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The Psalm 15 Man Contents Editorial VOLUME 40/4 MAY 2013 The Psalm 15 man Contents Editorial The Psalm 15 man (1) “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? Speaking the truth from your heart 3 He who … .” Psalm 15 requires quite a bit of thought. What is the Psalmist The Psalm 15 man (2) seeking when he asks who may abide in the LORD’s tent and dwell on His Talk the talk 5 holy hill? These questions are calculated and direct, as are the answers which present The Psalm 15 man (3) the character of a man/woman who is a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Who keeps his word 7 There is no avoiding the truth of this psalm. If you want to have fellow- The Psalm 15 man (4) ship with the Almighty God, then you need to take this psalm very, very Biographical sketches of a seriously, because it involves loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and Psalm 15 man 9 strength and your neighbour as yourself. There is no escaping the neces- Feminine focus sity for a sanctified life in thought, word and deed. It involves having your The feminine virtue of wisdom 11 heart right before the LORD. History attests to the fact that many who have lived before us were Psalm Four good reasons to read good books 12 15 men/women. Some were high-profile people who have been assigned a position among the great – as the world calls great. Yet, there is also the Books in focus 14 unknown record to which heaven can attest, of others, who we might not Focus on home call great, but, nevertheless, were Psalm 15 men and women.They are those Gleanings who in the eyes of the Lord are “the majestic ones in whom is all [His] OMB report delight”. (Psalm 16:3b) Auckland Presbytery report 16 They practised righteousness and integrity, speaking truth from the heart, Dealing with infertility: disdained slander and gossip, honoured the saints, swore to their own hurt, a man’s perspective 19 took no bribes … such a one will never be shaken. Are you a Psalm 15 man or woman? Praise God in His sanctuary – a celebration of His faithfullness 21 Mr John van Dyk heads up our articles on the “The Psalm 15 man” and Missions in focus writes about speaking the truth and what that means. Reformation teaching gaining Mr Andrew de Vries encourages us all to “Talk the talk”. a foothold in Ukraine 22 Mr Fred Braam considers what it means to keep our word. Mr Michael Flinn, Mr Bruce and Mrs Lois Hoyt and Mrs Sally Davey provide biographical sketches of Psalm 15 men. All correspondence regarding editorial content and Mrs Sally Davey reflects on the hidden treasure of wisdom. advertising should be sent to: Mr Mr Tim Challies of Challies.com, and co-founder of Cruciform Press, The Editor: gives four good reasons for reading good books. Walter Walraven Mr Michael J. Kruger reviews, A “New New Testament”: Part 1, by Hal 7 Winchester Avenue, Pinehaven Taussig. Daniel J. Dillard reviews A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Baptism, Upper Hutt 5019 Email: [email protected] by Robert Letham. Mr Charles R. Biggs reviews The Secret Thoughts of an Reformed Churches Home Page Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith, by Rosaria http://www.rcnz.org.nz Champagne Butterfield. Mrs Harriet Haverland, with the assistance of other “gleaners”, keeps us Copy Deadline: Six weeks preceding the month of publication. up to date with Gleanings from the churches. Church and family notices are free, subject to Mrs Marrianne Reinders reports on the 60th anniversay celebrations at sufficient space and editorial acceptance. the Reformed Church of Christchurch. Mr John van Dyk, editor of Christian Renewal, looks at a foothold that All correspondence regarding distribution and reformation teaching is having in the Ukraine. payment of subscriptions to: Mr Nathan Ketchen has created a cartoon called “Marty and John” which The Secretary: will appear as space permits. Mrs Nicola Wharekawa 79 McLeod Street Upper Hutt Email: [email protected] Subscription per volume: The opinions expressed in this magazine are not to be considered the official position of the $40.00 (eleven issues) Reformed Churches of NZ unless they expound the Biblical system of doctrine contained in Bulk Rate: $35.00 the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt, or the Westminster Overseas: $60.00 Confession of Faith, or reflect the successive Acts of Synod of the Reformed Churches of NZ. Electronically Mailed (overseas only): $40 On the other hand, care is taken to ensure that articles and opinions do not directly contradict the official position of the Reformed Churches as contained in the above sources without Production Staff: attention being called to that fact. Distribution: M. & D. van der Zwaag NB: In line with common publishing practice Faith in Focus reserves the right to publish the Design & Layout: Matrix Typography names of all contributors with their articles, unless compelling reasons are given to the editor Printed by: Flying Colours for not doing so. This applies to both print and online versions. 2 Faith in Focus Volume 40/4 May 2013 The Psalm 15 man (1) Speaking the truth from your heart John van Dyk a semblance of truth. However, the ap- thing when another is true, to play the parent motives are at odds with the real hypocrite. How easy it is to condemn We Christians, generally speaking, think ones which are sometimes referred to as the sin of another, putting out signals we do pretty well when it comes to ulterior motives. If the ulterior motive is that all is well with us, when in fact we speaking the truth. We would never bring not disclosed then craftiness and dishon- ourselves are harbouring even greater a false accusation against anyone, we esty have very likely occurred. sin. Jesus, using the illustration of specks would never give an untruthful answer Flattery, which is to give exces- and planks in the eye, warns us most ef- to a direct question. Would we? As a sive compliments in seeking to ingra- fectively against such acts of hypocrisy.5 famous exchange from a Gilbert and tiate oneself, also plays fast and loose Have we ever put on a brave face, Sullivan musical goes: with the truth. Flattering comments are hiding adverse circumstances, even to “What never?” often exaggerations and the motive from close friends or elders, when the truth is “No, never!” which they are made remains unvoiced. we are in a state of spiritual crisis, family “What never?” A searing observation was made by the relationships are strained to breaking “Hardly ever!”1 Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, point, serious illness has been diagnosed, Our problem is that we are prone when he wrote, “Nothing in this world or our business is near to collapse? Or, to making exceptions, we accept lapses is harder than speaking the truth, nothing conversely, have we ever ignored the and we tend to think that near enough easier than flattery.”3 fact that similar events may be occurring is good enough. At times we deliberately hold back with friends, acquaintances or brothers David, in Psalm 15:1, asks the Lord the truth, letting it out little by little, as and sisters in the Lord and pretended who may dwell in his sanctuary, who may a means of exerting power or control, that all was well? Or perhaps we have live on his holy hill. The answer: he who or of hiding our own failings. In this been aware of serious sin about which speaks the truth from his heart (v. 2b). vein Jane Austen writes, “Seldom, very our brother or sister ought to have been Too often our view of speaking the seldom, does complete truth belong to reproached and we have turned a blind truth falls far short of God’s view. If our any human disclosure; seldom can it eye. All of these are examples of dissim- view of speaking the truth is limited to happen that something is not a little ulating and all lack that truth from the avoiding false accusations and not lying disguised or a little mistaken.”4 heart that the Lord seeks in Psalm 15:2. in answer to direct questions, then our Dissimulation, the second form of dis- Diversion is the third form of dis- grasp of truth is weak indeed. Let’s begin honesty on our list, is to pretend one honesty that we want to consider. It by considering three forms of dishones- ty that violate truth in more subtle and devious ways. They are disingenuousness, dissimulation and diversion. Don’t worry if you don’t know what all of these words mean—all will be explained. Strategies of dishonesty Disingenuousness, according to the dic- tionary, is not being frank or open, being crafty. Think of the Pharisees who came to Jesus wanting to know his opinion on 2 What is paying taxes. They weren’t interested in hearing his advice, their motive was to trap him. They said to him, “We know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accord- ance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.” Although they spoke TRUTH? the truth, they did not believe it in their John 18:38 hearts. Their words were a ruse; their tactics were ones of trickery. Often a disingenuous approach has Faith in Focus Volume 40/4 May 2013 3 can take the form of carefully steer- However, because David describes the in the inmost place”8 and “Search me, O ing a conversation away from a topic truth that a man must speak as coming God, and know my heart.”9 The man of we might feel would highlight areas of “from his heart” we should also consider God shares an intimate relationship with personal weakness or guilt.
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