A Tree Planted
Today in Chapel, Pastor Eddie Jacks from Resurrected Baptist Church preached from Psalm 1 about the blessed man. He defined being blessed as having the redemptive favor of God, having a deep-seated joy and contentment in Christ.
He looked at the blessed man from a negative perspective–what the man does not do, and from a positive perspective–what he does do.
The blessed man is opposed to godless thinking, opposed to the idolatry of sin, and opposed to careless speaking. He talked about the progression of sin taking hold in our lives from walking to standing to sitting.
In a positive way, the blessed man delights in God’s law, or appreciates the word of God. The Word shapes his thoughts and attitudes. The blessed man doesn’t only read and study the word of God, but he appropriates the Word–living out the theology in real life, exalting God in his heart. Here, Pastor Jacks referenced J.I. Packer’s definition of meditation, which I copy below:
Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God.
Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace.
Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God’s greatness and glory and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us—’comfort’ us, in the old, strong, Bible sense of the word—as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a result of the negative and the positive, we see what the blessed man becomes. He is grounded and settled by the grace of God, planted in his place by the care of our great Gardener, not moved from the hope of the gospel, drawing life from salvation. What a beautiful picture of the Christian! Grounded, secure, full of life, productive by the grace of our God!
Published on 14 Nov 2008 by Christiana Fitzpatrick at 4:19 pm.
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