Which Way Will You Go? Psalm 1 October 21, 2018

Which Way Will You Go? Psalm 1 October 21, 2018 Introduction: Even if you aren t an admirer of poetry (and I ll be the first to admit I m not) there s a good chance you re familiar with the opening lines of Robert Frost s poem entitled, The Road Not Taken. Likely in an American literature class back in high school you heard recited these famous words: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And it has made all the difference. Two roads. Two paths that could be chosen. For Robert Frost, he took the path less traveled and it made all the difference. Is this not also true when it comes to Christ? How often Jesus spoke of two options: a wide road and a narrow road, a house built on sand or a house built on a rock, a tree that bears bad fruit or a tree that bears good fruit. And the one you choose, well, that will make all the difference. As is often in Scripture, today we ll be looking at a passage that presents to us two paths, two options available to us: there s the way of the righteous and there s the way of the wicked. Two ways we can go and the way we choose will make all the difference in the world. So let s see what God would have to say to us this morning by opening your Bibles to Psalm 1. In the few weeks we have before Advent begins, we re going to take a break from Romans until the new year and do a few sermons from the book of Psalms. So then, our passage today can be found on pg. 448 of the pew Bibles if you re using those. Let s begin by reading Psalm 1 in its entirety. Please follow along as I read. 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; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. 1

We re going to consider what this Psalm says about each of the ways we can travel and so we ll begin first where the Psalm begins and give our attention to 1. The way of the righteous The very first word used to describe a righteous man is the word blessed. This word carries a couple of ideas with it, both in terms of what we have and how we feel. First, to say someone is blessed is to consider what one possesses, such as material goods, relationships, and opportunities. For example, we might say a college student was blessed to land a job at Amazon or at Pixar Animation studios because we recognize those to be fantastic places to work. We d call a young man blessed who found a beautiful and loving bride to marry. Or should someone come into an unexpected inheritance, we might call such a person blessed due to gaining such a financial windfall. So then to be blessed is to enjoy material, relational, emotional, and spiritual goods and benefits. This then leads into the second aspect of blessedness which refers to how we feel. One could just as well translate v. 1 as, Happy is the man A person who is truly blessed feels full of joy and delight over the blessings he has received. There s joy to be found in getting that position in the company you ve always hoped of working for. Few days are happier than the day when you look your spouse in the eye and say, I do. It s a delight to have financial peace and material blessings. External blessings bring internal blessedness of heart. So what is true of a man who has experienced the blessings of God that result in his joy? Well, the Psalmist first tells us what he doesn t do. He says in the middle of v. 1 that he walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. In other words, he doesn t associate himself with wicked, God-rebelling, unrepentant sinners. He doesn t cast his lot with them and consider them his close friends and counselors. He refuses to follow in their footsteps in either word or deed. Now lest I be misunderstood, it doesn t mean a righteous person totally disassociates himself from unbelievers. That s not realistically possible nor is it biblically desirable. We need to live in communities with other people, work at jobs with other employees, and attend school with fellow students, many of whom aren t Christians. Plus Jesus provides an example for us to follow as he rubbed shoulders with prostitutes and tax collectors and other sinners. So it s not isolation we re talking about but rather that we should be in the world but not of the world, such that while we interact with the wicked in numerous situations, we must not be like them. We need to be wary of allowing those who reject God and love sin to be unduly influential to us. We don t embrace their way of thinking or join them in sinful pursuits. We guard our hearts against their influence in what we say and do. But that means then a certain level of disassociation lest we be drawn into their thinking or way of life. As a result a righteous man will not walk or stand or sit among them in terms of partnering with them in sinful behaviors. He has other goals he s far more eager to pursue. 2

And what he is more eager to pursue in found in v. 2 where it says, But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. This is a picture of someone who is eagerly seeking after God, joyfully reading and listening and thinking about God s Word, delighting himself in it - and not just his Law, that is, not just his commandments, but also what God s Word reveals about God s love and mercy and grace. Such a man delights in God s Law because it reveals who God is and how to please him and that s exactly what those who are righteous desire to do. Ultimately to delight in the Law of the Lord is to delight in God himself and that delight is created when God causes someone to be born again. A hunger for God and his Word comes only through the power of the Holy Spirit bringing about the supernatural work of regeneration in a person s heart. To use a personal example, I remember shortly after I became a Christian, I purchased my first Bible. Nobody had to force me to buy one and start reading: I wanted to. I was eager to. It was a delight to do so. Suddenly I wanted to study God s Word and hear it preached at church and memorize Scripture. None of that was true before I came to Christ, but once I did, God created in me new spiritual taste buds as it were that craved to learn more about the God who saved me. I began to delight in God s law once I became a Christian. Furthermore, the goal of delighting in God s law is not simply to know it better or know God better but to obey it. Such delight speaks of the desire for obedience, for putting it into practice and living in joyful submission to it. While people can enjoy the Bible as great literature, because it is, you can t stop there. Unlike reading Pride and Prejudice, the Bible demands obedience. It calls you to forsake sin and pursue righteousness. It s not a dry academic history book: through it, God calls us to righteous obedience. So let me make sure you understand what I m getting at here: a man is righteous not so much because of what he does as much as in what he delights in. A righteous man delights in God s law and thus delights in the One who gave it. Christianity is not a matter of determined willpower or intellectual assent to a set of truths: it is about our affections, what we love, what we desire, what we delight in. You may not obey God s law perfectly: Scripture is abundantly clear that even as Christians we will sin. But far more telling is what you delight in at your deepest level, for as Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So what is such a person who delights in God s law like? The Psalmist paints a word picture for us in v. 3 saying, He is like a tree planted by streams of water. Think about that image for a moment. Trees need water to grow. A tree without access to water will eventually wither up and die. But what if a tree is planted along a stream, where cool fresh water is readily available, where its roots can drink deep of the water-saturated soil? Such a tree is going to be healthy and strong. In fact, what does the psalmist say about it in the middle of v. 3? He describes it as a tree that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. I remember the apple tree we had in my back yard when I was growing up. It was a sickly old thing. The apples were barely edible. They were small and sour. Some of the branches on that tree where dead and the other branches that did have leaves 3

didn t have any that were particularly lovely to look at. But the kind of tree described in this psalm is quite different; I ve seen those trees as well, just not in my backyard - trees that grow tall and strong and whose fruits are ripe and juicy and delicious. Those who are alive spiritually, who are like a healthy tree planted by a stream of water, who bear the fruit of good works in response to drinking deep of God s Word, that s what it looks like to be blessed. God s Word keeps you spiritually alive as you sink the roots of your soul deep into it by constant exposure. Then it says at the end of v. 3, In all that he does, he prospers. Now we don t want to read into this the false promises of the prosperity gospel that God promises financial wealth to all of his children, so don t take it as a blank check that the path of righteousness is the road to riches. That simply isn t true. But in general, there s much truth to this. I live a considerably prosperous life because I haven t walked in the way of the wicked. I don t have to pay any child support payments for a child I had out of wedlock. I don t need to spend money at the bar getting drunk with my buddies. I haven t ruined my health through smoking and abusing drugs. I m not getting into fights because I can t control my anger. I m not gambling my money away at the casino. You get the idea. I m far more prosperous not just materially but also relationally, emotionally, and spiritually because I ve avoided wicked, sinful pursuits. When we live life in accordance to God s Word, life on a whole is much better than if you don t because God s blessings are found in obedience to him. So then, that s the first way a man could take. The way of the righteous is found in avoiding wickedness and delighting in the Law of God, which comes about by virtue of spiritual rebirth, where God creates in us a desire for him and his Word through faith in Christ. But now we need to turn our attention to the other way, the second of two paths a man might trod in this life and so that brings us to 2. The way of the wicked Look back in your Bibles at v. 4. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. There s a contrast in the agricultural metaphors being used in this Psalm. The wicked are not like a strong, healthy tree planted by streams of water but rather are like chaff. During threshing, the wheat was tossed into the air and the heavier grain fell back to the ground while the much lighter husks were blown away by the wind. The chaff wasn t alive, wasn t useful, and had no value other than to be thrown away or burned. So this is saying the wicked live worthless lives. A life not lived to the glory of God, apart from faith, that doesn t delight in him or strive to live in obedience to him, has no value. It s worthless. You see, for something to have worth it must be desirable. For example, after Karen s mom died a few years back, we were involved in helping clean out her house. Part of my job was helping to check out the value of certain items the family came across. One item was this beautiful crystal bowl that we thought might have some value but upon looking it up on ebay, I found it wasn t going to fetch more than a few dollars at best. It was functionally worthless. Yet when I looked up this little Hot Wheel s car from the 4

1960s that was still in the package, I discovered it had sold for about $150. One would think a crystal bowl would be worth far more than a small plastic toy car, but the value wasn t intrinsic to the item itself: it s worth was determined by how much someone desired it and was willing to pay for it. When it comes to our lives, those who live with no thought to God, who do not desire him nor treasure him, who care nothing for his Word or his people, life worthless lives because God has no use for such people. Such people bring him no glory. Such people give him no honor. Their rebellion and sin bring him no pleasure. Therefore, their lives are worthless, like chaff that can simply be blown away in the wind. They are of no use to God if their hearts do not belong to him. While this short Psalm doesn t go into any details of what kind of deeds the wicked engage in that make their lives worthless, it does however mention one thing that I d like to call your attention to in v. 1. In speaking of the wicked that the righteous man avoids, he mentions the counsel of the wicked the way of sinners [and most significantly for my point] the seat of scoffers. One of the things that characterize the wicked in this psalm is that they re scoffers, mockers, full of scorn and ridicule toward God and his people. They sneer at the righteous and make fun of them, slandering and insulting them as they make them the butt of their jokes and objects of their ridicule. One of the things you can readily find either on television or throughout the internet is those who would mock Christians. The media likes to scoff at us, at any person of faith who tries to stand up for biblical morality or the exclusivity of Christ. You find this in movies and television shows and cable news channels and on social media. In our society today, people of faith especially those who identify as Christians it is open season to mock or insult anyhow who dares to deviate from the secular norms. It s a rare thing to find a positive portrayal of a Christian in television shows or movies, but it is common to find caricatures of believers that make them either look like buffoons or as self-righteous, judgmental jerks. So this idea of the wicked being scoffers is right on target. It was something that was true in David s day and is still true in our today, in fact, we can see it even more clearly because of what mass media and social media brings to our attention. But there is a danger to all of this because while the wicked may be laughing down, there will come a time when all such derisive mocking will cease. Look back in your Bibles now at v. 5-6. It says, Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. So here s how this pans out: if you re standing in the way of sinners in v. 1 by following their ways and pursuing wickedness, then you will not stand in the coming judgment. The only people who pass through the judgment of God after death unscathed are those who delight in God s Word and in Jesus, the Son of God to whom the Word of God points. 5

As Robert Frost said in his poem and as Jesus taught during his ministry, there are two roads, two paths, two ways you can choose. One is a wide a path, well-traveled because it promises ease and self-fulfillment, where you can pursue whatever your sinful heart desires without concern for God. It s a road many are on, who delight not in God, nor his Word, nor his Son, nor his chosen people but who rather delight only in themselves and the sinful wickedness of their hearts. That road is wide and easy as it passes through your life, but its end is death and destruction. To travel on it will lead to your eternal doom as God judges you for delighting in sin and not in him. But there is another road, a road less-traveled. It is narrow and hard at first because to travel that road we must forsake sin, repent of our wickedness, turn to Christ, pick up our cross and follow him, losing our lives for his sake. But for whatever loss we may suffer, it s worth what we gain once we reach the end of the road, for that narrow and less-traveled road leads to eternal life. It leads to a knowledge of God and of God s loving knowledge of you. In v. 6 it says, For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. God is with you on the narrow way that follows Christ in faith and delights in him. God walks with those pilgrims on the road of faith and helps them to safely arrive at their final destination. But for the wicked, they walk alone. God doesn t join them on the wide road of a life of sin. They don t want God in their life and God grants their request. But the end of the road is eternal death, hell, damnation, to be forever excluded from God and the blessedness he offers us through Christ. To walk the way of the wicked is to walk into the righteous judgment of God and to perish in your sin for all eternity. Conclusion So as we close, the basic question we need to ask ourselves is, Which way will you go? Will you walk in the way of the righteous or the way of the wicked? Those are the only two options available. There s no third way, no middle road between the two. Either you re on the road of blessing as you delight in God s Word, his promises, and his Son, or you re on the road to perdition as you delight in sin and mockery and all manner of unrighteousness. One road leads to eternal life and the other to eternal death. And what road you choose in this life will make all the difference. Please join me now in bowing your heads as we close in prayer. Let s pray. This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Grace Fellowship of Waterloo, IA by Pastor Rob Borkowitz. Copyright 2018. 6