Serving The Enemy – Another Tool of the
Devil (Part 3)
Serving the Enemy (part 3)
By Ben Fronczek
Story of Benedict Arnold
He was a troubled boy, but when war began to break out against the British when while in his mid 20’s, he jumped right in and got permission from the leaders in Massachusetts to lead an attack on the British garrisons at Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga. He knew that their canons would be useful in fighting the British as they were entering the Revolutionary War. On the way he met up with Ethan Allen and the fierce Green Mountain Boys and they took the strongholds.
George Washington saw something in this young man and so he was given the commission of Colonel. He was later given the mission to try to take the British stronghold in Quebec. It was an extremely difficult mission because of the time of year, and small pox, and he simply did not have enough men. They failed their attempt to take Quebec, and this young man himself was shot in the leg. But because of his zeal and bravery, Washington made him a Brigadier General and then later a Major General after taking Montreal and Danbury.
He served for another five years in one battle after another including a dangerous assault against the center of the British line at Saratoga where he was wounded in the leg again, and he had to have it removed. It was said that no General was more imaginative than he, no field officer more daring, no soldier more courageous.
But even though this young man fought so heroically, he was not a happy man. He always felt that he deserved more than what he was being compensated for. He thought that he deserved a higher rank and more recognition, with expensive tastes, he thought that he deserved more financial compensation. He eventually became bitter and resentful. After all he did, and the battles he fought he eventually made a decision to turn his back on our new country, and help the enemy.
He promised the British Commander that he would turn over West Point along with it’s 3000 defenders for a price (20,000 Sterling or well over a million dollars in today’s currency). It was agreed upon and though the plan was foiled, today no one remembers all the heroic campaigns he went on before that foolish act. He is only remembered as one of our nation’s most infamous traitors. His name, Benedict Arnold.
What does this story have to do with my lesson today? Much!
In the past two lessons we’ve looked at the dastardly work of the devil:
In the 1st lesson I talked about how devil is a thief, how he sets out to rob us:
. He out to rob us of our relationship with God
. He is also out to rob us of our relationship we have with one another
. And he also wants to rob us of our peace and confidence.
And our last we looked at one of the tools which he uses to rob us, and that is temptation. As I mentioned, if you are breathing, you will be tempted, so we should not be surprised when these temptations come our way, rather we are to ready and be prepared to stand.
And the lesson today is still closely linked to the last two, regarding the way that the evil one uses to destroy us, and rob us of our relationship with God and others. It happens when we start serving the enemy, when we start doing the devil’s bidding, sometime without even being aware of what we are doing.
And you may be thinking to yourself, ‘I’d never do such a thing! I love the Lord.’
But I am here to show you today that good folks have unwittingly found themselves in this predicament, and they were serving the wrong master.
There are numerous examples in the Bible of people who for one reason or another turned and did the enemy’s bidding:
We don’t have enough time to look at all these individuals but lets consider a few in the New Testament:
– The Pharisees: To the average Jew during Jesus’ time though that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were ‘the’ holy men of their day. But Jesus could see into their heart, HE could see the motive behind what they were doing. Consider: Matthew 23:13-15; and John 8:42-47 (Click on verses to read)
You see, even though many perceived them as holy godly men, they were actually doing the enemies bidding, wanting to kill Jesus the Messiah and destroy His work, which is the very work of God
– There was Judas, one of Jesus’ closest companions for 3 years, who like Benedict Arnold betrayed his Lord for a pocket full of silver.
– There was the young man Saul, who I truly believe loved God and loved his religion. As a matter of fact, he went after anyone who he thought was trying to undermine the Jewish faith.
But he did not fully understand who Jesus was and why some put faith in Him. So when Stephen was stoned to death because of this new found faith, he stood there and approve of his death. After that he personally started to seek out and try to destroy the followers of Christ; even going so far as to get permission from High priest and Jewish council giving him permission to arrest men and women for being a Christian.
And then he met the Lord on the way to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19, and 22:1-10.) We read in Acts 9, that did not eat for three days until Ananias came and restored his sight and then Baptized him, washing away his sins.
I can’t help but believe that Saul, who we know as Paul couldn’t eat for those three because he was grieving and sickened because of the fact that he without knowing or realizing it, he was serving the enemy, not God. After that he went on to serve Jesus faithfully.
– Later we read where brethren, church members, who because of their actions, were not glorifying our Lord, rather they were serving the enemy. For example, in the letter of I Corinthians, Paul had to address many things that were going on in that young church.
In chapter 1:10-17, he addresses their division and schisms in that church.
Some in the church wanted to follow this one, others wanted to follow someone else. They were destroying unity within that church.
Did you ever hear the phrase, divide and conquer? One way to destroy a church is do just that; splinter it into factions. They were serving the enemy’s agenda and probably did not even realize it .
In that letter Paul goes on talk about other things that were they were do that was hurting the church as well as the cause of Christ
– A man in the church was fornicating with his stepmother and the church wasn’t doing anything about it.
– He also writes that they had lawsuits and were suing one another.
– Some were having affairs with prostitutes.
– They were also letting their worship get out of hand, speaking out of turn, and celebrating the Lord’s supper in an improper manner
– Some were even teaching that there wasn’t going to be resurrection, trying to undermine the very hope of those early Christians.
Brethren, that church was a mess. And in that letter Paul does his best to address all these problems hoping that they would get back on the right track…Because they weren’t serving God by doing these things, they were serving the enemy and helping him destroy that church.
It’s hard to believe that we’d ever consider serving the enemy, the devil, who is trying to rob us of our relationship with God, and trying to rob us of the relationship we have with one another, and trying to rob us of our peace of mind and confidence.
Yet what happens when we start gossiping about one another, or when we refuse to make things right with brothers and sisters when we wrong them,
…or when we refuse to forgive,
…or when we’re the one behind a schism in the church.
…or when we cause another to stumble.
…or when we don’t feel like coming to church to encourage those one another.
…or when we refuse to reach out to the lost, those without Jesus around us…
Brethren we’re not serving our great and awesome God, we’re serving the enemy and become a tool in his hands.
So what do we do to prevent ourselves from falling into this insidious trap of serving the wrong master?
First realize it’s exactly what Satan wants you to do. …He wants you to do his bidding. He wants you to raise havoc and cause turmoil in your home, and in the church. He wants you to hurt, or even ignore brethren in the church. He want you disobey the Lord Commands and teach error. So we have to be on the alert.
And that’s why we need to put on the armor of God, because if we do so Paul wrote there in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we will be able to take our stand against the devil’s schemes.
I also believe we need to examine our heart condition. The greatest command in all the Bible is to Love – Love God and love one another.
When you truly put God first in your life, when you love Him that much, you’ll study His word not because you have to, but rather because you’ll want to. You will do your best to understand the one you love and His will for you.
When our commander and chief says ‘don’t do that’, you won’t – because you love Him. If He says to do something, you’ll do it – because you love Him. If He says go, you’ll go – because you love Him. I believe a goal of our life should be to develop a love for Him ilike that. It has to be more than just lip service, rather our love for Him should motivate and drive us to glorify Him.
And 2ndly, we need to really learn how to love one another….so that we don’t hurt, or abuse one another. You may appear to be the greatest Christian in NY, you may have the Bible memorized, but if you don’t master how to love, how to seek the highest good of those around you, you’ll never come to understand what God want and expect of you.
That was Paul’s answer to that Corinthian church that was so divided and troubled.
Some of you may consider I Corinthians 13:1-8a one of Paul’s most familiar compositions, but many don’t realize that it was really the answer or solution to their problems in that ancient church, and our churches today READ
Conclusion: Brethren, don’t let Satan use you. Don’t become his pawn or a tool in his hand.
We constantly need to be examining and asking ourselves are my actions and words helping or hurting the cause of Christ.
Is what I said to sister so and so something that is going to hurt or help her. By doing this or that, am I hurting or helping the reputation of this church. Can my words and actions be seen as serving our Lord, or are they serving the enemy?
And if we realize we are in error, we need to make it right, make it right with the Lord, and make thing right with one another. And by doing so, you will not only feel better, you will also be giving Satan a blow
Benedict Arnold died a miserable man, He had to live with the fact that he was a traitor. And Judas couldn’t even do that he couldn’t even live with knowing that he was a traitor, so he went out and hanged himself.
But what I think is sadder is those who are serving the enemy without even realizing it; feeling angry miserable and not even know why. Don’t let Satan use you. Jesus came that you may have joy and peace in your life and to set you free like what He did for Paul; so claim what He died to give you.
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
All comments can be emailed to: bfronzek@gmail.com