The Powers that Be

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loved you with his very life. Amen.

We find the world once again in upheaval. It’s now been, weeks, I guess, of Russia and their incursion into Ukraine. For months they planned and built up an army, staging the invasion, and now there is significant fighting as war has once again broken out on this earth.

Nation against nation, brother against brother. And we find ourselves asking the question, “Why?” Why would Russia invade Ukraine? What benefit was there to this action? What would motivate President Putin to orchestrate and lead such an event?

And over these last few weeks, few months, throughout the buildup and now during the war, a lot, and I mean a lot, of time and energy has been spent trying to answer the why question. Politicians, pundits, analysts, philosophers, arm chair versions of all these too, everyone seems to be seeking the answer as to why, trying to find some kind of justification for the start of a new war in Europe.

And it’s not to say there aren’t consequences for us too. The economic sanctions on foreign countries effect us. Inflation is on the rise. Gas prices are sky high, and only going up. It seems that everything is delayed in some way. Some of us have personal connections to Ukraine. Knowing people personally impacted or knowing people who know people,. The constant bombardment of real consequences is always before us.

As your pastor, it is always my goal to help you, to serve you, and to teach you. To teach you to view all things, all things in your life and in this world, to view them through the Bible. And this current war provides us an opportunity to do just that, to look at it, to look at this unjust war, through the lens of the Bible. And when we do, it is my prayer this day, that you would see Jesus in the midst of it.

Today is the first Sunday of the season of Lent. Lent started last Wednesday with Ash Wednesday, and every season of lent is a time to reflect on our sinfulness in order to prepare us for the indescribable joy of Easter.

And every year on the first Sunday of Lent we look at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In the story of the Bible, we are at the point after Jesus’ baptism. Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, Jesus was driven, DRIVEN, by the Holy Spirit to face temptation in the wilderness. For forty days, (forty days of Lent, see what they did there) Jesus was in the wilderness, facing temptations from the devil.

And I want to look at the second temptation Jesus faced. Jesus is there in the wilderness engaging in battle with THEE Devil. And in a moment of time, by some power we don’t understand, the Devil shows to Jesus the splendor and glory of every empire of the world. Let’ pause here for a moment and think about what this means:

The glory of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Egypt. From Colosseum to Chariot races, to Aqueducts. From the Splendor of China, from the great wall to the forbidden city. From ancient Japan and their wooden castles. To the Aztec empire, and the golden cities. To The British Empire, upon which the sun doesn’t set. To today, to the wonder that is the United States, a space faring nation, with luxuries untold and unparalleled in history. To whatever comes next.

And in this moment in time, the devil shows the splendor of all of this, from the Pyramids to the internet, to Jesus and this is what he says, verses 6 and 7, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

What do you make of this statement? How do you understand this passage from Luke? What do you make of the devil, THEE devil saying that he has authority over ALL the nations of the world? Yes, even the United Sates. What do you make of this?

The way I see it, there are a few options, there could be more, but this is the way I see it.

You could think the devil is lying.

This is a pretty common way that people take this passage. Why would we believe the devil? He is known as the father of lies. His first words in the Bible are lies, why wouldn’t these be lies too? Jesus calls him a liar and says that when he lies, or when we lie for that matter, we are speaking his language.

However, Jesus doesn’t call him out on lying here. Jesus seems to take him seriously

You could think he was telling the truth, but that his authority is now ended.

This is a possibility. You could argue, rightly, that the devil was defeated when Jesus rose from the dead. That we have been set free from the power of the sin and the devil. And that is true, but our victory isn’t had here in this world. Yes, Jesus has defeated this world, but he making a new one for us, a new haven and a new earth. So this doesn’t seem likely.

You could think he is telling the truth.

This seems to be the correct option, at least as I see it. And it is certainly the most frightening. This means that there is a spiritual element at play in the highest levels of our society. The actions that we see play out, both at home and abroad, here in the States and around the world have more going on to them than meets the eye.

This view, this third view is talked about throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. I will point you to Ephesians 6, verse 12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

When we look at our world today and we see acts of great evil, we look at this passage in Luke 4, we look at this passage in Ephesians, and we see there is more at play here than meets the eye.

Let’s talk some spiritual consequences going on.

Christians are fighting against Christians. Brother against brother, sister against sister.Brothers and sister in Christ raising arms against one another. This is not by accident. The devil seeks to divide us in order to destroy us. Wars are terrible for their own sake, but made worse when people who are united in Christ, fight against one another.

But spiritual effects of world events are not limited to being overseas. What about you? Have you suffered any spiritual effects from this? Are you frightened about the future? Are you worried that these global events will spill over and disrupt your daily life as well?

Who have you prayed for in this? Do you pray for Ukraine, that God would protect them and bring justice for the oppressed? Do you pray for Russia? For the invading army? That God would prevent death, on both sides? Jesus commands that we love our enemies, that we pray for those who persecute us. Do you? It is easy for us to pray for those who are being attacked, and it is right that we do so, but we are also commanded to pray for the attackers. That God would bring an end to the war, that he would lead Russia to repentance that they, that the soldiers, the leaders, that they might be forgiven? Do you pray that God would bring Putin to repentance and faith so that he might enjoy the same heaven as the faithful in Ukraine who are worshipping in underground subway stations this day for fear of attack?

What about here? Where do you see spiritual battles taking place? Where do you see forces of evil working against the church? Where do you see a society making it harder to be a Christian? Maybe it’s not persecution, but comfort. Where we say, “Yes, I would worship Jesus in the subway station if we were attacked, but half the time, we would rather be ice fishing or sleeping. Spiritual attacks are here too. What do you pray for? Who do you tell about Jesus that God might call them to repentance and they be saved?

All of us are effected by the one who has authority over the nations. Be it in war, in comfort, or in something else.

But.

But.

We also have the one who overcame the world. We have the one who conquered and defeated every power. We have THEE one who defeated the devil and sets us free. Truly Free.

When Jesus was faced with temptations, even temptations of all the glory the world has to offer, he turned it down. He had a better plan in mine. Rather than desire the temporary, the kingdoms that rise and fall, Jesus desires the eternal. Jesus desires you. Facing and overcoming temptation, Jesus proved he had something better in mind: salvation.

Not salvation from an earthly battle or an earthly government. Not salvation from trying times here on earth, not to usher in an earthly utopia. NO. Jesus won the battle against satan in order to prepare a kingdom for you. a place that doesn’t end. A kingdom without fear or hate, or violincello. His kingdom, God’s kingdom in paradise.

In the Book of Revelation, we see the great last battle, the battle of Armageddon. In the battle, the prince of this world, the Devil, musters all the armies, all the nations of the world, to march against God and his church. But they are unable to destroy it, in fact, they don’t even come close. It is the most anticlimactic thing in the whole book. And we see a picture of that battle here. Jesus is presented with the world, and rejects it. Jesus knows that all the powers of this world will fade, but his kingdom, God’s kingdom does not.

Jesus victory is so complete, so full that the devil, and all his authority and all his might, cannot rob you of your salvation. All the might and glory of this world cannot change your salvation. Jesus’s victory over sin, over death, over the powers that be is so powerful, that while the devil may stomp around causing wars and rumors of wars, he cannot overthrow Christ. The devil cannot un-save you, he can’t take away Jesus victory which he won for you on the cross.

Jesus has already won. And what that means is that all of us, all of us, American, Russians, Ukrainians, ancient Romans, whomever, all who believes in Jesus has victory over the devil, victory over the devil’s ways. All of us have been set free, so that when our earthly life comes to an end, be it in a war, be it of disease, be it of old age, when life comes to end here, it continues with Christ. Jesus has won that battle. Even now you stand forgiven, you stand saved.

On this earth, wars are going to happen. Battles will be fought. Nation will rise against nation. These things do not surprise us. In the midst of all of it, not matter what the nations do, be it actions of peace or of war, we always, always look at Jesus. We look at Jesus as our champion, our mighty fortress, as Jesus who is the word that fells the devil. And when we look at Jesus we see that battle is over. Jesus won in the wilderness. Jesus won on the cross, and Jesus’ victory continues to you even now. Amen.