Blessed is the Man

Psalm 1:1-6

Key Verse 1:2

“But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

Today is the last Sunday of 2014, and we are very thankful for what the Lord has done for us during 2014 despite of all our weaknesses and mistakes. In the coming year we want to be blessed by the Lord all the more. Now today’s passage teaches us the way of blessing.

Yesterday we had a wedding. At wedding reception, I had fellowship with msn Deborah’s father together with msn Suzanna Min. Msn Deborah’s father is a renowned acupuncturist in Korea. We were talking about influence of antibiotics when we took. Then he said, “our body responds even when we think.’ When he said it I was shocked by the simple truth in it. “Our body responds even when we think’. He is a professional person as far as our body goes. And that is what he said. “Our body responds even when we think.’ “Wow!” Immediately I realized that I was destroying my body by my negative thinking.’

Our body is created by God. So it is one of the best. Since our bodies are so well made they respond so well even when we think. When we complain our body responds. Our body produces something related to complaining. When we are thankful our body also responds, producing something related to thanks. Today’s passage teaches us the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. But the fundamental difference comes from what they think because their actions are nothing other than what they think in their inmost hearts. So today we want to learn how we can live as blessed man in the coming year.

Part I. Blessed is the man (v.1-3)

Part II. Not so the wicked (v.4-6)

Part I. Blessed is the man (v.1-3)

Today’s passage talks about the blessed man first. What makes a blessed man? What makes a blessed man is first of all not to follow the way of the wicked.

Look at verse 1. “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.”

“To walk, stand, sit” shows three stages of one’s involvement and identify with the wicked. “To walk” is the strongest one because it means they do things together. “To stand” in the way of the sinners means to be ready to take an action together. “To sit in the company of mockers” is least but still it identifies one with the mockers. One good example about the verse is given what Apostle Peter did when Jesus was tried. John 18:18 reads, “It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter was standing with them, warming himself.”

Peter was standing with his enemies who tried Jesus although he was Jesus’ disciple. Eventually to stand with them led him to deny Jesus three times.

There is a saying “Birds of a feather flock together”. We are influenced by people around us. If we are surround by thankful people probably we become thankful. If we are surrounded by complaining people possibility is we become complaining. So They say “one of the secrets to become successful men is to be surrounded by successful people.

There is a famous story about Mancius’ mother who moved her house 3 times for her son. Mancius is arguably the second most renowned philospher in Chinese history. This is what happened. Mencius's father died when he was very young. His mother Zhǎng (仉) raised her son alone. They were very poor. At first they lived by a cemetery, where the mother found her son imitating the paid mourners in funeral processions. Therefore the mother decided to move. The next house was near a market in the town. There the boy began to imitate the cries of merchants. Merchants were despised in early China. So the mother moved to a house next to a school. Inspired by the scholars and students, Mencius began to study. His mother decided to remain, and Mencius became a famous scholar.

So the blessed man is one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.

Basically the blessed man does not follow the way of the wicked which is the way of the world. What is the way of the world? The way of the world is cheating, lying, slandering, complaining, finding fault with others, envy, stealing etc. We are all familiar with the way of the world. Basically the way of the world is closely related to the love of the world.

The love of the world is described in 1 John 2:15-16.

Look at 1 John 2:15-16 “[15] Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. [16] For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.”

So the craving of the sinful man, the lust of one’s eyes, and boasting of what one does and has belong to the love of the world. So the way of the wicked is to live according to one’s sinful desires and the desires of their lustful eyes. They boast of what they have and what they do, and this is the way of the world and the way of the wicked.

But the blessed man is the one who does not follow the way of the world or the way of the wicked.

What then does he follow? Look at verse 2. “But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

“Delight” means not just joy but ‘great joy’.

The blessed man follows the way of the righteous by loving the word of God and meditating on it day and night. His way of life comes from having deep fellowship with the Lord based on the law of the Lord. He develops the joy of having fellowship with the Lord through the word of the Lord and meditating on it. To meditate means “to think deeply”. According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary it means ‘to engage in contemplation or reflection’ or ‘to focus on one’s thoughts on or reflect on or ponder over”.

It shows that his inner thought is focused on the law of the Lord. What we think defines who we are. What we think influences so much. Even a mere thinking influences our body.

By meditating the law of the Lord day the blessed man’s thought is filled with the thoughts of the Lord.

Jesus Christ meditated on the law of the Lord when he was tempted by the devil. He did it while he was on the cross. His main work during his life is to teach the word of God. He said in John 17:7-8 “[7] Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. [8] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”

So Jesus revealed God to his disciples by giving them the word of God. So in this way God was revealed to them. This is God’s way of revealing himself to us. So it is no wonder that the blessed man has fellowship with God and knows God more and becomes like God.

Now what happens when the blessed man meditates on the law of the Lord day and night?

Look at verse 3. “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”

Can you imagine in your hearts a tree planted by streams of water?

If a tree planted by streams of water it yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither even in times of drought because the streams of water will not dry out. The ultimate expression of the blessing of the person who mediates on the law of the Lord day and night is ‘whatever he does prospers.’

In the bible man is compared to a tree. It is because of two reasons. The first reason is man bears fruit. Second reason is man’s dependence on God as if tree depends on water.

Indeed we depend on God for our life and when we meditate on his law day and night the word of God becomes streams of living water and we will be like a tree planted by streams of water.

Jesus said Luke 6:43-45. “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Here Jesus teaches us important truth. There is no way for a good tree bears bad fruit nor does a bad free good fruit. Ultimately no one can cheat about who he is. Whatever he has inside will come out and it will show what kind of person he or she is. So what we store in our heart is important. It is like preparation of doing something in the future.

We may think it is okay for us to think evil things because no one can see what we think. But what we think will be stored in our hearts and it will be shown in the end.

Today we are very happy because Vinah moves in sisters’ common life house. We praise God who stored the word of God in heart as she learned it from msn Anna Kim. Vinah humbly accepted the word of God given to her and now it bears the fruit of decision to move in to the common life house to be closer to God. Praise God who blessed her life of faith. Praise God who used msn Anna! Msn Anna is quiet and her English may not be perfect. But what does it matter when the Lord uses her so preciously! Msn Anna comes to the center every morning and meditates on the law of the Lord and prays.

Indeed the Lord blesses us when we come to him by meditating on the word of the Lord. As we keep doing it, we will all be like trees planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever we do prospers! Praise God! What an ultimate blessing it is!

Part II. Not so the wicked (v.4-6)

This part is drastic contrast compared to the blessed man. This part is what will happen to the wicked. It starts with the word ‘Not so”. It is a strong denial. Compared to all the blessings a blessed man receives there is a different result for the wicked man. Let’s look at verses 4-5.

^“4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”

There are two things mentioned here about the wicked men. The first thing is ‘they will suddenly disappear, and the second thing is they will be judged. First, they will suddenly disappear like chaff that the wind blows away. The blowing of the wind can be compared to the Lord’s judgment too. Before the wind blows the chaff seems like something. But when the wind blows it is gone without any trace. They will be gone as if nothing was there, and that is the fate of all the wicked men.

Psalm 37:10. “A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.”

The second thing about the wicked people is: there is God’s judgment against them.

The wicked will not be able to stand in God’s judgment nor in the assembly of the righteous. They will be judged and they cannot stand before God. They all will be judged and be thrown away. They cannot be among the righteous.

Now how can we be sure that the blessings and curses recorded in today’s passage will come true? Look at verse 6. “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

Everything recorded in today’s passage will come true because the Lord watches over the way of the righteous. When they need his help he helps them. So that is why whatever they do prospers. What about the wicked people? Before judging them the Lord just leaves them alone. Then their way will lead them to destruction because it says, “But the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

2 Timothy 3:13 reads, “while evil doers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

The evil doers and imposters will be destroyed by themselves because they will go from bad to worse. No one tries to destroy them. They destroy themselves by becoming from bad to worse. They deceive others. But then they are also deceived. Even before the Lord’s judgment they are destroyed by themselves.

Romans 1:28 says the same truth.

“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.”

So today we thought about how we can be blessed men in the coming new year. It is

to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. Then we will be like a tree planted by streams of water and whatever we do prospers.

One word: Blessed is the man who mediates on the word of God day and night