“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

— Matthew 22:21

Do you ever wonder how much you should involve yourself in political matters? At this time of year, this issue is particularly pertinent. So today I want to address the Christian’s obligation as a citizen.

Jesus declared, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In this comment, Jesus identifies two spheres in which we must render our due responsibilities: the spiritual and eternal realm of the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world where we must render the things due to Caesar. For a long time, some quarters of the Church have held to a false piety that has resulted in refraining from all political involvement. As Christians have avoided the political realm, unbelievers have taken over the various spheres of influence in our society, such as education, the courts, and the legislatures. Thus, by abandoning the public spheres, Christians have effectively removed salt and light from our culture.

Although many Christians have recently involved themselves in the public sphere, we still have much ground to regain. And we still must confront a wrong attitude some Christians hold toward citizenship. A lady who works in one of our voting precincts said that the average voter turnout in her precinct is ten percent. I’m sure that quite a few Christians make up that ninety percent who don’t vote. I believe it’s a sin not to vote; voting is one way we can make a difference in our society, and we need to use it.

I encourage you to practice good Christian citizenship. Use the opportunities that come your way to make a difference in your town or city, in your state, and in your country. Be active as a citizen, rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and do so in the name of the Lord.

“He who converts his neighbour has performed
the most practical Christian-political act of all.”
C.S. Lewis

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

— Matthew 28:19–20

Are you aware that we’re at war? But ours is a war of beliefs, not bullets. The spiritual conflict between Christ and the Devil is intensifying at home and abroad. We don’t necessarily fight against other nations so much as we battle against ourselves. America is engaged in a spiritual civil war. With all the evangelical radio and television ministries, you’d think that more Christians would join in the fight, but many Christians haven’t committed to do their parts to change our land. Others have heard that Christians shouldn’t concern themselves with political and social issues, so they don’t even register to vote. We read in Genesis 1:26 that God gave humans dominion over everything in the world. This has become known as the Cultural Mandate. To properly fulfill that mandate, we must participate in our local and national elections. (Let me say that I believe it’s a sin not to vote.) Have you registered to vote and exercised that avenue to make a difference for Christ?

We also need to stand up and speak about the truth God has given us. Jesus has called us to be salt and light in the world. We can’t fulfill that call if we stay within the walls of our churches. We need to touch the world around us. Jesus said that the well do not need a doctor; the sick do. He came to seek and save the lost and has called us to do the same. We can do this by praying for our nation. (Two men I know meet at 6:30 every morning to pray for the revival of our nation.) We also need to witness. We should hold as our first concern Christ’s last command—the Great Commission. We can change the direction of this country if we change ourselves and put forth the energy and dedication required to obey Christ’s commands. We all have a post in the great battle.

“Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war!
With the cross of Jesus going on before.”
Sabine Baring-Gould

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant …?”

— Matthew 24:45

How do we serve God? We serve God by serving each other. Jesus said that what we do for our fellow humans, we do for Him. He encourages us to visit the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless. He asks us to be hospitable and generous and to proclaim the Gospel.

Have you faithfully served the Lord by serving those around you? To learn more about serving God, consider one of God’s servants—Billy Graham. God used Billy Graham so mightily in our time. Why? Because Graham was the most brilliant theologian of our day? Probably not. Because he was the best speaker in America? Probably not. What was it about him, then? God used Billy Graham because Billy Graham was the kind of person God can trust to do His work.

Can God trust us? If He entrusts us with a task, will we do it? When God puts people in our way who need Him, do we minister to them faithfully?

In all areas of our lives, God wants us to be faithful. He wants us to faithfully serve our spouses, our children, and our parents. God wants us to be faithful to our Church and to the ministry He has given us to do. The Lord may ask us to accomplish a task of private or public nature, to one person or to many. But whatever we do for Him, let us do it steadfastly. Jesus said of the faithful servant in the parable of the two servants: “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find [him working faithfully]” (Matthew 24:46). Ask God to show you how you can serve Him faithfully today.

“The task Thy wisdom hath assigned, O let me
cheerfully fulfill; In all my works Thy presence
find, And prove Thy good and perfect will.”
Charles Wesley

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

— John 1:10-12

You’ve probably never had an encounter with a UFO (unidentified flying object), but thousands of people claim to have had such strange experiences. The reports of UFOs have been divided into three types: close encounters of the first kind—the sighting of UFOs, close encounters of the second kind—physical evidence for the presence of UFOs, and close encounters of the third kind—being kidnapped for short periods of time by beings who operate UFOs. You may doubt people who have claimed to have experienced such encounters, but there is another encounter about which you could have no question.

I’m talking about a close encounter of the fourth kind. It, like the others, began with a brilliant light in the sky that people followed until it finally stood still. The light drew attention to a Visitor from outer space who came to a small village on the other side of the planet two thousand years ago. This Being had a wisdom far beyond anything that we know. He had a power greater than any creature. But He was no alien. He came unto His own, and thousands of His own saw Him.

In fact, many of them claimed that He rose from the dead. Over five hundred people saw Him alive after His public crucifixion. The people who claimed to have this final earthly encounter did something which gives a credibility to their testimony not found in the testimony of modern close encounters. God, in His wisdom, saw to it that a persecution arose, and the people who encountered this Being suffered hardships, torture, and death specifically for claiming they had seen Him after His resurrection.

The mysterious thing about the close encounter of the fourth kind is that although it was an historical event, we can still experience it. Have you met with Jesus Christ today? Daily communion with the Lord of the universe is our close encounter of the fourth kind, the most precious part of our life.

“[Ours is] the visited planet.”
J. B. Phillips

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

— Acts 2:42

“It is not good that man should be alone.” God knows this; He said it. God also knows that few things surpass being in a group of people with whom one really belongs. He knows we need that kind of relationship, and so He created it. On Pentecost Sunday two thousand years ago, He created a new kind of fellowship that had never existed in the world before. Scripture calls it “Koinonia,” the “family of God” or the “forever family.” The family of God includes all those who have invited Christ to make them new creatures and have experienced the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Everyone in the family bears the same name, Christian, and has the same Father in Heaven. This makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ. What a comforting reality to belong to such a group.

As members of God’s family, the Holy Spirit has bonded us together in many ways. Let’s think of some. We are equal heirs, and our inheritance is infinite and inexhaustible. We are believers; our hearts and minds share the same spiritual perception of the world. We are disciples; we all sit at the feet of one Master and learn our worldview from Him. We are witnesses; we share the special joy of leading people to Christ. We are soldiers; we share trials and triumphs and strengthen each other in faith. We are also a fellowship of slaves. Have you ever thought of that? During Roman times, a bond slave’s life and death were in his or her master’s hands. Paul delighted to call himself a bond slave of Christ, and we should view ourselves in the same light.

Do you realize how blessed you are to belong to such a wonderful family? Do you want God’s family to grow closer, stronger, and more loving? Today ask God to show you how to play your part in the family.

“Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”
John Fawcett

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”

— Romans 1:17

While our culture sets this day aside as Halloween, I think a much more fitting event to celebrate happened on this day in 1517—the Reformation of the Church, when Martin Luther, a humble monk, made public ninety-five reasons the Church needed to reform. Luther knew how desperately the world and the Church needed to know we could gain grace only through faith. He dedicated his life to discovering and preaching this truth.

Luther was born November 10, 1483, into a poor family of German woodcutters. Realizing that their son was gifted, Luther’s parents scrimped and saved to send him to the university, where he studied law. Returning home from school on foot, he and a friend were caught in a thunderstorm and his friend was struck by lightning and killed. This terrified Luther and he vowed to enter a monastery so he could search for God. One question plagued him without ceasing: How could he, a sinful man, ever become pure enough to stand in the awesome presence of a holy God who was an all-consuming fire? Luther spent years trying every way he knew to purify his soul. He spent hours each day confessing his sins. He beat himself with a whip until he became bloody and unconscious. He prayed for six weeks, fasted, and slept very little. He stayed out all night long, naked, in the deep snows of Germany.

But one day the Lord spoke to him through the Scriptures, specifically Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith.” Suddenly Luther saw the Gospel. He discovered God’s grace. He realized that only those justified by faith in Christ’s blood will live and those who seek to justify themselves in any other way shall not live. Luther spent the rest of his life promoting and defending this truth. Even when he was on trial, faced with being burned at the stake, he clung fiercely to it. Justification by faith is still our great hope and joy.

“Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen!”
Martin Luther

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

— John 3:6

When we become born again, we inherit a spiritual battle. Our old nature wars against our new one. Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade used to tell a story that described these old and new natures as two dogs: a black dog and a white dog that were wont to fight viciously. Dr. Bright said, “Which dog will win is determined by which dog you feed. Feed the black dog and starve the white dog, and the black dog will win; feed the white dog and starve the black dog, and the white dog will win.”

Which nature are you feeding? Much in our culture feeds the “black dog.” We feed our sin-filled natures often—not always, but often—when we turn on the television set; go to a movie; read a newspaper, magazine, or novel; or listen to modern music.

But we have a bountiful feast with which to feed the “white dog”—God’s Word. As we read Scripture, God prepares us for the spiritual warfare we face. To be strong warriors for Christ, we need to dwell less on things of the flesh and instead delve into the Bible. We need to write God’s Word on the slates of our minds and the tablets of our hearts. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” We can also feed our new nature by spending quiet time with God, especially by praying for forgiveness, guidance, and counsel. If we are ever to win the warfare within, we need to engage evil with God as our guide.

Do you need to reevaluate your spiritual “diet?” Choose to feast on God’s Word and on time spent with Him. Do so, and you’ll gain all the strength you need for the battles ahead.

“Two natures beat within my breast. The one is
foul, the other blest. The one I love, the other I
hate. The one I feed will dominate.”
Anonymous

“For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”

— Romans 7:19

Have you ever felt the aggravation of doing the very sin you wanted to avoid? Or of not doing a good work you had intended to do?

Why do we find ourselves in this bind on such a consistent basis? When we hand our lives to Jesus, He gives us a new nature that is spotless and clean, incapable of sinning. But as fallen people we also carry within us a nature capable of vile and hideous deeds. And herein lies the battle. Our regeneration sets up a dichotomy of the new and old natures, and when the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts, we recognize just how wretched we truly are. Only when Paul identified his God-given nature was he able to comprehend his captivity, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” St. Augustine, poignantly aware of his sinfulness, wrote, “By these links, as it were, a chain was I held, shackled with a hard bondage. So these my two wills—the one old, the other new; the one carnal, the other spiritual—contended together, and by their discord disturbed my soul.”

Does your soul cry out for deliverance from your sinful nature? Then nurture your new nature. Read God’s Word daily, and spend quiet time with the Lord. My friend, I urge you to act on God’s directive: “Be still, and know that I am God.” If you want your new nature to conquer the old, you must allow Him to feed your soul. And no matter how tough the battles get, always remember that on the cross Jesus Christ won the war—once and for all.

“I make it a rule of Christian duty never to go to a place where
there is not room for my Master as well as myself.”
John Newton (Author Of “Amazing Grace”)

“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

— Isaiah 14:12-14 niv

If we want to achieve success as Christians, then we must be aware of him who opposes that goal—the Devil. To understand Satan’s plot, we must first understand his origin, and the Bible gives us several clues about that. Satan began his existence as an angel of light named Lucifer, the light bearer. Being God’s most powerful, brilliant, and beautiful angel, Lucifer became puffed up with pride, believing he could reach the same status as God. When he wanted to become like God, war erupted in Heaven. Michael the archangel fought against Lucifer and his angels. Michael won, and Lucifer and his angels were cast from Heaven forever. Lucifer became Satan, and his angels became demons.

Satan now tries to lure as many humans as possible to his own depraved condition. He is filled with wrath and seeks to destroy all powers of God, the kingdom of God, and all who love Him. Satan hates God and Christ, and he exercises his vengeance against those whom God created. The Bible frequently warns against Satan’s craft and powers, his work, and his ways. He is a seducing spirit, evil, malevolent, and deceitful. He only desires to destroy. Peter tells us that our adversary roars around like a lion, seeking to devour whom he will.

But Christ has defeated the Devil. He did that on the cross. Though Satan may seem to win on earth, he is a defeated foe, and his days are numbered. If you ever feel that he has gotten the best of you, remember that greater is He (God) who is in you, than he (the Devil) who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

“Those who deny the existence of the
devil are easy pickings for him.”

“Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them …”

— Leviticus 19:31

Have you noticed the recent explosion of the occult, witchcraft, and Satanism in our society? If you pay attention, you can see it everywhere—in movies, in television programs, in many of the songs of our pop culture. Drive down Main Street, U.S.A., and you’ll most likely see the storefront office of a psychic or a palm reader. The work of the Devil and his demons takes many forms and has many names. It ranges from Satan worshipers to those who experiment with parapsychology and read horoscopes. And our country has embraced it all.

Why do people turn to the occult? Some people hunger for the supernatural. Ignorant of the Gospel and unacquainted with Christ, these people seek a supernatural connection in the occult world. Others seek power. They don’t care where they get it; they just want as much of it as they can grab. Yet others just play with the occult. It serves as an entertaining diversion for them, a game to play. And as the occult gains more and more popularity, many dabble in it out of curiosity.

God created us as spiritual beings for a realm beyond this world. For this reason, people hunger for spiritual things. But many don’t understand that their spiritual needs can only be met in Christ. So they turn to the dark side. The occult becomes an illegitimate way to fulfill a legitimate need.

This all sounds very dark and depressing, but as Christians we can have, and share with others, hope. Jesus came into this world to defeat Satan and destroy his works. By His death, Christ accomplished this once and for all, and He set the prisoners free. You and I need to share the Good News of Christ, who alone can truly satisfy the longings for the supernatural. Zig Ziglar suggests that rather than listening to the stars by following our horoscope, we should listen to the One who made the stars by reading the Holy Bible.

Have you allowed the occult to take hold of you? If so, you needn’t feel possessed by it. Confess your involvement to Jesus Christ, and repent of it. As you do, Christ will forgive and cleanse you from all sin. And whether or not you’ve experienced the occult, pray today that God will break the hold the occult has on our nation, setting people free from Satan and drawing them to Christ to experience the most potent supernatural power—the power of the Gospel.

“Satan works best where his existence is denied.”