Preached in Markham Baptist Church, January 7, 2007

A PSALM FOR A NEW YEAR

It is natural at this time of year for us to do some dreaming about the 12 months that lie ahead. It can be invigorating as we think of a whole year to do with as we please, a fresh calendar, a new year – what opportunities lay ahead – what challenges – what blessings – what difficulties. It is natural to dream dreams, make resolutions and plan for the year to come.

Certainly we will be doing that as a congregation as we are challenged to think of the direction we will take within the framework of our vision - a vision I wholeheartedly endorse and support. The leadership awaits your input about proposed directions.

And I would like to take this opportunity to express my desire for us as a congregation for the coming year, my prayer for you as individuals and as a church. And it is, that the words of Psalm 1 would be realized in your life and in mine.

So I’ve entitled this sermon, “A Psalm for the New Year,” with the hope that we will hear God speaking to us and leading us.

Psalm 1 is a Psalm that puts before us two ways: the way of the wicked and the way of the godly.

The Word of God is constantly doing this for us. We read of two kingdoms, one ruled by the prince of this world and the other ruled by the King of kings and Lord of lords. There are two treasures - one rusts and is apt to be stolen by thieves and the other is eternal. There are two conditions of the soul – one light and the other dark. Two voices to follow, one false and the other true. And Jesus makes it clear that there are two ways to take in life – one is broad and leads to destruction and the other is narrow and leads to life. There is no third way in Scripture.

So the Psalmist follows this line of thinking and puts before us two ways – the way of the righteous in verses 1-3 and the way of the wicked in verses 4-6.

There is first the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:1-3).

The godly person is blessed. That word means happy, but in our culture happiness is based upon our circumstances and this word means more than that. It means contentment regardless of the circumstances. It means to have God’s favour. But more, this word is plural so it speaks of God’s abundant blessings.

The Psalm begins by saying that the one who has God’s abundant favour is the one who does not walk in the counsel of wicked, who does not stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

Notice the threefold progression here. The first speaks of listening to the ungodly, the second speaks of standing with them - that is, agreeing with them. The third speaks of sitting with mockers – the idea that we now add our voice to theirs, we call down everything that is godly and pure and right and just. It is a progression, or rather a regression of states. Moving from listening, to agreeing, to adding our voices to theirs. So the godly turn away from the walk, the way and the words of the wicked.

Blessed is the one who does not go on that path. Think of that first word for a moment – blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

He is one who rejects the advice of those who do not know God.

I do not doubt that God is able to speak to us through the ungodly - but it is highly unlikely. If you can think of an example – perhaps Balaam – I would suggest that it is exception rather than the rule. God does not speak to us through the ungodly. Why would He? Why would He speak to us through someone who does not listen to His voice, seek His face or desire His presence about His way and His will? He won’t do it.

This year my prayer for you and for our church is that we would be a people who do not listen to the ungodly, that we do not listen to those who call to do this with our time, spend our energies on this, or prompt us to buy this or that. Let us be a people who are constantly asking, “What does God say?” “What does God want us to do?” “How does God want us to be?”

Some of you are looking for universities and are making life decisions in the next couple of months. Some of you are looking to change jobs – many of you are facing decisions – and the question for you is, to whom are you looking for advice? Are you walking in the counsel of the wicked? Or are you seeking God’s heart and listening to godly people? One way brings blessing, the other does not.

You see, as nice as guidance counsellors and friends and career planners and financial strategists are, if they don’t have a close walk with God they can only give you one kind of advice and that is worldly advice. They cannot give you godly advice – it is illogical to think that people who don’t listen to God themselves, don’t worship God, don’t pay any attention to God can all of sudden give you godly advice.They cannot.

God is waiting to advise you in all your ways, to counsel you, in your relationships, your career, your finances and in your spirit.

I remember when I was just beginning in the pastorate in my first church. I had the opportunity to meet with the largest employer in the town. He was a smart man – he coined the phrase that everyone knows – “It’s worth the drive to Acton.” And over lunch I asked him what he thought the church should be doing to be of help to the town. He was a smart man but he was not a godly man. What did he know about the deep things of God? He knew about commerce, about business, about marketing, but he knew nothing about the heart of God. He didn’t understand the question. What was I thinking? As a Christian I needed to be going to God in prayer, to his Word, to godly people. It is as we listen to God that blessing comes.

This is a promise for you to claim for yourself – as you turn away from the wicked, the ungodly and mockers you will be blessed.

Then verse 2 – look what the godly turn to, if we turn away from the wicked, the walk, their way, and their words. Think of what the godly turn towards: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night.”

For the Psalmist, the Law of the Lord would have referred to the first five books of the Old Testament. So we rightly assume that this phrase refers to the whole word of God, to the whole Bible.

Why does the godly person delight in the Word of God? It is because it reveals the character of God. It is as we read the Word of God that the heart of God is revealed to us.

The mind of God is made plain. The will of God is shown. The passion of God is unveiled. The mysteries of God are glimpsed. The strength of God is demonstrated. The salvation of God is made known. The Son of God is proclaimed. The Spirit of God is enabled to work. The victory of God is celebrated. The reign of God is bowed down to.

It is as we read the Word of God that the people of God are taught, rebuked, corrected, admonished, encouraged, trained in all righteousness, lead into all truth kept from all error, our souls are fed and our lives are changed. That’s why the godly delight in the law of the Lord!

So the Word of God to the godly is like a love letter from the love of your life. You take great delight in it. “Look, look what my lover thinks of me!” The Word of God is like an “A” on a report card of a student – “Look what God has achieved for me by His grace.” The Word of God is like a $5,000 bonus in the pay cheque – awesome! You take great delight in it! I pray that we would take great delight in the Word of God as a congregation.

Many of us can say with confidence that we have separated ourselves from the ungodly – we’ve got that one covered, but as a church can each one of us say that we take delight in the Word of God? Do we recognize the thirst our souls have and seek to quench that thirst with the one thing that will do the job - the Gatorade™ of the soul – is the Word of God.

In another place the Psalmist says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:9-11)

“The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.” (Psalm 119:72)

“O how I love your law.” (Psalm119:97)

“How sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm119:103)

“Your statutes are wonderful.” (Psalm119:129)

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and light to for my path.” (Psalm119:105)

Are you meditating on it day and night? Or have you put God’s word by your bedside to gather dust and ease your conscience? Are you thinking about the Word? It is to our shame that we do not open our Bibles from week to week. It is a sign of sickness when a church does not want Bible studies but a continual diet of superficial studies focusing on life issues.

Open the Word and pray, “Lord speak to me for your servant is listening.” Then read it methodically, prayerfully, looking to understand, apply and obey what it says. Ask yourself is there a sin to avoid, a promise to claim, a victory to gain, a blessing to enjoy? Is there a truth I have never seen before about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, about humanity and sin? What is the main thing to learn here? That is meditation – allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

If I had one dream for us this year, it would be that each of you would be studying the Word of God – that each of you would take time every day to study and read and hear what God has to say to you and to us as a church. We offer small group studies – they need to be places where you are opening the Word and studying and taking great delight in what it says.

Open the Word and read it and your soul will take great delight in it. You know romance novels take us to faraway places – but the Word of God takes us into the heart of the Saviour. The daily newspaper keeps us up-to-date as to what is happening in this world, but the Word of God gives us a vision of eternity. The comic page gives us a smile, but the Word of God gives us life.

There are so many wonderful things in this world to enjoy:

Sports: hockey, soccer, figure skating, dancing, baseball, football, volleyball, basketball, curling, golf.

T.V.: ER, House, Lost, Heroes, Amazing Race, Survivor, Apprentice L.A., Saturday Night Live, Mad T.V., Oprah, Doctor Phil, Days of our Lives, The Daily Show, The Tonight Show.

Movies: Shrek 3, Spiderman 3, Pirates 3.

Hobbies: computers, gardening, sewing, decorating, carpentry, machinery, exercising, YouTube, shopping, volunteering, email.

Not to mention time with family, friends, work, sleeping!

All of these are wonderful – but don’t give up the one thing which revives your soul, gives joy to heart, and light to the eyes.

“The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them is great reward.”

It would be a fantastic year for us as a church if would say at the end of it, we delight in the law of the Lord.

And look at what our text says will be the result. “He is like a tree planted by the streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Three results – reading the Word, taking delight in it, brings permanence. The godly are like a tree planted. Unlike annuals that die with the first frost, you will have roots that enable you to withstand the cold chill of hardship and the drought of difficulty.

There is also productivity. The tree bears fruit. Isn’t it something? We think productivity is all about doing, going, accomplishing. The Word of God says that productivity comes as we delight and meditate on the Word of God. To be sure included in this is obeying what we read there – but before the obeying comes the listening, and then we will bear fruit a the right time – in season.

I think I have reached mid-life – 43 – And I know that I’m asking those questions: What have I done with my life? What have I accomplished? And what will I do? And this Psalm is very instructive – if we want to bear fruit, delight, meditate in God’s Word.

I remember hearing Billy Graham being asked if he had his ministry to do over again what would he do differently. He said he would study the Word and pray more and preach less. He had come to realize where real prosperity comes.

So there is permanence, productivity, and then there is prosperity. The leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. There is no mention of worldly prosperity. I am a firm believer that as Christianity is lived out in the business world - as the qualities of honesty, kindness, generosity, integrity are practiced - a man or woman will succeed in this world. But there is something deeper here than worldly prosperity. It is the prosperity of the spirit.

And this is one of the great miracles that God performs in the lives that are dedicated to Him. The devil hates God’s Word and all who read it and obey it. And he persecutes those who follow it. Yet God says He will bring prosperity to those who meditate and delight in His Word.

So this is the way of the godly. What a beautiful picture. The Psalm closes by detailing the way of the ungodly (Psalm 1:4-6).

If the godly are like trees planted by streams of water – enjoying permanence, productivity and prosperity, the psalmist says three things about the wicked – they are hollow, they are doomed and they are damned. He says they are like chaff that the wind blows away, that is, they are hollow, no substance, no anchor.

If you have taken a good look at an old Canadian barn you will see that they are built with two large doors at either end. This is so the farmer could bring in the grain and as it is threshed and pitched high in the air the wind would blow through and carry away the chaff while the meat, or the heavier grain would fall to the floor. The chaff is worthless.

Not only is the ungodly a hollow life, it is a doomed life. The wicked will not stand in the judgment.

And then finally it is a damned life. The way of the wicked will perish.

There are those in and out of the church who do not like that kind of talk. They believe that the vivid warnings connected to deliberate sin are only fables, myths, with no substance behind them. But I refuse to rip out those pages from my Bible that speak of an eternity without God, light and speak of the gnashing of teeth for those who turn their backs on the salvation offered to us through faith in Christ. Those words are there for a purpose. They are there because they speak the truth of an eternal reality without God for those who have turned their backs on God. They there to warn us against this kind of life.

There are many who believe that God is inconsistent, self-contradictory, makes exceptions, and will do so in our favour. His laws, they believe, are not really laws, with no huge ramifications for not keeping them. They are just good advice which we can take or leave and that God often lets go of His holiness. He is much too good-natured to mean what He says and really to stand for it. Yet these same people believe that God is holy.

Listen, you cannot believe in a holy God and believe that there is no hell. It is illogical. If God simply receives everyone into heaven then He is not holy.

Here is the truth. You can shut God out. He cannot be false to His own nature – if we deny Him, He will deny us (1 Timothy 2:12). We cannot have both sin and Him. There are only two ways. One leads to life and the other to eternal death. These words have been placed here by a gracious God to warn us!

But there is another reason why I refuse to tear these pages out of my Bible and that is that it reveals the heart of God. When you read these words, you do not read them with delight in your voice, “The way of the wicked will perish,” and with a scoffing laugh in your throat. I don’t believe that’s how it was expressed when it was first expressed.

You need to read these verses with great compassion and love for that is how God has spoken them through the Psalmist. God is saying these words with great tears running down His cheeks, if that were possible. He is saying, it doesn’t need to be this way! If you are traveling the way of the wicked this is a compassionate call to you. It doesn’t need to be this way. You can be made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, in His crucifixion and resurrection. Will you listen?

I believe that God’s call to each of us for the coming year is that we would be close to Him, to read His Word and walk in His way – to reject the way of the wicked and to delight ourselves in Him, in His Word.

And if that isn’t reward in itself, God promises that we will be like trees planted by the streams of water which bears fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. What ever the godly do prospers.

May 2007 find us to be people who love God’s Word and follow in His way.