Enjoy: "The Aim Of Prayer"

Amen. If you would, take your Bibles and open them up to the book of Psalms this morning.

The book of Psalms, and our passage will be Psalm 37, verse 4.

Psalms 37:4

I ask that if you would please remain standing, if you're able, for the reading of God's Word.

Just one verse this morning, Psalm 37, verse 4.

Psalms 37:4

If you were here last week, you know we're taking a break from the Gospel of John for the month of January.

And our aim in this month, the month of January, is to remind ourselves, as we begin a new year, of our mission and vision as a church.

So last week, we covered our mission, which is that we exist to magnify the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And starting this week and over the next three weeks, Lord willing, we'll cover our three-part ministry vision,

which is to enjoy God, to equip the saints, and to evangelize the lost.

But what I've felt compelled to do over these three weeks is to blanket those three aspects of our ministry together with a theme of prayer.

So this week, we're going to cover how we enjoy God together in prayer.

So let's read Psalm 37, verse 4.

Psalms 37:4

Remain standing and listen along as I read God's Word.

It says,

Let's pray once more.

Lord, we ask that you would turn our hearts now to delight in you.

We ask God that you would change the desires of our hearts and then give us the desires of our hearts.

And we ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

You may be seated.

If my math is correct, we've prayed a total of four times together already in our worship service this morning.

We prayed at the beginning of our service, after the call to worship.

And we prayed a prayer of praise after the catechism reading.

We had a prayer for our offering right after the scripture reading this morning.

And then I just prayed for the preaching of the Word.

That makes for four times together.

And of course, if you were in the Sunday school hour, that hour both begins and ends with prayer.

And I don't know if you even know this or not, but if you were here 15 minutes before the Sunday school hour,

we have 15 minutes before the Sunday school hour every Sunday morning.

We walk through the morning service and we pray through the morning service and commit all of our plans to the Lord.

And then guess what?

Well, we're not done praying this morning.

As you might imagine, after I'm done saying everything I have planned to say, I will pray.

And then we will conclude with a time of silent prayer and reflection.

And then I've asked Treg if he would lead us in prayer as a way to apply and respond to what God has taught us this morning through His Word.

I hope that you can tell, if you've been a part of our worship services for any length of time,

that for us, prayer is not just an accessory to our worship.

It is absolutely a vital element of our life together.

It is a vital part of our church family and what we aim to do together.

I'll never forget when I was serving at a church in North Myrtle Beach.

I served as a pastor on staff at a church there.

And we also placed a high premium on the value of prayer.

And we had some family in town visiting us for the weekend.

Amanda's sister and our nephews.

And after the service was over, I do as I always do.

I go around and I say, hey, would anybody like to share anything that they picked up, anything they heard from the morning's service?

And my nephew was probably seven or eight years old at the time.

And he said, I don't really know.

All I know is you guys sure do pray a whole lot.

I took that as a compliment.

You see, we as a church family are committed, deeply committed, to the value of prayer.

Not just as a transition to move us along through various elements of the service.

Not just so musicians or readers can get up and off the stage.

But we believe that prayer is one of the primary ways that we both experience and express delight in God.

Prayer is one of the primary ways that we as Christians and we as a church both experience and express delight in God.

We believe that we magnify the glory of God by enjoying Him in prayer.

Our passage this morning is just one verse.

But it is a wonderful promise for us to believe.

It is, I believe, it's fuel for us for a lifetime, a commitment of God-exalting prayer.

And if you come here this morning and you feel like your prayer life is struggling,

maybe it's grown a bit dull,

maybe for you it's a struggle to force yourself into the discipline of prayer,

I want you to listen closely to what God has promised you this morning.

This promise is for you.

So what I want to do this morning as we walk through just one verse, Psalm 37 verse 4,

Psalms 37:4

is I want to discuss what this promise isn't and what this promise is.

What this promise isn't and what this promise is.

First, let's consider what this promise isn't saying.

Because if God is promising us something,

I want to understand what God means by what God promises, right?

I don't want to import my desires, my wants, my agenda, my selfish motives onto God's promises

because a hundred times out of a hundred, what God has in mind is going to be better than what I had in mind.

So let's understand what he's not saying here in Psalm 37 verse 4.

Psalms 37:4

This is not a procedure to get whatever you want.

This is not a procedure to get whatever you want.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you whatever you want.

Maybe my heart might want a Ferrari.

And maybe my heart wants a spouse, children, grandchildren, a job, a new home.

And maybe my heart wants a million dollars.

You see where I'm going.

And so you're telling me that all I have to do is delight in God and I will get whatever I want, right?

Yes and no.

Yes and no.

And we'll see how it's yes in a moment.

But for now, we should know that this promise is not a blank check to just get whatever we want out of God.

There's a movie that I loved growing up.

It's called Blank Check.

I won't ask you to raise your hand if any of you have seen it.

It wasn't probably a nominee for any major awards or anything like that.

But it was a good movie.

A kid, he finds, guess what?

A blank check.

And he writes a dollar amount.

I don't remember how much the amount was.

Probably a million dollars onto the blank check.

He goes.

He cashes it.

He turns that blank check into anything and everything a kid could possibly ever want.

He had water slides coming out of his bedroom.

He had candy.

He had all sorts of junk food as much as he wanted.

He had go-karts to ride around his house.

He got everything he wanted because he was given a blank check.

That would be the wrong way to read this verse.

That's not what he is promising us here.

Prayer is not just a means to some other better end.

Where we treat God as if he's a magic genie in a bottle.

If we just rub the bottle the right way.

If we just delight in the Lord enough just the right way.

Then we will get whatever it is that we wish.

We should know that if that's how we treat prayer.

If we read this promise this way.

Ultimately what that's saying is that whatever it is that we want.

We want more than God himself.

And God's value.

God's worth to us.

It lies in his ability to give us whatever it is that we want with or without him.

That's not what this is.

It's not a procedure to get whatever we want.

It's also not a prosperity gospel promise.

It is not a prosperity gospel promise.

You know what the prosperity gospel is.

The essence of the prosperity gospel is love God and bad things will not happen to you.

Love God and bad things won't come into your life.

God wants you to be happy.

God wants you to be healthy.

God wants you to be wealthy.

He would never bring something bad or hard into your life.

And so if you just have enough faith nothing bad will ever happen to you.

It is a dangerous deception.

And it's incredibly popular.

And you can imagine why.

This lie sells.

It is attractive.

Apparently I read this week.

This is Oprah Winfrey's favorite verse in the Bible.

Did you know that?

This is her favorite verse.

In the Bible.

She was in an interview with Stephen Colbert several years ago.

She shared that this was her favorite verse.

But as she explained it, it became abundantly clear that how she understands this promise is radically different from what I'm trying to present to you this morning.

As she articulated it, this is a direct quote.

She said, I love this verse because it means if you focus on being a force for good, then good will come back to you.

If you focus on being a force for good, then good will come.

I spoke with a man several months ago who thought the same thing.

I gave him a ride into town.

We had about 10 minutes to speak.

And so we spoke about the gospel.

And he shared that, well, what he believes is essentially that if you just put out good energy into the world, well, good things will come back to you.

If you put out bad energy out into the world, well, bad things will come back to you.

I want you to see that's not what the verse says, is it?

Look there with me again.

This verse doesn't say be good, be a force for good, do your best, try hard and good will come to you.

What does it say?

Delight yourself in the Lord.

Delight yourself in the Lord, not just in any old God, not just in good, however you might define good.

Delight yourself in the Lord, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, the covenant God of Israel, the God that's revealed in the pages of Scripture.

Delight yourself in him and he will give you the desires of your heart.

And it doesn't say, no matter how much we might want it to say this, it doesn't say that if you delight in him, no bad things will ever come into your life.

It does not say, delight in him and he will only give you good things in your life.

Try telling that to Job.

Try telling that to Jesus.

Or to Paul or to Stephen or Peter or James.

Or to our brothers and sisters suffering for their faith in Sudan.

Try telling that to those worshiping in underground churches in China.

I try telling that to my pastor friend, Jeff, in North Myrtle Beach, one of the godliest men I know,

who spent the majority of his working career life doing mission work, building the church in Israel and in the Horn of Africa.

He came home, served as an elder alongside me at our church.

Just learned last week that he has cancer.

Stage four.

Terrible diagnosis for a godly man.

Tell that to my friend Garrett.

Who prayed with his family.

That his family would grow in the Lord.

That they would grow in their hunger for the Lord.

That they'd be drawn nearer to the Lord.

And then weeks later, he finds himself in the ICU with his daughter.

Seizures.

Unresponsive.

Been there since just before Christmas.

Love God and good things will happen.

Love God and good things will happen.

Does not work in real life.

Love God and bad things won't happen to you.

Does not work in real life.

That's not what this verse is promising.

So if this verse is true, what that means is there must be a way where we get what we want, even if we don't get what we want.

Are you following me?

There must be a way where the desires of our heart are met, even if the wants, the immediate wants of our heart don't go as we plan.

Where we're happy, we're delighted and satisfied, even if our life isn't delightful and isn't always satisfying.

We'll get there.

Last one here.

We should also know that this verse is not possible in our own strength.

This verse is not possible in our own strength.

I want you to notice something here.

It's so interesting to me.

That this is a command.

You notice that?

We tend to place the emphasis on the back end of the verse as if the back end was more important.

So we say, well, how do I get the desires of my heart?

Okay, well, I delight myself in the Lord.

Well, how do I get whatever it is that I want?

Well, I delight in Him.

If I want to be happy, if I want to be wealthy, if I want to be happy and healthy, I delight in Him.

We get the order mixed up.

Read it again.

This is a command.

He tells us, He commands us.

It says, delight yourself in the Lord.

And out of that delight, out of that delight as an overflow, as a sure result of a heart that delights in Him,

is a promise that all of your desires will ultimately be met in Him.

And we're commanded to delight ourselves in the Lord.

It's not the only place in Scripture where we're commanded like this either, is it?

Or the summary that Jesus gives of the whole law.

What is it?

You should, you should, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength.

We're commanded to love God.

That's the call that's made to sinners like us.

Love God.

Love Christ.

Love His Word.

Love His promises.

And you will be saved.

What's the problem?

We can't do that in our own strength.

We can't obey this command in our own strength.

I can't make you love anything just by telling you to love it.

Especially, especially if you're naturally opposed to it.

You can force action, but you cannot force love.

Especially if you're naturally opposed to it.

I'll give you an example.

If I tell my kids to eat broccoli, they might eat it.

If I tell them to love broccoli, I can't make them love broccoli no matter how many times I might tell them.

They'll eat it.

I can force action, but I can't force love.

If you're not an exercise person, it doesn't matter how many times Breeze tells you to lift the weight.

He might get you to lift it, but he can't make you love it.

You can compel action, but you cannot force love.

So how in the world is this command possibly kept?

How can sinners who are naturally opposed to God,

sinners who refuse to delight in the goodness of God,

how can sinners obey this command to delight in the Lord?

It's only kept by a miraculous work of God himself in you.

To change your heart.

To change your heart.

So that now your cold, hard, rebellious heart that doesn't want a thing to do with God,

only wants what you can get out of him,

treats him as a means to some other end,

uses him to serve yourself,

sees him as an accessory to your life and not central to your life,

now all of a sudden your heart is changed to love him.

To desire him.

And so what way he wants to trust him,

even if we don't get our way.

That's a work, a miracle of God.

The only way to have all of the desires of your heart

is for God himself to make himself the delight of your heart.

And then to give you as much as you want.

I'll say that again.

The only way for you to have all of the desires of your heart

is for God to make himself the delight of your heart.

And then he says,

Come on, you can have as much as you want.

You can have as much as you want of me.

It happens first at conversion.

When you hear the good news of the gospel

that Christ Jesus comes to save sinners,

that he alone is worthy of our praise,

that he's lived and died and risen on behalf of sinners,

to restore you to God,

to bring you back into right relationship with God,

to wipe away everything that stands in the way

of your full enjoyment of God himself.

When you believe that message,

your heart is changed and transformed

to glory and the goodness of God above all things.

It happens first at conversion.

But even then, after conversion,

your heart, believe it or not,

is often still slow to delight in God.

I know I'm not the only one.

Your whole life as a Christian

is now spent fighting for joy in the Lord.

Fighting for delight in God.

God works that delight in you

through sanctification

sanctification until you're finally made fit

and able to enjoy him forever

in glorification.

That's the aim of the Christian life.

It's to enjoy him,

to delight in him,

to love him.

That's his work

and that's his promise to us in Christ.

Delight in God is the work of God.

We can't do it in our own strength,

but he works it in us through the gospel.

So, what is this verse promising us?

What is this verse promising us?

Well, this verse, church,

I want us to see,

this is an invitation to have your desires changed.

It's an invitation to have your desires changed.

Matthew Henry, commenting on this verse,

he says,

we must make God our heart's delight

and then we shall have our heart's desire.

Must make God our heart's delight

and then we will have our heart's desire.

What is the desire of the heart of a good man,

he asks?

It is this,

to know and love

and live to God,

to please him

and to be pleased in him.

And St. Augustine,

he says it another way,

much simpler.

He says,

love God and do as you please.

Don't you love that?

Isn't that freeing?

Love God and do as you please.

See, we misunderstand that quote

if we put the emphasis on the latter half.

Oh, I get to do whatever I want

and do whatever I please.

That's all that's required of me,

love God,

then I get to do whatever I want.

Yes, if everything you want

is developed and defined

by your love for God.

You can do whatever it is you want.

If it's flowing downstream

from a heart that loves God,

love God and do what you please.

Because the truth is,

genuinely loving God,

delighting yourself in him

will have a transformative effect

on your heart.

If you delight in him,

if you love him,

your heart will change

away from selfish desires,

away from sinful desires,

away even from good desires

for selfish purposes

and towards God

and God's desires.

The one who truly delights in God

deep down in their heart of hearts

doesn't want anything

other than what God wants.

Now we might have other wants.

Of course we will.

We will have other wants,

but if our greatest want

is for God to be glorified,

for his will to be done,

for us to know him more,

for us to grow in him,

we can be certain

we'll have it.

Come what may.

Whatever that may bring,

you can take anything else

away from a Christian,

but if they have God,

they have everything they need.

We can say with the Apostle Paul,

I've learned the secret

of being content

in all circumstances.

Philippians chapter 4,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

I've learned the secret

to being content,

to thriving in abundance

and in lack and poverty

and in riches.

The secret, what is it?

I can do all things

through Christ

who strengthens me.

Have you learned that secret?

Have you learned the secret

of contentment?

Come what may,

in abundance and in plenty,

in lack and in hunger and thirst.

Are you content

in who God is?

Is your heart delighted

in him?

That's the work

of a changed heart

by the power of God

through the gospel of Christ.

It's an invitation

to have your desires changed.

Not only this,

it's an invitation

to have our longings met.

You know,

another way to misunderstand

and misapply this verse

is to say,

well, this just means

I should just squelch

all my desires.

This just means

that I should live

like a stoic

and have no pleasure,

no joy,

not want anything.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

It's good.

It's right for us

to have desire.

I would say it's good

and it's right for us

to chase pleasure,

to chase joy.

It's a matter of

where we chase it

and where we find it.

The only way

this promise is true

is for us to shrink,

is not for us,

excuse me,

not for us to shrink

our desires

but instead

to enlarge them.

God wants our desires

to be for things

that are more

than what this world

can provide,

not less

than what this world

can offer.

We read from C.S. Lewis

last week,

I'll do it again.

He says,

Our desires

are not too strong

but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures

fooling about

with drink

and sex

and ambition

when infinite joy

is offered to us.

Like an ignorant child

who wants to go on

making mud pies

in a slum

because he cannot

even imagine

what's meant

by the offer

of a holiday at sea.

We are far

too easily

pleased.

Do you desire

to be happy?

Of course you do.

Well, you can

chase that happiness,

you can pursue

that joy

and drink

and sex

and ambition

or

you can pursue

happiness in Christ.

We are offered

infinite joy

in Christ,

joy that we can

experience

right now

in part

but then

in full.

Do you desire

to be rich?

Wealthy?

Have some property

maybe?

Have a home?

A little bit

of equity?

Your own little slice

of paradise

here on earth?

That's too small.

Don't you understand

we will inherit

the new heavens

and the new earth?

We're sons and daughters

of the king.

We'll be citizens

of the kingdom of God.

Do you desire

to be healthy?

Of course you do.

Friend,

the time is coming

when all sickness

will be wiped away

for good.

When all death

will be wiped away

forever.

No more sorrow,

no more suffering,

no more disease.

I think this is

an encouragement

for us to put

our hope there

in better promises.

You know,

where the prosperity

gospel goes wrong,

you might be surprised

to hear this,

it is not in saying

that God wants

your healing.

They're not wrong

in saying that God

wants your prosperity

or your happiness

or your health.

You may be surprised

to hear that.

Prosperity theology

goes wrong

by shrinking

God's promises

down to a fraction

so that they can be

had right now.

It makes our desires

not too big

but too small.

Ten billion dollars

in your bank account

is a fraction

of the riches

that await us

in glory.

An inheritance

for promise

that is imperishable,

undefiled,

unfading,

kept in heaven

for you

who by God's power

are being guarded

through faith

for salvation

ready to be revealed

in the last time.

Even though

if necessary,

you now have

had to endure

various trials

so that the test

to genuineness

of your faith

more precious

than gold

those refined by fire

may be found

to result

in praise

and glory

and honor

of the revelation

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you want

health

and happiness?

A hundred years

of life cancer free

on this side

of eternity?

That's a good run.

That is a fraction

of what lies

ahead of us

in glory.

I used to have

a church member

I think I've shared

this with you before

who as he aged

and got older

his knees were aching

his back was aching

everything was aching

y'all know how that is

and he would tell me

you know pastor

I just want one good day

before Jesus comes back.

Just one good day

where I'll feel good

before the Lord returns.

And I loved

to remind him

brother when Jesus

comes back

you will feel better

than you've ever felt.

More alive

than you've ever felt.

More limber

than you've ever felt.

There's better promises

ahead of us

than what anything

in this world

can offer you.

This is an invitation

to have your desires

changed

and to have your desires

met

in ways that

far surpass

our greatest expectations.

Ultimately church

this is an invitation

to true

and lasting

joy.

don't you want that?

And don't you

crave that?

Everybody does.

Delight yourself

in the Lord

and he will give you

the desires

of your heart.

You know that's what

the message of the gospel

is all about.

The gospel

is an invitation

for sinners

to know

true

and lasting

joy in God

through faith

in Jesus Christ.

Christ.

That's why

Christ came.

Christianity

is not

a religion

of do's

and don'ts.

It's not a binding

restrictive religion

of rules

to follow.

Christianity

is an invitation

to endless

infinite

joy

and the

fount

of endless

joy.

God himself

John Piper

has been

one of the

greatest advocates

for something

called

Christian hedonism.

Anybody ever

heard of that?

Christian hedonism.

A hedonism

you don't want

to be called

a hedonist.

Right?

A hedonism

is if you're

a hedonist

you're somebody

that pursues

pleasure

any which way

you can find it.

A hedonism

is the pursuit

of pleasure.

A pleasure seeker

is a hedonist

but Christian hedonism

narrows it

to say

God wants you

to be happy

and the only way

you will truly

be happy

is in God.

God wants you

to be satisfied

and the only way

you will ever

truly be satisfied

is in God

himself.

God wants you

to chase

hard after

all the joy

and pleasure

that your heart

can possibly

imagine

and the only way

to have fullness

of joy

is in God

himself.

See most people

if they think

about God

at all

they go through

life as if

this verse said

delight yourself

and he'll give you

the desires

of your heart.

Do whatever

you want

delight yourself

if there is a God

he wants you

to be happy

he'll bless you

he approves of you

you deserve

whatever your heart

desires.

You see how

false that is?

Delight yourself

in the Lord

the source

of infinite

eternal joy

delight yourself

in him

and you will have

all the desires

of your heart.

Westminster

catechism

it tells us

what's the

chief end

of man

is to glorify

God

and to enjoy

him

forever.

Psalm 1611

one of my

favorite verses

opened our

service this

morning with

this verse

it says

you make known

to me the

path of life

in your presence

there is

fullness

of joy

at your

right hand

are pleasures

forevermore

that's why

we're commanded

church

to delight

yourself

in the Lord

and you will

have all

the desires

of your heart

this verse

is an invitation

to true

and lasting

joy

in

him

and that's

why

that's why

this verse

is an anchor

for our

prayer

and prayer

as we said

at the beginning

of our time

together

is one of the

primary ways

that we both

experience

and express

delight

in God

prayer

is one of the

primary ways

that God

changes our

hearts

prayer is one of

the primary ways

that we have

the desires

of our heart

met

David Platt

he says

the secret

to prayer

is making

your wants

God's wants

and then asking

for whatever

it is you want

don't you love

that

the secret

to prayer

is making

your wants

God's wants

and then go

ask for whatever

it is you want

I want to ask

you this week

as we go

from this

place

I want to

encourage you

to stretch

yourself in

prayer

this week

stretch yourself

in prayer

now that may

look different

for every single

person in the

room

everyone has

a different

prayer life

it looks a

little bit

different for

you

than for

you

than for

you

than for

you

I want

to encourage

you this

week

one application

I want

to give

to you

stretch

yourself

in prayer

this week

for you

that may

mean going

from zero

minutes to

five every

day

for you

that may

mean

beginning to

pray with

your spouse

that week

for you

that may

mean

leaving your

phone in

the bedroom

while you

go somewhere

else

spend some

time without

distraction

alone with

the Lord

in prayer

I want

you to

stretch

yourself

and fight

for your

heart's delight

in the Lord

because it's in

him that you'll

know fullness

of joy

church we're

going to

conclude as

we always

do with

prayer

I'll pray

for us

and then

we'll have a

time of

silent prayer

it's an

opportunity for

you right

where you are

to respond

to what you've

just heard

from the

word

in prayer

and then

I've also

asked Treg

if he would

come up

and lead

us in a

time of

focused

prayer

as we

apply the

truths that

we've just

heard from

God's word

so if you

would

let's bow

together

and pray

Lord we

pray for

deeper delight

in you

maybe for

the first

time if

there's any

here who

don't know

you and

they hear

this call

to delight

of the

Lord and

that seems

so foreign

to their

hearts

God we

pray that

you would

place love

for you in

their hearts

now would

you do it

God would

you place

in them an

irresistible

desire to

know you

and to

love you

to be

with you

to obey

you

and father

for for

those of

us whose

desire and

delight has

grown cold

father we

pray that you

would kindle

a fire in

our hearts

that we

might love

you more

we ask that

we would

grow in

you

father we

pray for

new desires

in our

hearts we

pray for

your desires

we ask

that you

would lead

us away

from sinful

desires

worldly

desires

selfish

desires

would you

show us

clearly what

those desires

are in our

hearts and

lead us to

repent of

those and

to seek

fulfillment in

you

God we

pray these

things with

confidence that

you hear our

prayers that

even when we

don't know how

to pray as

we ought that

the spirit

himself intercedes

for the saints

according to

the will of

God we

love you

Lord and we

pray all this

in Jesus name

amen church

let's continue

to pray

silently where

we are

you