Who is God?

He is our dwelling place, eternal, holy, loving, and sovereign.

What has He done?

He has created and sustained from everlasting to everlasting, judged sin in His holiness, provided wisdom, returned, satisfied with His steadfast love and provided eternal joy and gladness, worked good among evil, revealed His glory from generation to generation, and bestowed grace and established His people.

Who are we in light of this?

As mortal exiles, left to ourselves and dead in sin, we are accountable to God, dying yet redeemed by His love, hard-pressed and persecuted but not crushed or destroyed, carrying the death of Jesus to reveal His life, and ultimately, as beneficiaries of His glory and grace, called to be witnesses of both.

How shall we live?

Living in the light of eternity, we trust God as our dwelling place, eternally satisfied by His love, delivered from evil and its source, and empowered to fulfill the good works He has prepared for us.

5 Questions:

Who was this psalm directed at?

All we know is that the person David is imprecating was once a dear friend and

Was David in sin for praying this?

David understood God's covenant with Abraham, promises that included defeating evil and bringing forth the Messiah. He saw his enemies as adversaries to God’s divine plan.

David would have known God's declaration to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse." By calling for judgment, David was essentially asking God to keep His word.

Though this Psalm seems harsh, it is not sinful. On the contrary, it reveals a deep trust in God's justice and a desire to see His promises fulfilled. By understanding the context and David's perspective, we gain a richer appreciation for this often-misunderstood prayer.

How do we reconcile this passage with the “love your enemy” passages of the NT?

There are clear differences between vengeance and vindication.

Vengeance is the strong desire to see someone who has wronged you suffer in return. It's the act of inflicting harm or seeking to inflict harm to balance the scales of justice.

Vindication, on the other hand, focuses on being declared innocent. It's the act of being proven innocent or justified in your actions.

The New Testament teaches that vengeance belongs to God and that we are to love our "enemies."

Jesus's plea in Matthew 5:38-48 is to "love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us." In not returning evil for evil, but instead choosing to engage our enemies with agape love and generosity, we actually live counter-culturally. This is a way of showing we're not easily offended and that our dignity comes from God, not from others' opinions of us.

Who is our enemy?

We have a primary enemy (Satan and his demonic forces), an internal enemy (our own flesh), and an external enemy (world system).

The New Testament reframes our understanding of conflict. We are not locked in battles with people, but with a singular, ultimate enemy: Satan and the forces of evil. This enemy seeks to divide us and turn us from God.

By recognizing this, we can choose to see others not as adversaries, but as fellow human beings, created in God's image, yet tainted by sin. This shared condition compels us to recognize our own and others' need for the grace of Jesus.

Should we pray imprecations like David today?

Every time we pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done," we're asking for a world transformed by God's goodness. This inherently includes the ultimate defeat of God’s enemies and the vindication of God's children.

God is holy and will hold sin accountable. We, who were once enemies of God, have become adopted children through Christ. Now, we can reflect His love by offering forgiveness and grace just as He did for us.

Praying for God's justice isn't about our flawed ideas; it's about aligning ourselves with His heart. Let's hold onto His will, not our own, and trust that His justice will ultimately prevail.

Main Idea: We will persevere to the end by continually resting in our position as sons and daughters of God, embracing His presence, and proclaiming the good news of Jesus to ourselves and others. 

Main Idea:

We are called to make much of Christ.

Questions:

Main Idea

Paul was determined to obey God, even to the point of death. He counted the cost of following Jesus and found that Jesus is worth everything. Have you counted the cost?

Questions

Elders set an example for, know, lead, feed, and protect the church over which the Holy Spirit has given them authority. 

Paul Set An Example for the Ephesian Elders

Paul Exhorted the Elders to Know, Lead, Feed, & Protect the Church

We must never waver in proclaiming Christ as crucified, risen, and Lord.