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Where the snake strikes

"How are you doing?"
Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. (Acts 15:36)
What were they looking to see? What were they checking? As we enter Covid-19 lock down and have that same concern to find out how people are doing, what do we need to be most concerned about? Obviously we'll be concerned for how they're doing physically, financially and emotionally. That's completely right. That's love. But what specifically was the Apostle Paul concerned about?
There's a window into his greatest concern in the first letter he sends to the Thessalonian church - a group of young Christians he'd been ripped away from and was desperately worried about. 
For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labours might have been in vain. (1 Thess 3:5)
Five times in ten verses (3:1-10) Paul speaks of their faith. That's what he wants to strengthen and encourage and perfect. That's what all his labours were for. It is faith that will get them through the intense trials they are suffering (3:3). It is faith that produces all their good works (1:3). It is faith in the crucified, risen, returning Son that will keep them safe from the coming wrath (1:10). And so it is faith that the Tempter attacks more than anything else. That's what he did in the Garden. That's the jugular he strikes for.
Let's break down what faith is, how the snake might be attacking our faith in this particular season and how we can guard against that:
  1. Faith is seeing Christ - as John's Gospel shows us so wonderfully: beholding the lamb of God, beholding the one lifted up on a pole being made sin for you, beholding The Man next to Pilate, beaten and crowned with thorns. 
  2. Faith is future focus - waiting for the Son from heaven (1 Thess 1:10), 'confidence in what we hope for... the city with foundations... a better country (Heb. 11:1, 10, 16).
  3. Faith is taking God at his word - The Word is a massive theme through 1 & 2  Kings, where not holding to the Word of the Lord gets you killed by a lion (1 Kings 13) or trampled to death (2 Kings 7). It's also a massive theme in Luke's Gospel where unbelief in the word gets you struck dumb (Luke 1:20 cf. 1:38, 45). Positively, in the language of John 10, faith is hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd. In the language of 1 Thessalonians it is welcoming the message and receiving it as the living words of the living God himself. 
  4. Faith is crying out to the Father - "When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth" (Luke 18:8) where faith = desperate, earnest, constant crying out for justice like the persistent widow.
  5. Faith is treasuring - All through the Old Testament, the faithlessness of God's people is not so much cognitive disbelief it is spiritual adultery. It is a question of where the heart is drawn. What it is infatuated with. Positively, faith looks at Christ and hears his words and says "he is altogether lovely" (Song of Songs 5:16). Faith is enjoying Christ (Phil 1:25) and counting everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing him and being found in him (Phil 3:7-9). 
How might Satan strike at that faith?
  1. Fixing my gaze on my phone. Are my eyes fixed on Christ or are they glued to my WhatsApp notifications and the breaking news headlines and the latest meme? Phones can be a great tool, particularly as we need to be keeping in touch with each other more than ever. And there are great Bible and prayer apps. But how often do I go to my phone intending to use YouVersion or PrayerMate but end up distracted by notifications and gazing at them not Jesus? The devil wants us to look at anything but Jesus and fill our heads with any images and thoughts but those of the Son.
  2. Locking me in the tyranny of the present. We are supposed to be a waiting people, walking by faith in a certain Future not simply by sight of the here and now and uncertain next few hours. But in this season, the demands of the present are so intense, the temptation to hit refresh on the live news feed every five minutes is so strong, it is a great battle to fix our sights on the Coming Day and live in eager expectation of Jesus coming on the clouds and raising the dead and judging the world and ending evil and embracing his Bride. The devil wants us to focus exclusively on the present. 
  3. Dulling my appetite for the Word. I'm finding it really difficult to focus on the Bible these days. The devil whispers that what I really need to read is the latest update or blog post or news story or email - anything but the Word of God which, when I open it, seems to swim before my eyes and I need to read every paragraph three times. But this is the season when we need to be digging into the Word more than ever, finding the character of God and the promises of God, the future hope and the face of Christ shining on us. The devil doesn't want us in the Bible.
  4. Cultivating an orphan mentality. If I really knew I had a heavenly Father who longed to hear me and was far more desirous to give than I am to ask, then surely I'd be crying out to him all the time. But an orphan mentality forgets that. It's just me. I've got to handle it. Prayer won't really help. It leads to depression or activism rather than warm authentic desperate prayer. The devil doesn't want us crying out to our Father. 
  5. Leading astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. This is the snake's ultimate aim (2 Cor 11:3). He wants us to cling to our lives and so lose them; to treasure this world rather than treasure Jesus; to love our family more than our Saviour (Luke 12:34; 14:26; 17:33). In a time of disease when we're locked down with family and TV, there are big temptations to self-preservation, escapism and grumbling. The devil doesn't want us to be enjoying Christ.
So what can we do about it? Let's be aware that we're in a spiritual battle and let's be checking up on one another, like Paul was so keen to do, to see how one another are doing in the battle and encourage one another in our faith. In particular that will mean:
  1. Talking about Jesus. Not just church or Bible or God. Jesus. Read this great brag about Jesus and let's try to share that sort of thing with one another to remind each other how wonderful he is, fixing our eyes on him and stirring our affections for him.
  2. Reminding one another of our future hope. Not just in general terms but in detail. Tell each other how great a specific aspect of Rev 21-22 will be. Presence of God. Wedding feast. No more curse. No more night. No more fear.  No frustrated work. Nothing evil ever able to get back in. Crystal clear waters. No more need for a sun. Beautiful light and colour streaming from the Son. The more heavenly minded we are the more earthly good we'll be.
  3. Sharing what we've finding of the Lord in his Word. We are to go to the Word each day looking for an encounter with the Lord God. We want to see his heart and hear his voice. In some passages we'll meet him particularly as Creator, in others as our King, in others as our Bridegroom, in others as Warrior, in others as High Priest. Let it be a deeply relational experience. Meet him there and then let's share with one another how we were impacted by that encounter. 
  4. Using the language of 'Father.' Let's not just ask one another what we're learning of God but what we're learning about our Father and his Son. Let's not just ask one another how our prayer life is going but how we're doing talking to our Father. Let's take every opportunity to remind one another that we are not orphans. We have a Father who is mighty and holy and no one can snatch his children from his hand.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. (1 Thess 3:7-8)
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