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Sanctification or Compromise:
4/8/2009
I love the way the unity of the Spirit is expressed by hearing complimentary messages from different members of the Body at the same time! Recently, I have been listening to a series by John MacArthur on the “Armor of God” based on Ephesians 6. It’s a great series and I highly recommend it (you can download it for free via their podcast or on their website www.gty.org). His message really seemed to dovetail into last week’s message by my Pastor (Paul Noetling) on 1 Samuel11.
If you’re content with all the loose ends of your life, all the little sins, if you’re content with your infrequent interest in prayer, your infrequent interest in worship, your indifference toward great spiritual truth, if you’re content with your small understanding of the greatness of God, if you’re content with the sins in your life, you are an encumbered soldier, ill prepared for the battle, get ready to be defeated.
To borrow the language of Hebrews 12, another metaphor all together. If you’re going to run the race, you have to lay aside the weights that encumber you. You don’t see somebody running the hundred meter sprint with an overcoat. You get rid of what encumbers you.
How badly do you want to win? That’s the question. I’m convinced actually that most Christians lose the spiritual battles as they go through life because they really don’t care that much about winning them. It doesn’t matter to them that much.1”
On the other hand, we have those who do pose a threat to the Enemy and suddenly find themselves besieged on every side. These are not the self-satisfied, but Spirit-filled warriors who have stepped out against our Ancient Foe.
At times like these, where the Enemy seems to besieging us, the temptation is to negotiate a compromise. “Hey, I have GOT to find a little relief,” we say and then turn to the old familiar pleasures of the flesh like alcohol, drugs, or sex. Or maybe something that appears to be a little more benign like the dark music or media of the secular world. Anything just to escape for a little while…But deep down in our heart we know that it leaves us emptier than before and sooner or later we must confess our sin and return to the only One that can really comfort us; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Many of us stand against these attacks of the Devil but find ourselves growing weaker and more exasperated with every confrontation. Until finally we sue for peace with the Father of Lies by backing away from the ministry that God has called us to. As did the men of Jabesh, we just want him to “let us alone” for a little while. We know that similar to Nahash wanting to gouge out their eyes, Satan wants our immortal soul. But we attempt to play a waiting game with him in order to buy a little time and breathing room.
But beloved, there can be no treaty with Lucifer. Do you really think that you will be better off by stepping back from the battle? Don’t you know that he will continue to come after you and those you love until you are destroyed? Better to face him in battle than to fall prey to his arrows in the back while fleeing him.
We all grow weary and that’s why it’s imperative that we “put on the whole armor of God” and pull in all the loose ends of our life so that we don’t give the Enemy an opportunity. It’s also imperative that we reserve time on a regular basis to be alone with our Father. To pour out our heart to Him, to feel His presence, and to feed on His Word. How can we stand if we’re spiritually starving because we aren’t making time as Jesus did to be alone in His presence? We WILL fail if we attempt to fight this battle in our own strength. But we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). And we can take a lesson from the natural world. The first tactic that wolves use to take down their victims is to separate them from the pack. One alone is easy prey. Make it a priority to find and spend time with Christian brothers and sisters so that you may encourage and exhort one another and share each other’s burdens.
2 Timothy 2:3,4 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
2 Corinthians 4:8,9 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed
Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Revelation 3:12a "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore"
Preparing for Battle or Coasting Into Defeat?
Ephesians 6:14a Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH
John was going through each piece of the armor of God and unpacking for us its meaning. In this segment he focused on “girding your loins with truth.” What does that mean? “Girding your loins with truth?” It referred to the way that Roman soldiers prepared for battle. They wore tunics which came down to about their knees. When they were preparing for battle, they would put on a belt that served multiple purposes. It was where they displayed their identity and decorations won in battle. It was where they would hang their weapons. And it also allowed them to pull up the corners of their tunic and tuck it into their belt (they wore undergarments) so that they could move more quickly and not become entangled when engaging the enemy. Here’s how John explained it:
“Now remember, you’re going into hand-to-hand combat. You don’t want your dress blowing around in the breeze, somebody grabs it, pulls it over your head...ya-ha...and it’s over. You can’t get into hand-to-hand mortal combat with your dress blowing around, catching the bushes, getting in the way of...get the sword out of this thing....not going to work. They need to run fast. They need to move with alacrity, dexterity, speed, had to pull in all the loose ends or they would be an easy mark for the enemy.
Of course, to lose a battle presupposes that you’re fighting the war. If you’re on the frontlines of a titanic battle, then such things are a matter of life and death. However, most of us are content to hang back and try to forget that a war is raging all around us or perhaps we consider ourselves to be lending “moral support” to those who are on the frontlines. But we just don’t feel that it’s our “gift” to be on the frontlines. We have found a comfortable little niche and drawn the lines between what we are willing to do and what we’re uncomfortable doing. We have defined ourselves within certain parameters and included areas of compromise and ambiguity and justified it by saying “that’s just who I am.” Unwilling to change the definition of who see ourselves as, we try to convince ourselves that we’re doing fine and that we’re holding our ground while in reality the fire grows cold, the Voice grows dim, and we slowly coast into defeat. Although we have our share of worldly woes, for the most part Satan leaves us alone because we really don’t pose much of a threat.
1 Samuel 11:1-3 Now Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us and we will serve you.” But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel.” The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to deliver us, we will come out to you.”
As I have alluded to in several recent articles, many Christians today feel that they can’t even catch their breath because it seems like they’re experiencing one crisis after another and often all at the same time. I know of many that are unemployed, facing the loss of their home, facing bankruptcy, their marriage is crumbling, their home is a battlefield, their health is eroding away, losing their loved ones, their church is divided, their pleas to God seem to fall on deaf ears, and there seems to be no way out.
2 Timothy 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
Beloved, I can’t promise you that your circumstances will improve. At least, in this life. So it really boils down to this. Will you choose to be completely His to the very end even if things get even worse? If you lose your job, will you be faithful? If you lose your home, will you be faithful? If you lose your friends, will you be faithful? If you lose your family, will you be faithful? If you lose your health, will you be faithful? If you lose your church, will you be faithful? If you lose your freedom, will you be faithful? Even if it costs you your very life, will you be faithful? Are you willing to do as our Lord and endure the cross for the joy set before Him?
James 5:11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.