TRINITY III

June 28, 2009

St. George’s, Raleigh, NC

It is always a pleasure to visit with you here at St. George’s, and especially when we celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation.  We welcome the confirmands and those received into this parish family and to this branch of God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  In the Confirmation service, we prayed to God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter to send the manifold gifts of grace upon the confirmands:

The Spirit of Wisdom

The Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Counsel

The Spirit of Ghostly Strength

The Spirit of Knowledge

The Spirit of True Godliness, and

The Spirit of Holy Fear.

These are gifts which set a person in a position to acquire moral virtues, and incline them to practice them.  These are the gifts which prepare us for the warfare of the world, the flesh and the devil.

The epistle for today is from the first epistle of St. Peter.  The man who wrote the first Epistle of Peter is a good writer, so good that some find it hard to believe that Simon Peter the Galilean fisherman could ever rise to such writing in Greek.  But when we come to Chapter 5, verse 8, we may well be startled by the ineptitude of his metaphor for Satan: "Be sober, be vigilant: because your old adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

As I began to prepare this sermon, my attention became focused on the Epistle for today.  My thoughts turned to the Devil and his works; and then moved to think about him roaring like a lion.  I decided to pursue that line.  Roars like a Lion!!!   I wanted to address the "Roaring Lions" that do get out among us from time to time.  I wanted to talk about all the damage that the Devil does through his advocates with his roaring, and walking about seeking to destroy us.  But then I began to realize that the Lions are not our main problem.  They are their own problem.  We do not have to be concerned with them.  We need to worry about our own personal devil.  I think perhaps that the Holy Spirit helped me with the switch.  

    So most of the time the devil doesn't really roar like a lion does he?  Ah, would that he did, giving us enough time to get our armor up.  

I read an interesting story that illustrates this point and I will share it with you.  Once, some years ago, the devil called for a demons’ conference.  The theme of that conference was “How to destroy the Gospel.”  The devil lamented the fact that the Gospel is spreading like wild fire.  He stressed that unless a counter strategy was found, the Gospel would indeed spread to the entire world.

With desperation he urged the demons to come up with creative ideas.  The atmosphere was extremely solemn as devil waited for suggestions from the floor.  For a long period of time, no one uttered a word.

One demon broke the silence by saying, “Let’s destroy the Bible so that the good news contained therein cannot be spread.”  Without hesitation, the devil said, “Have you forgotten that we have tried that for centuries?  The more we try to destroy the Bible, the more it becomes precious to Christians.  It has become the world’s best seller of all times.”

There was an awkward silence as the devil waited for the next suggestion.  Everyone was in deep thoughts.  Another demon timidly stood up and said, “Let’s destroy public prayer so that Christians will not have the power to spread the Gospel.”  The devil replied impatiently, “Have we not tried that in the States, as well as other countries?  We instigated the authorities to prohibit public prayers, but these Christians intensified their private prayers.  Consequently, the Gospel is being spread even further.”

There was a longer period of silence before the third demon stood up.  He was visibly trembling as he feared the fury of the devil.  Timidly he suggested, “How about destroying the churches all over the world?  That would stop the Gospel from going forth because the churches are the sending agencies of missionaries.”  The devil answered angrily, “Have we not tried that many times before?  In China alone, many churches went underground during the reign of Chairman Mao.  Look at what happened.  These churches are flourishing more than ever!  Millions are following Christ!  And, you useless dummies cannot do anything about it.”

There was absolute silence in the bowels of hell.  This time the silence seemed like eternity.  Finally, another demon ventured another idea, “Let’s severely persecute the Christians.  Martyr them.  Put intimidation and fear into their hearts so that they will not dare share the Gospel with another soul.”  The devil snarled, “You idiot, every time a martyr is killed, his blood is the seed for another vibrant church.  Since the very first church was born, we have been persecuting every Christian non-stop.  Yet we are fighting a losing battle.  More churches are springing up every day.  More people are braking loose from us as they turn to Christ.  Can not one of you come up with a viable idea?”

Suddenly, one tiny demon stood up and said, “There is a strategy, I believe will work.  But we must carry it out consistently.  Let’s tell the Christians that they should not neglect reading the Bible.  Let’s even encourage them to read the Bible and to pray fervently, both in public and in private.  Let’s encourage them to plant churches all over the world.  Let’s implore them to do great exploits for Christ.”

He further suggested, “After we tell them what they want to hear, let’s not forget to add this caution:  But don’t do it today.  Today you have too much going for you.  You are too busy.  Do it tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a better day.”

He added, “When the next day comes, we will whisper the same thing into their ears, ‘It is good to be committed to God.  It is good to spread the Gospel.  It is good to save the lost, heal the sick, and set captives free. But you cannot afford to do it today. Why not leave it till tomorrow.  When the new day arrives, we repeat the same thing to them all over again.  For them, tomorrow never comes.’”

There was a thunderous, spontaneous applause.  The entire belly of hell shook with wild cheers and celebrations.  Every demon knew they had discovered a powerful strategy against Christians.

Now the big question of the day is this, “Does the devil’s strategy work in our lives?  Are we putting off certain matters to an indefinite future?  Do we feel the spirit of procrastination strangling our feet?   Have been putting off apologizing to someone whose feeling we have hurt?”  The list of things that we often put off goes on and on.

It does not have to be that way because God and His Word are bigger and stronger than the world and the devil and his temptations.  As we get into the long Trinity Season, it is an ideal times to arm ourselves with the Word of God.  I suggest reading the Daily Offices, Morning and Evening Prayer, the Litany, reread the Baptismal Office, the Offices of Instruction, the Order for Confirmation and to renew the vows we have made.  Let us pray for the manifold gifts of the Spirit to guide us in our daily lives and the world, the flesh and the devil so the we can make our lives the fertile soil for the seed of God, and by His Grace, we can produce fruit that is acceptable to Him.