All right, this morning we are going to be in Psalm chapter 1.
Looking at as coal, describe the practice that spiritual
discipline of scripture. So Psalm chapter one, We need
like a cup holder right there. All right, so Psalm chapter one.
I love brisket. I really do you folks here know,
I do love me some barbecue beef, rib.
I don't it's not that. I don't like, I'm just in
different and not real excited and kind of scoff at a ham
sandwich. Right.
I think about a ham sandwich like my typical ham sandwich
that I eat is going to be like that cheap 98, Cent Walmart
bread. That's got no nutrition to it.
The mustard when it comes out it's going to spray a little bit
of that juice that comes before the mustard on the bread and
then the hand that we get because, you know, we're
Thrifty, my wife likes a good deal, it's the ham that comes
rectangular that has multi colors of ham in it, and a
little Thin layer of like slime on it.
You know what I'm talking about. And when you look at that, when
you look at that, when you look at that ham sandwich, you're not
looking at a going. Oh, I can't wait to eat that.
It's just, it's just fuel to get through your day, right?
It's just but when you think about brisket, Talking about
something different and the reason I'm talking about
sandwiches and food is not just to make everyone hungry and
really impatient for me to get done with the sermon, so we can
go eat. The reason I say this is because
some not some of us, I would say, the majority of us have a
tendency have a tendency to look at the scripture, more like a
ham sandwich. Then we do brisket, we tend to
see the Bible more as like a ham sandwich that we have to deal
with a ham sandwich that we would throw in the trash.
If anything better came along. And our lives, bear this out.
It's why it's why you? And I struggle to make the
discipline of reading the Bible, a reality, in our life.
It's why we struggle to spend time in the students why we
struggled to enjoy the Scripture?
It is, we use vaulted and lofty language about the Bible.
We talk about it, like it's brisket, don't we?
It's God's word, right? It's Fallible inerrant.
It is glorious. The Bible is everything in all
of its glory and yet despite our lofty language despite the
language that would we would use for something like brisket, we
end up treating it, and it ends up being in our life, something
like a ham sandwich. And for a moment, I want to just
take a minute and wrestle with that reality and just think
about why it is that we feel that way because there's good
Good reasons why we feel that way.
We're it's not it's not like that.
Just comes from nowhere. It's not like it just comes from
some malice against God makes sense.
It's a 2000 year old book written during the Bronze Age
with stories. That sound more like Marvel
movie plots than your day-to-day life.
It's weird. There are commands in it.
That makes zero sense. That even seem morally repugnant
there are rituals that are just plain disgusting and weird like
sprinkling blood all over the place.
There are names, we can't pronounce.
There are little, it's written in languages that are dead to a
people that no longer exists to a culture.
And in a culture that no longer is this, it's just foreign, it's
weird and it's really long, and in a lot of places, really
boring. So it's no wonder that we're
tempted to think it's like a ham sandwich than brisket.
It's no wonder that we talk about it.
Like it's honey on our lips but treat it and in our lives,
easily dismiss it and set it aside for a few more minutes of
sleep. Or for whatever next video pops
up on your feet and YouTube or Facebook or wherever you're at,
It's not surprising that we would do this.
Now it's not my desire here this morning.
I'm not my intention to stand up here and demean or devalue the
Bible to you. That's not what I want to do.
In fact, I want to do the opposite of that.
But I want to get to the heart of why it is that we struggle
with the discipline of scripture, when I get to the
heart of it and that requires us looking this demon in the eye
and contending with the reality that we do.
Not believe what we believe about the Bible.
That's pretty much what it is. We just don't believe what it is
that we believe about the by. We believe it's God's word, but
we just, we don't believe it. It and that if you read the
scripture carefully, you'll know that this is this is a common
theme throughout scripture. People believe things that they
don't really believe. This is why Paul in Ephesians
chapter 3, praise to the church that he just talks about as
being in Christ and the love of Christ, he prays that they would
know the love of Christ. Why would he pray that?
People who know the love of Christ, know the love of Christ.
Because they don't believe what they believe and that's that's
our situation here. We don't actually believe what
we Proclaim to believe about the Bible and so if that's the case,
it's not going to be helpful for me or anyone to stand up here to
give you some new strategy for reading the Bible.
Here's 12 steps for reading the Bible.
Well, this year, it's not going to help you to just get a course
on hermeneutics to be able to read the Bible better.
It's not going to help you for me to stand up here.
Shane you into it, either we have to get to what's at the
heart and what is in our hearts is that Our experience and our
interaction with the Bible seems far less impressive than the
words. We use to describe it and we
have to be able to manage that, and we need God's help.
We need God's help badly, to help us perceive that the bible
really is what we say about it and experience that to some
degree. So that we can be changed and be
helped in our pursuit of discipline ourselves with it.
So, that's my goal this morning, it's my goal.
I want to spend time. As we look at Psalm chapter 1.
I want to spend time. Trying to do this to help you
see maybe just one degree more in your life that the Bible is
brisket. It's not a ham sandwich and I
believe that if we can do that, if we can grow in our, in
believing what we believe about the Bible, that will make all
the difference for you in terms of your discipline and reading
the scripture, because here's the reality.
I will never get up at 3 a.m. to make a ham sandwich and look at
it and longed for it all day. But I will every day of the week
get up and trim a brisket at 2:00 in the morning and then
I'll smell the wood and I'll think about it all day and I'll
check the temp and I'll wrap it and butcher paper.
And then I'll do a little happy dance when it comes out of that
butcher paper. And I take the first bite, that
is how the Bible is experienced by David through the Psalms
that's how God wants us to experience it.
That's what is for us and I want us to get one step closer there
so someone will help it. So stand with me as we read
God's word. And hear what someone has to
say. 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.
But his Delight is in the law of the Lord.
And on his law, he meditates day and night He is like a tree
planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season
and it's Leaf does not Wither in all that he does.
He prospers the wicked are not so but are like chaff that the
wind drives away, 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 You could be seated in God's presence.
Let's pray and ask the Lord for help this morning as we think
through this. Lord, we ask now that the words
of my mouth would be used by you empowered, by your word and by
your spirit to cause our hearts to perceive all the riches, the
sweetness, and The Delectable nests of your word this morning.
We need your help in Jesus name. We ask this.
Amen. So Psalm 1, if you as you read
it with me teaches us that the scriptures brisket it's not a
ham sandwich. It teaches us that it's all we
have been salivating for throughout our whole lives and
my hope is that as we consider it, you'll come to believe is a
little bit more. Psalm 1 is a Hebrew poem, it's a
Hebrew poem. And as a poem, it's one of those
reasons we tend to see the Bible more as a ham sandwich because
it doesn't even rhyme. I mean, how many times have I
heard this complaint about the Bible?
It's got poetry. That doesn't even rhyme again.
It's because it's written by a very different culture with very
different ways of expressing things.
In this poem, in this, and in Hebrew poetry, in general, it's
right words. Don't rhyme.
It's not only because it was written in Hebrew, is also
because of the design of Hebrew poetry is not intended to do
that. Instead, what you find or weird
things that we don't see a lot, we don't use this word a lot,
it's called a parallelism. And here we have a triplet,
triplet triplet parallelism where Paul is comparing things
and mayor. Not Paul.
I said, Paul didn't I did not Paul.
I'm in New Testament too much. We see we see the writer of this
Psalm making comparisons and using repetition to make a
point. And in, in this Psalm, he's
making drawing a contrast drawing, a contrast between two
different kinds of people, he's setting up, a contrast of
dichotomy, two different lives, the blessed life, and the wicked
life, the blessed, man, the Blessed woman, and the Wicked
Man, The Wicked Woman. And we Find that the blessed and
the wicked have two different kinds of lives.
And so let's, let's let's see. This verse 1.
The very first line is blessed. Is the man, this is talking
about a blessed person. Could also be translated as
happy. Could also be translated as
joyful, this is the happy life. This is the joyful.
Like this is the blessed life, the blessed, man.
Filled up with satisfaction a person's settled in their own
skin. They're blessed.
Their life is good. Things are well with them and we
see the degree to, which it is in verse 3, that they are
flourishing in their life. This is a blessed person whose
life is marked by flourishing fruit and prosperity.
We see that. Clearly in verse 3, he is like a
tree strong rooted planted by streams of water.
Where there's plenty and provision and sustenance.
The that yields its fruit in its season it's productive.
It's Leaf, does not wither, it doesn't shrink up and shrivel
up. There's no winter and imagine
that no winter, no time, of not producing, it is healthy.
And all that he does he prospers.
This is amazing. This is this is the life we all
long for. This is the life we dream about
this is brisket, this is what we do.
Happy dance for this is what we long for we pursue this.
We all want this, and this is what Adam and Eve had in the
garden, in the beginning of the scriptures, prior to their
fallen sin. They had this productive life.
And what you see here is basically the image of a garden.
You basically see the Image of this identical Paradise here,
and this is what marks the person who the blessed person
this is what marks their life. The blessed man, not only lives
in Paradise, but he produces and brings that new create that
creation, the new creation to the world around him prospering
and bearing fruit. What simply could be better than
that. What could be better than that?
What kind of life could be? That it's so good.
It seems beyond reason and yet we see this contrast then in
verse 1 as well. It's no, not only talking about
the blessed man, but he talks about the wicked and you see
that comparison there. And here we see, one of those
Hebrew parallelisms where he describes the wicked in three
different ways. He does not walk in the counsel
of the wicked stand in the way of Sinners, nor sit in the seat
of scoffers and we see this parallelism, three.
Lines. That are basically saying the
same things with a little bit different wording to give nuance
and to give color to what he's talking about.
About the wicked and verse 4. He comes back to this and he
says the wicked are not so Wicked sinner scoffer, these
terms Sinner and scoffer kind of these terms kind of work.
Like, like nuancing different colors of what it means to be
Wicked. A sinner is someone who Rebels
against God Rebels against Authority, they twist, and
pervert truth, and then scoffer gives us a little bit different
color asked offered. We don't use that word very
often. It's not very Common word that
we use. But essentially what it means is
someone who turns their nose up at something with a little bit
of disgust, my wife and I were out having a drink with some
friends. And as we're sitting there in
this bar on the TV up behind us are behind.
The couple were sitting across from, I see a TV screen and a
press conference comes on and in this press conference my beloved
Cubs catcher. Willie.
Willie, Contreras is sitting there and he now has on a
cardinal shirt. He got traded, I didn't expect
it, I didn't, I did. I knew it happened.
And I grieved in my heart about it, but I wasn't prepared to see
it. And when I did, my wife will
tell you. I scoffed, I was like, ah, ah,
turn it off. Get it away.
I can't see it. That's coughing.
And what you've, what? And the silly illustration.
But the point is that someone who scoffs looks at something
with a degree of disgust, they look at something and they feel
an inner sense of And this describes the wicked person,
they not only rebel against God, the Intolerable against his
purposes but they find it gross, God's gross, his ways are gross.
I don't want anything to do with them and then Verses 4 through
6. Explain to us what that kind of
life. Looks like.
What it produces if the blessed person is basically in Paradise,
what does the wicked person's life look like it.
It's what would says there in verse 4.
There are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Which means essentially that their life is meaningless, it's
it's in vain, chaff is the little husk little husk, very
light husk that lives on the outside of a grain of wheat.
And when it is lying on the ground, a slightest Breeze, will
pick it up and carry it away, like it's nothing.
It's like a Mist. It's nothing.
It's light. And in, it's inconsequential and
it's what he says. The wicked's life is like it is
Inconsequential. It is vain, it's accomplishes
nothing productive. Unlike the blessed man.
But then he says in verse 5, he goes on and says they're not
going to stand in the Judgment. In other words, they may be
rebelling against God but they're going to be brought to
their knees. Nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. And here what you have is an
image of community people gathered together and they're
not going to be among them, they're going to be out in
darkness separated from Community isolated and alone.
And then verse 6 the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the
Way of the Wicked Will perish God doesn't know their way
because he's not been down their path.
They don't know, they aren't on the path.
That God knows and death creeps into their life death surrounds
them. That's what the that phrase.
The Way of the Wicked Will perish.
They're not among the congregation, they're sent out
of the garden, their life is not in Paradise, but it's outside of
the presence of God and isolation and alone.
And they disappear as if they're innocent nothing.
This is this, a nightmare. This is an absolute nightmare of
a scenario. And we've all known maybe have
been or even are this person. people in our Lives who we the
very common phrase that we use today, is someone who's toxic
The kind of person that scoffs at their friends and their
family, and it God, the kind of person that stirs up division.
The relationships are marked by quarreling.
The relationships are marked by retreating and isolation, and
they live in kind of Darkness alone and sad and feel and
experience the meaninglessness of this.
There's no Oh, there's it's not. It shouldn't be surprising to
us. That Jesus would describe hell
this way as outer darkness, and isolation and alone.
So, you have this picture. Then this contrast the blessed
man in Paradise. The Wicked, Man.
In a kind of hell. And you got this horrifying,
scary contrast. What we haven't touched on is
what leads to these two different outcomes?
What we what we haven't mentioned and you probably
already know by implication is how these two outcomes come to
be. And what's interesting is the
way this song describes it because it describes it as a
kind of attention that a person has in their life, what they
give their attention to Is what leads to these two very
different outcomes in their life to these two very different
kinds of experiences in the world two.
Very different kinds of attention.
We see that the blessed man does not give his attention to the
things and life and input of the wicked.
His attention is directed something somewhere.
Very different in verse 2. It tells us that his attention
is given to the law of God, which is another way of saying
the Bible the scripture. and when when the scripture here
gives us this idea of focusing, our attention I'm reminded just
to give us a the degree of attention that is being depicted
in this Lane, in this in this text is, is well, it can really
only be illustrated by my father again and I promise that my
sermons are not just going to be commentary on my father's
hunting experiences. It's not where I'm going.
But this just is too rich and too helpful to avoid and he's
not here to be embarrassed by this.
So, he'll have to listen and hear.
My father experienced this in his own life, he as is a deer
hunter, if you weren't here last week, he was in his deer stand
with his bow and he was using his bow to hunt deer during the
rut, which is basically time when deer mate and the Bucks.
The male deer get very interested in the females and
they're very, very upset when they hear another male deer and
their area and they want to fight them.
And so hunters will carry with them, what's called a grunt
call, which mimics the sound of a male deer.
So that they say other bucks will come in and fight one
another, and it gives them an opportunity to get a shot.
Well, my dad has his has his grunt call on his around his
neck. So he can have it at the ready
to use and he's using it. And he's telling me I called
this deer in forever. It came in from ever forever
away, it gets in front of him and as it doesn't, he's got his
bow drawn back. Focused attention.
So tight on this deer. He drops the grunt call from his
mouth and does not realize because his attention is
focused, the grunt call Falls over the string, and as he
releases the arrow, his whole body goes with it.
And the arrow goes down into the dirt.
Nearly comes out of the deer standing mrs.
The deer. Never has a shot, doesn't get
it. It's just a tall tale that he
tells everybody with great distress.
And I could just I just had this picture of my dad going through
all of this in the tree and it just makes me laugh.
But the point is in that story. And what we see here in the
scripture is that We give our attention to things that matter
to us. And we give very focused clear
attention to the things that matter to us.
We don't give very much attention to things like ham
sandwiches, which is why I don't throw the bread in the trash.
When that little juice comes out of the mustard bottle, I just
eat it and deal with it but brisket There's a lot of
attention their attention that would get caused me to fall out
of a tree if I'm not careful. Like my father and same with
deer hunters, they experience the same thing, attention
focused directs and shapes our life in a certain direction.
It shapes our life in ways that we can't imagine in here what we
see very clearly in verses 1 through 3.
Is that the blessed man has a different kind or different.
Aunt different point of focus with his attention.
Then does the Wicked Man his attention is given to the law of
God, the law those scriptures, he gives disciplined Focus
attention to what God has said rather than scoffing at it
turning his nose up at it and finding it, gross or
unpalatable, he Delights in it. Rather than rebelling against
it, he accepts it and conforms to it.
He stands with the law of God, look at, look at how he talks
about the way in which the blessed man does not engage with
the attention of the wicked. Notice the words, their walks
stands sits. You get the picture there of a
person's whole life, every posture available to them.
Our whole life is given attention and rather than
walking standing and sitting in the counsel of the wicked.
He is walking standing and sitting in the word of God in
God's law. And we know this, because of the
way, it's modified in verse two that he thinks about it, he
meditates upon it day and night. It dominates his attention at
2:00 in the morning, he wakes up and like me going after brisket,
he thinks About the law of God, he relishes and he does.
He finds in it? Something, sweet and glorious.
His attention is given to it full attention.
And he does this over time. He does this over time in his
life, takes shape because of it, and he becomes as it were a mini
version of the Garden of Eden, a new creation, a little outcrop
of Heaven on Earth is what comes he bears fruit?
He's filled with delight. He's filled with joy.
He's filled with happiness and this dominates his life.
So know this, know this, if you want a life of flourishing and
joy in Jesus, there's one way delighting yourself in God's
word meditating on it day and night disciplining yourself,
daily reading meditating upon devouring tasting consuming the
scripture as if it's brisket. But there's 33 implications that
I'm going to run through and I've got plenty of time to do
it. Yes.
Three things, three implications.
This has for us. This is great.
Sounds great. Let's meditate on the law of
God. We still feel like it's ham
sandwich. Set a lot of great things,
right? Oh man, it's gonna lead us to
Paradise. it's still feels like a sandwich.
What do we do with that? We need to know Jesus is the
blessed man in whom we find our blessedness.
Jesus is the blessed man of Psalm chapter 1 and we need to
hear that. All of us fail to give proper
attention to God's word as we are.
And we're too often encumbered by the death of our attention,
being diverted to things in this world.
We know it because we feel it because we the, I mean, the
Facebook algorithm or the Algorithms on like, they know
what we find to be brisket and it just it just sucks Us in,
right? And if it were up to you, if it
were up to me, we would never find flourishing and joy because
reality is our default mode. In our flesh, is to scoff at
God's word. Look at it like a ham sandwich.
And move on to what we think to be bigger and better things.
That's that's that's the reality of our lives.
So many of our lives, but there's good news.
There's good news here because we are not God does not leave us
in a hopeless condition where the Way of the Wicked would
Define us apart from God's grace that this likely would be our
end. All of us, but there's good
news. God has not left us in our
ignorance. He has sent his son Jesus.
Who delighted himself in the law of God?
Jesus practiced, the discipline of scripture, he studied it from
his youth, we know this from the gospels, Jesus engaged in Bible
study in his youth to the point where, as a kid, he was going
into the temple and debating, the leaders of the Jewish
Community, teaching them what to believe, and teach about the
Bible, he memorized it. We know that because, as he's
out doing battle with Even in the desert, which is like one of
the most epic chapters of the Bible, Jesus is literally
battling Satan in the desert, and he does it by quoting
scripture at him, because he memorized it, he knew it, he
debated the scripture, he taught the scripture, he used it to
bring healing to people raise people, from the dead deliver
them from demons. He used it when he was hanging
on the cross paying for our sin, he disciplined.
Himself in the scripture and he didn't just discipline himself
in it. He spent time meditating on it
and chewing on it and savoring it.
Like it was brisket in his mouth like honey on his lips He used
it to say, he used the scripture to save us from sin.
And he is the Fulfillment of this.
He is the blessed man and we know this because Jesus rises
from the dead as new creation. And from him comes the fruit of
Salvation that we all get to walk in New Life.
New Hope New Hope. Flourishing forever flows from
him. He is the man of Psalm 1.
Psalm 1 is Jesus, which is Hopeful for us because what that
means is we don't have to approach someone as if it
depends upon us to realize the hope of it.
We don't have to take that world upon our shoulders because if we
did, we just fail and what's so helpful theater and help me with
this, this last week. Luke 24:44 this passage in Luke
chapter 24. I've always known that Jesus is
the Fulfillment of the Old Testament and the Fulfillment of
the Psalms. But I always just miss this
little nugget in Luke 24, verse 44, is it up on the screen?
Look you here. These are My words that I spoke
to you while I was still with you, this is Jesus talking that
everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets.
And what the Psalms are fulfilled, Jesus fulfilled this
for us and he wants you to know that you might feel discouraged
that you would not be the blessed man in this text and
you're right. You're not on your own.
But there's glorious news. Jesus is and he invites, you
into his flourishing with him. To transform you and change.
You and bring new life and New Creation out of you.
As you come to him, your Delight in God's law, then is a
delighting in Jesus, and finding your hope, and your flourishing
in your happiness and him. Not as the means to your own
self attained joy. And rather than this relieving,
you of the discipline of God's word, it frees you to engage it
knowing that your flourishing is already guaranteed and that it's
already one for you in Jesus. So you never have to fear being
caught up with the wicked. So, you can Feast freely and
glut yourself on God's word without fear here.
Psalm one should not stand over you as a Christian as some angry
schoolmarm threatening you, it's calling you to joy in Jesus.
Which is amazing. The second implication is this
that it is good and it is right to pursue the Bible as a means
to pursue a life of flourishing. It's good.
And it's right to be motivated by wanting to flourish by coming
to the scriptures. Why read the Bible?
You might ask. One answer because it's your
duty. Sure it is.
It's not just that. There's more than that, God
created you for the purpose of delighting in him.
He created you for the purpose of enjoying him, he created you
so that you would flourish. And what this means is that you
can, and you should have a motive behind reading your
Bible, you can, and you should have a motive for doing that
when I cook brisket, I don't cook brisket just so that
there's food on the table. I do it because I look forward
to that little happy dance. When I take the first bite, And
God wants you to do that. When you read the Bible, it is
not just something God says to do just do it and shut up and do
it. He does it because he wants to
bring joy and flourishing in your life and you can accept
that as a legitimate real motive in some Christians, have a very
hard time with that. They think they need to have
some, some lack of self-interest when reading the scriptures are
obeying God and God never in the Bible just says do it and
doesn't give you some kind of self-interested motive.
It's some weird actually. It's from Emanuel cotton.
Anyway, we won't go into all that you don't care about the
flaws. Philosophical history of it.
But there's a reason why we westerners don't want to think.
We want to think that we can't have self-interest when we
pursued obedience to God and it's not biblical.
It's a secular philosophy that has infected the mind of the
church that's really harmed us. And what you need to know is
that God designed you to have a self-interested motive in
obeying him and engaging him and it's your joy in him.
The two are not different things, they're not separate
realities. He's as if your joy in him was
somehow fight against his glory for himself there.
One reality, they can be one married reality, and what God
wants you to do. When you see the scripture is to
look at it and say, oh I get a happy dance with that, I that's
honey on my lips and that brings him more Glory than if you just
merely obey him because well that's just what you got to do.
John Piper says, it better than me.
But that's that's that's what it is.
So do you want to be happy? Do you want to flourish then
make reading the Bible, a discipline in your life?
Jesus doesn't just say pick up your cross and follow me.
He says, do you want to live then?
Pick up your cross and follow me.
Do you want Paradise then? Pick up your cross and follow
me. That's why the covenants are
filled filled with blessings. If you obey them, it's why God
is constantly putting his drug before.
And it's also how Jesus obeyed God, when Jesus is on the cross.
He's not merely saying, well, this is just what God does. he's
saying, no, there's joy out in front of me that I'm going to
pursue and so in Hebrews 12:2, God wants you, he demands that.
You come to him, finding joy and Paradise in him.
And so engaging, the scriptures is not just a duty for you to do
engaging, the scriptures here as verse 2 says, is a delight It's
a delight. There is a brisket kind of.
Happy dance in it. Then last.
And I think this is, I hope this is helpful for someone this
morning. This is a process.
It is not something that happens in a moment in a person's life.
Look there at verse 20 verse 3. He's like a tree planted by
streams of water. My wife and I, we planted a tree
and our yard a few years ago, that's things still is not
throwing shade in my yard. We gotta wait years for that to
happen and it's irritating frustrating and there's a little
bit of anxiety when is it going to happen and is this winter
going to be the one that kills it off, right?
But it grows a little bit, just not enough for me to feel
satisfied with it. No, this this is how God is
shaping you in his word when you come to it and you're like, what
the heck, am I reading? What are all these silly names
in these long genealogies? What in the world is up with
Paul saying in 1st Corinthians chapter 9, that threshing out
the grain? The doloxan threshing out.
The grain is being allowed to thresh the grain.
While he does his work is the reason why pastors should be
paid. And that's what Moses really
meant when he wrote that law. I've been studying the scripture
for 20 years, more than that and that is the craziest thing I've
ever heard. Where did Paul come up with that
idea? I can make no logical sense of
that, it frustrates. It's me and I'm like, Paul what
are you doing? I can't.
I don't I don't know how to deal with it or when you read read
some of the Psalms imprecatory Psalms, where they're calling
for the destruction of enemies or you just read Joshua and
you're like whoa there's a lot of blood there are you just look
at the Tabernacle and God's please with blood being spilled
it? Like these things are hard.
And God puts us in a situation where we don't find all of the
glory at one moment. There's a process.
We're like little trees. That frustratingly.
Grow small little bits over time.
And so if you're struggling with finding the scripture to be
honey, on your lips to be brisket in your mouth.
Be patient. Be patient.
God seems to be weirdly interested in doing things that
I find irritating, which is not giving me everything I want in a
moment. He is very comfortable.
Happy for you to struggle through it and to come through
it. And the reality is, that's a
really good thing because what that means for you is that there
are millions upon Millions. Of little taste of brisket for
you forever to enjoy. I am I've learned to be really
happy that I don't understand for its Corinthians 9:9, but I
know that one day I will and I'll do a little happy dance
when I figure it out. I know that just like feed and
when he brought up, Luke 24 24 last week.
I knew that the Psalms fulfilled were fulfilled in Jesus, but
when he said it, I literally and everyone at my community group
contested, I literally Get a happy dance in our living room.
I was excited. It was like, oh my gosh.
There it is. I knew it, but I didn't know it.
And what this means is that God is giving us something like an
adventure of exploring him and knowing him and experiencing
little incremental bits of the reality of who he is.
And every little bit of it, satisfies our soul.
And at the same time transforms us into those works of New
Creation, which is Is just incredible.
It's literally the best of all worlds.
So, Be patient. You're on a long exciting,
never-ending Adventure ride. and you'll forever get to take
greater take in greater and greater glories as you as you
not only learn more as you read the scriptures but as you are
transformed into the image of God, through the scriptures, And
that if you haven't already concluded, this is better than
brisket. It's better.
It's better than anything in this world.
So why is a church where we going to discipline ourselves in
the reading of scripture? It's not just because we want to
look like academic Scholars who've mastered an ancient book,
it's because there's joy and New Creation in it.
So let's pursue that as Jesus did and be like him in that way.
Let's pray and ask his help to do so.
God, we confess that we are tempted to just be frustrated
sometimes with your word because it's hard and will admit that
sometimes reading it feels boring. we know, we know though
that it's not, it's our ignorance and our foolishness
and are just hardheadedness and Smallness that lead us to these
conclusions, but I pray this morning that your spirit would
give us just even one degree further unawareness of all the
glory that there is, so that we would be encouraged to delve,
even deeper and more profoundly into your word.
Together, in Jesus name, we pray and ask this.
Amen. Tell me about the smell.
What's the smell in this apartment?
Tell me about the smell. What's the smell in this
apartment?