7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"
8 "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.' "
9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth. 13 Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD ? I hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' He will kill me!"
15 Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today."
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" 1 Kings 18:7-17
Something we have seen as we study this together is that Elijah is not only a man of faith, he is also a man of his word.
Ob. is freakin’ out - “no way Elijah, r u kidding me? - you’re gonna get me killed - I’ll be hung at the gallows” - “I’m not gonna tell Ahab you’re here, he’s been looking for you for years and people have died when you weren’t found”
Elijah calms him by reassuring Ob. - “I’m gonna be here - you can bank on that - I’m gonna do what I say”
Ob. knows the character of Elijah and that alone is enough for him to trust Elijah.
“Our character is more caught than taught”
In every sphere of our culture—business, government, sports, education and religion—we face an integrity crisis. Long-accepted ethical codes of conduct are giving way to the short-term pragmatics of ambition, profit, and pleasure.
What scares me the most about all of this is that a lack of integrity no longer shocks people anymore. Ethical compromise is no longer reprehensible, but is actually gaining acceptability.
Some time ago the Dallas Times Herald reported that while on his way to school one day, a young boy found two large canvas sacks lying in the street. When he looked inside he was amazed to find that the sacks were full of money—$415,000 in fact! When he returned the money to the Princeton Armored Service, he received a reward of $1,000 and got his story in the paper. But the young boy was very unhappy about it all. In his interview he said he had expected a larger reward.
“I don’t understand it,” he complained. “If I had to do it over again, I’d probably keep the money.”
No matter who you are, whether you’re aware of it or not - our character is always on trial.
I read a story recently about a pastor who preached a sermon on honesty one Sunday morning. The next day he took the bus to get to his office. After he paid the fare, he realized that the bus driver had given him back way too much change.
During the rest of the journey, the pastor rationalized how God had provided him with some extra money he needed for the week. But he just could not live with himself, and before he got off the bus he said to the driver, “You have made a mistake. You’ve given me too much change.” And he proceeded to give back the extra money.
The driver smiled and said, “That was no mistake. I was at your church yesterday and heard you preach on honesty. So I decided to put you to a test this morning!”
There are a number of people who think it’s Ok, who rationalize
how they can cut corners in life. “Who will ever know” they say.
But the truth is that other people know.
Your spouse, children, friends, family, co-workers all know.
And more important, even if you cover your tracks really, really well, and others do not see up front what you’re up to, you do!
Just as the pastor on the bus, we don’t want to give away or sell our integrity for any price.
Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain, to
people over other things, to service over power, to principle over convenience, to the long view over the immediate.
But we want the immediate, we don’t want to work so hard - it’s easy to cut corners for our own or even our family’s benefit.
b/c everybody else is doing it - but,
The road of integrity may not be the easiest one, but it’s the only one that will get us where we ultimately want to go.
it appears in - life of Integrity
The Character you Demonstrate
There’s a person at work that you can trust, you know that when they give you their word they’re gona keep it.
1 of ways to BA from crowd of compromise is to live a life of integrity.
It’s the character you demonstrate and not to allow yourself to compromise your ethics.
I’m amazed by the fact that so many believers find it OK to blur the lines and smear their character.
I think it’s just that we live in an envir. where it’s OK to be dishonest, to compromise values and principles - I think what we under-estimate is that we are supposed to be the human personification of the exact opposite of Enron.
We should be the solution to the corruption in the world.
And people whether they believe in God or not, should be able to watch our lives and say, “I don’t know all about this guys belief system, but I know I can trust him. His values, his chara., his morals”
It shows by the Character you Demonstrate
It is then when you can begin to influence the lives of others w/ the good news of J.C.
How do we become a person who can positively influence other people? We need to develop these qualities of integrity and live by them everyday.
Commit yourself to Honesty and reliability
Integrity begins w/ a specific, conscious decision. If we wait until a moment of crisis before settling our integrity issues, we will set ourselves up for failure. Chose today to live a life that honors God, full of integrity and.... determine to stick w/ it.
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this” Psalm 37:4-5
Consistent Character
Solid trust can only develop when people can trust you ALL THE TIME. If they never know from moment to moment what you’re going to do, then we can never get to a deep confident level of trust. 1 Cor. 13 gives us insight of consistent character.
the love of a Christ follower -
“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:7 - it’s consistent
Straight Talk
Honest communication. To be trustworthy, we must walk the talk.
“Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'” Matt. 5:37
Open Up
Value transparency - people eventually find out about your flaws, even if you try to hide them. But when we’re honest up front, admit our weaknesses, they appreciate your honesty and integrity - and are able to relate better to you.
“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor” Ephesians 4:25
Humility
People wont trust you if they see that you’re driven by ego,
jealousy, or the belief that you’re better than others.
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”
1 Peter 3:8
Support Others
Nothing develops or displays character better than your desire to put others 1st - above yourself.
“If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you.” Leviticus 25:35
An Attitude of Servitude
“Your attitude must be like my own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve” Matthew 20:28
Giving of yourself and your time to others shows that you care about them. to be known by love
Fulfill your promises
Say what you mean - mean what you say
“be... trustworthy in everything.” 1 Timothy 3:11
Never promise anything you can’t deliver - and when you say you’ll do something - do it - follow thru. A sure way to break the trust of others is to fail to fulfill your commitments. - kids (parents w/empty promises and/or empty threats)
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