Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 12:2
Meditate On This:
Psalm 5 and Evangelism
by Kenton Spratt
Psalm 5 is not only a portion of Scripture, it is also (and not entirely coincidentally) the title of a common chorus. Unlike the Psalm, the chorus has a rather serious flaw. And this flaw has some relation to our distorted modern gospel.
The chorus begins, "Give ear to my words O-o-oh Lord, consider my meditation..." And from this beginning to the end, there is nothing wrong with what it says. The words, after all, come directly from the first three verses of the Psalm. What, then, is the problem?
The problem is that the chorus, in spite of being sung in stained glass tones, doesn't supply any words for the Lord to give to, nor does it provide a meditation for the Lord to consider. Any words supplied by the modern religious imagination are unlikely to be the type of meditation that David had in mind. Singing the chorus is a bit like reciting the Apostle's Creed (with real conviction in our voice), but stopping after the part that goes, "I believe in..." It supplants the importance of what we sing with the emotional fervor of how we sing.
Had we been singing the full calorie version of Psalm 51, as we ought to have been, we might have had good reason to long ago suspect and then reject a gospel which begins by assuring unbelievers that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life..."2 Does He really? Says who?
We find in David's meditation words which state quite the opposite: "You hate all workers of iniquity" (vs. 5). Now that not only contradicts the modern gospel, but mentioning such things in most modern worship services would be like putting water on flames. However, this meditation has the very opposite effect on David. Psalm 5 is a jubilant celebration of God's mercy and favor: "Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You" (vs. 11).
In the modern church we want the celebration of the end of Psalm 5 without the preceding content. We want the joy of the sunrise without the darkness of night. We persuade unbelievers that God loves them and then wonder why it rings so hollow when we assure believers of the same thing. What's the big deal? The big deal is that at one time we "were by nature children of wrath, just as the others [unbelievers]" (Eph. 2:3). God has rescued us from our well-deserved judgment and taken us into his eternal protection and blessing!
Assuring unbelievers that God loves them contradicts the Scriptures. In the Scriptures the knowledge of God's love is the most precious knowledge of believers (Eph. 2:4-7; 1 Jn. 3:1). Against this modern Christians are likely to quote the oft-misused John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world...") and combine that with a little syllogism to arrive at the truth, "God loves all who do wrong." The only problem with this is that the conclusion isn't true. Just two verses later John states "but he who does not believe is condemned already..." (Jn. 3:18). You can't twist the motivation behind God sending Christ into a statement of God's relationship with unbelievers that flatly contradicts the immediate and wider context of the Bible.
Some might argue, "But doesn't God tell us to love our enemies? And doesn't He tell us to do this so that we will be like our Father in Heaven? Therefore, doesn't God love His enemies?" And the answer, of course, is that God does love His enemies. His enemies. The ones whose "end is destruction" (Phil. 3:19). God loves (i.e. treats better than they deserve) those whom He hates (i.e. is righteously angry at and will ultimately destroy unless they repent). The unbeliever, in terms of his relationship with God, is under God's condemnation, is an object of God's wrath, is hated by Him - even while God gives him good gifts like sunshine and rain (Mt. 5:43-45).
One dodge to soften the blow of this Biblical truth to our minds comes in the form of the oft-repeated falsehood: "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." But that is not what Psalm 5 says. The statement is, in fact, absurd. Is it drunkenness that will spend eternity in hell, or Dan, the drunkard? Is it idolatry that is "condemned already," or Ian, the idolater? You cannot drive such a wedge between the sin and the sinner. God hates all who do wrong.
Hate, to be sure, is a strong word. When we use it we must be careful to clean it up of all ideas that are unworthy of God. Although human hatred is often malicious, cruel, irrational, and capricious, none of these ideas are present when we speak of the hatred of God. When we say that God hates all who do wrong, we mean that God has an intense, active, and righteous dislike of unbelievers. As the Psalm affirms, God will destroy those who tell lies (vs. 6). He cannot stand them in His holy presence. These are terrifying words.
But what happens to our Gospel message? Most modern Christians, if they acknowledged this Biblical truth, wouldn't know what to tell unbelievers anymore. What incentive do we hold out to unbelievers hated by a holy God to repent and believe in Jesus Christ? According to the Scriptures the incentive we hold out is (1) God's command (Acts 17:30, 31), (2) Christ's promises (Jn. 6:35, 47), and (3) Christ's willingness to receive them who repent and trust the promise of Christ to rescue them (Mt. 11:28; Jn. 6:37). Christ is King! Bow your knee in obedience and accept the gracious promises and invitations of your ruler. He is willing to show you mercy.
When we lie to unbelievers we destroy them. Imagine Christian in Pilgrim's Progress receiving the modern gospel. What would have ever prompted his journey? I would suggest that Christian would still be with his family, comfortably enjoying the amenities afforded in the city of Destruction - until it was too late.
Let us consider David's meditation. Let us sing all of his words heartily. Let us recover the Biblical gospel. for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Footnotes:
1. I highly recommend the excellent rendition of this Psalm found in Cantus Christi (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2002). The music is congruent with the content, and the content is, well, there.
2. Since 1964 the booklet The Four Spiritual Laws has been popularizing this message for evangelism. According to this website, approximately 1.5 billion copies have been printed.
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