One of the gifts of funerals and memorial services is that they give us a chance to think about life in light of the fact of death. We don’t often do this. Usually we’re too distracted or entertained to think about death until it’s upon us, and we forget the reality of our mortality.
Often the best way to mark the significance of a death is to remember the significance of life. Death matters so much because life matters so much.
The way we live our lives matters, and the paths we take have consequences. According to Psalm 1, there are two ways of living: 1) the way of the righteous and 2) the way of the wicked. And as we read it, we’ll see what the righteous do, don’t do and what the wicked are like.
What Do Righteous People Not Do?
First, what are some things that righteous people don’t do? They don’t live the way wicked people live. In other words, they’re not swayed by peer pressure or progressively influenced by the wicked. As verse 1 says:
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 …
Righteous people don’t live by the advice of the morally corrupt. They don’t follow them on social media for insight on how to live properly or read their self-help books for wisdom on making good decisions. Righteous people also don’t adopt “the way of sinners” or emulate scoffers: those who take God and the things of God lightly. The righteous do not identify themselves as people like that.
At first, this language might sound harsh. But the Bible is clear – there is right and there is wrong. Righteous people don’t live like wicked people, yet they can still love them. They can love without adopting the lifestyle, without taking advice, emulating or identifying with them.
The alternative to walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of scoffers is not to scream at them or wage war. Instead, it’s to be unswayed by their influence because we are enthralled by a better influence.
What Do the Righteous Do?
So we know what the righteous don’t do. Now, what do they do?
… but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
– v. 2
The law here doesn’t just refer to God’s commandments – it includes all the truths, promises and warnings. Righteous people enjoy this. They love pouring over the Bible and constantly mulling it over.
Living this way has an effect. It makes you become “like a tree planted by streams of water” (v. 3a) with your roots buried deep in the rich soil. You produce good things at the right time (v. 3b) and are resilient (v. 3c). For the person who delights in God’s law, “in all that he does, he prospers” (v. 3d).
What Are the Wicked Like?
At this point, Psalm 1 turns toward the wicked. It says in verse 4:
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Unlike righteous people who are securely fastened to the source of life, wicked people are rootless. Unlike righteous people who produce good things, wicked people are barren. Where the righteous are resilient, the wicked wither. Where the righteous are prosperous, the wicked fail.
As you read this, you might be thinking, “Wait a minute! I know plenty of seemingly righteous Christians who aren’t doing so great. And I know non-Christians who are doing awesome.”
It’s important to remember that the Bible doesn’t mean health and wealth when it mentions prosperity. Biblical prosperity refers to something more specific: growth in Christ-likeness and a growing experience of God’s love through Christ (Romans 8). That’s the fruitful tree life that Psalm 1 is talking about.
So people might have a nice house, but have they received the unconditional, merciful love of God that He poured out through Christ? Are they inundated with God’s love so much that it spills out toward others? Non-Christians may have physical health, but do they have supernatural joy that runs deeper than circumstances? They may have the American Dream, but do they have peace? They may live a life of ease, but do they have self-control?
These fruits are laid out in Galatians 5, and that’s where we should automatically go when the Bible mentions fruit. This is what righteous people can expect to develop.
The Good News of Jesus Christ
The fruit that we produce as Christians holds up in spite of death. It holds up in light of the fates laid out in verses 5-6:
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
The bad news is that no one is righteous. If we’re all brutally honest with ourselves, we’re all wicked. All of us are sinners and scoffers. None of us delight in God’s Word and meditate on it the way we should. None of us are like trees and many of us feel withered. We’re all sort of like chaff, and none of us will stand in the judgment by our own merits.
But there’s good news! Jesus Christ didn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. He took the judgment that was meant for wicked people like all of us and secured a place for us in the congregation of the righteous. He died so that we could get on the right path and be transformed from chaff into trees.
Through Jesus, we’re give new hearts – hearts that can delight in God’s Word. We might be able to read the Bible on our own, but we can’t really enjoy it. With our new hearts, though, we’re actually able to fall in love with Scripture.
How to Respond to Psalm 1
How do we respond to what we’ve seen in Psalm 1? Here are three ways:
- Repent. Whenever we’re confronted with God’s Word, we should repent. Ask yourself, “Is there wickedness in me? Have I been walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners or sitting in the seat of scoffers?” Step 1 is to turn away from all that.
- Receive. We have to constantly receive the gospel because we’ll just forget it. Receiving the gospel enables us to read Scripture like Psalm 1 and remember what’s true about us.
- Renew. Let’s renew our commitment to the distinct way of life that Jesus made possible. Let’s be unswayed by the world, delighting in God’s Word, planted, nourished, fruitful, resilient and prosperous in the right way.
Life is temporary. We want to live the best way we can, and Jesus has made it possible for us.
Discussion Starters
- What do righteous people not do?
- How do righteous people live?
- What are the wicked like?
- What is the good news of Christianity?
- How will you respond to Psalm 1?
