FACING THE OPPOSITION

FACING THE OPPOSITION

Ephesians 6:10-20; Matthew 6:5-15 (v.13)

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

October 14, 2007

This is an exciting time for sports fans in the New England area. The Patriots are doing quite well at 5 and 0 and for those rooting for the Red Sox there is hope for a World Series. As these teams face their opposition, we can be sure that there is a coaching staff busy at work, sizing up the opposition, looking at strengths and weaknesses, seeking expected patterns of play, and determining the best way to win.

As we turn once again to Jesus’ model and instructive prayer, we are reminded that the Christian life, for many reasons, is not an easy one. We need to realize that there is also opposition that we as Christians face – the world in its resistance to God’s truth; our sinful nature that, though redeemed, is nevertheless in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ; and the devil and adversarial spirits with him that are vehemently opposed to Christians. Here, Jesus clearly wants us to be realistic regarding the need for prayer in facing such opposition.

This, then,

is how you should pray:

“… And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.”

Knowing this, based upon this petition in the Lord’s Prayer, the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism instruct us to pray in this way: “By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies - the devil, the world, and our own flesh – never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory.” This sounds serious, doesn’t it? And it is!

Prayer in the midst of a very real struggle is most certainly a critical part of our spiritual growth and maturity. So, in facing such opposition, we can and most certainly should pray … but how?

WE CAN START BY PRAYING

THAT WE WOULD BE

PROVIDENTIALLY SPARED

FROM BEING TEMPTED TO SIN.

The Bible is quite clear that God never tempts anyone to sin.[i] Therefore, the meaning of “lead us not into temptation” should be understood in the sense of permitting. One commentator helps us to understand what Jesus is saying in this statement by giving us this paraphrase: “If it be Thy will do not permit us, weak as we are by nature and prone to sin, to enter into situations which in the natural course of events would expose us to temptation and fall, but, whatever be Thy way with us, deliver us from the evil one.” [ii]

We need God’s help in enabling us to stay away from situations in which we get ourselves into trouble. We are quite simply not as strong as we pretend or profess ourselves to be. If you think you are, think only for a moment of the three who were Jesus’ closest friends – Peter, James and John. They were so often with Him and they were with Him in a time of great sorrow.

As Jesus prayed in anguish in Gethsemane over the inevitability of both spiritual and physical suffering on the cross, Jesus yet desired to do the will of the Father. But what about those disciples, Jesus’ closest friends? We are told, “And (Jesus) came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [iii] Now, if Peter could fall asleep instead of pray, or deny Jesus not once but three times, is there much hope for us, left on our own?

Augustine, the great Church leader of the fourth and fifth centuries, wrote a candid and honest portrayal of his life simply entitled, Confessions. In this book, he tells us of his life before Christ in which he was proud and vain and was quite frankly addicted to sexual immorality, having a number of mistresses.

After he became a Christian, he knew of areas still subject to falling into sin. A story is told of Augustine walking on the street soon after his conversion to Christ and encountering a former mistress on the way. Seeing her, he immediately turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Surprised by his action, she shouted, “Augustine, it is I!” Augustine, never stopping, called back, “Yes, but it is not I.” He knew he was different in Christ, but he also knew of the weakness of his own nature.

Those of us who are also aware of our own weakness, know what it means to pray, “Lord, lead me in such a way that I am not permitted to go where I should not, nor be permitted to do what I should not.”

WE CAN ALSO PRAY THAT, IF TEMPTED,

THE SPIRIT WOULD POWERFULLY

SUPPORT and ENABLE US

TO RESIST DURING THE TIME OF TEMPTATION.

Along with the world and our sinful nature, we need to recall that the devil is often called the Tempter, such as in the case of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.[iv] Along this line, commentators have sometimes debated whether the best translation here is “evil” or “evil one.” But Calvin said there is no reason to debate the issue because the meaning is the same, with the Evil One behind the evil, and thus the Tempter also behind the temptation.

In addition, our first reading of Scripture from Ephesians reminds us of the real enemy we face: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” [v]

What Paul reminds us here is of the necessity to recognize our true nemesis and consequently use all the resources available to us, including prayer and the use of God’s Word, in order to remain standing in the end in the way of victory.

For those who scoff at such thinking, C.S. Lewis has this word of counsel to offer:

Enemy occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, ‘Do you really mean at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil – hoofs and horns and all?’ Well, what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is ‘Yes, I do.’ I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, ‘Don’t worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you’ll like it when you do is another question.’ [vi]

Once you and I understand that we are living in what Lewis calls “enemy-occupied territory,” our guard goes up immediately, doesn’t it? And secondly, we will not want to stand ever so foolishly with no protection, no defensive armor, nor any offensive weapons, will we? For us to succeed in facing the opposition, be it the “world, the flesh, or the devil,” we are to be alert and sober-minded, and dependent through prayer to carry on in faith and faithfulness in the midst of whatever comes our way, no matter what size or shape of the temptation that comes your way … or mine.

In your particular struggle and mine, we need to remember the counsel of one whose life bears witness to God’s power:

“Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing,

were not the right man on our side,

the man of God’s own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He –

Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same;

and He must win the battle.

And tho this world with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us, we will not fear,

for God hath willed His truth to triumph thru us.

The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him –

his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.” [vii]

Now, having said this, even so, we know that in spite of the times of such divine strength and personal victory, there are and will be times when we will yet fail and fall.

III

WE CAN PRAY THEN, SHOULD WE FALL,

THAT WE BE RAISED AGAIN and RESTORED,

WITH THE EXPERIENCE BEING USED

FOR OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH and OUR WITNESS.

From David’s adulterous affair to Peter’s three-fold denial of Christ, we know that giving in to temptation is a possibility for us all. The previous petition of the Lord’s Prayer deals with this reality, as we are taught to seek forgiveness for our “debts” and give forgiveness to “our debtors.”

Now, sometimes, we have difficulty not in owning up to the sin, but in getting it out of our head. For example, a humorous story comes from the life of Rogers Cadenhead, who describes himself as a web site “domain hoarder.” He actually secured a domain in the name of Benedict XVI before the new pope’s name was announced. He didn’t want money for it and was quite happy to give it to the Catholic Church, being a Catholic and retorting with some humor: “I’m going to try and avoid angering 1.1 billion Catholics and my grandmother.”

However, he did want something in exchange for the web site domain, including: “one of those hats”; “a free stay at the Vatican hotel”; and “complete absolution, no questions asked, for the third week of March, 1987.” [viii] It does make us all curious, doesn’t it, as to what happened that third week of March?

But before we laugh too much, perhaps we ought to review our own lives and see if we don’t have one “week” of our own - a time, a place, an event, where we gave in … and paid the price for it.

As Protestant Christians, we don’t depend upon a pope for forgiveness and absolution. We go to Christ, who alone is able and fully sufficient to give us the forgiveness we so desperately need. As we again considered together last Sunday, when we pray to confess our sins (debts), God is faithful to forgive us and to restore us into fellowship with Him. But at the same time, let’s also pray that we not only be raised again and restored in Christ, but that we also learn from such an experience, that we grow from it, and become stronger in faithfulness then we were before.

A number of years ago, I preached a series of sermons here on the life of David. Soon into the series, while preaching on David’s faithfulness to the Lord in the early years of his life, a member spoke to me after one service and said: “I’m not sure I like this series, Pastor. I just can’t get past the fact that David was an adulterer.” The truth of the matter is, as the series progressed, he never changed his mind on David, as he told me quite often.

When you read David’s confession of his sin in Psalm 51, one can’t help but feel the stinging sorrow of David. Though his sin was indeed terrible and heinous toward Bathsheba’s husband and Bathsheba herself, David was in fact forgiven. But there is something else in this psalm, an added request after prayer for forgiveness and a new heart, one that the church member may not have seen:

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

and sinners will return to You.”[ix]

David prayed that he could use his life to help others find forgiveness. And those of us who have prayed this psalm, know that he has. His prayer has surely been answered.

What a model prayer, instructing us how to pray when facing opposition.

“This then, is how you should pray:

‘Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’”