Michael Sent out to Kill Dragons with Water

St. Michael & All Angels

September 27, 2015

Revelation 12:7-8

Michael Sent out to Kill Dragons with Water

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dragons are real. History tells us of large reptile creatures—possibly crocs from the Nile that swam across the Mediterranean—that roamed in the south of Europe. Though these crocodiles didn't breathe fire, neither could the many dinosaurs that Adam and Eve and their children observed.

Like fish-stories, the dragon-stories that we know today are creative additions to real things. But dragons were real.

In the same way, the Devil is real. But instead of increasing his ferocity—like a good dragon story—the world has chosen to defang the Devil and his demons. The world pretends that these dragons are bemusing myth. This is a mistake because while dragons are no longer a threat to us, the Devil most certainly is.

Jesus noted:

[The Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44b)

Peter warned:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8b)

The Devil is a fierce enemy who is so bold that he tempted Jesus Christ Himself. And he most certainly tempts you every day with his lies.

The truth is the Devil is too strong for us. So we need help. And our merciful Lord Jesus sends His archangel Michael to fight for us.

Michael means “Who is like God?” and is a reminder that Michael is a created being. God made Michael to serve Him, just as He created Adam and Eve in the beginning to serve Him.

But unlike our first father and mother, Michael never rebelled against God. He remained a loyal soldier, who fights and wins against the real dragons that threaten us every day.

And there was war in the sky, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in the sky. (Revelation 12:7-8 Siegbert Becker's translation)

This section of Christ's revelation to John seems to only speak about a past event. But as we have read earlier and from past experience, we know that the Dragon, the Devil, is quite active and has not given up.

This is insanity. For the Devil to keep fighting is insane. Christ has won. In the beginning Christ sent Michael to hurl the Dragon out of the heavenly realms. Christ 1, Devil 0.

The Devil failed to capture the soul of Job. Christ 2, Devil 0.

The Devil failed to destroy God's Old Testament people as was noted in the book of Daniel. Christ 3, Devil 0.

Christ refused the Devil's offers of power and glory in the wilderness. Christ 4, Devil 0.

Christ suffered and died on the cross. Christ won. Christ conquered sin, death, and the Devil on the cross. It is over.

Yet the Devil keeps fighting. So Christ keeps sending Michael out too. The Devil fights with lies. Michael fights with the Truth. Michael uses God's Word to drive away demons.

Today we drive away demons from the soul of little Eli. Today we confess that the Devil has again failed and has been cast down. With Holy Baptism, with water and God's Word, the Devil again is defeated because he has no claim on this precious baby boy. Christ wants Eli and so He chose him to be His own. And He speaks it so with water.

Dragons are real. The Devil will still hunt for Eli, just as he continues to prowl around for us. The Devil has lost, but he still fights on until the end of time. But this is exactly why Jesus continues to send His good angels, like Michael, to protect Eli and us.

The first 72 preachers that Jesus sent out knew that dragons were real. When they came back to report to Jesus, they were understandably excited about their battles with these dragons.

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:18-20)

Through Baptism Eli is safe. Through God's Word he will trample the serpent, the dragon, the Devil, for Michael fights for him, sent by the victorious Christ Himself. Eli will call upon the Lord and the Lord will hear him. And Eli's name is written in the book of everlasting life.

For He will command His angels concerning [Eli] to guard [him] in all [his] ways; they will lift [him] up in their hands, so that [he] will not strike [his] foot against a stone. [He] will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because [Eli] loves Me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:11-16)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

Crosses Come from Christ

Pentecost 17

September 20, 2015

Mark 8:34-38

Crosses Come from Christ

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38 NIV84)

Jesus is speaking to Christians. The cross He talks about is for Christians only. He describes the Christian in four ways:

1) it's a fruit of following Him,

2) it's necessary for those following Him,

3) it's painful and heavy for those following Him,

4) and in a word, the cross means saying NO to yourself.

Notice that the cross is something we carry because we're alive. Spiritually dead unbelievers can't carry anything; only Christian can carry crosses because we're alive.

Boys and girls, what do trucks do? They carry stuff. Have you ever seen a truck, for example a big mega Ford F-150 drive by with nothing in the back. Maybe he's on his way to pick something up, but if the back of any truck is spotless, you wonder, “Why'd you buy a truck?”

Trucks are supposed to carry stuff. Christians carry stuff. We carry crosses because we are alive and follow Jesus. He's calls us to follow after Him. If someone refuses to carry their cross, they aren't Christians. It's not an unforgivable sin, but there's no such thing as a cross-less Christian.

Now, it's not our job to judge the crosses of other Christians. (Thank the Lord!) Crosses come in many shapes and sizes. Many crosses are hidden, other crosses are very obvious. Mind your cross and give support to others as they carry their crosses.

And every cross, whether known to others or not, is painful. They hurt and weigh heavily on our hearts.

Perhaps it's an unexpected heart surgery or coping with a chronic disease. Perhaps it's a defiant child or a grumpy parent. Perhaps it's a pastor who doesn't understand you or someone at church who seems determined to avoid growing in God's Word. Perhaps it's habitually losing your temper in front of your family or not sharing your money with those in need. None of our crosses are made of wood; they are made of people, mostly yourself and sometimes others.

The pain of our crosses come from saying No to ourselves. Doing things we'd rather not do. Saying things we'd rather not say.

Jeremiah and Isaiah were Christians who carried crosses. They denied what they wanted and listen obediently to God's word. God told them to do dangerous things: preach highly offensive sermons to His people. And Isaiah and Jeremiah suffered for their preaching. For example, Jeremiah was thrown into a big water pit and then after being rescued, was put into jail. Isaiah maybe was murdered by being sawn in half. No magic trick, just bearing their crosses. As they suffered, they must have wondered, “Doesn't He care?”

Dear friends, by grace Isaiah and Jeremiah asked the question, but they also heard the answer

“. . . whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35)

We too ask the question as we carry our crosses: Doesn't He care? And the answer is always the same: I have laid down My life for you. I have suffered for you. What I give you is always better than what you want apart from Me. And I will always be with you to the very end.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

He Opened Silence with a Sigh

Pentecost 16

September 13, 2015

Mark 7:31-37

He Opened Silence with a Sigh

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians are damaged. They can't see, they can't hear, they can't talk, they can't walk. And so they wait. They can do nothing else. They wait to be fed or to be led. And for Christians, they are waiting to be healed. They wait to see, to hear, to talk, to walk.

In Mark 7 Jesus made an unhearing and unspeaking man hearing and speaking. He performed this miracle with His own fingers touching the damaged ears and tongue.

Looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” (Mark 7:34)

With a sigh. And not just a sigh, but with a deep sigh. A deep sigh is a groan. A groan is a sound that comes up out of the depths. It surfaces, unbidden and unrequested, from suffering. He just groans. He knows this damaged man's silent world and He suffers, too. With a deep sigh. With a groan. Immanuel—God with us—groans with us in our suffering.

In His mercy He groaned for this one man. He did the same for us on the cross and gave up His life with a loud voice, with a cry of suffering.

When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:33-39)

Christians are Christians because of Jesus' last breath. And now they wait. The damaged man in Mark 7 did not know what was going on. Was he waiting to be healed? Would he even have the words to understand that?

How like him are we. We know we are damaged. But we are so deeply corrupted by sin we can't even grasp how damaged we are now or what our future life will be when Christ speaks us into everlasting life.

And He will speak. He spoke into a void, this man's silent world. Just as He had spoken in the beginning, He spoke again into silence. And He opened silence with a sigh and with a word. And it was. He spoken and heard plainly. Full understanding where before was a profound nothing.

For all families with damaged loved ones, this day of opening cannot come soon enough. Christ promises to all those deaf, blind, mute, and crippled souls healing. They will be whole. Until then we sigh, we groan. But He groans with us. We are not alone.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:22-27)

His will is to save us. And He has saved us with His last breath, with His groans, and with His words.

Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord,

and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

Honoring Him with Our Lips, Our Hearts, and Our Traditions

Pentecost 15

September 6, 2015

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Honoring Him with Our Lips, Our Hearts, and Our Traditions

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Brushing your teeth is good. Most families begin teaching their kids how to brush their teeth as soon as they have them. And usually this teaching involves traditions: where to keep the toothbrushes, how long to brush, and so on.

But as kids get older, they get smarter. Parents don't watch them brush as closely as they did when they were little, so they start to go through the motions. So a family has a music box in the bathroom so that the kids can brush while The Duck Song plays. When the parents hear the song on the box, they assume the kids are brushing. But then they do a check and discover that little Victor is just pretending to brush his teeth. He's waving around his brush in the air, but his teeth stay yucky. This will lead to a serious talk with Victor about keeping his teeth clean.

Keeping clean was a big deal for the people that Jesus walked around with. An important tradition was the washing of hands. They washed the backs of their hands to symbolize the washing away any impurity that their hands might have bumped into during the day. So when Jesus' friends didn't even try to pretend to wash their hands, Jesus' enemies said,

“Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” (Mark 7:5)

The problem wasn't the tradition itself, but turning it into the main thing as though this ritual hand-washing was like magic. Like with imaginary Victor and his dad, Jesus turned off the music and had a serious discussion with these accusers. They were only going through the motions. It wasn't that they sometimes daydreamed while performing the ritual hand-washing; it was that they thought the hand-washing made God like them. But this was as effective as using The Duck Song to actually clean little teeth.

Because He died to wash away our sin and make us clean and new, Jesus wants us to honor Him with all that we are: the words and songs that come from our lips, the desires and hopes and thoughts of our hearts, and the traditions and routines in our lives.

When you go to a dental cleaning, you'll dread it if you haven't done your routine teeth brushing at home every day. You know that the dentist will be judging your lip-service and be disappointed. Little Victor can fool his parents, but not the dentist.

King David wasn't going to the dentist when God inspired these words. But they were certainly words that were sung by David often in his palace.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. . . . Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:10, 2)

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." (Psalm 122:1)

The very best routine that makes us happy to go to church on Sunday is to enjoy God's Word every day. Let His promises wash over you and make you clean day after day. Create helpful traditions in your home that support daily time with Christ. Maybe you take time to meditate on the Gospel of St. Mark before you brush your teeth. Or perhaps your devotion on Genesis comes before bedtime. Or when you wake up, you read the Catechism. Like the best dentist ever, Jesus knows how we pray. He forgives us for our failure to pray, and this leads us to desire to pray to Him all the more!

There are many traditions about brushing teeth; there are many when it comes to God. Good traditions point out our good Savior.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!