Have you ever heard our faith described as a battle? That is an apt description of what we face in the Christian life. We are at war with our own sinful natures as we fight the fight of sanctification. No, we do not do good things to be saved. But, once we are saved, we battle to do good for the glory of God. Sadly, if we are not careful, we will have blind spots to our sin. We will do battle, fighting hard against an area of weakness, but then turn right around and give our weaknesses power again.
Let me illustrate. In the book of Numbers, God instructed Moses and the Israelites to destroy the Midianite people because of what they did in trying to destroy Israel. You might remember the story of Balaam. Balaam wanted to pronounce a prophetic curse on Israel, but he was not allowed to do so by the Lord (c.f. Num 22-24). So, Balaam helped the Midianite king to craft a destructive plan. King Balak would send Midianite women to the Israelite camp to seduce Israelite men into sexual immorality and to the worship of false gods. Thus, the Israelites would bring upon themselves the judgment of God that Balaam was not allowed to pronounce.
Balaam’s plan worked to a point (c.f. Num. 25). The Midianite women seduced Israelite men, and brought a plague on the people as God judged the nation for its unfaithfulness. But, at the end of the day, God brought the nation to repentance. Phinehas, Grandson of Aaron the high priest, helped put a stop to the immoral behavior of the Israelites and turn the people back to the worship of the Lord.
So, ,in Numbers 31, God sent Israel to do battle against Midian. In general, things went well. The Israelites utterly defeated the Midianites, not losing a single Israelite soldier in the process. This was clearly a supernaturally given victory from God. But, the Israelite soldiers made an interesting decision.
Numbers 31:9And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods.
Simply note that the soldiers chose to capture the Midianite women. Remember those ladies from Numbers 25? Obviously Moses knew this was a bad decision. He spoke out harshly against the soldiers, saying, “Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord” (Num. 31:16).
What was Moses so upset about? The soldiers won the victory. But, in their victory, they preserved for themselves the very objects of their greatest rebellion against the Lord. They fought against people and things they did not treasure. But, the soldiers rescued for themselves the very ones who drove them away from the Lord.
Now, I’d prefer not to make this all about battles, captives, and all the rest. There is far too much cultural baggage in that discussion. But there is a spiritual principle that we all need to take seriously. How often, when we are called by God to repent of sin, do we do battle against the little things, the things we do not deeply care about and which do not tempt us to major sin, but somehow foolishly preserve for ourselves the things that are most likely to lead us to death and destruction? How often do we put away and speak out against sins that do not tempt us all the while we treasure sins that eat at our very souls?
Before making applications, let me say two important things. First, I am a sinner, so do not believe I hold myself in high esteem or think I am better than any human being on the planet—I do not. Second, all who are guilty of sin have only one hope, the forgiveness of God offered in Jesus Christ. We dare not find hope in the fact that we are all just as bad as each other as if that makes us OK. Instead, know that God calls us to his perfection, and the only way to be OK with God is to get under his grace by turning from self-rule and turning to Jesus Christ.
Let’s draw two applications. First, Christians, how often do we make the most noise against sins that do not tempt us? Those of us who are not at all tempted by same-sex attraction rail loudest against homosexuality. Those who are not interested in sports, shopping, movies, or video games speak out against the wasting of lives on such “useless” entertainment. Of course, homosexuality is a sin, clearly opposed by Scripture. Wasting our lives on the frivolous dishonors God greatly. But, why is it that we speak out loudest against sins that don’t tempt us? Are we not like the soldiers happily cutting down the Midianite men while capturing the tempting women?
So, the proper first point of application is for us to be wise in our tone and in our denouncements. Again, let me be clear, we must oppose all sin. We are for the word of God. We are against that which opposes the word of God in all forms. We will battle for the Lord’s definition of marriage, for the lives of the unborn, against the evils of human trafficking, against the brutal acts of persecuting governments, and all the rest. But let us also speak out against divorce, something which cannot occur without grievous sin on the part of at least one party—and something of which far too many Christians are guilty. Let us speak out against pornography, but also against Christians being entertained by all sorts of immorality. We must not be such hypocrites as to only shout out against the sins that do not tempt us while quietly accepting sins that hold us in thrall. May we not pretend things are not sin that the Lord has called sin. But may we also not pretend that we are not guilty of sin ourselves. May we never expose the sin of others without both acknowledging our own sinfulness and pointing them to the grace of God offered in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
And, a second point of application comes in how we repent. When we repent of sin, we need to be steadfast and ruthless. When sin attacks our hearts, we need to put to death in us all that would oppose the Lord. We cannot halfway repent of a sin while we save for ourselves the very root of temptation. When Jesus told his disciples to be ready to cut off a hand that leads them to sin (Mat. 5:7-29), he was calling us to be willing to cut out of our lives anything that tempts us to ignore or disobey the Lord. We must not be willing to protect in our lives things that will come back to bite us in the end.
I would love to define for you what things you need to cut out of your life that are those little temptations you protect, but I cannot. I do not know in your heart what gets you. But, if you are honest, you know. You know what things lead your mind to sin, but for whatever reason, you excuse them in your life. You know what things you are, for no good reason, willing to cry and fight to keep in your life even though their abuse leads you to destruction. For some it is an entertainment category. For some it will be possessions. For others it is recreation. For some it might be extravagant eating or drinking. For some it is pride in appearance. I cannot tell you, but if you ask the Lord, he will show you through his Spirit in his holy word.
Let us learn from the folly of the Israelite army. Let us battle to conquer the enemies of sin in our lives. But let us not then go and protect in ourselves the very things that could destroy us. Let us speak out against not only the sins that we easily avoid but also the sins that lay us bare. Let us join in the work of sanctification as we do battle against all in ourselves that dishonors the Lord.
Pastor Travis Peterson 