For our communion meditation I want us to consider making a New Year's Resolution to Walk Uprightly Within Our Homes. It's one thing to walk uprightly when we are around church people or others at work, but this passage challenges us to have an upright heart within our homes - which is a far tougher challenge. Hear God's Word:

Psalm 101_2-3 2 I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.

Introduction

If there is any place where Christians struggle to walk with a perfect heart, it is at home. Home is where we want to relax, be ourselves, and where the mask tends to come off. Of course, David would say that we shouldn't have a mask, but the reality is that many of us are willing to say and do things at home that we might not say or do in public. We tend to put on our “spiritual face” at church — but that mask can easily come off as soon as we get into the car. David didn't want to be like that. He wanted to live a sincere Christian life that was consistent at home and in public. He says, “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” If our faith is a genuine faith, it will indeed govern our homes as well as our public activities. And Psalm 101:2-3 gives us three things that can help us to make this New Year's Resolution.

Behave Wisely at Home (v. 2)

First, David says, "I will behave wisely in a perfect way." As David and most people know, a great deal of our troubles come from failing to act wisely with those that we are closest to.

With your spouse (1 Peter 3:7)

It could be with our spouse. 1 Peter chapter 3 commands wives and husbands to be models of conduct, attitudes, and actions, constantly seeking to reflect the Lord in our marriages. But that's hard to do apart from grace. We are called to please each other, minister to each other, give honor to each other, and to make our home a launching pad of ministry. And Peter ends that section by a summarizing his reason - that we are "heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." It's easy for a husband who has worked hard all day to just lean back and expect to be pampered. After all, he has brought home the paycheck, and it is now his time to relax. Or is it? But wives can face a similar temptation - having worked hard all day, having fussed with the children all day, it is easy for her to feel sorry for herself and hope to be pampered a bit as a reward for her labors. While there is some merit to those thoughts, God wants us to model Christ's self-sacrificing service to others. After a long day's work, Jesus washed His disciples feet. After a long day's work, Jesus on other occasions ministered in other creative ways to His disciples. It's worth thinking about what God would have us do when we get together with our spouses.

With your children (Ephesians 6:4)

Another area that we could behave more wisely on sometimes is with our children. Ephesians 6:4 tells us fathers not to provoke our children to wrath, but to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. It is possible to raise children unwisely. We can easily provoke them by careless words, sinful habits, and double standards. Children absorb everything, and it is natural for them to imitate us parents. When we talk or act unwisely, we model those sins to our children. No one watches us more closely—or imitates us more—than our children.

With your possessions

Another way to behave wisely in our homes is with our possessions. Everything we own belongs to God. Blessings and possessions can become curses if they pull us away from obedience. God can remove our possessions - or worse, allow us to keep them while reaping long-term consequences. Wisdom does not simply ask, “Can I afford this?” but, “Does this honor the Lord?” Or "Will this help me better serve the Lord?"

With the Lord in your home (Deuteronomy 6:6–9)

And we cannot act wisely in our homes if our homes ignore Jesus most of the time. The home should be a place of Scripture, prayer, and godly conversation. If Jesus rules our lives, He must rule our living rooms. So that's David's first resolution.

Behold Purity in Your Home (v. 3)

The second thing that David makes as a resolution is, “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.” What we allow into our homes shapes our souls.

In what we display

If our home doesn't belong to us - if it belongs to the Lord, then even what we display in our homes (such as decorations, art, books) should reflect that stewardship. If we would change what we display if Jesus were a dinner guest in our home, then we might want to ask, "Why?"

In what we watch

But its not just what we display, but also what we watch. We need to realize that entertainment is not neutral. When we welcome profanity, rebellion, immorality, or violence into our homes via movies, we should not be surprised when those things show up in our children. We are vigilant when we are out in the world, but we should also be vigilant on what of the world makes it into our homes. I am astonished at the movies some people watch. Some movies Christians watch are defiling and certainly do not invite the Lord's blessing.

Identify with the Godly (v. 6)

The third resolution David made was that he was only willing to identify with the godly. It says, "I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me." This doesn't mean that he never interacted with ungodly people; he did. It did not mean he was unkind to ungodly people. He was very kind to king Saul. But it did mean that he was not willing to identify with them, laugh at their dirty jokes, agree with their bad decisions just to be friends, turn a blind eye to their pilfering from the boss, or in any way show tacit approval for their godless lifestyle. Let me give you three examples of how to implement David's resolution.

Doctrinal wickedness (2 John 10)

The first example is to not invite heretics into the home. I failed on this point when I was twenty years old. In my eagerness to evangelize Mormons or JWs who came to the door, I would invite them into the house and dialogue with them. But 2 John 10 is quite clear. It says,

2John 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

Let me clarify that do not greet him does not mean you don't say "Hi. How are you?" It means you don't say "Shalom or Peace," God Bless you, or equivalents. And by the way, heretical teaching should be treated completely differently than some of the doctrinal errors that evangelicals have. Heretical teachings deny the fundamentels of the faith. That means that those who are heretics should have no place in the Christian home. We may witness to them with wisdom outside the home, but we must never give error a platform under our roof. That's what he is saying. (And by the way, you are probably bringing their demons into your home too.)

Practical wickedness

David himself gives some other examples in the verses that follow. I won't go over all of them, but he would not tolerate slander and gossip in his home - even if it came from a guest. He would not tolerate extremely wicked people being in his home, as that tacitly normalizes their sins. And in verse 7, here is what he says about liars.

He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.

It would take guts to have a standard like that, but it is important that we nip gossip, slander, and lies in the bud as soon as they are stated. Put your hands up and say, "Nope! I don't want to hear about it."

Who does belong in the home? (v. 6)

Verse 6 outlines the kind of people that David loved to have in his home. It says, "My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me."

You could summarize the two kinds of people there as the faithful and the mature. The faithful are those who trust God and the mature are those who can be trusted. So you could be a very young Christian, but still be faithful to the Lord because you trust God and want to please Him as you grow in knowledge. The mature are those who have already grown a great deal in holiness.

The point is that our homes should be sanctuaries for the weak and the mature, but not open doors to corruption. And as we come to the Lord's Table, if the Lord so leads, you could make David's resolution your resolution.