To fight the good fight (Part two)

Spiritual warfare, as the ‘good fight’ has come to be termed, is a conflict between a defeated foe – satan, and a victorious King - Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:20-22) and His people who are learning to live in that victory (Romans 16:20).

The foundation stones of this conflict were laid centuries ago in the Garden of Eden. There man enjoyed perfect fellowship with God made possible by the interweaving of the spiritual and natural realms (Genesis 3:8).

Satan’s successful duping of Eve resulted in the fall from that relationship and fissuring of the two realms into parallel realities. This resulted in a permanent state of tension within human beings. An individual person is a spirit created in the image of God but merged for a time with a body of flesh and all that that brings with it. We lack unity because long ago that gap fissured open between our mortal and immortal parts, as well as between God and man.[i]

God, in His mercy, knew the misery that would result from this ‘break’ and thus made it impossible for mankind to physically live forever in a world dominated by the consequences of his rebellion (Genesis 3:24; Proverbs 1:30-32).

It is these ‘consequences’ that satan ‘employs’, with varying degrees of success, against the regenerated (John 3:3) children of God. It is from this point of understanding that one can see why evil exists in the earth.

One of the most potent elements in the conflict is that of personal choice (Ephesians 4:27). It was personal choice that caused satan to be able to speak to Eve in the first place and then to have Adam become complicit in the rebellion (Genesis 3).

It is of vital importance that the following fact be remembered: Man is a freewill being (Joshua 24:15; Proverbs 1:29&30; Matthew 23:37; Hebrews 11:25). Therefore, evil is in the earth because of the choices of mankind (Romans 5:12).

The question that now arises is: If God is a loving God can He not intervene? No, He will not. Evil is allowed to remain in the earth, because the banishing of evil is not as valuable as the maintenance of free will (that which was used to cause the problem in the first place). Free will lies at the very base of God’s original intent: A relationship with man based on choice.

Furthermore, God is just. He cannot stop one evil (generally speaking, the one that most bothers us personally) and not all. So, God’s desire for free will relationship and His justice precludes any easy answer to the finite challenges present in this creation (cf. II Peter 3:10-13). Having said that, the tragedies connected with such evil do touch His heart (Psalm 78:40; Isaiah 63:10).

It is these consequential challenges that form the basis of the conflict in which we find ourselves embroiled. So, in facing the inevitability of evil and its consequences, each believer needs to know the following:

All things work together for the good ... (Romans 8:28).

If God is for us ... (Romans 8:31).

Jesus Himself intercedes for us (Romans 8:34b).

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness (poverty)? Peril? Sword (war and violence)? (Romans 8:35).

No matter what we (if we choose to) overwhelmingly conquer (Romans 8:37).

At this point the question, “Ah, what about the demonic?” will be asked. Let us allow Paul to continue: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor PRINCIPALITIES (Ephesians 6:12 – A.V.) nor things present, nor things to come, nor POWERS (Ephesians 6:12), nor height, nor depth, nor any other CREATED thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38&39).

While God has always remained sovereign, man has continuously had to deal with the powers of evil, i.e. satan. As if to confirm that such a state of affairs would prevail through the dispensation of the New Covenant, Jesus faced satanic evil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-17). The Old Testament offers an interesting parallel. The nation of Israel had all the disobedience and unbelief removed from them during their forty year sojourn in the wilderness.  For Israel of old the wilderness was, firstly, a place of death. There the grumbling, bitterness, fear and frailty perished. It was also a place of life; it was the place where a new generation was born and nurtured.[ii]

The tactics employed by Jesus were as simple as they were effective: On each occasion Jesus merely applied the Scripture as an effective counter-punch to each temptation levelled against Him (Matthew 4: 4, 6, 10).

Being in Christ is not the equivalent to living behind bulletproof glass (I Peter 4:12&13). Furthermore, such suffering is to be considered a matter of joy (James 1:2-4; cf. Romans 5:1-3).

From all of the afore-going it should have become apparent by now that our own individual attitudes to evil, and its varying manifestations, go a long way to determining how successful satan will be in his conflict with each believer.

Satan’s tactics in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), what can we learn?

Vs. 3 – Satan will seek to make the needs of the natural body more important than those of the spirit of man. Please bear in mind Jesus’ physically weakened state after forty days of fasting in a desert environment. The carnal within mankind always seeks to fed ahead of the spiritual, hence Jesus’ reply in vs. 4.

Vss. 5&6 – The kingdom of darkness will always encourage acts of self-promotion over waiting on the perfect timing of God.

Vss. 8&9 – The quest for personal power and influence enjoys great kudos in the world system. Satan therefore will tempt all who pose a threat to compromise their worship standards to accomplish what surely must be a good thing ... in the end.

So, the three temptations placed before Jesus on this occasion were:

1.       Personal provision for the satisfaction of physical need.

2.       Self-promotion.

3.       Power, authority, influence and profile.

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[i] Yancey, Philip. Finding God in unexpected places. Colorado Springs. Waterbrook Press. 2008. Pg. 264.

[ii] Sherman, Dean. Spiritual Warfare. Seattle. YWAM. 1995. Pg. 146. 

To fight the good fight (Part one).

 [When considering the issue of spiritual warfare, such contentious issues as territorial spirits, local covens, and the like leap immediately to mind. The validity, or otherwise, of these things will be raised later in this series. What we want to concentrate on for now is what the Bible definitely mentions in terms of the good fight in which we are called to be combatants.]

II Chronicles 7:14 is an oft repeated verse when praying for a physical nation. However, is this a valid use of the verse? The context of this verse is the dedication of Solomon’s temple and God’s response to Solomon’s prayer at this event. The land in question was Israel. In the New Testament context, what constitutes the ‘land’? The Body of Christ as the visible manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth. The Church at large, throughout history, has a woeful record of civil war, strife, division, etc. and is in need of healing and restoration. Thus have the battle lines have been drawn. The battle cry in this ‘good fight’ is, “Lord, heal our ‘land’.”

In I Timothy 1:18&19 Paul makes joining the good fight a command, albeit one he entrusts to Timothy. The platform for this fight were the prophecies that Timothy had received concerning his future (at the time of receiving) life and ministry. The word ‘prophecy’, in this instance, referred particularly to that which is foretold rather than forth-told. The latter being the declaration of the will of God into a present-tense situation.

Paul’s choice of the word ‘war’ also throws additional light onto the issue at hand. Here it literally means to serve in military campaigns (cf. Ephesians 6:10-17). Figuratively this speaks of the execution of the ministry with all of its arduous duties and functions (II Timothy 2:3; cf. II Corinthians 11:21-29). This call would also include the necessity of contending with carnal inclinations which oppose all believers. 

[For the purposes of this series the term ‘carnal’ will be used for those things which oppose holiness in the life of every believer. The word ‘flesh’, on the other hand, will refer to the natural aspect of humanity.]

It is interesting that Paul calls this war a “good fight”. The word ‘good’ means constitutionally good without necessarily being benevolent. What Paul is inferring here is that the war is good because of the its purpose. To act in love, as when dealing  with a fellow human, is not necessary given the opponent. However, let us be clear as to the identity of the opponent. While the Church at large, throughout history, has a woeful record of civil war, the true opponent is clearly identified in, inter alia, II Corinthians 10:3-6.

Paul makes it clear that while we live out our natural lives in bodies of flesh and bone, our war is not against such (c.f. Matthew 16:21-23 - Jesus was not at war with Peter but the demonic spirit influencing Peter. Note to whom the initial rebuke is addressed). Consequently there is nothing in our natural constitution (flesh and bone) that can be of any use in this warfare to which Timothy, and us (John 17:20), are called.  

I Timothy 1:19  gives clear instruction on what is to be maintained while conducting this war, we are called to:

"Keep the faith" 

Keep = to have, to hold, hold on, to count, consider, regard.

Faith = to be persuaded, a reasoned belief.

"a good conscience"  

Good = benevolent (benefitting others), profitable, useful.

Conscience = to know together with. Here it must be remembered that as believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit our conscience will seek to be in sync with Him (II Corinthians 1:12), thus “to know together with.” To fail in either or both of these is to invite shipwreck.

The ravages of this war will include the attempted/actual erosion of our faith. To that end we must give due consideration to our faith, i.o.w. we are to keep the faith received (Romans 10:17) in good repair as one would maintain a house or a vehicle. The only sort of faith that can come through this conflict is an intelligent and reasoned belief based primarily upon the Scriptures (Romans 10:17) and confirmed by godly experience (Romans 8:28; Exodus 16:6; Isaiah 41:17-20).

The enemy also seeks to make our conscience ineffective ( c.f. I Timothy 4:1-5) for our conscience enables us to know together with the Holy Spirit that which pleases God.

While this goal may seem unattainable, we have an example in Paul himself (II Timothy 4:7; cf. Philippians 4:11-13).

I Timothy 6:3-5 - Here Paul gives snapshots of some of the ways in which the war manifests itself in the life and ministry of the Body of Christ.

1) Those who would oppose three aspects of ministry: (i) Advocating a different doctrine; (ii) disagreeing with sound words of Christ; (iii) godliness.

2) People who are conceited (excessive pride) without understanding,  having morbid (abnormal or an unhealthy interest in unpleasant subjects) interests, those who are focussed on controversies and disputes concerning definitions.

3) Such manifestations will cause, in varying degrees, envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, constant friction, seeking material gain, lack of contentment.

Vss. 6-10 -The issue of gain, material or otherwise, is often the focus of debate within various aspects of the Body of Christ. What Paul is wishing the Church to avoid is seeing godliness as a means of acquiring wealth or status. However, godliness that is partnered with contentment (Philippians 4:11) will result in useful and lasting gain.

Vss. 11&12 – here Paul issues a four-fold command to his son in the faith:

1.       Flee (to run away, to shun) from all the negatives discussed from verse 3 onwards.

2.       Pursue (as if persecuting) that which is of God.

3.       Fight  (to struggle, contend with an adversary, compete for a prize) the good fight of faith.

4.       Take hold (to seize) of eternal life.

Each of the above actions require acts of the will, determination and commitment.

Vss. 13-16 - Live in the expectation of the coming of Christ (Hebrews 9:28). It is with this attitude of mind and battlefield stance that the Church is best set for ongoing victory.

Knowing God is (Part Four)

So far we have established, inter alia, that God, the social tri-unity, is relational both in His nature and His intent. This sense of relationship is further substantiated by Him being seen as Creator involved with what He has created, i.e. Creator and creation (Genesis 1&2).

It is no co-incidence then that secular society would rather speak of ‘mother nature’ and ‘nature’ thus corrupting (via counterfeit) the idea of Divine relationship with creation, and He being the source thereof, in favour of a pagan representation.

The opening lines of the ‘Apostles’ Creed’ states, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, ...”  What does it mean to confess faith in the creator God?

Firstly, it is an acknowledgement that creation was a Divine act. Secondly, it is an awareness of our role and relationship as a consequence of that Divine act.

The act of creation was a ‘free’ act. In other words, God was not acting under compulsion or necessity. In fact, creation was not necessary. God alone is sovereign, so if there were an exterior compulsion the source of that would, in fact, be more powerful than God.

What of an interior compulsion?  Again, no such compulsion existed. If it had, God would be bound up in His creation. He would need the creation in order to be who He is. In other words He remains transcendent while being immanent.

God is continually involved in and with His creation. This is known theologically as ‘Providence’.

Divine providence

What does this mean?

The continuing action of God in preserving His creation.

·         His continual guidance of creation towards His intended purpose.

·         Included within providence is the concept of ‘government’.

·         Government implies that God is actively engaged in creation achieving His purposes and sin cannot thwart those purposes.

Providence then is seen in two aspects: Preservation and government. Seeing the difference between preservation and government is vital. However, they should not be seen as sharply separated acts of God, but part of His unitary work.

·         Preservation = Maintaining and sustaining creation (Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; cf. Matthew 6:26). It is helpful to remember at this point that creation is not self-sustaining nor did God cease from His work within creation after the original act of creation (Genesis 1&2).

·         Government = Guiding and directing the course of events to fulfil His ultimate purpose (Psalm 103:19-22; Daniel 2:21).

God is sovereign; therefore His purposes cannot be defeated. If this is so, and it is, then God’s purpose for and in creation cannot be thwarted. Creation, and all it contains, then has a purpose. Creation then is His originating work. Providence is His continuing relationship to it.

The word ‘providence’ is derived from the Latin providere which literally means to foresee. This word carries with it the understanding not only seeing the future, so to speak, but acting prudently or making preparation for that future.

Providence means that as Christians we are able to live in the full assurance that God is present and active in our lives regardless of the circumstances. We are assured that we are in His care and things are not just happening by chance. Therefore, we can face danger knowing that God is aware and involved (Matthew 24:15-31; Luke 22:42; I Peter 1:6, 4:12; cf. Philippians 4:11).

Providence makes it certain that creation and us within it are heading somewhere, there is a plan and it is being worked out by God Himself who is maintaining the means of that plan (Romans 8:18-25; II Peter 3:10-13).

One can see God’s power over the natural creation (governmental activity) in such events as His interaction with Elijah (I Kings 18:41-46). Further examples can be found in Job 9:5-9, 37; Psalm 104:14; 147:8-15; Matthew 6:25-30; Mark 4:39.

This government also impacts upon the animal kingdom (Psalm 104:21-29; cf. I Kings 17:4).

Human history and the destiny of nations fall within the authority of God’s governance (Acts 17:26; Daniel 2:21, 4:24&25 cf. Isaiah 10:5-12).

So much for the nations, God’s governance directly impacts each individual human life (I Samuel 2:6&7; Luke 1:52; I Corinthians 4:6&7; Galatians 1:15&16). This remains applicable even within the Body of Christ (Romans 12:3-6; I Corinthians 12:4-11).

Providence and prayer.

It is vital not to assume that some form of fatalism is the consequence of Divine providence. So, what does prayer accomplish in the light of the above? To answer this one must consider the interaction of the following, seemingly contradictory, two facts:

·         Scripture teaches that God’s plan is fixed and definite.

·         Believers are commanded to pray and are taught the value of such in James 5:16.

Scripture shows that God does work in something approaching a partnership with His people (cf. Mark 6:6, 14:22-42). What arises here is that when God wills the ends, He also wills the means. Therefore, prayer does not change what God has purposed to do. It is the means by which He accomplishes that goal.

“Prayer is in large part a matter of creating in ourselves a right attitude with respect to God’s will.” [i] (cf. Matthew 6:9-13). Prayer is not about us getting our will done, but wanting to see that God has His will done.

To this end we are called to pray persistently (Luke 11:9&10) and to be aware that we will not always receive what we pray for (Luke 22:42; II Corinthians 12:9&10), having said, the following Scripture should be borne in mind: Psalm 84:11 (cf. Psalm 81:13,14&16).

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[i] Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids. Baker. 2003. Pg. 431