Dr. Rodney Plunket

     He was a cowboy, or so he said.  His name was Albert, and he made everyone call him “Cowboy Albert.”  He didn’t know how to brand, rope livestock, or ride a horse; in fact, he was allergic to cattle.  He did, however, have a cowboy hat hanging on a hook in his den, but he couldn’t stand to wear cowboy boots and didn’t even know what chaps were.  And worst of all, he had never been to Texas.

She was a ballerina, or so she said.  Her name was Francie, but she made everyone call her “Swan.”  She couldn’t pull off a decent pirouette, stand on her toes, or bring her knee up to her nose; and there was no way she was going to allow anyone to pick her up as a part of some dance move.  She didn’t own a tutu or a pair of those funny-toed shoes although she did have a ballerina figure that twirled around on top of her favorite music box.

They believed in God, or so they said.  They even went to all the religious ceremonies that the Law required, but their devotion did not shape the way they treated others.  You could tell by the way they lived that they did not believe that God would ever punish them for the way they treated other people.  They believed they could live corrupt lives and God would just let them get away from it.  For them it was as if God were not present at all.

Our Scripture reading this morning began with the words, “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’”  The text of this psalm as a whole reveals that what is being referred to here is not the more modern stance that we call atheism.  Atheists believe that God does not exist.  Such a perspective appears to have been unknown in ancient Israel.  This psalm is attacking what has been referred to as practical or ethical atheism.  This kind of “atheism” believes that God exists; it just believes that God will take no action in response to a person’s evil behavior.  One commentator describes the viewpoint of these ethical atheists in this way:  “ . . . , God is not anywhere around because we can do whatever wicked or unrighteous thing to other people that we choose to do and get away with it.”[1]

And Psalm 14 is not the only passage in which the Old Testament addresses this problem.  Please listen to a couple of other passages that target this same problem.  The prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 5:11-12 has this to say:

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

    have been utterly faithless to me, says the Lord.

They have spoken falsely of the Lord,

    and have said, “He will do nothing.

No evil will come upon us,

    and we shall not see sword or famine.”

Listen also to Zephaniah 1:12.  There God says,

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

    and I will punish the people

who rest complacently on their dregs,

    those who say in their hearts,

“The Lord will not do good,

    nor will he do harm.”

And the New Testament church experienced a similar problem.  The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:34 writes,  “Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame.”  Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and 1 Corinthians are all directed to religious audiences.  The problem was that this religious people did not have a view of God that caused them to turn away from sin and evil.  For some reason they believed that God was uninvolved or unconcerned and would do nothing about the evil deeds that characterized their lives.

Some of you will have heard of deism.  It involves “the view that God set the universe in motion but does not interfere with how it runs.”  The view we are looking at this morning is similar to deism.  It believes that God will not interfere, will not act when people live lives characterized by moral corruption.

Please look at the first half of your reading again:

Only fools say in their hearts,

    “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;

    no one does good!

The Lord looks down from heaven

    on the entire human race;

he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding,

    one who seeks for God.

But no, all have turned away from God;

    all have become corrupt.

No one does good,

    not even one!

Notice that in these verses God is observing, God is taking note of all of this evil.  But we cannot tell yet if God is going to do anything about it.

Now look with me at the second half of this psalm:

Will those who do evil never learn?

    They eat up my people like bread;

    they wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord.

Terror will grip them,

    for God is with those who obey him.

The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed,

    but the Lord will protect his people.

Oh, that salvation would come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel!

    For when the Lord restores his people,

    Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

A very interesting element in this psalm is that in its first half everyone is evil, while in the second half we have a reference to “those who obey” God.  We also hear that “the Lord will protect his people.”  So there are some righteous folk, and God will protect and restore them, and when God does that the wicked will be gripped by terror.  But how can everyone be evil in the first half while some righteous persons are present in the second half?  James Luther Mays, in his commentary on this psalm addresses this element of the psalm and writes,

What is to be made of this apparent contradiction of inclusive and distinguishing language?  It helps to recognize that the psalmist with his “all” was not making a doctrinal statement about the human condition; rather, he was speaking of the society in which he lived as a whole by describing the conduct that marked its character.  He is more the prophet doing social analysis than the theologian discussing anthropology.  Speaking differently of the corporate whole and of individuals and groups within it is a common fea­ture of prophecy and psalms.  But for our purposes, theologically we would do well to let the tensions stand unresolved.  Who would claim exemption from the psalmist’s “all” by pretending always to live as if life were accountable to the Lord.[2]

Please hang on to those final ten words, “to live as if life were accountable to the Lord.”  Oh, how I want never to live as if life were not “accountable to the Lord.”  I want always to love as Jesus loves me.  I want always to live knowing that God is watching; God is taking note of how I treat others.  I want constantly to live in light of the fact that God truly is present and active in my life and in the workings of this world.  And God will punish us when live as if God was either unwilling or unable to address our sinfulness.

Adam is going to lead us in a couple of songs in just a moment and I want us to look now at the words of the second of those songs right now.  Please open your handout to the song “Be Thou My Vision” and look at those words with me:

Be Thou my vision,
O Lord of my heart

Blessed Redeemer
and Saviour Thou art,

Thou my best thought,
by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping,
Thy presence my light.

Riches I heed not,
nor man’s empty praise;

Thou my inheritance,
now and always:

Thou and Thou only,
first in my heart,

High King of heaven,
My treasure Thou art.

Lord, I come searching
for words to express,

My adoration
of Thy holiness.

I am not worthy
to look on Thy face,

I would be worthless
were it not for Thy grace.

I want God, I want Jesus to be my vision.  I want the Lord to be the “Lord of my heart.”  I want God’s presence to be “my light.”  I want God to be “my inheritance, now and always.”  I want the Lord to be “my treasure” and to be “first in my heart.”

We want now through song to seek a heart transformation that will cause us never to be ethical atheists.  We want to live lives that are increasingly consistent with everything we believe.  We want to live constantly in the presence of the living God.  We want God truly to be the vision that shapes and transforms everything we do.  Adam, come lead us.

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