Addressing Ambition
Psalms 62
February 2, 2020
Tonight we come to the 62nd Psalm and I think just in a casual reading,
The heart of the Psalm becomes clear to us.
This song has a distinct chorus,
We easily spot it because David repeats it.
Verses 1&2 and verses 5&6 are nearly identical.
(1-2) “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.”
(5-6) “My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.”
Of course the second time through the chorus, David extends the chorus
In verses 7-8 we read, “On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
These verses portray to us a clear point.
THERE IS COMMAND to trust God alone.
“My soul waits in silence for God only”
THERE IS BASIS FOR THE COMMAND that God alone saves
“From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold”
THERE IS THE EFFECT OF OBEDIENCE that God saves perfectly
“I shall not be greatly shaken”
And so the heart of the Psalm really emerges quite clearly.
David is calling for his people to trust in God alone,
Who alone can save,
So that they will actually be saved and not just think they are.
How foolish would it be to spend your life pursuing or trusting something that cannot save you in the end?
Far better to understand and pursue that
Which can save and save you forever.
So the song clearly has the potent point that
David wants men to set their heart on God as their only hope and desire.
Now, first we’d just that that’s good advice in general.
You really don’t have to know the circumstances to say “Amen” to that truth.
Man should always set their heart on God as their only hope and chief desire.
If David said nothing else, this would still be a very important and relevant Psalm.
But in Psalms 62, there is a reason David sings that chorus and repeats it.
• David has spotted a folly in his people.
• And by David’s estimation it has effected everyone.
Notice verse 3, “How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you…”
There is a growing sentiment throughout his nation
That he sees in all his people.
WHAT DID DAVID SPOT?
AMBITION
He sees in his people a desire to obtain worldly wealth and power.
(10) “Do not trust in oppression and do not vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.”
David spotted a desire for worldly power and wealth,
And he spotted people engaged in ruthless means to obtain it.
HE SAW AMBITION.
And so David pens a song regarding this human ambition.
And this is a very relevant song for the church today.
It is one of those areas in which the Bible needs to reprogram our thinking.
Ambition today is seen as a good thing.
• We might even look at a young man starting out in life and criticize him by saying, “He just lacks ambition” or “He’s just not ambitious enough”
• And the implication is that he has no direction and that he is lazy and that he needs to get a plan, set a goal, and pursue it.
Our world sees this type of ambition as a good thing
Because it leads to earthly success and prosperity.
• Schools employ counselors with the main goal of helping a student set that ambition and direction.
• So that they can pick a school, choose a degree, and know what needs to be done to obtain it so that they can succeed in life.
But those goals and dreams can be so misleading.
And they can even greatly undercut the Biblical mindset.
Now, don’t get me wrong, we certainly are not praising sloth or laziness or idleness for the Bible certainly calls those things SIN.
We know that hard work is good.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.”
Ephesians 4:28 “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.”
We know that obtaining wisdom is good.
Proverbs 4:1-9 “Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, And give attention that you may gain understanding, For I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live; Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. “Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you. “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. “Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her. “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.”
We know that accomplishment is good.
Ecclesiastes 5:18 “Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.”
We know that satisfaction in achievement is good.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 “Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.”
So we’re NOT advocating for a lazy or misguided life of no direction.
But ambition, particularly human ambition can be a very bad thing.
TURN TO THE BOOK OF JAMES
(James 3:13-16)
James had a lot to say about ambition.
Namely because James grew up with Jesus and in Jesus he not only saw a righteous man, but a man who sought after completely different things.
• Jesus didn’t set out to gain the world, Jesus set out to live righteous.
• Jesus’ goal wasn’t the world’s approval, Jesus’ goal was His father’s approval.
(No doubt Jesus was a very convicting example to James growing up)
And now that James is redeemed, he sets out
To direct the mindset of the church to be more like Jesus.
And one of the topics James addresses the most is the topic of ambition.
Now perhaps the most direct and harshest statement comes in chapter 3 and verses 13-16
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
That is such a telling statement.
• That when you see selfish ambition what you are seeing is at best an “earthly” man and at worse a “demonic” influence.
• James goes on to say that where you have “selfish ambition” you have “every evil thing”
When there is selfish ambition in your life
You’ve got the root system for every form of evil imaginable.
And James even fleshes that out for you.
Selfish ambition can affect RELATIONSHIPS
(Turn over to 2:1-4)
“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”
See there you actually dishonor the poor man
Because he doesn’t serve your selfish purpose like the rich man does.
Selfish ambition can affect your TONGUE
(turn over to 3:8-9)
“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;”
(turn over to 4:11)
“Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.”
There is a person who tears other people down
For their own personal gain.
Selfish ambition can affect MURDER
(turn over to 4:1-2)
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”
There a person will kill to get what they want.
Why else would they do it?
Selfish ambition can cause BOASTFUL PLANNING
(turn over to 4:13-16)
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”
All of that boasting and all of that arrogance
Comes from the root of selfish ambition.
Selfish ambition causes THEFT AND OPPRESSION
(turn over 5:4)
“Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
The desire for more caused the rich man not to pay his laborers.
But you see James’ point.
1. Selfish ambition has in it the roots of every evil thing.
2. It is very dangerous.
Men go to great sinful extremes to acquire their ambitions.
They lie, steal, cheat, murder, slander, play favorites,
And disregard God’s will all to get ahead.
And those things are not acceptable.
OPPOSITE of this ambition would be faith and contentment.
Philippians 4:10-12 “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”
You see the difference so clearly there.
Well David understood this.
And this song addresses the problems with ambition.
• The verses we looked at earlier comprises the chorus.
• Now let’s look at the verses.
There 3 points tonight.
#1 THE NATURE OF HUMAN AMBITION
Psalms 62:3-4
In these two verses we pick up on DAVID’S FRUSTRATION
For the relentless ambition of man.
“How long will you assail a man..?”
• David wonders if their attacks will ever cease.
“that you may murder him, all of you”
• Their goal is to attack and attack and attack until their target is brought down.
“Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence”
• They just constantly pressure him and lean on him with a desire to crush him.
David sees here an unrelenting ambition of man to attack and pressure
With a desire to bring down their target.
(4) “They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position”
• That is to say, they have no real grounds, they have no real evidence, it’s only their goal to attack and remove.
“They delight in falsehood;”
• They don’t even care if their accusations and attacks are true, they just relentlessly launch them.
And honestly, it’s near impossible not to see the current onslaught against the president that is occurring in our nation today.
BUT MORE THAN THAT, you should look higher
To the continual onslaught of the world against Christ.
Psalms 2:1-3 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
There was certainly an ambition against Christ,
Not only to bring Him down, but also to steal His glory.
Perhaps you remember the parable of the vineyard.
• About the man who had a vineyard and rented it out to vine growers,
• But when he sent servants to collect the produce,
• The servants were mistreated and some were killed.
• And ultimately the vineyard owner decided to send his son.
Matthew 21:37-38 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’”
They greatly covet what is not theirs
And they fight and claw and murder to obtain it.
They also deceive and flatter.
“They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse. Selah”
That again reminds of the attacks on Christ.
Matthew 22:15-17 “Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. “Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?”
They would even use flattery to try and trap Him and bring Him down.
What we are seeing here is the basic nature of human ambition.
Sinful man will stop at nothing to obtain that which he desires.
James said it:
James 4:1-2 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.”
Paul spoke of it:
Romans 3:13-17 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
It is just a band of sinful men, like Joseph’s brothers
Who have such jealousy and ambition in their hearts
That they are capable of any atrocity to obtain their goals.
They will lie, they will murder, they will deceive.
This is the ugly truth about ambition.
James 3:14-16 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
Certainly you see that here
As David describes the very nature of human ambition.
And you just need to know the truth about human ambition.
OUR WORLD PRAISES AMBITION.
Our world praises
That “cut throat”, “winner take all”, “do what it takes”,
“take no prisoners”, “go and take it mentality”,
But the Bible does not.
The Bible explains that as the very worst of humanity
And the very basic nature of the demons.
IT IS EVIL
The nature of human ambition
#2 THE FOOLISHNESS OF HUMAN AMBITION
Psalms 62:9-10
We skip over the chorus again momentarily
To get to David’s second verse and that is that
Those who are seduced by the draw of ambition are very much foolish.
• Here David exposes the truth about ambition.
• David here pulls back the curtain and shows you the very heart of ambition.
• We see what it accomplishes and what it is worth and what it obtains in the end.
You have here David speaking of two types of individuals.
“Men of low degree” and “men of rank”
They are bookends of the human condition.
But according to David, both have ambition
And neither actually obtain what they think.
“Men of low degree are only vanity”
That is to say that men of low degree are only legends in their own mind.
• They have accomplished nothing in life,
• But their ambition continually tells them that they are capable of more.
• They highly esteem themselves and boast of their great plans and dreams and speak of all that they will accomplish.
But they are nothing but “vanity” or futility.
They are nothing more than an empty wish and boastful thought.
“Men of rank are a lie”
These are men who have accomplished dreams and goals in life
• And they assume that they are now great men because of it.
• They imagine that their ambitions have paid off and they now sit and congratulate themselves on their great accomplishments.
But their success is not what it seems. It is “a lie”.
“In the balances they go up; They are lighter than breath”
It’s the old balance scale where you put objects on each side, and the object with the most mass went down while the object with less mass went up.
David says you can put all their dreams and all their accomplishments,
All their boasts and all their accolades together on one side of the scale,
And even with nothing on the other side, they will still “go up”
The breath of air on the other side weighs more than what they have done
There is no weight to it. There is no merit.
And have we not seen this continually even in our study of Luke’s gospel on Sunday mornings.
Luke 12:17-21 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Or the rich man in hades
Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”
James
• Actually told the rich to weep and howl over the miseries that were coming.
• He reminded the boastful man who was making plans that his life was but a vapor having no weight at all.
Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself — And though men praise you when you do well for yourself — He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”
That is the foolishness of ambition.
If you make all your plans and achieve all your goals
What have you still obtained?
What exactly does it
“profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Back when we studied that 49th Psalm I shared with you the letter that Bruce Lee wrote to himself.
My Definite Chief Aim
I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.
Bruce Lee
Jan. 1969
Four years later, he was dead.
https://qz.com/932799/bruce-lee-achieved-all-his-life-goals-by-32-by-committing-to-one-personality-trait/
There is just no weight to all their boasts
And all their accomplishments.
They don’t mean anything.
To which David says:
(10) “Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.”
He directly addresses the ambition
If they think that
• “oppression” (taking what you want) is the key to power
• Or “robbery” is the key to riches then they are so mistaken.
Even if you manage to accumulate the wealth and power that you seek,
What do you actually have that will last beyond the grave? -NOTHING
It is a stern command not to be ambitious, it is folly.
That is why Paul taught:
1 Timothy 6:17 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”
Our world says ambition is a good thing, but the Bible does not.
The Bible asks where you will be once you accomplish your goals.
And I see this all the time.
Many of you know I ENJOY BASEBALL and recently I finished watching Ken Burns documentary on baseball.
And it is filled with sad stories of futile ambition.
Ty Cobb would cheat and fight to obtain his goals, and he did. He still holds the record for the highest career batting average of all time, batting .366
• And yet, only 1 former player attended his funeral and even at the end Cobb lamented, “If I had it all to do over again, next time I’d have more friends”
What did his ambition accomplish?
Ted Williams wanted to be known as the greatest hitter of all time. He is the only man to ever bat .400 for an entire season.
• He is interviewed in the documentary and you can hear his frustration in the reality that the glory he sought was not enough.
• He would say, “My goal is that when I walk down the street people will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter to ever play the game.’ And if they don’t say that it’s because they don’t know what they are talking about.”
You can feel his bitterness over the reality that the glory was not enough.
Even to the modern day era when Barry Bonds used steroids to break Mark McGuire’s singe season home run record and Hank Aaron’s total homerun record.
• And yet because of his corruption in his ambition, most people fail to recognize him as a legitimate champ and the following year, no team would even sign him.
• You can see the press conference where he is repeatedly telling reporters in regard to his record, “It’s not tainted, it’s not tainted”
It’s just futility when you strive with ambition.
The writer of Ecclesiastes called “chasing after wind”
It’s no wonder Jeremiah would say:
Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”
And Paul would say:
1 Corinthians 9:25 “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
What a sad reality to be so ambitious (and ruthlessly so)
Just to obtain some “perishable wreath”.
THAT TYPE OF AMBITION IS NOT ONLY EVIL, IT IS FOOLISH.
The nature of human ambition, the foolishness of human ambition
#3 THE END OF HUMAN AMBITION
Psalms 62:11-12
Here David reminds of a very important truth.
“power belongs to God”
And so does loyalty
“And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord”
What does that mean?
• There is only One who can truly exalt a person.
• There is only One who can truly bless a person.
There is only One who can give glory and reward to such an extent
That it will not be futile.
Only One can give that “imperishable” wreath that Paul spoke of.
AND THAT IS GOD.
And God gives it to those who please Him.
“For You recompense a man according to his work.”
And this is the point.
• If you truly aspire to greatness…
• If you truly aspire to reward…
• If you truly aspire to honor and glory…
Then DO NOT lie and cheat and murder and deceive and slander to obtain it.
• That path does not lead to glory.
• That glory is futile and empty.
If you truly desire glory, then live your life in a manner that pleases God, for He alone can give you those things.
Only God can exalt a man, and God can certainly bring him low.
Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”
Since all power and loyalty and sovereignty belong to God
You should know that you will never obtain any goal
If you pursue it in a way that offends Him.
Was that not the very essence of what James wrote?
James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”
It is just foolish to ignore God and seek this world.
That is why Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Our only goal is not to obtain the world, but rather to please God,
Who alone can give us the world.
Jesus said it like this:
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Human ambition; worldly ambition; selfish ambition…
They are all evil.
But an ambition to seek and please God,
That is where our hearts must land.
And now we better understand the chorus that David twice repeats.
(1-2) “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.”
(5-8) “My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
That is David’s good advice!
• Do not be wickedly ambitious for the things of this world.
• Be ambitious for God.
Human ambition is both evil and futile,
But Godly Ambition certainly pays off.
WE’LL CLOSE TONIGHT with Paul’s admonition to Timothy regarding this very thing.
TURN TO: 1 TIMOTHY 6:6
(Read 6-16)
• You hear Paul there warning Timothy about the futility of seeking the things of this world.
• Rather, be content and seek the things of God.
• And at the proper time your reward will come
Paul then gives a warning to those who have already obtained the world
(Read 17-19)
And that is great advice too.
It’s not too late to shift your ambition.
Don’t seek after the things of this world,
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Make your ambition to be pleasing to God
Because every other ambition
Is either horribly human or actually demonic.
Only seeking the things of God brings about true satisfaction.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
