In what do you delight?

This is the first sermon in the Be Happy series. I preached this sermon July 5, 2009.

Text: Psalm 1

Introduction: In thinking about the death of self proclaimed King of Pop, Michael Jackson this week I’m sure we all have heard more than we wanted. But here was a person who was wealthy, one of the most famous people of our time. He had money, things, he had high profile friends, family, he had talent, notoriety. He was preparing to make his comeback tour. What else could he have wanted? But I can’t help but wonder if he was happy? In my opinion the Michael Jackson’s life was a tragedy. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to defend or accuse this man of anything. But I can’t help but think of Elvis Presley, a man of similar wealth and fame 6 weeks before he died, a reporter asked Elvis Presley, "Elvis, when you first started playing music, you said you wanted to be rich, famous and happy. Are you happy?" “I’m lonely as hell” He replied. Elvis was obviously not a happy man.
If somebody like Elvis was not happy, and likely Michael Jackson was not happy. Is there any hope for anybody to be happy?
Elvis, Michael Jackson, and perhaps most people, even Christian people make the same mistake. They continue to pursue happiness yet it remains just out of reach. One more dollar, one more album, one more movie, one more term, one more beer, one more hit, one more….you fill in the blank. Or maybe, I need a change, a different job, a different car, a different house, a different spouse, a different….But we all end up disappointed and keep pursuing the ever elusive happiness. Psalm 1 gives us the source of true happiness. We realize with this that God created us with a desire for happiness.Psalm 1 presents two paths to take, one leads to happiness, the other to despair. We will learn that you have a choice to make, in what is your delight? In what are you seeking happiness? You must make the right choice.

Dwell
To be happy, you must dwell closely with the Lord
1. There is digression away from God pictured in these verses, a digression that leads to sin and sorrow. First is to walk – it means refusing the values of the godless (today’s secular values). To walk indicates a series of steps that the ungodly person takes in life, decisions he makes.
2. Stand – stop walking and stand. The lure of the crowd to sinfulness. To stand pictures the commitments a person makes.
3. Sit – walked, stopped and stood, and now you sit, sitting in fellowship with those that are enemies of God. (1 Cor 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. – Bad company corrupts good character). To sit represents the attitudes of the heart.
4. Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk away from God, who doesn’t go further and further into the strongholds of sin. The beginning of this verse “Blessed” Hebrew meaning happy – and it is doubled to emphasize happiness. Happy, Happy is the man who life is centered on God. IE – you can’t describe the intensity of the happiness.
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Ps 84:4-5 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee, Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Ps 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
Ps 119:1-2 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 2: Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Delight
To be happy, you must delight in the Lord
1. Delight in God
-Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Psalm 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
Psalm 119:24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
Psalm 119:35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
Psalm 119:47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
2. Meditate on His Word – the joy of reading and thinking on the word of God.
-2 Tim 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
3. Like a tree – drawing nourishment from God’s word. Stability and fruitfulness produced (fruit of joy).
-leaf not whither – lasting, eternal results.
4. Prosper – happiness, a spiritually rich life.
Josh 1:8-9 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 9: Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Devote
To be happy, you must devote yourself to God’s way
1. Vs 4 – contrasts the ungodly with those who are devoted to the ways of the Lord. Are the ungodly blessed? No, are the ungodly happy? No, are the ungodly successful? No, and the ungodly fruitful? No. While the righteous are like the tree that does not whither, the ungodly are like the chaff when that the wind blows away – grain crushed and tossed in the air, the wind blows away the chaff, the chaff gathered and burned. (The wind of circumstances). Chaff is of no value, the wicked are empty, shallow and all they do is futile.
2. Vs 5 – A judgment is coming for the godless Rev 20:11-15 11: And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13: And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14: And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
-Those without Christ will be justly condemned for their sin, and eternally punished in hell.
-will have no fellowship with the saints of God.
3. Vs 6 – Knows the way of the righteous – indicates a personal relationship.