• "Our World is a Spiritual Battlefield, With an Ongoing Battle for Our Souls"
• Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity
• June 27, 2004
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

Today's gospel (Luke 15:1f.) tells us about God's concern for the lost. Jesus pursued the publicans and sinners as a shepherd pursues his lost sheep. The epistle (1 Peter 5:8f.) describes a striking contrast. St. Peter writes, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

In other words, both God and the devil pursue their lost sheep. God pursues those who fall into temptation and sin. The devil pursues those who have come to repentance and faith. We live in a world of spiritual warfare, in which there is an ongoing battle for our souls.

The Bible teaches us that man was created in a state of communion with God. The devil tempted Adam and Eve; they sinned and they and their communion with God were severed. With the first sin, the human race was brought under the dominion of the devil. This is the state into which we are born.

Salvation, in biblical terms, means to be saved from this state of disobedience and from its natural consequence, which is death. Since the original sin was an act of unfaithfulness and disobedience, the answer to the original sin is faith and obedience.

When we repent or turn away from sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ, we move from the dominion of the devil into the kingdom of God. As Colossians says, the Father has "delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of his beloved Son" (1:13, RSV).

The Incarnation, the act by which God became man, was a hostile invasion by God into the territory that the devil had conquered in the Fall. The devil tried to undermine the mission of the Son of God. He tried to kill him in the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. He tried to tempt him to disobedience in the wilderness. Finally, he moved Judas to betray him and have him put to death.

One great paradox of the Bible is that the very moment of apparent demonic triumph, the unjust humiliation and execution of the Son of God, became the very moment of Christ's triumph over the devil. As Hebrews says, "that through death He might destroy him who had the power over death, that is, the devil" (2:14).

The devil's response to Jesus in the Great Battle is to try to undermine the faith of those who have been saved. The devil knows that he cannot undo the cross and its triumph. The devil knows that the Day of Judgment is coming. What he tries to do, in the time he has left, is to make sure that as few people as possible are saved. As Revelation says, "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" (12:12).

The devil attacks are aimed primarily at people of faith and people who are contemplating faith. The devil already has those who do not believe. He is content to let them follow him quietly, keeping them pacified with various temporal rewards and distractions. The devil lets sleeping dogs lie. But the devil wants those whom Jesus has taken from him.

This is why believers are most keenly aware of demonic presence and temptations. We know the devil as tempter and accuser. We can see his characteristic pattern in his interaction with Adam and Eve in the garden and with Jesus in the wilderness. The devil offers a counterfeit solution, which promises fulfillment through disobedience. Typically, the devil says we can have without pain that which God promises over time through faithful obedience.

For example, the devil promised Eve that she would be like God, knowing good and evil if only she would take a bite of the forbidden fruit. He promised Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for one act of worship. Now, it is the human vocation to be like God and this involves knowing good and evil. And Jesus will be Lord of all the kingdoms of this world (cf. Rev. 11:14). But these goals are achieved in God's plan through faithful obedience over time.

Fallen man likes to be told he can have what he needs and wants without pain or labor. So the devil offers short cuts to the fulfillment of our desires. All we need to do is break a simple commandment, make a small compromise and neglect our spiritual duties. In weak moments and during dry times, we listen to the devil's subtle voice and we fall.

We soon discover that the devil is a liar. For the promised fulfillment eludes us. The fruit tasted good for a moment, but momentary pleasure gives way to guilt, shame and fear. We, who once lived in fellowship with God, now find ourselves afraid of the divine presence (cf. Genesis 3:7-8).

Then the devil puts on his other hat. The tempter becomes the accuser, the prosecuting attorney, who argues against us before God the judge (cf. Job 1:6-7, 2:1f.). He says that we, miserable creatures that we are, have sinned and are worthy of death. The devil heaps upon us recriminations, feelings of worthlessness and despair. He tells us there is no hope for us and that we cannot be saved. This is how the devil attempts to devour us.

However, the Good Shepherd does not abandon us. He leaves the ninety and nine to pursue the one he has lost. He finds us and brings us home. He does this by grace. To answer the devil as accuser, Jesus appears as our advocate, our defense attorney. To answer the sentence of death, Jesus offers his own life: "The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

I have been told that the image of the shepherd carrying his sheep home on his shoulders is partly pastoral and partly disciplinary. When a stubborn sheep refuses to come back, the shepherd will break one of its legs and then, of necessity, carry it home. Jesus brings us back to the fold with instructive discipline through which we gain wisdom. Wisdom teaches us to be more watchful and prayerful so that we may perceive the devil's lies and strategies the next time he comes upon us.

As Jesus prayed in John 17, "Father, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one" (John 17:15, NKJ).