Sunday Service Sermon 15.24

Call to Worship

From Psalm 148  Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!  Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!  Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!  Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.  Praise the LORD!

 SERMON:  The Mandate of God’s Family: SEPARATION – 1 John 2:15-17

Introduction:

For 21 years, Ted Childress was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, specially trained as a hostage negotiator. He’s lectured on this topic to the members of the Bureau and to other groups as well. In his own words,

The Stockholm Syndrome first occurred in 1973 at an attempted bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. A man tried to rob a bank, and the police caught him. He took three female hostages and one male hostage and held them for 131 hours. During this time he terrorized them, firing his Russian automatic assault weapon at them and threatening to kill them. He put nooses around their necks and threatened to hang them, but when it was all over, he hadn’t harmed any of them. When he finally surrendered, something unusual happened. We expected the hostages to be antagonistic toward the hostage taker. Instead, they said they feared the police more than the hostage taker. They also said they didn’t hate the hostage taker. They refused to testify against him. One of the ladies actually became engaged to him.

The FBI has analyzed thousands of hostage situations since that time. We found this happens frequently. So we asked psychologists, ‘What happened? What causes this?’

They said in hostage situations, with a high level of life-threatening stress and positive human interaction, people’s ego-defensive mechanisms come into play. They deny what is happening and regress to a different emotional state. The hostage will eventually begin to transfer his hatred, thinking This guy doesn’t really want to hurt me—and begins to hate the policemen who are ultimately trying to save them.

Something else begins to happen; a love relationship forms. This love relationship is like that between a child and its mother. The mother protects the child from the terrifying world and provides all its needs. Therefore the child responds with affection and obedience. This is how the hostage begins to view and relate to the hostage-taker.

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Sue went off to college last fall. She was active in her church. She came from a strong Christian home. As soon as she got there, she was rushed by the sororities because she was an attractive, talented girl. After she pledged one of the best sororities, some of the fellows began to date her. The extracurricular activities and sports and parties caught her attention, and for the fall term she was completely swept away by the university environment. Her father and her pastor had recommended a church near the university and she went the first Sunday, but never went back again. She found life was one great whirl. The Christmas holidays came along, and Sue returned home. She had changed. She was indifferent toward her parents. She spent hours on the phone with her university friends in different parts of the country. She did make a reluctant appearance in church on Christmas Sunday, but she yawned at her rather unsophisticated friends. By the time her first year of college was over, Sue was a different person. She had been taken hostage by the world.

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Jim, a Christian businessman, did well at the company he worked for and finally decided to hive off on his own. The situation was opportune, and his business began to take off. He began to make money and get caught up in it. He threw himself into it with increased vigor—12 and 14 hours a day. He had to drop the Sunday school class he’d been teaching because he didn’t have time to prepare. He wanted to be conscientious, he said. Then he found he could only make it to Sunday morning worship service, and after several months he wasn’t very faithful in that. His business made many demands on him, and often Sunday was his only day to relax, so he chose to play golf and be with friends instead of going to church.

Soon things began to change at home. His attitude toward his wife and children became indifferent, and he had less time to spend with them. His wife tried to talk to him about it, and he got angry and bitter at her. When she talked about going to church, he was critical of the church and then didn’t go at all. When his wife again tried to correct him gently, he said, “Oh, they’re a bunch of hypocrites. They don’t know what’s going on in the world. I haven’t got anything I can learn there.”

Jim had been taken hostage by the world.

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There’s a story about a man like that in the Bible. When Paul was in Rome and in prison the first time, he wrote several books. He mentioned that one of the men helping him there was Demas. He sent greetings from Demas to all his friends back in what we now call Turkey. Then Paul was released from prison, and we assume Demas and the others were part of his team as they traveled. In his second imprisonment, Paul wrote several books as well, the last of which was his letter to Timothy, one of Demas’s peers. In the last chapter of 2 Timothy—the last paragraph that Paul ever wrote as far as we know—there is one tragic sentence: “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.” He was taken captive, taken hostage, and lost to the cause of Christ.

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A great tragedy is taking place in the evangelical church today. The Stockholm Syndrome has crept into the church and altered many Christians’ viewpoints on reality. We’ve begun to believe a lie. We believe our enemies are actually our friends, and our former friends are our enemies. The loyalty we once gave to God we now give the world. Here’s what God’s Word says about it.

1 John 2:12-17

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.  I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.   Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 John was privileged to get further clarification of this deadly syndrome when Jesus Christ spoke to him personally about the church at Ephesus. Here’s what Jesus said in Revelation.

Revelation 2:1-5  “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.   “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.  I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

Then John was given a further clarification when Jesus asked him to write His message to the church at Laodicea.

The Mandate of God’s Family: SEPARATION

Revelation 3:14-20

 Here’s what it was like for us before we were taken hostage:

• your _______ are _________________ for his name’s sake.  
• you _______ him who is from the _____________________, the Father.
• you have __________________ the evil one because you are ___________, and the word of God __________ in you.

Here’s how we were taken hostage:

• We _______ ___ ________ with the world – its _____________, ______________, ________________, and __________________.
  • the desires of the ___________
  • the desires of the _________
  • pride in ____________________
• We gradually _________________ the truth that the world will not ___________ nor ______________ us.

Here’s how to be set free:

• _____________ – choose to ____________ the lies of the hostage-taker and ____________ to the true love of God found in Jesus Christ.
• Do the ___________ of the Father
  • What is that?
    • Love God with all your _____________, _________, ___________, and _______________.
    • Love _____________ as you would have _______________ love you.
    • Do the ___________ of the Father by _______________ Him.

The Mandate of God’s Family: SEPARATION

Revelation 3:14-20

Here’s what it was like for us before we were taken hostage:

• your _______ are _________________ for his name’s sake.  
• you _______ him who is from the _____________________, the Father.
• you have __________________ the evil one because you are ___________, and the word of God __________ in you.

Here’s how we were taken hostage:

• We _______ ___ ________ with the world – its _____________, ______________, ________________, and __________________.
  • the desires of the ___________
  • the desires of the _________
  • pride in ____________________
• We gradually _________________ the truth that the world will not ___________ nor ______________ us.

Here’s how to be set free:

• _____________ – choose to ____________ the lies of the hostage-taker and ____________ to the true love of God found in Jesus Christ.
• Do the ___________ of the Father
  • What is that?
    • Love God with all your _____________, _________, ___________, and _______________.
    • Love _____________ as you would have _______________ love you.
    • Do the ___________ of the Father by _______________ Him.