Lord, Let Your Holy Angel be With Me
The Festivals of the Church in the Missio Dei • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsThis sermon addresses the victory that believers have in Christ and the role that the angels play as we live out that life.
Notes
Transcript
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Don’t Lose the Bible in Church!
During the reign of King Josiah, who lived seven centuries before Christ, the law had become hopelessly mixed up with common opinions. Idolatry was flourishing; contempt for theology was common. There was little or no resistance to moral erosion. Josiah, who was made king at age eight, was worried. He desired to be a good king and he was. He wanted to lead his people out of darkness. He turned to the Temple for help. The results were disappointing. The Word of the Lord could not be found! A renovating program on the Temple was started. At last the high priest, Hilkiah, said to Shaphan, his secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 22:8).
Almighty God, You have called Your Church to witness that in Christ You have reconciled us to Yourself. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the Good News of Your salvation so that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
As an old Church Spiritual goes, “Ain’t that good news, Lord, ain’t that good news?” Sometimes, when I have a book that takes a long time to get to the happy ending, I am tempted to go to the end, read that, and then go back to the beginning. have you ever done that? That is what I did today with this text. I just couldn’t wait to get to the good part!
The Scriptures teach us about the devil’s defeat and expulsion from heaven. The central focus is Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and glorious resurrection from the tomb. We celebrate St. Michael and the angels today is because they played a role as well.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
The helpful role of the holy angels in the missio Dei, along with the adversarial role of the devil and his angels, or demons, and unclean spirits has been established based upon the Scriptures, but it has also been obscured by various folk religious traditions. In response, some, in the name of honoring God, went too far, to the point of dismissing the proper understanding of the role of angels, while others over emphasized the activity and role of Satan and his angels, inadvertently granting to him a level of equality with God. Dr. Martin Chemnitz explained why the Church has a feast day acknowledging the role that angels play in the life of the Church:
“This was done, first, in order that there might be a set time in which the doctrine of the angels might be publicly taught and repeated each year. Second, that in the regular church services consideration might be given to the benefits bestowed upon us all year through the mediation and protection of the holy angels.... And, third, this was done that we should give thanks that God, who is offended with our sins and ingratitude, yet does not take away from us the ministry and care of His holy angels. Fourth, it was done that we might pray that God would strengthen and preserve us ever more under the protection of His angels.”
Martin Chemnitz and Jacob A. O. Preus, Loci Theologici, electronic ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 172.
We know that they exist because God has revealed this in His Word. In Psalm 91, we celebrate their involvement in our protection because of our relationship with the Lord:
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— 10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
Dr. Martin Luther acknowledged this in his morning and evening prayers, both of which end with the words, “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me, Amen.” The angels are under God’s orders to be our helpers and protectors. This is confirmed in Hebrews 1:14 which says “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” In the main, they do so unobtrusively, and we are unaware of their presence. They do not call attention to themselves, nor do they seek our approval or praise. As part of God’s creation, they have a vocation to fulfill, and most of them have continued to do so. According to Rev 12:3-4, only 1/3 of the angels followed the dragon in his rebellion against God, a rebellion that included efforts to intercept our salvation by destroying our Savior at his birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
This undergirded King Herod’s slaughter of the innocents recorded in Matt 2:13-18, which fulfilled the prophecies of Hosea 11:1 and Jeremiah 31:15.
Make no mistake, there is a war going on, and the devil seeks to devour you just as he sought to devour our Lord and Savior. the Bible is clear, he fights as a defeated foe, as one who is already held captive by the Word of God. His weapons are limited against you, and as long as you do not succumb to his devices, you are “more than conquerors” through Jesus Christ who overcame death, hell, and the grave by His death, burial and resurrection.
This is Good News for the Church, and for the world. For the Church, it gives us confidence to stand in the evil day, for God is able to make us to stand, both individually and as a whole, as we support one another by prayer, exhortation, correction, and encouragement, as it is written:
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But there is a warning to the world as it rejects God’s steadfast love and seeks it’s own way. Let me repeat God’s Word that I read earlier, and add what it means for the world:
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
There is a saying, “hurt people hurt people.” The world in in a world of hurt, because the the devil is angry, angry that he is defeated, angry that we humans can experience God’s grace and he cannot. So he takes it out on the world, and he seeks to take down with him as many as he can. That’s why he deceives those who walk with him in darkness into hating the light that God has given us in Christ.
Rejoice in the freedom that you have in Christ! you are no longer a slave to the devil, no longer a slave to sin. But understand that the world does not understand your victory, and those who are in the world do not share your praise. Instead, as the world hates Christ, who gave us the victory, so it hates us for having it.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
That’s another reason for us to avoid trying to emulate the world, but instead follow the Lamb. Another reason for us to take our eyes off of the world’s standards and “keep our eyes on Jesus.” Another reason to not seek the world’s approval, but focus on God’s approval that we have in Christ, as it is written:
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
We have no business acting like God’s grace is in short supply, living with an attitude of scarcity in sharing the grace and mercy of God. There is no reason to bury what God has given us, and every reason to sow the seed of God’s Gospel in every place. Every reason to spread the invitation to all to “come,” as it is written,
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Are you part of the Bride? Does the Spirit dwell within you? What then is your word to your neighbor? What then is your Word to those who don’t know? “Come!” As the song in the Lutheran hymnal, “This Far By Faith” goes, “Come and go with me to my Father’s house, to my father’s house, to my father’s house. Come and go with me to my Father’s house. There is joy, joy, joy.”
There is joy - the Bible says in Luke 15:7 “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance,” and in Luke 15:10, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” We can share with the angels in that joy as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who have not experienced it, because there is plenty good room in our Father’s house!
And the peace of God, that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.