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Exchanged Glory III: Wise as Serpents
It is not enough to discern good; we must also discern evil.
There is one verse in the Bible that seems to teach that a love of simplicity is a good quality.
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (emphasis added)
This verse is fairly easy to reconcile with Proverbs 1:22 once we notice that the Greek word translated ‘simplicity,’ ‘haplotes,’ actually means ‘singleness’ or ‘sincerity.’[19] It calls for us to avoid harmful distractions, not to adopt a naïve approach to life. The danger is not that we will embrace something that is complex, but that we will corrupt the purity of our devotion to Christ.
It takes singleness and sincerity of heart to patiently press through the complexity of our battle with sin, the world, and the devil. Our enemies will throw many cunning traps before us to trick us away from God’s plan. We need to be wise in order to overcome them.
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. (emphasis added)
It is interesting that Jesus chose the image of serpents to illustrate wisdom. He could have chosen any number of Old Testament metaphors to make His point. Why didn’t He say, “as wise as Solomon,” or “as wise as the ants” (Proverbs 30:24-25)? Why pick a picture that would make us think of the serpent who deceived Eve by his craftiness?
I believe the context explains Jesus’ choice of words. He wanted to warn His disciples that it would take work to understand the evil they were about to face.
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake …
The disciples were headed into a trial that could have led to tremendous confusion. The devil was going to deceive their countrymen into persecuting them. They were a small sect being attacked by the chosen people of God, the nation of Israel. For most of their lives, they had heard that the religious leaders presented the will of heaven. Now those leaders were leading the charge against them, scourging them in their synagogues.
Based on outward appearances, it was going to look as if God was against the disciples. Being as wise as serpents meant that they had to understand what the deceiving serpent, Satan, was doing and rise above it. If they didn’t discern the wickedness behind the hatred, they could easily have concluded that they were being punished for believing a lie.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
It is not enough to discern good; we must also discern evil. We must be able to deal with the trickery, craftiness, and deceitfulness of those who try to mislead us.
… that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —
Dealing with evil makes life complex. When combined with our own tendency to sin, the challenges can be bewildering. I found that my temptations to sexual issues came in an overwhelmingly large number of different flavors – and each flavor required different wisdom.
Sometimes the temptations were based in a raw desire for selfish pleasure. I needed to learn and accept God’s view of sex. Sometimes they were a misdirected desire for intimacy. I needed to grow to fulfill my needs for intimacy with Jesus, my wife, and others. At other times, the temptations were as unexpected as a desire to punish myself for my sins and weaknesses. I needed to see myself in the light of His mercy and hope.
I was amazed at the multifaceted complexity of what I expected to be a simple problem. A surprising number of misled emotions and desires were tangled together throughout my heart. My personality contained a knot of sinful deception that I couldn’t unravel. The Holy Spirit had to carefully show me how to discern the good and the evil within and around me.
He wants to do this for each of us with the unique temptations we face. He will make us as wise as serpents to overcome the lies Satan is sending our way.
Our lives might be easier if God had called us to hide from evil. Instead, He calls us to live in the middle of the world and share our faith. This can be perplexing.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair (emphasis added)
Think about that word, ‘perplexed.’ The Greek word for it, ‘aporeo,’ means “to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally).”[20] It isn’t a word we normally associate with the apostle Paul’s ministry. It means that his circumstances were so difficult that he couldn’t decide what to do. His life wasn’t simple. He needed the excellence of God’s power to come through because the demands were beyond his ability.
We each have a unique calling as we bring God’s treasure to this planet, and we each have our own unique ways of being perplexed. To fulfill my calling as someone who shares with those who struggle with sexual sins, I needed to find the excellence of God’s power to overcome my own sexual sins. I had little idea how to do this (I was perplexed), so I needed wisdom for my specific difficulties.
Since each person has a unique purpose, we shouldn’t expect others to do exactly what we do. For example, it would be wrong for me to tell everyone that they need to memorize the book of Proverbs. Others might not have the need or the grace for this. God has a different calling on them, and He has equipped them with the unique abilities to handle their own struggles.
As we discover and grow in our gifts, we can share them with others.
God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!
(1 Corinthians 12:4-7, The Message)
It won’t be easy for any of us to fulfill our call, however. God will require each of us to go beyond what we are able to do on our own. He wants to show that the excellence of the power is of Him and not of us. We will be hard-pressed on every side and perplexed so that we are pushed past our own strength and into His.
Following Jesus through hard times can be overwhelming for our emotions. If we love simplicity, we will fall to discouragement and won’t hang on through the confusion and hard work. We will conclude that God could never require so much from us. When we see no answers, our hearts won’t find the diligence, patience, and faith it takes to inherit His promises.
And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.
(Hebrews 6:11-12, The Message)
God has a hope that goes beyond human hope. He has a wisdom that goes beyond human wisdom. At the point when we are perplexed and confused, we are prime candidates for His clarity. His grace comes as we are willing to stay the course with committed faith.
From what I have heard from older Christians, there was a time in America when people could avoid sexual sin simply by staying away from temptations. Our culture was heavily influenced by Christianity, and as long as a person didn’t seek out the wrong crowd, he could be relatively safe.
I realized that these days were over when I was raising my children. They couldn’t avoid the evil around them unless I isolated them from it. Ungodliness had permeated their world, and though they could steer clear of some dangerous situations, there were far too many subtle expressions of sin for them to be safe. They needed to protect their own hearts with God’s wisdom.
As an example, think about what a young man faces today. He can avoid erotic magazines and movies, but can he stay away from all the people who have been influenced by them? The girls in his school have learned to dress in ways that draw attention to their bodies. The topics of conversation in the halls at school are based on the immorality of TV shows and the internet. His acquaintances know little about God. The peer pressure to “be like everyone else” coupled with raging hormones can make his situation seem unbearable.
Then while all of this temptation is pushing in on him, his society offers him a philosophy of life that gives him little defense against it. The message that comes through is that as long as he is responsible, sex outside of marriage is wonderful. From every angle (except for God, family, and church), he is bombarded with deceptive statements.
This is where a love of simplicity kills so many. It is hard to know Jesus in the middle of a world that twists and contradicts His truth. God’s word requires the young man (or young woman) to grapple with eternal principles and spiritual realities at the same time that he is relating to acquaintances who are ignoring the call of wisdom. He can’t naively follow what comes naturally to him. He has to learn God’s word and do his best to put it into practice, even though it isn’t always clear how to do that in the middle of the confusion around him.
This is complex stuff for a teenage young man. It is understandable that he feels it is unfair, and my heart goes out to him. Regardless, if he chooses the simple road he is likely to become deceived and suffer the consequences. Our culture forces him to make perplexing choices.
The devil is shrewd, and if we refuse to obey Christ’s command to face up to his shrewdness, we will suffer consequences. It is sad that we must embrace this kind of difficulty, but what other good choice do we have? There are no easy answers. Our situation requires faith in a Living God who will step in and enable us to do what we can’t do on our own. Our only hope is the One who has promised that we can trample on spiritual serpents.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
This battle will strip us of our pride and leave us on our knees before Him, but the rewards make it worth our while to give up our love of simplicity.
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