Theology & Life

Recently I was trying to find a song to listen to in the car when I stumbled upon “Make War” by Tedashii (yes . . . I am a fan of Christian hip-hop/rap). The song begins with a short sermon clip from John Piper, which says:

I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections, and their failures, and their addictions, and their shortcomings—and I see so little war! “Murmur, murmur, murmur, why am I this way? Make war!”

As Piper screams “war” there is a crescendo and Tedashii begins to rap. If you ever needed a song to hype you up, so to speak, to fight against sin, this will help.

But this song speaks to a problem many Christians have. One, they don’t fight their sin all that much (let alone all that well). Two, they don’t realize the fight is happening—every single day.

Instead, as Piper noted, Christians despair over their condition. They are in Christ, to be sure. But they are frustrated and perplexed as to why they are making little to no progress. This is faintly similar to the outcry of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, where he writes: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (vv. 15‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

This is the ordinary Christian life: a battle with sin on a daily basis. Each morning we wake up, there’s a battle to be fought, a sin to deal with, a transgression that lurks around the corner. The first step comes in understanding a war is going on. But once we realize that, we have to ask the question: since we must make war, but how do we do that? Here are five ways.

1. Bathe yourself in God’s Word.

We will quickly lose the war against our sin if we are not saturating ourselves with Scripture, if we’re not soaking up the truths of the Bible. “How can a young man keep his way pure?” the psalmists asks in Psalm 119:9. “By guarding it according to your word.”

The more we are reading and retaining the truths and promises of God in Scripture, the less of a chokehold our sin will have on us. If we neglect Scripture, we’ve already lost the battle for that day. “Scripture is our weapon,” J.D. Greeat wrote, “and going to battle without it is like going into a duel without a gun.”

Jesus responded to each of Satan’s temptation with Scripture, and we’d be wise to do the same. We can’t do that, however, when we’re not in the Bible. We can’t do that when we don’t memorize.

2. Pray your heart full.

Prayer suffocates sin. Erik Raymond wrote that

Sin, at its core, is pride. Prayer, at its core, is the expression of humility. The only way out of sin is to humble ourselves before God, embrace reality, and plead for mercy and grace.

It’s difficult to leave room for sin when we are consistently on our knees in prayer. In contrast, we understand that sin suffocates prayer. So we have to decide what will be suffocated: prayer or sin? What will we give our time and devotion to? What is our priority?

The more we are on our face in prayer, the less of a grip sin has on our hearts. More often than not, when we are entirely focused on communion with God, our hearts aren’t even tempted with sin. It’s a non-issue. Of course, the problem lies when we neglect prayer. That’s when mischief takes place and we allow sin to cause problems. It’s imperative for us to pray consistently to keep sin out.

3. Gouge your eye out.

In Matthew 5:29, Jesus had some frightening words for dealing with sin: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (ESV‬).

To be sure, Jesus is not being literal. He’s not telling us to gouge our eyes out; no, He’s telling us to cut the thing out of our lives that’s causing us to sin. So, Christian, ask yourself: what is it? What is that one your life that causes you to sin on a consistent basis?

Social media? Television? Any other form of entertainment that perhaps tempts you? Cut it off. Strangle it. Be active against those things that tempt you to sin against the holy God. Do not tease your sin, beckoning it to come out and play. “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:14). Fighting sin is that serious. Leave no room for gratifying its desire. Sin wants to kill you. You—all of us—need to kill it first.

As John Owen famously wrote: “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Whatever is in your life that is causing a glaring sin problem, stop messing around with it. Cut it out and move forward. Sin is that serious.

4. Confess your sins.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭9 ESV). This applies to Christians. Yes, we’ve been forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus, but we still ought to confess our sins to one another and, of course, God.

Confession brings our sin out in the open, in the appropriate circumstances. When we conceal our sin, it only grows. It festers in our hearts which makes us more likely to harden our own heart. Friend, fight sin by exposing your sin. It’s a painful process, one that perhaps will have consequences. But it’s worth it.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel when you confess. When you keep it inside, you allow sin to win the war and destroy you from the inside-out.

5. Don’t isolate.

The Christian life wasn’t meant to be lived in isolation. “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18:1). Sin grows—and does so quickly—when a Christian chooses to isolate from a community of believers. God created us to be in community with other like-minded believers. When we isolate from those people, we allow our sin to spread.

Do you want to make war with your sin? Surround yourself with other Christians who can point things out to you in love, who aren’t afraid to tell you difficult things. Don’t shrink back from those who love you and pour into your life. Get plugged in with your local church even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it goes against every fiber of your being, even when it means you might be exposed for the sin you have.

If you truly want to make war against your sin, you’ll be open. You’ll confess. You’ll take every measure necessary to be active in the battle against sin. Sin is never passive. It’s not going to wait for you to slip up. It comes quickly and with terrifying force. Sometimes it’s external temptations; many times it’s our own selfish desires. Regardless, we must make war.