Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19980215.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One Hundred And One - God's Guide For Choosing The Right KIND Of People To SERVE Us
(Psalm 101:1-8)
  1. Introduction
    1. In our society, we are occasionally put into the position of selecting people to work under us as subordinates in business or as our elected representatives in government.
    2. At times our choices may be good, and at other times they may be not so good, or even dreadful to the costly decline of the business or our society's welfare!
    3. In seeking to make the right choice, we thus need the guidelines of God, and Psalm 101:1-8 gives us a guide on selecting the right kind of people as employees or elected government representatives.
  2. God's Guide For Choosing The Right KIND Of People To SERVE Us, Ps. 101:1-8.
    1. In seeking God's approval and fellowship (Ps. 101:2a), David promised to walk in his relationships with others of his household with a blameless heart, Ps. 101:2b.
    2. Well, as Israel's king, David was responsible to make sure that he chose the right kind of subjects around him so that his reign wouldn't be polluted with sin that detracted from God's blessings. Accordingly, this psalm, as intimated by the last part of verse 6 deals with qualities in people that David knew he had to have around him to enjoy God's blessing on his realm.
    3. Well, David knew that he needed to have no vile plan in his administration, that he needed to stay true to the truth without falling from it, Ps. 101:3a,b. Accordingly, he knew he needed to select people around him with the following qualities as enumerated in verses 4-7:
      1. Quality One - David needed to select people for his household subjects who were straightforward, not twisted or perverted in outlook or motives, Ps. 101:4.
      2. Quality Two - David needed to select people for his household subjects who did not slander their neighbors, but who protected the reputations of others, Ps. 101:5a.
      3. Quality Three - David needed to select people for his household subjects who were humble, not arrogant and proud in relation to others, Ps. 101:5b.
      4. Quality Four - David needed to select people for his household subjects who were reliable, faithful to God as opposed to unreliable, Ps. 101:6a.
      5. Quality Five - David needed to select people for his household subjects who were above reproach in their reputations, not those with all sorts of damaging reputation baggage, Ps. 101:6b.
      6. Quality Six - David needed to select people for his household subjects who practiced what they preached rather than who performed in life's actions deceitfully, Ps. 101:7a.
      7. Quality Seven - David needed to select people for his household subjects who spoke truthfully rather than who lied, Ps. 101:7b.
    4. In summary, David claimed that he would daily put to silence the wicked in his realm, that he would judge the guilty from God's city so that he would enjoy God's fellowship blessings in his kingdom, 10 1:8, 2a.
Lesson: (1) If we want to enjoy God's providential blessings on our business or government, we who SELECT employees for the business or who SELECT elected officials to serve in government must make the RIGHT choices! (2) Those RIGHT choices can be found by our selecting people who (a) are straightforward, not twisted in their dealings (v. 4), who (b) do not slander but protect the reputations of others (v. 5a), who (c) are humble, not arrogant before others (v. 5b), who (d) are reliable, not unfa ithful to their commitments (v. 6a), who (e) are above reproach with their personal reputations, not bearing lots of "baggage" (v. 6b), who (f) practice what they say instead of saying one thing and doing another (v. 7a), who (g) speak the truth without lyi ng (v. 7b). (3) We must be CONSISTENTLY DILIGENT to weed out bad officials and bad employees and keep those who are good if we would enjoy God's continual blessing on our realm of business or government!

Application: It takes VIGILANCE on the part of those who hire employees or on the part of the electorate to make sure that there are the right KINDS of people in place to bring God's blessing!