Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 1 is, obviously, the first Psalm in the Psalter (that’s what some call the collection of 150 Psalms—The Psalter—isn’t that a cool name?)

Psalm 1 is first, but why?

There are Psalms that focus on God’s love and mercy and grace and forgiveness; why aren’t any of those Psalms the first Psalm?

If it was based on sheer usage and fondness, Psalm 23 would be the first of the Psalms.

But this Psalm, 6 short verses, has been given primacy of place.

This Psalm is the introduction to the whole book.

It’s the prologue—the section that introduces the key themes and theses of the rest of the book.

Psalm 1 speaks to us of the first things, the primary things; the stuff we need to get clear from the start; what Psalm 1 discusses is what matters, and matters deeply at the outset.

Psalm 1 wants to get this point across to you and me:

Nothing is so crucial as your belonging to the assembly of the righteous.

Nothing matters as much as this, nothing; contrary to what we tend to think is important—even those things that carry some importance with them—nothing is so crucial as your belonging to the assembly of the righteous.

Jesus summed up the concern of Psalm 1 in His great sermon when He said,

Similarly, Psalm 1 makes a contrast between the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked, between the two roads as Jesus would put it.

Nothing is so crucial as your belonging to the assembly of the righteous.

Let’s ask some questions of this Psalm as we seek to understand its message.

Who are the righteous?

What is the direction of their life?

Where do they take their cues for living?

The very first word of the Psalm is blessed.

This Psalm is speaking about the blessed person, the happy person, the person who is blessed by the Lord.

This person—the blessed person—is not neutral when it comes to evil, but is the one who shuns rejects evil at every turn.

Notice the threefold statement about the blessed person in verse 1:

Blessed are those

1.

Who do not walk in step with the wicked

2. Or stand in the way that sinners take

3. Or sit in the company of mockers

This verse will help us get at the direction of the righteous person’s life.

First, the righteous do not walk in-step with the wicked.

This concerns their way of thinking, of forming plans; their mindset and their outlook.

The righteous person doesn’t think like the wicked—it’s not all about them, it’s not selfish; it’s not ‘do whatever feels good’, or do whatever you please.

The righteous person has a different worldview than the wicked—all the way around, their mindset and outlook are different

Second, the righteous do not stand in the way that sinners take.

This—the way—speaks about their behavior, their actions, their practices.

The wicked have a particular brand of behavior and actions and practices, things they don’t think twice about doing.

They don’t think about what they’re doing or participating in or how they’re behaving because God is out of the picture; their body is their body.

What they do on their time is their business.

“Who are you to tell me what to do?” they might ask.

The righteous person doesn’t behave or act in the way of the sinner; they don’t participate in those things.

Third, the righteous do not sit in the company (seat) of mockers/scoffers.

The seat or company is referring to a kind of belonging, where one settles most comfortably.

The wicked are comfortable among one another; the wicked can plop down on the couch next to one another and feel at ease.

On the other hand, the righteous have no fellowship with the wicked—they don’t belong, there’s no kinship there, they aren’t comfortable alongside them.

The righteous are separate, they are set-apart from the wicked.

The theme of church camp this summer—Camp CYOKAMO—was “Be Different”.

Our kids learned from God’s Word what it means for the people of God to be different, to behave differently than the world around them might.

They learned that they are to be holy as God is holy, to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, to be separate, set-apart, different.

They learned that they are to be, in a word, weird.

Being weird is not all bad; we are meant to be separated and set apart from the wicked.

If you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are living a God-centered life, your friends and family might think that you are weird because you do this and won’t do that—and that’s natural; we can’t abandon holiness for the sake of fitting-in.

But neither can we be so weird that we have no contact with those we are trying to reach.

In the quest to be separate, some religious people have gone way too far—trading in cars for horse and buggy, shunning most technological advancements, living a life of cloistered silence in a monastery, etc.

How we are supposed to be properly weird, I don’t fully know.

But I do know that the important distinction between us ought to express itself in the way we think, in our behavior, and in our belonging.

We can’t always go with the flow, exchanging our souls for the sake of tolerance.

There’s a big difference between the righteous person of Psalm 1 and what some refer to as the “good ol’ boys.”

Everyone likes the good ol’ boy; not everyone will care for the righteous.

We must be, in many ways, counter-cultural.

The culture will ebb and flow, will go this way and that, will swing from right to left and back again.

The righteous are to stand their ground.

But we can’t quarantine ourselves completely and still fulfill our mission to minister to those who don’t know Jesus.

There is, according to Psalm 1, a visible difference between the righteous and the wicked, certainly in what the righteous don’t do.

But the difference extends into what the righteous will do.

Verse 2 marks the shift with the word but.

The Psalmist has instructed us by telling us clearly that those who are blessed do not walk in-step with, do not stand in the way of, and do not sit among the wicked.

The blessed, the righteous instead delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on His law day and night.

The righteous reject the philosophy of this dying world, simply because they have learned to delight in the law of the Lord.

What is the law of the Lord?

It’s instruction, it’s teaching, it’s guidance, it’s direction.

The law of the Lord is more than just the law of Moses, more than just the 10 Commandments.

It’s the entire revelation of God to man—for us, it’s the Bible in these 66 books.

Godly people know that God’s Word gives us a completely different view of life than is found in the world.

The Bible tells us the truth about life—and we have this Book to meditate upon, day and night.

The Bible reveals the power by which we can live lives pleasing to God; this, something we can’t do on our own.

The Bible gives us knowledge of Jesus Christ—our Redeemer, our Savior, our Righteousness.

Apart from this God-given revelation about Jesus, we would be numbered among the wicked.

Derek Kidner makes a good point: “Whatever shapes a person’s thinking shapes their life.”

You are going to take your signals from somewhere, it’s just a matter of what it is that will inform you.

To delight in the law of the Lord might seem a little silly to some.

To others, they might think we’re weird—but this is the good kind of weird; this is the weird we’re supposed to be.

Is our delight, our joy placed in temporary things that are passing away—family, country, sports, money, fame, popularity, good looks?

Or, is our delight and joy in the eternal, in that which will last forever—do we delight in the Triune God, in His Holy Word, in the fellowship of His people?

Meditation seems a little strange, a little bit of Eastern mysticism thrown in to the Bible.

But this isn’t the cross-your-legs-and-hold-out-your-arms-and-hum kind of mediation.

No, this is directing our focus to the Word of God, so that it fills our hearts and minds.

When the wicked are tempted to sin, what’s to stop them from giving in?

When the righteous are tempted to sin, their meditation on the law of the Lord will bring to mind the fact that God is our refuge and strength in times of trouble; the righteous can pray the words that are, by meditation, written on their heart: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence.

Memorizing verses (even chapters) of the Bible is a great way to meditate on God’s law.

If you think you can’t memorize, I can introduce you to about 200 2nd and 3rd graders who memorized at least one verse in less than a day.

Some memorized over 50.

What Bible verse do you have memorized?

The righteous delight in the law of the Lord and meditate upon His law day and night because they know that this is the Word of God that sets people free, that delivers people from the tyranny of walking and standing and sitting in the company of the wicked; the righteous know that the law of the Lord in which they delight, upon which they meditate is the very best way to live this life.

“People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

The Psalm has shown us what the righteous are against and what they are for.

Now, we are given a description of the righteous.

Do you know most grown up books didn’t have pictures.

“You’re telling me I have to read this 300-page book and it doesn’t have any illustrations?”

I’m learning, though, that the best books do have pictures—maybe not literal drawings on the page—but the best books are written in such a way that you can see what the author is describing.

This is the very best book, and right here in Psalm 1, we are given a great picture—a picture of the righteous (do you see the picture in verse 3):

Like a tree planted by streams of water…can’t you see it?