Lesson Overview
11/08/2009
Chocolate or Vanilla ... Fiction or Nonfiction ... Summer or Fall ... Red or Blue ...
These are choices based on experience, taste, & other drivers of individual preference.
We make choices every day, every hour, every minute.
Some are of lasting consequence: marriage, children
Some are inconsequential: parking space, toothpaste
Some are very thoughtful: car, school
Some become almost second-nature: the way we respond and what our eyes are drawn to
We begin a new UNIT today: "Living in Harmony with God"
Title of LESSON today: "Choose Wisely"
Life is a series of choices, and all choices have consequences.
What are the three most important life choices that an adult makes?
PSALM 1
- provides a great beginning to the Psalms as it offers counsel for life in general
- is a 'wisdom Psalm' which contrasts the way that please God with the way that doesn't
- does not contain complex theology or code - just straight-forward insight
Read Psalm 1:1-3
CSB = "Happy" / NIV & KJV = "Blessed"
The the "happy" gets misused ... "are you happy with your choice of shirt this morning?"
The Hebrew word translated here, "esher," denotes much more - complete JOY and CONTENTMENT that comes with a right relationship with God.
CSB = "Follow" / NIV & KJV = "Walk"
CSB = "Take the path of" / NIV & KJV = "Stand"
CSB = "Join" / NIV & KJV = "Sit"
"Walk" indicates movement - motion - taking the path - making life decisions.
"Stand" indicates stopping to ponder/consider. "...in the way of sinners" speaks of considering the path of those in defiance to God.
"Sit in the seat of mockers" indicates settling or relaxing into sin - eventually embracing it.
There is a progression that is being laid out here. Up front, the decision to live in harmony with God stands out to be the obvious choice. That is not where we get tripped up. It's allowing the process to begin. It's beginning to make decisions without God in our "walk," eventually "standing" to considering other paths, and finally "sitting" down and relaxing into our sin.
Casting Crowns "Slow Fade" lyrics:
"It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade."
Psalm 1:1 tells us what the Godly person CHOOSES not to do - but like anything else, the choice is best made at the beginning of the process.
Verse 2 continues with the word "But" (NIV/KJV) or "Instead" (CSB)
The English translation is a little weak here. The Hebrew expression translated emphasizes a sharp contrast between what the children of God avoid and what they choose.
Psalm 1 says the Godly man's "DELIGHT is in the LAW OF THE LORD." "Delight means passion or lifeblood and what is the Law of the Lord? SCRIPTURE.
It goes on to say "on His law he MEDITATES day and night." Meditation means to allow something to infiltrate your very being - to become one with it - to consume and consider it, pushing everything out to allow it in. Further, DAY AND NIGHT does not mean quiet time twice per day. It means ALWAYS. It is CONSTANT meditation - 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, 366 on leap year. It is forever striving to bring himself into alignment and into harmony with his Creator.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither..." (the picture is of constant nourishment, as a stream flows constantly by) "...WHATEVER HE DOES PROSPERS."
AWESOME!! All we have to do to become millionaires is choose to follow God. The Benz, the mansions, and the Louis Vitton will follow - I just have to have faith and follow.
Unfortunately, there are actually churches and Christian believers who teach this mess. There are three huge problems with this:
1. How arrogant to think that we will ever achieve the status of complete equality with God - where His will and our will are perfectly matched, and what follows is the miraculous arrival of everything we've always wanted in our worldly desires?
2. The closer we come to understanding God's will, the more the definition of "prosperity" changes. The fact that Jesus had no place of His own (Luke 9:58) most certainly did not mean that He was outside of the will of His Father.
3. Nowhere does God say that His will is to make us all rich.
So what does this mean?
This describes the eternal blessings that come to those who follow God, and the successful building of His eternal Kingdom through the obedience of His people, and the alignment with His will. It is also a promise...
If you live in harmony with God, your life WILL be FULLY and EXACTLY ... AS GOD PLANNED IT.
Of course we fail. God knows that we will fail. What God expects is discipline. Even those that could look the Savior in His eyes began to sink when the wind and waves appeared. We are to get back up and push forward - meditating on His law - delighting in the Lord.
Read Psalm 1:4-6
Verse 4 begins "the wicked are not like this." Who are "the wicked"? They are not people who are born with warts on their noses. We do not describe new-borns as having a lot of hair, an olive complexion, blue eyes, and a high level of wickedness. "The wicked" or "ungodly" are those who CHOOSE not to follow God.
When the writer says "they are not like this," or in the NIV, "not so the wicked!," he is saying that you can look above and negate everything we've already said. They are the polar opposite of the man we have just described. This very clearly points out that the man who is NOT delighting in the Lord and meditating DAY and NIGHT on the law of the Lord is WICKED. Who else takes this as a wake-up call?
What follows is a warning. Why do we give our children warnings? Why does God give us warnings? It is to protect us and keep us safe.
"They are like the chaff that the wind blows away." Grain is harvested in a process called threshing and winnowing. Chaff is the outer shell or husk that must be removed to get to the grain inside. After the plants are cut, they are crushed, and then basically tossed up in the air. Chaff is very light and would be blown away by the slightest wind, while the grain would fall to the ground to be gathered. What does this illustration tell us?
The writer does not mince words in verses 5 and 6.
"WILL NOT STAND"
"WILL PERISH"
The ultimate decision is here at the beginning of Psalms: Follow God or defy Him. Seek to live in harmony with God or take your place as His enemy. The choice may be simple, but the way is not easy. It's the choice of a disciplined path. It's the only path that leads to certain success and victory.
So what do we do with this?
1. Recognize the areas where we are living as "the wicked."
2. Begin to "meditate" on Scripture.
3. Take "delight" in the Lord.
4. Take the message to the lost. How dare we keep this to ourselves? How dare we not reason with the man standing on the tracks when we clearly see the train coming?
Amen.
