Freedom in Christ Session 7: The battle for our minds

The following sermon is taken from the Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course by Neil Anderson & Steve Goss.

Today the title for our talk is ‘The Battle For Our Minds’. And I want to look this morning at one particular aspect of the way our minds our thinking is challenged and influenced.

In Ephesians 6:10, Paul writes, Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

I suspect that all of us here want to be the best Christian possible; we want to live the best life possible. Paul says, if you want to be that person, if you want to be strong in the Lord, then you’ll need to understand what it means to put on the full armour of God. Why? Because in verse 11 Paul writes: “so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”

I don’t know how you react to that statement? I suspect if I was to ask you what are you struggling with at the moment, people would talk about financial issues they are having to face, or issues at work, health concerns, or difficulties in relationships. I don’t think many people would say, “Well Simon, I’m really struggling against the dark powers that are at work in the world.”

But Paul says behind the physical world that you can see, there is another world you cannot see, and that is a spiritual world. And this spiritual world which we cannot see, affects the physical world we do see.

The tendency of those of us brought up with a Western worldview is to dismiss the reality of the spiritual world. But running throughout the Bible, we read that there is a struggle going on, a spiritual battle. It is a battle between kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. A struggle between lies and the truth, it’s a struggle between what’s wrong and what is right. And it reaches its great climax in the book of Revelation when there is a big show down between the Christ and the Antichrist, between good and evil.

We may think that as Christian’s we are immune from this struggle, but we’re not. We’re in the very middle of it, this is why Paul says as Christians ‘we need to put on the armour of God’.

So we need to understand who it is we are struggling against, and what it means to put on the armour of God.

Satan the Deceiver

When we start talking about the Devil, it is one of those topics that make people very uneasy, after all it is not a topic we hear about much in church. But I believe that as Christians we need to take the Devil seriously, because Jesus did, referring to the Devil as the prince (ruler) of this world.” (John 12:31).

So, who is Satan and how does he work?

With our way of looking at the world, we tend to divide the world into “natural” and “supernatural”, with God and Satan being part of the “supernatural”. The Bible, however, divides it differently and makes the distinction between “Creator” and “created”. Like us, Satan is a created being, whereas God is the Creator. There is no comparison between the two. They are not equal and opposite powers or anything remotely like that, though Satan would like you to think that they are. In fact, it has been said to compare Satan to God is like comparing an ant to an atomic bomb.

Because of this Satan’s power and authority cannot even begin to compare to God’s. In fact Satan has been completely disarmed and defeated, through the cross of Christ.

How Satan Works

Jesus described the devil as a theif. He said, ‘The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” The devil’s ultimate aim is to destroy our lives. “But” Jesus said, “I came that you might have life, and life in all its fullness.” Jesus wants therefore to protect us from going the wrong way.

One of the ways in which Satan works is by putting thoughts or doubts into our minds. For example, in Genesis 3, we see how the Devil tempts Adam and Eve. The first thing he does, is to plant seeds of doubt into Eve’s mind. In Genesis chapter 2, God gives permission to Adam and Eve to eat from any tree from the garden of Eden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the devil in the form of a serpent, says to Eve, ‘Did God really say ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ Doubt is always the devil’s starting point, because the thing he doesn’t want us to have is faith. The devil is always trying to make us doubt God, and to undermine us. The Devil whispers to us, “If you are a Christian why did x, y or z just happen?” He attempts to sow seeds of doubt within us, because he want us to doubt who we are in Christ, because then it is so much easier to accuse us and tempt us. And when we are full of doubt, and uncertainty, it becomes much easier for us to give in, to throw in the towel, we pray less, we drop out of home groups, and we don’t go to church as often.

What Satan is trying to do, is to take our focus away from God. For example, in 1 Chronicles 21:1 we read “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” You may ask, well what is wrong with that? But what the Devil was doing, was tempting David to take his confidence away from God and put it in his own resources, counting how many troops he had. What the Devil was doing was drawing David’s focus away from God. So David’s decision about going to war, would be based on how many people he had in his army, not on whether God was going to give him the victory or not. Satan encourages David to take his eyes off God, “Go on David, stop trusting in God, count your army to make sure you’ve got enough men to win the battle.” And so David’s gaze began to slip from the Creator down. And did David realise that it was Satan who was playing a trick on him? No! Because if he had, he would have been wise to his schemes and told him to get lost, because David was a godly man most of the time. David thought the idea was his own, and that is why he embraced it. And we need to be careful that some of the ideas that come into our mind, that we harbour as our own are in line with the truth.

When it comes to temptation, the Devil is again very subtle, he knows where the areas of weakness are in our lives, and that is where he attacks us. For example, think about one of the ways the Devil tempted Jesus whilst in the wildness. After a long fast, lasting forty days, when Jesus was weak and hungry, the Devil tempts him to turn stones into bread. The Devil knew that Jesus was hungry, and at that tempts him with that very basic physical need. The Devil will try and tempt us with the things that we struggle with the most. It might be with food, or drink, unhealthy or inapproriate relationships, the opposite sex, money, etc., etc. He whispers things into our mind, saying “Go on, no one will know, you deserve it, it will make you feel good, it doesn’t matter.” But as soon as we give into these temptations, Satan accuses us, because he is also the accuser. “How can you call yourself a Christian, and do that” And he can plant thoughts into our minds like “I’m stupid”, “I’m no good”, “I’ll never change”, “God doesn’t love me”.

And what he is attempting is to get us caught in a spiral of temptation and accusation. The Devil is trying to do, is get a foot hold in our lives. The Greek word for “foothold” is topos, which literally means “place.” So for example, in Ephesians 4:26 Paul writes, In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anger itself is not sinful – it’s just an emotion, but if we don’t deal with it properly it can turn to bitterness and we give the Devil a “place” a “foothold” in our lives.

What the Devil seeks to do, is to lead us into sin, so he can gain a point of influence in our lives.

The good news is that these footholds can be overcome in Christ. So how do we stand up against the Devil.

Our Defence

Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, he has defeated Satan at the cross and disarmed him. Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension ensure that all authority on earth and heaven has been given to Him.

What is Jesus’ position now?

Ephesians 1:19-22 tells us that Jesus is seated at God’s right hand, the ultimate seat of power and authority, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion.” God has placed all things under His feet and we are told that Jesus is now “head over everything.” Why, because he is part of the Creator, not the created. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-3, 14)

So what is our position?

Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

We are seated with Jesus, far above Satan, and as Christians we have been given authority over the kingdom of darkness, because of our position in Christ. Jesus says, “All authority, in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:18-19)

We have God’s power as long as we are filled (controlled) by the Holy Spirit, which is why Paul wrote, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10). When we live in God’s power, and rely upon his resources, Satan has no control over us, he cannot touch us, but if we rely upon our own resources or power then we open a door to allow him to attack us.

Even though Satan is defated, he still “prowls around, like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” as 1 Peter 5:8 puts it. Therefore Paul tells us to put on the armour of God and stand firm. You put on armour when you go into battle, to protect yourself. We are to put on the belt of truth, that is to know that we are in Christ. We’re not to listen to the Devil’s lies or deception, we listen to God’s word. We are to put on the breastplate of rightousness, so that when Satan flings accusations at us, they do not stick, because we are in a right relationship with God. We put on the shield of faith, so that we can stand against Satan’s assualt on our minds.

James 4:7 says, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” As long as you are submitting to God, then the devil will have no choice but to flee. This applies to every Christian no matter how weak and feeble you feel or how short a time you have been a Christian. Every believer has the same authority and power in Christ over the spiritual world, because we have been raised up with Christ to the heavenly realms.

Do not be frightened

Therefore we are not to be frightened. Satan wants you to be frightened of him because he wants to be worshipped above God. But the truth is that as Christians we have absolutely no cause to fear him, because we’re in Christ, and nothing can separate us from him.

On the contrary, the reason Satan flees from us when we resist him, is because he knows that the extent of the power and authority that we have in Christ.

Turn on the Light

Satan has no power over us, unless he can deceive us into believing that he does – and we only give him that power when we fail to believe the truth.

We are to set our minds on Christ, because when we do this, we expose Satan’s lies and deceipts. Satan’s lies cannot withstand God’s truth any more than night can withstand the rising sun. When you go into a dark room, and you don’t want it to be dark anymore, you don’t shoo the darkness away, you put the light on. And in our minds, we ask God to turn on the light, so that we can know the truth and see the truth, so that my heart and mind can be set free, and focused on Jesus.

Jesus says. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31) “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) When you put on the armour of God, the first thing you do is put on the belt of truth.

Knowing the truth of who we are in Christ, enables us know the difference between God’s truth and the Devil’s lies.

The way bank tellers are trained to recognise counterfeit currency is by carefully studying over and over again the real thing. They get to know what genuine notes are like so intimately that they are able to spot fakes when they come along. In the same way, our defenence against the Devil’s lies and deceptions is to acquiant ourselves intimately with the truth. To turn on the light in our minds, to focus on what is good, trustworthy and true.

I want to finish with Paul’s words to the Philippians (4:6-8).
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.