For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2Corinthians 10: 3-5 (NIV)
Too often we still try to fight a spiritual war with carnal means. We think that under our own power we can accomplish that which can only be accomplished through the power of God. The alcoholic can avoid bars successfully for a certain amount of time but unless he stops the thoughts and desires to drink, it is merely putting a band-aid on a wound that needs a tourniquet. The sinful, earthly things lurking inside of us are not of God. They are in fact arguments and pretensions (lies) set up by Satan. If you watched the Grammys last night you saw the complete self indulgence our society has sunk to. Songs about doing whatever you want to because you only live once permeated the atmosphere. The issue is not that we only live once beloved. The issue is we only die once and we better make sure when we do that we are ready for the judgment that follows. So, these lies and arguments must be taken captive at the thought stage and made obedient to Christ, otherwise we will act upon them. The story of David and Bathsheba displays this. David is entertaining lust and evil desires when he spies Bathsheba bathing. He has not sinned yet but he is starting to dance. He sends someone to find out about her and word comes back that says she is not only married but married to one of his loyal soldiers who is currently fighting for him. The thoughts going through his mind propping up his evil desires must have been strong. He must have thought he was entitled - after all he was king! He must have felt like no one would ever know! At this point if he took those thoughts captive and made them obedient to Christ by realizing that adultery of course is forbidden by God and that God will bring all things to light that we do in darkness, he could have avoided the transition into sin. It is not impossible! Joseph was a 17 year old boy with the same raging hormones as all 17 year old boys and yet when Potiphar's wife demanded he sleep with her, he made his thoughts obedient to Christ:
But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. - Genesis 39: 8-10 (NIV)
Joseph was no plaster saint beloved. He was real flesh and blood. You know he had some evil desires and lust happening right about now. Yet, how does Joseph make his thoughts and evil desires obedient to God? By making the decision about God! How can I do this to God! I know it is difficult. But the secret to winning these battles is in making every issue we face to be about God.
Continuing on in verse five we see God separates out the sin of greed. God is no fool. He knows everything that is ever going to happen. Sometimes we read verses and think how prescient they are to the times we live in today but realize that God knew what we would be facing today and the Word was written for today as well. We live in a greed focused society and a power hungry world. Not only does the world encourage dying with the most toys but it seems lately you get extra style points for how many people you had to step on or over to get them. Look at the words here in Colossians. Do not be greedy for a greedy person is an idolater! Idolatry is one of the most talked about sins in the entire Bible. Sometimes as Christians we hear the world idolatry and we think of ancient civilizations who bowed down to statues. The truth is that idolatry is anything that is set up to be worshiped instead of God. Anything more important to us than God. You may be sitting there thinking there is nothing in your life you place before God but pause a moment and reflect on your life. What about you children? God asked Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his child of promise. What about money? God asked the rich young ruler to give all to the poor because he saw in his heart that money was more important to him than God. Beloved, we always put things before God and we do not even realize we do it. Our career, relationships, or even...ministries! I remember once in one of my ministries I felt I was passed over for a higher spot in the ministry and my flesh rose up. As I prayed later God asked me one question - who are you doing it for?
Now you may say what do these things have to do with greed but read the end of the verse and see that an idolater basically worships the things of this world! Add to this that now we have to contend with churches that strive to look more and more like the world they are supposed to be different from. The end result is idolatry in the church as well. I have seen far too much pastor idolizing; where protecting the man is more important than the purity of the Gospel. I have also seen far to much church idolizing; where the physical building is more important than whether the people running it are actually following the Bible. I have seen ministry idolizing where we fall for the lie that it is OUR ministry when in reality it is supposed to be always about Him. As for actual greed, we have churches built upon greed, that openly teach greed, and claim God will honor our greed. I have always had people ask me if I think God wants to prosper us materially and the more I read the Bible the more it is obvious to me that if that is the question on your mind then the answer is no. If our heart is set upon the things of this world through greed then by definition we are idolaters and God would rather make us destitute and in line with Him than ensure we live comfortably in a world we are supposed to be pilgrims and sojourners through.
Verses six and seven deal with two simple facts. The first of which is that it is because of sins like this that the anger of God is coming. The wrath of God is a theological concept simply ignored in most churches today. It is not considered very seeker friendly. That does not change, nor impress God. So forget all the kumbya Christianity, this is your best life now, seven steps to a better you, sow your seed and God will throw open the windows of heaven, grace allows you to not worry about sin anymore, I just preach love and everything else is a conversation blather and absolute nonsense! There is a God and He is coming back soon; not as the Lamb but as the Lion. There will be only two sides on that day beloved. Those whose names appear in the Lamb's Book of Life and those that do not. There is no third road. You are either on the narrow path to eternal life or the broad path that leads to destruction. I know this message does not focus group test well but on that day we will have no excuse. We cannot say "my church didn't tell me."
Verse seven's simple fact is that all these things we are talking about we used to do when our life was still part of this world. That may seem obvious but the overarching point I think God is making here is that we have to decide which world we are in! So much of our difficulty is rooted firmly in trying to sit on a fence between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
