State of the Church: The Celtic Revival (25)
[W]e Christians are conquered in this spiritual warfare, first by our carnal vices and proud way of life, and then by the weakness of our wavering faith, whose feebleness is the reason for our being surrounded unawares by our enemies in triple ranks, who have been given us to punish our luxurious ease. For prosperity’s blind ease is the cause of all the evils.
– Columbanus, Letter to Pope Boniface
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
– Ephesians 6.12
Root of all evil
Columbanus was not a man to mince words. The shepherds of the Catholic churches in Gaul had opened the door to a variety of evils which they not only did not resist but happily indulged. Carnal vices, arrogance, and a feeble and wavering faith characterized the members of Christ’s Body, both leaders and led. Not only had they given in to the devil’s wiles, but their blatant and unrepentant wickedness had attracted multitudes of unseen demons to make sure things stayed just the way their master intended.
Let them have church. Let them recite their rituals, celebrate the mass, sing a chant or two, dress up in their fancy garb, keep the congregation satisfied, content, and undisciplined—sure, let them have it all! This is always the devil’s plan, as long as “doing church” and “being a Christian” don’t interfere with Satan’s work of spreading lies, lust, listlessness, and lurid living throughout the ranks.
Everyone in those churches knew what their shepherds were like. But they couldn’t all flee to the Irish monasteries. They had families. Farms. Jobs. And the fear of God that prevented them from objecting to their shepherds’ lifestyle. Indeed, many of them came to believe that you can “be a Christian” and still enjoy the “good things” of life. The more wealth and indulgence, the better, and Jesus be praised.
But the shepherds of Gaul had planted a root of evil, and now the fruit of that root was everywhere in
evidence. The churches in Gaul were under assault by spiritual enemies, and they were completely unaware of the danger. Columbanus thought Pope Boniface should know.
Feeble and wavering faith
Their problem was that the bishops and priests of God were feeble and wavering in faith. They were not grounded in Scripture, so they paid no attention to its teaching, except as necessary to maintain order in their churches. They paid no attention to temptation’s dangers but simply charged ahead through it into sin. And they did this often enough that sinful self-indulgence became their end-game. Those who looked to them as examples of following Jesus were thrown into sin and confusion.
Sin is the opposite of love. We cannot love God if we waver in the face of temptation and fall feebly into sin. God hates sin, and He commands His people to hate it as well (Ps. 97.10). Those who knowingly practice sin cut themselves off from God. Only confession and repentance can restore us when we fall, but the shepherds of Gaul were having none of that.
And where sin is operating in one’s soul, especially in a visible and scandalous way, love for one’s neighbor is trampled under in the name of self-love. Sin keeps us from loving our neighbors because we’re wasting all our best affections on ourselves. And if our lifestyle entices and entraps others, leading them to join us in sin, then our situation becomes even more dangerous.
The Irish missionaries were serious about sin. They resisted the devil by prayer and simple obedience; helped one another through temptations and trials; disciplined themselves for continued growth in Jesus; laid aside every earthly encumbrance that prevented their being more like Jesus every day; and stood down the devil and his earthly henchmen, whether they were clerics or kings, priests or peasants, bishops or brawlers.
They believed in spiritual warfare, and they were not unaware of the forces that can be arrayed against us. Their example reminds us all of what Paul so clearly taught, that we must take up the whole armor of God every day so that we can withstand the evil one and stand fast in the Lord (Eph. 4.13).
For Reflection
1. How conscious are you of being engaged in an ongoing spiritual warfare?
2. Looking at the weapons God has given us for this warfare (Eph. 6.14-18), how can you improve in your use of each of these?
Psalm 52.1-5, 9
Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise
Why do the mighty boast in sin? God’s love endures, it knows no end!They with their tongues vain boasts repeat, and like a razor, work deceit.Men more than good in evil delight, and lies prefer to what is right.They utter words both harsh and strong with their devouring, deceitful tongue.God will forever break them down, uproot, and cast them to the ground!He from their safety tears them away, no more to know the light of day.Thanks evermore to our Savior be raised! His faithfulness be ever praised!Here with Your people, loving God, I wait upon Your Name, so good!
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
For a good complementary study to this, check out Pray for Your Church. It’s free in The Ailbe Bookstore. And download our ReThinking Church Appraisal Tool by clicking here. And to refresh and deepen your time in God’s Word, order a copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart while you’re there.
Other columns of interest: This week: In our ReVision series on “The Church” we’re looking at the Church’s hope. Our Read Moore podcast is working through our book, The Kingdom Turn. The focus of our Scriptorium daily study is on “Matthew: The Coming of the Kingdom.” Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
