Good morning and happy Saturday. I hope that you had a great week. Tomorrow morning, we will continue our series The Persecuted and Triumphant Church. I will be preaching from 2 Thessalonians 1. I hope that you can join us.
Recently, a friend of mine called and needed a little help. She had accidently locked the door between the garage and the house. Like most of us that use the garage door as the entry to the house, she didn’t have the housekeys with her. She asked if I would take a look at it and see if I could get it open or if we needed to contact a locksmith. Always up for a challenge, I grabbed a variety of tools and went to check things out. When I arrived, I took a flashlight, assessed the lock mechanism, selected the right tool, and abracadabra, open sesame, and the door was open in like ten seconds. It literally took longer to walk from my truck to the door than it did to open it. Fortunately for them, they do have a garage door that is closed most of the time or it would be rather vulnerable. However, many locks on houses are rather simple to open. Especially the interior ones. They really only serve the purpose of keeping someone from accidently opening the door while you are in certain rooms. They kind of provide a false sense of security. It reminds me of when Michelle and I lived in our first house over in Merriam. One day our elderly neighbors came over. They had locked themselves out of their house and wanted to know if I could help. Seems to be a familiar pattern in my life. Anyway, they wanted to know if I would break a window to get into their house and open the front door. I told them I could get in another way. Since their house was identical to ours. I knew it had a cheap lock on the back door to the deck. So, I grabbed my ladder, climbed onto their deck, pulled out my driver’s license, slid it between the doorframe and the lock, and boom, the door was open. George and Kay were shocked at how quickly I was able to open their door. The false sense of security was gone, and they determined to have a real lock installed on their door. They were also curious about how their neighbor knew how to open locks like that. I couldn’t blame seeing it on the internet since Al Gore hadn’t invented it yet.
In reality, we all live with a false sense of security. Whether it be the faux locks on our houses, passwords on our devices, allowing Alexa and Google to listen to our every word, etc., we naively go about our lives thinking we are relatively safe. It is only when something happens like a break-in, a security breach, our internet goes down, the power goes out, an illness, a pandemic, a market correction, a war, etc., that we recognize our vulnerability. We have a false sense of security, that the world is a stable place, that things continue as they are uninterrupted, that it is predictable and reliable. However, it is not. We live in a time of incredible instability in the world. Can you even imagine what it would be like if the power grid was sabotaged or shut down for more than a day or two? What if we didn’t have access to the internet for a prolonged period of time? There would be utter chaos in the United States. And yet, it is not out of the question.
Do you realize that the same is true in our spiritual lives as well? We often live with a false sense of security. We go to church most weeks, we know a few verses, we read the Bible when we have time, toss out a few flare prayers during the week and we think we are adequately equipped. What we don’t often realize is that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle. And yet our preparation is more like us heading over to fight the war in Ukraine with a squirt gun and a baseball cap. Somehow, we have been lulled into a sense of complacency about the nature of the spiritual warfare that rages all around us. Maybe we are content to sing a few tunes about how Jesus loves us, listen to some motivational words from a “preacher”, and eat lunch with someone from church so that we are “doing life together.” Maybe that’s where our adversary wants us. Naively blinded to the reality of spiritual warfare. Far from the front lines, not causing any waves, not pressing the offensive. Safe and secure, so we think.
I love what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. I think more people are familiar with verse 13, but he actually issues a warning in verse 12.
12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)
The words of Ephesians 6 are a reminder as to what the battle really entails.
10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation 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 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.
The apostle Peter gave us this reminder:
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
The challenge for us is to recognize the spiritual battle that we are in and seek to be adequately prepared to stand firm in the midst of it. Satan is looking for ways into your life. Don’t trust your spiritual well-being to the flimsy locks of lukewarm churchianity.
From our neighborhoods to the nations,
Pastor Larry
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