men and women of violence, part 2

(a call to arms)

Today I'm echoing a lot of two sermons from John Piper. They are excellent. You ought to download and listen to part 1, and part 2.

Well, when it comes to physical violence, I'm more of a pacifist than anything else. I am completely grateful for the men and women who fight for my protection at home and abroad, but I don't think I could personally enter into a career that would require me to hurt and kill others.

That being said, there is a kind of violence that is wholesome, a violence that I need to develop.

In short, I must be killing sin, or it will be killing me.

I was struck by this reality as I read through 2 Kings a few weeks ago. Where there is an absence of God, humanity gravitates towards violence. During the reigns of the kings that are unfaithful to God, there was an abundance of

murder

conflict

assassinations

betrayal

rape

unrest

theft

war

and these are just a few. Over and over again there are stories of how the Israelites began to tear each other to pieces.

Reversely, when the kings that sought to honor God were in power (Joash, Josiah, and Hezekiah) God granted Israel rest from complete warfare. However, these men were just as violent as the rest, but they weren't fighting each other. They were making war on the things that breed war- idols.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from the desires that battle within you? James 4.1

Whenever we're at war, it's because our desires are warped. We want or need something so badly that we're willing to hurt or kill others to get it. This is called idolatry.

I underlined the verbs in 2 Kings 23, where Josiah renews the covenant with God and then sets out to get rid of the idols in Israel.

removed

burned

did away with

ground it to powder

scattered the dust

tore down

desecrated

broke down

smashed them to pieces

pulled down

Pretty violent stuff. He even slaughtered the priests that had been serving Baal, the false god.

Jesus has the same view of sin. He tells us it's better to cut off our arms than for them to lead us into temptation.

If you're like me, and you haven't wanted to punch someone since you were 8, Jesus has something to say to us. It's so much more than the physical action- because our actions only reveal what's going on in our hearts. Even if you've been angry with someone, it's equal to being guilty of murder (Mat 5.21-26). So every time I'm tempted to belittle someone else, raise my voice in anger, cut them down and build myself up, laugh at their failures, or say hurtful things, it's violence in my heart.

There is a war going on. Am I going to kill sin, or let it kill me? Am I going to make war on others, or make war on the things which lead me to war?