Does the Enemy Really Want You to Have Fun?

Imagine a cunning enemy, a cloaked figure weaving a grand illusion, promising sweet pleasures and enticing favors. But beneath the guise, he's a true enslaver, pulling you into a web spun from deceptions and false promises. 

That's Satan for you – not the fun uncle he pretends to be but a true master of disguise. Through an exciting exploration of biblical stories and fairy tales, we unmask his cunning strategies, drawing parallels from Jesus's temptation in the desert and the Little Mermaid's tale. It's an opportunity to gaze through the looking glass, to see beyond the allure of temporary pleasure, and to recognize the chains that come with it.

As we step into the second part of our journey, we encounter a liberating alternative - Jesus, the essence of true freedom and the power to resist temptation. Serving Him doesn't lead to enslavement but to authentic liberty. And so, we arrive at the crucial crossroads: whom will you serve? Will it be Satan, the master illusionist promising delights but shackling you in the process, or Jesus, who invites us to serve Him with our whole heart, mind, and body, promising real freedom? 

Withstanding temptation, leaning into Jesus's power, and choosing to follow Him can lead us to a life of freedom and wholeness. 
Let this episode spark that choice within you.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

The other day I was talking with one of my coaching clients and I had this, which kind of felt like a new realization about the devil, our enemy, that I wanted to share with you. I know that some of us don't come from a background where Satan or devils are talked about a whole lot, and if you've been around this podcast for any length of time or our ministry for any length of time, you know that we do. We talk about demons, we talk about Satan here, and it's not because we want to give them a lot of attention. We certainly don't think they're the centerpiece of recovery or of wholeness. We want to focus instead on Jesus. But I personally find it really helpful to recognize where the enemy is working and how, because for a couple of reasons One, jesus talked about the enemy. I mean, he did talk about him. We recognize that to Jesus, demons were not just a way to explain psychological phenomenon, they were real creatures that he dealt with, casting them out of people. He talked about the devil being a liar from the beginning. So if they're important to Jesus, if they are a part of Jesus's ministry, then we want them to be part of our ministry, and if they're part of the battle that Jesus had to fight on the earth, then they're part of the battle we have to fight on the earth and corresponding to that, the other reason I want to talk about Satan sometimes is because, man, I think learning about the enemy can fire us up to say, wait a minute, I thought that was just me or I thought that was just the way life is. I didn't realize, actually, that there's a malevolent force behind this that I can battle with. We can take dominion over the enemy and actually see some victory in our lives in some ways that really make a difference and matter. So it kind of fires me up when I have a realization about him. So here's the realization.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Well, first let me backtrack a little bit. I think a lot of us recognize that the enemy is a liar and that he wants us to take his bait, to take his temptations. In the ways that he tempts us, he wants us to say yes to his temptations, and part of the way he frames up temptation in our life is he kind of poses as though he's there to do us a favor, he's giving us an opportunity, he's the fun uncle giving us kind of the guilty pleasure that our parents otherwise would deny us. And so he kind of paints God as this I don't know frugal or stingy or uptight, puritanical type, and he's really the fun one who's going to give us real pleasure. He wants to kind of paint that picture of God because he wants us to kind of sidle up to him, sidle up to the enemy, and say, yeah, you know, god doesn't quite understand this part of what it means to be human, but you seem to get me. I mean, obviously I'm saying all this tongue in cheek, but I think he really does pose himself that way. I mean, I remember hearing people talk about how they'd rather be in hell, where the party is, than heaven, where all the uptight Christians are.

Speaker 1: 3:17

And so I know that this framework is something the enemy works with to try to get us to think this way about him and that way about God. So he acts like he's doing us a favor, he acts like he's serving us. But here's the trade-off he insists that we bow down before him in order for him to serve us, right. He demands that we bend our knee, that we say yes to his will, in order for him to give us what we quote, unquote want, and here I think about Jesus in the desert, when he was tempted by the enemy. He was baptized, he went out to the desert where he fasted for 40 days and somewhere in that time he began to be tempted by the enemy. And the enemy's insistence was hey, I'm going to give you something if you will bow down to me. Most especially, he says I'll give you all the kingdoms of the earth if you will bow before me. And of course, jesus doesn't take debate. He doesn't do it because he knows what the enemy is really up to.

Speaker 1: 4:23

But I want to highlight this kind of paradox that we often miss when he acts like he's doing us a favor. In order for us, for him to serve us, he's telling us that we need to give our lives to him. We need to bow down before him, give our allegiance to him. Do you hear the paradox there? I mean, it reminds me, I think actually it's a great depiction of it in the tale of the Little Mermaid, and I haven't seen the new one, so if it's changed in that, forgive me, but the Little Mermaid wants to be a human being and her father's like absolutely not. But Ursula the sea witch is like I'll make you a human if you'll give me your voice and if Prince Eric doesn't fall in love with you in a certain amount of time, then you will be subservient to me forever. So there's that paradox again I will serve you if you'll give me what I want, if you'll bow down before me. But it's all a sham. It's all a sham.

Speaker 1: 5:28

The enemy does not want to serve us any more than Ursula wanted to give Ariel what she wanted. The enemy is not looking out for our best. He's not the fun uncle who understands us. He understands us, sure, but not in the way that we think. He doesn't actually have what we need or want. He pretends to. So that we'll sign on the dotted line, so we'll give our lives over to him, so we'll bow before him, so we'll kneel before him, in other words, so we will give ourselves as slaves to him. And once we become slaves of him, we might experience some initial pleasure, but once we become slaves of his, then we will never be free to leave. That's what he's really after. Not doing us a favor, he wants to make us his slaves.

Speaker 1: 6:20

And we see this really symbolically through the story of the Israelites who came to Egypt in order to escape the drought and to be saved and rescued. But eventually they sold themselves. They sold themselves into slavery and were slaves for 400 years until Moses came. And then, even then, moses needed to deliver the people from their slavery. Pharaoh wanted to drive them and drive them and drive them until they were dead. That's what he wanted from them. He didn't care about them, he just wanted their service so he could accumulate more and drive them to the point of death.

Speaker 1: 6:59

The enemy doesn't care about you, friends. He doesn't want to give you a favor, he doesn't want to give you a little guilty pleasure. He doesn't understand you better than God does. He's not some kind of fun uncle. He wants to make you a slave and destroy you. And the evidence is in this paradox, this nonsensical idea that he will serve you if you become his servant, his slave.

Speaker 1: 7:28

So what do we do about this? Well, the first thing is to become aware of it. When you're tempted and you have some kind of faulty idea about the one who's tempting you being understanding and on your side, recognize it's a trap. It's a nonsensical trap. There's actually one behind the temptation who is trying to get you to bend your knee, to bow down before him so he can make you a slave, and let that bolster your resolve to turn instead to God and say God, I serve you and you alone Free me from the power of this temptation. But what we can also do with that is recognize that if we have lost control to sin, if we have become enslaved to a sin in our lives, then we need to be delivered by a higher power, specifically Jesus. So we turn to Jesus and we say Jesus, you are the Savior who can rescue me from the power of this sin that I've become enslaved, to Forgive me for giving my will over to this sin and would you deliver me. And we keep praying that. And then we also, as we align ourselves with God, as we bend our knee to him and give our allegiance to him, as we bow before Jesus, then we come against the enemy also and we say, no, in the name of Jesus, I no longer serve you, I choose to serve Jesus. I bend my knee before him.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Now here's the other side, the flip side of this irony. As we decide to serve Jesus, to give our lives as bond slaves to Christ, what happens? We are set free. We are set free. Jesus doesn't want to make us a slave because he needs something from us. He doesn't want to make us a slave, to drive us to death or destroy us. He wants us to choose allegiance to him, to serve him, to bend our knee, to bow before him in order for him to set us free.

Speaker 1: 9:15

So we go back to this moment in time when the Israelites had been released from Pharaoh's captivity for 40 years and Joshua was getting ready to lead them into the Promised Land, and he goes to the people and says Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Speaker 1: 9:37

That choice we have on whom we will serve this day is not a question of like which slave master will we be enslaved to. It is an invitation to freedom. Choose this day, friends, whom you will serve. Will it be the enemy who pretends to be your friend, pretends to offer you something nice but actually wants to make you a slave and destroy you? Or will you choose to bend your knee before Jesus, who truly, truly wants to set you free and empower you to never be a slave again? Jesus, you know the power, the persuasion of temptation and the tempter. Or would you empower us with your spirit to say no to him, to recognize the falsehood behind his promises, that we might say yes to you and no to sin. Jesus, empower us with your Holy Spirit that we might become more like you, free from sin, as we serve you with our whole hearts, minds and bodies. Oh Lord, make it so. We desire to be yours. Amen.