Blessed Is the One

 

Psalm 1

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
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
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

Blessed is the One

All month we’ve been saying Romans 3:21-22 – “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”

This passage was important during the Reformation – and IS important now – to reveal to us the true teaching of how a person “gets right with God. Let’s take it a little at a time.

It says that the righteousness of God has been manifested – that is to say, it has been revealed, make known – not discovered, not chosen – this righteousness of God is something God tells us about and He gives to those who believe.

And he does this apart from the law – there is nothing you do to get this righteousness, you cannot earn it, cannot win it, no matter how hard you try or how well you “follow the rules” – which usually means following our spin on God’s rules.

But this isn’t new – the Law and the Prophets bear witness – that phrase is code for the Scriptures, or at least that part of the Scriptures that we call the Old Testament. This is saying that this was always God’s plan. When sin entered the world, God was not taken by surprise, and even before it was necessary, God the Son was ready to come to die to atone for our sins and rise to give us everlasting life.

So how does one get this righteousness of God? It is only through faith in Jesus Christ. People like to say there are many ways to God, but God has said that the only way to come to Him is through Jesus. But here’s the thing, to be forgiven and to become righteous through Jesus, all that is necessary is to believe in Him. Believe He is the Son of God, just as He is the Son of the Virgin Mary. Believe He died and rose for you. Believe He ascended into heaven, and lives and reigns to all eternity. Believe He is coming again to judge the living and the dead – and that His judgement on you is righteous, forgiven, redeemed.

And who can receive this righteousness? It is for all who believe.

This message, which is also called the Gospel, was revolutionary in the 1500’s because it had been buried in many places and people were left believing that they had to do something to save themselves.

The church told them they had to do acts of penance to gain forgiveness. This get’s the cart before the horse though! When we sin against someone else, we should absolutely do what we can to make it right, but we don’t do that to earn forgiveness. We do good to those we’ve sinned against because we are forgiven, and this is pleasing to God. The motivation is completely different, and it is important!

The church told them they could buy forgiveness buy purchasing indulgences. They even said they could buy forgiveness for their dead loved ones, because they taught that when you die you didn’t go to heaven, even if you were a Christian. You had to be punished as a consequence for your sins in purgatory.

It was a spiritually terrifying and abusive time. Many saw God as a strict judge, angry, waiting and eager to condemn them. Romans 3 says something different, though. It says that His desire is to save sinners … and it always has been. In fact, He has saved us by Jesus’ death and resurrection. That message works in us to create faith so we believe and receive the righteousness of God.

Amazing! Freeing! What a relief!

But, our sinful hearts are exceptionally skilled at twisting God’s Word, and Satan’s oldest trick is to get us to not believe God’s Word. So, even in this message of Good News and salvation, a certain lie – a false idea – starts to form. It sounds something like this: God has saved me from my sins (true), they are all forgiven (also true), I don’t need to do anything to save myself or make God happy with me (again true), in fact, I can’t save myself anyhow (which is still true), so it doesn’t matter how I live now that Jesus has saved me. And that last little bit is very false.

God has a plan – a design – for how our lives should be lived. In faith, we know that – and the saints of old testify to the fact that how we live matters since God has saved us from sin and death. Our first reading today, Psalm 1, talks about this and presents life as two different ways – the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

It begins, “Blessed is the one” – and for us, our minds go directly to the greatest blessing we have received – the righteousness of God – having our sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake.

Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, - this person does not listen to false teachers and their lies about God’s Word - nor stands in the way of sinners, - the Christian does not linger in sinful behaviors, that is not the way we live! Instead, we repent. - nor sits in the seat of scoffers; - the scoffer judges everyone else a fool compared to himself, and the Christian resists the temptation to sit over God’s Word to judge and mock what God has said. ^{2 [}B]ut his delight is in the law of the Lord, - that word, law, means God’s teaching, and it includes everything God teaches, not just the stuff about what we should and should not do. In that way, it also includes the full message of God’s love and salvation! No wonder the Christian delights in God’s law! [A]nd on his law he meditates day and night.

Meditation is something that people get confused about these days. They think that to meditate is to empty their minds. That is not what the Bible means by meditation. The best example of meditation – a negative example, though – is worrying. When we worry, our minds run over things that happened or that we are afraid will happen over and over and over again. This Psalm teaches us to meditate on God’s Word – partly so that it will guide us, but more importantly so that it will give us the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus.

The psalm says that such a person is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Question: Do trees plant themselves? Do people choose to be born? Do they choose to be born again? No. This passage reminds us that God saved us from the terrible place we had been planted and He places our roots in the waters of baptism which flow with Jesus’ life and forgiveness for us. The psalm is saying that we are like a divine orchard … and our Lord Jesus is the divine gardener who tends to us so that we will bear fruit – which is the good works God created us to do.

This fruit that we bear, it is the result of Jesus’ work in us, and it reflects the fruit of a very different tree – the cross where Jesus died to atone for our sins. When He rose and appeared to Mary, she thought He was a gardener – because He is! By the Holy Spirit he tends us and fills us with faith and life. He causes us to prosper.

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

There are two ways – the way of the wicked and the way of righteousness. The way of the righteousness of God is lived by faith and it is blessed. But maybe you’re not feeling all that blessed or righteous. What should you do? Well, prayer is good. And hearing God’s Word proclaiming His forgiveness is good, and it will teach you how to live as one who has the righteousness of God. But when you live this life, you’ll struggle as you see yourself falling short over and over again, to say nothing of the struggle of living this life in the world. And that will drive you back to prayer. And that should lead you back to God’s Word – the Law that says, Do this! And you should strive for it! But it should also lead you to God’s Word – the Gospel message that your sins are forgiven, you are righteous for Christ’s sake – and you live in God’s love no matter how much you struggle to feel righteous or blessed. Amen.