Psalm 1 – “Walk With God”
This is the first week of our new summer Psalms series in 2009 preaching through some of Pastor Duane’s favorites Psalms. This week is an exegetical sermon on Psalm 1 and is about the Walk With God. This sermon looks at the two ways of approaching life, two pictures of those ways, and the one Jesus who leads the way. This sermon was originally preached June 7th, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
June 7th, 2009
Psalm 1 – “Walk With God”
Two Ways, Two Pictures, and One Jesus
I. Two Ways: The word of the wicked & the word of God
II. Two Pictures: The tree and its fruit & the chaff and the wind
III. One Jesus: The one who walked, died, rose and reigns
Introduction
Today we begin a new sermon series for the summer, Psalms: praises and petitions. The Psalms are that fat section in the middle of your Bible and are a collection of 150 different prayers, songs, prophesies, and wisdom pieces all compiled together into one book. King David of Jesse wrote most of them along with a few other dudes who wrote some too like Asaph, Jeduthun, Heman and Ethan.
The Psalms are a very unique genre in the Bible because they so vividly portray human emotion as it relates to God and wrestles with the things of this world. John Calvin called the Psalms the “Anatomy of all parts of the soul” because of how they address all facets of life…griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, and emotions.
For me personally I was telling my wife Amy the other night that this will probably be the most personal sermon series I have ever preached because I live in the Psalms…they are like my life-blood. I probably read a Psalm at least once a day on top of any other Bible reading I do…I just live in the Psalms. They are the goods.
So what I’m going to do is just preach through some of my personal favorite Psalms this summer. There’s no way we could tackle all 150 in just this summer, that’d take us a few years. So I’m going to preach through the ones that have had the biggest impact on and continue to teach me, set my course, and minister to my soul.
We’re starting off with the first Psalm because in many ways it is like the thesis or the preface to the entire collection. Just like you have prefaces to books and to some movies which sort of introduce and set up the story of what it is going to be about, many have noted that Psalm 1 sort of functions like that and was probably intentionally placed at the beginning of the collection for that reason.
We’ll talk about what that thesis is that sets the tone for all of the Psalms in a minute but first let’s read it and pray over it. (read and pray over text)
I. Two Ways: The word of the wicked & the word of God
Okay, so structurally there are two main parts to this Psalm. There’s the first two verses which are the thesis and then there are two pictoral illustrations given to help explain the thesis. I’m just going to follow that natrual break and then bring in a third point and show us how this Psalm points us to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So first point, “Two Ways: The word of the wicked and the word of God.” The reason this Psalm is placed at the beginning is because it so clearly just puts out the resounding appeal of the entire Psalms and the whole Bible…that there are two ways to approaching life. One way where it is all about you your own way and the way where everything is all about God and his way.
We get this throughout Scripture. In Deuteronomy 30 through Moses God said a choice is set before us, life and good, (or) death and evil.” The good life comes “by loving the Lord God (and)….walking in his ways.”
King Solomon in Ecclesiasties and Proverbs said the same thing, there is the life which pursues our own individual pleasures under the sun and there is the life which is lived in the fear of the LORD which is the beginning of wisdom.
Jesus said the same thing. He starts off his famous sermon on the mount with the same words as Psalm 1, “Blessed are those who…” And right near the end of that sermon one of his concluding points is that this kingdom life of blessing is a way of life which is distinctly opposite to the most common way, so he says there are only two ways…here’s his words, “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and thosw who enter by it are many…the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few (Mt 7:13-14).”
The implicit acknowledgment right off the bat is that life here on earth is in many ways like a journey we walk through. It is one of exploration and discovery. Tons of people all across the board of have recognized this.
You’ve got Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” the story of a man who goes on extensive travels in order to find themselves. That idea is super strong in our culture today…many people think they need to travel across the world in order to discover who they and and what life’s about.
You’ve got some amazing poets who note this theme of life being a journey as well. Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken” says, ” Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by.”
Frank Sinatra’s most famous song considers a man at the end of his life who says, “I’ve lived a life that’s full. I’ve traveled each and every highway…I planned each charted course; Each careful step along the byway…But more, much more than this, I did it my way.”
You’ve got some sweet 70′s rock ‘n’ roll. Fleetwood Mac, “You can go your own way.” You got a band called “Journey” singing an awesome song about a girl meeting a boy who take a midnight train going anywhere. You got the early 90′s goodness, Tom Cochrane singing, “Life is a highway…” You know, all the songs everybody wants to karaoke to.
The Bible is no stranger to the metaphor that life is like a journey. It seems we as human beings know deep down that this life is short and temporary and that there is much much more. The Bible’s schtick is that how we live here and now matters.
In fact recognizing life as a journey is exactly how Jesus calls his first disciples. He asks them to what? Follow him. To walk with him, following him and his way in order to learn a new way of living. That’s why the early Christians were called “followers of the Way” before they were even called Christians.
What David here in Psalm 1 says is that all the different ways, different ideas, and different philosophies of the world can all be boiled down to two paths, one under God and his Word and one which is not. And his first word, “blessed” is really a challenge to the way which does not follow God…”Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” So in other words you will not experience blessing if you do not follow God and his word…in fact, the only way you will experience real and true delight in life, is if you are constantly dedicated and directed by God’s Word.
Let’s look at it closer in verse 1-2. First the way of the wicked. It says three things about it. One, there is wicked counsel. Two, there is a sinful group way to get caught in so your standing in the middle of it. And three, there is a commitment to that way, you sit down in it, commit yourself to it to the point that you begin even scoffing at the way of God and his word.
The first one about wicked counsel is so insightful. What it points out is that we are always following the advice, counsel or word of someone. Sometimes it may be a conscious thing but most the time I don’t think it is a direct one to one connection. We hear things either from our friends and family, or we implicitly pick up ideas from books or movies or music and then when we have to make decisions about something those are the things which inform our way of thinking. The counsel has just been latently sitting there and then we listen to it.
So you follow what you think is “your own way” but what you’re really following is the word and advice of someone else who has told you that what you really need is to just do your own thing.
Everyone believes in a Bible that they listen to and they follow. It’s either the Bible that God has given us or it’s the Bible which we compile together in our heads from our supposed collected wisdom and experience. Not walking in the counsel of the wicked means you should never listen to or take advice from someone who does not know and love Jesus and follow his word. That’s it plain and simple.
I say this because wicked doesn’t just mean “not a good person.” In our cultural context most everybody thinks they are good. Only really really bad people are “wicked.” But wicked people in the Bible are people who reject God. And the reason we’re not supposed to listen to them is they cannot see objectively. Their vision is skewed because they are spiritually blind.
The second point about standing in the way of sinners addresses how easy it is to just go along with the flow…you can very easiy just get caught up in the way of the world. It’s more of a passive slipping, where you just are not really that serious about life and about God and you’re just kind of going along aimlessly.
If someone could see you and your life, like if they were outside of time but up in a helicopter looking down…they’d just see you getting bumped and pushed and moved along by the crowd. The way of sinners is just moving you.
It’s just how things work, it’s unavoidable. The Bible states it super clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Bad company corrupts good morals.” If you’re spending all your time with people who don’t love Jesus then this is what will happen. Since they have a different value set then you, they will start to rub off on you.
It’s not that we should not love everyone and be on mission and befriend those of bad company…but we are meant to go out of the strength and love of our church community. Because if it’s not, you will not influence you will be influence and find yourself in that wide path that leads to destruction.
The third point about sitting in the seat of scoffers is the result of buying into ungodly counsel and getting caught up in the way of sinners…you sit down in it. This is where you actually commit to the belief against the God of the Bible. You get confirmed in it and take a stance. So much so that you look down on those who follow the God of the Bible. You scoff in your heart and join in chorus with those who say that Christians are stupid and ignorant. What was once a passive disinterest turns into an active assault and resentment.
That’s scary. It’s not a happy thing. Which is the Psalmist point, that the word and the way of the wicked does not bring blessing or delight. So let’s look at the way which does.
It’s funny because the text actually spend a whole lot more time on the way of the wicked. Maybe that because deep down we just know God’s way is true and right…it’s the way of the wicked which is much more deceptive and confuses us. God’s way is clear and simple. Put him first and follow his word.
So let’s read it like this…”Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night.” This is a beautiful and concise statement of the Christian life. If you’ll have it and take it as your own it will function as a rudder to direct your ship and guide throughout the course of your entire life. I delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night.
Several people are Christians or think they are Christians but they have not reached maturity because they have not learned how to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. It’s rare if they even read their Bible one or two days a week other than Sunday. Maybe that’s you today. If so I pray you learn from this verse.
The normal, regular, every day way for those who follow the narrow path that leads to life is to seek delight, satisfaction, fulfillment, motivation through meditating on God’s Word all day long from the morning to the evening.
This use of the word delight here is a very clear presentation of the doctrine of Christian hedonism. Christians are not against pleasure. In fact we are in hot pursuit of it. We are hedonists…of a very particular kind. This kind: we are convinced that there is more pleasure to be had in God than in anything else. Our delight is in God and his way revealed through his word.
Now, the “law of the LORD” here is simply the Bible. It’s a euphemism. It’s not trying to say read the ten commandments or read the Torah everyday. It’s pointing all that all of the Bible comes from and is handed down from God…it’s his law. And we live through it. Jesus said it this way, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that procedes out of the mouth of God (Mt 4:4).”
We live through the Word of God. But maybe you’re like okay, how do I do that practically? I understand that question. I’ve worked a lot of jobs. I worked construction for a few years back before we started this church and I can remember hanging drywall and asking the question, God how am I supposed meditate on your word while I’m swinging hammer?
I got some answers. One of them is in this word meditate itself. So let’s talk about meditation. Meditation is pretty common, cool, hip, generally seen as a positive thing here in the eclectic city of San Diego. You’ve got it in yoga practices where the goal is to get ones self in a deeper state of relaxation. You’ve got the tantric new age practice of centering. And you’ve got the eastern forms which involve chanting and the repitition of the word “om.”
Now for those who are like me and grew up with some sort of Chrsitian background you’ve probably were taught that meditation is bad and evil. We don’t meditate. That it will reincarnate you into a cow or something.
But surprisingly here in our passage for today we are told to meditate…all day long. So what does the Bible here mean the same things as these popular practices when it uses the word meditate?
Here is a good description of eastern meditation which is essentially the source of these popular practices. This is a passage from the book Siddharta written by Herman Hesse. He describes meditation as the process where one “ponderingly, of a purified spirit, loses or empties himself of Atman (his humanness).” So eastern meditation and it’s popluar forms is essentially attempting to empty oneself.
This is not what the Bible means here when it uses the word meditation. The word itself here in Hebrew is hagah which means to murmor, imagine, or ponder. There’s a good word picture that goes with it. It’s the picture of a cow chewing on its cud. You guys know how a cow does that?
Cows eat the grass and they start chewing on it. Then they swallow it but instead of digesting it right away they regurgitate it back up and chew on it some more. Then they swallow it again and then throw it back up and chew on it some more. They do this several times before they actually allow the food to go through their digestive track. That’s what it means to chew on the cud.
This is the picture of Biblical meditation. You take in some of God’s word and then you chew on it. Apply it. Chew on it some more. You imgaine and ponder it’s weight and depth…think hard of how it applies and what it means. You chew, you chew and you chew. It’s talking to yourself.
Paul Tripp, a Christian counselor, says no one else has more influence on you than you because no one talk to you more than you do. So what are you conversing about in your head? What are you chewing on during your days? Is it God’s Word or is it something else?
There are a lot of practical ways you can do this. One of the main ways I do it is I read a verse in the morning and I train and discipline myself to be thinking about it all day. I chew on it. And then in the evening when I get home I usually try and talk to Amy about it.
That’s one of the ways you know if you’ve been meditating…if you can remember what you read in the morning. If you can’t remember what you read in the morning by dinner time or the time you went to bed then you haven’t really been meditating on God’s Word that day.
Now I know for some of you that sounds crazy. You haven’t even got into the habit of reading your Bible everyday much less learning how to meditate on it throughout the day. Maybe what I’m talking about today you’ve never even heard of. That’s okay, it just means you were never taught well. And now you’re learning so that you can mature in your faith.
This is the normal way for the follower of God. It’s not about adjusting priorities but having your whole life oriented this way. I’m not making this up. One of the most famous verse in the Bible, “to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength” says that parents are supposed to teach this to their children from the time they rise up, go on their way, sit in their house and lie down (Deut 6:6-7).
That’s meditating on God’s Word all day long. If you don’t do that it just means that you haven’t had parents or spiritual parents that taught you how to do this and hopefully I’m teaching you now and you’ll endeavor to medtitate on God’s Word everyday all throughout the day.
Meditation is really at the center of the life of the person who is pursuing delight in God. The difference with the Bible’s form of meditation and the eastern forms of meditation is that Biblical meditation is an attempt to fill your mind, instead of empty it. We want to fill our hearts with thoughts of who God is and what he has done for us. Emptiness ourselves and disconnecting ourselves with reality simply will not cut it. We need more, we need God.
Okay, let’s pull this together. There are two ways of living and pursuing life. One according to the word of the wicked and one according to the word of God. Both have results and to help us get it and understand, the Psalmist here gives us an agricultural analogy with trees, water, fruit, leaves, chaff and the wind. So let’s check it out.
II. Two Pictures: The tree and its fruit & the chaff and the wind
Let’s re-read it. The blessed one, who delights in God by meditating on his word will be “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season and leaf does not whither, in all he does he prospers. The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
First let’s think about the tree and its fruit. Now I know our context here in San Diego is urban and we have a lot of buildings and beaches but we don’t really have a lot of lucious trees with big fruit. Here in central San Diego fruit trees don’t grow so well next to salt water.
But, if you drive out towards Palamor Mountian about 30 mintues away you’ll see something interesting off the side of highway 76. It’s all super dry and brown out there right now…but in the middle of all this dry dead grass there’s a creek that cuts across the valley, I think it might be called Cedar Creek. And what is on each side of the creek. Bright lush, green grass and trees.
What this verse teaches us is that the Bible is like that water which feeds our soul and enables us to grow strong and mature, bright big green tall tress, even if there is dry deadness all around us. But if we are not near water, having it continually flow into us…we will die out spiritually. We have be planted in the water of God’s word. That’s how you meditate and find blessing and delight. Cool picture huh?
Now I want us to look at the next phrase because its an important one, look at the words, “that yields fruit in its season.” That’s a key phrase. What’s key about it is that it has time in view.
Seasons do not happen immediately. Fruit does not come automatically. It’s not like everytime you read the Bible you’re going to have this amazing experience and think God is so awesome and incredible. That may happen sometimes but often times the spirtual fruit will come later. That’s what spirtual maturity is like. You become mature when you become regular and consistent in God’s word, constantly drinking its water. Then you grow fruit…in time.
Galatians 6:9 says it this way, “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Some of you give up so easily. You need to learn how to stick it out and get committed to God’s Word.
The benefit is fruit. I love this picture because what is fruit for? It’s for eating right? So what the Bible is saying to us here is that when we follow God’s way and are in his Word then we will bear fruit that other people will come pick off us and eat! I love it.
One of the ways you can ways you can tell if you are maturing in your faith is if other people are coming to you to learn from you. Are they coming to you for fruit? So if you really want to love people, you have to be in God’s Word so that you will have something to give them to eat.
You know what the awesome thing is? I really suck at being a pastor. I’m more of a preacher than a pastor. The word pastor means shepherd, the guy who lead sheep to food and water. He’s a nice guy. I just like yelling at people. If makes me feel better. I like the prophets. I’m reading through the book of Jeremiah right now in the mornings and he’s awesome.
Three days ago I was in chapter 19. God tells him to go buy a flask. So he does and then God tells him to take it to church. So he tasks the flask to church. Then God tells him to break the flask and say I’m going to break you because you have stiffened your neck and refused my Word.
That’s tough. That hits me. That breaks me. Some of you don’t like it when I’m direct or when the Bible’s direct but sometimes it’s what we need because our hearts get hard like rock and then need to be broken with a hammer.
Anyway, so I suck at being a pastor because its hard for me to be compassionate. I just want to swing a hammer. So when people come to me with problems usually I’m not sure what to say. Sometimes when I’m standing at the back after service and you come to me for prayer…I have no idea what to say. But you know what I do know from reading the Bible all the time? I know God’s Word. God’s Word has been at work in my life. So I just give it. I tell people what Scripture says and I pray the words of Scriptures. I’ve got fruit. I’ve got fruit to give. And I’m consistently amazed to see how God’s word ministers to the souls of his people.
I’m doing discipleship now with 8 different dudes. We meet every other week to talk about life, talk about Scripture. They’re memorizing Scripture and reading theological books, and then we pray together. It’s awesome. I say that not to bragg but to hopefully inspire you so that you will want to bear fruit to and have some people that you can disciple and give fruit to.
Some of you are older and have been walking with Jesus for a long time. You do delight in his word and meditate daily but you don’t have other people who are not as far along as you that you are discipling and I want to challenge you today to be looking for those you can give away your fruit to. Bear fruit and give it away.
Okay let’s move on. Trees. Fruit. Water. Good stuff. Now let’s look at the last thing. The chaff blown by the wind. This is the result of the way of the wicked. They don’t become trees, they become chaff.
You guys know what chaff is? It’s the flakey shell loosely attached to the head of a piece of grain. When farmers gather wheat together they throw it on a thing called the threshing floor and winnow it, which means they throw it up in the air to loosen the chaff so that the wind carries it away. It’s a light, flakey, brown, good for nothing thin piece of a shell which will quickly break apart and disintegrate into dust.
It’s not even on the same playing field as a tree. It’s got no roots and no color. The puritan Matthew Henry describes it this way, he says those who are chaff have “…no certain end, no certain rule, only the command of every lust and they take no advice.” They go their own way and are blown about.”
Ephesians 4:14 describes this well, it says when we’re like chaff we’re “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.” Whatever new idea comes along we jump on the bandwagon and buy into easily hook line and sinker…instead of trusting the ancient, ever true, proven Word of God.
Growing up my dad taught me a phrase I like a lot…”If it’s new it’s not true and if it’s true it’s not new.” God’s Word is true and it has stood the test of time. You can count on it.
The last two verses of the Psalm tell us the spiritual outcome of not following God’s way. Judgment. We will give an account. Hebrews 9:27 says this, ” And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
Everyone in this room will die one day. And when we die we will stand before the judgment seat of God on the throne. And the wicked will not be able to stand.
The wicked will not be received, they will be dismissed and crushed and brought low. They will not be admitted into the congregation of the righteous. But they will perish, which doesn’t just mean not exist anymore…Jesus says that means being thrown into a lake of fire to burn for eternity.
Hard words huh? The Bible takes your joy, your delight, your happiness seriously. One of the chief lies that we can buy into, one of the bad wicked counsels we can listen to is to think that we will escape judgment. That somehow everyone will be saved. Clearly here, we see that is not the case.
There is no tricking God. That’s what those words, “The Lord knows” are about in the last verse. God see and knows all. Hebrews 4:13 says, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
The Lord knows what way, what path you are walking on today. Are you walking with him according to his word or are you walking your own way? Maybe some of you need to make a road change today. You’ve gotten lost and off track and you need to take the next exit off the freeway and get turned around. Know that there is grace and mercy for you this morning.
III. One Jesus: The one who walked, died, rose and reigns
Let’s move to our last point to so we can all see that. We’ve looked at two ways and two pictures of them…let me show you the one Jesus in this passage.
Back up to the very first line, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” Saint Augustine, around 400AD, writes a commentary on the Psalms. The very first words of his commentary are on this first line of this first Psalm. Here are his words, “This man is to be understood as our Lord Jesus Christ…(for only he) hath not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Wow. If you’ve been listening to this sermon and you’ve been sitting there and you’re like…”yes, I get what you’re saying but it just seems really impossible to do.” Then, you are on the right track because the truth is none of us can do this. To never listen to bad counsel? To never get caught up in another way? To never scoff at God? To meditate on his Word day and night? And if I don’t do all those things I’m going to receive judgment and get thrown into a lake of fire? Come on!
The truth is there is not a single one of us in this room who can do what this Psalm calls us to. Who here has never followed bad advice…has never followed the way of sinners…has never wrestled with belief and trust in God…has always meditated on God’s Word day and night? No one. None of us. Only one person ever has. His name is Jesus.
Augustine cuts straight to the heart of the matter when he says this man is understood to be Jesus. This Psalm points us directly to the gospel, it looks to the messiah and calls out for a savior. Jesus.
1 Peter 2:2 says, “(Jesus) committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” He walked not in the counsel of the wicked. And he walked all the way to the cross in order to die for all of us who have. All of us who have gone our own way and deserve not to stand but fall on the day of judgment.
Jesus took judgment on himself on the cross so that we might not receive the judgment which calls for us to perish. Jesus forged a new way and allowed himself to be cut off and executed so that we might be allowed into the congregation of the righteous.
And Jesus did not just stay dead but he rose. Because Jesus died for our sin, Scripture says that Jesus rose and that God has exalted him above all and given him the name of above all names, so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but receive everlasting life.
This is the gospel my friends. Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life…for us. We get to belong to him and he changes us and our hearts and enables us to truly bear fruit.
What I left out earlier is what the fruit is? We didn’t talk about that. What is the fruit that comes from being in the water of the Word? What does the fruit look like that people come to pick off and eat?
Galatians 5:22-24 tells us. It says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And that these only truly come about through belonging to Jesus.
In fact here are its exact words, right after it lists the fruit it says, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The point is you can’t bear this fruit unless you belong to Jesus and get connected to his cross.
Conclusion
I’ve been chewing on this, meditating on it all week…the fruit of the gospel and belief in what gospel my fruit reflects. And I’ll conclude with this thought… When these fruits are not at work in us, its showing areas where we lack belief in the gospel and put faith in other gospels.
For example:
When I feel hatred instead of love, it’s because I don’t believe God has truly shown love toward me in Jesus.
When I feel apathy instead of joy, it’s because I don’t believe that I can be satisfied in God.
When I am at war within instead of having peace, it’s because I don’t believe I’m no longer an enemy of God.
When I am rash and impatience instead of patient, it’s because I don’t believe that God has been patient with me.
When I am mean instead of kind, it’s because I don’t believe God has shown me kindness.
When I am just bad and evil is at work in me instead of goodness, it’s because I don’t believe that God is good and put an end to evil on the cross.
When I am flippant and unreliable instead of faithful, it’s because I don’t believe God is ever at work and committed to me.
When I am harsh and not gentle, it’s because I don’t believe God has treated me gently but instead believe he is harsh and hard.
And when I lose control instead of keeping it, it’s because I believe that God is capricious and just flys of the handle.
The fruit and unfruits of the Spirit…you guys see how that works? Everything is about Jesus, belonging to him and his way and following his word. That’s how we will bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control instead of the opposites.
So church, let’s not follow the way of the world but follow the way of Jesus and allow him to continually change our hearts and our fruit as we put our faith in him. It is the blessed and delightful way.
Let’s pray.
