I am Convinced that Unity Leads to Victory

Mark 3:20-30

Last week we started a new sermon series on Spiritual Warfare in the book of Mark – but we’re looking at it through the lens of God’s love. I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We were reminded that before Jesus started his earthly ministry, God spoke in an audible voice, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Before Jesus went into ministry, His identity was already sealed – as God’s beloved Son. So when Jesus faced forty days of temptation, he was able to withstand it, because love overcomes.

Today as we begin, I have a question: Did anyone here used to be a LeBron James fan? Anyone a fan of the Miami Heat? For anyone here who isn’t a basketball fan, LeBron James is possibly the best basketball player in the world right now, and he won quite a few games with the Cleveland Cavaliers before he decided to “take his talents to South Beach.” He moved to Miami to team up with Dwayne Wade, another of the best players in the NBA, and Chris Bosh, another talented player. Their plan was to gather the best players together in order to win the NBA title. But there is trouble in South Beach. Last week Blaine Keene forwarded me an article about Wade and James, one that detailed the rough relationship between these two stars. They can’t get along; though they have the talent to win, their egos are getting in the way. The Miami Heat used to be Wade’s team, and now it’s LeBron’s, and that doesn’t sit very well. They are living out today’s scripture: a house divided against itself cannot stand.

We’re only 3 chapters into Mark, but already Jesus is stirring up controversy. He has been healing people on the Sabbath, and the religious leaders are upset because they think this violates the Law against doing work on the Sabbath. Some of them are already looking for a reason to accuse Jesus (Mark 3:2). Crowds were following Jesus everywhere, so he was having to take creative measures just to have some alone time with the guys he is mentoring. He is so overwhelmed by the crowds that he and his disciples aren’t even able to eat. Some of the religious leaders are threatened by his power and popularity – like we said last week, whenever God is on the move, we will encounter resistance. We encounter resistance even in places where it seems like we would be safe. Did you notice that Jesus’ family even thought Jesus had gone nuts? (as an aside, that makes it even more impressive to read the book of James, written by Jesus’ brother).

The teachers of the law from Jerusalem ( in other words, the top religious experts), knew something was going on; nobody could deny that Jesus had power. So they decided to try to undermine him by questioning the source of his power. So they denounced Jesus as being possessed by demons. This is a slick tactic Satan uses; instead of facing the real issue head-on, he tries to confuse things, to deflect attention to peripheral matters. Once someone called me to complain about the church – the person first told me we weren’t United Methodist enough. I asked for clarification, because I take that seriously. I have taken a vow to uphold the doctrine and polity of the United Methodist Church. That wasn’t the person’s real issue; it was a personal issue with someone else. But instead of taking that issue up with the person, the complainant decided to confuse things, to attack peripheral matters. In churches that often works like this: someone moves a piece of furniture, and people get furious. The preacher can preach heresy, but don’t anybody move the furniture.

This is one of Satan’s goals. He knows full well he cannot defeat Jesus Christ in a head-to-head battle, so he will try to confuse the terms of battle and blur the battle lines. Whenever we bring that “open war” to Satan’s doorstep, he blurs the lines to confuse us about who the enemy is.

So we live in a country horribly divided by Republican/Democrat, Fox News/MSNBC. Tea Parties. Conservative/Liberal. Red State/Blue State. For or against collective bargaining. And the United Methodist Church is just as divided. If you’ve been to Annual Conference in the last five years you have seen the Conference worship powerfully and play cheerfully together, but when hot-button topics come up, you’ll see a whole different side of people. When it comes to voting on resolutions, it gets downright ugly. I am convinced that if someone wrote a resolution that said, “We should love God and love people,” there would actually be discussion on the topic and some people would vote against it, simply based on the affiliation of the person who wrote the resolution.

Who is the enemy anyway? Jesus knows what’s going on, and he tells the religious leaders as much. He tells them that even Satan knows better than to fight against himself. Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. His fight isn’t against himself; his fight is against Jesus and the Kingdom of God. But Jesus doesn’t ascribe undo power to Satan; he says that he has come to defeat Satan, and he calls his followers to unity toward the same purpose.

I am convinced that unity leads to victory.

At the beginning of February, I preached a sermon called “Why Unity” – and I told you that we’re not going for unity simply for the sake of unity. We won’t ignore issues and pretend they don’t exist just to project the image that we get along. But Jesus calls us to unity, true unity, which is only found when we are led by the Holy Spirit in the same direction.

The tragic thing is when Satan tricks Christians into fighting amongst ourselves. In my last appointment there were two churches in town, and there was always an underlying tension between them. Though we did some programming together, I frequently heard the complaint that we would have an idea and they would take it over. There were tensions between our choirs; we sang to a pre-recorded track while they didn’t. There were all sorts of tensions between the churches; I made friends with the pastor of the other church, and he and I are still close friends. But when a new pastor came to serve the UMC there, that friendship never came about, and now those two churches are more divided than ever.

This isn’t a new technique Satan just came up with; he used it in the Garden of Eden; the first thing that happened when God confronted Adam about eating the forbidden fruit was Adam blamed Eve. And we’ve been fighting amongst ourselves ever since. Satan knows that division leads to defeat, so he has been doing everything he can to drive wedges between God’s people ever since. Ryan Bash, one of the pastors who has been collaborating with us on this sermon series, described it this way: “To be honest, I’m not sure Satan really cares about what churches fight about, as long as they are fighting. I’m not sure he has much interest in who’s right and who’s wrong, as long as we’re refusing to treat one another with love and grace in the midst of the disagreement.”

We can be divided about all sorts of things: worship style is always a big one, as is the use of technology, but there are also theological debates, paint colors, carpet colors, changing elements or order of worship, even something as simple as a microphone can become a fight in a church. And when our energy is consumed with fighting among ourselves, we will continue to be useless in our fight against Satan. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

The only way to reverse this is through unity in the Spirit, and I am convinced that unity leads to victory. Jesus says that when we are unified, we will defeat Satan.

Jesus makes a point about spiritual warfare that needs emphasized here. He says that nobody can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob the strong man. Who do you think Jesus is talking about?

In John’s Gospel, three times Jesus uses the phrase “the prince of this world” In John 12:31, he says, “Now the prince of this world will be driven out.” In John 14:30, he says, “The prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me.” In John 16:11, he says, “The prince of this world stands condemned.” Satan is the prince of this world; he has laid claim to this earth.

This is why Peter calls us “aliens and strangers in this world” in 1 Peter 2:11 Because we live in his domain, unless Satan is bound, we have no claim to freedom, and if we are not free, we have no victory.

In Acts 19, we see what happens when we try to fight the battle under our own power. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, who Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day an evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He have them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16).

If you think you have a claim to freedom on your own, if you think Satan is some little pansy weakling in a red suit, you are sadly mistaken. Satan is strong, and on our own, we cannot defeat him. Satan is strong, and his demons are strong as well. On our own, we have no means or ability to defeat him or drive him out. But Jesus makes this clear: Satan can be bound. It takes someone stronger than Satan to bind him, and Jesus has demonstrated that He Himself is that Stronger Man. And what’s more, we have the assurance that Jesus Christ himself lives within the Christian. If you have accepted Jesus Christ, He has come to live within you! Do you realize how powerful this makes you? Because of his presence in you, you now have authority over evil.

So why is it that we often don’t exercise that authority? There are some people who been living in Satan’s prison so long that you don’t know that you’re in bondage. Beth Moore defines bondage as anything that hinders the abundant and effective Spirit-filled life God has planned for you.

Are you living the abundant and effective Spirit-filled life that God has planned for you? Or have you settled for less? Some of you have accepted Satan’s rule as normative. You just do what you have to do. You come to church because it’s just what you’re supposed to do. You fellowship with others, not because Jesus is there, but because they’re your friends. You enjoy nature, not because God made it for you, but because it’s pretty. Maybe you get along with other people, or maybe you’re constantly crabby. Maybe you don’t realize that when you’re talking about other people, that’s gossip. Maybe Satan has you so snowed that you don’t even recognize or acknowledge that I might be talking to you here. There is a scene in C.S. Lewis’ final book in the Narnia series in which Aslan the Lion had brought the dwarves into the glories of the New Narnia, which stood for heaven or the kingdom of God. These stubborn dwarves sat smack in the middle of a sunlit meadow full of wildflowers and were being fed fruit and vegetables more exquisitely flavorful and fresh than anyone had ever before imagined was possible.

Yet their minds were darkened, their hearts were cold. And so they were convinced they were sitting in the middle of a stinky old stable being fed moldy bread and cow manure. When one of the other characters asks Aslan what can be done for these hapless figures, the answer comes back that nothing can be done. When black becomes white and white becomes black, when evil is good and good is evil, people are gone. God can’t get through to them. The reason the unpardonable sin can never be forgiven is because it will never, ever be recognized as a sin. Even if God came to such people bearing the sweet fragrance of his grace, all these people would smell would be the stink of a rotting corpse. They won’t be forgiven because they cannot be forgiven and they cannot be forgiven because they have come to believe that the gospel’s elixir of life is strychnine: pure poison.(Illustration by Scott Hoezee, www.calvinseminary.com)

So how do we come to recognize the victory that Jesus has already won for us?

You first have to know that such recognition is the work of the Holy Spirit. Not only does the Holy Spirit bind up Satan, but he also demonstrates to us that the work has been done. But if you don’t recognize his voice, you won’t hear what he says. Jesus told his disciples, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27). Do you know his voice? Do you really? If you’ve never heard his voice, it’s not because he’s not speaking; it might very well be because you’re not listening or because you don’t know his voice. If you’re not hearing God’s voice, what have you done to help yourself hear him better?

When I was coaching JV soccer in Kentucky, I had this little guy named Brandon on my team. Brandon had all manner of physical limitations and disabilities, but he loved to be on the team with the guys (and because he was playing on the team he was in good shape, good enough to postpone a serious heart operation he was facing). Brandon was deaf for all practical purposes, but since he could read lips, I would make every effort to be pointed toward Brandon when I spoke to the team. But I made it clear to Brandon that he was responsible to get himself into position to “hear” me and to ask appropriate clarifying questions if he needed to.

There are some of you who don’t hear from God and you, implicitly if not explicitly, blame God for it. If that’s not what you’re doing, what are you doing? What’s your excuse? Are you studying the Bible? God speaks through his word. Are you asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Word when you read it? Are you actively seeking others to discuss scripture with? Are you praying with other Christians? If not, what’s your excuse? Really. What’s your excuse? We have a prayer group that meets on Sunday nights. We have a women’s Bible study on Mondays. I lead a Bible Study on Wednesday evenings. We have cell groups meeting various times throughout the week. Someone shared with me this week that they are unable to make it in the evenings; if there is a desire for me to repeat my Pastor’s Bible Study in the early afternoon on Wednesdays, I would be glad to do that.

Whatever the case, it’s time to get in to God’s Word, to immerse yourself in it, to listen to His voice, to accept the unity of the Holy Spirit, the unity that leads to victory.