Contending Love

Contending Love
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 20th June 2010
• Last week, we had the privilege of having Allan and Rhonda Ward from Port Stephens COC, speak into the life of the church – words of strength that came from the heart of God. Rhonda spoke about adoption to the ladies at the 4her evening – from a very personal experience where she travelled to Ethiopia with her daughter, and as she opened her heart to her new adopted grandson. But she spoke also about what it means for us to be adopted into the family of God. It’s a powerful truth.

• Allan was telling me that when little ones are adopted from overseas, they lose every form of inheritance from that country and their family of origin. But, on the other hand, they automatically become entitled to the same inheritance in their new family, that any natural sibling would have. It’s an awesome analogy when you think about it - what our adoption into the kingdom of God really means.

• But Allan’s message on Sunday – about wrestling with God – laying hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us... It was a call for the church to rise up from complacency and to go after the fullness of our destiny and our spiritual inheritance in God. It’s time we moved beyond simply doing church – to being the church that we are meant to be.

• I also want to remind you of the message from the week before last – about the abounding grace and mercy of God toward us – that we love Him ONLY because He first loved us...

• And this morning, as we acknowledge again the nature and the attributes of God that abound toward us, including His goodness and kindness – there is a word that I believe God is speaking to us about, that we need to allow to stir in our own hearts. It comes from Jude 1:3, which says that we must “contend earnestly for the faith.”

• As much as our salvation is a free gift – and God is just waiting to pour out His blessings upon our lives – there is a characteristic of the kingdom of God where we have to passionately contend as we live out the life of liberty and faith that we have been given. “Being” the Christians, and “being” the church means contending along the journey – as we run the race – the marathon – of life.

• To contend means to go after something – to fight for it – to persevere and intercede with God for it – to wrestle through the issues – to be zealous in working through the struggles.

• It’s just like when Paul said – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2Tim 4:7).

• What is it that you are contending for right now? Or perhaps a better question would be – what is it that you could or should be contending for that you are not?

• Because some things in the kingdom of God will only come through contending.

• I can recall many times where Venese and I have had to contend against evil – against personal attack – against all kinds of things. We had to contend for Venese’s life about five years ago. We had to contend a couple of years ago to buy our home. We had to contend for our daughters through the normal challenges of being teenagers. Contending is a normal part of life.

• But here is how this message fits with what I have already shared about God’s love and grace abounding towards us. He never expects us to do the contending on our own.

• Isa 43. From verse 1 – “But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel:
“ Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. 3 For I am the LORD your God,”

• It doesn’t say – I’ll carry you over the waters and the rivers – it says I will be with you as you go through the waters – and as you walk through the fire.

• But the waters won’t overflow you and the fire won’t burn or scorch you. Our part is to keep walking through – keep facing up to the challenges – contend with the issues and struggles. That makes room for God to come into the midst of our walk and contend with us.

• And then it goes on in Isa 43, to say – you are precious – I have loved you – fear not – I am with you – don’t remember the former things – I am doing a new thing – I’ll make roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

• Then down in verse 25 – “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance, let us contend together...”

• God is saying to His people, and to us this morning, come on, remember who I Am – you don’t have anyone who loves you more than I do – there’s nothing you will face that I won’t be right in the middle of with you. And I am able to do whatever it takes to keep you and deliver you...

• Let us contend together!

• I’ve called this message – “Contending Love.” We contend for our faith – we fight against everything that opposes the love and grace of God in our lives – and the truth of the Word. In that sense, we contend for God. But the overriding and greater truth is that He contends for us – and with us.

• He has already contended for us against evil, and won, by giving us His Son – Jesus – Our Saviour. That’s the greatest expression of contending love that I could ever think of. God contended and won for your salvation.

• It was a violent battle against good and evil. It was violent in the spirit realm – and it was violent in a natural sense as well. There was blood, and suffering, and death – which was a natural manifestation of what was going on in the realm of the spirit.

• Can you imagine the raging battle spiritually at the cross, and later around the tomb, as Jesus rose to life again?

• It would have appeared that the devil had won. Jesus, the Son of God, was dead. The demons would have been throwing a party – but it was short lived. Because the power of the resurrection exploded into the heavenly realm – and the angels and the hosts of heaven were the ones to have the final victory.

• Matt 11:12 – “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”

• To contend also means to intercede – and this is why our intercession and prayers are so important – because they are violent against the devil and his army of demons.

• We haven’t spoken about spiritual warfare for a while – but now is a good time for us to remember that we are in a spiritual battle – and many of the struggles we face are influenced or even controlled by what’s happening in the realm of the spirit.

• But we can contend for victory in these battles – we have authority to bind evil and to loose godliness and righteousness over situations and circumstances. Twice, in two different places, Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16:19, 18:18).

• Jesus has given us the keys to the kingdom. Keys speak of authority, power and responsibility. They allow you free and unrestricted entrance. Our job is to use them. Place them in the lock. Open the doors in the realm of the spirit – and of course close and lock the doors that need to be closed.

• I think one of the most amazing examples of spiritual warfare in action is with Daniel in Dan Chap. 10. It says that a message and a vision was revealed to Daniel about the future – and it caused him a lot of distress – and he sought to fully understand what it meant. But he fasted for three weeks, waiting for God to show him.

• Finally an angel turned up, and he said to Daniel, (verse 12) – “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty one days; and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”

• So here we have Daniel, praying his little heart out – but the answer doesn’t come for 21 days because the angel who carried the understanding that Daniel was waiting for, has been fighting the territorial demonic spirits over Persia.

• It sounds like a great storyline for a Hollywood blockbuster – but it’s not a movie – it is real life. It’s more real than the reality of what we see with our natural eyes.

• Prayer and fasting and intercession caused an almighty battle in the heavens. Daniel couldn’t see it – but he kept praying and fasting until the answer came.

• Which brings us to another aspect of contending. Sometimes contending means standing and waiting – continuing to believe even when you can’t see what’s going on. If we could see the violence and warfare in the spirit realm we would be horrified and amazed.

• There is a spiritual battle going on for your life even as we speak. The devil is roaming around like a roaring lion – looking for who he can devour. But we have the hosts of heaven fighting on our behalf. You can be sure that where evil abounds – righteousness and the power of God abounds even more.

• And the hosts of heaven are not the only ones intervening for you. Heb 7:25 – says that Jesus, “...is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

• Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, interceding and pleading His own Blood for us. This is just another example of Jesus giving Himself on our behalf. Doesn’t that speak of contending love?

• Doesn’t it speak of abounding love and grace and mercy?

• One of the main things I believe we need to understand this morning is that we are on this journey with our loving Heavenly Father together. You are not alone. His grace is sufficient.

• What about the widow in 2Kings 4? Her husband had just died and she was left with debts she could not pay – and so the creditor was coming to take her two sons from her. But Elisha – God’s man for the hour – carried the heart of God – His contending love – into her hopeless circumstances – and released His supernatural provision and anointing.

• 2Kings 4:2-7 - Elisha says to her - “...Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Then he said, Go borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbours – empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones. So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not another vessel. So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

• This is God contending for the widow and her sons. He had a supernatural plan. But she had to do her part. She had to put her faith into action – and it wouldn’t have made any sense whatsoever. But she made room with the empty vessels for God to not only pour out the oil – but to pour out His heart of contending love upon her life and her house and her circumstances.

• And when He did – it abounded toward her. The oil was only limited by the number of vessels she had in the house. How does that work? I have no idea. But I’m not going to let my head and my limited understanding get in the way of the supernatural blessings of God.

• Church, we have to make room. We have to contend with God for our circumstances and our lives to change – to go from glory to glory – faith to faith. Even if you feel you are comfortable where you are at right now – remember – it’s not all about you and your comfort. It’s about enlarging and extending the borders of the kingdom of God – forcefully pushing back the boundaries of familiarity and complacency – for the sake of others, not just for yourself.

• We could be quite comfortable as a church. We could just enjoy the fruit of our past labours – and kick back and enjoy the ride. But God didn’t call us and position us to be comfortable. He called us to reach Ballina and this whole Seacoast region for Jesus Christ.

• That’s why we are pushing the boundaries and planting a church in Mullumbimby. That’s why we go to all the trouble of running Seacoast Pantry – turning over pallets of food every week. We are contending together with God, for the salvation of the men, women and children of this region.

• As we do our part – we see the intervention of God as He does what only He can do.

• When the Israelites marched around Jericho – they were contending for the city – but it was the power of God that brought down the walls.

• When they were escaping the Egyptian army during the Exodus – they had to walk through the desert – but it was God who parted the Red Sea. God was contending with them, and literally passed through the waters with them.

• There are stories of enemy armies turning on themselves and killing one another. Great heavenly armies showing up and scarring away foreign enemies.

• You only have to read the Psalms of David to see the contending that was going on in his life – as he wrestled with all the emotions that you are I face in our own life – fear, intimidation, despair, pride...

• Contending is real. You will contend for your children. You will contend for your finances. You will contend for your relationships.

• But when we know we have the Creator of the Universe – the Redeemer of mankind – the Great I Am, contending together with us, we can be confident that His grace will be sufficient for the journey. In fact, it abounds toward us.