4.2.29 6.11.2023 Psalms The Beginning of Worship

Start:

Entice: Psalm 1 serves as preface, preview, and primer to the “hymnbook” of Israel. It asks a simple question,

“Who is properly prepared to enter the sanctuary?”

What is the attitude of a worshipper?

This has been a reasonable, human question since Adam and Eve were slumming east of Eden.

Our lives are complicated. Living accumulates baggage. Life is filled with opportunities to

believe accurately,

think rightly,

and

behave correctly.

Each of those opportunities involves choices. Our beliefs, thinking, and behavior can also—if we choose, be

inaccurate,

wrong,

and

incorrect.

Engage: The basic structure, we find in Psalm 1.1, is reflected in other Psalms, further expanding the principle of being prepared for worship.

Psalm 15:1 (ESV)

1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

Psalm 24:3 (ESV)

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?

Psalm 95:6 (ESV)

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 132:7 ESV

7 “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!”

Expand: When Jesus gathered the Church the Psalms formed the first hymnal. As well as deepening the doctrinal depth and increasing the store of wisdom to apply to our growing understanding God’s work.

As the earliest Church read the Psalms more deeply and connected it with the work of Christ they came to appreciate the Messianic hope found there. To this day the book of Psalms enriches our understanding of Jesus.

He is God’s anointed.

Psalm 2:2 ESV

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

Psalm 2:7 ESV

7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Psalm 22 reminds us that

He was poured out like water for us.

Psalm 22:14 ESV

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;

Psalm 23 reminds us the

Lord is our shepherd…

Of course, Jesus tells us

He is that Good Shepherd.

Psalm 23:1 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 118

Proclaims that

Jesus is the cornerstone

rejected by men but chosen by God.

Psalm 118:22 ESV

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The entire Bible is concerned with the quest for Human righteousness. It tells the story of this quest from the human, emotive perspective as well as documenting God’s pursuit of us.

Much of this quest is abject failure.

It is only through the intervention of God that righteousness becomes possible.

The Psalms celebrates the process

and

anticipates its resolution in Jesus.

And the statement found in Psalm 1.1 helps clarify exactly what we are aiming for even when we don’t know how to get there. Jesus became incarnate and lived among us because we cannot achieve this righteous state on our own. He shares His own righteousness with us presenting us holy before God.

Excite: Sanctification is the process of confirming in our behavior what God has proclaimed about us in justification. Perhaps this is why the Psalms have been central for both public and private spiritual formation.

As creatures we are compelled to worship. Psalms directs us to whom, how, and why.

Explore:

As we worship, God roots us in His own righteousness.

Psalm 1:1–6 ESV

1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Expand: We are presented with several negative choices, That is what not to do...

Body of Sermon: I want to focus on vs. 1, and I need to preface what I say with a bit of a structural note… This verse contains three clauses. Each clause contains a verb (action) and an object which is an associated person. Each of these “sermon points” or choices are structured the same way.

The first choice is that we must not

1 Walk in step with the wicked

1.1 Action

1.2 Association

A modernized version—>run with the wrong crowd.

even brief, furtive association with the wicked can have disastrous consequences for our lives and worship.

The next choice, do not

2 Stand in the way of sinners.

2.1 Action…

the next level of association Becoming a part of the “in crowd”

2.2 Association

In this context Sinners is used of those who choose to remain in sin without seeking remedy.

Our final choice, do not

3 Sit in the company of mockers.

3.1 Action

Sitting implies a commitment of time, and a comfort with environment, activities, and thinking.

3.2 Association

Mockers revile those who seek to live a humble, righteous life before God.

Shut Down

There is a better way to walk.

There is a better place to stand.

There is better company to keep.

The Psalms have served the Church as a guide. They have given us stability through trial and celebration. They help create worshipping community where we can be in contact with the righteous.

Many of the Psalms are filled with raw emotion. Anger, guilt, joy, sorrow, and gratitude are swallowed up in praise, supplication, repentence, and worship.

We have to choose what not

As well as what.

God offers us choice.

In Christ that choice defines our life

and

inaugurates our eternity.

When we choose correctly we will

delight in God’s Word

We will

yield spiritual fruit,

We will

know and be known fully by the righteous one.