The Blessed Life | Psalm 1

If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, go ahead and grab them and head on over to Psalms 1. As you are headed that way 4 & 5 year olds you are dismissed to go on upstairs.

I’m really excited to kick off this 8 week series in which we’re going to look at a number of different Psalms. Typically when we start a new series I do a book or a series overview, but instead of taking a whole sermon today to “get the big picture” I want to take just a couple quick minutes to point out somethings that I think are helpful for us to know anytime you read something from the Psalter, or the book of Psalms.

Now I don’t have much of an artistic side, so when it comes to reading, writing, or understanding poetry I have a tendency to misunderstand what is being communicated. Which can make the Psalms challenging for me, but as time has gone on it has become one of, if not my favorite book of the Bible. So often in life we step into situations, good or bad, in which we find ourselves lacking the words we want to communicate what we need, and in the Psalms we find those words.

But this book isn’t just poetry; it’s a hymn book. The early church, and before that, the Jewish people would’ve sung these poems during their worship services. So the psalter isn’t just something to be read personally, but to be understood and communicated corporately.

So the genre is poetry and the purpose is worship. There’s certainly more we could say, but to get us started we need to acknowledge at least those two things.

The last question then is how do you cover 150 Psalms in 8 weeks…or do you? The answer to that is, no way. I’ve chosen 8 different Psalms for us to look at and I wanted to give you the reason I chose these 8 in particular. Depending on who you read there’s anywhere 4 & well, like 12 different types of Psalms. Several scholars I have read pin it around 5. So I picked ones out of these groups. Let me go ahead and give them to you:

Torah/wisdom Praise/Thanksgiving Messianic/Kingship Individual lament Communal lament

Now many Psalms crossover and have portions of multiple types in them, but for my simple mind these categories are helpful. We’ll unpack each type as we go, but this morning starting with Psalm 1 we find ourselves in a Torah/wisdom psalm.

You may hear the word Torah and think of the Pentateuch or the first 5 books of the Bible. And that’s correct. That is formally what’s called the Torah, but the word Torah actually means instruction. So to limit it to the first 5 books of the Bible is to miss what all this Psalm is actually talking about. It encompasses all of God’s instruction to His people.

It’s also a wisdom Psalm which carries the same feel as the book of Proverbs—which is essentially an exposition of God’s instruction to His people and shows how when we reject God’s Word we are foolish, yet when we follow God’s ways we will find wisdom. The goal of all of this is the same goal that we all have in life: blessed.

We, especially in Christian circles, throw that word around a lot. We’re so blessed. And it’s true. We are so blessed. The Lord in His kindness has been so generous to us. Even in the worst of our days, we can look around us and find some sort of blessing. But what does it truly mean to be blessed? Just be happy? Accumulate a lot stuff? Be with family and friends? Have good health?

One commentary that I’ve found super helpful in my studies that you’ll probably hear me quote often is by a guy named Ross Allen. He says the word blessed “is a term that refers to the joyful spiritual condition of those who are right with God and the pleasure and satisfaction that is derived from that.” The word blessed stresses the fullness of joy. So let me summarize or restate that definition in my own words and give it to you so that you can write it down:

Blessed: Completely, perfectly satisfied hearts (in) God to a point in which they’re overflowing with contentment.

Now I put the word “in” in parenthesis because you could change that preposition to say, for, to, from, or through. But that’s what this Psalm is going to show us. Psalm 1 as a wisdom/torah Psalm is going to tell you how to find what you’re truly looking for; where you can find real blessedness and the main point of it is this:

MPS: True blessing is found in the Lord.

So with all of that understanding, follow along as I read Psalm 1.

Psalm 1 ESV

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.

This is God’s Word for God’s people. And we respond: Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.

I’ve got 3 points for us this morning. Here’s the first:

1. Don’t be deceived.

It’s interesting that when it comes to being a blessed man that the Bible doesn’t start of with what he is, but instead what he is not. Which is important for us to understand because right from the start it shows us that not everyone is blessed. There is a stark difference between who is truly blessed and who isn’t. And if we go back to our definition of blessed & our main point, what this really tells us is that there are people who don’t belong to the Lord.

Through a series of 3 progressive steps clarity is brought to those who aren’t blessed. They walk, stand and then sit. Danny Akin rephrases it to say they associate, identify, and then fixate on the same things.

But what does that look like in reality? Well let’s define our terms. The word used for wicked here can certainly mean that, but that term actually has a broader meaning. Spurgeon describes them like this:

The unglodly are just your go-easy sort of people. They may got to church..or nowhere at all. They are often very respectable, good neighbors, kind to the poor. They may hold public office…There is no place they may not fill, for it is not considered an offence among men to be ‘ungodly.’

In other words, these are just common everyday people who seem to be successful and contribute to the world. In fact, most parents want to raise children that have a positive impact on society, which is what makes walking in the counsel of the wicked so deceptive. It looks good. It produces. It even serves.

So then to walk in their counsel means that you begin to heed their advice. You being to adopt their worldview. You begin to trust that contentment is found in what their life produces or in where their life is seemingly headed...comfort, control and approval.

So not only do we need to consider our relationships with those around, in our culture it goes beyond that to the shows we watch, the music we listen to, and the social media people we follow. And lately, it goes beyond that. What’s become commonplace and has affected everyone of our lives on a daily basis? A.i.

Now look, I’m not against using A.i. I use it almost every day and it helps make things so much more efficient. Before you get worried, I don’t use it to write my sermons. But there are a lot of things both in farm and the church world that I use it for. The other day, the boys and I were headed home from Amarillo and my phone syncs up to my pickup. There was a ChatGPT app and Walker asked me what it did. I didn’t know. So he pushed it and we proceeded to have a 15 minute conversation with a really nice robot.

Here’s the thing about A.i. It knows how to make you feel good about you. It’s designed to make you come back to it. It serves critical feedback in the most affirming way. Again, that might all be helpful. But when we begin to look to a robot for life’s solutions and not to the Word of God that reveals the character and purposes of God, we receiving from counsel that can be as easily influenced by demons as it can the Holy Spirit. So church, take heed and don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, because when you begin to see that as good you then begin to stand in the way of sinners.

You begin to think, well, this worked for them so surely it’ll work for me. This helped them move forward in life and clearly they’re good people. Once I begin to see and think, ah, that’s the good life, my values begin to shift. You begin to adopt their lifestyle and think it’s ok. As Spurgeon says, “Sinners live for pleasure.” And I begin to think that’s ok for me too. So, “Their way of life becomes more important than Christ’s way of life.” At that point, I’ve moved from association to identification. I’ve walked in their counsel and now I’m standing in their ways which ultimately leads to me sitting in the seat of scoffers.

I like catchiness of the Message translation of this line: “You don’t go to smart-mouth college.” That’s what a scoffer does—they make fun of, look down upon, belittle, & completely write off God & his Word. Proverbs 21:24 describes this man…

Proverbs 21:24 ESV

“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

Now you may be going, I don’t know anyone who truly scoffs at God’s Word, but isn’t this exactly what Adam & Eve did in Genesis 3? Doesn’t this threefold intensification of these steps mirror their sin? They began to listen to the snake’s counsel. Eve saw it was a delight to the eyes. And then she took a bite and offered some to Adam standing right next to her.

They wrote off God’s Word and trusted Satan’s instead. Every time we sin, every time…we scoff at God’s Word. We’re deceived into thinking that true blessing is found somewhere outside of the Lord.

So here’s the question: have you been deceived? Do you find yourself sliding down the slippery slope of sin? Or, the second point this morning, do you

Delight in the Lord.

Now, one of the reasons it’s helpful to understand the type of Psalm is found right here in these first couple verses.

Delight in the Lord.

What does the blessed man look like?

He delights in the law of the Lord.

The law of the Lord stands opposed to ‘the counsel of the wicked’ (1), to which it is ultimately the only answer. The psalm is content to develop this one theme, implying that whatever really shapes a man’s thinking shapes his life.11 Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 64.

One could argue that the “blessed/happy man” is a pleasure seeker too, but what he delights in is the opposite of what the wicked man delights in.

Why does he delight in the law of the Lord?

Psalm 19:7–11 ESV

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Is delighting something we cultivate or something God gives?

Yes. Taking kids fishing illus.

He meditates day & night.

Hebrew = growl, mutter, coo

Not Eastern mysticism in which we clear our minds, it’s where we fill them with the Scriptures.

Allen, “Meditation begins with memorization that moves to gaining a full understanding of it.”

Not just memorizing facts to regurgitate, but actually grasping the core of it. Example: DGroup spent 45 minutes thinking and talking about just the word delight.

Meditation then takes what’s been memorized and turns its ideas and concerns into prayer back to the Lord.

And finally, meditation concludes with self-exhortation—rebuking, exhorting, or encouraging—as the case might be (“why are you cast down, O my soul?”—the refrain in Pss. 42:5, 11 and 43:5). The “meditation” is fixed in the mind more by speaking or uttering the words, which is what the Hebrew term actually indicates (s.v. Ps. 2:1). Such meditation in the word prevents people from being caught up in the ideas of the world.1s.v. under the word, meaning see under1 Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms 1–89: Commentary, vol. 1, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2011–2013), 189–190.

What is the lens through which we look at life?

Profitability? Comfort, logic, reason? Fear? Or the lens of faith?

Akin’s questions about if we’re meditating on the Word:

What do I think about when I daydream?

What comes to my mind and fills my heart when tragedy strikes and disappointment comes or when success hits?

In a 24-hour day, 10,080-minute week, 2,592,000-second month, how much time do I give to memorizing and meditating on God’s Word?11 J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 7.

“What we love, we will spend time with.”

What does your time say about what you meditate on? What does your meditation produce in you?

He prospers.

Planted by streams of water

Doesn’t avoid drought, withstands it. The blessed man is successful, he prospers in the midst of the drought/trial/storm.

Jeremiah 17:7–9 ESV

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

So for those of you in the midst of that season right now, Psalms 1 calls you to meditate on the Word because it is the stream of water that points you towards the living water. The answer isn’t to trust your heart, but to trust the Lord and His Word.

Bearing fruit

What do we know about fruit?

Fruit takes time to grow.

Don’t be discouraged, but take hope.

Fruit isn’t just for us.

Fruit is for the good and delight of others.

Fruit is an identifying marker.

The fruit we bear declares who we are and whose we are.

Fruit replicates.

Think of an acorn tree. Once all those acorns fall and get pushed into the dirt what happens? More trees.

John the Baptist to the Pharisees in Mt. 3:8-10

Matthew 3:8–10 ESV

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

When we meditate on the Word what fruit will we begin to bear? Gal. 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

What does the fruit of your life say about the stream you’re planted by?

3. Consider the outcome.

Consider the outcome.

The Wicked:

Chaff that the wind drives away

Completely worthless.

Wheat illustration?

Consumption & disappearance

Judgment happens they will burn up or blow away. 1 Cor. 3:12

1 Corinthians 3:12 ESV

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—

Matthew 3:12 ESV

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Stand in the judgment, or in the congregation

Stand alone with nothing to stand on

What is the result of the blessed man’s life?

Psalm 1:6 ESV

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Lord knows vs wicked will perish

The idea is more than a mental awareness, what we call knowledge; Delitzsch said it was “a knowledge which was in living, intimate relationship to its subject and at the same time was inclined to it and bound to it by love” (s.v. Ps. 139:1).25 1s.v. under the word, meaning see under25 Franz Delitzsch, The Psalms, I:87–88.1 Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms 1–89: Commentary, vol. 1, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2011–2013), 193.

This is a knowledge that saves.

In reality though, do we always delight in the law? Do we delight in His ways?

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Mt. 7:15-23

We’re known by our fruits

In the day of judgment what we have to stand on is whether or not He knows us.

We can be known because of the gospel—which the Word shows us.

Other thoughts: “Depart from me for I never knew you = relational death.”

Big Question:

What stream are you rooted in?