“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).
In military and security contexts, green represents normal, safe conditions, yellow is on alert, watchful, and red is some kind of active threat. We live in a world where it is increasingly necessary to be at yellow more often than not.
From mass shooters targeting schools to Drag Queens demanding access to children to lockdown orders, mask mandates, and demands to take a vaccine or lose your job, many normal Americans do not understand what is happening to our country. But the short answer is that we let our guard down. We have not been watchful, firm in the faith, or strong like men.
This has happened slowly over time, like the proverbial frog being boiled alive. The Bible teaches that everything out there has an origin in human hearts. As a man thinks, so is he, or at least, so he becomes. Jesus taught that bitter hatred and anger in the heart is the seed of violence and murder. He taught that lusting after a woman in your heart, is the seed of adultery. And as every gardener will tell you, weeds are easiest to deal with when they are small.
In Psalm 19, David prays “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Ps. 19:12-13). David recognizes that our faults are often mysterious. We sin, and we look back at our sin, and it never makes any sense. But he can at least see a progression: there are hidden faults, presumptuous sins, and then finally, great transgressions. People don’t wake up one day and decide to ruin their lives out of nowhere, any more than giant weeds just suddenly appear overnight. What is usually happening is a lot hidden/secret sins are accumulating, and then you start getting sloppy with presumptuous sins. Secret faults are usually in your head, in your heart, under the surface, but presumptuous sins are things you know are wrong and maybe those closest to you can see them, but you just ignore them. You don’t deal with them. Maybe angry outbursts, drunkenness, maybe sexual sin.
But what David says is that these sins inevitably lead to the Great Transgressions. Romans 1 says that refusal to honor God leads to unnatural sexual perversions. Proverbs says that the man who goes to the prostitute is already hated by God. But the thing to note is that when you let the little sins go, you are already surrendering in principle. All sin is telling God that He is wrong, and that you know better. But if God is wrong about your bitterness against your mother in your heart, if God is wrong about your lust in your heart, then you can’t slam on the brakes when that same logic is right in front of you in bigger ways. Why can’t you act on those sins? If you’re right and God is wrong, why not?
So the logic of sin leads to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. The logic of sin leads to everyone serving themselves, and there are no brakes on that car. If the highest good is doing whatever you want, doing what feels good, what seems good to you, then you have in effect crowned yourself King or Queen. But that means that everyone else is supposed to serve you, and a nation of that gets you what we’ve now got.
The problem is that every one of us has lived this way to some extent. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has guilt and shame for what they’ve done, and the Devil whispers in your heart that it’s too late, that’s just the way the world is. But Jesus said that He came to take away our guilt and shame; He claimed to have the authority to forgive all our sins. It’s one thing if you sin against me and ask my forgiveness, but Jesus claimed to be able to forgive everyone any sin they have committed. The Bible says that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross for sin; He was crucified for the secret sins, the presumptuous sins, and the Great Transgressions, so that we might go free. And then He rose from the dead on the third day, proving that our sins were really paid for.
This nation was built by great men and women, and they were great fundamentally because they knew they weren’t great. They knew that humans have this sin problem, and they were Christians who knew that the only way for that sin problem to be dealt with was the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross is what made them watchful and strong.
So Elijah, my charge to you is to be on yellow alert. Be watchful. Be watchful first of all over your own heart. Deal with sin as quickly as it occurs. The Bible says that if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That’s how you deal with sin. Admit it and ask for forgiveness from God anyone else you sinned against. Keep your heart clean so that you can see clearly in order to watchful over your wife and family. Just as you must be willing to defend your wife’s physical life, you must also protect her spiritual life. Do not let any small sins develop in your marriage or your home. Confess your sins and forgive your wife quickly. This is how you must be strong for Bea; this is how you love her like Christ loved us. You must act like a man, be steadfast in your faith, and so be watchful. This is the only way you will be ready to face any other threat as well.
Bea, my charge to you is to also be on yellow alert. It’s striking that Paul urged the whole Corinthian church to act like men and be strong, including the women. Of course you practice this manly strength as a woman, but you are to do this beginning with your own heart. Be watchful. Do not let any little sins creep in there. Confess any bitterness, any resentment, any envy right away before they grow up into big ugly sins. Keep your heart clean, so that your house and family will be clean. Under God’s blessing, we trust that you will become a mother of a number of tall children, and all of your maternal instincts will be oriented to protecting your children. This is good and right, but always remember that sin is the greatest threat. Sin is what grows up into all of the other threats in our world. And so remember that the Cross of Jesus is where all sin goes to die. So kill your sin there, and then stand with your husband, help him, serve him, and kill sin together. And in so doing you will be part of a great Reformation in this land.
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash
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