Father’s Day 2011 – Fight the fight 2 Timothy 4.7-8

         

^{2Ti 4:7} I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

^{2Ti 4:8} Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

          Men – What kind of movies do you like to watch? If I would list my favorite movies of all times most of them would be like Patton, Midway, and Brave heart.

I have watched Midway may times – it is the story of the battle around Midway Island during WWII. The aircraft carriers of the US met the aircraft carriers of Japan. Both sent out planes to find the other. By luck I guess, the US planes found and sunk 3 or 4 of the Japanese aircraft carriers in just a short time, while suffering minor losses in ships and men. It is a 3+ hour movie.

          Why do I like the movie and others like it? It is the pride I have in the US military; at the men how were willing to sacrifice their lives to protect our country; and the bravery of these men. They were warriors fighting an enemy for their own protection and the well-being of their families and country. Men especially like that.

          This morning I am going to talk about a war or a fight all men (and women) are in every day, and one that at times we do not even know we are fighting. This is a different kind of war. It is an all out battle with satan for your life – your life here on earth and your eternal life. The best way to fight an enemy is to know the enemy we are fighting – to be able to see the one we are fighting. We cannot see the devil as such, but we can see the awful work that he does in our world. He indeed is a dangerous enemy. Satan is the original terrorist enemy doing whatever he can wherever he can to destroy us and our families.

1 Peter 5.8 says this:  ^5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ^5:9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

This enemy we have wants to devour us – attack us, kill us and then tear us to pieces. He wants to destroy your life and everything that is important to you. He wants to tear up our families and devastate our children. He wants to make us miserable – taking away our money and homes and whatever else he can. He wants to destroy this church and everyone in it. He wants us to take away all our joy and happiness in this life. Ultimately the devil wants to keep us from going to heaven and living forever with our heavenly Father. Other than those things, he is a pretty nice guy. Do you understand what your enemy wants to do to you and all that you love and see as important to you? (As I wrote this I could not help but think that these are the very things Alkida and the radical Muslims want to take away from us too.)

What are we to do about the attacks of the devil? In the passage from 1 Peter 5.8 it says we are to resist him and he will flee from us. Read again. Whenever you and I feel him pushing against us, we need to resist him by standing firm in our faith in God.  God is the one who gives us the strength to fight the attacks of the evil one. Some teachers give us the idea that all we have to do is let God fight for us, but this passage says we have a responsibility to resist satan ourselves. Stand up to him. Call him by name – Jesus said, get behind me satan. Tell him, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and want nothing to do with you. Stay away from me. This is the phrase I have been using – I love you my God. Please help me fight this temptation. The passage also says that brothers and sisters all over the world are being attacked by this evil one also – we need to stand together with them in resisting the devil.

Do you ever feel like satan’s full-time job is attacking you? Some days I think that is true of me. Right from the beginning of the day, he is after me about something. This temptation comes to mind, and I resist that one, but pretty soon something else comes to mind. I get into a funk and think the burdens of life are too much. Poor me. There is not enough money in my account. I don’t feel good or something else. That is when I have to stop and tell the devil to bug off. What do I say? I love you my God. Please help me fight this temptation. There is a story about the great Martin Luther in his study working on translating the Bible into the German language. He felt the attacks of the devil so vividly he picked up the ink pot and threw it at the devil.

Toward the end of his life the apostle Paul could say this: read 2 Tim. 4.7-8.

I have fought the fight – he is saying day after day he fought the fight against the evil one and won because of Jesus Christ. He says he ran the race – he is not talking about a 100 yd dash here, but a marathon race. I used to run marathons – that is a race of 26.2 miles – from here to Albert Lea and half way back. I started 15 of those races and finished 14. It was actually fun to train for the races and run them – finishing was quite an accomplishment. The winners of the race (who finished an hour or more before I finished) won money for running the race. I got a T-shirt and sore feet and muscles.

          Running the race of life is not just a short sprint, but a life-long race for the Lord. That is part of the problem: the race just keeps going on and on. We are victorious today and tomorrow he comes again to attack us. Remember though before he comes, the Lord is there with us. We ask day after day for the Spirit of God to fill us and he does.

          The rest of the passage says that if we fight the fight and run the race, there is a reward for us – the crown of life – eternal life with the Lord himself. That is the goal we all are aiming at, like I talked about last week. The reward of heaven is what drives us on. Yesterday was Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth – 26.2 miles starting in Two Harbors, MN. I ran that 7 times, I think. This is a unique marathon in that you can see the finish for the last 20 miles or so. The race ends at the foot of the lift bridge in Duluth and you can see that from a long way off. See the end, the goal, helps us going on toward the goal. Heaven is our goal – we need to keep our eyes on that and live today in light of living eternally with the Lord.

          Today is Father’s Day, a day to remember our dad and what they did for us or are doing for us. I believe dads are under a severe attack by the devil today. If he can get to the father, he can destroy the family. We need to pray for our fathers here in the congregation to help keep them safe. Also, I believe we dads have a special extremely important job to do with our families. We need to pray for each of them constantly that they will be ready for the battle each day to resist the evil one. Remember : I love you my God. Please help me fight this temptation.

Lesson on satan

1.     He is the father of lies – John 8.44

2.     Causes spiritual blindness – 2 Cor.4.4

3.     Deceiver of the whole world – Rev. 12.9

4.     Can be angle of light – 2 Cor. 11.14

5.     Prince of this world – John 12.31 & Eph. 6.12

6.     Defeated foe – 1John 3.8

7.     Destiny – Matthew 25.41

Fight against satan

1.     Resist the devil – 1 Peter 5.8

2.     Limit to temptation  - 1 Cor.10.13

3.     Do not fall into temptation – Mark 14.37 – 38