The Power and Purpose of the Word

Introduction

This past week was Love Thy Neighbor and many of the projects that were done throughout our town involved painting in some form or fashion! How many here enjoy painting things? How many of us love heights? If you raised your hand for both of those questions, I have the perfect job for you: painting the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco! I was reading about this process earlier in the week on Monday morning as the job of painting the Golden Gate Bridge is never-ending. I heard once that they paint it end-to-end, but by the time they get to the end—however many years that may take—it is time to start over. In reality though, sections and portions of the bridge are prioritized according to need.

Regardless of strategy, the bridge is never not being painted. It is one of the primary maintenance jobs. Why? Why is the seemingly mundane and monotonous act of painting, in fact, a task of utmost importance to sustaining the structure? Because the air coming in from the Pacific Ocean is incredibly high in salt content and will wreak havoc on the structure if it is not properly sealed with paint. Exposed segments can lead to corrosion, which can lead to structural failure, which can lead to disaster.

A team of thirty-four people make it their life’s purpose to paint the Golden Gate its trademark “international orange” color. They climb ladders hundreds of feet in the air, hang from harnesses and baskets suspended over the vast waters, and risk their lives to put paint to steel. Year after year. Every bolt, every rivet, every beam, every crevice, every cable gets covered. The safety of the bridge depends upon it. There is always work to be done in painting this bridge - it never gets to a point where there is no more work necessary and people can just relax… Similarly, in the life of the Christian, there never comes a point in our lives where we can just stop reading God’s Word and relax and say that we’ve already read it all the way from cover to cover and we don’t need to read it again. Just like the Golden Gate bridge is under attack from its surroundings, we are under attack as well. We need to constantly remind ourselves of what God’s Word says. This world would love to knock us down and cause serious damage to our faith by deceiving us into thinking that we don’t need God’s Word. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Each one of us need to be reminded of the truths of Scripture. We need to grow in our understanding of God’s Word and we need the God of the Word to change our hearts. This morning we’re going to kickoff our summer series through the Psalms and I’m excited for this study because the Psalms are all about praising the Lord for Who He is and what He has done - this is what we do whenever we gather on days like today, we gather to worship and the Psalms stir us to worship! This morning, as you can see from your outline and on the screen, we’ll begin with what you’d expect: Psalm 1, which shares the importance of God’s Word with us.

Before we get into our text, let me be straight with you this morning up front. To borrow from Martin Luther, my conscience is bound to the Word of God and I can do no other. If that gets me cancelled or called a bigot or legalistic or sexist just because I maintain historic Baptist doctrine, then so be it. As a pastor I’m fully convicted and convinced that this book is God’s Word - it is not the opinions of men from thousands of years ago. I’m fully convicted and convinced that whenever this book speaks, God speaks, whether the words are in black or red, we believe that they’re all red because they’re all inspired and breathed out by God. I’ll die on the hill of the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word and I know that many of you will die on that hill with me. If you’re a guest or visitor, I pray that as you worship with us whether its your first, third, or tenth time worshiping with us, that you would see that this church loves God’s Word and genuinely tries to live by God’s Word because that’s our purpose as individuals and as a church - let’s read from God’s Word this morning.

Psalm 1 CSB

1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

The Word of God Guides Us Successfully (1)

If you’re keeping up with the world of technology at all, you know that there are several platforms that have recently launched AI - artificial intelligence - and you can ask the AI a question and it will answer you in a matter of seconds. In some respects, this is amazing because if you’re stuck or confused about how to do something, you can ask the AI and it will provide you with a step by step instruction guide in order to do what you need to do. This is true for simple and very complex tasks. There is a slippery slope of sorts with AI in the world of academics as you can also ask the AI to write you a 5,000 word academic essay on a certain topic and, theoretically, turn it in as if you wrote it yourself. Pandora’s box has been opened and it’ll be interesting to see how things progress in the months to come. I got curious this week and decided that I wanted to know the secret to happiness according to artificial intelligence. I asked ChatGPT how can I be happy in life?

I got a thousand word response with 10 steps:

Practice self-care

Cultivate positive relationships

Set realistic goals

Practice gratitude

Engage in enjoyable activities

Help others

Practice self-reflection

Embrace positivity

Avoid excessive comparison

Seek professional help if needed

Artificial intelligence shares that happiness is a lifelong journey and these are 10 things to “do” in order to find happiness. Do this and you’ll be happy. Try that and you’ll be happy. Think of the things that our world promises will provide us with happiness. Get a new car and you’ll be happy. Go to this destination on vacation and you’ll be happy. Do this activity or try this food and you’ll be happy. Get a dog or if you’re more of a fan of emotional and disloyal animals, try a cat, and you’ll be happy. Do, do, do. Do you see how this leads to problems? Sure, a car makes us happy for a period of time… but cars get old and better ones come out and jealousy strikes and that happiness fades. “Do” will fade unless you understand first WHOSE you are. Only after we understand what we must “be” (saved) will we understand what we must “do”.

Notice what Psalm 1:1 tells us, “How Happy/Blessed is the one…” The way to happiness is not found in doing more and more fun things - it’s found in aligning yourself with your Creator.

Think about the difference between happiness and joy this morning. Things can give happiness, but its temporary as those things can either stop fulfilling us or they can be taken away from us. Horatio Spafford was the hymn writer of “It Is Well” and many of you know his story. He lost much of his possessions during the Great Chicago Fire and his family set sail to England and he was to follow them only to get word that there was an accident out at sea and his 4 children were tragically killed and his wife was the only survivor. As they passed the location of the accident, he began to pen the lyrics of It Is Well…

When peace like a river attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul

How can we have that type of peace in this life? Through finding purpose alone in Christ. Was he happy? There’s no way. Was he blessed? Absolutely. Was he joyful in Jesus? Absolutely. This world will try to rob you of your joy - but that joy is off limits to this world. So, there’s 2 paths in this life. The path of the world and the path of the Word. What we have to ask ourselves this morning is simply this: Which path are we on?

Ephesians 4:1 CSB

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Walking worthy of our calling means that we walk towards something - namely the will and plan of our God. How can we possibly know that will? How can we know what God wants us to do? By searching in His Word. We see in this opening verse that God blesses people of His Word, not people of this world. Notice the description of the one who is blessed by God. They don’t walk in the advice of the wicked. They don’t stand in the path of the sinner. They don’t sit in the company of mockers. Why would they not do these things? Because those things aren’t what Christians are called to do. God has something better in store. We don’t earn our joy through our works - our joy is secured through the finished work of Jesus and we are called to follow after Him. How can we know the privilege of belonging to Jesus? How can we know what Jesus has done for us? How can we follow through in obedience and do the things that we are called to do? By finding God’s will for us inside of God’s Word. See, the Word of God is our guide. This world promises much in terms of satisfaction and happiness and purpose by going with the flow and attaining more and more things - but what is the cost? Walking in the advice of the wicked. Standing in the pathway with those who reject God’s Word. Sitting in the company of those who mock the God of the Universe. The cost of following the way of this world is the rejection of God and the cost of following God is the rejection of the things of this world. Friends, it’s not worth that cost - this worldly path isn’t worth it because it leads to destruction as we looked at last week in Hebrews 10:32-39.

Let’s break down this opening verse to Psalms a little more - again, this is the songbook of the Israelites. This book contains prayers and praises and plenty of both… but it starts with a reminder to check where we’re walking. The first part of each of these verses (walk, stand, sit) is in reference to our actions and habits. The second part (advice, pathway, company) is in reference to the people that we listen to and respect. The third part (wicked, sinners, mockers) is in reference to the people we hang around. This verse is not saying that Christians cannot socialize with and befriend sinners - if that were the case, we’d all be doomed because before we were saved, we were dead in our sins and someone took the initiative to share the Gospel with us. Psalm 1:1 is saying this… the person who follows God is the one who follow’s God’s Word - not the advice of this godless world. This Psalm is black and white and we like to make things gray, but there is no gray here. You’re either for God or against Him. The Word of God guides us to stand for the things of God, not standing for the things of sin. The Word of God guides us in following godly advice, not worldly advice. The Word of God guides us to sit with people who know that they need God, not those who think they have it all figured out.

James 4:4 CSB

4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.

The purpose of God’s Word is to reveal Who God is and what God desires of His people - to follow Him and His path. Don’t continue down the wide path that many others walk down… it leads to destruction and ruin as we’ll see in verse 6. The Word of God guides us to His path and His will and even though that path will be difficult at times, it is worth it as God works in us and changes us.

The Word of God Grows Us Steadfastly (2-3)

In verse 1 we saw what not to do - in verses 2 and 3 we see what we are supposed to do: Grow in our understanding of God’s Word. Look with me at verse 2 of Psalm 1. The person who walks in the way of the Word finds His delight in the Lord’s instruction and meditates on it day and night. What do you delight in? Many of us would say that we delight in a job well done. We delight in certain foods and desserts. We delight in our family. We delight in summer sunsets. We delight in the trees changing color each fall. We delight in our sports teams. We delight in relaxing by the water with our friends. Have you ever said that you delight in the Word of God? Do you take great pleasure in God’s Word?

Notice the contrast between these opening 2 verses: One person delights in the things of this world that are contrary to the Word and the other person delights in the things of God’s Word which are contrary to the things of this world. What does it mean to delight in the Word of God? Does that mean that we always immediately understand what we read? Does that mean that we always have this burning desire in our hearts to spend 12 hours reading Scripture? Does it mean that we always do our daily quiet time and never once fail to check that box on our to-do list?

No to all of the above… Instead, to delight in the Word and instruction of the Lord means to be satisfied by God’s Word and, most of all, the God of the Word. To delight in the Word of God means that you delight in doing God’s will because you know God and you have been changed by God. Because God has changed you and is continuing to change you. We live in a world of Biblical illiteracy, even within the church. In part, the reason why is self-induced. We have been sold a bill of goods which says this: God accepts you as you are and you don’t need to change how you are. As we read Scripture, we’re reminded that we’ve all sinned against God. We all need help. The more we read Scripture, the more that we see the depth of our sinfulness and the greatness of Jesus’ salvation. That Gospel truth in Scripture must not only lead us to worship but it must lead us to wanting to discover this mystery more and that directs us straight to God’s Word. See, we can’t just read our Bible’s at church and call it good and say that we got our fill of Scripture this week and don’t need to do any more with Scripture. It doesn’t work that way… but it also doesn’t work like this. How many of you have ever had a regular quiet time? Quiet times are wonderful as they help get us into the Word regularly, but they can quickly become a source of pride if we’re not careful. You don’t do a quiet time? I’ve kept mine for 10 years straight - I’m a better Christian than you. God wants more than just 5 minutes of your day - He wants your whole day. Yes, those 5-10 minutes of spending time in His Word is important to uncover what Scripture says, but those minutes should lead to a whole life of dependence upon God and His Word.

We are called to meditate on God’s Word day and night. What are the things that you think about late at night? Usually either the high points or the low points of your day. Your anxieties or your achievements. Whenever I was in high school I played golf at Ozark and the night before a golf tournament I would view the course we were going to play the next day and I would literally play it in my sleep the night before. I would meditate and focus on that task because it was important to me. We all do this with things that matter to us - when was the last time that you caught yourself meditating or thinking about or speaking Scripture subconsciously because it mattered so much to you? This is what God wants for each one of us, for us to talk and think about His Word throughout our entire days. We live in a different world than the world that these people lived in thousands of years ago. See, these people didn’t have a copy of the Bible in their own home, much less on their phone wherever they went. Because of this, they had to memorize Scripture. They had to continually reflect on the truth of Scripture throughout their day. This is what Deuteronomy 6:6-7 instructs parents to model to their kids

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 CSB

6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Real quick, parents, how often do we talk about God’s Word with our kids? We’ll talk with our kids about the latest Apple product, the latest news in sports, about something they learned at school, about their friends, and about the things that they like to go and do - and these are good things to talk about! But if we drop the ball with God’s Word and we never talk about it outside of 1 hour a week at church, we have failed. We are to spend time in the Word individually and as a body - this is why we pack Scripture into our weekly gatherings because it matters and because Scripture changes us.

Look at verse 3. The person who spends time in the Word is compared to a tree planted by the water. Jesus shares that He is the living water that never runs dry - kind of like the Current River, right? It’s spring fed and you don’t have to worry about it running bone dry like you do with rivers that are creek fed in the middle of a drought. We’re planted beside a living water that is always active and that means that as a Christian who is diving deep into God’s Word, it will continue to change us and help us grow, just like a river does for a tree. How does reading Scripture help us grow?

Scripture makes us Fruitful

As you study Scripture, you grow and produce fruit as you apply Scripture to your daily life. Jesus says in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches. Whenever we abide in Him, we will produce fruit and we will look differently than those around us who do not spend time in Scripture.

Scripture makes us Durable

Our world is changing by the day and cannibalizing itself as it drifts towards the cancer of self-centeredness. Scripture makes us flexible and durable to handle the storms of this life because the foundation of Scripture does not waver. Scripture helps us grow and stand strong in the middle of a sea of change.

Scripture makes us Prosperous

Whenever we trust in God’s Word first, we are blessed by God in some way or another as we look more and more like Him and less and less like this fallen, sinful, world.

Think of what Proverbs 3 says about trusting in the Lord and how Scripture helps guide us in this life

Proverbs 3:5–6 CSB

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.

What do we need more of? We need more of God’s understanding and less of ours. We need more of His Word and less of our words. We need more of Jesus and less of us. AW Tozer once shared that, “Satan’s greatest weapon is man’s ignorance of God’s Word.” May that not be true of us - may we understand that the thing that helps us grow the most in our spiritual life is the Word of the living God. It is living, active, and sharper than a double edged sword. It still changes lives because it’s author is still alive. Rather than taking the path of the world, we must take the path of the Word and it guides us and helps us grow to be more like our Lord.

The Word of God Guarantees Us Sufficiently (4-6)

In life a guarantee is what many people are after and lots of things make some amazing promises. People make promises. Products make promises. Places make promises. Sometimes they deliver, but other times they don’t come through on their guarantee. Even though things might be common or popular, it doesn’t always mean that they’re right. The Psalmist changes his tune in verses 4-5 to contrast the person who meditates on God’s Word with the person who meditates on the things of this world. Instead of receiving God’s blessing, they receive God’s judgment. The warning here is simply this: There are things that we are to strive for and other things we are to stay away from. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t meditate on God’s Word and grow in Christlikeness and at the same time dip our feet into the things of this wicked world that rejects God. Jesus shared that we can’t serve 2 masters. The choice is clear here in Psalm 1 and in Matthew 6-7, there are 2 paths, 2 foundations, 2 destinations and it’s black and white according to Jesus. If you travel down the wide gate of societal acceptance and fail to sit in the stream of God’s Word, you will be blown away. Your foundation will fail you.

The guarantee from Scripture is that the same God who has never failed promises that His Word never fails either. Those who do their own thing are described as chaff that will blow away - it’s rootless, weightless, and useless. The person of the world is unlike the blessed person of the Word. They have no foundation. They might look ok for a season or two, but one day they will fall away - much like the person in Hebrews 6 who looks good on the outside but turns their back and is led astray by false doctrine and false teaching. This is the same for the person of the world. See, if you just want your ears to be tickled there are lots of good ear ticklers out there who do a great job making their audiences feel really good about themselves. There’s a big church in California whose pastor is making a fuss on social media lately because his theological convictions have shifted in recent years due to a changing world and culture. Whenever we strive to make people feel better and our barometer of success is exclusively more people in pews and looking attractive to a watching world, we’re lost it. The fundamental problem with this teaching is that we don’t need more self-help, TED talks, motivational messages, or encouraging speeches, we need Christ. We need the Gospel. We need to be reminded of our need for a Savior. The wicked person in Psalm 1 who goes with the world does so and he might be popular in the here and now, but he won’t stand up in judgment. When it comes time to give an account to the Lord and bow the knee to Christ as Lord, the wicked won’t be able to stand. They trade eternity for temporary comforts just like Romans 1 talks about

Romans 1:22–25 CSB

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

We look around our world and this is the present temptation for millions - to exchange the truth of God for a lie. To desire to go the way of the world rather than to stand on the Word brings about serious consequences in this life and in eternity to come. This world promises happiness and satisfaction… but it cannot come through on those big claims. This slogan of “Just Follow Your Heart” has deceived a generation. It has ended more marriages, mutilated more bodies, destroyed more souls, and ended more lives than the devil could have ever imagined. Follow Your Heart is Hell’s most effective slogan in history. It is the way of this world and it leads to ruin… What about the way of the Word?

Several years ago there was a book that came out called the Insanity of God written by Neil Ripken. He travels around the world and visits with Christians and missionaries - many of which are in closed and restricted countries - and asks them a simple question: Is Jesus Worth It? You’re locked up. You’re bruised. You’ve been betrayed. You’ve lost your family and your friends. You’ve lost your job and your house… is Jesus worth it? Every single person responded with a resounding, “YES - Jesus is worth it!” Psalm 1:6 - Our guarantee is that the Lord watches over His people and works all things for His glory and our good!

This is our assurance, even though it doesn’t mean that all things will be easy. This is what we discover in His Word in places like Romans 8:28 and Isaiah 55:8-11. Aren’t you thankful that God is big enough that His purpose always comes to pass? The Word guarantees us that God is with us today and forevermore… but the Word also guarantees that the person who rejects God will experience ruin. If we view things in this life, we might say that the person of the world has it better than the person of the Word. After all, who wouldn’t want to be like an Elon Musk type person and have literally hundreds of billions of dollars and the popularity and power to basically do whatever they want? That’s attractive on a human level. That looks fun. That life promises much that we crave! Wouldn’t everyone take that over what the apostle Paul experienced? We’ll take the palace over the prison. We’ll take jets over a jail cell. We’ll take

We’ll take those things because they appear better in the here and now. But God promises that the person who lives according to His Word is blessed and will prosper and flourish. What does that prosperity look like? Well we all know that there’s a prosperity Gospel out there that promises that you can name it and claim it and blab it and grab it if you just have more faith. Is that what Psalm 1 is saying? As we look at the text, we see a clear marker of God’s people. They are blessed and they bear fruit and their fruit impacts other people just like a tree provides shade for the things that are near it - so the Christian blesses those around him. This blessing extends beyond this life and into eternity. Just because the path of the world looks more attractive here and now, it is the path of the Word that truly satisfies and provides in this life and forevermore!

Conclusion

The Psalms are a treasure trove of wisdom, praise, prayer, and reminders of God’s provision. This first Psalm reminds us to fix our eyes to the God of the Word and the Word of God and to follow down His path rather than the path of this world. How do we do this consistently? We can do this by asking 2 questions

Do I Delight in God’s Word?

Do I Desire to Follow God’s Way?

Only you can answer these questions for yourself. So many claim that they want to experience God’s power but they do it devoid of God’s presence found in His Word. It doesn’t work that way! If we want to experience the power of God, we must do so with our minds set on the Word of God. The Word must be our delight. The Word must be our foundation. The Word must be our authority. The Word must be what unites and unifies us as a church body. As we delight in God’s Word, our desire to follow God’s way in this life must grow as well. God’s Word is powerful enough to change your life and this is part of its purpose as well - to reveal to us Who God is and what must be done in our lives as 1 John 5:13 says.

So, who is the one who lives out Psalm 1:1 perfectly? Augustine argued 1600 years ago that it was none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who walked not in the advice of the wicked but in the advice of the godly? Jesus Who stood not in the pathway of sinners but in the pathway of the righteous? Jesus. Who sat not in the company of mockers but in the company of the saved? Jesus. Psalm 1 is all about Jesus and it commands His followers to abide in His Word, to love His Word, to grow in His Word, to obey His Word, and to share the truth of His Word with others who are on a one way road to ruin. Example of OU softball player winning World Series last year but feeling empty the vert next day because her dreams were of this world and couldn’t satisfy an eternal void in her heart. Now she’s saved and she said before the World Series that even if she loses, she has an unchangeable joy. Friend, this is the power of the Word of God and the God of the Word. How have you been changed by the power of God’s Word today? If not, today can be the day where you drink of His mercy and start walking down His path. Trust in the God of the Word today.