Description
iPsalms
Purpose
By Lisa Young
Transcripts
So, Ladies, Welcome to Flavour Sisterhood! We’re excited for another installment of iPsalms. I absolutely had a blast last time with Psalm 100. I learned so much. I hope you guys were the same as we talked about praise. Today, we’re going to dive into a different psalm… Psalm 1. And so, if you have your Bibles, get them ready or you have your scripture card. We’re going to talk about Psalm 1. And we’re going to see the second of the big “p,” “p’s,” if you will, of psalm. Last time, it was about praise, this time, it’s going to be a psalm about purpose. About purpose.
So, as we, I just want to say as we begin I want to give you a little bit if a reminder about psalms. Remember psalms are poetry or hymns. And we talked last time about how music is so impactful. But the greatest songs and the greatest poems are those which are written from the heart. And we’ve seen throughout the book of Psalms, or the entire book, and all the different passages, that these songs were written either out of joy, they were written out of celebration, they were written out of some big event where God showed up and rescued people, or they were written out of anguish and depression. And what I love about that is it tells me that our prayer language and our prayer to God is vast. And God is ready for us to come to Him in praise. He’s ready for us to come to Him with requests. He’s ready for us to come to Him with thanksgiving. He’s ready for us to come to Him with our needs. And He can handle it.
And as we study the psalms, we always want to identify with those writers who were writing from their emotions, who were writing from their heart. As we look at Psalm 1, we’re going to see a little bit of a difference between Psalm 1 and the other psalms. Because where as so many of the psalms were written out of emotion and they were written out of some need or some joy or something that the writer was going through. In Psalm 1, we have a little bit of a different scenario. Psalm 1 is about instruction. And when you read it, you’ll see. We’re going to read it together in just a minute, but you’ll see it’s not so much a prayer but it’s more of a declaration. And in that declaration, are instructions on how we can live better. I read it and I was like, Wow! There’s definitely, there’s a different vibe between Psalm 1 and Psalm 100 that we looked at last week. But it’s all about discovering and living out our purpose. Okay?
So, as we look at Psalm 1, let’s remember and keep in mind, our purpose. One of the things to note about Psalm 1, is it’s a book of contrast. A book of contrast. Life is full of contrast. You know, you have the good and the bad; the light, the dark; black and white; you know, salt and pepper; whatever. I mean there’s always contrast. And this book is a book of contrast. Chapter 1 is a book of contrast. Let’s read it together:
“Blessed is the man
who does not walk in counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers,
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law, he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever he does, he prospers.
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.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.”
It’s a book of contrast. It’s a chapter full of contrast. Talking about what the life of someone who lives for God looks like versus what the life of someone who lives far away from God looks like.
When you think about your own life, I have a couple of thoughts to present to you. When people look at your life, those of us who call ourselves Christ followers, do they see a contrast to those who do not have a relationship with Christ and are not a child of God? That is an important contrast. And the Bible speaks a lot about that particular contrast. When you consider the contrast of this life with Christ, and as we talk about Psalm 1, I thought it was important to say, “How can I talk about a relationship with Christ when we’re talking about Psalm 1, that’s the Old Testament?” Remember, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So, even though you have different periods of time in history, you have Jesus present. Because Jesus was there in the beginning. It says in the Garden of Eden when God created the world, that the words, the vocabulary, it’s the trinity. All present at that one time. And you see that throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament. So, when I talk about having a relationship with Christ as we refer to Psalm 1, it’s totally applicable. Because the thread of salvation as we saw last week with Psalm 100 is woven through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation and back and forth. It’s all there. So, we’re talking about the contrast of a life with Christ compared to a life without Christ.
So, as we look at Psalm 1, let’s look at it from a standpoint of these contrasts. We have the contrast of the three amigos. If you look at the first part of Psalm 1, you know, in our culture today the power of positive thinking is huge. You know, the power of positive thinking. Think positive. Live positively. You know, have positive thoughts. Interestingly enough, this passage starts with not the power of positive thinking, but the power of negative realization. Because it starts out with, “Blessed is the man…” now that’s positive, but “who does NOT…” do several things. And the three amigos are who does not hang out with the wicked, the sinners or the mockers. Those are the first three negatives that are brought up. The three amigos of negativity. And it’s talking about the contrast of a life with sinners and mockers and those who are far away from God. The wicked. And it’s a continual position or presence with these three amigos. See what it says, it says, “Who does not walk, or stand, or sit.” The only other position that I can think of would be laying down. And about the best time for us as human beings, where we’re sinning the least is when we sleep. So, I’m thinking that they’ve covered every base. So, this is always. This is talking about people who live a continual pattern of wickedness, of sinning, and of mocking. Now those three things are not very attractive. You mention them, we mention them, we read them, we look at it and we think, “Well, shoot, I don’t want to be that!” And yet, there is such a lure to that type of life. It sucks us in. We are natural-born sinners, but because of Christ, we are forgiven. And because of His presence in our life, the Holy Spirit is deposited in us, and we become the temple of the living God and we’re able to live differently because of our relationship with Christ. Are we still going to sin? Yes! But this is talking about the contrast of someone who dwells, sits, stands, walks, amongst sinners as a sinner, or amongst the wicked as the wicked; as a scoffer, being a scoffer. Saying things that are hateful. All of those different things. He’s talking about a continual pattern. Someone who is not a child of God.
If you look at another passage, and they’re going to show it on the side screens, we’ll see in Matthew 5:14 through 16, what transpires. What happens when we give our lives to Christ?
Matthew 5:14 through 16. It says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and give its light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in heaven.”
There is a definite distinction between light and dark. And those of us who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we live in the light. In fact it says in 2 Corinthians, we are a new creation. The old is passed away, there is newness about our life. So, we’re not the same as we used to be. We used to be, you know, sitting, and standing and walking among the wicked, the scoffers and the mockers. Now, we are in a new direction. We’re in the light. And there’s a contrast between the light and the dark. I asked you that question. That all important question. How much contrast is there in your life with every other person that you know who is not a child of God? It’s one of those questions that kind of makes you shake in your boots. Because you might be going to your play group and you’re looking around and you think, “Wow, the way I respond to my child is pretty much the way they respond to theirs.” God’s present in my life. I’m a light in a darkened world. Or maybe you go to the office and you see, you know, you’re treated unfairly. You’re in a meeting and your boss is giving you all these directives and everybody at the table is frustrated and they start expressing it behind the bosses back, how frustrated they are. And you participate just like everybody else. I mean how are you light in a dark world?
It’s chilling, isn’t it? It’s kind of riveting when you start thinking about how this plays out in a child of God’s life. Because the Bible’s very clear there’s a contrast. Psalm 1 paints the picture very beautifully. There’s a contrast. The wicked will not be at the seat of judgement. Now, I read that in verses 4 and 5 of Psalm 1. It says, “Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.” Do you know what chaff is? Chaff is that which is no good in a plant. It’s the part that can’t be used. The seed is called out, the part that will reproduce, the valuable part is the seed. And then the chaff is everything that can’t be used and it’s thrown away. And it’s so light-weight, that it just flies away with the wind. It doesn’t have any direction, no purpose, nothing. Just goes away. That’s so the wicked. They have no purpose, no direction, no value. And they float through life with the wind. Just going in any direction.
There’s many things mentioned in today’s culture about acceptance and, you know, we want to be a tolerant culture. But you know what, tolerance can often mean is a lack of absolutes. And when you don’t have absolute truth in play, then your life is led by the wind. Whatever comes and goes. So the absolute truth for us, as followers of Christ, those who have crossed over the line, and I know many people here have made that decision. There may be some who are just testing the waters and you’re checking it out. But for those who have invited Jesus into their life, you now have a purpose and a value. That seed, to be planted here on this earth for a certain period of time. We don’t know what our time span is here, but you know that we are here for a reason and right now with a purpose. But everything else about our life that was in the past, it’s been called away and it’s like chaff, it’s gone. But for those who choose to live away from God, and man, this is the message that nobody wants to hear. Nobody wants to admit this. It’s like this is so not politically correct. But it’s the truth. It is the absolute truth. That which is wicked is like the chaff. Away from God, has no purpose. And it just flies directionlessly. I don’t know if that’s a word. But hey, we just made it up. I’ll have to ask Sarah Hartfield, or either get Ed’s iPad, I don’t know.
So, as you look at Matthew 5:14 through 16, and I have read that passage many times, and it talks about being the light of the world, and we’re a city on a hill and you wouldn’t dare light a lamp and put it under a cover. It dawned on me that in the time that this is written, and these are the words of Jesus. If you have a red-letter Bible, it’s in red in your Bible. Okay? Because that means that Jesus actually articulated these words. In this time that Jesus spoke this, oil was a big commodity. If you had oil in your home, it meant that you had status and you were different than many others who did not have oil, obviously. But why would you have this commodity of oil to put into a lamp and light up the space for not just yourself. See what it says in Matthew 14 through 16, I think it’s like verse 15? It says, “Instead, they put it on a stand, and it give light to everyone in the house.” But what in the world would someone be doing, how ludicrous would it be if they put a cloth over it or lid it and then hid it? It’s like we spent money on this oil and we have this oil that gives light, but yet we’re hiding it? We’re not, we’re putting it away. I mean it’s ludicrous when you start thinking of that. I’m going to try to relate it to you buy a brand new outfit. And you put it in your closet and you never wear it! Ludicrous! If there are any guilty parties here, just take the tags off and wear it, okay? But Jesus is making a point. Are you taking for granted your salvation? The contrast of light and dark and are you hiding it away and there’s very little difference because the darkness is just looming over you?
I think a lot of Christ followers have installed dimmer switches. Now that was big. Seriously! When we just… we just moved recently. And the electrician was like do like dimmer switches. So, we can take the switch and we can push a little button and it’ll like lower the light and raise the light. And he said it’s all about your mood and the ambiance you want to create. And your emotions and raise the light full, and you know what, I like full light. I like to be able to see people’s faces, to know what’s in the room. I do not… I remember when I went to our high school reunion, 20 year reunion. I got into the best shape. I was in better shape at that 20 year reunion than I was in high school. I ate clean. I was just, I worked so hard. I was working out and I mean just, was starving, but I was going to look good when I got there. And I remember walking into that hall, where all my friends from high school were gathered, and they had the lights dimmed. And I’m like, “Excuse me. I’ve worked way too hard to come into this room and you not be able to see the results! This is not good!” They had the dimmer switch going, I do believe. But many of us Christ followers have put a dimmer switch on. Kind of a mood thing. Where we’re with a group of people, we’re like, “You know, I’m not sure if the ambiance wants to illuminate the fact that I follow Christ.” It’s very convicting. Very convicting. The contrast of living for God or living away from God.
There’s a difference in how we live each and every day because of the presence of Jesus in our lives. There’s a difference how we navigate through trials and tribulations and through celebrations, do we give ourselves the credit or do we God the credit?
I think about a story that was told many years ago about a couple who before the, you know, amount of sonograms and things that we have these days, came to the hospital and they delivered their baby and it was Down’s syndrome. And you know, back in the day, way, way, way back in the day, you didn’t always know. You weren’t prepared. My mom is a twin. She was born in a home, not at a hospital. Her mom, my grandmother, didn’t know she was having twins. It was like, “Whoops! I think there’s another one!” But we didn’t have the sonograms. But this couple was in the hospital and they were not prepared for what was about to happen, a Down syndrome baby. And as they processed the information in that hospital as they were counseled by doctors and how their family gathered around, it was amazing as this story was being told how doctors, and nurses, and even cleaning people at the hospital saw how they handled this crisis in their lives, because of their relationship with Jesus Christ. And having this Down syndrome baby was not a life ender for them, it was a life giver for them. Because they were able to show other people how their lives were not based on the good times or the bad times, but on the consistency of a relationship with Jesus Christ. They were light in the midst of a very seemingly dark situation. You see, how we process and flow through life in all the different circumstances that we have, that’s how we share our light with other people.
But as we do negotiate, there’s a question that we have to ask, “How do you live in the world, but not be of the world?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” Here we go with the contrast again. “Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them. And I will be their God and they will be my people.” Look at the contrast there. Contrast of a life with Christ versus a life without Him. The plow and the yoke is a very interesting thing. Because the purpose of plowing is to row a line so that acrop can be planted. It has a purpose. And the yoke is so important because the yoke is what you embrace the necks of the animals with in order to plow a straight line. In order for the purpose to be fulfilled. So if you were to put two animals of different weight, of different species, you’re going to have some problems. Because you’re going to have a row that goes, “brrrrrrr.” Because the dominant animal is going to lead. And the weak animal will have to either be drug along or probably fight a little bit and a have a burst of energy then you’ll have “mmmmm…” and animals will be in conflict with one another because they just don’t go together. And guess what happens? The purpose is not realized. The purpose of the row is never realized. So this verse is about, not that we shun people who are far away from God as Christ followers, not, you know at Fellowship Church, we welcome people to come because we want everyone to kick the tires, if you will, that’s what having a relationship with Christ is all about. We want to welcome anybody and everybody into this place to be comfortable and see what the message and life-changing message of Jesus is all about. But we also have to realize that this verse is important in how we live out our purpose as Christ followers. If we dilute or dim our light, we’re going to miss out on the purpose. If we attach ourselves, or yoke ourselves with those who are of the wicked, the scoffers, the sinners, we’re not going to be able to fulfill the purpose that God has in our lives. So it’s again, it’s not a very politically correct statement, but it is truth. It is truth about living out your purpose. And for us to live out our purpose in our relationships. Think about your friendships, your dating relationships, marriage. These are huge things. Who you partner with in business. This is huge when you talk about, “How does this relationship effect my purpose in life?”
I remember taking, well, all of our kids to the pediatrician. And we went to the same pediatrician for many years. And she would always ask this question when they hit like the 12 or 13 year mark. She would look at them and say, “Have you thought about college?” They’re looking at her like, “Seriously? I’m in junior high!” But she was a very aggressive position, very intelligent, very education-oriented. She would say, “Well, you need to be thinking about it.” Then every year we’d go back and she’d say, “So, have you thought about what you want to do you with your life? What do you want to be?” And as I sat in the little chair, you know that there on that little couch thing and I’m sitting in that chair, they all just look at me like, “Mom, what’s the answer here?? Cheat, cheat, cheat. What’s the answer??” And they wouldn’t really know. I remember back in kindergarten, “I want to be a fireman, I want to be policeman, I want to be a this, that or the other” and all of a sudden, you have this blank look at your face like, “What am I going to be when I grow up?” It’s not so important and this is what I’d tell them after we left the office. I’d say, “You know what? That’s not what you need to worry about now.”
In fact just having a college freshman taking Laurie to college and sitting down with an advisor and the advisor saying, you know, “What do your want your stream to be? What do you want your line of study to be?” She’s looking at it and going, “Oh my, gosh! Like when I say this, is it going to be in stone for life?” And that’s a huge question. And so even as you approach college, sometimes you don’t know what you are going to do, meaning your career. But from this moment on you can know your purpose. You can know your purpose. And it’s found right smack dab in the middle of Psalm 1.
Look at it, verse 2. “But his delight is on the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, he prospers.”
So, if you’ve ever wondered, if somebody asked you or if maybe you have kids, or you’re going to be asked at some point, you know, “What do you want to do in your life?” Have them memorize verse 3. I want to be like a tree, planted by streams of water which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. And whatever I do, I will prosper. Whatever I do, I will prosper. Okay, but that verse is contingent upon verse 2. So, in order for them to live out that purpose… see, I like cause and effect. I’ve always like when studying science, I always loved cause and effect. Cause and effect. You do this, this happens. You do this, this happens. Like a recipe. It’s like, you put this together and it’s going to turn out good. Well, you put it together and you do it a certain way and will turn out good. And I love this, because verse 2 guarantees. Do you like a guarantee? I love a guarantee. It guarantees that verse 3 will come to fruition. What is verse 2? “My delight is in the law of the Lord.” The Word of God. The Word of God. “And on this law I meditate, day and night.” Interesting. We had walking, sitting, standing, and now we have day and night. Day and night encompasses everything, even our sleep. Day and night, I’m dependent upon God’s Word. Day and night, I meditate on it. And meditation, this is important. Cause this is the tweet of the day, so to speak. True meditation is not an open-ended reception of thoughts. You know, “ommmmm.” And you’re going to receive something from outer space. And I’m not trying to minimalize, or trivialize yoga or any other thing, but I’m just telling you, meditation is not open-ended for just anything to pop into our spirit and our mind. No! That’s dangerous. In fact, in the Old Testament, that’s wicked. Meditation is something that we do. True meditation is a cycle of the internal presence of God receiving the external Word of God and applying it internally to our heart, soul and mind. I know that was a lot. Okay, that was really the tweet, not the first part, okay. True meditation cycle of the internal presence of God receiving the external Word of God and applying it fully, not partially, not just a little bit, fully to the heart, soul and mind. Okay, that’s the tweet. Okay, now when you do it then, now this is a monumental then, then it is lived out every single moment of the day and the night. You see? You meditate on the Word of God. Meditate. Now, for some here, studying the Bible is just like a part of your routine. Looking up scripture, pulling it up on your iPhone or smartphone. It’s just a part of your life. But for others, it’s a daunting thing. It’s not a delight, it’s daunting. And you just don’t even know where to begin. Start with five minutes a day. Prioritize, remember your priorities are huge. What you say you’re going to do, do it. That’s what a priority is. It’s letting your commitments and your priorities match. So, start with five minutes. Start with the psalms. We’re giving you the psalms each and every week. Start with that and just read. Ask God to show you how you can be transformed or changed by this Word. Maybe you need to journal and then pray. It will transform your day and night. No longer do we have to worry about, “Oh what am I going to be when I grow up? What am I going to do with my life?” Because in whatever we do, if we meditate on God’s Word, we will be like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and we will be prosperous. And by prosperous, that doesn’t mean we’re going to be hauling money to the bank. It means that we’re going to be realizing the value that God has placed in us. And that is way bigger than any bank deposit.