(To download an MP3 file of this message, click on the title above. To listen now, click on the play button of the audio player shown.)
1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
1
Timothy 6:12 (NKJV) Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have
confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Introduction:
Several
people in our congregation have gone to see the Christian film that came out
recently: “War Room.” I
don’t know about you, but I’ve seen the movie twice, and I think I would like
to see it again! It truly stirred my heart and there was something inside of me
that resonated with the message that the film proclaims. If
you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it.
There
is a theme portrayed in it that all Christians in our country need to embrace –
i.e. getting fully engaged in the spiritual conflict over our families, our
schools our churches our communities and our nation.
There
is one thing for certain – the arch-enemy of our Lord, who is also the primary
enemy of every child of God, is not taking a vacation and is not on retreat. The
Devil is in full battle mode and thoroughly intent on taking down every person,
every family, and every church.
Having
been inspired by the war room movie, I wanted to take this sermon to look at
what the Bible has to say about our responsibility to be involved and engaged
in spiritual warfare and to encourage us who may be weary and weak. With
the help of the Lord, I want to talk to you about some things that are
important for us to know in our preparation to engage in spiritual battle.
I. Battle
preparation includes a heightened awareness of the enemy.
When
soldiers are trained and briefed for an upcoming mission or battle, it
necessarily includes information regarding the tactics and methods the enemy
has historically used and is likely to use in the present conflict. The
same principle applies in the spiritual realm.
1
Peter 5:8 (NKJV)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
“sober”
– compound word meaning “of sound mind”
This
word seems to imply a state of heightened awareness of the enemy and his
strategy. Being of “sound mind” means that we are not deceived about the
capabilities of our enemy.
It
is imperative that we understand Satan wants to “devour” everyone that he
possibly can (“because your adversary, the devil, walks about…”).
Ephesians
6:11-12 (NKJV)
Put
on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
“…we
wrestle not against flesh & blood” – We often find ourselves in conflict
individually with other people. We find ourselves in conflict collectively as a
body of believers with other people or organizations. But,
we must remember that those people and organizations are not the enemy. Satan
is the enemy and he will use every possible resource he can to “divide and
conquer” the people of God.
Both
of these passages emphasize the fact that our enemy is cunning; strong; and
vicious.
2
Corinthians 2:11 (NKJV) lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not
ignorant of his devices.
This
verse concludes a section of Scripture where Paul urges the Christians in
Corinth to reaffirm their love for a fellow member that Paul had instructed them
to discipline in his first letter. Paul
seems to have a concern that Satan would use the situation to drive a wedge
between the church and the Apostle.
In
Ephesians Paul tells us that the real battle is being waged in the heavenly
realms and that means it can only be won by spiritual warfare.
II. Battle
preparation includes a heightened sense of urgency and diligence.
I’ve
never been in the military, but I think I’m absolutely correct in saying that,
in the mind of every soldier, there is a huge difference between the mindset
one possesses in basic training vs. the mindset one possesses when being
deployed and entering a combat zone.
“be
vigilant” – carries the idea of constantly watching; i.e. alert.
One
of the greatest dangers for a soldier in combat is to become careless and
complacent. One
of the greatest dangers for Christians
engaged in spiritual combat is to
become careless and complacent.
In
the movie “War Room” – There is a scene near the beginning of the movie where
the young woman (Elizabeth) who is a real estate agent is meeting with an
elderly lady (Clara) who is trying to sell her home. Clara
gets to talking with Liz about spiritual matters and asks her how her prayer
life is… hot or cold. The
answer she receives from her is, “Well, not hot, but not cold either. It’s
somewhere in the middle.”
While
this conversation is going on, Clara is getting coffee ready in the kitchen and
she brings a cup of lukewarm coffee back for Liz right after she has just
described her prayer life as “not hot but not cold.” Liz
takes one sip and says, “Miss Clara, do you like your coffee room temperature?”
Miss
Clara replies as she lifts her own cup, “No, mine’s hot!” You
can tell by the look on Liz’s face that she got the message. The
message for her and the message for us from God’s Word is this: It’s time for Christians
to wake up and quit “playing church,” and settling down into a nice comfortable,
complacent life.
Too
many of us are afraid to “rock the boat” or offend anyone or challenge the
status quo around the church world or around the community. We’re
not really “hot” for Jesus, but we pride ourselves that we’re not too “cold”
either. We
forget that being neither hot or cold puts us in the same condition as the
Laodicean church in Revelation, which Jesus said made Him want to spew them out
of His mouth. (Makes Him sick.)
We
need to be more passionate than ever about living out what we say we believe. If
we say that God is more important to us than anything else, then we need to act
like He is. If
we say that prayer is our most important spiritual weapon to overcome darkness
and evil, then we need to pray like it is. If
we believe that God designed the body of Christ as the single best organism for
the work of His kingdom on earth, then we need to be actively involved in the
church; not AWOL.
There
is a point in the War Room movie when Ms Clara asked Elizabeth if she attended
church. Liz answered that they attend occasionally. (Clara
responded) “Is that because your pastor only preaches occasionally?” She
already knows the answer to her question. She asks so that Liz gets the point.
Clara
is acting as if she can’t understand why someone who says they love the Lord
wouldn’t want to be taking advantage of every opportunity to learn more about
the Bible and God’s will for His people.
I
believe the New Testament makes it clear that the church (defined as the body
of Christ) is expected to carry out the kingdom of God on earth to the extent
that Jesus taught us to pray = “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.”
I
don’t think anyone can honestly and sincerely read through the New Testament
without seeing that the norm for Christians back then was a passionate pursuit
of Jesus and their desire to be used by Him to influence more and more to come
into a relationship with Him.
It
seems to me that the content of the NT focuses on several basic themes, such as:
· All those passages describing how to truly know Jesus;
· Passages that describe the normal behaviors of those
who know Jesus (not speaking so much here of instructions from leaders, as just
the record of what Jesus-followers did);
· The instructive and corrective passages for those who
know Jesus but may be getting sidetracked.
There
are probably other general themes I could mention, but I think these 3 themes
cover a lot of the content.
Conclusion:
The Lord has been speaking to my heart about being
more passionate in His work and not being content with the “status quo.” I need to be using prayer more as a weapon to tear
down and destroy the schemes of the devil instead of just praying enough to fulfill
my duty.
I am hoping and praying that the same will be true
about everyone in our congregation.
Our
closing song has a verse in it that I want to emphasize before we sing it.
Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
V. 2 Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?
Let
us sing this hymn with spirit and with understanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment