THE QUESTION OF EVIL AND THE PROBLEM OF CHOICE
Sometimes someone will say something usually inadvertently, and it may be that something else is bugging you and it hits you in a sore spot, where you are vulnerable or weak. And then you can't stop thinking about it and it goes round and around. Your emotions get dragged in, until suddenly the little thing becomes a big thing and generalized. So like a friend says something and it hits that vulnerability and the next thing you are beginning to think you don't have any friends. And then you feel almost paralyzed. Like a stuck record you don't want to do anything else. You feel down and depressed, frustrated, pissed off. Maybe panicky. And you want to make people responsible for it.
EVER FEEL LIKE THAT?
Don't you hate feeling impotent? Like you are powerless to change something. It just keeps on happening to you. Humans like to be in control. And that's the problem of choice. We do get to choose. God gave us the gift of free will.
The problem is we are very good at it. We like to be in control. We manipulate things to suit us… mum and dad, comfort, relationships. We hate scary feelings… fear, panic, jealousy, weaknesses, pain. We'll go to extraordinary lengths to shut those down.
We'll spend hours of physical and emotional energy trying to figure something out and make it better. We take on a sense of overwhelm, so much to do and only I can do it. Ask for help. Nuh that's a dirty word, especially if you're a male. I can run my own life, if I just persist things will get better.
WHAT IS SIN?
- our sinful condition is: doing my own thing
- expressed in sinful acts which deviate from the norm and are an expression of a deeper nature.
Sin is our way of telling the story of our lives as opposed to God's way of retelling it. We try to reform ourselves. God wants us to trust Him to have accomplished it. We have to trust God and not ourselves.
The sin in the beginning was not that they did something specific wrong, it was that they trusted their own hands on scheme for making themselves gods. They tried to control the good and abolish the evil by their own devices. But we can't earn our own righteousness, it is given to us.
Here's the rub. This passive thing again. We can't actually sort out our own condition!! We can't provide for our own messing up. We poohed our pants and we can't clean our own bums.
Sin is exactly this, that it's trying to provide the answer ourselves, ignoring the God who made us and in effect trying to be like gods ourselves.
DISCUSSION:
1. WHAT IS FREE WILL ABOUT? WHY DO WE NEED IT?
2. WHAT IS SIN?
3. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS EVIL?
Evil is the absence of God or turning away from Him, which creates the negative, the darkness. It is not that evil is bigger or more powerful than God, but it can take on any dimension we give it.
Lies, untruth, deception, out of the heart comes, I-centeredness, disobedience.
Evil is in us as we choose to ignore God. We open doorways and footholds to the devil when we refuse to acknowledge God.
Evil also seems to be concentrated in the figure of Satan, a deliberate, intentional, personal opposition.
Evil and hell reside in the absence of God, they are not the equal and opposite of God or good.
These powers are defeated but still attempt to thwart the Gospel, and will do so until Jesus gathers up all things finally into Himself.
4. HOW DO SIN AND EVIL AFFECT FREE WILL?
As soon as I turn away from God and say I can do this, I create a vacuum which darkness and evil fills.
In this context the writer of the Ephesians gives us some advice:
Eph 6: 10-20 The Armour of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
1. We are to put on truth, honesty about our condition, we sort out our spiritual and mental health or atleast keep it before God praying always that He will help us to see it and not be deceived. We seek the positive and to not be rooted in the negative.
2. We put on righteousness: both Christ and character and conduct. We keep acknowledging before God we need His help. We know we are forgiven, we know our being righteous is not about our ability but Christ's clothing of us and this adds integrity and therefore defense. By putting on Christ actively you will close up holes in your armour where the devil can get in and take you out.
3. Sandals had nails in them. Hard to move. They rooted the soldier. Jesus is the One who develops roots in us, our Peace, what makes us stand.
4. The shield of faith: chief defensive weapon. Like a door it quenched the flaming arrows of doubt, lies, temptation.
5. Helmet of salvation: we may hold up our head because we know we are saved, forgiven, delivered, adopted. Do I know to whom I belong? This is the Control centre, which sums up the last four pieces of armour.
6. Knowing this we take up the offensive weapon: the sword of the Spirit which was a short dagger. The speaking of the Word reaches out and attacks the enemy and one little word subdues him. How well do you know the Word of God? Well enough to wield it like a sword. Jesus did when Satan attacked him in the wilderness. Submit yourself to God and Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4: 7 The Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two edged sword. Heb 4: 12
7. Prayer is the way we appropriate the armour. Constancy, keeping alert, watchful against temptation. Watch and pray that you may not be led into temptation. It is by prayer that we wait on the Lord and renew our strength. Without prayerfulness we will become feeble and flabby to stand and withstand.
Why do we need to do this? I don't want you to be unaware…
- 1. don't be naïve about the evil in the world or in one's own life.
- 2. Evil is out there. We don't always see it but the scripture assures us its around in the form of: principalities and powers, the dominion of darkness, rulers that have parts of the world under their control, ( they claimed to be able to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. ) evil spirits or demons.
- 3. When I was 19 I went on a tramp on the Heaphy track. I stayed in a house in Nelson on the way and at night I woke up and I could feel the presence of evil in the room. It is as near to actually seeing a presence of evil as I have ever got. I felt paralysed by fear, but I managed to cry out the name of Jesus and it simply vanished. I have vivid memories of it and I have no idea how I managed to get back to sleep. I was somewhat prepared, in that I knew that the Name of Jesus has power.
- 4. The devil roars around eg evil dictators, mass murder…….but he is also subtle and undermining Eph 4:27: wiles and tricks and strategies… disunity, lust, anger, lack of communication…negativity, criticism, overwhelm, believing lies. Relationships are easy targets, be angry but do not sin.
We are seduced into compromise and deceived into error.
Do not give the devil a foothold. What looks and feels good… - 5. Don't underestimate the power of evil in the human heart.
The heart is deceitful above all else. We are not invulnerable.
Evil comes in behind human sinfulness and makes it a whole lot worse. - 6. If the devil can keep us from praying and reading God's word, let alone actually going on the offensive and doing stuff like praying for others, serving the poor, then we are of no threat to him at all. Read The Screwtape Letters. Be on guard against impotence and apathy and not being rooted in God and then trying to do stuff. It will come unstuck. Everytime I get out of sync with God and with prayer support and taking care of myself, I start to crumble emotionally, I simply run out of my own resources, start crying, I end up incapacitated and then angry and critical….
- 7. The spiritual realm is real. It can touch us where we have given it room,
for example opening the door on pornography or the occult and sometimes as a result of trauma which leads to a subsequent weakness. Abuse of any sort or even what our parents or past generations have done, may be a gateway for evil which is entirely unfair but nevertheless exists. There's no Geneva Convention where the devil is concerned. - 8. I've prayed with people and students affected mentally, psychiatrically and it has not been until some demonic stuff was delivered that there was able to be progress.
A person without God is spiritually vulnerable to this stuff, and often after becoming a Christian this stuff sticks around until it is specifically confronted.
I just don't want you to be unaware or caught unaware because at two camps this stuff has manifested itself quite dramatically and has freaked some out.
It is often in worship or when our spirits are reaching out to God in openness that the demonic begins to feel uncomfortable and reacts. - 9. It is our mandate as Christians to pray for deliverance from evil.
This is clearly scriptural. The first healing story of mark's gospel is exactly that, a demon recognizes Jesus authority and is exposed, Jesus casts it out.
'And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.' - 10. Deliverance from evil doesn't have to be dramatic.
Every time I confess my sin and repent I shut the door on evil. I bring truth into something I was shut off from and I am set free.
The truth will set you free.
Repentance and confession one to another are the biggest marks of a truly Christian character became they represent humility, openness, transparency and vulnerability. Light.
Everything that evil would do is in the dark, it is hidden, it is shutting down from ourselves, God and one another. It is avoidance, it is refusal to confront or feel pain.
It is lies and deception and ultimately hiding from reality.
This is the greatest danger humans' face, to become so deceived that we no longer live in reality and consign ourselves to a living hell, absence from God.
It is not that God put us there, we chose to be there ourselves and every step of refusing to acknowledge our need of God and our utter sinfulness, puts us closer to not being able to see the true nature of things. - 11. Walk in the light as children of the light. Get your stuff exposed to the God who loves you beyond all comprehension and whose greatest desire for you is wholeness and maturity. Face your pain, the unbearable feelings that clutter up your behaviour. Get help, get prayer, confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed.
To sum up:
BE IN RELATIONSHIP TO GOD and STAND YOUR GROUND
1. Note the passive nature of our resistance. Allow yourself to be strengthened. This is the message of Eph 6:10 and echoed in
2. Eph 3: 16 I pray that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit.
3. This comes about in relationship.
4. Be strengthened from an external source, not from your own resources. Be strong because you are in the Lord.
5. This implies you actually spend time being with God, deliberately fostering a two way relationship with Him.
6. Strength is a divine gift. So is the armour.
7. The purpose is to hold one's position, to keep from yielding to the devil.
8. Note the 4 time repetition of the command to stand in Ephesians 6:10-20
* Put on the armour so you may be able to stand against the wiles
* Take up the whole armour, so you may be able to withstand
* And having done everything to stand firm
* Stand therefore.
Sometimes the only thing you can do is stand.
Prayer: Some of you may be feeling like there is a war raging inside you tonight.
And you are afraid of it. God's word to you is: be at peace for the battle has been won for you and over you. Give to God the war that goes on and ask Him to bring peace and deliverance and the courage to get help.
You may need to get some help around this. Some specific prayer.
If you are feeling overwhelmed tonight, stressed, guilty tempted, doubting, sick, frustrated. It is God's word to you tonight : Let me be strong for you.
Put on Christ, rest in Christ, Hold your ground.
Submit your life to God again. Acknowledge that you cannot do this on your own. Use the Name of Jesus who stands for truth, righteousness and peace. There is power in the Name of Jesus.
Claim the blood of the lamb shed on your behalf and which the devil hates. It is your protection.
Proclaim what you don't feel, that God is in control and he has defeated these enemies. Give thanks to God for He holds it all together.
And having done everything stand firm.
"Sin is conceived in the imagination. First there comes the suggestion - the satanic suggestion - and that suggestion becomes a desire. If it is allowed to conceive and mature and be brought to birth within the area of your imagination, the desire will become an intent that you have already sinned, whether your circumstances allow you to implement your intent or not. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said: 'whoever looks upon a woman and lusts after her, has already committed adultery in his heart' (Matthew 5:28). Where suggestion becomes desire, desire becomes intent and the intent becomes an act - the act becomes a memory and that memory is hung like a picture upon the wall of your imagination, in the picture gallery of your mind. When later in your thoughts you wander through the picture gallery, you see the memory on the wall and this memory itself becomes a desire, this desire may become an intention and if this intention becomes an act, you will have then have hanging on the wall two memories. So now the process can begin all over again with double force!"
Major W. Ian Thomas