Fulfill the vows you have made

August 20, 2016

2 Corinthians 10:1-5

Paul tells us the following in verse one; "I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!"  Paul, the apostle, is entreating the body of Christ to earnestly and anxiously obey the teaching he has shared with them and to fulfill the vows they have taken.  How wise and what a blessing if we would learn to approach those in our circle of influence with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 

We see Paul now on the offense; some of the people have believed the false teachers and think Paul is behaving in an unspiritual way. 

In verses 2-5, one needs to give much thought before going forward, for we live in a time of false teachers.  Many have tried to return God’s favor in making man in His image and have sought to fashion God into their image.  So let deliberate on what was said in verses 2-5; "I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete."

How we fight our battles and we all have battles tells much about us, for God knows that we are people who have a tendency to adopt the habits of our culture. When you have the number of years that I've spent on planet earth, you have a history to look back on and realize how far we have moved as a culture, as a nation from the teaching of the Bible.  Have you heard about those who claim to be Christian but will kill doctors and others, because they are in the business of killing the unborn?  Those are not the weapons of warfare Paul is teaching!  We see others try to destroy a person who they disagree with by gossip or an all out attack on their individual character, none of which are the weapons of our Lord.

When you enter into a spiritual battle first and foremost understand it is not a winnable battle in your wisdom or abilities.  Do you recall the account given by a good king of Judea in 2 Kings chapter 18-19, when "In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them? And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear."  But bullies and the king of Assyria was one, took all the gold and then came back later for the kingdom.  And this is what his commander told the people: "And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?"  Now as you read chapter 19, ponder on Hezekiah’s actions and his prayer, then you will see the only way to fight the battles that come into your life.  "Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: "O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood, and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone."

The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer was by way of Isaiah the prophet: "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same, he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my sake and the sake of my servant David."

And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh."

One angel of the LORD sent by the Father, and 185,000 dead bodies changed the mind of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and later one of his sons killed him in the temple where he worshiped a little god who could not save him.  How I need this lesson, how the church needs this lesson for this is the only way to engage our enemies.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice