Psalm 15

If I gave you 5 minutes to put pen to paper, how would you describe someone who is holy?  Now, if you just jumped straight to “someone saved by Jesus” - I want you to flesh that out a little more: what are their traits?  How do they conduct themselves? Can we discern if someone is living a holy life through observation?

While I’m sure he took more than 5 minutes, David does that very thing in Psalm 15, describing someone who belongs on Mt. Zion, God's holy mountain.  Join me as we look at how our relationships with others reveals a changed life. 

Transcript

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If I were to give you five minutes to put pen to paper, how would you describe somebody who is holy? Now, if you just jumped straight on over to somebody who believes in Jesus and follows him, you're right, but I want you to flesh that out just a little bit more. What are their traits? How do they conduct themselves? I'm wondering if it's possible for us to discern somebody's holiness through observation. Welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I'm genuinely glad that you're here with us today. And while I'm sure that he didn't take just five minutes, David actually does the thing I was just describing in Psalm 15, which is our passage for today. So go ahead and open up your copy of the Word to Psalm 15. We're going to go ahead and take that in together. But before we do that, let's pray. Jesus, thank you that we get to be here. God, we get to take in your word and to appreciate, Lord, what you have done for us. God, we recognize you as the holy one. We want to be with you. God, show us what it looks like. We ask this in your name. Amen. All right, Psalm fifteen, a psalm of David. Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart, whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor and casts no slur on others, who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind, who lends money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent, whoever does these things will never be shaken. Take a moment and just be quiet before the Lord and listen to him. All right, let's make a few observations of Psalm fifteen. And I see this as really just kind of a an iteration of the question that that we were riffing on here at the beginning. That's a isn't that a cool word to say you're riffing on something like I suddenly feel cool because I use that word. Anyway, so who is qualified to be in God's presence, right? To be on Mount Zion, which is the holy mountain. I'm I'm pretty certain that's what David has in his mind when he talks about who may dwell in your sacred tent in verse one, who may live on your holy mountain. And then he answers that in a very direct way in verse two. Well, the one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart. And those things are all absolutely 100% right. And I'm not trying to evaluate David's work here. I'm just saying, yeah, that's the direct answer to that question. But then it seems like he begins to flesh that out uh in the rest of this of this psalm. So verse three um reminds us that that somebody who uh is worthy, I guess, or who has those traits of holiness, somebody who belongs on Mount Zion on the holy hill, the holy mountain, uh is somebody who doesn't become a wrecking ball in their neighbors' lives with their words. And, you know, we see evidence of this throughout the scriptures and throughout our own lives, right? We all know experientially that our words can either like build people up or tear them down. And we've certainly experienced that in our own lives, where others have spoken a word of encouragement that has absolutely like shifted things for us at certain times. It may have even changed the trajectory of your life, like you may have had those moments, and at other times it can be devastating. And David's pointing out look, the person who who uh is following hard after God, the person who is is wanting to be righteous, uh, the way that they use their words matters a whole lot. And so they're not doing those things, they're not becoming a a wrecking ball, they're not slandering their neighbor, they're not um slurring like other people that that are in their in their circle, they're not doing those sorts of things. And while I know that all of us would be like, well, yeah, that makes sense. It can be so easy at times, right, to slip into just venting or slandering somebody else. We just begin to maybe get a little bit careless with how we're talking, and all of a sudden we're really putting somebody else down, and that just doesn't belong in the life of somebody who desires to have that connection and community with God. He doesn't appreciate that about us, and by the way, it doesn't help any of us either. Verse 4 then brings out a couple of really uh interesting things. There's kind of two pieces to it. It's somebody who elevates and celebrates people following God and living rightly rather than those who embrace rebellion and depravity. And I appreciate that uh David kind of gives us that contrast there to dive into it, right? Verse 4 says, Who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the fear the Lord. Now I'm gonna pause this for a moment and just acknowledge that every single person is created in the image of God. And on that level, we love them, we we do whatever we can to be kind to them. But I think David is driving at, right, like ethics and the way that we conduct ourselves and who are we elevating in our world. If we're celebrating those people who are pushing against God, if we're celebrating people uh in the way that they behave when that behavior is directly in contrast to God's design for our lives, for his will for us, his uh his intention for the way humanity should operate and thrive and function, when we move into those spaces, then then we're pushing against God Himself. And so he's, I think, pointing out that whenever we honor those who fear the Lord, that's a move in the right direction. And so we want to celebrate that part of things. And by the way, every person is capable of both behaviors, but in those moments, right? Like that's how we should be thinking about it. And then he moves into this issue of integrity, who keeps an oath whenever it hurts. This is the second part of verse four, who keeps an oath, oath, easy for me to say, even when it hurts, when it and they don't change their mind about it, right? They've they've made a pledge, right? They've they've promised to do something, and and then it turns out that keeping that promise is going to cause them loss or pain. And even in those moments, the person who is holy, the person who is demonstrating behavior that at least mimics or reflects in some way the holiness and the goodness of God, they're going to maintain integrity even when it's not convenient, even when it doesn't further their own situation. And we see that there in verse 4. And then finally in verse 5, which says, again, who lends money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent, you know, those bits really do reveal things about us, right? Integrity extends into the financial world. And we don't want to be materialistic, but the way that we handle the resources in our lives, the money, right, the possessions that we have, those things show what kind of people we are. And it's just true. And sometimes it's harshly true. But are we willing, right, to be kind to those who have less than we do? Are we willing to come alongside and not become burdensome or not even become predatory, right, in the way that we dispense money? Now, usually when we think about those sorts of situations, we're thinking about like banks and you know, loan sharks and those sorts of things. But even in our personal lives, the way that we handle our funds uh matters a great deal. And so if we're somebody who who has more, the way that we lend to others uh really does matter in the eyes of God. And and then on the other side of that is uh let's not be people who who will be uh shaped in our decisions by bribery, right? Uh and it may not even be as blunt and obvious as that, but whenever there's sort of a you know, scratch your back and uh you can scratch mine, or I think I said that the wrong way around, you know what I'm saying. If there's that kind of uh mentality, then then justice does get distorted, and that's not okay. Let's take a moment and reflect on a personal level here, uh, about Psalm 15. I wanted to start with a pretty straightforward question. Could I live on Zion? Right? Could I live on Zion? Could I live on God's holy mountain? Taking stock of our character is no small thing. Now, faith in God absolutely is the key piece here, uh, but it's more than just like good thoughts and vibes, right? If we genuinely believe, then then it means doing the things that God asks us to do. It means doing the things that reflects Jesus in our lives. Right? This is so much more than just a personal, hidden, closeted faith. It's it's something that is out in the open, it's exposed. Now, I want to leave you with with good news. When we follow Jesus, he not only declares us to be worthy to be in God's presence, which by the way is absolutely true. If we've placed our faith in him, then then he's our person, right? He's the one we uh that that brings us into the presence of God and we get to be, you know, in that incredible space. But it's not just about like a ticket entrance, right? Jesus changes us so that we become these things that David described. So if you're taking stock and you're going, you know, there are actually some things in this psalm in particular that I'm like, oh, I've got some work to do. If that's you, then then just know that the pathway to gaining integrity, right, is is through Jesus. If you're feeling like, man, I don't know if I can go through with this, I don't know if I can be totally honest, I don't know if I can make that shift in my life, and you're just kind of processing that, I promise you that when you bring that desire into your relationship with God and say, Lord, I recognize my own flaws, would you help me? God, would you mend me? Would you would you begin to change the core of whom I am, core of who I am, then I believe He will absolutely do that. A Jesus following life is a transformed life. And from our side of things, from our perspective, the key piece in all of this is simply surrendering to him and letting him make those changes in our lives. Let's pray. God in heaven, thank you for this good day. God, thank you that you have called us to a life that is that is greater than anything we could possibly manage on our own. God, we want to be these people of integrity. And God, where we look internally and we recognize shortcomings, help us to be ready to submit ourselves fully and completely to you. But Lord, also to have that hope that you will continue to change us and make us more like you. We love you. Amen.