I have a "did you know" for you this morning.Did you know the first official paper money used in what is now the United States was first printed and distributed nearly three hundred years ago?It was in the American Colonies during the first quarter of the Eighteenth Century when it became necessary, because of a lack of coins, to print paper.It probably wasn’t an easy sell back in those days as the people were use to holding something of intrinsic value in their hands.Even though the paper was of a different quality than what we find today, and the denominations were in pounds, shillings and pence, not in dollars in cents, paper money then and now have a few things in common.For example, paper money was used back then in our formative years and is even used today as a way to communicate ideas, values and even patriotism.
If we pull out a piece of United States paper money, any that happens to be in pocket or purse, we’ll find something about ourselves.For example, there is the most common piece, the One Dollar bill.Right there staring at us is the very first president, George Washington.On the back there is a variety of historic information including an image of both sides of the Great Seal of the United States.From this we can learn of our intent as people of peace who are comfortable with war if necessary.We can discern the number of original colonies, and we can celebrate the fact we are ones who “trust in God.”As someone said it must be a fact because our money says it.There are a few other items of interest but we’ll save those for later.
Back during earlier times when our country was new there were also important pieces of our identity on paper money.Some who printed the money also used it as a way to encourage and inspire.For example there are several pieces of Continental Currency which have mottos boldly printed upon them.One, which is on a note published by Benjamin Franklin, says, and I quote “Mind your business.”Even back then it seems on first observation we had people who were nosey.
Actually, when those of the time wrote such a phrase, it wasn’t to tell people to mind their “own business” by keeping out of others people’s business.The phrase actually had a practical application.It means what it said “mind your business.”In other words; do those things which help you to prosper.Take care of your own affairs.Implied was even more, do what you need to do in order for your life to be successful and offered for good.“Mind your business” better translated would be "do what you can do in order to keep your life honorable and successful in whatever venture you choose."
Such a theme is nothing new to the world.We Americans adopted it as our own and have perfected the thought in much of the excellence we have added to the world since our national creation.Long before our coming however, and of course in all other places in the world, there are those who were and are encouraged to “mind their business,” by striving for the best life can be by taking care of that to which one chooses to be part.This would include not only business as in what one chooses to do for a living, but also family, and even more personal things of life, such as faith, and the basic ways in which one tries to excel in working with others in the world community.
Even back in the time of the Psalmist, a time long before Christ came along, there was such a challenge.The very first word in the Psalms is one which reminds us of the possibility.Psalm 1 begins with the simple word, “happy!”Who can argue with “happiness?”Isn’t happiness what, deep down in our hearts, we all seek?In a way the thought of “minding one’s business” ties into this.When we all choose to make life its best we also make the choice to be satisfied with what we have.The person who is truly happy isn’t always the one with the most stuff, nor the one for whom life is always the most fair.The happiest persons are those who have something in themselves that doesn’t actually come from themselves alone.The person who is happiest, in a present and even in an eternal fashion, finds his or her roots in something greater than self, and even greater than the things which make life tick.
Let’s get into it from the perspective of Psalm 1.First we know the Psalms were written by a number of individuals over a period of several hundred years.The Psalter, as we call it, is a collection of human testimony to the working of God in the world.Those who wrote the Psalms, both greater and lesser ones by length and depth of thought, didn’t look at the world through what we would call rose colored glasses.Not at all!!Those who created these devotional poems knew the truth, the reality of life.They acknowledged the things of life which make life challenging.They knew the feelings brought about by failure, depression, prejudice, outright hatred, hunger, poverty, alienation, separation, and even death.When we read the Psalms there is a depth of humanity that we cannot avoid seeing, one which speaks to our hearts.Even though we do not know for sure, historically speaking, who wrote the very first Psalm in the Bible collection, we do know that such a person had an operating procedure, a philosophy or life which was exemplary.
In Psalms the author or authors introduce us early on to a couple of phrases, ones which represent different types of people.There are those who are called “wicked,” and those who are called “righteous.”It is difficult for us to understand what is meant by these two.First we must realize in Hebrew there is no middle ground, everything is absolute.So when one is referred to as “wicked,” it stands in contrast to “righteous.”Truth of the matter is there are in life no absolutes, in each of our lives there are degrees of both of these.As a matter of fact life is made up of the struggle between wicked and righteous, between what in more simple terms we call good and evil.
And something else, something which troubles me a little and adds some challenge to reading Psalm 1.In our world there are people of what some in society now call more “conservative” Christians, and Christians aren’t the only ones who have such factions, who see the world in two extreme and opposite camps namely “us” and “them.”The “us” side is the side which is “righteous.”The “them” side is the side which is “wicked.”There is a philosophy at play which works to separate people one from another.
This isn’t what I believe Psalm 1 is getting to.The Psalmist writes concerning the individual.In the life of each individual, as I said just a few moments ago, there is at work both the wicked and the righteous.In our world, as in times previous, we human beings are bombarded with challenges which have to be made, with decisions which affect not only ourselves but also those around us.We all have challenges to face, even times in life when we feel as though our value is zero, and our situation hopeless.There are storms, symbolically speaking, which cause even the best of us insecurity, and winds of challenge and change which push us around.
The image used in this passage is a familiar one; that of a tree planted by a stream of water.The tree is secure and fruitful in its place.I don’t believe in this context the important factor has anything really to do with the fruit.I do believe it has to do with where the tree is growing and how.The tree happens to be where it is.The trees roots are firmly emplaced, they run deep, and because of where the tree finds itself, there is much to give it water and nurture.
For us it is a little different.We have the potential to choose that which nourishes us.Those who are “wicked” are those who do not choose to align themselves with that which is healthy and eternal.The life of the “wicked’ is defined as chaff, the hull of the seed, which falls away, and ultimately disappears into uselessness at the whim of the winds.There is no base, no root, and no place of nourishment.On the other hand there are those who are “righteous,” those who have made the choice to align themselves with a more permanent and with a soil that nourishes.These have a firm base.These have roots which are strong.These find nourishment enough to help them bear fruit.
The metaphor is a simple one here.Those who are happy are those who find the good place and whose roots run deep.A better way to say it is this: their roots run deep into the very heart of God.These are the ones the scripture tells us who choose to “meditate day and night on the law of the Lord.”These are the ones who prosper.These are they who maintain a strong spiritual house.These are those who attend to their business in more than a money making way.They “mind their business,” in every area of life.They are those who adjust and who move forward not because they have strength within themselves, but because their strength comes from the love of God which sustains them and nurtures them, and gives them strength to stand when the going gets touch.In simple words, these, the ones called “righteous,” those who are “right” in the placing of their trust, will not perish.
As far as I am concerned here this passage isn’t a passage of judgment, but a passage of encouragement.All of us have times when we feel so low we have to reach up to tie our shoes.All of us have moments when our self worth is at low ebb.All of us have doubts and seek direction.All of us realize in time how frail we really are, and how limited is our power and our future when left on our own.
It is good to know we who are mortal beings are not alone.This is the good news of God.We have the power to choose where our roots run.We have the ability to align ourselves with the one who can bring happiness.Happiness doesn’t depend on the situation of life, nor on the condition of our living.Happiness is based upon where and how deep our roots go.Those who choose the way of faith, those who choose to take time to meditate and to pray, and to listen to the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, are those whose roots will find strength, ones whose roots do in fact run deep, deep into the heart of God.
But there is a practical application here.It is the responsibility of those who are happy to share such an attitude.In some contemporary circles, and I’ve seen this more than I’d like, there is an impulse to judge others and divide the world between those who “have” and those who “have not.”This is even true of things of faith.I’ll say this simply, it isn’t our responsibility to judge anybody, that is God’s choice and God’s job.It is our responsibility and our choice to encourage, to invite, to love, and to live lives based in Spiritual happiness.Such living certainly must be contagious.
Two things I want to share as we go away today.The first is the story behind the sermon title for today.I read somewhere of an old church yard where there stood a cemetery from some hundreds of years before.One of the better known tomb stones had a piece of poetry upon it.It says, “Life is short, this you shall see, so prepare yourself to follow me.”This was a significant thought but not one which was left alone.Someone in a previous time read the original, “Life is short, this you shall see, so prepare yourself to follow me,” and added another verse which goes “to follow thee I’m not content, until I know which way you went.”
A true thought this is.We are all headed somewhere.I pray heaven bound is the direction we are all going.But in the mean time how about a little happiness.How about focusing on what makes life its best.God has given to us a great way to make it all work. We have before us a challenge to faith which helps us find a secure place to grow.We are encouraged, even challenged to allow our spiritual roots to run deep, to run deep to the heart of God.Anyone so based does at least two things.First; the one who does so finds life at its best, including the ability to stay strong in the most challenging of “weather.”Secondly, the person of happiness has a great gift to offer to the world, starting with those who are the closest and moving out from there.
The challenge is to get your spiritual home in order first, then be attentive to changing the world.The question to ask yourself; which way am I going?Am I going in the direction of “wickedness,” which means going in the direction of chaff which blows away and is lost forever, or am I going the way of the tree by the streams of water which is secure and whose roots run deep?
The other thing I want to share is a brief observation about Psalms.The Psalter is made up of 150 unique units.Scholars declare there are five distinct emphases of these and that these five areas are not concurrent, but follow each other.The five emphases are structured around the books of the Hebrew Law, the first five books of the Bible.There is also the note that whoever put these together as they are used an interesting method of communicating the overall purpose of this little collection of works of praise.Some say Psalm 1 purposefully begins with the word “happy.”These same folks say it is no accident the Psalms end with another brief and succinct word, one found at the very end of Psalm 150.The whole massive work ends in a way which defines the beginning; “praise the Lord.”
So friends, let us strive, pray for, work toward, move in the direction of, being focused, even leaning more each day than the day before in the direction of praising the Lord.This is the way to avoid the challenges of “wickedness,” as Psalm 1 defines it.It is the way to find the way of “righteousness,” the way of being “right” with life.May your roots run deep, and may your lives be those of praise.May you know the love of God, and find joy, or in the case of our scripturefor today, may you delight, in the presence of the Lord and may your roots run deep into the heart of God as you do in fact “mind your business.”
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