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Psalm 15 - Who can dwell in God's sanctuary?

Psalm 15

 Who can dwell in God's sanctuary?

 Introduction
Psalm 15 is a wisdom psalm written by David. It describes the godly way we should live our lives in order to have God's favor and dwell in His presence and sanctuary. Of course, now, being post-Christ, we know that  we can dwell in God's presence not because of the way we live, but because of Christ's sacrifice for us. Nevertheless, Jesus often points us to godly living - and this is what Psalm 15 points us to.

Psalm 15 opens with the very question that this post is titled after - Who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?

David then describes this man. He has 6 sets of 2 points, where these 2 points support each other.

He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous

  • A blameless walk describes a person who is beyond accusation. No one can bring a complaint against him, not even God, if his life is examined.
  • Doing what is righteous is acting in a way that God would approve of - specifically, doing what is "right" in God's eyes - thus the word righteous
  • These two points complement each other - a person who walks rightly before God can not possibly be found at fault by man.
He who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue
  • Speaking the truth from our hearts means that we do not lie. (Psalm 12) God hates liars and deceivers. It is the personal side to this set of characteristics.
  • Having no slander on his tongue instead deals with the communal side of this characteristic - that this man should not speak badly of other man.
He who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man
  • Doing our neighbor no wrong means we are to act in love. We are not to covet, not to kill, not to steal, not to slander.. Basically these teachings are found all over the Bible. Treat your neighbor better than yourself - would be the best statement here. Our relationship towards other man should be modeled by Jesus' relationship with His fellow man - be it His earthly parents, His disciples, or His fellow man in general. Jesus does not always interact with people on a teacher-student relationship, but also demonstrates how we should love each other as fellow man.
  • Casting no slur on our fellow man is not to be demeaning, not to be reproachful. It is a speech portion to complement the action portion of this characteristic.
He who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord
  • Despising the vile man is a very tricky thing. Are we to despise those who reject God? The answer is yes, and no! We are not to despise the non-Christians, but we are to recognize that each and every one of us are sinful. Being sinful is a universal thing - how can it be that one sinful man should despise another, and become a hypocrite? We despise all sinners - ourselves included - and we earnestly seek to know Christ's forgiveness and salvation both for ourselves and the non-Christians around us. Instead of outright despising them, we must learn to love them so that they too may come to this state of forgiveness and fear of the Lord.
  • Also, we are to raise up healthy relationships with others who fear the Lord. We affirm them in their faith, encourage them in their trials, and uphold them in prayer and thanksgiving.
He who keeps his oath even when it hurts
  • We are to keep our promises without thought of self-gain
  • The greatest example of this is our greatest oath - sworn to God in declaration of our faith and trust in Him, in the salvation freely given to us by Jesus Christ our Savior. No matter what trials may come our way, we must always hold true to this oath.
He who lends money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent
  • Usury means interest (for those who don't know! It's a new word to me also.)
  • The issue at hand here is not the act of lending money itself, but what we love. People who lend money with interest rates are often interested in financial and material gain. Similarly, for those who accept bribes against the innocent. God calls us to love righteousness, purity, and our brothers and sisters in Christ more than money. Our calling must be greater than our material, self-seeking and materialistic wants.
He who does these things will never be shaken
We are told that this man - in God's sanctuary, will never be shaken. And how true it is, that in God's presence we are ultimately secure. We may sometimes struggle, but God will never allow for those he keeps for His own to fall too far. Here's a song that really describes our security in God!

No power of hell;
No scheme of man;
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till he returns;
Or calls me home;
Here in the power of Christ I stand

Question:
Assess ourselves with this rubric that David has provided! At the end, it may (or may not) seem very demoralizing, but let us not forget that Christ forgives our sin and failure to meet God's standard in His death, so despite our shortcomings we have hope for Christ's return. In the meantime, we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling - striving to do what is right so that on the last day we may present ourselves pleasing to God.

My self-assessment:
My walk is far from blameless, and definitely if God were to examine my life He would find many faults. I, like much of the world, am caught up in many sins of speech - lying and slander. I struggle with slander, largely because of my direct superior. I honestly feel he is a fool and a disgrace, yet by being honest I slander someone God has put into authority in my life. On the other hand, I juggle it with the fact that if we do not speak up for what is right, his nonsensical and unreasonable acts will cause nothing but trouble. Hard and long question. If anyone has answers, please let me know. I would like to right this controversy, yet cannot find the Christian answer to it...
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