i ran on this one today, I've posted my points as comments. Please share your heart and mind in the comments, too! All you Kupps, get in there and comment! Make this worth it! Let your voice be heard.
Psalm 15
A psalm of David.
1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.
Friday, March 24, 2006
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As I read this Psalm, I noticed the first part of v.4. How unacceptable it is in today's church society to look with contempt on the reprobate! we have taken it as a virtue to look with a kind of mercy on vile people, who hate God, but here, we see the call to "despise"...
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that the kind of mercy that we have on the vile, the reprobate, can be tainted?
Look at Acts 8, where Peter rebukes Simon Magus. What is the form of God's love in Peter, for that man?
Beloved, there's a hard truth that we must call evil evil. And then treat it as such.
Look at Galatians 6, where it talks about restoring the repentant brother. Look how dangerous it is!
Think on how sober we are to be, as followers of Christ. Think on how holy God is, how much he has loved us in Christ, and how terrible is His judgment to those who reject the Way... That's the God that the Scriptures describe, beloved.
That's why grace is so amazing!
There's also the second half of v.4 where it talks about not going back on our word, even when it hurts us.
ReplyDeleteThere's no better medicine for our souls, no more effective exercise that i can think of right now, than telling the truth when it hurts...
We all have times when we're faced with THE CHOICE between telling a shade of dishonesty, or even an outright lie, and telling the painful truth.
One time I took home a ticket because of it, when I could have sideslipped the charge.
Another time, I was let off because I did it...
you never know what mercy's medicine will be when you surrender to the truth. Just do it.
Reading these Psalms makes me feel much like reading James makes me feel.... CONVICTED! :(
ReplyDeleteGrace really is amazing isn't it. Grace isn't cheap though, grace BEGS for holiness.
jesse
Seems to me from your comments you want to key in on the "telling the truth" aspect of this psalm which is cool with me so here are my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think if you talk about truth you have to talk about love in the same breath, they go hand in hand, they are foundational they are Jesus. Take a look at a couple of verses in 1 John to get where I am coming from.
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth 1:6
So basically if we claim to fellowship with a loving God and hence receive His love but we walk in darkness we deceive ourselves and others. (For an understanding of dark/light and lies/truth see John 3). We have no real fellowship with God. When we walk in darkness we don't even have the love we think we have. It is some kind of emotion but not the real thing.
Now lets look at 1Jn2:9 "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness." Wow, so if we are speaking truth but we are doing it without love it is equally as demonic as loving without truth.
When I speak truth to my brother I need to be able to do it in a way that is going to build him up not leave him shipwrecked in his faith.
Yo! No particular exegesis on the psalm. Only praise for Our God! Man, He is faithful! I am blessed to know you guys and thank you all so much for coming out-Lew, Judy(for letting us borrow Lew), Chris, JP, Sheena. He is good!
ReplyDelete