Changing Our Spiritual Locks

Luke 11: 24-26 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." (NIV)

I have to admit that the key verses today always gave me trouble. I comprehended them but failed to understand them. What was God trying to say to us as believers with these verses? As usual when the Holy Spirit illuminates, the answer I was seeking contains several truths to consider when reading this brief illustration from the teachings of Christ.

The first truth in the key verses is that we must be vigilant against allowing ourselves to become spiritually dry. Jesus says that the evil spirit is seeking arid places to find rest. The dictionary defines arid as, "barren or unproductive due to lack of moisture." How often does that describe us in our walk? We can attend church religiously, serve in ministry faithfully, tithe accordingly yet still see stagnation in our walk before God. How so we wonder? This is what happens when we mix our service unto God with our walk. One serves the church and the other is where we grow as a Christian. One has to do with religion and the other with relationship. If we think hard enough we can find examples where we were serving God in ministry yet felt barren in our walk. It is this spiritual dryness that attracts the sin of the world the evil spirit. But Jesus promises to quench the dryness in our lives:

Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." John 4: 13-14 (NLT)

Barren. Unproductive. Spiritually this means that we get lazy in our Christianity. Maybe our prayer life is not what it once was. We find ourselves at the end of the day, drifting off to sleep, wondering why we didn't talk much to God that day. Perhaps our prayer life has become the whine list. God give me this, God give me that. Jesus becomes our ATM and when we do not feel like we are being answered quickly enough, we forget the PIN number! Maybe we don't attend church as regularly as we used to, or quit our ministry efforts. I'm sure we have a self righteous reason. We assign levels of hypocrisy to people within the church while turning a blind eye to our own. We get "hurt" in ministry because at some point it became about man instead of God. The truth we need to grasp today is that if we serve in our ministries for God, then there is nothing man can do to hurt us.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1Corinthians 15: 58 (NIV)

But we let everything move us! We don't like the songs the choir is singing. We think the sermon is too preachy. We get offended at the fact that there are rules. We get selfish; we get hurt, and eventually we get going. We dry up spiritually. That dry condition is just what the devil is looking for to plant his lies into our thinking.

The second lesson from the key verses today is that a Godly appearance does not mean anything to the devil. The verses state that when the sin returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. This was the part that used to trip me up. I would think, "What's wrong with being swept clean and put in order? Shouldn't we be swept clean and be in order? Yes and no. The issue is one of appearances versus reality. Jesus taught:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23: 25-28 (NIV)

Unfortunately, we can easily become whitewashed tomb Christians. The modern church has become very adept at shouting blessed and highly favored while the inside needs a good spiritual scrubbing. We get too preoccupied in the walks of other people. We become too preoccupied with the sin that exists in the world. This outward focus is designed by the enemy to keep our focus off of ourselves, where it should be. Are we supposed to focus on bringing people to the foot of the cross? Absolutely, we are commissioned to. But we cannot expect to be effective witnesses for Christ when the inside of our cup is still filthy. Why? Because even though we think we are giving the clean appearance, people will know. The Bible says what we do in the dark, God will bring to light. Are we supposed to be our brother's keeper? Absolutely, but look carefully at this verse from Jesus:

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew 7: 3-5 (NIV)

Too many have misused these Scripture to declare we should not judge our fellow brothers and sisters but that is not what Jesus is teaching us here. He is teaching us about not being a hypocrite. Verse three alone highlights what is sometimes so wrong in modern Christianity. We spend more time gossiping about someone else's spiritual condition while ignoring our own! But note God does not say to leave your brother alone! He says to remove the plank that is in your own eye so you can see more clearly the speck in his. Don't be a hypocrite.

Western Christianity is often swept clean and put in order. It has the appearance of Godliness because it is whitewashed. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about this:

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 2Timothy 3: 1-5 (NLT)

They will act religious but reject the power that could make them Godly. Oh that we would move far away from this as a church in these last days beloved. Religious is cleaning the outside of the cup. It is sweeping everything clean and putting it in order but don't look in the closet! Godly, is moving toward Christ-likeness. It is worrying about the inside of the cup. It is about who we are, not who we want to look like to other people. We like to sing Amazing Grace but how often do we like to admit that we are the wretch the song talks about? The Apostle Paul always said that he was the least of the Disciples because he once persecuted the church. Too often we see in the modern church, people who have forgotten how far down into the mud God had to reach to save them.

The last lesson from the key verses today is that a spiritual victory does not determine the final condition of a person. We are fond in the modern church to speak of the positive aspects of Christianity and there are many. But the danger we run into is in presenting half a Gospel. We present the love of God without His jealousy. We speak about walking in the power of God without the sacrifices that are needed. We end up talking about what "sells." What is "seeker friendly." Instead of what sayeth the Lord. Before Paul headed to Jerusalem, where he knew his life's journey ended, he said goodbye to the leaders of the Ephesian Church:

"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Acts 20: 25-31 (NIV)

Paul understood that his responsibility was to proclaim the entire Gospel the whole will of God. The parts that make us feel good and the parts that make us cringe at our own shortcomings. Paul understood the key verses today. The person in the illustration had a victory as the evil spirit left him. He had a victory over sin. But what he did afterwards is what determined the end result. The void left from the sin still had to be filled. It needed to be filled by Christ. Getting rid of the evil is not enough. The space needs to be filled with what is good. What is righteous. When saying farewell to the Philippian Church Paul taught:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8-9 (NLT)

Fix your thoughts on God and Godly things. Put into practice what we have learned from the Gospels. Then the God of peace will be with us. Then when the evil spirit returns he will discover that you have changed the locks on where he used to live!

Let's face it beloved. The key verses intimate that the reason why the evil spirit returns and brings friends with him is because we allow it. We have a victory over sin and sometimes confuse the war with the battle.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Ephesians 6: 10-13 (NLT)

This is not a game we are playing. The Bible is not a Veggie Tale we tell our kids so they stay out of trouble. There is a spiritual war waging every day. We have battles which we sometimes win and sometimes lose. That battle is spiritual, which is why sometimes we have a difficult time wrapping our carnal, earthly minds around it. The battle is waged against us to make us ineffectual for the work of the kingdom. What's the big deal there? The more ineffectual we are for God, the less people who come to the foot of the cross for salvation it's that simple.

So when that spirit returns to you and brings seven of his friends with him what condition will they find your house in? Will it be swept clean and put in order but have the same spiritual locks as before? Shined up bright and clean on the outside but still traces of the filth of the world on the inside. Remember, the evil spirit thinks he still has the key! Or will you have moved Jesus into that space, changed the spiritual locks and taken the "for rent" sign off of your soul? As long as the space is permanently occupied by the God of peace, the spirits that seek to move in will have to keep searching for that dry place to settle and rest. May the living waters of Christ be always found in you.

Reverend Anthony Wade September 6, 2011