A Faithful "Me” Generation Series

A FAITHFUL “ME” GENERATION

PSALM 119:33-40

A. The generation known as the Baby Boomers (1946-1964) was also dubbed the “Me” generation because of their perceived narcissism. Jesus taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves, our neighbor is in trouble.

B. The problems come when we leave no room for the “as ourselves” phrase in our lives. The words “me” and “my” occur a combined total of twelve times in this strophe.

C. David was not a narcissist, nor are we when we have a proper “me-Thee” spirit. We cannot have a right relationship with the Thee (God) without having a right relationship with the “these” in our lives. John wrote, “If anyone says, 'I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 3:20).

I. TWELVE UNSELFISH REQUESTS OF A FAITHFUL ME GENERATION

A. David does not ask for things, but for a deeper, richer, fuller relationship with God.

1. Teach me your word (v.33)

2. Give me understanding (v.34)

a. In Matthew 23, Jesus said that the “clergy” of His day preached but did not practice what they preached (vv. 2-3).

b. Jesus gives at least five things that demonstrate the truth has not made its way into our hearts:

We “preach” without practicing (v.3)

We make demands of others (v.4).

We seek recognition (vv. 6-7).

We exalt ourselves (vv. 11-12)

We whitewash our sins (vv. 27-28)

3. Lead me (v. 35).

a. David’s best-known affirmation of God’s leading is in the 23rd Psalm.

b. The Lord’s path does not always lead us through green pastures and beside still waters. Sometimes it leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.

c. We can be assured that God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are with us.

4. Incline my heart (v. 36).

a. The English Revised Version says, “Give me the desire to follow your rules, not the desire to get rich.”

b. Solomon and Jesus on the heart (Prov 4:23; Matt 15:19).

c. A sincere desire to know and do God’s will fortifies our hearts from outside polluting

influences. When evil thoughts get by the sentinels that guard our hearts, a sincere

love of the Lord will allow us to keep them from taking root.

5. Turn my eyes (v.37).

a. We cannot feast our eyes on the forbidden without desiring the delicacies we see.

b. Job had made a covenant with his eye not to gaze at a virgin (Job 31:1).

c. Anything we gaze at may become a snare: money, fame, and power, to name a few such pitfalls.

6. Confirm your promise (v.38).

a. The promise of God and the fear of God may seem mutually exclusive (1 John 4:18).

b. We need not fear God’s punishment if we believe God’s promise, but there is the sin of easy believism or cheap grace. “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

c. I believe David did not fear punishment as much as he feared offending a holy

God (Psa 51:12).

7. Turn away reproach (v.39).

a. The N ASB translates thusly: “Take away my disgrace which I dread, For Your judgments are good”

b. The NLT renders the verse: “Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.”

8. Give me life (v. 40).

a. David was not longing for a copy of the Pentateuch, nor was he concerned about the longevity of life.

b. He longed for a quality of life that comes only to those who pursue it (Matt 5:6).

II. THREE THINGS DAVID PROMISED GOD

A. He promised to keep God’s word to the end (v.33).

1. David, just as we do, did not always keep God’s word, but aiming at anything less than fully keeping God’s word is to aim to sin.

2. When David failed and was convicted in his heart, he said, “I have sinned.” He surely felt that intense shudder of shame and humiliation we mentioned on verse 26.

B. He promised to keep God’s word with all his heart (v.34)

1. James warns us of an adulterous heart (Jam 4:4-5).

2. Trying to love God and the world will work for Satan but not for God. Satan does not demand that we pledge to keep ourselves to him and him only for so long as we live. He is quite willing to settle for a mistress because he knows God won’t.

C. He promised to delight in walking according to God’s commandments (v.35).