Blessings of the Word
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
Psalm 148:1-6
Prayer
Prayer
Adoration: Love: pure! Word: gives life! Justice: perfect!
Confession: …we have sinned, failed to love each other in many ways//help us to see the weight of our sin before your holy face//may we have the gift of tears, to mourn the myriad ways we have not loved you//may we be lifted up to joy unending your forgiveness…
Thanksgiving: As far as the East is from the West, you have removed…
Supplication: We look to you as our God—we lift up to you all among us who are suffering: you love them—how long O Lord? But we hope in you, Sovereign King, and we know that you will bring us safely to glory. Help us endure. Give us comfort. Conform us to Christ.; American church—see your holiness, grasp your gospel, etc.; Ukraine + Russia—peace, flourishing of church there.
Family Matters: Baby shower 20th @ 1 pm, update on Virginia?
Benediction:
Benediction:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Sermon
Sermon
Series Intro
Series Intro
‘The blessed life’—don’t know how those words sound to you, but in one way or another, every one of you is seeking it.
No one wakes up and says, “I prefer to live my life in frustration. I want meaninglessness. I want to stagnate. I hope I mostly fail at what matters.”
God has provided for each one of his people to experience rich blessings in this life… as one of your pastors, I strongly desire for each of you to experience that blessing
Problem: Blessing comes to the pure of heart (at least, in theory, that would mean complete purity)… our hearts are twisted by sin + the examples around us are twisted…
[extreme] Andrew Tate: extremely influential on SM, “hey guys, the blessed life consists in being ripped, driving fast cars, being rich, and manipulating beautiful women for your own gain”
[moderate] prosperity gospel: blessed life consists in being a nice rich person—you become rich just by having enough faith in God to make you rich… blessing is found in a sanctified version of the American Dream
Right Start: blessing => something to do with fellowship with God… right? Something to do with the spiritual life, right? But how? And what does it look like?
[Idea] Blessing = always feeling ‘emotionally positive’ in Jesus… God wants me to be happy, right? So, right formula for spiritual life = state of constant emotional positiveness…
[Idea] Blessing comes when you ‘let go + let God’ = higher Christian life… some magical moment when you finally surrender enough to Christ => blessings
[Idea] I’ll just keep learning more about the Bible, just keep reading it, and eventually blessing will come… good! …but, feels like something is still missing…
How can we experience the blessed life?
Book of Psalms => much to say to us about this… what we will be exploring over the next two months or so.
As we hit high points, we’ll see that blessing:
centers around fellowship w/ God—in worship
esp. taking refuge in his promise to redeem
found in some unexpected places...
Psalm 1 Intro
Psalm 1 Intro
But today: Psalm 1—intro to whole Psalter—gives us the practical foundation for the life of blessing with God:
***Blessing begins with a deep, spiritual engagement w/ God’s Word—hope:
not only practical of itself
also, serve as a foundation for the whole rest of the series—why it makes sense to find blessing in the book of psalms
I’ve preached Ps. 1 before—10 months ago or so
Then, emphasized: Ps. 1 is ultimately about THE blessed man, Jesus
Ps. 1—so much packed into these 6 verses—Messiah with its relationship to Ps. 2, intro to Psalter, wisdom/contrast of ways, what it says about spiritual disciplines, etc.
Today: focus on blessing—what it is and how it comes to us
What is Blessing? (Part 1—The Seriousness of It)
What is Blessing? (Part 1—The Seriousness of It)
Maybe sounds boring… Christianese term… might feel light weight + antiquated…
“I’m just not interested/ready to fall asleep”
You need blessing—not optional!
Listen to Ps. 1 vs. 3, talking about the blessed person
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.
Impl. —you can be like a tree in the desert, far from any stream, which never yields fruit/withers/dies => might stay physically alive, but nothing you accomplish matters from God’s perspective
Talking about the wicked/non-blessed--
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Instead of a tree w/ deep roots, you can be like chaff—the outer husk of wheat, which blows away in the wind—doesn’t matter, doesn’t stay
The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary 2. Windblown Chaff v. 4
Chaff, in contrast to a fruitful tree, has no eternal life, no worth, no stability, no place, and no roots, and cannot endure God’s sifting wind of judgment when it blows.
No other options—these are the two paths open to you!
Now—
Ultimately, the blessed are those who have been given blessing in Christ, the one who fulfilled this Psalm. If you have turned from sin to Christ, trusting in his gracious forgiveness, you have blessing, period. You are not chaff.
But, there is still a sense in which, as a true believer, you live out your identity in Christ, in this life, to a greater or lesser extent. And the degree to which you walk in the path of blessing prescribed by this Psalm => degree to which you experience life as a tree planted by streams of water… degree to which you ignore the path of blessing prescribed by the Psalms is the degree to which your life can begin to feel like chaff.
***To put it another way:
In one sense, this Psalm speaks to us about the realities of two kinds of people: the saved, who by God’s grace have come to delight in God’s word (at least enough to believe the gospel + turn to Christ) and so are blessed like trees by water, and the lost, who spurn God’s Word and are like chaff
But in another sense, the Psalm urges believers to take stock of ourselves and walk the path of blessing, so that we can live as fruitful trees to God’s glory and for our own flourishing as his people.
So, even as a believer, you have two options:
To stagnate spiritually, a path that starts gently, but eventually leads to catastrophic spiritual failure
Or, to walk in the blessing of God--
YOU NEED this blessing
How Blessing Comes to Us
How Blessing Comes to Us
So, how can we walk the path of blessing? How does the experience of God’s blessing in this life come to us?
INTERRUPTION: if you are not a believer—the idea of learning to walk the path of blessing DOES NOT APPLY to you… YET—you cannot walk the path of God’s blessing without first surrendering to him—turning from sin and trusting in Christ for forgiveness. Until you do that, you are chaff, whether you feel it or not. As this Psalm says:
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 will perish.
That is your destiny… to perish in the judgement of God against your sins—to experience his terrifying, righteous, eternal judgement
Repent of your sin.
Reading through the Psalms you come to psalm 32 [blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven… ]--blessed life begins with turning to Christ for forgiveness, away from sin
Turn to Christ in faith
Ps. 2 “Blessed are all who take refuge in Christ”
Christ carried the weight of your sins + God’s judgement of them on himself so that you might be forgiven, set free, and brought near to God in blessing
Trust in what God has done in Christ to reconcile sinners to himself...
But then, as believers, how can we walk the path of blessing? How does the experience of God’s blessing in this life come to us? Contrast:
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, and on his law he meditates day and night.
“His delight is in the Law of the Lord” => unexpected? Delighting in regulations?
Law = commands => God’s commands so good that once you start to see that, you will delight in them...
BUT— “Law” in Ps. 1 has a much wider sense than just commands => Law = Torah = first five books => by implication, all of Scripture
BUT ALSO, Ps. 1 placed at the beginning of the Psalter to especially tell you, “Delight in this book of Songs/Prayers”
“And on his law he meditates day and night” => delight + meditate explain each other… so how are you supposed to engage w/ the Word?
Meditate => picture of a person mumbling Scripture under his breath—for average OT believers, might not have scrolls at home—your Scripture? Read to you, memorized by you: so then, there you are, walking to the fields in the morning, mumbling a scripture to yourself from your heart
Basic idea: you’re chewing on God’s Word
But at the same time: you’re delighting in God’s Word
Imagine a piece of chewing gum—somehow, the longer you chewed on it, the richer the flavor—you chew and savor, and yet somehow at the same time you receive strength and healing from it
Imagine backpacking up a mountain, camping at a spot w/ a view of the valley below… in the morning you get up to watch the Sun rise/mist clear out of the valley… you sit there for two hours, just watching… you are delighting in it, meditating on it… it’s beauty does something to you
Imperfect pictures—but I’m trying to give a sense of how Ps. 1 is telling us to treat God’s Word
Brothers and Sisters—you must engage with God’s Word in this way! There is no other source of blessing. This is how God makes himself present with you!
Sounds like some super-mystical ability that would take years of learning to achieve. Absolutely not! This is available to someone who converted 2 min. ago
Reminds me of the conversion of Augustine of Hippo. Intellectual giant though he was, and though he was convinced that Christianity was true, he could not bring himself to actually convert.
It was reading a simple verse from on of Paul’s letters—a verse which basically said, “stop sinning and put on Christ”—and suddenly his soul was flooded with light and faith.
If you’re hearing this—that blessing comes from delighting in God’s Word—and thinking, “I almost never do that”—
OK—no believer is close to perfect at it… never to late to start!
OK—this is a foreign idea to me… I want to learn it, but I’m just feeling a bit skeptical…
What’s not OK— “I don’t delight in God’s Word, and I think that’s fine. That’s just not me.”
For God’s power + blessing in your life, it’s either God’s Word, or nothing—or worse yet, some kind of counterfeit source of spiritual blessing…
God’s Word was specifically NOT designed for bookish people/NOT designed for academics, etc. SPECIFICALLY designed for everyone:
For everyone, it takes some work
For everyone, it contains delight + is what God uses, illuminated by Spirit, to make himself known to you
Let me plead with you:
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Do you think that God gave his People a Word which is basically inaccessible to all but those with extra large brains?
NO!!!!!
To some he gives the gift of teaching; to all, his Word!
Notice, in these first two verses, there is a contrast—delight in the Law, or listen to the counsel of the wicked.
Counsel of the wicked => a rival delight, rival meditation, rival promise of blessing—found in many places:
False teachers
Ungodly friends/coworkers, etc.
Social media—designed to suck you in/get you to meditate => usually not on something helpful//tends to make you envious or angry or idolatrous
Marketing—designed to make you think that if you purchase their product, you’ll experience delight and blessing!
Delighting + meditating on the Word:
not just an antidote to temptation/escape from counsel of the wicked
It is its own delight, satisfaction, path to blessing
What is Blessing (Part 2—How Good it Is)
What is Blessing (Part 2—How Good it Is)
But what does that blessing look like?
Word in vs. 1, Hebrew is an exclamation: how blessed! sense:
“How rewarding is the life of...”
“How privileged/flourishing...”
Allen Ross: blessing is: “The joyful spiritual condition of those who are right with God and the pleasure and satisfaction that is derived from that.”
But not necessarily: “how constantly emotionally satisfied” (blessed are those who mourn)//more: “How favored by divine grace...”
Thus, the blessing is: “Favor from divine grace that comes through delighting in the Word of God”
But what does that look like practically?
A heart turned more + more toward God in daily life => experience of God’s presence and peace
A greater and greater ability to say “no” to sin and to reflect the love of Christ toward others
But… so that we don’t twist this into some kind of man-centered ‘blessing formula’, we need to remember what it looked like for Christ:
In the hour of his greatest darkness, quoted Psalm 22:1
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Even in the darkest pit of the curse, under the Father’s judgement for our evil, Jesus lived as the Blessed Man, meditating on the law in the midst of his anguish
There he was: betrayed, forsaken, dying, in deep mental darkness—living out the blessedness of Ps. 1
Result: he prospered—total mission success
Because he delighted in the Word—righteous until the end, he has become a fruitful tree
His fruit: the very Kingdom of God, and all of its born-again citizens—us!
Often in this life, the fruitfulness + prospering of Ps. 1 will look like bearing fruit for God’s glory in the midst of suffering + mental anguish
Ultimately, though, our fruitfulness is not because we ‘figure out’ how to delight in God’s Word—ultimately, there is something deeper:
Vs. 6, “The Lord knows the way of the righteous”—he knows us as his people...
And he has made us his people by calling us to himself through his Word—most especially his message of salvation in Christ
And so, it is God who re-creates us after the image of his Son, so that we become like him—trees which cannot be killed by drought… will someday reign w/ the Son over all things forever! May we learn to delight in a Word as wonderful as that.
Communion
Communion
Ask those selected to come forward
“The bread and the cup of the Lord’s table do not stand by themselves. They are powerful symbols of our union with Christ through his self-sacrifice—but the truth that they communicate comes from the Word and is governed by the Word. So then—just as we delight in and meditate on God’s Word, it is life-giving to delight in and meditate on these symbols of that same truth—that through the broken body and shed blood of the lamb of God, our sin has been removed and we have been given everlasting life and communion with God by faith.”
“In this way, the Lord’s Table is also an act of fellowship with God through Christ. But because it is an act of fellowship and true worship, it is only appropriate for believers. And so, if you are a believer who has already symbolized the beginning of your fellowship with Christ through baptism, and are in good standing with your local congregation, we welcome you with joy to participate in this meal with us. But if you are not a believer, we welcome you just to watch, instead, as we partake of the bread and the cup, and contemplate their meaning: that Jesus opened his veins to give us entrance into his kingdom; that Jesus gave his body to be broken for our redemption.
Prayer + Passing out the bread + Cup
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 …the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
ADVERTISEMENT