Focus: Integrity
Function: To help people hang on to true Christian principles
Form: Storytelling
Intro: Living in Lancaster Co, PA, among the Amish was interesting. One could say, that it was hard for me to fit in.
The Local Nazarene Pastor made a career out of it, and we would often talk about how we were made to feel like outsiders.
I have mentioned that I never met my own Amish relatives. I mentioned that they disowned by Grandmother for marrying what they called “The English.”
“The English” is a derogatory term for anyone who is not from their plain sect group. And I resented it until I learned that Lancaster County, PA only ever had 16 registered slaves in its entire history. To my relatives, the English were notorious for being slave-owners.
And, if you saw the movie Roots, much to my shame, I am a direct descendant of the Slave-owner named Reynolds, from North Carolina who cut off the toes of Kunta Kinta.
But what is this about pride, or arrogance about who and what we are?
On several occasions, people whom I otherwise thought were pretty humble said things like this: “Lancaster Co is the most righteous county in the US, if not in the entire world.”
Now God is never pleased with self-righteousness. And the whole time I lived there, I was reminded that I was not from there, the implication was that if I was lucky, I might come up to their level of values.
Some of it was good, and some of it not so good.
The big issue for me was being raised in an inner city and pastoring a rural church.
The first Church of the Brethren I pastored, outside of Hartford City Indiana was itself a shock.
In my Sunday School class, the guys talked about how much Random Access Memory, or RAM my personal computer had.
But in my first church, all the references were to agriculture. One fellow bought Red Equipment, and the other was dedicated to the Green. For those who don't know, Red was from Case tractors, and popular because of its initial connection with International Harvester, Eli Whitney and Fort Wayne's manufactory. While Green is John Deere equipment. And, I got to tell you, the debate about which line of equipment was something they held with passion. I was just 30 and except for the one week per summer I spent at my Aunt's dairy farm near Portland, Indiana, or my uncles farm in Sandusky, Ohio, I was clueless.
My cousins at the dairy farm were too embarrassed to explain to me just what those cows were doing when they came into heat.
One man consented to helping me learn all the hidden rules and nuance's of communication. I learned the difference between a bull and a steer. And that came in handy when I was teaching from Acts 7 about the Ethiopian Eunuch and someone asked me what an Eunuch was and I told him it was a man that was made into a steer.
So learning another culture is fun and interesting, and Lancaster Co, PA has its unique characteristics.
And the standards about what the Bible calls Righteous, and Modern Day Christianity calls righteous can be two different standards.
It isn't unlike the false standard of righteousness that Jesus condemned when He confronted the Pharisees, who were the most righteous people one could imagine to ever encounter.
Shameless plug here. In the Month of February, we are going to be looking at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. I like to call it True Righteousness, Biblical Righteousness. Jesus' term was “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Sadducees...”
Some of the reasons why people in Lancaster County, PA felt they were more righteous than any other county in the world was because of the large population of plain people who lived there.
The plain people are the ones who choose an alternative look, transportation or style than the world around them to demonstrate their commitment to Christ.
John the Baptist was one. He wore a leather girdle, never ate meat, never drank wine and many don't know this, but never cut his hair. He was a member of a perfectly acceptable sect of Judaism called the “Essenes.” If it were not for them, we wouldn't have the Dead Sea Scrolls, very ancient manuscripts of the Old Testament that prove the Bible wasn't changed by every culture that came along.
There is nothing wrong with this plainness, provided it demonstrates what is truly in your heart.
I was driving the 4 lane highway between Ephrata, where I lived and Lancaster City, where my wife and mom happens to be this morning visiting my kids.
I was not paying attention, daydreaming, woolgathering and my vehicle drifted over into the left lane while a car with 4 plain dressed women, were traveling. By plain, I mean they had on the traditional cotton dresses, with a cape covering their bosoms to increase their modesty. Different plain groups had different kinds of head coverings, ranging from a white stitched net that has two butterfly ridges that is quite flattering, to a black doily, to the Brethren style that we see here.
Now, according to physics, two masses cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time and since their vehicle was already occupying the space that my vehicle was drifting into, the operator utilized the warning device with the hope that I would correct my disposition.
When she laid into her horn, long and hard, I jumped realized the error of my lack of attention and quickly brought my vehicle back into its lane.
I only had a second to work out the “proper look of chagrin, or sorrow, or apology to give to the driver.
They didn't actually teach that in driving school. Mouthing “I'm sorry” may get misinterpreted, although I don't know how.
So, I was all prepared with a sheepish grin that faded to a frown, a gentle lift of my left shoulder, and a lowering of my right, with one, or both of my hands in the air, palms folded out in an apologetic gesture.
But heaven forbid with what I was met with. All four occupants in the car, with their holy clothing on were giving me the universal gesture of disgust that was sort of like the boy scout salute, minus the two outside fingers.
I was shocked. They were kids. They were kids just like I was a kid. I am pretty sure they realized how bad it looked for their entire faith community, if not immediately, then later on.
Integrity. Letting our word be our bond. Speaking the truth. Living a consistent life, even if no one else is looking.
Oswald Chambers said it like this: Integrity is what you do when no one else is looking.
I am sure that Karen and Wanita, two of our own women who passionately embrace this symbol of holiness will say it louder than anyone, you cannot adopt the symbol if it doesn't reflect what is actually in your heart. I am sure that they will also say, it symbolizes an ideal, and I am not yet perfect so forgive me if I fail it. Not that I have ever noticed them failing it.
But Jesus tells us in the passage, let our yes be yes and our no be no.
Have the kind of character whereby people will trust what you are saying. Live and strive for that ideal.
Don't merely say it. Do it.
Remember, it wasn't the son who said he would do the right thing, and didn't that pleased God, it was the son who repented, changed his mind and did the right thing.
I didn't tell that story to tell you that Lancaster Co, Pa isn't righteous.
We will be looking in depth at this concept that in the Bible, 9 times out of 10, righteous means just, it means doing the just thing.
I'll tell you why it might be considered a righteous county. It was a 3 mile drive from my home to my office. In that three mile drive, I passed one of the several warehouses for the Mennonite Central Committee. They feed millions of poor every day. Right down the mountainside from my church was a meat-canning plant operated by Black Bumper Mennonites. Those are plain Mennonites that have cars, but they are all painted black, because they believe in humility. Of course, every now and then it might be a brand new black Lincoln Continental Town Car, Cadillac Escalade, Hummer or one of those pickup up trucks that cost twice what a brand new Corvette cost, but most of the time, it was an old Ford, Chevy or Buick. Sometimes, it was hand-painted black.
But there they were, twice a week, almost every week, slaughtering their own beef and pork, canning it and sending it overseas.
I had one accident in the town the 8 years I lived there. I was sitting at a red light, in the midst of a heavy rainfall when BAM, I was hit from behind by one of those black cars. The car had no working wiper blades or defroster. That in itself is wrong, because it is irresponsible, but the car was full inside with boxes and cans one the way to one of the other 15 or so warehouses were food and other items were being collected for people who have no opportunities like we do. The tonnage of relief supplies that goes out of the one county, that goes out in the name of Jesus, is almost equal to all the output of the rest of the nation.
I couldn't be angry with her because it was obvious to me that the money she should have spent maintaining her vehicle was money she was spending on people less fortunate than herself.
That is righteous living. That is integrity. That is what Jesus meant when He told us that people are watching, and our light should shine out in witness to Him.
I love the way this passage is worded in “The Message,” he gets to the real meaning in Jesus teaching. The section is titled “Empty Promises”:
Empty Promises
33-37"And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.
Being true to our word is doing things, even when it costs us.
The OT scripture that describes a righteous man says “He swears to his own hurt.”
In other words, he doesn't take the 5th amendment. Even if it costs him something, or ever incriminates him.
I spent years in sales. I had a client who would cuss up a storm all the time, but every time we were at a lunch or dinner meeting, he stopped to pray over his food.
It was big ticket sales, ranging from $15,000 to the millions. He was on the high end of that scenario, a real big shot. And our legal department was extra careful with every contract we made with him because he was a scoundrel and what we talked about face to face as to what the contract meant and what he did after it was signed were two different things.
I had a Mennonite Asphalt company put in a new driveway for me at my house.
The old one was trashed from to many teenagers and my unwillingness to purchase a car for more than what I could right a check for because boys and cars... … well, you know.
So the driveway was ruined by all the leaking oil and every time it rained, it had an huge puddle.
So this guy came out with the estimate for a first rate quality asphalt driveway. At the end of our discussion, and our agreement to do it, I said to him, based on doing business back here in Indiana, well, do you have a contract?
He looked at me with disbelief. He said to me: “Aren't you a Brethren pastor?”
“Of course!” I said.
“That is good enough for me” was his only response.
I thought it was pretty cool to be living in an area where this Christian value of integrity took replaced the fear that a person might do harm unless a specific contract was written and signed.
Praise God.
And, that wasn't the reason why I wasn't fitting in, by the way, in case you are wondering.
I had a similar situation to what we are facing right now. Except the man confessed before the trial, was in probation for 2 years, and was registered as a sex offender.
He stood up before the Church, which was where he met the girl he molested, and he apologized.
Grace was neat. His repentance and sorrow really seemed sincere. It seemed so sincere that he was elected as deacon about 5 years later.
I came to the church a few years after that, and the man started to act out again. This time, his wife left him.
I remember, it was Super Bowl Sunday and we were at one of family of the church's house for a Super bowl party. The guys were downstairs in the man-cave and it was half-time and we really didn't care about the show when one of the Deaconesses came running down the stairs, almost as if it was too late for us to cover our eyes because Janet Jackson had just had a “wardrobe malfunction” and she didn't want her husband, or the rest of us seeing it.”
Then my phone rang, and in less than 20 minutes, I was standing between this man and his wife because he was bent on killing her.
The man was twice my size and in a drunken rage. Kathy was punching 9-1-1 on her phone, but then the Peace of God took over.
After the second time he did this, I counseled her, through Kathy, to get an apartment so that she could be safe. He then got ugly, sought to destroy their finances and she was forced to divorce him.
Knowing the climate of Lancaster CO, PA, that to them, divorce is the unpardonable sin, I knew that the advice I gave her would cost me my job.
But the righteous person speaks the truth in a situation, even if it harms them.
It is okay. Blessed you are when you are persecuted for doing the right thing!
The City Chaplain, for West Milton is a Church of the Brethren Pastor. He is also a detective on the police force. He told me one day, in October of 2008, when I was asking him for some advice about why he has the highest confession rate in the county.
“It is simple, Phil.” He said. “I get them in the room and start talking to them about Jesus. They get convicted about their sin, get saved and then confess.”
He knew I was also involved in Kairos Prison ministry. So he went on to say, “Here is how you can tell if a person has sincerely repented: They accept the punishment for their crime as a matter of duty because God has ordained the government's legal system. They don't lie, discredit the victim, the accusers and use any kind of trick to get around the just punishment for their crime.”
A righteous man swears to his own hurt.
A righteous man confesses his own shortcomings.
I had a boss who was a real scoundrel. We were working out a huge quote for services at the Lilly canning facility in Lima, Ohio.
They gave us security badges when we went on campus and we were supposed to turn them in when we left.
We forgot. As were were getting in the car, I remembered and told him we needed to return.
He said, “I don't care. They won't care. Just drive on.”
I said, “But we promised.”
He cursed and said, “Just drive.”
At the guard booth, the guard asked us for our badges.
I was in a dilemma. I got my boss on one side, and this guard on the other. A righteous man swears to his own hurt.
I handed him my badge, and asked my boss for his. The guard took it, and was satisfied enough that we didn't have to return to the inside of the building.
My boss looked at me with incredibility and said: “You can't lie if you want to, can you?”
Jesus changes hearts. It was an hour and half drive to our office on the North Side of Fort Wayne. 15 minutes into the ride, he looks at me, weeping and pours out his guts about his marriage problems and could God help him.
Listen, we do the right thing, And God works out the rest.
This is who we are as a people.
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