Word of Salvation – Vol. 26 No. 31 – May 1981

 

The Christian Citizen

 

Sermon by Rev. H. W. Pennings on Psalm 15

Scripture Readings: Romans 12, Psalm 15

 

Beloved of the Lord,

The psalm which is our text for this sermon starts with a question and ends with its answer. In order to see this it is necessary for you to keep your Bible open, so that you can follow the argument which is so clearly and logically presented in this Psalm of David. If perhaps you came to this worship service without your Bible — if this is your custom — you must answer a serious question. Are you really serious about increasing your knowledge of the things of God? Where as you may correctly say, “Of course, worship is more than learning from the Bible,” nevertheless coming to a worship service without a Bible is like going out into the unknown on a pitch-dark night without any light! Would you do that? If you want to say that God’s Word is a lamp to your feet and a light for your path, Ps.119:105, you will keep that light near you especially as you come for worship. For the theme of this sermon is how we can be Christian citizens, and in order to find this out in order to find an answer to the question which is asked — you need to follow the instructions which the Lord has given. Therefore please follow this psalm with an open Bible as well as with an open heart.

The question which king David considered so important is presented in the first verse of the psalm. [Reader, please read this verse from the Bible itself, so that the congregation can follow your example]. Now, please look at the last verse and the last line. [Read from your own Bible…] “He who does these things will never be shaken.” In this last verse David answers the question which he asked in the first verse.

Let us look at the question again. We know from the Bible that, in the days of king David, there was still no temple in the city of Jerusalem. The ark of the covenant, which was the symbol of God’s presence among His chosen people, was still housed in a tent. This tent was called “the tent of meeting”, and it was the central place for worship for the people of God. David, knowing that the Lord could be said to “dwell” in the tent where the ark of the covenant was kept, before the temple was built, asks the question: what kind of people belong there with the Lord.

He knows that many people come to worship services, but that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” really belongs to the Lord. So he asks the Lord, “who really are your people? Who belong when they come for worship, and who, though they come, do not belong?” For, also in the Old Testament church, there were people who paid some attention to such matters as church membership and attending some of the functions of the church, but whose heart was cold towards the things of the Lord.

One of our difficulties with this particular psalm is that we have no idea when David wrote it or whether he had a specific situation in mind. Therefore we have to be very general in our application. Yet both Martin Luther and John Calvin agree that… “this psalm is dead against the lovers of outward show…!” as Luther wrote, and that “..access to God is only open to true worshippers…!” as Calvin put it. It sets out to show, generally, yet quite pointedly, who is the Christian citizen and who only has the outward appearance of a Christian citizen.

Thus, in this psalm of David we look for an answer to the question, “Who really belong to the household of faith?” The answer is very clearly given. From the final line of the final verse we learn that those who truly belong will always belong.

To find an answer to his own question God’s servant David turns, as we must turn, to that Word of God which is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. He turns to God’s commandments. Is there a better place? Specifically he turns to the second part of the law; that is, the part of the law which tells us how we should live as Christian citizens. Attending worship services is certainly important, but at the same time we know, for Romans 12 tells us, that what is more pleasing to God than anything else is that we live our whole lives for Him; that we are living sacrifices; not living as do the citizens of “this world”, but as Christian citizens.

Please follow along in your Bibles as we look at the verses two to five more closely. As there are ten commandments, here we find ten statements on the commandments which explain who are the people who will eternally be the people of God. There are some positive statements, telling us what we must do and be, and some negative ones telling us what we must not do or be.

We look at verse two: the Christian citizen, God’s true worshipper, is one whose “walk is blameless and who does what is righteous.” That’s exactly what God had told Abraham to do at the time when He established the covenant of grace, for we read in Gen.17:1, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless,” said the Lord. To be God’s covenant-partners is to worship Him by walking blamelessly — by doing what is right according to His Word. Well, that’s the end of the matter then! For we know from the same Word of God which tells us that we must be blameless and righteous that we cannot be blameless and righteous. We are sinful both by nature and in practice. Even the best of our “good works” is contaminated by sin. Therefore if the first sign of the Christian citizen is that he is to be blameless and righteous, there is really no need for us to look at the other nine. We stand condemned!

Without Jesus Christ — if we stand without Jesus Christ — that is indeed a fact. But God does not tell us in these verses that we have to stand by ourselves. Neither did God say anything like that to Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham, and He makes a covenant with us, and it is a covenant of grace. That means, it is a covenant with Jesus Christ as the mediator. If we want to be Christian citizens the first thing we have to do is believe that only if we are joined to Jesus’ blamelessness and righteousness can we do anything that pleases God. This Psalm of David is meant to lead us to Jesus and to His finished work for us as our Mediator before God.

For, unless Jesus is present for us in this psalm, it only condemns us more and more. But if we profess Jesus as our Saviour and our Lord, this psalm will be God’s tool as we seek to be blameless and to do what is right in His sight. It does not tell us the way of salvation, but it tells us how, as people of God through Jesus our mediator, we can live for the Lord and for each other.

We are Christian citizens by grace, through faith, but we are still told to walk blamelessly and do what is right. God’s servant David tells us in vs.2 about the truthfulness that comes out of the heart of man, and that means a heart that God has made new. We are not to speak the truth because that is what society demands or because it is convenient, but because we have an inbuilt desire for truthfulness. We are to be Christ-like in our speech, remembering that Jesus said, “I am… the truth…!”

Just in case these three general standards of Christian citizenship are still not clear enough, David’s poem, vs.3, mentions three things which the Christian must have no part in. He mentions slandering with the tongue. The Hebrew word which is translated by the English word “slander” gives us a picture of the tongue going here and there. If you go here and there in your heart, your tongue will automatically follow. We cannot say that we worship God while at the very same time we use our tongues to lower another’s reputation. The one who seeks above all else to dwell with the Lord forever will seek to do his neighbour no wrong, and above all he will be straight-forward and loving in every word which he uses about his fellow-citizen. For Scripture makes it abundantly clear that speaking right about God and at the same time speaking wrong about your neighbour are completely contradictory! It’s a bit like a dog barking, but wagging its tail at the same time; you don’t know which end of the dog to believe!

As we now proceed further, please remember that Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of those who seek to be saved by good works. We become Christian through Christ, but the proof of it is that we are Christ-like.

In vs 4 we have some positive statements about Christian citizenship. Those who will never be shaken must despise those who are vile in their ways, or those who are reprobate. These are the people whom God rejects because they chose to dishonour Him. We are to despise all people who despise our God. This is contrasted by the next line, where we are told to honour those who fear the Lord. We see two sets of opposites here — despise and honour — the vile person (or, the reprobate), and those who fear the Lord. As children of God we should try to copy all of His perfections. If it is true that we honour those who live a godly life, is it also true of us that we despise those who are ungodly? Do you tell your ungodly neighbour and fellow-worker that their ungodliness is horrible to you because the Bible says that it is horrible to your God whom you love? Or, when you hear someone cursing God by using His holy name in vain, do you simply say nothing – thereby – of course – consenting to his evil and rejecting your God? You see, it is one thing to try to live peaceably with your neighbour, but quite another thing to tolerate those of his or her actions which are shameful before the Lord. There are some people and we can easily recognise them with whom we cannot even talk about our God and Saviour. It is one of the marks of the true Christian citizen that we have enough Christian courage to curse those whom we know that God also curses. This does not mean that we should rage against them; nor that we so talk to them that they gain the opinion that we consider ourselves far superior. It means calling sin, sin!… ungodliness, ungodliness.

The fourth verse also gives us another principle for Christian living. When you make a promise to someone you must keep that promise. You must try to fulfil it in the same way as it is in your heart to keep the promises which you have made to God. David has in mind the kind of promise which is in some way hurtful for us to keep it. It might be a promise hastily made to drive a fellow church-member to a meeting when you later on discover that you can earn $100 in that time. Would you then ring your friend and tell him that “unforeseen” circumstances prevent you from doing what you promised? Maybe it is a promise made to give a certain amount each week for the Lord’s work, and then your T.V. set needs a $200 new picture tube, and it is one or the other. It is the character of the Christian citizen that a promise is a promise. His “yes” is always yes and his “no” is always no.

In the last verse, before the final conclusion, you see two more characteristics of the godly person. Christians are a “peculiar” people in that they are selfless rather than selfish; Christ-centred and neighbour-centred. Therefore when we lend money to a friend we do it for its own sake, and not to improve our own finances. We are to help the needy with no thought of gain – no ulterior motives, in other words. We must love God with our money, and our neighbour with our money, as our true spiritual worship. When you read the gospels you will not find even one instance where Jesus helped someone after first making that person promise something in return. Jesus was compassionate for its own sake.

Nor, finally from vs.5, does the Christian citizen allow money to influence his decision-making in another way. For here David speaks about accepting a bribe against the innocent. There is a popular saying that “every person has his price”, meaning – there is no-one who cannot be bought in one way or another. But the Christian citizen is a just citizen and will have no part in either giving or accepting a bribe. We cannot be certain what David meant by this final standard for Christian living, yet we know that in our own time those who are wealthy seem to receive a “better” chance in court than do those who are poor. We also realize that one of the reasons why the bigger commercial companies get bigger all the time is that they “line the pockets” of so many officials. We are to have no part in that; firstly, because we love the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for the oppressed, and secondly, because we know that the justice we give will also be the justice we receive.

Brothers and sisters, do you want to be certain that you are among the people who will “never be shaken” – who will “dwell in the dwelling place of God forever”? Then come with your guilt to the Lord Jesus Christ. For we are guilty of breaking these and every other commandment. In our own right we cannot be known as Christian citizens. We are saved by grace, through faith.

But, on the other hand, often the people who cling to the doctrines of grace most openly cling to them falsely. What is pleasing to the Lord more than anything else is that we are living sacrifices — people who profess their faith in Jesus more with their lifestyle than with the profession of their mouth.

Therefore, do not only come with your guilt to the Lord Jesus Christ, but come also with joyful, living and daily service, strictly according to His Word. Make the Bible not just a book which you call the Word of God, but make it your compass in life so that it will lead you, surely and certainly, into eternal life.

Amen.