“I’m Missing Out”
Every Thought Captive, part 6
Wildwind Community Church
February 25, 2007
Today I want to bring our Every Thought Captive series to a close. As most of you know, every week we have looked at a different lie people believe that causes various types of spiritual problems. Today we’re gonna look at “I’m Missing Out,” only that’s not a lie – it’s just a thought people have that they need to know how to take captive and deal with. See the first step in following Christ is what’s called repentance – turning around and going the opposite direction from the way you have been going previously. In doing so, we leave behind certain patterns of thinking, certain ways of behaving, probably even certain ways of talking, and we decide to learn new ways of thinking, new ways of behaving, and new ways of talking. This is good. It’s an essential part of the act of turning one’s life over to Christ to become one of his students, one of his followers.
But here’s the problem. Sin is fun. For a season. Sin is always fun for a season. Nobody would ever sin if it weren’t fun. When people use drugs they don’t say, “Give me the dang straw. You know I don’t like being high, but I’m still going to force myself to get high ten times a day.” “Pass the Penthouse. I get nothing whatsoever out of looking at these pictures, but I promised myself several years ago that I would discipline myself to look at these magazines regularly.” “Okay, I’m going to hit you now. I really don’t want to, it’s just that I have made a commitment to indulge my anger anytime I get a chance.” “Why don’t you come to my place tonight – my spouse is out of town. Don’t get me wrong – I completely have no desire to have an affair with you, but when I was a kid I promised myself I’d grow up to be an adulterer, and that’s a promise I intend to keep.”
That’s not how sin happens, is it? Doesn’t sin always happen because sin is fun for a season? Ever seen Goodfellas? Or The Godfather? Or Leaving Las Vegas? Or Lord of War? Or 80% of all other Hollywood dramas? So many stories about people who got involved in sin because it was fun, and lived the high life for a while, until the life began living them. Stories about people who were ultimately undone by the fun, and found themselves enslaved by what had been merely an interest, a hobby, a pastime, a vocation.
So sin is fun for a season. It always gets its pound of flesh, but that doesn’t make the fun any less fun, when there is still fun left to be had. And it’s precisely here that we run into our problem. If it wasn’t so fun, we’d have no trouble with it, but because it is fun, we struggle greatly with it. If you genuinely like alcohol and decide that your drinking lifestyle is not compatible with following Christ, then you give it up, but you miss it, because it was fun. If you like looking at porno, and decide you can’t do that as a Christ-follower anymore, you might give it up, but you’re gonna miss it. You get the point.
Now comes another truth we must be aware of. Sin is fun, but eventually the wages of sin is death, scripture says.
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we repent, turn our lives over to God, leave the sin of our past life and embrace a new way of living, we receive the gift of God. Eternal life. And we escape spiritual death, which is always the wages of sin (remember the movies we talked about?). This is good. The problem is, sin might lead to death, but it continues to be fun for quite a while. The death part doesn’t come ‘til later. And that’s what lands us into trouble. There’s no certain number of times we can look at porno before death comes. There’s no certain number of times we can cheat on a spouse, or drink ourselves sick, or lie, or cheat, or harbor bitterness in our hearts. There’s no formula that says we can do each of these one hundred times and then death comes, or one hundred twelve times and then death comes. If it were that easy, most of us would stop at one hundred eleven. But you know it doesn’t work like that. Sin kills you slowly, a little bit more every time you engage in it. And one of the first things sin kills is your conscience – in other words sin gradually kills that part of you that wants to stop sinning, not just the part of you that knows you are sinning, but the part that actually cares.
So this idea, “I miss my old life” is especially dangerous because unlike some of the other statements we’ve looked at, it’s not so much a lie as a tendency we have to fight against. Sometimes we do miss our old lives, because the sin of our past life was fun. The thought of missing our past lives, the desire to pick up those sins again, ultimately has power to destroy us if we pursue it. It can destroy us by leading us back into destructive patterns in our lives that will kill us eventually. “I miss my old life” is definitely a thought we need to take captive.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
What does it mean for us to do this with the thought, “I miss my old life”? I want to spend the rest of our time talking about that.
By the way, before I continue, I want to make something clear. This idea of “I miss my old life” turns up both in new believers and in those who have been Christ followers for some time. I don’t want you thinking that this is just something you experience if you are a newer believer. Think of it this way. Let’s say pizza is your favorite food, but your doctor tells you it’s killing you and you can never have it again. So you give it up. You live without pizza for ten years, but what never goes away is your memory of what it tasted like and how much you loved it. One day you break down and decide you’re going to risk it and have a piece of pizza. So you go off alone someplace where no one can see you, and you eat your first piece of pizza in ten years. How much do you think you’re going to enjoy that pizza? That pizza will taste better than any pizza you ever remember eating before. It has been ten years! You savor everything – the cheese, the sweet sauce, the doughy yummyness. t pops in your mouth, makes you feel alive in ways you haven’t felt alive in years, reminds you of all you have been missing, floods you with incredible memories of fun things you used to do with pizza close by. It’s just absolutely an incredible experience.
Now my friends, the best you could hope for here is a minor heart attack! See, your doctor has told you pizza will kill you. You gave it up for a while, but now it’s so good, and what do you think will happen if you eat it this time and experience no consequences? How likely will you be to eat it again fairly soon? EXTREMELY! A minor heart attack would stand a good chance of scaring you straight again, and that’s probably what you need!
The same thing happens with sin in the lives of those who have been Christ-followers for a long time. We might decide we need to give up this or stay away from that, and we might do so very effectively for a period of time. And then one day – Bam! We find ourselves overwhelmed with desire to indulge in that sin again. If we give in and go for it, chances are very good we will not die spiritually on the spot, and so we will be more likely to find ourselves back in that rut all over again. See, sometimes the longer we go without sinning in certain ways, the easier it gets to not do it. Other times, the longer we go without sinning in certain ways, the more there’s part of us that misses it, that wants to experience it just “one more time,” that finds it increasingly alluring. And if we give up our self-control and sin in that particular way, there’s a good chance it will feel extraordinarily good to us, and that’s a bad thing! In that case the best thing that could happen to us is that we would get caught red-handed, right in the middle of whatever we’re doing that we shouldn’t be doing. It would be ideal if something negative happened that was so immediate, and so awful, that it would cause us to want to stay away from that thing again for a very long time. But most of the time this doesn’t happen. We can indulge ourselves in our secret sins without anyone knowing. It feels good – better than we remember – and so it’s that much harder to resist when the urge comes around again in a day or two. If we’re not careful we can find ourselves right back into a regular pattern of doing whatever those things are that we had previously given up. This can turn into a cycle of getting away from our besetting sins for a while, falling back into them for a while, then getting away for a while again, only to again fall back into them. Sometimes the struggle itself becomes frustrating because it can seem like we are constantly either missing something we used to love and struggling not to do it, or feeling badly that we have fallen back into it and hoping no one finds out. It seems that either way we are struggling, we are tired, and we are sick of the constant struggle. I want to spend the rest of our time today talking about that struggle to give up old sins, old patterns, for good.
See, you will experience times when you will want to return to your past life. You will want to give in and indulge in sin again. There will even be times (and probably plenty of times) when you will consciously decide that you miss a certain sin in your life and you will indulge yourself. After all, the Christian journey is not only about struggling against sin at every moment, it is also about the struggle to continue deciding to struggle.
The writer of Hebrews devotes most of chapter 11 to telling the stories of people who struggled against sin all their lives – Biblical heroes from Moses to Rahab to Joseph to Abraham to Isaac. Coming out of that chapter and into chapter 12, he writes,
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.
I have four things I want to leave with you in regard to taking this thought captive. First is I want you to understand here that there is an assumption in the Bible that the Christian life will be a struggle. It will require endurance. It will require that we shed those things in our lives that might keep us from being successful. That might be certain relationships. That might be certain TV programs. That might be certain kinds of books. It might be refusing to go to certain places you used to go, or to entertain certain thoughts in your mind you used to entertain. To be successful in this life will require our full attention. If you say you are a Christ-follower, and you can’t name anything in your life you are struggling against, I would ask whether you are living the life God has called you to, because clearly this life will require endurance. Endurance is what? Endurance is an ability to keep going when? When you are tired and don’t want to keep going anymore, when you’d rather give up, when you’d rather sit and drink Gatorade on the sidelines. My friends, if you are a Christ-follower, then you are in a race. Races are tiring. The person who enters a race and doesn’t get tired at all isn’t really racing but just sightseeing. You are either putting out effort, or you are coasting. People in races are in all kinds of conditions, but regardless of your level of conditioning, if you are putting out effort, that effort will require endurance from you and endurance is all about continuing to do a certain thing when frankly you’d rather quit.
So have you thought lately that maybe it would be easier if you weren’t a Christian? If so, you are right. Being a Christian is definitely not the path of least resistance.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
The path of least resistance is the one that the most people are on. Look around you. What are most people doing with their lives, what path are they on? Welcome to the narrow road. This road will require perseverance, endurance, grit, and guts. You’re going to get tired. You’re going to have those pains you get in your side when you run. Your legs and lungs will hurt sometimes. Sin will torment you on some days. You will desire with all your heart to give in and do it because you dream of how good it’ll feel if you do. Sometimes you won’t give in, and you’ll feel victorious and awesome. Other times you will, but then you’ll deal with your conscience and feel like a worm for it. In both times, keep going. Stay in the race. When you fall, get back up. Run with perseverance. Don’t quit.
How do you do this? How do you keep running this race?
Hebrews 12:2-4 (NLT)
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven.
3 Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up.
4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.
You keep your eyes on Jesus. When you want to return to your old life, when you are being assaulted by temptation and desire that you know you should not give in to, keep your eyes on Jesus. Do exactly what it says here. Think about all he endured. Think of what he has saved you from. Think about whether, deep down, you really want to take a step that you know will be a setback in the race you are running. Think about the numbing effect sin has in your life. Think about how guilty and miserable you will feel afterwards if you do this, because you know you will want to go back to Christ in prayer, and you’re gonna feel awful, even though you know he loves you. Whatever it takes to shake it and keep going, do it. Find a song that encourages you. Find a scripture verse you can quote when things get rough. After all, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, he responded with scripture. Get your mind on other things, preferably by praying to Jesus that he would help you do this. Remember 1 Cor. 10:13:
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
13 But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
That’s a promise. Learn it and believe it and pray it back to God.
Notice verse 4 in our Hebrews passage, “After all, you have not YET given your lives.” Almost like, “It might require that – keep going.” Welcome to the narrow road.
Third is that you need to learn and apply all you can about discipline. That’s kind of a dirty word to some of us, but it is all we find on the narrow road, and it will deliver us into freedom eventually.
Hebrews 12:11-13 (NLT)
11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.
13 Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.
John Maxwell writes:
Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful. What we fail to understand is that there are two kinds of pain: the pain of self-discipline and the pain of regret. We avoid the pain of self-discipline because we confront it every day. Meanwhile, the pain of regret goes unnoticed for days, months, and years, but when it comes, it marks us…with the profoundest disappointment.
Successful people conquer their feelings of instant gratification and form habits of daily discipline. They realize that the pain of self-discipline is momentary, while its payoff yields long-lasting rewards.
That’s just Maxwell’s paraphrase of Hebrews! No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening, it is painful – but afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
So remember that when you avoid the pain of discipline, you are opting for the pain of regret. We can’t escape pain in our lives, but we can choose productive pain over non-productive pain. We can choose the pain of discipline over the pain of regret.
As you seek to apply discipline in your life, consider and deal with your vulnerabilities. Do you struggle with vanity? Avoid mirrors. Do you struggle with lust? Avoid the second glance. Do you struggle with a need for approval? Avoid pointing out your accomplishments. What are your vulnerabilities? Deal with them up front so they don’t lead you to sin.
As you seek to apply discipline in your life, realize secrecy is the enemy, and relationships are your ally. Shine the light of truth on the things you struggle with. Tell a close friend, and ask him/her to ask you about it periodically. When you fail, confess to this person, not just to God. Don’t make excuses, just step up close to your brokenness, and let someone else see it. Some of you might want to seek out counseling to deal with some compulsions, or with personal or relationship or spiritual issues that might be behind your areas of temptation and vulnerability. You can never get your head too together. Don’t struggle endlessly with issues all alone. Get a close friend alongside to help. If you can’t get the help you need, get counseling. Why struggle alone? The temptations in your life are no different than what others have experienced.
I love the way this passage ends.
Hebrews 12:12
12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.
After all is said and done, after you have meditated on the fact that this requires endurance, focused on Jesus, applied whatever discipline you can apply or whatever, whether you succeed or fail on any given day, take a new grip with your tired hands, and stand firm on your shaky legs. Tomorrow is a new day. Keep going. And remember what Jesus said:
Mark 10:29-30 (NIV)
29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
One way or another, it’ll all be worth it. In some form or another, the stuff you sacrifice will come back to you, and you will be richer, both in this life and in the life to come. You will have times when you miss your old life and the sins you were involved in. But my friends, they were killing you. Let me close with a passage to encourage you.
Romans 6:19-23 (MSG)
19 I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
20 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter.
21 But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!
23 Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
As we take every thought captive, freedom – increasing freedom – will be the result. We will be free, will be released into increasingly abundant life. This is all about how you think – the struggle begins in the mind and the battlefield is the mind. Let us learn to do business there and to invite God to help us take captive every thought that leads us away from his life and his freedom.
Let’s pray.
