Reminds me of the beginning and end of the Sermon on the Mount.

Psalm1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
(NIV)

Beginning of the Sermon on Mt.
Blessed.
Happy? Yes partly. Made happy by God - Real happiness.
Queen of Sheeba to Solomon: 
IKing 10:8 How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

She did not say he was happy, but that he made others happy by his wisdom.

But he must have been happy to hear that!

He had plenty of money, but it was making others happy by his wisdom. 
That would have been the real source of his own happiness

We'd all like more money, and of course we do need it. 
Poverty is not God's will for people 
- and more money would be a great help.

However we should heed the warning of Christina Onassis: 
Money doesn't make you happy and the greatest proof of that is our family.

Founding of USA July 4, 1776: "We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

But do we become happy by pursuing it for its own sake?

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. 
The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.
~ Hugo Black ~

A puppy said to a big dog, "I have mastered philosophy. I have learned that the best thing for a dog is happiness, and that happiness is my tail. Therefore I am chasing it; and when I catch it, I shall have it!" The old dog replied, "I, too, have judged that happiness is a marvelous thing for a dog, and that happiness indeed resides in my tail. But I've noticed that when I chase it, it keeps running away from me; but when I go about my business, it comes after me."

Ps 23 Goodness and mercy will pursue me.

Blessedness means more than happiness it means joy.

Happiness is part of joy but joy is much more:
JOY COMPARED TO HAPPINESS 
Joy is that which encompasses and transcends both happiness and sadness. Once endowed with joy, a person is not likely to lose it and in fact it grows with awareness of it. Joy is like the sun, always shining even when night falls or clouds cover it. Happiness is like the moon, waxing and waning. Happiness is a kiss, joy a golden wedding anniversary. Happiness is exchanging Christmas gifts  joy is awareness of what Christmas is all about.

Pleasure by itself can't last.
Blessedness is more fully expounded in Beatitudes

Choice.
Here in Psalm 1 Our joy is based on a sober choice we must make.
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 

Choice is about three things:

• What we let influence our thinking, 
• How we behave,
• To what we belong.

• Counsel  (Way of thinking) of the wicked.
• Way  (Behaviour) of sinners.
• Seat (Belonging) of scoffers. .

These are the fundamental choices we make.

What influences our mind leading - to what we do with our lives -  and showing to what we really belong.

Verse then illustrates 3 aspects of departure from God.

1. Accepting advice from the world's way of thinking.

Media and our minds - need I elaborate?

How much time is spent watching TV each day in the average household? 

Media can:

• Make us think a good politician is bad.
• Make us think a bad politician is good.
• Make us think that bad behaviour is acceptable.

Next stage is the  effect on behaviour.
If life has no meaning then no value. 
If no value then we will not respect the lives of others.

Next stage is adpoting a fatal attitude.
Scoffing.

There are worse sins than scoffing, but the scoffer is farthest from repentance.

A murdererer will more easlily repent that a scoffer.
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
(NIV)
========================================
Three negatives clear the way for the positive:
Ps 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Mind is the key bastion to defend us.

So instead of filling our mind with the counsel of the world we must meditate on the teaching of the Lord.

Ultimately it is the only answer.

What shapes our thinking shapes our lives.

Meditates day and night.
Just a short time in day and after nightfall, to think and read about Eternal issues will shape our minds to think in accordance with Truth and goodness.
Ps 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
(NIV)

Fruit in season.

Distinct and quiet growth of Christian life.

The tree is no mere channel piping water unchanged from ground to the fruit.
It is a living organism which absorbs the water and absorbs it and then transforms it into living fruit.

Different types of good trees bring forth different good fruits.

You and I may meditate on the one Word of God but the good fruit it produces in each of us will have its own special character.

Leaf does not wither.
Does not mean that it is immune to the seasons but protected by the stream of fresh water from drought.

You and I will not be immune from the disappointments of life and the feelings of dejection.

But he who meditates on the Word of God will not wither.

The deep spring of what is good and true will keep him strong in spirit.

The way of doom.
Ps 1:4-5 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
(NIV)
Chaff is rootless and weightless.

Judges 9:4 Vain and light persons. (KJV)
Cult of softness.
Demanding counselling and compensation for every unhappiness that comes our way.

Winnowing gets rid of the chaff.
Matt 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshingfloor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
1 Cor 3:12.: That day will disclose the man of straw.
(NIV)

Ps 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
• Not a leg to stand on, 
• no place among God's people.

Isa 2:10-11 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendour of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. (NIV)

Parting of the ways.
Ps 1:66 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NIV)

Watches over:

Knows, cares about, identifies with ... 

• Wept.
• Frustration: How long am I to be with you .. 
• Let this cup pass from me.
• Dark night of the soul.
• Rejoiced in spirit.

How can we be happy and know we will die?
Only way is if our happiness comes from God.
 

Beginning of Sermon on Mt:
Beatitudes - true blessedness.
• Merciful
• Pure in heart
• Hunger and thirst
• Peace makers

End of Sermon on Mt.
We must not follow the crowd down the broad way that leads to destruction but seek out the small door that leads to life.
Beware of false prophets - wolves in sheep's clothing - who would shape our thinking against the good.

Jesus presents us with a Choice
• On what road are we going to travel?
• On which foundation are we going to build our lives?

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NIV)

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