OBEYING THE RULES
Psalm 119:137-144
INTRODUCTION
A. Rules! The word is often a challenge for some who seek to prove that they don’t have to live by the rules.
B. Jay L. Hoecher. M.D. of the Mayo Clinic answered a question about the phenomenon known as the terrible twos: “Two-year-olds are struggling with their reliance on their parents and their desire for independence. They're eager to do things on their own, but they're beginning to discover that they're expected to follow certain rules. The difficulty of this normal development can lead to inappropriate behavior, frustration, out-of-control feelings and tantrums” (Retrieved 1/3/2023).
C. This pushing-the-boundaries appears again in the development of teenagers. G. Stanley Hall, who is sometimes called the father of psychology, coined the phrase “storm and stress” to describe the adolescent years. According to Hall, about fifty percent of all adolescents sail through the storm without so much as a case of seasickness. Only fifteen percent suffer shipwreck, and most of those who do survive. [Hall died in 1924, before the sexual revolution, the drug culture, and other societal changes impacting our youth's development, so the percentage of shipwrecked adolescent lives may be much higher than he observed.]
D. Be this as it may, many remain, in many ways, adolescents all their lives. These people usually spell trouble for society, but more dangerously, they spell trouble for the body of Christ.
E. In this eighteenth strophe, David gives two reasons why we should obey the rules, three ways to obey the rules, and two rewards for obeying the rules.
I. WHY WE OBEY THE RULES (v.137)
A. First, we should obey the rules because they are right. God is not a dictator who likes to make impossible rules for his subjects. God’s rules are for our good—like those wise parents impose upon their two-year-olds and thirteen-year-olds (Rom 7:12).
1. When God consented for Israel to have a king like the nations around them, he told Samuel to warn them what to expect. Like an adolescent, they said, “We want what we want” (1 Sam 8:10-20).
2. They set a series of events in motion, ending in Babylonian captivity. Through the prophet Jeremiah, known as the “weeping prophet,” God brought charges against them (Jer 7:23-25).
3. Rules have consequences, and when we break the rules, we should not be surprised when we suffer consequences. A woman who ignored God’s law against adultery, spurned all the urgings of friends and family, and left her husband and children, lamented, “I never intended for this to happen” when her life fell apart. When Israel deserted God to drink from polluted potholes, they never intended their children to die in the siege of Jerusalem or be carried away into seventy years of captivity. Whatever we sow, we reap.
B. Second, we obey the rules because they are trustworthy (v. 138).
1. In the sixth strophe, David had said, “Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules (Psa 119:41-43).
2. When verbally slapped in the face by those who mock our faith, we may be tempted to strike back with our own tit-for-tat barbs, instead of trusting God’s word.
3. Jesus never asks us to do what He wouldn’t do (Matt 5:38-39; 1 Pet 1:23).
4. We often think that we must trade insult for insult, accusation for accusation, lest we allow our accusers to “get away with it.” On the contrary, when we take matters into our own hands, we take them out of God’s (Rom 12:19-21).
II. HOW WE OBEY GOD’S RULES (V. 139)
A. We obey God’s rules zealously.
1. If our memories are not too selective, we probably remember when a parent told us to obey some rule, and we responded, “Ah, do I have to?”
2. Sometimes we have this do-I-have-to spirit toward God’s rules, but if we really believe God’s rules are trustworthy, we obey them zealously.
3. However, when we, under the guise of defending the faith, breathe out fire and brimstone, we should remember the words of James (Jam 3:5-6).
B. We obey God’s rules lovingly (v.140).
1. David said, “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness” (Psa 26:3).
2. If the love of our Father is not before our eyes—if we see him as a dictator set on denying us any fun in life, we will only obey him grudgingly.
C. We obey God’s rules faithfully (vv. 141-142).
1. God’s eternal faithfulness motivated faithfulness in David.
2. Paul quoted what many believe was an early Christian hymn (2 Tim 2:8-13).
3. Our faithfulness can never match that of Christ, but if we do not deny him, he will not deny us (Matt 10:32-33).
II. OUR REWARD FOR OBEYING GOD’S RULES (v. 143-144).
A. When we obey God’s rules, we will find comfort in times of stress: “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands” (v.143, NLT Psa 23:4).
B. When we obey God’s rules, we find wisdom for daily living:” Your laws are always right; help me to understand them so I may live” (v.144, NLT; Psa 19:7-11).
C. The rules and the gospel.
1. An unfortunate reading of the Scriptures has led some to turn to the left, believing the rules don’t matter anymore. Others turn to the right, making God’s rules even more restrictive than they are.
2. Jesus taught that whereas the Law of Moses regulated the act, the “law of Christ” governs the heart (Matt 5:28).
3. That Jesus raised the bar of righteousness is indisputable, but if Israel could not clear the lower bar, what makes us think we can clear the higher bar?
a. “Why, then,” one might ask, did Jesus raise the bar?
b. The answer: To silence the mouths of the self-righteous, showing us that the law of sin and death spells judgment for all (Rom 8:1-4).
CONCLUSION
A. Do we have the spirit of the elder brother (Lk 15:29-30)?
B. We should have the spirit of the younger brother (Lk 15:21).
