Tag Archives: Satan

Temptation Eyes James 1: 12-18 First St Johns Feb 22, 2015

Leave a reply

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have remained steadfast under trial said … AMEN!

In the early 1970’s, one of the first songs that I remember as a teen, ironically, was by a group called the Grass Roots, titled “Temptation Eyes”. It was a hard driving rock song, which, really characterizes temptation. For me, temptation is sort of this hard driving, almost drilling into you this desire, you just have to have it. The lyrics, for a secular song, really do give you a sense of temptation. “She’s got something that moves my soul…”[1] A secular song talking about something that reaches right down into the soul. This temptation that is so compelling is moving this singer with a hard rock rhythm.

Have no doubt that when Jesus was being tempted by Satan, Jesus was feeling temptation that was drilling down into Him. The desert is not a welcoming place, it’s hot, it’s dry (unless of course it’s snowing and freezing rain in York, then it’s almost inviting.) temptation for shelter from the sun, for cool, refreshing water, for food, is compelling in the desert. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us: “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. This passage assures us that Jesus did suffer. He felt temptation deep down. He knows that we are tempted and He knows that temptation can steer us to things that aren’t good for us, that take our eyes off of Him who is our hope and promise. But also because of this we know that we can trust Him.

Too often we deal with things in our lives that reach down into our soul. Others will try to give us comfort and assurance, “oh it’s nothing”, we can stay strong and cope. It’s a big difference between men and women. There are things women contend with, that they are tempted by, that as men we just don’t get. We just cannot empathize with the compulsion they feel. And certainly vice versa. We can tell each other nice things, and think that we are helping, but too often we really aren’t and may be aggravating the situation. However, with Jesus, based on James’ words and of the writer of Hebrews, we are assured that Jesus understands. Too often we get an image of God as angry and vengeful, just waiting to strike us down when we are even so much as tempted. That is God to many, to those who are not saved in Jesus. But we, who are saved in Jesus, who are born again as new men and women, saved in Christ, we have a Savior who understands, who wants to help us push back against temptation before we are overwhelmed and give in. Temptation is not a sin, Mark tells us that Jesus was tempted (Mark 1:13), we certainly know that Jesus did not sin. But for us, who are weak in ourselves, it is much too easy for that temptation to push us into something that is sin. James writes: “…each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (Jas 1:14-15) Temptation is all around us, the Ben and Jerry’s you know is in the freezer, anger, vengeance, doing things that hurt you and someone else. Turn on the television, computer, books, magazines, its everywhere. When we give in to sin, we come up with excuses and rationalizations that push Jesus away and make that sin an idol, and then we cross the line and commit sin.

Our Savior understands that, He’s not standing over us just waiting for us to make that wrong move, that gotcha. He has been there, in this time of Lent we remember His time in the desert. From that Jesus can relate to those who are His, because, as the writer of Hebrews pens: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are,…” (Heb 4:15), but then goes on to say, “yet without sin.”

Jesus knows what confronts us, He does relate to us. Even more, if we let Him, the Holy Spirit will reach down and strengthen us. We often think of that sin as a treat, we pooh-pooh things like over indulging in food. It’s not healthy for us, it’s weakening our body, it makes us less able to serve Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Jesus. Sure in moderation, but in this day and age? We are not a moderate people. Have you seen Ben and Jerry’s concoction, formulated by Jimmy Fallon, it puts me into a diabetic coma just looking at it.

It does make you wonder, why Satan would even try with Jesus. Satan knows as well as anyone how this is going to end up. But he wants us to fail. He wants us to quit. Clearly Jesus had come into the world to mess up Satan’s plans and schemes. You can’t expect Satan to just twiddle his thumbs while Jesus undoes all the evil and sin of the world. You can’t expect him to give up, he wants to unravel the world, he’s condemned, he wants everyone condemned. So he had to push back against Jesus. But Satan isn’t normally over the top, he’s not usually in your face. He is usually subtle, continually trying to undermine us. He’s putting temptation in front of you so that you will quit and give in. You will stop caring about what Jesus wants and only focus on the object of your desire.

Writing about our vocations in life; work, family, church, community; “Wingren says that ‘Temptation in vocation is the devil’s attempt to get man out of his vocation” (121) Dr Gene Veith goes on to write: The devil wants you to quit. He wants you to quit your job. He wants you to get a divorce. He wants you to stop doing things for that ungrateful bunch at church. He wants you to tell your kids to ‘Do whatever you want to do. I give up.’ He wants you to leave that congregation because it’s nothing but trouble.”[2] Is that not the world we see today? Left and right we see this giving into temptation. Not just the obvious temptations, lust, gluttony, greed, anger etc. The more subtle temptation of giving up. Why try? The government will provide for you, some relative will provide for you, the church, should, provide for you. Why try at work? People are just mean to you there. Why try in your marriage? If someone doesn’t make you happy, dump ‘em. Why try with your kids, they’re just going to do what they want. Why try with your church? The pastor is hopeless, nothing good is happening and of course, we know that the church is just full of hypocrites anyway.

Yea, the quitter mentality we see in the world today. You can give into the world, you can let Satan lead you away and give into the temptation that he waves in front of you to quit, to give up. Jesus could have quit out in the desert, just packed it in, “hey, not my problem, they’re going to have to deal with this temptation stuff themselves.” He didn’t! He was faithful to you, to make sure you had that hope and promise that you have a Savior who will not quit on you. He gives us the faith to continue to trust in Him, but we just go ahead and chuck it? Then what? Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus is telling the readers that they will face terrible tribulation. Jesus promises the one who overcomes: “The one who conquers and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations… He will be clothed in white garments and I will never blot out his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels…Hold fast so that no one will seize your crown… I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God…” Read chapters 2 and 3 in the Book of Revelation. He warns us, but the promises He makes to those who are faithful, are eternal and overwhelming.

The great thing is, Jesus doesn’t leave us to our own strength to overcome temptation and sin. We know we have His promise to defend us, to protect us, to give us the faith we need. But how sad is it, when He is standing there protecting us and we just run away, concerned only about ourself? Mandisa is a great Christian rock singer, these lyrics are from a recent song:

“Everybody’s been down Hit the bottom, hit the ground, Ooh, you’re not alone
Just take a breath, don’t forget, Hang on to His promises, He wants You to know

You’re an overcomer, Stay in the fight ‘til the final round, You’re not going under
‘Cause God is holding you right now[3]

Be an overcomer, don’t give into temptation. The lyrics of the Grass Roots song are instructive: “But she lets me down everytime, can’t make her mind she’s no one’s lover…” Temptation will always let you down, will fail you. But Christ will always strengthen you and save you. You can continue to deal with temptation or be an overcomer.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

[1] Grass Roots  “Temptation Eyes”

[2] Gene Veith “God at Work” quoting Wingren “Luther on Vocation”

[3] Mandisa “Overcomer”

In the Fullness of Time Galatians 4: 4-7 First St Johns December 28, 2014

Leave a reply

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know the perfect timing of God said … AMEN

Under the heading: “There is no such thing as “coincidences” where God is concerned, for that matter anything, since God is concerned with everything about our lives, we read Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Galatian’s four short verses are loaded with teaching. Paul’s quote in Galatians 4 is particularly interesting: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son … to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons … you are no longer a slave, but a son,…”(Gal 4: 4-7)

The part that of find of interest right here is “…the fullness of time…” Some think that had something to do with Mary coming to term in her pregnancy, or something that was dictated by Joseph and Mary’s situation. But most see Paul’s short expression as an appreciation and understanding of how God does things in His time and dictates the course of events and history according to His will. The Father didn’t turn to the Son one day and for just any old reason say, “yeah, think it’s about time we do the incarnation thing.” This had been the plan since the beginning, He chooses to reveal that plan to us, first, in Genesis 3:15, at the very beginning and then just before He throws the switch to make it happen, the Father reaffirms His plan, in an even plainer way in Isaiah 9:6. The Genesis passage, the proto-Evangelium, where God promises Satan that there would be a Savior, that the Messiah, anointed One of God, would come into the world to crush Satan’s head. God the Son would crush Satan’s head and by doing so, would save us from the curse of Hell. That sounds harsh, necessary, but in your face. However the Father’s promise to Isaiah is the one that is His majestic promise that He made when Judah is about to be crushed by Assyria and to disappear as a nation, most of her people killed or enslaved. Certainly a great crisis where Yahweh promises them; “A Child is born, A Son is given, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Israelites knew that they were about to take a harsh and long-lasting beating and they needed this promise. Isaiah could have said the same thing Paul writes: “But when the fullness of time had come…”, because Israel had pushed too far for Yahweh and He was now about to let His people know what happens when they ignore Him and get too caught up in their own plans and expectations. The fullness of time had come and Israel, at least for a few generations, would cease to exist.

Paul on the other hand tells us that the “…fullness of time…” had just occurred for the Father to fulfill His promises to Adam and Eve, and to the people of Israel by Isaiah and it happened at this intersection of time. Although Paul didn’t know it, although Jesus prophesied it, this was the perfect time for God. While they were strolling away from the temple and the disciples were admiring the view of the buildings of the temple, Jesus took them to task and said “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Don’t become to fascinated by the things man, in this case King Herod, build, because there is going to be another turning point in Israel’s history and this temple that you find so fascinating will be completely destroyed in just a few years. In about 40 years Israel, as you know it now, will cease to exist along with the temple. The Judaism of Israel would no longer be focused on the temple and would be scattered again. A new world would begin and the Christians in Israel would be forced to leave and take Christianity into the world.

This time, that Jesus had been born into, was the perfect time for Him to come into the world and conduct His incarnational ministry. It was a time of peace in Israel, Jesus did not have to contend with wars or any kind of famine or drought. He could get everyone’s full attention on His ministry and drive it deep into their awareness so that they could readily understand their new relationship with the Father. They had time to absorb the Gospel and begin to live it before they had to go into the world to spread the Gospel. They had to unlearn the legalism of Judaism and the debauchery of paganism and to come to understand that they were saved solely and completely by grace. They couldn’t earn their way to Christ in this world or to eternity, they could only be brought to salvation in Him and through His actions, what Jesus does to save us.

The conditions were exactly right for the disciples to absorb Jesus’ teaching and take those teachings into the world. Not only was there peace, the conditions surrounding them enabled them to bring Jesus to the world. As Lee Strobel points out: “The time period when Jesus lived was ideally suited for the spread of Christianity. The vast reach of the Roman Empire primed the known world for the gospel. Roman roads allowed relative ease of travel and greatly increased the area to which the gospel spread. Roman authority also helped protect travelers from robbers and attackers. Throughout the Roman Empire, Greek was the common language, and allowed communication of the gospel between groups who lived hundreds or thousands of miles from each other.”1

The Pax Romana, that is the peace of Rome, which united the entire world, enabled Jesus’ disciples to teach and preach without the distraction of wars or other disruptions to those they preached to. Jesus’ disciples could travel and teach without being abused because the Roman Empire tolerated many belief systems. Any earlier or later, and the disciples would be persecuted before Christianity could take root. At this time Christians could worship and evangelize unmolested. God created the conditions through man, mostly the Romans, so that He could send His Son into the world to preach God’s Word and Will and so that His church would grow. The church of Jesus Christ might otherwise have been steamrolled or isolated to small parts of the world. Jesus’ appearance met other promises of prophecy. Strobel writes: “God fulfilled his prophesied time frame. Daniel predicted that the Anointed One would come and would be ‘cut off’ (killed) before the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple (Daniel 9: 24-26).”

From Paul’s writing we can see the sovereignty of God, that is God controls and is Lord of all that He has created. He planned and controlled human history so that at just the perfect time in that history His Son would appear and become the focus of the entire world. The world had never been brought together as it had under the Roman Empire and in a couple of hundred years it would be shattered and different peoples would be separated from each other, unable even to communicate. God controls the events of the world, which He does, although He permits man, because of His sin, to spread war and sickness and famine throughout the world. Then clearly God controls those who He has chosen to be Lord of their lives. For myself there is no doubt that God chose the perfect time for me to know Jesus as my Savior. Because you are here, baptized, listening to His Word, about to take His Body and Blood, He has chosen you at just the right time to be saved in Jesus.

Strobel writes: “ God had an appointed day when he would intersect human history with the promised redemption. The moment in history when Jesus arrived was tailored for the rapid spread of the Gospel. All human history is balanced on the fulcrum of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.”2 God gives us the understanding we need in order to know Him as our Father and Jesus as our Savior, and when we see it in human history, we can better understand how He works in our own personal lives. Take some time over the next week and think about how “..in the fullness of time…” God the Father, Abba, has made us His own sons and daughters that Paul writes about in this passage.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1Lee Strobel The Case for Christ Study Bible p 1634

2Ibid p 1634

Remembering our sin in preparation for the Child First St Johns November 30, 2014 Isaiah 64: 1-9

Leave a reply

For the audio version of this sermon, click on the above link, or copy and paste it into your web browser. Thank you and God bless.

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who prepare for the coming of the Son in the new liturgical year said … AMEN!

Happy New Year, sounds a little weird, aren’t we supposed to have Christmas first and then have New Year? Today is the first Sunday of the church New Year, the time of Advent, the time where we wait in anticipation, our whole life is a time of waiting in anticipation of the coming of Jesus in the clouds of His power and glory. But for now we wait on the feast, the celebration of the coming of the Christ child. The Advent of His Kingdom in the world. We joined together in the Apostle’s Creed to remember that He will come again, to judge both the living and the dead. Those who have died in Christ will be raised to the resurrection the eternal Kingdom, the New Jerusalem.

Isaiah says “Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold please look, we are all your people.” (Is 64:8-9) Ya, Isaiah is addressing the Old Testament God. Remember Isaiah 6? Isaiah is raised into the presence of God: “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!’ (Is 6:5)? From the beginning of Isaiah to the end, our reading today, Isaiah is readily acknowledging the fact that we are sinful and unclean, we are simply not suitable to be in the presence of a pure, holy, God. Clearly God has revealed to Isaiah that we are sinful and there needs to be a solution to our condition. Yahweh makes it very clear to Isaiah that the sacrifices of Israel; rams, bulls, lambs, just doesn’t cut it. Read all through Isaiah 1: 10-15. But then what does God do? He promises that they will be made as white as snow… our sins will be like wool, nice and white, cleaned, made pure. He makes it very clear all through Isaiah’s book that we are sinful, and Isaiah is completely aware of his own condition. Imagine being brought straight into the presence of our completely holy God, just being overwhelmed by His holy presence, His Holy being and our being, the complete opposite, totally depraved and sinful. It must be an overpowering experience. Many people demand that God come into their presence, we couldn’t begin to cope with that, we would be consumed by our sinfulness in contrast to His holiness, we would be completely blown away and that’s why God won’t do it.

Until we completely internalize Paul’s words in our epistle reading: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus… who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ( 1 Cor 1: 4, 8) Only in Christ are we guiltless, that we can then be in the presence of the Father, totally righteous and holy, but only through our baptism-new life, we are made holy, we don’t have to be reduced to the fear and disgust that Isaiah felt. In Christ, in the Father’s presence we are lifted up to joy, we can rejoice. I have no doubt that it will be an overwhelming feeling of love and freedom in Christ, in the Father’s presence.

Isaiah is making a plea for restoration. He has been made completely aware of how unworthy he is, how unworthy we all are. Isaiah is no better or worse then we are, none of us is any better or any worse. Isaiah is making this plea that we can be restored. In what way are we restored? We can now be in the Father’s presence, we are no longer separated from Him, alienated from Him. We are alienated from Him because we are aliens in relation to Him. No we aren’t green or odd-shaped, we don’t have antenna’s in our head, but our nature, as Isaiah has been made profoundly aware of, is totally opposite to His. He is completely holy, completely perfect, we are imperfect and deeply sinful. Walter Roehrs in the Concordia Self-Study Commentary writes: “Isaiah devotes the remainder of his book to correct two misconceptions his hearers and readers are prone to harbor about the way God wants to lead them to glory.” I might add that this is the way we think today, probably more so, then what the people in Isaiah’s time thought. “It is a fatal mistake on the one hand, to … walk with God with one foot, and with the other to stalk through the sewer of sin.”1 That’s the way we think today, “I’m good enough, I haven’t killed anyone, there are others much worse than me.” So we continue to live our lives in this mind-set that I can give God what ever I decide and He has to take what I give Him and deal with it. God is not a half-way kind of guy, it’s His way or no way. How the world comes to another conclusion totally baffles me. Why should a perfect, holy God be happy with some scraps that we throw Him, bring us into His presence and just allow whatever phony, mooshy, sentimental whim we chose over His perfect being? Why would He let our lusts and greed overcome His Holiness. Through our sin, we’ve messed up what God created, away from Him, cutoff from Him. He drove Satan out of heaven when Satan presumed to be better than God, why would He let us in to do the same thing Satan did? He’s not and if you think otherwise, you’re only kidding yourself. Dr Roehrs writes: “Isaiah had to set Israel straight [and by extension us who are now Israel] on both counts. He [Isaiah] foretold certain disaster for a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity’ and so depraved as to lift ‘hands … full of blood’ to the Lord in a pose of prayer.” (Is 1: 4, 15)2 That’s us, and that’s not going to work in the presence of God the Father, but in Christ we become cleansed and pure and suitable enough to be saved to eternity in God’s salvation in Jesus.

Isaiah is acutely aware of the human condition in relation to God: “We have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

So what now, what needs to happen. Can we do anything that is going to make us closer to God, to make us more desirable, more deserving of being in His presence? No… But earlier in his book, Isaiah knew that God was going to move, to do something. It was going to take about 700 years, for us that would be intolerable! We want the solution, we want it now and well, if you can’t make it happen on our time table, we’re just going to have to get ourselves a new “god”. But in God the Father’s time, it is perfect, complete, not a band-aid fix, an eternal, complete, perfect fix: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6) I like what David Johnson says: “…Advent is not just anticipatory of a saccharin sweet nativity story, but bona fide bitter judgment against sin! Heaven and earth collide and are mingled in Jesus! God and man! Jesus is wrapped in human flesh; the world is wrapped in divine grace…”3 The seasonal color for Advent is usually blue, although purple is acceptable also. What other season is purple the seasonal color? Lent. The blue, and some say it’s bluish-purple, is a symbol of waiting, it represents Mary waiting with the rest of the church for her child. But the more traditional color is purple and like Lent means a time of repentance, in the sense of preparing for the coming of the Savior in repentance, being prepared for Him by repenting of our sins. That’s why we don’t normally sing Christmas carols, which are celebration, we are faithfully preparing and repenting so that in the Christ Child we are saved and we spend the Christmas season in joy and celebration. Spend the Advent season raising up your sins for forgiveness, clean out your heart, like you clean your house on Shrove Tuesday and you will be prepared to receive the child on Christmas Day as we receive the risen Christ on Easter.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

1Roehrs, Franzman Concordia Self-Study Commentary p 490

2Ibid

3David A Johnson Concordia Journal Fall 2014 p 322

Awesome God First St Johns Lutheran Church August 10, 2014

Leave a reply

 

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father, and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know that we trust and obey God and never rely on our own understanding said … AMEN
Pastor Cory Burma refers to the Rich Mullins song “Awesome God”, Burma says that Mullins was surprised that people were taking “awesome” in a contemporary sense, like amazing, or really cool. “awesome” means that God is “to be feared and loved, one who has done things our mind cannot fully comprehend.” 1
If we go back to chapter 1 in the Book of Job starts by saying “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from all evil.” Quick note, Uz was also where Moses lived for forty years.2 Satan reports into God, and seems a little random, but God pops up with: ‘Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” The Hebrew word translated “turning away”, means not just avoiding but even actively turning away evil influences. So what we see here is God not just commending Job for being so great, but actively pushing away the influence of evil. WOW! Wouldn’t that be great, if God was talking about you that way? Ya that Jim he’s such a great guy, not only does he live his life right, but he actively does things in order to rip out evil in his part of the world. I’d certainly love it if God talked about me that way. But Satan kind of challenges God on Job; sure Job’s great, everyone would be great if you set them up the way You’ve set up Job.
You might hear in Christian circles people praying that God will set a hedge about them. In other words that God will protect them and this is where the expression comes from because Satan says; “Hast Thou not made a hedge about him and his house?” (Job 1:10) Satan is saying; “of course Job is all righteous, he’s your fair-haired boy, you’ve set his life up to be perfect. Job knows where his blessings are coming from and so of course he’s going to be faithful and upright with you. But if you rip everything away from him then “he will surely curse Thee to Thy Face.”’ I couldn’t find anyone who would take a shot to say why God would allow Satan to go and stomp on Job, but there can be no doubt that God, in His sovereignty, has already set this whole thing up. I have no doubt that God wants us to know that He doesn’t have favorites, that He will subject us to trials, that no one is so “good”, that they are immune to the trials and tribulations of life.
Job is immensely wealthy and he has a lot to lose and almost immediately Satan swoops in and arranges for the Sabeans to attack and they took off with all Job’s livestock, and killed all his servants. Then a great wind comes and knocks the house that his children are in and kills all his children. What was Job’s response to what would seem to be this unfair treatment? Those words we have heard so often: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). Wow! Job is a righteous man. Then God allows Satan to take Job’s health. At this point the advice starts pouring into Job. His wife says, the Driskell translation; “really, you’re still faithful to God? Just curse Him and die!” Advice Job rejects. Then his three friends come along; Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar. What’s their answer to all of this? … Come on Job, you’ve obviously committed a really huge sin, fess up, ask for forgiveness and then trust God. Longman and Dillard point out that “The Three friends represent the age-old wisdom of retribution theology… God blesses the righteous; he curses the wicked. If so, then if Job suffers, he must be a sinner in need of repentance.”3 Now is that the case? Is Job being punished for some really humongo sin?… No! We just read at the beginning of Job what God Himself has said about Job: “…there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are all wet, they don’t know what they’re talking about, yet they presume to make judgments for God. Not smart! Job even responds after Zophar’s speech to say: “Behold, the ‘fear’ of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.”(Job 28: 28) Job goes on through chapter 30 praising and extolling God and then, well, the cheese kinda slips off the cracker. “Hey it’s not because of my sin, come on, look at all these great things I’ve done to serve God,” really saying “hey I don’t deserve to be kicked around by God and I’ll tell Him all these great things to His face, ‘Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me!… I would declare to Him the number of my steps”’.(Job 31: 35, 37) OK, now Job’s kind of stepped off the deep end, now he’s getting a little self righteous and ya, “maybe God does owe me an explanation, because I did all these great things and I don’t deserved to be kicked around.”
Elihu has stepped into the conversation now and he takes offense and finally someone is the voice of reason. He tells Job, woe now, just wait a minute here: “The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33: 4) Let’s get a little perspective here Job and remember who created us and what He does for us. You have no right to demand an explanation. Elihu goes on four more chapters praising God and all that He is. Then finally what happens? … Ya, our reading today. God Himself steps in and says, woe, wait just a minute all of you and speaks to Job. “Hey, where were you when I created all things, where are you when I sustain all things. You have no clue the vastness of all these things. Who are you to get up into My grill and demand answers.” God goes on three chapters pushing Job and questioning him. Obviously Job is just overwhelmed, he has no answer to God’s questions and finally says: “But now my eye sees Thee; Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6). God gave Job a four chapter beatdown, which applies to us also. Especially in this day and age when we think that science and technology have all the answers and we don’t need to rely on God. Read chapters 38-41, do you think you or any of our brilliant scientists have any answers to the questions God raises? No! Sure, we can still keep learning and searching, but keep in mind that there will always be questions that we will never know the answers to.
Take some time this week to first read chapters 28-30 in Job. See how Job glorifies God, even though Job has just been beaten down and maybe we might think unfairly, but in His sovereignty. “…we know, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
as Paul told us in our readings from a couple of weeks ago. From ancient Scripture God is using Job’s experience to teach us today that it’s not our understanding that matters, it is God’s will that matters and yes sometimes His will is really tough to accept. But in the end, it is God’s will who saved us through Jesus, His will, which we don’t understand, that caused Jesus’ suffering but for our deliverance. When we are Job, we don’t understand the need for suffering. When we are sinners in need of a Savior, then we do accept God’s wisdom, that wisdom that put His own Son on a Cross to die for our sins.
So yes, “Our God is an awesome God, He does reign from heaven above with wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God.”
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Those who are weeds/tares have chosen to be weeds/tares First St Johns, July 20, 2014

Leave a reply

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are the good seed of Jesus said … AMEN! It has become trendy even in the circles of Christian evangelicalism to sort of pooh-pooh the idea of Hell. The “how could a “good/holy/loving God”, take your pick, send someone to Hell. Let’s look at today’s Gospel reading. It’s very simple. How someone can ignore the meaning is Bible “cherry-picking”, that is, “I believe and/or take out of Scripture what I “like”, that tired standard of the world, what I “like” is good, what I don’t like is “bad/wrong” and then I make up my own theology. Jesus straight forwardly answers the disciples question: “’The Son of Man’, i.e. Jesus, sows the good seed which is the sons, and daughters, of the Kingdom. Those who are saved, those who are pre-destined by God’s sovereignty to eternal life in the resurrection. The field is the world, that is Jesus has put those who are saved in the world, those who are baptized in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who take the Body and Blood of Jesus, who hear the preached Word, those who are part of the church of Jesus. “The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” Jesus goes on to say: “The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.” Now we could construe from this phrase, that it is Jesus who is actually making the decision, I don’t know sort of a Santa Claus, who’s naughty and who’s nice kind of thing. He’s not! He has planted His world, He has decided in His sovereignty, and if you want to discuss that word further ask me after worship, but in His sovereignty He knows who is saved. He has given faith to those who have been chosen, they have faithfully acted according to His will, which does not mean perfectly but in our weakness, but they act faithfully to serve Him, to worship Him, to be baptized. They know that they are saved by virtue of His sacrifice, the propitiation/payment that He has made for them on the cross, His atoning death and they are those who are saved. They are the ones taken out of the world, who are judged before the throne to be saved, not by anything they have done, but entirely by what Jesus has done for us and they are placed into the New World, the New Jerusalem in the resurrection to eternal life in Him. Those who have rejected Him, have chosen to live life according to their will, made themselves their own “god” their own idol, have lived according to the standards of the world, they have made their decision and the angels that Jesus sends are only acting according to their will. The “weeds” of the world have chosen to be outside God’s will and therefore are separated into condemnation.
God tells Isaiah: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” What does that statement remind you of? … The Book of Revelation, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and Omega”. What does He mean by that? He’s just reciting the Greek alphabet? No! Language has letters, everything is contained in the alphabet, and He is everything from beginning to end. Is there anything that exists that God did not have a hand in creating? No! Therefore He is everything. Jesus refers to Himself as Alpha and Omega in three separate passages of Revelation (1:8, 21:6 and 22:13) Jesus does this for emphasis, that is make no mistake, I am all things, I am the entirety of creation, I make the calls, not anyone else. The weeds of the world, however, have chosen to believe, mistakenly, that somehow they have added to that divine alphabet, that somehow they should be added to that all encompassing everything that God truly is. The wheat has been planted by the Son of Man, He knows His wheat. To use another parable He knows His sheep, He is sovereign, in His sovereignty He has chosen those who will be saved, they are right there planted in the world. The enemy, Satan, has sovereignty over those who have chosen to remain outside of God’s will. They have chosen to exclude themselves. Why? Because they think that they are sovereign, that they make the calls, that they should decide how they live, how that wheat field or that pasture of the world should be and they act accordingly. They don’t necessarily do it to undermine God, they frankly don’t care about God, it’s not about Him, it’s about them. Or they reject God, He didn’t play according to their rules, so for some bizarre reason, they think that they should have the right to have things play out according to their will and they make it clear that God is not welcome and they will decide how things should play out. Either way, they live as if God did not exist or did not matter and as if they matter most. Sound familiar? Yea, that’s part of our confession and absolution. Oh sure, we who are saved can act that way and often do. That is sin! What’s the difference between the wheat and the weeds or tares? The wheat knows that they’ve sinned, they know that they have violated God’s will and as we do at the beginning of every worship, lift up their confession to God, acknowledging that we have sinned against Him and we ask Him for forgiveness. The weeds/tares, they’re attitude is “ahhhh”, this is what I wanted, this is the way it should be and I am what is important and so it should be my way. Is that “good fruit” is that God’s will, is that the way it should be in God’s field, in His flock? No! In our salvation we follow God’s will, we turn to Him for guidance and when we don’t do His will, we lift it up to Him in repentance, ask forgiveness and in His graciousness He gives us forgiveness. We are fully forgiven, we are fully sanctified, fully justified, in summary we are fully saved. Why? Because we were all A-J squared away God-wise and we should be forgiven? No! Because in the crucifixion of Jesus who died for the sins of the entire world, we are forgiven in His sacrifice. We are put back into that relationship that the Father intends to have with us. Because we are not, perfect, sweet, little Sally Sunshines who just follow every rule on the playground? No! Believe me, I do not have people describing me as sweet, peaceful and perfect. But what I am is saved in Jesus. I do continue to grow and am guided according to His will, saved in His sacrifice. I do not try to make myself to be the judge of everything. I trust Him to do that. I’m not some naïve cupcake who decides that everything is beautiful, I know perfectly well that I am in the world and among weeds/tares. Jesus tells me in this passage that it’s not my job to rip the weeds out, I don’t even know who the weeds are. He tells me to be faithful to His will “go therefore and make disciples baptizing in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” No doubt, I will reach out to some who are weeds and they have chosen for themselves to make the world what they want it to be and ignore God’s will. I don’t want that, I would never wish anyone to be condemned, to be and I quote; “thrown into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We’ve talked about that, they are there because they have chosen to separate themselves from God and so they are separated. They are weeping and as I’ve said, really wailing in anger, gnashing their teeth in anger screaming at God. Why? Yes, because they are in pain, but also because the Father refused to let them be God. “I am a jealous God” God refers to Himself that way seven different times. God makes it clear, I AM God, no one else is and the Father will guard His position without compromise.
He is jealous for His people, that’s a good thing. We like to make that word a negative, it’s bad to be jealous, but I think it’s great. Because the Father is jealous of me, the wheat that He planted, He protects me, He saves me. He loves me so much that He sent His only Son to die for me, so that I can be His possession, a possession that He is jealous of and will not share with anyone or anything else. I’m not a weed, I know who God is and I am His ever lasting child. And so are all of you who know Christ as your Lord and Savior, He is jealous of you. He is God and there is no one besides Him.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Satan prowls to inflict trials on us

1 Reply

Satan prowls to inflict trials on us
First St Johns June 1, 2014

Lord we raise up to You Jesus’ prayer that we are Yours, that we are in the world, but subject to the attacks of the world, subject to maliciousness of Satan and his demons, the malignant attacks of Satan to inflict death. We know that Your Holy Spirit protects us, but we also know that being foreigners in this world that we will be attacked. We are behind enemy lines and while we are faithful to You, we will be hated and people will speak evil about us. We know Father that You watch over us, protect us and ultimately return us to be with You, in the world You intended for us, to be citizens of the New Jerusalem. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who are saved and protected in Jesus Christ said … AMEN!
He has risen! He has risen indeed Hallelujah. We are now at the end of the Easter season, we held Ascension Day worship on Thursday, only a few of you are probably aware of that… Our Gospel reading this morning is part of Jesus’ great priestly prayer. His prayer could be characterized in legal terms of His summary argument, He is at the end of His ministry in the incarnation. Only about half His prayer is in today’s reading, the prayer is a lot of what Jesus’ entire purpose was in the incarnation: “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou has given Me to do.” The Greek word teleio,w this same word is used by Jesus shortly after His prayer, John’s Gospel says that Jesus’ last word on the cross was tete,lestai which is the passive form of teleio,w In His “Priestly” prayer, He is saying that the goal He has been sent to accomplish has been achieved. On the cross He is saying that the goal He has been sent to accomplish has been achieved through Him. In the Coast Guard while you are conducting a mission, there are a series of messages sent to the next level of command, at my station we would send what are called “sitreps” to Group Boston on the progress of the mission, there would be a final “sitrep”, situation report, that would report the outcome of the mission. In Jesus’ final “sitrep” He is reporting to the Father that I have “glorified” You in My life. He goes on to say I have also organized a group of disciples who will be going into the world to be our avpo,stoloj our representatives, our messengers. They are still disciples, still learners, as Christians always are, but now they are God’s messengers, which we also become when we are taught and confirmed in the faith. Jesus is saying I have accomplished this goal of the incarnation. When Jesus is on the cross He is saying that the goal of redemption has been accomplished through Him, the sins of the world have been redeemed, they have been paid for, it has been done/finished through Him.
In His “High Priestly Prayer”, Jesus now goes on to say: “I have given them Thy word; and ‘the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” When we are in Jesus we are like Him, that we are not of this world, we are of Him, in this world. Jesus goes on to say: “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” The “evil one” can be translated to be the “vicious one, lewd, malicious, malignant, one who inflicts pain, causes calamity, affliction”. When we hear the word “malignant” what do we usually think of? … A malignant cancer. What is a “malignant cancer”, a cancer that causes death. The “evil one” Jesus refers to, Satan and his “malignant demons”, cause death, our sin gives them the opportunity to inflict death. Jesus is praying for our protection and we are certainly protected. But we are still subject to attack and it is how we respond to those attacks that is what truly matters as disciples and apostles of Christ.
Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought it over and then said a prayer. “Fine” said the pleased mother, “If you ask God not to misbehave, He will help you.” “Oh”, Johnny said, “I didn’t ask Him to help me not misbehave, I asked Him to help you put up with me.” As the Father’s still imperfect children, we still misbehave, as Peter points out Satan still continues to prowl about seeking someone to devour, Satan continues to try to find ways to provoke us to misbehave and we trust that God will continue to put up with our misbehavior in response to Satan’s provocations.
I have this big brown “Day-Timer” that I keep reminders of the tasks that I want to accomplish day to day, I also keep some reminders/promises that God makes to us all and one of them is this quote from Peter. I would encourage you to keep this as a constant reminder; “Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Instead of “someone” though I substitute “Jim”, so it’s “the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking Jim to devour.” This is a very compelling warning. I like to remember that the reality is, we are the foreigners, we are the outsiders, Jesus refers to Satan as the “prince of this world” (Jn 16:11 KJV). It is to recognize the reality that Satan is still very much a malignant force in this world, he inflicts death and pain and misery and provokes sin at every opportunity. When Peter tells us to remember that Satan is prowling to find someone to devour, who is he talking to? What kind of person would be reading the Bible? Christians!
The beginning of our epistle reading says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” I’ve often had people do just that, “how can God do this, why would He let this happen to me?” First off, God isn’t “doing this”, God does not inflict evil. But He does permit Satan to inflict evil. The non-Christian just can’t seem to comprehend the world around them, they do not understand that evil can afflict them, I’ve heard so many people say something to the effect that they are somehow entitled to be protected, they shouldn’t be subject to evil. The more accurate question would be “how can evil not happen to me?” Those who are so worldly, who think they are so sophisticated in the ways of the world, demonstrate amazing ignorance when their attitude is that they should be somehow immune to the “fiery trial”. The sad part is that they are not just subject to trial here, but through eternity they will continue to suffer. While we Christians are subject to trial, we are still under Jesus’ protection. Last week I referred to the Book of Revelation when God removes His protection from the earth. We think the earth is evil now, we whine about our trials, we are protected, because of Jesus’ prayer, we are cared for and watched over. As Christians, we do have a target on our back. Let’s face it, for those who do not know Jesus, for those who are lost, those who are condemned, there really isn’t much point for Satan to attack them. For those of us who do know Christ, who are saved in Him, who are not of this world, but still in this world, we are the targets, we are going to be subject to the roaring lion, Satan wants to undermine us, wants to deprive us of the perfect world that we are going to and he will never know. But since we are protected by the Holy Spirit we are spared the worst. Even if we die as a result of Satan’s attack what happens to us? We are in the presence of the Lord. Death for the Christian is only the start, the next stop on the road to the perfect life in the resurrection. Peter points out something that we should be regularly and painfully aware of “…the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” What you are going through maybe difficult, but there are Christians that are experiencing pain and deprivation even as we sit in the comfort of our beautiful church and that pain is a result of their faithfulness to Jesus. In our times of trial we need to remember Peter’s assurance: “…the God of all grace, … will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you…”
Don’t be surprised by the “fiery trial”, it will happen. We can’t allow ourselves to be devoured by Satan in our bitterness. Spend some time in your journal and really dissect this passage from Peter. What trials are you going through, relatives, friends, those who the Holy Spirit puts in your life to witness to? How can you give them hope and strength through this promise of Christ? The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Giving Life

Leave a reply

For the audio version of this sermon click on the above link or copy and paste into your browser

 

Giving Life
First St Johns May 11, 2014

We pray to our Father, because our Lord Jesus told us to start our prayer “Our Father…” mothers give us life, but to all of us who are in Christ, we have life and have it more abundantly. You are everywhere Father, yes you gave us mothers to give us life, to be there for us, to encourage, to comfort, to belong. We thank you for our mothers who gave us life, but true life is only in Jesus, eternal/abundant life is only in Him, Your Son, our Lord. Man, woman, mother, father, child, we are all sheep to Him who is the Good, the Great Shepherd. He is the Door to eternal life, He protects us from the stranger, the accuser, the liar. Satan knows he does not have eternal life, he knows that he is doomed to damnation and because of that He sees us, Your children, and hates us because we are secure in Jesus. But he continues to try to move us away from life, if he has to suffer, he wants all of us to suffer. Misery does love company and he is a miserable, bitter being. Thank you Father for our mothers, for those who sacrifice so much of their life for us, but more importantly thank You for the Good Shepherd who sacrificed for us eternally and sacrificed all for us. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who thank God for life in a faithful mother and for an eternal Savior said… AMEN!
Happy Mother’s Day, we have some small gifts for you and we hope that you enjoy your day. A woman recounts: “she had just returned from renewing my license at the County Clerk’s office. When asked to state an occupation she hesitated. The clerk explained, ‘Do you have a job, or are you just a …?” “Of course I have a job the woman snapped, I’m a mother.” “We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation … ‘housewife’ covers it’, said the clerk emphatically.
“I’m a research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, looked up as if she didn’t understand. I repeated the title slowly as the clerk wrote my pompous pronouncement on the questionnaire.
“Might I ask, just what you do in your field?’
She heard herself reply, ‘I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I’m working for a Masters (the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters).
I often work 14 hours a day. But the job is more challenging than most run of the mill careers and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money.”
She writes: “As I drove into our driveway buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants ages 13, 7, and 3, upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (six months) in the child development program…
I felt triumphant. I had gone down on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than ‘”just another …. Home what a glorious career. Especially when there’s a title on the door.”
Moms are definitely a vital part of God’s plan for the world, God’s plan of life, of the ultimate perfect world. I was just reading some research, that found that the person who has the most influence on a man to become part of a church family, is his wife, usually when she becomes the mother of his children. Wives give life to the children and also, in many cases, open the door to spiritual life.1
It’s one of those tough ministry calls, it’s Mother’s Day and it’s also “Good Shepherd Day”, might seem to be a conflict, but actually they complement each other. We take time to remember mom, but we are together here in the Body of Christ and so we remember He who is the ultimate life giver. In our reading today in John 10 we read my favorite line in Scripture, Jesus telling us “I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” To be sure mom gives us life in the flesh but remember Nicodemus’ confusion when Jesus tells him he must be born again: “Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4) Jesus replies: “”Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:5) God gives us physical life through our mothers, and we have life for a few decades, but through Jesus we are born again, born in God the Holy Spirit and we have life eternal.
Having life and life more abundant, does start in this life. Our life in Christ, Jesus who is the Lord of our life, who saves us in life from the slavery of sin that we see all around us. The deceiver tries to convince us that the so-called pleasures of life in the world are what is important. But in Christ we have no doubt that these pleasures result in sin, sin is pain, it is slavery, it is death. It looks good on the surface, but the result is always misery and loss. It is eternal loss, versus eternal life. The Greek word zwh, yes, you might have heard that as a girl’s name, is a word that Jesus uses so emphatically. It has such an emphatic meaning throughout the New Testament, it is used to mean “…eternal life, i.e. that life of bliss and glory in the kingdom of God which awaits the true disciples of Christ after the resurrection.”2 The promise of life should give us a great assurance, we trust that Jesus secures eternal life for us, that we will live forever, that we won’t just all of a sudden simply disappear. Our soul rebels at the idea that we will be here one moment and then gone the next. But our soul can’t reconcile that conflict, the worldly person can’t see any way to escape this. They don’t know Jesus’ promises of eternal life, there just has to be another way they rationalize, a way that will be on their terms and in their plan, but they will never be able to do that, they live with this constant struggle in their soul. We as Christians are called to show them the promises of Christ, to turn to Him for the peace that they see in us. Let us have Christian compassion and help them in their rebirth into the peace, mercy and eternal life in Christ. We take time in daily prayer to come before Him who gives us life more abundantly and we come to be a part of the Body of Christ every Sunday to worship Him, to give Him thanks for our eternal life. But it’s not some eternal life that is some kind of grayish/ghostly existence that pagans believe in. He promises abundant life. The Greek word perisso,j which means extraordinary, remarkable, profuse, beyond measure.”3 I’m sure you wonder why I refer to the Greek so often, but when Jesus is talking to us, He is using words that we hear in a mundane sense, but that He intends for us to understand in a sense that is extraordinary, His words are intended to be wondrous and assuring.
He gives us moms to give us love, assurance, that warmth that is only an inkling of His abundant love and promise. Dr Luther makes this observation of the devil and the world: “…who takes pleasure in shaming us most miserably and embittering us among ourselves, causing nothing but murder and misery and tolerating no peace or concord between brothers, between neighbors or between husband and wife.”4 That is what the world knows. It knows the love of mother, but in too many cases even that “love” is misery, it does not bring peace, but continued conflict and difficulty. We are thankful Lord for those who know what it is to be a mother in Jesus, we pray Lord that more mothers will come to know the peace, love and life that is in Jesus and bring their children to know life and life more abundant in Him. Eve has taken a lot of hits throughout history, but we need to remember her and all mothers in Todd Wilken’s words: “Eve’s creation is unique in all creation. Eve is the only creature made from another creature. She is made from Adam.
Adam calls her what she is, Eve: “Life, the Mother of all the Living.”
An afterthought? Far from it! Eve is the genesis in Genesis. Without her there is only Adam. With her, there is humanity.
Moreover, without this woman, there is no “woman’s seed;” there is no Jesus. With her, there is Jesus, the new Adam, the New Creation.
Eve, you’re not an afterthought. You’re the Mother of the Promise.
Jesus is the Promise, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Good Shepherd who guides us, protects us from the “stranger”, inspires us, gives us eternal, abundant life.
We are thankful to you Father for mothers who are used by You as you give us physical life, who sacrifice so much of their life to make us men and women in Jesus. We are thankful to You Father for a great Savior who gives us life eternal, abundant, beyond measure. After the stroll through the street fair over on Market St and the gifts and the dinner, this evening when you are home, take some time to remember the giver of life, how He has chosen you, man or woman, to give physical life and how you can be not just a good father and mother to the children you have given birth to, but how you can be a good “spiritual” mother or father to help in the birth of children in Christ, true life in Him, who do you know that the Spirit is leading you to, to be used by God to give birth in eternal life. What does abundant life mean to you and how do you live abundantly today and through all eternity?
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Spiritual Warfare, Michael and Satan

8 Replies

I am going to try to post the texts of my sermon, I hope this is helpful, and any comments, good, bad or indifferent are always welcome on any of my posts. Thanks and I pray that the Holy Spirit helps you to find this enriching:

 

Spiritual Warfare, Michael, Satan

First St Johns  September 29, 2013

You are the all powerful Creator and Sustainer of the universe Lord God, You are our protection, our defense against all the evil in the world. We thank You that You are always with us, always there to protect us, to guide us. We thank You for your powerful angels that protect us, they watch over us as You direct them Father, for those who are in Jesus, Your angels keep us safe from the evil that lurks all around us. Keep us from the battles that go on around us, I have no doubt if we saw what happens in the spiritual realm we would be terrified, even knowing that while it goes on You protect us. Help us Lord to grow strong, so that we can be used by You to fight the spiritual war, so that we are able to defend our family, our neighbors, our church against the attack from the enemy. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and… and all those who are ready to fight the spiritual war around us said … AMEN.

Today we observe Michael and all Angels day. Michael is an Archangel. There are millions of angels and the counterparts of angel, which are … demons. As you can see from our reading today, all of these beings were together in heaven. Lucifer, Son of the Morning Star (Isaiah 14:12), decided that he should have a better gig, decided to push back against God (for a being who was created to be the most brilliant of all angels, I still can’t understand why he would make such a dumb move) but being brilliant can be an idol, lots of people worship brilliance today, it does is cloud your knowledge and judgment. Apparently Lucifer thought he was so brilliant that he was bullet-proof, he learned the hard way that he isn’t .

There’s kind of a fourth archangel, named Raphael, who is mentioned in some of the Apocryphal books, Apocryphal means of “doubtful origin, unknown origin”, we just don’t know who wrote them and so can’t make a judgment on whether they are inspired or not as the 66 books of the Bible are.

It is said that each angel has their own sphere of influence. Some would say down to an individual, in our Gospel passage today Jesus says: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” That passage is ambiguous, you could make the case, I wouldn’t bet the mortgage money on it. The more senior angels, as it were, these are the ones who are in the immediate presence of God the Father as Gabriel told Mary at the annunciation, these angels are said to have more general/broader responsibilities. According to legend, tradition; “Michael is in charge of spiritual warfare. Gabriel is in charge of messages and announcements. The domain of Lucifer was knowledge.” We can certainly understand why we would think of Gabriel being the Herald of God, Wikipedia defines herald as: more correctly, a herald of arms, is an officer of arms… Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to convey messages or proclamations—in this sense being the predecessors of the modern diplomats.”  When you show up to tell people what God is about to do, that’s an important guy. Interesting Lucifer was in charge of knowledge, when man and woman ate from the tree of knowledge the mixing of good and evil together. Much could be said that man in innocence would have had a life of peace and joy. Lucifer decided that we should be smart, because of that, we’ve decided we are smarter than God, so it stands to reason that Lucifer who’s a whole lot smarter than us, should think he’s smarter than God.

The one that we focus on today the leader of the angels, after Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Michael, is also the archangel in charge of “spiritual warfare”, so I am also going to make a shameless plug for our small group that  is coming up that is on “spiritual warfare”, that will start on October 10, 7pm. Clearly it is not tradition or legend that supports this idea of Michael being the leader of the heavenly host, and that is what host means, the army of heaven. John tells us specifically in Revelation that Michael and his angels are fighting Satan. The angels are certainly God’s, but this is written in the same sense that a military commander would refer to his men, those he is directly in charge of and responsible for. Michael is the patron saint of the military, police and fire fighters. Do not pray to Michael if you are in the military or public safety, we always pray to the Father in the Name of the Son, but Michael is a sort of icon of the Father’s protection, one of the ways that the Father will send in order to help you or defend you.

Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are all considered “saints” since it seems that the angel who is highlighted is Michael, we might assume, that “spiritual warfare” is recognized as the priority. Our epistle lesson and Old Testament lesson, both discuss Michael. The angel tells Daniel that he was held up by a demon and that Michael had to come to help him in order for him to deliver his message to Daniel. In Revelation John tells us how Michael and his angels drove Satan out of  heaven. Now, this is the most lopsided “war” that can be imagined, the problem is that you and I are in the middle of that war. But it’s certainly lopsided since the outcome has been determined, the Book of Revelation tells us of the ultimate fate of Satan and his demons. But for now, the world is clearly in Satan’s grasp. Sin abounds in the world, and it seems humanity likes it that way. And let’s face it, we like it, sin is attractive, if it’s prettied up, “hey what’s the harm, right? “John Warwick Montgomery observes: “…the devil’s main act of hatred is not to destroy people (at least not at first), but to get them by masquerading as angels of light. The devil’s best disguise is piety. From the beginning, he’s cloaked damnable wiliness beneath a robe of theological inquiry – ‘Did God really say?’” So yea, go ahead, take a bite, doesn’t matter of what, so long as it separates you from your Savior Jesus, and it must be OK, because it’s so purty, nice, I like it. And that’s how we make decisions today and Satan helps us moves there.

Many people have this odd idea that because sin is so prevalent that God can’t or won’t do anything about it, but Dr Montgomery goes on to say: “…God has even anticipated the demonic opposition of the adversary and the determined seductiveness of the tempter and has systematically integrated it into his own world order (Rev 2:10; 13:5 ff). So really the devil is the power in God’s world who always wills evil and yet always effects good. Satan does not escape from God’s ‘ordo’, but remains co-ordinated in it,” It’s not an issue of whether God is in control, He certainly is, we see that in the life of Jesus and we read about it in the Book of Revelation. What Satan does, God permits. Satan is a completely, evil, depraved and vicious being, have no doubt, if Satan were left to his own devices, this world would be an unbearable hell. To paraphrase what Joseph said to his brothers in Egypt, what Satan intends for evil, God uses for good.

 Historically we like to think warfare is cut and dry, there’s the enemy, we protect ourselves from him and trust that God will save us. As Dr Montgomery observed, it’s just not that cut and dry, the devil presents himself as an angel of light, he can do it because he was an angel of light. He can be as pious as anyone, it’s not really hard to do, at least for what he needs. We have to be vigilant, we have to be discerning, to be faithful in prayer and ready to follow God’s leading, we may think we know what we’re doing, that whatever it is must be OK, but the whole point of warfare, spiritual or worldly, is to undermine the enemy. To Satan, we as a Christian, baptized, strengthened by the Body and Blood of Jesus, faithful in attendance and hearing the preached Word, we are the enemy. It’s not hard for Satan to create all kinds of dislike, confusion and outright hostility. We have to be constantly on guard as to what the forces of evil do to Christians individually and as a group. We rely on the promise of God in Deuteronomy 33:27: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you,…” We only do that trusting in Him, in the pastor He has sent to lead and in our fellow Christians. I’m certainly not saying that this is a formula for perfect peace and harmony, the demonic works hard and constantly, hey they’ve been doing this for thousands of years, it’s not hard to find some sort of weak point. It’s up to us to be vigilant, to test the spirits as we are told, to rely on our Savior. Christ crucified has defeated the demonic, the evil in the world, that does not mean it’s dead, we’ve seen terrorist acts in the world, Satan is more than capable of spiritual terrorist attacks. Through Christ’s life and death we are equipped through baptism, His Body and Blood, the Word, all the armor we need to defeat the enemy. As Paul tells us in Romans in all these things we are more then conquerors through Christ who loved us.” (Rom 8:37)

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

 

Image