Faith for the fight

How do we view the Christian life? What does it really mean to follow Christ? We would all admit that we live in a very pleasure-oriented, self-seeking society. This attitude can overflow into our understanding of Christianity. Do we teach people becoming Christians that following Jesus means to be rescued from all worldly troubles? Or that Christianity is a gateway to material prosperity? Or that it is a guarantee of protection? If so, we will not have a framework for understanding spiritual warfare when it occurs. But what if we take the Bible seriously in its portrayal of the Christian life as a battle in which we besiege the powers of darkness, fight against them and defeat them? In this case, we will have some expectations in place: -a battle presumes an opposing power; -this opposition will do some damage to us; -the moment this damage occurs is the critical point where we must trust God and hold fast our position; -no matter what the ups and downs of the battle, God guarantees ultimate victory.

If, on the other hand, we present the Christian life in terms of benefits and protection, the result — paradoxically — will be fear. Why? Because when trouble comes, we will have no frame of reference to understand or cope with it. Why is this happening when we thought God would protect us? This is the downfall of much teaching on faith. If faith is understood as trusting God that He will keep us from financial, physical and emotional hardships, we will have no means of dealing with those situations when they inevitably arise — and we will find ourselves in confusion and even disillusionment in our relationship with the Lord. But if we present the Christian life in terms of a battle which we fight offensively, the result will be peace — albeit peace in the midst of a storm. Why? Because:

-we have anticipated the attack of the enemy; -we are trusting God to keep us in it; -we see God as sovereign over it; He has warned us in advance that attack will come, but He promises to keep us in it and bring us through it.

Revelation repeatedly presents the Christian life as one of overcoming — which presumes we have things to overcome, but that, by God’s grace and empowering, we will do so. And when we have fought the battle, we will never regret doing what He called us to do.

Delivered from the power of darkness

“For He delivered us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14) The word “delivered” speaks of the action of a mighty conqueror who rescues someone by his great strength. “Authority” refers to a tyrannical form of government, enslaving those under its power. A greater power must intervene. No man can rescue himself from the authority of darkness. Jesus used exactly the same phrase at Gethsemane when the crowd came to seize Him: “While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this hour and the authority of darkness are yours” (Luke 22:53). Jesus notes that the people opposing Him are exercising  the power of darkness. But those who try to use the power of darkness will also fall under its authority.

When man fell into sin, he tried to make use of the serpent’s wisdom to gain his own goals, but soon found that he had fallen under both the serpent’s authority and its judgment. The authority of darkness is the place of Satan’s rule and the counterfeit or opposite of God’s kingdom. It is the place where every single one of us lived before we came to Christ. We entered it through sin, and every one of us has sinned. We can exit it only through total absence of sin and obedience to God, the state in which we were created. But no man can free himself from the hold of sin and so no man can free himself from the kingdom of darkness. We are in an impossible dilemma!

Yet there is a way out, for Christ has delivered us; the verse continues: “He has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” The word “transferred” or “removed” was the word used when conquering kings took with them whole populations of towns and cities and moved them to a new place. They did it for an evil cause, but God does it for our benefit. What we could not do He has done. Notice that we do not have to wait for the future to be part of His kingdom. We are in His kingdom now. To be in His kingdom means to be living under His rule and authority, to be experiencing the reality of His power in our lives. To be transferred into the kingdom means change, and change for the better. What was impossible before is possible now.

Maturity is measurable

“So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). The result of receiving the knowledge of Christ is that our lives change. Milton had a keen insight when he talked about the pilgrim’s progress. Christian maturity, holiness, or whatever you want to call it, is measurable. If we are not moving forward we are moving backward because the will of God is constant continuous positive change. The change may be small at times but we are always moving in the right direction.

Christians should be the most directed and motivated people in the world, and the church should be the most directive and purposeful institution. As we change, it gives us a hunger for even more of the knowledge of God. Knowing Christ gives us a desire for God’s wisdom and the willingness to apply it practically, even if it means doing the opposite of what the world would do. Honesty, as Ben Franklin said, actually is the best policy, even if our human nature would prefer protecting ourselves through lying and cheating. When we find out that God’s ways and His Word work, it gives us a hunger to know Christ and His Word better and to find even more wisdom.

After a period of time, the accumulation of knowledge, wisdom and insight begins to make our lives different from the lives of those around us and becomes a powerful testimony to the ability of Jesus Christ to change men and women for the better. To stop with salvation and forgiveness and refuse to move further into the knowledge of Christ and His wisdom being applied in our lives produces religious people whose lives are sadly not much different, and sometimes even worse than the lives of those around them, and it turns people away from Christ.

Knowledge that changes everything

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…” (Colossians 1:9) Here, as in Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon, Paul prays that believers would receive the knowledge of God. “Knowledge” refers to the personal relationship we have with Christ. This is not something that accumulates as random pieces of information; it is something which “fills” our lives. Knowing information may have no effect on our lives at all, but knowing Christ changes everything.

This knowledge is supplemented with “wisdom” and “understanding”, or “insight”. “Wisdom” refers to an accurate understanding of life and the world around us which comes from God’s Word. “Insight” carries the idea of the strategic ability to apply that wisdom. When we come to know Christ, we are delivered out of ignorance and into relationship with Christ. This is real knowledge. With this knowledge comes a correct perception of life through the Scriptures, and with that in turn comes the ability, by the power of the Spirit,  to apply that understanding practically. Without the knowledge of God through Christ, our knowledge and wisdom will be limited. We will attempt to understand the creation without understanding the Creator.

The world has information, but the church has revelation. The difference between the two is that revelation changes how we live. It does this by changing all our values, so that everything we do comes out of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. We do not think as the world thinks. We do not have the same values as they have. We realize we are in this life to live for Christ and for others, not for ourselves. Why, without an encounter with Jesus Christ, would we want to love others, to put their interests ahead of ours, to forgive those who have wronged us, to live to the highest standards in our finances even when everyone else around us is cheating? We would never live like this on the basis of worldly wisdom, but only on the foundation of our knowledge of Christ.

The wisdom of the world says to stick up for yourself and do a few good works along the way to make yourself feel better and look good. The knowledge of Christ says to lay your life down even for your enemy.  The knowledge of Christ is the only way to gain true wisdom and the only way to make your life a true success.