Episode 5: 10/27/08

Readings:

Psalm 44
Zechariah 1:1-17
Revelation 11:1-14
Luke 11:14-26

Sermon:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 4:7-10

Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

To hear a man who had no voice speak, to hear the words escape from his lips for the first time... it amazed the crowds...

They had never seen anything quite like it before. To them there were constants, the dead could not rise to live once more as if they had done nothing but falling into a deep sleep and were now awake, the lepers could not be healed as if they had nothing more than a cold, and the mute, they could not just clear their throats and suddenly begin to speak as if they had been their whole lives.

Even today amidst all our modern science and modern technology, even amidst all our medical breakthroughs there are things that we just can't do. Even today the miracles of Christ remain just that, miracles... miracles that can't be duplicated, miracles that can not be emulated or imitated, no matter how far we may push ourselves to the limits of progress.

And so, if they remain, even amidst all our advancements, mysteries and wonders, one could only imagine how amazing it must have seemed to those who looked on 2000 years ago. Still, just as we would have perhaps watched with a degree of skeptism, wondering what sort of trickery was being used to decieve our better judgment and senses, so did those who actually did watch Christ perform his miracle watch with their own skeptism. The difference though was that, where we would watch it and perhaps believe that it was some sort of illusion, or the work of a snake oil salesman, they believed that it was the work of Beezlebub, an ancient Ba'al, an ancient prince of Demons, to whom the fallen would bow before.

It wouldn't be the first, or the last time he would be accused of it. In Mark we would read that the Pharisees would the accusation to try and condemn Christ in the eyes of the faithful, "And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils." (Mark 3:22)

Yet there we are told, "But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." (Luke 11:17-20)

Throughout the word of God we are told that we can not serve two masters, that we can not bow before the Lord God Almighty and before the false idols of foreign lands, we can not divide ourselves between the Prince of Peace and the Prince of this world, splitting ourselves between the two. And there we find the message of our Gospel Lesson from Luke interwoven amidst todays text from James.

Each of us... each and every one of us face our own Demons. Knowing our weaknesses and our challenges Satan, united with his minions, working for our spiritual demise, places them within our lifes. They are the stumbling blocks put there to cause us to fall or to falter in our steps, hoping that one more soul may be gained in his perpetual war with Heaven. They can come in any way, in any shape or in any form. They can be our physical afflictions, or the haunting memories of a bad choice we made, playing and replaying in our minds, or it could be the weakness of our flesh and the lusts of our bodies, or it could be pain and hardship faced by those we love. Whatever it is or could be Satan has a demon that can and will target it throughout our lives.

But in that we are given blessed assurance... blessed assurance that no matter what may happen, no matter what may come, that the devil, that these demons, will flee from us. There, in the words of James, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

Through the life, death and sacrifice of Christ, we have the power to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts in a way that is seen as acceptable to God. Through the power of Christ we submit to God in a way that is seen as right and good, in a way that draws Him near to us and that allows us to draw near to him. And there... there, through that wondrious, awesome power, God gives us the strength to resist the power of the Devil and the power of his demons, casting them away from our presence, purging them from our hearts and our minds and souls and our being.

Where we are weak and prone to attack from Satan and from his armies, God makes us strong. Where we have stumbled, and wounded ourselves, seeing the Devil and his flocks hovering over us as vultures waiting to feast upon us, God lifts us up and heals us, carrying us to safety. Where we are blinded by pain and sorrow, lead only into the darkness to which he has dominion over, God lifts the veil that covers our eyes that we might see the light that cuts through the night.

There, come what may, come what must, Satan and his Demons have no power over us, if we humble ourselves in the eyes of the Lord, submitting ourselves to Him, knowing that the power of Christ is sufficient and faithful to us and our salvation. The glory and the grace and the mercy of God, our heavenly father, will come upon us through the power of His Holy Spirit, to cast out, to heal, to cleanse all that which will seek our damnation.

Yes, perhaps we will still face troubles and hardships, Satan will always be testing the strength of the power God, our salvation through Christ and the works of the Spirit within us, seeking a way back after he has fled. But God... God, who is good and faithful, will always be there beside us, and His Spirit will always chase away the powers that Satan sends.

Now the peace of the Lord that transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.