Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. Jesus, in John 15:7, summons us to let His words abide in us. Briefly describe what your current patterns for regularly intaking God's Word into your life are? Is there anything you want to change?
2. What are examples of "the counself of the wicked" that we might be most susceptible to? What commands of God do not appear to be a pathway to joy (John 15:11)?
3. What are practices or disciples we can pursue to protect us from becoming like those in 2 Tim 4:3?
4. Read Isaiah 55:6-11. What refreshes you from this?
5. How can we grow in being good "meditators" on God's Word?
6. Take time to pray for one another about specific areas of God's Word where obedience does not feel joyful, but like dying.
1 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; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
- Ps 1:1-6
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- John 15:7
I think that Jesus is drawing the imagery of this teaching from the Old Testament. Not only the imagery of a vine (which represents OT Israel), but the imagery of Psalm 1. In both, we see an emphasis on the ideal individual who is so close with the Lord, that they bear fruit. The blessed man is like a tree that bears fruit, while the wicked are like worthless chaff. So too, in John 15, Jesus summons us to abide in Him like branches that bear fruit in contrast with those who do not and wither. In Psalm 1, the wicked are consigned to final judgment, and in John 15, Jesus says the withered, fruitless branches are thrown into the fire. And in Psalm 1, the blessed man is a man who meditates on God’s Law, while in John 15 Jesus calls us to let his words abide in us.
So, what I would like to do is zero in on Jesus’ words in verse 7 in particular—my words abide in you—and just ask “What does that mean?” by looking at both Jesus’ teaching here, and going back to Psalm 1.
What Does It Mean For God’s Word to Abide in Us?
Before we answer that question, we need to know: when Jesus says, “if my words abide in you,” what words is He talking about? This is not only the words that He is speaking immediately in John 15. It isn’t only the words He is speaking in John…or Matthew, or Mark, or Luke.
If you’ll remember, we read back in John 12 about the experience Isaiah had nearly 700 years before Jesus was born. Isaiah saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on His throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. And He spoke to Isaiah, commissioning him as a prophet of Israel, sending him to speak God’s words, and John told us: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him,” (John 12:41).
Woah.
The same person who Isaiah fell before in holy terror is the Nazarene man whose words we are reading in John 15. When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, He was hearing the same voice the disciples are hearing telling them to abide in Him. When Jesus tells us that His words must abide in us, He is referring to the whole Scripture’s teaching; all of God’s words—Old and New Testament—are Jesus’ words; He is, after all, THE Word of God.
So, as we study the words of Moses, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and Job, and Habakkuk, we are hearing the voice of Christ. And He invites us today to let those words abide in us.
What does that mean?
First, we let God’s Word challenge us.
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;
- Ps 1:1
The (lit.) “happy” man is a man who rejects something: the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, and the seat of scoffers. The terms increase in severity. The “wicked” or “ungodly” are those with a general disposition opposed to holiness. The “sinners” are those who take definite acts to violate God’s Law. But the “scoffers” are those who not only sin, but then mock the righteous for their obedience.
We also notice the verbs: “walk…stand…sit.” “This verbal progression depicts a regression from moving — to stationary — to sitting. Perhaps the idea is that sin is a temptation that one first tries out, later becomes accustomed to, and finally becomes a habit or lifestyle,’ (NICOT). We hear an inverted echo of the famous teaching from Deuteronomy, where we are commanded to let God’s words be upon our heart and teach them diligently to our children when we sit, when we walk, and when we stand (Deut 6:4-9). You will walk, stand, or sit with God’s words…or the counsel of the wicked. The word for “sit” here can also be translated as “abide.” We can let God’s words abide in us, or we will abide in the seat of those who mock God’s words. It is interesting contrast that we will later see with the blessed man, who is described like a tree—as stationary as you can get—while the wicked are described like chaff that blows away in the wind—as unstable as you can possibly get
The point: you have to make a choice. Your life will be shaped. Something will abide in you. Sin or God’s Word. And like a perverse inversion of God’s word, sin will slow you down and sink roots into you…but not to establish you, but to diminish you, to make you flimsy, ephemeral, and blown away at the slightest puff of wind. The psalm dramatically concludes that on the final day of Judgment: the righteous shall stand…but not the wicked. They are dust in the wind.
Verse 1 is describing a mode of thinking, a set of assumptions, unexamined habits, a particular worldview that is opposed to God. Those titles sound fairly dramatic—wicked, sinners, scoffers—but we shouldn’t assume that these always look particularly devious, or sound terribly nefarious. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, Christians were very concerned with subliminal messages—play that song backwards and you hear a warbled voice saying “666.” Is that the counsel of the wicked we are to avoid? I don’t think so. When Paul warns the Romans about false teachers, he describes their speech as “smooth talk” (lit.) “good words.” (Rom 16:18).
The counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, the seat of scoffers includes, but is not limited to the spooky, extreme, perverse, or outrageous voices which are the 180 degree opposite of what God says. They will feel familiar, attractive, and reasonable. Paul warns the young pastor Timothy that in the church he will face “will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” (2 Tim 4:3).
This week, I had a church member send me a video of someone explaining why Christians don’t need to forgive people who haven’t asked for our forgiveness, who are unrepentant. And they asked me, Do you think this is correct? As I listened to the video, and it seemed like the people in the video were collapsing “forgiveness” and “reconciliation” together, and were only taking certain Bible verses to defend their point at the neglect of many others. I replied as much, and then proceeded to send the Bible verses that seemed to contradict what they were saying. And the church member responded: “My flesh was delighted by the thought that I didn’t need to forgive an unrepentant offender, but my heart was conflicted…My general litmus test for following the Lord is - if obedience feels like death I’m probably on track with the Lord. That death is my flesh.” Friends, that is the voice of wisdom.
What commands in God’s Word feels like death to you? Forgive your enemies, forgive one another Confess your sins to one another Bless those who persecute you Give your money to the poor Pay your taxes Turn the other cheek Submit to those in authority over you Do not worry about tomorrow
Our hearts are unreliable guides; we need more than half-baked ideas. Charles Spurgeon said that the Word of God is the anvil upon which the opinions of man are smashed! Starting with me!
So, God presents to us the blessed man. He does not heed the counsel of the wicked, instead…
Second, we delight in God’s Word.
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
- Ps 1:2
God’s Word, sacred scripture, is the happy man’s delight. The word “Law” just means “instruction” and encapsulates the whole of God’s Word. Why does the blessed man find his joy in God’s Word? Because God’s Word offers us what we don’t have. It’s truth, beauty, and goodness is non-obvious.
Because we are made in God’s image, we have a sense of God’s truth imprinted on our conscience. We look at the birds and lilies of the field and we think: Those are beautiful, God made those, I owe Him my worship. But because of sin, that truth is impaired, imprecise. We need God’s Word to correct us. God’s Word draws the connection for us as we stare at the birds and lilies: Are you not of much more value to Him than these? Be not anxious about your life, God cares for you. We would not arrive at that conclusion unless God’s Word told us. And that is precisely why the happy man delights in the Word.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Is 55:8-9
God’s thoughts are not like our own. We do not intuitively arrive at the same conclusions that God does, not without His help. But notice that verse 8 begins with that little word, “For”? What did God say right before that to illicit this explanation that his thoughts are not like our own?
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- Isa 55:6-7
Here is what is non-obvious to sinners like you and me: not only is God offering us a new operating system to run on, inviting us to forsake our way and thoughts, but also He is offering us to be reconciled to Himself—God’s message to the sinner and the wicked and scoffer isn’t only: Here is why you are wrong. It is: you are wrong, but if you are willing to admit you are wrong and come to me, I will show you nothing but compassion and give you abundant pardon. We wouldn’t find that out on our own. Left to ourselves, we would never suppose that the God who is the righteous Judge is also the God who stoops down, becomes a man, and dies in our place for our sins!
The reason that we delight in God’s Word is because God’s Word reveals to us God! And He is a God who is slow to anger, abundant in steadfast love and mercy, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity and sins. Erasmus of Rotterdam, who compiled together the Greek New Testament in 1516, wrote in the preface to that New Testament: “On these pages you will find the living Christ and you will see Him more fully and more clearly than if He stood before you, before your very eyes.” And this God gives us both Law and Gospel, Command and Promise, Warning and Comfort, Rebuke and Encouragement—all of it, for our joy! What did Jesus tell us?
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. - John 15:11
You must exercise faith to believe that when obeying the command looks like death. We need the expulsive power of a new affection for God to overcome our stubborn insistence on having our own way.
Third, we meditate on God’s Word
And we need this frequently. Notice the blessed man meditates day and night upon God’s Law. Day and night is what is known as a merism, a figure of speech where two polar opposites are given to convey the totality of something, like “I searched high and low,” which means, “I searched everywhere.” The blessed man meditates on God’s Law, not just in the morning, not just in the night, but all the time—constantly. The assumption here is that God’s Word is something that can be read and studied for a lifetime. You will never exhaust it, never plumb all of its depths. It always has more light to give.
Consider how the Bible speaks about God’s Word, particularly how potent it is:
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
- Isa 55:10-11
…man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. - Deut 8:3
The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. - Psalm 19
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. - John 6:63
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Heb 4:12
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Cor 1:18
We are cleansed by the washing of the word. - Eph 5:26
you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life - Phil 2:15-16
What does it mean to “meditate”? The word literally means to mutter. In Isaiah 31:4 the word is used to describe a lion growling over its prey as it eats. Or in Isaiah 38:14, it describes the cooing of a dove. In the Psalms, sometimes it is just translated as “speaks” or “utters”, as in, “The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice,” (Ps 37:30). The idea of reading silently to yourself was extremely rare, not only in the Bible, but in all of antiquity. There is a story in Augustine’s Confessions where he walks in on the church father, Ambrose, reading silently to himself and Augustine spends about a paragraph trying to suppose why Ambrose would do such a thing. It was just weird.
I don’t think this means that reading silently to yourself is forbidden or that you are required to read aloud—but it might be something worth trying. But I do think this is telling us that the assumption is that we are in an environment where we regularly speak about the Bible. Ephesians 4 gives us this picture of the church: God gives pastors to the church to teach God’s Word to the members, who then take that word of truth, and speak it to one another in love (Eph 4:11-16). Hebrews tells us that we are to day by day exhort one another with truth (Heb 3:12-14). To meditate on God’s word day and night involves daily reading God’s Word ourselves, it involves prioritizing gathering every Lord’s Day to hear God’s Word taught, and it also includes the regular, ordinary conversation of the day within our homes and Discipleship Groups and book studies and text conversations and, “Hey man, I was just reading Psalm 46 today and was praying it for you.”
Christian Smith, a sociologist out of Notre Dame, studies how faith is transmitted from parents to children. He writes:
"The good news is that, among all possible influences, parents exert far and away the greatest influence on their children’s religious outcomes. Stated differently, the bad news is that nearly all human responsibility for the religious trajectories of children’s lives falls on their parents’ shoulders. The empirical evidence is clear. In almost every case, no other institution or program comes close to shaping youth religiously as their parents do—not religious congregations, youth groups, faith-based schools, missions and service trips, summer camps, Sunday school, youth ministers, or anything else. Those influences can reinforce the influence of parents, but almost never do they surpass or override it. What makes every other influence pale into virtual insignificance is the importance (or not) of the religious beliefs and practices of American parents in their ordinary lives—not only on holy days but every day, throughout weeks and years.
...
A second trait of parents who successfully pass on religious faith and practice to their children is that, as a normal part of family life during the week, they talk with their children about religious things—what they believe and practice, what it means and implies, and why it matters to them. In such families, religion is part of the warp and woof of everyday life. It comes and goes in talk easily. It is not compartmentalized in certain slots of the week, nor is it an unusual or awkward topic. It is part of “who we are and what we care about.”"
Fourth, we obey God’s Word.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- Ps 1:3-4
Consider the contrast.
The blessed man is like a large, stable, fruit-bearing tree with an unremitting stream of water near by, which the roots draw upon to create this evergreen life, this always prospering fruit.
The wicked are not like that. They aren’t even a fruitless tree. They aren’t even a tree. They are the dry husk of a wheat kernel. Crumple up a ball of tissue paper and throw it into the fire. The little blackened bits that float up and away…that is what psalm 1 says the wicked are like. Here today, gone tomorrow; light, meaningless, worthless.
Meanwhile, the blessed are stable, alive, fruitful.
What is the difference?
The blessed man drinks from the streams of God’s Word day in and day out, and bears fruit. He receives the word with faith. Faith that transforms into courageous action.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide - John 15:16
