In this final installment of our Mixtape series, Greg Boyd explores the theological and practical ramifications of spiritual warfare in the lives of the earliest followers of Jesus and how that applies to our lives today. We find critical principles for lifestyle warfare in the account in Luke 10:1-18 that provide practical ways to live out the beauty of the Kingdom of God in everyday life encounters.
Watch/Listen
Mixtape: Luke 10:2-11, 17-20
• Greg Boyd
Show Extended Summary Hide Extended Summary
The focus of this final week in our Mixtape series is the powerful description of the work of the earliest followers of Jesus in Luke 10:1-18. Greg begins the message by detailing his encounter during the previous week with a couple of people riding their bikes erratically on the road and forcing him to swerve his car to avoid them. Greg is then confronted by the man on the bike who was accusing Greg of trying to intimidate and frighten the man’s wife. While this man was obviously intoxicated the discussion became more heated when Greg attempted to explain that he was merely swerving to avoid hitting the couple. The exchange was moving towards violence when the man threatened to fight Greg, but Greg informed the man that as a follower of Jesus he was not allowed to use violence to fight back so it would not be a very interesting fight. This de-escalated the situation and the man and his wife went away disappointed.
What becomes obvious in this encounter is that you have multiple ways to view this story from the perspective of the New Testament. On the one hand you have a pair of intoxicated bike riders who are frustrated at feeling like they are being cut off, but on the other hand you have a battle raging in the spiritual realm that Paul notes in Ephesians 6:12. We are reminded that in any difficult and potentially violent situation we are ultimately being tempted to see the other person as our enemy rather than focusing on the real enemy in the evil principalities and powers. To the degree that we can be reminded of our true identity in Christ in these matter then our eyes are opened to being aware that we are getting played by the powers. The real enemy is Satan and he is always trying to play us off to see other flesh and blood as the enemy. We need to fight the real enemy and stop fighting others as our way of revolting against the principalities and powers.
This truth applies to every area of our life since every area of life is filled with an enemy attempting to divide and separate us in our relationships. Spiritual warfare is about more than just about specific demonic encounters and exorcisms, but is more about our day-to-day lifestyle rooted in the truths of Jesus. Luke 10:1-18 will be the text used to describe what this “lifestyle warfare” looks like on a day-to-day occasion. It is as a result of these principles of lifestyle warfare that we see Jesus announcing the Kingdom perspective that “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The first lifestyle warfare of these earliest disciples is their evangelism. Speaking the truth about the Gospel is warfare and has an effect on the spiritual realm. Unbelief is rooted in an intentional blinding by Satan (2 Cor. 4:4) and evangelism is a confrontation towards the one doing the blinding.
The second lifestyle warfare principle is rooted in the Hebrew concept of peace (Luke 10:5) where we are called to use our unique Kingdom authority to call down blessing on all those we encounter in every situation. We are called to look beyond our normal grid of judgments and agree with God’s opinion of all humanity as we see them through the lens of God’s love on Calvary.
The third lifestyle warfare principle is rooted in the repeated command of Jesus to “eat whatever is put in front of you”. This has two possible ramifications. The first could be that Jesus is commanding his disciples to be polite in the midst of the variety of food options you might find in social settings. Don’t be too picky about what is put in front of you. The second, and more challenging implication of this command, is most clearly seen in the context of the ritual purity laws that these earliest disciples would have been familiar with as orthodox Jews (Leviticus 11 & Deuteronomy 14). Jesus is calling his disciples to see that building relationships with people in order to invite them into the Kingdom is more important than your very legitimate religious convictions and rules. Relationships should trump rules in an effort to expand the Kingdom and this is warfare in the spiritual world. True holiness is not about obeying the right rules, but is about non-judgmental relationships that open up avenues of influence to manifest the beauty of God.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Evangelism, Judgment, Spiritual Warfare
Sermon Series: Mixtape
Downloads & Resources
Focus Scripture:
-
Luke 10:2-11, 17-20
2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
4 thoughts on “Mixtape: Luke 10:2-11, 17-20”
Leave a Reply
Good story in the beginning. Like my dad told me…if you speak to the flesh, the flesh will rise up (speak back), but if you speak to the spirit, the spirit will rise up.
Trying to speak to the spirit vs. the flesh is something I try to practice (and fail many times) when speaking to my kids.
The video is not working.
Under ‘Sermon Downloads’ the [High Quality MP4 363.7 MB] seems to be working ok. Click on that first, rather than the normal “WATCH ON THE BLOG” text under the scripture reference in black. Also, Chrome seems to stream better than Safari (?)
Hi David,
We’ve hit a few bumps in our road to upgrading our media equipment. You should be able to watch the video on the blog again soon – though probably not until at least next week.
In the meantime, you can still download the video from the Sermon Downloads page, as David P. outlined above.
Thanks for your patience as we figure this out!
Connor