THE CHURCH ITS TURMOIL, CONFLICT, STRUGGLE AND ENDURANCE – PART 3. (PART 11 IN THE SERIES)
We continue to look at some of the matters that are of concern for the Church, and its problems and its conflict in the world.
[8]. EIGHTH CONSIDERATION. SATAN RAISES UP ENEMIES INSIDE AND OUT
If you are engaged in a work for the Lord, Satan will raise up his enemies and he has plenty. These may come from governments, from your own family or even from your regular church. Right at the very beginning, before any churches were formed the Lord taught the parable of the Sower, then of the tares. The Sower in essence was the Lord Himself and the good seed is the gospel. No sooner had the field been sown than the enemy sneaked in and sowed tares, or darnel or wild wheat. Satan works like blowflies do. Once they detect food they are there laying maggots to spoil the produce and cause rot and decay. Little wonder when one of Satan’s names is Beelzeboul, the Lord of the flies, or lord of the dung heap.
No sooner had Paul established the churches in Galatia than the legalists got in teaching that you have to keep and obey the Law of Moses and mixed it with faith, which you can not really do because what is of Law is not of faith. Romans and Galatians both teach that. Make no mistake, once a work of God is in place the devil moves his troops in.
I see this in the Melanesian and Polynesian churches of the South Pacific islands. I love the Pacific islands, and just to take one example, on my first visit to American Samoa (Pago Pago) I was thrilled with the strong Christian ethos of the island but several years later I found springing up all over, churches belonging to the cults – Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. It was so disheartening. The cults wait until a pioneering work had been done and then they move in to steal the Christians and churches. Nearly all of the cults are heavily financed with American money.
When Paul was writing to the Galatians he wrote {{Galatians 2:4 “It was because of the false brethren who HAD SNEAKED IN TO SPY OUT OUR LIBERTY which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage,”}} Yes, he established the churches in Galatia, and just like the Polynesian and Melanesian islands, the false brethren sneaked in to destroy the pure gospel of grace. However, Paul, being a wonderful shepherd of the sheep, realised it straight away and then wrote – {{Galatians 2:5 “but WE DID NOT YIELD IN SUBJECTION TO THEM for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”}}
Most churches have an oversight, whether it is called elders, or a presbytery or administrative board or whatever. How diligent are these men to protect the faith? How eager are they to stop what is false from entering the church? An even better question is, “How skilled are they, and how established are they in the bible to be able to distinguish truth from error?” When I look around these days in many places I despair because the oversight, board, elders or whatever they term themselves, are not spiritual men of faith, so what hope does that church to keep itself free from error?
One of the terms for Christians is soldiers – {{Philippians 2:25 “I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker AND FELLOW SOLDIER, who is also your messenger and minister to my need.” 2Timothy 2:3-4 “Suffer hardship with me as A GOOD SOLDIER of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”}} The teaching there is that soldiers must be diligent to their calling. At times it might involve hardship but we must remain loyal to the cause. A man appointed to guard the church and sleeps on duty is a worthless soldier. It ought not to be, and is the reason why churches these days are weak and spineless. How many ministers are speaking out about the atrocities of our socialist, anti-Christian governments destroying the lives of children and introducing abominable agendas? Are they afraid of making waves? The only ships that make waves are those that are moving forward. Most ships in churches are docked with the lights out.
My fellow Christians, rise up and speak out for the Lord. Stand your ground against forceful men and women who want to introduce some new thing into church fellowships and want to water down the pure gospel. These are the weeds, the tares, false brethren and sometimes wolves in sheep clothing.
[9]. NINTH CONSIDERATION. BATTLING A HOSTILE WORLD AND THE MEDIA
In our current day we have two enemies that may not be readily recognised. The world is fast closing ranks against Christians and Jews. They are despised and rejected, and it was not much different in the early years of the church. Christians were considered nothing better than entertainment for the Roman arenas. The world is becoming more wicked so quickly and tolerance towards Christians and Jews is very small now in my Australia. Anti-Semitism is growing rapidly partly fuelled by allowing so many Islamic militants into the nation. I know it is the same in other places in the western world.
THE WORLD HATES CHRISTIANS BECAUSE IT HATES GOD. One follows the other. Jesus spoke these words – {{Matthew 10:22 “and you will be HATED by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has ENDURED to the end who will be saved.”}} That persecution and hate have been true all through the history of the church. The important thing here is the second part of the verse. It speaks of endurance. Jesus does not want wimps and wusses. He wants those who will follow Him even to death, though I am not trying to make you feel awkward. This is what the Lord said – {{Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME, for whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.}}
Taking up the cross is what a man did when he was being taken to the place of cruel Roman execution, and for the Christian is means dying to yourself; placing yourself in the place of death. This is not an elitist statement but the world is not worthy of Christians. They don’t belong.
Just returning to that great hymn I used right at the start of this series, here is a verse –
'Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.
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The true Church has tribulation, and Christians in western nations are persecuted but that is nothing like what it is in hateful Islamic places and areas in Africa where daily the Church adds its faithful martyrs to a growing list.
THE MEDIA
Then we come to the media. Today the Church is scorned and ridiculed by the media because the media in the main has become the face of left wing humanism and radicalism. Those of us who can discern the media in whatever nation we live, know it is hardening rapidly towards socialism/Marxism and correspondingly becoming anti-Christian and anti-semitic. One of the problems we face here is that the whole media refuses to distinguish the true from the false. One major church denomination that has a constant history of child sexual abuse has blackened the overall impression of Christians throughout, because the media loves to paint ALL Christians in the darkest colour.
The media will turn more and more on Christians and more frequent are the terms “homophobic” and “narrow-minded” and “bigots” that come from an anti-Christian press. In the first couple of centuries of the Church God raised up certain apologists who would speak for the Church and defend its beliefs before the governing authorities. Men such as Origen and Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and the author of the Epistle to Diognetus were examples; and modern men such as Francis Schaeffer and Ravi Zacharias, C S Lewis, John Lennox, Norman Geisler and William Lane Craig.
We need to uphold our young Christians. They are under attack from the education system in a way we never were, and attacked on all sides by a culture that is so godless. They need support and it is one area the churches must address with good, established and sincere men, not charismatic youth leaders of little substance.
It is important to understand the perspective of all this because the Lord did warn the church that difficult times were coming right at the end of the Church age. We are there now.
[10]. TENTH CONSIDERATION. HOW TO KEEP STRONG AND BATTLE ALL THIS
Some of this ground we have already covered but a few things I want address. We can only keep strong according to the ability to be strengthened. Some will not allow God to have His way with them. There are certain factors we must never overlook. I will list these –
1. Being saturated in THE WORD OF GOD.
2. You must not neglect PRAYER AND SHORT COMMUNION with the Lord.
3. Do not neglect the strengthening of CORPORATE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.
4. Make sure you remember you are PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.
5. STRENGTHEN YOUR FAITH.
POINT 1. The bible is the living word of God and therefore gives life. The dismissal of it causes stunted Christians and hopelessness for God. David said, “Your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.” We can only ever know the foundation of our faith when we know the documents of our faith, the bible. How did Jesus combat Satan in the wilderness? It is written! It is written! It is written!
POINT 2. Did Jesus need to pray? In one sense maybe not but it did not work that way. He came to this world in full dependence on the Father and prayed often to the father. It was the life link and He established that for us. How we need to pray but I have noticed sometimes in the Christian life that the busier one gets the less prayer is the result. That must be guarded against. Prayer is the vital link to communion and strength.
POINT 3. Corporate Christian fellowship means not neglecting fellowhip with fellow believers. We are all links in God’s Church and need to be linked in and remain so. You know the example of the coal where if a hot live coal is removed from the fire of “fellow coals” then the redness fades and the coal goes cold. We do not want to be cold coals because the sinful world will run over us. Some Christians are in remote locations and do not have the opportunity for continuous Christian fellowship. Are we able to complement this for them?
POINT 4. This follows on from the last question. We are all members of the Body and where possible we need to have a ministry to one another - hurting Christians, needy Christians, isolated Christians, persecuted Christians. I will never forget the scandalous persecution of Israel Folau, arguably the best Rugby Union player in the world. He is a Christian from Fiji and quoted this verse in his own way on social media that had nothing to do with Rugby Union – {{1Corinthians 6:9-10 “or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”}}
The main sponsor of Rugby Union Australia was QANTAS the airline company that was run by an activist homosexual who hates Christians. His influence had Israel dismissed from Rugby Union. That was blatant persecution yet nothing was done about it, and the only ones who decried that were some Christians. There was no support from other quarters except Sky News (Fox). That was lamentable. It is people like that who have suffered persecution we need to care about, as we are fellow members of the Body of Christ.
POINT 5. If I want to be a better tennis player, I need to practice. Also I need to try to get, or stay fit. I need to be acquainted with the rules of the game. The same procedure applies to strengthening our faith. We need to practice our faith, that is, to live it and develop it in, and through faith. We need to stay fit, that is, to exercise the matters of vitality – prayer, communion, and living consistently. As for the rules of the game, we have the manual at hand, the bible. We must know it cover to cover. That is what will strengthen our faith!
In this decaying world, unless we keep strong in the battle we will be overtaken and become useless Christians who may have started well but have amounted to little or nothing. Consider the great love that God had for you and do not neglect the requirements or the gift God has given you. Take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and be a good soldier for Jesus Christ.
You have a responsibility to others.
The next time we are going to investigate THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
