Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 101 is the kind of text that can be either profoundly dangerous or profoundly liberating, depending on what you do with it.

I don’t know if you remember these, but when I was a kid there was a toy called a View-Master [photo].

There was a picture that you’d slide into place, and you’d look through the viewfinder, and you’d look at a picture through two different lenses.

If you closed one eye, you’d get the picture from one angle; if you looked at it with the other eye, you’d see the same picture, taken from a slightly different angle.

But if you opened both eyes and looked through both lenses at the same time, you’d get a picture that was in 3D.

Psalm 101 is the kind of text that can be either profoundly dangerous or profoundly liberating, depending on what you do with it.

I don’t know if you remember these, but when I was a kid there was a toy called a View-Master [photo].

There was a picture that you’d slide into place, and you’d look through the viewfinder, and you’d look at a picture through two different lenses.

If you closed one eye, you’d get the picture from one angle; if you looked at it with the other eye, you’d see the same picture, taken from a slightly different angle.

But if you opened both eyes and looked through both lenses at the same time, you’d get a picture that was in 3D.

Welcome to Eglise Connexion.

We are in the second week of our summer series, Jesus in the Psalms, during which we’re examining to 105.

So today we’re in .

This is the kind of text that can be either profoundly dangerous or profoundly liberating, depending on what you do with it.

I don’t know if you remember these, but when I was a kid there was a toy called a View-Master [photo].

There was a picture that you’d slide into place, and you’d look through the viewfinder, and you’d look at a picture through two different lenses.

If you closed one eye, you’d get the picture from one angle; if you looked at it with the other eye, you’d see the same picture, taken from a slightly different angle.

But if you opened both eyes and looked through both lenses at the same time, you’d get a picture that was in 3D.

I say this Psalm is potentially dangerous because you can look at it through two lenses.

If you look at it through the first lens, you’ll have a picture of what we’re called to do—but you’ll only get half the picture.

If you look at it through the second lens, you’ll have a picture of what has been done—but again, you’ll only get half the picture.

It’s only when you put the two lenses together that you get the whole picture.

So I’d like to do something kind of strange today.

I want to go through this text twice: first through one lens, which we’ll call the “ideal lens,” then through the other, which we’ll call the “fulfilled lens”.

And hopefully at the end, we’ll put the two together to have a full, 3D picture of what God is trying to tell us in this song.

1) The Ideal Lens

As you see on the heading of this Psalm, this song was written by King David, who ruled over the people of Israel from approximately 1010 to 970 B.C. David was a good king—under his rule the people of Israel prospered; the Bible called him “a man after God’s own heart” ().

So what David does in this psalm is that he lays forth the ideal for the king of God’s people: this is how the king should behave, this is how he should rule over the people.

And the king was the representative and model for the people—the king showed the people how they should behave.

So what is the ideal that David sets forth here?

v. 1: I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.

So remember what we saw last week—to God’s covenant people, God shows eternal, steadfast love, and as God he upholds perfect justice for his people.

And so the king, who sees this and is aware of it, should be so overwhelmed with gratitude and joy over God’s steadfast love and mercy that he sings and makes music.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that when someone is really happy, singing comes pretty naturally.

Have you ever seen a guy walking down the road with a smile on his face and humming to himself?

Or a little kid alone in his room playing with her toys singing nonsense songs to herself?

When you’re happy, making music is the most natural thing in the world.

And so because God is so good to his people, and because they are happy in him, they sing.

They make music.

David’s instrument of choice was the harp; he was known to be almost magical in his musical talent; he was known to celebrate God’s goodness to the point of embarrassment.

The king should celebrate God’s goodness, and the people should celebrate along with him.

Next he says that the king should walk with perfect integrity.

2 I will ponder the way that is blameless.

Oh when will you come to me?

I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.

I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.

Now, this is a bold statement coming from David.

Because although David was a good king, he was far from perfect.

And even that is a pretty big understatement—I can almost guarantee that David did worse things than anyone in this room.

Most of us know what he did with Bathsheba: he saw this gorgeous woman bathing on a balcony, and wanted her so badly that he slept with her, got her pregnant, then had her husband killed so he could marry her.

Anyone here ever do something like that? (Please say no.)

And yet, if you remember the story, when he was confronted with his sin, he realized that he had been blinded by his lust, he fell to his knees, and he confessed his sin before God.

He suffered the consequences of his sin (which were severe), but he fought his sin.

He turned to God for help, and he fought his sin.

So in this Psalm, David is setting up an ideal that even he had not met—he’s not saying, “This is what I’ve always done,” but rather, “This is what I want to do; this is what I’m aiming for.”

I will ponder the way that is blameless.

I will think about what it would look like to walk in perfect obedience to God.

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.

I won’t even look at anything that wouldn’t please God.

I will know nothing of evil.

I will take whatever measures I have to in order to make sure that there is nothing evil in my heart.

I will fight tooth and toenail to eradicate sin from my life.

And he’s not just saying he’ll do the right thing, but that he’ll want to do the right thing; that he will love holiness and that he will hate sin.

I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

The king must desire what is right and hate what is evil; and the people should do the same.

Next, he says that the king should exercise judgment against the wicked.

5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy.

Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure… 7 No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.

8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.

We need a bit of explanation here.

The context in which he was writing was a context in which people were extremely impressionable.

If you spent time with people who worshiped other gods, or who had practices that weren’t in keeping with God’s standard for holiness, eventually you’d start doing those same things—you’d end up worshiping their gods, practicing the same wickedness.

(Thankfully we’re no longer that impressionable today, ha ha.)

So God’s concern here was not for material gain or mere material protection; he’s not talking about war for war’s sake.

God was concerned for the holiness of his people.

This was God’s people; they were representing him on the earth.

And so he would not let any kind of wicked influence tarnish his holy name.

God would take every measure necessary to protect his people’s holiness—his priority was to watch over and care for his chosen people and to make sure they remained a holy people.

And so this was the king’s priority too.

David says that because Israel is God’s chosen people, he would do whatever it took to protect the integrity of the people; he would not tolerate sinfulness, he would not tolerate anything that is not in line with the nature and character of God.

And so the people should be just as concerned with their integrity and holiness.

Lastly, David says that the king will surround himself with faithful men and women who will help him do this.

6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.

The king will love the people of God; he will make them his priority, he will surround himself with them, he will serve them and let himself be served by them.

And so the people should also walk in humility and love for one another; they should love being with other people who are faithful to God and who will help train them to live for God.

This is the ideal.

Celebrate the goodness of the Lord… Walk with perfect integrity… Do whatever it takes to protect your holiness and purity… Love the people of God and surround yourself with them.

In short, the ideal is absolute moral perfection.

2) The Fulfilled Lens

But this ideal is too good.

We can not do this.

None of us can.

Even those who seem to be outwardly perfect are inwardly eaten up by sin no one else can see but God.

No one can meet this perfect ideal.

So through the pen of David, through this song, he gives us an ideal that can only be met by God himself.

The only person who could ever live like this would be God himself, who is absolutely perfect and just.

And God knows it.

No human king could be this perfect.

So God himself sends a perfect king—his Son Jesus Christ.

God becomes a man, and lives a perfect life.