Oppression
2 Peter 3:17 (NIV)
"Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position."
(Emphasis added)
First off I would like to address, what I think is the most important word in this verse: "Therefore". Now I know that a lot of people read right past that. I do it all the time, I'm sure. Read the definition of therefore though (as told by Dictionary.com):
"For that reason or cause; consequently or hence."
If we miss that, we miss the point. What therefore says, brothers and sisters, is taking into account everything in context. Essentially we would need to read through the whole chapter of 2 Peter (if read right, you can see that the author of 2 Peter predicts Atheism in verse 3) and then we could take this into account. Maybe in the future I will do that, but for right now, I will just do this verse.
"be on guard"
Exactly what it says. The King James Version (KJV) uses the word "beware" and the original Greek uses the word "phulassō" meaning "obey" or "avoid". It is clear what Peter meant. Stand watch, don't let anything by.
"so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men"
This is why you should be on guard. In other words, be on guard so you don't sin. Be on guard so that your sin nature does not have a chance to manifest itself. When I read "carried away" the picture in my mind is vivid. I think of ancient samurai garbed in the stereotypical suit. They hold spears (probably not historically accurate, but I'm not really trying to be) similar in appearance to tridents. Everything is quiet except the leader's voice. All the colors have a sepia tone to them. Nothing is the right color. The samurai swarm me, outnumbering me 10 to 1. I have no chance to overtake them and they pick me up and swiftly put me in a torture chamber.
"fall from your secure position."
Let's form a scenario in our minds. Purely hypothetical: you gossip. You do it without even thinking, but after you do, you are aware that you have been. Girls, sorry if it seems like I am targeting you, I will come back to get the guys in a bit. I am sure that there are some guys that do gossip, but this is generally a trait acquired by the distaff side.
So you decide to pray about this. You pray without ceasing. Every moment of the day you submit your will to God and let Him motivate your actions. When you see one of your close friends gossiping you avoid it in such a way to let them know that you are not kidding around. You say phrases like "I will not tear that person down, they do not deserve it." or "I will refuse to cause strife between that person and myself."
You have now gone weeks without gossiping. Gossiping is no longer a problem for you, or so you thought. One day you and a friend are talking and they bring up a particular individual. They want to know what your honest opinion is, so you give it to them. "That person is horrible! They do all kinds of drugs and get drunk at every party they attend." You go on and on about this person not realizing that you are doing just what you set out not to do.
You have just fallen from your secure position. You chose to obey God's commands and for weeks you did. Then, when you let your guard down, sin got a foothold.
Guys, this one is for you. I realize that girls struggle with this issue as well, so I am in no way singling you out, just like I was not singling anybody out in the other example also. I just wanted to give the readers a chance to understand it regardless of gender.
Say you have a personal problem controlling your thoughts. Maybe this involves cussing or anger management, but where it really hits hard is in lust. Lust consumes your mind all the time and you have no idea how to stop it. You seek divine intervention and are disappointed to find out that that is not God's will. The Spirit urges you to find a godly man or woman to counsel you through this, so you go to a leader in your church. They tell you that they have the same problem sometimes and they give you a few methods to fight this battle.
"Anytime you think of an impure thought, just think of something abstract. Think of a random shape or do long division in your head." or maybe they take a different approach to it: "Pray. Every time you feel like that, pray and the devil will flee. Pray in God's name, quote scripture. If it is necessary stop everything your doing and pray out loud. So you do this and do well for weeks. You feel that everything is now going smoothly in your life, so you let your guard down a bit.
That's when the oppressor seeks to de-throne God in your heart. Joe Cool or Jane Cute has now just walked in the door. This person is the most attractive person you have ever seen and your thoughts immediately turn impure. You did not even have time to stop them. You do not even think about it until it is way to late. You might not have acted on your thoughts, but they still took hold of your mind for that brief moment.
You have just fallen from your secure position. You chose to obey God's commands and for weeks you did. Then, when you let your guard down, sin got a foothold.
I know this is long, folks, so bear with me, I am almost finished.
I mentioned the oppressor a few times in this post. To close, I would like to tell you who the oppressor might be. The oppressor could simply be a friend of yours who wishes you were not Christian (probably someone who was not a Christian themselves) or maybe it is a friend who does not seek to disrupt your life, but does so unintentionally. If the former of the case, you should probably find a different friend (not condemning, just suggesting) if the latter then you should be cautious.
I think the oppressor takes two major shapes though. This is not to say that this is the truth, and this is not to say that these are the only two shapes the oppressor does take. The first is obvious: Satan. Peter describes him "like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." This "lion" "prowls around". Prowling is not something that is done out in the open. You will rarely think that Satan is behind all of your pain. Human nature is to try to blame pain on something visible. Satan wants just that.
The other oppressor is not so obvious. I strongly believe that the old "the devil made me do it" argument is hardly EVER valid. Satan is not omnipotent and if you are a Christian, you can not possibly be possessed. You could be harassed, but not possessed. I think that this other oppressor is the sin nature in ourselves. A lot of the time, we are our own worst enemy. We never realize it until it is too late. Everybody falls to sin sometimes. We have to be on our guard against ourselves as well as any other oppressors in our world.
Let me close with this thought. When you feel like you are going to be taken by those samurai, remember, there is someone much stronger than those warriors. Jesus died in the flesh for us. He became our defender and our brother.
Satan stands before the throne of the Father and condemns us day and night.
Satan: "Did you see what Love just DID?!??!"
Jesus: "Father, Love has committed his life to me Lord. My blood covers his sin."
I have heard Jesus called many things. The Lamb, the Lion, the Rock. Emmanuel. Many many things. What about this one: Lawyer.
Heaven is a courtroom. Satan is the accuser, Jesus is the defending lawyer, we are the victim and God, God is the Almighty Judge. Faithful, Just, True and always unchanging.
posted by Colin at 4/17/2005
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