May God give us grace to be able to silence the slander of fools who speak out against our brothers and sisters in Christ.   I am about to write some very controversial words—so you might want to prepare yourself—or—set this article down or put it in the trash now.  If you have not done that, let’s proceed and talk about the sin of gossip and slander.  For several weeks we’ve been looking at the seven  “I wills” of the godly man in Psalm 101.  This week’s article deals with how the godly man handles slander and gossip.  These things one and the same because gossip spreads information to everyone except the person with whom they have the problem.  They may even be spreading accurate information, but since it is not being used to reconcile with or confront the person involved, it is destructive.  We’ve all be unfortunate enough to watch relationships damaged badly by this kind of thing.  Some of us have even watched entire churches torn apart because people did not go directly to the person with whom they were offended. 

How does the godly man handle slander and gossip?  Psalm 101:5 says this, “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I destroy.”  The word “destroy” here is a little unfortunate in its translation.  What is being destroyed in the Hebrew is the actual slander of gossip.  The word means to silence someone.  Therefore the godly man, when hearing slander of someone or gossip about them silences the speaker from going on about the situation.  

I remember a very godly man who taught me about slander and gossip saying that when he began to hear one brother speak against another—or share an offence, he would listen for a few moments until he could speak.  He did this out of respect for the person speaking to him.  Then he would say something like this, “I know that this hurt you or was offensive, but biblically you should not be sharing this with me.  You should be meeting with him—sharing it with him—and seeking to either reconcile the situation or offer rebuke if he is clearly sinning.”  After saying this he would offer to get the two men together and help them work out their problems.  If the brother would continue to try to tell him more about the offence at that point he would again politely, yet firmly say that he was not the one needing to hear this.  He would reiterate the biblical truth he did before while adding that he did not want to hear any more unless it was in the other party in the offence.  What he was doing was silencing the slander and gossip.  But he was doing much more.  He was offering an opportunity for reconciliation and healing to take place.  He was healing a breach that had happened in the body of Christ—and was grieving the Holy Spirit.  These are the actions of a godly man who has made the commitment, “I will know no evil.”  May God help each of us to be such a man.

For a couple of weeks now we have been looking at Psalm 101 and the godly man.  This week I want to do an overview of this Psalm and bring out a key trait of the godly man.  In Psalm 101 we see a pattern that is important for us if we desire to be godly.  Note throughout the Psalm you see David stating, “I will” over and over again.  He actually makes this statement about 7 different things in this chapter.  I call these 7 things “The Seven I wills of a Godly Man.”  Before we are done with the articles on this Psalm we will look at all 7 of them.  But for this week we need to get the idea of what David is doing here.

A godly man rejects a passive life—and chooses to actively pursue his relationship with God, as well as actively    oppose and renounce evil in his life.  This is an example that we do not need to miss because it highlights something that is not being emphasized in our day.  Men need to reject passivity and accept the role of leadership in their homes and in society. There is no place where this is needed more than in the area of spiritual leadership and development.  If you will note, the seven “I wills” of a godly man have to do with moral and spiritual choices.  Too many men grow up thinking that church, God, and spirituality are the stuff of women—and that their mothers and wives will take care of that area.  But this is wrong and diametrically opposed to what we see in Scripture.

God desires for a man to grow up, lay aside his toys.  Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 13:11 when he writes the following words, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”  Paul wrote this in the context of defining what love really is.  When you read this chapter you realize that love is a choice, not a feeling.  Love is a choice to deny yourself, die to what you want at the time, and live for the benefit of someone else.  The “Seven I Will’s” of a Godly Man” are choices.  They are choices that require men to die to themselves—and die to their passivity about things in life.  They choose instead to pursue a path of godliness, holiness, and love of God first, in their own lives, and then in their family.  In order to do this, many men will have to put down the toys of their youth—and begin to live for God—and then live the life of a servant of God and serve their family.  You cannot do this when you are too busy playing with man-toys like video games, fantasy football teams, and other things that dominate your time.  You will have to “do away with childish things” and give yourself to choosing  to love others.  A great start is to act on every character trait mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13—and apply it in your relationship with your wife, children, co-workers, friends, fellow church-members, and neighbors.

Guys, God has a role and the purpose for us to fulfill.  We live in a time when MEN are needed desperately in our homes, in our churches, and in our society.  Too often we have made our wives and other women fill a role God meant for us to fill.  Let us rise up from in front of the television or the computer—and become the godly men we were meant to be.  Let us be like David and make some rock-hard “I wills” in life—make choices that will make an eternal difference!

     May the Lord give you the same attitude He has when it comes to sin and wickedness.  For the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the commitments of a godly man. This week we will look at Psalm 101:4.  Here we read of a declaration by the godly man. "A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil." Let's take a closer look at this powerful declaration and learn of this commitment of the godly man.

     The godly man is committed to watching over his heart, making sure that it is in not becoming perverse.  The Hebrew word is "iqqesh" which means to be perverse or crooked.  This word speaks of a perverting of religious truth that speaks to our morals. It describes someone who twists truth so as to redefine morals. This downward redefinition makes evil and     godlessness far more acceptable.  When this kind of perversion of truth happens, a society will be gradually dumbed down concerning biblical moral standards. The godly man departs from this kind of perverse heart. He wants to have such perversity leave, go away, or turn aside from him. This kind of intense statement cannot be toned down - or we will lose the seriousness of it. The godly man wants nothing to do with the kind of perversity and deception that attempts to change godly morals. He sees such a step for the complete evil that it is.

     Moral degradation abounds in our society - and has been for over 50 years.  It has been championed since the fall - with varying degrees of success. We guard against it is by guarding our hearts. Israel tried to keep itself from sin - but it  only resulted in the Pharisaic self-righteousness of Jesus' generation. They had ample laws to try to guard the people from sin, but laws alone will not accomplish this feat. There has to be a guarding of the heart on an individual basis for us to be delivered from evil. One must call upon the Lord - and ask Him to protect our hearts from such things. There must be a grace oriented change, not just dedication to stricter laws and rules.

     The godly man makes a strong commitment. He states that he will know no evil. The word “know” here is the Hebrew word "yada." This word means to know something relationally and experientially. There is no way that we can be free from any influence of evil. That would require us leaving this world. But when evil presents itself, we can refuse to learn more. We can refuse to experience evil or weigh whether we will choose it or not. The mind of the godly man is made up - because the Word of God guides him. He will NOT know any evil experientially. He will not embrace a relationship with evil where he seeks to understand it better. His commitment and his heart is steadfast. He will know no evil - period!

Do you have the heart of a godly man? Do you have deep within you a bedrock of commitment NOT to listen to anything that will seek to pervert God's ways and God's Word? Are you standing with a heart and a head that says, "I will know no evil?" This is the heart of a godly man - therefore it is also his commitment too. He will not bend on this - for he knows that compromise with evil is how the truth is perverted - and sin raises its ugly head in his life. He chooses a strong stand here because anything less than a strong stand will most likely become a place where the wicked one will enter and eventually gain a stronghold. As committed as you are to Jesus - so also be committed to departing from perversity that mannifests itself in a twisting of the truth. Do this and you will also, in dependence on the Spirit and the Word, know no evil.                   

     May the Lord grant you grace as you are a “man of integrity” within your own home.  We continue this week in our look at the man of integrity from Psalm 101.  This week we are going to focus on what a man of integrity “looks at” within his home.  The Psalmist states the following about his desire to be a man of integrity—one who “gives heed to the blameless way.”  He says at the beginning of verse 3, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.”  Let’s take a look today at what it means to have the sight of the blameless way in our eyes. 

     The word “worthless” here is from the Hebrew word “beliyyaal” which has as its most basic meaning that of utter worthlessness.  The word always has a very strong moral component to it and therefore has the idea of wickedness and something that is good for nothing at all.  In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) this word was used as a personal name for Satan.  Those who were of the most corrupt and godless character were called, “sons of beliyyaal,” and were seen as being in rebellion against God’s moral authority.  Therefore the blameless man who seeks to maintain integrity in his home is careful not to put anything that is morally worthless and base before his eyes.  Note also that he does this by making strong choices against it.  He has a will SET in God’s direction—a will that is SET according to God’s moral compass and the Word of God.  This will not be easy in our society.  It requires hard choices—and choices that may seem legalistic to others around you.

     How do we live this way then?  How do we live as men who do not want to set any morally worthless thing before our eyes?  First, we must set the Word of God before our eyes—for through His Word God will begin clearly defining what is and is not morally worthless.  Here are a few.  In the Old Testament we are told not to look upon the nakedness of    anyone other than our wife—and that is to be done in the marriage bed as a holy thing.  Well, that pretty much rules out R-rated movies (and for that matter a large number of PG-13 rated ones where the nakedness of others is paraded   before us on a regular basis.)  Then there is the passage in Ephesians that says, “. . . And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting . . . “  Filthiness is defined by the Amplified Bible as obscenity or   indecency.”  So, all things which are in these categories are out as well.  I hate to say it, but this pretty much rules out probably 90-95% of what is on television and what is in the movie theaters.  Here is where we will hear the accusations of legalism come out.  But those who do this miss that Scripture tells us that it is the “grace of God that teaches to say no to ungodliness.” 

     Let me ask a question at this point about the moral sloppiness that is based on this “non-teaching” grace of today.  Where has it led us?  How is it morally in the church today?  Has the practice of being lenient with our eyes brought great blessing to our marriages?  Has it blessed us with great moral fiber and steadfastness?  The eyes are the windows into our souls.  What we allow to pass through them has the ability to bless us—or torture us with temptation and unnecessary trials.  A man who desires to be blameless and maintain integrity in his home will guard his eyes, and make sure that he places NOTHING worthless before them.  This is part and parcel of why he continues as a blameless man.

     This morning I was reading in my quiet time in the book of Psalms.  Today’s chapter was Psalm 101.  As I read this psalm of David, I was so blessed because this Psalm deals with how a father should walk within his own home.  David begins the psalm with a statement of commitment to the Lord.  He says, “I will give heed to the blameless way.”  Here he is declaring that his life is dedicated to living before God blamelessly and holy.  Then he makes his second declaration as he says, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.”  The two words “integrity” and “blameless” are interchangeable in Hebrew.  Thus, as David makes his commitment before God, it is one that states that he wants to walk blameless and in the highest integrity possible.  But how does one do this?  The rest of this Psalm explains this to us as we see the other commitments that come with a desire to walk in one’s house in integrity and blamelessness.  What I’d like to do for a few weeks is to look at the commitments that are necessary for a man of God to be what God desires for him to be within his home. 

     The first commitment is what I mentioned above.  A man of God needs to commit to a life of integrity within the home.  He needs to come to God and ask the Lord to work in his heart so that he is blameless   before the Lord and before his wife and children.  But who defines this “walk of integrity?“  That is answered by David in the statement he makes immediately after making this commitment.  After he says that he will give heed to the blameless way he makes a request.  That request is this, “When will You come to me?”  In saying this, David is saying two things.  First, he is committing to “giving heed” to the blameless way.  The word here speaks of discernment that is gained from listening to another.  Therefore what David commits to is to listen to someone.  This one he listens to will help him discern how to walk in life—blamelessly.  Who is this person?  David makes that clear to us when he says, “When will You come to me?”  The “You” in this verse is Jehovah God.

     To be a man of integrity and blamelessness is to be a man who daily listens to God.  To be the godly man of integrity in your home, you will need to meet with God regularly.  As you fellowship with God you will be taught how to discern between what is good and what is evil.  You will know the right way to walk—and be warned against paths that will hinder you.  They are the paths filled with roots and stumbling blocks that trip you up.  Men, spend time with God each day—seeking Him—reading His Word—talking with Him so that you begin to learn the way of integrity.  This will help you be the man of integrity your family needs within your home.  As you face the trials, temptations, and difficult decisions to be that man—may your request each day be this, “Lord, when will You come to me, teach me, strengthen me, guide me, and enable me to be a blameless man?”