Father in heaven, thank you for gathering us today. Whether we’re gathered today and we know that you are moving in our midst and we have the privilege of delighting in your love.

Father, you have a hard word for us today. It’s a word that you are still teaching me even as I’m sharing the message you placed into my heart and mind. Stretch us in the right places to give us greater perspective, and give us the humility we need to bow before you in repentance. Lord, I pray that your spirit fills the utterances coming out of my mouth and inspire all of our hearts, minds, and souls to love your ways and your truths. Please make your power known as we meditate on your word today.

Let us be drawn to you through your word and receive the salvation that comes through from your son Jesus. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Welcome family. It’s so great seeing you here in the building and virtually from all over the internet. If you’re watching online, make sure you use that chat function and say hi. We’d love to connect with you.

This weekend, we are pausing our series in the Parables of Luke to begin our summer series in the Book of Psalms. It’s a little out of order, but don’t worry, we’re going to wrap up our Parables series next week and pick back up on the Psalms the week after.

To begin, let me give you an overview of the Book of Psalms because if you’re anything like me, you’ve never read it in its entirety in one sitting. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you use the Book of Psalm like restaurant menu. You flip through various Psalms until you find the one that best meets your needs at the time. But if you do read the Psalms in one sitting (it actually took me a month’s worth of sittings), you will notice that the book, which is a collection of 150 Hebrew poems written through Israel’s history is actually constructed with a single meta-narrative.

• That meta-narrative being that, we, as God’s people are living in a broken world, but the day will come when the Christ will rule over all and God will be praised for eternity. Now that’s a beautiful narrative. You just got to get over the fact that it was written in poetry.
• So, in short, the Psalms is not just a hymn book, it is guide for living in a broken world while waiting our king and his kingdom.
• How do the Psalms guide us to live well in this broken world?
  • Well, each of the 150 poems can be classified into two general categories: lament or a praise.
  • Each of the Psalms does one of two things: It expresses pain, confusion, and anger, drawing attention to what’s wrong in the world and asking God to do something about it. That’s lament.
  • Or a Praise—drawing attention to what God is doing in the world and stand as prayers of joy and celebration, retelling the story of God’s work and thanking God for it.
• More evidence of the Psalms being a guide to living well in this broken world can be found in how it is organized. The Psalms is actually an anthology of five distinct books, mirroring the Torah (or the first five books of the Bible – the books of law).
  • The progression from book 1 to book 5 goes from lots of lamenting to eagerly praising while awaiting the Messiah and the heavenly kingdom that is to come. That is to say there’s a lot of lamenting in the beginning of the anthology with praise peppered in and then toward the back half, there is a lot more praise with lament peppered in.
• So just as people study the law of God, people study the Psalms to have a way of praying through lamenting the world and praising God with faith and hope that whatever circumstances we find ourselves, God will be victorious and is worthy of our praise.

My favorite thing about the Psalms is the way it ends. In Psalm 150:6, the book ends like this: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. (ESV)

Here’s the big idea: We gather to delight in the Word.

This series that we’ve titled, “Assembly Required,” in the Psalms, will reinforce our conviction that when we come to worship together as God’s people, we will take pleasure in the Word of God. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the building or online, we will “praise the Lord” until we are out of breath.

That brings us to our passage today: Psalm 1. Here’s what I’m going to do today. We’re going to use Psalm 1 to determine whether our lives rightfully reflect our beliefs. If you didn’t get that, it’s just a low key way of saying that this Psalm will confront us about how we actually practice our faith and whether our practice is true. I hope, and I’ve prayed, that God will use what he’s teaching me in this Psalm to color your perspective of your activities as well. 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;
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.

Psalm 1

This psalm has two main characters – the righteous and the wicked. Everything we’re going to talk about is in light of these two characters. Let me tell you about these characters.

• The characters are revealed to us in verse 6.
• All people belong to one of these two groups.
• There is nothing in between righteous and wicked. You either are or you aren’t. That’s because these categories aren’t moral performance categories, rather, they’re about belonging. Here’s what I mean:
• Righteous people are not people who have had a good week of quiet time reading and early morning prayers.
• They are people who have embraced God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and have been marked by the blood of Jesus Christ. You can see this in Psalm 2:12.
• Conversely, the wicked are people who don’t believe in Jesus as their savior.

Now here’s the problem with having said that. Just because we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior, doesn’t mean that our actions or life practices necessarily reflect that belief, does it? Come on be honest, I’m your pastor, and I’ll admit my life practice does not always reflect my faith. I got problems just like you. Even though we have righteous status in Jesus Christ, we can tend to live out our lives as people without the status of child of God. This Psalm challenges us to look at how we live our lives and questions us about where our priorities really are as we live in a broken world.

So how do you know if you’re priorities are aligned to your beliefs? Just reflect on the past few months. Where have you spent your time and your stimulus money? I am sure that the time and money we spent with the stay-at-home order revealed where some of our priorities lie. Let’s read verses 1 and 2 before I make it super awkward and then you can share where your priorities are.  

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.

These two verses say the blessed is the person who delights in the law of the Lord and is meditating on that law day and night. The not blessed person is the one who isn’t meditating on that law day and night.

In this context, that word “blessed” can be translated into “how happy.” You see, the Psalmist is saying that the person whose delight or pleasure is in the law of the lord, is happy. That’s my first point.

The Word brings blessing

Family, I want you to understand the correlation here. If happiness comes from delighting in the Word of God, then in order to be happy we need to be meditating on the Word of God. Happiness isn’t going to come from anywhere else, despite what people say. As a result, we need to be prioritizing the Word of God because that is what is going to bring blessing (or happiness) in our lives.

Going back to priorities, do you know what my not so holy-self self-did when the governor told everybody to shelter in place? I went through my Netflix list to make sure I had enough stuff to watch to make me happy. And guess what, I watched an endless list of stuff in attempt to satiate my boredom and to make me happy. Could the days gone by any slower? Nowhere to go and nothing to do. My priority was entertainment. I prioritized it over sleeping. I didn’t prioritize it over eating… but one day, I’ll get rid of these COVID carbs.

I know a lot of you did the same. Or you went on to buy video games to achieve your dream of being an e-sports superstar. I mean, it is the only sports available right now, the one where you pretend using a joystick. But even if you’re not into that stuff, I know people bought pools, boats, cars, RVs, and ATVs, and hunting gear, baking wear, gardening gear, etc. to satisfy a need to be happy. Now, there is nothing wrong with those things in itself, but let’s not pretend for a minute that owning those things will make you happier in the long run. Those things won’t make you happy!

Looking for happiness in places outside of the word of God will not replace the unhappiness that those shiny things were meant to replace. In fact, as soon as the shiny-ness wears off, our unhappiness will still be grumbling, asking when we can go back to normal because we spent our whole lives avoiding the confrontation of unhappiness in the first place. This is a confession from one unhappiness avoider to another: Our priorities are wrong! 

I know our priorities are wrong because we’re taking advice from the wicked (people who never placed their faith in Jesus). Our modis operandi is the modelled off people who are condemned to an eternity without God because they don’t believe. Isn’t it funny that our complaints are of pundits who do nothing but criticize, and yet, we complain about our unhappiness louder than they do? How do I know, because I can look at verse 1 and look at my life and see myself there.

This Psalm has helped me to see where I place my priorities. Why don’t I meditate on the Bible more? Because I got things to do, people to see, and I want to do things my way. But having things to do, people to see, and doing things my way doesn’t make me happy. What makes me happy is when I am meditating on the Word of God, anchoring myself to the only God who will make me happy.

That is the reason we exist as a church: to help people correctly prioritize the Word of God in their lives. We know happiness is in the Word of God. So we gather week after week and put the Word of God at the center of our worship services. Whether you’re here in the building or joining us online, we are gathered under and in the Word of God because it is only in the word of God that there is blessing or happiness. Gather with us to delight in the Word of God. Whether you are in the building or joining us online, make the weekend gathering a priority. Engage with your faith family in taking pleasure in the Word of God.

Let me share with you why your priorities need to be correct, and why gathering together as a faith family to take pleasure in the Word of God must be a priority. Go to verses 3 and 4.  

³ He is like a tree – the author is talking about the blessed person
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.

The life of a person with the right priorities is like a tree that is by streams of water, with fruit growing, and whose leaves are always green. But the life of a person who doesn’t is like chaff, or dust, that is blown away.

If you’ve ever felt like your faith was waning or if you stopped experiencing the mercy and power of God in your life, ask yourself why. I’m not talking about experiencing the silence of God, because that is still the experience of God, just his silence. I’m talking about when your faith is gone and your life is so far from God, that it feel like God is just a fairytale you don’t believe anymore.

More than likely, if you are at the place in your faith or were there in your faith, it’s correlated to where the Word of God is on your list of priorities. The Psalmist is saying that our lives is blown away further from God if we prioritize things other than the Word of God.

If we want to live a life of faith that is like a tree planted by a stream of water and is kept alive and producing fruit, then we need to prioritize the Word of God in our lives. The tree the writer is talking about in verse 3 is drinking from this stream of water day and night, it’s constantly drinking water. That is why the tree produces fruit and why its leaves don’t wither. That’s my second point.  

The Word brings fruitfulness

Verse 3 is a promise from God. If you want a life filled with that promise of God, then we need to be drinking from the Word of God like this tree! The stream of water is the Word of God. When we are meditating on the Word of God like this tree is sucking on the water from the stream, it will transformus from the dust that we are (because we’re made of dirt) into a tree that is rooted beside an undying and never ending power: the living waters of Jesus Christ. The power of His Word will sustain you so that your leaf (read as faith) does not wither. You are sustained and fruitful not because of you, but because of the God who has planted you and is tending you and is nourishing you.

This word is for somebody today: if you are up against something that is making you prioritize your reaction to a fear or if you feel like you’re all alone or because you’re on your last stand, and you don’t know how much longer you can hang on then prioritize the Word of God today. The Word of God will cause you to be planted and you will not be blown away.  

Come on family, this is a promise of God, that we will be fruitful because we are his children, his righteous. Don’t be afraid of telling the world that you are a child of God. That you gather with other children of God on the weekend to take pleasure in the Word of God because it is life giving and empowering. Share that promise with somebody you know who needs it.

We proclaim the Word of God every weekend, so we won’t be blown away like dust when the winds of this world start blowing. It doesn’t matter what happens arounds us, not the pandemic, not social unrest, not the economy, not the elections, or geopolitics, you fill in the blank, none of that matters because the promise of God is that we are planted by his stream and we produce fruit and thrive.  

Here’s the third comparison I want you to see in this chapter. This is a comparison of destinations. Let’s go to verses 5 and 6.

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.

The author says the “wicked” will not stand, but the way of the righteous is known. How can anyone stand before God? You and I, apart from Jesus and left to our own devices are like that chaff in verse 4. We are worthless pieces of dirt ready to be blown away. We cannot stand before God.

The only one that can stand before God is Jesus. Jesus stood in our place on Calvary. And with faith in Jesus, we stand in judgement as righteous. Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected so that we could stand in judgement and be found righteous. This is my third point.

The Word brings salvation

Here’s what verse 5 is promising us: not only will God walk with us, but he knows the way we go, no matter where we are. Jesus is the blessed man being described in this Psalm. He’s the only one who has fully and completely and perfectly not walked in the counsel of the wicked for us; who delighted in God’s law and meditated on it day and night. Jesus is the tree planted by the streams of water who yields fruit in season, and whose leaf doesn’t wither. Death couldn’t keep him dead. Everything he does is fruitful.

I said in the beginning of my sermon that righteousness and wickedness is based on the belonging we have through faith in Jesus Christ, so let me ask, “why aren’t we prioritizing our personal relationship with Jesus?” We should and must prioritize our relationship with him. When we do so we are asking God to become intimately aware of us. To know our comings and goings. To know the burdens of our hearts. When I gave my life to Jesus while I was ditching school with a friend, I didn’t know I’d be here. I didn’t know that the things that I had to go through to get here to share this message with you would be the reason I am confident in my relationship with Jesus. I just knew that when I invited Jesus into my life, I’d be part of God’s family and that was enough for me.

Jesus is in the business of transformation. He will alter the way we think, behave, and belong in a way that pleases God and brings us good. Jesus is the Christ, the Word of God, who lived the perfect life for us and died in our place to remove and forgive us of our sins, and was raised to life again on the third day. Our lives become filled with happiness and fruitfulness when we delight in the Word of God. The destination of our lives is one of salvation and eternal security in Jesus Christ.

Let us enjoy the blessings of God, the nourishment of spiritual flourishing, and the security of salvation in Christ together. Make our relationship with Jesus a priority in our lives. If you never placed your trust in Jesus, then pray this prayer with me, and everyone in our church family. Let’s pray with them together:

Heavenly father, I admit that I am a sinner, a wicked human being whose life has been marked and is marked with unhappiness, destruction, and death. I believe that you save me through my faith in your son, Jesus Christ, I ask that you make me new, and give me the right priorities to seek you day and night.  

Father, grant us a renewed hunger and delight in Your Word. Move in our hearts that we delight to meditate in your word day and night. Free us from chasing our happiness in things that are not you. Renew passion within us to meditate on your word.

Forgive me for the ways that I have conformed to the world in departing from you by accepting the world’s advice, being part of its way of doing business, by adopting its attitudes. Keep us from allowing worldly values and thinking prioritize our lives and decisions. Please transform our priorities.  Allow us to be rooted in your Word, so that the ways of the wicked, sinners, and scoffers don’t blow us away from our true love.

Thank you that Jesus is the only, truly blessed man who always delighted to obey you and never failed in delighting in your law. Thank you for his perfect obedience to your law for us. Thank you for loving us enough to identify with us individually, and you call each one of us to your congregation of the righteous. Thank you for making us acceptable in your sight because of what son has done in us. Help us conform more to your character and free us from the curse of the counsel of the wicked, the path of sinners and the seat of scoffers. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.