Warring Madness Separates Us
An all-creatures Bible Message

Warring Madness Separates Us
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
16 July 2017
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 25: 1-7
Matthew 13:1-9
Romans 8:1-11

Warring madness separates us, which is true, but from whom does it separate us?
 
Does warring madness separate us from each other, from members of our family, from members of our own country, from other countries, or from God?
 
Actually, we can find that warring madness separates us from all of the above, because any form of aggression or violence can only happen when there is no heavenly love.
 
Think about what happened in our American Civil War: our nation was divided and even family members were fighting against each other.
 
Think about all the wars where nations were fighting against each other; aren’t both humans and animals suffering and dying on both sides, because God’s heavenly love is absent from human hearts and souls?
 
Doesn’t warring madness separate us humans from the animals, because most humans eat the flesh and by-products of animals?
 
But that fear is overcome to some extent when humans make animals their companions, for these humans express enough limited love to overcome the animals’ fear.
 
Why do we say “limited love”?
 
Perhaps we should put it in terms of Melanie Joy’s book…Why do we pet our dogs, eat chickens, and wear cows?
 
The answer is simple; God’s heavenly love is absent, for while there may be love for the dog, there is no love for the chicken they eat or cow whose skin they wear.
 
But most of all, warring madness separates us from God, and this has been going on throughout history.
 
Let’s look at how warring madness separates us in terms of what we are told in Genesis 25:19-34…

19. Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham became the father of Isaac;
 
20. and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

Notice carefully that there is no mention of love, for even the Bible expresses this marriage as being something mechanical rather than a loving relationship

21. And Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Usually when we pray for someone else, we think of it in terms of loving someone enough to pray for them, but even here we are left with the question: Is Isaac praying for Rebekah because he truly loves her, or because of his own pride of wanting an heir?
 
Note what we are told next.

22. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
 
23. And the LORD said to her,
"Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples shall be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger."

Is this all happening because they are not truly filled with God’s heavenly will?
 
We are not told; we are only told in these matter-of-fact terms.
 
Could this be telling us that warring madness separates us even in the womb?
 
Again we are not told, specifically.

24. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
 
25. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
 
26. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

Is this also telling us about how warring madness separates us even as infants coming forth from the womb of their mother?
 
Let’s see if we can get a better understanding by looking at the family when the boys grew up, and see if we can discern anything about how warring madness separates us.

27. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

There is a striking difference between how Esau and Jacob live; Jacob is a man of peace, while Esau pursues the way of violence and hardness of heart, which separates him from God.

28. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

We can also see the hardness of heart in Isaac because he has no empathy for the animals that Esau kills, which makes his love for Esau quite limited.
 
On the other hand, Rebekah seems to be more genuine in her love for Jacob, but we need to look deeper to be sure.

29. And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;
 
30. and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.

Edom means red.

31. But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."

Here we can also see a hardness of heart in Jacob, for he shows little or no love for his brother, otherwise he would have just fed him; and there is more.

32. And Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?"
 
33. And Jacob said, "First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
 
34. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
NASB

This kind of hardness of heart and strife is really a form of warring madness, and in a small scale way, we are really seeing how warring madness separates us.
 
All of this is against the heavenly will of God.
 
Now, let’s take a look at Psalm 25:1-7…

1. To Thee, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
 
2. O my God, in Thee I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
 
3. Indeed, none of those who wait for Thee will be ashamed;
Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.

On the surface this appears to be in the heavenly will of God, but it may not be, because all of these words could be used to just flatter God into helping David as a way of saving face.

4. Make me know Thy ways, O LORD;
Teach me Thy paths.

David may actually know that everything upon his heart is not in the heavenly will of God, and he really wants God to help him return to Him with a contrite heart.

5. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me,
For Thou art the God of my salvation;
For Thee I wait all the day.
 
6. Remember, O LORD, Thy compassion and Thy lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
 
7. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Thy lovingkindness remember Thou me,
For Thy goodness' sake, O LORD.
NASB

David doesn’t say he is sorry for his actions, but he does seem to truly want to be changed into a child of God, as should we all.
 
On the other hand, if we are a part of the corrupt world system, its warring madness separates us from God.
 
In the eighth chapter of Romans, before Paul writes about the children of God freeing creation from its present corruption, he addresses how our position should be with the Lord; let’s take a look at Romans 8:1-11…

1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why?
 
Because, those who are truly in Christ Jesus, are the ones who have been transformed into the children of God, who live in His heavenly will, but those who remain in the world’s system of warring madness separate us and themselves from God.

2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
 
3. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
 
4. in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Remember that Jesus taught us that true unconditional love fulfills the Law, and this kind of love infills us when we become born again in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
At the same time we need to remember that the world’s warring madness separates us from God, but this kind of perfect love overcomes this warring madness and is the key to bringing peace to the world around us.

5. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
 
6. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
 
7. because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
 
8. and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

And remember that animals are made of flesh, and that those whose mind is set on eating flesh are really hostile towards God.
 
This is the major problem in the world today and unfortunately with most Christians who desire to have part or all of the world system of warring madness, violence, suffering, bloodshed, and death that affect the lives of millions of human beings, and billions of animals every year.
 
We cannot have it both ways: either we are in the world, and the world’s warring madness separates us from God, or we are in Christ Jesus, and living in the heavenly will of God that overcomes the world.

9. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
 
10. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
 
11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
NASB

We have encountered a lot of people who say they believe this, but who limit their love so as to be indifferent to the suffering of animals, who are part of God’s creation, and they eat animal flesh and by-products without a second thought about the pain and suffering they are causing.
 
Thus we can only conclude that they are still a part of the warring madness that separates us from God, and not a part of the salvation.
 
Let’s conclude our discussion of how warring madness separates us from God by looking at Matthew 13:1-9.

1. On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea.
 
2. And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.

Hopefully, most of the people wanted to hear the wisdom of the kingdom of God that Jesus was going to speak to them about, but some of them may just have come to see Him perform a miracle.

3. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;

The sower is God or Jesus, and Jesus could have been speaking about Himself, and the seed is the wisdom of God.

4. and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

The hard of heart people in this world are like the road, and they reject the word of God, and we also see in this portion of the parable that if humans won’t accept the wisdom of God, the animals will.

5. "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
 
6. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

This is what happens to people who hear the word of God, but because they also want to live in this corrupt world, the wisdom of God withers in their souls and dies.

7. "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

These people are like the previous ones, but with them it takes longer for the ways of the world to choke out the wisdom they had received.
 
Then Jesus tells the people about the way of the true believers, who reject the world and live in the heavenly will of God.

8. "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

Because the people have absorbed the wisdom of God into their hearts, minds, and souls, they bring forth the fruit of the spirit that can change the world and eliminate the warring madness.

9. "He who has ears, let him hear." 
NASB

Absolutely!
 
But of four classes of believers, only the last ones were able to hold onto the wisdom of God and use it for the glory of God to help free creation from its present corruption.
 
Warring madness separates us from God, but if we have the wisdom of God within us, we can overcome the evil in this world.
 
Don’t let the warring madness separate us.
 
Seek God with every aspect of our being.
 
Amen?
 
Amen.

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