SUITABLE TENANTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD
“Abiding In His Presence”
Psalm 15

LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

·        He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 

·        He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD.

·        He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

·        He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent.

·        He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

I began looking at Psalm 15 primarily concerned with verse 4, which talks about one that keeps his word even when it is not convenient. I was thinking about the virtue of dependability, faithfulness if you will. But then it occurred to me that I should not try to offend one segment of my audience when I could look at the entire Psalm and offend everyone. (Except the very, very advanced Christians who have no faults.)

Honestly, we would all admit that there is always room to grow and always more victories to be won. We are being conformed to the image of Christ, and if we can  confirm the positive traits and deny the negatives among the many characteristics listed in this Psalm, we will propel ourselves along that road to Holy living that is sure to please our Heavenly Father.

As with most “lists” given in Scripture, the one in our text is merely representative, and does not purport to be exhaustive. Psalm 24:3-4 for instance says “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” And Isaiah 33:14-16 says in part: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil” So take your pick where you want to start “confirming to His image”.

Psalm 15 begins in verse one with the rhetorical question; “Who is able to continue in the awesome presence of the God of all creation and set up residence in the Holy environment in which He exists?” The remaining four verses answer this question and  describe people who are approved by God to be His traveling companions here upon earth as a witness to His Grace and Power in their life, and then in eternity when we move into that home Jesus spoke of when he said “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”. John 14:2-3

There are at least six virtues listed in Psalm 15. They involve: Character, Speech, Conduct, Values, Integrity and Money. Let us look briefly at each of these.

Character: This virtue is what a man or woman really is. It is not what others perceive them to be, or even what they may intend for people to think they are. It is what we really are! One of my old seminary professors said, “True character is what is left when no one else is around”. That struck me as profound. At evening, when you are all alone, ready to rest your head on the pillow for the night, with just you and God aware of your thoughts, you KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE. And so does God! (Computer users may go to http://svbc.org/trumpeter/archive/9707.htm for the July 1997 article “What A Character” for an expanded view of this particular virtue)

The psalmist recognizes the person that “Walks” upright and “Works” righteously. In effect he is saying that this person does the right thing. This idea of walking was very important in the Hebrew Scriptures, and translates the same word from which the Jews took the title of the HALAKAH, the writings that directed right conduct. Walking, along with Standing and Sitting is also the concept that begins the entire Psalter back in Psalm One; “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” This sets the tone for Psalms as surely as Genesis sets the tone for the entire O.T.  What kind of Character are you? Are you one that God would be please to have around His glorious presence?

Speech: David uses the device of contrast with this virtue. The suitable tenant DOES speak the truth. He DOES NOT slander or gossip or backbite. He knows that Jesus is the Truth, and desires to imitate the Lord. He also knows that Saint James has recorded for all time just how dangerous the tongue can be. (James 3). Perhaps one of the most common of all sins in the Church is gossip, followed closely by that of backbiting. Help us Lord to guard our mouth!

Conduct: In verse three we go beyond words to evil acts. The acceptable person does their neighbor no wrong. They do not join in the abuse of those under attack. The idea is that when the righteous hear about the abuse, they do not act like a relay station and pass it on with more venom than when they received it. In fact they refuse to “pick it up” at all. Rather, they act in love so that the gossip stops with them.

Values: In the first part of verse 4 we are still dealing with responses to others, but now it is in reference to “feelings” rather than actions. I would ask the question, “Who are your heroes?” The way you think about the “Good” the “Bad” and the “Ugly” will say a lot about your values. God wants us to condition our values according to His own. Isaiah 5:20 calls attention to those who violate this principle: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”  And Proverbs 15:3 sheds light upon what God is doing: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Perhaps Jesus Himself gave us the ideal advice when He said in John 7:24 that we should “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

Integrity: We also call it Faithfulness. I may be a little biased in my opinion here, and you can weigh it for yourself by observing the conduct of those that you know, but this business of failing to follow through on promises, often by giving lame excuses, and thereby leaving the one you promised in the lurch, seems to have increased exponentially in modern times. Could it be a generational thing? I do not want to push it too far, because every one can think of folks of all ages that are not dependable. Nevertheless, it seems to me that for prior generations, the maxim that “A man’s word is his bond” had a greater degree of social stigmatism attached to it  when violated.

I have personally had voluntary promises of assistance in so many areas, at home, at work and yes, in the Church, where people say they will be somewhere or do something at sometime in particular. I give a sigh of relief because I do not have to lift that proverbial “piano” by myself. Then, when they fail to show up, they explain their dereliction of duty with an excuse that clearly proves that the oath was taken without a serious intention to keep it. Beloved, we must not give our word lightly. But when we do, we must keep it! God approves those to be in His presence who do what they commit to do.

Money: Finally we come to the matter of money. Very simply, the Bible condemns the act of taking advantage of the poor and taking bribes for false testimony. I suppose the only comment I would make here is that we need to be careful that we do not justify some of our business practices that come very close to this violation of conduct. Jesus told us to lay up our treasure in heaven, rather than on earth if we wanted to benefit “eternally” from the investment. It is not easy to follow this advice. The penalty is that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” and God looks at the heart.

So, let us exercise our faith in doing His will, in order that we may please Him and be invited to the place C. Austin Miles wrote about “In The Garden”

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known  

Let us practice the conscious presence of God by walking in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. Let us realize our place in the Household of God as illustrated in the figure of a building in Eph. 2:22 “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”