The good news of Christ
Holy Father in Heaven,
Your name is blessed among the nations.
Your salvation is reaching more and more people.
The angels of Satan weep and gnash their teeth.
Secure us in the safety of your fold.
Help us face the battle squarely.
Stiffen our spines by your Spirit of grace.
Keep all temptations at bay.
Give us growth from strength to strength.
In us be glorified forever.
In Christ we pray and offer thanks. Amen.
For much of our nation’s history, Christians could float with the current of culture as it was going generally in the same direction we wanted to go. Christianity was ‘mainstream’–literally! But, several decades ago, while complacency and compromise with things in the culture that didn’t fit with the Bible let us drift asleep, the current swept us down the wider branch that leads to destruction instead of the narrow creek off to the side that few find (Matthew 7:13-14). Many are just now waking up to our danger and wanting to fight upstream but don’t know how.
I. 1 Peter 4:12-19. We must know the current. In the first century, Christians were persecuted because the paganism of ancient Rome insisted that they worship the emperor as a deity. Terrible things occurred to those who trusted in no other God and wouldn’t bow to the affairs of the state. Today, humanism that tolerates no god but man himself, seeks the state as man’s savior and demands fealty to doctrines contrary to biblical teaching, such as gender identity, homosexual marriage, abortion until birth, etc. It’s no wonder that Christians today find themselves in the rapids and up against the rocks of persecution like those twenty centuries before (Philippians 3:10-11; Hebrews 2:10-11).
II. 2 Corinthians 10:2-6. We must know our equipment. To fight upstream in this spiritual battle, we must know that we will lose if we wage war as the world does. We have spiritual weapons that can demolish strongholds. Among many methods mentioned in Colossians 3:12-17, love is foremost to bind all these efforts together and should be used while leaning on God’s understanding (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). The full armor of God with all of its various functions is essential as a true “life” preserver in determination to regain the narrow fork. We must recognize the attitudes, beliefs, values, and practices of the world that we’ve accepted into our lives and put in the hard effort of paddling upstream to return to God’s Word in all things for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-11).
III. 1 John 3:1-3. We must know our destination. As individual Christians we must know to avoid the world (2 Timothy 3:1-5), but we must help others keep the focus of walking as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-11). Fixing our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, we won’t grow weary and lose heart in the hard work that will be required to set ourselves back on the narrow fork (Hebrews 12:1-4). Jesus is that hope through the temporary trials of the rapids and rocks (1 Peter 1:3-7) until we reach our goal. It will take great determination to purify ourselves and encouragement of others to fight our way upstream.
The pull of the humanistic current of culture is strong and hard to resist. Awakening to the spiritual battle, we must understand the danger, equip ourselves with the weapons God has provided for us, and fight upstream to the destination promised to us. Who can you get to fight against the current with you?
Throughout the Avengers series, Bruce Banner struggled to control the Hulk from taking over. That’s how many believe the Holy Spirit acts in our lives. Samson seems to exemplify that, but with a closer look we see that those with the Spirit of the Lord choose their actions.
I. Judges 14:1-20. It’s clear from the onset of Samson’s story that God knows our terrible choices ahead of time and uses them for His will. The ‘lawless men’ who sent Jesus to the cross were not thwarting God’s plan but falling into it (Acts 2:22-24). It’s also clear throughout all of Samson’s life that despite having the Spirit of the Lord that he acted out of selfish motives and anger, something that could not please God.
II. John 2:13-17. Jesus had God’s Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17), and many might have thought that there was another Samson in their midst when He overturned tables and drove money-changers out of the temple with a whip. But, John explains that the source of Jesus’ anger was different. Jesus who never sinned (Hebrews 4:15) had an anger not rooted in sin (Ephesians 4:26) but rather zeal for His Father’s house. Like Samson, though, Jesus chose His actions.
III. Acts 2:16-39. We too choose our actions. Given the Spirit of the Lord as a gift at baptism, Christians choose to either take the route of Samson and grieve the Spirit by our sinful choices (Ephesians 4:30) or serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13). With His Spirit, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) to bring others to Christ the choice of waging spiritual war differently than the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). But we have to choose these!
If you have obeyed the gospel, you have the Spirit of the Lord. With it dwelling in us, teaching us, and equipping us in various ways, we each need to choose what we will do with this new life we have been given.
“I’ll tie one hand behind my back just to make it a fair fight!” says someone who believes himself at a great advantage to start with. But what about God? If He’s going to fight for you, what does He have to do to make it a fair fight for your enemies … or so you can understand His power?
Isaiah records that one angel slew 185,000 Assyrians, and yet Jesus said in Gethsemane that He could call 12 legions of angels to Him if He wanted to. With a legion being 6,000 strong, that’s a total of 72,000 angels capable of handling 13,320,000,000 enemies.
With God on your side, who indeed could stand against you?
I. Judges 7:1-21. But, Gideon didn’t understand that. He lived in a time when the great things that God did for His people were just dusty stories from long ago (don’t know what that’s like!). Just telling Gideon that He will be with him is not enough for trust in God to be built. So, through a series of tests, God shows Gideon that He will take care of him. God had to get Gideon (full of man’s idea of strength) out of the way so God could be seen as GOD. Paring down Gideon’s army to a mere 300, the bully, Midian, flees.
II. Exodus 14. In fact, throughout the Bible God uses impossible situations to show His power. Gideon cites God saving them out of slavery in Egypt with the plagues, but it is at the Red Sea that God is seen as GOD. Armed for battle in all of man’s strength (Exodus 13:17-18), the Israelites were nevertheless disorganized and unprepared to meet Pharaoh’s army. Backed against the water with chariots bearing down on them, God–through Moses–parted the water and the Israelites walked through as on dry ground while the Egyptians drowned.
III. Romans 8:26-31. The cross is, of course, the greatest impossible situation in which God was seen to be GOD. And, we have the reassurance that if God would not even spare His own Son for us that there’s nothing He wouldn’t give us. He fights for those who trust in Him to be GOD, and so He uses those who can get themselves out of the way, be still (Psalm 46:10), and let Him battle for them (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
But do we? So often we go at the impossible situations in our lives with our own strength and resources. Like Gideon, we need to know that God is GOD, and that when He is fighting for us, there’s nothing resembling a fair fight!
Satan lays all kinds of traps for us, preying on our weaknesses and sinful natures. Sometimes, he comes to us in what seems an impossible situation–like David found himself in facing Goliath! But, the secret is to know who is the real giant!
I. Luke 20:1-19. Satan talks big (Luke 4:5-7), but because of Jesus’ work on the cross, He’s the true one in authority (Matthew 28:18). The Goliaths of Jesus’ day roared their challenges to Him, but His stones easily knocked them down. Jesus knew that those who believed themselves in power were afraid of the people.
II. Luke 20:20-40. Like a cat pouncing on a red laser dot, those who believed themselves in power tried futilely to trap Jesus. They did not realize that He was the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14) or that the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom or weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). The result of this mismatched battle was that all fell silent and did not dare to challenge Him further.
III. 1 John 5:3-5. Those who believed they were in power in Jesus’ day were like Goliath in David’s. So today, the world, for all of its bluster and threats, is not really the true giant when it comes up against those who are in Christ Jesus and have overcome the world through our faith. In Jesus, we stand before the intimidating champion of the Philistines armed with God’s wisdom and strength.
… if we could only realize it!
Before you, Lord, I humble my soul,
In need of love and grace and sight;
Lift up my heart, I give it whole,
Empower my hands to save and smite.
To save the lost, to smite the foe,
To love the lonely, to flee from wrong,
To walk the way of Christ below,
To join the angels in heavenly song.
Holy Father in heaven,
Warm our hearts and energize our limbs,
To serve our neighbor, move away from whims
And sudden fancies, to do your steady will—
Let not hands go weak, nor minds be dull.
Sovereign God of this world,
Bless people of righteousness, make justice thrive,
Let kingdom sons be born, again revive
Your church to turn away from vain pursuits,
To speak your Word, to return to scriptural roots.
Lord of heart and soul,
Ever turn our sight from selfish gain,
To see beyond ourselves—like Jesus, train
Attention upon humanity’s greatest need—
Eternal life—and follow the Spirit’s lead.
Leader of hosts and armies,
Power is yours, all glory, strength, and right,
As King of kings, as ruler in love and light,
The battle is yours, the fight will soon be done,
And we would sooner be found at arms in the Son.
Father of lights, Simon Peter was so sure of his commitment to the very end, yet he buckled under pressure. His pronouncement sounded bold, but his heart gave way because he did not understand the mission of his Lord. He placed his hope in politics and battles of war, and when the Promised One took that from him, he fled. Continue reading “We know the God who stiffens our resolve”
Christ, o’er angels, glorious King,
Ruler, author of creation,
Grant us grace to win and wing
Our way to realms e’erlasting.
Fling us out across the earth,
Sound in us the proclamation,
Shout from heights the gospel worth,
That all may know the Spirit’s birth.
Send your Spirit forth to war,
Fight for us, your holy nation,
On the hills let banners soar,
Our vict’ry feast forevermore.
See this invitation to prayer for the month of July 2009, on resisting the evil one.