Spiritual Maturity
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2010 · 12 September 2010
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
What is the general attack of the demons? Well first of all, Satan and his demons attack us as individuals. You ask, "Can you tell when a demon is attacking you?" Not necessarily, I certainly can't tell, I can't see them and I can't feel them.
And the Bible doesn't say anything about that except that we wrestle against them. In some way they are closely involved in some combat with us, although they are indistinguishable to us for the most part, there are occasions when they manifest themselves.
But they will attack us primarily through the alluring world system. They can't read our minds. Nor is there any indication in Scripture that they can plant thoughts in our mind. But they can attack us through the world’s system of enticement of our flesh.
But we don't know all of the ways in which they can do that. But I know that they have some means by which they can affect that person's thinking process. Because Peter said in Acts 5:3, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" when he spoke this to Ananias and Sapphira.
The second thing that they do is they attack families. In 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 Paul tells us, "Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife doesn't have authority over her own body but the husband does, likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body but his wife does."
In other words, you need to give your body to your partner. Why? Verse 5, "Stop depriving one another unless it's by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control."
Nothing would make Satan happier than to come against a Christian couple and because one is holding back the physical relationship against the other, raise the level of temptation to that one struggling with self-control and destroy that family.
Third thing he wants to do is attack leaders in the church. That is why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 3, that you have to have men that are qualified for ministry, because at the end of verse 7 he says, "so that they may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."
History is full of church leaders that have been attacked by the Devil and have fallen. And there is no one that can resist the devil based only on his own strength; we always need Jesus who is all powerful to give us the strength we need.
And then fourthly, he attacks the church. And he likes to destroy its unity, its power, to confuse its purpose. You read the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 and see how Satan moved in, how Satan invaded and destroyed and devastated a church's testimony.
2 Corinthians 11 reminds us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And what does that mean? He disguises himself as a Christian. He disguises his demons as those who say they provide Christian truth, but really are hypocritical liars who only appear to be teachers of the truth.
How are we going to prevent this? There are people who say, "I know, we have to bind him." How you going to do that? "Well you say these words, `Satan, I bind you.'" And are we to believe that as soon as somebody says that he goes, "Oop...that did it. Boy, now I'm stuck?"
And how long does a binding lasts? Is he only bound in regard to me or does that bind him in regard to everybody? And if it could bind him in regard to everybody, then why doesn't one of us just once and for all say, "Satan, you're bound for everybody for good?" That would just end it all.
Listen, sin came into the human race because Satan deceived whom? Eve. Would you say that we are more susceptible to deception than Eve? Yes. That's why in 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity in Christ."
Do you realize there are people in Matthew 7:22-23 who say, "Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in Your name? And He says to them I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers!' There's only one person who can do that.
In Revelation 20:1-3 it says, "I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the keys to the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him that he should not deceive the nations any longer, till the thousand years were completed after these things he must be released for a short time."
Before that binding and after that binding he is loose. Only Jesus Christ can dispatch a holy angel to bind him. He moves about on this earth, says Peter, as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. And I'll promise you, if Peter could have bound Satan in spiritual warfare then, he would have done so. But he didn't because he couldn't.
So how do we deal with him? First point, verse 8, be alert. Keep your eyes open. Be watchful. Satan can be defeated. He has already been vanquished by Christ. He can be in Christ defeated in the believer's life as well. Take stock of the potential temptation.
Second thing he says, in verse 9, resist him. James 4:7 says it this way, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." How do you do that? God says verse 9, "be firm in the faith."
He is a deceiver, he is a liar and what you have to deal with him is truth and obedience to that truth. Trusting God and living in accord with His truth. Isn't that so simple? How do you stand against him? By following what the revealed Word of God has told you.
Look at 2 Corinthians 10:3. Paul says, "For though we walk in the flesh (we're human, physical) we don't war according to the flesh." There's no physical strategy against Satan. There's no verbal strategy against Satan. You can't say words and make him run.
Verse 4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." We don't battle Satan with human plans, human ingenuity or human words but with a divinely powerful expression of God.
Verse 5, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." There's the key. As I know the truth, as I obey the truth, Satan is resisted.
First Timothy 1:18, "This command I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may fight the good fight."
It never says go after and chase him down on the cosmic level. It says stand firm, resist. How do you do it? Do what Ephesians 6:10 says; take on the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day.
And then in Ephesians 6:18 it says, "With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all saints." Here it is, beloved. Truth around your waist with righteousness, the commitment to obey believing God is your shield, having eternal hope as your helmet and wielding the sword of truth.
Peter adds this so beautifully. In verse 9, "Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Hey Peter says in the middle of this you're not alone. The whole Christian community is going through this too, suffering is a way of life as God is accomplishing His perfecting work in you.
Number Third, an attitude of hope. 1 Peter 5:10, "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."
We're to live with the understanding that God's purpose realized in the future requires some pain in the present. So says Peter, "And after you have suffered for a little while." If you could only understand what the spiritual warfare is doing for you, you would appreciate it instead of resenting it.
After all, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing can change that. So all the suffering that comes here is just to strengthen you, to establish you, to confirm you, to perfect you, to make you more the man and woman of God that you should be.
God who called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself be there by your side while you are attacked by the enemy, you are being personally perfected by God. It's personal, He Himself is doing it. He is intimately involved in the suffering of our lives.
So what about those words we receive from these verses? Like: submission, humility, trust, self-control, defense and hope. "Why hope?" Because in the midst of my suffering I have hope in what I am becoming. And because of what I will be in eternal glory, that's hope.
Number Four, an attitude of worship. Suddenly in verse 11, Peter just bursts forth in a doxology, "To Him be dominion forever and ever, amen." He said it in chapter 4:11 that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen.
Throughout this whole series of verses we've been getting the deep things of God put into place, that we are to humble ourselves before God and He'll exalt us, that we're to cast our care upon God for He cares for us, He's powerful and He's compassionate.
We are to fight in His strength for He alone can defeat the enemy and in the process perfect us. And so he says that the heart of the Christian must always be filled with praise and glory given to God. He has the power, He has the authority, He has the sovereignty, He is worthy of all of our praise. That's the worshiping heart.
Dear brothers, and when you have a worshiping heart, it keeps you from questioning the difficulties of life. When you have a worshiping heart you show Him and others that nothing is beyond His control: not our suffering and not Satan and his demons and not the whole world system.
Then Peter comes to a conclusion. And in this little conclusion as he draws this epistle to an end, he mentions two other attitudes. He picks up the pen here, because so far all writing has been recorded through a secretary and now he mentions an attitude of faithfulness indirectly.
Verse 12, "Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I've written to you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God, stand firm in it." It is very likely that this is the same Silas who traveled with Paul and is often mentioned in his epistles.
And he says, "I've written to you briefly," just five short chapters, but O how rich. It is really short and condensed. And he says in it I've been exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Number Five be faithful to it. Silas was faithful, will you be faithful?
And then fnally he adds virtue number Six that we can call the attitude of affection. Verses 13-14, "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love, peace be to all who are in Christ."
A final word that speaks of love, she who is in Babylon refers to a church. Female terms for the church are common, you can check 2 John 1 and 13. And Babylon most likely refers to Rome.
For instance, when John was banished to Patmos during the persecution instigated by the Emperor Domician, he called Rome Babylon. Peter who mentions persecution in nearly every chapter of his epistle died a martyrs death near Rome, according to tradition he was crucified upside down.
He was saying the saints of Rome, the church, together with you also elect, sends you greetings. This is Christian affection. So does my son Mark, Peter's spiritual son not his physical son. Mark called John Mark is mentioned in Acts 12:12, he accompanied Paul, stayed with Paul during the Apostles time in prison in Rome.
Tradition indicates that Peter helped him write the gospel of Mark. But here you have a little collection of affection. The church, to your church, me to you, Mark to you and in 14 he says, "Just kiss everybody, will you?" An outward sign of affection often mentioned in the New Testament. By the way, it was men to men, and women to women in ancient times, a customary part of early church affection.
And he closes, "Peace be to you all who are in Christ." It's back to the basics of spiritual maturity: Submission, humility, trust, self-denial, vigilant defense, hope, worship, faithfulness and affection. There's no way to produce those in your life through any mystical experience. They come from the truth. And as the truth is poured into your life day in, day out, it begins to change your character and create these kinds of attitudes.