We are warriors. You are a warrior. And you have enemies that are working to take you out. Be on your guard and ready for the battle. John points out that we will always encounter three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil which he says "make up a sort of unholy trinity."
I think these work in a particular order. I think the attack in waves beginning with the one closest at hand, the flesh. This would be the Evil Spirit in the unholy trinity that is against us. This is "that part of fallen Adam in every man that always wants the easiest way out." This is that voice in us, that feeling that says we'll fail, that we aren't enough, not we aren't really warriors at all and have no business on the battlefield to begin with.
But it's important to know that "Your flesh is not the real you." No matter what it would have you believe, this is not who you really are. The thing in you that feels like a constant failure that can do nothing right, is not the real you. It is the traitor inside the walls that is trying to let the enemy outside come in and destroy all life.
The Church has not helped men to overcome this enemy. John points out something I've been saying and thinking for years. You are not just a sinner saved by grace. We've all heard that, many of us have probably said it, but it is a lie, and undoubtedly the biggest lie told in the Church. You are not a sinner saved by grace, your flesh is sinful, but "You are not your sin; sin is no longer the truest thing about the man who has come into union with Jesus. Your heart is good." The flesh is the sinner, but you, the new creation in Christ, are a child of God. You are His beloved son.
"The real you is on the side of God against the false self... your flesh is your false self - the poser, manifest in cowardice and self-preservation - and the only way to deal with it is to crucify it." In order to deal with an enemy we must identify it. We must call it what it is, and then we must execute him for treason. We crucify the flesh, we put it to death. We die to sin and are raised to new life in Christ. And pay attention to this, "we are never, ever told to crucify our heart. We are never told to kill the true man within us, never told to get rid of those deep desires for battle and adventure and beauty. We are told to shoot the traitor."
In Christ, your heart is good. It has been cleansed and sanctified by Him for His work. It has been set free, trained, and called to the front lines. But in order to be effective in battle, we must get rid of the traitor behind the walls. "If you want to grow in true masculine strength, then you must stop sabotaging yours."
John points out that we sabotage our strength, we allow the traitor to live, when we refuse our strength, and when we give it away. We refuse it by running from it, by not using it when it is called upon. We keep silent when we should speak up for truth. We remain seated when we should stand up and face injustice. We give our strength away when we allow ourselves to be bought off. We are bribed or we give in to temptation, and the flesh lives to destroy another day. "A man's addictions are the result of his refusing his strength."
To be men, we must live from our strength. Our strength comes from the good, new heart that is ours in Christ. The flesh, the traitor within the walls, will do whatever he can to prevent that. He will work to convince us that we are weak and worthless; that we have nothing to offer and even if we did, it wouldn't be enough. He will work to convince us that we are nothing but worthless sinners who are nothing without grace. But the truth is, you are a new creation, a beloved son of God, who is powerful, dangerous, and strong. You have strength that the flesh is terrified of because your God given strength is the end of the flesh, and the whole goal of the flesh is self-preservation.
Embrace your strength. Embrace the fact that you are so much more than a sinner who has been saved by grace. Realize that, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1.6), "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2.13). " But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3.7-11). And "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4.8-9).
The traitor is dead, one down, two to go.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3.20-21
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
this was some great insight. thank you for your horrible work
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