Prior to Israel entering the land, God gave instructions for warfare in Deuteronomy 20. In verses 11 to 18, a distinction is made between Israel’s approach to war based on whether the enemy is among the Canaanite tribes singled out for destruction, or not. I alluded to this distinction during the sermon, but I would like to draw from it a principle that I think is supremely helpful for living the Christian life and choosing our battles. I believe this distinction is rooted in the context of the biblical narrative. It might be summarized this way: when sin is in your life, your family, or your church, you must deal with it ruthlessly; when you see sin in the world, you are permitted, given the dominion the church has in Christ, to engage in battle according to wisdom.

Consider that one of the main reasons, given over and over again in the Old Testament, that God told the people of Israel to absolutely and fully destroy all the Canaanites (men, women, and children) was that they might not “teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God” (Dt 20:18, also Dt 7:4, 12:30). Because God’s holy people were given a land, it had to be a holy land to its borders, or it would not remain so.

But beyond these borders, the approach was different. There were to offer other peoples terms of peace and if they accepted, they were to become servants of Israel. So God upholds that Israel has dominion over the pagans of the world, but this kind of “battle” is different.

What we find when we move to the New Testament is that this basic pattern and relationship holds, albeit in a typological relationship. The language used of dealing with our own sins is a vocabulary of ruthlessness, akin to how Israel was to deal with the Canaanites in their land. Our own bodies, in a certain sense, are this “land” or “temple” or “people” and we are to put to death the deeds of the body that we may live (Rom 8:13) and struggle against sin to the point of shedding our blood (Heb 12:4). There is no peace to be had with our sins. Sin won’t serve us. It’s very life must be extinguished. In a similar way, Paul speaks of sin within the church: “let him who has done this be removed from among you” (1 Cor 5:2); deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5). Although the man (in this case a brother who comes to repent) is not an enemy in the ultimate sense, his sin is, and as long as he remains unrepentant, he makes himself an adversary of Christ. This is why the man must be put outside the church.

But take note of the distinction Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13. He states that we are not permitted even to eat with an unrepentant sinner who calls himself a Christian. I take this to mean that we are not to live or communicate or fellowship in such a way as to convey that this sinner is a brother to us. But the same procedure is not to be taken in regard to the entire world, “since then you would need to go out of the world.” Paul concludes by saying that we are not to judge outsiders, but those inside the church. God judges those outside.

Several things could be drawn from this passage, and some pastors push this beyond its context to mean something like “don’t criticize the world” or “don’t expect the world to obey God’s laws” or “don’t point out the world’s sins.” I believe that is a misapplication of the passage. But the distinction Paul makes is helpful and in concert with the one we find in Deuteronomy 20. Regarding sin in our lives, our families, and our churches (especially if you are an elder), we must battle. When it comes to our prophetic witness outside the church, the extension of God’s kingdom, and prophetically pointing out the world’s sins, we must choose our battles and do so with both courage and wisdom.

Intuitively, I think we all understand this. If you find that your child is using filthy language, it is sin not to discipline them and teach cleanness of speech. But you do not correct every young person on the street who uses foul language! And yet, if there is sin that arises to a greater and more pernicious level– if you were to observe child abuse taking place, for instance, you would rightfully feel compelled to intervene or speak out. Both the foul language and the child abuse are sin. But we must use maturity (and a doctrine of sin and what sins are more serious and harmful) to determine when to “battle.”

There are no shortage of important battles in the world, but not every person is responsible to take up the sword on every front: child abuse, abortion, euthanasia, LGBT, etc. Even when it comes to important ministries and the spread of the gospel, we can’t equally support every good cause. Once again, it comes back to maturity as sons and kings, as we saw in 1 Kings. It also helps to know that it is the risen and reigning Christ who is ultimately in charge of His kingdom, assigning servants, warriors, and prophets where He will and equipping them for their particular service. Expect your brothers and sisters to be holy. Expect them to care about the cause of Christ in the world. But don’t expect them to necessarily wage war on exactly the same front. It may be a battle God has particularly given to you and not particularly to them.