A King with Integrity

At some point this week, I will turn the corner from Christmas, look to the New Year, and start plan-making and goal-setting. But not today. The day after Christmas is for staying home, playing with new toys, heating up leftovers, and watching bowl games in pajamas. So we may find Psalm 101 a little intense: the stern moral resolutions and stark descriptions of sin. The confessions of hatred for various people. The oaths to go on a day-by-day rampage against evil-doers. Not exactly the cozy vibes of It’s a Wonderful Life reruns. *Maybe* Psalm 101 could pass for an over--caffeinated New Year’s Resolution devotional, but we’re not ready for it on December 26.

This Royal Psalm should challenge us, but it also preaches the good news of King Jesus. Psalm 101 is David’s pledge to live with integrity before the Lord: to be whole and undivided. David wants to be the same person on the inside, before God, as the person he presents on the outside, to people. The same person in private as in public, at church, at home, and at work. He wants to honor God in every area of his life, all the time. He wants to be “steadfast” like Yahweh himself. It’s a worthy prayer for all of us.

But—and this is the key to all these Royal Psalms—David is not just making these resolutions as a private individual. He is the King of Israel. This is important, because the way the King lived affected all the people under him. He represented them. So an obedient king attracted God’s covenant blessing on the people; a disobedient king attracted God’s covenant curse. God lays all of this out in Deuteronomy, and then we see it illustrated in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Israel flourishes when kings like David and Solomon walk closely with God; they get hit with droughts, famines, and enemy invasions under low-lifes like Ahab and Ahaz. A king who lacked Psalm 101-integrity was bad news for the people. It’s how they wind up in exile.

That’s why God’s people sang Psalm 101 with deep feeling. They longed for a king with integrity, because that’s the only kind who can save them! They know they desperately need a covenant leader who will do what David promises here: to resist sin personally and enforce God’s standards publicly. Who will love good, hate evil, and purify the city of Yahweh. The people’s future depended on a king like that. Even David himself had failed to live up to these promises…maybe the Messiah to come would be different.

At Christmas, we got our Psalm 101 King. We had failed to live with integrity, but this little baby had a heart resolved to be blameless. Nothing worthless before his eyes. No deceit on his lips. Purely loving good and hating evil. But at the end of his life, he did not search out and destroy all the evildoers in the land. He got driven from the land and destroyed. God searched out all the sins in our lives and placed them on his Son at the cross, so he could receive our punishment. Praise God for this substitute!

Now, Jesus the Psalm 101 King wants to rule in our hearts, carrying out this integrity-agenda in our lives through the Holy Spirit. He wants to bring every thought and attitude under his Lordship, so that we honor him from the inside-out. Morning by morning he carries out this work of our sanctification. Whatever else we do (or don’t do) today, let’s yield to that holy work. Even in the soft glow of the day after Christmas, let’s resolve to withhold no area of our lives from him. When the King returns, he will rule all the earth with Psalm 101 integrity. Let’s get ready for that bright future!

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church