One of the fundamental aspects of human life is the conflict which characterizes it. In Gen. 3:15, after the fall of man, God preempted that the world would be a world of conflict between man and Satan, and between God’s people and Satan’s people. There is a war going on and we have to decide which side we want to be on. Of course, God wants us to be on His side, and he wants us to be at enmity with the Devil. Perhaps the concept of hatred can be troubling, even contrary to Christian disposition it may seem, but there is a pure hatred (Ps. 139:22; Job 1:1; 1 Pet. 3:10,11) – the good life involves hatred. We, more often than not, tend to fall into the habit of being ‘agin’ things:- that is, we can get to the point where we know what we are against, but we have difficulty knowing what we are for. It’s easier to demolish a building than to build it – it’s easier to criticize a plan than to come up with a better one.
But it needs to be said that life is not just being FOR things, it does involve being against things. I’m convinced that the downfall of many Christians has been they have not loved God enough. I also believe that many have fallen by the wayside because they have not hated the Devil enough. In the battle we have in life we have to have something we love more than our sin otherwise our sin will consume us. We must love God and hate the Devil and His works.
It is said that Australia is at war – with terrorism. Do you feel like we are at war? What if you were alive here during WW11? What if you were on the front line with bullets and shells whizzing around you? Which one of these images best parallels the spiritual battle we are involved in as you perceive it? If you don’t feel like you’re in a war, then let me respectfully suggest that maybe you don’t love God enough and you don’t hate the Devil enough. Paul’s admonition in Gal. 6:7-10 is quite appropriate.
He commences with Don’t be deceived. What’s he saying? He’s saying it’s possible for man to kid himself. He’s saying that a man can lose sight of reality and construct for himself a paradigm of life that is fictitious. Some construct a world where there is no God, no rules, and no judgement. Others construct a world with a God, rules of living, and a judgement where God will judge on the curve. A fellow once said, The Bible says that we are all sinners. I’m going to live how I want to live and when it’s time for me to die I’ll just ask God to forgive me. Who knows? He might just let me into Heaven. That’s as opposed to Christianity as anything I know. Christianity is a religion of joy, but it is also a serious matter. When a person is ready to repent and be immersed into Christ, that person needs to be aware of the warfare they have entered into and that it’s for the long haul. Alexander Campbell said of Jesus that He drew His sword on the banks of the Jordan and threw away the scabbard. It would be a fight to the death. (Jas. 1:12; Rom. 6:1,2; Heb. 10:26; Rev.3:5) What’s Paul saying? he’s saying that when we begin to say a little sin won’t hurt we have lost hold of reality:- that we have lost sight of the reality that ‘little sins’ damn just as well as the ‘big sins’:- we have lost sight of the fact Jesus died for the little sins as well as the big ones.
He goes on to say God is not mocked. More than one person over the years has asked me whether God has a sense of humour. I have a pretty stock answer: Just look in the mirror! (I pick the person I say that to as some people take themselves so seriously). Seriously, God does have a sense of humour and that is where you got yours from. Some have asked me whether Jesus ever laughed. The Bible doesn’t say, but the best answer to than I ever heard was I don’t know, but He certainly gave me plenty to laugh about. Not all humour is good humour. Paul speaks of a humour that is not convenient (Eph. 5:4) meaning not becoming or appropriate. There’s dirty humour, and there’s also profane humour where we make fun of holy things:- things that demand our utmost respect and attention (cf. Eric Idle thought Mel Gibson didn’t put enough humour into his film, The Passion of the Christ.) God is no dupe – God is God! Bertrand Russell said that if there was a God He wouldn’t send him to Hell because if He was God he wouldn’t let a little thing like Russell’s disbelief and disobedience worry Him. God is not mocked. The word is mukterizo, meaning to mock, deride, turn up one’s nose at.
Further, he adds, Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. Sociologists say this is the law of life we most hate – we reap what we sow. This law holds true with respect to quality. That is, things produce after their own kind (Jas. 3:13-18). There are different kinds of wisdom. I shiver when I hear people say words to the effect Listen to me because I’m old and experienced and I’m wise. There is a humility that characterises wisdom. Wisdom is not measured by how wise you say you are, but by the fruits of your life. Wisdom is justified by her children, or to put it in the vernacular, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Og Mandino said, Always do your best. What you plant now you will harvest later.
This law holds true with respect to quantity:- he which sows sparingly shall reap sparingly…(2 Cor. 9:6). It hinges upon process (cf. Gal. 6:9). we want to sow this morning and reap this afternoon and have corn on the cob for tea tonight. This has been the downfall of many, lacking the patience needed to wait for the crop. It’s a slow process:- sow a thought and you reap a deed – sow a deed and you reap a habit – sow a habit and you reap a character – sow a character and you reap an eternal destiny. That’s a slow process. A little while ago we had the Olympic Games. Those who competed had sacrificed to get there, and to reap the results they had to sow the discipline of training. Someone said, Today is all you have. Today is all you need. Today is all you can handle. What’s the point? If there is a tomorrow for us, what we do today will largely determine what tomorrow will bring.
The rich man in Luke 16 found out the difficult way that tomorrows are decided today. Living in the lap of luxury, he gave no thought to the less fortunate. He was not concerned about God or things eternal. He had everything except God – look what tomorrow brought him:- physical death; spiritual death with eternal separation from God; no opportunity to ever change that; a concern for family that came too late; an agony forever. The rich farmer in Luke 12 discovered the same truth. The rich young ruler discovered the same thing: apparently he had been a good man all his young life, and even though he made an effort to honour God, his real treasure was earthly, and that is where his heart was. The choice he made had guaranteed earthly riches, but it also determined that he would spend tomorrow as a pauper. Tomorrows are decided today.
Paul tells us that the choice is between the flesh and the spirit. This is where the battle is fought (Matt.12:30). Most people want to be on God’s side:- perhaps most people even think they are on God’s side, but, in truth, most people follow the flesh. The Devil’s device is to make it look like he has the best deal. He offers immediate gratification (no waiting – do you like the fast lanes at the checkout?), pleasure (it’s not ‘pie in the sky by and by’ – it’s now – you can tough it, taste it, feel it), and no discipline is required (no ‘will power’ – just reach out and take it).
Paul says that we reap corruption from the flesh because regardless of what it presents, the flesh is transient: it is passing away and it has no lasting pleasure to offer – only the pleasures of sin for a season. The day will come when there is no pleasure to be had from the flesh (Eccles. 12:1ff). Years ago before paved roads it was common to see bogged vehicles after rain. Rural mail carriers had Model T Fords and later Model A’s which had a higher clearance and could negotiate deeper mud. There was a sign erected on a stretch of black soil road that said Choose your ruts carefully, you will be in them for the next 100 miles! The expression He’s in a rut, is still around but not as meaningful as it once was. When the rain stopped and the sun dried out the mud, the ruts were still there. So the way back was in the same ruts as were made in the outward journey. That’s life. Augustine and his mates stole a few pears from an orchard just for the fun of it, but years later in his Confessions, “O Lord, those pears!” A man smoked in his youth but abandoned the habit and spent his life as a capable gospel preacher. Suffering from terminal lung cancer he remarked, I am dying from a sin I abandoned forty years ago.
The apostle John was concerned about the ruts people make so he wrote in 1 Jn.2:1 to not sin. He was also concerned about those already with ruts and so he wrote v.2. Repentance can bring forgiveness, but it does not grade out all the ruts one has made. The law of sowing to the flesh will have its consequences: little wonder the wise man said in Eccles. 12:1 Seek your Creator in the days of your youth..before the evil days come…
I don’t imagine youth has ever been excited by the moralising of the aged, but it still needs to be said that we need to mind our ruts since we will cross them again:- or more biblically, be sure your sins will find you out (Num. 32:23).