October 31, 2004

"Halloween"

Before Christ was born, there lived a Chinese general named Lao Tsu who wrote a book that is read to this day, “The Art of War.” One of the book’s most inspired passages reads, “To defeat your enemy, you must know him well.” Truer words were never spoken. In any kind of battle, you must understand who you’re up against, and stay one step ahead. In chess, you need to anticipate your opponent’s moves and counter them even before they’re made. And in war, the soldier who is most vulnerable is the one who doesn’t think there is an enemy to prepare for.

Today is Halloween, a day that has become extremely popular. Almost as many people decorate their houses for Halloween as for Christmas. Ironically, in a world where candy cars have to be x-rayed for pins and it’s not safe for kids to trick-or-treat in the dark, adults love to play dress up and hide behind masks. Of course, many grownups love to hide behind masks every day of the year, right? But Halloween, that’s different. Halloween’s supposed to be scary. Here’s what’s strange—reality is a lot scarier than any costume we could ever rent.

I’d like to read to you a very famous passage from scripture. It comes from Matthew Chapter 6. You’ll recognize it right away. You don’t have to say it with me, but just listen:

“Our father in Heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Few people today want to believe that Satan is real, but Jesus Christ was not one of them. His word is loaded with references to Satan, including today’s gospel reading from John Chapter 8, which says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. In other words, all lies that we humans tell—and we tell a lot of them, don’t we?—originated with him. To me it’s an inescapable conclusion: if you don’t believe that the devil is real, the one you’re really calling a liar is Christ himself. You bold enough to say that? If so, I’ll just stand here and you stand way over there.

Of all the things that Jesus said we should pray for, he said we should pray for protection from Satan. Do you think, then, that Jesus felt Satan was a threat? Do we think Satan is a threat? How long has it been since you prayed for God to protect you from temptation? How long since you have prayed for God to protect you from Satan? Isn’t it true that we have largely dismissed from our minds the whole idea of a real personification of evil? We can stick our head in the sand like an ostrich, but that won’t make the lion go away.

If Jesus thinks Satan is real, it forces us to ask, do we think he’s real? And if so, what do we do about it?

One of the threads that is prominent in my sermons is the assurance that we all have influence on other people. A little bit of every one of us, from the very old to the very young, rubs off on other people. They see how we act, they see how we treat other people, and they know, maybe only subconsciously but they know, whether we follow Jesus Christ, or someone else. If we were in a courtroom it would be known as the evidentiary trail. Just like leaving fingerprints behind, we leave evidence about who truly rules our heart. And there are only two choices. There’s no middle ground. We can either move in God’s direction, or Satan’s.

A defendant was on trial for murder, and there was strong evidence to convict him, except that no corpse had been found. The defense attorney, knowing he needed to pull out a trick to win, made a wild statement in his summation to the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you. Within a minute, the person presumed to be the murder victim in this case is about to walk into the courtroom.”

 He looked at the courtroom door, and so did almost everyone in the courtroom. But a minute passed, and nothing happened. Finally, the lawyer said, ‘Actually I just made up that statement. But you all looked at the door like you expected it to happen. Therefore, there must be reasonable doubt in your mind that anyone was murdered. So you have no choice but to return a verdict of innocent.”

Confused, the jury retired to deliberate. But after only a few minutes, they returned with a verdict of guilty. “But how,” the lawyer asked. “You must have had some doubt. I saw you all stare at the door.” And the jury foreman replied, “You’re right, we did look. But your client didn’t.”

You can follow God, or follow the devil. But know that your enemy will never stop trying to move you into his column. But believe me when I say he’s not going to appear and offer to buy your soul. He doesn’t have to. He has more clever tools at his disposal than James Bond. There are three basic ways that Satan will attack us:

  Satan wants to attack us with our thoughts. Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us, right? Satan is the past master of turning thoughts into traps just with a word of suggestion, as he did to Eve in the Garden. What are some of the thoughts he wants to plant in our brain? Things like “You’re no good.” “You’ll never make it to heaven.” “God doesn’t care about you.” “You’re going to die and be forgotten.” “You’ll never get better.” “God can’t use you.” And his all-time favorite, “You’ve messed up so much, no one can help you now. What’s the use of trying.”

And the second one ties into the first: Satan wants to attack us with his accusations. That’s literally what the Greek word for Satan, “diabolos,” means, “the accuser.” The classic story of Job includes the image of Satan standing before God and saying, “Sure, Job loves you now. Why not? You’ve given him wealth and health and a beautiful family, but take all that away and then see what happens. Job’s love for God is hollow.” Outside every big political event now both political parties employ professional liars. They’re called “spin doctors,” and their job is to distort what has just been said to make their man look good and the other guy look bad.

That’s what Satan is all about: spinning. His job is to accuse Christ and all who follow him. Satan will put a spin on any act of charity or faith or love, to slander the motives behind such actions. People who buy into Satan’s spin get so twisted and cynical that they think there is no such thing in this world as an act done for out of pure selfless giving. You can see this kind of Satanic spin in the story of the Pharisees, who libeled Jesus with all kinds of charges. They called him a drunk, a glutton, a friend of the immoral, a criminal, a sorcerer, an insurrectionist, a blasphemer—anything to take the people’s attention away from Jesus.

Now you know if Satan accuses Jesus like that, he sure isn’t going to hesitate to accuse you and me, is he? It only takes a tiny little crack in an outside wall for spiders to get into our homes, and it only takes a tiny little crack of sin for Satan to get in and really mess with our heads. We’re all so compromised by sin and impure motives that when the accuser comes after us, telling us “You’re nothing but a low-down scum-sucking sinner,” he’s just going to paralyze us. If it weren’t for the interceding, saving power of Jesus, we would quickly be easy prey.

That’s what the Apostle Peter found out. Peter had a little problem with pride and self-confidence. He said to Jesus, “I would die for you Lord. Even if all these other bums run away, I would give my life for you Lord.” And Jesus just looked at him and said “Would you? Let me tell you something, Peter. Satan has asked for you, so he can sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” And Peter protests and again says, “Lord, I’m ready to go with you to prison and death.” Jesus shakes his head, “Before the sun comes up tomorrow you will have denied me three times.”

Here’s what happened there, gang: Peter opened the door for the devil with his arrogant self-confidence, and the accuser was right there to pounce. You know the story: Peter did lose his nerve and deny Jesus three times, and the devil sifted Peter like wheat separated from chaff, confusing him, making him doubt, undermining his faith. But because of Christ’s intercession, Peter wasn’t lost permanently. Peter found his way to the foot of the cross. Here’s what that story means for us: we can stand before God only on Christ’s righteousness, not our own.

Much later Peter wrote that the devil is like a roaring lion who seeks to devour anyone he can. Similarly, C.S. Lewis described Satan in his book “The Screwtape Letters” as the leader of a flock of demons who feast on the souls of those who never knew that they were a real and present danger. Literally: that’s how Lewis envisioned it, like getting a bucket from KFC, poor foolish souls that never knew what hit them. But Peter knew. He had lived the danger. He knew that the Christian must always keep watch and keep fighting, or risk losing his precious new life in Christ. But if you suffer in this fight, take heart, Peter added. Your brothers and sisters around the world are in the fight, too. You’re not alone. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you.”

Let me tell you something: Satan could carve us up in no time, based on our sins and impure motives. We can survive only with the protection of Christ who had no lie in him, no sin, nothing but love. He and he alone of all men could say, “The ruler of this world is coming, but he has no power over me.”

A third way that Satan will attack us is with despair. Satan wants us to despair, and throw in the towel. One of the most famous horror movies of all time is “The Exorcist.” Probably many of you saw this movie about a demon possessing a little girl, which created a sensation when it came out in 1973. Belief in the reality of Satan shot up that year, leading to a classic line by George Burns when he played the title role in “Oh God”: “If a little girl spitting up pea soup can make people believe in the devil, why can’t people see God as an 80 year old man?”

Near the end of “The Exorcist,” the two priests who are trying to free the little girl are exhausted, frustrated, scared, and the younger priest cries out, “Why? Why would the devil care about this one little girl?” And the older priest, who has struggled for years against evil, replies, “He doesn’t. But he wants us to despair. He wants us to feel that we are cut off from the love of God.” Ultimately both priests give their lives for the little girl, but she is liberated from the power of Satan. Does that sound like something that someone once did for you?

It is so easy to look around at this poor bleeding world we live in and say that evil is triumphant. You look at what’s happening in Iraq today, or look at September 11, or look at what’s happening on our own country with its dog eat dog mentality, the sexual exploitation of children, the spread of drugs and on and on and it’s easy to despair. It’s easy to think that Satan is going to win. What’s hard is to understand why people doubt the existence of Satan when he signs his name to all his works. But our defense against him, our defense against despair, was captured by Paul, who wrote in Romans 8 that “I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now the question that people naturally ask is, Why would God create Satan, knowing he would rebel and knowing that he would try to pick off and destroy as many humans as possible? Here’s the bottom line: God created Satan, knowing that he would try to set himself up as a god and gather worshippers to him, to reveal his own glory more clearly. God uses the blackness of Satan’s sin to show us his own goodness, his mercy, compassion, wisdom and love. Make sense? What is it that allows the stars to shine? The blackness.

In his holiness and justice, God had no choice but to condemn Satan and his followers to Hell, and the same is true for sinners in every time and place. But also being merciful and loving, God created the way out for us, the way to reclaim eternal life: belief in his son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross so that Satan’s power over the earth would be broken. God is sovereign in the universe, and his will cannot be thwarted, not by Satan and certainly not by human beings. He allows Satan to work his evil in the world today, as a catalyst to show us where our protection truly lies.

But be careful when you blame your sins on Satan, like Flip Wilson whose Geraldine would say, “The devil made me do it.” We are responsible for learning the truth, and turning from our sin. There is a close connection between sin and Satan, just as there is a close connection between the conductor and the orchestra he leads. Yet the music doesn’t come from the conductor, it comes from the musicians, and likewise sin does not come Satan, it comes from us. In Mark 7 Jesus says, “Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.” But Satan will be there to orchestrate, to encourage, to lead us to destruction.

To close today, I want to share with you a story that was printed in Guideposts magazine. In fact, it is the most requested reprint in the history of Guideposts. How many of you remember Iron Eyes Cody? If not, do you remember an ad that ran on TV years ago showing an Indian who surveys all kinds of pollution and litter and sewage and filth ruining beautiful outdoor vistas? Finally the Indian turns to the camera with a single tear sliding down his cheek. That was Iron Eyes Cody, an actor. He shared with Guideposts an Indian legend.

Many years ago Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for becoming a man. One such boy hiked to the top of a tall mountain capped with dazzling snow. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see almost forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Just then he heard a rustle at his feet. Looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake began to speak. “I am about to die,” said the snake. “It is too cold for me up here. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley.”

“No,” said the boy, “I know what you are. You’re a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you’ll bite me and I will die.” Said the snake, “No, no, you are different. If you do this for me, I will not harm you. I will be your friend.” The youth resisted for a while, but this was a very beautiful snake with diamond markings, and very persuasive. At last, the boy picked up the snake, put it inside his shirt and carried it down to the valley, where he laid it gently on the grass. But as soon, as he did, the snake lashed out and bit the boy on the leg. “But you promised,” he cried. The snake answered coldly, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.”

This Halloween, learn the difference between dress-up costumes and what’s truly scary out there in the dark. Know your enemy—and be prepared. Call on the Lord this day for your protection and salvation.