Last week we talked about how we identify and repel an attack of the enemy. Today we will discuss how we attack him and take back territory for the Kingdom of God. Now, if the main weapon of the enemy is fear, we are going to have to understand how to deal with that as we move into his territory and rescue people from his power. So the question is, how do we conquer fear? 1 John 4:18 “18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” We read this verse when we first started talking about satan and how he is afraid of his future punishment. But here in this same verse it provides the means by which we can defeat the fear he tries to put on us and those he controls. The answer is so easy, and also, so difficult at the same time. The answer is love. Love is the power of God to overcome fear...and everything else that the enemy would use to stop us. In the same way Jesus sent the disciples out into the world to spread His kingdom message, He calls us to the same mission. And the way we are supposed to accomplish it is the same way they accomplished it. Through love. Every time you go out and love someone the way God calls us to, you advance the Kingdom. Sometimes you don’t even have to go out to them...they will come to you. You have an opportunity to love your community when kids come to your house trick or treating.
I heard a couple of great ideas recently. How about instead of just giving out candy, you set up a “blessing booth?” When the kids come up, just bless each of them in the name of Jesus as you give them their candy. Or if you’re bold enough, you could set up a booth as a “spiritual advisor.” And guess what kind of spiritual advice you will give them? You ask what they need prayer for and tell them that you’ll ask the most powerful Spirit for help. That is God almighty. Pray with them. This is not about inviting them to church. It’s about loving people where they are. If they want to know where you go to church... tell them. Love is our only path forward. It is a narrow difficult road to walk, but it leads to the kingdom, so it is the only choice we have. God is love, and through us, His love is spread across the world. You can expect it to be just as hard for you as it was for the disciples. Love will cost you everything. Do we ever read in the new testament how a disciple argued someone into the kingdom? Has that been your strategy? Has it ever worked? What happens when you try to argue with someone about Jesus. Being angry and fighting with someone is the complete opposite of loving them. You won’t win someone to Christ by fighting with them. Now I didn’t say you need to agree with them about their sin. You have to speak the truth...but you have to do it in love. Ephesians 4:14-16 “14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we
are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Speaking the truth in love is how we grow up in Christ. A lot of us have no issue with speaking the truth with each other, but we do it in a way that is far from loving. This verse is talking about how we deal with each other as disciples. If we can’t even speak truth without arguing with fellow believers, how can we ever speak truth to the world? The world will reject us as hypocrites if we continue to talk about God’s love in an angry voice and with a terrible attitude. What did Jesus do when He encountered a person living in sin? Was He angry with them, or show them love? John 8:3-11 “3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Here’s the challenge, the scribes and Pharisees were telling the truth about what the law required them to do to the woman. They were indeed speaking the truth...but not in love. They were speaking it to condemn her and to trap Jesus. They were using scripture to beat someone into submission to their way of thinking. Have you ever encountered someone with the spirit of religion who was full of hate for other believers who didn’t live or believe the same way they did? They speak about love, but do it in a hateful way. This is not God’s love. What does the love of God look like? It looks like this: 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 “27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” In this chapter, Paul is talking about the gifts of the Spirit and the leadership roles in the church. It’s how we move forward as a body of believers. But look at what he says at the end. He says there is a better way to accomplish our goals. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but
have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” If this is how we are to deal with each other in the church, how much more should we speak in love to those outside the church? Have you been thinking you are spreading God’s love, but doing it arrogantly, rudely, insisting on your own way? Are you irritable or resentful when you try to convince someone you are right about your opinion of God? If so, you are not operating in God’s love. These are not my words...they are God’s words. Your intended end, does not justify your means. Your end and your means must both be motivated by God’s definition of love. If you are focused on using love as the means to speak the truth, then you have done all you can do to show someone the truth. If they continue to reject it, that’s on them. God does not hold us accountable for the results. That's up to Him not us. God only holds us accountable to obey what He calls us to do... and to the way we do it. It must be done His way...in love. God’s love is a radiant force that moves out in all directions. You can think about it like the sun. The light from the sun is evenly distributed in every direction. No outside position has an advantage on receiving the sun’s light.
First, God’s love, moves from God to us. Even while we were in darkness. Romans 5:6-8 “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God does not wait till we clean up our act before He loves us. He loved us even while we were still sinners. But He loved us too much to leave us that way. Once God’s love has flooded our lives, we are called to radiate His love toward others. When I talk about your calling for ministry as a disciple of Jesus, I’m talking about your capacity to love the way God loves. 1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.” What does it look like to radiate God’s love? It looks like conforming to the image of Christ. Philippians 2:1-8 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found
in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Humility is the main point of this passage. You cannot be conformed to the image of Christ if you are acting arrogantly. Those two things are opposites. Are you being humble as you try to advance the kingdom? If Jesus, Who is God in the flesh, could humble Himself and be obedient to the point of death, can you at least humble yourself while interacting with others? As we approach this midterm election, can you vote the way you feel God is leading you and humbly share with others why you believe God has called you to vote that way? Or do you allow your emotions to drive you as you stand up for your rights? Let me ask you this? Did Jesus deserve to die? No. Had He done anything to be crucified? No. Did He have the right to stop them from killing Him? Yes, He did. But did He? No, he didn’t. He humbled Himself and obeyed what the Father told him. Are you willing to forgo your rights, in humility, for the sake of someone else hearing the message of the kingdom? I didn’t say you should keep quiet. I’m saying you need to speak up, but with humility and in love, in order to win someone to Christ. Can you control your emotions or are you led around by your feelings? Are you a slave to being right over doing right? Are you ready at a moments notice, to engage in a political fight if someone offends you with their beliefs? Or maybe you are the one who starts the argument? Do you post things on facebook that will just start a political fight? You can, and should, stand up and speak the truth, but you also must do it in love. If you start an argument, all you have done is help the opposition solidify their people against you. So how do we win over an enemy?
Proverbs 25:21-22 “21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” You don’t defeat an enemy with argumentative words, you defeat an enemy by turning them from an enemy into a friend. And that is not accomplished by arguing with them. It’s accomplished by loving them and speaking the truth in love. Do you have any people in your life who disagree with you politically? Do you have enough humility to win them to Christ before you try to win them to your political party? What is the higher priority as you deal with them? What do you spend more time doing...praying for your enemies who are blinded by satan, or watching cable news? If we are going to rescue people from the power of satan, which is the fear of death, we must use the one thing that can cast out fear. And that is love. Love is the answer. It is unstoppable. Neal shared a story with me several months ago and I want to share it with you now. Neal had gone to pick up kids in the inner- city for his ministry and when he arrived there was a guy standing outside who started swearing at him. The longer Neal waited the worse this guy got. He was very angry and couldn’t stand that Neal was there to love these kids in the name of Jesus. Eventually Neal had to get out of the van and deal with this guy. And the reason he knew he had to get out was because the Holy Spirit told him to. As Neal approached him, he continued to threaten and cuss him out. But instead of fighting back and standing up for his right to do the ministry that God had called him to, Neal just said this:
“Hey man, I just want to tell you that Jesus loves you.” When Neal said that, the guy just broke down and started weeping. Love is all it took to overcome the power of the enemy in this guys life. This wasn’t just a one time event. This has happened multiple times with Neal. When I asked Neal to remind me of how that story went with the guy who was cursing at him, he said which time? Love wins, every time it’s used. Maybe a kid in your neighborhood just needs to hear that Jesus loves them while they are out on halloween. Maybe it’s not a neighborhood kid, maybe it’s not a political opponent, maybe it’s not a co-worker. Maybe it’s a family member who needs you to speak the truth in love. People will tell you not to say anything to a family member about obvious sin in their life, because it will cause problems in the family. But let me ask you this. If you saw this same family member walking down their favorite trail in the woods, and you knew that it had a hidden den of rattlesnakes, would you warn them about the danger or would you just keep quiet in order to keep the peace and remain on friendly terms with them? Remember, they love this trail and it hasn’t hurt them so far. They are very happy with their choice and are encouraged by others to keep walking. They are blind to the danger. You may be the only voice in their life who knows the truth. What does love tell you that you must do? Is it more loving to speak the truth in an effort to save their life...or to remain silent to keep them happy and keep the peace? Are you willing to humbly sacrifice your relational comfort to save their life? Will you speak the truth in love regardless of the cost?
That is how we take the fight to the enemy’s camp and take over that territory for the kingdom. One life at a time, one act of love at a time. That’s all it takes.
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