Serving the Enemy (part3)
By Ben Fronczek
Story of Benedict Arnold
He was a troubled boy, but when war began
to break out against the British when while in his mid 20’s, he jumped
right in and got permission from the leaders in Massachusetts to lead an
attack on the British garrisons at Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga. He
knew that their canons would be useful in fighting the British as they
were entering the Revolutionary War. On the way he met up with Ethan
Allen and the fierce Green Mountain Boys and they took the strongholds.
George Washington saw something in this
young man and so he was given the commission of Colonel. He was later
given the mission to try to take the British stronghold in Quebec. It
was an extremely difficult mission because of the time of year, and
small pox, and he simply did not have enough men. They failed their
attempt to take Quebec, and this young man himself was shot in the leg.
But because of his zeal and bravery, Washington made him a Brigadier
General and then later a Major General after taking Montreal and
Danbury.
He served for another five years in one
battle after another including a dangerous assault against the center of
the British line at Saratoga where he was wounded in the leg again, and
he had to have it removed. It was said that no General was more
imaginative than he, no field officer more daring, no soldier more
courageous.
But even though this young man fought so
heroically, he was not a happy man. He always felt that he deserved more
than what he was being compensated for. He thought that he deserved a
higher rank and more recognition, with expensive tastes, he thought that
he deserved more financial compensation. He eventually became bitter
and resentful. After all he did, and the battles he fought he eventually
made a decision to turn his back on our new country, and help the
enemy.
He promised the British Commander that he
would turn over West Point along with it’s 3000 defenders for a price
(20,000 Sterling or well over a million dollars in today’s currency). It
was agreed upon and though the plan was foiled, today no one remembers
all the heroic campaigns he went on before that foolish act. He is only
remembered as one of our nation’s most infamous traitors. His name,
Benedict Arnold.
What does this story have to do with my lesson today? Much!
In the past two lessons we’ve looked at the dastardly work of the devil:
In the 1st lesson I talked about how devil is a thief, how he sets out to rob us:
. He out to rob us of our relationship with God
. He is also out to rob us of our relationship we have with one another
. And he also wants to rob us of our peace and confidence.
And our last we looked at one of the tools
which he uses to rob us, and that is temptation.
As I mentioned, if you
are breathing, you will be tempted, so we should not be surprised when
these temptations come our way, rather we are to ready and be prepared
to stand.
And the lesson today is still closely
linked to the last two, regarding the way that the evil one uses sin to
destroy us, and rob us of our relationship with God and others.
It
happens when we start serving the enemy, when we start doing the devil’s bidding, sometime without even being aware of what we are doing.
And you may be thinking to yourself, ‘I’d never do such a thing! I love the Lord.’
But I am here to show you today that good
folks have unwittingly found themselves in this predicament, and they
were serving the wrong master.
There are numerous examples in the Bible of people who for one reason or another turned and did the enemy’s bidding:
We don’t have enough time to look at all these individuals but lets consider a few in the New Testament:
- The Pharisees: To the average Jew during
Jesus’ time though that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were
‘the’ holy men of their day. But Jesus could see into their heart, HE
could see the motive behind what they were doing. Consider:
Matthew 23:13-15; and
John 8:42-47 (Click on verses to read)
You see, even though many perceived them as
holy godly men, they were actually doing the enemies bidding, wanting
to kill Jesus the Messiah and destroy His work, which is the very work
of God
- There was Judas, one of Jesus’ closest
companions for 3 years, who like Benedict Arnold betrayed his Lord for a
pocket full of silver.
- There was the young man Saul, who I
truly believe loved God and loved his religion. As a matter of fact, he
went after anyone who he thought was trying to undermine the Jewish
faith.
But he did not fully understand who Jesus
was and why some put faith in Him. So when Stephen was stoned to death
because of this new found faith, he stood there and approve of his
death. After that he personally started to seek out and try to destroy
the followers of Christ; even going so far as to get permission from
High priest and Jewish council giving him permission to arrest men and
women for being a Christian.
And then he met the Lord on the way to Damascus. (
Acts 9:1-19, and 22:1-10.)
We read in Acts 9, that did not eat for three days until Ananias came
and restored his sight and then Baptized him, washing away his sins.
I can’t help but believe that Saul, who we
know as Paul couldn’t eat for those three because he was grieving and
sickened because of the fact that he without knowing or realizing it, he
was serving the enemy, not God. After that he went on to serve Jesus
faithfully.
- Later we read where brethren, church
members, who because of their actions, were not glorifying our Lord,
rather they were serving the enemy. For example, in the letter of I
Corinthians, Paul had to address many things that were going on in that
young church.
In chapter
1:10-17, he addresses their division and schisms in that church.
Some in the church wanted to follow this
one, others wanted to follow someone else. They were destroying unity
within that church.
Did you ever hear the phrase, divide and
conquer? One way to destroy a church is do just that; splinter it into
factions. They were serving the enemy’s agenda and probably did not even
realize it .
In that letter Paul goes on talk about
other things that were they were do that was hurting the church as well
as the cause of Christ
- A man in the church was fornicating with his stepmother and the church wasn’t doing anything about it.
- He also writes that they had lawsuits and were suing one another.
- Some were having affairs with prostitutes.
- They were also letting their worship get
out of hand, speaking out of turn, and celebrating the Lord’s supper in
an improper manner
- Some were even teaching that there wasn’t
going to be resurrection, trying to undermine the very hope of those
early Christians.
Brethren, that church was a mess. And in
that letter Paul does his best to address all these problems hoping that
they would get back on the right track…Because they weren’t serving God
by doing these things, they were serving the enemy and helping him
destroy that church.
It’s hard to believe that we’d ever
consider serving the enemy, the devil, who is trying to rob us of our
relationship with God, and trying to rob us of the relationship we have
with one another, and trying to rob us of our peace of mind and
confidence.
Yet what happens when we start gossiping
about one another, or when we refuse to make things right with brothers
and sisters when we wrong them,
…or when we refuse to forgive,
…or when we’re the one behind a schism in the church.
…or when we cause another to stumble.
…or when we don’t feel like coming to church to encourage those one another.
…or when we refuse to reach out to the lost, those without Jesus around us…
Brethren we’re not serving our great and awesome God, we’re serving the enemy and become a tool in his hands.
So what do we do to prevent ourselves from falling into this insidious trap of serving the wrong master?
First realize it’s exactly what Satan wants
you to do.
…He wants you to do his bidding. He wants you to raise
havoc and cause turmoil in your home, and in the church. He wants you
to hurt, or even ignore brethren in the church. He want you disobey the
Lord Commands and teach error. So we have to be on the alert.
And that’s why we need to put on the armor of God, because if we do so Paul wrote there in
Ephesians 6:10-18 that we will be able to take our stand against the devil’s schemes.
I also believe we need to examine our heart
condition. The greatest command in all the Bible is to Love – Love God
and love one another.
When you truly put God first in your life,
when you love Him that much, you’ll study His word not because you have
to, but rather because you’ll want to. You will do your best to
understand the one you love and His will for you.
When our commander and chief says ‘don’t do that’, you won’t – because you love Him. If He says to do something, you’ll do it – because you love Him. If He says go, you’ll go – because you love Him.
I believe a goal of our life should be to develop a love for Him ilike
that. It has to be more than just lip service, rather our love for Him
should motivate and drive us to glorify Him.
And secondly, we need to
really learn how to love one another
….so that we don’t hurt, or abuse
one another. You may appear to be the greatest Christian in NY, you may
have the Bible memorized, but if you don’t master how to love, how to
seek the highest good of those around you, you’ll never come to
understand what God want and expect of you.
That was Paul’s answer to that Corinthian church that was so divided and troubled.
Some of you may consider
I Corinthians 13:1-8a one
of Paul’s most familiar compositions, but many don’t realize that it
was really the answer or solution to their problems in that ancient
church, and our churches today
READ
Conclusion:
Brethren, don’t let Satan use you. Don’t become his pawn or a tool in his hand.
We constantly need to be examining and asking ourselves are my actions and words helping or hurting the cause of Christ.
Is what I said to sister so and so
something that is going to hurt or help her. By doing this or that, am I
hurting or helping the reputation of this church. Can my words and
actions be seen as serving our Lord, or are they serving the enemy?
And if we realize we are in error, we need
to make it right, make it right with the Lord, and make thing right with
one another. And by doing so, you will not only feel better, you will
also be giving Satan a blow
Benedict Arnold died a miserable man, He
had to live with the fact that he was a traitor. And Judas couldn’t even
do that he couldn’t even live with knowing that he was a traitor, so he
went out and hanged himself.
But what I think is sadder is those who are
serving the enemy without even realizing it; feeling angry miserable
and not even know why. Don’t let Satan use you. Jesus came that you may
have joy and peace in your life and to set you free like what He did for
Paul; so claim what He died to give you.
