Growing in Abundance - Psalm 1

Good morning - It is good to be with all of you again this morning

If you are new here, my name is Stefan Wilson I am the pastor of preaching and teaching here at Harvest

We don’t typically have butterflies and bee hives hanging around the lobby…

But I am loving the VBC decorations!

Lots of exciting stuff happening this summer with VBC and with our new sermon series that starts this morning.

We’re calling it “Summer in the Psalms” [HUMOR - Spelling Summer with a “P” for alliteration]

We are emphasizing the book of psalms as a church this summer because the Psalms have served a very prominent role for God’s people throughout all of history

And they should serve a prominent role in our church family as God’s people as well.

Now, We often think of the Psalms as a collection of songs…

And to a point that is true

But the books Psalms is so much more than that

In Colossians 3, the Apostle Paul tells the church that the songs we sing are actually a means of instructing one another in the truth.

And so the Psalms, as a collection of songs and poems…

Serve to instruct God’s people in who God is and how we as his people should respond to him

So, we are going to spend 9 weeks in the Psalms, dropping into various Psalms throughout the book

We are going to hear from guest preachers and some of the other men on staff

And through all of it, we will be instructed as God’s people in who God is and how we should respond

[TRANSITION] - 3:00

Now, as a book, the Psalms are a collection of writings

There are 150 psalms written by various authors

And they compiled intentionally into a single book

And as with any book, to properly understand the book as a whole, there is an introduction.

You think about any book - Often the introduction gives you a vision for what the book sets out to accomplish

Think about the last few books you’ve read - The introduction will give you a preview of what life will look like if you read the book and follow its instructions

“If you implement this system, your life will be transformed”

“If you do these 5 steps, you’ll never work another day in your life.”

Well, Psalm 1, as the foundation and introduction to the whole book of Psalms, is going to cast a compelling vision for God’s people

It is a vision of life that the rest of the Psalms will unpack in more detail

A life of abundance, but not the kind of abundance the world talks about

The world says that abundance is found in things, money, experiences…

But Psalm 1 is going to give us a vision of an abundant life that has nothing to do with what you have… but who you have.

So let’s give the words of Psalm 1 our full attention.

Psalm 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; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

These are God’s words for his people and they are just as true, just as relevant, and just as inspired for us today as they were when they were first written.

Big Idea: The abundant life grows when it is watered by the truth of God's word. [7:00]

You’ll notice that the first word of the Psalm is the word “Blessed”

And that is a word in Hebrew that communicates a fulfilled life - A life in which you have everything you need and can simply enjoy God’s goodness and your place in his creation

Notice - The idea is that you have everything you need for the life you were made for

Not that you have everything you want for the life you dreamed of.

And that is an important distinction

You and I were made to be satisfied in God’s presence, as his people, living lives that reflect him for his glory

And the blessed abundant life is the life where we have everything we need to do exactly that

But too often, we instead embrace the world’s definition of abundance, thinking that the good life is the one in which we have everything we ever wanted

And because so often we want things that are actually contrary to the lives that God made us for, we end up seeking a form of abundance that is empty and is the opposite of blessed.

And Psalm 1 actually juxtaposes these two ideas

The blessed life

And the empty life

The opening word of the Psalm is “Blessed”, but the final word of the psalm is “perish”

A word in Hebrew that literally means “come to nothing”

There is a way of living in which the abundance you chase leads to nothing

Those two words, blessing and perishing, form bookends on the Psalm

So the first and the last words of the Psalm show us two ways to live

A life of satisfaction that leads to abundance

Or a life that pursues worldly abundance and leads to nothing

And what is in between those two words, tells us what life needs to look like if it is to truly be the abundant life.

[Bridge Question] What does the abundant life look like? How can I know that I am embracing the abundant life, the blessed life?

I am living abundantly when…

God’s instruction is my delight (1–2) [11:00]

The consistent message in the world is that abundance means more—more money, more power, more pleasure.

And if you just can get a little more, then you will have delight in all that you have obtained.

But its a lie - The more you chase it, the more empty it feels.

And there is a reason for that - Because it is the opposite of what you were made for

Look at v. 1

Psalm 1:1 “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;”

The Psalms starts, not by defining what abundance is, but what it isn’t

The Psalmist tells us three things that that are opposed to the blessed life

To walk, stand, and sit in the Hebrew language indicates a progression

I walk in a direction, I find a position to stand, and I sit down in that place.

And this imagery is warning us

To walk is to listen

To stand is to embrace

To sit is to belong

So we could reword it to say, “Blessed is the man who Does not listen to the council of the world and does not embrace an identity with the world and does not belong in the world.”

We have to see this…

The first thing that book of Psalms teaches us is…

The life of blessing is the opposite of what the world tells you it is.

That is why James says that friendship with the world is enmity toward God

It is impossible to delight in the things that the world celebrates, And to love what the world loves and simultaneously live a life that enjoys the blessing and abundance that comes from God alone.

No, the only true blessing will be found in delighting in God’s instruction

Look at v. 2 - He gives the contrast

Psalm 1:2 “but his delight is in the law of the Lord…”

That word delight is the Hebrew word for a desire or a yearning for something

Church family, listen to me: There is a direct connection between what I think the abundant life looks like and what I desire

You and I will pursue with all of our heart whatever the thing is that we believe is true abundance

If I believe that abundance is monetary, I will pursue money with my whole being

If I believe that abundance is found in relationships, I will be all about finding the right relationship

Whatever has my heart is the thing that I believe is where abundance is found.

And my delight will be in pursuing that thing.

And listen: If the abundant life is the life in which you have everything you need for the life you were made for…

Then the thing we should delight most in is being taught what that life is and we should desire that life.

That word, “Law”… it is the Hebrew word simply means “instruction”

[Look at the note in your Bibles]

These words expose our hearts right out of the gate

Do you delight in God’s instruction from his word?

Or have you listened to the world and stood with the world and sat with the world and so you delight in other things that actually go against his word and so you avoid his word?

Whatever you delight in will have your heart and it will consume your mind

Look back at v. 2

“and on his law he meditates day and night.”

That word “meditate” is to remind yourself or to murmur to yourself

When I delight in the instruction of God, it will be on my mind, I will be reminded of it, I will evaluate my life with it

If we are to be a church family that knows and experiences the blessing of God it must start by first delighting in the instruction of God

And allowing God’s word to redefine our categories and re-orient our hearts and change the things that we desire

And if you find yourself wondering what it is that you delight in most today, you need to only ask yourself this question: Who do I delight to listen to?

Think about it - You will listen to the voice that offers you what you want most

And you’ll love listening

And you’ll do whatever they say

So that you can get the thing that you desire most

So, who do you delight to listen to?

The truly abundant life is the one that delights to listen to God’s instruction.

So, that’s the first mark of the abundant life.

Second, I am living the abundant life when…

God’s presence is my foundation (3–4) [19:00]

I want you to look at the imagery that the Psalmist uses and then we’re going to go to another passage that uses almost the exact same imagery so that we can understand what the images mean

Look at v. 3

Psalm 1:3“He is like a tree planted by streams of water…”

Notice that the man is like a tree, so the tree serves as a metaphor.

Therefore all of the other imagery linked to the tree also serves as a metaphor

He is like a tree - he grows

And he is planted by streams of water

Meaning he is intentionally placed there.

So the man who is blessed, the man who lives the abundant life is intentionally planted where he will grow.

Next to a stream of water

So what is the water that he is planted by, by which he grows?

To understand this we need to go on a little field trip…

Over to Ezekiel 47

So would you turn there with me

Before we read let me give you the context of Ezekiel

Ezekiel is a prophet sent by God to confront the people of Israel because they are a people who have stopped listening to his word and they are looking more and more like the world around them

As a nation Israel is spiritually dead because they have stopped listening to God

And Ezekiel receives a series of visions about how God is going to bring about new life for his people

So first look at v. 1

Ezekiel 47:1–2 “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east…”

In Ezekiel’s vision, water is flowing out from the temple

Then jump down to v. 7

Ezekiel 47:7–9 “As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.”

The water that is flowing from the temple becomes a river that brings renewal and life

And then jump down to v. 12

Ezekiel 47:12 “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

The temple imagery in this vision is so significant.

In the old Testament, the temple was the place where the presence of God dwelt.

The sanctuary refers to the holy place where God’s presence resided.

And in Ezekiel’s vision, water is flowing from the place where God’s presence dwells

And because it flows from God’s presence, it brings life to everything that it touches

In Ezekiel’s vision, the water represents the presence of God flowing out of the temple, bringing life to everything it touches

And when Jesus, who is the presence of God who dwelt with his people, stood with the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4 what did he say he could give her?

Living water.

Putting all of this together, the water that flows in Psalm 1 that gives life to the tree is the presence of God that brings life to all that it touches.

Are you with me?

Church family: You cannot experience the abundant life apart from God’s presence.

There are two ways in which we enter into the presence of God

The first is through his word.

If you read in your Bible, you will find that there is a very clear connection between the word of God and the presence of God

In fact, the word of God itself is indistinguishable from the very person of God

So wherever God’s word is, God’s presence is.

When you read your Bible, you are hearing the voice of God.

I hear people say all the time, “I wish that God would speak to me.”

And my response is always “He has, in his word. Read it and you will hear the voice of God”

And they might say “But I want to hear him audibly speak to me”

To which I respond “Then read it out loud.”

The truth is that God’s word is his very breath, it comes from his very person, and when we read it, we are in his presence.

And in reading his word, it informs and transforms our minds and then we respond to God in his presence through prayer.

The conversation between us and God in his presence is that God speaks to us through his word

We speak back to God in prayer, according to his word

And look at the contrast between being in God’s presence vs. being separated from God’s presence

Psalm 1:3–4 “[it] yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

One thrives… the other dies.

Church family: the lie that you have been told is that you were made to enjoy this world only

But that will ultimately whither and fade

God’s presence is what gives life, not the getting of more things.

I am so concerned for us as a church that we see things like spending time in God’s word and spending time in prayer and spending time together as a church family as being supplemental to life

Right?

“I’ll get to those things if I have time

But right now I have more important things to do as I try to get more of the world.”

We have to see as a church that our lives individually and our life as a church collectively are completely dependent on regularly coming into the presence of God through his word and through prayer.

And when we make those things foundational to our lives, not supplemental, we will have abundance

Not because we have more things,

But because we have God…

And the life where I spend more time in his presence will always be a more abundant life.

Lastly, I am living abundantly when…

God’s justice is my security (5–6) [30:00]

Often, I find myself looking around thinking, “Man, it seems to be pay pretty well to live like the world.”

Right?

Why does it always seem that those who want nothing to do with God seem to be doing better than those of us who want to obey God?

Have you ever felt like that?

And what is tempting then is to think “I should just live like them so that I can have what they have.”

Have you been there? Or is that just me?

I think all of us have been there

And I think it’s helpful when we feel that way to be honest about what that is and where that’s coming from

When you and I feel envious of the worldly abundance that other people have, it is exposing the fact that we have been defining abundance the world’s way.

And so we then think we will find our security in that abundance

“If I have all the things, I will have security because I wont be lacking in anything.”

But we would do well to not define security based on what we see right now

But on what will happen one day

v. 5 shows us that worldly abundance offers no security whatsoever

Psalm 1:5 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;”

The entire book of psalms is so good about reminding us throughout the entire book that while there is a time in which it seems like the wicked prosper, the day of judgment that is coming will expose everything for what it truly is

And on that day, the most wasteful life that a person could possibly live is a life in which they only ran after worldly abundance for security.

The truth is that on judgment day, what will separate people is not what they had in this life

On judgment day, what will separate people, the blessed and the perishing, is what they believed would give them life.

The blessed will be so because they believed that God would give them life

The perishing will be so because they believed the world would give them life

And true security can only come from God.

Look at v. 6

Psalm 1:6 “for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

That word “know” is a Hebrew word that mean to know personally, intimately

It isn’t awareness, but commitment.

The security that you and I need is the knowledge of God’s commitment to his people.

He is faithful, even when we are faithless

And the life that delights in God’s instruction and is rooted in God’s presence is a life that enjoys the security of God’s commitment

Listen:

If it were up to you and I to do these three things on our own, we would have no hope.

You and I daily are tempted to, and often do, delight in the world, not in God’s instruction

You and I often neglect, and sometimes even run from, God’s presence in our lives

You and I regularly find false security in things of the world

If being blessed means we have to do these things first, then that means that none of us could be blessed, and all of us would perish.

Because often we look no different than the wicked in our actions, our words, and especially our thoughts and our desires.

This is why Martin Luther wrote of this Psalm that we should “tremble at these words.”

Because none of us measures up to them

The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way”

And because of that, we deserve to be blown away by the wind, just like the wicked and perish like the Psalm says.

But God’s judgment is our security because God has provided a way for us to be cleansed of our unrighteousness and made righteous so that we can enter into his presence and receive renal and life

Isaiah goes on… “And the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us all.”

Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”

As the righteous one, Jesus is the truly blessed man from Psalm 1

He fully and truly delighted in the law of the Lord, perfectly obeying and fulfilling every word

He was rooted in the presence of God, embodying the perfect word of God and being the one who mediates between us and God

He was the presence of God who dwelt among us

He is the source of living water that brings life to all that he touches

And because of his perfect life and perfect death, we have security in God’s judgment

Not because we are righteous, but because the righteous one died for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.

And so Jesus can say in John 10:10 “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Though you and I fall short daily in these things, because Jesus perfectly fulfills them

When we follow him by faith, we follow the words of Psalm 1.

You want to know how to live the abundant life? Follow Jesus, not the world.

If you are here today and you have been trying to pursue worldly abundance, you must realize that it will all be blown away by the wind

But a life that embraces Jesus Christ will be known by God, will stand secure, and will be a life of true abundance in which he provides all that you need

Because he will provide you with nothing less than himself.

And as we embrace Jesus, you know what will happen?

His instruction will be our delight

His presence will be our foundation

His judgment will not drive us to fear, but will be our security knowing that we are secure in Jesus.

Because the abundant life grows when it is watered by the truth of God’s word

And that truth is Jesus himself, the giver of the water of life.

[40:00]