Now, before we get started, if you don’t mind, I would like
to call us into a real quick business meeting to discuss and vote on a few
things that the Leadership Team has been discussing for a while now. We have identified some problems that we have
here at Christ Fellowship and have come up with a way to do away with most of
them. So let’s just consider ourselves
to be called to order and we can vote on these items. I’ll read through them and then we can go
back and discuss as needed.
First on the agenda is the problem of gossip that a few of
us have. Even though we are not part of
the problem or part of the solution, some of us like to talk about one another and
we realize it needs to stop. So the
Leadership Team has suggested that we vote to make it a rule that all members
will live their lives in such a way so that we will not have anything to gossip
about. That will make our lives a lot
easier.
Second on the agenda is the problem that some of us have
about lying. We know that it’s wrong but
it just comes pretty natural to some of us so what the Leadership Team has
suggested is simply that everyone will just assume that everything we say is
the truth and we ask that you not try to check up on it or prove us wrong. So in a minute we will vote that everybody
would believe everything everybody else says.
Next, because some of us have some financial problems, we
are going to vote that the state of Texas would just collect $1 from every
person in Texas and give that total to us here at Christ Fellowship. $1 is not too much to ask and since there are
about 26 million people here in Texas that should just about take care of all
of us. I expect that vote to be
unanimous here in just a minute.
And lastly, we get to my favorite issue because I struggle
with this so much. Some of us are
chronic over-eaters and that’s real hard to overcome so we are going to vote
that restaurants would just cut back on the calories in their meals. Of course we don’t want them to cut back on
the good taste but I’m sure they can figure out a way to make things still
taste good without all the calories. So,
that is the last thing we will be voting on.
What do you think about those?
Any discussion?
Sounds pretty easy to me. In
fact, I’m afraid it’s a little too easy, right?
Don’t you wish it worked that way?
Don’t you wish that when you had a problem with something or someone
that somebody would just change so you don’t have to? In fact, some of you may have even prayed
about things like this and what does God usually tell you? God says, “This may sound crazy but instead of changing everybody else, I think
I’m going to work on your character.”
And you can whine and complain and moan about how unfair
that is because you are a pretty good person and besides that you are
comfortable with who you are and you shouldn’t have to change. But what usually happens? Instead of changing the other person, God
starts to work on giving you patience.
Instead of removing problems, God often times give you wisdom to get
through. Instead of making your life
always comfortable, God says His grace is sufficient for you.
In Psalm 101, we
see that David has learned this lesson.
Evidently God knew that David would have a great influence over
thousands of generations to come later and so God allowed David to go through
some very difficult times so that he could encourage us all these years later
and inspire us to live more godly lives.
Because as we continue our look at the Psalms in our series entitled
“Praise Songs”, we have seen God a little more clearly.
Praising God will always make Him be seen more clearly. When we make the choice to praise Him, He
will make the choice to reveal Himself to us just a little bit more. And when we see God clearer, we also start to
see ourselves clearer and in contrast to Him.
And when we contrast our lives with God, it will make you humble. In fact, you will start to see a connection
between seeing God clearly and fearing Him.
And the more you see of Him the more you want to see. And the more you see the more you want to be
more like Him and then our flaws start to bother us more and more.
And in Psalm 101,
David starts out praising God but immediately turns to telling God what he is
going to do to make changes in his own life so that he is more like God in
every aspect of his life. No wonder God
said David was a man after his own heart.
David wasn’t perfect by any means but he saw that change starts here,
not there. When you are tired of life
treating you so bad, you are better off asking God to change you rather than
your surroundings.
People pray all the time that God would show them what job
they are to take. And they should pray
that. We know that God is concerned with
every aspect of our lives and wants to hear from us and wants to show us His
good and perfect will. But I am
convinced that God is not as concerned about where you work as He is how you
work. Are you doing what you are
supposed to do where you are? If not,
then why should God give you something different? He is more concerned about you being more
like Him than climbing the corporate ladder.
So let’s
turn to Psalm 101 to see what David
says and does about becoming and making sure he stays the man he is supposed to
be.
I will sing of your love and
justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead
a blameless life— when will
you come to me? I will conduct the
affairs of my house with a
blameless heart. 3 I
will not look with approval on anything
that is vile. I hate what faithless
people do; I will have no part in it. 4 The
perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. Whoever slanders their
neighbor in secret, I will put
to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate. 6 My eyes will be on the
faithful in the land, that they
may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me. 7 No
one who practices deceit will dwell
in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. 8 Every
morning I will put to silence all the
wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord.
Yes, it’s true. You
may be thinking that I tend to gravitate toward the Davidic psalms and you
would be right. I have said before that when I read through psalms just
for fun I usually cherry-pick the ones that say, “Of David”. I feel like
I know David. I have admired him since I was a young boy reading about
David as a young boy and so I feel like we are almost friends.
And it is for reasons like
this that I love to read what David wrote. This psalm or “praise song”
was probably written when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem.
David had tried to bring it to Jerusalem before but had gone about it the wrong
way and so was unsuccessful. But now the Ark was there, as was the Spirit
of God in a new and real way.
Now what sets David apart
from most of us is that David wasn’t making a deal with God. David was
not telling God that if He did such and such that David would be a good
person. Sometimes we tell God that IF God does His part then we will do
our part but David is not saying that here.
David is writing a praise
son and starts with praise but quickly sees his life in comparison to God and
realizes that God is holy and so David vows to be holy as God is holy.
David has read 3 different places in Leviticus where God tells His people to be
holy as He is holy and so David vows to be holy. He doesn’t bargain with
God. He has seen God a little more clearly through his praise and he sees
his desperate need for holiness and so he continues his praise by telling God
that he will have a holy character. He will make sure to have holy
colleagues and he will be holy in his calling.
You say, “Todd, why do you use the word holy when it’s
not in there one time?” Well, the word “holy” simply means to be set
apart or different and that is exactly what David is promising to do
here. And I want you to notice where he starts. David was the king
of Israel and I’m sure there were problematic people crossing his path every
day but David doesn’t start with them. He starts with David.
In verses 2 and 3 David
starts with himself by saying he will be careful to lead a blameless
life. Again, no, David was not perfect but he didn’t use that as an
excuse. How many times have you heard someone who has been caught doing something
wrong say, “Well, nobody’s perfect”? I hear people all the time say,
“Well, everybody sins every day.” Really? Why? We don’t have
to. In fact, sin ought to be out of the norm for us.
It should be out of
character for us to sin, not something so commonplace that we do it everyday
like brushing our teeth. And where is the hardest place to stay
blameless? You know, it’s real easy to be holy and blameless sitting here
in the pews. It’s pretty easy to stay holy and blameless any time people
are watching. But David says in verse 2 that he will be blameless as he
walks around in his house.
When nobody else is
watching and he can do anything he wants, he knows that God is watching and his
relationship with God is so important that he vows to stay holy even when nobody
is watching. That’s the very definition of character. That’s
integrity. That’s being obedient.
It’s also hard to do.
So, look at what David says he is going to do or not going to do,
actually. In verse 3 he says he will set before his eyes no vile
thing. The dictionary says that vile means low in worth, account or
condition. David knows that it is difficult to stay pure and different
and separate from the world so he is not going to spend time keeping up with
the Kardashians.
David tells God that he is
not going to surf the web and that after he finds what he needs on there then
he is going to turn it off and walk away. David vowed not to spend time
reading books or playing video games that are of low worth or of no
account. And let me tell you why he didn’t do those things. David
didn’t do those things, not because they are necessarily wrong in and of
themselves. They might not necessarily be wrong but those vile things,
those worthless things are the one thing.
Hear me on this. When
somebody is caught doing something horrible so many times somebody will ask
them, “How did this happen? How did you get so deep into something so
horrible?” And they always answer, “I don’t know. One thing
just led to another.” Well I am here to tell you that the vile thing
is the one thing and it will lead to another. It always does if left to
itself. Put no vile thing before your eyes.
My sister’s family has this
verse printed out and posted on their TV set. It should probably be on
your TV, your computer, your book shelf, everywhere. Job said something
similar in Job 31:1. “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look
lustfully at a young woman.” Print those verses out and
let them remind you where to draw the line. Don’t draw the line at nudity
or witchcraft or too much violence. Draw the line at “vile” and keep your
character holy.
In verses 3-5, David talks
about how he keeps his colleagues holy. When I read this I
immediately thought of the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs has a lot to say
about picking good friends and keeping good people around you. I turned
over there to see what I could find and didn’t have to look very long. Proverbs
13:20 says, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of
fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 12:26 says, “The
righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them
astray.” And 14:7 says, “Stay away from a fool, for you
will not find knowledge on their lips.”
The author of Proverbs
should know about such things since, like David, he was also the king of
Israel. And as David’s son, Solomon surely saw his father model this
truth and knew how important it was to keep holy colleagues. But David goes on to describe what he is
talking about at the end of verse 3. He
says “the deeds of faithless men, I hate.”
What are the deeds of faithless men?
Are those the ones who murder and steal and are into the occult? No, David was in no danger of having anything
to do with those kinds of people who did that regularly.
“Faithless deeds” are
things done without asking or waiting on God.
When you don’t have faith that God is going to do what He said He would
do, you try to do those things yourself.
And David knew that that kind of thinking was not only displeasing to
God, in fact, Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God. But not only that, David knew that kind of
thinking was a cancer that would metastasize into every aspect of life and he
said he hated that. He had no room in
his life for that and would shake that stuff off like a man who had been bitten
on the hand by a snake.
And in verse 4 he says he will have
nothing to do with evil. The word used
here for evil means just the opposite of one who brings peace. It has the picture of a beast prowling around
looking for something to kill. We have
all had people like that in our lives.
We probably didn’t think of them as a beast waiting to kill us but we
certainly can see how they will kill our peace.
Some people just don’t seem to be happy unless they are miserable and when
they are miserable they want you to be miserable. And when you are miserable, you don’t want to
praise and pretty soon there is a barrier between you and God. David will have none of that and neither
should we.
Don’t keep close company with those
who will destroy your peace and keep you from praising God. That’s not holy and those are not holy
colleagues. Lastly, David talks about
his vow to keep holy in his calling.
David’s calling was to be king.
He was anointed by God, called by God and blessed by God as king. For most of us, that can be hard to relate
to. We may have a few princesses in here
but I don’t think any of us are kings.
But wherever God has called you, we should model our lives after David where
he says in verses 6-8 that he wants those around him to be blameless.
No one who speaks falsely will be
around him for very long. In verse 8 he
says every morning he will put them to silence.
Do you know why he will do it every morning? Because every day they come back. Every day somebody is going to cross your
path who has evil intent as David defines evil.
Every day has the opportunity for somebody to come into your life to try
and distract you, confuse you, lie to you or steal your peace. And every day you have to do inventory about
those that you choose to take up residence in your life.
Now, you know I am not saying to never have any association with
people like this. I’m saying, as David said, that you have to be careful
who you choose to confide in; who you choose to be close friends with; and if
those people are not holy, different and separate to God then you will not be
holy either.
But it starts with you. Your holiness is ultimately
dependent on you and your relationship with God through His Son Jesus.
And the more you praise Him, even in the bad times because your faith is like
that, the more clearly you will see Him and the more clearly you will see
yourself in contrast to Him.
Invitation
I Sing Praises To Your Name - Bulletin
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