When you are slandered

Psalms 4:1-8 The Prayers of People in Trouble: When you are Slandered Doug Partin - The Christian Church - 01/03/2021 "The Prayers of People in Trouble" is our next sermon series. It begins today and is a study of 5 important Psalms. These prayers were offered up to God by David when he was in trouble, and he claimed that the Lord heard his prayers. They were written down not only for our instruction, that we would know how to pray when facing similar circumstances, but done so as a Psalm; that is, in Hebrew poetry. King David was also skilled on the harp, and in his youth, his songs were known to sooth the savage soul of King Saul. So, it's a pretty safe bet that he sang these psalms himself. Most English translations indicate that these Psalms were turned over "to the choir director" which is a Hebrew word that literally meant to "make sparkle from afar." The "sparkle" this person added was not for the eye, but for the ear. David directed that these psalms be accompanied with stringed instruments, and used to worship God. We, those who gather to worship today, still appreciate those to whom insight into biblical truth is given, like David, especially when they can express that truth poetically. And we also appreciate those who can make it sparkle in a worship setting. But it is when we sing them together that they begin to enhance our own worship experience. The goal was not to turn the Psalm into a performance, but to help worshippers encounter the truth it expresses. The goal was not to transform worshippers into a choir who can hit all the right notes, but help them maintain the right heart and mind as they stand before the Lord. If you recall, it was not the man with the well worded prayers who Jesus said God heard, but the man blubbering away as he cried out to God for mercy. And these Psalms, David hoped, would nudge us in that direction. You probably have some favorite worship songs that make God's truth sparkle for you, and when you get to sing them with others in worship, they draw you deeper in your encounter with God. We can sing these songs alone, and we can enjoy them when they play on the radio, but there is something special about singing them together before the Lord. It is something that many of you have been missing because you've not been able to join us onsite to worship. The livestream of our service here is helping you worship there, but it will never be the same as getting together. Those I've spoken with are very glad to be connected in this way, so we are thankful for all those who continue to work to make our livestream happen, but we also look forward to that time when we can all worship together again. I got a taste of being limited to our livestream recently while I was quarantined. It was not easy for me to be separated from our gatherings, and I'm sure you feel the same way, especially on Christmas eve. But that was also the same day that Lauren was able to leave her room, and when she joined us in the living room for the service, she came out singing, and we joined in with her. I have to admit, that I had only been "listening" to the songs up to that point, rather than singing them. Nothing against our worship team, it is nice to listen to them, they do a good job, but listening to them is no replacement for singing songs of worship, even if it is with a small number of people, like your family. There were only the three of us at my house on Christmas eve, but singing together drew us into worship so much better then only listening. You might feel a little awkward when you sing, especially if you are like me, and don't have the best voice. You might feel a little exposed with other people around, but I want you to remember, that our worship team's goal is to lead you in singing. If you are not singing, then they are not accomplishing what we have set them apart to do. King David gave his Psalms to people who had been set apart because they were gifted with musical talent, but the goal was to enable the people who came to worship, who might not have any musical talent at all, to lift up their voices to the Lord. While we are all hoping and praying that 2021 will be better than 2020, it is likely that we will still face troubles in this new year. So, we are preparing for those times in advance by looking into God's Word. From Psalm 4:1-8 we will learn how to pray when we are slandered. From Psalm 25:1-22 we will learn how to pray when our enemies exult over us. From Psalm 40:1-17 we will learn how to pray when we are "down in the pits." From Psalm 57:1-11 we will learn how to pray when we are surrounded by our enemies. And from Psalm 64:1-10 we will learn how to pray when we face injustice. The book of Psalms really is a great source for spiritual wisdom, and these five Psalms have a lot to offer us. While the original "sparkle" has been lost; that is, we don't know the tune to which the Psalms were sung, we still have the poetic expression of God's truth. Perhaps God will give you a tune to which you can sing this Psalm, and if so, I hope that you share it with the rest of us, that we might sing it with you. King David's request for an answer to his call in verse 1 is not a demand. The Hebrew term translated "answer" is a word for "hearing." It is from the same word group as "shema," which appears at the end of verse 1, but it is more widely known for being the first word in Deut 6:4, which, if you recall is, "Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one, and you shall love the Lord with your heart, soul, and strength." The Hebrew word translated "call" is one for "crying out." So, it is clearly David's hope that God will, in His mercy, respond to the cry of his heart. Not because he deserves it, but because God is the source of his own righteousness. Some translations render this verse "my righteous God," but it is better translated, "God of my righteousness." We should feel the same about our own righteousness, that is our own willingness and ability to do what is right. We are not "good," that is, we don't do the right sort of things because we are following our own desires, but because we are following God's desires. Our will and God's will may line up every now and then, but we usually go astray from what is right when left to our own longings. In Christ we are able to recognize that God's way is better. As God's children, we have been set free from our own worldly desires from being master over us, and we have made Jesus the Lord of our lives, following Him. That's not to say that we don't ever sin, but we are no longer in the driver's seat, its only when we take the wheel away from Jesus that we end up in the ditch. We will miss the mark of doing what is right on occasion, but we should be aiming to do the right thing, to do things God's way. It is one thing to aim at doing something good, and not getting it done well; and quite another thing to be aiming in the opposite direction all together. But without God, we'd never know which way to aim because we wouldn't know what the right target is. God really is the source of our "doing what is right." If we were to examine King David's life, we would see those times when he did well, like when he stood up to Goliath; but we'd also see those times when he made a muck of things, like when he took Bathsheba, because he sought to do what he wanted instead of seeking to do what God would have had him do. Still, even when he was doing as God directed him, David would find himself in trouble. And that is the kind of trouble that David is crying out about in this Psalm. Trouble for doing the right thing. In the past, under similar circumstances, God had come to David's aid, and relieved him. It was from this past experience that David was now asking that God hear his prayer and be "gracious" to him. Let me remind you that God doesn't always deliver the righteous from the hands of the unrighteous. If he did, then Stephen would never have been stoned. But He always uses what might be seen as bad, for something good. The man who would later become the apostle Paul, stood by, watching what happened to Stephen, and God used Stephen's faithful witness to the truth in the face of death, as a seed in Paul's life that would be watered on the road to Damascus so it could bloom into a changed life. But even so, we don't pray for God to bring something good out of the harm we are likely to suffer from the slanderous words of others. We pray for God to deliver us. We pray for the slander to stop. David had been delivered from the slander of his enemies in the past, and he was throwing himself on God's mercy, crying out for the same sort of deliverance to be done again. I want to make it clear that the trouble David faced was one of being slandered for doing what was right. What should have been to his honor, was being used as a reproach. We know what that is like. Stand up for God's way of doing things today and you'll be called narrow minded, intolerant, and a hater of people who are simply making choices for themselves. Never mind that seeking our own will is what sends us in the opposite direction of what is right in the first place. They don't want to hear that sort of hateful speech. Don't tell them that it is about choice, because they have been convinced that it is not a matter of choice at all, but a matter of doing what is natural for them to do. For them, to choose to do anything other than what feels "natural" to them, would be wrong. So, from their perspective, doing things God's way is the wrong way. They are so deceived that they have things completely backwards. You may not know this, but David ruled a kingdom full of people who no longer wanted to live God's way. And they didn't want David forcing them to do so. One of the ways that they tried to tone down David's influence was to point out that David had not lived by these same standards he was now promoting in the past. He was, they said, just being a hypocrite by asking them to live by them now. They wanted David to leave them alone, and, if anything, support their choices of serving other gods, and doing what they felt was right. Yes, what they said about David may have described what he once was, but that is not who he had become. He had repented, He had come back to God, He had been forgiven, and He was striving for a better life by doing things God's way. So, David wasn't buying what they said, and as King, he tried to lead his people back to God. But instead of being honored for it, he was being slandered for it. As God is prone to do, David was lifted up. Not because he was so good, but because he threw himself on God's mercy. But others are not so forgiving. And it seems that David's past failings were being brought up, again and again, by those who should have let them go, as God had done. But it is hard to give up a weapon that helps you get what you want. So, the slander continued. You might recall how the apostle Paul, thinking back to those "pre-encounter with the Lord" days of his life, described himself as a murder, a scoundrel, and the "chief" of sinners. He did so, not to brag about what he once was, but to say that if God could change him, He could change anyone. God can, in this regard, do the impossible. He can even change you. No one likes to be thought of as they once were. None of us want to be "categorized" by how we acted, or thought, in the past. Whether it was typical of us as a child, or in regard to a specific event as a teenager, or to some passion that we once expressed as a young adult. If there is anything that we can all agree upon it is that people change. And when we take up God's ways, His righteous ways, we will change for the better. Even taking up some of God's ways, is better than taking up none of His ways; but God wants us to follow Him and Him alone. He wants to be our God, and we, His people. He once described Himself as a jealous God. And He is. He doesn't want us following anyone else, not even ourselves. Because He knows that He is the only one who can lead us in the best direction. As for David, God had forgiven him, restored him, and as a result, he was no longer that previous person. He had a clean heart. He was no longer the warrior, no longer the outcast, no longer one leading a rebellion, no longer the murderer, or the adulterer. He had been all of those things and more; but now, he was a man after God's own heart. That is, He desired to do what is right, even when he failed to do so. But not everyone wants to be held up to that same high standard, which is why God's ways are detested by those who have turned away from Him. And it is why they slander those who desire, not only for themselves, but for everyone to follow God's ways. Slander is a way of getting what you want. If you can make the person who is trying to get things moving in a direction you don't like, look bad, then you will limit their influence. If you keep saying bad things about them long enough, and loud enough, a lot of people will start thinking that you are right about them. We just went through a national election, so you had plenty of examples of how that works. And these "enemies' of David were doing just that. They were telling anyone who would listen tidbits of juicy gossip. They pointed out how David was really just a selfish, worthless, arrogant, controlling, hateful man. They did their best to make David look like a hypocrite, a deceiver, a man after his own desires. Not someone you would want to follow. And they also did the same in regard to the God David claimed to serve. They'd ask things like, "How can a God of love let this sort of thing happen?" "How can a God fail to do what is right?" But by "right" they meant, how can God fail to do as they desired. Because they believe that what they want is the best and if God were really as good as David claimed, then He'd do what they wanted. In other words, they were trying to redefine "righteousness." Jesus encountered this same sort of thing. He said that those thinking this way could slander Him, and they could even slander God, but to if they were to argue that the work of the Holy Spirit was "bad instead of good," it was an unpardonable sin. To be honest, there are hypocrites among God's people. Some are, even though they may not realize it, wolves in sheep's clothing, pretending to be one of God's sheep, but really preying on those around them, instead of loving on them. They tell themselves and others that they love God, but they only act on their own natural desires. And that makes them good at using their worldly, legalistic tendencies, to get their way about things. They try to make what they want look "righteous," and advocate that the most important thing we can possibly do is to "learn and keep God's way," but only as they understand and teach it, rather than, as Jesus taught, which was learning to live by the law of love, and actually doing things that help the people around them. If your idea of following God, of doing what is right, isn't an act of love, you're probably aiming at the wrong target. Jesus was always going back and forth with the wolves in sheep's clothing who were a part of the religious establishment in His day. They didn't like Jesus, and often slandered Him. But, He prayed for them to recognize their sin and repent from it; and He, on occasion, confronted them; but primarily He didn't bother too much with them, and instead, He focused on those who longed to be changed by God's mercy. We started to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" but didn't get very far. To be honest, I've never been able to watch that movie, but I love the story line. It features a man who feels like a failure, and has been told that he's been a failure. He begins to believe this slander and starts to feel like he's wasted his life, and is ready to give up on it altogether. He even wishes that he had never been born, because of all the things he failed to do. He had no idea of all the people he had actually helped throughout his entire life. People that he loved on, to whom he did the right thing, even if he didn't realize the impact of doing so at the time. If he'd gotten his wish, and had never been borne, lots of people's lives would have been much worse. The "teaching" point of this movie is that his life really did make a difference. Isn't that the sort of life that we want to live? This last week we said so long and farewell to Tom Duran, who lived that sort of life. He loved on quite a few of us in his time living in Los Alamos; and while we know that it is his gain to be the with Lord, we didn't want to see him go. We wanted him to keep on loving those around him. Especially his wife, Becky. When I talked to her just before Tom's death, when she was having to decide what to do if the treatment didn't help, she told me that what she missed most was Tom holding her hand and telling her that he loved her. Then she told me that when I got off the phone I was to hold Marci's and Lauren's hand and tell them that I loved them. I did. And I will do it again. It is the sort of thing that a person who is striving to the do right thing does. We need to find ways to love on one another. It is, as followers of Jesus, how we are to be known. God, as He said through the prophet Micah, is not interested in our prolonged acts of worship, if we are not living for Him each day. It is to Him, the worst sort of hypocrisy. Micah asked, "What does the Lord require?" The answer is one with which we should resonate: To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. But it is still maddening when the world demeans and decries our walk with God. When they slander us for doing what is right. Jesus said that the world mistreated Him for doing good, and as His followers we should expect to be treated the same way. But He handled it much better than we often do. When slandered for doing what is right, we might be tempted to act on that anger that boils up; but, as David sang in this Psalm, "We are not to sin." Instead, we are to do as Jesus exemplified, even if that means loving our enemies. We are to treat them and everyone else, as we would want to be treated. We are not to let the sun go down on our anger over their slander. What are we do with that inner turmoil? We are to turn it over to God in prayer, and we are to be still, instead of letting that heated emotion launch into an angry response at those calling us names. It is on this point, that many will bring up Jesus' cleansing of the Temple. How He saw the money changers, those who, for a price would exchange your commodities or your common money for the sort that would be accepted as an offering in the Temple. They had set these tables up in the court of the Gentiles, which is where the Gentiles were supposed to be allowed to pray; but since the religious leaders weren't too fond of Gentiles in the first place, they didn't really care about using their space for their own purposes. They felt it was the right thing to do, but Jesus found it offensive. So, in an attempt to get their attention, Jesus over threw their tables, and according to John, he snapped a whip at them, driving them out of the Temple courts. (John 2:15) Those who do bring up this point, usually want to know when we are to follow Jesus example in expressing a righteous indignation. When is it our turn to run out those with whom we are offended? I usually remind them that Jesus was able to do what He did without sin, but I'm not so confident that we could do the same. Our self-righteous indignation doesn't usually advance God's will, but our own. But, Perhaps, if someone claiming to follow Jesus decided to set up their offering exchange business in the sanctuary, telling people that God didn't want their ordinary money, and they needed to exchange it for proper church offerings, and we couldn't hold services because of that business. We might take action to get them out of the building. But that sort of situation is not likely to happen any time soon, at least, not around here. Instead, David encourages us to offer to God the "sacrifices of righteousness." That is, what it costs us, to do things God's way. We might have to admit that we tried things our own way first, and failed. Confessing this to God and accepting His forgiveness. And then we can offer to Him the frustration we felt at being slandered for doing the right thing. The humility we had to show instead of the arrogance of trying to get our own way. We might get to offer Him the restraint we had to show in order to love our enemies. These are the sort of sacrifices we had to make in order to do things God's way, and we give them to God in worship. But in order to act in God's ways, as David pointed out in this Psalm, we must first trust God, believing that His way really is the best way. It is true that our enemies may not thank us, or even acknowledge that what we did for them was appreciated in any way. But David says that the light of the Lord's face will shine upon us for doing what is right. He who sees in secret will reward us accordingly. And holding on to that truth will bring joy into our hearts. What sort of joy will God give us for dealing with those who slander us in His way? David said that we should think of the best meal that we've ever enjoyed. It's that sort of feeling. It is the sort of joy that comes from God's chicken soup for the soul. And it is that sort of joy that allows us to let go of the hate, and embrace the love. When we do, David said that we will not only "lay down" at night, but we'll get a good night's rest, instead of tossing and turning all night over what we might do in response to those terrible people who have slandered us. We can only rest in this way because we made the sacrifices to do what was right, and we learned what was right from the Lord. Jesus really is the prince of peace. Those of us who follow in His footsteps enjoy the peace that passes the world's understanding. Why are we not upset? Why are we not demanding our rights? Why are we not protesting in the streets? Because there is a better way, God's way, and it is the right way. That doesn't mean that the world will leave us alone, in fact, they might attack us with renewed vigor, thinking us weak. But we can, as David did, cry out to the Lord, asking that He protect us, that He might deliver us, so we can live in safety. Just imagine that all of this biblical truth was compressed into a beautiful Psalm, and then someone made it sparkle by setting it to music, so we could sing it when we came together to worship to be reminded of living life God's way. Wouldn't that sort of experience be a great thing? David thought so, and he wanted that for each of us as well. Prayer: Here our cry O God, we are slandered for doing things Your way, for promoting Your ways. Help us to love the world as You love it. Amen.