The Enemy

-          1 John 2:15-17 – Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but form the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Hi Everyone,

For the last several weeks we have discussed the spiritual weapons we are given to defeat the enemy.  It is important that we use every resource to actively grow in our relationship with our God so that we will be able to stand against the attacks of the enemy.  For the next several weeks we will take a look at the strengths of the enemy.  This may not be a conventional sermon topic, but if we do not know how the devil works, it is hard to prepare for his traps.  Before we dig into that, I just want to take some time to reflect upon this “spiritual battle.”  Since we do not see a physical battle going on it may be difficult to comprehend this subject, but there is plenty of biblical evidence to support the fact that there are powers beyond our knowledge which are in constant conflict.  Remember Ephesians 6:12 mentions:

-          For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

So often we get caught up in the struggles of this world and forget that these momentary struggles are nothing in comparison to the struggle against the “spiritual forces of evil.”  In Romans, Paul discusses his personal struggle with the enemy.  Romans 7:21-23 mentions, “So I find this law at work:  When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”  Even Paul, a mighty man of God experienced the struggles of sin.  It is unrealistic to live our lives with the idea that just because we are forgiven we will have absolutely no struggles.  The Bible mentions that there is a distinct enemy who will do everything possible to keep us from the truth.

-          1 Peter 5:8-9 – Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

-          John 10:10 - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

As I have thought about this topic, I have realized why I like the whole battle theme.  It may not be very obvious, but I can be an extremely competitive person.  As I have grown up I have gotten better at knowing when and where I should be competitive, but ever since I can remember I have gotten a lot of excitement out of competing.  I was reminded of this when my marching band started up its annual flag football tournament.  I haven’t played flag football in forever, but the second we are on the field I’m completely focused on that.  It doesn’t matter if I had a bad day, if I am tired, or if I am not feeling really well; if I have the opportunity to play I immediately forget everything else.  I don’t know why I find it so appealing, I just do.  Wikipedia defines competition as,

-          “… a contest between individuals, groups, nations, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or allocation of resources. It arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared.” 

If you think about it this is a pretty accurate definition of our battle.  There is a struggle for spiritual territory/souls and there is a goal (ultimate victory) which cannot be shared.  We already know the outcome of this battle, but the enemy will continue to bring down as many people as possible.  It may be especially difficult to understand this struggle because we were born into it.  There has never been a point in our lives where this battle has started.  Unlike a normal war where you have time to prepare, we were unwillingly thrust into this battle.  We have not been called to be bench warmers, but first string warriors who present a legitimate threat to the enemy.  If we don’t accept this responsibility we leave room for the enemy to attack.

I think that one of the major goals of the enemy is to appear less dangerous than he really is.  We saw it in his first “attack” against Adam and Eve.  He diminished the importance of God’s law and presented temptation as attractive and appealing.  As we go throughout our own lives it becomes really easy to forget how dangerous our enemy really is.  After all, who is comforted by the fact that someone wants to kill us?  We may be so consumed with our own lives that we forget that our enemy hates us.  He wants nothing but to see us fall – and he is probably succeeding.  He gets no more pleasure out of leading God’s children astray, giving them a false sense of security, and then beating them to the ground.  He wants us dead; he hates everything about our God, and will not rest until our Lord defeats him once and for all.  Try thinking about the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and then multiply that scariness by a million and you are probably nowhere close to how evil our enemy is.

There is an enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy and we are so quick to live our lives like we are on the sidelines.  The thing is, is God doesn’t want a momentary good willed effort to overcome the enemy – we are completely incapable.  If we seriously think that we will succeed against the millions and millions of people who have lost this battle, we will be mistaken.  The enemy is too powerful for us to overcome, but fortunately we have a God who is more powerful.  Our Lord doesn’t want a half-hearted effort or an enthusiastic, short-lived effort to serve Him.  He wants complete devotion.  Have you ever heard a pastor or biblical speaker give a convincing spiritual pep talk?  The crowd may understand the words; they may “amen” and get all enthusiastic, but is that really what God wants?  If those words are put into practice, then yes, but I have to believe that too many people “amen” and “hallelujah” in their Sunday Best just to forget everything when they sit down to watch the football game.  I may be wrong, but if we really understood the strength of our God, we would experience much greater things than we are currently experiencing.  I can’t accept the fact that our God is reduced to Sunday and Wednesday services full of warm feelings and good deeds.  This whole nation has been permeated with the idea that God is a feel-good church service with mediocre worship, nice manners, and good clothes.  Is this how God defines himself, or is this how we chose to define Him.  Do we accept that our Savior demands 100% of our heart, soul, and mind or do we chose to give Him what is comfortable for us?  We may acknowledge that our God has unlimited knowledge, wisdom, and power and can impart it upon anyone he calls his child, but maybe we are unwilling to acknowledge the steps necessary to get there.  If God were a genie with three wishes that would be great, but that’s not how He works.  Whether we like it or not, we are engrossed in a dark, deprived, and destitute world which wants nothing but temporary satisfaction.  There is no possible way we can tolerate the standards of this world and access the blessings God has for us.  If we just accept the standards of this world and do nothing to deny them in our lives, we will quickly be deceived.  If we don’t actively progress in our relationship with Him we will find ourselves falling into the ways of this world.  There is no way we can stagnate and survive.  Could a soldier just stand in the middle of a battle field and stay unharmed?  No.  If the soldier isn’t actively seeking shelter and attacking the enemy, the enemy will capture him. 

Are we spending too much time standing in the middle of a battle field?  Unfortunately, the immediate consequences for not picking up our weapons aren’t great.  If the enemy captures us, we won’t necessarily die physically; we will be enslaved to the world.  According to 2 Corinthians 4:4 and 1 Peter 4:4 this doesn’t seem like a bad thing:

-          2 Corinthians 4:4 – The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

-          1 Peter 4:4 – They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.

If the enemy defeats us here on earth, we may actually enjoy it.  However, the 60-80 years we spend enjoying the pleasures of this world will not justify an eternity of complete torture.  In hell, too many people will realize that they were serving an enemy who disguised himself behind lust, pornography, sex, complacency, drugs, alcohol, revenge, money, etc.  The momentary satisfaction they/we experience will turn into the worse trap ever if we fail to completely deny ourselves and follow Him.  Our God is not looking for empty words; He wants a complete, whole-hearted denial of the ways of this world and acceptance of Him.  If we can learn to completely surrender we are granted victory over this world and a life of abundance.  In order for this to happen we must acknowledge that the world is trying to pull us down.  If we refuse to believe that this world is evil we will have little to work for.  We should also recognize that our God has so much more for us.  So many people are satisfied with just being safe, having a home, car, and a family, but God promises much, much more.  If we don’t acknowledge these truths we will continue to hold a low view of our Lord’s strength.  Throughout this week spend some time trying to think about what is really going on in the “spiritual realms.”  Is this battle something real?  If it is we must always be alert and ready for the enemy to attack.  Has the enemy already tricked you into believing that there is no satisfaction in Christ – that there is nothing more – that this is all He has to offer?  We cannot let the devil fool us into lowering our standards.  If we can learn to completely surrender we will begin to experience a victory we never thought possible.

-          Galatians 5:16 – So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.