Your First Weapon

WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

Sometimes on a Sunday morning, it’s like a warm blanket. It’s just so comforting and encouraging and it’s throw-pillows and roses. Not always, just sometimes. Sometimes Sunday morning is like medicine for the soul. We come in here hurt and wounded and it’s like a bandage and it’s a balm and it just heals and it restores sometimes, not always, just sometimes. And then sometimes Sunday morning is like wrapping your hand around the handle of a broad sword and unsheathing it. And you’re cut and you’re bruised and you’re on a muddy battlefield standing as a hoard of the enemies comes charging at you. Not always, just today. Because today we are going to be kicking off a series called Weapons of Our Warfare and all about spiritual warfare.

SPIRITUAL WAREFARE

This week, I was at a coffee shop and someone told me they were inviting a friend to church and I was like, “Not this week.” You should invite your friends, you should invite your friends. But sometimes we have to talk about this kind of stuff because when you’re a growing church, I think every church will experience spiritual warfare, but I think a growing church all the more because you’re kicking the hornet’s nest and you’re advancing God’s kingdom. And we’re going to talk about that a little bit. This phrase weapons of our warfare, it comes from scripture actually in two Corinthians chapter 10. Let’s read these words together as we kind of kick the series off. “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. “It’s true. This idea of these weapons of our warfare, it’s a phrase that the church uses to describe this. It’s the phrase spiritual warfare. And in this series we’re going to be talking about spiritual warfare and what this is. And as soon as I say that phrase, first of all, images come to mind. We start imagining ghosts and ghouls and goblins and witches casting spells and the devil running around in a red suit with a pitchfork and a tail. And then that kind of leads to a whole set of questions like,” Is this real? “I mean, we’ve got this satirized, caricatures kind of depiction of spiritual warfare. Is it real? Is it really going on? And then you start to go,” Well, okay, what does it look like?

Is it really spiritual warfare? When you get a flat tire, is that the devil? When you trip and roll your ankle, was it a carpet demon that reached up and tripped you? Is that what happened? When your kids disobey, did the devil zap them with a disobey gun, disobey ray?

Or when you get sickness, is that the devil? Is it Flip Wilson? When you make a mistake, he would say, “The devil made me do it.” So, is it really just a cheap scapegoat for Christians to explain away hard things or for Christians to explain away their bad behavior? Well, it wasn’t me. The devil made me do it. I mean, what is this thing called spiritual warfare? And all these questions then can lead us to places. One, we can be dismissive of it and just be like, ah. The other side is to become overly preoccupied with it or maybe afraid of it.

Or the other side is to just acknowledge it and then just not understand it because we can’t. It’s something spiritual and so we dismiss it all together. And in this series, what I want to do is I want to talk about spiritual warfare so you can find victory in spiritual warfare. I think it’s real. And not only do I think it’s real, but I think there are weapons of warfare that God wants to equip you with so you can find victory in spiritual warfare. This is what we’re going to be talking about because you are not a passive victim in this. You’re not like an innocent civilian bystander to the war and whatever happens, happens. You are a warrior. That’s what we’re going to talk about. Now this idea of spiritual warfare, you kind of hear it and you’re like, okay, you can get an idea of it’s heaven and hell.

And so, before we talk about the weapons of warfare, we should probably talk about what is the spiritual warfare. It started like any other war.

THE WAR BEGINS

There was a beginning to this warfare. In scripture, it says that spiritual warfare started before Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden, that the devil who was an angel in the kingdom of God, so he’s a created being, he’s beautiful, he’s not some hideous sinister looking thing. He’s beautiful and he is a bearer of light. That’s what the word lucifer means, light bearer. And he’s in the kingdom of heaven, everything’s going on and he envies God. He wants God’s throne. He wants to take power for himself. And so, he convinces a third of the angels of heaven, one third of them to join the rebellion and they try to take the throne and he’s defeated and he’s cast out of heaven.

Jesus later on will say that I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, which is why a thunderbolt is kind of a symbol associated with the devil sometimes. And now the devil and a third of his angels are cast out of heaven, they’re fallen angels and the war is on. And this warfare is going on from the beginning, Genesis, all the way to the book of Revelation. And this warfare is brought up in both of them and it kind of culminates with revelation. But all throughout scripture, this warfare is going on and everything that’s happening is this engagement between heaven and hell and this warfare going on playing out in the spiritual and in the natural or the material realm. And Paul kind of summarizes it and he says, our struggle, this is a letter he wrote to a church in a place called Ephesus.

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

  Ephesians 6:12

And he says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” The struggle that we have in the day to day is not against flesh and blood, “but against rulers, against the authorities.”  And here he’s referring to spiritual authorities and “against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

That’s our warfare. And you read that and a couple things kind of stand out, but there’s a war going on between heaven and hell and we can’t see it. As somebody mentioned to me after the first service, it’s really hard to fight a battle when you can’t see the enemy. And it’s like in this unseen spiritual realm. Western people, we read this, we read this and we tend to read it with this idea of we have an idea there’s a physical realm and then there’s a spiritual realm, but they’re separated. And we like separating things, church and state. It’s just the way our linear brains work. But as you read this, it gets to this idea that the spiritual and the physical or the spiritual and the material are interacting with each other, that what happens in the physical realm affects the spiritual realm. And what happens in the spiritual realm affects the physical realm.

And the two are constantly interdependent and interacting with one another. And you tend to think about yourself as though you’re a physical being. You are because you can see, touch, observe yourself and other people. You are a physical being, but you are also a spiritual being. You are both physical and spiritual. When you come in here and we’re singing praise songs and you’re hearing scripture and you’re praying, your spirit is stirring within you and interacting with the Holy spirits.

And when you die and you breathe your last, your physical body will remain and your spirit will go to be with the Lord. Your spirit lasts forever. And so, the spiritual warfare is not just waged in the physical and it’s not just waged in the spiritual, it’s waged in both.

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

         Colossians 1:13-14

Now this warfare gets to another idea and kind of another question, but Paul in his letter to the church in Colossa makes this interesting observation about the spiritual warfare. It’s between two kingdoms and he says “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And so here we see two kingdoms at war with one another and it’s a zero-sum game. If one kingdom expands, it’s at the expense of the other kingdom. So, if God’s kingdom grows, it’s at the expense of the kingdom of darkness.

If the kingdom of darkness grows, it’s at the expense of God’s kingdom. And something else that’s really interesting as you observe this is that we tend to think that everyone’s kind of good with God. Everyone goes, as long as you’re a good person, everyone goes to heaven. Just by and by all paths lead to the top of the mountain. It’s the way we like to think because it’s easy. But in this description, it’s the opposite. Everyone is under the curse of sin. Everyone is in bondage, enslaved to the prince of darkness and is captive in the dominion of darkness, everybody. And it’s only when Jesus invades and rescues us from that dominion of darkness that we are brought into the kingdom of God. And we are brought into the kingdom of God when you believe in your heart and confess with your lips of Jesus Christ as Lord.

That’s kind of the standard statement. And it’s true, but when you put it in this light, you are in the dominion of darkness until you pledge your allegiance to another king, King Jesus. That’s why you call him Lord, because you belong to his kingdom when you confess him as your king. It’s fascinating.

The idea being is like Jesus is the invasion. He is the invading force. The occupying army is the kingdom of darkness. And Jesus is the invading force. And when he is born, it is D-Day. It is a beachhead into the invasion. The invasion has begun. Merry Christmas. And so, the point is, is that in this war, you as spiritual beings belong to one kingdom or another. No one is neutral.

NO ONE IS NEUTRAL

There is no neutral ground. It’s fascinating. And in this warfare, when we say the word warfare, we tend to think like it’s in question. There’s a battle. What’s going to happen? Who’s going to win? And that’s where we need to make one other really key distinction about this thing called spiritual warfare. Y’all, the devil is a defeated foe. He took the L, he lost. It’s over. Jesus won.

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them. Triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15

Paul talks about this again and he says, Christ disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. That when Jesus died on the cross, the curse of sin was broken and darkness was defeated. And with the resurrection, there’s a line later on in scripture that talks about where oh death is your sting. Where oh grave your victory. It’s gone because Christ is victorious. He triumphed over sin, death and the devil by the cross and the empty tomb. It’s over. Jesus won past tense. It’s over.

THE WAR IS OVER, BUT THE BATTLE GOES ON

And so, then the question or the phrase spiritual warfare is a little confusing because if the war is over, why does the battle still rage on?

Back in the Civil War, Robert E. Lee signed, surrendered Peace Treaty and surrendered and the Confederate Army surrendered to the Northern Army and the Civil War was over. And not a few days later out in West Texas, there was a pretty major battle between the Confederate Army and the Union Army at a place called Palmito Ranch just off the Rio Grande River. And actually quite a few casualties were taken and the Confederates actually won and the Northern Army lost the battle. But the battle at Palmito Ranch was inconsequential to the war. The war was over, though the battle was consequential to the people who were fighting it. And same is true for you.

The war is over. Jesus won. You’re just out here skirmishing in a battle in this thing called spiritual warfare. And the question is, well, why, right? Why? Why wouldn’t God just end this thing? Well, because of you. There are people here today who at this time last year did not confess Jesus as their Lord and had not yet been baptized. And they’re sitting in the room right now as a follower of King Jesus. And they are so grateful that he waited as long as he did. The apostle Peter will talk about God is delaying his return because of his patience because he doesn’t want anyone to perish.

THE BATTLE IS OVER YOUR

So why is the battle still raging on? Well, it’s because of you. If you think about it, both heaven and hell have the same goal. Heaven and hell have the same goal, as many as possible. That’s it. As many as possible. It’s why our mission statement is we lay down our lives. So as many as possible, experience Jesus. It’s why we do what we do, because we are on the front lines of the spiritual warfare. We want to rescue as many as possible, period. And the devil wants to keep as many as possible. He wants to retain as many as possible. Jesus wants to rescue as many as possible. There it is. That’s the spiritual warfare and why it still rages on.

It’s fascinating. And this understanding and description of spiritual warfare, well, it informs us then of the devil’s tactics. If you are fighting a war, you better believe you’re going to try to get into the head of the opposing general. What are they trying to do? What methods and means are they going to do to achieve their goal? And you would research them as a person and we can do that. Like the name the devil, it means the adversary. So, we know he’s an opponent. Jesus describes him as an enemy, an enemy against God’s kingdom. He’s the evil one. Actually, in the Lord’s prayer, when you say deliver us from evil, you can also translate that same line as deliver us from the evil one.

He’s called Lucifer. We talked about that. He’s called Satan. It means the accuser. We can expect that and that’s what he’s about. Jesus calls him a liar, the deceiver. He calls him the father of lies. I like this line. Jesus one time is describing the devil and he says he’s a liar and the father of lies. When he speaks, he lies, he speaks his native tongue. I like that description. He’s the prince of darkness, the prince of evil. And this is who we’re fighting against. And his goal is as many as possible. And because those are his titles and because that’s his role and that’s his goal, well, now we can talk about his tactics. And really you can break them down into three very simple tactics. And the first one is about unbelievers. And the second two are about believers. So first, what would his tactic be for unbelievers?

Think about it. What is his tactic? What is his objective with people who belong to his kingdom?

Keep them. How does he keep them? By preventing them from hearing about Jesus. So the first tactic, the devil doesn’t want unbelievers to hear the good news of Jesus. Period. Y’all say this, faith, faith comes by hearing. Outside hearing. Meaning that you can be somebody out there just observing nature and you’re like, “Oh my goodness, there’s a God and he’s artistic. Look at the colors of leaves.” You can observe the stars and be like, “Oh my goodness, there’s a God and he’s powerful.” And you can watch the changing of seasons and observe the tide coming in and be like, “Oh my goodness, there’s a God and he’s wise.” But you can’t observe anything in all creation and go, “Oh my goodness, his name is Jesus.” Someone has to tell you. How can anyone believe unless they are sent to tell the good news of Jesus?

And so the only way we go from one kingdom to the next is to confess allegiance to King Jesus. Okay? Well, then he’s going to work really hard to prevent anyone from hearing about Jesus. There’s a parable Jesus tells of faith as like a seed and a farmer went out and threw seed on the ground and he compares the devil, the enemy, the evil one to birds coming down and swooping up and eating the seed before it can take root. Because what does he do? He prevents the word from being heard. The devil doesn’t want unbelievers to hear the good news of Jesus, which gets to his first tactic then against believers. What would his first tactic against us be?

To prevent us from sharing. So, the devil doesn’t want unbelievers to hear the good news and his next tactic would be that the devil doesn’t want believers to tell the good news of Jesus. He’ll do anything he can to mute you. He doesn’t care if you’re a good person. He doesn’t care about your church tenants and how much you give and whether you volunteered at the soup kitchen and whether you get along with your kids. Okay, it’s no skin off of his nose. He only cares if you expand the kingdom of God at his expense and he’ll do everything he can to get you to shut up, to be afraid to talk about it. It might cost me my job if I say something. It might cost me my friendship, my family might not enjoy if I bring this up again.

That fears from the devil, y’all, that’s spiritual warfare. He’s trying to get you to not talk about it because, oh, we don’t talk about religion and politics at the dinner table and talk about it somewhere else, but don’t stop talking about it. And if he can’t get you to be… Well, he wants you to be ineffective. I think sometimes we think the devil is just out to ruin our life. That has more to do with the next tactic. But I think his main hope for believers is that we just are inactive and ineffective in the kingdom of God. And so he’ll lavish us with luxury, pour out pleasure on us, and consume our time with hobbies and activities that in the grand scheme don’t mean anything. He loves it when we are preoccupied with things that don’t mean anything, right? That would make sense as a tactic.

And so maybe the devil isn’t trying to ruin your life. Maybe he’s trying to occupy your life, distract you. And in the weeks to come, we’ll talk about weapons against that very thing. But then this would lead to a third tactic in this thing called spiritual warfare. If he can’t get you to be ineffective, well, then he’s going to try to get you to question all of it. The devil wants believers to doubt the word of God. He’s called the God of chaos and disorder. He corrupts the order. He distorts the truth. He’s a liar and the father of lies. He is called the deceiver. If it was obvious, it wouldn’t be deception.

And so, he’ll do anything to get you to doubt the truth of God’s word, the authority of God’s word. Well, maybe it doesn’t mean that. You know what? That doesn’t really apply today. And you know what? Honestly, that’s exactly what he wants. You can see it in the very beginning. What’s his first tactic? He goes up to Adam and Eve, and those of you who have read the story of the Garden of Eden, he goes up to Adam and Eve, and what does he say to Eve? Did God really say you must not eat? What’s he trying to do? Get her to doubt. Get her to question. Did God really say that? Well, that’s not why he said that. He’s trying to ruin things. He’s trying to keep you down.

You think he’s going to stop doing that now? Fast forward to Jesus, what does he do to Jesus in the desert in the account that we just heard? Same thing. He goes up to Jesus and he’s like, “If you are the son of God, seeds of doubt, if you are the son of God, throw yourself from the top of the temple because doesn’t scripture say he’ll command his angels concerning you and you won’t dash your foot against his own? Doesn’t he say that?” And y’all, what does Jesus say in contrast to Adam and Eve who are like, “That is a good look, a piece of fruit.” What does Jesus say in contrast? Three words. It is written and he quotes the word of God back at him.

The truth of God’s word right back at him. And he’s like away from there you go. Because of those three tactics, I think it’s safe to say the first weapon of our warfare for you, and we’ll talk about more coming up, but the first weapon of our warfare has got to be, got to be, got to be the word of God.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 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.

    1 Peter 5:8-9

 It worked for Jesus. When you feel tempted, when you feel pressured, when you feel burdened and defeated to remind yourself, it is written.

We’ve had a lot of sermons lately about the word of God, not really by intent, it’s just kind of happened. We had our great Bible giveaway and we talked about the importance of God’s word. And then we had our healthier family series where we talked about the healthy family has a foundation of God’s word and everyone leans on it and interacts with it.

The point remains, guys, get in your word, get in the Bible, get in your Bible, get in the word and interact with it so that you have it at the ready when trials and temptation comes.

And when you quote that word about God’s goodness or God’s power or God’s wisdom and God’s love for you, the devil flees. So, here’s what I want to do today. It just kind of as an aside, you guys read your Bible, same message as the last month, but read your Bibles. Okay. But here’s what I want to do today as we end our time together. As we think about this topic of spiritual warfare as we enter into this series and the feelings and emotions you have right now, there’s probably a little fear, a little trepidation, maybe even still some confusion, some questions. That’s okay.

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

             Romans 8: 37-39

But in the middle of all of that, I want to simply remind you of the truth of God’s word because it is written that “you are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Neither death nor life, “neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Amen.

4 You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

        1 John 4:4

And it is written that you belong to God and you have overcome for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Amen. And it is written that he has given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. Amen.

GOD’S WORD IS YOUR DEFENSE

And it is written. The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and he will guard you against the evil one. Amen. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

All right Lord, first of all, we confess that this is a topic that makes us sometimes uneasy, confused, maybe even a little scared and so something we tend to avoid. And we confess to you that we’ve been inactive soldiers for your kingdom far too often. And we confess God that we need your forgiveness. Thank you, God for the victory that Jesus won when he triumphed over the enemy on the cross. We thank you for the victory over even death when he rose from the grave.

And we acknowledge him as king and Lord and pledge our allegiance to him. Thank you God for rescuing us from the dominion of darkness and for the people who are in this room, people who are listening and watching. God, I pray that you would equip them in the days and weeks to come with the weapons of our warfare that you have given to us in this spiritual war. And now we pray the prayer that your son taught us to pray and it’s got all sorts of language about a kingdom and deliverance. And it sounds a little bit different today as we say together:

Our father,

who art in heaven,

Hollowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For thine is the kingdom,

And the power,

And the glory,

Forever and ever,

Amen.