Seeing Christ in the Psalms, Part 1

Psalm 1:1-6 June 1, 2025 Pastor Chris Oswald

Thesis The Psalms are fundamentally about Christ, not us, and our transformation comes from beholding his glory rather than analyzing our failure.

Series

Psalms

Type

Expository

Tone

didacticpastoral

Method

redemptive-historicalcanonical

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

56 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #38

"The pastor issues a direct exhortation: if you want to be cured of the self-absorption that prevents worship, commit to seeking Christ in the Psalms. The book functions as medicine for narcissism."

Doctrinal loci· 12 surfaced

Sanctification · 22 Christology · 18 Doxology / Worship · 14 Hamartiology · 9 Bibliology · 8 Soteriology · 7 Anthropology · 6 Pastoral Theology · 5 Ecclesiology · 3 Theology Proper · 2 Ethics / Moral Theology · 1 Providence / Sovereignty · 1

Bible citations· 29

Illustrations· 5

The Uncanny cultural reference · unit #3 — The pastor introduces the concept of das Unheimlich — the uncanny — through a cultural reference to German etymology and Freudian psychology. The term describes something that is simultaneously familiar and alien, a concept he will apply to reading the Psalms.
The Nefarious Gregarious personal story · unit #6 — The pastor illustrates the danger of seductive counsel with a personal observation from travel: the 'nefarious gregarious' — friendly people with dark intentions. He applies this to the world's posture toward believers.
The Uncanny Valley of Perfection cultural reference · unit #10 — The pastor illustrates the uncanny perfection of the Psalms' voice by referencing the 'uncanny valley' in CGI — when digital characters are so perfect they become unsettling because they exceed human realism.
Learning to Worship in a Car personal story · unit #33 — The pastor shares his personal experience of reading through the Psalms daily during his church planting years. He tried to use the book for practical purposes but discovered it insisted on training him in worship instead.
Grand Canyon Narcissism personal story · unit #37 — The pastor illustrates the problem of narsegesis with a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, where tourists spent the entire visit photographing themselves rather than beholding the canyon. The inability to contemplate something for its own sake mirrors our approach to Scripture.

Theological claims· 15

Psalm 1 contains elements that are familiar to Christian experience, such as warnings against worldliness and wicked counsel. unit #4
The speaker in the Psalms exhibits a degree of righteousness that exceeds what fallen humans can claim. unit #9
Any honest reader recognizes that the psalmist's righteousness exceeds what they can claim for themselves. unit #11
The speaker in the Psalms exhibits superhuman righteousness and righteous indignation, beyond what fallen humanity can claim. unit #14
Overcoming the uncanny perfection of the psalmist's voice is the first and most important obstacle to embracing the Psalms. unit #15
The Psalms speak in the voice of Christ, the archetypal human, not fallen humanity in general. unit #17
We should rejoice when we encounter biblical standards that exceed us, because they reveal Christ's sufficiency. unit #21
Christ is the only person who has perfectly obeyed Psalm 1:1 and resisted all worldly influence. unit #27
Jesus resisted worldly counsel not by being a nonconformist but by being a hyperconformist to the Father's will. unit #29
The Psalms exist primarily to train Christians in the central duty of worshiping Jesus Christ. unit #31
The Psalms are uniquely designed to train believers in worshiping Christ, and no other book accomplishes this purpose as effectively. unit #34
The first three Psalms present Christ as the righteous man, the cosmic king, and the suffering servant, establishing the Christological focus of the entire book. unit #35
The primary obstacle to reading the Psalms rightly is the instinct to read ourselves into the text rather than reading Christ in the text. unit #36
Human beings are transformed into the likeness of what they behold and treasure, which is why worshiping Christ produces Christ-likeness. unit #39
Moral application of the Psalms is only legitimate after we have first worshiped Christ as the psalm's true speaker and recognized ourselves as his fruit. unit #48

Quotations· 3

"The humanism of the Psalter is a humanism rooted in the incarnation. The Psalter is not human merely because it speaks for man in general, but because it speaks for Christ." — Unspecified writer on the Psalms (unit #17)

"I know of no means under God so profitable for producing faith as thinking of Christ." — Charles Spurgeon (unit #49)

"the serious meditation of these things, talking about meditating on Christ, will put a glory upon our souls and the believing of them will transform us from glory to glory." — Richard Sibbes (unit #49)

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Full transcript

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0 · The sermon opens with a scripture reading from Revelation 1 followed by a prayer inviting the congregation to worship the glorified Christ who holds his church in his hand

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.

And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.

And his face was like the sun, shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, fear not.

I am the first and the last. And the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore.

And I have the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, the things that you have seen. Those that are and those that are to take place after this.

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Lord Jesus, in this early text in the book of Revelation, we see you in all your glory. Putting all of that glory to work for the sake of your church.

The great concern you have as you reign above all things is your people. We praise your holy name for who you are and for the fact that you love us.

What an amazing insight to see. The high and lifted up one. The beginning and the end. Holding in his hand.

His precious people. Lord, let us worship you well this morning as we open your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can be seated.

1 · The pastor directs the congregation to Psalm 1 and reads the first two verses, establishing the primary text for the sermon

And if you'll open your Bibles to the book of Psalms. We'll be in chapter 1 today. Psalm chapter 1. And we'll be just looking mostly at the first two verses.

Which read, 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.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night.

2 · The pastor frames the sermon's purpose within the larger series: he wants the congregation to love the Psalms, and he intends to address obstacles that prevent that love by sharing his own journey of overcoming them

Now if you weren't here a couple weeks ago, I articulated what my intention for the Psalm series this summer is.

And that is, I just want you to love this book as much as I do. And with that in mind, I understand that there were a number of obstacles that were in my way as I learned to love this book.

And I want to deal with one of those obstacles. And tell you how overcoming it became such a blessing to me.

3 · The pastor introduces the concept of das Unheimlich — the uncanny — through a cultural reference to German etymology and Freudian psychology

I was reading through a list of German, good German words the other day.

And I found, you guys hear me when I try to read Hebrew words, even in English. I'm really bad at it. And I don't want to concern Dove, but I find that I can read German words really well.

I don't have trouble with those. And one of the words that I read, and I was fascinated by the etymology and the origin of this word, was das umheimlich.

Das umheimlich is a word that emerged in the Freudian age of dream interpretation, where they were looking for a word that described something that seems both familiar and unfamiliar.

Something that seems right, but also off in some degree or another. And that word became translated in English as uncanny.

Uncanny. Something that is familiar enough to be recognizable, but also something that's a little off or different than we expected it to be.

4 · The pastor applies the concept of the uncanny to Psalm 1, arguing that parts of it feel familiar — the warning against bad company resonates with what we've been taught since childhood

I think when you open the Psalms and you attempt to embrace them, as I hope that you will, you'll find some aspects of the Psalms to be familiar. For instance, the beginning of Psalm 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. That sounds familiar to me.

5 · The pastor expands on the familiarity of Psalm 1's warning by connecting it to common moral instruction about avoiding bad company

I've been taught from a young age, as I'm sure you have been, that bad company corrupts good morals. I've been warned since I was a child to be careful who I chose to spend my time with.

I've heard a lot of sermons about worldliness. And maybe a little deeper than that, this text reminds me of a phenomenon that some of us maybe need to remember.

Something you know, but let me just remind you. And that is, is that sometimes the people that are the most happy to spend time with us are the least helpful.

6 · The pastor illustrates the danger of seductive counsel with a personal observation from travel: the 'nefarious gregarious' — friendly people with dark intentions

The people in this early section of the Psalms are people who are glad for you to walk with them and stand with them and sit with them.

I feel like this is a good thing to remind teenage boys and teenage girls. There's this concept I've noticed over the years of traveling, especially into dangerous places, that I call the nefarious gregarious.

It's the person who is super friendly who actually wants to kill you. And that's kind of what this is talking about. Someone who is, come in, lad, and know me better.

But the intention, of course, is actually quite dark. And of course, the world is that way toward us. It's eager to welcome us in, eager to have us stand and sit and walk with them, so long as we submit to them.

7 · The pastor pivots from the familiar warning of verse 1 to introduce the unfamiliar element of Psalm 1 — the idealistic standard that follows

And so there's something about this Psalm that's familiar. There's a caution against worldliness about bad company and so forth. But there's also this next section that is kind of unfamiliar.

It's familiar, but it's also kind of not.

8 · The pastor exposes the uncanny element of Psalm 1: verse 2 describes a level of devotion that is familiar as an ideal but unfamiliar as a lived reality

It says, But his delight, the blessed man, is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night.

Well, that's familiar because it's something we know we ought to do. But it's unfamiliar because it is idealistic. None of us meditate on the law of the Lord day and night.

9 · The pastor diagnoses the central obstacle to embracing the Psalms: the voice of the psalmist is too righteous, too perfect, to be identified with fallen humanity

What you're going to find when you read the Psalms is that there's just a little too much perfection in the protagonist's voice to be your voice.

10 · The pastor illustrates the uncanny perfection of the Psalms' voice by referencing the 'uncanny valley' in CGI — when digital characters are so perfect they become unsettling because they exceed human realism

You know that Das Unheimlich, it became uncanny.

And as computer graphics advanced to a certain point, AI, not AI, but CGI models began to make people. And the problem emerged as we began to make people on CGI was that they were perfectly symmetrical.

They were perfect people. And we could tell that something wasn't quite right. And so we came up with the term to describe this weird phenomenon when you watch a CGI child, or CGI child, a CGI character that's too perfect.

We describe it as the uncanny valley. It's like that's just a little too spot on.

11 · The pastor asserts that a self-aware reader cannot identify with the psalmist's voice without dishonesty

When you read the Psalms, you're going to encounter a voice that's just a little too perfect for you in good conscience to relate to.

Unless you're like a psychopath, you're going to read some of the things in the Psalms and think, that's more than me.

12 · The pastor cites examples from other Psalms where the speaker claims a righteousness that self-aware Christians cannot honestly appropriate

One of the areas that I mentioned in the first sermon was that claims of extraordinary righteousness.

You get to a Psalm like Psalm 7, 8. The Lord judges the peoples. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity that is in me.

Well, you know, if you're a normal person with any self-awareness whatsoever, you get to that moment and you say, Das Umhamlik. That's not me. I can't pray that.

Psalm 17, 3. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night. You have tested me and you will find nothing. That's not me.

13 · The pastor identifies a second way the psalmist's voice exceeds ours: the imprecatory psalms contain curses against the wicked that we cannot pray without hypocrisy, given our own sinfulness

Psalm 5, 10. You'll see something else happen. Because of this high degree of righteousness, there's a high degree of righteous indignation against the wicked.

And you'll read Psalms where there's a call of cursing on the enemy that you would not feel comfortable praying because you're kind of the enemy to some degree.

Psalm 5, 10. Make them bear their guilt, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

No, I can't pray that without thinking about a little sinful me. Psalm 35, 8. Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it.

And let the net he hid ensnare him and let him fall into it to his own destruction.

14 · The pastor synthesizes his observations: the psalmist's voice is superhuman in both its righteousness and its righteous anger

See, you're going to encounter a voice that is too righteous for you to identify with and too righteously indignant for you to identify with.

The truth is, is that while Psalms is a book expressing human emotions, the speaker of most of the Psalms comes off, in some respects, to have superhuman properties.

15 · The pastor frames the problem he's diagnosing as the primary obstacle to loving the Psalms

Now, this is very important. This is the first obstacle necessary to overcome, to enjoy the Psalms. You've got to figure out what to do with this uncanny valley.

16 · The pastor quotes a scholar who distinguishes the Psalms from other humanistic literature

One writer who I'm especially appreciating right now on the Psalms wrote this. It has long been common to remark that the book of Psalms is a most human book in the sense that its various prayers cover a wide range of emotions and sentiments, that there are virtually no situations in the moral life for which the Psalmist provides no appropriate words of prayer.

But the Psalter is a veritable mirror, as it were, of the human spirit facing the manifold and varying conditions of our destiny. All this is true, of course, but taken without further qualifications, it may represent a truth easily misunderstood.

For the humanism found in the Psalter is not based solely on the universality of its human aspirations and sentiments. The Psalter is not human in merely the same sense that the Iliad is human.

These works, after all, do likewise cover a multiple range of emotions, sentiments, convictions, with respect to man's situation, his moral freedom, his duty, and his destiny. It is important to stress, nonetheless, that the Psalter is human in a far deeper and more properly theological sense.

17 · The pastor delivers the sermon's central theological claim: the Psalms are human because they are spoken by the archetypal human — Christ

The humanism of the Psalter is a humanism rooted in the incarnation. The Psalter is not human merely because it speaks for man in general, but because it speaks for Christ.

The underlying voice of the Psalms is not simply man, but the man. Psalms are written from the perspective of the prototypical human.

18 · The pastor develops the theological claim by tracing the Christological priority in creation: Adam was made in Christ's image, not the reverse

It's important to understand in the economy of God that when he created Adam, he did so in the likeness of Christ who would one day be born in human flesh. Christ did not come following the pattern of Adam.

Adam is following the pattern of Christ. We essentially wind up, as we go through the Bible, with two possible views of man.

And the view of Christ as the man is not necessarily initially comforting because he's too good.

How do I connect to that? That's what you need to understand when you read the Psalms. The man, Christ Jesus, is the voice behind all of these claims of self-righteousness and self-indignation.

19 · The pastor offers exegetical support for his Christological reading of Psalm 1 by noting that the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin all point to a particular individual, not humanity in general

In fact, in our Psalm today, we read, blessed is the man. And even in the Hebrew there, we see a real clear indicator that that's talking about a particular person.

The underlying word in the Hebrew there, and also in the Greek, and also in the Latin, is not Adam or Anthropos, not referring to man in general, but it is a particular person referenced in this text.

Then the early church fathers said very clearly as they read Psalm 1, that there is only one man who fits the description presented here, and that is the man, Christ Jesus.

20 · The pastor signals the structure of the next three sermons: today and next week focus on seeing Christ in the Psalms, followed by a sermon on spiritual warfare in the Psalms

So that's a key to reading the Psalms, seeing Christ in reading the Psalms. We'll talk about that today, and we'll talk about it again next week. And then on Father's Day, we will talk about spiritual warfare in the Psalms.

21 · The pastor asserts that finding Christ rather than ourselves in the Psalms is not a problem to be solved but a gift to be received

Today, we need to understand that when we read these glorious representations of righteousness that are a little too big for us, they fit perfectly for Christ.

And we need to be happy when we go to the Bible and do not see ourselves. We need to be happy about that. We'll talk about that a little bit today as well.

22 · The pastor begins demonstrating his Christological reading by arguing that only Jesus has perfectly fulfilled Psalm 1:1

To begin with, we'll say this. Only one person can say that they have never, not once ever, walked in the counsel of the wicked or stood in the seat of sinners or sat in the seat of scoffers.

Only one person can say that, and that is Jesus Christ. Let me take you through a little tour of the Gospels, showing Jesus, obeying this perfectly.

23 · The pastor demonstrates Jesus's resistance to worldly counsel by citing John 2, where Jesus refuses to entrust himself to those who believed based on signs

In Jerusalem, there was the Passover feast.

This is John 2, 23 through 25. Many, this is early in his ministry, many believed in his name. And when they saw the signs he was doing, they believed in his name.

But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man. For he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus was totally immune to the seduction of flattery.

24 · The pastor cites Jesus's encounter with Nicodemus as another example of immunity to flattery

John 3, 1 through 3, Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, approaches Jesus at night and says, I know that you are of God, for no one could do the works you do unless he was of God.

And Jesus is completely disinterested in receiving his compliment. He says, you don't know anything. Because unless you've been born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

So we see Jesus totally immune from flattery.

25 · The pastor shifts to Jesus's immunity from pragmatic counsel by examining the wilderness temptations

We see Jesus totally immune from pragmatic counsel. When we look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, we see that the devil offers him three of his fundamental desires.

First one was the most immediate, and that was, you haven't eaten in 40 days, make bread. The next two were Jesus's desires to rule the nations, Psalm 2, and also to prove that vindicate the father.

The devil comes to Jesus in Luke 4, 5, and says, here are all the kingdoms. I will give them to you.

I will give their authority. I will give their glory to you if you will worship me. And Jesus resists this. He does not take the counsel of the wicked.

26 · The pastor presents Jesus's most difficult resistance to wicked counsel: rejecting Peter's well-intentioned but satanic attempt to keep him from the cross

But in Matthew 16, I think it gets even a little harder because this time it isn't Satan appearing as Satan in the wilderness, but Satan appearing as his good friend, Peter.

In Matthew 16, Jesus says, the time is coming for me to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and then on the third day to be raised.

And Peter, this time, filled with the satanic urge to keep Christ from the cross, says, far be it from you, Lord, that this shall ever happen.

And Jesus turns to him and says, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm not going to walk in your counsel. I'm not going to sit with this wicked thought. Get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

27 · The pastor concludes his survey of Jesus's perfect obedience to Psalm 1:1 by asserting that Christ is the only one present (spiritually, not physically) who has never submitted to worldly counsel

So there's only one person in this room, and he's the one we can't see right now, who has successfully obeyed Psalm 11 and resisted at every turn the opportunity to be under the influence of the world.

28 · The pastor interrupts the expositional flow to address a common misunderstanding of Jesus

Now, before we move on, I think this is worth noting. You will hear people say that Jesus was a great radical and a great nonconformist. As a man who loves hierarchies, hierarchies, conformity, submission, I want to urge you away from such thinking.

29 · The pastor argues that Jesus's resistance to worldly counsel was not nonconformity but hyperconformity to the Father

Jesus was not a nonconformist. He resisted the world's structures because he was a hyperconformist to the Father. See, what worldliness is, what you are when you're worldly is you're a submitter.

You're just submitting to the wrong thing. And how did Jesus resist conforming to this world? He was a hyperconformist. I and the Father are one.

No light between me and the Father. I do what the Father says. I only do what the Father says. I only speak the words the Father gives me. Jesus was not a radical nonconformist.

Jesus was a radical hyperconformist, rightly submitted within the hierarchy provided to him by the very nature of God. Jesus resisted, and this psalm is about him.

30 · The pastor transitions from establishing Christ as the speaker of Psalm 1 to explaining why this is pastorally beneficial

And that's a really good thing. This is the next point. I want you to see that when you go to the Bible and don't see you, you're being given a gift.

It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing.

31 · The pastor identifies the functional purpose of reading the Psalms Christologically: it trains Christians in the most neglected duty — worshiping Jesus Christ

Here's what I would encourage you to understand what the Psalms is doing will do for you if you will just submit to it for an extended period of time.

It will force you to remember that the central duty of the Christian is to worship Jesus Christ. That is not a profound statement, but it is perhaps so benign and common that you've forgotten.

32 · The pastor confesses his own struggle with the central Christian duty of simple worship

Your central duty as a follower of Jesus Christ is to look at him and adore him. That's your main job.

We're talking about worldliness, and I think as I've thought about worldliness, I think the most worldly thing about me and probably many of you is that I do not reflexively enjoy simple worship.

I want to work. I want to accomplish. I would rather feel bad about myself than good about Jesus. Anything I can do to look at me rather than Christ.

I love to go to the Bible for a moral lesson, for a tip on how to lead my family, even for a tip on how to love others. The hardest thing, the most worldly thing about me is how hard it is for me to sit at the feet of Jesus and choose, as Mary did, the greater portion and look and say, I will now give you my attention and my adoration and my affection and be content to do that, at least for now.

33 · The pastor shares his personal experience of reading through the Psalms daily during his church planting years

And that's what this book will do for you if you say, you know what, Chris, you just said something that I completely identify with. I'm telling you now, over a period of years, reading Psalms, five Psalms a day in the parking lot of the job that I went to when I was planting my church in St. Louis.

I just had to, you know, stuck in the car. We didn't have TVs in our cars back then, weirdos. And I just had to say, listen, this is the commitment I've made.

I'm going to read this book and what is this book requiring of me? I tried to get around it, friends. I tried to use this as a how-to. I tried to use this as a manual for life. I tried to get around it and tried to use this as a church growth book, whatever.

But no, it says, no, no, no, no. Here's what you need the most. Here's what the central book, the largest book of the Bible is telling you. You need to learn how to worship Jesus Christ. That's what you need.

34 · The pastor argues that while other biblical books teach doctrine, ethics, and eschatology more directly, no book trains believers in worship as effectively as the Psalms

Here's the deal. If you want to learn doctrine, the Psalms can help you do that, but there are other books in the Bible that would be better for that. If you want to learn about family life, the Psalms have something to offer you, but there are other books in the Bible that can help you do that better.

If you want to learn eschatology, I don't recommend the Psalms. There are other books for that. Isaiah, by the way. Isaiah, not Revelation. Isaiah.

There are other books for that. But what you need to learn, what I need to learn, is what the Psalms insist you learn. And that is how to look at Christ and worship him.

There is no better book for you, for most of us, to read on a daily basis than the book that grabs you by your little baby cheeks and says, hey, look at Christ.

35 · The pastor demonstrates that the first three Psalms present a threefold portrait of Christ: the righteous man, the cosmic king, and the suffering servant

This is what you and I need the most. It is a transparent intent of this book written by God himself to make you look at Christ.

And it starts off on a roll, man. Psalm 1, we have got the blessed man, the man, the perfect, moral, righteous man. Psalm 2, we have the king, the cosmic king, who will rule the nations with an iron rod.

Psalm 3, we have the suffering servant. Oh Lord, oh Lord, how many are my foes? how many are rising against me? God is saying at the introduction of the first three chapters of the book, this is not about just any person.

This is about a person who is perfect. This is about a person who rules with perfect, sovereign power. And this is about a person who has suffered a perfect death for the salvation of his church.

This is not about you. It's about Christ.

36 · The pastor identifies the hermeneutical temptation he calls 'narsegesis' — the reflexive habit of reading ourselves into every text

So if you want to really lean into the Psalms, you have to overcome that thing we've talked about before, which we call narsegesis.

Where the instinct is is to immediately, like we do with photos, family photos, to instantly look for ourselves in the photo.

37 · The pastor illustrates the problem of narsegesis with a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, where tourists spent the entire visit photographing themselves rather than beholding the canyon

As I mentioned at the call to worship, we were out west and the first day we went to the Grand Canyon.

And I was greatly disturbed and tried not to be too judgy, but I am getting older and it's easier. I was greatly disturbed, as was my wife, who's also just as old as I am.

Doesn't look it, but she is. We did struggle a bit to see all the people getting off the buses and spend their entire time, no kidding, their entire time inserting their face into the Grand Canyon.

Selfie after selfie after selfie after selfie. It became really clear that we have a group of people that don't know how to simply look at something for its own truth, goodness, goodness and beauty.

But rather, they have to put themselves in the thing for the thing to have any meaning to them.

38 · The pastor issues a direct exhortation: if you want to be cured of the self-absorption that prevents worship, commit to seeking Christ in the Psalms

If you think that that's a problem that you want to either avoid or be cured of, go on a Jesus treasure hunt in the book of Psalms.

And you will learn how to escape that terrible affliction.

39 · The pastor establishes the theological principle that grounds his exhortation: transformation comes from beholding, not from introspection

I want you to know that I'm not telling you to do this just because you should.

I'm telling you to do this because you should and because it is the thing that actually works to change you. Here's the deal.

Worship is never wasted because you become what you behold. Do you know that? You become what you behold. You are transformed into the thing that you routinely treasure.

Whatever you worship is what you will be like. Show me what you worship and I'll show you who you will be down the road. And the problem that most human beings in America struggle with is they worship, they look at themselves and so they become themselves and it's just this terrible feedback loop.

40 · The pastor transitions from principle to exegetical support by introducing the biblical category of the 'new self

The Bible's not, I'm not just saying something here. The Bible's very clear on this. The Bible says that when we are saved, we have a new identity. The Bible calls it a new man, a new self.

But it also says that we have to put on that new self and we have to rehearse it to ourselves and get used to this new skin that has been provided to us through the imputation of Christ's righteousness.

Well, how do we do that? How do we put on the new self? How do we actually become the new thing that God paid for us to become?

41 · The pastor cites Colossians 3:10 to show that the new self is renewed in knowledge 'after the image of its creator

Colossians 3.10 says, put on the new self.

Here's what, listen to this, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. That makes my point but not as clear as the next verse.

42 · The pastor cites 2 Corinthians 3:18 as his clearest proof text: transformation comes explicitly from beholding Christ's glory

2 Corinthians 3.18. And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the other.

where is the transformation coming from in this verse? Beholding the glory of the Lord.

43 · The pastor addresses individuals in the congregation with pastoral tenderness, reframing their repeated failures as divine pedagogy

Friends, I want to give you the most encouraging thing I think I could say to several of you.

Again, benefit of having a smaller church, we know each other. So I'm thinking of people when I say this. I want you to listen to me very carefully. I think it's likely, more than likely, that all of your sins and your struggles with temptation, that the many times you have strayed and faltered and failed, were all meant by God to teach you one central life-giving lesson.

Jesus is so much better than I am. and that that lesson is a hard one for self-absorbed people to learn.

But it is the lesson that transforms the soul. The simple lesson of worshiping Jesus Christ because he is better than me in every way is the thing that changes me.

44 · The pastor transitions from the theological principle of beholding Christ to identifying where the congregation does appear in Psalm 1

And that's why I want to encourage you to go to the Psalms to see Christ. You actually do appear in the Psalm 1 and in other Psalms.

In Psalm 1, you appear twice. You're definitely not the main character, but you do appear twice, at least in the book of Psalms.

45 · The pastor identifies the first place the congregation appears in Psalm 1: as the wicked whose counsel must be avoided

First of all, you are in the first half of Psalm 1.

The Bible says that the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things who can trust it. That's Jeremiah 7.10. So when you follow your heart, you are walking in the ways of the wicked.

So there's one part where you're there. When you lean on your own understanding, when you take your own counsel, when you do what is right in your own eyes, you're following a wicked person.

46 · The pastor identifies the second place the congregation appears in Psalm 1: as the fruit produced by Christ's righteousness

In a slightly more optimistic sense, you also appear in verse 3. It says that the reward for Jesus' perfect righteousness, his total resistance to worldliness, his perfect conformity to the Father, is that he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yield its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither, and in all he does he prospers.

So where are you there? You are the fruit of Jesus' righteousness. You're the consequence of his cross.

you're the reward for his perfect obedience.

47 · The pastor supports his reading of Psalm 1:3 with Isaiah 53:10, which promises offspring to the suffering servant as the reward for his obedience

Isaiah 53.10 makes this extremely clear.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

You are his offspring. You are the fruit off of the old apple tree of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus obeyed this perfectly, he was rewarded with fruitfulness.

And you're the fruit, and I'm the fruit. And because we are fruit off of a certain tree, we have no choice but to act like the thing we came from.

48 · The pastor establishes the proper interpretive order: first, see Christ and worship him for his sufficiency

So in that sense, once we get Christ sorted in a psalm, then we're free to think through the moral implications for you and I, but only after we've thoroughly and properly worshipped Jesus for being better than us.

And then we can say, you're better than me, but I am of you. So now I have to figure out how to act like you. And so then I can go back through the moral wisdom of the psalm with Christ at the center, and then I can learn how to apply it.

49 · The pastor applies the sermon's central claim to Psalm 1:2: to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night means to meditate on Christ, who is the fulfillment and personification of the law

And in this particular case, what's the command? Not to do, it's the worldly thing, but we've already said that the way that Jesus fulfilled that command was by being perfectly conformed to the Father.

So the question is, how do you, what are you supposed to do to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night? How does that work for you? By studying Christ.

This is very important. For the Christian, the proper application of the call to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night is to meditate on Christ, who is the perfect fulfillment of the law.

As Jesus told the Jews, Moses writes about me. How do you meditate on the law of the Lord? Jesus is the fulfillment of the law of the Lord.

He is the personification of the law of the Lord. I'm just telling you to do the thing. I've been telling you to do the whole sermon. Worship Jesus. Meditate on Jesus.

Paul tells the Romans, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. As we read in our call to worship in Hebrews, long ago, God spoke through other things, through prophets.

But in the last days, he's spoken to us through his son. So the answer to how do I meditate on the law of the Lord day and night is to worship Jesus.

50 · The pastor appeals to the Puritan tradition as authoritative witnesses to the transformative power of meditating on Christ

All of the godly Puritans understood that the primary power for life change did not come from reading books about life change, but came rather from meditating upon Jesus Christ.

Richard Sibbes wrote, the serious meditation of these things, talking about meditating on Christ, will put a glory upon our souls and the believing of them will transform us from glory to glory.

Charles Spurgeon talked about this all the time. In one place, he says, I know of no means under God so profitable for producing faith as thinking of Christ.

51 · The pastor signals the transition to the sermon's closing application, framing it as pastoral counsel for those struggling with mental captivity

I'll wrap up with this application. Again, pastoral in nature.

52 · The pastor addresses those whose minds are captive to sinful or destructive thought patterns

Some of you have given your minds to things you really shouldn't have given your minds to.

The brain has a way of being trained. It's a lot like a grass field and you've worn pathways. And those pathways tend to be followed reflexively over time. It's kind of like breaking an ankle.

The first time, it's almost inevitable that you'll do it again and again and again. Some of you have given your minds to things that have taken control of your minds. Some of your minds are basically captive to past pain.

Some of your minds are consumed with concerns about what others think of you. Some of your minds are consumed with regret, fear, lust, or greed. And here's the thing.

You really regret giving your mind back one day back then to that thing because you didn't understand that when you give your mind to something, that something takes over your mind.

and now you feel completely helpless to undo this pattern of thinking that has captured you. You gave it permission after all. You didn't know.

But it's running you right now. And it really annoys you. It really hurts. And to be honest, if you could go back and catch you in that moment when you started allowing your mind to wander down this path of anxiety or lust or comparison or resentment, you would because you understand now that you gave something the steering wheel and your brain is, after all, this plastic thing that takes the shape of the way you use it.

and you really regret it. But you find yourself powerless to overcome it. You are stuck in the counsel of the wicked.

That's what's happening. You've sat. You're not standing, you're not walking, you've sat. And it's one of those chairs you're having trouble getting up from.

53 · The pastor offers the solution to mental captivity: the expulsive power of a new affection

Well, I have much sympathy for you.

I've been there. I could tell you there's only one way out. And it's not a magic pill. But it's actually the thing you should have been doing all along and it's the thing you will eventually need to learn to do anyway and that is to worship Christ.

You need to learn how to make Jesus your mental obsession. how to meditate on him day and night. It is only the expulsive power of a new affection, a very powerful affection, only a certain affection that will get you out of the ditch.

You need to learn how to go to the Grand Canyon of God's glory and just stand there uninterrupted with your own face and behold the glory of Jesus Christ.

the Bible says this will transform you from one degree of glory to the next. This is how you take every thought captive. Paul tells us make it obey Christ.

Every time your old way of thinking introduces itself you need to think about Christ. You need to think about Christ and that's the subject for the sermon next week.

Focus less on stopping various thoughts and focus more on fulfilling the purpose you were created for. That is to worship Jesus.

54 · The pastor transitions to communion by connecting the sacrament to the sermon's central claim

Now as we think about communion I want you to notice something.

That everything I've been saying is built into the command that Jesus gives for communion. What is communion for? Jesus says remember me.

Is that because Jesus is super vain and just wants you to remember him? No, it's because this is the way that your life is going to change by thinking about Christ.

Communion is merely a means of grace that flows along the basic mechanics of transformation in your whole Christian life. It is simply the reminder to remember to think of Christ.

55 · The pastor prays over the congregation as they prepare to take communion, reiterating the sermon's central claim and interceding specifically for those struggling with destructive thought patterns

So I'm going to pray for us and I'm going to pray for you. I'd like you to come and partake. We've got two tables set up of the elements and just grab them and come back to your seat and I'll lead us in partaking. Let's pray.

Father God, we bless your holy name for giving us Jesus Christ. He is worthy of actually every single brain cell that we have. He is worthy of all of our time and contemplation and none of us are in any danger of being too heavenly minded to be earthly good.

Most of us are exquisitely worldly in the sense we are not big fans of standing there and looking at you and worshiping you. And Lord, as we come to the table today, we come as people who have so imperfectly fulfilled the command we see in Psalm 1 and 2 and our only hope is in the one who has fulfilled it not only for us in terms of giving us forgiveness for our sin, but also, Lord, that the power that we need to follow you is found in your obedience.

As we come to the table to engage in this act of remembrance, which is a mental thing, would you help all these people who felt seen when I talked about difficulties changing their thinking, would you help them, Lord?

Let this initial moment of communion be an installment from you to them of your faithfulness. if they will just keep looking to Jesus at a time of your choosing, when you have taught us the supremacy of Christ deeply enough, you will help this person be free from this way of thinking.

Lord, may we see freedom in focusing on Christ. Bless this time of communion. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Come.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

May 11, 2025

Mothers Day & God's Ordinary Means of Grace

God reveals himself through ordinary means—work, meals, and care for others—and the only sustainable motivation for faithful service is love for Jesus grounded in his sacrificial love for us.

John 21:1-14

May 18, 2025

An Introduction to the Psalms

The Psalms must become the Christian's daily companion because they alone equip us for the prayer-saturated, enemy-surrounded, Christ-dependent life God intends us to live.

Psalms (entire book)

May 23, 2025

Are All Sins Equal?

All sins are not equal—they vary in severity based on knowledge, intention, and effect—because sin is fundamentally an offense against the person of God rather than violation of abstract moral rules.

June 1 · This sermon

Seeing Christ in the Psalms, Part 1

The Psalms are fundamentally about Christ, not us, and our transformation comes from beholding his glory rather than analyzing our failure.

Psalm 1:1-6

Earlier in the corpus · August 31, 2025

A prior sermon on Psalm 147:1

You preached this same passage — 4 Psalm 1 citations in that earlier sermon. Worth re-reading before the next time this text comes around.

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

As you read through Psalm 1:1-3, what specific behaviors or attitudes does the psalmist warn against, and what does the psalmist promise to…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we learn to read the Psalms as the voice of Christ rather than our own, moving from recognizing his superhuman righteousness, to worshiping him as our true speaker, to discovering that beholding his glory transforms us into his likeness.

Prayer

Prayer: Behold and Be Transformed

Father, we come before you in awe of your wisdom in speaking through the Psalms — a voice so perfectly righteous, so utterly faithful to you…

Family table

The Voice That's Too Perfect

In the sermon, Chris Oswald pointed out that the psalmist speaks with a righteousness that feels almost impossible—too perfect for us to cla…

Couples

Beholding Christ in the Psalms

What struck you most about the idea that the Psalms are fundamentally about Christ rather than about us—and did it challenge any ways you've…

Memorize

2 Corinthians 3:18

This verse crystallizes the sermon's central claim: transformation comes through beholding Christ's glory, not through moral introspection or self-improvement. It anchors the gospel-centered reading of the Psalms that Chris Oswald presents as the antidote to self-absorbed, law-focused interpretation.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

As you read through Psalm 1:1-3, what specific behaviors or attitudes does the psalmist warn against, and what does the psalmist promise to those who meditate on God's law day and night?

Psalm 1:1-3

→ When you honestly assess your own life against these standards, where do you find yourself falling short?
Chris argued that the psalmist's voice exhibits a kind of righteousness and righteous indignation that feels foreign to our own experience. What evidence from Psalm 1 suggests that the speaker is describing something we cannot fully claim for ourselves?

Psalm 1:1, Psalm 1:7-8
The sermon claimed that the uncanny perfection we encounter in the Psalms is not a defect but a pointer—it's meant to make us uncomfortable enough to look beyond ourselves. What shifts in us when we stop trying to claim the psalmist's words as our own and instead recognize Christ as the true speaker?

→ How is that different from reading the Psalms as a moral checklist or self-help guide?
In Matthew 16:21-23, Peter rebukes Jesus for speaking about his coming suffering, and Jesus responds by calling him 'Satan' because Peter is aligned with worldly counsel rather than the Father's will. How does Jesus's resistance to worldly influence in that moment differ from how we typically think about 'not conforming to the world'?

Matthew 16:21-23
The sermon emphasized that we are transformed into the likeness of what we behold and treasure (2 Corinthians 3:18). When you consider your own spiritual growth, can you identify ways that sustained attention to Christ has actually changed your desires, your responses, or your character—not through willpower but through worship?

2 Corinthians 3:18

→ Conversely, what happens in our hearts when we spend our meditative energy analyzing our own failure instead of beholding Christ's sufficiency?
Chris said that 'meditating on the law of the Lord day and night' (Psalm 1:2) for Christians means meditating on Christ, who fulfills the law. This week, how might you reorient your time in Scripture so that you're reading to encounter Christ rather than to extract moral principles or strategies for self-improvement?

Psalm 1:2, Romans 10:4

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Psalm 2

Psalm 2 presents a cosmic confidence and royal authority that no fallen human can legitimately claim—the psalmist speaks as one who sits enthroned, unmoved by earthly rebellion, perfect in dominion. This hyperreality of the psalm's voice should alert us that we are hearing not the experience of sinners, but the voice of the archetypal Man, Christ himself, whose righteousness and authority are without measure. When we recognize that the psalmist's voice exceeds us, we are invited not to strain toward it but to behold him who speaks it.

Tuesday Revelation 1:12-20

In Revelation's vision of the ascended Christ, we see the One who walked this earth unmarred by the counsel of the wicked, unmoved by the seat of mockers, undefiled by the assembly of the wayward—a man so radiant with holiness that John falls at his feet in terror and worship. This is the one speaker who can claim Psalm 1's righteousness without pretense, having perfectly resisted every worldly seduction, every satanic counsel, not as a stoic but as the Son who delighted in doing his Father's will alone. To read Psalm 1 is to see the risen Christ's perfect humanity reflected back from centuries past.

Wednesday 2 Corinthians 3:18

Paul anchors our transformation not in moral exertion but in beholding: "we are being transformed into his image from one degree of glory to another." This is the gospel's cure for self-absorption—when we gaze upon Christ as he speaks through the Psalms, the expulsive power of his beauty gradually reshapes us into his likeness, not through willpower but through worship. The Psalms exist to train us in this central Christian duty: to look at Jesus and adore him, knowing that such adoration is itself the engine of our sanctification.

Thursday Matthew 16:21-23

When Peter urges Jesus away from the cross, he offers what the world calls wisdom—safety, self-preservation, comfort—yet Jesus calls it satanic counsel and rejects it absolutely, conforming instead to his Father's appointed path of suffering. This is not mere ethical heroism but radical allegiance: the psalmist's perfection lies not in withdrawing from the world's demands but in saying no to them with unwavering delight in God's will. When we meditate on Psalm 1 through Christ's refusal at Caesarea Philippi, we see that true righteousness means becoming hyperconformist to a kingdom entirely unlike this age.

Friday John 2:23-25

Jesus knew what was in human hearts and did not entrust himself to our well-meaning declarations of faith, because he alone understands the depths of human self-deception and the readiness with which we mistake ourselves for righteousness. The Psalms confront us with this same searching clarity—when we try to claim the psalmist's voice as our own, Christ's eyes penetrate our pretense and call us to a different posture: not to read ourselves into his righteousness, but to read him in the text and to find in his perfection both our condemnation and our salvation. Worship begins when we stop trying to be the hero of the Psalms and let Christ be the hero we behold.

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Prayer: Behold and Be Transformed

Father, we come before you in awe of your wisdom in speaking through the Psalms — a voice so perfectly righteous, so utterly faithful to your will, that it humbles us with its superhuman glory. We confess that we have often approached the Psalms as a mirror for our own moral improvement, reading ourselves into the text and turning your Word into self-help rather than into an invitation to behold Christ. We have believed the lie that transformation comes through our willpower and introspection, when in truth we are powerless to escape the destructive patterns that have ensnared us. Forgive us for this self-absorbed reading that obscures the true Speaker — Jesus Christ, the archetypal Man who alone has perfectly resisted worldly counsel and embodied your righteous law.

We rejoice that in the gospel we have access to the One who speaks in the Psalms — the only human being who truly obeyed Psalm 1:1 and meditated on your law day and night (Psalm 1:1–2). Through his finished work we are freed from the burden of performing righteousness ourselves and invited instead into the expulsive power of beholding his glory. We thank you that Christ's perfection is not a standard that condemns us but a Savior who loves us, and that in him we find the sufficiency we lack.

Grant us grace this week to read the Psalms with eyes fixed on Jesus rather than on ourselves. Train us in the central Christian duty we most resist — to look at Christ and adore him (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we meditate on these songs, transform our hearts through worship of him, that we might grow from one degree of glory to another, not by our striving but by beholding the glory of our risen Lord. We commit ourselves to this glad pursuit of Christ-likeness, trusting that you who began this work will complete it in us. To you, the Father, through Christ our Savior, be all glory and honor forever.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

The Voice That's Too Perfect

For the parent

In the sermon, Chris Oswald pointed out that the psalmist speaks with a righteousness that feels almost impossible—too perfect for us to claim as our own. This prompt invites your family to notice that uncanny perfection together and begin asking why it's there. Listen for moments when your kids recognize the difference between what they can do and what the psalm describes.

When you read Psalm 1, it talks about someone who never walks in the counsel of the wicked and always meditates on God's law day and night. Can any of us actually do that perfectly? What does it tell us that the psalmist sounds so perfectly righteous that we can't quite claim those words for ourselves?

works for ages 8+

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Beholding Christ in the Psalms

What struck you most about the idea that the Psalms are fundamentally about Christ rather than about us—and did it challenge any ways you've been reading them?
How might our marriage change if we stopped analyzing our own failure and instead practiced together the 'central Christian duty' of worshiping Jesus and letting that transform us into his likeness?
What destructive pattern or area of struggle in your own heart could you invite your spouse to pray into this week, trusting that beholding Christ's righteousness—not willpower—is what breaks those chains?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Why this verse: This verse crystallizes the sermon's central claim: transformation comes through beholding Christ's glory, not through moral introspection or self-improvement. It anchors the gospel-centered reading of the Psalms that Chris Oswald presents as the antidote to self-absorbed, law-focused interpretation.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Providence Community Church

Lenexa, KS
Sundays · 10:00 AM
About us · What we believe

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# Providence Community Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [Mothers Day & God's Ordinary Means of Grace (John 21:1-14, 2025-05-11)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/05/mothers-day-god-s-ordinary-means-of-grace)
- [An Introduction to the Psalms (Psalms (entire book), 2025-05-18)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/05/an-introduction-to-the-psalms)
- [Are All Sins Equal? (2025-05-23)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/05/are-all-sins-equal)
- [Seeing Christ in the Psalms, Part 1 (Psalm 1:1-6, 2025-06-01)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2025/06/seeing-christ-in-the-psalms-part-1)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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