Here is a brief news item I ran across this week on the internet:
“In July, the town council in Peru, Vt., ordered Roland Williams out of his house for a month while authorities cleaned the place up. Williams had been purchasing large quantities of dog food and cola every day to feed the hundreds of rats that had been gathering on his property. And in New York City, officials reported in May that a woman feeding cereal to rats in her apartment and singing to them had also relinquished her bed to them while she slept in a chair.”
Does anyone here know what ‘higida’ means?
That comes from the cartoons you watched as a kid, where the cartoon character saw something he just couldn’t fathom, and he’d shake his head to clear it, and as he did, you’d hear the sound, ‘higida, higida, higida..’. Recognize it now?
Stories like the one I just read make us go ‘higida, higida’, don’t they?
What could have brought these people to a place where they would not only feed the vermin infesting their homes, but sing to them...? Give the bed to them...?
The stories strike us as humorous for their absurdity, and disgusting when we picture what is actually going on. But they should also sadden us, when we think about what must have happened to these people; to their self-esteem; to their willingness even to survive.
They have given up, and given over. They have given up the struggle, apparently seeing it as useless, and they have given over all that they hold dear, to become willing prisoners to that which would destroy them.
As I read these accounts, I recognized what is referred to as the “Stockholm syndrome”. Probably most of us have at least heard the term, but as time goes by we tend to forget where these terms originate.
In 1973, four hostages were taken in a botched bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of their captivity, six days later, they actively resisted rescue. They refused to testify against their captors, raised money for their legal defense, and one of the female hostages later became engaged to one of her now jailed captors.
The Stockholm syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape, is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor.
Obviously, this twisted state of the psyche got its name from later studies of these events that transpired in Stockholm. But the same syndrome has since been seen in other situations in life. It is seen in battered wives, survivors of the Holocaust (not many of them left), and like situations.
It basically boils down to this. The victim feels helpless and has lost hope for relief from a situation; gropes for and clings tenaciously to any little perceived goodness or benefit coming even from the person or situation causing the problem, and eventually begins to sense a false love and dedication to the very person or circumstance they’ve been imprisoned to.
I want to talk to you today about a sort of “Stockholm Syndrome” that seems to exist in the spiritual realm; blinding Christians to their freedom and victory in Christ, and keeping them bound to (and sometimes even sympathetic with) that which would destroy them.
Rats.
The little sins, the ungodly behaviors, that cry out for attention, receive that attention in the form of yielded members, and leave a wake of guilt and confusion that keeps the Christian defeated and ashamed to seek help from his only real source of rescue.
Let’s approach the issue this way: 1. YOUR CAPTOR NEVER HAD YOUR GOOD IN MIND, 2. THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IS NOT AN EXCUSE, and, 3. YOU’VE BEEN SET FREE, BUT YOU NEED DEPROGRAMMING.
YOUR CAPTOR NEVER HAD YOUR GOOD IN MIND.
First, let’s recognize who or what our captor was. For the moment, lay aside all the mental pictures of the Devil; evil guy in a red suit, horns and pointy tail and goatee. I don’t see Paul referring to Satan once in this 6th chapter of Romans. In fact, Paul doesn’t refer to Satan throughout his letter to the Romans, until the 16th chapter; and that one reference is to God, using our feet to crush Satan through an obedient, victorious Christian walk. That’s a different sermon, let it go for now.
What I do see Paul saying here in the 6th chapter, is that the Christian is to consider himself dead to SIN (vs. 11), not to let SIN reign in his mortal body (vs. 12), and that SIN is no longer master over the believer (vs. 14).
Paul has established in the early verses of this chapter that through Christ the believer has died to sin and sin’s power, having been buried with Christ through baptism, and raised into newness of life in Him.
Then in verses 12 through 19 he exhorts the believer, based upon those early truths, to refuse to surrender his members as instruments of unrighteousness, knowing that SIN is no longer his master, but that he is now a servant of righteousness, and should therefore yield his members to his new Master and not the old one.
So what is the name of our old master? SIN. S-I-N.
What does sin bring? DEATH. D-E-A-T-H.
In chapter 5, verse 12, Paul said, “Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-”
In Ephesians chapter 2, again Paul says”
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which
you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the
lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, even as the rest.”
And of course we can see right here in verse 23 that once more, Paul says “The wages of sin is death...”
So it is absurd to think that sin has any benefit for us at all. If sin brings death, there can be no benefit.
If we were standing on the edge of a very high cliff, and I showed you a briefcase filled with thousand dollar bills, and said, “If you catch this it’s yours”, and threw it over the edge, you would not jump after it.
The reason you would not jump after it, is because you would know that all of that money will do you no good at all, while your lifeless body lies broken on the rocks below.
Yet, sin shows us things pleasing to the eye; things that feed our boastful pride and promise to fulfill our evil lusts, and it tosses those things over the brink of eternity and we plunge after them like mindless fools.
Paul asks, “...what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?”
The answer of course, is, “none”. No benefit! Only death!
YOUR CAPTOR NEVER HAD YOUR GOOD IN MIND! See sin for what it is!
See sins, for what they are. Rats that steal, destroy, infest, infect, ...kill.
Next, THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IS NOT AN EXCUSE.
People who have been held hostage and later began to sympathize with their captors, and then joined them in their cause, and have committed crimes as a result, have suffered both the legal and the natural consequences of their actions.
The Stockholm Syndrome is not an excuse for behaving like your captor. You only become as guilty as your captor.
You’ve all heard the phrase “Guilty as sin”. I don’t know where or when that phrase was first used, or in what context, but when you sympathize with sin and yield your members to unrighteousness, you become guilty as sin.
How would you expect a police officer to react, if he risks his life (perhaps a few of his partners have actually given their lives), in the effort to free you, then, after you have been freed from your captor and brought out to safety, you turn and began fighting your rescuer tooth-and-nail, in an effort to defend the very captor who minutes ago was threatening to kill you?
How would you expect a judge to react to that police officer’s report, later on in the courtroom?
Well, Christians all over are using the Stockholm syndrome as an excuse everyday! Perhaps some of you are doing this in your private thoughts right now.
“I can’t help it. It’s an old habit. It kinda just comes natural to me”. “I try to do good. I try not to do that thing. I try not to have that attitude or act that way. But it makes me feel good, and it’s how I cope with a bad situation”. “I don’t see in the Bible where it specifically says that I shouldn’t. Besides, God understands that I’m weak, and He’ll forgive me”.
But the Stockholm syndrome is not an excuse.
Listen. Let me toss in a personal note here please.
No one besides the parents has a right to discipline and teach a chilCan I tell you about something I’ve grown a little tired of hearing?
It is terms like “Road Rage”.
When I was in the Denver Airport with my girls recently, I saw a big poster advertising a web site one could go to, that would help the seeker deal with “air rage”. The poster said that the number one job hazard for flight attendants is ‘air rage’.
Can I tell you what “air rage” and “road rage” really are? They are the same thing. They are evidences of fallen human nature. They are manifestations of members being yielded to the master, SIN.
They are violent expressions of the attitude that says, “I am more important than anyone else, and what I want I want right now, and I don’t want to wait, and I don’t want to obey the rules, and I don’t want to be expected to care for anyone else’s rights or comforts or dignity, or safety, ...I want to be god, and I want to be treated as god, because I am my only god, and if I don’t get what I want when I want it, I’m going to throw an adult tantrum and someone is going to get hurt!”
Have you ever sat and observed a very small baby when it is hungry or wet or otherwise displeased?
The fists clench, the muscles stiffen, the face grows purple with rage... and nothing appeases that anger short of getting exactly what that infant wants. That is the sin nature, and folks, I will guarantee you that if that baby was physically capable, he/she would murder to get what they want.
“Crib rage”.
Now, we excuse babies. They are helpless, and we give them what they need lovingly. The poor things have no other way to let us know of their discomfort except to cry.
But it used to be that when they reached a certain age; an age where they could be reasoned with, and where they could comprehend right and wrong and understand the purpose for discipline, that we would expect them to use more acceptable methods to make their needs and wants known.
We would expect them to begin to exercise some patience; put the needs of others before their own, learn that one does not always get everything he wants, when he wants it.
Not any more.
We live in society of instant gratification, and quite often, instant is not fast enough.
Children have been taught for many years now that they have an equal voice with adults and that they should question (and often defy) authority. Teachers have long-since lost their right to spank.
It used to be that any adult in the neighborhood who saw one of the neighborhood children misbehaving could step out and give that kid a tongue-lashing, and send them away rebuked and wiser.
Not anymore. It takes a village to raise a juvenile delinquent.
d according to biblical principles. Sometimes even the parent can come under criticism and scrutiny for doing it.
As a result we now have a society filled with 30-35 year olds speeding toward middle age, who are just like those infants with purple faces; only now they wear suits, have muscles, cars, boats, planes, businesses, families, money to purchase guns, and the uninhibited self-will to think they can use any measures to get what they want, when they want, and pity the fool who gets in their way.
Everyone gets an excuse. They were abused as a child. They’ve been rejected by their peers. They are impoverished. They are uneducated. They have a chemical imbalance that affects their behavior. They’ve been mistreated because of their race or their culture or their skin color, or the way they dress, or their accent, or because of what their ancestors did...
...everything they do that’s wrong, is someone else’s fault.
What does the Bible say? The wages of sin is death.
No excuses.
“Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts; and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness...”
Stop feeding the rats.
Don’t give the rats your bed.
The Exterminator has come and you’ve been set free.. “present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”
Don’t try to use the Stockholm syndrome as an excuse. You’ve been set free; act like a free man.
Finally, YOU’VE BEEN SET FREE, BUT YOU NEED DEPROGRAMMING.
“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God,
you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification,
and the outcome, eternal life.”
A long-term hostage who is finally rescued from the clutches of a terrorist needs counsel. They need deprogramming.
They need to be reminded that prior to their capture they would have seen the acts and actions of that terrorist...as terrible (thus the word, ‘terrorist’).
They need to be reminded that ‘normal’ means hating violence and loving good; seeking legal and proper ways to accomplish that good.
They need to be made once more to see that the criminal is responsible for his actions, and that if he was allowed to go unpunished for his criminal actions anarchy would soon be the order of the day in our society.
Folks, when we are brought to a place where we recognize our sinful condition before God, and the Holy Spirit grants us repentance, and having heard the gospel we believe it and appropriate to ourselves the salvation that God offers freely, then we have begun a new life. We receive the Divine Nature, imparted to us by God’s grace, and we become His eternal children.
But because the old man still lives in us, we find what Paul described in Romans 7; the flesh waging war against the spirit in our members.
The Divine Nature of God in us concurs with the Law of God, that it is good, and desires to be pleasing to God.
But the Old Nature (the old man) believes the wages of sin is pleasure. The old man suffers the Stockholm syndrome, having been held captive so long, and will fight tooth-and-nail to continue serving the old master.
We need deprogramming. We need to have our minds transformed (Rom 12:2), as we set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
How does this deprogramming take place? It is a process; ALSO done by the Holy Spirit and not from ourselves; called, “sanctification”.
It is not a renovation of the old self. It is not a renewing of something that has grown old and marred and broken.
It is regeneration, to begin with, and then a daily cleansing, purging, deprogramming of the effects of our long captivity, and renewing of the mind. Transformation, slowly into the image of God’s dear Son.
This deprogramming comes through prayer and study of God’s Word.
He has a reply to all the excuses the former hostage uses in defense of his captors.
“I can’t help it. (Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world) It’s an old habit. It kinda just comes natural to me”. (If any man is in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are brand new) “I try to do good. I try not to do that thing. I try not to have that attitude or act that way. But it makes me feel good, and it’s how I cope with a bad situation”. (I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is you spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.) “I don’t see in the Bible where it specifically says that I shouldn’t. Besides, God understands that I’m weak, and He’ll forgive me”. (For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries)
Don’t feed the rats. Don’t give them your bed.
Are you now ashamed of those things that once caused you death? You only sense that shame because of the Holy Spirit in you; the One who has set you free from sin and from death. Listen now to His voice. You’re His servant now, if indeed you have believed and been set free. Allow yourself daily to be deprogrammed. Sanctified.
The outcome is eternal life.
A quantity of life that begins the moment you believe; and a quality of life that grows in its richness as you yield your mind and your members to your new Master...the One who redeemed you with His blood...Jesus Christ our Lord.
