What Did Jesus Do?
“...and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6..17
There is good reason for the Church to be “militant,” she is engaged in a fierce battle. Nonetheless, she must consider carefully the weapons she employs on behalf of the kingdom. The whole armor of God consists of entirely defensive arms, with the exception of the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God), and prayer in the Spirit (see Ephesians 6.18). As prayer in the Spirit consists exclusively of language inspired by God it is not unlike the sword of the Spirit itself. We might even say that if Scripture is the sword, then prayer is a dagger particularly useful for close combat with the enemy.
Lately, I have grown increasingly troubled by the desire of some who believe themselves to be a part of the Body of Christ to take up other arms, specifically, to wage war with arms which God has not given to Church, but rather to the government (see Romans 13.1-5). The Son arms his disciples with the sword of the Spirit, the Father arms the state with the “sword.” While I defend the constitutional right of citizens to bear arms, I find it disturbing to hear of bands of citizens arming, and then styling themselves as some sort of “Christian” militia. It was a year ago that the FBI rounded up members of such an armed group in a series of raids in three different states. I will put it plainly, there is absolutely nothing Christian about those who take up the sword with the intent of wielding it offensively. Repeating what I said in the first paragraph, the offensive weapons of the Church are the Word of God and prayer in the Spirit.
Why write about this a year after the FBI raids against the so-called Christian militia? Well, the conditions which give rise to such a militant mindset have not gone away, which leads me to believe that groups of self-styled “Christian” warriors are still around. What bother me most of all in this is that all this arming is taking place while the Church appears to be doing little or nothing with the weapons Christ has given to her. There is a dreadful famine of the Word, and a general apathy towards prayer, which I cannot understand, except to say that the devil has been effective in neutralizing no small part of the Body of Christ. The truth is, the Church will neither defend herself, much less advance the kingdom, by wielding the sword, which Jesus told his followers to put up (see Matthew 26.52), but only by her zealous employment of the weapons given to her by the Father—the Word of God and prayer in the Spirit.
If it is time for a “call to arms,” as it were, to be issued to the Church, and I certainly believe it is, then her pastors and ministers, her elders and deacons, her missionaries and teachers, should be calling her to the Word and to prayer, and themselves should be leading in the effort. The Lord himself did abide in the Word, and persevered in prayer. The Church, his bride, must do no less.
S.D.G.
Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment