The Lutheran Hour
-
"The Battle"
- No Sermon MP3 No bonus material MP3
-
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
-
“Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?” In the liturgy of the Lutheran church, that question is put in all seriousness to every person receiving baptism. But it’s not a question only for the day of baptism. It’s a question we must answer every day of our lives. Lent merely brings it to the forefront. We can’t have it both ways. It’s either Satan’s way or Jesus’ way. That’s what makes the Christian life a battle.
The battle was joined in the Garden of Eden, as we heard. A tree, a command, a snake, a temptation, and a fall. Instead of renouncing the devil and his works and all his ways, Adam and Eve, our first parents, embraced the devil and his works and all his ways. The sad history of our race has been the result. If you think things have changed at all, you haven’t been reading the papers lately, or watching the news or looking into your heart.
The devil’s works are hatred, bitterness, resentment, anger, arrogance and above all a stubborn refusal to bow to the will of God. The devil’s ways are deception and lying, cheating and stealing.
Jesus’ works are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and above all humility before the Father that bows to His will and finds obedience to Him perfect freedom. Jesus’ way is then truthfulness and honesty, serving and honoring others.
The battle was joined in the Garden of Eden, but the battle rages on not just out in the world, but above all in the battle ground of our own hearts. When a person is baptized into Christ, when they are declared beloved children of the Father in heaven, a new heart is planted within. A new self is created. And that new heart and new self rejoice in Jesus’ works and ways and totally renounce the works and ways of Satan. But the new self exists right alongside the old self; the new heart beats right next to the old heart. A Christian is by definition a conflicted personality. As the theologians say: “Simul justus et peccator;” same time saint and sinner. And so the battle within is inevitable.
It’s the battle Paul was talking about when he said: “For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want!” (Galatians 5:17). It’s the battle he was talking about when he cried out: “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19).
While Jesus did not have the internal battle against evil–since His heart desired the Father’s will in the end, no matter what the cost to Himself–Jesus still had to do battle with the temptations of the evil one. Because in the end, what Satan assaults, what he goes after, is our faith, our trust in the heavenly Father.
“If you are the Son of God.” That was a direct challenge to the veracity of the Father’s declaration at Jesus’ Baptism. Think of it. There Jesus was sitting out in the wilderness of Judea, nearly starved to death, when Satan strikes at Jesus’ faith. “You really think God would let a beloved Son of His starve to death? Jesus, Jesus! Wake up and face the reality. He’s not going to take care of You; no one will take care of You if You don’t take care of Yourself. Make these stones bread and be done with it.” Similarly, with the incident on the temple top: “Make Him prove that He’ll take care of you. Jump and we’ll see if you are His Son or not!” Similarly, on the mountain top: “His way would lead You to suffering and death and it will be horrible, Jesus. You can avoid it all now. Do it my way. Just bow down to worship me and I’ll give it all to You on a silver platter. Don’t trust Him. Trust me!”
But Jesus knew enough of Satan’s works to know he only wanted to destroy in Jesus the light of faith. He knew enough of Satan’s ways to know the devil was a liar whom you can never believe. In the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus succeeds in doing what Adam and Eve failed to do. He turns his back on Satan’s deceits and empty promises and he holds in faith to the Word that the Father had spoken over Him. “My Son, the beloved.”
Lent is a time for us to wake up; a time to realize we cannot have it both ways. We can’t say that and have fellowship with the light while we are walking in darkness. We can’t hold onto Jesus without renouncing Satan and his works and ways, fighting against them.
Now don’t misunderstand me, please. To be conflicted inside–to want to do the thing that pleases Jesus and yet fail in doing it time and again–is the normal state of being a Christian. But to give up the battle, to make peace with the evil in our hearts, to no longer desire freedom from it, instead of stomping on the snake, to cuddle up with it, that is to have switched sides. That is to have renounced Jesus and His works and ways.
The sign of spiritual vitality then is the raging of the battle. To give up the fight against evil inside or outside is simply to renounce everything Jesus would give us. In mercy, the Word of God is spoken to strengthen us. In this life the Word never gives us an end to the battle. In this life, the Word only gives us the courage and the desire to fight on. It does so because in speaking the truth to us, it unites us to Jesus. It tells us we are the children of God, too, holy and beloved. It points us for the proof of this, not to any successes we have had in the battle against evil, but simply to the cross. There the Word teaches us to see the true tree of life: where forgiveness wipes out sin, where love defeats evil, and where life destroys death. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for Feb. 17, 2002
ANNOUNCER: To hear more about the “spiritual society,” we have Dr. Fred Baue with us, author of the book, “The Spiritual Society,” published by Crossway Books. Dr. Baue, what is the spiritual society you foresee?
BAUE: I use the term the “Therian Age” to describe this concept of a spiritual society I’m talking about in the book, Mark. “Therian” is a neologism and a word I coined from the Greek word “therae,” which means beast. In the revelation of St. John it talks about a beast from the earth and a beast from the sea. Bible scholars generally acknowledge the beast from the sea represents those forces from politics and government organized against the Christian faith. But the beast from the earth is a religious force and influence, heresy from within the church, false religions from outside the church, things that draw people away, not by the sword, but by influencing their minds. And I’m saying it’s time now for people to gird up their loins and prepare for persecution.
ANNOUNCER: How do we do that?
BAUE: We do that with the ways God has given us. You go to church. You hear the Word of God. You receive the Holy Sacraments. You study the Word of God and say your prayers. You have a devotional life. Essentially, the means of grace, the Word and the Holy Sacraments. These are the things God does for us. This is the way we receive God’s grace and strengthen our faith in our week to week attendance in our church.
ANNOUNCER: Dr. Baue how have the events in the world since Sept. 11 confirmed your hypothesis?
BAUE: I talk about the development of a spiritual society in terms of a world in which everybody is very spiritual, very tolerant, very religiously minded, but very opposed to the idea. I find people are saying, “Well, we’ve discovered in the aftermath of Sept. 11 we are all one people in this nation and we all worship the same God.” That is false doctrine.
ANNOUNCER: In the future, how is it that something that might be calling itself the church or might be known as the church is actually persecuting the true church of Christ?
BAUE: Luther said wherever Christ builds His church, the devil builds a chapel right next door. In other words, the false church tries to imitate the true church in every respect. It will have worship service. It will have hymns. It will have clergy and ritual. It will have tradition. It will have money. It will have all the trappings. And in certain situations the devil’s church becomes even bigger and has more members and is more popular than the true church. Frequently, you’ll find it’s the congregation, the pastor, the denomination racked with dissent, embroiled in controversy, up against difficult financial circumstances, and struggling all the time. People are leaving in droves. That’s where the Word of God is really situated. Where the truth is being proclaimed, that truth, being none other than Jesus Christ God’s Son, our Savior, and His salvation is a free gift open to all, even to those of us who are not of Jewish extraction. He alone is the way, the truth and the life. That is the truth I think being lost in this religious or spiritual or Therian Age, we are rapidly coming into.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. Fred Baue, author of “The Spiritual Society” published by Crossway Books. Once again, thanks for being with us, Dr. Baue.
BAUE: Thank you.
“Special Interview” (Q&A 69-23) February 17, 2002
ANNOUNCER: Joining me now by telephone from his office in Dallas, Texas, at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, is Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor Klaus has written our Lenten Devotions for 2002. The title is, “The Savior Said To Me.” Pastor Klaus, welcome.
KLAUS: Thank you very much.
ANNOUNCER: In the introduction you write it is uncomfortable to hear God’s message spoken directly to us. Is that what you’re trying to do with these–make people uncomfortable?
KLAUS: No, not at all. What we’re trying to do is to say that God does speak to us. And when He zeroes in on us on a personal level, it can make us feel just a tinsy bit uncomfortable. Let me explain what I mean. As a Pastor in a Lutheran congregation and in many other congregations, when a pastor “gets us,” he stands in his area, the people sit in their area. But if a Pastor were to step down from the pulpit, actually walk among the people as he preaches, all of a sudden he finds people getting just a little bit restless. All of a sudden people look in the bulletin to see if they know the next hymn coming up. They don’t necessarily want to have that intimate contact, but the fact of the matter is, the Lord comes to us in exactly that way. It’s not to make us fearful, but He lets us know He is a part of our life.
ANNOUNCER: When you say God speaks to us directly, how does He do that?
KLAUS: When the Lord speaks to us, He thinks of us as not just a conglomeration of humanity. What are there, five billion people in this world? That gives us a great deal of anonymity. What the Lord does is take a look at each and every one of us–our needs, our problems, our hopes, our dreams. When He does that, He makes the Gospel His message of salvation personal, not something designed for the whole world, which it certainly is. But it is designed for me as a person, just as I am. When Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was on the cross and forgave, it wasn’t for the world, in general, but it is to me as an individual. It was His view as an individual to everybody seeing their needs and desires and gives them an answer to the problem they carry.
ANNOUNCER: Pastor Klaus, where do you find all of these stories and illustrations you use to bring these concepts to life?
KLAUS: My father was a blacksmith on the south side of Chicago. One of the things he taught me was that every human being is a philosopher. He was exactly right. He was a very wise man. One of the other things he also taught is that everybody has a story. Each and every one of us as we go through life–from beginning to end, from the first breath to the last-has a story. That means I’ve got about five billion of those stories out there to draw on. Some of those stories are stories of great love, compassion, sacrifice. Others portray the less noble qualities of humanity–greed, selfishness, lust, and gluttony. What the Lord does is allow us to take those stories and translate them into something that touches every man.
ANNOUNCER: Well, it is with great skill that you take these stories and marry them with a Word from Scripture to bring forth an important point for our readers and listeners. Our audience can receive a copy of this booklet, “The Savior Said To Me,” by calling us at our toll-free number, 1-800-876-9880. You can also write to us at The Lutheran Hour, 660 Mason Ridge Center Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63141. We’ve been talking with Pastor Ken Klaus from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Dallas, Texas. We hope you’ll call right now to receive your free copy of our Lenten Devotion booklet, “The Savior Said To Me.”
NOTE: Copies of this booklet are limited and seasonal. If you try to order it and supplies are depleted, we hope you will understand.