Christian Living (Blessed Is The Man - Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Psalm chapter 1 and then we're going to look in the New Testament in a moment at Titus chapter 2.

The Blessed Christian Life and the Blessed Man of Psalm 1

And the title of the message is The Blessed Christian Life. The Blessed Christian Life. Now as I was preparing this sermon, I felt absolutely rotten. I was so sick and I'm working through this. The Blessed Christian Life.

And I have to tell you, I didn't feel blessed at the moment. I thought, I don't know that I can do this right now. But you know, you have to keep things in perspective. Sometimes you don't feel well. Sometimes things happen.

Bad things happen. But if you look at it, big picture, what Christ has done, what we have ahead of us for a future. And even the way that God takes care of us right now. You know, we really truly are blessed, aren't we?

So that's what this is about. The blessed Christian life. And here in Psalm chapter 1, we see that. We see the blessed man. And all of this I think would apply to women as well. But this is what we want to be that blessed man or to be that blessed woman.

So before we read Psalm 1 verses 1 through 3, let's open in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we know that you are good. We know that your gifts are good. And you are even able to cause bad things to work out for our good.

If we love you and do what you ask of us. Lord, we confess that while we may fall short of your glory, we also confess that you are faithful and just to forgive. So we thank you for the grace that you have shown us in Christ.

Teach us this morning by your Holy Spirit and the word which he has given us, I pray. It's in Jesus name. Amen. Psalm chapter 1 verses 1 through 3. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither.

And whatever he does shall prosper. So blessed is the man. In Psalm chapter 1, the blessed man is the man who walks with God. He walks with God. And that's not some subjective experience where, you know, some people just seem more spiritual than others.

That's not it. The blessed man is the one who walks with God, meaning he obeys God. It's not that he does everything right 100 of the time. No man does save our Lord himself. But the blessed man is consistent.

His manner of life, day by day, is a life of knowing God, walking with God, and keeping his word. So this is the blessed man. Do you want to be the blessed man? Maybe you are the blessed man. I pray that you are, or the blessed woman.

He knows what the Lord commands, and he does it. He knows what God forbids, and he avoids it. Now, who is the author of Psalm chapter 1? Most agree that David is the author of this psalm, and you might assume that, at least to some extent, this is autobiographical, since David is known as what?

The man after God's own heart. God's law, or the Old Testament scriptures that David had in his possession, he says God's word is the meditation. My meditation all day long. So that means that David, he thought of God.

He prayed to God. He read his word. I believe he must have memorized his word. But at the same time, David had a profession, didn't he? Even before he was king, he had a job. So he did other things. He attended to other things.

But the Lord was constantly on his mind. The Lord was constantly part of his life. The Lord, in his word, was David's counselor. And because David knew the Lord and walked with the Lord on a consistent basis, David was blessed.

Everything that David did prospered. Yeah, I think the word prosperity sort of gets a bad rap these days. We hear the word prosperity and our mind goes to things that are maybe not so good. But do you know the Lord wants to prosper you?

We're not saying that God is God's will, that you be a millionaire. You know that's not what the scripture is saying. But God wants to prosper you. Do you believe that?

Amen.

David was like a tree planted by the river. And David, he bore much fruit. That's God's will for us, that we would bear much fruit. Now, at the same time, we know that the biblical characters, like people today, are not one-dimensional.

David, at times, he also broke God's law, didn't he? And that brought consequences. And we know all about that. But what we're talking about this morning, the subject of the blessed Christian life, is the overall pattern of life.

That's what we need to do. Just put one foot in front of the other and create a pattern. Be consistent. So the blessed life, the godly life, is one that is characterized by faith in the Lord and obedience to God's word.

And after a while, it produces, once you get accustomed to doing that, you produce a pattern. Okay, now let's turn to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 verse 7, Paul says to his student Titus, he says, In all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works.

Someone should be able to look at our life and see, yes, he or she is consistent in doing good works. He or she is consistent in their prayer life. Well, they might not know about that. But he or she is consistent in reading the Bible and knowing more about the scripture.

He or she is consistent about being involved in the church. He or she is consistent about showing God's love and his kindness to others. He or she is consistent in helping those who are in need. And if you haven't established that pattern as of now, guess what?

Tomorrow, starting today, you can. And that's the path to being blessed, to prospering in the Lord. So the godly life is the one that is characterized by faith and obedience to God. And there will be, if we do it, there will be a pattern of godly behavior.

And then that brings about the blessings. Okay, do you know that the most joyful people are the ones who are the most charitable people? Have you noticed that? The people that are selfish, these are not the happiest people that you know.

The more selfish you are, the more miserable you are, typically. But the person who is selfless, the person who is constantly trying to serve God and trying to help others and just always wants to be doing things for others, that brings joy, doesn't it?

So if you want to be blessed, put God first, put others ahead of yourself, and the Lord will bless you. He will prosper you. That doesn't mean everything's going to be great 100 of the time. You might have those moments, you're, Lord, I don't know if I can do it another day.

Well, you just have to do it another minute. And then after that, another minute, another hour. God will give you the grace. So what's the title of the message? The Blessed Christian Life. Salvation is by faith, that's true, but God's blessing comes through obedience.

A consistent walk, a pattern of good works. So Paul is talking about this, some of the things maybe to avoid here in Titus chapter 2. Let's look at verses 1 through 8. We'll just read through this. Paul says, but as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.

That the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. And the older women, likewise, that they may be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.

That they admonish the young women to love their husbands and to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands. That the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded. So you see, this is directed at every group. Older men, older women, younger men. He says, likewise, the young men should be sober-minded in all things, showing yourself to be what?

A pattern of good works. In doctrine, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned. That one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

So don't give other people a reason to criticize you based on the things that you say or do. You know, sometimes Christians are ridiculed and criticized just for being Christians. Sometimes being faithful will bring that, but we don't want to give people other reasons.

So this is the blessed Christian life. These are the things to do, these are the things not to do. The blessed Christian life is one that demonstrates a pattern of good behavior. I mean, it's really that simple.

So for context, let's just look at this passage in Titus for a moment. Who was Titus? Well, Titus is a pastor. This is a pastoral epistle, so Paul is the mentor. Titus is the protege, if you will. So Paul is writing to his son in the faith, Titus, who was overseeing a church, or maybe a group of churches, on the island of Crete.

And the Cretans, I mean, just that term has negative connotation even today. Like, you don't want to be a Cretan, right? So the Cretans, this was a rough group, and Titus was trying to shepherd these people, and it was difficult.

So Paul is giving Titus advice on what to preach to them. So Crete was an island, a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea. It's still there, still called Crete, I believe. So Titus was a bishop. Today we call them pastors.

This would be the office of bishop, though, technically. And being a bishop, it includes oversight of the church. That's true. That's what it means. But it also includes teaching. So part of Titus' job, part of the job of any pastor, is to teach the flock.

We call this feeding the flock, but it's teaching the people. And what are you teaching them? Well, God's Word teaches how to be saved, things about Jesus, the doctrine, right? But also, you're teaching how to live, what to do, what not to do.

So that's where he's coming from in this chapter. You know, the doctrine is important. And at this church, we really make a big thing about doctrine and sound doctrine, right? But you know that the everyday advice for Christian living, that's really, really important, too.

So it would be a great mistake for us to only focus on salvation or even Christian doctrine and then neglect the teachings of daily Christian living. So let's go through this. Paul begins chapter 2 by saying, But as for you, so this applies to Titus and every Christian pastor, really, he says, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.

The word sound means healthy. Okay, so healthy doctrine. It speaks of someone who believes the right things because believing the right things will cause people, if they're consistent, it'll cause them to what?

Do the right thing. So first, you have to believe the right things, and that should lead you to do the right thing. So good doctrine produces good practice. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.