We Overcame

Mark Dunagan
02/07/16 - Sunday Evening

We Overcame

As children of God we have everything we need to overcome the culture around us attempting to make us into something far less than what God would have us to be (Romans 12:1-2). What great resources and truths God gives us, right at our finger tips, to overcome and be victorious. Let's explore a few!

• “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne” (Revelation 3:19).
• “You have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:13).
• “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).
• “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11).
• “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be His God and he will be My son” (Revelation 21:7).

Not Fooled by the “Big Me”

In the book the Road to Character the writer David Brooks notes the broad shift we have seen in our American culture from humility to the culture of what he calls the “Big Me”.  In the past, the voices in our culture, including parents, encouraged children to think humbly of themselves in order to help them better confront their faults.  Now we find in a culture that encourages people to see themselves as the center of the universe.  For example, fame used to rank rather low as a life ambition for most people, but in 2007,   51% of young people reported that being famous was one of their top personal goals.  “Psychologists have a thing called the narcissism test.  They read people statements and ask if the statements apply to them.  Statements such as, ‘I like to be the center of attention…I show off if I get the chance because I am extraordinary…Somebody should write a biography about me’.  The median narcissism score has risen 30 percent in the last two decades” (The Road to Character, pp. 6-7).  One of the great things about being a Christian is that I know that though my soul is worth more than the whole world, but since I did not create myself, by myself, and in and of myself, I am not all that impressive, and it is only "with God" that I can do truly great things (Ephesians 3:20-21).

• “And they overcome him because….they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:11).
• “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
• “Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment” (Romans 12:3).

Not Lulled to Sleep by My Strengths

• “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me” (Psalm 139:23).
• “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Many people in our culture are being taught to cultivate their strengths, yet in Scripture we are likewise encouraged to recognize, acknowledge, confront and overcome weaknesses.  One example given by the Brooks is that of Dwight Eisenhower whose mother, one Halloween forbid him from going trick or treating with his older brothers. In response, Dwight went weeping and screaming outside, pounding his fists against the trunk of an apple tree until his hands were bruised and bloodied. About an hour after a switching from his father with a hickory switch his mother came into Dwight's room and after a good long talk quoted one Bible verse, “He that conquereth his own soul is greater than he who taketh a city”.  Then, while bandaging his wounds, she told him to beware of the anger and hatred burning inside.  Of all her boys, he told him, he had the most to learn about controlling his destructive passions.  When he was seventy-six years old, he wrote about that conversation, stating it had been one of the most invaluable moments of his life.  “People rarely commit the big sins out of the blue.  They walk through a series of doors.  They have an unchecked problem with anger.  They have an unchecked problem with drinking or drugs.  They have an unchecked problem with sympathy. Corruption breeds corruption” (The Road to Character, p. 55). As Christians, we have a huge advantage as we read the Scriptures, for we are being not only encouraged in areas in which we are doing well, but like Dwight, we are lovingly admonished and corrected in the areas of our weakness.

Not Fooled By My Feelings

• “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25).
• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
• “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26).

Currently we live in a society in which right and wrong are determined by how people feel.   “For his 2011 book "Lost in Transition", Christian Smith of Notre Dame studied the moral lives of college students.  He asked them to describe a moral dilemma they had recently faced.  Two thirds of the young people either couldn’t describe a moral problem or described problems that are not moral at all.  One student uttered this typical response, ‘I mean, I guess what makes something right is how I feel about it.  But different people feel different ways, so I couldn’t speak on behalf of anyone as to what’s right and wrong’” (The Road to Character, p. 258).   What a relief, the good news that when it comes to important choices in life, we've not been left to our own impulsive, fickle, ever-changing feelings.  We have the objectivity and wisdom of God Himself recorded in Scripture to serve as our infallible guide to right and wrong (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  With God, rather than being unquestioningly enslaved to our desires, we instead, can use our desires as our servants, rather than our master.  We can be very honest with our desires (James 4:3).  We can avoid falling for the lie that “true self” should follow whatever seems to be the most natural.  And of course we need not give up on something worthwhile just because we may not receive immediate emotional rewards for doing the right thing (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“Not Lulled to Sleep by the Crazy "I am Not Hurting Anyone" Reasoning

• “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks” (Matthew 18:7).
• “They are upsetting whole families teaching things they should not teach” (Titus 1:11).
• “And although they now the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).

Years ago Joe Namath said something that now epitomizes the self-satisfied, moral mediocrity, and moral blindness of our culture, “I don’t like to date so much as I just like to kind of, you know, run into something, man”.  He further said, “I believe in letting a guy live the way he wants to if he doesn’t hurt anyone.  I feel that everything I do is okay for me and doesn’t affect anybody else, including the girls I go out with.  Look, man, I live and let live” (The Road to Character, p. 243).  How convenient to prevent a pain of conscience, this moral vagueness where nothing evil can be defined, where one can just assume that if one is having a good time, feeling good and if other people seem to like you—then what more evidence does one need —you must be good enough.  In reality, Namath and so many others like him, were over their heads in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and were destroying the spiritual, moral, physical and emotional wellbeing of every single girl he used.  Next time you hear the “I am not hurting anyone” defense for sin, just remind the person that such a line has been used to justify every sin, including the addictive sins of adultery and fornication that daily damn the precious souls around us.

We Have Help

• “Admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all men” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
• “You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spiritual of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1).

I am so struck by the realization that our Heavenly Father leaves no Christian to fight sin by themselves.  “The struggle against the weaknesses in yourself is never a solitary struggle.  Everybody needs redemptive assistance from outside—from family, friends, rules, exemplars and for believers, God.  We all need people to tell us when we do wrong, to advise us on how to do right, and to encourage, support, arouse, cooperate, and inspire us along the way” (The Road to Character pp. 12-13).

Not Fooled By a False Offer of Happiness/Fulfillment

• “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
• “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” (Ecclesiastes 2:25).

Those in tune with God's words are not fooled when the culture tries to convince us that we can be entirely fulfilled by a relationship, having children and family, throwing ourselves in a career, or some earthly hobby or cause. While each of these has some measure of value, the trouble with trying to quench the need for spiritual fulfillment with earthly things is that all of these will leave us somehow "hungry", for the selfish part of us has desires that are infinite and regardless of our achievements, will crave still more.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net