Psalm 1: The Blessed Life

We are done with our study of the Letter to the Colossians

For the next number of weeks, I would like to take a look into the Book of Psalms

Why Psalms

Why the OT at all?

2 Pitfalls

Sometimes As Christians, we sometimes barely take a glancing nod at the OT

we focus on the NT because it talks about Jesus and how to be a Christian

We like the OT because it’s got some fantastic stories

But in many cases, we don’t really think about the OT much

And maybe this is made a bit worse when The Gideons come to visit and they hand out pocket sized NT’s for us to read

Can you imagine what we would think if they came around and handed out pocket sized OT’s? We would be a bit puzzled, wouldn’t we

Or, the other problem is, as I’ve thought about it, that we focus too much on the OT. We pretend like we are living back there

We see this in a lot of the worship songs that we sing

A lot of our worship songs kind of focus on this theme of crying out to God to come and “fight our battles” and “break all our chains” and “deliver us”

Kind of like God did for His people in the OT

By winning literal battles for them

Delivering them from their enemies and from captivity

Which I understand.

But at the same time, I find myself a lot of times literally shouting at the radio, “But God’s already done that!”

He’s already fought that battle. He’s conquered death and won the victory through Jesus Christ

And now He stand offering salvation and victory to us, if only we will receive it through faith!

So, I find that we live in this sort of weird “in between place” when it comes to the OT

We either sort of ignore it and think it’s irrelevant,

Or, we just live there all the time

So, why the OT

And why the Psalms

Well, to answer that question, I would refer us to one of my all time favorite stories in the Bible

From Luke 24.

It’s the story of the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus

It’s after the crucifixion, and the Passover Feast is done, and these two disciples are going back home.

They are stunned and heartbroken at what has happened to Jesus

And then who should come and walk along side of them, but Jesus

But, of course, they don’t recognize Him

And Jesus pretends like He doesn’t know why they are so sad so they explain.

And Luke says that Jesus chides them a bit for not understanding what they are supposed to understand

And he says, “

English Standard Version Chapter 24

And beginning with

He used

Moses

The prophets

ALL the Scriptures that were available

To explain to them the things concerning Himself

By looking into the OT Scriptures, the disciples were supposed to have understood what they needed to know about Jesus, the Messiah.

And then later in the chapter, Jesus appears to the group of disciples

And after they recover from their shock and He eats in front of them to prove that He’s not a ghost or something like that, Jesus says this:

English Standard Version Chapter 24

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

He said, “Everything that was written about me in

the Law of Moses

The Prophets

And the Psalms

And then He helped them understand the Scriptures. And He explained to them that “This is what the Scriptures (what we know as the OT) was saying about me

I needed to suffer

Rise from the dead

Not only that, but the OT Scriptures say that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in the name of Jesus to all nations!

Wow! Sounds like the OT Scriptures are pretty relevant when it comes to understanding who Jesus is

The provide a foundation for understanding who He is and what His mission was all about

It’s the same reason that we study history, right?

Because it provides us a context for understanding our present times, how we got to where we are now

And so that is the reason that studying the OT and, particular for us today, studying the Psalms is a good thing

Now, if you are familiar with your Bible, you know that there are 150 psalms

But don’t worry. I’m not going to spend 150 weeks in the Book of Psalms

I’m just going to pick 8 or so different Psalms that illustrate the variety of Psalms that we find

Psalms is such a rich book

The Psalms are song, individual pieces of poetry.

This is what makes Psalms a unique book. It doesn’t have chapters that build on each other.

Rather, it has indivdual pieces of poetry used for worship and expression

Wisdom Psalms

Royal Psalms

Lament Psalms

Imprecatory Psalms

Thanksgiving Psalms

Pilgrimage Psalms

Enthronement Psalms

Psalm 1 is a Wisdom Psalm

English Standard Version Psalm 1

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

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.

BLESSED

Is there anyone here who wants to be blessed?

What does it mean to be blessed?

We sing that famous song written by Irving Berlin

God Bless America Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies to the oceans, wide with hope God Bless America My home sweet home.

Or Lee Greenwood’s song

And I'm proud to be an American

Where at least I know I'm free

And I won't forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me

And I'd gladly stand up

Next to you and defend her still today

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land

God bless the USA

Songs like these do what they are meant to do: stir us.

They are supposed to make us stand a little straighter, sing a little louder, bring a tear to our eye as we think about this great land that we live in.

The president of the United States usually ends formal speeches with the words “God bless America”

As a country, as people, we like the thought of being blessed by God, don’t we?

There seem to be very few people who object to singing these songs or hearing the president say, “God bless America”

Although I wonder how most people would respond if you asked them, “What does it mean to be blessed by God?”

We are just like the people of Israel in the days of King David who also desired the blessing of God

They wanted His personal blessing

And they wanted His blessing on their nation

And I do believe that God desires to bless His people

But again,

Who are the people who can expect to be blessed by God?

What does it look like to be blessed by God?

It probably goes without saying that the answers to those questions probably will eliminate a lot of people in this country

So, who can expect to be blessed by God?

Blessed: Hebrew word is ash-RE and it means “Happy”

Genesis 30:12–13 “12 Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.”

Do you want to be happy? I do! So, what is the secret to happiness

verse 2: His delight is in the law of the LORD,

The people whom God desires to bless, and I believe will bless, are those who delight in Him

What does it mean to “delight”

Well, again, we don’t have to spend too much time picking this word apart

This word simply means, “joy, great happiness, pleasure, exultation, gladness”. It’s something that is pleasant to you.

The person who is blessed is a person who finds great happiness, pleasure, joy and gladness in the law of the Lord.

Now as we think about this word, “delight”, I think we could look at it in a couple of different ways

Something brings me delight: I am a passive participant

it could be alcohol

could be the next purchase of that “thing” that I’ve always wanted

could be awesome music at church

could be a great sermon

This is where it’s kind of a temptation for us to live, looking for that next thing that will bring me pleasure

There are some people who never quite make it out of this stage

And when we think about the Law of the Lord bringing us delight, it sort of makes us scratch our heads

“yeah, I’ve read Exodus, and Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy!” Man, it’s a chore to get through those books.

I didn’t get no delight from those books!

So that’s one way to look at delight

But that’s not how delight is used here, I don’t think

Delight: An action on my part. I’m not a passive receiver any more. I am initiating something

I am choosing to do something because I know that it’s going to bring me pleasure, joy

I delight to get in an airplane and fly because I know that I’m going to find joy

I delight to get on my motorcycle and go riding because I know that it’s going to bring me pleasure

“well, still doesn’t make much sense. I can choose to sit down and read God’s law, but i don’t get much pleasure from that

But yet, David did. We read it over and over again in the Psalms how much pleasure David received from the Law of God

Just read Psalm 119. There are 176 verses in that Psalm, and each one of them says something about God’s Law. About His Word, His Commandments

verse 97—Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day

verse 103—How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth

verse 111—Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart!

we could be here a long time reading all the verses in which the Psalmists talk about the joy, the pleasure, the delight that they take in the Law of God

But again, we wonder, “How is that? Why is that? Why does David take such delight in God’s Law”

Well, I believe it’s not because David likes to sit down and read a bunch of rules

He doesn’t take delight in God’s law because he likes order

But rather, I believe it’s because David takes delight in the Law Giver

His ultimate attention is not on the laws themselves, but his attention is on God, the Giver of the Law

David’s delight is ultimately in God!

David was a man who loved God with all of his heart.

Even from a young age, we know that he composed songs of worship to God

He exercised great faith in God because he knew that God could be trusted

David delighted in God’s law because he had discovered experientially that God was worthy of his complete trust and adoration

And when he opened the pages of the Law, he didn’t see a bunch of rules that he was going to have to “gird up his loins” and put on his game face to follow

But, rather, in the pages of the Law, He read about God whom he already knew on experientially

What about you, what about me?

What is it that you take delight in? what is it, who is it that you go to for joy, fulfillment, and significance

When you have spare time, what it it that your mind turns to?

When you are feeling down and discouraged, and far from God, what do you find yourself doing?

What is it that you go to for pleasure?

If you can identify that thing, then that is probably the thing that you take delight in

And on a serious note, if that thing is not God, or the things of God, then there is probably an idol there, right?

The things that you delight in are the things that take precedence in your life and, if they are the wrong things, then they become an idol

Saturday morning men’s group: A man and His Traps

Identifying idols

Pastor Martin Lloyd Jones says: “an idol us usually what rouses and attracts me so easily that I give my time, my attention, my energy, and my money to it effortlessly

Simply put, an idol is whatever you delight in

For David, it was God who received his time, attention, and energy (money) and for that reason, he could say, “I delight in your law”

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”

Maybe you could read it like this:

If you delight in me, you will love my words

If you find your pleasure and satisfaction in me, you will delight in my words

Jesus wants us to find our delight, our joy, our pleasure in Him

i know that delighting in Jesus, and obeying Jesus go hand in hand

But I wonder sometimes if it’s not our tendency to get things mixed up

We tell people, “Do it because it’s in the Bible. Do it because God said so. Do it because the church said so. Do it because that’s the way to be a good Christian”

Which may all have some truth to it.

But if that’s how we approach things, is it any wonder that people give up and fall along the way

How would it be different if if we would teach people and model for people what it means to delight in Jesus.

To find our joy and satisfaction in Him

And out of that to “obey His commandments”.

Because if we have learned to love Jesus, will we not obey Him?

If we find our delight in Jesus, then obeying Him is a natural thing

it’s a “I get to” rather than “I have to”

Blessed are those who delight in God’s Law

How are they blessed? What does it mean to be blessed?

For David, he gives us a picture of a tree

The thing about this tree is that it is strong

It’s leaves are always green

It always bears fruit at just the right time

It is a tree that is living and doing exactly what a tree is supposed to do

It’s the kind of tree that you would want on your property

And what is the secret of this tree?

Well, its secret is that it is planted by the water.

It stands beside a stream of water which, I assume, is constantly running

And its roots go down to that never ending supply of water.

This is the kind of tree that is always alive and always thriving

the Psalmist says, “The one who delights in the Law Giver, and the words of the Law Giver will be like this tree”

A person who is living in the fullness of what God intended.

His life will bear fruit.

Even through dry seasons, this person won’t give up and die. He won’t even become withered and weak, because he is receiving his nutrients from the Law Giver and the words of the Law Giver

He says, this kind of person will prosper in all that he does

Our American mind: Prosper: prosperity: to be rich and successful

Basically that is the American definition of blessing.

to be rich

to be at peace

for whatever I have in mind to do, to go well

And it’s true that in the OT, God’s blessing was normally wrapped up in the blessings of

Good crops

Safety

Material wealth

But as we move into the NT, is that what God has in mind of His people? Some folks would say it is.