Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
I recently read a book called, Ordinary Men. The book tells the story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland during WWII. It is about a group of average middle aged German police officers and how they ended up being recruited and then used by Hitler as cold-blooded murderers of thousands of Jews. The book is chilling as these men were interviewed years later, and told their stories about how they could do the horrible things they did. Some were quite bothered years later, but others didn’t understand what everyone was all upset about. They were just doing what the authorities told them to do…they were just following the common thought of the day, you know, the social norm.
It is a frightening read, not because of what you see in these men, but what you fear lies within yourself. Is it possible that under a given set of circumstances, you could conform to such atrocity and then justify it? If you know anything about what the Bible teaches, the answer is an alarming yes, yes, I, you, could become so vile.
Commentators and scholars differ on what the exact problem is in Psalm 4. Some believe it is a continuation of what we find in Psalm 3 where David was faced with the rebellion of his son Absalom and the civil war that resulted. However, it could be that the prayer of the psalm concerns a different set of circumstances altogether. David asks the question, “O men…how long will you love vain words and seek after lies…” One translation says, “How long will you love delusions…”
Something was going on that caused the covenant people to turn to the words and lies of the cultures of the nations around them. But not just to turn to these foreign ways of thinking but to embrace them. Perhaps like the men of Battalion 101, they never thought they could do and believe what they ended up doing and believing.
Regardless, I think this serves as a springboard for us to think in depth about something that we typically don’t think deeply about. Namely, to consider that there is an enemy to our souls that not only sits closer to us than we think, but that we allow, even invite, to sit close to us and we do this, often, without even realizing what we are doing.
How is it that we can be enticed to love vain words and seek after lies? How is it that we could be so deceived by the voices around us? Our lives are driven by our desires, our wants…or if you would rather say it: What we love, and how we express that love. What we want and how we pursue those wants, forms the habitual thoughts and practices of our daily lives.
We hear today a lot of critiques of our culture and understandably so. However, you cannot avoid culture. Culture is simply a collection of liturgies, habits, and practices that reflect and nourish our devotion to certain things. I want you to read that again: Culture is simply a collection of liturgies, habits, and practices that reflect and nourish our devotion to certain things.
That is why it is important for Christians to realize how profoundly we are shaped by the cultures in which we live, sometimes for good, often for evil. The important question for us is this: What are the objects of our culture’s worship and how do these objects and ideas lead people to worship them, to be devoted to them, to give them their time, money, affection and desire?
The cultures, every single one of them that we partake of, and there are many that surround us, are moving us somewhere; the question is where, where are they taking us, and, are we even aware of their influence? That was the problem with Battalion 101, they didn’t know where this would end, but often, neither do we.
These influences might be so subtle that you don’t even know you are being moved, but over time you will see and feel the consequences everywhere. Every time we turn on the TV or the I-Pad or computer, every time we sit down to shop online, we are being enticed by something, most of the time we are being enticed by other gods and tempted to worship them.
And, if all of that is true, then it is only obvious that we acknowledge that such devotions and loyalties as our culture constantly tempts us to develop, are pushing us, perhaps ever so slowly, to, as our text says, “love vain words and seek after lies.”
*Consider some biblical examples. We read in 2 Tim. 4:10: “Demas, in love with his present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Now think of that. Demas had been the apostle Paul’s right hand man for a number of years. We know that because he is mentioned among those known to the Colossian Christians in Paul’s letter to them. Now think what this must have meant: Demas had heard Paul’s sermons, he had seen the effect of Paul’s ministry, and it is at least possible that he witnessed some of Paul’s miracles. What privileges this man had!
But in the end, he found the world more enticing than the kingdom of God. Surely you have wondered, how, how did this happen? How did Demas, with so much privilege come to view the Christian life as inferior to the world? And of course ,there is Judas, even more than Demas, he was with Jesus Himself! Listening, watching, participating in works of supernatural wonder…why? Why did he desert the Lord?
Another startling example is found in the book of the Revelation where John sees a vision of heaven and the wonders of the reigning Christ…He sees heaven! He then is shown the whore of Babylon. He knows that she is wicked. He knows that she is drunk on the blood of the saints; She delights in the murder of John’s brothers and sisters…she desires to destroy the church…and John knows this. And when he sees her, representative of the wickedness of the world…he marvels at her beauty. He is enticed by how attractive and alluring she is. He is brought back to his senses by an angelic being who slaps him and says, “John…what are you doing…why do you marvel?”
Now, you are familiar with such stories, both in the Bible and in your own experience. And I am not asking us to give a short answer: Well, Judas loved money, I am asking us to consider ourselves…what is to keep us from being susceptible to these same things? Judas, Demas, the apostle John!
The reason I bring all of this up is that when reading our Psalm or any number of Biblical passages, we might be tempted to see the covenant people’s pursuit of Baal or other gods, as some kind of proof that they were complete idiots…an immature, unsophisticated group of people whose affections, unlike our own, could be turned at the drop of a hat. That kind of arrogance and hubris, will only land us in a world of hurt.
One of the reasons Israel struggled so hard and so long with the gods of Canaan was precisely because worshipping them was so much more fun! Going to church in Canaan was not just like going to an orgy, it was going to an orgy. And to worship and serve those gods was not only a physical pleasure it was so much less demanding. No real sacrifices required. These gods didn’t meddle in one’s private life, they did not tell you what you could or could not do Monday evening or Thursday morning. And they definitely did not require any amount of self-denial.
And I dare anyone to tell me that those are not the temptations of our modern culture, even our modern so-called Christian subculture! Even in much of Christianity it seems ministers and leaders are trying to make Christianity less costly, less an inconvenience to the kind of life you want to live. The gods of our modern culture, a culture of unrestrained desire, do not make the sort of demands that Yahweh or the Christ does. If you wish to pursue only your happiness, after all, your parents have said for years: ‘All I want for my children is to be happy’, then go ahead, who is to judge you for that?
If you wish to accumulate things, the gods of American culture are all for that and will help you; they will even lend you money so that you don’t have to wait for that better house or better car or larger TV or whatever else it is that you would like to have. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on the other hand, requires purity, requires loyalty and requires sacrifice, and most of all, He often requires that you NOT pursue what you think makes you happy, but what will make you holy.
And even more so, when you don’t get it…when you don’t understand what is going on around you. He requires, not suggest, requires that you be at work, intentionally DYING to your selfish desires and living a life of true sacrifice for His sake, as you wait on Him and trust Him. Think of such texts as filled our liturgy this morning?
“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man…who keeps his oath even when it hurts.” [Ps. 15:1-4]
*“Put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
That is not the theology and these are not the liturgies or the habits of modern American life and sadly, these are not the liturgies of most of those who profess to be followers of Jesus. But how about you and me?
Prayer: Father, I know that the cultures of the world press upon me and I confess that I too often marvel at that which I know only leads to death. Deliver me I pray, save me from the world; save me from myself. Father, I want to know your presence and live in it at all times. I want to cultivate the virtues of godliness and holy living! Grant me this pursuit and give me courage and strength to pursue Christ all my days on earth, in His name I pray, Amen.
Hymn: The Lord Bless You and Keep You