January 30, 2022: Psalm 1, "Psalms for All Seasons: Pure Happiness"

Introduction

Welcome! As we get started today I’d like you to consider for a moment how significantly the Bible has impacted all of our lives. For starters, it offers incredible promises for those who read it and live it out. A longer life, greater intelligence, prosperity, happiness, success, peace, wisdom, hope, encouragement, guidance, equipping for life, and transformation.

The Bible claims reading it and living it out brings more blessings and increases happiness. There are many people who read the Bible every day...And still there are many people who don't, in spite of its numerous benefits.

In light of that, as we begin a brand new series on the largest book found in the Bible, found right in the middle! Psalms is a book where the authors poured their hearts out to God in the form of poetry and song.

Psalms is a book for all seasons, because it speaks to every area and every season of our lives. It’s a collection of praise and anguish, joy and sadness, triumph and defeat written by many different authors in many different situations and seasons. It is truly a unique book.

To begin our series we’re going to start at the very beginning, in Psalm 1, where a foundation is laid out for righteous living and having a consistent and blessed life that includes the daily reading of scripture.

I invite you to stand for the reading and hearing of God’s Word this morning:

1 Blessed (or happy) is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delighth is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,s

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

And may glory be to God for the reading and the hearing of His Word this morning, Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

Psalm 1 is the psalm of happiness.

It reminds us that if we want to be happier, we should regularly read this book. If we want to be a person who bear fruit in season. Psalms is a book for all seasons in that it’s for us when we are happy and when we are sad. It’s there for us when we are on the mountain tops and when we walk through the valleys But, if we are rooted in the Psalms and the larger Word of God contained in the Scriptures, we will be like a tree beside divinely flowing streams. We’ll never lack the life-giving water that enables us to flourish and bear fruit.

Psalm 1 reminds us that people are happiest when they do three things: they walk, they stand, they sit. It’s a progression.

Blessed (or happy) is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

Let’s talk about walking for a moment.

“Walking” is taking a series of steps. Walking is about the decisions we make all day long.

Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar has found that the average person makes about seventy conscious decisions every day. That’s 25,550 decisions a year. Over seventy years, that’s 1,788,500 decisions. Albert Camus said, “Life is a sum of all of our choices.” When we put all those 1,788,500 choices together, and that’s who we are.

Henry Ford once said “Those who walk with God, always reach their destination.”

At the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win.

All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry.

The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back.

Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them.

One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, “This will make it better.”

Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes.

Walking is about where we live mentally, emotionally, and relationally as we make forward progress. As we walk with God, He not only picks us up when we fall and heals our hurts, but also provides best and safest path forward each day.

Micah 6:8 “He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you— to act with justice, to treasure the LORD’s gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.”

Leonard Ravenhill once said, “Smart men walked on the moon, daring men walked on the ocean floor, but wise men walk with God.”

The greatest truth about walking with God is that the more we walk with God, the harder it is to scrape our knees. After we walk for a while, we usually get to the place where we’re going. And when we do, we stop walking.

And even if it’s just for a moment, we stand there.

As a reminder, v. 1 says,

“Blessed (or happy) is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

Standing is about standing in the right places and allowing God to help us avoid the pitfalls of life.

As I thought about what it means to stand in the right place, I thought about Marty McFly in the classic movie Back to the Future 3. He arrives in the 1885 town of Hill Valley and is almost run over by a team of horses running straight in his direction. Marty jumps out of the way only to jump directly into a pile of manure. While definitely not where he wanted to jump, Marty quickly realizes his folly and moves his Nike’s to a better location. I dare say that we all know what it’s like to step in it from time to time, don’t we, many times when we are not even trying to step in it?!

How do we make sure that we do stand in the way that sinners take?

One great way to do this is by standing on the promises. While it is the closing hymn on February 20, it is a fantastic hymn written by Russell Kelso Carter in 1886. Russell was a star athlete of a military academy and an excellent student academically, who went on to be a successful teacher and coach. He then spent several years as an ordained Methodist minister, after which he went to medical school. He spent the last of his professional years as a doctor of medicine

Although Carter was a professed Christian most of his life, it wasn’t until a crisis with his natural heart that he began to understand the reality and power of Bible promises. At age 30, his health was in critical condition and the physicians could do no more for him. Carter turned to God for help and healing.

He knelt and made a promise that healing or no, his life was finally and forever, fully consecrated to the service of the Lord. It was from that moment that the written Word of God became alive to Carter. He began to stand upon the promises of healing, determining to believe no matter what his physical condition, no matter how he felt. Over the course of the next several months his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed! Carter lived another healthy 49 years.

Among the verses of the hymn are the words, “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Once we’ve stand somewhere long enough, we eventually are ready to sit down.

Happy is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

What does it mean to sit in the company of mockers? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Sitting is all about finding rest in the presence of almighty God.

As v. 2 tells us, happy people

“delight is in the Lord’s instruction,

and meditate on it day and night.”

As we talk about sitting, I have this image of how we sit in a coffee shop or bookstore. In recent years, they have big comfortable chairs for us to sit in and read our favorite book. As I walk through those places, I’m always amazed at how focused people are on their favorite topics… the topics are a numerous as the sun, but the share something in common. They all enjoy reading and they all enter the literal presence of the topic for which they are reading.

For us, it should be all about sitting in our favorite chair and as v. 2 tells us, “delighting in God’s Word, as we mediate on it day and night.” For when we delight in God’s Word, we enter the very presence of God himself.

We should take pleasure in the opportunity to study His Word and look forward to the opportunities we have to hear God’s words in church to read His Word at home as we learn how to live by them.

Luke 10:38-42 is the well-known story of Mary and Martha. Martha was the “doer” and Mary wanted nothing more than to sit in the presence of our Lord Jesus and to learn from Him. Martha criticized Mary and said, ““Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” It was enough for Mary to sit in the presence of Jesus – God in the flesh. It is enough for you and me to sit in the presence of God in our lives as He will provide for our every need.

v. 3 goes on to tell us, “He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Happy people sit in God’s presence and delight in Him.

When we walk in God’s ways, stand on His promises, and sit in his presence, according

to Psalm 1, we become a happier people in all seasons. It’s not because of us. It’s because we purposefully choose to walk in God’s ways, stand on His promises, and sit in his presence every day. Are you ready to be happy… not just for a moment, but forevermore? If so, let today be the day that you choose to walk with Jesus.

SALVATION POEM