MONSTERS ARE REAL --
MONSTERS SERIES, PART 1

Genesis 4:1-10, Romans 7:18-25 (NASB)
David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher
9 October 2005
All Rights Reserved, www.breakfree.org

1. A MONSTER WITHIN

In the Disney/Pixar animated film Finding Nemo a family of brightly-colored clown fish experience a catastrophic attack by a predator. The dad fish, Marlin, and his son, Nemo, are the only ones who survive. As you might expect, Marlin becomes mightily overprotective of his adventurous son in the months which follow.

One day, while out on a school field trip, Nemo spies a boat and some divers and swims off to look at them. In a flash he gets caught in a fish net and disappears from the ocean. Marlin is heartbroken and sets off on a quest to find his son. He swims through places in the ocean he has never seen before, escapes various dangers, and meets many unusual sea creatures.

In one section of the ocean he meets a perky and forgetful blue tang fish named Dory with whom he begins to travel in search of his son. And then, as they are arguing about their future together as a team, they meet the sharks. First they meet Bruce, a powerful shark with huge jaws full of hundreds of teeth. Marlin and Dory think their lives are over, but Bruce, instead of eating them, invites them to a meeting of sharks who are trying to shed their image as vicious killing machines.

What proceeds is a bizarre scene where the sharks are using some sort of twelve-step program for becoming friendly creatures who don't eat fish any more! "Hello, my name is Bruce, and it's been three weeks since my last fish." Everyone claps. Turns out it's step five, which is the bring-a-friend step, so that's why Bruce has asked Marlin and Dory to the meeting.

Marlin swims to the podium and as he gives his testimony he spies a diver's mask used by one of the men who took Nemo. He leaves the meeting and swims to the mask where he sees that the owner's address is written on it. Hope at last! But who can read the writing? Dory swims over and grabs the mask away: "Hey, maybe the sharks can read it!" Marlin starts a tug of war with Dory to keep from losing the only hope he has of finding his son. And then it happens.

The elastic strap snaps back and the mask smacks Dory in the nose. Blood begins to seep out of her nostrils, into the water, and up toward Bruce, the friendly shark. One sniff of blood and Bruce's 12-step program is blown out of the water. He reverts to his true predatory self and cries out: "I'm having fish tonight!" His shark buddies try one last time to stop him. "Remember the steps, mate!" they shout as they pin Bruce against the hull of a sunken ship.

But it's no use. He bursts free from them and goes on a mad tear trying to eat his new friends. The killer shark within Bruce has been awakened, and he will not stop until he has satisfied himself. This great monster of the sea simply begins to do what is in him to do. Marlin and Dory swim for their lives trying to hide in the nooks and crannies of the sunken ship.

2. MONSTERS IN THE BIBLE

There are no such things as monsters. That's what we tell frightened children when we are trying to get them to go to sleep. Monsters are just the subject of stories and movies we enjoy because we like to be scared a little when we know it is safe. But is pretending that there are no such things as monsters the right way to deal with reality? What if there really are monsters and we are not ready to face them?

The term "monster" is indeed used in the Bible to describe creatures we cannot ultimately identify, particularly sea monsters, a river monster, and even a desert monster. We can tell that they were fierce, terrible, and frightening, but we do not know much more. In Genesis chapter four we see, without the use of the term, a picture of a terrible threatening monster. The background of the story is that God created heaven and earth and everything in them in chapters one and two. In chapter three we see the entrance of sin into the human race through the deliberate disobedience of the first man and woman toward the God who loved them. In response to their fall God spoke a set of judgments by which mankind would suffer including death, antagonism, suffering, and toilsome labor. The story picks up in chapter four where Adam and Eve, having been cast out of the garden, begin to settle into life as damaged by sin: "Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, 'I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.' Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground" (Genesis 4:1-2).

Eve immediately began to experience the pain of childbirth which would be the lot of women for all time. It no doubt felt like death to her, and even now death in childbirth is a normal part of life on a fallen planet. While Adam and Eve had many children whose birth order is not clear, the story focuses upon two sons: "So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard" (Genesis 4:3-5a).

When I read this I immediately want to know what was wrong with Cain's offering because I don't want to make the same mistake. Several explanations have been popular, the first of which is that Cain erred by bringing some portion of his produce which was not the first and best. That is possible, but the text does not explicitly say this, and it was only later in history that the issue of first fruits was spelled out. God may have told them verbally, but we can never know that. Another possibility is that Cain's offering was unacceptable because it was not a blood offering. I cannot think of any reason that God would reject a grain offering at this point in history. In fact, both offerings are described by the same Hebrew word, minchah, giving us the impression that God probably saw them as equally valid in and of themselves. If you are like me, none of this vagary helps because it does not tell me how I can avoid the error in Cain's offering.

The way out of this bind is to notice that the text says that God not only had no regard for Cain's offering but none for him personally. Now it starts to make sense that we cannot find any fault in the offering itself, because the spiritual failure of this offering was inside Cain's heart where only God could see. In fact, based on later teaching about offerings in Israel, it would have been possible for Cain to have brought a perfectly good offering yet with a bad spirit and gotten rejected because God seeks heart worship. He does not need our barbecued ribs and roasted whole wheat in any way. The need is ours--that is, to bring offerings as acts of worship from our inward selves.

The next verses reveal the fact that monsters are real, and they are uncomfortably close to us: "So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it'" (Genesis 4:5b-7). The phrase "sin is crouching at the door" echoes an ancient (but later) Babylonian concept that a demon may wait at the door of your home to attack you as you enter. In fact, we had woman in our church years ago who was coming out of a life of witchcraft. When she visited our church for the first time she was greatly disturbed that demons were attacking her as she passed though our front doors. She thought it was happening to everyone. She's the only one who ever reported such spiritual monsters at that location, but I pray over our entire building anyway for freedom from such harassments.

But God is not talking about demons here, he is painting a dreadful picture of our personal sin nature waiting like a monster to pounce upon us and tear us to shreds--spirit, mind, soul, and body. He issued a crucial command to Cain which is a command also to us: "you must master it." So I bring you bad news: you have a many-faced monster dwelling in your breast which is your sin nature, and you must get control of it every day.

Cain did not: "Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' And he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' He said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground'" (Genesis 4:8-10). If you read this entire account you will never find a clear word of repentance from this man. His official position was that Abel and God had problems but not him. The list of faces which his personal monster took is long: lack of respect for God (:3), uncontrolled anger (:5), jealousy, deception, murder (:8), lying (:9), and self-seeking (:13).

If we believe the Bible then we must admit that monsters are real, and they do not live in caves, swamps, or under beds. They are lurking within our very beings.

3. USELESS ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME THE MONSTERS

Over the years I have encountered many useless attempts to overcome the monsters. A popular woman radio counselor took a call from a man who was thinking of leaving his wife and children because the wife was no longer able to have marital relations with him due to physical constraints. The counselor's advice was that he should not even consider leaving, which was right. Then she told him to use pornography for gratification instead.

This is a bizarre thought. The man had already elevated the monster of physical desire to the point where he was willing to wound his family for life in order to gratify himself. That is sinful! The use of pornography would be like throwing gasoline on the flames. It's all about selfishness. I am guessing that if that man took her advice leaving his family would be inevitable. Indulgence is of no use against the monster, it just strengthens it.

William Bennett, who served in the first Bush presidential administration, authored two lengthy books on character formation. We then find out that Mr. Bennett has a tremendous gambling problem, with losses possibly even as high as the value of our church building. So study of the issue of morality and character is useless against the monster of gambling addiction. You can't just read a good book and get out of it.

Once when I was traveling I sat next to a very inebriated man on an airplane. He was extremely talkative, so I used the opportunity to share personal stories and my testimony. His response to the good news of Christ was that he didn't need it because he had another method of cleansing his soul, namely working out at the gym. He described how good he felt after a long, hard time of exercise. He seemed to be mistaking the release of endorphins for atonement! His drunken condition was living proof that the principle of self-improvement could not bring him victory over his monsters.

Then there is the story of a young arsonist in upstate New York who gathered several buddies and firebombed an elementary school. I am not surprised that the young sometimes do monumentally stupid things, but the story is not over. After four years of imprisonment for this crime the young man got out, gathered another group of pyro-buddies, and set fire to a vacant house in a suburban area. Punishment did not even slow him down. The monster of arson had total control of his soul.

What about humanly-devised religious observances? Paul the Apostle warned the Colossians: "These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence" (Colossians 2:23). Paul is not commenting about true religion but about all the humanly-invented ideas which seem good to us but which are of no help against the monsters.

4. PAUL'S MONSTER

Even in the real church we have a problem with monsters, namely, denial. It is very common to pretend that we used to have monsters before we trusted in Christ for salvation, but now they are gone. Imagine how discouraging it is for someone who is not a Christian to finally admit that they are being torn apart by the monster of sin, and then to come into a false church environment where everyone is pretending that there are no monsters. He or she would have two thoughts. First: These people do not have a grip on reality. Secondly, These people cannot help me with my monsters.

Is that the way the Bible presents the challenge of the faith life? Listen to the Apostle Paul speaking candidly: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:18-23).

If you are from the "There are no such things as monsters" school of Christianity then you are embarrassed by this passage. Some commentators are so embarrassed that they say that this is Paul describing himself before he came to faith in Christ. But of course Paul wrote the whole Book of Romans as a redeemed man and if he had wanted to describe his unregenerate state he was fully capable of doing so.

No, Paul was telling us that the battle with monsters is a daily reality, and that the mere exercise of the power of choice is no help. We need something beyond the capacities of our humanity. When God said to Cain: "...Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it," he was not saying "you must master it without my guidance or help." No, the entire program of redemption with its many phases throughout dusty millennia of time has always been based upon total dependence upon God. There is no mastery of the monsters apart from God.

The logic of Romans chapter seven comes down to some undeniable universal truths. Unless we appropriate these truths personally we will always be at the mercy of every monster we meet. First, as Paul wrote, we must stop the denial and admit the reality of the great many-faced monster in our souls called sin: "I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good" (Romans 7:21).

Secondly, we must accept our powerlessness to control the monsters: "For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want" (Romans 7:19). The list of useless schemes to get power over the monsters is unending because this is the number one problem of mankind.

Thirdly, and this is the point of all, we must realize that Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, is our only hope against the monsters. Paul described his problem with the monster and then cried out: "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" There can be only one answer to that: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25).

CONCLUSION

Think of how silly the sharks seemed in our opening story. They were imagining that they could use a self-help program to stop their vicious marauding. They failed to admit that vicious marauding is part of their nature. The monster is inside of them, as it is with us. They also failed to admit that they were completely unable to master the monster even with a self-help program.

I am confidant that many of us react to this message with denial. I'm a nice person. I'm not wrestling with monsters. I just have this little problem of smacking my wife, or drunkenness, or smoking, or drug abuse, or profanity, or stealing from my employer, or blaming the church for my spiritual problems, or pornography use, or gossip, or adultery, or fornication. Until we admit our monsters and our inability to deal with them, no one can keep us from being shredded limb from limb, body, soul, mind, and spirit. We're dead. It's hopeless. But thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Jesus is our only hope, and he is the real answer. Everything else is a fake.

A word about twelve-step programs such as the one in our opening story. Some of us with addictions need to be in one. They can be life-changing if one rule is invariably followed: Whenever the program calls for relying on the so-called Higher Power, we only ever rely upon the real Jesus Christ, Master of the Universe, and Savior of the World. There's no hope for the sharks, but there's hope for every one of us. I advise you to give up on everything else and believe it.

[clip: Finding Nemo, chapter 8, "Sharks," 0:18:30-0:22:30]