Bible Passage: Psalm 1
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: August 22, 2021

Bulletin August 22, 2021

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Before us this morning is one of those things we find in the Bible called a “beatitude.”  A beatitude is a statement of what is blessed.  Perhaps the most well-known beatitudes in the Bible are those Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount.  Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted…Blessed are the meek (Matthew 5), and so on.  But those are by no means the only beatitudes found in Scripture.  The book of Revelation contains a number of beatitudes:  Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. (Revelation 14:13) and Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:19), to name just two of them.  And there are many others in the Bible.

Beatitudes in the Bible are very helpful for us.  They give us a perspective we would not know unless God pulled back the veil.  You see, in the ignorance of sin, we don’t know what real, true blessedness is.  We might be tempted to look at the long, shiny Rolls Royce with the license plate that says “Blessed” and conclude that is the blessed life.  But then God speaks and reveals.  His Son sits on a hillside and preaches a sermon on what truly makes for a spiritually joy-filled and tranquil life.  The Holy Spirit sings a beautiful beatitude for us in Psalm 1!  He tells us what makes God say, How Blessed!

How blessed is the man, the psalm begins.  What then follows are three descriptions of the truly blessed person.  The first descriptor is that the truly blessed person resists sin.  How blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked, who does not stand on the path with sinners, and who does not sit in a meeting with mockers.  Notice the progression of sin’s influence in the verse!  It can all start so casually – just walking along listening to worldly opinions and advice.  Then comes standing in the path with sinners.  The casual walk becomes hanging out.  It ends with feeling very comfortable with it all.  Sitting down with the mockers, keeping company with the proudest sinners of all who are mockers of God and all that is holy!  Blessed is the one who resists this!

Friends, you have come to know the blessedness of resisting sin.  Isn’t it easier waking up in the morning when you do not regret the night before?  Isn’t life more enjoyable when you do not have to look over your shoulder wondering if your sin will find you out?  Sin does not lead to blessedness.  How blessed is the one who resists sin!

The description of the blessed man continues.  But his delight is in the teaching of the Lord,

and on his teaching he meditates day and night. (v. 2)  There is the blessed man!  The one with the open, well-worn Bible!  See the smile on his face?  The Word of God is his delight.  To be occupied with the Word is the highlight of his day, not a duty to be “endured.”

How could the Word not be our delight?  In it we find Christ!  Jesus himself said to those gathered around him one day, You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me!  (John 5:39)  Jesus said the Bible is the story about him!  And what a delight it is to find him again and again, on page after page.

It is a delight to find him, because so often when we open our Bibles we come with our feelings of shame and guilt.  We walked with some we should not have walked with.  We listened to bad advice.  We stood in the path with those we should not have stood with, and the result was not good.  We really let our guard down, we sat right down in an unholy place with unholy people and we did unholy things.  We need Christ!  And in the Word we find him!

We find our Friend, our Brother, Jesus!  Blessed be his name!  We find him on the cross covered in our guilt and shame; he has taken it from us upon himself!  His death takes it away!  Our guilt and shame are gone!  A load is lifted from us.  A feeling grows within us.  It is joy!  We find him alive again on Easter morning!  Even death loses to Jesus!  Another feeling within – this time it is peace.  We have found Christ in the Word.  And in Christ we have found joy and peace.  What a delight!  How blessed!

The blessedness of the person with the open Bible is further described:   On his teaching he meditates day and night. (v. 2)  The word used here for “meditate” is an interesting word.  It’s a word that can be used to describe what a lion does over its prey, or what a dog does with a bone.  Isn’t that a neat way to think about studying God’s Word?  We used to have a dog.  When we would give old Buddy a bone he would grab that thing tight and then run off to his favorite “bone chewing spot.”  He would brace it in his paws and gnaw and chew and make little throaty growls.  For a dog, that was as good as it gets!  Is that you with your Bible?  Chewing, gnawing, enjoying every minute of your time? How blessed!

The final description of the blessed man is this:  He is like a tree planted beside streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season, and its leaves do not wither.  Everything he does prospers.  (v. 3)  The blessed life is a fruit-producing life.  Jesus said as much:  I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bring forth much fruit. (John 15:5)  “Much fruit.”  In our text, fruit in its season.  We think of Paul’s words to the Galatians.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  The blessed person produces each fruit in its season.  The blessed produce love when there is hate.  Joy when there is sorrow.  Peace when all around there is frenzy and worry.  Patience when tempers are short.  Kindness when people are mean.  Goodness when people are bad.  The blessed will be faithful when betrayers and betrayal are everywhere.  And in a culture that has no brake pedal, the blessed man exhibits self-control.  Fruit in its season.  How blessed!

No such blessedness, no such fruitfulness can be found among the wicked.  Very abruptly the psalm tells us:  Not so the wicked!  No, they are like the chaff which the wind blows away.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (v. 4-5)  The scene shifts from pleasant thoughts of juicy apples and kiwis and oranges to dry, worthless chaff that is left after the wheat harvest.  A  gentle puff of wind blows it all away.  A picture of the wicked.  In life the blessed would not walk or stand or sit in their assembly.  On Judgment Day, the wicked will not join the assembly of the blessed who are standing there with Jesus.

So there it is.  Psalm 1 lays out before us the two paths in life.  There is the “How blessed!” life and the “not so” life.  And this psalm is not so much telling you to try to have the blessed life.  It is telling you, Christian, that you HAVE the blessed life!  For the sake of Jesus and all he has done for you, this is your life.  Now, is there room for growth?  Is there room for you to resist sin more zealously, and delight in God’s Word more cheerfully, and meditate on God’s Word more frequently, and produce fruit more seasonally?  Of course, but room to grow does not mean you do not have the blessed life now; it just means that there is more blessedness to be enjoyed.  How blessed are we, for Jesus’ sake!

Amen.

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