Way of Escape

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

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This is a bit longer than usual because I’m taking parts of what I’ve written about in several previous articles and putting them altogether here by way of wrapping things up for the articles:

1. I Did It Again!
2. Two Gates: Humility or Self-Exaltation?
3. Actual Victory in Christ

In each of these articles above, I’ve highlighted different aspects of things that I believe is important for Christians to know, understand, and put into practice. In this particular article, I’ve gone back and highlighted previous content while doing my best to sum things up.

Matthew 16:25 says, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 23:12 states, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 7:13-14 declares we should “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

I want to emphasize in that passage, Jesus says the path inside that narrow gate is also DIFFICULT that leads to life. He’s warning us ahead of time that something about the narrow path is not easy. Finding it in the first place is not easy. Navigating it in the second place is not easy either. The reason it is not easy will hopefully become clear this evening/morning.

I will readily admit that I’m not the humblest man in the world. It has to do with the fact that within me is this ugly controlling factor we call the sin nature, which cooperates with SELF. Self is always demanding to be recognized, honored, and given the freedom to do whatever it wants to do.

It often makes us want to throw up our hands in frustration and agree with the Apostle Paul in his own complaint he noted in Romans 7:24:

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

We’ll look at the entire paragraph of Romans 7:21-25 in a minute, but I want to relate something to you that highlights my own eagerness to exalt Self, related to verse 24.

Based on what Jesus tells us about the narrow way being DIFFICULT, I’d like to take time to show that though we are prone to give way to SELF, there IS a clear – BUT NOT NECESSARILY EASY – but in fact a DIFFICULT – way around SELF. Jesus warns us of the problem BEFORE hand to make us aware of what we face but to also let us know that the difficulties are not insurmountable because He provides a way of escape or a workaround in each case.

The difficult part is in facing each trial or temptation and actively seeking Him to look for the particular SOLUTION for each situation.

So first, we must turn to God to Seek the Solution related to each trial or temptation. How? By going to the Lord in prayer.

Second, we must listen to God to Learn the Solution that allows us to overcome the trial or temptation. Third, we must then do what He says and Use the Solution to gain the victory.

We’ll look at several examples from my own life and the life of our Lord in fleshing these things out.

Even though Jesus did not have a sin nature as we do, the Bible tells us that He “…was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin…” (Hebrews 4:15-16). He understands completely what we deal with and because He remained free of sin His entire life, He is able and willing to help us when we are faced with trials that dog our heels and make us fall.

I am now 66. I became a Christian at the age of 13. Even though I have certainly been somewhat aware of these concepts for years, it seems I’ve only been really learning what I’m going to share tonight just over the past few months. I feel as though I should have known it years ago. It’s not as if I have not studied Scripture. I have a bachelors in Bible, a Masters in Biblical Studies and a Doctorate in Theology. I don’t say that to brag because it’s to my CHAGRIN that I’m just now learning what should be by now second nature. Maybe you can relate?

1. Seek the Solution
A few weeks ago, I’m embarrassed to say that I unfortunately escalated a situation when I should have been more than willing to let go of and watch it peter out to nothing. However, that option wasn’t good enough for me. I had to ensure that the other individual understood that I would not be belittled or disrespected. So, instead of approaching it with humility, when they pushed, I pushed back. The whole situation, as I recall it now, was so ridiculous that I should be ashamed of myself. In fact, I was ashamed of myself. I lost sleep over it as I prayed fervently about it and replayed the situation in my mind quite a few times.

I did not see the person for several days and had already decided I would apologize for my lack of humility by making the situation worse, but it was important to me to apologize in person, face to face. In the interim, you can imagine the enemy of our souls came alongside to condemn and accuse. I had to agree with the accusations in my mind that I had acted in a way that did not honor God. In fact, I seek the solution by admitting first that I exalted SELF.

When I did eventually see the person, I went out of my way to sincerely apologize for my selfishness and lack of humility. At that point, it did not matter to me what the other person’s response would be because I understood that it was my responsibility to, in humility, address it and admit my failure, regardless of how they responded. The other person, however, was gracious and kind and immediately accepted my honest and heartfelt apology.

As you might imagine, the weight lifted. The sleepless nights I had experienced – because of a situation that the enemy blew out of proportion in my own mind – went away and sleep returned. But there was a nagging question in my mind, like Paul’s own question in Romans 7 which ultimately relates to the fact that Jesus warned us that traveling through the narrow gate and down the narrow path is DIFFICULT.

This is true in the Christian life itself as we travel along the narrow, difficult path of obedience to God. If we are not careful as we walk, we will end up hurting ourselves or others because of the hazards. Our sin nature which loves to distract us with SELF seeks to gain mastery over us, causing us to fail.

We all know the biblical reason for that, as noted in the Romans text. In fact, let’s take a moment to look at that paragraph in Romans 7:21-25:

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

So even though Paul asks that famous question in verse 24, he also provides the answer to it for our benefit in verse 25. However, I will also admit that it hasn’t always fully made sense to me.

Yes, I get the fact that in Christ, I am delivered from this body of death, but ultimately that’s future, right. But Paul is also talking about victory that we gain in Christ now, and that is the difficult part of walking that narrow path.

I am left thinking about my personality, my character and my flaws only to realize that while some of my rough spots have been sanded off by the Holy Spirit, I still have a massive way to go before I complete my “race” as Paul would say, before I am made completely whole and without sin. In fact, that sinless state will not exist for me until after I die.

Knowing that, it can be easy to think, “Well, what’s the big deal? Why should I be concerned about those things in my life that continue to plague me? Isn’t the Lord simply going to deal with it?”

Truth is, I should be concerned about them because if they are sin and SELF-related, God wants them gone. My job is to turn to God to find a way to cooperate with God so that this happens more easily.

But what is Paul ultimately telling us in Romans 7? He’s saying he believed he should be able to obey the Mosaic Law (v 22). That was the intellectual part; in his brain and the way he understood things from a Jewish perspective. However, in daily life and practice, where the rubber meets the road, he found himself in rebellion against what he knew was right. This natural rebelliousness was something he could not seem ignore.

In Romans 7:24, Paul reveals just how terrible he felt about himself because of the tension created by the law of wanting to do good versus the law of wanting to live in rebellion.

What Christian cannot relate to that? After this recent situation where I escalated instead of de-escalated a situation, I am again reminded of my sin by giving place to SELF rather than humility. It’s DIFFICULT to admit that there are aspects of my personality and character that continue to need divine surgery. That should NOT surprise me, but somehow it does.

It seems the more we try to not sin, the more we do sin. I’ve seen this work even in the more innocuous and amoral things in life. Let me give you another personal example from my own life that I have successfully worked through with the Lord’s help but was a HUGE problem for me for some time.

You may find this hard to believe, but I used to be nearly 100 pounds heavier than I am now, weighing in at a whopping 255 pounds at 5’7”! But I didn’t think I was really overweight at all!

One day at the doctor’s office when he and I were talking, he ventured to say to me that I was “morbidly obese.”

That was actually a wake-up call, one that I didn’t like at all though.

Eventually, I began to admit a connection between my severe overweight and my poor health. I was suffering from high blood pressure that doctors were having a hard time controlling even with five different blood pressure meds. I was warned that I was developing congestive heart failure and I was already in the beginning stages of what is called metabolic syndrome, where the body begins to develop numerous serious problems because it is working so hard to try to maintain itself under the excessive weight.

Yet, the Bible tells us our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). I was not taking proper care of my body, the Holy Spirit’s home within me. It affected not only my physical health but made it difficult to think clearly because of a constant fogginess and lack of energy.

I finally realized I had a problem and I turned and cried out to God, literally begging Him to “heal me” from my situation. Of course, I was asking Him to zap me and make it all better and looking back I realize that had He done that I would have learned absolutely nothing. He DID heal me but it took nearly four years as He took me by the hand and guided me through a long process toward health.

2. Learn the Solution
So the first thing I had to do was turn to Him to seek the solution and the next step was to listen to Him to Learn the Solution. He graciously allowed me to clearly see it. It wasn’t just in what I ate; but specifically certain things I ate all the time; sugary treats and drinks. That was my problem, but now what, a diet? Those only work as long as you stay on the diet. I needed something better and I needed something that would help me ignore the temptations related to eating.

I learned I had to change my perspective. I had to do things differently. In my case, sugary treats were the main problem and I had to do something about that. I knew I needed to cut way back and even eliminate sugar wherever I could. Easier said than done. The more I tried to avoid sugary treats, the more I wanted to eat or drink them. All I could think about was having sugar when I was trying to avoid it!

It’s the most frustrating thing in the world for me because I can crave sugar any day or time. It’s always been my comfort food despite how bad it can be for me. There was a time when I would eat a dozen Oreo cookies before dinner and then have a sugary dessert after dinner and a sugary soda DURING dinner!

I began to realize that my thinking and focus desperately needed to change, but HOW to do it? What was the solution, the workaround for me that would allow me to ignore sugary treats?

The Bible says to resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). But first, we need to seek and submit to God. Paul echoes the same thought in Ephesians 6 when he speaks of the armor of God. He says when “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Okay, so what do I do…plant my feet, grit my teeth, and become an immovable force against temptation? I tried that. It can work but generally speaking it works because of SELF effort, at least in me.

The whole thing wasn’t satisfying to me. I must be missing something. Maybe I wasn’t understanding the “resisting” part the way James and Paul meant it.

Then a thought came to me, which grabbed my very soul! I began to realize that every decision we make throughout the day is done by choosing a specific reward.

Why was I so drawn to sugary treats? What about them made me want them more and more? They TASTED good and they provided a COMFORT to me that other foods did not provide. They also increased my endorphins.

So the reason I would reach for sugary treats was due to the fact that I knew those treats made me feel good…at least for a while. What I discounted or didn’t notice was the fact that these same sugary treats, while initially making me feel really good, increased my weight and created health issues for me.

So because of this realization, I began to understand that my regular way of thinking and focus had to be replaced with something else, but what?

In essence, I needed to find another REWARD that would replace the temptation for sugary treats. In my case, it turned out to be the weight scale. I noticed that when I stopped with the sugar, I began losing weight. As I continued avoiding sugar, I continued losing weight. Every time I got on the scale, I had lost .4 to .6 pounds. I began really looking forward to my weight evaporating. The solution for me changed from craving sugar to craving lower numbers on the scale. This became the new reward.

Suddenly it became easier because there was a different goal and reward to focus on. Eliminating sugar HAD created a struggle in me daily because I was always thinking about and craving sugary treats. But by replacing the sugar craving with a craving to lose weight with visible results on the scale, and how I had begun to feel health wise, the problem for me was solved.

So I SOUGHT God in prayer for the SOLUTION of constantly craving sugary treats. In seeking God He helped me LEARN the SOLUTION to that problem, which was the reward of weight loss and better mental and physical health. Because of this, the temptation literally became nothing for me as I saw an alternative to giving to that temptation. Am I making sense?

Let’s look at a situation with Jesus and how He worked it out by leaning heavily on the Father. Turn with me to Hebrews 12.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So in Jesus’ case, He was clearly tempted to want to avoid the cross, which was the “problem.” He knew He would not and could not avoid the cross, so the Father must have a better way of looking at the upcoming agony of the cross.

Once He sought the Father for the SOLUTION, He LEARNED the solution through prayer against the temptation to avoid the cross.

 3. Use the Solution
Going through this process allowed Jesus to fully change His outlook that gave Him the ability to bear up under the temptation through submission to avoid the cross.

In this instance, we gain a glimpse into His own insight into the situation. We see in the text that the upcoming cross was a horrendous situation for anyone, including God the Son. The amount of pain, agony and the fact that the Father would literally turn His back on God the Son was almost too much for Jesus to bear. Satan was using that upcoming situation to derail Jesus from finishing His mission on earth.

The PROBLEM then was all the pain and separation from the Father related to the cross.

The SOLUTION was to view the upcoming agony with JOY through prayer and submission to the Father.

It was “the joy” in knowing exactly what Jesus would accomplish that would carry Him through! That joy was the thing He focused on that allowed Him to move toward the cross unashamed and unafraid of the pain, the agonizing injuries to His body and the abject separation from God the Father. In fact, the text tells us Jesus DESPISED the same of the cross and embraced all of it!

The solution became the WORKAROUND – the promise of a reward of unparalleled JOY – that gave Jesus exactly what He needed to refocus on something other than the pain and insult of the cross.

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us this very important truth:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

I never truly understood that as much as I do now because of the things I’ve gone through.

With every temptation God allows to come our way, He will provide a literal “way of escape” – a workaround if you will, that allows us to ignore the temptation by focusing on the reward on the other side of it.

For Jesus, it was the joy that He knew He would experience by successfully navigating the upcoming illegal trials, the beatings, the mockings, the brutal death on the cross itself and the separation from His own Father. It was that joy that He beheld that gave Him what He needed to look beyond the actual downsides associated with His upcoming death on the cross. He succeeded because He fixed His gaze on the solution that the Father provided rather than the temptation.

Jesus knew that by focusing on the JOY that would be His by doing exactly as the Father had decreed, there would be manifold blessings for many many people before He returns physically to this world. That joy carried Him through.

For me, in my situations that I highlighted earlier, while they’re not at all comparable to what Jesus went through, the same principles apply.

In the situation regarding my weight, as long as I continue to keep my eye on the WORKAROUND – focusing on the results on the scale and my improved health allows me to ignore the cravings of my flesh so that I control what I eat. The temptations are often still there but they have no real control over me as long as I stay focused.

In the first situation I relayed where I had to swallow my pride and apologize for escalating a situation, I was able to focus on the fact that by doing so, God would create within me a greater sense of humility. Focusing on that result made it much easier to ignore the demands of SELF and glorify God instead.

What is it you are facing today? What appears to have you in its clutches and you feel overwhelmed by it?

It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 66. We all face temptations and God wants us to have the victory over each and every one of them.

It can only be done by first, seeking God for the solution to the temptation, trial or difficulty. We’ve got to know what the problem is to look for God’s “way of escape.”

Second, once we seek Him for the solution, we need to listen to Him  to find or identify the solution. What is it that will help me see this situation differently so that I can avoid succumbing to the temptation?

Third and finally, once we seek the solution and learn the way of escape, we then need to embrace and use that solution.

Will we do this perfectly in this life? Not at all, however, if we are diligent in wanting to glorify God, this should happen more often than not as we develop the pattern to humbly seek Him for the solution, listen to Him to find the workaround/solution and then in obedience embrace and use that solution.

By doing this, we learn to focus on the way of escape so that we do not live as slaves to sin and begin to experience victory after victory in Christ.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective