Overcoming

Rev 12: 10 – 12

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 12 Aug, 2007

IN THE past few years, we have suffered many changes. We have struggled and nearly toppled. But we are survivors. Let’s move on from being survivors! Let’s become overcomers!

I am glad that we are going through change, because times of change are times of change. When leaders change, when the membership line–up changes, we are ripe for changing the kind of church we are and how we go about serving in our community.

The Christian’s enemies have traditionally been seen as the world, the flesh and the devil. There is no specific passage which sets that out in a single statement, but there is plenty of support throughout the New Testament.
 

Keep all three in perspective.

Some Pentecostalists only see the devil as the enemy, and it seems that the cry is, “The devil made me do it!” We are humans. We can get up to evil in our own right, and have to take responsibility for our own deeds.

Many mainstream evangelicals and many Catholics stumble over the flesh. The old joke says, “Everything I like is either sinful or fattening.” In some circles, any pleasure has to be wrong. They forget the devil and the world. It is all about looking inwards to examine myself.

More liberal Christians follow the old heretic, Pelagius at a safe distance: they blame everything on the environment.

All these ideas contain truth, but, if you isolate any one of them from the others, you get error.

Today I want us to think about overcoming all three: the world, the flesh and the devil. But I want to do it in reverse order, overcoming at the spiritual, emotional and relational levels, overcoming the devil, the flesh and the world.
 

THE DEVIL

We look at the devil first, because it is where our passage starts. It is about those who overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. This is why we have focused on testimony today: to see testimony in action. Thanks specially to John and Mouy for preparing something for us today. Mouy, in particular, went right out on a limb. She volunteered before anyone else did,and offered a better idea than what I originally asked for.

We read the assurance just moments ago:

...the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

^{REV 12:11} They overcame him
   by the blood of the Lamb
   and by the word of their testimony;
  they did not love their lives so much
   as to shrink from death.

How do we overcome spiritual enmity? The Bible is quite clear: it is by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. But we have to be prepared to pay the price. These overcomers didn’t love their lives to the extent that they were not willing to face death.

Look at our world. Look at the rage — the road rage, the pedestrian rage, customer rage. Look at the problems of violent and oppressive religion. Look at tensions between nations and the selfish way we destroy our resources. These are spiritual issues, and not just human failings or the way of the world. There is demonic power behind so much of it. That is where our battle field lies. Don’t forget how seriously the Bible takes demons. The Bible warns that the devil goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But don’t panic! Don’t run! Resist him in Jesus’ name, and he will run from you!

But don’t go along with popular culture. It recognises demons, but in a totally unbiblical way. You don’t overcome spiritual forces by greater firepower. You don’t destroy evil spirits by greater magic; you don’t overcome someone controlled by an evil spirit by destroying the person.

Paul says,

^{EPH 6:11} Put on the full armour 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 the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armour 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.

We don’t struggle against human beings but against the underlying spiritual forces which control spiritual and earthly realms.

And that means that our struggle has to follow the pattern that Jesus established, He didn’t blast evil: he died and rose again tio break the power of evil,  Evil can’t work against sacrificial goodness.

Jesus is our sacrificial lamb. His blood was poured out to defeat the power of the evil one.

We can strengthen ourselves by prayer, by faith, by God’s Word, by salvation, but we overcome by sacrificial power. If I am willing to lose for Jesus’ sake, that continues Jesus’ own sacrifice, and extends his victory over a rebellious world.

People turn when they see people prepared to suffer for the sake of righteousness, and not fight evil with evil.

But is silent suffering enough? I am not Christ. You are not Christ. We are sinful human beings, who must declare how Jesus has touched our lives.

Old Polycarp was martyred around 156AD. He was a respected old bishop.

If he had died without speaking for Christ, his case would have been nothing more than a miscarriage of justice.

But he declared that Jesus had stood by him for over 80 years, and he was not about to deny his Lord now.

So there was never any doubt that he suffered as a Christian.

Our testimony leaves no doubt when we suffer as Christians.
 

THE FLESH

Satan gets his leverage in our human wants and desires, particularly in the damaged areas of our lives. For example, if you are greedy because you are damaged and feel you need more to feel happy, the devil will go straight after your selfishness and lead you to break down fellowship by your greed.

Whether it is you struggling with your human desires, or whether you are trying to help someone else find release from something binding them, the same principles apply.

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

This is not an easy backdoor to becoming a counsellor. Being a counsellor is like being a mechanic on a jet engine. You don’t let some boy wonder from Botany tinker with it, because lives depend on it. Don’t let some bossy believer tinker with lives either!

But Satan particularly latches onto the radical self–interest which drives every person, and he works great mischief through it.

In a world where so many people have almost no sense of anyone else, in a world where people fly into rages, where they abuse and bully in order to get their own way, that’s usually Satan directing the power of the flesh.

There is always a price to pay for change. If there is something in your life or mine needing change, there will be a cost.

If nothing else, it will probably cost us the things we really feel are important, if we want truly to serve the Lord. And it will cost us if we confront the attitudes of the flesh, because people fear losing what they idolise.

I had a friend who worked from home while his wife went out to work. The wife was forging ahead in her career, the husband couldn’t go any further.

One day a young woman from the church they went to popped in for a chat.

A couple of days later, she came back for another chat. And then a few days later. Soon she was there most days.

You can see where this was heading.

It cost my friend enormous pain, not to mention what happened to his family and the young woman.

My friend benefitted greatly from a counsellor who helped him understand why he had been so tempted and had given in to that temptation. And he needed the counsellor’s help to work out strategies to keep him on his feet in future.

But, untimately, he could only overcome by confessing to his wife and family and friends and community what had happened. He could only overcome by breaking what had become the central relationship in his life. He could only overcome by suffering and by restoring Jesus to his rightful place. That meant testifying to Jesus, declaring that Jesus would once again be Lord in his life.

Not all attacks of the flesh are as dramatic as that, but, whatever we are facing, don’t think it will be pain–free! Temptations constantly surround us, even if we manage to resist. And, of course, we often do fail.

But we break the power of our own human drives and tendencies by confident faith in the power of the blood of Jesus, our lamb; and by our word of testimony. Those who are living with Jesus as their central focus are better equipped to resist lesser things.
 

THE WORLD

Jesus cries out,

“I have overcome the world!”

Nevertheless, that is a struggle you and I have to go through daily.

The world will constantly tell us to do things in the world’s way.

I had some involvement with a great Christian organisation which was led by a minister who had a vision for change in the world. But he was sidelined by powerful businessmen who had a vision for an efficient organisation.

They did tidy up some loose ends in the organisation; but, in the process, they nearly destroyed its soul.

Balancing books became a higher priority than meeting needs; promotion became so dominant that the single biggest part of the organisation was the communications team.

The world has the world’s ways.

It will tell us to go with the majority rather than choose suffering for the sake of God’s Kingdom. It will tell us to neglect the needy in favour of those who pay. It will tell us to get things for our security, rather than find our safety in the Lord who bought us by his blood,

We overcome by the blood of the lamb and our testimony. St John Chrysostomos wrote,

As long as we remain sheep, we overcome. Even though we may be surrounded by a thousand wolves, we overcome and are victorious. But as soon as we are wolves, we are beaten: for then we lose the support from the Shepherd who feeds not wolves but only sheep. — from Homily 34 on St. Matthew

It is sheep who overcome, those who share with their Lord in his sacrificial way and who declare him regardless of the cost, They have ultimate power over the world, the flesh and the devil.
 

Let’s commit ourselves to being people who overcome, through this year and forever more.

AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2007. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)