God’s Enemy = Your Enemy?

(Psalm 68, Ephesians 2:13-22) Andy Nagahara

0 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song. 1 May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. 2 As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. 3 But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.

A. People who turn their own enemies into God’s enemies

1. The Bible as a manger?

19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.
21 Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. 22 The Lord says, “I will bring them from Bashan; I will bring them from the depths of the sea, 23 that you may plunge your feet in the blood of your foes, while the tongues of your dogs have their share.”

2. Read the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus

4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD– and rejoice before him. 5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

7 When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, <Selah> 8 the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. 9 You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. 10 Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor.

B. Know God’s enemy and make it our own

1. Not all of creation is God’s enemy

11 The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it: 12 “Kings and armies flee in haste; in the camps men divide the plunder. 13 Even while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of [my] dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.” 14 When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land, it was like snow fallen on Zalmon.

2. The enemy is the sin that lives within each person

(Ephesians 2:13-22) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Summary

Just as we acknowledge that the Old Testament provides a context for the New Testament, we also need to read the Old Testament in light of what Jesus did and said. Otherwise, we risk misinterpreting scripture. There are many divisions in the church that have resulted from disagreement over Biblical interpretation, but no one can claim to be certain that theirs is the right one. When we become too confident in our own interpretation, we lose sight of who God’s real enemy is, and make enemies out of those whose views are different from ours.

For Discussion

1) How can we read the Bible correctly?
2) Who is God’s enemy?