TEXT MATTHEW 5 VERSE 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in Heaven is perfect.
Leadership speaks of being in front, ahead, having a followership, and being in a position of influence.
To lead, there must be something the people behind you see in you and which they want. So they aim in the same direction they see you going. Or, people behind you see that the direction in which you are going seems to be taking you somewhere and they want to get there to. Or it may be that they see something you are doing which seems to be bringing you fruit and they want it too so they follow you.
Whichever way you look at it, the leader is in front, determining the direction of movement, and those who have been influenced are following behind, coming after him.
How then do we begin to classify you as a leader?

(1)The blind leading the blind. Both ultimately end up in the ditch (Matthew 15 verse 14).

(2) The one-eyed king. He does not see clearly, and so is not really sure the direction in which he is leading his followers. Matthew 23 verses 13-15.

(3) The God inspired leader, who knows where he is supposed to be going, and is doing everything in his power to get there. Such a leader will end up with followers, out of whom talents and graces they did not know they had will show up, as they aim to follow this type of leader. Such followers grow in the process.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?
There are, of course, always two sides to every coin; there is the leader and the led. To follow fruitfully, there are also certain characteristics for the follower. However, this is not our focus now.

INTEGRITY IN LEADERSHIP
If your leadership is to be transformational, you must possess within you certain qualities, which if people copy will make them more Christ like. One such quality is integrity.
1 Peter 5 verse 3 says, leaders should not be lords over those entrusted to them but should be examples.

Integrity implies; honesty, truthfulness, honour, reliability and uprightness. These are marks which God looks for in leaders, 1 Kings 9 verses 4&5, Job2 verse 3.
Operating in integrity ensures that the works and worth of a leader outlive him.
No wonder God gave integrity credence to the work of the ant in Proverbs 6verses 6-8
It means the ant works faithfully and needs no outside accountability to keep doing what is right.
Every Christian leader who wants to walk in integrity must understand the following;

INTEGRITY CHECKS Now no one was born perfect!!! We all have to grow in perfection. So to help us in the process of leadership growth and development, God puts us through various tests which we call Integrity checks. It is as we pass these tests that we get promoted from one stage of leadership to the other.
Unfortunately, every leader must go through these checks at some time or the other. Secondly, there is no one check that you will experience and say you have passed the test of all time. Thirdly, God alone knows the curriculum He has drawn for each of us. So the formulation of the test for each leader will be different.
There are many possible checks, but we will mention only 5 of them.

(1) THE MOTIVE TEST
That is doing things for the right reason. Matthew 6 verses1-4, talks of doing charitable deeds to please God and not for men to see and praise you.Job went through such a test, Job1 verse 6-12. Satan wanted to prove that Job was serving God so faithfully, and standing all the men of the East, because of what he was getting from God.
So God allowed the devil to give Job a motive integrity check. He caused Job to loose all his children and all his wealth at the same time.
The verdict, Job 1verses 20-22, and in the last verse, in all this Job neither sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

The devil came again, challenging God the second time on the integrity of Job. Job 2 verses 1-5. Again, God gave him permission for another round of torture, this time, on the body of Job. By now, his wife was desperate and said to Job, dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die!!.
But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips Job 2 verses 9&10.
Job served God for God, not for what he was getting from Him.
The children of Israel similarly had to face this same motive check, Deuteronomy 8 verses 1-5. They were on their way to the Promised Land and God wanted to check what was in their heart. Unfortunately, they missed it, they failed the test.they missed it, they failed the test.                                                                              

(2)THE FINANCE CHECK
The integrity of every leader must be checked in the area of finances. How do you perceive, and subsequently steward the resources which God puts into your hands? How do you handle the finances of another? Are you one of those who enjoy spending other people's money?
In Genesis, 39 verses 1-6, we come across Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt. Portiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and an Egyptian bought him and brought him home.

Joseph was honest with all his master's household affairs and God was with him.
Portiphar observed him for a while, and noticed that even though he had brought a stranger into his house; his goods increased rather then diminish. Not only that, he saw God's hands at work with this foreigner.
Consequently, Portiphar left the management of his resources and household exclusively in the care of Joseph.

That means that each time external auditors came to audit the books of Portiphar, they found significant profit, and no loss whatsoever at the end of each financial year. His stocks increased in value. Portiphar therefore decided to concern himself only with the food he ate and let Joseph handle the rest.
What is your integrity rating in the area of finances and other people's property? Are you faithful in paying your tithes and do you give sacrificially to the work of God? Are your records accurate? Or you switch tithes for offering deliberately, so you will not be required to make much return into the central purse of your church.
If you cannot look after another man's property, who will give you your own?

(3) THE MORALITY CHECK
Passing the finance integrity check was not all for Joseph. He had to face yet another integrity check, the morality check.

The wife of his beloved master began to cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said lie with me. Genesis 39 verse 7. Joseph refused, telling her it amounted to a sin against God. Secondly, his master had grown to trust his integrity to the extent of leaving everything in his care except of course his wife, Genesis 39 verse 8-10.

Joseph had to endure this temptation every day, not once in a while. He was ultimately framed as an adulterer and went to prison for a crime he did not commit. He fled from his seductress rather than sin against God and loose that for which he was being prepared.

Yes, he was forgotten in prison for a while, but when God was ready for his promotion, Joseph was brought out of the prison and ended in the palace Genesis 41 verses 9-45. Pharaoh had a dream which none could interpret. Joseph's spiritual abilities were also put on test, but he succeeded in telling the meaning of the dream. The one time ex convict now sat on the throne, vindicated of all the past wrongs done to him. However, God was using them all as integrity checks Genesis 50 verse 20. He had to prove that he was indeed worthy of the leadership position he was to occupy.

Joseph could have succumbed to the taunts of Mrs. Portiphar and it would have been their secret. However, this would have posed severe limitations to the leadership potential of Joseph. He would not have reached the ultimate God had for him.

(4) THE FAITHFULNESS CHECK
As a leader you want people to follow you with singleness of heart, but not before you too have been proved worthy in the area of faithfulness.
How do you handle assignments given to you? How do you want those following you to handle theirs?
Integrity implies being reliable, keep your word, watch your word, live the word.
Integrity is the integration of gospel and Christian values into our daily affairs.
What is your reliability factor?
Before Prophet Elisha became the new National prophet, he served Elijah faithfully. He had been called by God and followed Elijah home to be mentored by him. His job was to pour water on the hands of Elijah, 2 Kings 3 verse 11. He touched Elijah's mantle long before he touched his ministry. He was faithful to him as a servant and the world knew it.
As Elisha was serving, he was growing and developing a hunger for more of God.
He served in obscurity not struggling for position or limelight. No one heard of any exploits by Elisha during all this time, he waited till God was ready to move him centre stage.
Be faithfully serving wherever God has placed you and in the fullness of time God will move you higher.

(5)THE LOYALTY/COMMITMENT CHECK
This is another area of integrity check. When the temptation for early limelight and more or quicker money and fame comes, do you stick by the leader God called you to follow or you follow the line of least resistance. You do what serves your ego.

In 2 Kings 2 verses1-9, Elisha was with Elijah, traveling with him to the point where he would be raptured. Three times, Prophet Elijah asked Elisha to stay back while he went alone to the place to which God had sent him. Three times, Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.
Simultaneously, the same three times, the sons of the prophets tried to dissuade Elisha from following Elijah, a leader who they knew by revelation was leaving earth the same day. It would appear as if they were saying, why remain loyal to a man who is more or less dead. Step out and do your own thing.
Those three times, Elisha asked them to mind their own business.
Had he succumbed to their distractions, he would not have achieved his goal. The anointing would have died with Elijah. His loyalty, positioned him to ask for, and get, a double portion of the anointing on Elijah.

CONCLUSION
The Lord desires that leaders walk in integrity; in honesty, truthfulness, and uprightness. At different points in time, He gives us integrity checks to determine whether or not we are ready for leadership promotion.
Are you undergoing such a check now? Do not take short cuts, follow through what God is doing in your life, and grow thereby. Be upright in all your dealings. Even if the pathway takes you through prison, the den of lions, seeming depravation, and apparent betrayal; like Joseph, Elisha and Daniel, you will make it in Jesus Name.

REMEMBER, THE CALL TO INTEGRITY IS A CALL TO HOLINESS!!!!
REMAIN RAPTURABLE