“PROSPER OR PERISH?”
Psalm 1
Lesson for June 3-4, 2017
Scott Susong
[TEACHERS: We are starting a study of Psalms for the summer. Be sure to consult the “Weekly
Essentials” and Background material on Psalms in the Teachers Website.]
INTRODUCTION
“The Lady or the Tiger?” is a famous short story written by Frank Stockton in 1882. The following is a
summary of the story adapted from Wikipedia. The King of an ancient land used an unusual form of
administering justice for offenders in his kingdom. The accused would be placed in an arena where
his only way out would be through one of two doors. Behind one door was a beautiful woman handpicked by the king; behind the other was a fierce tiger. If he chose the door with the lady, he was
declared innocent and was required to marry the woman regardless of his previous marital status. If
he selected the door with the tiger, he was deemed guilty and ripped to shreds by the animal.
One day the king found that his daughter, the princess, had taken a lover far beneath her social status.
The king could not allow this, so he threw the offender in prison and set a date for his trial in the
arena. On the day of his trial, the accused man looked to the princess for some indication of which
door to choose. She did, in fact, know which door concealed the woman and which the tiger. But –
here was her dilemma: if she indicated the door of the tiger, her lover would die. But, if she indicated
the door of the beautiful woman, he would marry the woman whom the princess hated. Finally, the
princess signaled a door. The man went to it and opened it. What do you think happened? Later, I
will reveal the end of the short story. For now, you will have to wait!
In life, every person is faced with a decision. If we open one door, it leads to a life of blessing with the
Lord. The other door leads to a life of ungodliness and misery separated from God. One leads to
prosperity, the other to perishing. The choice is up to us. The two ways of life are presented in our
Psalm for today: Psalm 1.
BIBLICAL/HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Today we begin a study of the Psalms for the summer. In the Psalms, life happens in a mosaic, not in
a series of logical statements with a conclusion. The Greeks wrote like lawyers writing a brief: points
1, 2, 3, and a conclusion. The Hebrews wrote like musicians with different themes emerging as
various instruments of a symphony. The writers of the Psalms were lovers of poetry, lovers of music
(many of the Psalms were intended to be sung) as well as lovers of God.
The writer of Psalm 1 tells us about the vitality, fulfillment and stability of the godly person using the
single image of a tree planted by a stream of water. The blessed man is the godly man who is also a
happy, contented man. Psalm 1 is called a wisdom Psalm or a teaching Psalm. It presents 2 central
themes which continue throughout all of the Psalms: (1) that which is ultimately valuable in life is
godliness and (2) the basic condition of human existence is a moral choice between opposing ways of
life – good and evil. Life presents us with a choice, and this Psalm shows the connection between
genuine happiness and godliness.
The simple outline for Psalm 1:
I. The Blessed Man, verses 1-3
II. The Wicked Man, verses 4-6
I.
THE BLESSED MAN IS THE GODLY MAN, verses 1-3
Psalm 1:1 begins where we would all like to end up – in blessedness! “Blessed” means happy,
fortunate, prosperous, enviable, complete and lacking nothing. Psalm 119:1 says “How blessed are
those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord.”
Sir Richard Baker, British author (1568-1645) said, “Where the word ‘blessed’ is hung out as a sign, we
may be sure that we shall find a godly man within.”(quoted in Treasury of David, Vol. 1, by Charles
Spurgeon, page 4) Happiness does not come on our terms but from being what God wants us to be.
Misery comes from sin – operating on our terms.
A. What the Blessed Man Does Not Do, verse 1
1. He Does Not Walk in the counsel of the Wicked
He does not live his moral and spiritual life under the advice, influence or instruction of
the ungodly. The ungodly man is unconcerned about the things of God. Now, by
“ungodly” we do not necessarily mean criminals or corporate tax cheats. The ungodly
could be nice guys.
ILLUSTRATION: In Texas, we have what are called “good ‘ol boys” who would say things
like, “Look, just be honest in business, don’t beat your wife & kids or kick your dog, don’t
go overboard in religion and you’ll be fine.” That is his advice as to how to live. He is not
interested in living for the Lord or becoming godly, and he can eventually be a bad
influence on us.
Job said, “The counsel of the wicked is far from me” (Job 21:16).
2. He Does Not Stand in the Path of Sinners
This means to be submissive or to continue in the action and manner of the sinner. To
stand can also refer to being stiff-necked and obstinate against God. In Hebrew, this word
was the picture of an immovable stone column. The godly man stays away from this type
of person and his influence.
3. He Does Not Sit in the Seat of Scoffers
To sit in the seat means to instruct or teach. The posture for a Rabbi when teaching was
to be sitting. A scoffer is a mocker and it means to be a skeptic, to mock God, to put
oneself above God.
Martin Luther said of scoffers, “They sit in the seat of pestilence, who fill the church with
the opinions of philosophers, with the traditions of men, and with the counsels of their
own brain and oppress miserable consciences, setting aside all the while the word of God,
by which alone the soul is fed, lives and is preserved.”[Treasury of David, page 5] This
individual could be within the church posing as a believer but all the while mocking God.
There are plenty of false prophets/teachers who serve as pastors of churches and lead
many astray from the Lord. Charles Spurgeon said, “The seat of the scorner may be very
lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell.”[Treasury of David, page 1]
The godly man is not a skeptic and does not associate with mockers of God.
APPLICATION: With all 3 phrases in verse 1 the point is clear: watch the company you keep!
1 Corinthians 15:33 says “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” We
become like the people we hang out with. If you are around negative, complaining people
you will become cynical – it is like a cancer. If you are around positive people who love the
Lord, it will help you grow in your walk with Christ. The godly man will not hang around bad
company.
TRANSITION: We have seen what the blessed man does not do; what does he do?
B. What the Blessed Man Does, verse 2
1. He loves the law of the Lord.
The blessed man is not under the law as a burden or a curse but he is in the law and he
loves it. His “delight” means his pleasure. The “law” in this context does not mean just
the 10 commandments but all of the teachings, instruction, and precepts of God – God’s
word, the Bible. To “delight” also means to “adhere to,” to “attach oneself to,” as bones
are knit together. This means not only reading and enjoying God’s word but obeying it as
well. We not only know it, we DO it! See James 1:22.
2.
He meditates on the law of the Lord.
To meditate means to ponder, to study, to chew on it. We are not to skim over the
scripture, reading one verse in the morning and then we are out the door to begin our
day. We don’t treat the scriptures lightly – or else we will get nothing out of it. Our study
of the Scriptures should include comparing similar verses of Scripture. The best
commentary on the Scripture is the Scripture! How often do we do this? This verse says
the blessed man meditates on scripture “day and night.” This is the Hebrew way of
saying constantly, habitually. One of the most effective ways to habitually meditate on
Scripture is to memorize scripture. David said, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart
that I might not sin against Thee.”(Psalm 119:11) I know of no other way to “treasure” the
Scripture in your heart but by memorizing it.
Thomas Watson in Saints Spiritual Delight said, “Meditation is the touchstone of a
Christian; it shows what metal he is made of. It is a spiritual index; the index shows what
is in the book, so meditation shows what is in the heart.”[Treasury of David, page 6]
ILLUSTRATION: To love and meditate on the word of God could be compared to physical
nourishment …
1. Take in food.
2. Retain the food.
3. Assimilate the food to be useful to the body.
4. Result: growth and strength of the body.
Just as you don’t eat just 1 or 2 meals a week, you cannot thrive on 1 or 2 spiritual meals a
week. You need spiritual nourishment every day.
C. What the Blessed Man is Like, verse 3
Notice that this is not a wild tree but a tree “firmly planted.” It is considered as property
belonging to someone, cultivated and secured. It is strongly planted and entrenched so as to
withstand stiff winds. It is planted by “streams of water.” Not just one stream but several
streams to provide nourishment. If one dries up another can keep the tree healthy.
APPLICATION: The Lord plants us, He establishes us and secures us in His word which
nourishes us.
Results…
(1) “Fruit in season” – it is a fruit bearing tree. Just as the tree is meant to bear fruit so is the
Christian to bear spiritual fruit. See John 15:1-8. If there is no fruit, it means something is
wrong. There is no such thing as a “no fruit” Christian! The Lord places us in a position
where we can be nourished and bear fruit.
(2) “Leaf does not wither” – if the foliage of the tree begins to fall off in the wrong season,
something is wrong. If the leaves are green and healthy, they hold the promise of fruit to
come. The leaves represent faith and obedience which converts the water of the word
into strength to produce fruit in the life.
(3) “He prospers” – this is not the outward prosperity of materialism (not that wealth is
wrong in itself) but the inward prosperity of the soul, to be successful in God’s eyes. God
will cause him to prosper. See Genesis 39:2-3. In 1 Samuel 18:5 it says that David
prospered. The word means to live wisely. For us, as NT believers, the blessed man sees
his success with the eye of faith as he becomes more like Jesus Christ.
APPLICATION: Our trials cause us to grow in Christ and bring forth fruit. God’s word keeps us
fresh in our inner and our outer life.
II. THE WICKED MAN IS A LIGHTWEIGHT, verses 4-6
Whatever is true of the godly man is not true of the wicked man. “The wicked are not so” in
verse 4 is an emphatic negative with an exclamation point. The ungodly man is without root
and without fruit. He is disobedient, living apart from the Lord and devoid of the freshness
and vitality of life.
“Chaff” – is the husk of the grain which is separated from the seed by winnowing. The chaff is
light, worthless and easily carried away by the wind. It is dead and unstable.
Verse 5 – The temporary prosperity of the wicked, which have no roots in God, will come to a
fearful end. They cannot stand in the judgment, that is, they will be found guilty.
Verse 6 – The righteous and the wicked are like two parallel lines which never meet and are
going in opposite directions.
The Lord “knows” the way of the righteous – means that the Lord approves of the way of the
righteous man. Matthew 7:21-23 is a frightening passage which ends with the Lord saying to
the wicked, “I never knew you”. Why? Because they had done “good” deeds but had
practiced lawlessness. See also 2 Timothy 2:19. In both of these passages the concept of
“know” does not mean “acquainted with” but to approve or disapprove. Thus, the wicked will
perish which means not only to die physically but to go into eternity separated from God.
The godly man is blessed and will prosper; the evil man will perish.
CONCLUSION
So, what happened to the young man in the arena? The princess signaled which door he should
choose; he went to that door and opened it. [TEACHERS – drag out the answer for dramatic effect!]
At this point in the short story the writer, Frank Stockton, poses the question to the reader: “Did the
tiger come out of the door or the lady?” The question is not answered! He leaves it up to the reader
to decide!
And, so is the decision left up to us as presented in Psalm 1. One door is godliness which leads to
blessedness and prosperity with the Lord. The other is selfishness, wickedness, misery and an eternity
in hell, apart from the Lord.
WHICH WILL YOU CHOOSE?