Psalm 1

Happy are those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in the company of scoffers. Rather, the law of the Lord is their joy; God’s law they study day and night. They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers. But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind. Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just. The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Many of the words in this passage have various meanings. I've rewritten the psalm with some of those words so that hopefully it will be easier to follow. Let's listen again to the words of the psalmist:

Blessed are those who do not follow the counsel of the guilty, nor go the way of the corrupt, nor sit in the company of the arrogant who have no regard for God. Rather, the instruction of God is their focus. They pore over God’s instruction day and night. They are like a tree deeply rooted by streams of water, which yield fruit in their season, it never goes dry, or barren, it is prosperous. But not the self-absorbed! They are like chaff driven by the wind. They are dispensable waste, without roots, without grounding, they have nothing to hold on to. Therefore the wicked will not survive God’s verdict, nor will sinners fit in when the followers of God gather. The Lord watches over and gains intimacy with the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction, they are void of blessing, they lose themselves as they seek only their own interests.

When reading the psalms, and even many of the prophets, it’s important to know that often they speak in terms of judgment and when they do they are not necessarily referring to the final judgment, to judgment day, they are speaking of judgment like you would find in a trial court—where there’s a judge who looks at the facts of a case and decides a verdict of innocence or guilt. We saw something like this when we read the passage in Micah—the one that says, “What does the Lord require of you but to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Do you remember that passage? First we read that God had a complaint against the people—oppressing the poor, unequal distribution of wealth, and social injustice. And then the words, “Sons and daughters of Israel, you have heard the charges brought against you, how do you plead?” Okay, maybe not exactly those words, but something to that effect. And then the judge paused, “Wait, before you make your case, let me remind you of a few things, you sit in the court of the one who saved you from slavery, the one who brought you to the promised land, the one who has provided leaders to show you the way time and time again. Now, tell me again what can you say for yourself?”

Do you remember this? The people of Israel were in a situation of judgment, one where there was a wrong committed and facts to be heard and a verdict to be delivered. That court scenario is common to the language of the Old Testament, and particularly the psalms and prophets.

So, today, when we hear the words of verse 5 that say the wicked will not survive judgment, we need to hear them in context—they will not do well on their day in court! As in any court, there are the innocent and there are the guilty. Those who are innocent will be set free, and those who are guilty will be punished. So, then, what are the charges we’re looking at? The charge is a lack of reverence for scripture and a closed heart to God’s action in our lives; in other words, self-sufficient arrogance that negates a need for God. If you deny God and believe solely in your own powers and capabilities, if you believe you don’t need any help from anyone, including God, then today, you are among the wicked—the guilty standing before the judge. If, however, you delight in God’s teachings, if you find your meaning from God, if you know you are dependent upon God for all that you are, then you will be counted among the just, among the righteous.

So, let’s do a little exercise, if you stand among the wicked then you should come stand over here to the left and if you stand among the righteous, then you should come stand on the right. (Pause) No? Okay, how about this….if you’re strong and independent raise your hand. Ok. And if you’re dependent on others put your hand on your heart. Good. Now, those of you with your hand in the air, according to today’s passage, you are the wicked. And if you have your hand on your heart, you are the righteous. Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up. Blame the psalmist.

To be sure, it’s a challenging passage to hear because it goes against a lot of what we believe. In American culture, we’re taught self-sufficiency and individuality. You’re a better person, a greater success story if you do it yourself without the help of anyone. Think about it, as we age, or if we get sick, we become more dependent on others, and most of us loathe that part of life. We hate not being able to do things for ourselves. We hate having to ask someone else for help, to rely on someone else to go somewhere, or get something done. That’s a cultural more. That’s a cultural value, not a godly one. So on one side we have culture, proclaiming loud and clear that we should not rely on anyone because it makes us weak. And on the other side, we have scripture proclaiming that if we become self-absorbed and arrogant about our abilities, then we will number among the wicked. That’s not a very comforting thought. Are we good Americans or are we good Christians? Having to choose one over the other probably makes us a bit uncomfortable. It certainly makes me uncomfortable. I’m as bull-headed and independent as the best of them, and normally, I’m fairly proud of that, but in reading this passage, I had to take a step back and see that the cultural values are not what God seeks from us. God wants us to be dependent—primarily on God. Because if I can do all things by myself and don’t need any help from anyone, then I won’t need or want help from God either. And if I don’t need God, then I won’t seek God. And if I don’t seek God, then I will perish—maybe not literally, not yet anyway, but spiritually, my soul will dry up and wither away if I don’t stay connected to the life source.

So now that we know the definition of righteous versus the wicked, how do we change that from head knowledge to heart knowledge? How do we live the psalmist’s advice? Through verse 2. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.” To move from being counted among the “wicked” to living among the righteous, we must delight in God’s instruction, we must meditate on it day and night. I say instruction and not law because when we think of law we think of rules, but the law here isn’t just the ten commandments or the rules found in Leviticus, it is God’s story—the story of Israel and the ways God has been faithful, it is God’s word through the poetry of the psalms, and yes, God’s law—God’s instructions for holy living. To become righteous, to become God-centered, we have to focus on God’s story. And we find that story in the Bible.

Meditating on God’s word is really about being in right relationship with God, about God being the center of your life and purpose. If we spend time in the Word, then we’re spending time learning about God, who God was, what God’s true character is like, what God hopes and dreams—and in listening to the Word, we’re practicing listening to God.

Spending daily or even weekly time in God’s work is how we listen to God. In prayer it’s easy for us to talk, and talk, and talk. But when are we taking time to listen? We listen through scripture and meditation. Spending time listening is what keeps us planted near the waters, it’s what keeps us giving fruit. We all know that a tree planted by a constant source of water will bear fruit. It’s a natural consequence. Being in the word is like being planted by water and being near the source of life means we will bear fruit—we will be blessed. It’s a natural consequence. It’s not rocket science. It’s nature. If we starve a tree of water, it will dry up and wither away. Without its life source, it cannot bear fruit. The same is true for us—if we’re robbed of our life source, or simply choose to be planted elsewhere, we won’t be able to bear fruit—we’ll wither away—like the chaff of wheat blown away in the wind.

For the psalmist, there are two ways to live: 1) centered on God and rooted in God’s instruction—namely the Word; 2) centered on ourselves. To be centered on God is to be deeply rooted in that which provides life—which offers joy and sustains us even in difficult times. To be centered on ourselves gives only shallow roots that are easily lifted and cast into the wind. On its surface, the choice seems simple and clear. I want to be righteous, I want to bear fruit and be blessed. Let’s call it a day. The difficulty comes in challenging the culture’s blow-horn that tells me to be independent, hard-working, and reliant on no one. Our challenge is not in choosing God, but in rejecting what the culture teaches us about success

Romans 3:21-31

Paul’s letter to the Romans has some of the clearest explanations of who Christ was and what his life, death, and resurrection mean to each of us. It also addresses some of the community issues—issues that were also true for Corinth and other cities in the region. One of those issues was who was better, who was more righteous than whom. The gentiles or the Jews? The circumcised or the uncircumcised? Those who knew the law or those who simply believed? Those who had been part of God’s community forever or the new kids on the block?

From Paul’s letter it is clear that there was dissention in the church. There were arguments about who had a firmer foundation, whose way was the *right* way, and who actually was justified by God. These things took place in the first century soon after Christ’s death. Now, we 21^st century Christians, having all the benefits of modernity, technology, and 2000 years of faith ancestry—we certainly don’t have any of these disputes amongst ourselves, right?

We don’t quibble about whose music draws us closer to God, or whose clothes are more appropriate, or whose baptism is more legitimate. Not us! We aren’t concerned with worship that is unfamiliar or biblical teachings that call upon feminism, the black perspective, or social oppression to find a new reading of the Gospel. We aren’t threatened by different. We aren’t tempted to proclaim our faith as more righteous than that of those who attend the big church down the street. Right?!

This definitely was a first century problem and is not an issue we deal with today.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we too struggle with conflict in the church. Let’s assume, just for a moment, that we’ve made the mistake of claiming our way or the highway and see what God’s message for us would be.

First, we hear a reminder that righteousness comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness—in other words, godliness, holiness, uprightness, our sanctification, comes from God as a gift. We don’t earn it; we can’t buy it—the only way we have a possibility at righteousness is because of God’s goodness. And the way we receive that gift, the way we open it, is by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us that none of us is holy or righteous by our own doings, but only through God’s gift of grace through Jesus.

Now, why aren’t we righteous in our own right? I mean, I’m a pretty good person….how am I so unrighteous?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Oh. Yeah. That. Sin. It gets us every time! But, I only sin a little—so doesn’t that mean I only fall a little but short of the glory of God?! I mean, I’m not one of those BIG sinners—so I have to be closer to God than they are, right?! Wrong. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No class system of sin. No lesser sin or greater sin. Just the simple fact that we have turned away from God; we have disobeyed the rules; we have sinned. Period. And because we have sinned, we are all equally unrighteous. We are all broken. We are all imperfect. We are all sinners on equal footing, down at the bottom of the pit in the mire of sin. No distinction. No privilege. No hierarchy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And the only way we get up out of that miry pit is through grace. God’s grace pulls us up. And whether we accepted that grace through our faith 70 years ago, or 25 years ago, last year, or today—we remain equal. We are undistinguished in our sinfulness and we are undistinguished in our righteousness.

So those arguments we, of course, don’t have about whose way is better, or whose prayer is more holy, or whose worship service more God-inspired, they’re all irrelevant. There’s no room for them. We can’t boast about being better because we aren’t. We are equally sinful and we’re equally saved. No more, no less. Not the pastor. Not the elder. Not the child. Not the missionary. Not the Sunday School teacher. Not this section or that section. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we are all saved by God’s grace alone.

Turn to your neighbor and say: “I’m a sinner. You’re a sinner. It’s nice to meet an equal.” Now say: “God saved me. God saved you. It’s nice to meet an equal.”

Regardless of how many people are in worship, the language we speak, the missions we complete, the music we use—we all sin and we are all saved by the grace of God. So let us not be caught up in proving righteousness or disputing traditions, but let us be bonded as sisters and brothers by the same faith in the same God who offers the same grace in the same way in the same amount to each and every one of us. The same grace, offered to the same sinners, so that we might be justified in the same way, through the same faith, in the same man—Jesus Christ. All on equal footing, equally saved, equally righteous, equally loved.

May God be glorified by the reading and hearing of the Holy Word. Amen.