Hebrews 12:4, Struggle with Sin

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Hebrews 12:4 was brought up in a conversation I recently had with a group of teenage men. As I tried to explain it, I found myself bouncing around in several directions. This one sentence contains so many facets I thought I would share a few of my thoughts.

STRUGGLE AGAINST SIN
The first familiar word is “struggle.” The same author wrote that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities of darkness. Why then would he hint that we might ever resist to the point of bloodshed? This opening reminds us that there most certainly is a struggle between the Spirit in us and our consistency of flesh. Often the most effective tactic of Satan’s forces is to distract us from the very fact that we are at war. Imagine a company of soldiers enjoying a variety show at the front lines. It wouldn’t happen. The soldiers at the front lines are keenly aware that the enemy is just over that ridge or behind that hill. It’s back where it seems safe that the variety show takes place. So Satan subtly lures us away from those front lines, and invites us to take a seat where we can have a nice view. Then, while our attention is on the pretty dancing girl or the crooner that takes us even further into a mental state of escape, the forces of evil rally on our flank. Before we know it, we are overwhelmed, because we never saw it coming. Paul’s instruction seems to come with a presupposition that the reader knows there is a struggle. In our daily variety shows of job, hobbies, relationships, and community, we would be wise to remain mindful of the battle raging within us, and always be on guard.

RESIST TO THE POINT OF BLOODSHED
“…You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” When I first read this, I misquoted it after I had closed my bible. What I repeated was, “You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed.” While I had made a mistake with regard to my new memory verse, I believe the mistaken version makes a good point. We tend to flirt with sin. We cozy up to it, investigate it, see how close we can get without getting any on us. We almost court sin sometimes. I see this as a wimpy type of soldiering. Imagine a soldier at war. The enemy calls out across the battle lines. You step from behind cover and prance right up to it. You look it up and down as you walk around this enemy. You lean over into its ear and whisper, “I’m not going to put up with you, Sin! You’re disgusting!” But you lean in as you say that, and you notice Sin is not moving. Then you slap it in the face, but not too hard. You want to give the appearance of disapproval without making it go away. You have decided that in order to allow your ministry to be in this World but not of it, you must investigate, probe, sniff, and… aahhh… taste. But it was just one little bite, Lord. Surely God will understand, you tasted sin in the interest of discovery so you could better resist it. Why does this reasoning sound familiar? “Surely you will not die. But you will become like God.” Struggling against sin to the point of bloodshed means we don’t pussyfoot around. No slapping the enemy and hoping it doesn’t take offense. When it comes within striking distance, we are to stab it in the guts with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. In the third chapter of Judges, the account of Ehud describes an Israel so perverse that God had given them over to the rule of a fat king of Moab named Eglon. Ehud, our left-handed hero, is a great demonstration of both of these soldiers. At first, Ehud walks up to Eglon and presents him a gift, a hand-made sword. At some point or another, Ehud orchestrates some alone time with this fat-cat king, and whispers in his ear that he has a secret. I think this gives a good picture of the first soldier, up close, flirting with the evil. But then he finally gets up the gumption to do to sin what we are called to do. According to the scripture, “Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.” Now that is the kind of violence with which we should approach sin! Plunge the Word of God so far in it we cannot retrieve the blade. Cling to what is good and hate, despise, abhor what is evil. …and when you have done all, to stand. That is our charge.

THE MYSTERY OF BLOODSHED
There is a second mystery to the shedding of blood. As I digested this verse, I kept stumbling over one part, primarily because it was so misunderstood by the youths with whom I had come across the text. One young man decided this text must be talking about the practice of cutting oneself to purge guilt. (This ancient pagan practice seems to be finding a new audience in postmodern youth.) I knew Paul was not alluding to any bloodshed on our own part, for that would be an insult to the blood of Christ spilled to pay once for all sin for all mankind. There was the answer! “You” have not resisted to the point of shedding “your” blood. You have resisted to a point, but the final payment was made by God Himself. That is the point at which you would have fallen short, as though a tab had been run up too far for your wallet to match. His blood was the payment for the whole bill. Your bankroll was not enough. Your good deeds were not enough. Your offering, your service, your singing, your (insert preference here) was not enough. Only HIS blood would suffice! Thank God and give praise to Him who sits on the throne of Heaven for all eternity that He was willing to pay that price!

CONTEXTUAL INSTRUCTION
After I chewed on this verse for several days, the text in which it is embedded finally lit up in my heart as well. There are several points of instruction in this chapter about close quarters combat with sin. The previous chapter encourages us by listing sort of a roll call of faith heroes. This chapter opens with a great bit of instruction, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” Paul is saying, “You’re in good company. The saints of old fought and they made it, to their own credit and to the credit of the Name of the Lord. Now keep it up and follow their example.” Second, he calls us to throw off sin so we can run our race unencumbered. Here’s where the stabbing, kicking and flailing come in. I can see Joseph tearing out of his tunic and running away naked to escape the adulterous woman. I can see David, slinging a rock from a distance, to keep the giant from getting a chance to reach him. I can see Ehud freeing Israel with one blow of his custom-made sword. Next is one of the most important concepts of spiritual warfare of which I know. It is that of focus. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” Peter knew the gravity of this statement. It is only when he lost his concentration and saw the wind and the waves that he began to sink. The same thing happens to us when we take our focus off the Christ. We become aware of the atmospheric conditions, and we began to be overcome by them. Adam and Eve are also good examples of this. When God was all there was to know, they were innocent of their circumstances. Then, after becoming distracted, they immediately realized they were naked, and we have struggled with that flesh ever since. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Then, Paul encourages spiritual soldiers to compare ourselves and our sufferings to that of Christ. “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Notice Paul makes a point of mentioning Christ’s tormentors were sinful. He knew you already knew that, but it seemed worth pointing out that Christ’s suffering was even more unfair than ours. Finally, after our primary text, Paul reminds his audience of the wisdom of Proverbs 3, “…Do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” When the going gets tough, the tough remember what made them tough in the first place. The most wonderful thought in the universe is the knowledge that the Creator calls me “son.” It is our Heavenly Father who brings us through our trials, and orchestrates some more down the road to prepare us for the increasingly difficult ones. Like a daddy whose hand never lets go of the bicycle until the young rider is ready, so Abba directs our way until He determines we are ready for bigger hills.

CONCLUSION
~Stand up and get in the game. Have the guts to be in the fight.
~Don’t let sin sweet-talk you into giving up the secrets of your strength. Stab it through with the Word of God.
~Understand your limits. You are not the victor. Jesus Christ is. You could never have been. Claim your place as His, and you will share in His victory.
~Find courage and strength in the saints who have gone before you.
~Shake free from the chains that entangle. Throw them forcefully and run!
~Fix your focus on Jesus Christ. Don’t be distracted by your circumstances.
~Remember life was not fair even for the Breath of Life. Why should it be for you?
~Know that your Father loves you, and knows how best to raise up a child in the way he should go. Try your best not to depart from it.

Deuteronomy 11

Bind, or be Bound

Recently, I have been studying a lot about parenting teens. Since my study is more out of desperation than out of a search for enlightenment, I am studying the topic deeply and with a lot of thought. In Dad In The Mirror, Pat Morley, uses Deuteronomy chapter 11 as one of the pillars for the premise of the book. Deuteronomy 11 begins, "Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt…" Then it describes some of the miracles performed by God as He delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh, and continues, "7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done."

I am fairly certain that none of us, living today, were delivered from slavery to the Pharaoh in Egypt, led through a wilderness, and into a glorious land flowing with milk and honey. However, all of us were similarly slaves to sin and the consequences it held. Now, we are freed, but wandering in the wilderness of Earth. We are waiting for the Promised Land, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit like a pillar of smoke and fire, trusting Him to lead us to the place where we are prepared to receive the blessing of admittance to the New Heaven and the New Earth. Deuteronomy continues, "8 Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9 and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey." That land, which became Jerusalem, was promised to the children of God. He delivered them from their bondage, marched them around for forty years, until He felt they were ready, and then sent them to receive their reward. Fast forward to Revelation 21:2, "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." The messenger of the Lord told John to write these words in Revelation 3: 19, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent….21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." So the parallel can be drawn between slavery to Pharaoh and slavery to sin; the wilderness of Egypt and the wilderness of our world today; the Promised Land of the Israelites, and the New Jerusalem.

I recently was engaged in a conversation about what salvation is. The question seemed a simple one, but those in my company seemed to have difficulty coming up with an answer. To some, "salvation" is a free pass, sort of a "get out of Hell free" card. It means, that on my journey down the rapids of life, somebody somewhere pulled me onto shore before I reached certain death over a perilous fall that I was fast approaching downstream somewhere. Most can relate to that. It is simply understood. After all, salvation means the condition of being saved. Swiped from some fatal destruction. Put simply in the words of Forrest Gump, salvation means to some, "I’m going to Heaven, Lieutenant Dan!"

Salvation, however, is a little bit more than just being marked to escape the final condemnation. It means being rescued from the bondage to sin and its consequences. In this particular point in history, we are caught between slavery and reward, but our status is "freed." We are freed from the bondage that comes with separation from God. Romans 6: 6 says, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." Paul, in the same chapter warns that we are not automatically made sinless. We merely have the keys to the gates and are free to walk out and distance ourselves from the sin-prison on a daily basis. Romans 6:1, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" In other words, "Why revisit an empty prison when Christ already broke you out?" Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." So, being "saved" is more than just being heaven-bound; it is just as much a present-tense state of freedom as it applies to today.

I have drawn this parallel between Israel’s wilderness and our own, to point out that the truth, and therefore the instruction, applies to the parallel, just as it did to the Israelites. We all have our bondage and wilderness experiences, even within our "saved" lives. We backslide and fall away, slipping a chain around our waist, easing a shackle over our ankles, tethering ourselves to "just a small, little" sin. Then, when we become aware of our predicament, we once again claim the mercy of Jesus, and the bonds fall off as quickly as we turn back to Him. Since the Israelites were instructed to share the experience with their children, we should not shirk our own responsibility to do likewise. It is imperative that we share our experiences with those we would teach, most of all our children, but also our brothers and sisters. II Cor. 1:4, "…so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." If we are called to be ministers of peace, then it is our duty to share whatever wisdom we have learned with those around us who might benefit from it.

Too often we are content living our quiet Christian lives, with silent prayers and discreet ceremony. Far too frequently we bend to the fickle ways of today in the name of political correctness, sharing our testimony with a dose of apology, or devotion with a side of excuse. God commanded his people, Deut. 11:18 "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."

Why share our failures? Why admit our shortcomings? Far be it from any of us to sit when the Lord sends, or to remain silent when He has entrusted us with a message! The truth of the wilderness is that not everyone makes it into the promised land, not even all the freed ones. Moses did not even get to enter into that land, but was succeeded by Joshua, who, upon reaching the promised land gave this announcement, which seems an appropriate closing:
Joshua 24:14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."