Main Point: Love for God motivates radical holiness.
Warning this may get long and deep with lots of scripture and a seesaw back and forth showing the struggle and attitude needed to truly be holy. Skip to the conclusion if you are faint of heart ;)
As I look at Psalm 101 I ask myself two questions:
Is this Psalm prescriptive or descriptive?
And /or Is this meant to describe what David thought and did or does it point forward mostly to Jesus, because only Jesus could do this and only Jesus is worthy to do this?
Just because someone in the Bible says they do something does not mean that God thinks that is a good idea. I could give examples where someone does something, even something that sounds “righteous,” but God is not suggesting that we do that. Examples of evil people giving wicked advice that is not there for us to emulate are easy enough to find and are good examples of where we need to be careful. Even here I assume some of you may disagree. I always mention the friends of Job whose advice sounds theologically astute but God says they misrepresent Him. A further example might be the Rechabites in Jeremiah who are teetotal and follow religiously the traditions of their family leaders, but God is not recommending we do the same but only making the point that they are more faithful to dead fathers than God’s people are to their Living Godly Father. We wouldn't condone polygamy just because Jacob, David, Abraham and Solomon practised it.
Secondly there are instructions and warnings in the Bible against being judgmental. We are not asked to be a “fruit inspector” who skips himself. We are first to examine ourselves. When we are looking at others it should be with more grace, forgiveness, and mercy. But you could argue that David and Jesus are Kings, and as leaders and especially kings, the protocol is different and has a much bigger impact on the people. But did Jesus or even David live this way? The people around Jesus and David for that matter including David’s own adult children were far from righteous. Where does Judas come into your reckoning?
But on the other hand, we have already more than once established that hating sin is a requirement of any godly person. And Jesus, very much like David in this Psalm, suggests radical actions for staying holy.
And if your hand--even your stronger hand--causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It's better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.
And my whole Christian youth, Paul’s warning to the Corinthians was trotted out as an example of why I should not have unbelievers as close friends.
“Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for "bad company corrupts good character."
So what do we do with Psalm 101? Is it a mantra that we need to adopt to keep ourselves holy?
Paul tells us we need to be careful with our logic of how to stay holy.
“9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.”
I read Psalm 101 as David pointing to Jesus who is a holy King and who will not allow sin into heaven.
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
Paul instructs us to look to ourselves:
“31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”
I think we can see a progression of David’s, even Jesus’, thinking about responding to the will of God the Father, the natural desire we will have to be holy when we see the holiness of God.
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
John makes it even a stronger statement in 1 John 3.
“3 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. 7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.”
Pre-Conclusion
God’s heart
David in verse one is responding to the justice of God.
David's heart
So he wants to be found holy and worthy and clean. So of course David says, I am not going to do anything that God the just judge would find fault with, thus the intention to be blameless. David wants to live up to the expectations of God. He starts with his own heart v2.
David’s home
And then it is natural and even commanded in the law to teach this holiness at home. So it is not an iron fist but a shepherding heart that says, In my house we are going for holiness. These would be a great list of principles for any home.
David shows that it is by example that he leads at home.
I don’t look at foul things. v3
I don’t do business unjustly, because I want to be like God. v3
I don’t think about the world from a godless perspective. v4
David’s sphere of influence
David knows that the people his family hangs around will influence their thoughts about God and how to obey God. So even the actions of the neighbours matter to God, him, and his home. V5
“I will not endure conceit and pride.”
In context it is obvious that David would start with himself. He is not intolerant of others while allowing himself room for being a proud liar. At every step we have to consider our own heart first asking, Am I the guilty one? Or we will face the prophet Nathan and a “Thou art the man” moment.
And so David looks for good influencers for himself and his home.
'I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me. '
Parent, friend, follower of God, be like Jesus, be like David, go find the people who want to follow God and surround yourself with them. This should be your church. I can’t stress this enough.
Search for faithful people
Then make those people your friends.
David’s love for God’s presence among God’s people.
David wants God’s holiness to be the ruling authority and so he is on a mission not to let hypocrisy take over among God’s people. Could this have been the same motivating factor that we see in the Ananias and Sapphira incident in Acts 5?
Conclusion:
The more I meditate on this Psalm the more I love it. Not because I want to go judging everyone around me. But because I want to live close to God. I want to be able to rejoice in His justice.
And so here are obvious steps to take to ensure you can stay close to God. I think we can see this in Jesus' life and I think it is the way Jesus runs His kingdom. So it is both prescriptive and descriptive. Joshua, Elijah and others in the Bible issue this challenge. If you say you are God’s child then live like it, care that your family lives like it, care that your friends live like it and care that your city lives like it.
If you love God’s justice you will strive for blamelessness. This isn’t some holier than thou inquisitionist attitude; this is a humble, serious desire to be as close to God as possible and to make sure as many people as possible can enjoy the same just presence of God.
I confess this was not always my attitude. I have often failed to be serious about keeping a clean mind, home and heart. That has had dire consequences. You would be well advised to take this Psalm very seriously. Don’t be like Eli.
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| Handwritten Psalm 101 |
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