Happy Chinese New Year!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, It got me thinking that by and large, everyone wants to be blessed. We often end our conversation or text messages or email with the phrase “God Bless” . During Chinese New Year session such as this, (even during MCO), we will never fail to wish each other ‘Blessings’, ’Blessed Chinese New Year’, ‘祝福你’…and of course, there are many GIF, stickers with the word ‘福’ (‘Fook’ in Cantonese, ‘Hock’ in Hokkien).. If a question is asked of you today, “*do you want to be in such a blessed condition as ‘whatever you do, prosper’ and ‘your leaf does not wither’*?”, what would be your answer?

A very wise older godly man asked me this question some 28 years ago in New Zealand and my answer was ‘Of course, I want to be blessed in such a way that whatever I do, prosper!”. This wise old godly man then replied, “Read, memorise and meditate Psalm 1, my son”. Here is Psalm 1 (NIV) for our meditation today :

Psalm 1 1

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

4Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

A few observations for our meditation and reflections :

1) the word “Blessed” in the Hebrew is plural, and it can an adjective or a substantive. So, we may learn from this word, the multi-facted of the blessing which shall rest upon the man whom God has justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness he shall enjoy. àn "*Oh, the blessednesses* !" and we may well regard it as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity.

2) Psalm 1 begins with warnings and corrections (v1) and then the teaching & training in blessedness (v2-3).

3) *What are the warnings and corrections* (v1): It is a blessedness not to walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the mockers. So let’s ask ourselves, are we walking, standing or sitting in such a manner that displeases our Lord…? You may say, “No, I don’t”! *Really* ? Ask again, when you are faced with trouble, sickness and challenges of life, whose counsel do you seek first, God’s Word or earthly counsel and helps? Ask again, are we not standing the way of sinners when so often, the fundamental desire of ours are no different from the unbelievers?

We wish people and ourselves “Happiness, Successes and Prosperity” – esp during Chinese New Year. We desire our children (and ourselves) a good and successful life à totally no different from unbelievers’ desire for themselves and their children (best university, advancement in their career etc etc) Ask again, are we not sitting in the seat of the mockers when we question the authority of the Word of God and question goodness of our God of the Word? Have we not allowed worldly values and worldly pursue to become a mockery of who God is and what His church should be.. Be warned, Brother and Sisters (and this I wrote with myself included)! Blessednesses are when we, by the enabling grace of God, choose not to walk, stand and sit in such manner and company.

4) *In contrast* , the multiplicity of such Blessednesses is when our delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law, we meditate day and night. I have recently heard a sermon where the preacher said something to the effect that “you called yourself a Christian, and yet you do the very things that you hate or are so reluctant to do, in order to please God, a little. You drag yourself to Sunday Worship, you ignore the daily reading and meditating of God’s Word (you in fact dread it that it is a chore for you to read the words from your Father), you find praying so unnatural and often you pray short and run prayers…and you called yourself “Christ’s one”? “..

5) What then are these “Blessednesses”?

a) we shall be like tree *planted* à not a wild tree but *a chosen tree* , *planted by God, through the saving grace of Christ*,

b) where would we be planted ? *by streams of water* : streams of pardon and the streams of grace, the streams of the promise and the streams of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply

c) what is the result ? *our life would yields its fruit in season*. As surely as the tree receives the sunlight (of grace) it needs and soak up the nutrients (of spiritual feeding) from the ground, it will yield its fruit *in season* à this is God’s work, we need just to be obedient to the demands of His righteous Word.

d) Have you also thought, what is the purpose of any fruit?

i) it is not for our own enjoyment,

ii) It is for others who see our life in Christ and enjoy such fruit,

iii) and it is for the propagating of such life in Christ.

6) *What are the results of delighting in God’s law and meditating on it day and night* ? One’s leaf does not wither, Whatever one does, prospers. How wonderful and how marvellous is my Saviour’s love for me.

7) *What will be the end of the wicked* ? (remember, we are wicked, save for the righteousness of Christ, in whom we hide)

a) chaff which the wind WILL blow away

b) will not stand in judgment nor

c) sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Note the temporal and silliness of worldly pleasure and the SURE judgment that will be exacted…How can we escape such a judgment, except in and through the redemption and salvation of our Christ? 8) (v6) The Lord watches, ever watches…be warned, the way of the wicked will perish. So, Brothers and Sisters, instead of wishing Gong Hei Fatt Choy, Blessings for Chinese New Year or anytime of our lives, why not we wish that beginning from each of us and our respective family, and then to our relatives and friends this multiplicity of Blessedness:

1) by running away and shunning wicked, sinners and mockers and

2) by purposing before God to delight in His law and to meditate on His law day and night ? By the way, do you not note that *sin slows you down*? *First you walk, then you stand and then you sit* .

May I quote from CH Spurgeon: “When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God—the evil is rather practical than habitual—but after that, they become *habituated to evil*, and they stand in the way of open sinners who wilfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful.”