A Life That Reflects God's Presence

Psalm 15 - Riley Boggs

I have mentioned this before, but we live in a culture that loves to try and divide the spiritual and the secular. People want to have their spiritual stuff on this side and their secular stuff over here on the other side. On one side they have all their spiritual stuff, like going to church, reading the Bible, praying, and all of that. Then on the other side is secular, or non-spiritual, stuff. Things like their job, their hobbies, and the majority of their relationships. It’s these two separate categories that shouldn’t really have any crossover. The spiritual stuff shouldn’t make its way into the secular stuff, and vice versa. Many of you have likely experienced this if you’ve tried to engage people in spiritual conversations in so-called secular places. It can feel odd, or even get shut down.

I’ve also told this story before, but while I was in seminary I worked at Starbucks for a while and I remember this happening. My boss was a professing Christian who attended a local church. And yet several times when spiritual things were brought up with multiple coworkers or in front of customers, she would be quick to mention that, “this isn’t the place for that kind of conversation.” She didn’t want these two worlds to cross over. She saw her work as a secular place and didn’t think that the spiritual things had any place there.

You can also think about the classic saying about what is off topic at Thanksgiving. There are two things you are supposedly not supposed to talk about, right? Politics and religion. Why? Well because they are contentious and divisive and ruin the good thing we have going, or so they say. Maybe there is a hint of truth there regarding politics, but I don’t believe Jesus would have us mark off any space of our lives where we neglect to speak of Him to keep the peace. Nonetheless, we live in a culture that abides by these rules.

I once read a book about this idea, and it really helped me see this and think through it. The whole premise of the book was that this divide between the spiritual and secular doesn’t actually exist. It’s made up. And typically it is made up by Christians who want to live hypocritical double-lives. In their spiritual places, they are spiritual. They attend church, sing the songs, pray the prayers, and all the rest. When they are with their church friends, they play the part. All things that they like and enjoy, in the right place. But in their secular places, they are secular. At work or during their hobbies, they act like everyone else; there is nothing that sets them apart.

This is where we get the term “nominal Christian.” Maybe you’ve heard this term before, but if not, let me explain it. The word “nominal” means “in name only”. And so the idea of a nominal Christian is a Christian bears nothing of a true Christian, other than the name itself. They say “I am a Christian”, but if you looked at their life, you would have no idea this to be the case. In all aspects, other than what they say about themselves, they are an unbeliever. This is what happens when you attempt to separate these two worlds. At times their life looks like the life of a true follower of Jesus, but at other times, the majority of times, their life looks like no follower of Jesus at all.

If it’s not clear already, then let me just say it outright. This whole idea of separating your life into 2 different categories, spiritual and secular, is utter nonsense. It really is. If you profess to follow Christ, then it ought to affect every single part of your life. It affects every space you find yourself in. It affects your relationships, how you work, how you speak, what you choose to do, and everything else. Your faith answers the ultimate “why?” for everything that you do. For example, if you work hard and do your job well, and someone notices, and they ask you why, what would you say? Would you say, “Well, I just want to be a good employee.” I mean, that is part of it. But what is the deeper reason? Is there a deeper reason? For Christians there should be. The reason that you, as a follower of Christ, work hard is because you work unto the Lord. The reason that you do your job well is because you want to honor Christ in all things. It’s because there is no divide between your faith and your vocation. Your faith is what leads you and guides you in every so-called secular space, revealing that they aren’t in fact all that secular.

­This morning we are going to be looking at a Psalm that shows us the outworking of all of this. It shows us what our lives, as followers of Christ, should look like. It shows us just how our faith should impact every area of our life. The Psalmist, David, begins in verse 1 by asking two questions. He asks, “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” Now this question is one that we have to flesh out a bit, because the way we answer it as New Covenant believers is unique. It’s unique because the way that God has dwelled with His people has changed throughout history. If you remember, all the way back in Genesis, in the garden, God dwelled with Adam and Eve in this beautiful way. Genesis 3:8 tells us the Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, and His presence was among the trees of the garden, where Adam and Eve were. There was no barrier between man and God.

But as you all know, this didn’t last forever. Adam and Eve sinned and as a result, God drives them out of the garden and keeps them from returning. Now there’s a lot happening there, but what’s important for us to see this morning is that because of sin, man could no longer dwell with God in the same way. Something catastrophic happened because of their sin. This is why God doesn’t just say “Hey that was wrong”, but He drives them away from the garden, where He dwelled. He removes them from HIs presence. And since Adam’s sin plunged all of mankind into sin, a barrier between God and all of mankind was created. No longer would God dwell with mankind, or so it seemed.

But see God is gracious and kind, and He proves it time and time again. And one of those ways is how He made provision for Israel so that He might still dwell among them He instructed them to build a tabernacle, or tent, where He could still dwell among His people, despite all of their sinfulness. Now not everyone could enter into the place where He dwelled. There were limitations and requirements, nonetheless it was a grace. It was where priests might go to offer sacrifices to God and mediate between Him and the people. This is the way that God dwelled among His people for some time, in this tent.

And this tent was moveable. As Israel moved, they brought the tent with them. They would set it up, take it down, over and over again, until eventually, under King David’s, they conquer Jerusalem. And there, in Jerusalem, and the tent is constructed on Mount Zion, or as he calls it in this Psalm, the “holy hill.” So, it was there, in the tent on the holy hill, where the very presence of God dwelled.

Now, with all of that background context in mind, consider what David it asking here in verse 1. The question that David is asking is this, “Who can be in the presence of God?” God dwells in the tent on the holy hill, and he’s asking who might go there. Now he’s not asking this because he doesn’t know. He’s asking this so that he might answer his own question in the following verses. And so the rest of the Psalm, verses 2-5, are telling us what kind of person can enter the presence of God. David is outlining the characteristics of one who is accepted into the presence of God.

But this is where we as New Covenant believers have to be careful. It is tempting to begin reading the rest of the Psalm thinking, “Okay, if I want to be allowed in God’s presence, then I need to do all of these things. Easy enough right?” And then you just start working through them. So you say, “Let’s just start at the top and knock these out one-by-one. Alright, first, I need to walk blamelessly.” Uh-oh. See the problem? Immediately we are all restricted from God’s presence. We don’t even need to read the rest, because we’ve all failed to walk blamelessly, and therefore we cannot be in the presence of God. If the requirement is blamelessness, then we are by no means accepted into the presence of God, we are forbidden.

Let me just say, that’s the wrong approach to this Psalm for us, and the rest of the Biblical story shows us why. God’s dwelling in the tabernacle doesn’t last forever. Eventually it gives way to a place that is very similar to the tabernacle, but different in that it was not moveable. This dwelling place is known as the temple. And like the tabernacle gave way to the temple, the temple too eventually gives way to something else. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he tells us what it is. He says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” Hopefully you see that. No longer does God dwell in a tent or temple, but He dwells in us. And that’s because Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection changed everything. On the cross Jesus made provision once-and-for-all so that He might dwell not just among His people in man-made structure, but actually dwell in them. He made it so that if you place your faith in the Risen Lord, then the Spirit comes to dwell inside you. And so now, for us, as people who are following Jesus, God dwells among us, because He dwells in us. Everything has changed.

Now, consider what this Psalm is supposed to show us in light of this. No longer does this Psalm teach us what we must do so that we might enter the presence of God. Christ accomplished all of that for us. Rather this Psalm shows us what our lives should look like, as a people who live continually in the presence of God. Or put even more simply, this Psalm shows us what our lives should look like as followers of Christ. It’s flipping the whole thing a bit, right? It’s not “do this and be accepted”, it’s “since you have been accepted, do this.”

We are His people, His Church, His temple. And that means that our lives should look a certain way. Not just part of our lives, but our whole life. I think this Psalm shows us a handful of things that should mark our lives, as those who dwell in God’s presence. So as we look through these this morning, I hope you are encouraged in areas where you are doing well, and I hope you are moved to repentance where you aren’t. The Lord is not bringing us to His Word to heap on burdens and condemnation. He’s bringing us here so that we might grow and trust Him all the more. So let’s approach each of these with humble, teachable hearts.

The first thing that David lists about the one who dwells in God’s presence is in the beginning of verse 2. He says, “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right.” That’s the first point I have for us this morning…

As those who dwell in God’s presence, we should…

1.) Pursue obedience (v.2a)

As followers of Christ, we cannot be neutral when it comes to obedience. It isn’t something that we hope we might stumble into. Obedience is something that we have to pursue, we have to go after. It’s something we have to walk in and walk towards. I think this is the best way for us to understand what David means by walking blamelessly and doing what is right.

In fact, I would argue that this is the key distinction between the person who dwells in the presence of God and the person who does not. Or you could say the key difference between believers and unbelievers. You don’t have to turn there, but you can actually see this foreshadowed in Ezekiel 36:26-27. It says, “... I  will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Did you catch that? God says that He is going to send His Spirit to dwell within us so that what might happen? So that He, by the Spirit, might cause us to walk in His statues and obey His rules. The reality is that it is only because God dwells within us that we have any bent towards obedience at all. Without the Spirit literally causing us to obey, we couldn’t. And not only couldn’t, but would have no desire. And this is precisely why God has given us His Spirit, so that we may dwell in the presence of God and actually desire to do what He has commanded.

Oftentimes it seems that we overthink when it comes to growing in our sanctification. That word, sanctification, is mentioned often by myself and others in the church, but let me just remind you what it means. Sanctification is simply the theological term we use to mean grow in holiness. Sanctification is the lifelong process whereby we grow to be more and more like our Savior. And sometimes, I think, we just overthink everything when it comes to this. When it comes to what we are to do in order to grow in our holiness and faith. We treat our sanctification kind of like a riddle we have to solve so that we can truly begin to grow.

The truth is, God has told us very clearly how we can grow in our sanctification, and it’s pretty simple. We obey what He has commanded. That is the primary means whereby we grow in our holiness, or you could say, our blamelessness. Think about the great commission. After the resurrection, right before Jesus ascends to heaven, He tells the disciples, and by extension us, what we are to do. Matthew 28 starting in verse 19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Jesus is saying, “proclaim the Gospel, see people come to saving faith, and then teach them to obey what I have commanded so that they might grow.” He’s telling them how to be sanctified and it is simply, “Obey what I have said.”

As followers of Jesus, we must keep this ever before us. The pursuit of obedience to our Savior ought to be the theme of our life, in every area. Walking in blamelessness and doing what is right. That’s the first thing I want us to see out of this Psalm. Each of the other points I have for us you can think of as the outflow of this call to obedience. They are ways that this Psalm is calling us to obey, as a people who dwell in the presence of God. 

And so, the second point I want you to see this morning is this…

As those who dwell in God’s presence, we should…

2.) Speak in a way that honors God and neighbor (vv.2b-3)

In the second half of verse 2 and verse 3, we get two things that deal with how we are to speak. First, we are not to slander and do evil to our neighbor. And secondly, we are to not take up a reproach against a friend. I want to look at each of these and then make a point about the way we speak overall. 

Put very simply, slander is when we speak about other people in untrue ways. Now I think it’s easy for us to dismiss this a bit because most of us aren’t prone to outright lie about other people. Like I’m not really tempted to go up to someone after the service and say, “Hey, did you know that Cameron Combs punched an old lady?” That kind of slandering isn’t the kind that we are often prone to falling into because it’s clearly an outright lie. But even if we aren’t tempted by that kind of slander, that doesn't mean we aren’t tempted by slander. No, I think the primary way we are often tempted to slander is when we share things we have heard without knowing if they are true or not. This is actually what it means to take up reproach, the second thing listed. Taking up reproach is believing and then sharing something that is unfounded. It’s hearing something, assuming it is true even with no basis, and then sharing it as if it were true. See how slander and taking up reproach go hand-in-hand here?  Let me give you an example of how this can play out.

Let’s say you’re at work one day and a coworker comes up to you and says “Hey, do you go to church with so-and-so?” And you do, so you say, “Yeah, why?” And they say, “Well, I think I saw them the other day incredibly drunk at a bar.” And you respond, “Really? That doesn't sound like them.” And they say, “Well, I’m not sure, but I thought you should know.” Well your work day ends and you go for a walk and you see someone else who goes to your church. You start talking about your days and how things are going and all that. In that moment, you might be tempted to say something like, “Hey, I don’t know if it’s true, but guess what I heard today at work.” 

That is taking up reproach, believing and sharing something that is unfounded. That is slander, sharing what might be untrue about someone to others. It isn’t assuming the best about your brother or sister. Now of course you shouldn't just sit on that information. You can go to that person, ask them personally. Maybe take it to your pastor in confidence explaining the situation. But what you can’t do is relay that information to others simply because it’s interesting information and you want to be the one to share it. That kind of stuff destroys communities. It hurts and harms, it’s toxic. And it has no place within the community of faith. Followers of Jesus must be a people who assume the best of one another and don’t even want to tempt others into thinking less about any of their brothers and sisters. Even if there is reason for you to believe that story to be true, you don’t share it because you don’t want a single other person to look down on them. You want people to think the best of your brother and sister, in every case. That is what is being asked of us here in verse 2 and 3, that we speak truth and not slander, nor take up reproach. 

In Luke 6:43-45 Jesus says this. “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn-bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” As a people who have been given new hearts. As a people who have been given the Spirit. As a people who dwell in the presence of God, we must always speak what is true.

The next thing I want you to see is in the first part of verse 4 where David says, “in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord;” Now that reads a bit odd, doesn’t it? Well I think what David is trying to say here is this, our third point…

As those who dwell in God’s presence, we should…

3.) Love what God loves and despise what God despises (v.4a)

This might strike some of us as a bit strange. The first part makes enough sense, that we are to love what God loves. But that second part, despising what God despises, can feel strange. The reason, I think, that it can catch us a bit off guard is because as Christians one of main things we try to do well is love others. If anyone in a culture truly knows how to love people, it should be the Christians. We’ve seen and experienced true love, and so we should be demonstrate that better than others. And yet David seems to be calling the one who dwells in the presence of God to despise a vile person. 

I think Romans 12:9 can help us here. Pauls writes in his letter to the Romans, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” True love and a rightly directed despising go together. If we are people who know God and dwell with Him, then we ought to be a people who continually try to conform our desires to His desires. We ask ourselves, “Does God love this? And if He does, then we love it.” We ask, “Does God despise this? And if He does, then so shall we.” Now we have to be careful here. We can’t be a people who are eager to despise things just because we can. And on the other hand we can’t be a people who attempt to love all things equally to the point of not actually abhorring what is evil. What we should do is look to God’s Word and see what He has said about these things, and then submit ourselves to that.

And actually what you’ll find is that as you search God’s Word and begin to align your desires with God’s, all your desires will begin to grow stronger and fuller. When called to love, you will have the confidence to love well and love deeply. You will read that husbands have been called to love their wife as Christ loved the church. And so if you’re a husband, you should hear that and be moved to a love that is far fuller and better than some fleeting feelings. Something sacrificial and gracious and unending. In an act of love and obedience to God, you love your spouse well.

In the same way, when the Word calls us to despise things, we should have the confidence to actually do that. God does not mince words when it comes to His hatred of sin. Sin destroys, tears down, and ultimately drives a stake between us and God. We should despise sin. Not like we despise stand-still traffic. Not like we despise our favorite sports team’s rival. No, we should despise sin in a deeper way. We should want nothing to do with sin. We should flee from it and continually put it to death. When you hear the tragic stories of evil and sin running rampant, you should have the confidence to say, “That is evil and I hate it.” That’s actually honoring to God, because it’s reflecting the way that He feels about evil and sin. Now that doesn’t mean we are the ones who bring about judgment or vengeance, we entrust that all to God. But as far as we can, we try to conform all of our dispositions to mirror God’s.

As you read God’s Word, I would encourage you to do this. Look to see what it is God loves and despises, and begin to submit your desires to His. In that, you will find that you are growing to be more and more like your Savior. You will find yourself living as one who does indeed dwell in the presence of God.

Look with me now starting in the second half of verse 4. David writes, “...who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.” In this I think you have multiple examples pointing to one overarching thing. It is this, our fourth point…

As those who dwell in God’s presence, we should…

4.) Deal in a way that honors God and neighbor (vv.4b-5a)

As believers we should do our business in a way that honors God and honors our neighbor. Now of course this is easy when it’s easy, right? When things are going well, operating in this kind of way isn’t all that difficult. The standard of simply being fair and just isn’t that tall of a task. Many unbelievers even do this. But see this Psalm is actually calling us to a higher standard. One that I think can be much more difficult. That standard is one where we always value others more than we value earthly possessions and wealth, not just in our minds, but in our actions. David gives 3 examples of this here. First, we ought to be a people who keep our word, even if it means it’s going to be worse for us. Second, we don’t take advantage of others who are in bad positions by loaning them money solely so we can profit off of their hardship. Third, we don’t take money as a bribe so that we would look the other way in an event of wrongdoing or false accusation. In each of those it’s the same principle being applied. Valuing and loving people more than we value and love wealth.

This isn’t news to you all, but we live in a culture that does not promote this kind of thing. We live in a very greedy consumeristic society. Everyone has an insatiable desire for more and will do whatever it takes in order to get it. People find their success, their purpose, and their happiness, in their possessions, and so they pursue wealth with everything they have. As Christians, we should be categorically different from this. We should be a people who look around and don’t first see a million ways to make money, but we first see a million people who need to be loved and taught the Gospel. And even further, we should be a people who are willing to lose so that we might love well.

Most of you all know this, but Shelby and I have begun the process of trying to sell our house. 2 years ago when we bought the house we currently live in, we knew the plan was to do some small renovations here and there, and then eventually try to sell it, make some money, so that we could buy a little nicer house. And it’s certainly not news to you all, but houses are expensive. And because of that, there is the pressure for us to make as much as we possibly can on our house when we try to sell it. I say this because the house we currently live in has a leaky chimney. We’ve hired someone to come in and fix it, and it seems like they have fixed it like 80%. But still, when it rains incredibly hard, it leaks. 

Now that matters because when people come and look at our house, we have a decision to make, right? We could withhold that information. We could think, “I mean, it doesn’t really ‘leak’, only when it’s raining really really hard. And, even then, it’s not ‘a lot.’” But is that what’s right? Yes, we could make more money if that information wasn’t out there. But what am I valuing most there? Someone is going to buy the house and sooner rather than later they will realize the chimney is leaking, and then they’ll be out however much money it takes to fix it.

I know not all situations are that simple, and truthfully the one I just shared is a bit complicated as well when you get into the different ways you can sell a house, so don’t focus too much on that example. Try to see the overarching principle that we should all have as believers. That is, we simply care more about others than we do stuff. We value image bearers more than we value wealth. Even when it’s not in our so-called “best interest”, we must be a people who choose to deal in a way that honors God and honors our neighbor. We see true value in a life that reflects the life of our Saviors, not in excess of worldly possessions. We dwell in the presence of a God who knows all, and so we should live like it.

The last thing that I want us to look at this morning is how David closes this Psalm at the end of verse 5. He began with the 2 questions, gives us all of these things that ought to characterize believers, but then here at the very end he switches to something else. Here, we have a promise. He says, “He who does these things shall never be moved.” The point I want us to see here is this, our final point…

As those who dwell in God’s presence, we will…

1. ) Persevere until the end (5.b)

I want us, for a minute, to think back to this idea of dwelling in the presence of God that I mentioned at the beginning. If you remember I said that the way that God dwells with His people has changed throughout history. From garden, to tabernacle, to temple, to in the people themselves by His Spirit. But what I didn’t say then, was that there is still another dwelling to come. One that we have been reminded of almost weekly as we have worked through the book of Revelation. As glorious as it is, and it is glorious, that the Spirit of the living God dwells within us, there is still something greater to come. I want to show it to you from Revelation. (You all thought you’d get a full week off of Revelation, but you were wrong.) Look at Revelation 21 starting in verse 1. This is what is to come for us, His church.

It says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

There is a day coming for those in Christ where God dwells again with us in an unhindered way. Right now the Spirit dwells within us, and it far greater than we could ever deserve. But, it is still hindered. We are broken, sinful people. Redeemed, but not perfected. And yet in God’s redemption plan is written a day where we will be made entirely new, like our Savior, and will dwell with God perfectly. That is what is being promised here in Revelation 21, and it is what is being promised all the way back in Psalm 15. He who does these things mentioned in this Psalm, that is those who are following Christ, shall never be moved. 

But listen, the reason that you won’t be moved is not because of how strong you are. It is not because your obedience is sufficient or your faith is strong enough. No, the reason that you will preserve is because the One who obeyed to the fullest, who saved you from your sins, is holding you right now. The One in whose presence you continually dwell has you hemmed in on all sides, ensuring that you make it home. That is not a possibility. That is a promise. 

This morning, from Psalm 15, we have seen what our lives, as followers of Jesus, should look like. We have seen put before us the characteristics that we should strive for. So let us do just that, strive for them. Go out from here in pursuit of a life that honors and glorifies the One who laid down His life for you. And do it, not because it is the basis for God’s love for you, but because of the great love He has given you, and has promised you, forevermore. Amen.