- Psalm 15 - Read this text online here »
- Matthew 7:24-27 - Read this text online here »
“God, who may be a guest in your house, or who may dwell on your holy mountain?” Or as The Message Bible puts it: “God, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?”
That’s the opening question of Psalm 15 by King David. If we planned to worship at the Temple in David’s time, part of the entrance liturgy into the Temple would include the worshippers asking what qualifications were necessary to enter God’s house for worship. That is the intent behind this opening question. The priest would then give the answer. And we would have to examine ourselves and decide if we had met those conditions. Our worship would not be meaningful to God or to ourselves before we had given worship some serious thought.
What kind of answer might we expect? In David’s time, as would-be worshippers, we might well have expected to hear a list of ritual requirements from the priest such as purifying ourselves by washing both ourselves and our clothes in preparation for worship. But in Psalm 15, there are no particularly religious qualifications – no talk of prayers or offerings or sacrifices or rituals. What we encounter instead are moral and spiritual concerns, not concerns about ritual and ceremony. In this instance, God is concerned with character, conduct and relationships.
In this striking response, God is instructing the worshippers to search their consciences. We saw this last week too in Psalm 24:3-6 when we encountered the questions “Who may ascend the mountain of God? Who may stand in God’s holy place?” In last week’s call to worship, we asked, “Who are we who come to worship?” This is not a question designed to provoke general religious discussion. We certainly have enough of that kind of conversation. Rather, this is a question that calls for a worshipper’s personal self-examination.
King David knew at least one thing about living in God’s presence: if he did not meet these conditions, or sincerely and intentionally make an effort to meet these conditions, he might go to worship but the worship would be of no value to him or to God. He would not leave from worship blessed of God or accepted by God. So in our worship too, self-examination must also include self-awareness. But if we have little insight and awareness of our true selves – of our character traits and our conduct (of our faults and our strengths) – then self-examination will not get us very far.
This Sunday morning then – if not every Sunday morning -- our question for personal examination and awareness is this: “God, what will it take on our part to be on your guest list – that is, to live with your blessing?” We might also say it this way: “What kind of personal conduct, conversations, relationships and values must be part of our character if you, Lord God, are to welcome our worship?”
Psalm 15 answers the question in five ways:
- We are to be people who do what is right in God’s eyes and who speak truthfully from our hearts.
- We are to be people who do not speak with hidden agendas or with malice, who do not wrong our friends behind their backs and who do not spread rumours or gossip against our neighbours.
- We are to be people who honour those who honour God but we cannot respect those who are hateful people and do despicable things.
- We are to be people who stand by promises we have made even though it may be to our personal disadvantage.
- We are to be people who have the right attitude toward money. That is, we will not agree to lie or to give false testimony in order to make some money on the side and we will not charge interest on a loan to someone who is poor.
All of these ways insist on one thing: our worship is ultimately meaningless unless our worship – our being with God – goes hand in hand with an inner moral integrity that expresses itself in right ways of living with others and before God. Can you also see the connection with Jesus and the two great commandments: “Love God” and also “Love your neighbour”? In fact, these two commands are inextricably tied together. Loving God and loving others was also stressed strongly by the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah and Micah [Isaiah 1:12–17, Micah 6:6–8]. Worship of God and compassion for others and justice for all was expected behaviour from God’s people. For instance, the sermon Jeremiah preached [Jeremiah 7:1-15] to people entering the gate of the Temple to worship God contained a searing attack on those who lacked such moral integrity and who played fast and loose with human relationships.
If we want to live with God’s blessing, we are to be people who do what is right in God’s sight and who speak truthfully from our hearts – both inside the church and in our daily lives. Besides being right, this makes good sense. Truth is like glue that holds people together. It is very difficult to live together as a family, as a congregation or as citizens in society if we cannot depend on people being truthful – never trusting one another, always on edge with each other. The late John Wooden, one of the greatest U. S. college basketball coaches said: “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” And our character is what God sees even if our reputation fools some of the people some of the time – maybe even fooling ourselves some of the time. I like what the late jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker [1920-1955] once said: “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” Are we living it? We need to examine ourselves.
If we want to live with God’s blessing, we are to be people who do not speak with hidden agendas and malice, who do not wrong our friends behind their backs and who do not spread rumours or gossip about our neighbours. We are also to be people who stand by promises we have given even though it may end up being to our personal disadvantage.
Several years ago, the daughter of a seminary professor of mine wrote a short magazine article about a personal incident in her life. She titled the piece “Loose Lips” [Ramona Cramer Tucker, “Loose Lips,” Christian Reader (March/April 2002), p. 36-37]. Ramona wrote:
It happened over a diet Coke at my friend Ann's house. As we both “tsk-tsked” about the escalating divorce rate, Ann, whose husband had left her four years earlier, commented: “I'm so sorry for the women behind the statistics. I know what it's like to be alone and scared about what's going to happen next.”You may think this illustration is more negative than positive. But I don’t believe it is. It is important to understand that Ramona is a serious believer in Jesus, someone who loves God and who wants to live with God’s blessing. Her story reveals her honest self-examination and her self-awareness of her sin – even if her sin was not malicious. She realized she had been wrong in gossiping and betraying a confidence and she recognized her need for God’s forgiveness as well as hoping for her friend’s forgiveness. I believe God was pleased about Ramona’s personal self-examination and her self-awareness that prompted her to make a major change in her behaviour. That awareness is what can turn a negative situation into a more hopeful one. We need to examine ourselves too.
Just then, I thought about asking Ann to pray for Maris, a mutual friend who had just told me her marriage was in trouble. I rambled on with details of Maris's marital woes. Ann hadn't a clue our friend's marriage was so deeply troubled. She felt terrible that Maris hadn't told her about it.
After our conversation, I felt sick, but I pushed my feelings aside. However, as the days wore on, I realized painfully that I'd been wrong to share news that hadn't been mine to share. Not only had I broken my struggling friend's confidence, but I also had put Ann in the midst of a distressing situation.
I swallowed my pride and phoned Ann to apologize. Then, taking a deep breath, I phoned Maris and asked if I could come over.
Before we even sat down, I blurted out in misery: “Maris, I blew it. Remember a month ago, when you shared with me how you and Mark were struggling in your marriage? Well, last week when Ann and I were talking, I told her about you and Mark. I had meant to talk in general terms but then, well, your name slipped out.”
Maris's jaw dropped. Her lips quivered. She got teary-eyed.
I plunged ahead. “I don't know what to say. I wish I could take my words back, but I can't. Can you ever forgive me?”
Maris sighed. “I wish you hadn't said anything,” she said slowly. “Having someone else know about it only makes it harder on me and Mark. But you're right. You can't take your words back. I'll phone Ann, so she knows you talked to me and I'll ask her to keep it confidential.”
Ouch. Although Maris and I had been friends for five years, I knew it would take a long time before she would trust me again.
“Maris,” I said, reaching over to hug her, “I'm really sorry. I promise I won't share your confidences or anyone else's in the future.”
“Don't promise what you can't keep,” Maris said softly, looking me straight in the eye. As soon as I got to my car, the tears flowed. I thought of Proverbs 15:2: “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.” I knew which one I represented.
If we want to live with God’s blessing, we are to be people who do not respect those who are hateful and who do despicable things but instead we honour those who honour God. What may look pharisaical or being judgmental of others at first sight is in fact loyalty to God. It is not that we are comparing ourselves with others; clearly we cannot do this for we are all sinners in one way and another – and another. But since we desire to honour God with our own lives, we will honour those who also honour God. There are those, of course, who by their obviously hateful, even despicable actions and attitudes to others are not welcomed by God – that is, until they repent. And we cannot respect or honour them either despite their status or reputation or wealth. But we need to examine ourselves too.
Finally, if we want to live with God’s blessing, we are to be people who have the right attitude toward money. That is, we will not accept a bribe of any kind to lie or to do anything else that is not truthful or right for our own advantage. And we will not charge interest on a loan to someone who is poor.
I have in my library the Africa Bible Commentary published by African theologians for African pastors, students and lay leaders. It interprets and applies biblical insights related to African realities and culture. Yet at the same time, the insights are readily applicable to us in western society too. Here is what the commentary says for Psalm 15, verse 5:
“The final conditions mentioned relate to money, and specifically concern those who want to get rich by exploiting others. Such people are not welcomed by God. In the psalmist’s day they would lend money to fellow Israelites and then want it back with interest [15:5a]. It was not that Israelites were not to lend money to someone who needed it, but they were to remember that the purpose of the loan was to help that person escape poverty, not to enrich the lender. If interest was required, the loan would not accomplish its purpose. We see the effect of interest payments in the many African countries that are struggling merely to pay the interest on loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. High interest payments have trapped them. Churches in Africa as well in the West should not accept such exploitation of the poor
“The other evidence of greed that God condemns is taking bribes to condemn the innocent. Bribery is the quickest way to influence a judge’s verdict or to gain access to a position one is not entitled to. Sadly, it is found even within the church. But God honours those who refuse to accept bribes.”We must examine ourselves too in the midst of our realities and our culture.
Psalm 15 brings those who come to worship God – that’s us! -- face to face with the day-to-day implications of our commitment to God, a commitment that worship will illuminate. And that must lead to our self-examination and our self-awareness. If worship does not lead us to ask searching questions about ourselves, then worship is little more than a harmless pastime.
Jesus understood this distinction very clearly. Listen to his story about the tax man and the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14 from The Message Bible:
[Jesus] told [this] story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people -- robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face.In Jesus’ story, the Pharisee’s worship was not accepted by God. Even though he was a religious leader, he was not aware of his complacency, his arrogance or his contempt of others – his hypocrisy. Clearly he believed his worship was acceptable to God but, sadly, he was wrong. We too need to examine ourselves and our worship. Poet John Donne wrote: “Sleep with clean hands, either kept clean all day by integrity or washed clean at night by repentance.” Have we examined ourselves and done any repenting lately?
Psalm 15 ends with a hopeful promise, that “those who do these things shall never be moved” or shaken! This does not mean that we are always perfect or that others in the congregation are always perfect. This does not mean life will always be smooth sailing, that we will never experience difficulties or never have to live with agonizing questions. You and I understand that. But Psalm 15 reminds us once again of the unshakable spiritual security available to us who worship God sincerely and with all our hearts, whose privilege it is to be in God’s presence. In that way and in that place, we can experience what is remarkable -- the amazing grace and the trustworthy love of God.
May this be so for you and for me. Amen.
Rev. Chris Miller
August 29, 2010
OYM Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto
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