Leadership Integrity

Leadership Integrity 2014 Randolph Barnwell.
The communication, reproduction and/or distribution of this material in any form is permissible and encouraged, provided that no monetary profit is gained.
Consent for use of this material outside of this prescription must be sought in writing. [randolph@gatedc.co.za; www.randolphbarnwell.com; (+27) 83 2729 579
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LEADERSHI P I NTEGRI TY

Psalm 78:72
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them with his skillful hands.

There are two facets of leadership which arise from this verse:

a. Shepherding : This is the core description and function of leadership.

Shepherded = raah = (i) to feed, to tend; to be a shepherd.
to care for, to protect, to graze, to feed flocks and herds
(ii) to associate with, to be a companion, to be a friend.

Jer. 3:15 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on
knowledge and understanding.

Ezek. 34:22 Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed
them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be
their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have
spoken.

Note in Psalm 78:72, shepherding demands an internal heart posture of integrity. This is
prerequisite for effective shepherding. Leadership Integrity concerns the uprightness of heart
and purity of motivation that configures ones leadership.

b. Guiding :

Guided = na!cha!h = to lead, to guide, usually in the right direction or on the proper path
to guide; by implication to transport
to bestow, bring, govern, lead (forth), put, straiten.

The word transport implies migration to a predetermined place.

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Exod. 23:20-22
20 "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to
bring you into the place which I have prepared.
21 "Be on your guard before him and OBEY HIS VOICE do not be rebellious toward him,
for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him.
22 "But if you truly OBEY HIS VOICE and DO ALL THAT I SAY, then I will be an enemy to your
enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Note the dual role of the angel/spiritual father here : 1) He guards you along the way
2) He brings you into the place God
prepares for you

The destination to which men are to be guided is Christ His nature and function.

Col. 1:28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all
wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ

Note in Psalm 78:72, guiding demands skill which speaks of wisdom or an endowment of
grace by which God empowers the leader. When the heart is pure and one of integrity, the
hands will be skilled for function.

Let us focus on Leadership Integrity.

1 Kings 9:4,5 As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart
and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My
statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel
forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, You shall not lack a man on the
throne of Israel.

1 Kings 19 says that he WALKED in integrity of heart. Psalm 78 says that David LED with integrity. Before
you lead with integrity, you have to walk in integrity. You cannot lead according to a specific
dimension in which you are not actually walking or living in. The expectation of the Lord upon leaders
to lead with integrity presupposes that you are already functioning with integrity in all aspects of your
life.

The promise made to David was that his throne will continue forever. This promise was actually fulfilled
in Jesus Christ, who reigns on the Throne of David. Davids rule has continued throughout the

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generations and climaxed in Jesus. The principle to be learnt here is that when rule and leadership
function with integrity, then that leaderships role and influence will not be short lived, nor will its impact
and influence be limited to a restricted sphere or area. Like Abel, who though being dead, yet
speaks (Hebrews), leaders with integrity have an influence even beyond their natural life.

What exactly does integrity refer to?

Generally it refers to your inner commitment to and thus outward practice of honourable values and
principles.

Let us look at the Hebrew word for integrity:
Integrity = tome = Innocence, simplicity, blamelessness, uprightness
Completeness or fullness

Note the emphasis on innocence, blamelessness and uprightness on the one hand, and then
completeness and fullness on the other. To be a person of integrity is to be spiritually and morally
circumspect and upright, wherein all your thoughts, motivations and actions are unpolluted and
honourable before the Lord. The person whose integrity is comprised will not be full and complete.
Figuratively, the Hebrew word tome alludes to prosperity, which includes not just material prosperity,
but also incorporates a sense of inner wellbeing and satiation.
The Readers Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder defines integrity in four ways and provides various
synonyms for each one:
a. Moral Uprightness : Rectitude, righteousness, decency, honour, principle,
morality, goodness, virtue, incorruptibility
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b. Honesty : Probity, purity, veracity, trustworthiness

c. Wholeness : Entirety, totality, completeness, unity, oneness,
togetherness
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d. Soundness : Coherence, consistency, validity

There is an honest candor and frankness that is expected of us as we pursue integrity in our
leadership. But this must be pure and holy. All traces of deceit, dishonesty, conniving, secret dealings,

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scheming, trickery, cheating, under-handedness, exploitive and manipulative tendencies must not be
a feature of effective Godly leadership. Corruption in leadership, morally and otherwise, is widespread
today.
Job 31:5,6 If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit.
Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.
We have to commit to doing our utmost to preserve the principle of integrity within leadership.
Note in the definition above also, there are two streams, viz. uprightness and honesty on the one hand,
and wholeness and soundness on the other. The two streams are mutually dependant, the one leading
to the other. Where you have moral uprightness and honesty, you will also have wholeness and
soundness. There must be no severe or detrimental moral or character deficiency in our lives, but the
state of oneness and togetherness. There can be no effective coherence and cohesion in a group in
which there is compromised integrity in the lives of the people in the group. The lack of integrity in
individual leaders is probably what has led to the plague of sharp division and thus impotency in entire
leadership teams. Commitment to the principle of integrity by all is key to facilitating and sustaining the
condition of oneness and also fosters the ultimate state of completeness, where the entire leadership
team and thus all those under their oversight will enjoy the benefits of completeness, fullness, where
there will be no lack at any level in their lives personally and in the church corporately.
Someone defined integrity as doing the right in the dark, when no-one on earth sees, but everyone on
the unseen realm is observing.
In engineering, structural integrity and failure is an aspect which deals with the ability of a structure to
support a designed load (weight, force, etc.) without breaking, tearing apart, or collapsing, and
includes the study of breakage that has previously occurred in order to prevent failures in future
designs. Applied spiritually, our integrity ensures that we personally are able to contain the weight of
glory of Gods person within us, and could also refer to readiness in our capacity to steward significant
aspects of His vast global purposes, without personal failure or collapse.
Benefits of Ruling and Leading with Integrity:
1. Easy and quick Determination of the Will of the Lord
The plural form of the Hebrew word tome is the word thummin. The urim and the thummin was a
piece of ornament which the priest wore on his chest and was used to determine the will of the Lord
on specific issues. It is interesting that it was placed very close to the heart. Let integrity reign in plural

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form - in double strength in your life - and it will serve to facilitate your accessing the voice and will of
the Lord on very grave and serious issues.

2. Preservation and Protection

Proverbs 10:9 He who walks in integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be found out.

The Hebrew word for securely is betah, which means, calm assurance or confidence or to be safe.
Psalm 7:8-10 The Lord judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and
my integrity that is in me. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the
righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. My shield is with God Who
saves the upright in heart.

Psalm 25:19-21 Look upon my enemies, for they are many, And they hate me with violent hatred.
Guard my soul and deliver me; Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. Let
integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.

For your own encouragement read the following: Psalm. 7:8,9; 25:21; 26:1, 11; 41:12,13; Isaiah 33;15,16;
Proverbs 2:7; 10:29; 13:6; 19:1; 20:7; 28:6

3. Determines and Regulates Relationships, Associations and the Degree of Latitude you Afford
others to Function in
Psalm 101
1 I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in
the integrity of my heart.
3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not
fasten its grip on me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;I will know no evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.

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3. Success in Strategic Battles through Random Actions

Read the whole of 1Kings chapter 22. Prophet Micaiah accurately prophesies the wicked King Ahabs
death in a battle he should not have pursued. In defiance of the prophetic directives, Ahab continues
with the attack against Ramoth-gilead. Fearing that he would be an obvious target as the king, he
disguises himself and thought he would be secure. He is ultimately killed in the battle, but listen to how
he dies
1 Kings 22:32-35
Now a certain man DREW HIS BOW AT RANDOM and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the
armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and take me out of the fight; for
I am severely wounded. The battle raged that day, and the king was propped up in his
chariot in front of the Arameans, and died at evening, and the blood from the wound ran
into the bottom of the chariot. (See also 2 Chron. 18:33)

A certain warrior in the opposing camp, not specifically aiming for King Ahab, simply shot his arrow
randomly into the battle scene and his arrow struck the disguised King Ahab, hitting him in a small
opening in his armour.

The amazing thing is that the Hebrew word for RANDOM here is also tome which means INTEGRITY. A
man did a random thing out of a pure heart of integrity and it struck the king. The word random, in its
general use today, indicates without method or conscious choice or without specific aim or purpose.
His random act done with integrity was harnessed by the Lord and resulted in a level of accuracy that
is astounding. I believe with all of my heart that when we function from the heart position of integrity
before the Lord, then even those actions which we would regard as random will secure for us very
strategic positions of victory. A simple action from a man of integrity can secure major battles for a
whole group of people. I have the strong prophetic sense that even our seemingly haphazard,
indiscriminate, arbitrary, unorganised, unsystematic, unplanned, unpremeditated, accidental or
incidental actions are going to be powerfully used by God to attain for us significant areas of
conquest and inheritance because of the integrity of our hearts. When you function in and with
integrity, then an ordinary simple action will be hugely anointed and guided by the Lord to reap for
you an extraordinary result.
INTEGRITY AND DISCERNMENT

Integrity within leaders must also be coupled with strong discernment. Jesus was fully aware of Judas
intension of betrayal; He was never unaware of this. He did not remove Judas, but was always a step
ahead of him, and even gave him numerous opportunities to repent.
Your innocence (integrity) on its own may land you in trouble if that innocence is not balanced by
acute discernment. Leaders constantly deal with people and there is a serious need to function

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relationally with them, completely embracing them in love, leading them with the heart of integrity
wanting their total benefit and betterment in the purposes of God. BUT (and a big BUT), this posture of
integrity must be regulated by heightened discerning awareness of the devious and sometimes
calculated, intentional wicked devices with which people sometimes operate. This is true both for
those led and those who lead, but there is a higher requirement placed on leaders in this respect.

There are many examples of this in the Scriptures. Let us examine just two of them:
a) Abraham lies that his wife Sarah is his sister and King Ambimilech intended to take her as his
wife, but is warned by God in a dream not to do so, or else he would be a dead man. In the
dream he responds to God as follows:

Genesis 20:5-6 : Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my
brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this. Then
God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this,
and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
King Abimelech claims that his actions were with integrity of heart. God agrees with him, but
prevents him from going ahead with his actions because it would have equated to sinning
against God. Abimelechs intended actions from a heart of integrity was based upon
Abrahams deception and lie. Acting with a heart of integrity in the context of deception can
be dangerous and detrimental, hence discernment is necessary. As clear as Abimelechs
conscience was, had he gone through with the act, he would have died. Your posture of
integrity alone is not a sufficient enough a basis upon which to lead and make key and vital
decisions. You need to ensure that those areas or people to which you respond with a heart of
integrity have absolutely no trace and hint of deception or lies, or else death of your destiny in
God could result.

b) Absalom, deceived many to join him in his conspiracy against his father David. These men
acted with integrity or innocence, not knowing what Absalom was really up to. The sad reality
here is that they acted blamelessly but became caught up in a devilish assignment against
God-ordained leadership. Within leadership teams there must come a greater watchfulness
and an awareness of an Absalom spirit at work. Absalom positioned himself at the gate,
where he intercepted people coming for counsel to settle judgements.

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2 Samuel 15:1-12
1 Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and fifty
men as runners before him.
2 Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way to the gate; and when any man had a
suit to come to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, From what city are
you? And he would say, Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.
3 Then Absalom would say to him, See, your claims are good and right, but no man listens to
you on the part of the king.
4 Moreover, Absalom would say, Oh that one would appoint me judge in the land, then every
man who has any suit or cause could come to me and I would give him justice.
5 And when a man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand and
take hold of him and kiss him.
6 In this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom
stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.
7 Now it came about at the end of forty years that Absalom said to the king, Please let me go
and pay my vow which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron.
8 For your servant vowed a vow while I was living at Geshur in Aram, saying, If the Lord shall
indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.
9 The king said to him, Go in peace. So he arose and went to Hebron.
10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound
of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom is king in Hebron.
11 Then two hundred men went with Absalom from Jerusalem, who were invited and went
innocently, and they did not know anything.
12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, Davids counselor, from his city Giloh, while he
was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually
with Absalom.

Verse 11 says that the men respond to his invitation and went along innocently. Other versions of the
Bible say they they went along in the integrity of their hearts. The word innocence here is the
Hebrew word for integrity, tome. The Absalom spirit is an insidious spirit that progressively wins the
hearts of people to conspire against God-ordained leadership. By all external appearances, it seems
cordial, friendly and affectionate note that he kissed every man that submitted to his counsel. And
note also where he goes to enact the conspiracy. He positions himself in Hebron, which means the
place of covenant, joining, alliance and confederacy. He established oneness with men who have
hearts of integrity but for an evil intent. He knows the power of Hebron and of association, and uses
this to fuel and his dishonourable agenda. Men of integrity were caught up in a satanic scheme
unawares.

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May Our Father afford us greater wisdom and discernment as we commit to shepherding His flock
according to the standard of a heart of integrity, so that we may guide them into the fullness of the
nature and function of Christ with skillful hands.

May all Grace and Peace abound to you,
Randolph Barnwell
(Durban, South Africa)

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