Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on the goodness of God’s Law for all. For background, the Church Militant is the historic term for the Body of living believers now engaged in spiritual warfare. Blue face-paint is an allusion to our zealous Scottish forebears in the Scottish Reformation, which emphasized what it means for a People to repent, not merely individuals.
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
(Psalm 1:1).
One of the metaphors for the Christian life is that of war: Christians are soldiers; we have a King, a Captain, a law, a banner, armor, weapons, and enemies. And the Psalms are our war-songs.
“Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” (Psalm 144:1).
In an age when the slippery-slope is at a right angle, the opening words of this war-chest and covenant-hymnal provide the counsel and comfort Christians need to be strengthened for the battle ahead.
Wicked society advances the march, evangelicalism impotently cries to appease the enemy, and meanwhile Presbyterians don their blue face-paint to counterattack for true freedom—joyful obedience to the only true and living God.
What, then, is our strategy? To delight in the law of God—a whole-hearted delight that meditates on the entire law and would have it applied to men, families, and nations alike.
The Need for ‘Blue Face-Paint’ Presbyterianism
The opening word of Psalm 1 may be of a promised blessing, but it anticipates a contrasting curse. Accordingly, the first condition for this blessing is negative: [He] walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
The situation is dire, and the response must be bold. Whether it is walking, standing, or sitting, there is no posture proper for Christians to partner with wickedness.
This is easier said than done.
- Everywhere you turn, you are confronted with the wicked’s counsel. Billboards, bumper stickers, yard signs, aptly-called “pride” flags, the media, and big businesses all seek to catechize the society with their own version of a postmillennial vision to conquer the world with their false-gospel, establish their state-church of creature-worship, and enforce their law of calling evil good and good evil.
The blessed man (and by extension the blessed nation) defies their pretense of piety. The magistrate has been commanded by God to walk in another way: “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book” (Deuteronomy 17:18).
- Like the counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinners is ubiquitous. In fact, if you are not walking in this way, you are promptly convicted without trial and sentenced to cancellation, labeled with the latest virtue-signaling epithet from the liberal lectionary. This is because sinners are far more adept at enforcing their made-up laws than the ones that actually exist.
The way of the sinners is broad and there are many who find it. What’s more, this way is not like standing on stagnant ground, but more like being on an escalator. To even stand in the way of sinners is to travel along their road to destruction.
- The seat of the scornful is more deceiving. We love to sit and complain, pontificating on how “such-and-such” needs a more precise theology or more nuanced approach. The seat of the scornful is reserved for today’s evangelical [aspiring] elite who love the seat of prominence only to be revealed (as sitting implies) as not actually doing anything.
The seat of the scornful is the armchair-quarterback who cries out against the “theonomists,” “Christian nationalists,” and anyone else who would dare to be so bold as to say: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth” (Psalm 2:10).
Dear Christian, don’t sit down with the scornful because then you join in their laziness. Instead, like the Israel at the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4), keep building faithfully at your place on the wall—with your Weapon by your side.
Blessed is the Man—and Nation
Let’s revisit the war-song’s opening words. Though traps be on every side: Blessed is the man.
Happiness in body and soul awaits the one contented with Christ and delighting in His law.
The way of the sinner is the cult of death—children murdered in the womb; and if the wicked can’t get them in the womb, they’ll mutilate them afterwards. But the way of the righteous is the way of blessedness, of life, and of joy—children growing up singing Psalms with their fathers and mothers, receiving a Christian education, learning to be Christian men and women who will raise more Christian men and women.
This is undeniably part of the “Blue Face-Paint” Presbyterian church-growth movement, if you will. But the other part is this: We must call everyone we meet to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners—He has died, is risen, and will come again. Repent from your sins and believe upon Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved—you and your household.
This is where the blessedness of Psalm 1 is instructed by the blessedness of Psalm 2. It is not only men (Psalm 1), but also nations (Psalm 2), who are blessed when they delight in the law of the Lord: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12). All men are called to obey God in all things concerning their station and vocation—this includes magistrates.
And as blessing flows from godly parents to their children, so blessing flows from godly magistrates to their subjects. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).
Conclusion
With faith in the promise of God’s blessing we are to defy the wicked’s counsel, the sinner’s way, the scorner’s seat. As the commandments of God are universal, this command is for men, families, counties, states, and nations alike. Whole-hearted obedience is not optional.
May God grant to us the awakening from His Word through the Spirit to see not only the centrality of His Gospel, but also the goodness of His Law. This is the counsel of the righteous, the way of godly, and the seat of the joyful.
Drew Poplin is a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA). He is Associate Pastor at First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham and Church Planter of South Wake Reformed Presbyterian Church (Fuquay-Varina).
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