Sermon from July 8, 2007
Peter Singer teaches Bioethics at Princeton University. On a website of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), someone posed to him the following question: “If you had to save either a human being or a mouse from a fire, with no time to save them both, wouldn’t you save the human being?”
He said, “Yes, in almost all cases I would save the human being. But not because the human being is human, that is, a member of the species Homo sapiens. Species membership alone isn’t morally significant.” (<http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html> accessed Monday, May 7, 2007)
He also said, “I use the term ‘person’ to refer to a being who is capable of anticipating the future, of having wants and desires for the future. . . . So killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living.” (ibid) He has articulated this point of view in books (e.g., Practical Ethics, 2nd Edition) and many other written and spoken ways.
We may wonder that an elite university would install a man with such views as Professor of Bioethics. Professor Singer and others who share his views have in the words of C. S. Lewis “sacrificed their own share in traditional humanity in order to devote themselves to the task of deciding what ‘Humanity’ shall henceforth mean.” (C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (New York:the Macmillan Company, 1968, 76))
Those of us who have a share within traditional humanity have an ancient and coherent understanding of what it means to be human in a morally significant way. I stand within traditional humanity, and I have written a longer answer to Dr. Singer’s idea than I can give in this sermon. You can pick up a copy of what I have written in the reception room. It also explains more of the reasons why many people also seek alternatives to abortion and human embryonic stem cell research.
What I want to do in this sermon is more basic. Psalm one states a general understanding of the moral world that we inhabit in a clear and simple way. Don’t let its brevity and simplicity mislead you. The psalm gives Israel’s vision of the underlying moral structure of the universe. Let’s look at it more carefully.
Pathways in Contrast
In this vision we find no shades of gray. Sharp edges separate light and dark. With great moral clarity Psalm One presents moral man with three contrasts. Verses 1-2 present pathways in contrast. Verses 3-4 present consequences in contrast. Verses 5-6 present destinies in contrast. We begin with pathways in contrast in verses 1-2.
In this world of moral clarity the first word of the Psalm, blessed, puts the stamp of approval on those who make their home within the God-given moral structure of the universe. The English Bible uses the word blessed to translate two different words in the Old Testament. One interpreter says that in Psalm 1:1 the word means “to be envied with desire” (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, 80). In other words the ideal person of Psalm one is to be admired and imitated, because he has rejected all other pathways and has chosen God’s pathway for humanity. Verses 1-2:
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Let’s be patient with this text and allow its meaning to emerge. Verse one mentions the wicked, sinners and mockers. All refuse God’s pathway for humanity. What I want you to notice is their social character.
For example, the counsel of the wicked suggests shared experiences and a shared outlook on life. The wicked are people with friendships, common goals, old scores to settle, and a powerful sense of belonging. Most importantly, they embody values. They embody moral values. Their social ties to each other make those values credible; they can see those values lived out in the lives of people they admire. Unfortunately, their values contradict God’s pathway for humanity.
Right away, we have to deal with a potential problem. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, does not stand in the way of sinners, does not sit in the seat of mockers. Verse one makes blessedness depend on the refusal to be integrated into their values, friendships, goals, old scores to settle and sense of belonging. The moral structure of the universe requires of us a kind of social detachment.
So, should we avoid people whose values differ from ours? That’s the potential problem the verse causes. The New Testament helps us here. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church not to associate with certain immoral people; then he wrote: not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
The issue is not daily contact with the wicked, sinners and mockers of the world, but where do you go for moral affirmation as a human being? If we find that kind of affirmation among people who scorn our faith, it will affect the credibility of our faith. It can undermine our faith. So, where do we go for moral affirmation as a human being?
Verse two points to the pathway of the blessed. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. When we hear about the law of the LORD, we think of rules to keep. That doesn’t tell the whole story of Psalm One or the Old Testament. We need to understand this word law better.
We are somewhat familiar with the Hebrew word, which verse two translates as law. It is Torah. The Torah had plenty of rules to keep, but they were rules to govern a relationship of love between God and Israel. The Torah was the covenant that bound God and Israel together. It also bound the people of Israel to each other.
The Torah created among them shared experiences and a shared outlook on life. These became people with friendships, shared goals, old scores to settle, and a powerful sense of belonging. Most importantly, they embodied values. They embodied moral values. Their social ties to each other made those values credible. They could see those values lived out in the lives of people they admire. Those values embodied God’s pathway for humanity.
In other words, verse two makes blessedness depend on integration into the values, friendships, goals, old scores to settle and sense of belonging to God’s covenant with Israel. The moral structure of the universe requires social attachment. That’s what it means to delight . . . in the law of the LORD and meditate on it day and night.
Consequences in Contrast
Next, we look at the consequences that follow, once we’ve chosen which pathway to follow through life in verses 3-4.
Verse three begins with the consequences for those who delight . . . in the law of the LORD and meditate on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Fruitfulness and prosperity mark those who travel God’s pathway for humanity. Integration into the society of God’s people makes us into a forest of evergreens, each of which in season bears the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
It also prospers us materially. It sounds strange to hear me talk about material prosperity as an outcome of spiritual life, doesn’t it? Let me continue my assault on your tender ears with a pointed statement. Many people who aren’t spiritual can prosper materially, and many people who are spiritual don’t prosper materially. But failure to prosper materially in this nation with our educational and political privileges is a telltale symptom of spiritual illness.
Let me be more pointed. If you benefit from the ministry of this church and don’t give generously to this church, because you are overextended financially or personally indifferent, it is a telltale symptom that something serious is amiss in your soul. It almost certainly means that you are looking somewhere besides the people of God for moral affirmation as a human being. You may be walking in the counsel of the wicked.
Now, if integration into the society of God’s people makes us into a forest of evergreens, what streams of water irrigate this forest? First and closest to hand are the values, friendships, goals, and sense of belonging to God’s covenant with His people. Think of them as rivulets of water that run through this forest and give it life.
Second, the teaching office of the Church offers deeper and wider streams that nourish us. I am at present listening to a 12-lecture series on Augustine, a Church Father from the fifth century. His large stream feeds into and overflows the banks of my little stream, and as a result I have that much more to pass along to you, my congregation whom I love and long for.
Third, deepest and widest is the mainstream of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus described as streams of living water flow(ing) from within all 2.3 billion Christians in the world today – John 7:38-39. And right here we come to a second potential problem. I have described the consequences for those who delight . . . in the law of the LORD and meditate on it day and night. Verse four describes the contrasting consequences for those who choose a pathway outside the will of God.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
That implies consequences that are barren and do not prosper materially. But I have already said that many people who aren’t spiritual can prosper materially, and many people who are spiritual don’t prosper materially. That states the problem clearly, and it’s more than a potential problem; it is a real and present problem. I’d like to presume on your patience and defer an answer until next Sunday. The children of Israel felt this problem personally and nationally. They filled the Psalms with their perplexity at how often life did not conform to the alleged moral structure of the universe.
Destinies in Contrast
Finally, we look at the contrasting destinies of those who, on one hand, walk in the counsels of the wicked and those who, on the other hand, delight in the law of the Lord for a lifetime. Verses 5-6:
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
God bless the translators of the NIV that they should translate verse six: the LORD watches over the way of the righteous. The KJV gave the proper rendering: the LORD knows the way of the righteous. He knows their way as he knows His own mind, which is the source of the way of the righteous. He knows it is the only path to life. All other paths peter out in swamps and cliff edges and pathless wastelands.
You can already see the potential problem here. The Children of Israel saw it and agonized over it and wrote it and filled the Psalms with it. The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men – Psalm 12:8. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? – Psalm 11:3.
I’ll tackle this problem next Sunday and the Sunday after that, when we take up the writings of that edgy, Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk. But a personality trait of our generation makes this problem uniquely difficult.
When Psalm 1:6 says that the way of the wicked will perish, we expect their way to perish now. We have instant oatmeal, 300 channels at the touch of a button, and Macdonald’s your way. We also want instant life. I hope I can encourage in us a longer perspective. The moral structure of the universe marches to its own drumbeat.
The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The moral structure of the universe! What a high-sounding phrase! To what can I compare it, or what parable shall I use for it? When I was a young boy, the three blocks of Fredrica Avenue brimmed over with boys, many of us within one or two years of each other. My family lived in the second block. Twin boys, Billy and Bobby Howell lived in the third block.
Bobby Howell and I must have been about 12 years old. We were riding our bikes together near his house. These were one-speed bikes. We had never seen ten-speed bikes. And they had nice, wide, comfortable seats, unlike seats on ten-speeds that threatened to become part of a biker’s anatomy. You know what I mean.
Bobby and I were riding side by side. He was close to the curb; I was closer to the center of the street. We were talking to each other with both hands on our bike handles and looking down at the street just in front of the bike. And suddenly, Bobby disappeared. One moment he rode beside me; the next moment I rode alone. With his head down he had driven his bicycle into the rear end of a parked car.
When Professor Singer tells us that “killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person,” his head is down, and he is about to hit the rear end of a parked car. The counsel of the wicked is always sooner or later on a collision course with the moral structure of the universe.
But the Lord knows the way of the righteous. He made the way of the righteous. He is the way of the righteous. It will never perish, because He will never perish.
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