Sunday
Morning Bible Study
September 28, 2003
A life that pleases God
Sometimes we get the idea that qualifying for something can be a little too
easy. Before we went to Russia,
I came across this important qualifying exam some of you may be interested
in. By the way, this exam is not valid
in Russia …
their standards are a bit higher than these ones…
Illustration
UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAM: AMERICAN FOOTBALL
PLAYER VERSION
1. Foreign Language: What language is spoken in France?
2. History: Give a dissertation on the ancient Babylonian Empire with particular
reference to architecture, literature, law and social conditions -OR- Give the
first name of Pierre Trudeau.
3. Physics: What time is it when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand
is on the 5?
4. European History: Six kings of England
have been called George, the last one being George the Sixth. Name the previous
five.
5. Advanced math: If you have three apples, how many apples do you have?
What are the qualifications of a life that pleases God?
After hearing about the things God has done for the team that went to Russia,
you might get the idea that the person that pleases God is the one that goes to
Russia. Though there will be another trip to Russia,
and another, and another, and though some of you may be joining us next time we
go, going to Russia
isn’t always the thing God requires.
Psalm 15 Genuine Holiness
:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy
hill?
Though there is no indication in the title itself, but we believe that this
Psalm may be connected to the events surrounding the moving of the Ark of the
Covenant to Jerusalem.
When David became king, one of the first things he wanted to do was to move
the Ark from Kiriathjearim to his
new capital, Jerusalem. But nobody bothered to see if there was a
proper way to move the Ark. As a result, they broke some of God’s Laws by
how they moved the Ark, putting
the Ark on an oxcart.
(2 Sam 6:3-10 KJV) And they set the ark of God upon a new cart,
and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and
Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. {4} And they brought it out of
the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and
Ahio went before the ark. {5} And David and all the house of Israel played
before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps,
and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. {6} And
when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark
of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. {7} And the anger of the
LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and
there he died by the ark of God. {8} And David was displeased, because the LORD
had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to
this day. {9} And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall
the ark of the LORD come to me? {10} So David would not remove the ark of the LORD
unto him into the city of David:
but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
Why did Uzzah die? Was it because
God didn’t like the music they played?
It was because he and the people with him did not understand God and His
holiness. David has experienced a huge
lesson in how Holy God is, and he’s terrified.
Illustration
When we flew from New York to
L.A., we sat with a young gal from China
who was Buddhist. We had a wonderful
time asking each other questions. We
asked her to share with us about her Buddhist faith. She had no concept of a personal God before
whom she would one day be accountable.
For her, all of life just exists in a big system, and if you do well,
you come back a little better next time, if you do bad you come back a little
worse. There’s no God behind the scenes,
you’re just in this big impersonal system that either makes you better or
worse.
The truth is that man was created by God.
He wants to know what we’ve done with what He’s made. We are accountable to God. He has standards that need to be kept.
David and his people did not take into account that there was a right way
and a wrong way to move the Ark. And Uzzah went the farthest by actually
daring to touch the Ark with his
own hands.
Lesson
God is Holy
It’s a scary thing to approach God. The qualifications aren’t so easy.
If you don’t approach God in the right way, you could die.
Perhaps it was at this time, as David has seen Uzzah die for having touched
the Ark and thinking about God’s
holiness, that he writes this Psalm.
David lists eleven things that God desires for those who want to come close
to Him.
:2 He that walketh uprightly, (Item #1)
walketh – a metaphor for how you live your life. Life is lived by making a series of choices, steps,
walking.
uprightly – tamiym – blameless,
complete, sincere, perfect; having integrity; what is complete or entirely in
accord with truth and fact
A person’s overall life is to be one that is blameless and sincere.
:2 and worketh righteousness, (Item #2)
righteousness – tsedeq – in
harmony with God’s standards
The things that this person does are done according to God’s standards –
like how David learned to move the Ark
– they weren’t supposed to put it on an oxcart, they were supposed to have the
priests carry the Ark on their
shoulders.
I think this is a picture of how we are to carry the gospel, the good news
that God wants sinners to be forgiven.
The most important thing about getting the gospel out is that WE do it. We carry the message on our hearts.
:2 and speaketh the truth in his
heart. (Item #3)
Lesson
Honesty with yourself
God is looking for people who will be genuine. People who will be honest in their actions
and their heart.
Illustration
More than a fourth of students at some of the nation’s best colleges admit
cheating on a test even though they have an honor code, says a new survey that
shows further “erosion” in on-campus honesty.
Rutgers University
professor Don McCabe based conclusions on responses from 4,300 students at 31
highly selective colleges, 14 with honor codes and 17 without. The study, updating one he did in 1990, shows
that 30% of students at honor-code schools in 1995 reported ever having cheated
on a test, up from 24% in 1990. At
schools without honor codes, 45% reported they had cheated on a test, down from
47% in 1990. Who cheats the most? As in 1990, business majors report the most
cheating, followed by those in engineering.
-- USA Today, 3-11-96 p. 1D.
Illustration
In the July 15, 1993 Boardroom
Reports, Peter LeVine writes, “When the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey ran a help-wanted ad for electricians with expertise at using “Sontag”
connectors, it got 170 responses even though there is no such thing as a Sontag
connector. The Authority ran the ad to find out how many applicants falsify
resumes.”
-- Leadership
Magazine, Vol. 15:1, Winter, 1994, p. 47.
But it’s not just the image that you project to others, God is concerned you
learn to speak the truth on the inside of your heart as well.
Illustration
At Disney’s California Adventure, there’s an area patterned after Hollywood. As you enter the main street of this area,
you can look off in the distance to see a street that goes on and on. There’s a pretty blue sky with big white
clouds. And as you continue to walk down
the street, you realize that what you’ve been looking at is just a fancy
backdrop painted on the side of the building.
The street isn’t that long. The
big puffer clouds are just painted on the building.
Are you honest with yourself?
Sometimes a person can have some serious problems, yet they live in a
fantasy world and tell themselves that everything is going to be fine when
there are some things that need serious fixing.
God is looking for people who will be real with others and with their own
selves.
:3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, (Item #4)
backbiteth – ragal – (Qal)
to be a tale-bearer, slander
:3 nor doeth evil to his neighbour, (Item
#5)
:3 nor taketh up a reproach against
his neighbour. (Item #6)
reproach – cherpah –
scorn; taunt, reproach (resting upon condition of shame, disgrace)
Slandering, telling stories, and gossiping about others can cause great
harm. These are not the things that
please God.
:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; (Item #7)
contemned – bazah – to
despise, hold in contempt; worthless
It’s important to God that we call bad things bad and good things good.
:4 but he honoureth them that fear
the LORD. (Item #8)
Lesson
Admire the right heroes
The person God is pleased with calls evil bad and right good.
Illustration
Newsweek (9-15-03) had
a comment that Britney Spears made after her kiss with Madonna at the MTV video
awards:
“This is seriously
something I thought about since I was a little girl. I cannot believe this just, like, freakin’
happened! I’m like, on a very major high
right now. I feel very cool!”
It’s not wrong to have heroes. Just
have the right ones. Look to people who
know, fear, and follow the Lord.
Where do we look for heroes?
Try the Bible –
I admire a young man named David who was willing to face a
fearsome enemy when nobody else would, and he was willing to face Goliath with
just his sling, a few stones, and the name of his God.
I admire three young men named Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-nego who were willing to take a stand.
When everyone else was commanded to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s statue
while the rock band played, they stayed standing – and paid a price for it,
being thrown into a fiery furnace.
Try History –
I have a lot of heroes in history – Charles Spurgeon, Dwight
Moody, George Whitefield, John Wesley, all famous preachers and pastors. Some are missionaries like Hudson Taylor or
Jonathan Goforth.
David Brainerd, became a Christian at the age of 21, in
1739. He went to a Bible
College named Yale, but was kicked
out because he had made some critical remarks about a tutor and because he had
attended a certain revival meeting that was forbidden. He went on to become a missionary to the
American Indians, one of the first, and had a great deal of success. He died at the age of tuberculosis at the age
of 29, but his life would profoundly influence many other even more famous
missionaries such as William Carey because he became their hero.
Look around you –
There are people all around you in this room today who
have learned to serve the Lord. I have
some heroes right here in this room.
:4 He that sweareth to his own hurt,
and changeth not. (Item #9)
God is pleased with the person who will keep their promises even if it
hurts them.
:5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, (Item #10)
The person who doesn’t try to make themselves rich at the expense of
others.
:5 nor taketh reward against the
innocent. (Item #11)
This person can’t be bribed to hurt an innocent person.
:5 He that doeth these things shall
never be moved.
Lesson
Disciplines of stability
Peter says something similar. Peter
gives a list of qualities that we as Christians ought to be cultivating in our
lives. Then Peter concludes with:
(2 Pet 1:8-11 NLT) The more you grow like this, the more you
will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
{9} But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very
shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their
old life of sin. {10} So, dear friends, work hard to prove that you really are
among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away. {11} And
God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal
Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The qualities in verses 5-7 are things to work at. The more we work at these qualities, the more
we will find our lives fruitful and productive.
Sometimes we have this idea that once we’ve come to trust in Jesus, that
all of our problems will go away.
And then we are surprised when we get into trouble with our sin.
These kinds of practical things are the things that are important to the stable
walk of a Christian.
Lesson
Pleasing God
The Law of Moses contains 613 commandments about pleasing God. David
simplifies it to a list of eleven things. Jesus simplified it even more, to two
things, loving God and loving your neighbor (Matt. 22:35-40)
Yet even with these things, we find that we fall short. There isn’t a single one of us who can meet these
qualifications in a way completely acceptable to God.
And God knows that. That’s why God sent His Son, to pay the penalty of our
sins for us. Jesus died on a cross in
your place so that all of your sins would be forgiven and you could have a
fresh start with God.
In another place, Jesus made another statement of what pleases God:
(John 6:28-29 KJV) Then said they unto him, What shall we do,
that we might work the works of God? {29} Jesus answered and said unto them,
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
When we come to trust in Jesus and trust that He has paid
for our sins, God is well pleased.
For some of you, you need to take the first, most important step – Trusting
in Jesus.