Why is the Work of the Holy Spirit so Important?

Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 28, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

Whenever you watch a sporting event like basketball or football, baseball or even NASCAR, it is very seldom that you get a glimpse of the people operating the cameras.  Oh, sure, from time to time the network might give you a wide angle shot of the stadium crowd or maybe an unusual angle of home plate, and in that shot you will see one or maybe two different cameras with their operators.  But on most occasions we never see them.  Even though they have the very important job of following the ball as it arcs toward the outfield wall, and capturing all the action of the game so that we feel like we are right there in the stadium we hardly ever see them.  We know they are there because we are being blessed by the important work that they are doing, but in all reality they are the ones who work behind the scenes, as it were.  Well, in many ways this is how the Holy Spirit works in God’s kingdom.  He works behind the scenes.  He works quietly and often times subtly as he does his most important work of calling people to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Though we can often tell where he is and even sometimes see what he is doing through the work that he has accomplishes, like most camera operators, we never see him.  This is why we want to take a few minutes today to take a look at the important work that the Holy Spirit does so that we might learn why it is so very important for us as Christians.

Well, as Christians, we already know why the work of the Holy Spirit is so very important!  We know that the work of the Holy Spirit is so important because he is the one who calls people to faith through the Word of God.  He is the one who causes faith in Jesus to spring up in a person’s heart so that through that faith they might have eternal life, just as Jesus promised us when he said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV84)  And again, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16, NIV84)

Now, if I were to stand up here this morning and tell you that I had a gift of $10.00 for each and every person who came to church today, that would automatically mean that no one would be excluded from that gift.  Each person would be given a $10.00 bill as they left church today.  So, even if you were the last one ushered out of church today, you would have no worries because you trusted me when I said that I had a $10.00 bill for each and every person.  In essence this is the same promise that Jesus made when he went to the cross.  He proclaimed and promised that the benefits of his death and resurrection were for all people.  He ransomed everyone and no one was left out.  But, let me extend that illustration just a little bit more.  What if, as you were leaving church today, I did offer you a $10.00 bill, but for whatever reason instead of taking it and being blessed by an extra $10.00, you simply walked by and didn’t take it.  Even though the money was yours and you would have been blessed by it, you refused to take it and now you are not receiving those blessings.  Not only are you not receiving the blessings, it is your own fault that you did not take the gift that was offered you.  The same is true in God’s kingdom.  It is the Holy Spirit who works in our hearts to call us to faith so that we might receive the blessings that Jesus offers us.  However, if someone resists or refuses to believe all the blame lies on the person who refuses to believe in Jesus.

Sadly, this is our natural spiritual condition and this is why the work of the Holy Spirit is so important!  As Paul tells us in Ephesians, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:1–3, NIV84)

By nature, we were nothing more than spiritually dead and blind enemies of God.  We did not naturally come to faith in Jesus as our Savior nor did we, one day, out of the blue, simply decide that we were going to become Christians and follow Jesus for the rest of our life.  No; because by nature we were no different than a corpse lying in a coffin!  Though a well meaning pastor might have promised us a gift of $10.00, we would not have been able to take it.  Even if he had come to our coffin and placed the bill in our hand so that we took it to our grave, it would have done us no good, because we were dead and blind enemies of God. 

But now, everything has changed because of the important work that the Holy Spirit has been about in our hearts!  The Apostle Paul says it this way, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:1–11, NIV84)

We are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us while we were still sinners only because the Lord himself poured out upon us, the promised Holy Spirit.  It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that we have been called to faith by the Gospel.  It is through the work of the Holy Spirit calling us to faith, in most cases through the water connected with the Word in baptism, that we now believe in Jesus as our Savior.  It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that we have been gathered together as believers and enlightened with his gifts, sanctified—made holy—and kept in the one true faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  It is the Holy Spirit who works through the Gospel in the Word and in the Sacraments to call us to faith and strengthen our faith in Jesus who has freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection. 

This is the work that the Holy Spirit is continually doing, and this is the work in which we participate every time we take the Word of God with us.  Though we have no power to call someone to faith, we have many, many opportunities to plant the seeds of God’s Word in a person’s heart by humbly and confidently sharing our faith.  We have many opportunities to tell others about Jesus, their Savior, who died on the cross and rose again from the dead, so that through these beautiful words of the Gospel the Holy Spirit might have the opportunity to work in another person’s heart and cause the seeds of faith to grow.

What greater, more important work could there be than the work that the Holy Spirit does!  Though we might expect to find the Holy Spirit right in the middle of the picture, like the reporters who cover the sports action, he is the one who works behind the scenes, like the camera operators.  Though we have never seen him, we know that he is at work.  He is at work in our hearts today, strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.  Yet, he is also at work in every part of the World.  He is working even now, every place that the Word of God is being shared and taught.  He is working through that word, calling people to faith in Jesus Christ their Savior, strengthening their faith, enlightening them with his gifts, sanctifying them and keeping them in the one true faith, in Jesus their Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Jesus Is Our Light! (John 20:1,2,11-18)

Series: Names of Wondrous Love

The Resurrection of our Lord Easter Day

March 31, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

While I was serving as a Pastor in South Dakota, I had the opportunity to ride on the George S. Mickelson trail.  Now, if you are not familiar with it, The George S. Mickelson Trail is a converted rail road route situated in the heart of the beautiful black hills.  It runs for 109 miles from Deadwood down to Edgemont and it contains more than 100 converted railroad bridges and 4 rock tunnels.  I can still remember what it was like to ride that day.  I can still remember the sound of the crushed limestone crackling under my tires as I rode.  I remember the smooth 4% grade that I climbed for a number of miles and then coasted for a number of other miles.  But the thing I remember the most was riding through the tunnel.  I remember the excitement as I approached the tunnel, a yawning black mouth in an otherwise impassible rock face.  I remember the way the darkness began to envelope me, as I moved deeper into the throat of the mountain.  The light from the outside quickly disappeared and my pace slowed as I removed my sunglasses so that I could better see in the new found darkness.  Though the darkness around me was never complete, it was very difficult to navigate until I reached the slight bend in the tunnel and could once again see the bright daylight pouring in, allowing me to navigate more confidently through the remainder of the tunnel.  Though the tunnel was only a few hundred feet long it wasn’t long until the darkness of the tunnel made it difficult to navigate.  However, when I made the bend and saw the light streaming in at the end of the tunnel I knew the darkness would soon come to an end and I would once again enjoy my journey riding in the full light of day.

Well, in many ways, the season of Lent is something like that tunnel experience.  The hours we’ve spent with Jesus in these past weeks have been rather somber, solemn, and serious.  Even as we’ve focused our attention on our Savior’s wondrous names of love, our attention has been on our sins and we’ve been reminded of God’s forceful anger over them.  We’ve traveled the path that Jesus took; the path that lead him to his death to pay for our sins; the path that made us deeply aware that of everything we deserved from a holy and righteous God, which is everything that Christ, our Savior, suffered in our place. 

However, as we worship this morning, everything is different. Our time spent traveling through the dark tunnel of Lent comes to an end as we emerge into the full and glorious light of another Easter.  We emerge into the joy and the comfort of our Savior’s resurrection from the dead, and we bask in the full light of our Savior’s love and forgiveness; our Savior who himself has assured us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”" (John 8:12, NIV84)

Though today is truly a day of joy as we bask in the Light of Jesus, our Savior, for most of Jesus followers, that First Easter did not start off with joy and celebration.  Rather, it started out in darkness and confusion.  In fact, John tells us, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”" (John 20:1–2, NIV84)

In so many ways these words not only describe the condition of the early morning when Mary set out for the tomb, but in reality they describe the condition of her sorrow-filled heart as well.  Her heart must have been overflowing with grief, sorrow, and perhaps even despair because the light of Jesus’ life had been snuffed out in death.  Her Lord and Savior who had cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2) was lying in the tomb where he had been hastily buried before the Sabbath began.  The one whom she had followed, serving him with the full devotion of a heart filled with faith, trusting that he was truly the promised Savior from sin; he was dead and she would not have the opportunity to see him again.  For May, not only had the sky over Calvary been pitch black as she stood beneath his cross, so was her heart.  Not only was the tomb, in which they had hurriedly placed his lifeless body devoid of light, so was her spirit.  How her heart must have broken when the laid him in the tomb.  How her faith must have been shaken as she returned home for the Sabbath on that Friday afternoon. But how her heart must have simply burst when she saw the open tomb and come running to Peter and John crying out, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:2, NIV84)

It was as if Mary was in a tunnel without any light, without even an exit, as she stood beside the open tomb, weeping.  Not only did she think that her Savior was dead, but it also seemed that someone had gone to great lengths to steal his body, thus dishonoring him all the more by taking away his right as an Israelite to receive a proper and honorable burial.  Yet in the same way that light does eventually begin to shine into a tunnel as one comes to the end of it, so also the Light of Jesus resurrection began to shine in Mary’s heart.  For not long after Peter and John had returned from the tomb, we find Mary back where everything had started that morning, as John tells us, “but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her." (John 20:11–18, NIV84)

While it was still dark, Mary had seen the stone rolled away and run back to report her fears.  Later, in the daylight, she had returned to the tomb to weep and tell the angels the same story she told the disciples.  Then it happened!  As she wept, she turned and noticed a man standing behind her.  Through tear-dimmed eyes she didn’t recognize him. But when he said, “Mary,” her heart turned over.  “Master,” she cried out in amazement.  This was her lord.  She was not in error.  She had seen them lay his body in the grave, and she recognized him now.  With amazing suddenness her tears were dried for her and the weight was lifted from her heart.  All past sorrows were gone.  Darkness had vanished.  Now she knew that her Savior was living!  She had finally left the tunnel of sorrow and now stood in the bright light of Jesus Easter victory!

What a day that had to be for Mary and the others, and what a day it is for you and me!  For as we have gathered in worship this morning, we, too, have left the dark tunnel of Lent and are basking in the light of Jesus, our Savior.  We are basking in the joy of Jesus resurrection.  For we know that because Jesus was delivered over to death and raised to life once again, we have been justified before our God!  We have been acquitted of all our sins!  We have been declared not guilty and are once again at peace with the Lord our God!  No longer can the guilt of our sins prevail against us, because Jesus’ resurrection assures us that his death has completely washed away even the guilt of our sins.  No longer can satan bedevil us, because Christ’s victory on Calvary has crushed the serpent’s head.  Not even death can hold us any longer because we know that just as Christ, our Savior, passed through death only to take back his own life and rise again, so also, Christ our Savior will lead us through death to our life forever by his side in our heavenly kingdom.

This is Jesus, who is the light of our Salvation.  This is Jesus, who is the Light of the World.  He is the one who gave his life and took it back again so that we might live in his light forever.  Though there may be times in this world when we pass through dark tunnels of sorrow and uncertainty, our Savior is always there, lighting our path with his presence.  Our Savior is there assuring us that by his resurrection we are at peace with God.  Our Savior is there, assuring us that no matter what we face in this life, he is with us and leading us on to his heavenly kingdom.  Even when we enter the dark tunnel of death, we will have nothing to fear.  We will have nothing to fear because we know that Jesus himself will lead us through that tunnel to the wondrous light of eternal life by his side, forever in heaven.  What a day that will be when we can join with Mary and all the others singing the praises of our Savior’s wondrous love for us.   

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Why is it important to know that Jesus is both God and Man?

Series: Growing Together in God's Grace

February 10, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

Even though we are in the middle of winter right now, let’s fast forward in our thinking to the summer time and baseball season.  Imagine with me that today is the state championship game.  It is the bottom of the 9th inning, the bases are loaded, there are two outs.  Le Sueur is just one hit away from winning the title and the team’s weakest hitter is up.  The team’s best hitter is on the bench because he injured his ankle and can’t play shortstop as he usually does.  But he has his uniform on so he can pinch-hit if he is needed.  What would you do if this was your situation and you were the coach?  Without even having to think about it, you would have your best hitter pinch-hit so that the team would have a better chance at winning the title and going home victorious.  In a similar way, we have a “pinch hitter” who stepped in and won salvation for all of us.  We could never win salvation for ourselves, so Jesus became our substitute and did that for us.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this morning, we will take a close look at what the Bible tells us about Jesus himself, how he was both God and man.  As we do this, we will seek to answer for ourselves the question, “Why is it important for us to know that Jesus is both God and Man?”

To answer this question, we want to take a look at the Scriptures and see why Jesus is God and man.  We look first at 1 John 5:20 where we read, “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." (1 John 5:20, NIV84) and next we read 1 Timothy 2:5 where Paul tells us, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5, NIV84).  Though there are many other passages that we could include here today, from these two passages alone it is clear to us why we know that Jesus is both God and man.  Simply put, we know that it is true because that is what the Bible teaches!  Here and in other passages we learn that Jesus is the Son of God who is both true God and true man! 

In our world we have special electronic devices that are programmable and that can store, retrieve, and process data.  We call these special devices computers.  We call them computers simply because this is the name that we have given to the devices that we use to store, retrieve, access and process data and information in our world today.  Likewise, when the Bible calls Jesus God, id does so because that is what Jesus is, and when the Bible calls Jesus man, it does so because that is what Jesus is.  As we confess in the creed, Jesus is both true God and true man, and we know this not only because the Bible calls Jesus both God and man, but because the Bible also reveals that Jesus has attributes and actions of both God and man. 

Take for example Matthew 8:23-27.  This is the account of Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  You remember how he was tired when he got into the boat with his disciples and how he fell asleep.  When the storm came up and the disciples were terrified that they would drown, they actually had to wake Jesus up.  But when they woke him up, he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves and the storm completely calmed down.  Or again, John 11:38-44: you will undoubtedly remember how Jesus arrived at the home of Mary and Martha four days after Lazarus had died.  When he went out to the tomb, Jesus was deeply moved and troubled in his spirit, and even he broke down and wept at the place where Lazarus was buried.  Yet that wasn’t the end of it, because it was there that Jesus gave the order to open the tomb.  It was there that Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  It was there that Lazarus came forth from the tomb, because Jesus had raised him from the dead and given his life back to him.

These are but a couple examples of Jesus’ actions and attributes that show him to be both God and man, and there are so many more in the Scriptures that reveal the same thing.  These are but a few examples, yet these examples show that Jesus is, indeed both God and man in one person; for in the same way that we don’t call just any device a computer, we don’t call just any person both God and man. When it comes to computers, they must have the characteristics of a computer, such as a screen, a keyboard or keypad, some form of internal memory storage and so on. They must also perform the actions of a computer, such as being able to process the data entered into it, perform mathematical calculations, perform word processing tasks, and in this day and age, connect one to the internet.  Well, in the same way that all these actions and characteristics demonstrate what a computer is, so also Jesus actions and attributes reveal him to be both God and man, just as the Bible tells us.

But how did it happen that Jesus became true God and true man in one person?  For us, this is a very easy question to answer because we know the Scriptures so well and we hold their truth so closely in our hearts.  We know and believe what the angel revealed to Joseph in his dream when the angel said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”" (Matthew 1:20–23, NIV84)  We know the account of Luke 1 where Gabriel says to Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:31,32,35, NIV84)

We know this and believe this and even cherish this in our hearts.  Though there are more and more people today, even Christians, who scoff at the idea that this miracle could even happen, we know that it did, because the Lord reveals it to us in his Word.  We know and believe and confess that it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary so that he could be born as both true man and true God so that by his life, by his death, and by his resurrection he could free us from our sins, make us his own by faith, and deliver us finally to his heavenly kingdom forever.

This is why Jesus needed to be both God and man in one body.  It wasn’t that he was like an actor who was playing two different rolls in a movie, he was and is both God and man at the same time in one body.  He had to be both God and man at the same time so that he might be subject to God’s laws just as Paul tells us in Galatians 4: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:4–5, NIV84)  As the God-man, Jesus was able to do what we could not, as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15, NIV84)  Though Jesus is the Son of God who established the Law for his people, when he was born as a human being, he was subjected to God’s Law just like we have been all our lives, however, because Jesus was without sin, he was able to do what we could not do.  He was able to live a perfect, holy, sinless life in our place.  He was able to completely keep God’s law, which is something that we have always failed to do, and because he was able to keep God’s Law perfectly for us, he was also able to apply that perfection and righteousness to us as our substitute, as Paul assures us in Romans 5, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19, NIV84)

What a comfort it is to know that because Jesus was both God and man, he was able to keep perfectly all of God’s laws.  Because Jesus was both God and man he was able to be our substitute as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—" (Hebrews 2:14, NIV84).  Had Jesus not been human, he could not have died, because God is eternal and therefore does not die.  To us, becoming a man just so that he could die might not seem like the best reason, but Jesus knew what he was doing, and in his great love for us, he did what otherwise would have made no sense at all.  He became human so that he could die on the cross to pay the price of our sins, and he was God almighty so that by his perfect and innocent death he could bestow his righteousness upon us.  Just as john the Baptist reminded us when he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, NIV84)

Because Jesus is both God and man, he was able to step in and accomplish what we could not.  He was able to win the victory for us by his perfect life, his innocent sufferings and death, and by his resurrection from the dead.  If he had not been our substitute we would still be lost in our trespasses and sins.  But thanks be to God that Jesus stepped in as our “pinch hitter” winning the victory for us, so that through faith in him we would have eternal life.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

How did the devil ruin God's creation?

Series: Growing Together in God's Grace

January 27, 2013

Dear friends in Christ.

Have you ever broken something or ruined something that was valuable to another person?  Sadly, I think it’s safe to say that at one time or another in our lives, we have done this very thing; we have ruined or broken something that belonged to someone else.  For me, the thing that sticks out most clearly in my mind today is a matchbox car that belonged to my sister.  It was a simple blue hatch back with an orange plastic trunk that actually opened.  I remember receiving her permission to take it with me to school and play with it there.  I remember playing with it at recess, and I remember the trunk being broken.  To this day I don’t know how it broke, though I’m sure I’m the one who broke it, because I was the only person playing with it.  To this day I can still remember the feelings of horror and sorrow, guilt and shame that washed over me because I knew I had let my sister down.  I had broken her favorite and only matchbox car.  I remember wishing I could take it back and do it over; wishing that I had a second chance to get it right.  But it was broken, there was no second chance.  There wasn’t even the opportunity to buy a new one because that model of matchbox car simply could no longer be found. 

Well, in many ways this is a picture of what happened with God’s creation!  Though it was perfect when God was finished with all his creating work, as we know, the entirety of God’s creation was ruined by one simple action; one simple mistake, by one single sin.  And, of course, we know exactly who was behind it all, orchestrating the ruin of God’s creation.  We know that it was our enemy, the devil.  Though in the last two weeks we’ve looked at the importance of God’s creation and how he provides for us through his creation, this morning we want to take a closer look at how the devil ruined God’s creation.

So, to understand more fully how the devil ruined God’s creation, we want to take a look at the Scriptures and learn exactly who the devil really is.  We look first of all at Matthew 25:41 where Jesus say, “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41, NIV84)

As I’m sure you remember these words were spoken by Jesus in answer to the disciple’s question of what it will be like on the Last Day and what will be the signs of his return.  Jesus answered them with many parables and finally he spoke to them with the parable of the sheep and the goats.  When Jesus comes to judge the world he will separate believers from unbelievers as easily as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.  Those who believed in him would be given the inheritance of eternal life, but those who did not believe in Jesus would be condemned.  They would be told to depart from Jesus.  They would be sent to the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and all his evil angels who sinned against the Lord after and who are being held for the day of God’s judgment, as Peter tells us, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;" (2 Peter 2:4, NIV84)

Though the devil was one of God’s angels, created in perfect holiness so that he might serve the Lord and care for his creation, satan sinned against the Lord by seeking to overthrow the Lord and set himself up in God’s place.  But not only did he sin by seeking to take over heaven, he also sinned by convincing a number of angels to rebel with him.  Though he raised his mutiny, he was defeated and cast out of heaven, and now he, an evil angel and ruler of a finite number of evil angels seeks to destroy all that God has created and all who believe in him.

This is what our enemy, the devil, really is!  He is a very powerful, evil angel, who is also the ruler of many other evil angels.  Yet, how often doesn’t it happen that he is portrayed as a benign powerless force in the world.  How often isn’t he portrayed as cute, or innocent, or even cool rather than what he truly is, as Peter tells us, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8, NIV84) or as Jesus tells us, “[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44, NIV84) or as John tells us, “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (Revelation 12:9, NIV84)

This is who our enemy, the devil, truly is and this is how he accomplishes his evil work today!  He is not a cute, or innocent, or cool, or benign force in the world.  He is a roaring lion who is prowling around, looking to devour us by leading us into sin.  He is an ancient serpent, a great dragon who seeks to lead us astray with his lies.  He is a liar and a murder who seeks to murder us by separating us form God’s truth through his lies; who seeks to destroy us and God’s creation through his lies still today, just as he did with Adam and Eve.  For the truth is, satan is still destroying God’s creation today with the very first lies he spoke to Adam and Eve: “Did God really say?”  “You will not die!  You will be like God!”  These are the very lies that our enemy, the devil, continues to use today!  These are the very lies that he uses to eat away at our faith in God’s creation of the heavens and the earth.  These are the very lies that lead people to the seemingly glorious truths of the theory of evolution, because in the theory of Evolution what God really said is replaced by what we really say, and what God really is, is replaced by who we really are as we seek to take his place and be like God ruling over heaven and earth by our declaration of God’s non existence through the “proof” of scientific fact.

In so many subtle ways, our enemy, the devil, does his evil work among us as he seeks to destroy us with his lies and deceits, just as he did with Adam and Eve, as Moses tells us, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:1–6, NIV84)

One little lie!  That’s all it took to get Adam and Eve to forget all about God’s goodness in creating them and giving them a perfect place to live in the Garden of Eden.  But before we criticize Adam and Eve for being so foolish, think of how easily satan gets us to lie, to speak angry words, or to covet some little thing that another person has.  Why do we do these things?  Only because Satan’s lies tempt us to think that it’s better or easier or more profitable to do these things than to follow God’s will.  But when we do these things, all we wind up doing is bringing more frustration and hardship and even suffering into our lives, just as Adam and Eve brought these things into the world when their sin ruined God’s creation.

When Adam and Eve listened to satan instead of the Lord, they ruined God’s creation through their sin.  They brought sin and death into this world together with pain and suffering.  For these were the very consequences bestowed upon them and all creation because of their sin, as Moses tells us in Genesis 3, “To the woman [the Lord] said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:16–19, NIV84)

Because of that one sin, we are now sinful.  Because of that one sin, creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth until this present time (Romans 8:22) Because of that one sin we face suffering in this life; suffering that comes to us through sicknesses inflicted upon us or our loved ones.  Suffering that comes to us through the frustrations of weakening limbs, joints, hearing, abilities, eyesight, or other physical ways.  Suffering that comes to us through family and friends who turn away from us or turn against us.  Suffering that comes from financial issues.  Suffering that comes to us because of the curse of death.  Though God created this world and everything in it to be perfect, satan successfully ruined God’s creation when he tempted Adam and Eve into sin and brought sin and death, pain and suffering into the world for us and for all who follow after us.  But even though satan was so successful at so thoroughly ruining God’s creation, our God enacted his solution only a short time after Adam and Eve became his enemies.  For it was on that very day in the cool of the evening when the Lord spoke to them and said, “I will put enmity between [satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NIV84)

In that moment the Lord enacted his solution of salvation by promising to send his Son to be the Savior.  From that time forward the Lord continued to reiterate his promise that the Savior would come to free his people from their sins.  All who put their faith in the Savior who was to come found that their sins had been forgiven, lived in a right relationship with the Lord their God, and looked forward to the inheritance of eternal life by their Savior’s side forever in heaven.  Though satan had ruined God’s creation, in his love the Lord God provided all people with a second chance to once again be made perfect through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  In his great love, the Lord our God sent his Son to be the sacrifice of atonement to make us righteous in his sight so that through faith in Jesus, we too can look forward to the gift of eternal life.  Though we will still face frustration and hardship, pain and suffering in this life, because we know Jesus, our Savior, we can see these things as blessings from the Lord, designed to help us keep our eyes focused on him and our faith securely founded in him.  Though we will face difficulties in this life, these are also things that are designed to make us lean on the Lord all the more for help in this life.  Though we will see friends and family suffer with sickness and hardships and even face the death of family and loved ones, we have our Savior’s promise that whoever is faithful to him, even to the point of death, each one will receive the crown of life in his heavenly kingdom (Revelation 2:10) when he calls us home to the place that he, himself, has prepared for us. (John 14:2-3)

What an incredible solution that the Lord bestows upon us.  Even though our enemy, the devil sought to ruin God’s creation and murder our first parents by enticing them into sin, the Lord saved them and us through Jesus our Savior.  Though our enemy, the devil, still prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us, it is our Savior who defends us, protects us, and forgives us, because he has made us his own through faith.  Though the devil ruined God’s creation by using his lives to bring sin, death and suffering into the world, in his great grace the Lord has given us a second chance through faith in Jesus.  He has given us the promise that he will be with us in this life as well as the promise that he will take us to be with him forever.  For all of this let us thank and praise the Lord our God!  Let us serve him and obey him.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN