What If God... Hears Sinners? (Psalm 123)
Here’s the first message from our fall vision series, “What if God….?” You can check out the audio and video here.
Well, we’ll soon be back in Galatians. But every fall, we have a short vision series, where we remind ourselves of what Karis is about, of where we’re heading as a church family. I always try to get away beforehand, sometime in the summer, and pray about where God might be taking us. And this year, I left with this thought, and I know it’s going to come across strange. What if we really believed all of this stuff? What difference would it make?
I ended up with three questions that I want us to take on in turn.
How do we demonstrate right here - at this moment, in this meeting, that we believe the real ministry of the gospel is one of prayer?
How do we encourage one another - right here, right now - to be God’s means of reaching our neighbors with the gospel?
How can we seize this very moment - as well as the rest of our week - to care with one another through the gospel?
Here in Karis, we’re about the gospel - the good news about what Jesus has done, is still doing, and will one day do. We believe the gospel rescues us. And then transforms us. It creates a certain kind of community. It results in a particular kind of mission. But this gospel is a message - that flows from the heart of the Father. That’s revealed to us by the Spirit in His Word. A message about His Son who came to restore us - and all His creation - to God once again.
But how are we saved? And changed? Yes, by the word proclaimed. As we hear Him speak to us. But also through prayer. As we ask God to work in us by that gospel. As we respond to Him. And that’s where I want to start this morning.
But back to those three questions. Now, over the past year, there have been a lot of hard moments - at least for me. And I’ve felt this frustration, this hurt, somewhere down here. Someplace deep. Almost down in my guts. And it’s comforting to me that the Bible seems to speak of our deepest feelings in those terms.
In Philippians 1:8, the apostle Paul tells that church he loves that he yearns for them “with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Affection - that’s his guts. In his intestines, his stomach. That’s where this word comes from. He feels it down deep. He feels for them there. Sometimes when you see the word “heart” in the New Testament, it’s really that word. And the verb form is used throughout the gospels to speak of the compassion of Christ. There is feeling, affection, passion, that goes that deep. That you feel all the way down in here.
Now here’s what I want you to imagine during this series. That we don’t just affirm the concepts in those questions. But that you and I feel them down deep - throbbing in our stomachs. And I want you to imagine with me what a church - where people are all feeling that - really looks like. And I want to start with prayer. What if we believed that the real ministry of the gospel was one of prayer? What difference would it make?
To help us wrestle with that, I want us to take a look at one of my favorite passages in what’s my favorite book of the Bible. Let’s look at Psalm 123 together. Let’s think about why are lives are characterized by so much prayerlessness. And what difference it would make if we moved into prayerfulness.
Now this Psalm is a part of what have been called the Songs of Ascents. They include Psalms 120 through 134. These were songs written for God’s people to sing - after their return from their judgment in exile and en route to the temple to celebrate the feasts. Here we see this moving picture of prayer. And I think we also see what we so easily forget - what keeps us from praying as we should.
What Keeps Us From Praying as We Should
Three things stand out in these four brief verses - things we get confused. Here’s the first: we struggle to believe who God is. We have a wrong view of our Lord. Look at the first thing we notice in verse 1 - how the Psalmist addresses God. “O you who are enthroned in the heavens!” Who is God? He is great. We see His sovereignty, His majesty. He rules over all He has made. He’s worthy of the highest worship.
He’s also good. Look at verses 2 and 3 again. Why are we to call to Him? For mercy! For Him to extend that loving pity to us - to grant us help. And it’s not like our Father has to be cajoled into this. This is who He is. It’s what He does. It’s something He delights to extend.
He’s great. He’s also good. That’s why we should pray. It’s one thing for our Creator to have compassion on us. It’s another thing if we’re believers. Now we’re in His family. We’re His kids. To us, He’s tender and kind.
But we struggle - especially in today’s world - with cynicism. We question whether He’s strong enough to do anything for us. More than that, though, we question whether or not He really cares. We struggle to have the child-like trust our Father desires for us. That’s our first problem. Not grasping who God is.
But here’s a second thing that’s difficult for us. We don’t realize who we truly are. We have a wrong view of self. Now there’s a reason why I at least gravitate and tend to meditate on this Psalm every time I come across it. It’s this riveting picture of how we should stand before God in verse 2.
Psa. 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he has mercy upon us.
Do you see what I mean? We’re servants standing before this great God. We’re waiting for whatever comes from His hand. The image that goes into my mind is that of my trusted Goldendoodle, Bauer, standing there, looking at my hand as I hold a morsel of food. His eyes aren’t moving.
We’re not dogs, but we’re that dependent. And we forget this. That we’re frail. And we’re weak. We’re simply not as strong as we think we are. We are not above handouts. We in fact are desperate for them.
We also forget that we’re fallen. Because of who we are - and what our world is like - we need His mercy - every moment. We’re not just weak. We’re wayward. We’re wrong. We try to put ourselves in His place. And deny ours.
Here’s what we tend toward - as humans - but living in this cultural moment - conceit. We’re prideful. We don’t have the dependent spirit the Lord wants for us. Therefore, we don’t carry ourselves like the servants in this passage. Author Paul Miller puts it this way:
“One of the subtlest hindrances to prayer is probably the most pervasive. In the broader culture, and in our churches, we prize intellect, competency, and wealth. Because we can do life without God, praying seems nice but unnecessary. Money can do what prayer does, and it is quicker and less time-consuming. Our trust in ourselves and in our talents makes us structurally independent of God. As a result, exhortations to pray don’t stick.” (Paul Miller)
Hear how Pastor H.B. Charles puts it:
“Prayer is arguably the most objective measurement of our dependence upon God. The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle. The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own.” (H.B. Charles)
We live like He’s not great or good enough to call out to. We act like we’re not frail or fallen enough to have to call out in the first place. This is why we don’t pray. And why we’re so often miserable. Think about we do so much instead. We worry. We stew and churn over things inside our heads. We talk to ourselves about those things - instead of God. But that doesn’t help. It hurts. And it doesn’t fit with reality. He’s God. We’re not.
But there’s more. Here’s a third way we get confused. We don’t realize where we are. We have a wrong view of our world. There’s more to this picture of the Songs of Ascents - and this one in particular. They weren’t just written for those heading up to the temple. But for those being hassled along the way. There, in verses 3 and 4, the Psalmist talks about the “scorn of those who are at ease.” And the “contempt of the proud.” He says, “We have had more than enough.” Could any of us say that about the last couple of years?!
Now this season has reminded us that we’re in a fight. We’ve taken shots from those on the outside. That we expected. But so many of the shots have come from those we thought were on the inside. This is what these Israelites walking to Jerusalem would have also felt. Scorn from rebellious Jews. Contempt from skeptical Gentiles. I’ve felt, at least, the anguish that we see here in these verses. And it’s been a good wake-up call for me, for you.
Because we can so easily forget how dangerous this world we live in truly is. There are spiritual forces behind those earthly ones that are trying to take us down and destroy us. They’re shouting into our ears. “You don’t need Him. You’re all you need.”
We can forget also how deadening the world can be. We grow numb to who He is. We walk around in a stupor ourselves - because we’ve been sucked into the ways and wisdom of this fallen world. We’ve even hypnotized by it all. We’ve filled ourselves up with their words and not His Word. We tend toward naïveté. We don’t have the watchful mindset God wants us to have. Therefore, this passage feels so foreign to us.
Author John Piper likes to talk about why prayer seems so unnecessary. He says it’s because we forget that we’re in a war. He puts it this way:
“Prayer is a war-time walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom for ringing up the butler to change the thermostat. It is a war-time walkie-talkie to call in firepower because the enemy is greater than we are. If you try to turn this into a domestic intercom to bring another pillow, it malfunctions, and you wonder why. It’s not made to be an intercom. It’s made to be a war-time walkie-talkie.” (John Piper)
We should be praying for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. It seems far away to us. But it’s up close and personal to them. Will the Taliban find them and kill them? Can they find a flight out of the country? Their situation is really clear. Their need is obvious. Now the abuse we’ve taken is nothing like this. But behind the Taliban, and behind our foes here in America - on both the right and the left - there are forces trying to destroy us, trying to deaden us.
Here in Psalm 123, God gives us this picture. Of us, His people going up, ascending. And of us raising our eyes, as well. Going and looking above ourselves and above our world around us - in the midst of trial and temptation - to see how great and good He is. And to depend on Him for everything.
Why It’s So Hard to Grasp for Us Today
But that’s a place so hard for us to reach. Most of us affirm those truths in our heads. But much of the time it doesn’t move down into our hearts. I want us to think a bit about why it’s so hard for us to grasp.
First, think about where we find ourselves. In the story. We have this hope of where things are going. Where one day, we’ll have full communion with our Father. He’ll talk to us. We’ll talk to Him. Unhindered, glorious relationship.
Now that’s what we were made for. But the fall messed that up. We believed those lies. Right? And we were kicked out of the garden, out of the Promised Land. But redemption came in Christ. And that relationship was restored. But only in part, right? Not in full. It sure would be nice if we became Christians, and then communion was easy.
But that’s not our reality. We live in the overlap of these ages. Where the kingdom is here. But not fully here. We haven’t been fully redeemed. Neither has this world. We can’t rise above it fully. And not at all without His strength. Here and now, it’s just so hard.
Second, think about what we have to learn. We have to learn and remind ourselves - don’t we? - who we are - and who He is. And it doesn’t come quick or easy. Every time we pray, in a burst in a crisis or around a circle in a gathering, we remind ourselves that we’re weak and in need of mercy. And that God is good and great in every way.
We get a reminder of the gospel, right? That everything we have comes from Him. And nothing we have is deserved. We learn grace, or karis. That we must, as the Psalmist says here, lift our eyes, look to Him - to have salvation, yes, but also anything He offers. We’re dependent upon Him for mercy. But getting that in our gut comes hard. Because we’re used to doing things ourselves, to trying to prove ourselves.
But, third, think about how we try to get things done. We don’t just learn about the gospel, but also gospel ministry. Our M.O. is to try to do things in our own strength. And we try to steal the glory from God. We don’t want to think of ourselves as the servant receiving but the boss giving. But that’s not how God chooses - in His sovereign plan - to get things done. He wants us to look up, look to Him, and see and receive His grace. To ask our Father. To see Him act. Eric Alexander puts it this way:
“… one of the primary functions of the church is prayer, and the greatest need of a needy world is a praying church, and the greatest need of a moribund church is praying leaders…. The truth is that prayer is the real work, and apart from it all other work is in vain. The reason for that is quite simple. It is that essentially this work in which we are engaged is God’s work, not man’s….” (Eric Alexander)
Do we believe that the real ministry is prayer? It’s a privilege that by His grace, we get to be used by Him to minister. But it’s also awesome that before and undergirding that, we get to do the most important thing: prayer.
Parenting is hard. I know Amy and I are a few years ahead of at least most of you. But one thing that’s been encouraging and rewarding is seeing things “click” in the hearts of our kids. And I’m talking about those moments where your kids don’t just say “thank you” because they’re supposed to. They’ve started to realize how hard you try as a parent, how much things cost to provide, stuff like that. When your teenager starts saying thanks - and he really means it - it feels good. When he requests something - and really knows what he’s really asking for - you feel like it’s all been worth it. When things start to move from their brains to their hearts.
But that doesn’t come easy. And it certainly doesn’t for us. We learn about our kids - and really about our Father - as we try to learn to pray. Because, it goes against this part of us that wants to deny we’re frail, to deny we’re fallen. But the Spirit of Jesus is about kindly putting us in our place again. And gently lifting our eyes to heaven.
What Would Change if We Got It
But back to my original question. What would change if we grasped our need - and really began to pray? It would first show up in our lives, Karis.
It would show up in the little things and the big. Praying for a safe journey or praying for God to work in our city. Little “Lord help us” prayers as we start taking an exam. Or big “kingdom come” prayers as we think about our nation
The light things and the heavy. Asking him to bless that meal with friends. Or our journey into chemotherapy. Things that don’t seem that big of a deal - that are still given to us by God. And the things that keep us awake and make us shake.
The short seasons and the long. Pleading that He’d work through conflict with a friend. Or to save that brother - over years and years and years. We’re talking brief bursts of prayer - until we move on to something else. Or persistent prayers we can’t give up on. Even if they seem to go unheard.
The low times and the high. Asking for help in the darkest nights of the soul. And giving thanks for a long-due promotion at work. God gives the things that we’d call good gifts. And He’s sovereign over the things we’d never ask for. He wants our hearts in both.
In the moments and the milestones. Conversing with Him and groaning through the ups and downs of our days. And asking God to bless a graduate or a couple about to tie the knot.
In our times alone and those together. On that hike, drawing near to Him. In that circle, calling out to God as a group. Private, corporate. Talking to Him in both.
If we understood our need, along with His provision, we’d pray in all those times and more.
If we grasped our need to pray, it would second be seen in our life - our life together, Karis.
In our Gatherings here on Sundays, we’d see groups spontaneously huddling together, all around this room, asking our Father for grace. During corporate times of prayer, we’d have trouble not interrupting each other as we call out to Him for help. The sense of our need - and trust in God - would be palpable.
In our Missional Communities, we’d rely on His guidance and grace as we pursued our group mission, and as we began to engage those people with the gospel. Prayer would be the first step, the main step, and not an afterthought. We’d spend our times together passionately petitioning our Father on behalf of one another. And for our lost friends. Prayers wouldn’t be just tacked on to the end. They’d extend into the night.
In our DNA Groups, we’d do less trying to fix one another and more calling on the One who can really heal and restore. We’d come together excited from our times in the word, ready to talk to our Lord with our brothers and sisters. When we told people we’d pray for them during the week, we’d mean it. We’d do it.
If we really comprehended our need, our lives and our life would look dramatically different. We’d have different postures as His people. We’d be on our knees - aware of our need - looking up, to His hand - all the time. And our gestures would look different, as well. Our instinct, our response, to whatever we encountered would be to pray - on the spot and full of faith. And a command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) wouldn’t seem as crazy as it does. Because prayer would be more like breathing. Maybe more often, groaning. And His provision would be more like air. We’d gasp for it, just to survive.
How We Can Feel It In Our Gut
But, as I begin to wrap up, I want to ask. How can we grasp this in our gut? How do we change? I’ll give you five things. First, get to praying. We can’t wait until we feel like it. The Lord changes our hearts - He forms us - through these rhythms. Devotional times alone. Prayer meetings together.
Second, ask for grace. Ask Him to renew your heart - to revive ours together. The path to a praying life starts with prayer itself. This is why we always have to talk about - and ask God for - revival as His people. We seek to be faithful to do what He asks - as we ask Him to do more than we could even imagine.
Third, get in His word. Relationships are two-way, if they’re relationships. If they’re real, if they’re alive. How do we hear from the Father? Through His word. As I said at the start, He speaks. We respond. That’s how the gospel works. That’s how prayer works.
Fourth, rehearse the gospel. How are we right with God? Not by what we do. Not by how we perform. But through the grace of the Father through the person and work of Jesus. Everything we have, we have received. That’s the good news, the gospel. We have to continually remind ourselves of that - along with those around us. And that will move us to pray. We don’t earn things with our own hands. We extend our hands to receive. From Him.
Fifth, make the room. Yes, I’m talking about setting aside time to hear and respond. But I’m also just talking about clearing out the noise in our lives.
How can we have a conversation if the TV’s always on, or our phone is always two inches from our face? Our biggest problem today is that we’re so distracted. We have to rediscover things like solitude and sabbath.
Sixth, pay attention in school. I’m not talking about Hickman or Mizzou. I’m talking about the school Martin Luther talked about. Hear him:
“Suffering is the school in which God chastens us and teaches us to trust in him so that our faith may not always stay in our ears and hover on our lips but may have its true dwelling place in the depths of our hearts. Your grace is now in this school.” (Martin Luther)
Catch that: how does it move from here to here? Trials. What could God be doing through this really hard season? Possibly purifying His people. Probably pointing us to our Provider. What is the point of our troubles? The main lesson from this school? That we’d turn our eyes to Him and receive His mercy. That we’d see our need. And see His mercy. And that we wouldn’t just talk about prayer - and have it up here in our heads. It would be in the depths of our hearts. We’d feel it down here in our guts.
A Church That Really Prays
So what would it look like if that were the case? Karis, if we are a people of the gospel - we know that He gives. We receive. And that’s how prayer works. How do we demonstrate right here - at this moment, in this meeting - and in our lives and life moving ahead - that we believe the real ministry of the gospel is one of prayer?
As we close, I want to do a couple of things. I want us to spend a few minutes just envisioning that. And I want us to spend a few more praying for that.
First, of all, take a few minutes right now. If you don’t mind, bow your heads, close your eyes. And just imagine. What would your life look like if you really understood your need and you really learned to pray? How would it change?
Now, think about our life together - here, as Karis - what would it look like if we really got this down deep in our bones? What would we see? How would things look different? Imagine it now.
Second, let’s spend some time in prayer. Right there, where you are, call out to Him. Ask Him to turn us into a people of prayer - not just people who believe in prayer but are really desperate without it. And then I’ll close.