Psalm 101: Lifestyle Worship Part I

Psalm 101: 1 – 3 A Psalm of David asking God 

to help him live righteously & govern justly 

Lifestyle Worship:   

Psalm 101:1 “I will sing (šîr [sheer] = sing, the idea of strolling minstrelsy, from the root word šûr [shoor] = to travel, journey, to go) 

will I sing (zāmar = sing praise, make music, play a musical instrument)

- a minstrel is one who plays an instrument, usually roaming

- implies singing [praise] wherever you go = as you do life

 As you do life… as you get up… as you make breakfast... as you go about your day… as you raise your family… as you take care of business… as you engage with the community… wherever you go… whatever you do… have an attitude & mindset of worship.

Realistically, you cannot continuously praise God with every word you speak because we must engage in conversation with others: people, stores, the bank, customers & customer service, etc; so not every single word that comes out of your mouth is, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” or “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! He is worthy to be praised!” but the mindset of worship should always be, for lack of a better term, an app running in the background.

Psalm 101:2a “I will behave myself wisely (śāḵal = prudent, wisely understand, have insight) 

in a perfect (tāmîm = wholesome, having integrity) way. 

- integrity = private life/public life are the same = not putting up a front

Matthew 15:8 “They worship Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me”

James 1:18 “A double – minded man is unstable in all his ways”

Jekyll & Hyde

The concept of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde is that it’s two different personalities inhabiting one body; in his case it physically transformed him. There are many people, Christians included, who have Jekyll & Hyde syndrome: they act one way away from church & act another way within church. They’ll engage in abuse of their spouse or families during the week then walk into the church building & raise their hands, sing, worship & act like the perfect follower of Christ. 

I personally know some Christians who are in the bar Saturday night & in the front row (or the platform) Sunday morning… I know others who decry fornication/preach purity but secretly & regularly watch porn…  This is not walking in tāmîm = wholesomeness, integrity. 

Psalm 101:2b I will walk (hālaḵ = live, manner of life, walk about) 

within my house (bayiṯ = dwelling habitation, household, human bodies) 

with a perfect (tōm = integrity, innocence, simplicity) 

heart (lēḇāḇ = mind, knowledge, thinking, seat of appetites, seat of emotions, seat of passions, seat of courage) 

As you do life, (& that’s all encompassing/all aspects) live it in integrity, innocence & simplicity of heart. We as humans have a tendency to complicate everything: life, love, God, etc when in actuality, it’s quite simple:

Matthew 22:37 “Jesus replied, love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind.”

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

2 Corinthians 1:12 “For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.”

Living in integrity & simplicity can supercharge your worship. 

Psalm 101:3 "I will set (šîṯ [sheeth] = put, set mind to) 

no wicked (bᵊlîyaʿal = worthless, good for nothing, unprofitable, ruin, destruction) 

thing (dāḇār = speech, word, occupation, acts) 

before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; 

it shall not cleave (dāḇaq = cling, stick to, join to, overtake) to me.”

The eyes are the windows to the soul, guard your eye gates & your ear gates, be mindful of what you’re watching & what you’re hearing: worthless, unprofitable, ruinous, destructive speech, activities/acts; dark things that can cling to us/overtake us or cause the soul to dominate.

We all wrestle with things… David, who wrote this beautiful psalm, who was a man after God’s own heart, was on a rooftop & caught sight of a woman bathing & lingered too long on that which caused his flesh to take over & put into motion a series of tragic events.

I know a worship leader who was flipping through the channels on a Saturday night with their spouse & came across a horror movie, which they watched then went to bed. The following morning, they led worship & it was off, way off. Some elders confronted them after the worship & asked what was going on as they all saw “something” on them that affected the worship. The couple admitted to watching something they shouldn’t have, they repented, the elders prayed over them & cast off whatever it was that was cleaving to them & from that point forward, the couple was very mindful of their eye/ear gates. They learned firsthand the truth of Psalm 101. 

Related Scripture:

Philippians 4 “Think on these things...”

I Cor 6:19 – 20 = “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you... 

glorify (doxazō = hold in honor) God in your body.”

Romans 12:1 “present (paristēmi = to present a person for another to see and question, to bring into one's fellowship or intimacy) your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable to God, which is your spiritual (logikos = pertaining to speech) worship (latreia = ministration/ministry).”

Ephesians 4:17 – 5:7 “you must no longer walk (peripateō = to regulate one’s life, to conduct oneself) as the Gentiles do...  they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity... but that is not the way you learned (manthanō = to learn by use and practice, to be in the habit of, accustomed to) Christ!”

I Timothy 4:12 “Let no one despise you for your youth, 

but set the believers an example (typos = to be imitated) 

in word (logos = speech, of the moral precepts given by God), 

in conversation (anastrophē = manner of life, conduct, behavior), 

in charity (agapē = affection), 

in spirit (pneuma = the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides), 

in faith (pistis = faithfulness, the character of one who can be relied on), 

in purity (hagneia = sinlessness of life).”

The word “conversation” here is not an exchange of words or communication between people, it means manner of life, conduct & behavior. The same phrase used in Psalm 101 & 1 Timothy 4; as you do life, be rooted in God, watered in worship.

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us

cleanse (katharizō = to free from defilement of sin and from faults, to purify from wickedness, to consecrate) ourselves from every 

defilement (molysmos = an action by which anything is defiled from molynō = to pollute, contaminate, stain; used in NT of those who have not kept themselves pure from the defilements of sin, who have soiled themselves by fornication and adultery) of body and spirit, 

bringing holiness (hagiōsynē = moral purity) [to completion] in the 

fear (phobos = reverence for one’s husband) of God.”

I’m going to close with another psalm written by the same man who wrote Psalm 101:

Psalm 34:1b “I will bless (bāraḵ = to bless, to kneel, adore) the Lord 

at all (kōl = all, the whole of, any, each, every, totality) 

times (ʿēṯ = time, experiences, occurrence, occasion), 

His praise (tᵊhillâ =   adoration, thanksgiving to God) 

shall continually (tāmîḏ = perpetuity, to stretch) be in my mouth.”

At all times = as you do life (Psalm 101), you need to zamar, tehilla & bāraḵ.

All experiences/occasions… every experience/occasion… is an opportunity to praise & worship the Lord & to develop a lifestyle of worship.

If want to see both your personal worship & corporate worship explode, daily ask the Holy Spirit:

- to help you live a pure, simple, holy life

- to reveal & unveil Jesus to you

- to teach you how to worship in Spirit & in truth because of that revelation

- to show you how to live “lifestyle worship”