FAMILY MATTERS

February 18th, 2009
 

“When You Win a Battle…Claim the Victory”

 

            There are many things I despise about the 12-step programs, and some week I’ll share them all with you.  A.A. alone accounts for millions and millions of members worldwide.  Surely some of those are Christians.  While I was conducting a relapse prevention group at the Providence Rescue Mission last year, I hit on one of my biggest contentions with recovery groups and 12-step programs.

            If you’ve ever been to a “meeting” it’s much like you see on TV.  “Hi, I’m Bob, and I’m and alcoholic.”  They all respond, “Hi Bob.”  Then the speaker goes on to say, “It’s been 12 YEARS since my last drink.”  I say to myself, really, you’re not an alcoholic.  At least call yourself a RECOVERED alcoholic.”  But believe me, that’s not how it goes.  They turn their lives over to their “higher power” and credit their power for their sobriety, but never believe that they are truly changed.  They are forever “alcoholics.”  In fact, they are so cautious that they call themselves recovering alcoholics.  That’s why you hear people always say, I’m IN recovery.  Rarely will someone in a 12-step program venture out in faith and call themselves “recovered.”

            I have for my say that the Bible clearly speaks against labeling ourselves as anything but Christians.  I took two consecutive talks I gave at the Providence Rescue Mission and combined them to illustrate my point.  The first part deals with how to gain daily victories in any area of our Christian lives and the next part deals with realizing our proper state after those victories.

 

Warring Within Our Souls

(The Desire to Sin is Present with Desire to Be Holy) 

Key Text:  Romans 7:13-25 & Galatians 5:16-17

 

Romans 7:22-23…”For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

 

As a saved man, Paul recognized there was a part of him that still desired to do evil, and at times, got the best of Paul (Romans 7:15-21) and Paul sinned.  If we are saved, we still have a desire to sin, to be carnal, to not live a godly life, but there is the urging of the Holy Spirit which convicts us when we are contemplating sinning…How do we make the godly choice and win the spiritual battle?

 

  1. Know your enemy (Ephesians 6:12).  You can’t effectively fight a foe without first recognizing that you have one, and in this case, they are legions of demonic influences.
  2. Know the fight is personal and very much in-your-face daily because in Ephesians 6:12 it says we “wrestle” which implies close hand-to-hand personal combat with Satan and his demons.
  3. Know your enemy’s tactics because Satan can be either a roaring lion (I Peter 5:8) or subtle and cunning like an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14) so we must not be only watchful for the obvious attacks, but rather vigilant to guard against something that seems right, but ultimately leads to defeat and spiritual death.
  4. Arm yourself properly for battle (Ephesians 6:13-18).  Pray before venturing out into the world.  Strengthen your knowledge of God’s tools to use against temptation by studying God’s Word daily.  As Christians, the indwelling Holy Spirit is mightier than any of the enemy’s soldiers (I John 4:4).  No good soldier would walk into enemy territory unarmed, ignorant, and alone.  That would be suicide, and in this case…it would be spiritual suicide.
  5. Be loyal to your side (Luke 16:13; Joshua 24:15; James 4:4; II Timothy 2:3-4).  Know for Whom you battle and make war.  A soldier doesn’t train and follow commands of his leader when he feels like it.  No, the soldier is aware that his superiors have superior knowledge and that the superior has the soldiers’ safety and best interest at heart, so he demands complete loyalty.  Joshua chose to serve God (Joshua 24:15).  Luke reminds us that we can’t serve two masters because we’ll love and follow one while hating and casting off another (Luke 16:13).  No, we can’t embroil ourselves with other goings so that we can please the One who called us to be His soldiers (II Timothy 2:3-4).  You can’t be a friend of the enemy and fight for God (James 4:4)

 

Realize that the devil has many tactics and knows you better than you know him.  He will attack you blatantly at times and other times he will trip you up with something that seems rational and sincere, and you won’t know what hit you until the fallout comes.  If we arm ourselves and learn to follow God’s strategies for overcoming, than we will win individual battles along the way.  But for goodness sakes…when God gains a victory in your life over some long-standing problem (smoking, gambling, drinking, immorality, etc)…claim that victory!

 

New Creatures with Old Labels?

As Christians, if we are truly saved, there are some truths that we must claim in order to move in our sanctification and growth in Christ.  We need to stop using terms like “addict,” “alcoholic,” “junkie” when referring to ourselves, and here’s why…

 

  1. Therefore if any man be in Christ (saved) he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).  There was a decisive break with the old life at the moment of salvation…all things are new (new focus, new desires, new eternal life, NEW LABEL…CHRISTIAN!!!).

 

  1. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?  Be not deceived:  neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers…nor drunkards…and such were some of you:  but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God (I Corinthians 6:9-11).  To be saved and still label ourselves according to our past sins is unscriptural and demeans the Power of God.  We are holy and sanctified and set apart.  How can we lay claim to the life-changing power of salvation and want to share that with someone and still call ourselves addicts, liars, cheats, etc.  It is wrong!!!

 

  1. Bretheren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).  Our lives of willful sinning are behind us if we lay claim to God’s promise.  Keep reaching forward to continued holiness by not looking back (Remember Lot’s wife).  We will have a hard time growing as mature adults if we continuously call ourselves adolescents.  We are no longer adolescents, and likewise, we are no longer addicts, and drunkards, etc, but CHRISTIANS who are moving forward with their maturity in the Faith.

 

  1. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example (Philippians 3:17).  Follow those who exhibit a true Christian walk with God.  Alcoholics Anonymous and the like are filled with people who have taken twelve steps and essentially marched in place, forever calling themselves alcoholics…avoid such people as examples…take Paul’s advice and find good godly men who believe in the above Scriptures.  Also, if others look to your life as an example to follow, and you continue with the “old labels” you may become a stumbling block to that person’s potential growth.

 

In the New Testament there are more that twenty references to the “saints.”  These are the redeemed of the Lord.  Some of these saints are the very individuals who Paul reminded of what they once WERE (I Corinthians 6).  Paul no longer calls them sinners, but a small part of the world’s way is in the church.  How often do we hear people say they are “sinners saved by grace?”  At least we say we are saved (past tense) which denotes a time when our standing with God and our abilities to overcome the world changed…and that change can be permanent…we can be victorious…if were willing to fight…

 

 

 


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