Psalm 15

Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving. Extended holiday to everyone. Hopefully, all of you enjoyed a good Thanksgiving. I know we did. I'm thinking right now I shouldn't have eaten turkey leftovers for lunch before coming to church. But I promise I'll stay awake through the sermon if all of you do as well. What's your dream house? I see someone smiling out there. Maybe that means he doesn't promise to stay awake during the sermon.

What's your dream house look like? Have you ever thought about it?

It's interesting now on television. It seems like if you're switching channels, you're always going to see some sort of TV show that's about homes, right? And for those of you who are old, since we're telling the old jokes today, do any of you remember Robin Leech and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Old Australian guy, and he would always go around. And what was the tagline? He had champagne wishes and caviar dreams. And he'd go and visit these just over-the-top vacation spots and homes that people had that were incredibly luxurious. And nowadays, too, there are plenty of other shows. There was one on MTV called Cribs that would go to famous athletes and pop stars and see what their houses were like, the crazy closets and bathrooms and basketball courts and movie theaters and everything else they had in their homes. If you're more of a minimalist these days, I know one of my kids loves watching Tiny House Nation, which is all about building small dwellings that are all contained and not overusing space. All kinds of shows. Then there's all these home decorating shows and flip and flop and all these other things that people enjoy watching. But we're very fixated on homes and what we have in the home, aren't we? And what's your memory, your favorite memory, going back? If you're little, chances are if you think back to some warm memory from times that you have going back to when you were young, it has something to do with a home. Maybe it was your own home and where you would enjoy playing a special spot that you'd like to go to read, perhaps. Maybe it was a parent's or a grandparent's house or an uncle or an aunt where you would go to visit and some of the things that they had, whether it was the toys they had, whether it was a fireplace or a big rug you like to curl up on to play. But chances are they're warm memories of those types of home. Now we've moved around quite a lot and I know that a lot of people like to build in different things into their houses, but after a while you realize what the difference is between a house and a home, don't you? You can build in all kinds of great features into a house, but the thing that really warms a house up and makes it a home is the interactions that happen there. The people who are there with you, the time that you share together. Hopefully at Thanksgiving all of us had a chance to spend time with loved ones, with people that we enjoy being with, in order to have that time together as family and as friends, and that's a lot of what home in the end is. I'd like to focus today and maybe take out the microscope for this sermon. I'd like to spend the entire sermon on one five-verse passage in the Bible that talks about home and from a slightly different point of view. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 15.

We'll spend the time that we have today just reading the five verses of Psalm 15, and no, I'm not going to just read them over and over again for 45 minutes. We'll talk about them too. Psalm 15, starting in verse 1, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill?

He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart. He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord.

He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

So, writing this psalm here, David is talking about the idea of dwelling with God, that as Christians, the thing that we all aspire to, and as it says at the end of the chapter, the person that does these things won't be moved.

You'll be in a dwelling that you can stay in forever, a place that you can be comfortable, a place where you can be loved and belong and be at home. So, let's take our time now and go through this short passage in the Bible and think more about what's laid out here as we go verse by verse and line by line through this short psalm and consider what it means for all of us.

As we go through our Christian lives, as we seek, as it talks about in Hebrews 11, a home where pilgrims wandering around, we're seeking a home, a place that's a little bit different from where we're living today, right? A world that's different because it's one that's ruled by God and one that follows his way. So, let's start in verse 1 and talk a little bit about what's laid out here.

In verse 1, psalmist starts out, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle and who may dwell in your holy hill? Now, here at the beginning, it's really setting up the context of this psalm, right? Asking a question to start things out. The rest of the verses are all about drawing out the answers to this question. Who is it that can dwell with God?

Why is this so important? We think about it often in the Hebrew portions of the Scripture, this sort of double statement is used a lot, where there are two statements that are similar to one another that are linked together. And this one is similar. Who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? And even though they sound alike and they basically restate the same thing, there are shades of differences between those two verses.

The tabernacle, you might recall, was a temporary building. It looked like a tent, and it was set up when the children of Israel first left Egypt. And it was built then as a place that was the figurative, dwelling place of God. It sat in the middle of the camp of the Israelites.

And if you were to look in the Bible, it gives some very intricate directions in terms of how their camp was set up surrounding that tabernacle. And you can read also that the pillar of fire that led the children of Israel through Egypt, or out of Egypt, and towards the Promised Land, it would sit there when they camped, and it would sit over the tabernacle, picturing God's glory, being with the children of Israel, and living there with them.

And inside this tabernacle was a smaller area called the Holy of Holies, which is where the Ark of the Covenant was, and it was the symbolic or figurative throne room of God. So this was God living with the children of Israel as they moved around to the different places that they went, as God led them through to the Promised Land, and all the time they spent there. The word abide here is also interesting. Here, the word abide has the connotation of being invited in as a guest.

And you might have heard stories before of hospitality in the Middle East, and this sort of code of hospitality that existed. And you can imagine with people who were traveling through the desert, a very inhospitable sort of environment, when somebody came upon your town or your encampment where you were, it was part of the code at that time that you would invite them in, and you would show them hospitality. And if you were to spend time in the Middle East, even today, you would see that same type of thing happening.

I know when I've traveled there, sometimes you'll be walking down the street or you'll be talking to someone, and it doesn't take very long until they say, come, come with me, come inside and have some tea, have something to eat. It's part of the code of hospitality in terms of how they treat people. And you can see in an environment as inhospitable as the desert, as people would be traveling through, sometimes that would be a matter of survival as well.

If you're traveling across an unfamiliar place, you might not have another place to stop for water, perhaps for several days, and having somebody who's there invite you in to come and stay to abide with them and spend some time with them could be a matter of life and death. It was certainly a matter of shelter for the time that you spent there, and sharing of the food gave an opportunity also to get to know people and build relationships between people.

So here in this first verse, this idea of abiding, this idea of having a place to come in to seek temporary shelter, to be shown hospitality, in this case in the tabernacle, in the place where God is at that point in time. When we go to the second verse of this passage, it uses a more permanent word when it says, who may dwell on your holy hill? And as opposed to the word abide, which means being there for a bit, being invited in to stay for a little while, dwelling has permanence to it. And so in this second phrase that's in this first verse, it's talking about being permanently with God.

Some commentaries think as well that it's differentiating here between the tabernacle, which in the time of David, the temple did not exist yet. You might recall that David designed the temple, but his son Solomon is the one who actually built the temple on the hill in Jerusalem, which was more of a permanent place that the Ark of the Covenant then resided.

But at this point in time, the tabernacle is at one place, and for a portion of time, too, the Ark of the Covenant was actually in a different place. And some people think perhaps this is talking in two pieces about being with God at the tabernacle, and also the fact that the Ark of the Covenant might have been at that time, for example, on Mount Moriah, where the temple was later built.

But in the end, it's talking here about the ultimate plan of God, which is God dwelling together with mankind, whether it's in a temporary sense like he had with Israel as they were traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, or in a more permanent way that was first pictured by the temple that was built, the more permanent building, or later in his kingdom.

If you'll turn with me to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. This is a scripture we read often at the Feast of Tabernacles, which we just completed not so long ago, and it brings home the idea of God dwelling with mankind. If we recall the very start of God's entire dealing with mankind when Adam and Eve were first created, it tells us about how God dwelled with them in the Garden of Eden.

That was the original state of mankind. They were living in the Garden, and it talked about how God would come in the cool of the evening, and he would be there with Adam and Eve, talking with them and spending time with them. And the Bible talks again then at the very end how God's desire is to dwell with mankind.

Revelation 21. We'll read verses 1 through 4. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, John writes here, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

And then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

God himself will be with them and be their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain, for all the former things will be passed away. We think of this time, we yearn for this time, we look forward to it, don't we? And I don't know about you, but whenever I read this passage, it also has very emotional context to me, as I think through the years of that promise of the people I've known who have perhaps passed away, and being together with them again, and just the idea of being in a place with God where his will will be carried out perfectly, where we can dwell together with him, be under his shelter, under his roof, under his comfort, with him leading us forward. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 84. Psalm 84, also talking here about the tabernacle. Psalm 84, we'll start in verse 1, and we'll read a few verses from this psalm. Here, the psalmist writes in Psalm 84, verse 1, How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, it even faints, for the courts of the Lord. So when it's talking about the courts, it's talking about the different portions of the tabernacle as it was subdivided. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

And then verse 4, Blessed are those who dwell in your house, they will still be praising you.

Then going on in verse 10, For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. So we see here the contrast in this last verse that's set up in terms of where we live and what we do. Rather, being a doorkeeper in the house of God, the tabernacle of God, which was a tent, rather than dwelling here, he talks about in the tents of wickedness. And it's setting up that contrast. And so, as we read through the first verse of Psalm 15, this is all talking about dwelling with God, the desire, in this case, in David's heart, as he wrote this Psalm, to dwell with God, and asking that question, how should we be? What should we be as people? What kind of lives should we live in order that we might dwell with him? So let's move on through the additional verses that are here and talk more about what's laid out for us as we think about wanting to dwell with God, being there with him as he completes his plan, and what it is that we need evidence in our lives as his Spirit is working within us. As we go through these last next few verses, they cover slightly different aspects of what it is that we should be doing. Verses 2 and 3 discuss the conduct of ourselves as persons favored by God towards other people. The next couple of verses talk about how we interact with other people. And then verses 4 and 5 talk more about the state of mind, or if you'd like the guiding principles that a person who's going to live with God is going to dwell in his temple has to have. So we'll see actions talked about in the first couple of verses, and then more mindsets, state of being, that are laid out in verses 4 and 5. So let's move next to verse 2, here answering the question of who's going to live with God in his tabernacle, abide with him there, dwell on his holy hill. Verse 2, it starts out, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart. So three clauses laid out here in this verse in terms of positive things that the person who's going to dwell with God or that God will dwell with is going to exemplify. Walking uprightly, working righteousness, and speaking the truth in his or her heart.

So at first glance, these things might seem, okay, read through them, make sense, and move on. But let's think again a little more carefully about what's being laid out here, statement by statement, as we go through these verses. The first clause here, the first statement, is he who walks uprightly.

So what does this refer to? Walking. Walking is something that we tend to take for granted in our lives, isn't it? Now back at this point in time, unless you were on a boat, the only means of transportation to get anywhere was walking. If you wanted to get from point A to point B, you either had to walk there yourself, or you got on a horse, a donkey, a camel, a mule, and it walked to carry you there. A very basic thing, though, that we take for granted every day. I think of it as something that's sort of happening in the subconscious, the routine parts of our lives as we go around.

Because when we think about what it is that we have to do, I have to go to the store. Do we think about the fact that in order to go to the store, I need to walk out the door to my car? When I pull into the parking lot, I need to walk from my car into the store, and I need to walk up and down the aisles of the store in order to shop for the things that I need? Of course we don't. We think, I need to get to the store. We take for granted the fact, even that we're going to drive there in our car, we certainly take for granted the fact that we're going to walk back and forth between the car and up and down the aisles of the store, don't we? So what's being talked about here, when we talk about walking uprightly, is what is it that we do? How is it that we act when our brain is not necessarily fully engaged? What is it that we do when we're not thinking every moment about the things that we're doing? Because let's face it, there are lots of things that happen in our lives day to day, where we're just reacting to situations that are happening. Things come our way, and we simply act. We don't necessarily stop to think of how we're doing it. We don't necessarily stop to think what we should be doing. It's just routine parts of life that happen. So God's saying here, Psalmist is saying, that we should be walking uprightly. Even the routine things that we're doing, the things where we're not even thinking necessarily in a specific way of how we're doing it, should reflect God in terms of the way that we're walking. Turn with me, if you will, to 1st John 2 verses 3 through 6. 1st John 2 verses 3 through 6. This, again, using the analogy of walking. As we're turning there, I know something one person told to me years ago that always stuck with me was the idea of character and building godly character. One of the hallmarks and ideas of building godly character, he said, is looking at the things that somebody does when nobody is watching you. So looking at yourself and thinking, what is it that I do when nobody else is watching me? I'm not trying to act a certain way for anybody else. In fact, there's nobody who can see what I'm doing. What is it that each one of us does in those situations? There's nobody to impress. There's nobody to think ill of us if we do something a certain way or if we don't, because we're all alone.

That, in the end, ends up being the ultimate test of our character. And I would say as well, the things that we do sort of on autopilot when we're not really thinking, because the things that are in our heart, the things that really drive us and motivate us, are the things that come through, often at the times that we're not thinking about it, the time we're not being watched and doing something because of someone else or the pressure we might feel from others. First John 2 verses 3 through 6. By this we know him, and we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Verse 4, he who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him, using the same word that we saw in the first verse, he who says he abides in him ought also himself to walk just as he walked. That same mannerism, that same way of being, that should show itself in our lives, even when we're not thinking about what it is that we're doing, even when we're not focused on whether somebody is watching us and thinking about what we're doing or focused on the way that we're doing. His way should be coming to the forefront and be animating the way that we do everything in our lives.

Think often about what children do or people when they're left unattended. You know, with kids, it's often a topic, right? At what age do you let a kid be by themselves at home? At what age should you let a child go out? And maybe, whether it's walking to a friend's house, going back and forth to school, when they're a bit older, taking the car, getting in the car, and driving to the store, driving to the school. What is it that we worry about? What is it they're going to do when they're not supervised? Are they going to remember the things that we taught them to do? Will the things that we talked about actually be living inside of their minds so they go about doing them, so they walk in the way that we taught them? Or are they going to do something completely different? Because, let's face it, the only reason they've been acting the way they have been is because they thought they would either be rewarded or punished if the action was something different. So we think about these sorts of things every day in our lives when we think about it from a practical point of view. Do we walk uprightly with God? How is it that we act? What is it that we do when nobody's watching us?

When the actions are purely for the sake of what we want to do and not because of anything else that anyone is going to think about our actions. Let's look at the next line. It talks first about walking uprightly. In the second line of this verse, it talks about working righteousness, he who works righteousness. Now, working implies a much more deliberate action, doesn't it? So when you think about it, it's very different when you talk to someone, you say, what do you do for work? Or somebody says, I'm going to work on my house. We come sometimes over the course of a year here to the building to do work. Work requires forethought, doesn't it? Work requires often training.

Okay, I can't do the work that many others do. We come to the building here and often we've got Walt Duncan, and if Walt Duncan's not there to tell us how to do something, it's probably not going to happen. Once we get some instructions, many of us can figure it out, but I'm not qualified or skilled to do those things. We each have our different domains. You don't want me to go and tune the piano. It's not going to sound very good when we get done with that. On the other hand, Mark does that for a living, right? He's been trained to do that. He knows how to do it. Work is something that requires forethought, it requires preparation, it requires time. If you're going to take on a project, you got to make sure you've got the right tools. You have to think about all of the different things that you're going to do. Do you have those materials there? So you don't have to leave everything lying on the floor, run to Home Depot, come back, and then pick up the job and try to do it again. So unlike this first section that was talking about walking, when we talk about working righteousness, this is a much more intentional thing that's being talked about. Somebody who works righteousness is somebody who's looking and seeing, what is it that I should do? What should I put my hands to? How can I prepare myself for those things? What are the deliberate things that I do as an outgrowth of God working within me? Turn with me, if you will, to James 2.

In a Christian context, in addition to all those elements of preparation, Christian works also imply faith. This is a section of Scripture that some theologians have a lot of difficulty with, because they have difficulty sorting between the idea of being saved by grace and having works. And James very much ties these things together, and saying that if you have faith in God, if you've been forgiven of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, his spirit living within you will personify itself through works, through things that you do. And he says without a doubt that those two things are inextricably linked. You can't have faith without showing that faith in the works that you perform, the things that you do. Turn with me, if you will. James 2 will start in verse 14. James 2, 14, What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. You believe there's one God, and you do well. Even the demons believe, and they tremble. But do you want to know, foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham or father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So I think we know this passage well. We've read it before, but what it's getting across is that point that if we have faith, if we're called by God, if we have a spirit living within us, it animates us to do things. And that's one of the fantastic things about our congregation here, the thing that many people comment on when they see us interacting together, is the things that we do for one another. The phone calls that we make for others, the quiet times when people just go and help somebody else out because they have need, going to their house and taking care of things for them. All of those things are those works that are being talked about. As God's Spirit is working within us, as we see needs among ourselves, that we reach out, we help to take care of those needs, sometimes in just a very practical way.

An outgrowth of faith can be going out and fixing somebody's front porch. An outgrowth of faith can be going and painting someone's fence because we're showing concern, we're acting on a need that's there, we're helping our brothers and sisters. Again, something this congregation has been very good at doing, something we should continue to do. And it's laid out here as one of those attributes, as we show that and that we have it, it demonstrates the faith living within us. It also makes us one of those people who can be accounted worthy to abide with God, to live in His house, to dwell with Him. Let's turn to the last phrase of this verse, speaking the truth in His heart. We take a turn here from the first two passages in this verse that talked about things that we're doing, right, things that can be seen outwardly, how we walk, how we work, and now we come to something that's happening inside of us as people. Talks here about speaking the truth in His heart. So one thing about outward works, without a doubt, you can't have faith without showing the works that come from it. But what is interesting is that people who have good motivations in their heart and people who have wrong motivations in their heart can do the same works. Somebody can go out of their way to help somebody else and do it out of entirely selfish motives because there's something in it for them, while the other person is taking those same actions and doing it from a very unselfish motive because they want to help. And from just seeing in an isolated sense one thing that one person does, it's impossible to always know whether that person is acting out of self-interest or whether they're acting out of pure motives. Generally the thing that will display that is time, the passage of time, because people cannot over the long period of time hide what it is that's in their hearts, what they're thinking inwardly and what their motivations are. And over the course of time it will come out and you'll understand what motivations there are that live within people. It's a pretty extreme example, perhaps, but my grandfather, my mother grew up in Germany. She was actually born in 1935, right at the start of the time that Hitler was in power there. And I remember several times going over to Germany, spending time with my grandfather, always having been curious about history, asking him, you know, what was this time like? What was it like when Hitler first came to power? And the first time I asked him that, I was really astounded by the answer, and the answer is actually the same as what I've read in different history books. And that is that at first it was really good. Times were tough before that. They were chaotic. There were people roaming the streets, robbing people. There are all kinds of things happening. It was pretty lawless. And when he came, he restored law and order.

And people thought early on, hey, things are going really well. And you can read some historical accounts that would even say, if Hitler had died or left office after his first year, or maybe two years in power, probably he would have been looked up to as a great leader.

Because it was a short period of time, and the evil that was in his heart, and all of the things that he ultimately wanted to accomplish, had not yet evidenced themselves in the things that he did. Very rapidly after that point in time, they did evidence themselves. But early on, it seemed as though he was simply restoring law and order. Again, an extreme example, but the fact is that, from a short period of time, we can't always judge what it is that's happening, but over a longer period of time, as people are doing things, what is in their heart, whether their motivations are right and pure or not, cannot help but come out. In order to have truth in our hearts, as it lays out in this passage, we have to actively take it in from God, don't we? We heard in the sermonette about how we need to study and drink in of God's Word. Turn to Psalm 119. We'll read in other passages in Psalm 119, other than the one we read in the sermonette that talks about this. The fact that by hiding God's Word in our heart, that's how we can speak the truth and do the truth and have the right motivations within us. Psalm 119, we'll read verses 9 through 11. Psalm 119 verses 9 through 11.

Hear another question asked by the psalmist, how can a young man cleanse his way? The answer? By taking heed according to your word. With my whole heart, he says, I've sought you, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you. So if we want to have truth in our hearts, if we want to have the right motivations leading us forward in the things that we do, the way that we walk, and the way that we work, the way to do that is to take God's Word inside of us, to drink in of it, to learn of his commandments, learn his mind and the way that he is by spending that time in his Word, and it will lead us in the right way. It'll educate our hearts. It'll give us the right motivations, the right thoughts, so that we can go forward. So as we move on from verse 2, what this verse puts together as we answer the questions of who will abide in God's tabernacle and dwell in his holy hill, it talks about somebody who's actively taking God's Word into their hearts, and that leads them then to walk in God's way and also to work God's way. All of the things that they do, whether it's consciously or unconsciously, subconsciously, are moving in God's direction because of what they've taken into their hearts, how they've taken God's Word and are able in that sense to speak the truth in their heart. Let's turn to verse 3. So verse 2 talked about, in terms of actions, things that we should do. Verse 3 now talks about things that we should not do in the way that we act towards others. So in verse 3 of Psalm 15, he who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend. So again, three different clauses that at first blush look like basically the same thing being said over and over again, but let's take these apart and let's understand a little more what's being said here as we look at each of these. Now these are three types of people that through their actions are hurting other people, causing damage to others, but in different ways. The backbiter, the one who does evil to his neighbor, and the one who takes up bad things or reproaches against friends. Let's look at the first one, not backbiting with the tongue. In Hebrew, the word for backbite, ragal, implies going out on foot. It also implies spying. And what it's talking about when it talks about a backbiter is somebody that always likes to scurry around, look in the windows, listen at the doors to understand what's going on. They always want to know what it is that's happening inside of another one's private space so they can gather stories, dish the dirt, and make sure everybody knows the awful things that are going on with other people.

People who backbite, they're like people who scurry around collecting stories so they can then, in turn, pass them on to other people. And there are all kinds of motivations that can lead to this sort of thing, but they lead to the same type of behavior. Turn with me, if you will, to Luke 6, verse 45. We talked earlier in verse 2 about hiding truth in your heart, having truth in your heart. Now, somebody who backbites does not have truth in their heart. They have different motivations.

And Luke 6 points out the fact that what's in our heart cannot help but come out, and in this case can't help but come out in the things that we speak about. Luke 6, 45.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

So what it says here as well, in terms of what's inside of our heart, what's our true intent, in the end it cannot help but come out in the things that we say. And we can hold our peace for a period of time, but whether it's the passage of time, whether it's boundaries coming down as we get to know people better, whether it's a pressured situation that comes out, eventually you'll see what's in a person's heart because it's going to come out of their mouths in something they say and the way that they talk. And it depends on the person, what the triggers are that bring it out, sometimes it's simply getting to know somebody better and as you get to know them better you start hearing all these things that they start talking about, whether positive or negative, and you can see and understand quickly what kind of person you're dealing with. Others, it might be when a pressured situation comes, and the outburst that might come, the anger that might come out, or on the good side perhaps the lack of those things if there's you're dealing with a person who has those good things in their heart. So what we say, the way that we talk about other people, the things that we like to converse about, are a reflection of what's in our heart in the end, and we need to make sure that we're not showing this spirit of being backbiters.

Let's look at the next phrase, doing evil to the neighbor. This moves from words and being a backbiter to actual actions in terms of how we act towards other people, whether they're our physical neighbors living next door to us, whether they're people that we interact with at work or in other places. I was looking on the internet for stories about disputes with neighbors, and it got to where I couldn't use any of the stories because they all had so much bad language in it. And you get these stories, and I just went out searching for them, and it's amazing the stories that you see out of there. Just tension that people have with their neighbors. It's deeply emotional when you think about where you live, and you just cannot have peace if you're having strife with your neighbor. There are proverbs that talk about that as well.

Usually, I was looking a couple places. Interesting enough, Erie Insurance, I'm not sure why an insurance company gets involved with this, but had a quote saying that 42 percent of people say they've had a dispute with their neighbor. The most common causes, they say, are noise, property line disputes, children, aesthetics, and the maintenance of shared property.

All kinds of things like this can start bringing about disputes with neighbors. I think, what was it, two weeks ago, there was actually a senator that was out mowing his lawn. A neighbor came up from behind him. Last I've seen them, not even sure exactly why, but came up behind him and attacked him, broke six of his ribs. Not sure what gave rise to that, but I'm willing to bet there was something between them as neighbors that predated that moment when that happened.

So, terrible things, unfortunately, can happen between neighbors. One of the attributes here on the negative side that's laid out is people who do not do evil to their neighbors. Galatians 514 really goes without saying, I think, but easier to read than it is to do sometimes. Galatians 514, written here, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, and even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. It's a hallmark of God's Spirit, his way working itself out within us. It doesn't mean that we'll never have conflict. It doesn't mean that we'll never have strife, but it means that we'll find productive, constructive ways to work through that and to resolve it. Likewise, Proverbs 3.29, you don't need to turn there. In Proverbs 3.29, it lays out, Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake. In fact, the neighbors are there, in part, to help one another, to keep each other safe, to look after each other. And if you've ever had a good neighbor for a number of years, I know growing up, our neighbors had a key to our house. And if I came home from school and my mom was gone for some reason, she was at the store, I'd just go knock on the neighbor's door, she'd give me the key to my house, and I could let myself in. Because I was one of those forgetful kids who couldn't always be trusted with a key to the house, because I'd leave it somewhere. But neighbors can be a great blessing if we can get along with them well, if they can get along with us well. Let's look at the third line of this verse, taking up a reproach against his friend. It says here, a person who's going to abide in God's tabernacle, live with him, will not take up a reproach against his friend. This idea of reproach, when you look at the word in the original language, talks about the idea of scorn and even taunting. Now, if any of you are football fans, you know that several years ago there was a penalty put into football for taunting, right? Because people would make a play, and they'd stand over the other player, and they'd start ridiculing them, and talking at them, and making fun of them, because whatever, they intercepted a ball, they tackled the player, whatever else. And this taunting would get people so riled up that you'd have people going at each other for retaliation. And so in professional football, they put in penalties for taunting to stop that sort of thing from happening. This is what it's talking about here as well, taking up a reproach against a friend. When something goes wrong with a friend, when you know something that they've done, maybe when that person has wronged you, how is it that you deal with that when a friend has wronged you in some way? Or where you've seen a fault that that person has that the person needs to get over? Do we end up taunting that person, making fun of it, spreading it around, talking to others about it? Or do we go directly to them?

Proverbs 10 verse 12, you don't have to turn there if you don't want to. A brief proverb, says, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Talking about the fact that when somebody wrongs us, if we love that other person, we want to deal with that situation, but we're not looking for a chance to tell everybody in the world, hey, guess what that person did to me? Guess what awful person they are because they did this, and they did this, and they did this. But instead, we want to cover that up, and we want to deal with it, though, in a productive way, one-on-one with that person. Proverbs 27 verses 5 and 6. Proverbs 27 verses 5 and 6. This proverb says that open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. How many of you have had situations where friends have come to you and tell you how you've hurt them or how you've wronged them? And how do we react when that happens? People have come and told me that. Some of the people in this room have come and told me that, and I appreciate that because when you know that you've done something that's hurt somebody else, you can remedy it. You can restore the relationship and you can move forward. If you don't know, or even if you ask someone that says, is something wrong? Oh, no, no, everything's okay. No problem at all. And then they turn and they walk away.

You don't know how to deal with that, do you? If you're the person who's done something.

And finding that constructive, positive way with a brother or sister in Christ to talk with them, let them know when they've done something that's hurt you in a constructive way so you can move forward in a good relationship together, helps everyone to grow. But as it points out here, the person who's going to abide in God's tabernacle and dwell with him is going to be someone who takes that sort of approach, not telling the world. And sometimes it's easier to do that, isn't it? Because it's uncomfortable to come face to face with another person and tell them that something that they've done has hurt you. It's easier in many ways to tell all of your friends what that person did to you. Why you should stop talking to him or her because they did this. But that's not the productive way to do it, right? In love, we need to go to other people and make sure that we work through those things. We see the same sort of things at work. And one of the things I've noticed in teams that I've worked with at work is you tend to go through these ups and downs as a team. But what I've always found is the spot where a team really gels and comes together is you hit a spot where you've come together, you have that initial excitement as a team, you're together, if you've ever worked with a team, yay, we're together, we're going to accomplish this and we're going to go. And then you start getting through the tough spots, right? And you start to realize, well, this person's not so good at that, and this person's not so good at that. When I bring this up, that person reacts this way, I just can't deal with it when that person is talking to me. And you start hitting those rough patches. And dysfunctional teams at that point in time, the wheels will just start coming off because people will start blaming each other for the different elements of what happens. Good teams will find ways to get through that, and usually what it involves is showing a level of self-awareness. And not, rather than talking about what other people aren't doing well, looking at the things that you yourself are not doing well, and then working with people on the team who can shelter those weak spots, who can make up for those differences and take it forward. And the good teams that I've been a part of, you get to the point where you can make fun of your own weaknesses, and you can also acknowledge other people's weaknesses without it being a dig at them. And you just realize, you know what? If we're going to have to go and have a meeting and deal with this group of people, I think she should be the one that does it, because I know that when it comes to me doing it, I'm just going to make a mess of it.

And we realize that different people bring the different strengths to the table and can play the different roles. We recognize that, and it's not that one person is good and the other person is bad. It's a matter that everyone brings different strengths to the table to use. And by acknowledging those things and moving forward, leveraging on the strengths of individuals on the team, you can accomplish a lot more. But you can only do that if everyone is ready and willing to work with one another and work through those difficult spots and also be self-aware enough to deal with the things that they're not good at themselves in order to go forward. Let's move on to verse 4.

Psalm 15 now shifts to the discussion more of state of mind and guiding philosophy. So these last two verses that we read talked a lot about what we do, how we treat other people both in a positive way in terms of how we should treat them, and then a negative way of how we should not treat them. Now in verse 4, we're talking about what's going on between our own two ears, what's going on in our minds. Verse 4, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his hurt and doesn't change. So these go to areas of personal philosophy, right? What we're thinking in our own minds, the way that we make value judgments, and how we then ultimately act out with those. We're living in a society now where the idea of right and wrong is starting to disappear increasingly, right? We have value choices, we have personal choices, we have lifestyle choices, and we're afraid to label things as right and wrong. And it can lead to a point of view where many people growing up now don't consider the fact that there are right ways and there are wrong ways to do things. There are simply different choices that everybody makes. But as we know, when we read God's Word, God does define sin.

And even though we have to be careful about how we go about talking with other people about it, God doesn't necessarily call us to go out and tell every person, well, you have this sin, and you have that sin, and you have that sin, he does define right and wrong. And he asks us to understand and determine what is right and what is wrong as we see it in our own lives. We only have to look at the state of leaders in our society, whether it's in politics and business and the arts, to see these things. And we've seen a huge spate over the last few, probably few weeks or so, right, of different allegations of assault. What I found interesting in seeing these things is that often when it's talked about in the news, how the issue is dealt with is going to depend on the political mindset of the person talking about it. And when they're talking about somebody who's done something wrong, who has the same political mindset, they'll tend to find a reason why it's not really so bad. We should overlook it. It's understandable. But when they're talking about somebody who's on the other political side, it's the worst thing that ever happened. They should leave office immediately, and it should never happen again. Is that the way God wants us to judge right and wrong? Right is right, and wrong is wrong, regardless of who does it. When we look at our own lives, we have to look at it in the same way. It's too easy to make excuses because people have other opinions that might agree with ours, or they have opinions that don't agree with ours, but that in the end is not the way to judge the measuring stick of what's right and wrong. It's God's word. It's God's way. And even if there are people who we like the way they sing, we like the way they act, we like the way they write, we like the way they lead a company, whatever it might be, if they've done sinful things, if they have done evil acts, we have to recognize that in our minds and not make excuses for it, and not get pulled in, as we see in the world around us, into this kind of soup of gray where everything is just another choice. And, well, you know, they made a difficult choice in that situation. They made a choice that would be different than my choice, but we all have to kind of let each other be and move forward. Turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah 5.

Isaiah 5. In Isaiah, God's talking about Israel and compares the nation of Israel to a vineyard that's been carefully planted. Someone who's gone out, gotten the soil all prepared, removed the rocks from the land, and laid out a vineyard, and planted this beautiful vineyard so it could grow, it could bear fruit. And then the vineyard has over time grown decrepit. It was intended, and it fell apart and fell into disrepair. And in Isaiah 5 verse 20, as it's sort of culminating through these thoughts, it's talking about the conditions that have led, in this case, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament times, to come to the level of disarray and difficulty that they had. Isaiah 5 verse 20. Here Isaiah says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. So as we look at the world going on around us, it's no different than what was laid out here by Isaiah about the civilization that was going on at that point in time. As they were mixing up right and wrong, and they were saying, it doesn't matter. It's all a matter of choice. You make your own decision. I'll make my decision. God is saying that we need to understand what it is that's right, what it is that's evil when it's out there, and not calling call it something different than what it is. Also, as individuals, we look at the last phrase in this verse, do we honor those who fear God? Do we honor those who fear God in our minds? Or do we esteem people who fit the definitions of success of our modern society instead? What sort of measure do we use to decide who it is that deserves honor? Let's go back to the book of James again, James 2. We'll read the first few verses of James 2.

We won't read this entire passage, but we'll skim over a few sections of it.

James is talking here about partiality and how we treat people based on how they look.

James 2, verse 1, he says, Brethren, don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality, because if someone comes to your assembly and he's got gold rings and fine apparels and someone else in filthy clothes, who is it that you pay the most attention to?

He talks about judging by outward appearance, right? The point that's being made in this entire passage, if you read through these nine verses together, is the fact that God judges people on a completely different measure than we do. And we, as humans, with the society that we're in, we always have cultural and societal norms that we judge people by, whatever that might be. What they wear, how they speak, the color of their hair, the color of their skin, what kind of car they drive, what kind of house they live in. There are all kinds of different things that are put out there as ways to judge whether a person is good or bad, or where they go on the strata of our society. But God says here, and in this entire passage that he lays out, he's got a different way of measuring that. We all have worth to him as human beings, and the worth that God sees in people, the value that he sees in them as they've turned their mind to him, is completely different than the way that we as humans would judge people. And it leads us to challenge the way that we look on other people. How we judge them, how we treat them, how we see God working in them, how we see the potential that God has given them. And as we consider these verses, we have to think about what yardstick do we use to measure the worth of other human beings?

Are we using the same measures that God does as he sees his potential in people, as he sees people who are doing the things that are right and good, even though from a societal perspective they might not be looked at as people of great worth? God esteems them much higher than what our society would esteem them. So as we wrap up this verse, let's talk about the last clause, swearing to our own hurt and not changing. Here, God is talking about people who will make a promise, who will make a commitment, and even if keeping that commitment will cause them not only inconvenience but maybe actual hurt, they will still go through and do it because they value the word that they've given. If you'll turn with me to Matthew 5, Matthew 5 will read verses 33 through 37. I think we can all think about situations like this that happen in our lives. If you're like me, you have certain people that you have, whether they're acquaintances, maybe even friends, people you work with. When they tell you they're going to do something, you basically just sort of say, okay, that was nice, I heard that, but you don't count on it happening, do you? We probably all know people who say that. Yeah, I'll come over tomorrow, I'll give you a hand with that, I'll be there at noon. You just sort of tune it out and you move on because you've had enough experiences that you know a person is probably not going to show up and if they do, it's going to be two, three hours late. Whereas there are other people, and I'm sure you can think of that in your own lives as well, if they tell you, next week I'm going to be there at noon, I'm going to help you out, you know that at noon, if not five or ten minutes before noon, they're going to be there and they're going to be ready to go and you can take it to the bank. What kind of person are we in terms of swearing even to our own hurt? And it means swear in this case figuratively in terms of giving our word, and even if it's going to be inconvenient or difficult for us because we said we're going to do it, we're going to be there and we're going to do it. In Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points out, you've heard it was said of old, you should not swear falsely but perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, don't swear at all. Don't swear by heaven for it's God's throne or by the earth for its footstool, nor by Jerusalem for it's the city of the great king. Don't swear by your head because you can't make one hair white or black. But just let your yes be yes and your no-no for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. You know, it's interesting, usually the people who spend the most time coming up with all of the additional clauses for why they're going to do something on my mother's this or on that and they're coming up with all these ways that they're swearing an oath that they're going to do it, the more they say that, the more you think, are you really going to do this? Right? If you're really swearing on your mother's grave that you're going to do this, does that make that even more solid than you simply saying, yes, I'm going to do it?

And usually the more of these types of things that people throw in, the more you wonder if they're just trying to convince themselves that maybe they'll do it rather than making a commitment to you. And that's what's being said in this verse. Be a plain-spoken person. Be a person who keeps your commitments. Be a person who, when you say yes, people can count on it. You said, yes, you're going to do it. If you say no, that's the answer. You're not going to do it. You're not going to go back and change your mind later. You're not going to come up with five reasons why it had to be different in the end, even if it's detrimental to yourself. Let's wrap up in verse 5 of Psalm 15.

Again, answering the question on who will abide in God's tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill, and it says here, he who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. Now, in Leviticus, we don't have to turn there, so it's running short on time, but Leviticus 25 verses 35 through 38, if you want to turn there later, Leviticus 25 verses 35 through 38 talks to ancient Israel about the way that strangers and the needy should be treated. And what it says simply is, if you see somebody who's in need, you don't lend them money and charge them interest, because they're needy, they have something that they're going to need in order to survive, and you shouldn't profit from that.

And what God was laying out here was a principle that is mentioned several times through the Old Testament as he was teaching the children of Israel ways to have compassion on other people, to take in people who have needs and help to meet their needs and take them forward, and that was don't view it as an ability to profit. Talked about strangers as well, people who would come into the land that were from somewhere else.

They were expected to live by the code of the nation of Israel, to keep those laws, but they were not to be taken advantage of. They were to be taken in, given an opportunity to live according again by the words or the the rules of the nation of Israel, but then they were to be treated as fellow citizens and taken care of, even if they were strangers in that land.

So this whole idea here that's coming across in terms of not lending at usury and not taking a bribe against the innocent is watching out for people who are in harm's way in society, people who have less, people who don't have the means to get by, people who have needs, not oppressing them, not taking advantage of them, not enslaving them, but rather helping them to move forward and have their needs met.

Likewise, in Exodus 22, it talks about taking bribes. Exodus 22, verse 21 through 24, well we read this briefly, Exodus 22, verses 21 through 24, bribery was a way to work injustice towards other people. The way we see bribery often in today's culture is when companies, for example, will be bidding on a contract and one company might give a bribe to the person who's going to make the decision so their company gets the contract. It's a way to shift people's mindsets away from making a clear decision based on the facts and doing it instead to benefit one party.

Exodus 22, verse 21 here, it says, you shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry.

And my wrath will become hot and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. So the societal impact that's being laid out here of oppressing people who have needs is what's being pointed out in this passage in Exodus. The fact that if you build a society that's built on bribery, on skewing justice to the people who have something, on putting down and taking advantage of people who have nothing, you're sowing the seeds of your own society's destruction. I don't think we have to look that far in the examples that we see around us to see some of those very things that are at work in our society or any other human society that's gone off the rails.

This idea of injustice, of partiality, of favoritism towards certain people is what tends to tear societies apart. As we read here in Psalm 15, these are things that we need to make sure are not a part of our lives. The best statement at the end of verse 5 is what we see as the punchline of the whole chapter as we look through and see who shall abide in God's tabernacle, who shall dwell on his holy hill.

The very last phrase of this chapter, a person who does all these things or in some cases avoids these things, shall never be moved. Shall never be moved. What is it that we could want more than anything else but to move into God's house, to abide with him forever in his tabernacle, and never be moved? So as we go forward in our lives, as we think about living a godly way of life, Psalm 15 gives us a great outline for the way that we should live, the way we can direct our paths to be moving towards God's dwelling place and to stay there forever and never be moved.