Sunday Sermons
Our Struggle
Our Struggle
Life is good. God showers all people, and especially those who love and serve Him with invaluable blessings. In our enjoyment of them all, it is imperative, however, that we never lose sight of the reality that each and every one of us is engaged in a life or death struggle for our souls.
- We have a definite adversary: 1 Peter 5:8
- We are admonished to be on the alert: 1 Thessalonians 5:6
- We are given specific weapons, including full body armor for this fight: Ephesians 6:10-18
- God speaks of us as being soldiers:
In this lesson I want to deal with some specific and practical aspects of being a good soldier of Christ Jesus and being successful in this struggle.
It is a Struggle
“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). Take courage if in your fight against sin you actually feel like you are literally wrestling with a temptation. The word here translated “struggle” means a wrestling-match—a close, hand to hand combat. It should be no surprise that at times this battle can be grueling, and yet it is one that no one else can fight for us, for it is always a very personal struggle, yet one where with Christ on our side, is only winnable.
Staying Up Late
There are many good reasons to stay up late at night and burn the midnight oil.
- Time in the word of God and prayer or other eternally relevant projects.
- Time spent exchanging encouragement with good Christian friends, or Christians who you do not see that often. Time spent in attending a gospel meeting or socializing afterward.
Of course there are a number of unwise reasons to stay up late at night, such as simply worrying without talking to God in prayer. The devil knows certain things about us, he researches and plans (2 Corinthians 2:11). He knows that we are often more vulnerable to attack when we are tired, or when we are behind schedule and perhaps up against time pressure. Be wise about staying up late—and beware of wasting time so that you become behind (Ephesians 5:16) in your spiritual growth or maintaining an orderly, productive life.
The Hat to Wear: The Helmet of Salvation
The helmet of salvation is all about controlling what we allow our minds to dwell. I heard about a woman once who, like too many couples, had an argument with her husband, and was attempting to avoid him. When she came to her senses, she went into her room, laid face down on the Bible and prayed with determination, “God, I am not leaving this room until I start acting like a godly woman”. Would that we all would take our sin that serious, and also become this sick and tired of "wearing the wrong hat". Mentally we know exactly who we are, where we are headed and what is at stake in this battle. As Christians, we certainly do not have any time to waste nursing a sinful attitude. What needs to fill my thoughts and yours is the reality that I am a child of God, saved by the blood of Jesus, and that God loves me, I am richly blessed, headed for eternal life with God, and that I have been delivered from eternal pain and destruction! How utterly ridiculous that two people who enjoy this hope of salvation would not be talking to one another. Next time you find yourself in a bad mood, or at odds with a spouse— decide to take a quick inventory. Where is that helmet of salvation? Did you set it aside? Is it in the car? Did you leave it at the church building? Before you walk out the door in the morning— double check. Do you have it along with your cell phone and car keys? You are going to need a proper mindset just as much!
The Language Satan Must Use to Tempt Us
Centuries ago, Isaiah spoke of people who called evil—good, and good they called—evil (Isaiah 5:20). In like manner, Paul informs us that the devil and those who serve him, will knowingly or unknowingly seek to disguise themselves as nice and good people:
- “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15).
- “For such men are false prophets, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).
Satan knows that an ugly sin doesn’t look so ugly when it is being engaged in by people who seem to be nice, amusing, charming, trendy, popular and pleasant to be around. Adultery no longer seems to be such a bad thing when we meet that pleasant and charming couple that seem to be so much in love. They can seem to be so nice and friendly that we can actually forget about the spouses they betrayed!
Satan also knows that most people will not fall for sin, if it is presented in its original package. Most people do not want to be viewed as being selfish. So sin is not advertized as, “Be as selfish as you want to be”. Rather, the devil uses God’s terminology to sell a sin. It is packaged also with the terms, “love” or “rights”. We need to remember this. Anyone who has played the game “Taboo” has faced the challenge of getting his or her team mates to say a word—without saying five very common words that are most associated with that word. So if the word you want your team to guess is “ocean”, you are forbidden from using such terms as “sea”, “water”, “beach”, “Pacific” or “Atlantic”. And if you do—someone from the other team is standing behind you with a buzzer and you lose that point. In like manner, we need to “buzz” people who are seeking to justify a sin when they resort to terminology that only has meaning if God exists. There are examples of terms that only have meaning if God exists and the Bible is true:
- “Love”—and all its variations.
- “Rights”: Without God there are no wrongs—and no rights.
- “Tolerance”: Without absolute right and wrong—the term “tolerance” is meaningless.
- “Significant Other”: Without God—we have no significance.
- “Marriage”: Remember—God authored this relationship (Genesis 2:24).
- “Fairness”, “Justice”, “Equality”.
Remember—You Were Born Again
“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul told Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).
The devil will try to convince us that we were born a certain way, and therefore, can never change. First, everyone was born right, pure and innocent (1 Corinthians 14:20)—good, first class kingdom material (Matthew 18:3). How we are right now—years later, is how we have chosen to react to what has happened to us. I love that Paul reminds us that we did not get a spirit of timidity from God. If Timothy was leaning in that direction, then it was an erroneous strategy he was starting to develop for handling the pressures of his life. What's your current strategy for handling life? —Is it God’s plan, which is one of boldness? Or is it your own plan? If things are not working in our spiritual lives, then we are working the wrong plan. Refuse to blame bad qualities or attitudes in your life on environment or upbringing because at some moment, we chose to adopt those attitudes—and discontinuing them is only a decision and a prayer away (1 Peter 2:1-2). Many virtuous people have endured even more and have come out on top. So can you.
Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net
