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Introduction
In the last few messages we’ve looked at the Battle
that we are engaged in. Particularly, we have suggested that to
see life as a Battle, we must maintain the belief that everything
(including hardships) has a purpose. Even if the purpose is hidden
from us, the choice to believe that everything has a purpose keeps
us diligent to continue on in the Battle.
If we lose sight of the purpose, then life is downgraded from
a meaningful Battle to a meaningless Struggle.
I’ve suggested the idea that the Battle is fought on 3 fronts...
1. A Battle
with the Evil One (Satan)
2. A Battle with the World
3. A Battle with the Flesh
The
first area we covered was the Battle with the Evil One. In simple
terms, the only weapon that the Evil One can wield against man
is deception. It is through his lies that he persuades man to
follow him. The only reason that man is tempted to follow his
lies is because his lies appeal to our innate desire to live independently
from God and to establish our own truth. The more we learn the
real truth, or more accurately stated, the closer we are to the
one who is True the less influence the Evil One has in our Battle.
Last week
we looked at the aspect of how we engage the World in Battle.
You’ll recall that the World is really only the amalgamation
of all the individuals in the earth whose innate desire is to
live independently from God and to establish our own truth. So
we invent our own systems and rules for living based on what we
decide is true for ourselves. This kind of “group consciousness”
is what we call the world. The Evil One also influences the Battle
on the Worldly level because the priorities of the World and the
priorities of our Flesh are exactly the same... no matter what
form they take, they all boil down to a desire to live independently
from God and to establish our own truth.
The manner
in which we battle the World is similar to how we Battle the Evil
One, with truth; except to say that the Battle with the World
is even more subtle than the Battle with the Evil One ... because
the values and desires of the World are an exact representation
of our own Flesh. We are familiar with the priorities of the World
because we are familiar with the Flesh.
There is an additional pressure involved in our Battle with the
World. This pressure comes from the fact that we are to love the
World, even though we are at war with the World. It’s easy
to fight Satan because we are supposed to hate him and all his
lies. But the World, we are to love the World while we hate their
lies.
This the tension that is addressed in passages such as:
James
4:4 don't you know that friendship with the world is
hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the
world becomes an enemy of God.
Matt 5:44-46 But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes
his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and the unrighteous.
The World has different priorities than Christ because it accommodates
Satan and the Flesh instead of opposing them. That is why they
hate those who follow Christ, and that is why the World is an
enemy of God ... but they are enemies who are loved.
Yet, even though we love them, we cannot accommodate their priorities
and partner with them in common purposes if that accommodating
partnership becomes a bond that compromises our ability to follow
the truth.
2 Cor 6:14-16 Do not be bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness,
or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony
has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with
an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with
idols
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to one, and despise the other.
I must state
that being friendly to the world, or cooperating with the world,
or even learning things from the world is different than having
a bond with the world.
Jesus made this clear when he said things like:
Luke 16:8-9 "The master
commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their
own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly
wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone,
you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Try and read that in context without admitting that Jesus said
we actually can learn things from the people of the World... without
compromising what is true.
Matt 10:16 I am sending
you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes
and as innocent as doves.
And Jesus’
love for the people in the world is obvious from so many accusations
he received from the self-righteous crowd:
Matt 11:19 The Son of
Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton
and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."
' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
So we’ve
talked about the Evil One and the World, and hopefully I’ve
given you the perspective that although we are engaged in Battle
with them both, they are entirely two different modes of warfare.
It is important to note that neither the Evil One nor the World
would have any influence on us if it were not for our own Flesh.
This week, we are going to begin to look at the final frontier
of the Battle; the Flesh.
The Flesh
This is the problematic area within us which gives strength to
our other enemies ... the Evil One and the World. As I’ve
already said, those other two areas of the Battle only ever have
any influence because they appeal to our flesh.
You’ll remember that we’ve defined the Flesh as that
ungodly component of each man’s soul which desires to live
independently of God and to decide what is true for ourselves.
It is our Flesh that wants to be friends with the World more than
friends with God. It is the Flesh that confuses the Evil One as
“an angel of light”.
This Battle
is the hardest because it is internal and personal. Engaging in
a Battle against our Flesh is very much a Battle against our selves.
It is our old selves, for sure, but it is still our selves.
Listen to
how Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus when he referred to this
internal Battle:
Eph
4:20-24 Surely you heard of him and were taught in
him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were
taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your
old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on
the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.
Notice his
reference to both the old self and the new self and his reference
that, once again, the method of warfare is the truth that is in
Jesus.
If we look
at Jesus’ life we see that he faced the Battle on all three
fronts. He was tempted by the Evil One, the World, and the Flesh;
yet he refused to give in to the temptation.
Some argue that Jesus had a distinct advantage in that he was
sinless; and being sinless meant that he couldn’t sin or
at the very least was less tempted than we are. This argument
has no Scriptural strength.
We read one very key verse in the book of Hebrews which goes like
this ...
Heb
4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest
who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are-yet was without sin.
To understand how this fits into our thinking we must draw a
very distinct line between being tempted and actually giving
in to that temptation by sinning. Being tempted in not a sin;
otherwise the Scripture we just read would not make sense. If
being tempted is the same as sin, then Jesus could not have
been tempted and still be sinless.
It is true that the likelihood that we are going to give in
to temptation is greater when we have a history of giving in;
but it is not accurate to say that the ability to give in is
any greater or lesser between the sinless and the sinner.
Although we, who have a history of sin, may have a greater likelihood
of giving in to temptation than Jesus did, it is not accurate
to say that we have a greater ability. Think of Adam. Prior
to his first sin, he had the same likelihood and the same ability
as Christ. Yet took the sinful route and Jesus did not. Again,
as we read through these passages, think of the dynamics of
what each man was tempted with ... Adam was tempted to eat a
fruit ...
Matt 4:1-11 Then Jesus
was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The
tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God,
tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on
the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of
God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
"'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will
lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.'"
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the
Lord your God to the test.'"
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All
this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down
and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written:
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Notice that
the temptations appealed to appetites of Jesus’ flesh ...
his innate desire to live independently from God and to decide
what is true for himself.
If we look
at some of the events that revolve around our Easter tradition
and note the roles of the Evil One, the World and the Flesh we
see that this is the pinnacle of the entire clash between Good
& Evil. Jesus, the ultimate Good, is the only one who comes
out this entire event uncompromised in the truth and unscathed
by the temptations he faced to cave in to sin.
It is a mathematical
certainty that he would be the one to suffer the most in this
incident for he alone is the one who kept to the truth and refused
to follow any lie. The rage of the Evil One and the rage of the
World will most certainly be directed at the one who has the tightest
rein on his flesh. Jesus continued to honor God when it was lethal
to do so.
Phil
2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking
the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death- even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
In the heat
of the moment, even Jesus’ best friends deserted him in
fear of the rage of the World. Remember the parable of the sower
... The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is
the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But
since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble
or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
It would do
you well to read through the account of the Easter story and make
note of the roles each character plays. The disciples especially
are interesting as they can’t believe that they would ever
walk away from Jesus. Peter more than the others vows to never
leave his masters side. Yet each one of them, tempted to save
their own skin and avoid the danger of being associated with the
True One, walks away from Jesus, the Truth.
Pilate also abandons reason and truth in an effort to avert a
Jewish revolt. Finding no fault in Jesus he is still willing to
punish him in order to appease the angry crowd. Seeing that that
is not going to be enough, he abandons truth and gives the mob
what they want in order to save his own skin.
Perhaps the most noble character, besides Jesus, in the entire
episode, is the thief who hangs on the cross next to Jesus, he
confronts the other thief’s sarcasm head on and defends
Jesus ...
Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who hung
there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save
yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't
you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same
sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our
deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will
be with me in paradise."
Maybe I’ll
give that to you as a homework assignment. Sometime this week
read through the different Gospel accounts of the crucifixion
and notice the temptations that are going on in the characters
involved. Put yourselves in their shoes and note the pressure
you feel to cave in to the lies and abandon truth ... just to
save your own skin.
That, more than anything, would be an excellent introduction to
the Flesh. For it is the mandate of the Flesh to save its own
life by defining truth in its own context and for it’s own
preservation.
Matt
16:24-28 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for
his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's
glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according
to what he has done.
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