It's a battle...............
Seventh Sunday after Easter - May 4, 2008
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Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him. |
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There is a great battle going on out there, ...and in here. For the moment let's lay aside the war on terror, the drug war, the war on poverty, the war to end all wars, and other such campaigns, and recognize that we are engaged in another conflict. It is a battle for your heart and mind, a battle for your very soul. It has its battle cries: “I don't have time,” we wail when we have to sort out the activities that should be done from among all those that could be done. “You know you want it,” is the siren call of the advertisers. “You deserve it...grab all you can” they whisper engagingly. “Come,” beckons the scantily-clad spokesperson for an exotic locale, even if there is no splashing waterfall like the one shown with the model. “Everybody does it” says that little voice when one is considering whether to take that shortcut at work, or thinking about cheating on the test, or running the red light. “Who, surely not me?” is the cry when someone asks for assistance with a project here, or other worthy persons, organizations, and institutions ask in like manner.
There is a battle going on every day, not just for our time, but for our heart and mind and soul. And those battles have names; let's note several of them, in order of increasing importance. (1) There is first the spectator syndrome, that insidious idea that all one needs to do is to watch. Can we just sit around and observe as someone else does the work? Talking about medicine or vaccinations does not reap one any benefits! Sitting in the stands at Beaver Stadium does not make one more fit. Enlisting in a class about Jesus is only one step in being an effective disciple. Sitting in a pew without opening a book or joining in the hymns and prayers is only marginally useful to oneself, and of no benefit at all to one's neighbor who is watching and listening. On those occasions each year when we welcome the Lycoming Choirs, we need to be ready to sing the hymns and liturgy with even more gusto than usual, to remind the students and each other that this is not a concert but an exercise of the Good News in which we are all engaged. The spectator syndrome is ready to strike at any time. “Let someone else do the work, I'll watch” we say all too easily, and the battle takes a turn for the worse.
(2) The name for another battle is How much should I pay? as if the cost of everything is reducible to money. Money itself is not evil. Scripture says that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money is merely our work put into a form in which it can be traded and carried. But not everything can be turned into money. Love can't be bought. Lust? Yes, but love? No. Love takes the time and attention of persons, one with another.
Our fall stewardship campaign is also not reducible to money; it is about the use of all of the gifts that God has entrusted to us...the skills and abilities, the time and energy, the relationships and opportunities, as well as the money. We can't pay-off God with an Estimate of Giving card in October, carefree. The battle over what decisions to make, and when, and how, continue every single day.
(3) Another of our battles is named the resurrection is no big deal. We've been working on this one throughout the Easter season. It is a wonder, a mystery, but that does not make it any the less true! One of the favorite sayings of the opponents is “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” What a dreadful, deadly thing to say! The hope for life and new life is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the promise that he offers to any who will listen. It will transform individuals, communities, and yes even whole peoples. We can read about the transformation of head-hunter cultures in South America and the far east. We can rejoice at the transformation of individuals such as John Newton from being a slave-trader to being a Christian and an outspoken opponent of such traffic. We can thank God for the transformation of persons like Paul from persecutors of the church to being its greatest missionary. That is what the word of resurrection can do in others and in ourselves as well.
Those are three of the battles, and they are all ongoing. Be not deceived; every one of us in involved. When we think that we are not, when we think that this is only for the religious elite, or the pastors, or just for persons back there somewhere in church history, we are fooling only ourselves. It is real, it is now, and it involves you and me.
And we should name clearly who the opponent is, also. He has a hundred disguises, but Satan is his name, the Accuser, the Deceiver.
One of the first things that our Bible study group learned when we were reading CS Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters this past winter was that Satan is most pleased when polite scoffers proclaim that Satan is a myth. He makes much faster headway in such an atmosphere. Evil, ultimate evil and separation from God is very real, powerfully real, and will not be restrained by being gently ignored. Paul says: Our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but...against the spiritual forces of evil.... [Ephesians 6:12] It is a battle that is going on out there all around us, and inside of us as well. 1 Peter says today “Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” That's a strong image! Paul lamented that he himself did not do the good he should but the evil that he did not desire, that is what he did anyway. It is a battle, outside and inside.
What should we do? How should we proceed in this battle? Our lessons today direct us.
(1) Cast all your anxiety on God, we hear first. Of course there is anxiety. It wouldn't be much of a battle if there were no anxiety! But success comes with what we do with the anxiety. Cast it on God; he is the one ultimately in charge anyway. He can take the anxiety and replace it with confidence not in ourselves but in the victory of the Lord Jesus over every enemy. (2) Then we are able to resist Satan, firm in our faith. Satan cannot stand the laughter of those who know that they are weak by themselves, but who trust that God will somehow give them enough to get by, to hang on, and continue to believe that the resurrection of Jesus makes an ultimate difference in their lives.
(3) Discipline yourselves, keep alert, says 1 Peter. The soldier succeeds by knowing the weapons of battle. Paul gave us that marvelous list in Ephesians: ...the belt of truth around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness, ...the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, ...the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. [Ephesians 6:14-17]
And also we have as tools the Ten Commandments for discipline... no great surprises there, but we need the encouragement of the Gospel to say that we can persevere in using them.
(4) We have the directive of the angels of the resurrection and ascension telling us to Go and do as we have been directed. It is not a great mystery what we should do; what we lack is the trust in God that we can get on with it.
Perhaps the final key to all of this comes from Philippians, where Paul urges us In everything, give thanks. [Philippians 4:6]
It's easy enough to have a grateful heart for food and shelter, health and love. But we are to give thanks also for the hard stuff that darkens the world and wounds us terribly. In all kinds of loss, in illness, in depression, in grief, in failure as well as in success and happiness...in everything, give thanks. We don't know why some of the hard things are happening (although some other reasons we know all too well.) The soldier in the midst of the battle cannot possibly know all of the parameters that go into the planning and execution of the fight. But we can trust that Jesus does know, and has taken the hardest part on himself in our place.
One person summarized his prayer this way: “Bottom line is – you're God, and that is good enough for me.”
Back on the first Sunday of Easter we sang it this way: It was a strange and dreadful strife When life and death contended; The victory remained with life, The reign of death was ended. Holy Scripture plainly says That death was swallowed up by death, Iost sting is lost forever. Hallelujah! [LBW #134, stanza 2] I haven't forgotten that we are honoring those who have continued in marriage for more than 50 years. To do this, they must have long ago learned the truth of the line from the marriage service that recognizes that Satan is always trying to drive us apart in our marriages and win a skirmish: We say: Because of sin, our age-old rebellion, the gladness of marriage can be overcast and the gift of the family can become a burden. But then we add one more sentence: But because God, who established marriage, continues to bless it still with his abundant and ever-present support, we can be sustained in our weariness and have our joy restored.
It is a battle out there, and in here; in church, at home, in community and world. But... Good news, wonderful news, the best news! We will win, in God's best way, because Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Amen.
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