SPIRITUAL FITNESS

As redeemed disciples of Christ we will be tempted today. We can be certain of that fact because the Bible says it is true. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Our adversary, Satan, is not the devil of Hollywood, or of popular or mythical literature. I'm fairly certain he does not have red skin, pointy horns, a pitchfork, hooves, fiery breath, or a barbed tail. That certainly does not mean Satan is fictitious.

The greatest deception Satan perpetuates - even in those who claim to be Christians - is his non-existence. Revelation 12:9 states, “The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, deceiving the whole world...”

Satan is the original rebel/adversary against God. Satan (which means adversary) uses deception as his primary weapon. Satan is humanity’s greatest adversary – attempting to lead the whole world astray through deception, denial of his existence, and distraction from the reality of God.

One of Satan’s “go to” moves is to pose as something beautiful. As 2 Cor 11:14 Satan poses as an “angel of light.” Satan doesn’t lure us in with dirt and horror. No. He poses as an “angel of light.” Appreciation for the beauty of the human form quickly becomes sensuality. Sensuality leads to perversion, perversion to promiscuity and pornography, addiction, escape, relationship problems... finally the eventual and inevitable blowout.

That was case with both Eve in Eden, and with King Solomon. The desire for wisdom quickly becomes an unquenchable thirst for independence, power, manipulation, hubris and self-worship. Satan’s deception takes something, which God intended for abundant life and goodness, and our adversary twists, perverts, heapens, and spoils it through autonomy, rebellion, and selfishness... to the point it is unrecognizable.

When we recognize Satan as basically a “three-trick pony,” we can begin to break the bondage of sin-cycles in life and allow God to redeem and use us in accordance with His perfect will for His eternal glory. Breaking free is not through self-discipline, but exclusively in laying down one's life and following Jesus. When our lives are rightly aligned with Him and His mission - to be the gospel of light and truth to the ends of the earth - Satan is defeated in and through our new life in Christ!

Let’s look at examples from the Bible - specifically Jesus’ victory over Satan in Matthew 4:1-11.

TRICK #1: Lust of The Flesh – Satan tried to lure Jesus the same way he lured Eve. It seems subtle and innocent enough, so most of us don’t even notice how pervasive it is in our own lives. “Hey, want some fruit Eve? God didn’t really say you couldn’t eat it. Besides this is REALLY good stuff!”

Eve succumb to the temptation because she engaged in dialogue with Satan, the deceiver. Satan pulled the same parlor trick on Jesus. “Hey bro I know you’re hungry and I bet some freshly baked bread sounds REALLY good right now, doesn’t it?  Soooo, since you’re awesome, powerful, and the cat’s meow... Why don’t you just turn some of these stones here into bread? That sounds AMAZING doesn’t it?  I’ll even set a table for two!”

Jesus didn’t debate or argue with Satan. Jesus didn’t even contemplate the argument of the “goodness” of bread in his depleted state of hunger. What Jesus DID was to tell Satan that life is NOT found in bread, but in faithful obedience to His father. Jesus, unlike Esau, understood that it was better to die of starvation than to abandon the promise of blessing and fellowship with God.

Satan tells us that life is in the stuff we’re craving RIGHT NOW, all the stuff we see around us, on the internet, in catalogs, and that our neighbors have. That’s the stuff we obsess about as we hopelessly strive to find life somewhere - anywhere - INDEPENDENT from the true and exclusive Author of Life - God.

The Deceiver tells us that if we fill our bellies, fill our garages, our homes, our iclouds, our attics, our storage units, our walls, our collections... then that next bite,  that next thing is FINALLY going to be the one that REALLY satisfies us.

God tells us that life isn’t in the stuff. He told Adam it wasn’t in the fruit on the trees in the Garden of Eden, but in the fact that they - God and man - were together. Life isn’t defined by stuff, a feeling, a pulse, or even brain activity. Life is defined as perfect relationship – TOTAL DEPENDENCE - upon our perfect, holy, and almighty Creator.

TRICK #2: The Issue of Trust – When our enemy, Satan, saw that Eve was willing to dialogue with him about the “forbidden fruit,” the Deceiver quickly realized she didn’t know what God’s command was. So Satan took it a step further, “Hey Lady, It’s CRAZY to think you could die from eating something our wonderful, good, and holy God made! So grab some of that delicious fruit and become what God always wanted for you.”

Satan did the same thing with Jesus. “Jesus, we both know the Father is awesome, so let’s witness it for ourselves! Why don’t you toss yourself off the top of the temple here and let’s watch His angels rescue you?”

Again, Jesus didn’t debate or dialogue with Satan. Jesus simply rebuked the tempting deceiver with Scripture (Deut 6:16), “Don’t put the Lord God to the test.”  Jesus wasn’t about to play the “Prove it to me” game we all play with God at times. Look to the cross of Jesus Christ and the empty tomb! You’ll realize God has nothing left to prove. It is finished, i.e. PAID IN FULL.

The Apostle Peter wrote “rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” The Apostle Paul wrote “I want to know Christ— yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”

Participating in suffering is not something we typically seek out, but it is something we anticipate as genuine followers of Christ.  We cannot resort to demanding that God prove His love for us (again and again and again) in our circumstances. God is more concerned with refining our character (being transformed into the likeness of Christ) than delivering us from our temporary circumstances. In fact, God uses the afflictions of our circumstances to teach us trust. He uses them to stretch, grow, and conform us into the image of Christ - loving obedient service in the context of Christian community.

TRICK #3: The Pride of Life – After luring Eve into dialogue regarding a seemingly harmless topic (fruit), Satan then injected doubt regarding God’s goodness into the conversation. Satan didn’t just have his foot in the door at this point, He was renting space in Eve’s head and heart.  As Eve pondered the Deceiver’s proposition of autonomy, independence, and entitlement under the guise of a harmless debate, Satan had already been given a key, moved in, and made himself right at home in Eve’s heart and mind.

“Eve-baby. You know, since YOU brought this up, and we’re already talking about God, I’m gonna do you a favor and let you in on a little secret: The truth is that the REAL reason He doesn’t want you eating this lovely little piece of fruit is because He knows that it’ll make you His equal. That’s right! You’ll be just as awesome as Him. Hey, maybe even better! He probably told you “Don’t!” because He’s scared you’ll do a better job than Him. Honestly Evie-baby, I’ve been watching you in this garden for a while and quite frankly with your ideas, your motivation, and your unparalleled work ethic... I’m 100% confident you’re the right gal for the job! I even took the liberty of making these ‘Eve for God’ buttons and I’ve handed them out to all our friends.”

Genesis 3:6 reads, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”  Eve decided to exercise a coup d’état against God and to elect herself as the new, rightful, ruler of her own private universe.

When Jesus was presented with the same temptation from Satan it came as an offer to rule. “Jesus, buddy. All this you see - it's all mine. The hills - mine. The fields - mine. Oceans, animals, kingdoms - mine, mine, and mine! But here’s the deal: Unlike the Father, I’m the kind-and-giving sort and I’m gonna let you rule over everything. It’ll be like it’s both of ours. You know, a ‘tag-team-effort’ kinda thing. Is that cool with you?”

I wonder if Jesus laughed inwardly when Satan offered Him, God, the Eternal Son and Creator - authority over all things? Jesus is God and the anticipated Shiloh/Messiah with inherent authority as described in the Genesis 49:10 blessing to the tribe of Judah. Satan’s empty promise would be like us trying to lure Bill Gates with a broken calculator from 1965. Jesus responded, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

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We will be tempted today, and tomorrow, and every day until God calls us home or Jesus returns. Satan will continually attempt to deceive us, like Eve, in an effort to make us believe we are the rightful ruler of our own universe.

Satan wants us to buy into the lie that we are the CAPTAINS of our OWN destinies. He wants to lure us into thinking that your life is your own, into thinking your decisions don’t affect anyone but you, into thinking “it’s just a little thing,” or “I work hard, therefore I deserve this. I’m entitled.”

It always starts out innocently enough, then, before you know it, sin is camped-out in the middle of our life with titanium roots running through, around, and beneath its foundation - directly to the core of our hearts.

What’s the solution? Christ. His life. His death. His RESURRECTION! His power and authority. Invite Christ to be the Lord of your life – top to bottom - and everything in between. He already knows the sin is there, but He can’t help until we repent and ask.

After Jesus, Paul is the best Spiritual Trainer ever. Paul gave us a spiritual exercise routine for REAL LIFE.

Step 1: Pray. 1 Thess 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Step 2: Seize. 2 Cor 10:5b, “…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Step 3: Be Transformed.  Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” To “be transformed” means we have to allow God to do the transforming according to His perfect standard. Submission, yieldedness, obedience, and service in the context of Christian community.

Step 4: Re-assess. 2 Cor 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” That’s not self-help garbage. After praying, seizing thoughts, and allowing God to transform us, we have to compare our life with a perfect objective standard, i.e. God’s Word, and Christ truly living in and through us.

Step 5: Repeat.

Sound impossible? It is impossible for us but not God. That’s why we need Christ and not Christian culture. That’s why we need the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and not personal piety, self-righteousness, or anything else our adversary sells us as a cheap-and-easy substitute for an authentic and transformative relationship with God.

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” -1 Tim 4:8

Are you spiritually fit? If so... then as His ambassador you are the vehicle of His gospel in this broken world. You are producing fruit. You are light and salt. You are the instrument fulfilling His Mission!

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley
aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com