aug23

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A sermon preached by Mr Antony Weiss

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Christ Church St Laurence – Sunday 23rd August, 2015

Ephesians 6:10-20 The Whole Armour of God “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14).” AMEN. From St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians; “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12 NRSV) Last year in my previous life as a schoolmaster I asked the chaplain why the boys (and staff) have to hear relentlessly about evil and very little about the love of God. Then in June at the Candidates’ Conference for Sydney Diocesan Ordinands we had an entire session on Preaching Hell. Last Thursday evening at Choral Evensong at St Andrew’s Cathedral the brief homily for the week was all about…? The Devil.

There are societies where spiritual forces are real and witchdoctors abound, as I have witnessed in some very remote Aboriginal communities and also in East Africa. The western world tends to stick with satirical depictions of the Wily One. Are you familiar with Rowan Atkinson’s skit in Rowan Atkinson Live (1991)1 in which he plays the devil welcoming new folk to hell? Descending the stairs to a smoke filled stage wearing a set of comedy horns on his head and holding a clip board he introduces himself …

Ah hello! It’s nice to see you all here. Now…, as the more perceptive of you have probably realised by now, this is Hell, and I am the Devil, good evening, but you can call me Toby, if you like. We try to keep things informal here, as well as infernal. That’s just a little joke of mine. I tell it every time.

Now, you’re all here for..... Eternity! Ooh, which I hardly need tell you is a heck of a long time, so you’ll all get to know each other pretty well by the end.

But for now I’m going to have to split you up in groups.

Will You Stop Screaming!

Thank you.

Now, murderers? Murderers over here, please, thank you. Looters and Pillagers over here.

Thieves, if you could join them, and Lawyers, you’re in that lot too.

Okay, um atheists? Atheists over here please. You must be feeling a right bunch of nitwits.

Never mind.

And finally, Christians. Christians? Ah, yes, I am sorry but I’m afraid the Jews were right.

If you would come down here, that would be really fine.

Okay. Well, it’s over to you, … And I’ll catch you all later at the barbecue. Bye! So frivolities aside it may be said that the more conservative Protestants in general frighten people into faith by means of fear of the devil and his handicraft (or indeed perhaps they end up deterring them from having any faith at all). In pre-Vatican II times the same may have been said about the Roman Church.

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Thomas Schlamme, ‘Rowan Atkinson Live!’ (USA).

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But how about in Anglo-Catholicism? Feasibly it is the opposite. From the point of view of some Evangelicals, we are charged with being less front foot with our interpretation of the Bible avoiding sermons on Satan and all the “the spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12).”

Both camps need to listen to CS Lewis on this. The Screwtape Letters is an artful and tongue-incheek portrayal of human life and shortcomings from the position of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to “Our Father Below” namely the devil. CS Lewis believes we can fall into one of two traps when dealing with “the devils” so Reformed Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics alike should pay attention. In the preface Lewis writes; There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They [the devils] themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight.2 This is a fallen world where the influences of evil thrive. On Tuesday Islamic State militants beheaded Khaled Assad, the 82-year-old scholar who had been detained and interrogated for over a month by ultra-radical Sunni Muslim militants. His headless body was hung on one of the ancient columns in the centre of a square in the historic Palmyra site.3 And let’s not forget Monday’s Bangkok bombing outside the Erawan Shrine killing twenty and injuring 125.

This morning, as we gather here, Victor Akhterov, Director of Russian Ministries at the Far Eastern Broadcasting Company, is sharing with the congregation at Parkside Baptist Church in Western Sydney the plight of 400,000 children living in Russian orphanages, of whom two thirds are ‘social orphans’ whose families are shattered by the evil of drug and alcohol abuse.4 In this post-Christian world to be a disciple of Christ is more and more foul-tasting both in secular western and fundamentalist Islamic milieux.

Then there is rise of the New Atheism and the likes of Richard Dawkins. Dawkins, a professional atheist, believes everything in the world is nothing more than pot-luck. In his book River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life Dawkins considers all the suffering of the world as just random bad stuff which has no rhyme or reason.

The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation.

During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. … In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.5 Reassuringly Christianity is in total conflict with Dawkins’ loveless concept of “no design, no purpose, no evil, no good.” As believers, we are urged to put on the armour of God to combat “against the cosmic powers of this present darkness [and] the spiritual forces of evil.”

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C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 9.

‘Islamic State Militants Behead Archaeologist in Palmyra: Syrian Official’, Reuters, August 18, 2015.

4 ‘Saving 400,000 Children from Russia’s Industrial-Scale Orphanages’, Sound, Radio National (August 19, 2015), Cited 21 Aug. 2015, Online: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/saving-children-from-russiasindustrial-scale-orphanages/6709256.

5 Richard Dawkins, River out of Eden : A Darwinian View of Life (Science masters series; London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995), 133.

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In Chapter 4 of St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians he warns of false prophets and doctrines, just like the teachings of New Atheism and other lies. “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…(Eph 4:14-15)” Christians are to hold firm in these indeterminate times to the truth which is in Christ. Each one of us as a believer is charged to “…be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us” (Eph 5:1).

In Chapter 6, today’s epistle reading, Paul instructs believers using the analogy of the Roman soldier’s armour. He says “Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:11).”

We are to gird around our waists the belt of truth, the truth which comes from the Holy Scriptures. We are to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Paul draws from Isaiah, “Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins (Isa 11:5)” also “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; (Isa 59:17)”.

Wearing the sandals meant the soldier was in readiness. For the believer it is the readiness to go out to proclaim Christ as revealed in the Gospel “For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord … (2 Cor 4:5).” We can all witness sensitively and effectively to our neighbours, work colleagues and friends, proclaiming the Risen Christ.

The shield of faith is for protection and attack “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts… (Ps 28:7).”

Then the sword which is the Word, for without it we are helpless. “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb 4:12).”

Lastly, St Paul places great importance on prayer, one of the pronounced strengths shared faithful Christians across all denominations. This epistle reflects Paul’s prayerfulness for the Church in Ephesus and for all the saints. “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints (Eph 6:18).”

“The cosmic powers of this present darkness…[and] the spiritual forces of evil” are set against not only the people of God but indeed against all humanity be they true believers, agnostics or atheists. Evil will just not go away, certainly not if mankind has any hand in it.

With CS Lewis’ words in mind we must be sage in our understanding whether or not we feel we comfortable articulating sinfulness being the form of the devil, evil spirits or just the pure darkness of man’s heart. Let us put on the armour of God in truth, in righteousness, in readiness, in faith, under the Word and in prayer as one body unified in Christ, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, 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 (Rom 8:38-39).” +In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.