Pray when your enemies surround you.

Sermon Transcript

During July, Andrea and I, along with our kids, had the privilege of being on a one month sabbatical. From the bottom of our hearts, Andrea and I want to thank you for the privilege of having an entire month to enjoy the Lord’s creation, make memories as a family, and rest from our typical work. We especially want to thank the other pastors and staff who worked incredibly hard so that our family could enjoy the privilege of time away. You have all given us a gift that we don’t deserve, but we do treasure. Thank you!

Before we look to God’s word, I want to share with you three reflections that the Lord impressed on my heart during our time away. I pray that these will encourage you.

Pastoral ministry is a privilege.

The privilege of taking a one month sabbatical from pastoral ministry reminded me what a privilege it is to be called to pastoral ministry. Being a pastor is not something I deserve. On the contrary, I deserve eternal judgment for all my sins (Romans 6:23). I’m returning to my work with a renewed sense of the sheer privilege that it is to serve you as one of your pastors. I pray that, whatever your vocational calling is, whether outside the home or within it, that you too will experience a fresh sense that it is a privilege and a gift from the Lord.

God is the creator, not me.

During our time away, our family spent a lot of time in national parks. We visited six of them! The time we spent in the national parks reminded me that creation declares God’s glory (Psalm 19), not mine. As I return to my pastoral work, I carry a sense of the bigness of God and the smallness of me. I carry a sense of wonder that the God who made everything cares for His people. I carry a sense of dependence on God to accomplish His purposes through Citylight Church. I carry a desire, as Frances Schaeffer used to say, to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. I pray that you too will carry with you some of the implications of God being the creator, not you.

Live with intentionality.

During our time away, I read the wonderful book Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture by David Murray. While space doesn’t allow me to summarize the entire book, one enduring lesson I’m taking away from the book is the necessity to live with intentionality. From my time with the Lord and family to the way I work, to my relationships, and the way that I use technology, I want to do it all with prayerful, God-glorifying intentionality so that I can run with endurance the race set before me with my eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). I pray that the Lord will help you too live a grace-paced life.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 17. Page 424

INTRODUCTION

You have enemies. You have enemies and Psalm 17 is a divinely inspired guide for how to pray when they surround you. You have enemies; at least three of them. The Bible places your enemies in three broad categories: the flesh, the Devil, and the world. Our first enemy is the flesh. We have all had the experience of wanting to do something that is morally wrong. One of the ways that the Bible describes that desire is “the flesh.” But “the flesh” is even broader than that. “The flesh” is the origin of anything we do apart from dependence on the Spirit, apart from treasuring Jesus, and apart from a desire to glorify the Father.” If you’re a Christian, it’s the old you tempting you to turn from Jesus and live the old way. The flesh a powerful enemy. Our second enemy is the Devil. The Devil is a real, personal, spiritual being who lies to you about the trustworthiness of God and accuses you of not being a real Christian because of your sins. He is your enemy because he tries to get you to turn your back on God by getting you to distrust the truth of God’s word and the grace of God’s Son. Personally, the most painful temptations I experience are the Devil’s accusations because He often tempts me to not turn to God as my loving Father because of my many sins. He is a crafty enemy. The Bible calls our final enemy the world. The world is probably the broadest enemy category in the Bible. “The world” refers to the ways of culture, society, and even individuals and groups of people that oppose the Lord and the godly ways of his people – whether they’re conscious of it or not. The “world” refers to trends and people that persecute, marginalize, discourage, tease, and oppose God’s ways, God’s people, and the advance of God’s gospel, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The world is a dizzying enemy because it tempts us to turn away from Jesus by making sin seem normal, holiness look weird, and cuts to the core of our desire to fit in and be respected. Friends, we have enemies that lie, tempt, and discourage us away from joy in and obedience to the Lord. Psalm 17 is a guide for how to pray when our enemies surround us.

But before we dive into the Psalm, I need to be a little more specific about enemies. If most of us are honest, “the world” is the enemy that we tend to be the least comfortable talking about. It feels intolerant to say that there are trends in this world and even people in our lives who are our enemies. However, when Jesus says to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you, he was referring to actual people who are our enemies. Yes, followers of Jesus have actual people in the world and in our lives who are our enemies. And though Psalm 17 is a wonderful guide for how to pray when the world, the flesh, or the Devil surround you, Psalm 17 is specifically written as a guide for praying when people-enemies surround you. Of course, feel free to use Psalm 17 as a guide for praying when you’re tempted by your flesh or accused by the Devil. I’ve been using it that way in my personal time with God. But most of the examples I’ll be using as we move through the Psalm are going to focus on praying when people-enemies surround us because that’s what the Psalm is primarily about. Ok – What do we do when enemies surround us? Psalm 17:6-7 is the heart of the Psalm: I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. That brings us to the big idea of Psalm 17: Pray when your enemies surround you. Pray when your enemies surround you. How do we do that? When the Devil, the flesh, or, especially, the world tempt you distrust God’s grace and turn from his way, ask four things: 1. Ask for justice (vv. 1-5) 2. Ask for protection (vv. 6-9) 3. Ask for change (vv. 10-14) 4. Ask with hope (vv. 15).

ASK FOR JUSTICE

When your enemies surround you, ask for justice. Psalm 17:1-2 – Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right. Step one: ask for justice. The late Tim Keller says that the biblical conception of justice, which arises from the Hebrew word mishpat, means giving people what they are due, whether punishment, protection, or care. Therefore, in simplest terms, asking for justice is asking God to do what is right, as he defines it, for everyone involved in the situation. When enemies surround you, our first response is to turn to the Lord and ask for mishpat. Ask for justice. Ask him to do what is right.

Question: How do you tend to respond when enemies, especially people-enemies, surround you? Most of us tend to respond in one of two unhelpful ways: get angry or cave. When enemies surround you, some of you get angry. You want to gossip about or get even with the people who tease or subtly exclude you at work, at school, or in your family because you follow Christ and believe what his word says about everything. Or, you quietly seethe at your boss for saying that you have to wear pride paraphernalia and you resent those politicians and groups who advocate for what God calls evil. Of course, anger can be righteous, but most of the time our anger is selfish and self-focused. Jesus, on the other hand, never got angry over a personal slight (Ed Welch). The Bible says that we should even be slow to become righteously angry because our anger is so tainted. Others of us don’t get angry, we cave. If someone at work says something derogatory about Christians, Jesus, or the Bible, you’re like the Apostle Peter, you subtly pretend that you don’t know Jesus. If your work requires you to do something that conflicts with Christian integrity, you convince yourself that God would never want you to do anything that might cost you your job. After all, your family depends on your income. You cave. David models a third way entirely when enemies surround you: Choose the path of Christian integrity and then ask God for justice; to do what is right. Follow the example of Christ who when he was reviled by his enemies, didn’t revile in return, but entrusted himself to the God who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). When enemies surround and tempt you, take the first step by turning to God and asking for justice.

Now, asking for justice, asking God to do what is right by everyone in the situation, does open the door for some healthy, personal introspection. Psalm 17:3-5 – You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. 4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. David is asking God to do what is right because he knows that in the situation with his enemies, they’re the ones who are opposing God, not him. These verses are a helpful reminder that there aren’t always two sides to every story. David wasn’t perfect, but he was in the right. When you ask God for justice, that includes asking him to examine you because, for example, if your boss is overlooking you for promotions because you’re lazy or steal time at work, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to ask God to do what is right. It’s right for a lazy person to not get a promotion. Here is the point: when enemies surround you, the first step is to ask God for justice, to ask him to do what is right, and that includes asking him to reveal any way you might not be doing right in the situation and purposing to turn from it. When enemies surround you, step one: ask for justice. Step two…

ASK FOR PROTECTION

Even after asking the Lord to give you justice and do what is right, we are often left waiting in fear when enemies surround us. That’s why the second step in confidently praying when you’re surrounded by enemies is: ask for protection. Listen to what that prayer can sound like. Psalm 17:6-9 – I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. 7 Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, 9 from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. David is asking for protection. He is asking God to be his safe place, his refuge from his enemies, guarded with God’s strong right hand. David is asking God to keep his eyes right on him and hide him under his wing like a mother hen for her chicks. When enemies tempt you or are seeking to harm you in any way, ask for justice and ask God to protect you!

Now, in the first step, the emotional tone of David’s prayer was urgency, in this second step the emotional tone of David’s prayer is confidence. David is confident because he bases his prayer for God’s protection on God’s love. God’s steadfast love is his special, covenant love for his people. The Hebrews word is hesed. Say that with me: hesed. You have to say it from the back of your throat. The Jesus StoryBook Bible describes hesed as God’s never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love for His people. David’s urgent cry to God to do what is right turns to a confident request that God will protect him according to his steadfast love. Citylight Church – you know far more of the love of God than King David did. The Bible says that God shows his love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God’s love for his people is most perfectly put on display at the cross of Christ where his Son was crucified for our sins and raised to give us eternal life. If God gave His Son for us, how will he not also with him graciously give us all the protection we need.

When your job is threatened, when you’re excluded, when worldly forces promote what God calls evil, and when you’re tempted to be discouraged because the world hates you or thinks you’re a fool for following Christ, when the Devil lies to and accuses you, and your flesh wants to run from God’s way, confidently ask God to protect you from harm according to his never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love for you in Christ. Ok, now – confidently praying when enemies surround you isn’t only defensive. With the Father on our side, we don’t have to always feel like our enemies have us on our heels. Oh no, the third step in confidently praying when enemies surround goes on the offensive.

ASK FOR CHANGE

The third step in confidently praying when enemies surround you is the most risky and faith-stretching: ask for change. There are two parts to prayerful asking in the Bible: ask boldly; surrender completely. Step one in confidently praying when enemies surround you is the “surrender completely” step. When you ask God to do what is right, while inspecting your own actions and motives, you’re doing critical prayer work. As Paul Miller writes in his wonderful book A Praying Life, “At the center of self-will is me, carving a world in my image, but at the center of prayer is God, carving me in his Son’s image.” When you ask God for justice, while introspecting your own motives and actions, you’re surrendering completely. You’re putting God at the center of your prayers and asking Him to carve you into His Son’s image. That’s part of step one. Step three is different. Step three is asking boldly. Step three is asking for God to show up and bring specific change to your situation. When enemies surround you, ask for justice, ask for protection, and ask for change. I love how David models this in Psalm 17:13a – Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! In step three, David goes on the offensive and asks for specific change to his situation: arise, confront, subdue.

I can still remember years ago when Andrea and I were living in East Falls, car burglaries became an epidemic in the neighborhood. It became a normal part of our routine to walk out to our cars in the morning and find them completely rummaged through and all valuables stolen. One time our actual car was stolen. The thieves were enemies in our neighborhood. I felt powerless to stop them, so I made a prayer card. I like making 3×5 prayer cards with specific prayers on them to help keep me persisting in asking for change. I prayed a lot. The most amazing thing happened, the car burglaries all but stopped. Of course, a cynic would say that it was the increased police presence that brought the change, but why make it an either/or. How do you know that my praying wasn’t what led to the increased police presence or the effectiveness of their presence.

When enemies surround you, go on the offensive by asking for change. Jesus taught us to ask for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. That’s offense. That’s asking for change. Instead of getting angry about or caving to rising materialism, consumerism, selfishness, rampant sexual immorality, racism and the like in our world, ask God to give you faith and then make a specific prayer card in proportion to your faith. Instead of caving to your bosses demands or the social pressure at work or school, go on the offensive and ask for specific change. Use the language of this Psalm to help you pray. Write your prayer down on a prayer card, write a verse or two from this Psalm on it, and ask for specific change. Ask God to confront your enemies with his Kingdom will.

When enemies surround you, turn to God in confident prayer. Talk to Him. Ask for justice, ask for protection, and ask for change. But ask with a particular attitude. That brings us to the final step in praying when enemies surround you. And this final step the attitude is less a step and more the attitude that should be shot through every other step.

ASK WITH HOPE

When enemies surround us, we pray and all our asking is shot through with hope. Psalm 17:15 – As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. What does David mean when he says that when he awakes he will be satisfied with seeing God’s likeness? The reference to seeing God’s face rules out the possibility that David is thinking of what will happen when he wakes up from a nap or a good night’s sleep. No, David is looking further into the future than that. He’s saying that even if the enemies prevail over him in this life and he’s killed, he will be satisfied when he sees God in the resurrection. David’s asking is shot through with an attitude of resurrection hope. Citylight Church – we have a clearer and surer resurrection hope than David ever had because Jesus the Savior and Son of God is risen. After being crucified for our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave to secure eternal life for all who repent and believe in Him. Friends – no matter what your enemies do to you, they cannot get Jesus back in the grave or take away the promise of eternal life for you. Your enemies may take your job, corrupt your country, destroy your reputation, ruin your social life, fracture your family, lead you into temptation, and fill you with doubts, but they will not separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus now and forever. So, when your enemies surround you, pray! Ask for justice, ask for protection, and ask for change, but do all your asking, even crying, with a quiet heart that is full of resurrection hope. No enemy will separate you from the love of God in Christ.