TITLE: THE FORK IN THE ROAD
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 1
(Points adapted from 2019 sermon by Rev. Krushal)
We are blessed to be able to share together as a Church family this First Sunday of a New Year. We must admit as we move into this third year of our nation as well as the world dealing with this Pandemic, we are truly blessed and grateful to God to see this Year of our Lord 2022. I believe the past two plus years have challenged many of us to confront decisions we never thought we would have to make in our lifetime. I am sure we will be faced with many more decisions and challenges in this New Year. It is good to know as believers we do not have to face these decisions alone.
• We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we do know who holds our tomorrows
As we consider this familiar text this first Sunday of a new year, let’s first identify who this Psalm is written about. It begins by saying “BLESSED IS THE MAN….” Who is the blessed man? The description given of him is simply this…that he is a man. There are moral qualities given, but the only thing said of him, in the first, place, is - he is a man. Here is something very suggestive, for he is a person subject to the common sorrows of humanity. If we hear of a person greatly blessed by the sense of Christ’s presence, and so enabled to walk in holiness and much usefulness, we cherish the delusion that he must have been better than the ordinary run of men, certainly not such aa one as ourselves.
But how great is the mistake and misconception! God fashioneth all hearts alike, and if there be distinctions they are of grace, not of betterness by nature. The most blessed man is still a man.
• He must suffer Pain
• He must deal with Sickness
• He must endure Losses and Crosses
• And yet in it all be a Blessed Man
Being a man, he is also subject to infirmities, perhaps of a quick temper, or of a high and haughty spirit. He may be tempted to be harsh in his Language or Embracing sin of another kind.
• Still being a man, he must have some infirmity, and yet, none the less is he blessed
• Do not dream that the best of men are yet without fault
• They will confess to you that they have
• I JOHN 1:10 “IF WE SAY THAT WE HAVE NOT SINNED, WE MAKE HIM A LIAR, AND HIS WORD IS NOT IN US”
The text reveals the difference lies in how we handle The Fork in the Road. Each day and throughout the day, we come to many forks in the road – decisions that we have to make. Many of those decisions we might consider momentary. They won’t have a huge, long-lasting impact on our lives. But other forks are rather monumental because of the impact they are going to have on our lives or the lives of our families.
• Should I join the military or go to college after high school?
• Should I start my own business, or should I just stay where I’m at?
• Should we move or should we stay?
• Should I ask her to marry me or wait?
• Should I buy that new car or keep driving what I have?
• Should I have the surgery or try some other form of treatment?
Those are all decisions I think you would probably put into the monumental category because of the impact they are going to have on you or others. But there are other times when those seemingly momentary forks in the road turn into the monumental, significantly impacting your life or the lives of others.
PSALM 1 places before us such a Fork in the Road. This Psalm is the first of 150 Psalms that God inspired its authors to write for God’s people of every time. The topics within these Psalms range from –
• Prayers asking for God’s deliverance from the enemies of God’s people
• Psalms of praise and thanks for God’s protection and goodness
• There are psalms of confession of sin that call upon the Lord to grant forgiveness
• Psalms that paint stunning pictures of what the Messiah Jesus would suffer in order to secure that forgiveness of sins
While the topics may vary, there is one thing that all of these Psalms have in common. They are all the word of our God, the things that god wants us to hear -- to know -- to love -- to follow. Psalm 1 asks us --
• “What will you do with these Psalms?”
• “What will you do with God’s Word?”
• “How will you approach it?”
• “Will you allow it to guide your life?”
• “Or will you try to go it on your own?”
• Yes, There is a Fork in the Road
If you have ever listened to someone who is an addict and has hit rock bottom – their life is spinning out of control, they have lost their job - their family - their home - their health – if you ask them how they got to where they are right now, very rarely will you hear someone say, “well, about 5 years ago I woke up one morning and I decided that i was going to be an addict and lose everything that i had.” No. Usually you will hear stories about how it started out with what seemed to be little things –
• A couple more pills than prescribed just to get through the day
• A few extra drinks to “take the edge off”
• A few minutes on a website to satisfy an urge
• Before they knew it, the momentary decisions lead to monumental catastrophes
SOLOMON 2:15 “TAKE US THE FOXES, THE LITTLE FOXES, THAT SPOIL THE VINES: FOR OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES.” The little foxes that spoil the vines are numerous. These foxes are the yieldings of ourselves to sin and the vines they spoil are the outgrowth of our Christian lives. Not one of us can fail to recognize how quickly our personal testimony to the world about Jesus and our personal walk before God can be trashed by our failure to deal with the sin that so easily besets us. The little foxes in the vineyards of our daily lives can become destructive forces that not only keep us from growing closer to God but will divide us from one another and even break complete fellowship with Him, to the point of the greatest spiritual loss of all, separation from God's grace altogether.
PSALM 1 describes a road that if followed will lead to destruction, unable to pass God’s judgment at the end of life and being separated from God like useless chaff blown away by the wind. How does a person get to that point? Well, like the addict, it’s not usually the devil walking up to a person and saying, “give up on Jesus and follow me to hell.” No. It starts with the seemingly insignificant and momentary (the little foxes) which then leads to the monumental and eternally significant. It’s the progression that you hear described in the opening verse of this Psalm. Did you catch that?
• It starts with a person who decides to “WALK IN STEP WITH THE WICKED” -- then, “STAND IN THE WAY THAT SINNERS TAKE” -- and finally, “SIT IN THE COMPANY OF MOCKERS”
Did you the notice the progression that walking down this road takes? It starts with “WALK IN STEP WITH THE WICKED.”
• You decide to compromise a little on what you believe
• Maybe justifying your decision with, “Well, it’s only one time”
• It’s only once in awhile
• Other people seem to be doing it and I don’t see them being all the miserable
It begins with compromising. And when you’ve compromised long enough then what happens? You begin to “STAND IN THE WAY THAT SINNERS TAKE.” You get comfortable in the sin that you are committing. What you at one time felt bad about, you feel very little guilt over. And then finally what happens? You end up “SITTING IN THE COMPANY OF MOCKERS.”
• You become committed to that sin
• You defend it and see nothing wrong with it
• In fact, you become one of the mockers, mocking those who still think what you’re doing is wrong
• You feel right at home, more comfortable with the mockers of God than with the followers of God
How does a person get to that point? Yes, it started with the momentary and it led to the monumental. However, remember this is a fork in the road. There is another way, another road that PSALM 1 describes. This is the road of blessing - prosperity and righteousness. This is the road that leads a person to be like a well-watered, deeply rooted, strong and healthy fruit tree.
How do you get there? PSALM 1:1-2 says, “BLESSED IS THE ONE… WHOSE DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD, AND WHO MEDITATES ON HIS LAW DAY AND NIGHT.” This is the route that repeatedly looks to God’s Word to guide and direct us. As the Psalmist writes in PSALM 119:105, “YOUR WORD IS A LAMP FOR MY FEET AND A LIGHT ON MY PATH.” The Word of our God shines the light on our meandering ways. It shows us our trespasses, the times that we have crossed the line and entered areas that God says are off limits to us --
• Sexual thoughts for someone other than your spouse
• Selfishness that is more concerned about getting your way than God’s way
God’s Word shows us how we have walked down the road of compromise, maybe making the trip so many times that we’ve grown comfortable with sins that used to shock us, barely even recognizing them as sinful any longer -- things like alternate lifestyles - when human life begins - and the creation of the world. God’s Word is that bright light that shows us our sin and wondering ways that if continued on will only lead to destruction.
But remember, God’s Word is meant to show us --
• The road of Blessing and Prosperity
• The road of Righteousness
• God’s Word leads us to the cross of Jesus
• A road that was walked by Jesus in our place
There are no meandering moments there in Jesus’ walk, only footsteps that perfectly followed God’s will for us.
• There is no compromising on what God wanted him to do
• No cutting corners to make his life easier or more comfortable
• There is nothing except complete dedication to knowing, loving and following God’s will at every moment of his life, willingly going to the cross to suffer the punishment of our trespasses, our wondering eyes, minds, hearts and lives
The Word of God shows us the way of righteousness, the righteousness of Christ which God has given to us through faith, that allows us to stand ready for God’s judgement. at the end of our life, we will be judged, “Right with God.” Why? Not because we walked the road so well or tried so hard to do the right things. No. Instead, we will be judged, “Right with God” because Jesus walked the road perfectly in our place and went to the cross to pay the full price of our sin. This is the way of God’s Word which leads to blessing and prosperity.
A Bible scholar commented on this Psalm, “whatever shapes our thinking will soon shape our actions.” The ongoing research of the effects that “screen time” have on our thinking only reinforces this point. The forks in the road will most certainly come. How will you be prepared for them? we need for God’s word to continually shape our thoughts. The Psalmist says, “BLESSED IS THE ONE…WHO MEDITATES ON HIS LAW DAY AND NIGHT.” I don’t think that the psalmist had in mind a 24 hour per day bible study when he wrote these words. However, to think that hearing God’s Word for one hour a week is going to impact our thinking seems to take it to the other extreme. Through group and personal Bible study, reading the Bible at home, personal and family devotions, and Christian conversations, God is shaping our thinking and preparing us for those forks in the road.
When we are more deeply rooted in God’s Word we find ourselves asking instead of, “what do I think or what do you think, or what would be easiest?” we begin to ask --
• What does God say?
• What does God promise?
• We become more and more those trees that Psalm 1 describes as “A TREE PLANTED BY STREAMS OF WATER, WHICH YIELDS IT FRUIT IN SEASON AND WHOSE LEAF DOES NOT WHITHER – WHATEVER HE DOES PROSPERS”
When you are deeply rooted in God’s Word, you receive the constant nourishment that your Christian faith and life needs.
• You grow in your awareness of what God’s will is for you
• You are refreshed in Christ’s forgiveness when you fail to carry it out
• You are empowered by Christ’s love and guided by God’s Word to do good works, to produce what the Bible describes as fruits of faith
I was thinking about that picture of a fruit tree that the Bible often uses to describe Christians.
• What is the purpose of a fruit tree producing fruit?
• Yes, the fruit is evidence that the tree is alive and shows what type of tree it is
But how does the tree benefit from the fruit it produces? it doesn’t.
• The tree doesn’t eat its fruit!
• The fruit is for the benefit of others
As we live our Christian lives, producing fruits of faith, it is not merely for our own personal benefit as evidence of who God has made us. Our good works are a blessing to those around us. When we live our Christian lives, we are a blessing to --
• Our families
• Our friends
• Our churches
• Our coworkers
• Our communities
• Yes, these fruits of faith are a blessing both to us and to those around us
--Life is about choices and life is about the freedom to make those choices. God loves us so much that He did not take that ability to choose away from us
--God does not send people to hell, we choose to go there by the way we respond to the Grace of God through Jesus
--In DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20 God told MOSES to tell the people that they needed to choose who they were going to serve. God said that life would be found in obeying Him
--In JOSHUA 24:13-15 upon entering the Promised Land Joshua told the people to choose this day who they would serve
--As ELIJAH was about to take on the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, he told the people to choose to either follow God or Baal in 1 KINGS 18:21
--God never forced people to follow Him
--He gives us a choice
--The question is when you are at THE FORK OF THE ROAD of faith, which path will you choose?
