Main Text: Psalm 1:1–3; Matthew 6:33
Central Truth
Kingdom living is not an occasional life we borrow for religious activities; it is the prescribed way of life for everyone who belongs to the King. Because we are God’s children, His way must become our way, His Word our delight, His Spirit our strength, and His purpose the direction of our lives.
INTRODUCTION — FROM KINGDOM PRIORITIES TO KINGDOM LIFESTYLE
Last month, the Lord led us through the theme, “Pursuing Kingdom Priorities for All-Round Fulfilment.” From Matthew 6:33, we heard again the words of Jesus:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
We learned that the Kingdom is God’s rule and reign through Christ. To seek the Kingdom is to bring our lives under the rule of the King and allow His will, His righteousness and His priorities to increasingly govern us.
But Kingdom priorities must eventually become a Kingdom lifestyle. What we truly value will ultimately influence how we live.
So, as we enter October, the question is no longer merely, “Do I know what God values?” We must also ask, “Am I living the kind of life that belongs to His Kingdom?”
God is calling His children into a definite way of life. Christianity is not a borrowed lifestyle that we put on when we come to church and remove when we return to our homes, businesses, professions and private lives.
Kingdom living is not a borrowed life; it is the prescribed life of God’s children.
Jesus said:
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
— Matthew 16:24
The Christ who saves us also calls us to follow Him.
This is why Scripture repeatedly speaks about a way, a path and a walk. Isaiah 35:8 speaks of “the Highway of Holiness.” Jesus speaks about the narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13–14). Paul tells believers to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and to “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
There is a way that belongs to the Kingdom.
Psalm 1:1–3 introduces us beautifully to this way of life. It shows us a path we must reject, a path we must choose, a delight we must cultivate, and an outcome God produces.
1. THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE HAS A PATH WE MUST REJECT- Psalm 1:1
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”
Interestingly, Psalm 1 begins the description of the blessed person by telling us how he does not live.
There are voices he will not allow to determine his convictions. There are paths he will not adopt as his own. There are positions in which he will not comfortably settle.
Notice the movement:
WALK → STAND → SIT
And alongside it:
COUNSEL → PATH → SEAT
What begins as counsel can become a path, and what becomes a path can eventually become a settled way of life. What repeatedly influences us can eventually begin to define us.
The Kingdom lifestyle therefore requires discernment concerning what influences us.
Who shapes the way we think? What informs our convictions? Where do we derive our understanding of success, marriage, money, sexuality, relationships, pleasure and purpose?
This does not mean Christians must withdraw from unbelievers. Jesus moved among sinners, loved them and called them to Himself. We have been sent into the world as witnesses.
But while we live among the world, the world must not become the authority that determines how we live.
Paul says:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
— Romans 12:2
There is a difference between living in the world and allowing the world to determine the pattern of our lives.
The world may say, “Everybody is doing it.” Culture may redefine what is acceptable. Society may normalize what God condemns. Personal desire may tell us to do whatever makes us happy.
But the child of God asks a different question:
“What does my Father say?”
We belong to the King. Therefore, we cannot construct our lifestyle independently of the King.
The ungodly may choose to live without reference to God’s will, but those who belong to Christ cannot confess His lordship while deliberately choosing self-rule.
This reaches into our relationships, sexuality, speech, entertainment, business dealings, money, ambitions, attitudes and private conduct.
There is no part of the believer’s life where Jesus ceases to be King.
2. THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE HAS A PATH WE MUST CHOOSE- Matthew 7:13–14; Isaiah 35:8
Kingdom living is not merely about rejecting the wrong path. God calls us to walk in His way.
Jesus said:
“Enter by the narrow gate… because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
— Matthew 7:13–14
There are two ways in the teaching of Jesus. One is broad; the other is narrow. One accommodates the direction of the crowd; the other calls us to follow Christ.
The narrow way does not mean that we earn salvation through difficult living. Salvation is God’s gift received through faith in Christ. But the Christ who saves us becomes the Lord we follow.
Following Christ gives direction to life.
Isaiah 35:8 similarly speaks of “a highway… called the Highway of Holiness.” Scripture consistently presents the life of God’s people as a walk in God’s way.
Not every path is the King’s path.
There will therefore be moments when Kingdom living goes against popular culture. There will be occasions when obedience is inconvenient. There will be times when personal desire says one thing while God’s Word says another.
The broad way essentially says:
“Live as you please.”
The Kingdom way says:
“Live to please the King.”
Scripture says that Christ died:
“…that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:15
This is one of the fundamental changes that comes with belonging to Christ.
The controlling question of life can no longer simply be, “What do I want?”
It becomes:
“What pleases my King?”
This is why the Kingdom lifestyle is not negotiable for God’s children. We are not choosing Christianity from a menu of possible lifestyles. We have been called to follow Christ.
His way becomes our way.
His will takes precedence over our preference.
His Word becomes the final authority over our opinions.
His pleasure becomes more important than the applause of people.
Kingdom Truth
We cannot sincerely confess Jesus as King while insisting on being the final authority over the way we live.
3. THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE MUST BECOME OUR DELIGHT, NOT MERELY OUR DUTY- Psalm 1:2
Psalm 1 now moves from what the blessed person rejects to what he embraces:
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
This takes us deeper than outward behaviour.
God does not simply want people who reluctantly avoid evil while secretly wishing they could live like everyone else.
The Psalm says:
“His delight is in the law of the LORD.”
The Kingdom lifestyle reaches the heart.
God’s way must not merely become something we obey; increasingly, it becomes something in which we delight.
Jesus said:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
— Matthew 22:37
Before Kingdom living becomes outward expression, there must be an inward affection for God.
We love the King; therefore, we increasingly love what the King loves.
We delight in Him; therefore, His Word becomes precious to us. His will becomes important to us. His priorities increasingly become our priorities.
There is a beautiful spiritual movement here:
LOVE FOR GOD → DELIGHT IN HIS WORD → MEDITATION ON HIS TRUTH → OBEDIENCE TO HIS WILL → KINGDOM LIVING
The Psalmist says that the blessed person meditates in God’s law “day and night.”
This does not merely mean having a Bible-reading schedule. It describes a life continually influenced and governed by God’s truth.
His Word begins to shape how we think, how we choose, how we respond, how we spend, how we speak, how we relate and how we live.
Our worship, prayer, study of Scripture and meditation are therefore not occasional religious activities squeezed into whatever time remains.
They become rhythms of a life that delights in God.
As oxygen is indispensable to physical life, fellowship with God and His Word must become indispensable to Kingdom living.
And there is something more we will consider next Sunday: this life cannot be lived by determination alone.
God has not merely given us His Word to show us the way; He has given us His Spirit to empower us to walk in that way.
“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
— Galatians 5:16
That deserves fuller attention in our next encounter.
For today, we must settle this:
What is my delight? What continually occupies my heart and shapes my thinking?
Because eventually, what delights the heart directs the life.
Kingdom Truth
Kingdom living becomes more than duty when the King Himself becomes our delight.
4. THE KINGDOM LIFESTYLE HAS A PREDICTED OUTCOME – Psalm 1:3
Having shown us the path the blessed person rejects and the life in which he delights, the Psalm now shows us what that person becomes:
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
Notice the certainty:
“HE SHALL BE…”
The Psalm is no longer merely describing what this person does. It begins to describe what this person becomes.
He becomes like a tree.
Not something disconnected and temporary, but something planted, rooted, supplied, fruitful and enduring.
And the strength of the tree is not merely in the tree itself. Its secret is where it is planted and the source from which it continually draws.
Jesus gives us the same principle in John 15:
“Abide in Me, and I in you… He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.”
— John 15:4–5
Kingdom living is impossible apart from continuing dependence upon God.
The life God requires must continually draw from the life God supplies.
Difficult seasons may still come. Kingdom living does not mean that believers will never experience pressure, loss, disappointment or suffering.
Jeremiah 17:7–8 uses similar imagery. The heat comes, yet the tree continues because its roots reach the water.
What a picture of the Kingdom life!
Kingdom living does not guarantee the absence of heat; it gives us roots that the heat cannot exhaust.
Psalm 1 also says the tree “brings forth its fruit in its season.”
A life genuinely rooted in God will eventually produce evidence of its source.
Then comes the remarkable statement:
“And whatever he does shall prosper.”
This is not a blank cheque guaranteeing that every personal ambition, investment, business venture or plan will succeed simply because we are Christians.
Remember the person being described.
His counsel has changed.
His path has changed.
His delight has changed.
His thinking is continually being shaped by God’s Word.
His “whatever” therefore belongs within a life increasingly ordered by God.
Biblical prosperity here is not God guaranteeing every personal desire. It is God establishing a life to become fruitful in the purpose for which He has planted it.
This connects directly with our annual theme:
WALKING IN DIVINE PERFORMANCE AND FULFILMENT
When God’s way becomes our path, God’s Word becomes our delight, and God Himself becomes our continual supply, we are positioned to become what He intends and to bear the fruit for which He has planted us.
We will return to Psalm 1:3 later in the month and examine more fully what it means to be planted, fruitful and flourishing.
For now, we receive the promise without trying to exhaust it:
There is fruit connected with the Kingdom lifestyle.
CONCLUSION — THIS IS OUR WAY OF LIFE
As we begin October, God’s call is clear.
The Kingdom must move from being something we seek to becoming the reality by which we live.
Psalm 1 has introduced the journey.
There is a path we must reject.
There is a path we must choose.
There is a delight we must cultivate.
And there is an outcome God produces.
September called us to make the Kingdom our priority. October calls us to make Kingdom living our lifestyle.
Not Christianity on Sunday and another identity on Monday.
Not one standard in church and another in business.
Not one language among believers and another in private.
Not merely appearing to belong to the Kingdom while the heart remains governed by something else.
Jesus is King, and His rule must increasingly shape the whole of our lives.
During this month, we will continue to discover how the Word and the Spirit shape this life, how Kingdom living embraces the whole of our stewardship and purpose, and how a life planted in God becomes fruitful and flourishing.