INTRODUCTION
A. Process is more important than product.
Joseph Stowell who was president of Moody Bible Institute tells about chatting with a man who consults with some of the largest U.S. companies about their quality control. Because ministry is a form of human quality control, he thought he would ask him for some insights.
He said, "In quality control, we are not concerned about the product." Stowell was surprised.
But then he went on to say, "We are concerned about the process. If the process is right, the product is guaranteed."
How relevant to our Christianity.
We tend to be more oriented to the "product" of our faith than the process.
As American Christians, we tend to desire and demand products of righteousness, but give little attention to the process.
1. Psalm 15 helps us understand the process by which we are to live. We are often concerned about the product, that is have we gained eternal life. If, however, we have received God’s grace by putting our faith in Jesus, which is product, we can then live for Christ, which is process, the way his Word teaches us.
2. David wrote this Psalm and he gets at this idea by asking a two-fold question – vs. 1.
a. The first question has reference to the tabernacle, where the presence of God made his dwelling with Israel.
b. The second question has reference to Jerusalem, the city of God. By the two questions, David is asking, “who can live with God,” or “how can a person live in the presence of God?”
c. For David this matter of living in God’s presence was a high standard. Indeed the question he asks here may have come out of his own experience in bringing the tabernacle, and thus the presence of God to Jerusalem. The story is told in 2 Samuel 6.
• When David first attempted to bring the tabernacle or the ark of God to Jerusalem, they tried to move it on a cart. No one was allowed to touch the ark when it was being transported, but when the oxen stumbled and one of the attendants reached out and touched the ark in order to steady it, the Lord’s anger burned against him, and the Lord struck him down, and he died.
• David’s response was to ask, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” That is, how can we ever bring God’s presence to Jerusalem? How can anyone ever live in God’s presence? So he left the ark at a man’s home.
• Over the next three months, Obed-Edom and his entire household were blessed, so David determined to bring the ark to Jerusalem, the city on the hill. This time, they carried it as it was supposed to be moved. When it arrived in Jerusalem, they had a great celebration.
3. Yet David knew that living in God’s presence had more to do with how you live than whether the ark was in Jerusalem, so as he meditates on his experience in moving the ark, he asks the bigger questions in this Psalm.
a. This is where David differed with the rabbis, the Jewish teachers. They taught that there were 613 commandments for the Jewish people to obey if they wanted to be righteous.
b. David, though, is not concerned here about earning righteousness. This is not a psalm about justification, or salvation. It is not a prescription for being saved.
c. Psalm 15 is rather a description or reflection of how saved people ought to live. If you have received God’s grace through faith, here is way you will live.
d. This is not intended to be a formula for how to live, but representative answers to the question. The psalm, you see, is Hebrew poetry. It is much more a reflection or meditation, the same as our poetry, instead of a teaching to follow.
B. Psalm 15 is an example of Hebrew parallelism.
1. Whereas English poetry is often marked by rhyme, Hebrew poetry is marked by parallelism
2. Usually Hebrew parallelism is marked by repetition, where the first line is repeated in the next line, with a slight variation. At other times, the second line provides a contrast to the first line, and sometimes, the two lines will express the form: Not only this, but also that.
3. This is the first Psalm we have looked at where the parallelism is so prominent.
4. When we understand that Psalm 15 is written using parallelism, it is easy to recognize six pairing that each contain an independent expressing an example of how a person living on God’s holy hill will act.
KEY STATEMENT
The Psalm shows us six characteristics that the person who lives on God’s holy hill will examine in his/her life.
IF WE ARE TO LIVE ON GOD’S HOLY HILL, WE WILL EXAMINE…
I. …OUR CHARACTER.
A. Everybody wants character, but it seems to be hard to come by.
• In 2006, The TIAA-CREF "Trust in America" survey asked the following question of investors: "Would you choose a financial services company with strong ethics or higher returns?" The response: Strong ethics—92 percent; Higher returns—5 percent; Not sure—3 percent.
B. David speaks to the issue of character in vs. 2.
1. The first phrase in the verse is often taken negatively, but it is really a positive expression. David reflects on whether our walk is “blameless” or “without blame.”
a. Blameless does not mean sinless. It has to do with soundness of character, integrity, complete loyalty to God. The word literally means “whole” or “sound.” It refers to a person whose character is morally well-rounded and grounded.
b. Two examples in Scripture of people who are referred to as blameless are Moses and Abraham. Neither was sinless, but they were completely committed to the Lord, and sought to keep their character sound.
2. The second phrase in the parallelism is nearly identical to the first. It refers to the person who does what is righteous.
a. The second part of a parallel almost always adds something to the original thought. In this case, the new element is the verb “does.”
b. The person who dwells with God not only has an upright character in and of itself, but he or she is also actively engaged in doing righteous acts.
c. Jesus makes this point in Matthew 25:34-40 when he says that the person who feeds the hungry, gives drink to the thirsty, welcomes the stranger, clothes the naked, cares for the sick, an visits the prisoner has done it to him.
d. James discusses the same thing in James 2:14-17.
C. Here are some ways others have looked at this issue:
1. Ted Engstrom quoted this anonymous line:
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost.
2. A Chinese proverb expresses the effect character will have: “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.”
3. Henry Ward Beecher expressed the idea this way: “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.”
II. …OUR SPEECH.
A. You speech is important:
There is a story about a man who came to see a Rabbi and told him he had passed on some slander to another person. He asked the Rabbi what he could do to get right with God. The Rabbi said, “There are just two things you need to do: one today and one tomorrow.” The man said, “So what do I need to do today.” The Rabbi said, “Get a feather pillow, cut it open, walk through the center of town, and spread the feathers along the way.”
So the man did that, and he came back the next day and asked what he needed to do now. The Rabbi said, “Today, you need to go through town and pick up all the feathers.” The man responded, “But that is impossible.” The Rabbi said, “Yes, that’s the problem. That is why we need to watch what we say.”
B. David ponders two things about the speech of a person who dwells with God.
1. This an example of parallelism where the first line is positive and the second is negative. In this case, the first line tells what a person who lives with God does with his speech and the second line tells what he does not do.
2. What he or she does is speak the truth.
a. Whenever you talk with such a person, you know that he or she is telling the truth. This person does not just say what you want to hear. She is not using speech to flatter you in order to get something from you or get on your plus side.
b. Then there is the word truth. The word here includes the idea of what is correct or accurate as opposed to what is false. The idea is bigger than that, though, and comes closest to what we might call “being trustworthy.” Truth is something you can count on. Therefore, the person who speaks truth is a trustworthy person.
c. That is why God is described as the true God (John 17:3). Jesus said about himself that he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17), and the Word of God is called “truth” (John 17:17). Because of this, a person can rely on God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. That is what God’s people are to be like.
3. What the godly person does not do is slander others. You can do a lot of damage to other people by how you speak about them. Such people cannot be trusted.
C. Here are some ways you can understand this issue:
1. Larry Osborne suggests that you ask three questions before passing on a negative report:
a. Is this true – and am I sure?
b. Is this motivated by hurt – or by a genuine need to know?
c. Will this make things better or worse?
2. Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen said this about speech in the church: “We need more transparency in the church, not fear of it. It’s difficult for men and women alike to be transparent in an evangelical church. You put something on the prayer chain, and you never know when your next door neighbor is going to be talking about it.”
III. …OUR CONDUCT.
A. This characteristic that we are to examine is closely parallel to the previous one
• There is much in common between speaking the truth and not slandering another and doing a neighbor no wrong and casting no slur on him.
B. There is also a difference between the two: In this parallelism, the idea moves beyond words to actions.
1. This is clear in the first half: “who does his neighbor no wrong.”
2. It is probably also what is meant in the second part, for although we think of casting a slur as verbal abuse, a slur can also be case by how we actually treat another person.
a. We had a boy in elementary school with us named Adolph Frankenthal. I remember him well because he was in our home quite a bit because he came over for Mom to tutor him. I also remember how everyone at school treated him. You see, this was in the 1950’s, and his first name did not do him any favors. Add to that the fact that he was Jewish, and you have a combustible combination. Due to the cultural differences, the other children sensed that he was different from them too. It is true, that he received verbal abuse, but worse than the words that were spoken was the way he was treated.
b. That is the kind of conduct we are to examine in ourselves.
c. The question is, Do you treat other people with respect, especially those who have a less important position in life than you? Or do you snub them? Do you talk down to them? Are you mean?
IV. …OUR VALUES.
A. This characteristic, as the previous one does, deals with our responses to other people. Here, however, the idea is not so much how we treat them or conduct ourselves toward them, but how we regard them. In other words, it has to do with values.
1. Who are your models in life? Who do you look up to? Whose actions and character do you find offensive?
2. Larry Osborne, in his sermon on this passage, asks, “Are my heroes godly or godless?”
B. This is one of the sad things about today’s younger generation. A few years ago a government commission in Canada studied the characteristics of young people. One of their discoveries was that today’s youth have no heroes.
1. People today measure a person’s worth by their celebrity status. Some people are famous because they are famous. They have accomplished nothing and yet they are famous.
2. Those of us who are older have a hard time appreciating this for we did and do have heroes.
a. I was asked once in an interview for a church ministry position who my heroes are, and I thought it was a great question.
b. This happened a few months after our niece had some huge issues in her life, and a minister of a small church in Louisiana who knew her brother carved out a huge chunk of time one week to help her get her life moving in the right direction. I wrote an article about what he did, and told people that he was my hero that week. I had an opportunity to meet him a year and a half ago. He is not an extraordinary individual by any means, but he is a person with the right values and committed to Christ.
3. One social critic says, “We have reached a point in our day where people would rather be envied than admired.” Not so, the righteous! David says that the person who dwells with God on his holy hill “despises a vile man, but honors those who fear the Lord.”
V. …OUR INTEGRITY.
A. This characteristic is stated by David in a shortened version of the parallel construction he has been using.
1. The effect is to highlight the last phrase, even when it hurts.
2. It is not hard to keep you word, to have integrity, when it is to your advantage..
3. The difficult thing is to have integrity when it is not to your advantage. Do you keep your word then?
B. The best way for me to develop this is with a couple of examples:
1. In his book Lessons from a Father to His Sons, former Senator and Attorney General John Ashcroft writes:
Until 1997 Michael Jordan, indisputably the leading player in the NBA for over a decade, was never the highest paid player. When asked why he did not do what so many other players do—hold out on their contracts until they get more money—Michael replied, "I have always honored my word. I went for security. I had six-year contracts, and I always honored them. People said I was underpaid, but when I signed on the dotted line, I gave my word."
Three years later, after several highly visible players reneged on their contracts, a reporter asked Michael once again about being underpaid, and he explained that if his kids saw their dad breaking a promise, how could he continue training them to keep their word? By not asking for a contract renegotiation, Michael Jordan spoke volumes to his children. He told them, "You stand by your word, even when that might go against you." His silence became a roar.
2. A similar example comes from Chris Speilman:
When Chris Spielman played for the Buffalo Bills, he was everything a middle linebacker should be: tough, strong and smart, with passion, total commitment, and loyalty to the game. He played the entire 1995 season with a torn pectoral muscle that he sustained in the season opener.
But the game took a distant second place in his thinking during the 1998 season. He chose to stay home. He cooked, took care of his kids, and cared for his wife—by choice. Stephanie, Chris’ wife, was struggling through the stark reality of breast cancer. Surgery, chemotherapy, and nausea were Stephanie’s opponents. During her fight, Chris was at her side. His actions supported his "family before job" credo.
Asked by a reporter from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle if he’d consider a return to the Bills late in the season, Spielman said, "I’d play in a heartbeat, but what kind of man would I be if I backed out on my word to her? I wouldn’t be a man at all."
Football fans saw Spielman as a man because of his aggressive, leave-it-all-on-the-field style of play. But what really makes him a man? It’s his personal sacrifice and unending commitment and loyalty to his wife.
VI. …OUR USE OF MONEY.
• This has to with having the right approach to money.
A. The first part of this characteristic is more than a prohibition about lending money for interest.
1. The phrase is not so much concerned with receiving interest for money loaned, but rather whom the interest is taken from.
2. The Old Testament did prohibit lending money for interest, but this was only in the case of Jews taking interest from other Jews. This is usually explained as a prohibition against a wealthy person taking advantage of a needy person.
3. We have an example of the abuse of money in Nehemiah were the wealthy were taking advantage of the poor among the exiles when all should have been helping one another. The poor complained to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:4-5). The problem was that those who had money were putting their personal gain before the well-being of their neighbors. They were putting money before people. They were taking advantage of those who had less for their own gain.
B. The second part also has to do with putting money before people, taking bribes.
CONCLUSION
A. Meditate, then, on these matters. Are you living in such a way that you can live with God on his holy hill?
B. If you aspire to this kind of life, David ends the Psalm with a note of encouragement: you will never be shaken.
C. One father tells how his son demonstrated this to him:
My son Jason’s successes have come mainly in baseball, the most notable of which occurred in a single moment last summer. In the last three years, I doubt Jason has ever taken the field or the basketball court when he wasn’t the smallest player on either team. Last summer, his lack of height was all the more noticeable because he was a seventh-grader playing in a seventh/eighth-grade league.
A fire-armed pitcher--more than a foot taller than my 4-foot-9 son--blazed a fastball right down the pike. I’m not sure Jason even saw the ball. Strike one. The second pitch scorched across the plate for a called strike two. The third pitch, unintentionally I’m sure, came right at Jason. He turned to avoid being hit and fell to the ground. His bat went flying. His helmet bounced off. The ball seemed to have skimmed his shoulder.
"Take your base," said the umpire.
Standing in the third-base coach’s box, I was happy just seeing Jason alive, much less getting a free base. But now he was saying something to the umpire. What was going on?
"It didn’t hit me," Jason said to the ump.
"Take your base, son," said the ump.
Our fans were most likely thinking the same thing I was thinking: Take your base, son. You’ve been wounded, soldier; your war’s over. You’re going home...
"But honest, it didn’t hit me," Jason pleaded.
The umpire looked at Jason and out to the infield ump, who just shrugged.
"OK," said the ump, "the count is one-and-two."
Should I intervene? Make him take his base? Jason was already digging in his cleats in the batter’s box. I mentally shrugged and headed back to the coach’s box.
The towering pitcher rocked and fired. A bullet right down the middle--the kind of pitch that would send the kid to the dugout. Instead, Jason ripped the ball into left-center for a stand-up double. Our crowd roared. The manager of the team in the field was standing a few feet behind me. He had no idea that the kid on second base was my son. He spit out his sunflower seeds and slowly shook his head.
"Man," he said, "you gotta love that."
