Dr. Rodney Plunket

     In last week’s worship assembly, we focused on Psalm (Ps) 14.  Through that psalm we were able to study a phenomenon that is both ancient and contemporary, the phenomenon of practical or ethical atheism.  Practical or ethical atheism occurs when a person actually believes in the existence of God, but does not believe that God is truly present in life.  It goes something like this:  “Yes, God exists, God is out there somewhere, but I do not have to live in accordance with God’s will because God will not actively oppose my failure to live a life of righteousness, mercy, and love.”  We reveal that kind of perspective when we come to church and say and sing all the right words, pray all of the right prayers, but live lives that do not exhibit the kind of love that we know God has shown us through Jesus Christ.  Our call last week was for all of us to live our lives in the presence of God at all times.

This morning we want to focus upon Ps 15.  Psalm 15 has a message that is very similar to the message that we heard in Ps 14.  The message of Ps 15 could be referred to as the opposite side of the same coin as Ps 14.  Psalm 15 describes the healthy lives of persons who may indeed live in God’s presence.

We are doing this morning something that I continually recommend for private Bible study time.  For our Scripture reading, we used the New Living Translation, an English version of the Bible that does an excellent job of conveying the spirit of the overall passage.  But for our more detailed study of the text I will be using the New Revised Standard Version, an English translation that does an excellent job of conveying the more literal meaning of the Hebrew text of this psalm.  As I have said before, a translation like the New Living allows a person to see the forest; a translation like the New Revised offers a look at the individual trees that make up that forest.

I should also note that we modified the passage for our Scripture reading this morning.  The questions that the leader repeated twice are found only once in the text.  We did that to help us remember that the questions of v 1 are the questions that the remainder of the psalm is answering.

Let’s begin by looking at those questions.  Please look with me at Ps 15:1:  “O Lord, who may abide in your tent?  Who may dwell on your holy hill?”  The reference to the “tent” of the Lord is a reference to the tabernacle used before the Jerusalem temple was built, and the reference to the Lord’s “holy hill” is a reference to Mount Zion upon which King Solomon built the temple of God.  The tabernacle and the temple mount were places where God’s presence resided.  So the psalmist is asking, “Who may live in the presence of God?”

In the verses that follow, the psalmist outlines the actions, the words, and the attitudes of persons who may live in God’s presence.  Look first at the actions of those persons.  Persons who may live in God’s presence “walk blamelessly, and do what is right.”  Those persons “do no evil to . . . friends.”  They do not “take up a reproach against . . . neighbors.”  They “do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent.”  Some of these statements have a meaning that is extremely easy to discern.  Some need comment.  To “walk blamelessly” is to have a pattern of life that does not attract righteous criticism but attracts, instead, righteous commendation.  The reference to taking “up a reproach against their neighbors” describes persons who may hear some damaging gossip or criticism but they do not pass it on.  Persons who do not charge interest are persons who do not turn other persons’ times of poverty and need into opportunities to make profit.  The persons who “do not take a bribe against the innocent” are persons who will not allow money to change their testimony.

Now look at the words of the persons who may live in the presence of God.  I want to look first at the last reference to words.  I want to do that because the last reference is to words and actions.  In v 4c we read that such persons “stand by their oath even to their hurt.”  Sometimes the words of a person and the actions of a person are separated; a person says or promises one thing but does another.  This is not so of persons who may live in the presence of God.  Now look at v 3a.  There we read that such persons “do not slander with their tongue.”  This refers to persons who will not harm someone with the words they speak.  Verse 2c refers to both words and attitudes.  There we read that such persons “speak the truth from their heart.”  The Hebrew word translated as “truth” could also be rendered as “faithfulness” or reliableness.”  And notice that they speak that truth or faithfulness or reliableness from “their heart.”  If a heart is true, it speaks truth.  If a heart is faithful, it speaks faithfulness.  If a heart is reliable, it speaks reliableness.

Now look at two other attitudes of persons who may live in God’s presence.  In v 4 we read of those “in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord.”  Two different but related attitudes.  The second one is easy for us to applaud.  Persons who may live in God’s presence “honor those who fear the Lord.”  To fear the Lord in the Bible means to have an attitude of reverence that results in obedience to God.  Persons who may live in God’s presence clearly have that kind of attitude and they honor those who share that attitude.

The statement in v 4a is difficult for us.  That line says that persons who may live in the presence of the Lord have eyes that despise the wicked.  In Matthew 5:44 Jesus teaches Christians to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”; and in Luke 6:27 Jesus says, “do good to those who hate you.”  In Luke 6:35 Jesus says,

“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”

And just two verses later, in Luke 6:37, Jesus says,

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

How can a Christian confirm the words of the psalmist here about despising the wicked?  Should we just label this part of the psalm “sub-Christian” and ignore it?  I don’t think so.  The word that is rendered as “despised” here can mean “to treat as small” or “to treat as unworthy of respect.”  A verse from the story of David is a good example of the same Hebrew word being used to convey that meaning.  That verse is 1 Samuel 17:42 which forms part of the story of David and Goliath.  From this verse we learn that Goliath, the giant, “looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.”  David was young, and he had not been roughed up by battle.  The giant looked at him and thought him inconsequential, thought him to be an unworthy opponent.  Goliath clearly despised all Israelites in the sense that he wanted to defeat them in battle, so that understanding of the word here would make this verse a statement of the obvious.  What this verse is communicating is that Goliath despised or disdained David in the sense that Goliath thought David a puny and pathetic foe that he would easily dispatch.

Psalm 15 indicates that persons who may live in the presence of the Lord honor those who fear the Lord.  To honor someone is to hold that person up as someone who is worthy of respect and suitable as a role model.  I believe that Ps 15:4a is teaching that persons who may live in the presence of the Lord look upon the wicked as persons whose lives and examples are to be treated in a way that is the opposite of honor.  Their lifestyles are not respected; they are not held up as role models.  I do not believe that v 4a is teaching that persons who live in the presence of God despise the wicked in the sense of treating them badly.  They simply do not honor or respect them; they do not imitate their lifestyle.

Let’s stop and look back over what this psalm teaches us.  It teaches that persons who may live in the presence of the Lord have righteous behaviors, righteous lifestyles.  Persons who may live in the presence of the Lord use their words with integrity, justice, and righteousness.  Persons who may live in the presence of the Lord have attitudes of faithfulness and obedience to God.

As I studied this psalm I came to believe that the Good News from Jesus effectively takes up and transforms the teachings of this psalm.  The gospel reveals that it is not so much that we are welcomed into God’s presence because we have these kinds of traits.  The Good News from Jesus reveals that God creates these traits within us because God’s presence and power live and work within us.  In John 3:3-8 Jesus tells a man named Nicodemus about a birth from above that comes to a person by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Clearly, a new person is born by the power of God brought to us by God’s Spirit.  Romans 2:15; Hebrews 8:10; & 10:16 all refer to God writing God’s law upon our hearts.

One Old Testament scholar who comments on Ps 15 notes, “ . . . the words that describe the deeds and speech of those who belong to God are used elsewhere to describe God’s own character, work, or word.”[1]  What I want us to see is that if God’s Spirit, presence, and power are alive within us, then we will have these same characteristics.  We will have them by the power of God.  We will have them as gifts of God’s grace!

If you are here this morning and are being called by God to be transformed from the inside out by the power of God, please come to the front as we stand and sing.

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