This is continuation of the story “Ohio-san and Dorucas” but
it is not about Ohio Kumiko-san. In the
“Ohio-san” story, Hiroko discussed about what it means of “Blessing.”
This is the Pastor John Carlini, D.Mn, Pastor of the Devon Church
Hiroko attending
Dr. Carlini was preaching from his pulpit.
Now, the Pastor preached about the “Blessed”. The title of the Pastor’s preaching is “If
You Want to be Happy for the Rest of Your Life” from Psalm 1.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous.
6For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to
destruction.“
His entire preaching message could not be quoted, but here
the subtitle “Bless” from verse 3, and “Blessed Life” from verse 4 are quoted. They are still long. Please read patiently.
You can read Pastor Carlinini’s whole sermon at the
www.DevonChrch.org
“Verses 3-4 talk about how those who
follow God enjoy happiness in this life.
THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN
LIFESTYLE BETWEEN THE WICKED AND THE RIGHTEOUS.
Strophe 2 is going to resemble the pattern of Strophe 1. Verse 3 is written in "Advancing
Parallelism." Verse 4 will find
itself in "Opposing Parallelism when put together with verse 3. In the last section, blessed had to do with
knowing God and gaining wisdom. Blessed
has to do with the happiness we find in this life. In other words, if we are speaking in general
terms, people who try to live godly lives will find this sacred happiness.
Verse 3 describes the blessed life. There is a lot of symbolism in this
verse. First of all, those who delight
in the Lord will be like a tree that is transplanted by streams of water. Our text says that the tree is planted but
Mitchell Dahood along with other scholars say that it is better translated as
transplanted. Keep in mind that God took
the Hebrew nation from their slavery in Egypt and transplanted them to the
territory of Israel. Later in their
history, God took them from the captivity in Babylon and transplanted them back
in the land of Israel. Let's apply this
to our lives. Before we became
Christians, we were living in captivity to Satan in this world. When we gave our lives to Christ in faith,
Jesus transplanted us into the Kingdom of God.
God does not just plant trees
anywhere. He plants His children by
streams of water. Trees by water do well
as they put their roots deep into the moist, rich soil. Three rivers ran through the Garden of
Eden. Jesus talked a lot about living
water. Water is a sign of life. I had an archaeology professor that used to
like to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, it took three things to build a
successful city in the ancient world; water, water, and more water."
Let's examine this concept of
water. As Moses led Israel towards the
Promised Land, the Israelites were low on water and started to argue with Moses
and even accuse God of not taking care of them.
They started to threaten Moses.
Listen to how they acted:
"2So they
quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do
you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” 3But
the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They
said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and
livestock die of thirst?” 4Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What
am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The
Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the
elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the
Nile, and go. 6I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.
Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So
Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel" (Exodus 17:2-6 / TNIV).
Later in Israel's history, the
nation started to reject God again.
Listen to what God told the prophet Jeremiah:
"13My people have
committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have
dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2:13 / TNIV).
Jesus also focused on this theme
of living water:
"37On
the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud
voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38Whoever
believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from
within them'" (John 7:37-38 /
TNIV).
Even in heaven, living water will
occupy a central place:
"17For
the Lamb at the center before the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead
them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes" (Revelation 7:17 / TNIV).
God will plant us by streams of
living water. We will produce fruit and
our leaves will never wither or look sick.
The poet then sums the thought up with this phrase in describing those
who delight in God's laws, "whatever they do prospers." The fruit we will produce is described by the
Apostle Paul are; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness,
and self-control. Jesus also talked
about us as branches, connected to Him and producing good fruit. In the metaphor Jesus used, He is the tree
and we are the branches that produce this beautiful and tasty fruit.
A tree is considered successful
and healthy if it produces the fruit it was meant to produce. We are considered successful and healthy as
the fruit of the Holy Spirit manifests itself in us as we live everyday life;
no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. The picture of this tree is that it is
sturdy, fruitful, and strong. The poet
then goes on to contrast this type of sturdy picture with chaff. He describes an unhappy life in verse 4. The description given here applies to the
wicked, sinners, and mockers described back in verse 1. They are described as chaff. When wheat is harvested, it comes in
stalks. The grain is inside and covered
with a straw like husk that covered the grain.
It was very flimsy and like dried grass.
It was very light. In order to
separate the gain from the chaff, the farmer would take a shovel full and throw
it in the air. The grain would fall to
the ground but the wind would blow the chaff away. Often the chaff was simply burned. Since it was so dry and light, it would burn
up in an instant. It would burn in a
flash. The Bible often compares the
wicked to chaff. First of all chaff is
useless and secondly it has no substance.
It burns up and disappears and it has so little substance a mild wind
can blow it away.
The Psalms will make this point
over and over again. Wicked people make
look strong and powerful. In fact, they
may have the upper hand and be successful to the world's standards. However they have no substance; and when God
simply breathes on them, they will disappear.
Here are two examples of this principle.
The first is taken from the life of King Nebuchadnezzar:
"29Twelve
months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of
Babylon, 30he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I
have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my
majesty?” 31Even as the words were on his lips, a
voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar:
Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32You
will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will
eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge
that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms on earth and gives them to
anyone he wishes.” 33Immediately what had been said
about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate
grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair
grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird"
(Daniel 4:29-33 / TNIV).
The second comes from the life of
King Herod in the New Testament:
"21On
the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and
delivered a public address to the people. 22They
shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a mere mortal.” 23Immediately,
because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down,
and he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:21-23 / TNIV).
The point of this is that strength for
living comes from God and God alone.
Throughout the Psalms, God's children will find themselves being
persecuted and suffering. The only thing
that keeps them going is staying connected to God. The nature of being human is that we are all
under the curse of sin. We will all face
sickness and death, good times and bad times, and we will all suffer. Unbelievers don't have anything to sustain
them. Believers on the other hand have a
source of deep inner strength. God lives
in believers. When we gave our lives to
Jesus in faith, God the Holy Spirit entered our bodies and now lives in
us. We have the Holy Spirit to
strengthen, sustain, and empower us. We
cannot stand the storms of life alone; but with the power of God's Holy Spirit,
we can endure anything. The Apostle Paul
summarized this concept like this: "35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans
8:35-39 / TNIV). ”
Thank you for reading this long blog. What do you think about “Blessed” one?
