The Power of a Groan

Intro

Several weeks ago several of the leaders here at Redeemer got away for a retreat together, a time to reconnect, and find rest and renewal together. It was our first time getting away with this group of people and we had a blast. It really was. Mike and Julie Berend, who don’t know I’m telling this story, they were there, and so I got to meet their dog Mr. B, a hypoallergenic something, I think a Goldendoodle. And this was significant for me, because our family wants to get another dog some time in the future, but we’ve recently discovered that my wife Neva is allergic to dogs. Big bummer. So, that means we need to try to focus our efforts on finding a good hypoallergenic dog for our family.

Naturally, I wanted to know more about Mr. B and the process of finding a similar dog for our family. Early in the day I peppered Mike with several questions, and he told me all about how Goldendoodles are bred. He told me that each generation of Goldendoodle gets a classification of like G1 for a first generation, and then g2, g3, g4, and so on. Supposedly these dogs get more hypoallergenic with each passing generation. Cool.

Well, later in the day I decide to revisit the conversation, because now I’m interested in price. I know this isn’t going to be like going to the rescue shelter like I did for our previous dog, but that we’ll likely have to go through a breeder. So we’re all outside on the deck, and I go up to Mike and say, “So Mike, I’m curious, how much then, would like, a G6 cost?”

Mike looks at me, a little confused, and says, “At least 18 to 25.” And I’m hit with sticker shock, like holy cow, 18 to 25 thousand for a dog? Maybe we can’t afford this thing after all.

But then Mike goes on, “It depends on how used it is, the condition of its parts, how many have been replaced or upgraded.” And now I’m thinking, “Mike, this is a really strange way to talk about a dog. But hey, if this is how you think about it. That’s cool.” So I’m nodding along like I’m following, but all the while just really confused why someone would talk about a dog like this.

Well many of you know that Mike is not only a dog owner, but also a pilot. So a few minutes later, he goes inside to grab something. And back out he comes, and his first question is, “So what’s your interest in a G6 jet anyways?”

That’s when it hit me. He wasn’t saying 18 to 25 thousand, but million. And he wasn’t talking about replacing parts on a dog, but on a plane. Now all of a sudden things were starting to make sense to me.

We had a pretty good laugh about this once we both figured out what was going on.

All of this is a silly way to say that words matter. Words matter for so many reasons: for how we communicate and understand one another. But more than that, they matter because of the power which we can wield with words, as James said, they have the the power to curse, and bring shame or destruction to others. Or, the power to bless, and give life. With words we have the ability to cause tremendous harm, or to sing praises about our God. Sadly, as many of us can honestly attest, we often do both within the same breath.

Psalm 12 is a lament about living in a world where words are wielded in a way that wound us deeply. And it’s not just that we ache over the way words are using against us, but if we’re honest, we can all acknowledge the ways we’ve used words to harm others, or the ways we are often tempted to respond in kind to the way that we are treated.

But the precious gospel promise here for us in Psalm 12 is that Jesus has forgiven us of the ways we sin and hurt others with our words, and he will protect us from the words that have been used against us. Once we grasp that, Psalm 12 will have massive and encouraging implications for our hearts this morning.

The Gospel Promise

I want to give you the secret to this Psalm right away at the beginning. I know we normally save that for the end of the sermon. But I think Psalm 12 will have so much more power if we can get this in our hearts right away. No surprise, the key to Psalm 12 is Jesus. Look at verse 5.

We live in a world where people use their words to gossip, slander, and deceive in such a way that our lives are plundered. Sometimes this is literal, like when we are deceived and someone unethically takes our finances or possessions as a result. Sometimes this is more figurative, like when words are used to take our reputation and good name from us.

When this happens to us, it is right for us to cry and groan over the ways we’ve been wounded. But our groaning is not empty; we do not groan out into the void of space. There is power in our groaning! Power to summon the Lord to our aid.

Because of they have been plundered, and because they groan, I will arise, says the Lord. He cares for his needy people.

“I will protect them from those who malign them.”

And there are all sorts of ways the Lord might do this. He might remove us from the situation so that words can no longer cause us harm. He might, in his kindness, restore what has been taken from us. He might even move those who have wounded us with words to see their sin, apologize, and repair the harm they’ve caused.

But, most significantly, Jesus comes to our aid at the cross by taking away the devastating, shaming, haunting power of words that are used against us.

To be a Christian first and foremost means that we agree with everything the Cross says about us. On the one hand, it means that we agree our sin is so awful that we deserve to die and be condemned because of it. It means we agree with God’s Word which says that if we break just one part of the law, we are guilty of breaking all of it.

On the other hand, the cross says that we are so loved, that our God is so gracious, and kind, and forgiving, that he will move heaven and earth in the sending of his Son to take our condemnation in our place. This means we agree with God when he says that we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. We are accepted in Christ.

To follow Jesus means we already agree with the worst thing that could be said about us. We deserve death. It also means we agree that nothing sweeter could be said about us. Jesus loved us and gave himself for us.

Do you see what this does? If Jesus has poured out his grace upon us even in the most awful places of our lives, what else can anyone say about us that hasn’t already been said? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God did not spare His own son, who can now bring any charge against us? If God has set his love on us, who is left to condemn? If Jesus died and was raised, and now intercedes for us, what power do slander and false accusations really have over us anymore?

We do not despair when someone uses words to shame us with what may be true: Christ saw those sins and flaws too, and he has already spoken love and forgiveness over us.

When we are slandered and accused of things that are untrue, we remember that this same Christ is even now interceding for us before the throne of God. And if I have the Son of God advocating for me, declaring what is lovely and true about me, I don’t need to get lost in all of the foolish things others might say about me!

Christ has taken away the power of words that wound us. If you have put your trust in Jesus, this is absolutely true of you this morning, even if you’re having a hard time believing it. If you have no put your trust in Jesus, can I just say, I want to invite you to consider what faith in Christ could mean for you? All of that pent up shame, the disgrace, the self-doubt - what would it look like to cast all of that on Christ and receive a better word over you this morning? To be protected by one who will rise up and defend you?

That will start when you’re ready to agree with everything the cross says about you, beginning with your own sin. And if you’re unsure what it looks like to confess sin, maybe look over the prayer of confession in your bulletin again. Start there. And maybe groan out to Jesus yourself and say, “I agree with everything the cross says about my sin, and I want to be forgiven and accepted through what you’ve done for me.” It’s not magic, just be honest with him. We can talk more about that after the service if you want.

Ian Manuel is an author and speaker who spent nearly 30 years of his life in prison, after he was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 13. 18 of those nearly 30 years were spent in solitary confinement. Ian had participated in a robbery with several other young boys, and when things went wrong, he ended up shooting a woman who survived and ended up becoming one of his advocates to be released. Bryan Stevenson with the Equal Justice Initiative was a part of securing Ian’s release after the Supreme Court ruled that such sentences for minors were unconstitutional.

In his book My Time will Come, Manuel tells the story of growing up in a community in Tampa where he and children like him were raised in an environment where words crushed his hope for the future, as well as his sense of self. At one point in the book he says that it was not his mother’s whips that hurt the most, it was her words which she used to hurl insults like bullets.

Years later, Ian would pick up the Bible during his time in prison. And as he did so, he says that the words of Scripture “planted a seed of hope in me, and - most dangerously - told me that I was somebody.”

I think, even in this incredibly awful circumstance, and maybe even in some very basic way, Ian was beginning to grasp the gospel. If the words of Scripture are true, then there are no other words anyone else could say about you that are worse than what the cross has said. And, there is no greater comfort than knowing that in Christ, you are somebody: forgiven, loved, protected.

The end of vs 5 could literally be translated, “I will deliver them from those who puff against them.” If we have Jesus and agree with everything he says about us, That’s all that noise is now. It’s huffing and puffing.

So the next time someone tries to use their words to cut you down, here’s the image you need to remember: *puff*. That’s all they can do.

If I have found forgiveness and love in the worst possible things that could be said about me, you no longer have the power to destroy me with your words. They might sting for a time, but in the end, its a puff.

When this sinks down into our hearts, it will have massive implications for our lives. And the rest of Psalm 12 will show us just a couple of these.

Our Use of Words

Look at verses 1, 7 and 8. David was lamenting how small the faithful among the people of God seemed to be, in light of the proud who go about with swagger, honoring things that are contrary to God’s Word. This word, vile, is often used in reference to things that are cheap but we use excessively. Think rashness, or impulsiveness. It’s whatever we want to do when we want to do it.

We are not without constant reminders today of similar groanings. It seems like every week a new article, study, or documentary comes out about the shrinking size of the church in the West, about the failures of the church, and so on. It is not difficult today to feel, like David, “No one is faithful anymore.”

But what I want you to notice, first, is that this is nothing new. God has never set his love on his people because they were large, strong, or powerful.

David’s confidence was not in the size or strength in the people of God, but in the Lord’s protection. We miss out on so much if we reverse these two, and put our hope in size and strength.

First, we lose sight of what God is doing. Jesus is doing to build his Kingdom. Mark Sayers is a pastor and author from Australia. He tends to have a pretty good pulse on what is happening in our Western context. One of the big points he’s been trying to get across for the last few years is that cultural change and upheaval often precede revival. This is true biblically and historically. Whenever there are massive shifts in a culture, God tends to be up to some new thing, preparing hearts to receive Christ in faith.

Jesus has promised to build his church. He’s going to do it. That’s a guarantee. Kids Club was such a good reminder of that. There are churches to be planted, people at home and abroad who have never so much as even glanced at a Bible who need to be loved and hear the gospel. And we’re going to miss it if we’re all bent out of shape about numbers and influence.

But, second, and more to the point, our temptation will be to respond in kind. We become impulsive, rash, flying off the handle with our own speech. If we are obsessing over influence, size, or reputation, our perception of ourselves, then more likely than not, when we are attacked or criticized our temptation is to respond in kind.

And this is why the gospel is so sweet to us here this morning. When we agree with everything the cross says about us, then we know that nothing worse about us could be said, and at the same time, we couldn’t be any safer than we already are in the love of Christ.

This is not easy. Many of you know this, especially if you’re in any kind of field that has public exposure at all. I’m thinking especially of doctors, teachers, lawyers, police officers, or other public servants. You all know this too well. Right now, it’s like everybody has an opinion about what you’ve done and what you should do, and most of those opinions about you don’t feel very positive. I know how anxious, frustrating, and angering that can feel. I know how tempting it can be to get a zinger in there against someone, or to run to social media to be passive aggressive. I get it.

This isn’t “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” No, it’s “The Lord will arise and protect me from these words. What can man do to me?”

When that sinks down into our hearts, it has a way of turning us away from rash, impulsive, in-kind speech, and towards much more patient, gracious, kind responses with our words.

The Character of Our Words

Let’s consider how Psalm 12 through the gospel changes the character of our words. Verses 2-4 describe the kind of sinful speech which was prevalent in David’s day, and is no less so in our own. It’s lying and empty flatter. It’s harboring deception, the idea being double hearted deceptiveness, hypocrisy; saying one thing but intending another. It is prideful, boastful speech. It is words used as weapons in order to prevail and conquer others. It’s speech which denies God and his claim over our tongues.

This is contrasted with God’s word in verse 6, which we are told is pure, flawless, like precious metal that has been purified so many times that there is not even a hint of impurity left. There is no double meaning behind God’s words. He never says one thing while intending another. There are no secrets. His Word is sincere, meaningful, truthful. We are never left guessing what God thinks about us, or what he wants from us.

This can be so hard for us to grasp because we’re so used to trading words as cheap currency, but that is not how God uses his words.

And it’s through his Word, in a way, that he has already silenced flattering lips and boastful tongues. We’ve already seen how he does that at and through the cross. He speaks a truer and better word over every single one of us if we are in Christ. When we’re no longer spending all our energy in defending ourselves or thinking about how we can respond in kind, our hearts are redirected toward much more beautiful ends. Like considering how our speech can become pure, lovely, and life-giving, just as our God’s is.

This doesn’t happen nearly as fast as any of us would want to. 11 years later after my own conversion, and I’m just now in this awkward phase of being quiet more often than I should be now out of fear of being arrogant or telling jokes that cross an inappropriate line.

Growth in godliness can be awkward and that’s ok. But I wonder, what might God do through a group of people who believe everything the cross says about them, and whose words are be?coming more pure and lovely like their Father’s in heaven. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, who Peter told us did not retaliate or make threats but instead entrusted himself to his Father who judges justly.

Keep your eyes fixed on him. He knows the worst things that could be said about you, and he died for those too, because he loves you. And if he’s for you, who can be against you? The power of lesser words is gone. It’s just a puff.

Let’s pray.