The Cross and Spiritual Warfare

I took these notes from Peter Jensen's talk just under a week ago, at the Cathedral Easter Convention.


The Cross and Spiritual Warfare
Talk by PFJ
April 22 2011
Reading Col 2:13-23

The name of Christ is not so much written into history as ploughed into history.

Why was PFJ’s dad so quick and confident to assure him that there was no such thing as ghosts? Anyway, it was reassuring to a young boy with nightmares.

PFJ met Nigerian bishop Josiah Fearon who didn’t hesitate to ascribe certain sounds to spirits—though more so in Nigeria than in Sydney! What’s going on?

1. The Spiritual enemies of Man
a. The world
b. The devil
c. The flesh

2. The profile of personal evil
a. The miasma of personal evil
b. The operation of personal evil
c. The grip of personal evil

3. Our champion in the conflict against personal evil
a. In life
b. In death
c. Through forgiveness
d. Through adoption

4. Sharing in his victory
a. After the decisive moment
b. Between the ages
c. Clothed in the gospel
d. Faith and love
e. Trust the Lord; turn from evil



1. The Spiritual enemies of Man

The world, the flesh and the devil are the enemies.

a. The world

The World’s culture and philosophy can convince us of our own and humanity’s unqualified greatness.
Or the World and its culture can convince us of the ultimate value of sensual pleasure, even creating a culture of licentiousness.
Or the World can convince us to fear human power.
So the World and its culture is one of the enemies of man.

b. The devil

There is a spiritual world and it is dangerous. Defection into matters occult is a risk for those who accept the reality of Satan and demons.

c. The flesh

We sin, and become more aware of our personal sin as we grow in our Christian life.

Ephesians 2:1-3 brings these together.

Eph. 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
In the face of this, the cross is the centrepoint of Christ's work in reconciling the world to himself.

Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.


Not suggesting that all things will acknowledge him willingly or be saved. His enemies will be pacified.

It was the evil powers that conspired to bring about the death of Jesus.

1Cor. 2:6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
What does the cross do for us now? How does it apply in this context?

2. The profile of personal evil

a. The miasma of personal evil

The world, most cultures would agree, is not merely the material things that we can see or touch, but is populated by spirits as well; and the spirit world intersects with the human world. Those spirits are seen by some as ‘gods’—beings a step or three higher than humans who from time to time interfere with human life. Therefore superstition is rampant. Events, particularly bad events, are seen as the operation of an evil spirit, or an evil person (such as a magician or a wizard) controlling the spirits.

The New Testament also gives this sense of a world populated by evil spirits, organized against God—Satan the chief of them.

Gal. 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Gal. 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have laboured over you in vain.
‘elementary principles’ (=Gk ta stoicheia); spiritual forces of some sort that Paul here speaks out against.

b. The operation of personal evil

These forces are characterized by deception.

A classic verse about the devil:

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The devil is the father of lies. When people are deceived then Satan has worked. Satan loves to foster lies, because lies break relationship, in particular, relationship with God. Hence in Mark’s gospel:

Mark 4:15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

2Cor. 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Fear of death:

Heb. 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Persecution:

1Pet. 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

BUT

Rev. 12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

c. The grip of personal evil

John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

In these verses Jesus has acknowledged that the world belongs to Satan (but note too that his death breaks Satan’s power). See also:

1John 5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

We ought not to be surprised by the existence or power of unbelief.

3. Our champion in the conflict against personal evil

a. In life

In Matthew 4, three times Satan aims darts at the head of Jesus, and he uses shield of faith and sword of the word of God to defeat him. This is not primarily a model for us to follow in our war against Satan, but an encouragement that our champion has not failed. He has beaten the devil on his behalf—like PFJ’s older (by 6 years) brother Ralph coming to help against playground bullies.

In many ways Jesus was tested.

He was tested by attack eg Mark 5 Legion. Jesus takes charge. This, again, is not a model for us in dealing with demons. It is the Lord Jesus who takes charge, not us.

He was tested by slander—people claimed that this was the devil at work through Jesus.

He was tested by temptation to deviate from his God-given mission eg Peter’s denial that Jesus would suffer and die.

b. In death

John 12:30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Col. 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Through Jesus’ death he brings about forgiveness and adoption

c. Through forgiveness

Col. 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

d. Through adoption

We have been brought, together with the Jews, into a triumphant fellowship in Christ.

Eph. 3:10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

We have been set free from slavery to religion and rules because we are adopted as sons and daughters of the living God

Gal. 4:1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Col. 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Col. 2:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Thus our relationship with the world is changed. We are in Christ, set free, we don’t fear the evil spirits, the ancestors, the ghosts. Because Christ has broken the power of these things, we are free.

We can’t bless ‘things’ (like wedding rings, or food), for example. We have no warrant to be superstitious in this way.

5. Sharing in his victory

a. After the decisive moment

We live after the decisive moment, the moment when Satan has been defeated. The victory has been won in the cross.

b. Between the ages

We live between the ages. The victory has been won but Christ has not returned yet to judge the world. However, we have the power of the Holy Spirit now, an assurance to us that the victory will be completed.

c. Clothed in the gospel

Ephesians 6.

Eph. 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

We don’t have to buckle the armour on a piece at a time. We are now armoured. We have all these things, and we have them from the moment we became Christians.

Now trust what God has given you in the Scriptures, in the gospel, as you battle against the evil one and the spiritual forces of wickedness. We have prayer and trust in the word of God as our resource, in other words we have the resources of the gospel.

We mustn’t fall back into superstition and magic, eg fear of Freemasonry. Just having a father or grandfather who was a Mason, or happening to own some of the articles associated with freemasonry; is of no spiritual danger to us. Though Freemasonry is wrong, there is no spiritual danger or threat from the ‘objects’ of Freemasonry, or having a family ancestry that includes freemasons. There is nothing in the Bible to support such an idea.

d. Faith and love

We walk instead by faith operating in love. We shouldn’t scorn the superstitious (see the example of freemasonry just above) but lovingly bring them to truth. 1 Cor 8 gives an example of Paul doing and exhorting this in the matter of food offered to idols.

e. Trust the Lord; turn from evil

The real power isn’t occult power like ouija boards. Don’t dabble, but trust the Lord who has broken these things through the blood of Christ.

Rev. 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

PFJ’s dad was right, in a sense. He was expressing a Christian insight, that Satan is nothing to worry about but has been defeated. This was rediscovered at the time of the Reformation, when magic ceased to have the hold that it did in peoples’ minds. Do not fear!

No hell?

I read this post about hell and felt disturbed and concerned. The subsequent discussion has not completely reassured me, either.

I've done some posts on hell, and there are a bunch of links here.

Another doctrine that we are tempted to tone down and soft-pedal is the doctrine of sin. I remember in my first year of Bible college being starkly convicted by Peter Jensen's emphasis on our belief in sin and judgement as the only thing that would steel us for the ministry of gospel preaching to people who didn't want to be told about it.

UPDATE: link corrected, thanks Hon

This is so important

Here are the two most significant paragraphs in Peter Jensen's address to the gathered Anglicans in Sydney:

I do not doubt, therefore, that our commitment to conservative theology and to a high view of scripture is entirely correct. Only this will carry Christianity forward in a culture such as Australia in the next fifty years. However, I do see signs in our midst of a tension:

I think that some of us will more readily come to terms with culture for missionary
reasons, but not being as careful as we should be about the purity of doctrine, we will
lose the structure of the faith and become effectively Unitarian. The theological weakness will begin, I think, with an impoverished doctrine of sin. From this will come a semi-pelagian anthropology, an exemplarist soteriology and a humanistic Christology. It will probably develop two forms - a wet pietistic one which will still look for spiritual experience, and a dry intellectualist one which will embrace cultural respectability.

Discuss.

Peter Jensen's doctrine of sin

It's strong.

It would be great if Peter preached more, wrote more, and archbished less. In fact, how great it would be if he were back at Moore College; not necessarily as principal, just speaking and teaching theological stuff.

It's a humble job, of course, to be a theologian, whereas to be an Archbishop is to be a prince of the church. Tony Payne compares the job of theologizing to being a sewage worker [edit: originally, Jim Packer—see comments], whose task is to make sure that once the brown stuff generated by humans hits the ocean, it's pretty much been cleaned up. It's a dirty, inglorious job they have, but true health depends on it.

Others want to glorify the job of theologian in deeper and profounder ways, turning them into mystics, magicians and wise people teaching the rest of us poor saps how we ought to be thinking about God—a sort of real life 'Defence against Dark Arts', where the poor students hope that they can pick up enough to save them from bad stuff.

But:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

That's all we little ones need in the way of theology, and if the academic theologians are doing their work well, we won't really notice that anything else is going on.

Peter Jensen in the SMH

The SMH chose to report Archbishop Peter Jensen's comments on the economic recession:

"We are experiencing a significant economic downturn, with a possible increase in unemployment, poverty, homelessness - even of hunger."

What sort of people would we be now? he wondered.

"Our investment in secular individualistic values will prove as illusory as our investment in some parts of the market. Choice will disappear for many; tolerance will prove too cool for comfort; work may be harder to find."

If Australia did better than other countries in the crisis, it must bear an even greater responsibility for the poor of the earth, he said. If it suffered with the rest, then "the days ahead may well test our capacity to love each other in our community, to be real neighbours, true mates".

Dr Jensen called on Christians to lead the way by providing faith, hope and love. He cited the example of R.B.S. Hammond, the rector of St Barnabas Broadway, who once displayed a sign reading, "This state has the best politicians the breweries can buy."

During the Depression, Archdeacon Hammond had given away his clothes to the needy. "A beggar once asked him for his trousers. Hammond refused on grounds of decency. They were the only pair he had left."

From here, part of Peter's presidential address to Sydney's Anglican synod.

The 80 minute audio file of the address is here.

Michael Kellahan highlights Peter's comments on GAFCON and church planting, here. Mike highlighted these comments:

I have always thought that part of the answer will include a dedicated evangelistic fellowship, a local missionary society. I have looked to create something like that without success. As we have prayed for our city and its region this year, there has been what seems like a remarkable spiritual movement summoning young men into church planting. Is this an answer to our prayers? I think that this could be exactly what it is. Something is happening and it may be of great significance. Our local churches need to be on top evangelistically. Connect 09 is part of that. But for whole areas of the city and whole tribes this is not going to be enough. I hope that when we meet again next year I will be able to describe the way in which a movement of the Spirit has begun.

It's a safe bet that what Mike blogged is closer to the heart of what the Archbishop was speaking about.

Peter Jensen reviewed

Peter Jensen's book The Future of Jesus, was reviewed in The Australian over the weekend.

I have laboured these matters in rather simplistic political terms because I want to encourage secular Australians, especially those on the Left, to read Jensen's book.

(From the review by Roy Williams)

Peter Jensen preaches

We had a wonderful sermon at church this morning, from Peter Jensen, on the subject Why did Jesus have to die?

What hit me most powerfully, however, were Peter's first words in response to the question "How did you become a Christian?"

Peter responded immediately, and I quote, "The thing that appealed to me first was that God judges."

An extraordinary statement! Peter became a Christian as a teenager at the 1959 Billy Graham crusade. I may come back with a bit more on what he actually said in his sermon at some stage, but I sat contemplating those particular words for quite a time. There is a school of thought that says we need to preach judgement less rather than more, especially when dealing with teenagers who may be sensitive and emotionally vulnerable. Whatever we may think of this, Peter's experience was that the understanding of God's terrible judgement was quite literally the key to his teenage conversion to Christ.

Burma, China

Here is another way to help; and the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen has launched an appeal that you can donate to here.

We need to keep China in our prayers too. The government there has moved quickly and efficiently to bring help to those who need it.

Peter Jensen in the Oz.

He writes about marriage.

Nominalism and Peter Jensen

Archbishop Peter Jensen's hour long chat with Richard Fidler on the ABC is worth listening to.

Plenty of personal snippets (Peter once worked for a year in the same law office as former PM John Howard), along with some reflections on nominalism as it was practised back then in the 1950s. PFJ hints that a part of the high church attendance figures had to do with parents sending their children along to Sunday School and then going off to play golf, as his parents did at the time.

I can well believe his theory of how nominalism looked, and confirm it from my experience of the tail-end of nominalism back in the 1970s. Fast forward to the present. When we were involved in Little Athletics for most of last year, you could go along to the sports oval in Lane Cove and see a thousand people (including adults) giving up a minimum of three hours to worship in the cathedral of track and field. Although it was the little kids that were doing the hard work, while the grown-ups stood around drinking coffee and chatting, or heading off to buy a nice greasy bacon and egg roll or some form of junk food.

A generation ago, the analogous scenario was being played out in our churches. A similar group of a thousand people would've been at some local church on a Sunday; mainly because they thought it was doing the kids some good and because everyone else did it.

Still a good idea, a few days on.

A few days ago, I mentioned Peter Jensen's good idea.

It's still a good idea; one of the best. Giving a free Bible to people in Sydney Diocese has all sorts of potential to grow the church and bring glory to God.

Most important reason: It’s the word of God alone that grows the church—that’s basic. So looked at from a theological angle, to give people the word of God is to give the hope of bringing them into the church family and most importantly, relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Then when you look at it from the point of view of giving a gift, it’s a good thing to do also. It establishes friendly contact with strangers. It spurs the gift giver into making that contact and building on it. It is the best sort of gift, because there are no strings attached, no expectation of receiving any payment or gift in return, and if used for its intended purpose will give eternal life.

Arguing the economics of the operation really is a secondary question, especially when the hoped-for outcome is somewhat imponderable. You throw a lot of seed around in full knowledge that some of it will fall on the path, or rocky or thorny ground. If the seed you were throwing around was better child-care programmes, provision of car-parking spaces, or amped-up music, you might well think twice about using such things as tactics to grow the church.

In comparison to alternatives, I personally could handle the idea of 99 mulched Bibles for one that was read and responded to. Mulch is good recycling anyway, and imagine the bad uses the paper might have gone to otherwise.

And the giving of the Bible in no way precludes you from other ways of speaking the truth in love, or living out what you believe by showing kindness in other ways.

I would also like to think that certain areas of Sydney Dio would receive priority attention in this project. Let’s doorknock or letterbox poorer and Muslim areas before we do the leafy North Shore. They can buy their own mulch, and perhaps even have money to spare to think of buying Bibles to support the mission of the church in poorer areas.

Peter Jensen's good idea.

Here it is:

I have a dream - a dream to give all our fellow citizens in [Sydney] Diocese a copy of the word of God. This would have to be a major Christian effort and would involve planning, training, publications, prayer. If we set aside the year of 2009 in particular (the 50th anniversary of the first Billy Graham Crusade) and worked together on such a great project, I think we would experience much joy in the Lord's service. It would also help fulfil the aim of our Diocesan Mission that all may hear his call to repent and believe on him.

Would it not be a wonderful thing if, over the years following such an effort, many people became Christians? Would it not be wonderful if some person to whom you gave a copy of the word of God read it and was saved? Such things happen and we ought to trust God and pray to him that he will bless the distribution of his word in our region.

So everybody in Sydney gets a Bible. What a great idea! And personally delivered—if we could manage this, it would be wonderful for our personal relationships with the rest of the community and open up all sorts of opportunities for conversation.