Integrity at Risk

Every once in a while in a leader's life an opportunity comes along that has a God thing written all over it. It's inevitable.

You're passionate about impacting the culture with the truth. You're praying for resources to engage them with excellence; whether it's people or money or equipment or land. And then one day you get the phone call. Then there's a meeting and everything falls into place. It usually comes together in the most outlandishly unexpected and creative ways. It must be a God thing.

I got that phone call years ago when we were starting North Point. We had 80 acres of land under contract with no money to close, much less money to build anything on it. It was clear that God was leading us. But the next steps seemed all but impossible. And then (cue the heavenly choir), the phone rang.

A local concert promoter called to set up a meeting. Our property had a natural bowl on it that would make a perfect 13,000-seat amphitheater. He wanted us to trade our property for the tract of land next to it. In exchange, his company would share the development cost for our project, we would have access to the amphitheater parking, and we would have use of the amphitheater for Easter. The property we would be trading for was less expensive than the property we were trying to buy. At the end of the day, we would save several million dollars and have use of an amphitheater. The only small catch was that we would jointly own a tract of land that would be used for parking for the church and the amphitheater.

As you can imagine, I was walking around with my hands in the air saying, "God has come down!" Financially, it was a God thing. The parking was a God thing. And the amphitheater was a God thing. It was amazing. So I went to our steering committee and said, "You're not gonna believe this." I showed off a big color drawing of how the church and the parking and the amphitheater would look. I was still reeling, thinking, "Can you believe this? God has dropped this in our laps!"

And then it happened. I never even saw it coming. One of our committee members raised his hand and said, "I have a question. Isn't this a partnership?"

Don't you hate it when that happens? One man speaks up in a meeting and everything screeches to a halt. If you're a leader, you love progress. In fact, the love of progress that God put in you is critical to leadership. But this love of progress sets us up for some unique temptations. It sets us up to react when some annoying leader flaps his robotic arms and yells, "Danger! Danger!"

One man threatened our progress and I almost didn't listen to him. But in my heart of hearts, the minute he spoke, I knew it was over. It was over because that one man's question called me back to something more important than property or parking lots or progress: he called me back to integrity.

Compromised integrity. Usually you think of televangelists who get caught in seedy hotel rooms or youth ministers who visit porn sites on their laptops or big ministry leaders who pad their bank accounts. Those kinds of things may not be what will tempt you to forsake your integrity. But regardless of how it happens, I can promise you this: at some point in your ministry you will be tempted to compromise your integrity. Mark my words. It will happen. And if you choose to compromise your integrity, your dream of being an influence for Christ in your culture will be compromised even more.

Why are we as leaders so prone to compromise our integrity? We've all watched great men and women fall and wondered why. Are they just stupid? Some were men and women you knew were sincere servants of God. Like them, you value integrity. You have no desire to be blindsided by temptation in this area. So how do you stay out of trouble? What are the danger zones? And if someone has the courage to say, "Danger! Danger!" how can you be sure you will listen?

Too Good to Pass Up
David was presented with a seemingly irresistible opportunity on his rise to leadership. And this opportunity almost derailed him before he even got started. Before he was officially king, he spent most of his time and energy running away from Saul, the official king. Saul hated David because he saw him as a threat to his son Jonathan's right to the throne. That, and David was a better warrior and younger and maybe better looking. When David was still a kid, he had been anointed king by Samuel. Everyone knew he was going to be king, just not yet. The soldiers who were loyal to him knew all about it, too. They spent a lot of their time hiding out together, so they had plenty of time to get the message: Our guy is going to be king.

In I Samuel 24, David and his men were hiding out in a cave once again. Just then, Saul and 3,000 of his best men happened by the same cave. They had been combing the desert looking for David. And they pulled over so Saul could do something that probably isn't mentioned anywhere else in scripture. He dismounted and entered the cave alone to "relieve himself." He took off his clothes and assumed the most vulnerable position possible.

Ironically, "David and his men were sitting in the recesses" of that very same cave. His men took one look at the situation and said, "This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ?I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'"(Verse 4, NIV) In other words, "Is this a God thing, or what? What are the odds of this? Only God could bring your enemy within striking range. He is alone. He is disrobed. It's like he's just waiting to die."

Then David did the unthinkable. He crept up behind Saul and cut off a corner of his robe. That's all. When you think about it, it's amazing that David pulled off that stunt undetected. But even more amazing is what David didn't do. David chose to weigh his actions against something other than the opportunity that presented itself. He chose integrity.

David understood an important rule: Just because it looks like a God thing and feels like a God thing doesn't necessarily mean it's a God thing.

So, how do we avoid the temptation to leverage the wrong opportunities? How do we stay out of trouble? Here are four danger zones to watch out for if you're serious about guarding your integrity.

FOUR DANGER ZONES
Danger Zone #1:
Your leadership ability and giftedness have the potential to take you further than your character can sustain you.

Both Saul and David were talented military men. Their physical prowess was remarkable. We look at men like Saul and David and we automatically assume they are mature. We think a person who is really gifted must be really mature. But that just isn't the case. John Maxwell says, "There is no correlation between giftedness and maturity." And he's right.

Not only do we assume gifted leaders are mature, we assume God can use incredibly gifted people more than he can use average people with lesser gifts. We make those assumptions because we don't view giftedness the way God does.

Whatever your gift - whether you're good-looking or musically talented or a gifted talker or a natural leader - it's a gift. It's not a power. Your heart - the starting place for character - is what gets God's attention. Character is what turns your giftedness into influence. Your character is what unleashes God's power.

Your talent won't guard your character. It's the other way around. And your talent isn't a guarantee that you'll impact today's culture. In fact, your giftedness can propel you into danger zones beyond your character.

Danger Zone #2:
Our commitment to integrity can be easily eroded by our love of progress.

What gets you into trouble? It isn't that you're totally oblivious to temptation. It isn't that you're callous to sin. You're not stupid. Most often, it's the very thing God wired into you to make you a leader: your love of progress. Your love of progress is why you probably don't enjoy counseling. Counseling is about the past and you're all about the future. For you, the future is about engaging the culture more and more effectively. Suddenly, there's an obstacle between you and this future. And the most direct route around that obstacle is compromised integrity.

Danger Zone #3:
The excuses.

The language of compromise is spoken in excuses. We have to tell ourselves something to justify even the smallest step away from integrity. Here are the two excuses leaders are most prone to use: God promised it. I deserve it.

God promised it. You started an organization or business or ministry with a strong sense of God's calling. I mean, God gave you a verse and a sign, and you are so confident that God has called you to do what you're doing, that along with that call there's a sense of promise. It is so easy for those of us who are in leadership to turn a blind eye to a small compromise of integrity for the sake of what God has promised us.

The other excuse is I deserve it. I deserve it because my wife and kids have been neglected, because I've been serving God and working so hard, because I need a break. And I deserve it because I went without a salary for the first six months. And somewhere down the road you'll be tempted to put some itty-bitty compromise in the context of all the sacrifices you've made. It may look like an opportunity, but you'll know it's a compromise.

Danger Zone #4:
When our opportunities line up with our prayers and our passions, it's difficult to exercise restraint.

Opportunities must be weighed against something other than the uniqueness of the circumstances surrounding them. They must be considered in light of something other than our passions and emotions.

David weighed the opportunity to eliminate Saul against three things. We need to put our opportunities to these same three tests if we are to maintain lives of integrity and influence: The law of God, the principles of God, and the wisdom of God.

The Law of God
In the midst of all the emotion and the bad advice in that cave, David realized something. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the fact his enemy was within his grasp, and regardless of what looked like a certain God thing, David realized it was against the law to kill the king.

Just when I thought we were on our way to a miracle, one man brought up the law. "Isn't this a partnership?" And immediately I thought, That's not what that verse means. That doesn't fit this situation. Do we need to pray about this? You mean to tell me you're going to let this whole incredible deal slip away over one verse in the Bible? One verse? One pesky leader who didn't let circumstances or emotions or the love of progress get in the way. By the grace of God, I listened. I'm convinced of this: if we had moved down that road, we would have regretted it.

The Principles of God
David's conscience was stricken over cutting off the corner of Saul's robe, much less harming Saul. He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my Master the Lord's anointed. Or lift my hand against him for he is the anointed of the Lord." (I Samuel 24:6, NIV) In other words, not only is he the king, he is the king that God put in place.

There is a principle involved here: Do not replace what God has put in place. David knew better than to mess with the sovereignty of God. He knew God would make it all right in the end. When he calls out to Saul from the mouth of the cave, he says, "May the Lord judge between you and me and may the Lord avenge the wrongdoings you have done unto me. But my hand will not touch you." (Verse 12)

David subordinated his love of progress - a principle that was hardwired into his makeup - to God's principles. I live for progress, I plan for progress, I invest in progress, but I am not going to sacrifice my integrity for the sake of progress.

The Wisdom of God
Finally, there is the wisdom factor. How wise is it for a wanna-be king to murder the sitting king? While he uses the bathroom in a cave alone? Is that the story you would want to spend the rest of your life telling?

One day you are going to face this issue. You are going to have to choose: Do I let a compelling circumstance dictate my actions? Do I lay aside my character for the sake of progress? Do I commit this little indiscretion because, after all, I deserve it? I promise you, you will be there, and in that moment, you will discover just how confident you are in the power of your God. You will find out if you want to be an influence his way or your own way. If you compromise, you will never know what he would have done and could have done on your behalf. You will never know how broad and deep your influence could have been. And you will spend the rest of your life wondering, "What if I had waited?"