The Fight of Faith

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

2 Timothy 4:7

I have observed Christians who really latch onto military language to describe their daily life with Christ.  They see themselves as "under spiritual attack" when troubles arise.  They nod in agreement when someone says something like, "Our Christian values and freedoms are under attack like never before"--when it is very difficult to make such a claim considering we are alive to make it.  Even if this general statement could be supported, it conveniently overlooks all the opposition and troubles the Body of Christ has endured and overcome for thousands of years.  When someone feels "under attack," they may become defensive or even fearful.  They also can be aggressive and brash.  Some celebrate troubles as proof they are doing something right and their every move is on Satan's radar.  "We're in a spiritual battle," they say.  It seems warfare is the only lens through which they see the world, and their focus seems to be a lot more on Satan's flaming arrows than the Holy Spirit who protects us by faith in Jesus Christ.

While there are references to Christians and spiritual warfare in the New Testament, for the amount of publicity they garner they are surprisingly few.  Indeed, some of the passages like the one referenced written by Paul shows the good fight is to keep the faith in Jesus Christ who loves us, a fight that is won by Christ inside us by our surrender to Him.  Even the well-known passage in 1 Peter 5 that refers to Satan as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, is sandwiched by exhortations to submit to one another, to be clothed with humility, to be casting our cares upon God who cares for us, to be sober and watchful, and to resist the devil while remaining steadfast in faith.  This battle is fought in our minds and hearts, for doubts can enter and work to undermine the truth of God's word and His promises.  Our fight is to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ, to be strong in the LORD and the power of His might, and to stand by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus revealed Satan's desire was to "sift him as wheat," but Jesus prayed for him that his faith should not fail, and when Peter returned to God broken and humbled he was to strengthen his brethren in the LORD (Luke 22:32).  Rather than the conflict being viewed as us fighting off attacks of Satan, this internal fight is really to keep trusting Jesus and obeying Him no matter what.  The devil seeks whom he may devour, which implies he cannot sink his teeth into anyone without explicit permission from God.  He sought to destroy Job, yet God had a hedge of protection around Job the whole time.  The "battle" was not fought or won by Job rebuking Satan, for God graciously delivered Job who trusted in Him despite his physical suffering and personal loss.  In Paul's life, God allowed a messenger of Satan to buffet him because God's strength is made perfect in man's weakness:  when we are weak, God is strong.

God forbid we would imagine ourselves as strong and mighty spiritual warriors because of our knowledge or authority when God is the One who fights our battles and has already won!  I would not be surprised if Satan is permitted by God to take advantage of the proud Christian who imagines himself able to contend with the devil by his own strength or willpower.  Our fight is not fought by steeling ourselves against satanic attacks but by humbling ourselves before Jesus Christ in faith.  Every Christian is a member of Christ's own Body, the church.  Jesus will not allow one of His feet or hands to be severed because He is unable to protect Himself from the devil's vicious attacks, and no one can snatch us out of Christ's hand.  We are the sheep of His pasture, and He knows each one of us by name.  Satan cannot even effectively bring a charge against us (Romans 8:33), and there is no arrow that can penetrate the shield of faith God has provided us by the Holy Spirit.  It is by faith in Jesus we enter into His rest and the victory He has won, for we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loves us.

Mr. Hugh Kennedy

During my study of the book of Romans, I came across an anecdote in Matthew Henry's Commentary that warmed my heart.  He wrote:

“Mr. Hugh Kennedy, an eminent Christian of Ayr, in Scotland, when he was dying, called for a Bible, but, finding his sight gone, he said, “Turn me to the eighty of the Romans, and set my finger at these words, I am persuaded that neither death nor life.”  “Now, said he, “is my finger upon them?”  And, when they told him it was, without speaking any more, he said, “Now God be with you, my children; I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my LORD Jesus Christ this night;” and so departed.” (Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Vol. 6, Hendrickson Publishers, 1991. page 345)

From this anecdote, it is likely Mr. Kennedy was a man who had placed his faith in God and also was a reader of the Bible during his life.  On what proved to be his deathbed he requested a Bible be brought to him, and almost to his surprise he found his sight gone and was unable to find Romans 8:38 himself.  With keen eyes of faith on God and His promise, Mr. Kennedy was persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities or powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth nor any other created thing would be able to separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  We too, having placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, can retain such confidence even when our bodies fail and we go the way of the earth to our fathers.

The God Who was with Mr. Hugh Kennedy all his days would also be with his children after him, and all believers can have this same confidence and unshakable assurance.  Mr. Kennedy was persuaded because of Christ's love for him that he could eat breakfast with his family, and after his passing would be eating dinner with Jesus in heaven.  The end of life on earth would not be his end.  The anecdote concluded, "And so departed."  His spirit left behind his mortal frame and went to be clothed with a new body in the heavens with his LORD Jesus, united and glorified in the presence of God forever.  His departure from his body meant his arrival in the presence of the LORD, free of pain, blindness and all sorrows of this world--because for him the former things had passed away.

That we would have such confidence in God and His promises to us in Scripture!  The love of God demonstrated for us on the cross and ever since is a sound foundation to build our lives upon, for Jesus gives eternal life to all who repent and trust in Him.  A day came when Mr. Kennedy was unable to see or speak, yet God continues to speak to this day and will continue to speak long after we enter into the LORD's presence.  God remains faithful, and His active love never fails to pursue, bless and cause everything to work together for good to us who love God.  The death of Jesus accomplished God's good purposes and plans, and when God calls us home to be with him we can have this confidence:  nothing shall be able to separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus.  He truly gives rest for the weary soul.

Choose Kindness

I recently read a notification from a ministry leader who announced shortly after a family came on staff, was found not to be a good fit and were moving on to continue ministry elsewhere.  When I was looking into options to immigrate to Australia, this was something a mission support group warned me about.  There are believers who have good intentions, are called to ministry, go all in with training, raise support and sell everything--only to go to the field and discover things do not go well.  Conflict arises, expectations are dashed, and there can be disillusionment why things have not gone as planned.  As Paul said, being married and bringing a whole family makes any mission work and move more complex and challenging.

When I hear about situations like this, I feel compassion for everyone involved.  An organisation brings a family on board because they have a need, and a couple or family have left their family and culture in the service of God and not fit where they thought they would.  Children left school and friends behind, and many people rallied to support the missionary family through prayer, giving money and helping however they could.  To see things seemingly collapse or fall apart inevitably leaves people scratching their heads and even looking for something or someone to blame.  The temptation to live in regret and shame over things not working out as expected is very real, and if fallout was the result of a sinful scandal it adds another layer of grief for everyone.

It would be a shame to malign anyone in a situation like this, for even Paul and Barnabas had a sharp contention over whether John Mark should accompany them that led to them parting ways for a season.  Their contention should never be an excuse to justify strife, quarrelling and refusing to minister with one another, but it shows genuine apostles who love the LORD and have faithfully served Jesus can experience painful conflicts.  There is no point for me to take one side and condemn the other, to make critical judgments of the situation I am frankly ignorant of.  It would be foolish to do so with the example provided of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15, for who are we to judge God's servants?  On the subject of personal convictions that differ between believers, Paul wrote in Romans 14:4:  "Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand."

I urge you brother and sisters, let us be those who seek to be peacemakers because Jesus is our peace.  Let us realise God is so awesome and glorious that in spite of us and the conflicts we create or contribute to, He is working in and through our lives--and the troubling situation--to accomplish good according to His will.  Since God was able to redeem Jesus Christ being crucified though innocent of all crimes, He is also able to redeem contentions and division to edify the church and increase our faith in Him.  How often we have been embittered by a bitter conflict that did not even directly involve us, and this is evidence we have bitterness in our hearts God has used the situation to bring to light.  As it is written in Ephesians 4:31-32:  "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you."  Rather than criticism and finding fault, our aim should be to be kind to one another.

Dead to Sin and Alive to God

One reason cancer is difficult to treat and cure is it often goes undetected or undeterred by our immune system.  These mutated versions of cells from your own body can rapidly multiply because the body supplies them with nutrition as if those abnormal cells promote good health when they work to undermine it.  When the immune system recognises and attacks viral or bacterial pathogens, symptoms like headache or fever send a message of discomfort we understand:  we are sick and perhaps need medical assistance.  Being able to differentiate the abnormal or foreign cells from the healthy cells of the body is important to maintain overall health and the effective treatment of illness.  A recent article said this:  "Because cancer cells are the body’s own cells that have gone rogue, they have inside information on which signals to send to trick immune cells."  It is crazy to think that our own cells can trick our body from the inside, and there is a spiritual parallel for Christians to consider.

Through the Gospel of Jesus, Christians are forgiven and cleansed of all sin.  The removal of the guilt and power of sin, however, does not mean we are perfect.  Our memories are not wiped at conversion nor are our habits broken because we have been filled with the Holy Spirit.  For a long time we drank sin like water as it was the only way we discovered to temporarily alleviate our sinful, fleshly thirst.  Paul discovered a law, that when he wanted to do good evil was present with him.  It was like he was a cancer patient whose tumours were removed by a surgeon, yet abnormal cells continued to circulate through his bloodstream.  Sin, who seduced him like an attractive woman, had been sent packing and was gone, but whispers of those sweet words she spoke echoed in his ears.  Paul wrote in Romans 7:16-17, "If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."  Sin dwelling in us seeks to trick us, but God makes us wise to this tactic.

To people who understood the Law of Moses, Paul affirmed the Law was good to fulfill its divine purpose to bring the knowledge of sin.  By the power of God's word and the indwelling Holy Spirit, Paul knew he was forgiven of all sin and born again by faith in Jesus.  This impulse and draw toward doing sin was not Paul but due to indwelling sin because in his flesh--and in our flesh, though spiritually regenerated--no good thing dwells.  This is a very important point for us to realise as born-again Christians:  we need to see sin as a dangerous foreign body, something that lingers in our flesh that is not us and has no authority over us.  Sin is no longer welcome in us.  We ought to refuse to feed sin by caving to it and do not feel sympathy for it when it cries out and begs to have its desires met.  By the death of Christ we have died to sin and thus sin and death no longer have dominion or control over us.  If God spiritually removed the tumour of sin that was killing us, should we entertain or coddle abnormal cells in our bloodstream?  Pride, fear, lusts, selfishness and deceit can now be identified by the Holy Spirit and rejected by us whenever they show themselves.  We no longer are under a yoke of bondage to sin; we are not debtors to the flesh but to God Who has raised us to new life in Him.

Speaking of Christ Romans 6:10-12 says:  "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."  Through His wisdom, God gives Christians the ability to identify sin we  once thought was normal as breathing and part of us--and to crucify it.  God has also provided the means of continual renewal through repentance when we do sin, for as long as we live in our corruptible bodies we can be easy prey for indwelling sin because we can be swayed, influenced, forgetful and weak.  By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are given strength to know and do God's will, to put off the sinful deeds of the flesh and to walk in the Spirit.  The victory over sin for all today is in Jesus Christ, and praise God for the new life provided by Jesus our LORD.