Eph 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
How do we take our stand against the devil's schemes (or "wiles of the devil" - KJV)?
13 Therefore 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And 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.
All of this is worth spending some time with and meditating upon. Not religiously, of course, but as part of our full-on relationship with the one who supplies us with the power in all this! Some people call this "spiritual warfare," I think mostly because of the imagery of armor and battle gear that Paul uses. But when it's all boiled down, it's simply a matter of a few basic truths that will help us overcome the evil one - who, as Peter says, is an adversary "who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Peter goes on to say "resist him, steadfast in the faith..." And the "armor" Paul talks about in verses 14-17 of the above passage includes:
• Truth
• Righteousness
• The Gospel of Peace
• Faith
• Salvation
• The Word of God
Earlier this year, I broke some of this down in three separate posts, if you're interested in checking any of it out.
The Full Armor of God
God's armor 1-3
God's armor 4-6
And don't forget that in our relationship with God we have the wonderful privilege to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" and we can "be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." :)
Grace Roots Blog
Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Grace nullified
"You nullify the word of God by your tradition..." (Mark 7:13)
Although Jesus didn't say the above words in the exact context in which I'm going to use them, I do think the words themselves are very fitting in several contexts. I've seen many Christians - and I admit that I've been there myself - neglecting New Covenant truth and continuing on instead with some of the principles of the Old Covenant, only using them in a 'New Covenant kind of way' - which in reality only nullifies the truth of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is a brand new thing! It's not Old Covenant Part 2. It's not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it used in combination with the Old. It's not based upon the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant is obsolete and is growing old and is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). Now, Jesus Himself was an Old Covenant teacher, and I think the whole idea of Jesus teaching the Old Covenant and yet being the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" is something that is hard for modern day Christians to grasp. We see Jesus' Old Covenant teachings throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So then if He came to bring the New Covenant, why did He teach the Old Covenant? It's because the Old Covenant did have a purpose, and His teachings put a magnifying glass on that purpose. I won't get into all of it here because I've written about it time and time again. One example would be this post. For now, though, I'll just say that the reason for Jesus teaching the Old Covenant was not as a means of teaching Christians how to live.
Now that I've come to understand the differences between the two Covenants and the reasons for each, I've found myself in the midst of some hairy situations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when it comes to talking about life in Christ, because many of them are still walking - at least to an extent - in the ways of the Old, trying to fit them in with the New. But of course you cannot put new wine into old wineskins (see Mark 2:21-22). I guess you could say I've seen the nasty effects - the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling all over the place - and it's a sad situation. I'm sure many of you can relate.
One example: Last year in a small group setting (a group that I had been meeting together with for 4 years), there was a man who had been hurt sorely by church people in his past. I'll just be vague and say that there were a lot of "rules" in place and he questioned a lot of them, and faced rejection from church people. Anyway, there came a time in our small group when he began speaking about how his hurt and bitterness towards these people was affecting his life in big ways, including his family and his work. There's much more to the story, but it seemed to me and to others that he was being open about this and really wanted to heal and get past this.
And so the "answer" came from one member of our group and was further propagated by a few more: "If you don't forgive people of their sins, God won't forgive you." These words, taken from Matthew 6, are of course the words Jesus spoke immediately following "The Lord's Prayer." And so I at least understand why my friends try to apply them to their Christian lives, since they are indeed the words of Jesus. But if you followed the link above to my previous post, you'll see why I don't believe all of Jesus words are Christianity-based words, but rather are pre-cross words, based upon the Old Covenant. In other words, I believe all the words of Jesus are important, but I don't believe all the words of Jesus represent life under the New Covenant. A few times I've referred to Bino's post, Dismantle the confession booths, for a scripture-only view of how in Christ (after the cross, after the resurrection) we have already been forgiven (and how we've already been justified, saved and made righteous and how we are complete in Him).
Well, the man in our group spoke up and said that he has a hard enough time forgiving himself for many of the things he has done, never mind forgiving others. I really felt for him. I had been praying for him for a long time, as had others. I knew he was dealing with a lot of junk.
"But," continued the others, "the Bible says that you have to forgive others. We're COMMANDED to forgive. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you."
Of course I couldn't help but speak up, not only in defense of this man but of the very gospel. In short, I tried to help to bring the truth to light by showing how in Christ we're already forgiven by God and how we're unconditionally loved by Him. I said that this man doesn't need to work on following any commands to love and forgive people; he needs to first know the unconditional love of God and he needs to understand how he himself is fully forgiven, before he can even begin to extend this to other people.
Our nice little discussion quickly became more of a heated argument. I saw emotions in my friends that I had never seen before. Afterwards, when I came up to the woman who had originally brought up the whole forgiveness thing to apologize for any discomfort caused by our discussion, she said she didn't want to talk to me. I waited a few days and then sent her an email to sort of extend an "olive branch" to her. She accepted the olive branch but then proceeded to warn me to not go against the Word of God. The word "WORD" was capitalized seven times in this email, emphasizing how my "OPINIONS" need to be backed by the WORD and how we need to "strive to do what the WORD says."
Again, I fully understand where people are coming from. I don't agree with them, but I understand. And that's why I said yesterday that "grace is hard." Pure grace is hard to accept and it's hard to understand when we're not rightly dividing the two covenants. I've been there. "Jesus said it. That settles it." I've been in the place of not understanding that all of Jesus' words are important but not all of Jesus' words have to do with the New Covenant.
Overall I think I've built up good relationships with various people who I see often, but often disagree with. I've been tactful but firm in my beliefs. I do see that there is a difference between the dark, legalistic, religious Pharisees who wanted to kill Jesus and do away with His grace, and the modern day legalistic, religious Christians who simply haven't yet understood the grace of God in its fullness - as revealed by scripture. I want to continue building relationships with these people, and have great loving-kindness and patience towards them. And yet at times I think I also have a personality that is sort of like Paul's that stands up and yells, "You foolish people! Who has bewitched you, that you don't see we are beneficiaries of a NEW and BETTER covenant!"
Although Jesus didn't say the above words in the exact context in which I'm going to use them, I do think the words themselves are very fitting in several contexts. I've seen many Christians - and I admit that I've been there myself - neglecting New Covenant truth and continuing on instead with some of the principles of the Old Covenant, only using them in a 'New Covenant kind of way' - which in reality only nullifies the truth of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant is a brand new thing! It's not Old Covenant Part 2. It's not a continuation of the Old Covenant, nor is it used in combination with the Old. It's not based upon the Old Covenant in any way. The Old Covenant is obsolete and is growing old and is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). Now, Jesus Himself was an Old Covenant teacher, and I think the whole idea of Jesus teaching the Old Covenant and yet being the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" is something that is hard for modern day Christians to grasp. We see Jesus' Old Covenant teachings throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So then if He came to bring the New Covenant, why did He teach the Old Covenant? It's because the Old Covenant did have a purpose, and His teachings put a magnifying glass on that purpose. I won't get into all of it here because I've written about it time and time again. One example would be this post. For now, though, I'll just say that the reason for Jesus teaching the Old Covenant was not as a means of teaching Christians how to live.
Now that I've come to understand the differences between the two Covenants and the reasons for each, I've found myself in the midst of some hairy situations with my brothers and sisters in Christ when it comes to talking about life in Christ, because many of them are still walking - at least to an extent - in the ways of the Old, trying to fit them in with the New. But of course you cannot put new wine into old wineskins (see Mark 2:21-22). I guess you could say I've seen the nasty effects - the wineskins bursting and the wine spilling all over the place - and it's a sad situation. I'm sure many of you can relate.
One example: Last year in a small group setting (a group that I had been meeting together with for 4 years), there was a man who had been hurt sorely by church people in his past. I'll just be vague and say that there were a lot of "rules" in place and he questioned a lot of them, and faced rejection from church people. Anyway, there came a time in our small group when he began speaking about how his hurt and bitterness towards these people was affecting his life in big ways, including his family and his work. There's much more to the story, but it seemed to me and to others that he was being open about this and really wanted to heal and get past this.
And so the "answer" came from one member of our group and was further propagated by a few more: "If you don't forgive people of their sins, God won't forgive you." These words, taken from Matthew 6, are of course the words Jesus spoke immediately following "The Lord's Prayer." And so I at least understand why my friends try to apply them to their Christian lives, since they are indeed the words of Jesus. But if you followed the link above to my previous post, you'll see why I don't believe all of Jesus words are Christianity-based words, but rather are pre-cross words, based upon the Old Covenant. In other words, I believe all the words of Jesus are important, but I don't believe all the words of Jesus represent life under the New Covenant. A few times I've referred to Bino's post, Dismantle the confession booths, for a scripture-only view of how in Christ (after the cross, after the resurrection) we have already been forgiven (and how we've already been justified, saved and made righteous and how we are complete in Him).
Well, the man in our group spoke up and said that he has a hard enough time forgiving himself for many of the things he has done, never mind forgiving others. I really felt for him. I had been praying for him for a long time, as had others. I knew he was dealing with a lot of junk.
"But," continued the others, "the Bible says that you have to forgive others. We're COMMANDED to forgive. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you."
Of course I couldn't help but speak up, not only in defense of this man but of the very gospel. In short, I tried to help to bring the truth to light by showing how in Christ we're already forgiven by God and how we're unconditionally loved by Him. I said that this man doesn't need to work on following any commands to love and forgive people; he needs to first know the unconditional love of God and he needs to understand how he himself is fully forgiven, before he can even begin to extend this to other people.
Our nice little discussion quickly became more of a heated argument. I saw emotions in my friends that I had never seen before. Afterwards, when I came up to the woman who had originally brought up the whole forgiveness thing to apologize for any discomfort caused by our discussion, she said she didn't want to talk to me. I waited a few days and then sent her an email to sort of extend an "olive branch" to her. She accepted the olive branch but then proceeded to warn me to not go against the Word of God. The word "WORD" was capitalized seven times in this email, emphasizing how my "OPINIONS" need to be backed by the WORD and how we need to "strive to do what the WORD says."
Again, I fully understand where people are coming from. I don't agree with them, but I understand. And that's why I said yesterday that "grace is hard." Pure grace is hard to accept and it's hard to understand when we're not rightly dividing the two covenants. I've been there. "Jesus said it. That settles it." I've been in the place of not understanding that all of Jesus' words are important but not all of Jesus' words have to do with the New Covenant.
Overall I think I've built up good relationships with various people who I see often, but often disagree with. I've been tactful but firm in my beliefs. I do see that there is a difference between the dark, legalistic, religious Pharisees who wanted to kill Jesus and do away with His grace, and the modern day legalistic, religious Christians who simply haven't yet understood the grace of God in its fullness - as revealed by scripture. I want to continue building relationships with these people, and have great loving-kindness and patience towards them. And yet at times I think I also have a personality that is sort of like Paul's that stands up and yells, "You foolish people! Who has bewitched you, that you don't see we are beneficiaries of a NEW and BETTER covenant!"
Thursday, January 17, 2008
God's armor 4-6
This is a follow up to my two recent posts, The Full Armor of God and God's armor 1-3. I'm essentially attempting to demystify spiritual warfare and the armor of God. It's not that spiritual warfare can't sometimes involve deep emotions or various types of miraculous outward manifestations. It's not that at all! But I do believe that in our day to day lives in Christ, we have an enemy who often fights in more subtle and quiet ways. 2 Cor 10:4 says that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God..." The weapons of our warfare are supernatural, but that doesn't mean they have to be spooky! Isn't our entire life in Christ a supernatural life? And as our life in Christ is a gift, and a matter of God working in and through us by His power and might (not our own efforts), so are these weapons. Continuing on with the final three weapons mentioned in Ephesians 6 by Paul:
• Faith - Paul talked about faith earlier on in his epistle to the Ephesians. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Even our faith is a gift of God. I remember times in my life in which I would try to muster up as much faith as I could in order to get God to work in and through me. I would strive and struggle to try to work up enough faith (which basically was a matter of me crying out for greater faith), and feeling so bad when I thought I just didn't have enough faith to get God to do anything. MY how I had it so wrong! I can rest in the faith I have, rather than struggling to try to gain more. What's more, my faith is not to be in how much faith I can work up! Rather, the life I live in this body, I live by faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is not a matter of striving to have more of something. It's really a matter of letting go of any amount of trust I have that I can accomplish anything and instead trusting solely in Jesus. There's so much more that could be said here, but I'm wanting to be brief. Any and all comments are welcome, of course.
• Salvation - Paul says earlier, in Eph 1:13-14, "In Him (Christ) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." I love that phrase. "The gospel of your salvation." The good news of our salvation. Our salvation is a weapon in God's arsenal. Sorry, devil, but I'm saved. I'm one of God's children. You cannot lay a charge on me and you cannot lay a charge on my loved ones who are saved!
• The Word of God - Again, being brief, Jesus Himself is the Word of God! As Colossians 2:9 says, in Him (Jesus, the Word of God) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. Not only that, but Jesus, the Word of God, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, dwells in us! (See Rom 8:10-11, 1 Cor 6:19, Col 1:27). "The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb 4:12). In a way, we could also refer to the scriptures as the Word of God. And more than that, God speaks directly to us in various ways. It's His personal Word to us, sometimes individually and sometimes corporately. Either way, His Word is a mighty weapon in our spiritual arsenal.
Not that I want to dismiss all of the outward, over-emotional times that I've witnessed in my pentecostal experience, such as people shouting at the devil or somehow acting in some holier than thou way as they declare God's Word, but sometimes it seems as if emotion trumps Jesus and the scriptures, and people come to rely more upon having the right emotions rather than simply trusting in the truth of God. I believe that sometimes, perhaps even many times, the emotions are truly genuine, and they reflect a natural response to a true understanding of God. Other times, however, I become concerned when it appears as if people have become emotional out of desperation rather than out of truth.
Again, there's much more to be said on all six of the weapons mentioned in Ephesians 6. I'm sure I'll touch on them more in the future and I always welcome your input as well.
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