We are at war with a virus.
It sounds rather one-sided, as we are complex creatures who think and
feel, and our enemy is a rather simplistic, non-thinking, non-feeling
enemy. But what our enemy does well, is
reproduce, spread, and kill us. Covid-19
is still a mystery after months of battle with it. And as much as we might wish that were our
only war, it is not. We are also at war
with drug addiction. Drug overdose is
yet another killer, another enemy of our own making. It is conceptual. Drug addiction is an affliction, not a
person, but like covid-19, it inhabits a person, overwhelms a person, and then
defines a person. You have it, or you
don’t. And for those who have it, it can
be very fatal. In both instances, we
want to reclaim the person, and get rid of the affliction that inhabits
them. But in the case of drug addiction,
it can drive an otherwise “good” person to commit horrible offenses against
us. To get that next fix, the addict
will gladly steal, harm, or even kill on occasion. Under “normal” circumstances these deeds
would have been abhorrent to them, but under the influence of addiction, their
desire for the next fix, overwhelms all sense of morality.
And in the church, we are at war with sin. But much like covid-19 sin spreads far and
wide until we all become afflicted with it in some form or fashion. And much like drug addiction, sin drives us
to do deeds that should be abhorrent to us, but for some reason we consider
them normal. It is a constant struggle
between a war of love-of-self, vs a love-of-others. And the side Jesus is on, the complete and
absolute love-of-others, is hard to understand by the side afflicted with sin
(the love-of-self). So it becomes more
than just a war within us, it becomes a war waged outside of us as well. The wicked, that is, those who care little
for how they sin, or why, or what damage it causes – pretty much hate those who
look to Jesus to lose their own sin. And
behind their wicked forces stands Satan himself, always looking to inspire them
to ever darker and darker deeds, and deeper and deeper levels of apathy and
hate. The war is here. It will not end, until Jesus returns. There can be no peace until then. For the war is real. It began in heaven and will not end until
heaven returns to earth and fire rains down from the sky, until all that
remains of evil is consumed, until even death itself is consumed forever. Not eternal flames, but eternal
consequences. Not forever torture, but forever
non-existence, forever separation from the source of Love, by the choice of
evil. For now though, the war is here.
Jesus was not unaware of this. He shared some thoughts and ideas on it back
in the gospel letter of Luke in the 12th chapter. Picking up in verse 41 He begins … “Then Peter said
unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? [verse
42] And
the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and
wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them
their portion of meat in due season? [verse 43] Blessed
is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [verse
44] Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him
ruler over all that he hath.” To
set some context, Jesus has just been talking about selling all that you have,
giving to the poor, and then becoming a servant by choice. Peter is then asking, does this advice, and
analogy of the servant or goodman-of-the-house apply to just the disciples, or
to everyone? Jesus continues that anyone
who considers themselves a leader, is also a servant of all, and to be a ruler,
is to be found a servant of the many.
This is the battlefield. It is
within us as the war rages between our selfishness and His commission. It is present in both regular believers just
as much as it is leaders. But Jesus
points out it is a blessing to be found in service.
Jesus continues in verse 44 saying … “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth
his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and
drink, and to be drunken; [verse 46] The lord of
that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour
when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his
portion with the unbelievers.”
This is not a war of good excuses.
This is not a war that can be delayed.
It is here and it is now. And it
is only winnable through personal complete submission to Jesus Christ. Those of us who search for the loopholes in
contracts, and determine we can delay our service and our gifts, until right
before Jesus returns, do not just play a dangerous game, they play a losing
one. Because the heart remains
unchanged, having never submitted it to Jesus Christ. The vision remains blinded, because Jesus has
never had the chance to open your eyes, and change how you think, or how you
love. And even in the church, where we
know conceptually about Jesus Christ, we never meet Him personally, or learn
what it means to truly obey, or to truly serve.
We play a game of words. And when
Jesus actually does return, these Christians in name only, find themselves cut
off from the body, and apportioned with those who never believed at all. For the difference is indistinguishable.
Jesus continues in verse 47 saying … “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared
not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many
stripes. [verse 48] But he that knew not, and
did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have
committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Here is where Jesus describes the nature of
sin itself. Sin is the punishment. Sin is the problem. You do not need to wait for God to punish you
for your sins, it is you who are already punishing yourself and others because
of your sins. Sin is the punishment. Sin is the pain, it brings a desire for death
to escape it. But there is a different
way of escape, it is Jesus who longs to free us from our sins so that we beat
ourselves less. So that we punish ourselves
less. When you “know” you should not be
committing some sin, and you do it anyway, your guilt and foreknowledge adds to
your punishment. When you see those who
you claim to love, suffer at the hand of your sin, your punishment is
increased. Not by God, but by your own
knowledge that all this suffering could have been avoided, if you just submitted
yourselves to Jesus and let Jesus bring you the victory. This guilt is even worse when you are in a
position of leadership, and those who look to you to help point them to Christ,
find you pointing only to yourself, and your weakness. For if you remain bound in sin, when you know
the way out, how will they (the weaker) ever find true salvation from their own
sins. And so your failures are made
worse by your fore-knowledge, and continued to refusal to submit, as you become
the stumbling block to others.
For the non-believer, they suffer too, but they do not
understand why they suffer. They refuse
to accept the responsibility that it is their own actions that bring the pain
and suffering. They are forever blaming
someone else for their own pain and suffering.
In this they suffer less, but they still suffer. And while they themselves may blame others
(like Satan does), those they claim to love also suffer regardless of
blame. For the pain of sin causes
suffering no matter what. Sin is the
punishment, never the “fun” as Satan would have us believe. So Jesus points out to us here, how it really
works. When we know we should not have
done the sin, we feel worse. But worse
than that, when we know that Jesus could have beaten the sin in the first
place, literally handing us the benefits of His victory, but we chose not to
humble ourselves, but instead make the claim we could beat the sin ourselves,
we feel even worse than that. For our
continued failures in the war with sin, make us lifelong failures in this
war. Lifelong wounded soldiers. Soldiers we were never intended to be, but
followers, followers of Jesus who fights the war for us.
Jesus knew the war was here.
He continues picking back up in verse 49 saying … “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it
be already kindled? [verse 50] But I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! [verse
51] Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I
tell you, Nay; but rather division:”
Jesus comes to send His fire throughout the earth. He intends for His love to purge the sin from
us, if we will but let it. But how can
His fire infect us, if we believe we already have another way to purge the sin
from ourselves? Instead of accepting His
gift in our war, we refuse it, clinging to our own ideas about how we can win
the war with sin, in our own strength of will.
And we do not win. Nor do our
motives that created the desire for sin change.
We remain drug addicts, bound in chains to the desire of our sin,
because the fire of the Love of Jesus is strange to us. We having made His fire strange to us.
Jesus brings a baptism of the Spirit with Him to win this
war. How can He pull back or stop those
efforts until the war is won? Until all
are saved the war rages on, and baptism of the Spirit remains for any who would
claim it, or seek it. How can we believe
peace would exist in this world, while Satan remains in this world? That war started in heaven, and Jesus did not
come here to surrender but to win it, once and for all. To save you however, does not mean the war
ends around you. Instead it intensifies. Plan on it.
It is what Jesus foretells. He
picks back up in verse 52 saying … “For from henceforth
there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against
three. [verse 53] The father shall be divided
against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the
daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her
daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” Where you would expect family to respect the
bonds of family and let family love keep peace in a home. But selfish love does not respect unselfish
love, it abuses it, and tries to bring harm to it. For it cannot reconcile with it. So even the bonds of family disintegrate in
this war of sin within us all. Our
weapon will be prayer, submission to Jesus, and love for those who would call
themselves our enemies. But make no
mistake, they will be our enemies while Satan’s version of self-love remains
within them. For it is self-love that is
the root of all sin, of all evil.
Jesus continues in verse 54 saying … “And he said
also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out
of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. [verse
55] And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There
will be heat; and it cometh to pass. [verse 56] Ye
hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it
that ye do not discern this time?”
Jesus reminds His own followers and all those listening then or reading
now, if we are able to discern the sky, or read the times and know what it
about to occur – why are we so blind to the war with sin that rages all around
us, and within us? Have we become
hypocrites, talking a good Jesus game, but still loving self, and telling
everyone around us, that you have to love yourself before you can love others? There is a whole mantra of books and
philosophy based on self-first thinking.
And all of it at war with Jesus Christ in you. Let us not be deceived, nor drawn to what our
carnal nature craves, but instead to find submission to Jesus as our way out. Jesus was right there in front of their
faces, and yet many still denied the Son of God. Has anything changed? Jesus is right there in front of you and I,
dare we deny Him, in favor of ourselves?
Jesus concludes beginning in verse 57 saying … “Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? [verse
58] When thou goest with thine adversary to the
magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be
delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee
to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. [verse 59] I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast
paid the very last mite.” If you
wish to know where you are in the war, examine your heart and see if you have
found true forgiveness for someone who has wronged you. Our cries for justice have a boomerang
effect, for as we demand justice against others, it always has a way to return
back to ourselves. Better to forgive, to
learn to let go, to learn to trust in God for what we need. The war over sin within us does not end
because we declare it so. It ends when
we love like Jesus loves. That kind of
Love forgave us everything, every slight, every wrongdoing, everything we even
knew we were doing wrong as we did it.
If His love is able to forgive us like that, should we not strive to
find His love in us, and look for the forgiveness His love will bring. While we look to get even, we remain
entrenched in the pain we embrace.
Your war is here. It
will be raged within you. It will be
raged all around you. The allies you
hoped to have, you may find become the enemies you never expected. The main enemy is beyond your abilities to defeat. But that enemy has already been defeated by
the Champion who wants to fight your war in your place. If you can submit to different leadership in
your life, you have a chance at following in His footsteps and finding the victories
He earns on your behalf. You need not
fight this war. You need only allow
Jesus to fight it for you, within you, and all around you. For only Jesus has the power to change the
heart, and it is the heart that must be changed if ever you hope to see His
victory. You are not meant to carry the
scars of this war. You are not meant to
have to declare yourself bound to sin forever.
When Jesus brings you a victory over sin, it is not meant to be only a
temporary victory, but a victory that lasts forever. When Jesus heals your motives, desires, and
weaknesses, He does not aim only for today.
He aims for forever. To cleanse
you, to wash you white as snow, not so you can go back outside and fight again,
and lose again. But instead to remain
behind Jesus, following His lead, looking to see His strength, not trying to
demonstrate your own strength to Him. He
is strong. You are not. But if you become strong in dependence upon
Jesus, He reveals just what a Warrior He will be on your behalf. Let Him.
And watch Him win your war forever.
Always behind, and grateful to be there, to be part of the flock Jesus
leads, looking not at men, but at the only Shepherd who knows you by name, and
knows how you think and feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment