Fighting for Christ
Psalm 110:1–7
Rule in the midst of your enemies! Psalm 110:2
Christ is ruling from his throne in order to extend his kingdom throughout the whole world through the witness of his followers. Two phrases here show us what Jesus’s reign is like.
1. “In the midst of your enemies.” Here is a king who rules in the midst of his enemies. His is a spiritual rule that infiltrates the hostile powers of this world in a nearly invisible fashion. Moreover, it is a rule that he exerts indirectly, as it were, not by coming in power himself (though he will also do that in judgment at the end of time) but through his people, the church.
Our calling, though, is not to Christianize society, as if the secular world could be made Christian. Rather, we are to fight for Christ’s spiritual kingdom. How? Paul pointed out the right way: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3–4 NIV).
What are our weapons? First, participation. Christians need to participate in secular life rather than merely shoot from the sidelines at secular people and what secular people are doing. Participation is implied in Paul’s words “though we live in the world” and in the psalm’s equivalent expression “in the midst of your enemies.” Second, persuasion. Persuasion is opposed to coercion. Informed by God’s Word, Christians must endeavor to persuade others of the truth: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (v. 5). Third, prayer. We pray because we know that even with the best of scripturally informed arguments, without God’s specific supernatural intervention, the world will neither understand nor heed what we are saying.
2. “Your troops will be willing” (Ps. 110:3 NIV). Those who are enlisted in Christ’s service have enlisted willingly. This army is composed entirely of volunteers. True, these soldiers were not always willing—they were once as hostile to Christ and his kingdom as others still are—but they were made willing by that gentle working of Jesus’s grace in their lives. Perceiving his sacrifice of himself for them and loving him for it, they have now made themselves willing sacrifices for him.
Are you willing? Have you presented yourself to Jesus as a living sacrifice? I hope you have. If not, perhaps what you need is a new vision of the exalted Lord Jesus Christ. When Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, he heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah could only answer, “Here I am! Send me” (Isa. 6:1–8).
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.