Psalm 1:1 - The Righteous Person Does Not...

I. The Righteous Live Wisely According to God’s Word (1-3)
IA. The Righteous Avoid Living According to the Sinner’s Philosophy

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
People have their opinions. They come to their opinions through many influences in their life. Their parents are a big influence, especially early in life. Teachers have a lot of influence in the lives of young people, and due to the expansion of education, the influence of teachers continues well into adulthood. A person’s friends are an influencing force. The literature read and the media consumed are a major emphasis on a person’s opinions. Advertisements, whether we are conscious of it or not, shape our opinions.
When we have no opinion on a matter, or we suspect ours to be wrong, we consult others to ask them for their counsel. We search the internet for blogs and forums that will help us to form an opinion on a matter so that we will know how to respond. This is how our worldview is shaped.
According to Scripture, there are only two worldviews: the worldview of the lost and the worldview of the righteous. Notice that Psalm 1 begins with the word “blessed” and ends with the word “perish.” Those are the options. The worldview of the righteous person has God’s blessing upon it. The worldview of the wicked person brings God’s wrath. The righteous person in this Psalm avoids the counsel of the wicked. He does not walk according to their counsel, he is not associated in their paths, and he is certainly not seated among scoffers.
Because the righteous person avoids these, he is blessed. The word “blessed” “refers to the joyful spiritual condition of those who are right with God and the pleasure and satisfaction that is derived from that. It is an abstract plural, stressing the fullness of joy” (Ross, 185). One of the blessings of being in covenant relationship with God through His Son is that we experience the blessings of God. And the blessed believer is characterized by walking in the light (1 John 1:7) and not in the darkness.
The wicked, sinners, and scoffers are all in the group who practice unrighteousness. It is used of those who are outside of the covenant of God. These are the unsaved. Those who walk in this world. The unsaved listen to themselves. They do not listen to those who speak God’s Word. They scoff at those who abide by the counsel of God (cf. 1 John 4:5-6).
What we take into ourselves is very important. It is said “You are what you eat.” In the realm of the mind, it could be said, “You are what you listen to.” Christians need to be very discerning in what they are listening to or watching. This is especially difficult in this digital age where information comes at us faster than we can take it in. Let us be very careful what we look at and listen to.