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Nobody wants to be used by the enemy, especially not a Christian. Satan is a despicable character – the father of lies, the accuser of the brethren, the guy who comes but to kill, steal, and destroy. Before you became a Christian, Satan had you – sin separated you from God and you were destined to go where Satan will go one day: into the Lake of Fire for eternal torment.
In a sense you were his friend – although he certainly would never help you, unless it meant taking you farther away from God. But once you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior he became a true enemy. He now sets out to make you ineffective for God, burdened down with sin, guilt, worry, or calamity so that your ability to further raid his kingdom will be mitigated.
But far from a frontal assault – Satan rarely shows up in a red suit with a pitch fork. Most of the time he shows up disguised – as an “angel of light” Paul tells us in chapter 11 of this letter. Jesus told us about Satan’s character (here speaking to the Jews who’d rejected Him):
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
So Satan comes not telling the truth, and not looking like his real self. In fact, he comes sounding like a believer, and looking like a believer. But the results are murder and death. Well meaning Christians have for centuries been mere pawns in Satan’s plan to ruin the church, the Bride of Christ, and to keep as many as possible from entering that relationship.
How does it happen? In a number of ways – but mostly I would say because
1. We look for things to make sense to us, rather than look for confirmation of them in the Word. How would Jesus act in this situation; am I acting in accordance with what I know of godly character or am I taking on the world’s values?
2. And we look for how things affect us, instead of what’s really going on around us in the spirit world.
Someone says “hey that person is a no good louse and we ought to get rid of them.” In reality the person’s pride was hurt and they were looking for a way to strike back – and by the time it ends the church is in ruins along with many lives.
Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Yet we act like our struggle is against one another, so we argue and fight and get hurt – and do the desire of our enemy.
Now we could go into great detail on this subject – but for the purposes of today’s study in chapter 2 of 2nd Corinthians, I want to talk about four ways in which we can be used by Satan or be used by God. The first is contained in verses 1-4.
Bring down the hammer vs. seek unity through love
2:1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
As we mentioned last week, Paul became very concerned over the situation in Corinth after his first letter. While some responded, others put their backs up and rallied even more around false apostles who challenged Paul’s authority as an Apostle.
Paul would have been within his rights to come down hard on the Corinthian church – actually a series of small home fellowships rather than one large congregation – but he didn’t. Instead he wrote another letter, an attempt to reach out before it was too late.
Instead of a tyrant, Paul says he had “great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears.” This truly reflects the heart of God. I remember Jesus standing before Jerusalem desiring for them to come under his wings for protection – but they would not – so Jesus wept.
When things are going wrong, what is your response? Are you quick on the draw? Quick to slam down the competition? Quick to bring a divisive word? Listen to Paul’s words in another book:
1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
Look at the difference: Pain, grief, distress and anguish, vs. gladness, joy, confidence and love. We need to:
Ephesians 4:2-3 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Unity doesn’t mean we just shove down our differences and become “yes” men – it means we together seek the higher good of the body, putting aside our own pride and wishes, helping others along that path with gentleness.
Here’s the second scheme:
Punish & Banish vs. seek repent, forgive, and restore
5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent-not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven-if there was anything to forgive-I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Now there are a couple of ways to interpret this – one is that the person mentioned here is the guy from 1st Corinthians 5 that was sleeping with his father’s wife. Paul was ashamed that the Corinthians were proud of their tolerance of this outright sin and that they should disfellowship this guy to let the true consequences of his actions would bring him back – and that this worked and so they should forgive him and let him back into the church.
An alternate is that some person unknown to us sought to attack Paul – they responded by giving the guy grief – which caused him to repent.
Which ever it is the choice facing the Corinthians is: do we believe his repentance and take him back? How often when someone has grieved us that after we’ve slammed them we slam the door on them. By nature we don’t like to forgive, we like to punish and banish!
What if God treated you that way? Think about it.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
James 5:19-20 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
So – when wrong has occurred, the enemy would say “crush them – show no mercy!” But the Lord encourages us to gently encourage the right – and when we see repentance swallow our pride – forgive and receive them back.
Here’s number 3 scheme:
Driven by circumstances vs. led by peace in your heart
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
At first glance this might not seem like a scheme of the enemy. It does tell us that even though Paul had a ministry opportunity he was so concerned about finding Titus to get the reaction to his letter that he left Troas and went on to Macedonia.
But I want to focus in on three words: “peace of mind.” How often are we driven by circumstances, instead of led by the peace of God in our minds – or the lack thereof?
Paul could have been justified by saying – look, here’s ministry so I’m going to ignore this nagging in my heart and just the “work of God.” We think that because something is there, it means its God’s will for us to do it.
Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
To “guard” there means: to be a watcher in advance, like posting spies at the gate or hemming in like a fort. Instead of looking at the circumstances – whether bad or good – we should look to God to give us that peace, that sense of security in our hearts – then follow that.
Now the last scheme of the enemy:
Motivated by self vs. sent and given out by God
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
We smell like death to the unbeliever because of the judgment that is coming – we smell like life to the Christian because we remind them of the mercy of God in granting us eternal life through His Son Jesus.
But there’s something right at the end here – that speaks to Paul’s motivation for service. There are so many preachers today who have let personal gain motivate them – Jimmy Baker, for one – whose air conditioned dog house and lavish mansions became a byword for Christian greed.
I’m just saying that we need to always check our motivations because it is a prime scheme of the enemy to get our focus off what the Lord is doing, and on to how it benefits us. It may not be money either – it may be power or fame or something else.
Philippians 2:17-18 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
That’s Paul’s motivation for service – sent from God to serve others.
Matthew 20:25-28 "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Conclusion
1. Look back at verse 11 – we need to be aware of Satan’s schemes so that he might not outwit us. That’s good advice, but we can take it the wrong way. Some people have gone way to deep into understanding Satan, only to get caught up in it, finding demons under every rock and in every person – casting out the demon of this and that out of everyone – spending more time studying about Satan than studying about God.
Don’t let that happen to you – understand ways Satan can trip you up, then find ways for the Spirit to work through you instead of the Devil.
So to sum up, which will you choose:
2. Bring down the hammer or seek unity through love
3. Punish & Banish or seek repent, forgive, and restore
4. Driven by circumstances or led by peace in your heart
5. Motivated by self or be sent and given out by God
Another way to determine if you are being used by the Devil is by this verse:
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Be a bringer of life – sometimes that means speaking a word of exhortation to someone – but let us not be ones who steal away joy, kill gladness, or destroy lives.
