Taught to Know War

"Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan ² (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), ³ namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath."

Judges 3:1-3

When the people of Israel neglected to drive out the inhabitants of the land according to God's command, He allowed the people to remain to test the Israelites.  In Judges 2:22 God revealed one purpose why He allowed the nations to remain:  "...So that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not."  By allowing nations that did not fear God to remain, He effectively provided His people a choice.  The Israelites were granted an opportunity to prove themselves faithful to God's commands or reveal their disobedience.

This second reason God allowed the nations who did not fear God among His people I find most compelling.  There was a new generation of Israelites who did not know God, His mighty works (Judges 2:10), and had not experienced war firsthand.  They were not battle-hardened warriors who placed their faith in God to fight their battles.  This new generation was soft, easily influenced by the enemies of God, and needed to learn how to fight and stand up for righteousness.  So God saw fit to allow enemies of Israel to remain so His people would "be taught to know war."  No one gains skill through ignorance.  No one improves without a level of training and practical experience.

It is for this reason that God has allowed Satan - the enemy of our souls - to remain presently alive and well on this earth.  He goes to and fro like a hungry lion, seeking who he may devour.  We are called to resist him, steadfast in the faith, standing strong girded with armour supplied through the Holy Spirit.  God wants Christians to learn how to fight, defend the truth, to resist temptation, and to be strong.  God does not want us to be warmongers against flesh and blood, but to be battle tested and grow increasingly proficient with our blade:  the Sword of the Spirit which is is the Word of God.  He wants our minds to be sharp, our lives focused, our hands toughened, taking courage in God though we see the enemy advancing.  No one in the midst of a fight entangles himself with the affairs of this life, and we must remain vigilant.  God wants us to be battle-hardened veterans, not doughy and soft through lack of exercise.  He desires we be courageous and bold to trust His promises.  Every day we are being tested and tried:  are we willing to make peace with the world through compromise?  Are we willing to stand up for righteousness or will we acquiesce to the world's wisdom to please the flesh?  Will we choose to love God and others enough to labour to pull down the enemy's strongholds?

God has provided all His people with a choice.  Our desires, decisions, and the use of our time shows if we are truly loyal to God or not.  May God be able to say to us at the end of our days:  "Well done!  You have fought the good fight; you have run a good race; you have finished the course.  Enter into the joy of the LORD."  Even as the enemy gains strength, we need not fear.  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  The battle is the LORD's, but we must be resolute to fight!

Nimby!

I learned a new word today:  nimby.  It means, "Not in my backyard!"  It reminded me of something I've been thinking of lately.  The messages at Calvary Chapel Sydney lately have compelled me to do some personal examination and inventory.  As a parent or leader, we are to be circumspect in our conduct and that of our children.  There is always the potential that we will be personally offended when kids we are supervising (especially our own!) fall into destructive or sinful behaviour.  We can forget that we too are imperfect, and sin ultimately is not against us but God.

It has been revealed to me by God that I tend towards a "nimby" or "Not on my watch!" mentality.  When we make the struggles of others focused on primarily how they affect us, we have ceased to walk in love.  If I grit my teeth in frustration because of the inconvenience of an internet filter installed for the safety of my children, I am walking in selfishness - not love.  It occurred to me that as a parent, it is better to be watchful and discern sinful behaviour than to bury my head in the sand and pretend all is well.  Sometimes as parents we discover our kids are struggling in an area, it feels like an indictment against us.  We are tempted to believe the lie that this means we must be doing a terrible job as a parent.  Actually, quite the opposite may be true!  It is a good watchman who notices the danger and does something about it.  His discovery of a threat proves he is doing his job, and his loyalty to his master and his position moves him to action.

When we aren't aware of the struggles of our kids, we may think we are doing a spectacular job.  But our ignorance of a struggle does not mean there is not fight a going on.  God is the best Father, yet that doesn't mean His kids are perfect!  The fella who said "Ignorance is bliss" clearly never considered the certain end of that path.  God said in Hosea 4:6 that His people were destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Ignorance of the law does not make a man innocent, and ignorance concerning the struggles of others does not spare them the consequences.  It would be better for our children to go "off the rails" whilst in a nurturing, loving environment where they are accountable before man and God than to do so after they have left home and resort to their own devices.  If open communication is established while kids are young without there being hell to pay, kids will confide more with their parents about the real issues they face.  The consequences of freely confessing sin should not bear the same punishment for sin parents discover themselves.  If you think all is well because your kids haven't approached you with a conflict, don't be deceived to think they are immune from sin.  It won't be your great parenting that saves them, but the grace of God.

I must move beyond the nimby mentality which suggests as long as I don't know about it, everything is fine.  As long as I remain my children's prime deterrent to sin, what will keep my children following God into adulthood and after they have moved away from my home?  We must teach our children to honour God proactively, not instruct them through our negative reactions to cleverly mask their pains and hide their sins.  A life of holiness goes far beyond the outward conduct, but is a matter of the heart.  If we make the Christian lifestyle of one preoccupied with externals, the inner man has not been affected.  Therefore we must labour to deal with the source of sin by gently shepherding our children's hearts as we are led by the Holy Spirit.  It is for us to maintain our walk with God, so we will be able to demonstrate for our children the relationship God intends man to have with Him.

We may have all the wisdom in the world but unless we walk in love, we are nothing.  It is the love of God that pursued and captured our hearts, and God's love through us will have the greatest and most profound impact on our kids as we encourage them to receive of His love and walk therein.

Why This Blog Exists

We are living in a day when point of view is king.  People see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear.  The internet has transformed the way we view information, a place where we decide whether the information is credible or not.  If you disagree with the "facts" presented, it can be explained away as irrelevant propaganda - despite any research or support for the view.  Whether it is news being reported on TV, books, magazine articles, or blogs, there seems to be a constant and growing suspicion of an underlying personal bias or political agenda.  We may not even notice that the one with the bias could be ourselves!  I wrote more on this point in a previous post in titled, "Particularized Trust."  The field has been leveled to such a degree that a claim substantiated from 20 years of research can be instantly debunked by a web surfer who doesn't know a test tube from a beaker.

I recognise this blog is one among hundreds of millions and is therefore of infinitesimal significance.  It is not possible for a blog to change a single person's mind concerning their established beliefs either of Christ, Christians, morality, or the Bible.  People may click on a post from this blog and before one sentence is read fully declare "Rubbish!" and move onto something they already agree with.  This also goes for Biblical doctrine and interpretation among Christians.  It used to be that people actually toiled over their own Bibles in prayer, seeking answers to life's questions.  Now prayer has been replaced by search engines like Yahoo and Google with millions of results to choose from.  More than seeking the truth for our questions, we can fall into the rut of seeking confirmation in our ignorance.  Find one person that agrees with you, and it would take more than the earth splitting in two to move us to reconsider.

I don't write these blog posts because I think I can do any good in this world.  I can't save a soul.  But I pray that God uses them for His glory in encouraging, challenging in a healthy way, and building up the Body of Christ.  The only power of this blog is found in the Word of God through the Holy Spirit.  He has the power to pierce, to reveal, instruct, to personally impact each and every person who reads looking for the Truth.  Over and over in scripture the words of Jesus ring out:  "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!"  Most people have ears, but it is rare person who knows how to use them.  More than talking only of the functional aspect of listening, hearing in the sense that Jesus speaks of is "heeding."  Heeding is hearing and walking accordingly.  Hearing is when we actually listen and digest carefully what we have heard before we formulate a rebuttal in our minds.  Are you the kind who is chomping at the bit in a discussion, that while another person is speaking to you already you are working out what to say next instead of hearing what is being said?  Haven't we all been guilty of this offense?

From time to time I step back and examine why I blog and what purpose it serves in these treacherous times.  My answer to continue at this time comes from 2 Timothy 4:1-4:  "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: ² Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."  We are living in these days Paul predicted, when people will not endure teaching from God's Word.  People pick and choose what confirms their existing beliefs.  They will subscribe and follow teachers they agree with, and refuse any that raise contrary positions.  People will gladly choose fables or stories over the revealed truth of God's Word.  They will call the Bible a fable should it contradict their views!  People assert there is no god so they can in essence be one!  So what are the righteous to do?  Preach the Word.  Be ready in and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  That is why God has me contributing to this blog.  I rarely see any fruit from it, but God will bring the increase in His time.  Since it's His increase, I don't need to see it to continue pressing on.  Even if there never is any measurable effect on the world or church from these posts, that's not my problem.

We Christians have been given the message of the Gospel as ambassadors for Christ in a world fully opposed to Him.  We must speak, regardless if people seem to listen or not.  The church has always faced obstacles, and always will.  Christ is the only one who can open the eyes of the blind, open the ears of the deaf, heal the lepers, or raise the dead.  Jesus has overcome, and we can only overcome through Him!

More Than Just Facts

Some people say their primary hindrance to sharing their faith in Christ is a lack of knowledge.  Faced with the prospect of arguments they do not feel equipped to answer, sharing Christian beliefs with others may appear a daunting task.  It is important to recognise Christianity is more than facts but a real relationship with God.  If we have Christ we can share Christ, even if we do not have the academic background to match others.  Knowledge is valuable and reasonable, and for Christianity it is an imperative.  Our minds are convinced of the truth by evidence in scripture.  Our hearts are moved to receive the truth, and our will responds to walk according to it.  These three things in that order - the mind, heart, and will - must unite together to be born again by grace through faith.

Facts are like keys, but we must realise only God can fit them into a locked mind and turn them to open the understanding of an unbeliever.  That is why facts alone will not convince a person of the existence of God, His righteous Law, the desperate need for salvation, and furnish the desire to receive His free gift through Christ.  1 Corinthians 2:12-14 tells us, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. ¹³ These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."  We need the Holy Spirit to open our understanding so we might know what God has freely given us.  If only our natural mind is employed to consider spiritual truth, it will seem like foolishness.  Facts are a necessary means, but they are not the end.

There is a balance:  we must study to show ourselves approved unto God by rightly dividing the Word of Truth, yet we must be reliant upon the Holy Spirit to convince us and others of the wisdom of God.  A blind man may be very perceptive, but he is still without sight.  He could not possibly describe a picture of a simple object you hold in your hand, though it appears to a person with perfect sight clear as day.  We should not be impatient with a person who cannot see, but ought to show grace and compassion in carefully describing the picture in detail.  When we are harsh, easily frustrated, or abrupt without demonstrating love towards the person, the message we intend to convey will be lost.  Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.  Those who rely upon knowledge seek to use facts to bolster their own case, but love seeks to encourage and build up others.  "Winning" an argument is not the point, for if that is our aim we likely slam and bolt shut a door of interest and opportunity others could potentially enter at a later date.

Don't let mockery or the scorn of unbelievers cause you to waver from the foundation of scriptural truth.  When Paul preached in Athens, many of the intellectuals laughed and mocked his message.  When Jesus expounded on a passage from Isaiah in the synagogue, the religious men of the city tried to kill Him in their fury!  If you hold forth the truth in love, and both you and your message are refused with ridicule, you are in good company.  Instead of feeling forlorn, double your efforts in prayers for those blinded by the devil.  Seek the answers in the Bible.  Trust that God is able and willing to open the eyes of the blind and deliver the slaves from bondage to sin, for that is the purpose Jesus was sent and a primary purpose God chooses to leave Christians on this earth.  Don't preach yourself, but Christ.  It is Jesus who is being rejected.  Should you abandon all faith and agree with those who oppose you, you would be gladly accepted.  But it is better to be rejected by man and received by God than to be accepted by men and destroyed by God.

2 Corinthians 4:5-18 reads, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- ¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then death is working in us, but life in you. ¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."