Sermon on Psalm 91 CW Pericope - Trinity Lutheran Church ...

Sermon on Psalm 91:1-2, 5-6, 9-12 St. Michael and All Angels 2011 Pastor Aaron L. Christie Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Is the World REALLY a Scary Place? +Yes, because of the Devil’s Problems + No, because of the Lord’s Protection

JESU JUVA! 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, The world can be a scary place. That’s not exactly news. But on the other hand, that’s also something we don’t think of all that often. Instead of a scary place, the world often enough seems like a pretty decent place. Doesn’t it? We all woke up this morning. We put on our clothes. (And we probably had to spend some time picking out just the right outfit, seeing that the weather is changing.) We ate something for breakfast –or we’ll go out for breakfast. This afternoon hundreds of us will find a comfortable couch and watch a winning football team. Tonight we’ll go to bed comfortable bed. None of this sounds all that scary. Sound down-right rosy if you ask me. But think a bit: do you appreciate the absolute charmed existence we live as Americans in the year 2011. Could it be that our couches and 2.9 TV’s per household, our malls and our 3 bedroom mansions, our cars and our computers have really numbed us to the general scariness of the world? Let me give you a few examples to think about. Close your eyes for a minute. Turn off the distractions. The psalm speaks about “terror of the night.” It’s out there you know! Come back with me to the year 1637. You live in the small town of Eilenburg in eastern Germany. Black death – the plague – is silentely knocking at the city gates. Boils. Fever. Delerium. Death. In this age of no street traffic, no TV’s, no radio what sounds do you hear in the heavy darkness? What sounds do you hear when you are praying in your cold hut and the Schmidts next door are observing a death watch for 2 of their 3 children. Before the plague finishes its death march through Eilenburg, you pastor Martin Rinkhardt will bury 4,500 people – including his dear wife – at a rate of over 70 funeral a day. Terror of the night? You name is Pastor Buelow. It’s the late 1920’s. You’ve been doing your best to keep your little Ukrainian Lutheran flock together. Things have become downright dangerous with Joseph Stalin in charge and his goons roaming the countryside. Public worship is illegal. Secretly, you do what you can for your members

Sermon on Psalm 91

St. Michael and All Angels 2011

Pastor Aaron L. Christie

as you go from house to house – teaching the Cathechism and secretly baptizing. Then suddenly, a knock on your door in the middle of the night. Your wife and seven children never see you again. Terror by day? You’re a little Romanian girl – 5 years old, curly blond hair and cute as can be. World War II has just ended. It looks like life is starting to get back to normal. Suddenly some of the new communist policemen come. Right in front of your very eyes, they take your mommy away. You don’t see mom for another 9 years. Plague at midday? The Doctor is standing there in his lab coat holding your test results. He isn’t smiling. He says you have cancer. The news gets worse, however. that the Chemo has a better chance of killing you than curing you. When the numbness begins to wear off, you begin to put your things in order…. No I ask you on this festival of St. Michael and All Angels: Is the world a scary place? 1. Yes, because of the devil’s problems. 2. No, because of the Lord’s Protection!

Yes, because of the devil’s problems How do we often picture the devil and the satanic problems he spawns in our world and in our lives? We live in a post Flip Wison – you know Mr. “The devil made me do it.” We live in the post Gary Larsen, the great cartoonist of “The Far Side.” The devil of “The Far Side” fame is often pictured as a rather quirky, nerdy looking fellow in a cape. We live in a post BugsBunny era where the devil is pictured as a 10 pound weakling in red long-johns toting a pitch fork. Who takes a man in red long johns seriously? All these modern media pictures of Satan make him about as problematic as your neighbor’s pet Pekinese. But don’t you dare fall for these cartoonesque renderings of the devil. Behind those pictures of the ten pound weakling stands the devil himself hoping you will actually believe them! No! May God give you a wholesome fear of Satan – Satan as the Scriptures picture him: A great dragon…. A dragon with great fury…. A poisonous serpent… a Hitleresque general of an army of demons… A satanic Sadam whose cruelty and butchery know no bounds… He accuses us, hoping to bury us beneath a six-foot layer of guilt and unbelief… The devil is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He wants you. He wants your soul for supper. And frankly my friends, he’s stalking your children for desert! The devil’s problems don’t make a bit of sense (terrorism never does), but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t frighteningly real! In every area of life, the devil spins his evil web of problems hoping that our lives will spin out of control. Problems in the world? We’ve got them. Behind every Muslim extremist stands the devil gleefully battering the bride of Christ. Behind each and every movement of atheistic communism stands Satan, abusing the bride of Christ. Behind each and every temptation of materialism, stands the devil coaxing the bride of Christ to sell herself to the highest bidder. Problems in the church? We’ve got them. Behind each and every controversy and difficult decision in the church, stand the devil – hoping that people will get suspicious, and contentious, so that he can derail the church from its mission of lifting high the cross. Behind every sermon stands the devil hoping for a little false teaching – as the father of lies, he absolutely loves it. Behind every church service, stand the devil hoping that people are sleepy

Sermon on Psalm 91



enough, or busy enough that they really don’t have the time or energy for something as silly as worship God or listening to what his Almighty Archenemy says! Problems in the home? We’ve got them. Behind every argument at home stands the devil, hoping that this little tiff will be the prelude to the marriage’s finale. Behind every act of teen sex or drug abuse stands the devil hoping for a ruined life – better yet, a life without God. Behind every little squabble on the playground and classroom stands the devil, hoping that a “he said/she said” match between two kids can mushroom into WWIII and create lasting distrust between Christian families who are to love each other deeply. Problems in my heart? We’ve got them. This is perhaps the scariest issue of all! All to often it’s “My way, or NO WAY!” There really is a part of me that hates what God loves and loves what God hates. What is true scary to me is how very easy evil is. How very hard it is to live as God’s son! All of this might lead us to say: Yes, the world is a scary place. Make no mistake about it: if the Lord were not fighting for us, the fright would last forever! But with the Lord on our side – and with an angelic army assisting him – we can be confident of the Lord’s protection. The Lord faces all of the devil’s problems head-on with a promise:

No, because of the Lord’s protection 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”… 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday…11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Protection? A young mother is diagnosed terminally ill with lymphoma. She doesn’t die. Instead spends the next 31 years as a Christian mother and example for her children. Protection? A dear old lady is diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors say she only has 2 weeks to live. The Lord graciously gives her 7 months. She is able to express her love to her entire family. She dies without regrets, without bitterness and at peace with faith in Jesus. Protection? In the early morning fog, a car full of young college students barely miss a jack-knifed semi in the middle of the highway. The Lord’s angels were certainly busy on Highway 294 in West Chicago that morning. God’s protection – in the end - ALWAYS overcomes the devil’s problems. Jesus squared off with Satan and won! Salvation, power, and authority are ours in the name of Jesus Christ. If the devil is good at exposing our sins and pouring lemon juice on our wounded conscience, the Lord is even better at forgiving our sins and soothing our conscience with perfect peace. That’s his SALVATION. If the devil is good at bullying this sinful world as the prince of this world, the Lord is even better at ruling heaven and earth and everything in them for the good of his Church – the good of you who love him. That’s his POWER. If the devil is good at pushing people around to try and get his dirty work done, the Lord is even better at equipping and sending his people out with his Good News to get his work of baptizing and teaching done! That’s his AUTHORITY.

Sermon on Psalm 91



God’s promises of protection are connected to CHRIST. The devil’s power is broken through the blood of the Lamb. We aren’t going to share in the devil’s fiery dead end, because our victory in Christ is total. We stand in Christ’s fortress of forgiveness! I like the way St. John says it: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) God’s protection becomes our protection THROUGH THE WORD. The devil and his pitiful little kingdom take a pounding each and every time God’s Word is used. Really? Yes, really. That’s what we heard in our Epistle lesson this morning: 11) They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…. Let no one say that the Good News about our forgiveness in Jesus isn’t potent stuff! Faith comes from hearing the message of Jesus Christ. And where faith is, the devil must flee. Every time a little baby is baptized, Satan looses a slave. Every time a sermon is preached, the devil’s lies are exposed. Every time a Bible is read, the Devil’s doubts are defused. Every time a “Glory be to God on High” is chanted the devil is exposed to be a pitiful creature of darkness – a satanic, sniveling terrorist. Hang onto the Word of God, when we hang onto that precious Word the devil must loosen his grip on us! And finally, on this festival of St. Michael and all angels, God is also pleased to protect us by using his HOLY ANGELS. Now think a bit, what do you think of when I say the word Angel? Do you picture the pudgy Cupid with his little bow and arrow working his Valentine’s magic? Do you picture the cute smiling baby-faced angels of Hallmark fame? Again. Don’t be fooled by the world’s spin and spirituality. Angels are the holy creatures of God that shout his praises in the Heaven’s heights. Angels at times have served as the Lord’s messengers at important points in Bible history. (An angel named Gabriel was the one who brought the good news that Mary was going to have a baby boy named Jesus.) Angels are powerful spiritual creatures that the Lord created to assist him in protecting mankind. The Lord’s Holy angels are there with the toddler as he treads too close to the street. The Lord’s Holy angels are there to escort the soul of a frail sister in Christ to paradise. The Lord’s Holy angels are there in the book of Revelation with their leader Michael: Used by the Lord to give the devil a black eye that he will never recover from. In this fallen world, we always live in a fascinating mix of problems and protection. Problems still comes calling. Temptation still comes knocking. Sin still rears its slimy – and very ugly - head. But don’t let the devil fool you and fill you with fear! The reality is this: he’s the one destined for suffering, not ruling. Our Father’s loving protection always trumps Satan’s problems. Christ has conquered Satan. The Lord’s Word is preached to you. The Lord’s angels are protecting you. That’s good news! May Jesus bless you this St. Michael’s Day, as in joy, we join Michael and the angels in celebrating Jesus’ victory now – and with them forever in heaven. Amen.

Sermon on Psalm 91

