Text: Psalm 1:1-6, Title: The Happy Path, Date/Place: NRBC, 11/16/08, AM
A. Opening illustration: At a wedding we were attending, my granddaughter Melissa asked, "Why is a bride always dressed in white?" "Because white represents happiness and today is the happiest day of her life," I replied. Her next question was: "Then why is the groom dressed in black?" “All people desire what they believe will make them happy.” –William Law, Yesterday, on The Today Show, they had a little excerpt, and on Dateline on NBC, they had an expose of the happiness industry. These are people who, for a fee, of course, will help you be happy. One of them was an ad man who left his advertising business and started something in New England called the Options Institute. "I would like to be your happiness coach," he says to Maria Shriver. "I can teach people how to be happy. They just have to make a decision not to take on all the crap that the world gives them, and they have to decide to be happy."
B. Background to passage: this psalm was likely moved to the front of the Psalter as an introduction to the entire book. It lays out an overarching instruction about the truth contained in the book of Psalms. Much like the Sermon on the Mount, it acknowledges our desire to be happy, and gives us instruction on the best way to do that. It is a perfect example of Hebrew poetry and its characteristic parallelism.
C. Main thought: in the text we will see the path of the godly contrasted with the path of the wicked
A. The Walk of the Godly (v. 1-2)
1. The writer starts out with the word, “blessed” which means happy. The word means "happy" in the rich, full sense of happiness rooted in moral and mental and physical wellbeing. You can hear and see the beautiful Hebrew parallelism in these first two verses as they lay out the two paths that are before all men. The path of the godly, and that of the wicked. The writer begins by telling us how the way of the blessed man is not. He is not accompanied by wicked (those guilty of sin), nor does he act like a sinner, nor does he show disdain or irreverence toward God. But the happy man’s delight (word means inclination or desire) is the word of God, because it reflects the beauty of Christ. One translation says, “God’s Word is his thrill and he chews on it all day long.” The Hebrew word for meditate means to mutter to yourself the word. It is just like worrying, except good trails instead of bad ones. He oozes scripture, thinks scripture, has his life shaped by scripture, longs for scripture, lives on scripture. It is like food, water, football, deer hunting, and sex all wrapped up in a leather bound book.
2. Heb 11:25, Job 22:25, 23:12, Ps 40:8, 19:9-10, 119:18, 36, 72, 103, 112:1, 90:14, Pro 3:13-15, Jer 15:16,
3. Illustration: “Happiness of heart can no more be attained without God than light and sunshine can be had without the sun. Happiness is heavenly born; its aroma is of heaven; it leads to heaven and its emblem is heaven. On every side, in every part of the universe men and women are seeking happiness and cannot find it because they do not seek it from God.” “Men are merely taller children. Honor, wealth, and splendor are the toys for which grown children pine; but which, however accumulated, leave them still disappointed and unhappy. God never designed that intelligent beings should be satisfied with these enjoyments. By His wisdom and goodness they were formed to derive their happiness and virtue from Him alone.” –Timothy Dwight, Spurgeon said your blood type should be bibline, A 91-year-old lady reads the Scriptures regularly, but now her memory is failing her. Friends commented, "So what’s the use of all this reading when you cannot remember what you’ve read." Her answer is always the same. "God has blessed me richly. I eat well and sleep well; I have a roof over my head. I am not concerned about my memory. I just do my reading and God does the remembering." She relies on God and not her natural ability to bring the Word back.
4. The simple truth is that the highest happiness/joy/fulfillment is found is the greatest treasure. If you want to be happy, follow Jesus more closely. Do you keep company or listen to the counsel of unbelievers? Are you always the designated driver? There will be a progression from listening, to living like them, to having a disdain for the things of God in your life if you persist in hanging out with them. This is another reason why Christians only marry Christians, and only date Christians. Hearing their counsel, acting like them, and sitting with them will lead to unhappiness. Sure, there is joy in sin for a season. Do you long for the Word of God? Is it sweet to you? Meditation and memorization go hand in hand. I would venture to guess that if you are not involved in memorizing scripture, or at least serious study (as opposed to simply devotional reading), you are probably not meditating on scripture. What if it is drudgery? The key to delight is God’s omnipotent, transforming grace laid hold on by prayer. Pray without ceasing that God would incline your heart to Him and His Word; the psalmist did. Pray that God would open your eyes to great truth in the bible! Pray that He would satisfy your longings in the Word.
B. The Advantage of the Godly (v. 3-4)
1. Next the psalmist describes the outworking of these two paths, the fruit. He says that if you are on the godly path three things will be evident in your life. You will be fruitful. This is part of the reason that God chose you and appointed you. Secondly, it says that the happy man who delights in the Word’s leaf will not wither. This means that during dry spells and hardships that kill other trees, he will stand tall and proud and not even drop a leaf. The righteous can endure suffering that the wicked cannot. Finally, the writer says that the happy man will prosper in all that he does. This word could be translated successful or victorious, powerful, or to advance. Explain. Then again the writer contrasts the path of the wicked by comparing it to the chaff of the grain, and how it is always beaten, dried, withered, blown away, and usually burned.
2. John 15:6, Matt 7:16-20, 2 Cor 2:14, Rom 8:31, Heb 11:33-34,
3. Illustration: A farmer one planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. The one he planted to provide a hedge hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other to provide shade to rest under near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields. As the two trees grew, both produced began to flower and bear fruit. One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house – the one used to provide a hedge from the landfill. As he brought the fruit inside the house, he noticed that it was a little deformed – the symmetry of the fruit was not very good, but still the fruit looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack. Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible. Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream. After walking across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it. Find the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more pieces of fruit and took them to the house. The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root. "The people God is using mightily today are those who have chosen the road of discipleship, which is the route to fruitfulness." Victorious living and effective soul-winning service are not the product of our better selves and hard endeavors, but are simply the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are not called upon to produce the fruit, but simply to bear it
4. Is your life fruitful? Do you exhibit the fruit of the Spirit? Is your life productive? Do you contribute to the wellbeing of others, of the community, of the church? We don’t live and die to ourselves; our lives have tremendous impact on others. But there should be growth and fruit in our life as an outworking of Christ living in us. If you are faithful to delight in the Word and the God of the Word, you will have endurance. Anybody need some endurance? Anybody ever tread deep waters? The Word will keep you afloat and anchored to the Rock of Ages. It will renew your mind, and empower your spirit, and give you hope, faith, and trust in the One worthy of such things. It will make you an overcomer in life in all things. Do you want to be prosperous, victorious, and continue to advance in life? Be like the happy man, delight in the Word. If your life is tossed around, blown away, and burned up, you are the chaff. And nobody wants to be beaten, tossed around, blown away, and burned…nobody wants to be the chaff.
C. The Reward of the Godly (v. 5-6)
1. So the writer concludes with the ends of the paths laid out before men. He says that the righteous will stand in judgment (not because of their own righteousness), and the wicked will not stand (or withstand), but be cut down. He says that the righteous will stand (or abide) with the congregation of the righteous, and the wicked shall not stand with that congregation. And he says that the happy man that delights in the Lord and His word will be preserved in his path by the Lord and watched over on that path, whereas the wicked man will perish (be lost or destroyed). And the verb form in perish is an incompleted action verb implying the continuing torment of those that will perish
2. Jude 1:14-16, Matt 25:32-34, 41, 46, Ps 146:9, 37:18-20, Matt 28:20,
3. Illustration: “Simply wait on him. So doing, we shall be directed, supplied, protected, corrected, and rewarded.” –Vance Havner,
4. Know that if you are wicked you will be crushed by the wrath of the Lamb, but if you are righteous, God looks upon you as Christ because you have hidden your life in Him and exchanged records with him. And there for you will stand in judgment clean, clear, and righteous. Note that the congregation is righteous, and therefore restricts the influence of the wicked. Wickedness is not restrained by quietness and passivity, but by godliness and holy boldness. And which of us does not want the eyes of God watching over us, the hand of God upon us, the wisdom of God guiding us.
A. Closing illustration: Not long ago, as I was talking with one of my teenage sons, he recounted an experience he had on a commuter train outside of New York City. It seems he was surrounded by middle-aged, potbellied, balding men who were worn out. Their clothes were wrinkled, their shirts were heavy with perspiration as they hunched over in their seats and clutched their copies of The Wall Street Journal. My son said, "Dad, they all seemed depressed." That image stayed in my mind, because I’ve noticed the same thing. Have you noticed how few people appear, from the looks of their faces and from their body language, to be really happy? As you observe people from your automobile or walking in the grocery store or the shopping malls, you see face after face looking tired, worn out, bored, or just drained of any emotion. You can go for hours in northern Virginia without encountering a single truly jolly person. Robert Plant of the legendary Rock Group Led Zepplin wrote these word in probably the most popular Rock Ballad of all time “Stairway to Heaven” “Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run—there’s still time to change the road your own.” Mr. Plant is right about part of this: There are two paths and you can always change the road your own but the deception lies in the fact that he is saying to stay as long as you like on the one path because there is plenty of time.
B. The person who delights in God’s law so much that he meditates on it day and night is delivered from the ways of the wicked and sinners and scoffers, and is made fruitful and durable and prosperous. That’s the point. – Piper
C. Talk about the only man who has walked the path of righteousness.
D. Choose life! Choose Christ! Surrender to His path! Love His Word! Seek His face!
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
