The Fruitful Tree

The Old Testament contains 5 Books which are called the "Wisdom Literature" and guide us in the ways of relating to God and the world wisely. These books are:

Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs

Each book offers a different and unique insight into what it means to walk in the world as one of God's people. The books also interrelate with one another and supplement one another, helping to form a reader that has a well-versed understanding of who God is, who they are, how the world works, and how one must live.

In the interrelation, Psalm 1 essentially capitalizes on the basic underlying teaching of the Proverbs, which is this:

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Psalm 1 lays out a path for what it looks like to be a wise person in this world. Let's dig into the text:

Psalm 1
Book One

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.

First, we see that there are a few things that a person who is not blessed (happy) would do.

1. Walking in the counsel of the wicked. 

There is severe danger in walking in the counsel of the wicked.

In our smartphone era, we are constantly exposed to media, content, thought leaders, and self-proclaimed guides. How will we discern these? What is their counsel?

A wicked person will walk in the counsel of the wicked, being informed by only those who he agrees with, and pursuing wicked paths in their steps. Our media intake shapes us far more than we like to imagine. We have to ask ourselves, when it comes to those we esteem, are they offering wise counsel?

The wise person will not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

2. Standing in the way of sinners. 

There is severe danger in standing in the way of sinners. We've all heard the classic, "If so-and-so told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" In the Scriptures, we are commanded to imitate the fruitful lives of our leaders, and to consider the way of life of mature believers when we number our steps.

The wicked person will gladly live in the ways of other wicked people, and follow the course of this world. Will we do the same?

The wise person will not live like sinners do.

3. Sitting in the seat of scoffers. 

There is severe danger in sitting in the seat of scoffers. It feels very good to look down on others with contempt. For example, this is what we do when we gossip. When we gossip, we are simply saying that we are better than the person we are talking about. Scoffers look down on others. We all have this tendency, we all have that inner Statler & Waldorf.

The wise person will not join the scoffers in their seats.

What will the wise person do?

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.

In contrast to the wicked, the wise person delights in the commands and precepts of the LORD.
The wise person meditates on God's words day and night.

The false and wicked path is the way of walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of scoffers.

The righteous path is the way of delighting in God's word, and meditating on it day and night. Living in delight and sitting under the Scriptures leads us to spend time with God's Word in intentional ways. God's Word becomes central to our lives.

The result of walking hard down the path of delighting in God's Word leads to incredible results.

We become like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season, with a leaf that does not wither. In all that we do, we are prosperous.

Why?

Because we are building our lives on the faithful and trustworthy Word of God, instead of our own words or the words of fallen and sinful human beings. As Edmund Clowney writes, "The Word is the sword of the Spirit to correct us, and the bread of the Spirit to feed us." - The Church, p. 199 (Contours of Christian Theology Series).

The wise person will delight in God's Word, and spend day and night meditating on the commands, precepts, and ways of the LORD. By God's empowering grace, this will become the prayer of our hearts when it comes to spending time with the Scriptures:

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name. 

God's way is the way of wisdom, and our way without God's help is the way of the wicked. We need God's intervention and God's equipping grace to empower us to desire His Word.

How is this righteous way made available to us? In Christ. 

Jesus is this blessed man.
Jesus didn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, his counsel was the Scriptures.
Jesus never stood in the way of sinners, living like them.
Jesus never sat in the seat of scoffers, he never shows contempt to anyone or looks down on another.
Jesus' delight was in the law of the LORD.
Jesus meditated on God's law day and night, building his whole life on it.

Jesus is the tree planted by streams of water.
Jesus yields his fruit in season, and Jesus' leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, Jesus prospers.

The wicked are not like Jesus, they will be blown and driven away by the wind.
The wicked will not stand in God's judgment, and sinners will not be amongst the righteous in God's pure congregation.

God knows the way of the righteous, for He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus has made the way of the righteous available to us, by his atoning death and resurrection life.
God has sent the Holy Spirit to believers to empower us to doggedly pursue God in His Word and to walk in the way of the righteous. God knows the way, Jesus is the way, and the Spirit keeps us walking on the way.

But, the way of the wicked will come to an end, forever.

Jesus took our wickedness upon himself on the cross, paying the penalty for our sin. In Jesus' atoning death, he became the sacrifice we need for our sin. Jesus rose from the dead, reconciling us to God, and sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts that we might now be justified (right, accepted) and adopted (intimately related, newly created) into God's family forever.

Therefore, we get to choose to delight in God's Word. We get these Gospel Get-Tos:

We get to meditate on God's Word day and night, filling our brains with it.
We get to journal and steep in God's Word for us.
We get to gather in corporate worship and sit under the teaching of God's Word.
We get to be corrected by the mirror of God's Word, honed by the sword of the Spirit.
We get to be fed, nurtured, and nourished to a life of good works pleasing to God by God's Word.
We get to memorize God's word, making it central to our lives.
We get to build in disciplines and time for God's Word into our schedules, because it becomes oxygen for our lungs in this world.

and so much more!

Moreover, we get to have the longing of our souls, what every sinew, every cell, every atom in the universe cries out for is in God's Word, because we meet God in His word. 

Therefore, Jesus says these words:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another." - John 15

The truly wise have been made clean by Jesus' words. 

The truly wise will bear fruit by abiding in Jesus' words, apart from Jesus we can do nothing. 

If we do not abide in the words of Jesus we will be like dry branches, not fruitful, but withering. 

God is glorified by disciples that bear much fruit, and the disciples that bear much fruit become like the blessed man of Psalm 1. How can you delight in God's Word?

May Jesus prune us and make us fruitful, plant us by streams of water, and let our leaf never wither. May we prosper in wall that we do, for God's glory, in Jesus' name!