September 2, 2018                                                                Text:  Ephesians 6:10-20

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

One of my favorite commentators of all-time was Paul Harvey who died in 2009.  Back in 1964 he gave a radio commentary entitled, “If I Were The Devil.”  Here is just a portion of that.  “I would evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, then from the Houses of Congress.  Then in his own churches I’d substitute psychology for religion and deify science.  If I were Satan I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.  If I were Satan I’d just keep doing what I’m doing.”

We face many struggles in our life from “Is my paycheck big enough for these expenses?”  “Do we have enough health insurance?”  “Can the family get along?”  Add to that cancer that invades your life, depression that you keep hidden and guilt that you just can’t seem to shake.  Life is a struggle in this fallen world.

Those struggles are hard but we face an even greater struggle when we see evil on the loose in our world.  Is the devil having his way?  At times we think he is.  Paul describes this tug-o-war as a wrestling match.  Satan and the Lord going at it for your soul.  Place your bets…you know who wins.

“THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD PREVAILS”

We know the outcome so should we just end the sermon there?  It is not quite that simple and we need some guidance while living the struggle.

Satan is wily and crafty.  He is so proficient in his attacks on us that we hardly notice when we are led astray.  Peter calls him a “roaring lion.”  Jesus describes him as “the father of lies.”  What is Satan telling you?  What path of destruction would he like you to walk down?  How can we battle back?

We first admit that we don’t have the strength or the moves to get out of Satan’s headlock.  We are easy prey as we stumble into his trap of selfishness and greed.  We are not equipped for such brutality as he flings us off the ropes.  We need to be strengthened in the Lord in order to face the devil’s wiles day by day.

While Jesus came in humility and weakness, he alone is our refuge and strength.  He conquered sin by keeping the law perfectly.  He buried death by his death and resurrection.  God’s Son came to crush the head of Satan.

Even in a world of coexist bumper stickers and intolerant demands for tolerance, we can stand for and by the truth of God’s Word.  We put on Jesus Christ in our baptism.  The full armor of God was given in the one garment through the water and the Word.  We are clothed in Christ and He wrestles for us so that we might be saved.

August 14, 1945 marked the end of World War II as Japan surrendered to the United States.  There was one problem.  No one told Hiroo Onada.  When they did tell him, he didn’t believe them.  Hiroo Onada was a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Japanese Army.  He was stationed in the Philippines and his orders were to fight until the end.  When Japan surrendered there were only four survivors in his unit.  They kept fighting because they thought it was American propaganda.  One soldier was killed, two surrendered but Onada kept up the battle.  It wasn’t until his brother and commanding officer went to the Philippines and they convinced him the war was over.  That was in 1974 – 29 years after the Japanese had lost the war!

Satan continues the fight.  He will not be convinced otherwise, like Hiroo Onada eventually was.  His attacks will become more and more desperate as we get closer to the Lord’s return.  He is seeking to destroy as many of God’s saints as he can.  Satan will continue to work in our courthouses and schoolhouses and state houses and our houses.

The wonderful Gospel I share with you today is that when Christ Jesus emerged from the tomb on that first Easter morn, He had triumphed over sin, and death, and the devil.  The Valiant one has won the war.  Be strengthened by Word and Sacrament.  Be strengthened through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Be strengthened through prayer.  We are strengthened to stand firm to the end.  All because our strength is not found in our knowledge, our effort, or even our faith, but in Christ alone.

Amen.

August 26, 2018                                                                    Text:  Ephesians 5:22-33

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God and you witnesses to hear the Word of the Lord.  The topic chosen is marriage and the Lord speaks.

There is perhaps no set of verses in Scripture as informative on marriage as our text.  Yet they are dismissed as countercultural to our times.  Sinful man always has a way of taking what God designed as beautiful and messing it up with his foolishness.  Marriage certainly has to be at the top of our list for this era we live in.  You know the arguments, you hear the players.  Man and man.  Woman and woman.  Human and animal.  I’m waiting for somebody to marry their phone.  Who knows that probably has already happened.  And the devil laughs.  He delights as people live together and mess with the marriage bed.  The world is so far away from the man/woman in marriage being a picture of Christ and His Church.  We are up against and we know it.  How do we answer . . .

“WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A PIECE OF PAPER?”

When people want to change things they have a way of simplifying it with platitudes – you know trite remarks.  “Who says we need a marriage certificate, after all, it is not worth the papyrus it is written on.”  And the world being the dichotomy it is has the other side arguing to get the piece of paper no matter what kind of sinful arrangement they have made – but we love each other.  Please!

The only voice that matters is the One who instituted and designed marriage.  He is God and what he says goes.  There is no debate.  He says marriage is a lifelong union between man and woman not just a functional arrangement between two persons.  He also says it is for mutual companionship, help, and support.  Husband and wife find delight in one another – sexually and in other ways.  Then for the gift of children if it be the Lord’s will.

Since God is the author it can’t be redefined.  When people do try to amend marriage they are what Isaiah states in our Old Testament lesson, “their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”  Get sinful man involved in any of God’s propositions and trouble is soon to follow.

So what should marriage look like from the Lord’s perspective?  The husband is to love the wife as Christ loved the church.  Is this easy?  Men?  When your wife is tearing you down instead of supporting you is the command one you are living?  Again, man fails.  The husband has to confess to the Lord that the honor of being a husband has been tarnished by his sinfulness.  He is unfit for the office.

The Lord knows your failures.  Christ loved the church.  Has the church been perfect?  Far from it.  But the Lord has cleansed and sanctified and made new again.  That is what Jesus does for husbands.  He forgives the neglect, the lack of romance, the silent treatment, the contempt.  He sends the husband back daily strengthened in Word and Sacrament.  He allows the husband to be a Christian leader and voice for his wife and family.

The wife on the other hand is told by the world she is a footstool if she listen’s to this sexist nonsense of submitting to her husband.  The Lord tells this dear daughter that she has given her this man to obey and serve and respect.  But the wife sees this as an impossible task because her husband often plays the fool and she is too proud to listen to him.  I mean look at him, he won’t give me the time and intimacy I need.  He’s on that computer again or cheering on his sports teams.  Really, Lord, you want me to submit to this guy?

And the Lord tells the wife that she can’t do this on her own.  Dear child, hear my Word, partake of my body and blood so that you can go home to your husband and face another week together.  I forgive you for those times you didn’t respect, or you didn’t give or you said, “I am woman, hear me roar!”

Through the Holy Spirit the wife like the husband will be enlightened.  The marriage will grow in love and respect and submission and sexually.  They will give to each other because they are not their own, they were bought with a price.  The husband is the wife’s and the wife is the husband’s.  And that piece of paper will mean something.  Man and woman will honor marriage and it will make a difference in their children’s lives and it will make a difference in society.  The evidence is long – from the time of Adam and Eve – throughout each generation.  When marriage is as God ordained and planned our world is a better place.  Children have fewer problems.  Spouses have smiles instead of frowns.  Counselors have less business.

This is marriage as we see from Ephesians 5 this morning.  God’s Word through Paul.  Not husband and wife alone, but of a husband and wife constantly restored by the forgiveness of Christ.

Amen.