Finding Joy - Psalm 1/Romans 12:1-2
Psalm 1:1-2 V. 1. "Blessed" - how blessed, how happy is the man
The blessed man does NOT: Walk in the counsel of the wicked Does not take the advice, perspective, values of the wicked Stand in the way of sinners Is not influenced by the lifestyles of the wicked Sit in the seat of scoffers Does not descend to participating in godlessness and mocking the godly
The wicked descends. He grinds to a halt: walking, standing, sitting. Caught up in the wisdom of the world. There is all the difference in the world between a Christian view the world's view. We view God as real, a personal God, Creator of all, and good. We view people as created by God to bear his image, but corrupted by sin. We see sin as what's wrong with the world and the solution as Jesus Christ.
The world we live in is becoming more and more secularized. Religion is viewed more and more as passé.
In a couple of generations, we have seen the culture of our country turn from a belief that all people should live according to the teaching do the Scriptures to those who say that people should live according to the Scriptures are unacceptable.
V. 2. You expect it to say, he hangs with righteous people, certainly a place for that. The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord.
Delights, desires, finds pleasure in God's law or instruction. He delights in God's way, God's thoughts, God's values - NOT the world's.
You will delight in something. You will find delight and desire in something. As Christians, we must know that things and people can never fully satisfy us. To put them into the place of God as our delight, our treasure, is to make a good thing an idol. And finding direction from our culture is foolishness. We are perfectly useless as Christ-exalting Christians if all we do is conform to the world around us. And the key to not wasting our lives... Paul says, is being transformed. - John Piper
Romans 12:1-2 V. 1. Paul calls on believers in Rome to live their whole lives as an act of worship. We talked last week about where we can find lasting joy. Unquenchable joy is found in the presence of God - we encounter joy in worship
Do not be "conformed" to this world. To conform to a pattern. Be "transformed" by the renewing of your mind.
Transformed is used one time in the gospels, namely, about Jesus. “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2).
It means to change form - our word metamorphosis comes from it. We cannot conform to the pattern of the world, we must be transformed. That does not mean that we trade our old worldly behaviors for new ones. That’s included. But you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed.
The Christian alternative to immoral behaviors is not a list of moral behaviors. It is the triumphant power and transformation of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. So transformation is a profound, blood-bought, Spirit-wrought change from the inside out. - John Piper
"His delight is on the law of The Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."
Let me encourage you - here in corporate worship, and alone your home in quiet time, over meals with your family or friends; delight in his instruction, be thankful for his kindness, desire His presence.
Listen to the description of the man who follows the Lord - not perfectly, not 100% consistently, but day after day and year after year, following the Lord. Psalm 1:3