Integrity: Don’t Leave Home Without It | Part 2

As a Christian, what is the true meaning of your labor?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. The opposite of stealing is not not stealing, but it is giving. And we need to teach our children generosity. We need to teach them charity. We need to teach our children to work, not only to meet their needs.

Pastor and teacher Adrian Rogers. In part one of the lesson we're about to hear, we learned that stealing is more than just taking something that doesn't belong to you. It's also fraud, lying, and putting in half-hearted work. You see, work is not a curse. It's a gift from God and absolutely imperative in our world. And as Christians, we labor to meet our needs and give to others.

We must begin instilling a good work ethic into our children so that they grow up to become hard workers. If you have your Bible, we'll be reading from Exodus chapter 20 verse 15. You can turn there now as Adrian Rogers presents part two of Integrity, Don't Leave Home Without It. We're going to transgress this commandment.

Now, it might be time. It might be money. It might be affection.

It might be possessions. It may be courtesy or appreciation or love or anything else. If we defraud somebody else, we have taken that which does not belong to us, and we are guilty of stealing. Let me give you a good verse to put in your margin, and it is Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28.

Listen to it. In that verse, there are three things that every parent ought to try to emblazon into the heart of his or her child, to etch there into his or her consciousness. Three grand principles. The first one is integrity.

Let him that stole steal no more. The second principle is industry, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good. And the third is generosity, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Now, all of these, according to the New Testament, are wrapped up in this commandment that says, Thou shall not steal. Integrity, integrity, industry, and generosity. Those are three characteristics that all of us ought to say, Dear God, help me to teach these things to our children and help me and help us that we might practice these things before our children. Now, let's talk a little bit about the demands of integrity, the first of those three items. You know, there are many ways that you can live without integrity.

There's healing. You know what the kids call shoplifting? A five-finger discount, where they just go in and filch that. It is amazing how much is stolen by sheer shoplifting. Curtis Bicknell told me the other day, he said, You know what, Pastor? We had somebody to steal a Bible from our bookstore. Can you imagine? To steal a Bible from the bookstore.

They took the Bible out and set the empty box back on the shelf. Well, it may be not just shoplifting, armed robbery, burglary. Our city is plagued with this. Stealing at the workplace is epidemic. Did you know, according to the research that I did, that the American economy loses $40 billion a year from stealing on the workplace? That's simply embezzlement or pilfering from the workplace. And so, that's one kind of stealing, just direct stealing, whether it be shoplifting or whether it be burglary or bank robbery or pilfering on the job or embezzlement.

All of these things will receive assured judgment of Almighty God. But there's another form of stealing, and that's fraud, what we call white-collar crime. Now, this is going on all over the land. It is a form of stealing. Half-hearted work is stealing. You work for an employer and don't give him an honest day's labor. You've stolen from him.

Colossians 3, verse 22, Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Now, if you don't fear God enough to give an honest day's work, you have broken the commandment that says, Thou shalt not steal. Do you know one of the greatest forms of thievery is the entire gambling industry? Did you know that?

Let me tell you something, friend. Gambling is morally wrong. Now, why is it morally wrong? Nobody can win at gambling without somebody else losing. You see, when somebody gambles and wins, he has the spirit of thievery. Now, we need to teach our children integrity. Not only do we need to teach them integrity, we need to teach them industry. Now, remember what our verse said, Let him that stole steal no more, but rather, rather, let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good. Work is not bad. Work is good. Work is not a curse.

Work is a blessing. Do you know what is wrong with this generation, our younger generation? Young people do not know, by and large, the duties of honest work and labor. And the old rabbis used to say this, He who does not teach his son a trade, teaches him to steal.

We have boys and girls who are going to college today and graduate with college and still don't know how to make a living. The rabbis, again, saw work as a gift from God, and the prophets did also. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 18 and 19.

Listen to it. Behold that which I've seen. It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh unto the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him, for it is his portion.

What? That God gives him work and then the fruit of his work. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Labor is the gift of God. Work is not a curse.

Six days shalt thou labor. Now, today, everybody wants to get in a position where they're going to win the sweepstakes so they won't have to work anymore. That'd be pathetic.

Be pathetic. I don't care how much money you have. But we have a generation today that doesn't want to work. And we have a great number of people in America, very frankly, who are not working.

Now, I want to say a word. It may sound political, but it's not political. It's moral and biblical. You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the industrious out of it. You have to get the idea it does no good to work because they don't get to keep what they work for.

The Bible teaches that if a man would not work, neither should he eat. In the 60s, we were talking about the hippies and the flower children. And they were going around smoking dope and saying peace, brother, and talking about free love and dope was hope and sex was salvation. And they were saying make love and not war and all of that.

And we said, well, aren't they kind of silly? It was a philosophy that simply said turn on, tune in, and drop out. And the only dirty four-letter word was W-O-R-K. That was the biggest cultural revolution where we had a generation that did not understand the work ethic that was taught by our fathers. And those who are working are not working for the pleasure and the joy of cooperating with Almighty God and running this world that He's made for us, but they're only working to get enough money so they can stop working.

The Bible says let him that stole steel no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands that which is good. It's good to work. Work is not bad. Work is good. Do you know what's wrong in America today? We have created a society where some people think it is better not to work. We need to teach our boys and girls how to work, but it is time to work. It is time for us to wake up and find another plan because the old one of no work doesn't work.

How long will this nation go on? Those of you who want to retire, you're getting the idea that pretty soon you're going to retire so you can do nothing. God have mercy upon your pitiful soul. You'll never retire from serving God. And if you are well enough off so that you don't have to go report in at 8 o'clock to the office, that just gives you more time to serve God with all of your heart. With all of your soul. If you look, you see the opposite of work is idleness.

Idleness, just simply not doing anything. We need to teach our children. Not only do we need to teach them integrity, but we need to teach them industry. Industry, let them labor working with their hands. Start early with these boys and girls. Let me give you a good verse to put in your margin.

Lamentations 3, verse 27. Good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. You know what that means? Don't ever get the idea, well, they're only children now, they ought not to work when they're children. Wait till they grow up, and when they grow up, then they'll work.

And let the children play when they're children. Now, folks, I've known what it is to work since I was a child. You may think that being a preacher is no work. You may think you don't work. You're just a preacher.

You talk a little bit on Sunday morning. I've known what it is to work. When I was in grammar school and junior high school, I was buying my own clothes. I ran a milk route and did a day's work in junior high school before the other kids were getting out of bed. I used to deliver milk to the girl I'm married to right now. She'd go look out the window to see me set the milk down there on her back porch. I did a day's work. I'm not bragging about it.

It didn't hurt me. My dad believed that his boys ought to work. My brother and I had to cut the grass. You know what kind of grass we had in our front yard down in Florida? We didn't have the kind of grass we have up here. We had a grass called Bitter Blue, and it's thick. And when he'd say cut the grass, I was both bitter and blue, because I want to tell you, we had one of these kind of mowers that you push. And we didn't have one of those kind of edges with a string on it. We had a little half-moon thing that you put your foot on and went around. All day long, we'd work on that yard.

My brother and I, my dad would come home and inspect it, look at it. I'll tell you, it was hard work in the Florida sun. When you say, boys, that's a good job.

That really looks good. That felt so good. Felt so good. Felt I'd done something.

We earned our way. I worked my way through college. I've bussed tables. I've been a carpenter's helper. I've been an elevator mechanic. I've been a used car salesman. I've been a fruit picker. I've done all of these things.

But I'll tell you one thing, I did. I got married. I went to four years of college and four years of seminary, raised a family, allowed my wife to stay home. I worked in the daytime.

I worked at night. I got out without owing anybody anything. I give God the praise. I give God the glory. And it didn't hurt me. And I learned how to work, because I learned how to work as a child, and my daddy taught me how to work. And I'm glad he did.

I'm glad he did. And now you say, well, you think you're hot stuff. No, I'm not.

No, I don't. I'm just giving you a testimony. I'm telling you, friend, that work is good. And the Bible says it's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, and nothing wrong with work. And we need to teach our children integrity.

Let him that stole steal no more. And we need to teach them industry. And sometimes, folks, it's easier to do it yourself than to get them to do it.

Amen? A four-year-old is old enough to gather up all the trash and carry out and empty the trash. You have to go help him to do it and pick it up and go with him and guide him and do it. A six- or seven-year-old, they can help with the dishes. Ten, 12, they can work in the yard. And remember that when you're teaching them industry, when they go to school, that's a part of their work. Their activities, their paper routes, their babysitting, the music lesson, the practice time, that's work to them, just like your work is work to you. Now you say, Pastor Rogers, don't you want to let them play? Of course you let them play. A lot of kids will be saying, there's nothing to do. They'll be bored.

Around my house, I was afraid to act bored, because my dad finds something for me to do. Let them. Let them work when they work, and when they play, the play will be a whole lot sweeter. Now look at this verse, Ephesians 4, verse 28. Number one, it says, let him that stole steal no more. That is integrity. But rather let him labor.

That is industry. Now here's the third thing, that he may have to give to him that needeth. The opposite of stealing is not not stealing, but it is giving.

It is giving. And we need to teach our children generosity. We need to teach them charity.

We need to teach our children to work, not only to meet their margin. Acts chapter 20, verses 33 and following. Here's what the apostle Paul had to say. He said, I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. He said, I had my needs met, because I worked. And then he said, I was able to meet the necessities of them that were with me.

And now listen to this. I have showed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Laboring that we might have to meet our needs, and laboring that we might give to others.

It's a sin and a shame before God that we're expecting the government to take care of our loved ones and our parents and our children when we ourselves ought to do it. I want everybody in this building to do a little experiment with me, if you will. Not a shame to make you feel a little childish, but take your fist and squeeze it as you please. As tightly as you can for just a moment. Everybody, if you will, just take it and squeeze it just as tight and hold it there. Don't let go.

Just squeeze it. Keep squeezing. Hold it. Don't let go. Don't let up. Just squeeze it. Hold it. Don't relax. Squeeze it.

Go ahead. Now relax it. Doesn't that feel a lot better? This is the way so many are living.

Mmm, that's mine. That's the way they go through life. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands to things that is good that he may have to give. Life is made up of takers and givers. Teach the children to give. And there's so much they can give. Give them understanding and they'll give you understanding. People today want somebody to understand and to care.

People will call up a 900 number and pay somebody just to listen to them. It's an amazing thing. Give acceptance. Give forgiveness to your children. Don't let bitterness poison you and them. Give love.

Love means I'll do you good no matter what you do to me. Teach the children to give. Teach the children integrity.

Teach children industry. Teach children charity, generosity. Teach your children to clean up the neighbor's yard.

Go over and help a widow carry the groceries home. Teach them to bring their own money to church. Give them their allowance. But let them take out of their allowance a gift and maybe a nickel, a dime, a quarter, whatever it is. But let the children have the joy of bringing their money to church.

Let the children have the joy of bringing their money to church. Let the children participate in mission projects. Teach the children how to give to their brothers and sisters. Teach them how to give. Train them in giving. You do it by precept. You do it by example.

Do it consistently. Listen carefully. The Bible says, Are you saved? If you steal from God, I will promise you as surely as my name is Adrian Rogers, that you'll steal from yourself, for your sins have withholding good things from you. If I had a thousand lives to live, I'd give every one of them to Jesus.

I am so glad that I know Christ as my personal Savior and Lord. I know all of the toys of this world that we cling to, we're soon going to leave. We used to say when I was a kid, finders keepers, losers weepers. Jesus says, keepers weepers, losers finders.

And you'll find it. Jesus said of the devil, the thief cometh but to steal and to kill and to destroy. I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly. Satan is the biggest thief of all. And he wants to steal from you the abundant life that Jesus has for you.

Do you know what you ought to do? If you've never done it, right now you ought to just open your heart and say, Lord Jesus, I received the gift of salvation and I give myself back to you. Lord, I don't want to steal from you. My very life belongs to you and I give it to you right now. If you'd like to be saved, I want to invite you to pray a prayer like this.

Just pray it out of your heart. Dear God, I know that you love me and I know that you love me. I know that you want to save me. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you paid my sin debt with your blood on the cross.

I believe that God raised you from the dead. You died to save me and promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust you, Lord Jesus, right now. I trust you, Lord Jesus.

Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Lord Jesus. And then would you pray this? Lord Jesus, because you died for me, I'll live for you. And Lord Jesus, give me the courage to confess you openly and publicly.

Help me not to be ashamed of you. In your holy name I pray. Amen. And if you've prayed to receive Jesus Christ right now, we want to celebrate and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on our website. You'll find answers there that you may need about your newfound faith. There's a response section where you can share your testimony with us. Let us know how this message has affected your life.

Just go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family. Let us hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title Integrity, Don't Leave Home Without It. This message is also part of the powerful series of Perfect Ten for Homes That Win. For the complete collection, all 10 insightful messages, go online to lwf.org slash radio, or you can order by clicking the tab at the top that says Integrity, Don't Leave Home Without It.

or you can order by calling 1-877-LOVEGOD or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Would you like to teach your children the importance of working with honesty, vigor, and the expectation to give it away? Adrian Rogers emphasizes this powerful advice from John Wesley. Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.

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