The Awareness of Evil

Sunday Sermons

Mark Dunagan
03/26/06 - Sunday Morning

The Christian Mind II

It’s Awareness of Evil

Christians think in terms of eternity. “In other words it is conscious of the universe as a battlefield between the forces of good and evil. It follows that the Christian mind has an acute and sensitive awareness of the power and spread of evil upon the human scene” (The Christian Mind, Harry Blamires, p. 86).

· “The worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word” (Matthew 13:22).

· “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

· “You formerly walked according to the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2).

· “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).

· “I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

· “Therefore be careful how you walk not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).

· “Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Applications

· We need to be careful that we do not turn “evil” into entertainment. “We lean back in armchairs, toast our toes by the fire, turn on the radio or the television, and indulge in the righteous pleasure of learning how much evil there is in the world—elsewhere” (p. 87). The apostle John wrote, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). “Under the influence of” (TCNT). “In his grip and under his dominion. Moreover, it lies there. It is not represented as struggling actively to be free but as quietly lying, perhaps even unconsciously asleep, in the arms of Satan” (Stott p. 193). John equally warned, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). Not only can we love the world when participating in sinful activities, but we can also love the world by simply enjoying at a distance watching other people rebel. Christians should not find the sin of others entertaining.

· Materialism is materialism or sin is sin when practiced by members of a conservative political party as well as practiced by a liberal political party. Political parties often woo us by telling us, “in different ways, that if we support them they will further improve our material comforts” (p. 87). Yet the Christian, who is not opposed to comfort, looks deeper and asks the more important question, “How do your policies impact the souls of men?” “How do they measure up against God’s righteousness?” “Will you protect the good and punish the evil?” (Romans 13:3)

· Evil involves far more than murder, or those things that contemporary society understands as evil. Evil equally includes evil thoughts, slander (Matthew 15:19); deceit, sensuality, envy, pride and foolishness (Mark 7:22). “For the discerning Christian knows that a cunning or intelligent man may lead of life of almost diabolical pride, in which he strives in every moment to minister to the desires and vanities of his own inflated self—and yet may pass for a respectable, law-abiding citizen” (p. 90). In like manner, the Christian also realizes that man can equally pervert religion, and there is nothing—even a religious profession “which cannot be perverted into a mere means of appeasing a hungry vanity, into an instrument of constant self-service” (p. 91). We saw this in the Pharisees, when Jesus observed, “Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28); “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men” (Matthew 23:5).

· Thus the Christian is not shocked when he or she discovers that the religious world, and even what professes to be “Christian”, is filled with men and women who are extremely rebellious with regard to God’s law. The Pharisees looked obedient, but Jesus said they were full of lawlessness, that is, rebellion to God’s law. And Jesus will find the same rebellious spirit in many religious people at the end of time, “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23).

· Because the world lies in the evil one, Christians do not accept the world’s judgments without some serious examination (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). This means that when we observe any media, we are discerning and remember what we are listening to, watching, or reading was made by individuals who are deceived in the most important area of life.

· We are also aware that as the world encounters the teachings of Christ that the world will tend to want pick and choose what it wants to observe and “pad” the cross that Christians are expected to carry. A classic example of this is modern divorce laws. Somehow society has concluded that a person can go from one spouse to another, just as long as a legal divorce transpires between the two relationships. Yet Jesus noted, that such is adultery, nothing more, nothing less(Matthew 19:9).

· Since the term “world” includes politicians, scientists, professors, and every other profession, the Christian is not shocked that a good number of scientists do not want to see God’s handiwork in the creation (Psalm 19:1-2; Romans 1:20). Neither is our faith shaken when various experts proclaim “not sinful” behaviors that the Bible condemns. Instead of being surprised, we should have been able to predict such a move. Starting from the premise that the whole world lies in the evil one, the Christian expects conflict in the moral sphere, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). “It assumes that the powers of evil will exploit every possible occasion (Ephesians 4:27 “Do not give the devil an opportunity”; 1 Peter 5:8 “Seeking someone to devour”) for drawing men into the mental confusion of blurred concepts and twisted values---an expectation that evil will be at large where God is not. Hence, in the moral sphere, its zealous attention to the thin ends of wedges. It knows how evil grows” (p. 102). “In order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). While Christians are optimistic (Philippians 4:4), and trusting (1 Corinthians 13:7 “believes all things”), we are commanded to be equally wary and cautious (Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd and serpents, and innocent as doves”). Therefore, the Christian already knows that in the past evil has attempted to argue that:

* Grace is a license to sin (Romans 6:1).

* Evil is good and good is evil (Isaiah 5:20)

* God’s people are the troublemakers (1 Kings 18:17)

* Desire to water down God’s message (Isaiah 30:9-10)

In addition, we are constantly vigilant against the “thin edges of the evil wedge” in our hearts and minds, in our marriages, and in the local congregation we attend. Added to this, we must remember that our presence in a community, a family, a congregation or a place of employment is a check against evil. Truly, “I am needed in this place”.

Seeing that the devil is very active on this earth and most people prefer his compromising standards, we should not expect to find a level-playing field here. “The Great Deceiver has never liked a level playing field. It is not as though he is sincerely committed to his view of truth, and earnestly believes it would be better for humankind. He knows he is a liar, and that the only way he can win his argument is to rig the game so perversely that God’s truth-tellers find themselves at a serious disadvantage just to carry on the discussion. So he works overtime to force us to play defense. He wants us in a battle where, instead of reaching out winsomely to those who have never heard or understood Christ’s gospel, we find ourselves fighting just to preserve the platform from which we reach out. He wants the whole platform—the whole public square all for himself” (World Magazine, 8-27-2005, p. 3). This is one reason why the Christian spends some time examining objections or arguments against God’s truth and placing notes in their Bible.

Look at what we have done

The Christian remembers that he or she is not the judge at the last day, God is (James 4:12). Yet the very message that we bring does contain not only blessings and hope for those who obey, but condemnation for those who persist in sin (John 3:36; 2 Corinthians 2:16). As a result, people will “feel” that we are judging them when we bring this message. We need to remind them:

· The same message is judging us; for we struggle with the same temptations as beset them (1 Corinthians 10:13).

· “The Church comes with a judgment upon the modern world: but it is not the kind of judgment which enables the Christian to feel superior. It is properly expressed when we turn to our contemporaries and say: ‘Look what we’ve done; you and I’’(p. 103). That is, look at the mess that we have all contributed in making (Romans 3:23 “All have sinned”). Look at the evil we are capable of producing and inflicting when we do not follow God.

It is a rough place out there

The world is a dangerous place and it takes work to remain unspotted by its corruption (James 1:26), yet it is into such a world that Jesus was born. “Into just such a situation as this our Lord came. The world was rotten. Vice was rife. There was debauchery and corruption in the cities of the Roman world as now in our own cities. There was drunkenness and perversion. There is no evil now that did not exist then. Nevertheless our Lord came. He came by every act and word to show up the world’s evil, yet never to pretend it was not a world fit for Him, the divine, to be in” (pp. 104, 105). The point is, this world with all its evil desperately needs us in it, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15), and we equally need the trials of this world to refine us for eternal life (Romans 5:3-5),and it is possible to live here with all its temptations and challenges and yet actually grow stronger (James 1:2-4).

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017