Chapter Twelve: The Discipline of Watching
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE DISCIPLINE OF WATCHING
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
MATTHEW 26:41
On April 10, 1912, the steamship Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. The largest passenger ship in the world to that time, it was also hoped to be the fastest. The captain, in an effort to break the transatlantic crossing record, had the engines going at full speed. Two days away from New York and well on its way to breaking the record, however, the Titanic collided with an iceberg and quickly became the world’s greatest maritime disaster.
Although the collision was due to a combination of errors, the overall cause of the disaster could be summed up in a single phrase: lack of watchfulness. Despite the fact that the captain knew they were sailing directly into an area of dangerous ice packs, no special precautions were taken. Radio messages from other ships warning of ice were either taken lightly or ignored altogether. One critical message was not even copied by the wireless operator because he was too busy sending personal messages from the ship’s wealthy passengers to their friends and families ashore.
The lookout in the crow’s nest did not bother to report that the binoculars that might have enabled him to see the iceberg earlier were missing. Intent on breaking the speed record, the captain did not slow the ship to a more prudent speed. In short, no precautions to avoid icebergs were taken. In hindsight, such an indifferent attitude toward the single most dangerous hazard to North Atlantic shipping seems to us today to be the height of folly and irresponsibility. Yet this is the same attitude with which many believers approach the Christian life.
To use the nautical analogy, every day we sail through a sea infested with icebergs of temptation. Or, to change the metaphor, every day we walk through a spiritual minefield of enemy-held territory. Despite the dangers, however, there seems to be a casual attitude toward temptation. We are either not too concerned, or else have an “it couldn’t happen to me” attitude toward sin. We virtually ignore Jesus’ warning to “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
If we are going to watch against temptation, we need to be aware of its sources and behavior. To again use an analogy from warfare —and we are indeed engaged in spiritual warfare —we need some intelligence information about the enemy.
The Bible speaks of three different sources of temptation: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Although references to and warnings about each are scattered throughout the New Testament, the one passage of Scripture that gathers all three together into one succinct statement is Ephesians 2:1-3. This passage actually speaks of our subjection to the world, the flesh (or sinful nature —see note 1, chapter 11), and the Devil before our salvation. But they still wage war against us as children of God. Therefore, we need to know how they operate and how they tempt us.
The world, or the sinful society in which we live, is characterized by the subtle and relentless pressure it brings to bear upon us to conform to its values and practices. It creeps up on us little by little. What was once unthinkable becomes thinkable, then doable, and finally acceptable to society at large. Sin becomes respectable, and so Christians finally embrace it. It is my perception that Christians are no more than five to ten years behind the world in embracing most sinful practices.
Not only is the world subtle and relentless; it is also pervasive in the pressure it brings to bear upon us. Advertising constantly holds out to us the pursuit of pleasure, possessions, and prestige as the highest good. Pop psychology promotes self-fulfillment and personal happiness —certainly not the pursuit of holiness. Magazines, movies, and television programs designed to appeal to our prurient interest find their way into our living rooms and then into our minds.
Over time the world tends to wear down our resistance to sin. Values and practices that were at one time recognized as sinful become acceptable to us simply because our otherwise nice, decent neighbors hold those values. No iceberg-infested sea was ever more dangerous than the society in which we live every day. It is the height of folly, then, not to watch against the temptations of the world.
The Devil, or Satan, is the god of this world and the ultimate mastermind and strategist behind all the temptations that come to us from society. Beyond that, however, he often tempts us directly. He “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). It is difficult and perhaps unnecessary to try to distinguish between a temptation from the world and one from Satan. In general, however, temptations from the world tend to be subtle, gradual, and insidious, whereas Satan’s direct attacks are more often sudden, violent, and vicious. To use a colloquial expression, Satan will attempt to “blindside” us, seeking to catch us off guard and unprepared to withstand his assaults.
Take the sin of immorality as an example. People usually slip into that over time through little indiscretions with a person of the opposite sex. The act is then fantasized in the mind before it is eventually acted out. Sometimes, however, Satan will make a bold frontal attack in that area. A Sunday school teacher was sitting alone in church one Sunday because his wife was ill. A woman from his class, who apparently had an unhappy marriage, sat down next to him and subtly began to suggest an affair. This temptation came out of nowhere without warning, in an environment where one would least expect it. This would appear to be a direct frontal assault from the Devil.
IT IS US
As dangerous as are the world and the Devil, neither is our greatest problem. Our greatest source of temptation dwells within us. It is what the apostle Paul called the flesh, or the sinful nature. It is the principle of sin that still remains within us, even though it no longer exercises dominion. According to Sinclair Ferguson, John Owen stressed that “freedom from the dominion of sin is not . . . the same thing as freedom from its presence and influence. Indeed, the power of sin remains where the dominion has been banished, and though that power of sin ‘be weakened, yet its nature is not changed.’”[75]
As I indicated in an earlier chapter, indwelling sin now wages guerrilla warfare against us, and as any military person will attest, that is the most difficult warfare to defend against. Paul called indwelling sin a law, or as we would say, a principle, that is at work within us constantly seeking to draw us into sin (Romans 7:21-25). James referred to this principle of sin when he said, “But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (James 1:14). As an old Pogo cartoon years ago expressed it, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
KNOW YOURSELF
The evil desire within us constantly searches for occasions to express itself. It is like a radar system whose antenna is constantly scanning the environment for temptations to which it can respond. Some years ago, when I was continually indulging my desire for ice cream (which I don’t do anymore), my eyes would automatically be drawn to a Baskin-Robbins (or any competitor brand) ice cream store. It was uncanny. I could pass the signs of a score of stores without consciously seeing them, but I never failed to see the sign of an ice cream store.
Recently, I became interested in a certain model car. It was the same make as the one I drive, but a nicer, more expensive model. As soon as I became interested in that particular car, I noticed every one I passed on the street. I began to think of reasons why I needed that nicer model. It was roomier, more comfortable on a long trip, and had a better transmission. I finally concluded, rather reluctantly, that I really didn’t need that car. But the point is, during that time my antenna was “tuned” for that model car.
Perhaps the indulgence with ice cream and the fixation on a nicer model car seem rather benign compared to temptations you’ve faced. You may be thinking, Come on, let’s talk about some real sins —covetousness, lust, envy, resentment, lying to customers, or cheating on exams. Well, first of all, the indulgence in ice cream and the preoccupation with a nicer car may not be so benign, but either way, those issues demonstrate the principle: our flesh is always searching out opportunities to gratify itself according to the particular sinful desires each of us has.
STUDY YOUR WEAKNESSES
So we must study our own individual propensities to sin. Without knowledge of ourselves and our own particular weaknesses toward sin, we cannot watch against those temptations. Proverbs 27:12 says,
The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
The captain of the Titanic very likely could have avoided the iceberg by applying that simple principle. In the same way, we can avoid temptations if we will simply see the obvious danger and take refuge.
Once in a hotel room alone I turned on the television to see if there was anything interesting to watch. I paused at a channel where a movie was in progress. Because I caught the show partway through, I was trying to figure out the plot. Suddenly without warning, the female main character undressed and hopped into bed with the other lead character, a man. I sat there stunned. I had heard about such movies but had never before seen one. But then, because I have a lustful heart like most men, I continued to watch to see if she would do it again.
I learned my lesson. I cannot trust myself to turn on the television when I am alone in a hotel room, unless it is to watch a specific program like the news, or a sports event, or something where I know the overall content of the program beforehand. Knowing my own lustful heart and the likelihood of seeing something on television that will play to that lust, I must, as the proverb says, “see danger and take refuge.” The way I have taken refuge is to make a commitment to never turn on the television at random when I am alone in a hotel room. (Incidentally, this illustrates the type of specific commitment to which I was referring in chapter 9.)
We have already addressed the area of persistent sin patterns in our lives, those temptations to which we are especially vulnerable. We have seen that, having identified our own areas of vulnerability, we should make definite commitments regarding them, pray about them, and memorize specific verses of Scripture that will strengthen us against those temptations. Now we should add another help: Be especially watchful against them. Realize that your “temptation antenna” is constantly scanning your environment looking for those areas of sin. Then watch and pray against them.
Some of your temptations may arise from your temperament. You may be given to a quick temper, or moroseness, or laziness, or a tendency to control others. One great blessing of living by grace is that because God no longer counts those sins against us, we can honestly face up to them and begin to mortify them with the aid of the Holy Spirit. But in order to mortify them, we must be alert for those particular sins as they seek to assert themselves.
We may be exposed to other temptations because of the occupation or profession we are in. The advertising copywriter may be under pressure to “puff” a product. The salesperson may be asked to lie. The building tradesperson may be tempted to fudge on the building code or do shoddy work in other ways. The person who has a company expense account may be tempted to cheat, and so may students in a competitive academic environment.
Each of us is exposed to a number of temptations. We should study both ourselves and our situations to identify those areas where we are, or may be, especially vulnerable, then determine how we can best guard against them.
AREAS OF STRENGTH
I was telling a friend about an adulterous affair another Christian worker had become involved in. (It was not gossip; I did not identify the person involved, and my friend would not have known him anyway.) I said to my friend, “When I learn about things like that it scares me. I think, Could it happen to me?” My friend responded that he was not concerned for himself because he had long ago set up certain guidelines to govern his association with women.
His self-confidence startled me. While I appreciated the guidelines he had established for himself, I could not help but think of 1 Corinthians 10:12: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Remember the Sunday school teacher sitting alone in church who was approached by a lonely woman? My friend’s guidelines would not have covered that situation. We can never get to the place where we don’t need to watch, even in areas where we think we are strong. As John Owen said, “When [indwelling sin] is least felt, it is in fact most powerful.”[76]
I attended a Prison Fellowship seminar, and one of the prisoners who gave his testimony was a former judge. My stereotype of prisoners was shattered. Here was a man who had sworn to uphold the law and administer justice who had himself been convicted of a crime. Then I thought of David, the man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), the man who was chosen to write most of the Psalms, one of the most beautiful and inspiring parts of all Scripture. But with all his spiritual privileges David still committed adultery and then conspired to murder to cover up his adultery. I thought to myself, If David had committed his crime today, he would have been sent to prison. Then I thought, Am I stronger than David?
I have often heard a well-known Christian teacher say, “There is no sin which I am not capable of committing.” I think this teacher is much better fortified against temptation than the man who had such self-confidence regarding the sin of adultery. Our only safeguard is a sense of deep humility as we realize how powerful indwelling sin still is. Never begin to think there are areas of temptation where you don’t need to be on your guard. That could be your downfall. So we need to watch in areas of known weakness because that is where we are so prone to yield to temptation. And we need to watch in areas where we think we are strong, because that is where we are apt to trust ourselves and not depend on God.
John Owen is again helpful to us in this matter.
When we realize a constant enemy of the soul abides within us, what diligence and watchfulness we should have! How woeful is the sloth and negligence then of so many who live blind and asleep to this reality of sin. There is an exceeding efficacy and power in the indwelling sin of believers, for it constantly inclines itself towards evil. We need to be awake, then, if our hearts would know the ways of God. Our enemy is not only upon us, as it was with Samson, but it is also in us.[77]
LITTLE THINGS
Another area where we need to be watchful is the little things of everyday life, the little issues that seem so unimportant —the little lie, the little bit of pride, the little lustful glance, or the little bit of gossip. These may seem too small to bother about, but the Scripture says they are “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” (Song of Songs 2:15).
Horatius Bonar wrote the following concerning the little things of life:
The avoidance of little evils, little sins, little inconsistencies, little weaknesses, little follies, little indiscretions and imprudences, little foibles, little indulgences of self and of the flesh, little acts of indolence or indecision or slovenliness or cowardice, little equivocations or aberrations from high integrity, little touches of shabbiness and meanness, . . . little indifferences to the feelings or wishes of others, little outbreaks of temper, or crossness, or selfishness, or vanity —the avoidance of such little things as these goes far to make up at least the negative beauty of a holy life.[78]
That is a long list, but I encourage you to prayerfully read over it again to see which little things Bonar mentions may be a problem for you.
Life is largely a mosaic of little events and little deeds. It is the decision we make when the cashier at the supermarket gives us too much change, or the waiter at the restaurant understates our bill, that reveals whether we are honest or not. It may seem as if I tend to trivialize life by frequently using illustrations of sins that some consider not too big an issue. But the truth is, it is in the minutiae of life where most of us live day after day. We seldom have to say no to an outright temptation to adultery. We often have to say no to the temptation of the lustful look or thought. And as some unknown person has said, “He that despises little things shall fall little by little.”
The Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote, “Greater sins do sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance, than lesser sins do. Little sins often slide into the soul, and breed, and work secretly and undiscernibly in the soul, till they come to be so strong, as to trample upon the soul, and to cut the throat of the soul.”[79]
Some years ago, I began to pray, “Lord, keep me on a short leash.” By that I meant, don’t let me get away with the little sins. Give me a tender conscience that will recognize the little sins and sound the alarm bell in my heart. Over time I’m afraid that simple prayer has been neglected, and one of my own applications from this chapter is to reinstate that request in my own prayer life. I commend it to you, also.
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
A wealthy woman wanted to hire a chauffeur. As each applicant came to be interviewed, she had him drive her along a narrow, winding mountain road with a precipice on one side. All of the drivers, in an effort to impress her with their driving skills, drove as close to the edge of the precipice as they dared. Finally, one applicant drove differently. He kept as far away from the edge as he could. The widow hired that man. She did not want a daring, albeit highly skilled, driver. She wanted one who would drive as safely as he could.
Whether that story is true or merely apocryphal, it illustrates an important principle in spiritual watchfulness. In the area of Christian liberty, our goal should be “how safe can I be” instead of “how daring can I be.” Christian liberty is the term used to cover the multitude of activities where the Bible does not give us specific guidance. In those areas, we have liberty or freedom to choose for ourselves what to do, subject to certain guiding principles in Scripture.
One key principle is stated in Galatians 5:13: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” The principle is, we are not to use our liberty or freedom in Christ to indulge the sinful nature.
Actually, the apostle Paul’s warning is not against indulging the sinful nature as much as it is allowing the sinful nature to use our freedom as an opportunity or occasion to assert itself. The New American Standard Bible helps us see this as it reads, “Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.” Our flesh will actively seek to use our freedom as an opportunity or a springboard to indulge itself if we allow it to do so.
Ronald Y. K. Fung wrote, “The word rendered ‘opportunity’ or ‘occasion’ . . . is used in a military sense of a base of operations . . . ; here the imagery suggested is of the ‘flesh’ occupying the position of the malicious opponent and using ‘freedom’ as a springboard for its activities.”[80] Such is the deceitful nature of our flesh. It will seek to draw us closer and closer to the precipice of sin under the guise of “asserting our freedom.”
Herman Ridderbos wrote, “This freedom may not become an occasion [point of departure, bridgehead] for the flesh, that is, for sinful human nature, for wicked impulse. The flesh wants freedom to express itself as it will. Christ has not called the believers for such a freedom.”[81] Turning Christian liberty into a license to sin is an evil that is ingrained in sinful human nature. It is easy to construe liberty as the right to do what one wants to do.
Knowing that our sinful human nature has this tendency, we ought to be especially watchful against it. In my younger years, the Christian community attempted to do this watching for us as it came up with its various lists of “don’ts.” This practice resulted in a modern Pharisaism wherein specific rules of behavior, or “sins” to avoid, were added to the Bible as God’s will for us.[82]
More recently, there has been a reaction against such legalism, and perhaps rightly so. But we need to be watchful that in our assertion of our freedom we do not give the flesh the opportunity to lead us over the precipice into sin. To return to the chauffeur story, do we want to see how daringly close we can come to the edge, or do we want to see how safely we can navigate the hazards of our spiritual journeys?
Scripture does say that
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
JEREMIAH 17:9
Knowing that our hearts are deceitful by nature, we should be especially watchful that they do not turn our liberty into license. How then can we watch in this area of Christian freedom? Paul gave some specific guidelines to the Corinthian believers who were asserting their freedom in Christ.
“Everything is permissible for me” —but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” —but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:12
“Everything is permissible” —but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” —but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:23-24
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians agree that “Everything is permissible for me” is almost certainly a slogan the Corinthians used to promote their idea of Christian freedom. They used it as a rationale for driving as close to the edge of the precipice as they possibly could. They were not interested in safety from temptation but in freedom from any restraints. Paul did not deny their concept of freedom, but rather sought to point them to better principles for controlling the freedom he agreed they had. In response to their assertion that “everything is permissible,” he stated three principles that I will frame in the form of questions:
It is obvious from Paul’s response to the assertion that “everything is permissible for me,” that he was trying to draw the Corinthians back from the edge of the precipice to a place where they could safely live. More importantly, he was seeking to change their focus from “What freedom do I have to live as I please?” to “What will be most beneficial both for me and for my Christian brothers and sisters?”
Finally, as Paul concluded the section on Christian freedom, he gave one final overarching principle in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” This principle alone —doing whatever we do to the glory of God —should give us sufficient criteria for watching against abuse of our Christian liberty.
THE BEST DEFENSE
With all the enemies from the world and from Satan arrayed against us, and a guerrilla army of flesh within our own hearts, how can we effectively watch against the temptations that constantly beset us? The old adage “The best defense is a good offense” is good advice for watching against temptation. The best offense is meditation on the Word of God and prayer. It is surely no coincidence that they are the only two spiritual exercises that we are encouraged to do continually. We have already seen that we are to meditate on God’s Word “day and night” (Psalm 1:2), and Paul exhorted us to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We have also observed the power of the Word of God to keep us from sin when we considered Psalm 119:11:
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
For every temptation that you face, there are specific passages of Scripture that address that issue. If you are not aware of some, ask your pastor or another mature Christian to help you find them. Then memorize those verses, meditate on them, and pray over them every day, asking the Holy Spirit to bring them to your mind in times of need. Ask, also, that He will strengthen your will to enable you to obey the Word that He brings to your mind. Remember the continuum of influence we discussed in chapter 10. All of us are being influenced by both sinful society and the Word of God. We want to do all we can to move ourselves toward the “Word of God” end of the continuum by continually bringing it to bear upon our thinking.
Also remember that Jesus told us to watch and pray. We are not capable of watching by ourselves. Consider again the words of Psalm 127:1:
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
Even with our best diligence, we need the extra dimension of the Lord watching for us.
One request in the Lord’s Prayer is:
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
MATTHEW 6:13
This request actually has two parts: that we not be led into temptation, and that we be delivered from the Evil One. Because we know from James 1:13 that God does not tempt anyone, the first part must be understood as a request that God will not providentially bring us into the way of temptation. It is the prayer of the believer who sees his or her weaknesses and prays to not even encounter those temptations.
Of course, if we are praying not to be led into temptation, we should take steps ourselves to see that we do not walk into the way of temptation. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, “Avoid every kind of evil.” He exhorted the Corinthian church to “flee from sexual immorality” and Timothy to “flee the evil desires of youth” (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22, emphasis added in both verses). Flee, of course, denotes a stronger response than avoid, but both are necessary. We can avoid certain temptations by not turning on the television or picking up certain magazines. But sometimes a temptation presents itself, and then we must flee. This is all part of watching.
The second half of the request Jesus taught us to pray is, “deliver us from the evil one,” meaning, of course, Satan. We need to pray defensively against the attacks of Satan. Christ did defeat him on the cross (Colossians 2:15), and we must by faith lay hold of that victory as we pray that we will be delivered from his attacks.[83]
THINK SAFETY
I have been writing this chapter in a motel room in a city where I have been speaking at a conference. Each day I have gone for a walk and have passed a construction site where a new office building is being erected. At the entrance to the site is a large white sign with huge red letters that says, “Think Safety.”
The first time I saw the sign I thought, That’s a good idea. Every day the workers at that site are being reminded of the importance of safe working procedures. Then I thought, I wonder how many of them pay attention to the sign? Do most of them agree with the idea behind it but just go on with their usual practices, good or bad, as if the sign were not there? Does the sign do any good? I don’t know the answers to those questions. It depends partly on what safety instruction has been given and whether safety procedures are enforced.
One thing I do know, however. If those workers don’t “think safety,” sooner or later they will likely get hurt. Safety is something that cannot be taken for granted on a construction site. There are simply too many hazards.
The same is true in the Christian life. We need to learn to think safety in a spiritual sense. We are not on a “spiritual construction site.” We are in a war with the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The hazards at a building site are not “out to get us.” They simply exist in the nature of the work being done. But our spiritual enemies are out to get us. To think safety for us is to watch and pray. If we don’t pay attention to that warning, we will get hurt.
The truth is, of course, we all do get “hurt” to some degree daily because we all sin every day. That is why we need to come back to the gospel of God’s grace in Christ. The gospel of God’s forgiveness of our sins through Christ’s death frees us to face those sins honestly and bring them to the Cross and Jesus’ cleansing blood. The freedom and joy that then come from a cleansed conscience create the desire and give us the right motive to deal with those sins. We cannot effectively pursue holiness without going back again and again to the gospel. The gospel is the only foundation upon which we can build the disciplines necessary to pursue holiness. Grace and discipline cannot be separated.
[75] Sinclair B. Ferguson, John Owen on the Christian Life (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), 130–31, emphasis in original.
[76] John Owen, Sin and Temptation, ed. James M. Houston (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1983), 5.
[77] Ibid., 7, emphasis in original.
[78] Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1979; originally published 1864), 109–10, emphasis in original.
[79] Thomas Brooks, The Works of Thomas Brooks, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, reprint, 1980; originally published 1861–1867), 21.
[80] Ronald Y. K. Fung, The Epistle to the Galatians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 244.
[81] Herman N. Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 1953), 200. (Fung’s commentary has replaced Ridderbos’ in the NICNT series.)
[82] I address this form of legalism in Transforming Grace (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), chap. 9.
[83] Scripture indicates that God at times does allow Satan to tempt us, as he did Peter (Luke 22:31-32), but at least in that instance God was apparently using Satan to get at Peter’s pride (see verse 33).