7.20.25 (2)

Psalms 15

English Standard Version Psalm 15

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

2  He who walks blamelessly and does what is right

and speaks truth in his heart;

3  who does not slander with his tongue

and does no evil to his neighbor,

nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

4  in whose eyes a vile person is despised,

but who honors those who fear the LORD;

who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5  who does not put out his money at interest

and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

Colossians1

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

You May Be Seated

We see here in psalms 15 a good picture of what a Christian walk should look like. Of who can dwell on god’s holy hill. This is not a play by play or a rule book but more how the actions speak louder than just mere words it talks about walking (which takes effort) blamelessly a thing that’s hard to do but we should strive for. Just like slander and not doing evil to a neighbor or scorning a friend ( I believe that if you are loving your neighbor as yourself then this will never comes up) also take note that it doesn’t say anything about needing to drive a flashy car to let you tent (or tabernacle) with god nor your bank account nor you social status or even how many followers you have on Facebook. none of these things are wrong in themselves it is just not what is reflecting of the image of God. Now if we jump down to Colossians, we can see the image of God

in Colossians we are told about Jesus being the image of God, what this is relates more to representation rather than physical likeness. So let me ask. How well do we represent the image of God? He is also called the firstborn and as the firstborn it represents that Christ is before, he is first (he is over) all creation and not that he was created. Paul here is showing his relationship to creation. He is the headship of creation in heaven and earth as well as the spiritual realm. Everything on earth governments and authorities are under him. Paul also says that he is the head of the body, the church. If we think about this it is clear to me that as the head of the body he guides the body. So, we should look for and follow his guidance. To do that we should not try to elevate ourselves to the head. (expound least is first last is best) and not be an obstacle to the head (I wonder how many times we actually consider our actions or thoughts to see if we are following the head or if we are obstructing it). we could make a study last many weeks just out of these first few verses but let look on, Paul talks about our original state we were alienated, hostile, and evil towards God and that it is only through Christ that we are reconciled. It is only through his life and his death and his resurrection that we can and are presented to a Holy God blameless and above reproach. I have been asked many times how does someone know that they are saved and here it is continuing faith and I will say that if you had real faith yesterday then you will have real faith tomorrow because of the gift given by the image, the firstborn, and the head who is Christ

lets pray