Psalm 1-2
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
A video of this online-only sermon may be viewed by clicking on the following link: “Introduction to the Psalms: Prayer Book of the Bible” Pt. 2.
An audio-only recording of the in-person worship service may be listened to by clicking on the following link: “Introduction to the Psalms: Prayer Book of the Bible” Pt. 2
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
(Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.)
(Note: I received much of the Psalms-specific information shared in this sermon during an intensive Psalms Learning Retreat led by Dr. Jody Owens. I am grateful for the insights and facts he taught me regarding Psalms. BWN)
Psalm 1: 1Blessed 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.
Psalm 2 1Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Prayer
“[The Psalms] are full of power and passion, horrendous misery and unrestrained jubilation, tender sensitivity and powerful hope. Anyone at all whose heart is open to new dimensions of human experience… anyone who wants a window into the bright lights and dark corners of the human soul, anyone open to the beautiful expression of a larger vision of reality should react to these poems like someone who hasn’t had a good meal for a week or two.” --N.T. Wright, The Case for the Psalms
• Our little grandson Will’s quote of Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of America.” (Ashley posted that he’s gotten it correct every other time.)
• That’s funny when a little child accidentally says that. Unfortunately, there are many professing Christians who may not say that but in practice put country above God and His kingdom.
Memorization of Scripture. We don’t do that much anymore, especially as adults. (Let’s try memorizing Psalm 23; 1; 121; 8, 19, 32, 70. Anyone willing to start a Scripture memorization club?)
• As we learned last Sunday, Psalms, all 150 chapters of them, were written for the purpose of memorization!
Review: Gordon Wenham in Psalms of the Torah, identifies four ways the psalms functioned.
• Written as a sacred text with the intention of being memorized.
• The genre (category/style) of Psalms facilitates memorization. (Jesus quoted Psalms 11 times, more than any other OT book.)
• The purpose of memorizing Scripture was to pass on the values of the culture. (Still should be.)
• The Psalms are prayed ethics that place a unique claim on the one praying.
• Throughout the centuries, one of the ways the church has helped the body of Christ memorize many of the Psalms is by including them for recital or by singing during the Lord’s Day worship service or liturgy on a regular or even weekly basis. (Most Christian churches and other evangelical churches are not known for this practice.)
• That may be a shame when you consider the words of Gordon Fee:
• “The psalms, like no other literature, lift us to a position where we can commune with God, capturing a sense of the greatness of his kingdom and a sense of what living with him for eternity will be like.”― Gordon Fee (via https://www.leadershipresources.org/blog/quotes-about-the-book-of-psalms/)
• Remember that repetition of truth gets in our hearts and minds to call upon in our greatest hours of need.
• I remember doing prayer walks throughout Owensville during the early days of lock down. As I prayed for homes as I walked passed houses or stopped to pray with people out walking or sitting on their porches, there was a verse from Psalms—a prayer—that kept coming to my mind that I lifted to God numerous times:
• Psalm 90:12: So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. (NASB)
• In other words, “Help us make these days count for you, Lord! Grant us wisdom in this! Help us minister to one another effectively during this time!”
• (We need a fresh wind and fire in us to look after one another! Let’s hold onto what matters and let go of what does not! My fear is that we’re already forgetting some of what God was teaching us at the beginning of C-19.)
Greek OT (Septuagint) Title = Psalms (means “instrumental music”)
OT Hebrew Title for Book of Psalms = Praises
Three sections/dimensions (Tanak) of the Hebrew Bible:
• Law (Torah)
• Prophets (Nevihim)
• Writings (Ketuvim)
Three Sections of the Writings:
• Psalms, Proverbs, Job (Trilogy)
• Five Scrolls: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther
• Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (one book), Chronicles
• Psalms introduces this section.
How do Psalms, Proverbs, & Job relate to one another according to Dr. Jody Owens?
• Proverbs: “Here are guidelines for life. Follow them, and your life will be long and happy.”
• Job: “I did, and it isn’t!”
• Psalms: “So let’s pray about this honestly as we wrestle with God.” (Dr. Jody Owens)
“Psalms, Proverbs, and Job work together to provide a way to make sense of human experience and provide a balanced understanding of the blessed life.’—Jody Owens
• Psalms was written by many different authors in various places and times. A scribe (the “Librarian”) or set of scribes collected and arranged these 150 psalms we have in our Bibles.
The arrangement we find in the Hebrew Bible was in place by between 500-200 BC.
• Walter Brueggemann: Psalms may be divided into three categories:
• Psalms of Orientation (All is well and as it should be. Life is good!)
• Psalms of Disorientation (All is not well or as it should be. God, why won’t you do something? Nevertheless, I will trust in You
• Psalms of New Orientation (Just when I thought there was no hope, God brought me to a new, unexpected place spiritually and all is well again!)
Book of Psalms is a collection of collections: 5 books in Psalms
• Book One: 1-41 (Ending: Blessed be the Lord.)
• Book Two: 42-72 (Ending: Blessed be the Lord.)
• Book Three: 73-89 (Ending: Blessed be the Lord.)
• Book Four: 90-106 (Ending: Blessed be the Lord.)
• Book Five: 107-150 (146-150 are doxologies/praises)
• So, Psalms is arranged into five smaller books, each ending with a doxology or benediction.
Example: Blessed be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen. (Psalm 41:13; ESV)--Doxology
The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. (Psalm72:20; ESV)--Concluding note
Think about this:
• 5 books of psalms
• Book 5 ends with 5 psalms (146-150) of doxology (Praise the Lord).
• 5 books of the Law (Torah) (Genesis-Deuteronomy)
• Scribes arranged the prayers in the Psalms to mirror the 5 books of the Law (Torah)!
Superscriptions and Attributions (Example: Psalm 3: “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.”)
• 116 Psalms have titles that begin a psalm.
• Over 1/3 of the superscriptions appear to be musical directions, or references to types of musical composition
• Attributions “attribute” the psalm to an individual (Asaph 12, the Sons of Korah 11, Solomon 2, David 73)
What could the phrase “of David” mean?
• A claim to authorship – a Psalm that David wrote.
• It could also mean the Psalm was composed by someone else for David.
• It could also mean “about David.”
• 13 superscriptions connect the psalm to historical incidents in the king's life.
Most psalms in Book 1 have a superscription attributing the psalm to David but …
Psalm 1 and 2 have no superscription and stand apart as introduction to the whole Psalter.
Psalm 1:1 & 2:12 = Enclosure or bracketing = Blessed
• 1:1: Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…
• 2:12: …Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Last line of Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 repeat the words: “way” & “perish”
1:6: for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
2:12: Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way…
This tail linkage connects the ends of the two psalms.
Psalms serves as guide to the “blessed life”.
• The blessed man delights in the “law of the Lord.” (Law= 5 Books of Moses= Pentatuch)
Psalm 1:1-2: 1Blessed 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. (ESV)
The purpose of the Psalms is to model a way of interacting with God and praying to God that leads to a blessed and holy life.
• “In the psalms, we have a collection of 150 prayers that were inspired originally by the Holy Ghost. If you want to know how God is pleased and honored in prayer, why not immerse yourself in the prayers that he himself has inspired?”―R.C. Sproul (via https://www.leadershipresources.org/blog/quotes-about-the-book-of-psalms/)
But what about Psalm 2? We’ll consider it more closely next Lord’s Day, Lord willing. But for now, read along with me:
2: 1:Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (ESV)
• Paul and Barnabas in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia on the Sabbath. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, Paul began to preach. He came to this part:
• Acts 13:29-33: 29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’ (ESV)
• In communion we’re reminded that Jesus is our refuge. In Him and by Him we are blessed with life, adoption, given a new identity, given God’s promises and power to live a godly life.
• In communion we are reminded that it is to Jesus we’ve given our allegiance.
The Lord’s Supper
Luke 22: 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,
“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
• The body of Christ given for us.
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
• The blood of Christ poured out for us.
• Prayer
At this time of reflection and celebration, pray for yourself and your brothers and sisters in Christ to be faithful in keeping the New Covenant.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
King Jesus has died. King Jesus has risen. And King Jesus will come again!