Uphill Battle

"Uphill battle is an idiom that means a difficult undertaking, a struggle, a tremendous task, a challenge with many obstacles. The expression uphill battle is probably derived from the physical task of fighting a battle up a hill, which is a difficult battle to win."

If you have been a believer for any length of time, facing opposition to your faith should no longer be surprising. In fact, we are told to expect it (see 2 Timothy 3:12-13 and 1 Peter 4:12-13). Although scripture makes it very clear that our fight is not against flesh and blood, it sure seems that way at times. No, the real enemy we face can't be found staring back at us through human eyes. He is found in the "cosmic powers of this darkness" in the heavenly realms (see Ephesians 6:12).

To be sure though, Satan has us humans so twisted up that we actually believe we are battling one another instead of his army of minions. Don't you know he loves it when friends and neighbors are at each other's throats over "unity." He is laughing his head off watching family members spew hatred all over each other at Thanksgiving dinner over "kindness." The irony of it all never seems to hit us when we're taking each other to the woodshed over "compassion," does it?

"You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder." (James 2:19)

"Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great fury, because he knows his time is short." (Revelation 12:12)

Make no mistake, Satan is on borrowed time so he's working "with great fury" to create as much cultural chaos as possible with the time he has left. That said, followers of Christ have to be the ones refusing to play by Satan's rules. Of course it's hard not to lose our temper when we are baited, embarrassed, lied about and ridiculed for our "outdated and hateful" faith. Even so, our lives must exemplify what we know to be the truth. Our fellow humans are not the enemy. Every single soul is a personal confrontation with the gospel of Jesus Christ away from the truth, just like we were. So far as it depends on us, believers, we must regain control of our supercharged environments in favor of peace. Then, our "opponents" may truly see the Christ difference in us and desire it for their own lives (see Matthew 5:16).

Listed below are a few of these supercharged environments I mentioned above that Satan has created within humanity. While it is of utmost importance that believers keep our real enemy in focus, we should also be aware of his favorite means of using our fellow image bearers in his treachery and fight like hell (pun intended) to win as many back to Christ as possible.

All Roads Lead To Heaven

As Satan entices the world into becoming more and more influenced by the highly skeptical "relative truth" claims of postmodernism, he has created the perfect environment to sell the lie of "Just live an upright, moral life and everything will be fine." Mysticism, universalism, pluralism, you name it. Whatever it takes to falsify the claim of salvation exclusively through faith in Christ.

"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."" (John 14:6).

Believers, we must keep our real enemy in focus. The key difference maker here has always been and will always be an authentic and personal encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one who has had that life altering experience walks away believing Jesus is only one of many "saviors" of the human condition. No, a supernatural appointment with Christ leaves no more room for the false deity of self that Satan so loves to exploit. We mustn't engage in a verbal battle. We must fight on our knees and pray without ceasing for God to reveal Himself in short order to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. who have not professed faith in Jesus Christ alone as their Lord and Savior.

God Is Love

Satan has convinced different groups of believers to fight one another over the ultimate truth of who God is forgetting that God has already answered that for Himself in scripture. He has certainly misrepresented the use of the phrase "God Is Love" as a means to defend anything that might come up against the just scrutiny of scripture. He has told many that scripture is misinterpreted and/or outdated leading many fellow image bearers to make lifestyle choices that are never brought under the submission of scripture. This is a great article for further reading on this topic.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship." (Romans 12:1)

"I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books."

(Revelation 20:12)

Believers, we must keep our real enemy in focus. Yes, we wholeheartedly agree with scripture that God is love, but we know He also happens to be equal parts justice, mercy, power, etc. which are all perfectly tied to His holiness. We will stand before His throne one day to be righteously judged. Therefore, we agree to be "set apart" as followers of Christ bringing our lifestyle choices under the scrutiny and ultimate submission of scripture. That IS the life of a Jesus follower. We mustn't engage in sanctimonious lectures, but allow our lives to do the talking while we fervently pray for those we love to have a true confrontation with the gospel of Jesus Christ that inevitably brings about a new understanding of all of God's attributes and also an increasing desire for personal holiness as well.

The Affirming Church

Satan has also convinced groups of believers to fight one another over the ultimate truth of God's marriage design. At the heart of this issue is whether or not we reconcile scripture with our desires or whether we reconcile our desires with scripture. As a plot twist, though, Satan has conjured up a whole host of arguments for why scripture can maintain it's inerrancy while simultaneously supporting the affirming cause. This is an excellent and comprehensive resource for researching how progressive churches support their claims from a scriptural standpoint.

Things have gotten even dicier as more affirming churches falsely accuse non-affirming churches of undermining the dignity and equality of people when sin is called sin. In these instances, we begin to hear dangerous claims like this: "The truth of intersectional justice demands that our denomination take a firm stance for the dignity and equality of all people, including sexual and gender minorities, and refuse to partner with or support churches that perpetuate harm in the name of “fidelity to Scripture."

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that he who created them in the beginning made them male and female, and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

Believers, we must keep our real enemy in focus. As crucial as it is for us to never oversimplify an issue that represents real pain to so many every day, we must stand ready to refute the claim that Jesus never had anything to say about the matter. Did you know that it was Jesus talking in the scripture above? In a rebuttal to some of the Pharisees trying to trap Him on a different matter, He reaffirms God's design for an exclusively one man/one woman union. In the minds of those who aren't members of affirming churches, these words further eliminate all other designs by default.

Now, believers must stop overstating that heterosexual marriage is the crowning achievement of the Christian life. Singleness is a path that, for many, offers greater fulfillment than marriage ever could. That said, believers must refute the false accusation that non-affirming churches are perpetuating harm by continuing to hold fast to a fundamental interpretation of scripture that affirms heterosexual marriage as God's chosen design for those who do decide to marry.

Why can't we just agree to disagree and simply "live and let live?" Well, in short, when the legitimacy of scripture is called into question and we refuse to point people back to the truth, we potentially invite all kinds of further defamation of God's word. And where does that end? Nowhere good. The world may call us hateful for speaking up, but there's nothing more hateful than standing idly by while we watch our fellow image bearers fall farther and farther away from a right relationship with the Father because it's "not our business."

It's also imperative that non-affirming churches, now more than ever, preach the truth that ALL have sinned. No "smaller" sins should squeak by while we drop the hammer on others. We haven't always done a fantastic job of this and unfortunately it has contributed to creating a breeding ground for this particular issue to grow. No one gets a pass and we all must bear our crosses. "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10) This, this and this are excellent resources for further reading.

We must pray without ceasing for individual hearts to encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the supreme confronter and reconciler of everyone's heart condition... sin.

Social Justice

Satan has done a number on this one by furthering his false agenda that differentiates social justice from biblical justice in the first place. As this article rightly explains:

"As [Tim] Keller says, when the two Hebrew words tzadeqah and mishpat are tied together—as they are more than three dozen times—the English expression that best conveys the meaning is “social justice.” Social justice, then, would be not only a biblical concept, but also a subset of biblical justice."

"These two words roughly correspond to what some have called “primary” and “rectifying justice.” Rectifying justice is mishpat. It means punishing wrongdoers and caring for the victims of unjust treatment. Primary justice, or tzadeqah, is behavior that, if it was prevalent in the world, would render rectifying justice unnecessary, because everyone would be living in right relationship to everyone else. Therefore, though tzadeqah is primarily about being in a right relationship with God, the righteous life that results is profoundly social."

Satan's distorted version of social justice puts the onus solely on the government to provide for the poor and oppressed by means of forced wealth redistribution. Today's secular minded social justice warriors wrongly assume that unrepentant people can offer rectifying justice with no evidence at all of primary justice, or living in right relationship to others based solely on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. “‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’" (Matthew 25:35-36)

"‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" (Matthew 25:40)

Believers, we must keep our real enemy in focus. We know that the correct biblical version of social justice puts the responsibility to care for the least of these on individuals out of an overflow of God's gospel-centered love for us and as a command to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is vital to remember that Jesus sometimes took care of physical needs before spiritual ones and sometimes spiritual needs before physical ones. Bottom line, we are commanded to care for the least of these!

We should be individually moved towards true, gospel-centered social justice by familiarizing ourselves with the community of early believers recorded in Acts 4:32-35.

"Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need."

No, this is not early evidence that the bible is pro-socialism. Socialism takes people's property and redistributes it as a governing body sees fit. The believers in communities like the one listed above, being of one heart and one mind, never even considered themselves the rightful owners of any property at all, so selling their possessions and giving away the proceeds freely was of no consequence. Socialism takes what the gospel would freely give.

We must pray without ceasing for individuals to have a genuine and deeply personal confrontation with the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings about the true abundant life, whether you own a little or a lot, all the while always treating others with equal dignity and respect because God condemns partiality. (See James 2:1-4)

Critical Theory Worldview

Satan has created a masterpiece of deception, currently playing out in the halls of our government, education system, judicial system, and higher institutions, that pits humanity against one another in an endless struggle for power. His most ardent proponents believe that white, heterosexual, cisgendered males are responsible for all the negative outcomes of societies other groups and so should be silenced. They also subscribe to the ideas of intersectionality that say additional "moral authority" points should be awarded to the individuals whose traits are the farthest removed from "white, heterosexual, cisgendered and male" and so should be our loudest voices. This has resulted in much of the blame-shifting, victimhood, denial of personal agency, and unforgiveness that is prevalent in our society. From this excellent article:

"Because critical theory is grounded in atheism, there is no God, no objective truth, and no transcendent morality. All that remains is power, and in particular, an endless struggle for power between various groups."

"As Nancy Pearcey explains: “Everyone’s ideas are merely social constructions stitched together by cultural forces. Individuals are little more than mouthpieces for communities based on race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual identity.” She goes on to say that critical theory reduces “individuals to puppets of social forces . . . powerless to rise above the communities to which they belong. The casualty of this reductionist view? The individual, along with personal agency, and responsibility."

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12)

"There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise." 

(Galatians 3:28-29)

Believers, we must keep our real enemy in focus. We must be the voice of reason among Satan's waring tribes of humanity because we know evil isn't inherently found in social systems and it isn't inherently found in only one group of the world's citizens. Is it present in those systems and individuals? You bet, but only because evil first existed right smack in the middle of EVERY human heart from the time we drew our first breath. We must gently remind others that the law of cause and effect states that every single effect in our universe has an ultimate cause. Injustice is an effect, sin is the ultimate cause and we are ALL equally culpable. We must bravely tell the whole story. All races of people have stories of abuse, neglect, and injustice done to them by power hungry jerks resulting in some of the terrible outcomes in their lives. But, all races of people also have stories of personal choice resulting in some of the terrible outcomes in their lives as well.

From the same article:

"[Postmodern critical theory] sees human beings as inherently good or blank slates. Any evil is instilled in us by society, by social systems and forces. So any pathology (poverty, crime, violence, abuse) is due to one thing only- wrong social policy."

"Postmodern critical theory sources evil not in human hearts, but in social structures. The biblical worldview, by contrast, views evil not as structural, but as personal. Injustice exists because we are all fallen, sinful, selfish people. The only solution is a personal, heart-level transformation, not just for a particular group of so-called “oppressors,” but for everyone. There is no hope for lasting social change apart from the gospel and new life in Christ."

"Unjust and oppressive human systems, structures, institutions, laws, and norms are symptoms, not the disease. The disease is sin. It is alienation from God. The solution is inward heart and mind transformation through the gospel, leading to outward, societal transformation."

"[According to postmodern critical theory] “unequal outcomes in wealth, well being, and power are never due to individual actions or to differences in cultures or to differences in human abilities, but only and strictly due to unjust social structures and systems. The only way to fix unequal outcomes for the downtrodden is through social policy, never by asking anyone to change their behavior or culture."

We must pray without ceasing for the gospel of Jesus Christ to transform people (including ourselves every minute of every day) from the inside out, regenerating hearts and opening eyes and ears to see and hear people the way God sees and hears them. Only a human whose heart is filled with Jesus stands a chance to use their power to wash the filthy feet of those under their authority, whether they are on their "side" or not.

Remember that community of early believers described in Acts 4 and how they lived their lives freely giving and receiving as need arose? Remember why they were able to function as one heart and one mind on the matter? It was because they had encountered the gospel of Jesus Christ which brought them all immediately and forevermore into perfect unity with one another. There is a reason a Jesus follower can be anywhere in the world and meet another Jesus follower who looks completely different from them and be immediately at home in their presence. True unity is only possible when all parties to it are personally and genuinely confronted once and for all by the gospel of Jesus Christ that stops them in their tracks and changes them forevermore from the inside out. Just ask Paul.

Regenerated believers, the world is watching. Let's remember who our real enemy is and what our only weapon against him consists of... the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Let's also allow our self-initiated generosity of time, money, talents, gifts, possessions, and service to ALL image bearers, not just those in our comfy bubbles, to be what knocks the wind right out of Satan's most glorious sails.