The Rooted Life
Notes
Transcript
We live in such a busy world today that it is common look for things to steady us.
We look for something to distract us or comfort us.
We look for advice, someone to tell us we that we are right.
Often we reach for the easiest voice right in front of us.
We look to social media accounts that and podcasts that promote what we already think is good or right.
Other times it is a family member, a friend, or a political voice.
It can be easy to drift into things that are either unbiblical or even extra-biblical.
Placing requirements on ourselves and our Christian walks that the Bible does not require of us.
Most of us do not realize how much we are being shaped.
We tend to think, “I am just watching this,” or “I am just listening to this,” or “I am just scrolling for fun.”
But ideas are never neutral.
What we watch, listen to, laugh at, admire, repeat, and share slowly shapes what we think is normal, what we think is true, what we think is good, and what we think is worth living for.
The question is not whether you are being influenced. The question is: Who is influencing you?
Psalm 1 meets us in this path of influence.
It sets up two paths.
One is the common, popular path that is practical, but leaves people rootless.
The other is intentional faithfulness that leads to life, stability, fruitfulness, and blessing.
The difference between the two paths is not first about popularity, personality, intelligence, talent, or success.
The difference is the source of wisdom.
Where do you get your ideas? Whose counsel shapes your mind? Whose words are you building your life on?
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 The Man Who Avoids The Wrong Sources
Blessed Is The Man Who Avoids The Wrong Sources
This Psalm begins with the affirmation that blessed is the man -
It is not describing a person whose life is easy, comfortable, or free from sorrow.
It is describing a life that is solid, rooted, fruitful, and secure because it is lived how the Lord desires.
That does not mean always free from trouble, but a life that is directed in a upward direction.
This psalm first begins by describing what a person in this position does not do.
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.
Notice the progression there, walk, stop, sit.
The first instruction is blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
This is a picture of the casual acceptance of ungodly advice.
Counsel means advice, ideas, guidance, or a way of thinking.
The wicked are not obviously evil people though either.
In scripture the wicked are simply those who live apart from God, ignore God, reject God, or build life without reference to God.
As Christians we know that not every path leads to life.
Not every voice is wise, not every way of thinking will leave our souls healthy.
This first instruction is something that often happens casually.
It is found through the influence of social media, those reels that you scroll through, a YouTube video, a podcast you begin to listen to.
It can start with simply listening to people who do not love God who are trying to tell others what life is about.
The reason the man who does not walk in the ways of the wicked is blessed is because we are all shaped by what we listen to.
Admire, fear, keep returning to.
This often is not major decisions, it is a slow formation through repeated counsel, habits, messages, choices.
The danger is that when we hear things often enough, they begin to sound normal or right.
Things like -
Do whatever makes you happy.
Follow your heart.
Your body belongs to you, so do whatever you want with it.
Truth is whatever you feel is true.
You only live once, so do not miss out.
If people disagree with you, cut them off.
Forgiveness is weakness.
Purity is outdated.
God’s commands are restrictive.
The Bible is irrelevant.
You are your own authority.
Again, often these are not big decisions but small moments built over time through passive influence.
It matters what you listen to, what you sing along with.
Psalm 1 gently but clearly asks us: What counsel are you walking in?
What voices are shaping the way you see God, yourself, your family, your church, your suffering, your future, and your obedience?
The psalm continues, blessed in the man who does not stand in the way of sinners.
This is not stopping sinners but rather beginning to stand in solidarity with them.
Becoming comfortable in sin.
There is no longer the thought that, hey this is wrong.
Complacency has set in.
First, a person walks in ungodly counsel. He listens to it. He entertains it. He lets it begin to shape his thinking.
But then he stands in the way of sinners. He becomes more settled there.
He is no longer just hearing a wrong way of thinking. He is growing comfortable with a wrong way of living.
That is often how sin works.
First, we listen.
Then, we linger.
Then, we excuse.
Then, we participate.
Then, we defend.
Then, we begin to feel at home and identify with it.
A person does not usually wake up one morning and decide to drift far from God.
More often, he simply stops paying attention.
It is possible to be around sin so much that it no longer bothers you. Things that once made you uncomfortable become funny.
Things that once seemed wrong begin to seem normal. Things that once would have convicted you now feel like part of your personality.
That is dangerous.
Psalm 1 warns us because God knows how easily we can drift.
And again, this warning is not meant to crush the weary believer. It is meant to wake us up with mercy.
The Lord is not saying, “You are too far gone.”
He is saying, “Do not make your home there. Do not settle in the path that leads away from life. Come back.”
It leads to the next warning.
Blessed is the man who does not sit in the seat of scoffers.
To sit is to settle in.
Think about how nice it feels to settle into a chair after long days work.
A scoffer is someone who mocks.
In Psalm 1, this is someone who mocks God, mocks truth, mocks holiness, mocks obedience, and mocks people who take God seriously.
This is not just someone struggling with sin. This is someone who has become proud in sin.
A scoffer does not accept or even want correction.
Scoffing is especially dangerous because it hardens the heart.
One of the clearest signs that something is shaping us away from God is when we begin to mock the things God calls holy.
Repentance sounds extreme.
Obedience feels foolish.
Purity becomes a joke.
Prayer feels pointless.
Seriousness about God is dismissed as an overreaction.
Maybe you start rolling your eyes at church.
Maybe you start mocking parents or pastors who warn you.
Maybe you start making jokes about sin that Jesus died for.
This is a picture of gradual compromise.
At first, you are walking by.
Then, you stop and stand there.
Eventually, you sit down and make yourself at home.
I need a volunteer to help me out for a moment -
Walking together -
Hey I heard what happened, you have every right to be angry, after what they did, you shouldn’t forgive them.
(We are walking together, but hearing poor worldly advice.
Standing together.
Look, you have to think about yourself.
Life is hard enough already.
Nobody else is going to take care of you, so you need to make sure you get what you deserve.
Honestly, if people disappoint you, just lower your expectations.
Keep your guard up. Do not let anyone have too much of you. You will be better off that way.
Notice we are stopped, the counsel is more direct.
It sounds practical, even like common sense.
This is taking a dangerous turn though to selfishness.
Sitting together -
What good is God in that situation. Prayers isn’t really going to change anything.
You are on your own in this, you just have to figure it out. Just do what you have to do.
(If we are not careful, we settle there, we feel at home in that counsel.)
That is the warning provided in this Psalm. Drift from God does not happen all at once.
First we listen, then we linger, then we settle in .
Walk, stand, sit.
Again God gives this warning as an act of mercy.
If you are currently in any of these places, you are not too far gone.
He is saying come back!
Don’t make your home there.
Come back to My Word. Come back to the stream. Come back to the path of life.
Not every unbeliever says everything wrong.
Unbelievers can say true things because they are made in the image of God and live in God’s world.
But when a person’s whole worldview leaves God out, their counsel cannot give you the foundation for life.
That is what God wants us to see through the beginning of this Psalm.
If those are the things that the blessed man does not do, what does that person do?
Blessed is the man who delights in God’s word.
Blessed is the man who delights in God’s word.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
That word “but” is important.
The blessed person does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
He does not stand in the way of sinners.
He does not sit in the seat of scoffers.
But he does not live life only by avoiding what is wrong.
Sometimes we can think of the Christian life mainly in terms of refusal.
Do not go there. Do not listen to that. Do not believe that. Do not live that way.
And Psalm 1 does give us a warning.
We need that warning.
We need to be careful about the voices we listen to and the path we are walking.
But if the Christian life is only understood as avoiding the wrong path, then it can begin to feel like nothing but restriction.
The blessed life is a life of delight.
His delight is in the law of the LORD.
Delight means:
· Enjoyment. Desire. Affection. Love. Treasure. Hunger.
When we hear the word “law,” we may immediately think only of rules and commands.
But in Psalm 1, the law of the Lord means more than a list of regulations.
It refers to God’s instruction. God’s teaching. God’s revealed Word.
In His Word, God tells us who He is.
He tells us who we are.
He tells us what is wrong with the world.
He tells us what sin is.
He tells us what grace is.
He tells us who Christ is.
He tells us how sinners can be saved.
He tells us what is true, good, beautiful, and eternal.
The blessed person does not come to God’s word asking what rules must I keep.
They come asking -
Lord who are you?
What are You showing me?
How can I know You?
How can I trust You?
How can I walk with You?
How can I live in the life You give?”
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
That means eternal life is not merely going to heaven someday.
Eternal life is knowing God through Jesus Christ now.
Delighting does not mean easy though, or that we always open God’s word with a warm heart and a clear mind.
We are easily distracted, tired, read and feel like we are barely taking anything in if at all.
But if you live someone, you care about their words.
If you spouse, friend, parent, coach, or boyfriend or girlfriend sends you a message, you read it because the person matters to you.
In Scripture, the God who made you speaks.
The blessed person delights in God’s Word, not because he always feels strong, but because he knows God’s Word is good because God is good.
The verse gives us a way to do this.
He meditates on God’s law day and night.
§ Meditation means:
· Thinking deeply
· Actively engaging
· Reflecting repeatedly
Turning truth over in your mind.
· Applying truth personally
Letting God’s Word shape how you see everything.
Biblical meditation is not emptying your mind. It is filling your mind with God’s truth.
The world is already trying to fill your mind. Your phone is trying to fill your mind.
Entertainment is trying to fill your mind. Friends are trying to fill your mind.
Ads are trying to fill your mind.
The question is whether God’s Word is filling your mind deeply enough to help you recognize truth from lies.
· Not emptying the mind.
· Meditation means asking questions like:
What does this passage teach?
What does this reveal about God?
What does this reveal about people?
What does this show me about sin?
What does this show me about Jesus?
What promise should I believe?
What command should I obey?
What warning should I take seriously?
What lie does this passage correct?
How should this change the way I think, speak, choose, or live today?
That kind of meditation is for every believer.
It may look like praying a verse back to the Lord.
It may look like writing down one truth about God.
It may look like talking about Scripture with your spouse, your children, or a friend.
It may look like asking at the end of the day, “Where did I need this truth today?”
The point is not that every believer must have the exact same routine.
The point is that the Word of God is not meant to be a passing sound in our ears.
It is meant to become the steady truth beneath our feet.
This is immensely important for life.
A significant biblical example of this was when Joshua was tasked to lead the people of Israel into the promised land.
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God gave Joshua wisdom through His word to lead the people, when they strayed they faltered, when the followed, they were successful.
This psalm tells us this sort of person is like a tree planted by streams of water.
That picture matters.
A tree planted by water has roots. It has nourishment. It has stability. It has life. It can endure dry seasons because its roots reach a constant source.
This does not mean life is always easy. The psalm does not say the tree never faces heat, wind, drought, or storms. It says the tree is planted near the water.
The difference between the righteous and the wicked is not that one faces hard things and the other does not.
The difference is that one has roots close to the source of life.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
If your life is rooted in popularity, what happens when people reject you?
If your life is rooted in appearance, what happens when you do not like what you see?
If your life is rooted in sports, what happens when you get injured or your season ends?
If your life is rooted in grades, what happens when you fail?
If your life is rooted in a relationship, what happens when that person leaves?
If your life is rooted in social media, what happens when the approval stops?
But if your life is rooted in God and His Word, you have something deeper than circumstances.
The psalm says the tree “yields its fruit in its season.”
Fruit does not always appear immediately.
Growth takes time. A tree does not become strong overnight.
The promise of Psalm 1 is not that life will always be easy if you read your Bible. The promise is not that grief will disappear, burdens will become light overnight, or every hard circumstance will immediately change.
The promise is better than that.
God gives His people roots.
He plants them near the stream.
He nourishes them by His Word.
He steadies them when life is heavy.
He gives fruit in season.
He keeps them from withering even when the air around them feels dry.
Some of us want fruit immediately. We want to open the Bible once and feel strong.
We want to pray once and feel completely renewed.
We want one Sunday sermon to undo months of spiritual dullness.
And sometimes God does give sudden encouragement.
Sometimes the Word lands with immediate sweetness.
But often, the work of God’s Word is slower and deeper.
Roots grow before fruit shows.
The Bible is not life-giving because it is a religious habit.
It is life-giving because through the Word, God brings us to Christ.
Blessed life lasts because the Lord knows His own.
Blessed life lasts because the Lord knows His own.
There is another stark contrast shown in the final verses of the psalm.
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.
We see this fruitful tree with an endless source of nourishment contrasted with chaff.
A tree is rooted.
Chaff is rootless.
A tree is alive.
Chaff is dead.
A tree bears fruit.
Chaff is useless.
A tree lasts.
Chaff blows away.
What is chaff?
Chaff is the husk or dry outer part of grain that is separated and thrown away. It has no lasting value. When the farmer tosses it into the air, the wind carries it away.
§ Worthless (No value – trash)
§ Weightless (No depth or substance)
§ Temporary (Does not last)
§ Easily blown away
That is the picture of a life built on the world’s wisdom.
It may look exciting for a moment. It may look popular. It may get attention. It may seem powerful. But it does not last.
The world often celebrates ideas that disappear quickly.
Today’s trend is tomorrow’s joke.
Today’s viral post is forgotten next week.
Today’s celebrity wisdom is replaced by another celebrity.
Today’s “truth” is rewritten tomorrow.
Today’s rebellion eventually becomes emptiness.
But God’s truth remains forever.
Isaiah 40:8 says:
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
This is why “all truth is relative” cannot work.
If all truth is relative, then nothing is finally true.
If nothing is finally true, then there is no solid foundation for right and wrong.
If there is no solid foundation, then every person becomes his own authority.
If every person becomes his own authority, then life becomes unstable, confused, and destructive.
Psalm 1 says there are only two ways.
The way of the righteous.
The way of the wicked.
This does not mean there are only two kinds of people in terms of personality. It means there are only two ultimate directions in life.
One life is submitted to God.
The other life rejects God.
One life is rooted in God’s Word.
The other life is blown around by the world’s ideas.
One life is known by the Lord.
The other life will perish.
“The LORD knows the way of the righteous”
This is more than God knowing information.
The Lord knows the way of the righteous in the sense that He watches over them, cares for them, owns them, and keeps them.
That is good news.
The righteous are not righteous because they are naturally better than everyone else.
The Bible is clear that all of us have sinned.
We have all listened to wrong counsel.
We have all followed sinful desires.
We have all been tempted to sit with scoffers.
We all need rescue.
Psalm 1 ultimately points us to Jesus.
Jesus is the truly blessed man.
Jesus never walked in the counsel of the wicked.
Jesus never stood in the way of sinners.
Jesus never sat in the seat of scoffers.
Jesus perfectly delighted in the Word and will of His Father.
Jesus was perfectly fruitful, perfectly obedient, perfectly righteous.
And yet Jesus died for sinners like us.
He took the judgment we deserve so that everyone who trusts in Him can be forgiven, made new, and brought into the way of life.
So the call of Psalm 1 is not, “Try harder so God will like you.”
The call is:
Turn from the way of sin.
Trust in Jesus, the truly righteous One.
Let God’s Word become your source of wisdom.
Build your life on what lasts.
Conclusion
Bring it back to the main question:
Where do you get your ideas?
Everyone is being discipled by something.
You are being shaped by the voices you trust.
You are being formed by what you watch, what you listen to, what you laugh at, what you admire, and what you repeat.
Psalm 1 tells us there are two paths.
One path listens to the world, follows sin, mocks God, and ends in destruction.
The other path delights in God’s Word, meditates on His truth, becomes rooted like a tree, bears fruit in season, and is known by the Lord.
So the question is not just, “Do you own a Bible?”
The question is, “Are you letting God’s Word shape your mind, your desires, your choices, and your life?”
And the good news is this: Jesus is the righteous One who saves sinners and brings us into the way of life. If you have been walking in the wrong counsel, standing in the wrong path, or sitting with scoffers, you are not beyond the mercy of God. Turn to Christ. Trust Him. Follow Him. Let His Word become the voice that shapes your life.
Close with prayer:
Lord, help us see the voices that are shaping us. Forgive us for listening to the counsel of the world more than Your Word. Teach us to delight in Scripture, not merely as a rulebook, but as Your living Word that reveals who You are. Root us in Christ. Make us fruitful. Keep us from the way that leads to destruction, and lead us in the way of life. Amen.
