The Blessing of Godly Living
Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Psalm 112
Jill and I had a wonderful trip to Iceland, England and Scotland. We took a lot of long walks in the hills and highlands and along the coast and visited many churches. We learned about the coming of Christianity to Iceland almost one thousand years ago. One display in the National Museum in Reykjavik commented that hundreds of years ago, “people needed religious observance like people today need an internet connection.” As if people today no longer have any reason to regularly practice Christianity. The church we worshiped at in Scotland was built right on top of the ruins of a Roman fort that was constructed in the late second century. That vital congregation in Bearsden was a refreshing contrast to the churches we saw in all three countries that either were closed, for sale, or had been converted into other uses such as community centers or art galleries.
[powerpress]One of the things I noticed on our trip was how what we call a rest room or toilet over there is called a WC, an abbreviation for Water Closet. It reminded me of the experience of an English lady visiting the US who was looking for a place to stay. She stopped by the local Chamber of Commerce visitor center which connected her with a Bed & Breakfast. Shortly after a room had been booked, it occurred to her that she hadn’t asked whether her room had its own W.C. so she sent an email to the Bed & Breakfast about the location of the W.C. The owner didn’t know what she meant by WC and assumed she was asking about town’s well known Wayside Chapel so he sent her the following reply:
“Dear Madame,
It is my pleasure to inform you that the W.C. is just 9 miles away, in the center of a grove of pine trees. It seats 229 people, and it is open on Thursdays and Sundays. This is an unfortunate situation if you are in the habit of going regularly. You will, no doubt, be glad to hear that some people bring their lunches and make a day of it. I would especially recommend Thursdays, for then there is an Organ accompaniment. The acoustics in the W.C. are excellent; even the most delicate sound can be heard. My son was married in the W.C. and there was such a rush for seats that 10 people had to sit in the same seat. The looks on their faces were very interesting.
My wife is dedicated but sickly. She doesn’t go regularly, and she hasn’t gone for nearly a year. I will be glad to reserve a seat in the W.C. for you, where you will be seen and heard by everyone. Hoping I have been of some assistance. Sincerely yours.”
There are definitely cultural differences when we are away from home.
Another thing we noticed is that The World Cup is a lot bigger in England than in the United States. Futbol, what we call soccer, is a lot more important in the rest of the world than it is in the US. People feel very passionately about it, but I was still stunned to see the following Associated Press story a couple days ago out of Johannesburg, South Africa. Police say a South African man who wanted to watch a World Cup match was beaten to death by his family in the northeastern part of the country. David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from a small village, fought with his wife and two children for the remote control on Sunday because he wanted to watch Germany play Australia in the World Cup. The others, however, wanted to watch a different show. “He said, ‘No, I want to watch soccer,'” a police spokesman said Thursday. “That is when the argument came about. In that argument, they started assaulting him.”
Police said Makoeya got up to change the channel by hand after being refused the remote control and was attacked by his 68-year-old wife and his 36-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter. “They phoned the police only after he was badly injured, but by the time the police arrived the man was already dead.” All three were arrested last Sunday night. The hardest part to believe – the program the three wanted to watch was a gospel program, a religious program! Instead of trying to live out the gospel (and being patient, kind, loving, etc) they murdered their husband and father in order to get their way. Unreal. Hardly the kind of godly living that the gospel or presumably a gospel television program calls us to. Now a man is dead and his family is left to cope with the painful and costly consequences of behaving in an ungodly way. That story is also an extreme example of how wide the gap can be between what folks say they believe and how those beliefs actually influence behavior.
There are often painful consequences for ungodly behavior.
Psalm 112 says there are many blessings that flow from godly living.
Psalm 112 is a wisdom psalm and an acrostic which means in Hebrew every line begins with the next letter of the alphabet.
“Praise the Lord!
Happy are those who fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses, & their righteousness endures forever.
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.
The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away;
the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.”
Psalm 112 builds off Psalm 111. If you were to read them back to back you can see how Psalm 112 begins almost with the last verse of the previous psalm. It begins with a beatitude, a word of blessing, “Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.” Blessing flows to those who do these two things: fear the Lord and greatly delight in his commandments. To fear the Lord, to look at God with awe, with reverence, is to humbly and gratefully see our life in the proper perspective with regard to the Creator of the universe. To fear the Lord includes understanding that we are accountable to God for our life. The second half of the verse says happiness and blessing come to those who greatly delight in God’s commandments – not in being able to recite them, or quote them, but who delight and take pleasure in living them out in their lives.
In a way this Psalm is an answer to the admittedly somewhat selfish but also understandable question, “Why should I believe in and obey God? What’s in it for me if I do?” Psalm 112 says, actually a great deal. The rest of the psalm lays out the blessings of godly living. The first is that the children and grandchildren of godly men and women will be mighty and blessed. Of course today is Father’s Day and in the news this week it was incredibly sad to see an extreme example of a father not doing what he is supposed to do and the horrible consequences. Thomas Mortimer IV of Winchester, MA left a note in which he confessed to killing his two-year-old daughter Charlotte, 4-year-old son Thomas, his wife Laura, and her mother Ragna. Rather than protecting his family from harm he destroyed it in one of the worst violations of trust one can fathom. Our hearts ache for those innocent little children who never even got to go to kindergarten, much less grow up. I can’t overstate how important it is for father’s to pursue godly living. One of the biggest problems we face as a nation is a lack of godly fathers. What a contrast to what the psalm declares about the children of the godly.
“Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.” It is a sad but unavoidable truth that the children of ungodly people of poor character suffer terribly in a host of ways while the children of people who live with a sense of awe and reverence for God and who seek to obey God’s commands are blessed. It is the difference between children who grow up in households marked by abuse, neglect, and criminal activity versus those who grow in a home marked by love, nurture, and opportunity. This is not to say that children can’t overcome difficult environments or family circumstances – they can, often with God’s help, determination, and the intervention of loving people. This is not to say that children who grow in a loving, nurturing home will never go astray, they can and they do. But Psalm 112 says a child has a better chance at a significant and happy life if they grow up in a home where they are taught by parents to love God and to obey God’s word.
The second blessing of the godly has to do with financial matters. The psalm proclaims, “Wealth and riches are in their houses.” We have to acknowledge there are many godly people who are not wealthy, who don’t even own homes to have riches in. However, it is still true that wealth and riches are found in the homes of the godly. One of the things American Christians find without fail when going on mission trips to other places like the Dominican Republic or Haiti or a nation in Africa, or northeast India is that there are types of wealth and riches that go beyond material stuff and bank accounts. We are also likely to find that as we seek to live in the center of God’s will that the Lord will provide for our needs, not necessarily our wants. Some times if we have trouble with debt it may be in part because we got away from simple Christian living and bought too much, consumed too much, spent too much, and then all of a sudden your life is not your own anymore and then we have to be diligent and disciplined to get out of debt.
Psalm 112 tells us wealth and riches are in the houses of the godly and we are to use them for specific purposes beyond feathering our own nest: “It is well with those who deal generously and lend,” and “They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor.” When God does bless us financially, God does that so that we may help others and again the Psalm asserts it will go well with those who do these things. Godly people also “conduct their affairs with justice.” One of the great crimes and travesties we have witnessed in our country in the last several years is people with huge financial influence not conducting their affairs with justice. The consequences of this behavior is far reaching and devastating. Godly people conduct and run their businesses and do their jobs with integrity, honesty, and justice and not with deceit, dishonesty, and injustice.
The third blessing for those who seek to live a godly life is that “their righteousness endures forever.” The psalm repeats this phrase twice to emphasize it. Godly living is remembered. What we do in our life ripples out into the lives of others and echoes in eternity. The consequences of godly living will influence those who come after us, our children and our children’s children. While on the one hand most of us will be anonymous to history, briefly passing through this earth, the impact of how we have lived will be felt. God will remember and so will those whose lives touched our own.
The fourth blessing of godly living is being able to handle adversity. Psalm 112 says, “They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.” Even though the purpose of the psalm is to praise godly character and to share all the blessings that come to those who fear and obey God, it doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that even for the godly there will be adversity and hardship and times of “darkness.” When we go through our dark times, those around us who are godly will be like a light for us. There are many people here today who could testify that when they were in darkness, they were blessed by godly friends who were light for them, who were gracious and merciful and whose love and care helped them through.
What are the blessings of godly living? The children and grandchildren of godly men and women will be mighty and blessed. Wealth and riches are in their house and they use them justly to give generously and help the poor. They will be remembered, they will leave a lasting legacy. They can handle adversity and help others to do so.
The fifth blessing of Godly living is we need not be afraid. Psalm 112 affirms, “The righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.” One of the great blessings of godly living is that it gives us courage. Hear the words, “Never be moved, not afraid, hearts are firm, secure in the Lord, hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.” When one reads stories throughout Christian history of those who have been martyred because of their faith it almost always makes one think, “Could I have done that? Would I have the courage, would I be able to overcome my fear, and trust God that much? Could I hold to my conviction, secure in the Lord, steady and not be afraid?”
Ten days ago Jill and I were walking around St. Andrew’s in Scotland just above the Old Course where The British Open will be held next month. A chip shot away from the course and the museum of the history of golf stands a memorial to four men who were burned at the stake in St. Andrew’s because of their convictions during a time of great religious turmoil. Thankfully most of us will never find ourselves having to face that, however, each day we face choices and decisions that require us to have hearts that are strong and courageous, hearts that are not afraid, and we can do that when we are secure in the Lord and obeying his commandments.
The final blessing of godly living is the assurance that God’s way will triumph. In the end the godly “will look in triumph on their foes. their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.” The wicked will see the victory of the godly and be angry, and they will melt away. One of the things that I take comfort in when I look at all the bad stuff in the world is I hold on to the belief that in the end God is going to triumph.
Why should anyone worship God? Psalm 112 offers many reasons, describing the blessings that come to those who worship God with awe and who delight in obeying God’s commands. The children and grandchildren of godly men and women will be mighty and blessed. Wealth and riches are in their house and they use them justly to give generously and help the poor. They will be remembered, they will leave a lasting legacy. They can handle adversity and help others to do so. The godly will have courage and steadfast hearts and share in God’s ultimate triumph.
If we desire these things then let us worship God with all our heart and take pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands . Let us open our hearts to the Spirit of Christ who can guide us each day in the way that God desires for our good.