“The Righteous Are Just. The Just Are Righteous.”

Psalm 1

Gimme that old time religion.

Gimme that old time religion.

Gimme that old time religion.

It’s good enough for me.

Give me that old time religion. I’m not sure many people would sing that song if they knew just what it was they were asking for. The old adage is still true: be careful what you ask for; you just might get it.

So let’s talk about that old time religion. Psalm 1 is as good a starting place as any. This psalm is an introduction to the entire Book of Psalms, which is in itself a summary of Israel’s acquired wisdom about life before God.

Today’s text contains echoes of the Book of Deuteronomy’s admonitions: Do right and live; do wrong and die. Verse six is very clear about this: “… for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” That is indeed a prime example of that old time religion.

The Lord watches over the way of the righteous. It’s important to note that the word translated as righteous can also be translated as just. To be righteous is to be just. To be just is to be righteous. You can’t have one without the other. To be righteous is to practice justice in all relationships. To be chronically unjust toward others is to be unrighteous. Another truth lifted from that old time religion.

Where do the righteous – where do the just – find their happiness? What is it that blesses them? The law of the Lord, the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Following this Law of the Lord – this Word of the Lord – leads to life. Not following it, but instead following in the way of the wicked, the sinners, and the scoffers leads to a bitter end. The choices we make are a matter of life and death. Another truth gleaned from that old time religion.

And these choices are clear. As God’s people we must resist the temptation to become like the wicked. One way of doing that is to avoid the advice of the wicked, stay off the paths of sinners, and not hang out with those who scoff at or otherwise disrespect the law of God. The best way to avoid this temptation is to fully immerse ourselves in God’s law, in God’s Word. That too is a tenant of that old time religion.

When the psalmist writes about the Law of the Lord he is writing about something that goes way beyond rules and regulations. God’s Law, that Word of God that brings blessings, is a rich tradition of teachings that instruct us about God’s intentions for us and creation. Or to put it another way, the Law contains practical instructions as to what kind of behavior constitutes a proper response to God’s love. Such behavior is measured in terms of justice and righteousness. Chalk up another one to that old time religion.

Writes Carolyn Waters, “For the people of the Hebrew Bible, the law of the Lord is everything. It is the order of personal and family life. It is protection and security. The law in some sense is the presence of God in the life of the Hebrew people. To delight in the law, to reflect and be aware of the law at all times is the religious practice of the Hebrew people.” God’s law then is a list of things we do or don’t do; it is a way of life. That old time religion is a matter of living a life approved by God.

Jesus made it clear that he came to fulfill the Law not abolish it, but this fulfillment was never to be a matter of strict legalisms. To again quote Carolyn Waters, “As people of the New Testament, we have been given a new law. Along with the command to love God, the law of loving one’s neighbor trumps all other laws… The law of loving is a more difficult law than all the other laws…” Those who practice that old time religion are more aware of this than anyone.

Although we are saved by grace not works, and although perfectly keeping God’s Law is a human impossibility, we are still called, as followers of Jesus, to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our strength; and to furthermore love our neighbors as ourselves. One of the ways we show our love for God is to act lovingly toward one another. We cannot claim to be in a right relationship with God if we are chronically unrighteous toward our neighbor, if our behavior toward that person is continually unjust. That’s why from time to time we need to ask God to forgive us our failures to love him and one another rightly. That’s why it’s so important to take the advice of Psalm 1.

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.” We are blessed when we choose life over death and light over darkness. We are able make such choices because we have taken to heart the full implications of following God’s Word. You guessed it; that too is a reality of that old time religion.

Give me that old time religion. What does that mean in terms of living as a Christian in 21^st Century America? What are the implications of loving the Lord our God with the very best of who we are for Christians in Prince George’s County, Maryland? What are the implications of loving our neighbors as ourselves? What does it mean to live out the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount? How are we the people of Grace Presbyterian Church to practice living justly and rightly?

This past week I took part in a Face Book conversation with other pastors that was instigated by my cousin Tim, a United Methodist pastor in Virginia. His concern was dealing with political issues from the pulpit. The best answer in all of this, some of it coming from me, is that we are to wrestle with the text and follow where it leads us. If in being faithful to Scripture we end up touching on things political, so be it. We don’t endorse particular candidates. We don’t become shills for any one party. As much as is humanly possible we let our theology form our politics instead of vice-versa.

One of the pastors involved in the conversation wrote of dealing with the issues of hunger and poverty from a strictly biblical position and then being accused of dispensing Democratic Party propaganda rather than preaching a sermon. Why? The truth is that proclaiming the realities of that old time religion from its biblical basis is going to step on toes, just like it did when the classical prophets did it and just like it did when Jesus did it.

That’s because it is impossible to proclaim that old time religion as it is described in Scripture without at some point touching on the Christian response to issues like hunger, homelessness, crushing poverty in the developing world, racial prejudice, or a host of other ills brought about by the unrighteousness and injustice that are blessed by our surrounding culture.

Yet people still cry out for biblical preaching, still clamor for that old time religion. But what they are often wishing for is a return the so-called good old days that mostly never were, or wanting to hear sermons based on those Scriptures that make them comfortable and reinforce their beliefs. One of the things I’ve discovered about myself and other Christians is that we want to interpret Scripture literally only up to that point where we don’t like what it says. That’s not the way that old time religion works.

Give me that old time religion. It’s good enough for me. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s not. But like it or not, it is what it is. In closing let me share with you that old time religion in the form of sound bites. These are taken from Amos 5, Micah 6, and Luke 4. “… let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” “… and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

You want that old time religion? That is the old time religion that was good enough for Moses, good enough for the psalmist, good enough for the prophets, and good enough for Jesus. Amen.