:11
Speaker
Let God's word guide your decisions, not your emotions, not some pressure from other people. Align your choices with God's word and your path will be straight.
00:25:24
Speaker
right, and last, walk transparently before God and others. Integrity grows when we stop pretending.
00:25:38
Speaker
You ever seen in the old timey plays that they would have a villain and he would come out with a mask? You know, they would always have a masked person. You ever realize the hero never had a mask? It was only the villain.
00:25:51
Speaker
in In those plays, friends, that mask is something that hides their true nature, their true character. Sometimes I feel like we come here on Sundays and we all put on this mask.
00:26:06
Speaker
our Our best husband mask. or our best wives' mask. As if you weren't fighting in your car 10 minutes before you walked in here. I've seen some of you out there, by the way.
00:26:23
Speaker
Fighting over who knows what, but then you get out of the car and you put on the face. The happy Christian face. Hey, sister, how are you doing today?
00:26:35
Speaker
Oh, everything's so great. No it's not. I've read your prayer requests.
00:26:44
Speaker
Hey brother, what's going on? Same old, same old. No it's not. I know what's going on behind closed doors at your house. Why do we do that?
00:26:55
Speaker
Why do we do that with each other? As if somehow putting on this mask makes us acceptable before God and before others.
00:27:09
Speaker
One day, you and I will live in the house that we build. It's either going to one with integrity or one without.