Two weeks ago I started preaching on this passage, and I told you at the time that as I began to study though it, what I had intended to be a single sermon had grown into at least two. Now it looks like three. And frankly, we could spend many more weeks on the subject of spiritual warfare. As I said two weeks ago, there have been more words written discussing this topic in the last 35 years as have probably been written in the previous 2,000. Christian culture has embraced this idea of spiritual warfare in a huge way.
This is somewhat appropriate, because I think it’s more than appropriate for us to be aware that we are at war against a foe who is waging a campaign of insurgency against the Church. Many in the church treat it as a country club, a place where nice folks dress up in nice clothes, hear a nice sermon, talk about nice things and leave feeling really nice. Instead, I think that the writers of the Scriptures and Jesus himself speak of the church as existing in the midst of a real battlefield, complete with obstacles, minefields and real enemies.
But I also think that much of what has been written about spiritual warfare in the last 35 years is unprofitable at best, and erroneous and dangerous at worst. And I think this is the case because so much of what has been written and taught about spiritual warfare does not, in my opinion, take seriously the clear teachings in the Scriptures about God’s sovereignty, providence, omnipotence and the victory we enjoy because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But even so, Satan is still waging a war of insurgency against the Church. We are told in 1 Peter that he still roams around like a roaring lion, looking for people to devour. And we need to take seriously the fact that we are truly at war. Two weeks ago I told you that I had divided this passage into three points, and we only covered the first point that week. All three are all printed in the sermon notes page in the back of your bulletin, but let me enumerate them:
1-3 We live and we fight in the world
4-5 We live and we fight with powerful weapons
6-8 We live and we fight as those under authority
This week, let’s consider point #2, we live and we fight with powerful weapons.
What do we know about the weapons that we are to use as we engage in spiritual warfare? Paul first tells us that we don’t use the same weapons as the world. As you remember from two weeks ago, the NIV renders this Greek word, sarx, as “world”. Most other translations render it, “flesh”. The flesh is that carnal nature that is at enmity towards God. It is our natural state apart from an act of God’s grace in our lives. So when Paul talks about not using the using the weapons of the world, he is talking about not using the same weapons as those who live in opposition to the gospel.
As you look at this world, as you look at those powers that war against the Church and against the gospel, what are the weapons that you see employed?
Two weeks ago we talked about the strategy that Satan uses to wage war. A spirit of disillusionment, discouragement, and dissention.
This week let me add three more – these are more precisely weapons than strategy. Paul tells us that we do not use the weapons of the flesh. It might be helpful to see what those weapons are, so that we can recognize them and fight against them. Though they are not readily apparent in this passage, they are spoken of throughout Paul’s letters. The weapons that the flesh uses to wage war against the Church are: Fear, guilt, and power.
Over the millennia, fear has been a primary weapon that Satan has used to wage war. He has sought to make you and I afraid of many things. Many folks inside and outside the church are convinced that we should be afraid of God, that He is an angry, unloving deity.
We see this in many religions outside of Christianity, where people must work for their salvation. God is seen as a grudging deity who will only let people in to heaven if He is convinced that they have done enough to earn His love and His favor. So you must be good, keep an infinite list of commandments, do continual works of charity, knock on doors, pass out pamphlets, go on missions and pilgrimages, and still live in fear that you might not have done enough. Some religions even teach that people get extra chances through reincarnation, since one life lived is not usually sufficient to accomplish enough to satisfy this angry god.
Another weapon that Satan uses is guilt. Guilt is one of the most destructive and debilitating forces known to man. It is capable of changing the way we think, feel and act. I read a study several years ago by a psychiatric association that said that well over half of the people who are in mental health facilities are there because of unresolved guilt. You and I know the drill all too well. You’re not good enough and you never will be. You’ve hurt and wounded people. You have not met people’s expectations. You can’t live up to your own standards and you are a failure. And you will never be anything more than that. I would be shocked if there is a single person here today who has not had thoughts like this. And they are little atomic bombs that the enemy uses to destroy us.
The last weapon is power. Satan wants us to believe that we must be powerful. Power according to the flesh may be influence, money, status or popularity. It can take the form of graduate degrees, stock portfolios, big houses and fancy new cars, straight-A report cards, varsity letters and college acceptance letters; titles like Vice President, Manager, Director and Pastor; superlatives like most popular, best looking and class clown. In this culture we know power when we see it, we value it and we even worship it.
These are the weapons of the flesh. And if you are sitting here this morning thinking that you struggle with any of these three - fear, guilt and power - you are losing the battle and might even already be a prisoner.
But Paul says we do not fight with the weapons of the flesh. In fact, Jesus has destroyed each of these weapons. Like a Patriot Missile that shoots down incoming rockets, Jesus has disarmed and destroyed each of these threats.
Do you remember what Jesus’ first words were when he came out of the tomb? “Do not fear”. Did you know that there are at least 23 times in the Gospels alone where Jesus, God or an angel tells people not to fear? Our God is a loving, patient God and we have nothing to fear. We are told in 1 John 4:18: 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
What about guilt? Jesus has destroyed guilt as well. We need not feel guilty, not because we are not guilty, but because Jesus has taken our guilt on himself. There is nothing you have done, nothing you are doing now and nothing you will ever do that Jesus cannot or will not forgive. Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. David was an adulterer. Paul persecuted and killed Christians. And every hero of the Scriptures lacked faith. You and I are in good company. And the incredible news is that Jesus paid for every one of those sins, and we can start every day and every moment in the knowledge that God is doing a new work in our lives to conform us into the image of his Son, and we are free from guilt. We simply do not need to drag that old carcass of guilt around any longer because of the death and resurrection of Christ.
And what of power? In the Kingdom of God, the power of the flesh is useless, toothless and vain. Jesus said that if you want to be great, you must humble yourself. If you want to be great you must obey the commandments. If you want to be great, you must serve others, washing feet and laying down your own life. Conspicuously absent from that prescription for greatness are money, status, titles, resumes, popularity, great colleges and varsity letters. Chasing power as the flesh knows it is another vain rabbit trail that leads to nothing.
But now let’s talk about the weapons that are at our disposal. Paul does not go into great detail in this passage to tell us exactly what our weapons are, but he does say that they have divine power and they are powerful enough to demolish strongholds.
And I suppose this is precisely where I diverge from the folks who are so into contemporary forms of what they call “spiritual warfare.” I don’t doubt that this is a real battle waged in time and space and with real weapons. But what I doubt is that it all depends on us and I also doubt that there is any doubt that God will win. And those folks who spend so much time talking about this and worrying about strongholds and dark powers seem to portray the idea that it does depend on us and the outcome is in doubt.
Weapons only mentioned twice in NT – here and in 1Cor 6 where it talks about weapons of righteousness in both hands. Beyond that, the only weapons that are referred to are in Eph 6 where we get the list of spiritual armor –
3Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
And in Hebrews 6 we are told that the word of God is sharper than a sword and divides soul and spirit, and judges the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. For all of the books that have been written on the subject, I simply do not find much language in the Bible that supports the superstructure we seem to have created around the subject.
So what IS Paul talking about when he mentions these weapons? Well, besides the fact that they have divine power and are incredibly strong – demolishing strongholds – he talks more about WHAT they demolish than what the weapons actually are.
Is it possible that this is because we already have them? Or maybe because like the infantry moping up after the air onslaught in Desert Storm, we are the benefactors of the weapons that someone else uses. Let’s consider what weapons we do know that we have and what instructions we get from the Scriptures.
First, we have the Word of God. I must wonder if this is precisely what Paul is talking about in verse 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.” Well, how did Paul do that, and how do we see this played out in the early church?
In Acts 17-18 we are told 4 times that Paul reasoned with people. Once, we are told specifically that he went into the synagogue and reasoned from the Scriptures and from them proved that Jesus was the Christ. The other 3 times we are told that he reasoned in the synagogue, and once he also did the same thing in the marketplace after being in the synagogue. I don’t think it would be much of a stretch of logic to think that Paul’s method was the same in all 4 cases. He was clearly teaching from the Scriptures.
In Berea, we are told that the disciples there daily studied the Scriptures to make sure that what the apostles were teaching was indeed true. When Peter preached, he made use of the Scriptures. Two thirds of his sermon in Acts 2 was given to quoting Scripture!
God’s Word has the power to demolish arguments and pretensions. I suppose that the real question is this: How do we handle God’s Word? Do you and I read it? Study it? Meditate on it? Memorize it? Listen to it preached?
If not, you can talk all you want about spiritual warfare, but what you are doing is as useless as a soldier in Iraq charging into battle and leaving his gun behind. Don’t talk to me about strongholds and strategic level prayer and casting out dark spirits if you are ignoring the power of the Scriptures! That’s where our warfare starts and ends. If you and I adequately handle the Word of God, we will be effective in battle.
The other weapon that the Scriptures mention numerous times is prayer. It appears in the Ephesians passage as well. “18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
This is truly God’s battle. Again, where I diverge from much of the material that has been written over the last 35 years is that it seems to assume that this is our battle. And it ignores the power and the sovereignty of God. God could end this insurgency in a millisecond. We are fighting for two reasons and two reasons only:
1) God is allowing this battle to continue for His own glory.
2) God wants you and I to be shaped and encouraged by carrying the battle to His enemies with His own power.
And prayer seems to be one of the primary ways that God involves us in the fight. Prayer teaches us to see things from God’s perspective, just like we are looking at the battle through a pair of binoculars while standing beside the General at the command post. It’s not so much that our prayers change God’s strategy, as much as our prayers involve us in God’s strategy. But this is one more way that “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.”
The Word of God and prayer help take OUR thoughts captive! They are the weapons that not only confound the enemy, but they are the weapons that change US!
My friends, this is the face of spiritual warfare. This is how God has designed for us to fight an insurgency. This fight is difficult and deliberate. But it is a fight that has already been won. As many times as I read Peter Wagner and the others who so eloquently write of the dark powers, the strongholds and the legions of demons, I cannot forget the reality of the cross and the empty tomb. Either Jesus is victorious or He is not. Either Jesus has the power to preserve the Church and his beloved children, or He does not. James 4:7-8 says, “7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you.” We have nothing to fear from the flesh.
If you feel less than victorious this morning, I would ask you to consider where you stand in this battle. If you know Christ as your Savior, you are on the Lord’s side and that is the victorious side. Don’t let the weapons of the flesh: fear, guilt and power – convince you that you are less than a victor with Christ.
And if you are not standing with Christ in this struggle and if you may have even bought into the lie that the flesh is stronger than the power of God, then I beg you, surrender, submit, and join the side that has already won. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The victor does not take prisoners. He welcomes those who come over from the other side, delights in them, and treats them as sons, daughters and heirs of His Kingdom.
To God be the victory and to God be the glory. Amen.
