A King’s Care
What should a king care about? What kinds of things should a king, president, or ruler be committed to? Unfortunately, it’s often true that kings and presidents care about power and wealth and fame and personal achievement and public appreciation more than justice and righteousness and integrity and humility and personal virtue and serving others. These are the things kings should care about, the kind of things they should sing about.
King David, Israel’s most famous and important king, knew this. He knew what a king should care about. He knew what tune a leader should be singing. He knew what he was called to.
This comes out clearly in Psalm 101. This is a kingship psalm, a psalm about the king. But this psalm is more than just a song about the king. The psalms were written and preserved for us. There’s much we can learn even from kingship psalms.
Psalm 101 in particular has had a broader application historically. Writers in the seventeenth century called this psalm “The Householder’s Psalm.” At that time, it was customary for Christians to have a sermon preached to their family when they moved into a new home. If you’d like me to preach a sermon for you when you move, just let me know! Many of those sermons were based on Psalm 101. This is because a good father ought to be like a good king over his people. This psalm describes how a good leader should lead, what a good king does.
The psalm can be easily divided into two sections, verses 1-4 and verses 5-8. The first section is about David’s commitment to personal holiness. The second section is about David’s commitment to public holiness. Borrowing from Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner, our outline will be: truth in the ruler (vv. 1-4) and truth in the ranks (vv. 5-8).
Steadfast Love and Justice
The first four verses show us David’s commitment to truth and integrity and holiness in his own life. Verse one is the banner over the entire psalm, giving us its main theme, and telling us what David is most committed to. His greatest care as king was “steadfast love and justice.” This is what he sang about, literally. Not to himself, but to the Lord. He didn’t sing about power and prestige and women and money and accomplishments. He sang about love and justice.
Remember from last week that “steadfast love” (hesed) refers to the covenant love that God had for his chosen people. It was a way to summarize his commitment to Israel. David sings about this to remind himself and all those under his rule that they’re bound to God and that God is bound to them. And this is a good thing. Being chained to the wellspring of life and joy and peace and grace isn’t oppressive or boring. It’s worth singing about. Remember David’s words from Psalm 63:3, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” God’s love is so satisfying that it creates songs in those who’ve experienced it.
Verse 1 also says that David sings about “justice.” If “steadfast love” binds God to his people, then “justice” is what binds God’s people to one another. This is therefore the ruler of God’s people highest duty. He must ensure that justice is done among the people of God.
We don’t live in a theocracy like Israel, but the New Testament says that justice must be the chief concern of all kings. Peter says that emperors and governors are “sent by God to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Pet. 2:13-14). Paul says in Romans 13 that God appoints leaders to approve those who do good and to “carry out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (vv. 1-4). God’s will for our politicians is to promote what is good and punish what is bad. The kind of people who’ll govern this way are men and women who have integrity, who love the truth, and who’re committed to doing what is right – even if it costs them something. When these kind of people are in charge, a nation flourishes. Praying for our leaders promotes peace in our society. This is why I pray, almost every Sunday, for God to help our leaders to walk in integrity and to love justice.
The King’s Integrity
David sang to the Lord about steadfast love and justice because he was committed to both. His concern was for an honest and just administration from the top down. He knew that this started with him. He knew that people go the way of their leaders. So he was committed to his own personal holiness (vv. 2-4).
The words “blameless” and “integrity” in verse 2 refer to the idea of wholeness, to something which no corruption or compromise has eaten into. An apple that looks great on the outside but is full of worms on the inside isn’t whole. It’s been compromised. David sets his mind to thinking (“I will ponder”) how his life can be whole and not compromised. He’s considering if his walk matches his talk. Do you spend time “pondering” the condition of the house that is your life? It’s hard work and we need the Lord’s help, which is why David says, “Oh when will you come to me?” (v. 2) We need to Lord to help us see the truth. We also need other Christians.
Verse 2 also tells us that David knows where godliness begins. “I will walk with integrity in my house.” What we are at home is what we are. What we do and say and watch at home reveals our character. Being godly at church isn’t hard at all. Being godly at home is where the depth of our commitment to God is seen most clearly. This is why one of the requirements for men who serve as elders concerns their home life. 1 Timothy 3:4-5, “He (the overseer) must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”
How are you “walking” at home? The idea of “walking” refers to how we’re living. Paul uses this imagery in Ephesians 4:1, “I…urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Do you speak to your wife with gentleness and respect? Do you respect your husband or your roommates? Are you patient with your children? Are you handling the resources God has entrusted to you with wisdom? If an unbeliever spent a day in your home, would they see a home life that would make following Jesus look attractive and compelling?
Verse 3 says that David was careful with what he set before his eyes. He didn’t want to see anything “worthless.” Kevin DeYoung, in his book The Hole in our Holiness, offers us excellent advice on this point: “Brothers and sisters, we must be more vigilant. With our kids, with our families, with our Facebook accounts, with our texts, with our tweets, with our own eyes and hearts. Are we any different than the culture? Have we made a false peace with ourselves whereby we have said, we won’t do the things you do or be as sensual as you are, but we will gladly watch you do them for us? The kinds of things Paul wouldn’t even mention, the sort of sins he wouldn’t dare joke about, the behaviors too shameful to name – we hear about them in almost every sitcom and see them on screens bigger than our homes. Here is worldliness as much as anywhere in the Christian life. Try turning off the television and staying away from the movies for a month and see what new things you see when you come back. I fear many of us have become numb to the poison we are drinking. When it comes to sexual immorality, sin looks normal, righteousness looks very strange, and we look a lot like everybody else.” Will you commit yourself to be more careful with what you look at?
Truth in the Ranks
We’ve seen truth in the ruler in verses 1-4, now we’ll consider truth in the ranks in verses 5-8. King David turns from speaking about his commitment to personal holiness to his commitment to public holiness. As the leader of the nation, he knows he must be the guardian of justice. And, as in every nation, there were political appointments that needed to be made. In these verses, he makes it clear what he’s looking for in those who’ll help him lead the nation.
He says in verse 5 that he’ll silence those who slander. To slander someone is to speak negatively and falsely about them in order to damage their reputation. Proverbs has a lot to say about slander. For example, Proverbs 10:18, “The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.” Proverbs 20:19, “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.” David didn’t tolerate people who tore people down behind their backs. He knew that these kind of people couldn’t be trusted, so they shouldn’t be in leadership positions.
David also didn’t tolerate people whose personality and demeanor was full of pride (v. 5b). Proverbs also condemns pride as the attitude of the foolish. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 29:23, “One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” Those who think they’re the center of the world and won’t listen to the correction of others aren’t thinking clearly.
David will remove the proud and the slanderer, but verse 6 says that he’ll draw near to the faithful. David gave himself to “ponder the way that is blameless” (v. 2), so he’s on the lookout for people who do the same, people “who walk in the way that is blameless” (v. 6). David was on the lookout for likeminded people. He wanted faithful and humble people around him. Good leaders know that the kind of people they surround themselves with will have a great impact on their leadership. They know that they’ll become like the people they’re around.
Consider for a moment the people who you’ve surrounded yourself with, your friends, business associates, roommates. How did you choose these individuals? Friendships and business partners don’t happen on accident. We choose who we walk with. Do you give thought to who you spend your time with? Paul said, “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). We become like the people we’re around. May we choose to walk with “the faithful in the land.”
In verse 7, David says that he won’t associate with liars. He didn’t want deceitful people to have any role in his administration. Because he was committed to justice, he needed to be surrounded by honest people. Justice doesn’t happen without honesty.
Verse 8 shows us just how committed to justice David was. He would use his power to keep “the city of the Lord” free from evil. David didn’t just care about justice, he enacted justice. He wouldn’t tolerate the wicked or those who did evil. He was God’s appointed man to promote justice and righteousness in the land.
The Son of David Will Come to Judge
God has appointed another man to follow in David’s footsteps. Paul says in Acts 17:30-31, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” God will judge the entire world through Jesus, the Son of David. We can be sure of this because of Jesus’ resurrection. The resurrection assures us that Jesus will judge the world.
Jesus is alive and he’s returning. The day of his return will be the day he judges everyone who hasn’t obeyed his gospel. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
When Jesus returns, he’ll “destroy all the wicked in the land” and “cut off all the evildoers.” You may be comforting yourself right now by thinking that you’re not wicked or evil and that you’ll therefore escape Jesus’ judgment. But the Bible says that “none is righteous, no, not one” and that “all have turned aside and together have become worthless” (Rom. 3:10, 12). We’ve all broken God’s law. We haven’t walked in our houses with integrity. We’ve looked at worthless things. We have perverted hearts and we know a lot about evil. We’ve slandered people. Our hearts are full of pride. We think way too highly of ourselves. We’ve lied and been deceitful. How can we expect a just God to overlook all of our crimes? How would he be just if we got away with all that we’ve done?
Our problem is more than our behavior. Our actions and thoughts and words come from our corrupt hearts. The major problem we have is inside of us, not outside of us. Our desire is to rule our own lives, to remove God from his throne and sit there instead. We love being in control and we assume we’re not accountable. Our only hope is that God changes our hearts.
In order to satisfy his justice and reveal his love, God sent Jesus to the cross to die for our sin. All who receive him and obey his gospel will be saved from the justice of God and will enjoy the steadfast love of God. All who don’t will be “cut off from the city of the Lord” forever.
As soon as you die, before your family even knows that you’ve died, you’ll be somewhere. Where will you be? Heaven or hell? The Bible says that “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Obey the gospel now. Believe on Christ now. Come to the waters of life now. Your sin is great but Jesus’ grace is greater.
The Sinless One Who Can Save
Psalm 101 teaches us a lot about how we should live. It’s full of wonderful principles for personal and public holiness. But if you’re familiar with David’s story, you see a shadow hanging over this psalm. David didn’t walk with integrity in his house. We learn in Second Samuel that he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed. He put worthless things before his eyes and knew evil intimately. All of David’s sons failed to walk in perfect integrity in their house.
All of his sons but one. Jesus walked blamelessly on this earth for thirty three years. He never did anything wrong. He perfectly obeyed the law of God. This means that he has something that we all need: righteousness. We need two things to be able to live in God’s presence. We need forgiveness and we need righteousness. We need our sins removed and we need to be made worthy to live in God’s presence. If forgiveness was all that we needed, Jesus could’ve accomplished that in a weekend. He could’ve come to die on Friday and rise on Sunday and accomplished our salvation. But all forgiveness does is remove sin. Forgiveness brings us back to zero, but zeros don’t get into heaven. There must be a positive addition to our account if we want to enter God’s presence. We need someone to forgive us and give us righteousness.
Jesus is the only one who can do this. Because of his sinless life, because he walked with integrity of heart in his house, he secured the righteousness needed to save us. He walked in the way that was blameless all the way to the cross – his last act of obedience to the Father. There was no deceit in his mouth, no slander, no pride, no perversion, no evil. The spotless Lamb of God lived and died for us. This is what a good King does.
Everyone who puts their trust in King Jesus gets what he has. They receive his righteousness. All those who stop trying to save themselves with their good works and turn from their self-righteousness will be saved. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).