INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: [Music Video - Two sets of Jones’]
Transition: We live in a world that is filled with contrasts . . . Rich and Poor; Big and Little; Good and Bad; Black and White; Day and Night; Light and Darkness. Just as this music presentation sets before us two paths, two ways of going about life, so another Biblical song sets before us two paths, two contrasts, two differing approaches to life that lead to two different destinations. Psalm 1 tells the tale of two lives being lived in stark contrast of one another. It is the tale of life of the "God-Centered" or the Godly Life and the life of the "Self-Centered" or the Ungodly Life.
Sermon Title: Psalm 1 "Two Paths, Two Destinations"
Series Title: Finding Sanctuary in the Psalms
Reminder: Remember that Hebrew poetry does not rhyme. Hebrew writers tend to parallel ideas and images rather than words. Biblical poetry should be enjoyed rather than dissected and analyzed. Don’t scrutinize every noun or verb. Don’t try to find some hidden meaning in every word or phrase. Poets use more words than necessarily to express an idea. Poetry is meant to stir our souls and lift our hearts in broad strokes, much like an artist. Biblical poetry stirs up within us that which is special about an encounter or experience with God.
Notation: The Psalms were designed to be a literary sanctuary, a spiritual island to cling to in a raging world. The whole book was like a temple, a sanctuary where intimate expressions of personal dialogue with God take place.
Background: Why was this Psalm placed here? The Book of Psalms went through several editing phases and is actually a collection of collections spanning a thousand year period. Why did Psalm 1 end up here? It was intentionally placed in its present canonical position in order to introduce the book. It functions as a "doorkeeper" to keep out the wicked but to admit the righteous to sanctuary. Those who enter the sanctuary of the Psalms will find blessing. Those who resist this blessed sanctuary and the lifestyle that it endorses, otherwise known as "the ungodly," have nothing to say to God. They find sanctuary in other things to their own peril. Psalm 1 functions as the doorkeeper to the sanctuary. It’s not a declaration of limited accessibility. It’s available to everyone. But not everyone chooses to enter this sanctuary. It contrasts two ways of living, and two groups of people -- the godly and the ungodly. It speaks of the choice we all face as human beings, and of the choices that we face every day of our lives, choices between two fundamentally different ways of life, two different roads that these verses say lead to very different destinations.
Question: What are those two destinations? Well, the first and last words of the psalm describe them. That choice will either make one "happy" or will lead one to "perish or self-destruct." These words of Scripture tell us that the way we choose is a matter of life and death.
EXPOSITION
1:1 How happy is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand in the pathway with sinners,
or sit in the assembly of arrogant fools!
Definition: The Psalmist identifies the one who enters the sanctuary of the Psalms as a righteous person who does not follow the wicked. In the psalms the “wicked” are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps. 37:21).
Explanation: He’s using metaphor to communicate with us about them. Wicked people do not literally take walks down a path called "Advice of the Wicked" or stand in a street named "Pathway of Sinners" or sit in a seat labeled "Assembly of Arrogant Fools." "Walking, standing, sitting" are metaphors for an entire lifestyle. The wicked have lifestyles that do not include God. The sequence “walk-stand-sit” envisions a progression from relatively casual association with the wicked to complete identification with them. To “walk in the advice of the wicked” means to allow their evil advice to impact and determine one’s behavior. The righteous resist such progression and instead find sanctuary in the Psalms.
1:2 Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the LORD’s commands;
he intently studies his commands day and night.
Explanation: Those who find sanctuary in the Psalms are described using a figure of speech common in Psalms - hyperbole or "exaggeration for affect." Poetic license allows for this. No one can meditate on God for 24 hours a day - 7 days a week. We’ve got to sleep sometime. He’s describing how a person’s whole life is impacted by finding sanctuary with God in the Psalms to the point that whether you’re awake or asleep, your life is characterized by God’s peace and control. Study of the law is metonymic here for the correct attitudes and behavior that should result from an awareness of and commitment to God’s moral will.
Amplification: Also, I think he’s hinting as to how we should read the Psalms in particular and Scripture in general. The point of reading them is not to see how quickly you can finish, but to let the fullness of the meanings filter into your consciousness over time; it’s to have God speak to you through what you read. To meditate is to allow one’s thoughts to come back spontaneously to some theme. According to the Psalmist, those who do so - your whole lifestyle will be different. Note the upcoming comparison.
1:3 He is like a tree planted by flowing streams;
it yields its fruit at the proper time,
and its leaves never fall off.
He succeeds in everything he attempts.
Explanation: Those who avoid evil and find sanctuary in the Psalms are described using another figure of speech common in Psalms - simile. They are compared to a tree by flowing streams. The implications of that are clear. People of the sanctuary are productive, stable, nurtured, useful and able to endure. The man who is godly has learned, in the hidden inner parts of his life, to draw upon the grace and glory and strength of God. His roots run deep into rich and moist soil, and this is what makes him beautiful and strong. He is like a tree planted by rivers of water. And he is fruitful "His leaf does not wither." He a vital person because he is in touch with a vital God. Finally, all that he does prospers, i.e., he is effective. What he puts his hand to he accomplishes because he is not doing it in his own strength but in the strength of another, a hidden Other, from whose resources he is continuously drawing. That, you see, is the godly life. That is happiness. The man who learns to live that way is a happy person.
1:4 Not so with the wicked!
Instead they are like wind-driven chaff.
Explanation: Note the parallel simile. Those who refuse to find sanctuary in God are likened unto chaff. They are transient, worthless, dead, and unstable. They believe in the philosophy of the world, the counsel of the ungodly (Me first; Get it now; Nothing bad will happen). They live on that basis and make their decisions on that basis. They are involved in small or large acts of rebellion. They are in violation of the fundamental laws of life, yet they blame everyone else for their troubles.
Illustration: Ray Stedman notes in a sermon: In Montana every fall we had harvesters who came around with a thrashing rig. The bundles of wheat would be thrown into this machine. The straw would be blown out onto the stack and the wheat would come dribbling out to be poured into trucks or wagons and taken away to the granary. But floating around in the air everywhere was chaff. It was the awfullest stuff you ever saw. It stuck to the skin wherever you sweat; on the back of your neck and down your shirt. It created frightful itching. It was universally regarded as the most worthless stuff there ever was. In reading Psalm one I was struck by the fact that clear back in David’s day, a thousand years before Christ, the only thing they could think of to do with it was to blow it away, "the chaff which the wind blows away." And still, two thousand years after Christ, the only thing we can do with chaff is to blow it away. That’s what the thrashing rig tries to do. It attempts to blow it up onto the straw stack and get it out of the way for it is worthless. And that is God’s evaluation of the life which has no room for God. It is like chaff. Oh, it may be very impressive in the eyes of the world. But in God’s evaluation, his
life is worthless. He has never fulfilled a single thing for which God put him here in this world. His life is so much wasted time as far as God is concerned, worthless, like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Notation: The figures of speech located here are indicative of that which is to come in Psalms.
1:5 For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment,
nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly.
Comment: Remember, I said that Psalm 1 functions as a "gatekeeper" to the sanctuary of the Psalms. Those who chose a different path other than the one amplified in the Psalms, a lifestyle of openness and honesty, a lifestyle of praising and thanksgiving to a God who has made them, will not be admitted. Why? They’re on a different path that will eventually take them to a different destination. They don’t want to enter. God’s future judgment will only rest on those who refuse a godly path.
1:6 Certainly the LORD rewards the behavior of the godly,
but the behavior of the wicked is self-destructive.
Explanation: This verse reminds me that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who say to God "Thy will be done" and those to whom God will finally say "Thy will be done."
1. Those who are saying to God "Thy will be done" are like a tree planted by flowing streams. I think the first line of verse 6 " Certainly the LORD rewards the behavior of the godly…" has both an immediate fulfillment and a future fulfillment. Immediately, those who chose God’s path and find sanctuary in Him and in the Psalms, will be rewarded in this life. There will be a quality of life about that person that distinguishes them from the rest. In the future, there will be a great reward.
2. Those to whom God will finally say "Thy will be done" are like chaff. The second line of verse 6, "…but the behavior of the wicked is self-destructive" also has an immediate as well as a future aspect. Immediately, their life will lack a depth, a genuine legacy. In the future, all will be lost and they will not be admitted to the "congregation of the righteous or assembly of the godly" - heaven! The will have to live with what they have become.
Clarification: Those who choose to ignore what has been made known to them through God’s world, through His word, and through His Son will self-destruct of their own doing. The ultimate judgment of separation from God is carried out by those who want it that way. I’ve come to see hell in recent years, God’s ultimate judgment on the ungodly, not as a place where people are trapped and want out. It’s a place where people have barricaded themselves in, in order to keep God out. God’s judgment will only rest on those who have chosen to disregard God by their unbelief and other acts of disobedience. Those who will be lost, are those and only those, who willfully and ultimately refuse to acknowledge God over their entire lifetimes - whether this refusal is expressed in indifference towards, violation of, or lack of conformity to the will of God as it has been made known to them. Those who will be saved are those who have responded in belief and faith to whatever revelation they have had about God, those who have a basic orientation toward God, not away from God.
Illustration: This contrast is seen in a story that is told of a prominent citizen in town was dying. As he lay in his lovely home, the best doctors surrounding him, he whispered, with a note of despair, "I’m leaving home, I’m leaving home." Across town there lay dying a solitary figure in bare surroundings. Her modest home contained only the most threadbare of life’s essentials. In her eye was a gleam. Before she died she was heard to say, "I’m going home, I’m going home."
CONCLUSION
Question: What path are you on today? What image from this Psalm best describes your life? Are you a tree planted by living streams? Are you chaff that the wind blows away and will blow away?
Application:
1. You need sanctuary. Whether we have included God as a person to fulfill this need or some other thing, everyone needs sanctuary. Contemporary people look to other sources for their happiness. We pay huge sums of money, spend tremendous amounts of energy, chase to the ends of the earth, attempting to find a state of contentedness where we feel that fleeting moment of blissful joy. Many look for happiness inside themselves. But think with me – our society is among the wealthiest, healthiest, and most educated in human history. And we consistently fail to produce people who are "happy." God knows something that we need to know. We cannot understand our world or be all that we were created to be outside of a theocentric life. The Psalms are very theocentric. God or Jesus (in the Messianic Psalms) are the main persons focused on in all of them. The entire book argues for a theocentric life. Until we find sanctuary in God, we will be restless and unfulfilled.
2. Your need for sanctuary has already led you to develop certain patterns and habits, a lifestyle. Think of all the addictions in our world and you’ll begin to understand what people are trying to find sanctuary in instead of God.
3. You can decide now to develop a lifestyle that will move you toward sanctuary in God. You can choose. Surrender to the Lord daily all that we are and all that we have. Spend time with God in His Word. Stop toying with sin. Know that whatever path you choose, you will reap consequences or rewards as a natural result.
Observation: Paul encouraged the early Christians to encourage one another with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). He undoubtedly knew this Psalm and the two paths that it presented. One need only contrast his life with the life of the most powerful, yet ungodly person of his day, Nero, the Roman Emperor, to get a picture of what has been presented here.
Illustration: There came a time when the Apostle Paul stood as a prisoner before Nero Caesar. Nero was at that time a most dissolute,
vain, cruel, inhumane monster. He is regarded now by historians as one of the most vile and contemptible rulers ever to sit upon a throne. He even commanded that the body of his own mother be ripped apart that he might see the womb that had borne him. He once saw a handsome young man in his court and he ordered him castrated and used him as a woman the rest of his life. He even burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians. Yet his name was known all over the empire. He was Caesar. The whole of the Roman world bowed to his will. The life of that mighty empire revolved around this man, Nero Caesar. Then there stood before him this obscure little Jew, Paul the Apostle, from a despised Roman province. No one knew him. He had scarcely been heard of except in a few isolated places where he had caused certain trouble. He was a prisoner in chains, standing before this mighty emperor. Yet, as it has been well pointed out, the amazing thing is that today we name our sons Paul, and our dogs, Nero.
Conclusion/Prayer: Two paths. Which one will you choose? Father, we cannot read these words without asking ourselves the question: Have we discovered the secret of happiness? Are we allowing this marvelous provision for producing godlikeness to be at work in us? Or does a great deal of our life still consist of ungodliness so that we are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Are great areas of our life worthless and wasted because we are living on the principles and precepts of the world around us? Lord, we thank you for having come to teach us the way of godliness, and to show us how your life can be manifest in us. Father, we pray that you will help us to lay hold more fully of this life, that our lives, in the day of judgment, will find value; that we shall stand in the congregation of the righteous; that we may live the remaining years of our life, our Father, under your eye, in your loving fatherly care, for you know the way of the righteous, and that the way of the wicked will perish. This we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
