Chiastic Structure of Psalm 1

Chiasm is a literary structure that repeats ideas in a passage in reverse order. In the example below outlined by Alec Motyer, you have three ideas (in bold), A, B, C and those ideas are repeated in reverse order, C, B, A. Scripture is full of chiasm and it is helpful to recognize to understand and grasp the meaning of the text.

A.1. EARTHLY DISTINCTIVENESS: DIVINE FAVOR

 Psalms 1:1-6  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 

B.1. CONTINUANCE: DELIGHT IN GOD'S LAW

(2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 

C.1. SECURITY: THE FLOURISHING TREE

(3)  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 

C.2. INSECURITY: THE WIND-BLOWN CHAFF

4)  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

B.2. NO CONTINUANCE: DIVINE JUDGMENT

(5)  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 

A.2. ETERNAL DISTINCTION AND ITS EXPLANATION

(6)  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Preaching another man's sermon

Jeremy Walker asks " How do we ensure that we preach our own sermons, and not the sermons of men past or present? Why are we tempted to preach another man’s sermon?"

Read his answer here.

Be an Example in Word - Tuesday with Timothy #55

1Timothy 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

The pastor should be an example in his words. It should go without saying that a man of God should not have a filthy mouth. Not merely in preaching but his everyday, normal conversation.

He should be an example in his conversation, or his behavior.  The pastor needs to labor to live in a way that reflects the glory of God in all walks of life.

The pastor needs to be an example in love. His love for God. His love for his neighbors. His love for goodness. His love for God's Word. His love for the lost. 

In spirit. He should be an example in his inner life. He should be an example in meekness of spirit and humility. 

In Faith. During trials and hardships, the man of God needs to be stalwart in the faith, looking to God's promises and clinging to Christ. 

In purity. The pastor should be an example in his chasteness. He should flee fornication. 

These virtues are to be pursued by all Christians, but especially the pastor. These are the great needs of churches, to have men who will live godly lives as they minister to the churches. There have been great orators whose life out of the pulpit was a far cry from the messages preached in the pulpit. If the ministry is to be despised, don't let it be on your account. If men will not hear the Word of God, don't provide them with an excuse with a life out of order. Churches have lists and ideas what the pastor should be and how he should act. There are countless opinions of how the man should dress and spend his time. God's concern is his inner life.

The pastor needs to be the example, not the imitator. Some churches want the pastor to conform to the image they have of what a pastor should be, when in reality, it is the other way around. The pastor should live in such a way that the church can look to him as an example. Of course, no man is perfect and no man ever was the perfect example, except our Lord. But of the followers of Christ, the men of God should be always striving to follow the example of Jesus. This was the way Timothy could overcome his disadvantage, to live a life for God's glory. No matter what physical disadvantage you may be up against in your ministry, physical weakness, too young, too old, you can overcome that weakness with your people by being an example of a godly man. If preaching the truth and being steadfast in holiness isn't enough for a congregation, nothing ever will be.

Do you know your birthday?

I have so much to be thankful for. There is so much complaining and bitterness in this country, whining about how hard life is, and how poorly people are being treated because their feelings are hurt. Do you know your birthday? Do you know how old you are? Be thankful to God for such a blessing and read the opening paragraphs of the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass.

I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit.

The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old. My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grandfather. My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant— before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.

I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night.