The Battle of the Church
1 Corinthians 1:10-13.
Satan attacks the Christian, the family, and the Church. Efforts to defeat Satan in the family and Church will have little effect unless the battle of the mind is experiencing victory. However, when God’s people walk with Him, we find peace in our lives, families and the Church.
I. The Asset of the Church
Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my Church” Matthew 16:18. The mystery of redemption of all ages is the Church, Ephesians 3:3-10. Christ came for the Church, lived and died for the Church, to redeem man and include us in His kingdom through the Church, Ephesians 5:25-33. God expects us to live the successful life in community through the Church. He requires that our growing involvement with Him be through greater involvement in the Church (Ephesians 3:21). You see, the glorious bride of Christ is the Church 2 Corinthians 11:1-3. This bride of the Lamb will be no less than the New Jerusalem that will be our eternal dwelling. Revelation 21, 22:17.
I could spend the entire sermon on the importance and significance of the Church. But I must move on. Surely you can see the importance of the Church if God says it is. That is why unity is so important. That is why Paul told the Ephesians and the Corinthians, “if you are going to fight, fight for unity.”
Satan wants to divide us so he can destroy us. Satan will first try to cause you to pull away from the church and justify it. In the early days of the Church, he tried external pressure. When he realized external pressure only strengthened us, he switched to internal pressures. Division, arguments, hurt feelings, anger and bitterness, unforgiveness and conflict from within have served more effective than Emperors setting us on fire or cutting off our heads. We see several issues adversaries of the Church because they are the agents of division.
II. The adversaries of the church
Matthew 24:10-12.” And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
Attacks on the Church from within:
A. Gossip – the Bible demands that we speak as if speaking the oracles of God.
1Pe 4:10-11 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; …--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
B. Picking up an offense.
Gossip… anything said that causes the hearer to think less of the one being spoken about, and is giving someone the opportunity to pick up an offense. Picking up an offense is picking sides in an offense in which I am not involved. It is the most difficult thing to overcome.
Psalm 15 addresses this. Asking who stays right with God, it is excluded with those who do not gossip or slander. It is describe as those who pick up an offense against a brother.
Picking up an offense is being angry with me about how I offended someone else. The problem is, if I do the right thing and correct the offense with the person I actually offended, I cannot address it with you, and Satan will use that to destroy our relationship. There is no cure for picking up an offense. That is why it is so wrong.
Sometimes we see the things that others do to the ones we love as worse than the things we do. We know our intent and therefore we make allowances for that. But I cannot know your intent, so I should not take up offenses.
C. Unforgiveness and bitterness (unfulfilled revenge) Hebrews 12:15.
Heb. 12:14-15 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;”
Let’s not dress this up: Unforgiveness and bitterness are failures to learn to love enemies and fail the test of loving God. 1 John 4:20 – “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” If that verse is true, the test of measure of how much you truly love God is how much you love the least loved person in your life. When you embrace God’s love, you walk in forgiveness.
Sometimes we hear, “If you knew how someone from my past hurt me, you would understand why this hurt and I have trouble forgiving.” This is possibly very true. You see, improper handling of previous wounds will interfere with your ability to love and forgive in your future. You need to go back and forgive those who have ever hurt you.
Jesus said, “Offenses will come”. In other words, you will be hurt in this life. Your life is not defined by those hurts. It is defined by your response to them. You cannot go back and change the hurtful events in your life. However, you can, by the wonderful grace of God, change your response to them. Take it to God and be willing to forgive. Think back. Let go of the pain and stop letting it ruin your life.
D. Cold love. (can be caused by bitterness, unforgiveness, picking up offense, thus gossip.)
Matthew 24:12 - “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Cold love is seen in our cooling love for Christ, and also towards those Christ loves. When your heart hardens towards another person, it hardens towards God. To withdraw from another Christian because of pain or offense is a smokescreen for cold love towards God.
E. Pride, (can be the reason we have cold love, bitterness, unforgiveness, offenses, gossip, CL
We believe ourselves to be discerning with a good grasp of the situation, but our insights typically turn our hearts away from others and not to others. This is not from God. This is usually a reflection of what is in our own hearts.
How can you identify pride? Pride and false discernment are surrounded by coldness. True discernment from God is always loving. False discernment is always accompanied by tension. True discernment, by peace. Colossians 3:15. “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
F. False doctrines. Whether legalism or liberal theology.
Matthew 7:14 - “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
G. Lack of commitment.
2 Timothy 2:1-3 – “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
H. Uninvolvement
Heb 10:24-24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
I. Loss of focus.
1Co 15:34 “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.” One will not accomplish God’s purpose for his or her life if he cannot commit to imperfect people along the way.
J. Selfish ambition
Jas 3:14-16 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”
III. The answer for church conflict
God gave us an end-time picture of those who overcame. In this, He gave us a description of their victory. Rev 12:10-11 “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
No victory over Satan is found by repeating his fault-finding and accusations, his gossip and side-seeking. They did it through three things that are important to us:
A. The Blood of the Lamb.
The battle Satan wages against the Church is always in relationships. Eph 4:1-4 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call…”
Every family has some family member that you have to tolerate. You tolerate him or her because they are family. We are a family, by the blood of Jesus, no less. That person may be the pastor. It may be the music director. It may be the youth director. This person may be you and it may be me, but we love them, tolerate them, help them, encourage them, instruct them, guide them, because of the importance of the blood of Jesus coursing through our veins. We are family with Jesus’ blood in common. Satan should not be more powerful than that.
B. The word of their testimonies.
The Sword of God will not come out of our mouths until it has first gone through our hearts. This is where it first confronts strongholds in our lives. God wants to replace faultfinding and gossip with love and intercessory prayer. He wants to replace division with unity. It is done by intercession, worship; the lips.
True worship brings forth this peace, unity, love and growth, whereas division, discention, isolation and rejection diminish the worship of God in our lives. Psalms 84:4-6 “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.”
True worship heals wounds, helps us die to self, releases pride and anger, lack of forgiveness and bitterness. Intercession repairs the wounds in our hearts.
C. Not loving their lives more than the cause.
Division comes from too much self-love. Romans 8:28 states the promise of good from all things for “….those who love God.” His love is what helps us see the good in all things. To walk close to God, you must be committed to walking free of criticism and fault-finding, bitterness and anger, rights and offenses. You will walk committed to love, forgiveness and intercessory prayer.
I have some good news and some bad news to end with today. I know a true believer desires to be right, with God and all of His children. You want to go deeper. Concerning going deeper, let me read something to you from Francis Frangipane:
“We are created for God’s pleasure. We are not created to live for ourselves but for Him. And though God desires we enjoy His gifts and His people, He would have us know that we are created first for His pleasure. In the closing moments of this age, the Lord will have a people whose purpose is to live for God. In them, God finds His own reward for creating man. They are true worshipers of Him. They are on the earth to please God, and when He is pleased, they are pleased. The Lord will take them farther, and thus through more pain and conflict than most men. Outwardly, they will seem “smitten of God” (Isaiah 53:4). Yet to God, they are His beloved. When they are crushed, like pedals of flowers, they exude a worship, a worship that is so beautiful that angels weep in awe at their surrender. They are the Lord’s purpose for creation.” The Three Battlegrounds, Francis Frangipane, ISBN D-9629049-02.
The bad news is, it is going to hurt deeper, be more personal, and will require more dependence on His love in us than ever before.
But He is glorified. He is loved when we do that… when we are hurt and we forgive. He is shamed when we are hurt or angry and grow bitter.
God is calling for Christians to mature, grow up spiritually and emotionally, to die to self. It won’t be easy. I hope we as a body of believers can support each other in this. That is how we love one another. That is how we encourage each other for righteousness. That is how God is calling the members of this Church to love Him, draw near to Him.
How will you respond to God’s message today? Not the one you heard with your ears, but the one you heard with your heart.
