SUMMER IN THE PSALMS: Psalm 1

Chris McCurley: Okay. Austin got done with that prayer, and Will Cood sitting behind me said amen and started clapping. Said my sentiments exactly. Praise God. I love this congregation. I I pray for this congregation every day. My prayer for this church this morning was, God help me to bless this place as much as they have blessed me. And that is probably an almost impossible prayer. I don't know that I could ever bless this church as much as they have blessed me, but that was the prayer. this morning. Thank you for who you are and what you do. I I think by now you've met the interns. By the time the service is over, you will have met them all because Blake read our scripture. Kay did our opening prayer and then chance will do our closing prayer. So you will have met all of them. And if you hadn't met Steve Godrow yet, Steve's here with us this morning. So glad he's here. He was with us last year and he's going to share a little bit about the work in India with us this morning. I'm thankful for that also. I want to start by introducing you to someone that probably most of you know. Do you know who this is? Look familiar? Yes, John Denver. And John Denver wrote a lot of good songs, but probably his best selling, a million selling single was what? Any guesses? Country Roads, Take Me Home. I think it's Take Me Home, Country Roads, right? Country Roads, Take Me Home to the Place where I belong. West Virginia, Mountain Mama, Take Me Home, Country Roads. Where is the home that John Denver is singing about? Well, West Virginia, right? I mean, it's even in the first line of the song, Almost Heaven, West Virginia. You ever been to West Virginia? Yeah, there's signs everywhere that say Almost Heaven, West Virginia. But apparently there are some Virginians that are, I don't know if they're jealous or envious, that say that the song is not about West Virginia at all. And they point to the fact that the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River are not in West Virginia, that they're actually in West Virginia. And so these ⁓ I guess conspiracy theorists. Say that John Denver is not singing about the state of West Virginia. He's singing about West Virginia, Western Virginia. Are they right? I don't know. Does it matter? Absolutely not. The point being that John Denver is singing about home. And he misses home and he longs for the place where he belongs and for country roads to take him back home. And John Denver is singing our song. Because this world as it currently stands is not your home. We don't belong here. And as God's children, we are aliens and strangers, sojourners and pilgrims. Something that Peter points out to us in Second Peter, chapter ⁓ well, let's look at chapter two, verse eleven. How about that? Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. So Peter is giving instruction to exiles, which describes us. And no, we're not being held captive, and no, we didn't get carried away into Babylon or some other country and being held there against our will. And Peter is talking to persecuted Christians, which probably doesn't apply to us, but we are exiles in that this world is not our home. We are living in a kingdom that is juxtaposed to the kingdom of heaven. And these two kingdoms are going to run alongside each other for a little while, and eventually the kingdom of this world will be done away with, and we will be escorted back home. So what do we do in the meantime? How do we live in a kingdom that is, for the most part, ⁓ against what we believe in, that doesn't hold our values or morals, that doesn't hold our worldview? How do we live until we get to go home? Well, I think Jeremiah paints a perfect picture for us and how we are to live as exiles. Jeremiah 29, starting in verse 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. To all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live in them, and plant gardens, and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare. So, like the Israelites, we long for home, and someday we will get to go home, but what do we do in the meantime? Well, I think the instructions from Jeremiah to the people in Babylon are the same instructions for us. Build houses, plant gardens, get married, have a family, and seek the welfare of Babylon. In other words, get comfortable because you're going to be here a while. And and this had to be a disheartening message for those hearing it the first for the first time because you know people were were ⁓ you know they were wondering if things were ever gonna work out in their favor and the morale was low and they just wanted to go back home. And God says, Not not yet, not now, get comfortable. And the pain of God's people in Babylon may be the pain that you feel in America. And I want you to notice Psalm 137. We're going to spend this summer in the Psalms, but before we get into Psalm 1, I want us to reference Psalm 137. It's not on the screen, so if you want to turn there, Psalm 137 reads like this By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs and our Tormentor's mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill, let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy, remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations. O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall be. He be who repays you with what you have done to us. Blessed shall be he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock. The exiles are homesick. They just want to go back home. And the psalmist laments: How shall we sing of the song of the Lord in a foreign land? What a great question, right? And a question that applies to us. How shall we sing the song of the Lord? In a foreign land. And maybe you've contemplated that, maybe you've thought that. Maybe you've looked around you and you've seen that you are a foreigner, a stranger in this world, and you wonder, how am I supposed to sing the song of the Lord in this foreign place? And if you've asked that question, then the psalms are for you. Because the psalms are a prayer book for exiles. And they are meant to be read slowly and with reflection. And that's what we're going to do this summer. We're going to read the Psalms slowly, reflecting along the way. Are you with me? Good, because I didn't have a plan B, so I'm glad you said yes. Before we dig into the Psalms, though, I think we need to do some setup. Let's do some background, ⁓ maybe a survey of the Psalms. And there's a slide I have here, and I know that's hard to read. And by the way, There is a QR code in the bulletin if you hadn't noticed already, where you can access all the slides from the sermon. So if you want to do that to get a better picture of this, then you're more than welcome to do so. But this is going to serve as kind of an outline for what we're going to be talking about. And what we see, or maybe you don't see, are the key features of the Psalms. The Psalms retell the entire biblical story. Many of the Psalms were written for the choir. To sing in the temple. And Psalms, as I've already said, are the prayer book of Israel. Now there are two types of Psalms. There are Psalms of Lament, and those Psalms are really set off by the phrase, How long, O Lord? And then you have Psalms of Praise, which are coinciding with the phrase, give thanks to the Lord. Psalms are poetry, and there are 150. Hebrew poems contained within the book of Psalms. Seventy-three are attributed to David. Twelve are written by a man named Asaph. The sons of Korah offered eleven. Two people named Heman and Ethan are credited credited with two of the Psalms. Moses and Solomon contributed three, and forty-nine of the Psalms are anonymous. Now again, I don't want to make this a A college lecture or an exercise in academia. I I also don't want to turn this into a Bible class. However, I do think that it's important to set the stage for what is to follow. So looking at the chart on the screen, the one thing you can probably see is that the Psalms are divided into five books. Book one is chapters three through 41. Book two is chapters 42 through 72. Book three is chapters 73 through 89. Book four is chapters 90 through 106, and book five is chapters 107 through 145. And you say, well, that's not all of them, Chris, because there's 150 you just said it. That's true, but the last five Psalms in the book are a conclusion. And they are concluding everything that you have read up to that point. And the concluding Psalms contain over and over again ⁓ a praise and a command. And that praise that's also a command is hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Yah. Yah being Yahweh. So what is leading up to the concluding Psalms of Praise? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's interesting to note that the final poem in each section of the Psalms basically ends the same way. Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen. And this is true to Hebrew poetry. You see repeats over and over. You see repeats repeating. So we have a conclusion. We also have an internal organization. So you're thinking, well, Chris, then what's the introduction? Because there's got to be an introduction if you have a conclusion and you have a body. And that is true. And the introduction is found in Psalms one and two. We'll cover Psalm two this afternoon in our midday worship. And this morning we're looking at Psalm one. Let's read it together. Slowly and with reflection. Psalm one. 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. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. Law here is Torah, in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water. That yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked Perish. As a kid, I used to love the movie The Never Ending Story. Anybody ever seen that movie? It was about a young boy named Bastion who was trying to escape some bullies and ducked into a bookstore, and he found the book, The Never Ending Story, and he went up into the attic of the school to read it. And as he's reading it, he's learning about this ⁓ this land called Fantasia and this dark, mysterious force known as the nothing. That wipes out everything that is in its path. Fantasia is under attack from the nothing, and there's a hero that has to step up and do something. And as Bastion reads the story, he starts to realize that maybe this isn't make believe at all, that maybe, maybe he's the hero, maybe he's the one that needs to step up, and he finds himself in the story. And that's us. We find ourselves in the Psalms. The Psalms were written. At a different time, in a different place, to a different people, but they are absolutely for us as well. And we find ourselves in these Psalms. The Psalms are a literary temple. Anytime you saw the tabernacle or temple in Scripture, it was where God chose to make his presence localized, where he would be with the people. And so in the tabernacle or temple, he would be there, his presence would be there, and the people could be. With him. And that's what the Psalms are. They're a literary temple. You read the Psalms and you are with God. The temple was the place to meet God, and that's what we do in the Psalms. Now, when the temple was destroyed and the Israelites were led into captivity and exile, you can understand why it was. A downer for many reasons. I mean, number one, they were going to be captive in a land that was foreign to them, but also their city was destroyed. Jerusalem was burned and toppled and plundered and and the temple was a part of that that was destroyed. So where now would they go to sing their songs and their prayers? And that's where the book of Psalms comes in. Why don't you do me a favor? Those of you have a physical Bible, just take it and just open it up any just open it up to Psalms or open it up anywhere. Do you realize what you're doing when you open up your Bible? You are opening up a literary temple. You are meeting God in this place. Have you considered what it is that you're doing when you read the Bible, especially the Psalms? Psalms is a book of prayer for the exiles designed to be a virtual temple. And this is key. You enter the Psalms to meet with God and to hear the entire story of God's kingdom being sung back to you in poetry. Notice that again you enter the Psalms to meet with God. And to hear the entire story of God's people, a story that you are inserted in at baptism, to hear the entire story of God's kingdom being summed back to you in poetry. So when you open your Bible and when you open to the book of Psalms, you are encountering God while meditating on his word. You are engaging in the very same thing that God's people did back when they were studying the Psalms. You're doing the very same thing that they were doing. Israel was striving to be faithful to the Torah while waiting on the Messiah. Is that not what we're doing? We are meditating on God's law, God's word, as we wait for the Messiah to return. So back to Psalm 1. As I said a moment ago, Psalms 1 and 2 serve as an introduction, introduction. And this introduction is going to set the tone for the entire book, which is why we start here. So it's in these two Psalms that the major themes of Psalms come out. And we will see these four major themes weave their way throughout the entire book of Psalms. And these four themes are temple, Torah, Messiah, and Kingdom of God. Again, you will see these over and over. Once you see them, you can't unsee them. They are brought up over and over again: Temple, Torah, Messiah, and the kingdom of God. These four themes are. Play out through the entirety of the Psalms and the biblical storyline. Right here in Psalms 1 and 2, the Psalter kind of starts the engine, right? You go back to Psalm 1, and you probably picked up on some Genesis language, which is not unusual because the poetry we find in the Bible often contains Genesis language. Why? Well, for one reason, because the Genesis story, especially in the garden, was perfection. It was utopia. And what happened? Adam and Eve ate from the wrong menu and they were booted out of the garden. By the way, the Garden of Eden was a temple, wasn't it? If the temple is where God's presence is and you get to be with God, then the the temple, the first temple was the Garden of Eden. Heaven and earth are you are united, they're together. There's this temple with God dwelling with his people. But we know what happened? Adam and Eve get exiled from the garden and chaos. Ensues. But you have this Genesis language, and it's in this garden temple where mankind decided to define good and evil on his own terms. And look at Psalm one. 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. This Psalm Is reflecting on the two different ways to be human. The Bible often specializes in contrasts. And here you have it: two ways of being human. There is the person who is like a blossoming tree of life planted by a stream. He doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked. He doesn't stand in the way of sinners. He doesn't sit in the seat of scoffers. So there's a progression here from walking. To standing and then to sitting. And it's in it's in a progression from movement to being stuck. And there are three destructive ways of being human: wicked, sinner, scoffer. So this is a progression that just slowly takes over over time. It's kind of like the frog in a pot of boiling water. But in his delight, but his delight, I should say. Is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. And notice the symmetry here. His delight is the law, and in his law he meditates, or on his law he meditates. So by the way, law here, as we said a moment ago, is Torah. In the Hebrew, it means teaching or wisdom. You meditate on what you delight in, and the more you meditate on it, the more you delight in it. The more you delight in it, the more you meditate on it. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Now, earlier in the poem, we saw that there was this planting of yourself that can lead to ruin. Like that's one of the ways of being human. Now we see that by meditating on God's instruction or Torah, you can plant yourself in a way that brings life. And once again, you have this Garden of Eden language, trees, streams, fruit, leaves that do not wither. When human beings meditate on God's instruction, they become trees of life that produce fruit in its season, not just for themselves, but for other people as well. The leaf never withers. A tree never dies. And that's what it means to prosper, according to the psalmist. And again, there's a contrast here. Notice the second part. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. You see the contrast? One type of person is like a tree of life, while the other is an empty husk of wheat that just flakes off and gets blown away in the wind. This type of person will not prosper. Quite the contrary. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners will not. In the congregation of the righteous. The one who meditates on God's law, God's instruction, will decide not to stand in the path of sinners. He will decide not to sit in the seat of scoffers. And that person is contrasted with the one who is unable to stand when God executes his judgment. Again, two ways of being human. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked Will perish. And so the psalm ends the same way it began. There are two paths, there are two ways of being human. One will lead to a flourishing life, while the other leads to withering ruin. And the difference between the two is what you choose to meditate on. There's two ways of being human. And if you want to be a strong tree that's planted by the water, That has a healthy root system that produces fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither, if you want to be that kind of tree, then you meditate on God's law. You meditate on God's law and you wait for the Messiah. But if you choose to live life on your own terms, if you choose to move in a direction away from God and to stand in the path of sinners and to sit in the seat of scoffers, then what's going to happen in the end is not good. And your exile will last for eternity. Now, Psalm one is more than just that. So the psalm that we took on t this morning is a psalm of hope. Who is the person being described here? Who is the one who is being described like a tree that bears fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither? Who who is that? Well, you say, well that that that's me, right? And that's true. If I am one that is going to apply this psalm properly, then I want to be the one who is planted by the water, who meditates on God's word, and who waits for the Messiah. Who else could this represent? Is it merely a depiction of the one who meditates on God's law? It is that, but it's not only that. You remember this is Genesis language, and remember the promise made by God after the fall? A future human is going to come from the seed of a woman and crush the serpent's head. And what will he be? He will be a tree of life, and he will restore what was lost. He will be about the Father's business. He will delight in God's word. In fact he will be God's word. He'll be the last word. He will yield fruit in its season. His leaf will not wither. In all that he does, he will prosper. This is a what Psalm 2 is about, and we don't have time to cover that this morning. That's why you'll have to come back this afternoon. But do you see what this is getting at? This is pointing forward to the Messiah. And why wouldn't it? If this is Israel's prayer book, and if the introduction in Psalm 1 is talking about the two ways of being human, well, then your best bet is to meditate on God's law. And if you're meditating on God's law and waiting for the Messiah. Well, by meditating on God's law, you see the Messiah that you're waiting for. And you also learn how to wait. How many of you remember the Far Side cartoon? Yeah, this was ⁓ done by Gary Larson, his one panel cartoon ⁓ was syndicated, appeared in all sorts of magazines and newspapers. I found him pretty hilarious. This one I thought was interesting because it had a spiritual tone to it. If you can see, that is a gentleman who is. I soon passed away. He's got ⁓ a halo above his head, he's got wings on his back, and he's floating around on a cloud by himself, and he put above his head a thought bubble that says, Wish I'd brought a magazine. And sadly, I think that's how many people think of heaven. That we'll just float around on a cloud and be bored to tears. And there's really not much to it other than that. Maybe we play a harp. Actually, the Bible has a lot to say to us about heaven. And this is not the description it gives us. The Bible tells us a lot about heaven, and it tells us that, among other things, it's home. And that one day the exile will be lifted and we will get to go home. And that we will get to spend eternity with our Heavenly Father. That all the wrongs will be made right, and that we will dwell with the Heavenly Father forever. Heaven is more than a place, really, it's a person, isn't it? Because what makes heaven heaven is that God is there. And the converse is true as well. What makes hell hell is the fact that God is not there. Psalms is about the hope of home. That was the exile's hope, and that's our hope, isn't it? As exiles, that's our hope to go home, to be home. They were exiled and wanted to go home. They were excited to go home. Are we? Are we excited to go home? Are we homesick? Are you homesick? And if not, may I ask you, why not? Do you long for home? Maybe it's because we don't even realize that we are exiles. I mean, it's hard to feel like an exile when this when this life is a is a good life, and we've built a wonderful ⁓ family and career and and all those kind of things, and we can't imagine that it would be better than this. But there are some of you that have dealt with Tragedy upon tragedy, and you've dealt with your fair share of adversity, and you are thankful that there is something better awaiting you. Some of you truly are living as exiles, and you can't wait to go home. But my hope is that all of us would be homesick, that all of us would long for the day that we get to spend eternity basking in the glory of our Heavenly Father. And if you're not homesick, then how can we help you get there? Would you like study? Would you like to like for us to pray with you? Would you like to learn more about what it means to be a disciple and how to live as a disciple? I know it seems like I'm winding down and the invitation is the part where you kind of get all your stuff together, but please hear me. Please hear me on this. If you want to go home and you're not really sure how to get there, then let's fix that this morning. Let's talk about discipleship. Let's talk about what it means to be a Jesus follower. And if you've thought about that and you know that you want this and you're ready to put on Christ in baptism, then certainly we can take care of that this morning. But the invitation is there. Don't wait. God is inviting us home. Are you homesick? Let's pray. Our most kind and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that we get to encounter you in your word. We thank you for that literary temple. We thank you for the Psalms and how they speak our language and how they speak to us. God, may we, as exiles, seek to meditate on your word and wait on the Messiah. And while we wait, may we seek to be Jesus in all that we do. We love you. We thank you for loving us, and it's in your Son's precious name we pray. Amen. If we can help you this morning, why don't you come as we stand and as we sing?

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention