"The great leveller" by Rod Bayley, 16 January 2011, Psalm 49

[Danny]

While we’ve been on holidays over the New Year period I read the
biography of Jimi Hendrix, the famous rockstar from the 1960s who is
arguably still the most innovative guitarist ever. He had the poorest
of beginnings in Seattle, growing up in an African-American family
where his parents struggled to clothe and feed him, and who regularly
separated until his mother died of alcoholism when he was 15. His
father, who beat him regularly when drunk, often wasted the little
money they had. Jimi was forced to fend for himself and sponge meals
from extended family members and neighbours at an early age, and
watched as his five brothers and sisters were fostered out to other
families. Despite living from day to day as his shrinking family
moved from one government house to another, and eventually dropping
out of high school, he would have a meteoric rise to stardom and
wealth in 1967 when he was taken to England by a talent scout and
manager Chas Chandler. He literally was an overnight sensation, and
would return to the United States within twelve months and be equally
acclaimed in his home country. He was admired and welcomed by the
famous pop bands of the day, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones
and Eric Clapton in England, and went from being a penniless musician
whose father had told him to get a real job, to someone who made
$100,000 for one concert in June of 1969. You would be forgiven for
thinking that he represents a wonderful rags to riches story - but
it’s ultimately a very sobering tale. If you know anything about his
story, you’ll probably be aware that he died in 1970 from a drug
overdose at just 27 years of age. Four fleeting years of fame, of
public adulation and the wealth that followed it. His estate, though
reportedly only meagre at his death due to his reckless spending and
his financial manager siphoning off a big percentage of his earnings,
would prove to be worth millions due to the royalties on his songs.
Yet in death, he would return to how he started life - with nothing.

This morning we are going to look at the great leveller of death, and
ask the question: ‘What counts at the point of death?’ This brings us
to the first point on your outline: ‘Listen up.’ Notice again what is
stated in verses 1 to 4, which acts as an introduction:
“Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, 2both
low and high, rich and poor alike: 3My mouth will speak words of
wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding. 4I will
turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle.”

In verses one and two the writers make it clear that this is a message
for everyone - this is a universal truth which applies to all people,
from every nation, from every class of society, from every socio-
economic grouping - ‘rich and poor alike.’ It is not simply for
Israelites, for God’s old covenant people, but speaks to all people in
their common humanity. Therefore, it’s also a message for you and I
today - it’s not just a mesage that might be good for my neighbour or
my friend to hear, it’s for you and I to hear and reflect on as well.

And secondly, not only is it a universal message that cuts across any
of our society’s categories, it is wisdom worth hearing. It echoes
the terms and teaching of the book of proverbs, and the writer even
refers to his writing as a form of proverb in verse 4 - it is a wisdom
Psalm. Rather than a focus on worshipping God, it is highlighting
instruction for all people. The word translated ‘expound’ in verse 4
is literally “open”, and could mean the writers will solve their
riddle. All of this emphasises the importance of what will be said -
in this introduction the writers are setting up a big neon sign, as it
were, saying ‘Listen up.’

This brings us to the second point on your outline: “The passing
riches of this life.” Here is the main point which the writer will
make, which he unfolds from verse 5 after his attention-grabbing
introduction. Notice again what is stated from verses 5 to 10:
“Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround
me - 6those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great
riches? 7No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a
ransom for him - 8the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever
enough - 9that he should live forever and not see decay. 10For all
can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish
and leave their wealth to others.

What we see in these verses is that money can’t defeat death - no one
can pay God a ransom to avoid death. Therefore death is the great
leveller - though people might righly complain that life is not a
level playing field, with some born in wealth and others poverty, some
with great opportunity while others have none, death ends all such
disparities. Not only do rich and poor alike die, both the wise and
the foolish perish and leave whatever they managed to accumulate to
others - they are on the same footing at the point of death. Any
wealth obtained in this life counts for nothing before God.

Not only is money no help in avoiding death, it is no help in the next
life because you can’t take it with you. Notice what is stated in the
closing paragraph in verses 16 and 17:
“Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendour of his
house increases; 17for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his
splendour will not descend with him.”

The answer to the question, ‘How much did he or she leave behind?’ is
always ‘Everything.’ Of course that truth doesn’t stop people trying
to take it with them. The Egyptian Pharaoh’s often tried to take
their treasures with them, so they’d be well looked after in the next
life, such as Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922. And it
wasn’t just royalty. From the earliest periods of Egyptian history,
all Egyptians were buried with at least some burial goods. At a
minimum, these usually consisted of everyday objects such as bowls,
combs, and other trinkets, along with food. Wealthier Egyptians could
afford to be buried with jewelry, furniture, and other valuables.

Sadly, some people try to take their material possessions with them
today too. Lonny Holloway of Saluda, North Carolina was buried on
Tuesday 8th September 2009 in his car with his guns in the trunk, and
some extra cash – a $100 dollar bill placed in his pocket. The ninety
year old’s friends claimed he always said he wanted to be buried in
his 1973 Pontiac Catalina, and that’s just what happened. The unusual
burial followed a funeral service at Rock Hill Baptist Church in
Saluda, and hundreds of people were in attendance. A friend stated:
“He said ‘they’re going to have me with my hat on, driving down the
road.’ After Lonnie and his car had been buried, a concrete slab was
put atop the grave site to keep looters away from the guns or the
car. Not sure if that makess him any less foolish than the Indian
farmer in a Tamil Nadu village who loved his 1958 Morris Minor so much
he did the same in April 2007.

What is the fate of those who trust in themselves and their
possessions? Well, the Psalmist is keen to spell that out, so that no-
one will miss the sobering truth. Notice again what is affirmed in
verses 11 to 14a:
“Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for
endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves.
12But man despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts
that perish. 13This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and
of their followers, who approve their sayings. 14Like sheep they are
destined for the grave, and death will feed on them.”

It doesn’t make for light, bed-time reading does it. Trust in
yourself and the possessions you’ve lived for and you’ll perish
eternally - this is the fate of those who live for this world. If
your possessions, your comfort becomes your God, it will grab hold of
your soul and there’ll be no room for your Maker to gain your
affection. If we are misled into such a materialistic view of this
world then we like an animal, a beast that perishes without
understanding (v20).

An acquaintance of Charles Spurgeon from the 19th century, Rev. John
Leifchild, told a story about a person who attended his church but
lived for material possessions. He told how he went to offer him
consolation as he lay dying on his bed. After speaking and praying
with him, he was surprised to find him unwilling to take his hand.
The man muttered that he had not done what was right to support and
further Christianity. He then requested the minister to say what he
thought would become of him. Leifchild called on him to repent and to
reliquish all further thoughts of a worldly nature, and to trust in
Jesus for pardon, safety and salvation in that world which he was
about to enter. He gazed at Leifchild with a look of disappointment,
who asked why he looked downcast, and was told to his astonishment and
horror, that while about to breathe his last breath, the man’s hands
were under the bed clothes grasping the keys of his cabinet and his
treasures, in case they should be taken from him! It was distressing
to reflect how this man should have quit this world with his fingers
stiffened in death around the keys of his treasures.

The application of all this for the believer, who doesn’t live for
things but for God, is brought out a couple of times in the Psalm.
We’ve already seen in verses 5 and 6 that we should not “fear” thatose
who trust in their wealth and boast of their riches. And we’ve read
in verse 16 how we’re not to be “overawed” by rich people with houses
of splendour. Australian society today is fiercely materialistic -
it’s what counts, it’s often the economy that dominates politics and
money that dominates sport, and what you’re measured by as an
individual. What job do you have? That’s often the first question,
so that there is no need for the more impolite second question - how
much do you earn? They can usually work it out in ballpark figures,
and so determine where you sit in the pecking order, what your value
as a person is. And so we stick the Packers and Murdochs of this
world on a pedestal, or maybe just the Jones next door who are doing a
little better than us. Of course, such values are nonsense in God’s
economy. What happens at death determines the wisdom and value of
one’s life.

There was an Anglican bishop in the 17th century named Ezekiel Hopkins
who once wrote: “How foolish to account yourself better than another
because your trash hill is a little bigger! These things are not to
be reckoned in the value and worth of an individual. They are all
without you, and they concern you no more than fine clothes affect the
health or strength of the body. It is wealth, indeed, that makes all
the noise and bustle in the world and gathers all the respect and
honour to itself. The ignorant vulgar, whose eyes are dazzled with
pomp and bravery, pay it a stupid and astonished reverence. Yet know
this, it is only your silks and velvet, your lands, your income which
they venerate. It is not you.” Wealth is often seen as a measure of
success in this life, but it is not - it is a passing mist which God
gives and takes away. So don’t be overawed by the wealthy in this
life, and don’t be envious of the Jones next door or anyone else.
Keep a close watch on what you are honouring - don’t be drawn into the
disease of 21st century Australia which is like a spreading cancer
which Christians are certainly not immune to. If only we could
innoculate ourselves against rampant consumerism, which places more
value on things, than on people.

This brings us to the third and final point on your outline: “Being
rich towards God has its own reward.” What is the fate of those who
trust in God, rather than themselves and their possessions. Notice
again what the Psalmists state in verses 14b and 15:
“The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will
decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. 15But God will
redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.”
For the unbeliever, even one who has named lands and lived in a
princely mansion, the one piece of real estate they can continue to
occupy in this contrasting metaphor, is their grave. However, notice
firstly for the beliver, that in verse 15 he or she will be redeemed
from the grave. Here is a great contrast with verse 7, where God
demanded an unpayable ransom in order to redeem a life, to prevent
decay. God here pays the ransom himself, redeems the beliver
himself. Here is a hint, a shadow of the atonement, of the once-for-
all payment, paid by Christ’s death on the Cross, the only ransom that
could be sufficient. In Mark 10:45 Jesus would say:
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Commentators are often concerned that we cannot push the ransom
language too far in Mark 10, because we can’t think that God is making
a payment to Satan. The question is put, ‘Who is God ransoming us
from through the death of Christ? But it is clear in the context of
Psalm 49, that the ransom is from the grave or Sheol, the place of the
dead. The grave or Sheol is viewed as having custody of the sinner,
from which God redeems the believer. And so wonderfully, the
believer’s fate is quite different to the unbeliever - he or she is
bought by God. We know from the New Testament that the purchase price
was the precious blood of His eternal Son, Jesus.

Secondly, not only is the believer redeemed from the grave, but he or
she will be with God: “he will surely take me to himself.” The phrase
‘take me to himself’ is more literally ‘receive me.’ This vision of
the future infers the resurrection, but the focus here is that nothing
can separate the believer from his or her Master. God’s concern for
us is loving and active - the language here is very personal as he
takes us to Himself. And the resurrection of the dead which is only
hinted at here, is more fully revealed elswhere in the Old Testament,
before Christ’s resurrction is later described as the first fruits (1
Cor.15). In Daniel 12:2 we read: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of
the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and
everlasting contempt.”

Thirdly, the resurrection is also inferred in the description of the
believers or upright ruling over those who trusted in themselves in
verse 14. This may simply promise that the victims in this life will
turn the tables on their oppressors in the long run, but it appears to
look on to the resurrection and the activity of those God has redeemed
and brought to himself. What a comforting and contrasting fate for
those who are God’s people - to be redeemed, received and ruling with
the upright.

The application of this wonderful and undeserved inheritance which
awaits the believer is surely to long for that day, to long for
heaven. Paul makes this point several times in his writing. For
example, in Colossians 3:1-4 he states:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
But such longing is not some wistful vague reflection that sees us
simply wanting to escape our life here - it is a purposeful thinking
and living in the light of a sure and certain inheritance. It will
determine how we live now - heaven, being with God, is a very
practical doctrine which shapes our lives in this fallen world.

Do you have this single-minded focus on the future? Very few
Christians do I believe - there’s often not a lot of encouragement for
us to do it either - everyone it seems, is living for now. Our lives
are often shaped by present pressures or circumstances. How long has
it been since you thought, like the English Puritans did in the first
part of every day, about the reality of heaven which you are heading
for? See, our pragmatism today means that we think such an activity
is irrelevant - but it’s not irrelevant - our lack of future
orientation is often a guide to how much we are consumed by our own
lives.

I started this mornig by asking the question: ‘What counts at the
point of death?’ Death, the great leveller, makes the money and
possessions of this life, and our career and achievements count for
nothing, if we do not know God. What counts is to trust in God, and
the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus which pays for our sin.
The contrasting outcomes for those who trust in themselves, and those
who trust in God could not be more stark. Please consider this
universal truth which the Psalmist lays out. Our worth now, is our
worth at death.