Psalm 1

Psalms: Sing Unto the Lord  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  39:54
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The Little Blue Books

I remember seeing the older generation carry two things to church, a Bible and a hymnal. Back then, those were the two books that every faithful believer carried with them. The Little Blue Books did not have any music notes, only lyrics. All the songs were in Spanish, and I often struggled to recognize the songs. The idea of a collection of hymns is an ancient custom of those who belong to the covenant community of God. They remind us that our God is present and relevant through all the ages. Even though projectors and video screens made the books obsolete in some gatherings, we still have the sacred call from God to include hymns as a part of spiritual obligation. Colossians 3:16
Colossians 3:16 ESV
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The Big Book in the Bible

Psalms is the largest single book within the Bible. Some have commented that it is so important that it has been placed right in the middle. We would not be wrong to consider that the book of Psalms should be central in our understanding of God. It is one of the most quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament, next to Isaiah. And it is the most quoted book of the Old Testament by Jesus Christ. If our Savior knew it well and used it, we ought to be increasingly familiar with this blessing from God’s Word.

Style and Structure

The book of Psalms includes 150 poetic compositions that were meant to be sung or recited by God’s people. It is divided into 5 major sections. They were used in liturgies, order of worship, or sections of a worship gatherings and festivals. As Hebrew poetic writings, they used a particular style that emphasizes parallelism, grouping ideas and phrases to express ideas. The two most common things we see in Hebrew poetry are these two types of parallelism:
Synonymous: an idea is stated followed by a modified restatement
Antithetic: an idea is stated followed by a contrasting opposite statement

Content and Use

The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Theology and Spirituality of the Psalms

The Psalms are not merely ancient liturgies and literature for the curious. As Scripture, the Psalms disclose God. However, unlike Mosaic Torah and the Prophets, the Psalms are primarily human words addressed to God. They reflect what Israel found to be appropriate and effective speech to God. In this respect, they are not a “lens” focused on God, as the Prophets represent, but a “mirror” reflecting the character of God.

The psalms express the wide range of our responses to God, such as laments, thanksgiving, praise, retelling ancient stories, and wisdom for those who follow God.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Theology and Spirituality of the Psalms

In addition to informing beliefs about God, humans, and the world, the Psalms should also shape worship.

The book of Psalms was part of the hymnbook for the early church. And they remain an endless source for our understanding of what it means to approach our Savior and Lord. It ought to shape our understanding of what faithful worship looks and sounds like. It should be our playlist of expression to God.

Psalm 1

Psalm 1 ESV
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.
Chapter 1 is a wisdom psalm describing the two choices that all people have in response to God and His Holy Word. We can either receive it or reject it. Ignoring it is essentially the same path as rejection.

Who is Blessed?

The term “blessed” implies more than God’s gracious favor; it also implies the human response of happiness. It points to being happy, a state of being that only occurs on the path following God. In this psalm, we see the path of being blessed. The positive outcome is described by what the person avoids. The blessed person refuses to let themselves be guided by the world's standards in thinking, behaving, and belonging.
Some have noticed potential progress in degrees of movement, walking, standing, and finally sitting, but we should recognize that the Psalm writer sees each movement as equally wrong whether one progresses to the next action.
The blessed person does not:
consider the normal advice of the world as, by default, good and true
join him or herself to the standard flow of ways of living and reasoning
take up the standard attitudes and ways of thinking of this world
As Christians living in this modern world, we have to regularly check our hearts, minds, and message to evaluate if we have taken on the default attitudes and activities of this fallen world. Does the Christian community look different from the non-believing community?
The message of scripture is consistent. Those who follow God have a natural departure from how this world thinks and acts. When we take up God's values, desires, and will, we will ultimately be in opposition to culture. When we look no different from the culture at large, we must ask ourselves, have we deviated from God's ways?
The psalm writer proceeds to tell us how the happy person remains in the place of blessedness. They do so by meditating on the Word of God. The term "law" may seem out of place because we may think of our civic codes' endless rules and regulations. The writer has in mind the whole counsel and guide of scripture.
But what does it mean to meditate? Does it mean the same thing as we find in other religions? Many religions use meditation as the activity to disengage and empty one's mind to achieve clarity. But the term here implies actively engaging and exercising the mind to remember the Word of God, appreciate it, analyze it, and apply it to one's life. The difference is our focus. The psalm writer declares that the more we engage our thoughts in the scriptures, we will inevitably find ourselves to be blessed.
We may find ourselves looking to the examples of cows. At feeding time, they take in as much food as possible to spend the rest of their time slowly chewing and digesting it. Then, they bring it up from their stomach to chew it repeatedly, allowing the nutrients to meet the needs of their life.
How is your intake of the Word of God? Are you bringing it up to let it nourish your life?

What does blessing look like?

Like a good poem, this psalm describes the blessed life by comparing it to a tree planted by streams of water. We know that life does not exist without water. And in this picture, the tree is ideally located next to an abundant source of water. As a result of its location, it is fully alive. It is fruitful; it is in the best shape that a tree could ever hope to be. The key phrase here is "prosper." To “prosper” implies making steady favorable progress and success.
Who wouldn't want this? Our world craves success and prosperity. But is our idea of success the same as God's? And like the first phrase, we must distinguish between God's ways and the natural ways of this fallen world. There may be similar areas in which the world and scripture agree, but we must recognize that these two paths go in opposite directions. So what does prosperity look like for the believer?
Obedience - even when it means I suffer a temporary loss
God's blessing - receiving the direction, approval, and abiding presence of our Creator, identifying us as His
Eternal Life - God's rule and reign both now and in the future.

The Other Option

Every choice has a consequence. For some choices, the consequences are rather harmless or of no consequence. But there are choices for which the consequences, are both real and predetermined. Such is the case with choosing and rejecting God. God establishes the consequences and they will surely come to pass.
The Psalm writer echoes the same idea that the prophet Jeremiah declared about those who chose God's way or the way of self-direction. Jeremiah 17:5-10
Jeremiah 17:5–10 ESV
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 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.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
In contrast to the flourishing tree is the chaff. Chaff is the worthless husk material that surrounds the ripe seed of wheat. When wheat is processed for food use, the husk is separated from the seed by beating it. But the wheat and chaff are still in one pile. To separate the two, the thresher tosses the material in the air, and a gentle breeze blows away the dust-like chaff material while the heavier seed falls to the ground. The chaff is lifeless in comparison to the thriving tree.
If the righteous one does not walk, stand, or sit in the way of the wicked, so too, does the wicked not have a place among those faithful to God, because their ways run contrary to God's. They function as part of a different community and identity.

Is this Psalm True?

As we consider the two ways laid out in this psalm, we may object, for we are able to point to individuals who fully reject God that seem to do very well in life. We might consider them successful or prosperous. And in the same way, we may point to godly people who faithfully serve God in obedience but have very little in life that we might struggle to recognize as success or prosperity. In this situation, we would do well to take heed to the instruction of verse 2 and "chew on it" a little while. Look at what Psalm 37:34-40 reminds us.
Psalm 37:34–40 ESV
34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. 35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. 38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. 40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
In time, each path will reveal its final destiny and trajectory. It may seem out of sync with the words of Psalm 1, but be assured it will end exactly as God has said. Verse 6 reminds us that God has sovereignly determined the end of each path toward or away from God. We can not make one direction end up at our desired destination. The final phrase shows us that God "knows" those who choose Him. It means more than just being informed or up to date. It includes His care and ownership of those who abide in Him.

People of the Book

Joshua 1:8, 2 Timothy 3:14-17
These verses remind us that we have a choice to follow God’s Word. If you are a believer in Christ, you have an obligation to fill your heart and mind with God’s Word. But isn’t this book outdated, full of inconsistencies, and something made by people to control others? This is what some believe about the scriptures. And so, they reject the Bible altogether or seek to edit the contents and meaning to fit modern progressive thinking. God has sovereignly established His Word. He preserves it and ensures that it will be effective in calling us back to Him. It is sufficient to pierce the stubborn hearts that reject, ignore or rebel against God. Jesus affirmed the effectiveness of the Word of God in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. When the Rich Man was in eternal judgment, he asked for a demonstration of a miracle, for someone to come back from the dead. It is plainly stated that scripture is sufficient.
Luke 16:29 ESV
29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
It is our standard for understanding this life. It is our timeless and enduring guide to following God. God’s Word is a blessing that we ought to set our lives.
300 Illustrations for Preachers (The Changing Standard of Le Grand K)
On the outskirts of Paris, an underground vault holds a platinum cylinder known as Le Grand K. This carefully guarded object sits under three glass domes. Three different people have three different keys that are all needed to open the vault. Since 1889, this object has been the standard for the kilogram. It is the measure against which all other weights are measured in the metric system.But there is a problem with Le Grand K: It has lost 50 micrograms—roughly equal to a grain of sand—over the last 130 years. Scientists are now looking for a more accurate standard.Even the best of human measurements falls short, but it is not so with God’s Word. It is an unchanging standard.

A Gospel of Consequence

The Gospel of Jesus Christ includes our responsibility to choose to respond to Him. God gives us a choice. Every choice will have a corresponding consequence that God has established. Choose to not only hear the words but let them be your action. Only in God will we find true blessing.
Matthew 7:24–27 ESV
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
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