Warrior - wk3 - The Vulnerable Warrior

The Vulnerable Warrior

Good morning warriors! We’ve been studying warriors. Scripture says that the LORD is a warrior. God came to us as a warrior wielding a sword. A sword sharper than any other sword ever made. His sword cuts between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and exposes inner most thoughts and desires. With God’s spirit in you you are warriors. As God’s warriors, He has given each of us someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, and a battle to win.

Through this series we are examining 3 different types of warriors. If you have enjoyed this series, you don’t want to miss next week as we are going to talk about the inspired warrior. Last week we looked at the hesitant warrior. A hesitant warrior is one who doesn’t believe in himself. Doubts and fears come between us and the battles that God wants us to win. Thankfully, even though we don’t always see our full potential, we serve a God who sees far more in us than we see in ourselves.

Last week we talked about the fight ahead of the hesitant warrior. A hesitant warrior must fight the inner fear of failure. That warrior must realize that in Christ we have everything we need to fight and win! Sometimes, even though it feels like we are taking a step backward, with God that is often the first step in moving forward. Even though it sometimes feels like we are losing, we are actually just beginning as that step backward causes us to not go into the battle alone. It causes us to realize that we need to wrap ourselves in God’s armor and stand firm while God fights for us. Never wavering, standing our ground, holding our position.

Today we are going to talk about the vulnerable warrior. While the hesitant warrior may need to stand and fight, it may be time for the vulnerable warrior to flee! To run as far and as fast as you can! Run Forest, RUN! Don’t wait, don’t think about it, don’t pass go, just run. The definition of vulnerable is this…

Vulnerable: capable of being physically or emotionally wounded; open to attack or damage

I promise to do my best to keep this topic digestible today. I don’t want this to be awkward or uncomfortable any more than you want me to make you feel awkward and uncomfortable. However, I do want to put forth a challenge for you today. Think about where you are most vulnerable to attack from the enemy. Your biggest weakness. Your Achilles heel. That part of you that makes you want to hide somewhere.

Just by thinking about that thing, you think everyone knows what your struggle is. Like they can hear your thoughts. When people look at you they can see it. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a short story about a similar feeling. Hiding your sin is as if you killed someone, buried them under the floorboards of your house, and then you suspect everyone knows of your guilt. The more you try to hide your sin, the louder it’s heart beats beneath the floor, alerting everyone of your guilt.

Your guilt has convinced you that this subject is never to be discussed! You can’t talk about your anger. You should never show your jealousy and envy. Whatever you do, never ever talk about your lust! Let me give you a stat that we are never supposed to talk about in church. The numbers vary, but they still show a major vulnerability where the enemy attacks and does long term damage to us and to our relationships.

According to a study in 2022, around 6 in 10 Americans report watching porn at least once in their lives. More than 1 in 4 participants in that study said they had watched porn in the past month. In a separate study the numbers are much more surprising. They found that 91.5% of men and 60.2% of women reported using porn in the past month.

We live in a world where the priority of schools is to teach sexual education children who can barely even read. Purposefully inflicting mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds on children that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Can you remember the first time you crossed a line that you knew you weren’t supposed to cross?

I can still remember the first time I saw something that I shouldn’t have looked at. The first time I said something in anger that I couldn’t take back. You were probably somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. Saw something you weren’t supposed to see. Did something you weren’t supposed to do. And it cost something that wasn’t supposed to be lost.

The first time you made a mistake, especially as a kid, the excitement of going somewhere new and the nervousness of doing something you weren’t supposed to do generated a rush of adrenaline in you. And the satisfaction releases a comforting dose of dopamine. Afterward you face shame and guilt. Often it’s an intense feeling of shame and guilt. And it starts a new war in your mind. A war of desiring to see something thrilling and exciting, yet feeling incredibly guilty.

That’s where you are open to attack. Capable of being wounded. That’s the bad news. What’s the good news? The other day I was watching a movie and these two guys were pinned down as a bunch of people were shooting at them and one said,

“Do you want the good news first or the bad news?”

The other said, “The bad news!”

“We are gonna die here.”

“If that’s the bad news, what could the good news be?”

“The good news is that we won’t be here long.”

Your vulnerability may make you feel like those two guys, but there is good news. You may have to do what those two guys did, but there is still good news. In case you are wondering, they ran. We’ll get to that later though. For today, we are going to look at a story we’ve looked at many times. Today we be studying it from a slightly different angle though. If you have your bibles, turn to chapter 11 of 2 Samuel. We are going to look at another one of God’s warriors who was vulnerable.

King David was a great warrior. Scripture says that he was a man after God’s own heart. In fact, there are 929 verses about this warrior. They say things about him being a poet, a musician, a worshipper. He was a great leader, and king. Brilliant and brave warrior. He wrote about half of the Psalms. There are 3 verses about him, though, that he is probably most remembered for.

I know we are all familiar with this story, but lets read verse one to set the scene and the next three verses describe the most remembered moment in David’s life…

2 Samuel 11:1–4 (NLT)

1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her...

This is the beginning of a series of bad decisions that David makes that causes indescribable pain in his life and many others. An incredible warrior. A man after God’s own heart. Remembered for the moment he was vulnerable. What happened? How could someone like David make a mistake like that? He had several wives, how could he even be tempted like that?

Unfortunately, what we see happen to David is the same thing that happens to so many warriors today.

David wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

He saw something he wasn’t supposed to see.

He did something he wasn’t supposed to do.

He cost many people something they weren’t supposed to lose.

In the first verse we see that David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Israel was at war with the Ammonites. Instead of going off to war, as kings would do during this time, David stayed home. David should have been leading the charge against the enemy, but instead he was disengaged from the battle. He was distracted. He abandoned the mission!

David did the same thing that we often do. Like David, we have a battle to win, a kingdom to advance, and someone to protect. Instead of going off to battle, often we will become distracted by selfish desires and disengage from the battle. If you are struggling and losing the battle to lust, it might be because you aren’t engaged in WAR!

Whatever your story is, whatever your vulnerability is, are you losing the battle because you are not fully engaged in the war? I can assure you that the enemy IS fully engaged in war. He hides and waits for you. Pretends to be your friend, a sheep, but is actually a wolf. He hides, crouching at the door awaiting the opportune time to attack.

He wants to attack you where you are vulnerable so that you will be wounded. A wounded prey is an easy target. Much like a computer virus, once you have been attacked the wound or the computer virus spreads and corrupts more and more. It damages good files. Things God created for good become twisted. God’s gift of intimacy in marriage gets stained by the wounds of your past.

The more you are injured, the less effective you are in the war. The wounds cause you to be confused and you have difficulty focusing the battle. Instead of fighting the battles you should be fighting, now you are struggling within your own battles. The war within your mind. The simultaneous high from the enjoyment and pleasure and conflicting shame, guilt and disgust. Now more vulnerable. More ineffective.

Then you feel embarrassed and ashamed. So you decide to hide it. Justify it. Put it in a dark closet. Bury it under the floor boards. This struggle is so difficult and feels so unbeatable that might even feel like giving in to it and surrendering. Maybe you prayed, but the desire didn’t go away. You made promises to God that you would stop and it worked for a while, but after a few weeks, months, or years you made a single mistake. That one failure triggered a sinful binge! Then the whole thing starts over.

Maybe you even hoped that something in your life would change and make it go away. Your “sin trigger” was no longer there. You don’t hang out with certain people anymore. You got married and hoped the lust would go away. But then it doesn’t. It doesn’t go away because you aren’t just dealing with a “sin problem.” It’s not a lust problem, a gluttony problem, or an anger problem. It doesn’t go away because you are dealing with a spiritual injury that hasn’t healed.

David should’ve been at WAR, but he was disengaged. He was distracted. He was VULNERABLE. Why? David faced two specific things that make warriors vulnerable. If you are taking notes…

A WARRIOR IS VULNERABLE WHEN

They are overly confident.

Instead of going off to war like he should have, David thought, “It’s no big deal. Joab can handle it. We’ve got this.” I should be fighting these temptations, but it’s really not that big of a deal. Nah… I’ve got this! A little bit of over confidence.

Last week we talked about standing firm, but what if you THINK you are standing firm? What happens if you think you are standing firm so you let down your guard?

1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT

12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

Several years ago I had my own struggles, but I prayed about it and now I’m good! Haven’t had a lustful thought in 15 years!

I wish that’s how it worked! We are always potentially vulnerable, but we can be much less so if we are always wise and honest about our vulnerabilities. Think about yours. What triggers you? What triggers your lust? Playing games on your phone? Scrolling Instagram? Travelling? Scrolling through movies on Netflix? Romance novels? Articles in magazines? Feeling ignored? Boredom? Rejection?

Does something on that list trigger your anger? Or is it something simple like to much noise. A scratch on the car. Something not going your way. I used to get very angry about things. I never even knew what would make me angry. Something would happen and I didn’t think it should have, then I’d gripe about it, and everyone would gripe back, and I’d just get angry. What is your trigger?

Warriors are only as strong as they are honest?

Be honest. Identify your trigger so that you can build safeguards. Safeguards that help you honor your spouse. Or your future spouse. Safeguards that help you remember that you are a warrior that represents God in His army. If the phone is a trigger, put everything that tempts you behind passwords that only someone else knows. Never travel alone. Never find yourself alone with someone of the opposite sex. If it’s movies, don’t watch them by yourself. If you are alone, find something else to do. Today is the day to put up safeguards.

Why battle a temptation in the future when you have the power to eliminate it today?

You are only as strong as you are honest, and you need to be honest with someone about your vulnerabilities. Why even let yourself get to that moment where you are facing a temptation alone? Confidence today doesn’t mean you can ignore vulnerabilities tomorrow. That is overconfidence. A warrior is vulnerable when they are over confident. Second…

A WARRIOR IS VULNERABLE WHEN

They feel entitled.

David was the king. He earned this moment. He’s under a lot of stress. He has to deal with all of these wars and protecting his people. He’s under pressure to do a good job. He deserves a little extra! He’s earned it!

I’m single, all my friends are hooking up with people, but not me! I’ve earned a little fun. Besides, it’s not like it would hurt anyone. So and so is a jerk and I put up with a lot. I deserve to do what I need. I’ve earned it. I’m entitled to it.

A warrior is vulnerable when they feel entitled. David felt entitled. He stayed home because he didn’t want to go do what he was supposed to do. He was sleeping in the middle of the day. Then he gets up for a stretch and looks out over the city and sees this beautiful woman. He doesn’t just see her though. The Hebrew word used is “rā'â” (raw-aw). It’s pronounced raw-aw because that’s how he looked at her.

You hear the word and immediately know exactly what it means. When I come home from work and open the door and see Amy I instinctively say that word. “Raw-aw!”

The word means to look longingly. To see, look at, inspect, consider. To observe. To gaze at. To cause to look intently at, behold, cause to gaze at. Does everybody get it, or should I continue? Raw-aw! He’s checking her out! Like a cartoon character, his eyes bulge from his face, his jaw hits the floor, and his tongue rolls across the ground.

Jesus was passionate about the subject of purity. According to Him, purity starts at your eyes. It’s not the act of bringing Bathsheba to your house that makes you impure. It was way earlier than that when you saw her and were going, “Raw-aw!”

Matthew 5:28–29 NLT

28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

I sure hope He never intended for us to take that literally. Can you imagine? It sure would be easy to identify Christians, wouldn’t it? Jesus is saying something similar to what we talked about a minute ago… Why battle a temptation in the future when you have the power to eliminate it today?

Only, He is ratcheting up the intensity! Because this is serious! Because letting your desires take control will sideline you. It’s dangerous. It hurts people! It doesn’t care about stopping. It will keep going until people die, just like what happened in David’s example, and then it will keep going even further. Lust doesn’t care. The only thing the enemy cares about is complete destruction of you and everyone you love.

When it comes to sexual temptation, scripture says to run! God will give you an escape. It’s time to flee. Don’t poke the bear. If you see a bear in the woods, do you fight it? Or do you run? I don’t care how different types of karate you know, you have much better chances against a bear if you run. When it comes to sexual temptations it is time to run. Don’t be over confident and try to stand and fight. Don’t decide you are entitled to a small sample. Just run!

David wasn’t where he was supposed to be, saw what he wasn’t supposed to see, did something he wasn’t supposed to do, and hurt people who should not have been hurt. I don’t know what David was thinking after all that he had done, but when I read the story and see how hard David tried to hide his mistake, I feel like he probably did the same thing in his own heart. Pretend he did nothing wrong, guard the secret, hide the guilt and shame. Here is what David said in a Psalm…

Psalm 32:3–4 NLT

3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude

I could hear the heartbeat under the floor. It rang in my ears, louder and louder. My sin was eating at me and making me waste away. How can I be a strong warrior if my strength is evaporating away like water in the middle of the summer?

Don’t let the guilt of your mistakes wear you down and make you evaporate away. Don’t make excuses to try and justify your actions. You are a warrior! Don’t surrender to something as silly as the lusts that you should have ran from. We are warriors of honor! Of purity! Of integrity! David finally figured it out. Finally. Those were his words even. It took another man of God calling him out and getting him back on track. Here is what David said…

Psalm 32:5 NLT

5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude

No matter how long you have felt trapped by that sin. No matter how vulnerable you feel. No matter how wounded you are. No matter how dark of a hole you have managed to hide in. It’s time to look to God and be honest. Open up to Him, confess to Him where you are weakest and where you fail. He loves to rescue people from the dark places they find themselves.

If you are ready to fight this battle you need a battle plan. Here it is:

BATTLE PLAN

Confess

Remove

Heal

Confess to God. Like David, confess to God and let Him take away your guilt. David also confessed to Nathan, the man God sent to David. You need someone to be there for you. Someone who knows the passwords that you don’t know. Someone who will help you avoid the triggers. Depending on your situation, it may even be time to seek a professional. Someone who has helped other people in your same situation before.

Two, remove the triggers. Find a way to avoid the things that make you angry. To avoid the things that make you look longingly. Delete the Instagram account. Delete the internet browsers from your phones and computers. Cancel HBO and Netflix.

Three, let God heal the wound. God is the only one who can heal the wound. Jesus came just for you. He didn’t come for the healthy, but the sick.

Don’t let yourself think this should be easy. Don’t feel like a failure when it seems to difficult to bear, because it won’t be. This could be the battle of your life! But it’s a battle worth fighting. Because with Christ, there is freedom. With Christ, there is purity. With Christ, there is intimacy with God. Intimacy with your spouse.

Remember that you are a warrior! In Christ, you are not weak. You are not a victim. You don’t take shortcuts. You are going to deny yourself, make sacrifices, and never surrender! You are the commander of your mind, not it’s slave.

You are an overcomer. More than a conqueror! Inside of you is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave!

The enemy isn’t attacking you because you are weak. The enemy is attacking you because you because you are a warrior! With someone to protect, a kingdom to advance, and a battle to win.

You may fall, stumble, and fail. But then, with Christ, you rise! You heal! You fight again! You aren’t a warrior because you always win. You are a warrior because you always fight!