Show Notes
In this eighth week of Epiphany, we reflect on the godly attributes of the person described in Psalm 15, and how we can bless those around us.
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Episode Transcript
Epiphany reminds us that we are all on a journey, coming out of the darkness into the ever-increasing light of God’s love. Though we will never be all that God originally intended for us to be this side of heaven, we can and should be growing more into His likeness as we surrender to the Holy Spirit’s convicting, cleansing, renewing and empowering presence in our lives.
A reading from the 15th Psalm.
Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.
A pastor has observed that a good measure of someone’s life is when the people sitting at the back at a funeral and those sitting at the front nod in agreement when the speaker says something positive about the deceased. It’s a sign that there was no incongruity in the person being remembered. They were the same up close and at a distance. Beyond family members and close friends, our work or school colleagues probably know us better than anyone else because we spend more of our time around them, which prompts a reflection. Might they nod in affirmation as we are eulogized at our funeral? As the old saying goes, if you were put on trial for being a follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you? The workplace or the school campus may not provide a pulpit for the gospel, but they do present a platform. Each day we have the opportunity to live out Kingdom principles in the way we speak and act. Do we treat others with respect and look for ways to help them, or do we view them more as just potential aids or obstacles to our own goals and responsibility? The godly person commended in Psalm 15 says what they mean and means what they say.
They are not self-seeking or manipulative, nor will they go along with something just because that’s the way everyone else does it. People know where they stand and can depend on them to be true to their word. A manager’s or supervisor’s performance review or a professor’s grade considers your actions, but a peer’s review may reveal something of your heart. What might it look like if you looked for one opportunity a day to go out of your way to intentionally bless or benefit a colleague in some way with no need for or hope of personal gain?
A reading from John chapter 15 verse 1 and then 6 through 16.
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Would you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, we recognize that when you called us to go out into the world and share the good news with all people, that didn’t just mean journeying to the far corners of the globe, but being your witnesses in the everyday, familiar places we know well and where we are well known. Show us where we may not be living congruently as your representatives. Convict us that we may repent and be renewed in your ways. As David wrote in his Psalm, may we walk blamelessly, speak truthfully and act righteously. Awaken in us, we ask, a greater awareness and concern for others. Show us ways in which we may be a help and an encouragement to them. Give us the courage to be people of conviction, but clothed in kindness when we need to be. May this be not so that others might speak well of us, but that because of our witness, they may be drawn to you, the one whose image we bear and the one whose nature and character we seek to reflect. We ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
And from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 3, verses 13 to 21.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
