Sunday, March 1, 2015

Arch-Villains

Good morning and welcome!  We’re going to continue today with our superheroes series.  Over the last four weeks, we’ve talked about some of the amazing things that God has said about us, those who believe in Him.  “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Mark 9:23

We talked about how we are called to believe what God has said about us.  Carl shared Philippians 4:13 and John 15:5, how we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and how we can do nothing apart from Christ. 

Our greatest superpower is?  Love.  (I Corinthians 12:31-13:13)  “Love never fails.”

Last week, Brian shared two key points which are exemplified in people that God has worked through mightily.  First, that you know the desires of God.  And second, that you see people the way God sees people.  He reminded us that “both of these are a gift given to us from God.  They are not given to us because we are superheroes.  They are given to us in order to become superheroes through Christ.”  The theme of love shines through brightly.

This week, we are going to turn our focus and take a look at the darker side of things.  Being a superhero means that you have enemies right?  Was there ever a superhero that didn’t have an adversary?  I can’t think of one.  Some superheroes have a particular nemesis, someone they go up against again and again.  Others fight against a recurring sequence of bad guys.  I think about the old Batman series from the late 60’s.  You had the big four villains, right?  Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman.  Batman and Robin seemed to always be up against them individually or in some combination.

So what about our generally mild-mannered lives?  Do we see and experience battles?  Do you?

Do you remember the scene from the original Star Wars, when Luke Skywalker walks into the cantina?  He wants a drink, so he tugs on the bartender’s shirt.  Bad idea.  Then, the guy standing next to him takes a dislike to him.  He says, “I don’t like you.”  Luke replies, “Next time I’ll be careful,” but the man’s response:  “Next time you’ll be dead!”

Sometimes battles and enemies just seem to popup unexpectedly.  Other times, they are known to us and we have seen them many times before.  Jesus was pretty clear that we would face adversity.  He told the disciples at the last supper that in this world they would have trouble, but to take heart because Jesus has overcome the world. (John 16:33).

We’re going to focus on arch-villains today.  The prefix arch- there has its origins in the Greek and means most important.  So we’re talking about the most important enemies.  In our faith, and even before we came to faith, three enemies are mentioned frequently in Scripture.  We say them together: the world, the flesh and the devil.

The most cited location for these in Scripture is found in Ephesians chapter 2:

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses... Ephesians 2:1-3

From R.C. Sproul’s website, “Here Paul reveals the three great powers that enslaved us completely before we knew Jesus and which we must continually rebel against in the course of our growth in holiness — the world, the flesh, and the Devil.” 
--http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil/

They also appear in the parable of the sower.  (Mark 4:15-17)  In that story, Jesus compared the good news to seed.   Some seed was sown of the path which was so hard and smooth that the birds could easily come and take it away.  Some seed was sown on rocky soil which was too hard for roots to form properly so that as the seed sprouted up, it was withered by the sun.  There was also seed sown among thorns which choked out the good seed.

After telling the parable, Jesus explained it to the disciples saying that the birds were like the devil taking away the good news.  Then, the rocky soil was compared to hardness of heart, hardness of the flesh.  The thorns were compared to the world and its cares which choked out the good news.

Let’s look at each one of these individually, some things to look out for, and some ways to fight against them effectively.

First, let’s talk about the devil and his schemes.  It is important to note that the devil a created thing.  He is not equal to God.  He was one of the angels, one of the highest.  He rebelled against God, took some additional angels with him, and fought against God and the other angels.  He was defeated and cast down to the earth, and he dwells in this realm until this day.

Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2 make it clear that the devil is not God’s equal.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.  The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”  Job 1:6-7

We’ll come back to this point in a second, but the devil is not like God.  He is not everywhere all at once.  He is not omnipresent.  He has a position beneath God as one would present himself like in a court.  He did not barge in on God, he came with others at a certain time.

The devil is devious, but he is not all-powerful.  Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:31 that “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.”  Satan had to ask for that access.  It was not something he could do to God’s people on his own.

The devil is a liar and a deceiver.  People must choose to follow him.  One of the commentaries I read declared that the devil is looking for accomplices.  He is trying to justify his rebellion against God by getting more people, demons, anyone on his side.  But this does not change his character, his true nature …

[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  John 8:44

I Peter 5:8 describes him this way …

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  I Peter 5:8

The devil is prowling.  He is limited.  He is not everywhere at once.  He is looking.  He does not know who he even can devour.

I showed a video a while back, probably longer ago than I can imagine.  Anyway, the clip was from the Pixar movie Cars 2.  In it, the bad guys shoot a missile at the good guys.  It’s an intense escape scene, and it looks like the good guys are in trouble.  But then, the good guys shoot a missile which hits the bad guys’ missile and blows it up in the air.  And, the good guys get away.

I don’t know if you’ve experienced something that happened in the past which came back in the present to create trouble or problems.  I used to think of the devil’s schemes like that.  That he was planning to attack believers every way throughout all time.  And yet, it does not seem to be the case.  Scripture present the devil as limited in many ways.  We must be careful not to give him more credibility that he deserves.

Also, if schemes of Satan are impacting you.  If lies that others have believed are causing difficulties, challenges, or trials in your life.  Remember that God sees all.  He also can shoot a missile to hit the missiles or fiery darts of the devil.  God can and He does protect you.

The devil is “leader of all that opposes God [and] stirs up trouble all over the world, and he even endeavors to infiltrate and disturb the church ([Eph.] 4:26–27). The devil is fierce but easily put to flight when we resist him by the Spirit, as Jesus has triumphed over him (James 4:7; Col. 2:15).”—R.C. Sproul

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.  Ephesians 4:26-27

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:7

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:13-15

Let’s move forward and talk about another archenemy, the World

I was reading in Genesis about Joseph yesterday morning.  In particular, I was thinking about this message when I read about Pharaoh’s dream about the cows.  Pharaoh told Joseph …

“In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.  After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.  The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.  But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before.”  Genesis 41:17-21

In the version I was reading, rather than “no one could tell that they had done so,” it said, “it could not be detected that they had devoured them.”  I think most all of you know the story.  The interpretation of the dream was that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine.  The famine was going to be so severe that the years of plenty would be completely forgotten.

I think the world is like that.  We see these glimpses of good things, but then circumstances change.  If our hope is in the world, it will disappoint.  Back in the summer, I was buying deli meat.  There was a coupon at the counter which said that I could save $0.50 or $1 if I bought a pound of meat.  I was shopping for our family on vacation, so I was buying a couple of pounds, so I grabbed a coupon.

At the checkout, I hand the coupon to the cashier and she can’t get it to scan.  She reaches over and looks at the deli meat and sees that I bought 0.96 lb of one meat and 0.98 lb of the other.  “I’m sorry,” she says, “the coupon is only valid if you buy a pound.”  I replied that I did buy a pound and almost two, but she wouldn’t agree with me and told me that it happened to people all the time.

It’s a silly story, but for me, it exemplifies the world.  The world is always promising you something that looks good or sound good but it just doesn’t satisfy.  Not in a sustaining sort of way.  I enjoyed having a coupon until I tried to redeem it.  That’s what putting your trust in the world is like.  Its pleasures are temporary at best.  In the end, “it cannot be detected gaunt cows had eaten the fat ones.”

Jesus said it this way …

What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?  Matthew 16:26
In summary, two weeks ago, Carl shared it this way … we need to repent of our thirsts for this world so that we can once again find our thirst for Christ. (John 7:37-39)

If we hold to the things of this world, they will interfere with our relationship with Christ.  They will cause us to have shallow roots in him.  Then, when trials and adversity come, we will be unable to stand firm.  We will be tossed here and there by every wind of teaching.  (Ephesians 4:14) Our ways will be unstable.  (James 1:6-8)

“[The world] refers to the ways of culture and society that oppose the Lord. There are ungodly trends in the world — materialism, naturalism, desire for instant gratification, and more — that once ruled all of our passions but are now defeated in Christ (John 16:33; 1 John 5:5). No longer our ruler, the world still appeals to our remaining sin, so we must maintain our guard lest we fall back into bondage.” –R. C. Sproul

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.  I John 5:5

The response to the world takes us back to the message where Carl shared John 15:5.  Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”  He also shared Philippians 4:13 where we are told, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Let’s look at the last arch-villain:  the Flesh.  What are we talking about here?

… “the passions of our flesh” and “desires of the body” (Eph. 2:3) refer not to our physical bodies, as if our corporeal form is in itself wicked. After all, God created all things good, including our bodies (Gen. 1:31). The apostle is speaking of our fallen nature, which Christ has subdued. It is a resilient foe, however, that remains until our glorification. We must therefore seek daily to mortify it and deny the sins that seem the most appealing to us (Rom. 6:12–14).

Our flesh is our sinful nature, not our God designed and created bodies “knit together in our mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:15

God was gracious in leading me to some cartoons that were created by Josh Harris and have been published in his book Dug Down Deephttp://www.joshharris.com/2007/02/feeding_the_flesh.php  Let’s look through them.  I’ll read captions that Joshua also wrote:

(1)    This is you. Or us, a human made in God’s image. Ladies, sorry you have to identify with a little guy. I’m not sure why he doesn’t have a shirt.

(2)    This is the flesh. He’s kind of a Jabba the Hut meets WWF wrestler. The Flesh represents the sinful, corrupted desires of our heart. It’s not a reference to our bodies–our bodies are created by God and are good. The flesh represents our sinful cravings to live for ourselves and disobey God’s laws and commands.

(3)    Before Jesus saves us, this is how all of us relate to the flesh. The Bible says that we are slaves to our sinful desires. Our flesh is boss. If you’re not a Christian, I’m not trying to offend you. I know this isn’t a flattering picture of your current condition but it’s true of all of us apart from God saving us.

(4)    This is what happens when we trust in Jesus. Because Jesus died on the cross and conquered sin and rose again, we are freed from the power of sin. It’s no longer our boss. See how the chain is broken? And we get clothes, which is really great.

(5)    But our flesh doesn’t disappear. It still hangs around to entice us. After we’re Christians, we’re no longer slaves to sin, but the flesh can still tempt us. We can choose to give into temptation and indulge the flesh. This is what theologians call “indwelling sin.” Jesus broke the power of sin, but we still live with the presence and influence of sinful desires.

(6)    That’s why the Bible is full of encouragement to fight our fleshly desires. We can’t live at peace with it. We have to attack it and deny it. (In hindsight, I guess the “sword of the Spirit” would have been a bit more biblical. Oh well.)

(7)    The problem is that too often Christians make friends with their flesh. In fact they feed their flesh. We give into our sinful desires. We pamper our flesh. We provide it three rounded meals a day with snacks and dessert. We might think that since we’ve been freed by the cross it’s okay to indulge the flesh. But there’s a real problem. When we feed the flesh…

(8)    …it grows! And before you know it, the flesh is bigger and stronger than you and starts to push you around. That’s why Paul is telling us in Romans 13 that we need to…

(9)    …starve our flesh! That’s what we want our flesh to look like. We want the flesh gaunt and feeble. When Paul says “make no provision for the flesh” he’s saying don’t feed your sinful desires. Don’t do things—don’t think things, don’t watch things, don’t meditate on things—that strengthen your sinful inclinations.

That gives us a pretty good summary of what goes on with our flesh.  Our fleshly desires, our sinful appetites, grow with feeding.  We need to exercise restraint over our flesh and sinful nature.  Rather than entertain or play around with things that would cause us to stumble, we should stay far away from them.

Some religions and even some Christians excessively practice self-mortification or mortification of the flesh.  They try to hurt themselves to punish the flesh.  This is not what we are talking about.

Another practice is extreme asceticism.  This is the renouncement of all things, possessions, etc.  That’s not what we’re talking about either.  Let’s go back to some thoughts from Josh Harris on feeding the flesh.

“Let’s think for a minute about our media diet. I think one of the biggest ways that Christians today feed their flesh is through what we watch on TV, in movies, and online. We each need to ask the question “Are the things I’m watching feeding my flesh?”

“And if the answer is “yes,” it doesn’t matter what the movie is rated. It doesn’t matter if everyone you know watches it. You need to act on what God shows you. Don’t feed your flesh. Don’t make provision for your sin. Turn away from it.

“ • Maybe for you the sensual scenes, or even plots, in certain movies or TV shows increase the strength of lust in your heart. Turn it off.

“ • Maybe violent movies and shows feed anger and a desire in your soul to use violence to get your way. Turn it off.

“ • Maybe the advertisements and the values you expose yourself to are feeding your cravings for material things or wrong ideas about your body. Stop watching.

“ • Maybe the things you watch feed your unbelief and fear. One mother I spoke to recently requested prayer because her dreams were filled with demonic images. She was afraid to sleep. When asked her about her television viewing habits, she told me that she often watched TV shows about real-life crime that were very violent. As we talked, she began to see the connection between what she watched and the bad results in her heart.

“Friends, what we view in media becomes our meditation. It either feeds our desire for godliness or it feeds our flesh. Which one are you feeding? If you added up the time you spend reading God’s word, praying, listening to sermons or reading Christian books, how would it stack up against time spent watching TV and movies?

“If you give more of your time to worldly entertainment and pursuits, is there any reason to be surprised that sinful desires are so strong in your life? No. If we’re feeding the flesh, it’s no mystery that we’re not growing in holiness."

That concludes our look at our big three arch-villains in our quest as superheroes in Christ.

As a wrap up and a reminder of weapons we have in this fight.  We can continually return to our power source, our God, through prayer.  Jesus taught us simply in the Lord’s prayer to ask, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)

Remember too that the God of all grace has “got your back” …

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. I Peter 5:9-10

Jesus Himself made it very clear that we’ll have to make tough choices and even daily choices. 

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  Luke 9:23-24

The last point is to be prepared for the battle.  In dealing with the Father of Lies, we must be prepared with the truth.  With the fleeting enticements of the world, we have to have our minds fixed on the prize, the goal.  In battling our flesh, we need be prepared to tune out the whining and begging of our flesh.  Where do we get the truth?  God’s Word.  We need to be in it, reading it, and applying it every day.  Jesus told us that, too.

Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.  John 17:17

We began this message looking at the world, the flesh and the devil as they were outlined in Ephesians 2:1-3.  Let’s close with verses 4 and 5.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions … Ephesians 2:4-5

We were dead in our transgressions, but no longer.  I don’t know how you feel.  Maybe you feel a little pushed around by one or more of these arch-villains.  I hope that you have hope to push back and even to anticipate victory against them.  The reason is not in us.  The reason is in Him.  We didn’t do anything.  Even when we were dead, God made us alive!  Our God indeed is rich in mercy and great in love.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for this time.  I thank you for the opportunity to be alive.  I confess that I don’t always fight the good fight of the faith.  I ask that You would strengthen us to resist our enemies and stand firm in the faith.  It is by You Word and power that we can do these things, not by ourselves.  Set our feet upon the rock.  That we might shine like stars for You (Philippians 2:15).  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen. 

No comments: