Psalm 15

vs.1

How must we live to enjoy the fullness of fellowship with God?

We have to understand a few things before we jump into the response.

1. This is a question about godly living and not a question about justification.
2. David responds to the question of verse 1 with representative answers... this means that the items listed in verses 2-5 are not all inclusive.
3. Hebrew parallelism... English poetry is often marked by rhyme and meter, but neither of these is in the Hebrew language.  Instead, hebrew poetry is mostly about parallels and word emphasis.  You’ll notice, quite frequently in the Psalms, how the first line of a poem is often repeated in the second line with slight variations... or the first line of a poem is followed by a line that expresses a contrast.

Now, I mention these three things to set us up for what’s discussed in this Psalm.

This is a direct and simple question followed by a direct and simple response.

There are 6 hebrew parallel expressions here, or 6 qualities that exemplify a man or woman who is in deep personal fellowship with God.

1. Character
2. Speech
3. Conduct
4. Values
5. Integrity
6. Use of Money

So I want to show you these 6 things and then we’ll discuss them briefly in the way of application.


1. Character

vs.2a,b - “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness,”“He who walks uprightly,”“Uprightly,” or “Blamelessly” in our text is the Hebrew word tamim, and it means “whole or sound.”To walk uprightly is to be consistent.“and works righteousness,”This adds something to the original thought... it’s the word “works” also translated “does” in some English versions of the Bible.The upright person not only has a passively upright character, but is actively engaged in doing righteousness.Justification demands regeneration... regeneration is expressed in right action.

2. Speech

vs.2c-3a - “And speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue.”“And speaks the truth in his heart;”Truth from the heart... what does that sound like?This is a person who won’t just say what you want to hear and will not use their speech to flatter you in order to maintain a relationship or to get something out of you.But truth from the heart is also about love... a person who is walking in close fellowship with the Lord is compelled to speak to those who are hurting, those who are lost, those who are living in sin, those who are self destructive...The amazing thing is that the Hebrew word that’s used for truth is packed full of meaning... where when we say truth we might mean “correct or accurate,” when the BIble uses the word truth is so much bigger than that... the closest expression we might use is trustworthiness.Truth is something you can count on.Therefore, the one who speaks truth is a trustworthy person.That is why God the Father is described as the “true God” (John 17:3), Jesus termed Himself “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), the Holy Spirit is named “the Spirit of truth (John 14:17), and the Word of God is called “truth” (John 17:17).“He who does not backbite with his tongue.”A person who is like this does not slander others.The great seventeenth century commentator Matthew Poole wrote, “Pity your brethren; let it suffice that godly ministers and Christians are loaded with reproaches by wicked men - there is no need that you should combine with them in this diabolic work.”

3. Conduct

vs.3b,c - “Nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;”This third quality is almost parallel to the second one... the difference seems to be that the original idea moves beyond mere words to actions.What you have in these parallel phrases is social position... a neighbor is someone of greater or equal social status, a friend would be someone of much less means, power and importance than you.

4. Values

vs.4a,b - “In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the LORD;”The fourth quality builds on the third.Here we begin to see David go from talking about the way that we treat people to the way that we think about and act toward people.There’s an interesting question that this brings up... Who are your models?  Who do you look up to?  Whose actions and character do you find offensive?When we talk about models my mind always goes to the Apostle Paul... sure we are to model Jesus... but we also see the pattern of modeling those who are modeling Jesus.If you have no one to look up to in the faith, no one who is modeling Christ-likeness, no one who you look up to and wish to learn from and emulate because of their relationship with the Lord I believe that this seriously stunts your Christian development.

5. Integrity

vs.4c - “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;”No one has much trouble keeping his or her word when it’s to their own advantage.You would have to be unbalanced and self destructive to do so.But how about when the conditions have changed and the promise, agreement, or contract is no longer to your advantage?Do you honor your promise then?I think that this passage has a good deal to do with how we conduct ourselves in business, with our families... in the promises that we make and the covenants that we agree to keep (i.e. marriage)

6. Use of Money

vs.5a,b - “He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.”vs.5c.                  He who does these things shall never be moved.