The Romance of Romans-Part 124

Romans Chapter 16 cont'd

I urge you to take note of and avoid those people who cause divisions and offenses by embracing or promoting doctrines that are contrary to the ones you have learned. These kinds of people are not concerned with serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but with filling their unsatisfied desires. They employ good-sounding words and manipulative monologues that deceive the hearts of the undiscerning.
The testimony of your faithfulness to God has been reported throughout the whole world and I am glad that you've been honored like this. Just make sure that you preserve your spirit of innocence- be "streetwise" in good, but not in evil! And soon, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!

Comments:

Romans is such a positive and powerful oriented letter and it would be nice to not have to address the issue of difficult people or the devil. But that wouldn't really do justice to the reality of living out the gospel in the community of faith. The truth is that when believers put our hearts together and commit to function as the body of Christ in our cultures, we will be assaulted by hellish forces that are pitted against our progress and fruitfulness. Believers and the leaders of their bands must be forewarned and equipped to deal well with both the evil spirits and the deceived people who will seek to infiltrate and disrupt our communities. And we must do this without being un-Christlike...in a way that embodies his compassion and respect for people and his great heart of hope and redemption.

Sadly, the seminaries have rarely taught their ministers-in-training the art of dealing with deceived people and the demonic realm. Ironically, most church leaders have a very rude awakening that one of the main slices of their jobs ends up being the need to address the hardships, setbacks and sufferings associated with spiritual warfare and inter-personal conflicts in the lives and relationships of their members.

Early on in my pastoral ministry I internalized an important passage that helped me to face and navigate in the waters of spiritual warfare and relational conflict:

"Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." 2 Tim 2: 23-25

Through the many years this passage helped to brace me for the challenges that I would face in pastoring God's people and to create a Christ-centered culture around my own soul (and, by extention, the whole community) that empowered me to gracefully handle the presence of unstable people...their false beliefs/destructive actions...and the manipulative spiritual enemy working beyond and through them. The key to honoring Christ and accessing the Holy Spirit's power in these difficult and oftentimes, tragic, situations is to begin with finding a "way of being" that remains poised under the pressures they create. If we can invoke and remain in the Holy Spirit's presence then the best practical steps to take will emerge and present themselves.

In my early years of ministry, I found myself "tightening up" in ways that were counter-productive to solving or, at least, containing these kinds of problems. My own zeal, energy and personal power became dominant and interfered with the display of the Lord's wisdom and power in the matter. Over time, I learned how to reign in my fleshly reactions and follow the Spirit's leadings. When we do this, the outcome is not always positive (as we can see from the above passage via the word "perhaps"), but we do provide people with the best opportunity possible for a deliverance from evil and a sweet resolution.

More to come....