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Before beginning our study of the Gospel of Matthew in December, we are going to spend a few weeks in the Psalms, and we’ll return to the Psalms periodically in the future.
Let me give you a little information about the Psalms.
FACTS ABOUT THE PSALMS.
• There are 150 Psalms in both the Jewish and Christian Old Testament, although they are divided up a little differently.
• The oldest Psalm is Psalm 90, written by Moses around 1500 B.C.
The youngest Psalms were written after the Babylonian exile; Psalm 137 mentions being in Babylon.
So, the Psalms cover about a one thousand year period of time.
• There are six men named as writers of the Psalms: David, who wrote 74 Psalms.
The sons of Korah wrote 12. Asaph wrote 12. Solomon wrote 2. Two Ezrahites, Ethan and Heman, wrote 1. Moses wrote 1.
And, 48 are anonymous.
I’ll share more facts about the Psalms in the weeks to come.
TRANSITION.
I’ll share more facts about the Psalms in the weeks to come.
For now, what do the Psalms have to do with us?
Why are they so important?
WHAT DO THE PSALMS DO FOR US?
The Law, especially the book of Leviticus, governs the mechanism of worship: the how-to’s of the sacrificial system and the priesthood and the offerings.
The Psalms reveal the heart of the worshiper.
We see her dancing with joy and victory.
We see him crushed down and in despair.
We see those who love God standing tall and full of confidence, and we see them trembling in agony.
But more important, we always see the worshiper before God.
Never do we read, “I sought the Lord, but He was nowhere to be found, so I figured things out on my own.”
The Psalms are not wishful thinking, but prayers directed to God, and statements of faith in the full breadth and depth of human experience.
The sacrifices of Leviticus have been satisfied in Jesus Christ, but the Psalms, for the most part, do for us what they did for David.
They help us to personally come to the Person of God in joy, in fear, in pain, in disappointment, in longing, in confusion, in every emotion there is.
TRANSITION: The psalm that opens the book is a Wisdom Psalm.
There are several kinds of Psalms; we’ll take about them as we encounter them.
Each kind has its own characteristics.
Wisdom Psalms are directed to people, not God (He doesn’t need wisdom, after all).
They instruct us as to righteousness.
They call upon us to believe and obey what is taught.
They declare God’s blessing on His people.
They usually compare the righteous and the wicked.
They often feature a parable, or word picture, to explain their meaning.
They typically describe the final, eternal outcome of life.
They address practical issues of daily life.
Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm, and reveals the tremendous blessing received by the righteous, as opposed to the judgment faced by the wicked.
The first word of the Psalm is Blessed.
Blessed is the man … (Psalm 1:1, ESV)
Blessed is an adjective; it describes a particular kind of man or woman (the sense is not “blessed is the male,” but “blessed is the person”).
The word means happy, favored, satisfied, content.
It is certainly an objective state of being: blessed.
But it is also the experience of that blessing: happiness, contentment, satisfaction.
THE WORLD’S PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
I don’t think I need to tell you that the world is in constant pursuit of happiness; it’s even written into the Declaration of Independence: the pursuit of happiness.
Unfortunately, in the last century the meaning of “happiness” has shifted from a state of contentment and satisfaction to the momentary experience of pleasure, accompanied by the avoidance of pain or discomfort.
We don’t even question it most of the time.
Happiness is good.
Pain is bad.
There are some real problems with the world’s pursuit of happiness.
For one thing, it always falls short.
It’s never what people expected it to be.
I was raised in Southern California, and we made annual visits to Disneyland, about fifteen miles away.
The Disneyland sign on Harbor Boulevard famously says, “The Happiest Place On Earth,” and you are reminded of that when you walk through the gates into the park.
But it isn’t real happiness at all; the promise falls short.
For another thing, the world’s pursuit of happiness often fails entirely.
There isn’t even the momentary illusion of happiness.
The Norfolk Rescue Mission is filled with people who tried to find happiness in a bottle or a meth pipe; whatever they experienced was purely chemical.
That pursuit never even got off the ground.
But the real problems with the world’s pursuit of happiness is that it always results in greater suffering and misery than before.
Broken relationships, addictions, physical illnesses, injury, death, emotional devastation, emptiness – the world’s pursuit of happiness has a long list of bad results.
And then, worst of all, comes the judgment of God at the end of human history.
The truth is that the world’s pursuit of happiness is about as effective as a man who has fallen off a cliff hugging himself as he plummets to earth.
TRANSITION.
Psalm 1 tells us how true blessedness is not found, and how it is found.
HOW THE BLESSING IS NOT FOUND
It begins by telling us what does not bring blessing and happiness.
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 (Psalm 1:1, ESV)
Again, the blessed person is the one who is truly happy, content, satisfied.
First, the blessed person, the truly happy man or woman, is not the one who lives according to advice of the world.
The Bible often uses “walk” as a metaphor for living, and that’s what we see here.
The advice of the world is useless to bring about true contentment and satisfaction.
The Telegraph, which is a British newspaper and website, ran an article last December: “Why men should give their wives a cheat pass this Christmas.”
That is, why husbands should give their wives permission to commit adultery.
That’s the counsel of the wicked, and it will bring nothing but destruction.
The counsel of the wicked will not bring blessing or happiness.
Second, the blessed person, that truly happy man or woman, does not commit himself or herself to rebellion.
Standing in the way of sinners doesn’t mean getting in the way of sinners, but rather identifying with them, remaining with them.
The Hebrew and Greek words for sin mean to fall short of God’s glory, to miss the target of God’s righteousness.
Standing in the way of sinners means stopping short of God’s holiness.
We’ve all heard people say that all roads lead to God.
That isn’t true, but even if it were, what good is a road if you stop before you arrive at the destination?
The blessed one, that truly happy and content man or woman, does not stop short of God’s righteousness.
And third, the blessed person, that happy man or woman described here, doesn’t make themselves a leader or influencer in mockery and wickedness.
The Old Testament gives us a picture of men sitting in the gates of a city as its leaders and judges.
We see Boaz sitting in the gate of his city when he legally redeems Ruth according to the Law of God.
We see Ahab and Jehoshaphat sitting on their thrones in the gates of the city of Samaria, exercising their power.
So this seat in Psalm 1 is a reference to power and privilege and influence.
The blessed man or woman doesn’t live to lead others away from the righteousness of God.
TRANSITION.
We know what does not bring about blessing and happiness.
What is the positive side of things?
How is blessing found?
HOW THE BLESSING IS FOUND
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
(Psalm 1:2, ESV)
He delights in the Law of the Lord.
The word “delight” means to find pleasure or satisfaction in the Word of God.
It involves the emotions as much as the will.
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