Brews with Andrewes

When we are not drinking brews with Andrewes and discussing his sermons, we are often preaching ourselves. Here is Fr. Allen’s sermon from Trinity XIII 2022

"When Law and Sacrifice Don't Help"

September 11, 2022

     We have contained here in this well known, and well-beloved, parable of The Good Samaritan, a picture of nearly the whole story of the Bible, which is not only super convenient because very few of us today make time to read the whole story of the Bible, but also because, let’s face it, we are all visual learners, and we all love a good story.

    So, in our text today when this expert in Biblical law comes and asks Jesus about living the eternal kind of life, Jesus could have told Him to go reread Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, but no, He says let met paint a picture for you (and we are all forever grateful).

    There was a man who once dwelt in the city of peace, but then one day he fell into the hands of one who came to steal, kill, and destroy, and was left for dead in his fallen condition. The first sign of hope for him was when the Law (symbolized by the pharisee) was given, but then it was unable to restore him to life (Gal.3:21). The next chance for help came when the Levitical priesthood (symbolized by the Levite) was established, but alas as we know the blood of bulls and goats could not restore man from the condition he had fallen into (Heb.9:13-10:18). Yet then, when it seemed that all hope was lost, salvation came for the man in a form least expected (symbolized by the Samaritan) – who moved with compassion, bound his wounds for healing, carried him into a caring community, and left the resources necessary for man’s full restoration until He returns. Are you beginning to see the answer?

    In this short story, Jesus gives us the perfect answer for how we can receive and live the eternal kind of life (not just a lawful, religious kind of one) by retelling the story of man’s fall, the law’s inability to help man out of his fallen condition, and the insufficiency of the Levitical priesthood to restore man from his fallen condition. He then shows that humanity’s only hope of salvation, rests in the saving mercy and care of a despised and dismissed Savior.

    But, the story doesn’t end there. We can’t simply pray a prayer for Him to get us out of our spiritual ditch and then go about our business like before. Unlike the law and the Levitical priesthood, Jesus doesn’t leave us where and how we were before He found us.

    We see this in our parable because it not only gives us a survey of salvation history, but also a clearer picture of how Jesus’ salvation both restores us to life and then enables us to live it by helping others who have fallen victim to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

    First, He binds up the man’s wounds wounds. The reason Jesus can do what the law and Levitical system could not, is because He became what the law and Levitical system could not. He took on flesh to condemn our lawlessness in the flesh (Rom.8:3), so that by His wounds we could be healed (Is.53:5). And in offering His own blood, as compared to that of goats and bulls he secured for us eternal life with God, not just annual life that had to be renewed by more sacrifices (Heb.9:11-14). Furthermore, in being put to death he was able to destroy the one who has the power of death, who used that power to steal, kill, and destroy, enslaving people to the ditches he left them for dead in (Heb.2:14-15; Wisd.2:24).

    Then He brings him to an inn to care for him. He carries those He saves to the house He stays at when He visits to find healing and recovery. And in the story, the Samaritan leaves two denarii for further care until His return, but the recourses Jesus leaves to provide for our full recovery with His Church – His Holy Ghost, His Sacraments, and, of course, His instructions (the Bible), and this is where He brings those whom He saves.

    Here in His house, we are spiritually strengthened and renewed. This is why we are about to receive the Eucharist: “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jhn.6:53). And then in experiencing the fresh influx of His life we will find the strength to “go and do likewise.” The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the father seeketh such to worship him.

When we are not drinking brews with Andrewes and discussing his sermons, we are often preaching ourselves. Here is Fr. Allen’s sermon from Trinity X 2022

"Be Not Ignorant: Batteries Not Included"

August 21, 2022

    We all know what it is like to be ignorant of those little words: “Batteries not included.” And we all know that Wendy’s struck gold back in the day when they came up with the slogan: “Where’s the beef?” Because, you know as well as I, that it’s easy to make a product that looks like the real thing, smells like the real thing, and has the perfect packaging, only to realize what seems to be promised is missing.

    In the case of burgers, it is a decent sized beef patty, and when it comes to faith, Scripture tells us, “You better make sure these are included: lives of holiness, spiritual mindsets, and a keen awareness of God’s Presence in the places where He has promised to be found.

    In our Epistle Reading, we hear St. Paul for the second week in a row, tell us about something things we sometimes can be ignorant about, or ingredients that are easy to overlook and will be missing in imitation-faith. Last week, he gave us the example of the imitation-faith of the wilderness generation: the missing ingredient was a personal walk with God which progressed in holiness in their everyday lives. They had all been baptized, they regularly communed with spiritual food, but yet they did not walk with the Lord. Instead, they fought him every day of their life (in the categories of how they should worship, who they could sleep with, and what life was all about). And because of this, Paul warns us that it is possible to have Holy Sacraments, but if you’re missing the ingredient of a holy life, on Judgment Day, the angels are going to ask, “where’s the real thing?”

    Similarly, this week tells us to not be ignorant of the purpose of spiritual gifts, gifts after all which are to be pursued by every believer (v.31). Because, if all we have are the spiritual gifts, without a spiritual mind – that is: having a mind for using them to seek the good of others – we will still be missing the real thing. The gifts are given to nurture the life which has been planted within us at Baptism and quickened in Confirmation, so that we, and the world around us can experience the blessings of Jesus’ kingdom. Without this life, gifts are just emotional excitement, or efforts to feel important, only having the “appearance of godliness but missing its power” (2Tim.3:5). It might look like Jesus, but it is only an imitation for it because it does not have the mind of Jesus, which seeks and serves others.

    Then, in our Gospel reading today where Jesus cleanses the Temple, we see yet another ingredient, which will be missing in some imitation-faiths.  Despite what you might have been told about the temple, it was dedicated to presenting the gospel - the good news of Yahweh’s salvation - through the celebrations of annual feasts and instructing God’s people to live their lives according to those realities.

    Every Spring they led people in celebrating their great salvation out of their bondage and slavery in Egypt by the blood of the lamb with Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. And then the new relationship they were saved into was celebrated with Pentecost.  And then in the Fall, they led people in celebrating Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths, the annual times in which worshippers were called to examine their lives and faithfulness thereof, to look to God to cleanse them and their land of their sins, and to remember God’s provisions for them in their salvation.

    And, yet even with all of this we are led to ask what good is the proclamation of the Gospel, if it turns into nothing more than a money maker and doesn’t lead its participants into recognizing the God of the gospel when He shows up. It’s like churches today where people will leave saying they got nothing out of it. Even though Jesus promises He is present when two or three gather in His name (Matt.18:20), when people commune of His flesh (Jhn.6:53,56), and when His word is submitted to (Jhn.14:23), they have missed those moments of visitation like Temple of Jesus’ day as they look for and settle with imitations.

Today, we ought not to settle for any imitation, and I am not talking about knock-off burgers with big buns, great toppings, and no meat. I am talking about knock-off Christianitys, which try to hide the fact that they have no desire for holiness in life, no mind-of-Christ to serve, and no awareness of the Jesus’ supernatural Presences with us and for us. So, come and eat with the real Jesus and find the real thing.

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the father seeketh such to worship him.”

Episode Ten: Remembering Lot’s Wife in Luke 17:32

Andrewes on the requisite intentions for spiritual growth

and the lifelong perseverance that marks

the lives of true believers.

May 30, 2022

Sermon IV of Lancelot Andrewes’ Sermons Preached in Lent

Preached before Queen Elizabeth on March 6, 1594.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Two, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      Andrewes teaches on the sobering example of Lot’s wife, which Jesus commanded His followers to remember in Luke 17:32.

1. Introductory Remarks

1. This verse is short so there is no excuse for not memorizing and learning its lesson.

1. The lake of Sodom – a punishment for resolute sin

1. For sins of commission – a judgment against those in a state of sin

1. For sins of omission – a judgement against those in a state of grace

1. In regards to religion

1. Her story is for old-timers, not new converts

1. As breasts complete the work of the womb, or a healthy regiment completes the work of the physician, so remembering her story completes our first faith

1. Like Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt

1. By the office of preaching reminding us of the fragility of life and dark days to come

1. We are to hold our actions up in comparison to the actions seen in these stories

1. Two kinds of “remembering”

1. Remembering examples to follow

1. What Lot’s wife did – “she drew back, or looked back

1. She did not head the angel’s warning (Gen.19:17) as if there was no peril

1. A wavering Mind with the Sin of Unbelief – She did not keep the Angel’s charge but believed her sons-in-law knew better.

1. She fell away and looked back after 30 long years of hard faithfulness

1. Judged for forgetting all of God’s past mercies to her

1. A Sudden Death – “back she looked, and never looked forward again”

1. This evil is turned to good if we learn by its example

1. God makes use of both Good and Bad examples

1. Perseverance – the Queen and preserver of virtue

1. Just because one is being led does not mean that one is safe

1. Remember so that we do not think this can’t happen to us

Beverages of Choice:

Guinness Draught Stout by Guinness Ltd.

Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter by DuClaw Brewing

SeaQuench Ale Session Sour by Dogfish Head Brewing 

Cayman Jack Margarita 

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Episode Nine: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.4

Andrewes on seeking God’s grace to do no evil

nor befall it and giving God the glory as the

only One Who can give such grace.

January 23, 2021

Sermons 16 - 19 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five,

or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      With the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th sermons of this 13-sermon collection on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of the Lord’s Prayer’s “Lead Us Not into Temptation” “But Deliver Us from Evil,” “For Thine is the Kingdom, Power, and Glory, for Ever and Ever” and finally “Amen.”

1. Introductory Summary and Overview of the Lord’s Prayer

1. Jesus opens up to us a relationship with the Divine Creator as

1. Our good, merciful and willing Father

1. Keeping God as number One in our lives

1. The necessities for both our physical bodies and spiritual souls

1. Increasingly learning to no longer commit evil (acts contrary to God’s ways)

1. Forgiveness is in vain without repentance

1. Parts of Repentance

1. Sorrow for past sins

1. God’s Trials

1. They are for our ultimate good

1. Not for our ultimate good (only temporal, immediate good)

1. Proceed from within us

1. Proceed from the world outside us

1. From Inner Temptations

1. Delivers us to know true pleasure

1. Grants confidence that God can indeed deliver

1. God knows and will protect our weaknesses

1. We can’t truly love another without knowing their weakness

1. Becoming a son of perdition by being led by a “lying Spirit” (1Kngs.22:19-23; similar to the testing Job faced in Job1:6; 2:1)

1. We must not set ourselves up for temptation

1. We must remove known stumbling blocks

1. Praying for the removal of things laborious and troublesome

1. Temptation & Evil are two different things

1. We pray that temptation/evil will not come our way or we to it

1. The Church Fathers’ Help in describing it

1. Chrysostom said the Devil was the greatest evil

1. From his jaws in the Second Death

1. From loss of goods which would prevent our service to God

1. We acknowledge our inability to deliver ourselves

1. By receiving the Wisdom of God

1. We can ask God to take it away completely

1. We can rejoice in it because being chastened by evil means is often part of God’s means for discipling His children

1. If God wills that we suffer a cross we pray to be enabled to do it like Jesus

1. We are His servants; thus, He will free us from servitude to Satan

1. An “Orderly” Conclusion to the Prayer

1. We do not just make a list of petitions and then abruptly end our prayers

1. We confess our weakness, wanting, needs, and inability to do anything that pleases God apart from His intervention

1. God’s Triune Power: the Father’s as King of Kings; the Son’s as Conqueror of death; and the Spirit’s as the Inscriber of hearts.

1. Prayers are answered for the glory and honor of God’s Name

1. If we do not humble ourselves by the petitions of this prayer, we should not expect grace to be given

1. To the Father we are His workmanship for His glory

1. The Duties of the King are to protect His subjects from injury and wrong and provide for their wellbeing and fruitfulness

1. Yield service to the King

1. In Generality it contains all the Earth

1. The word “Amen” as a seal to or prayers

1. Jerome says it’s a “seal of faith” showing our the desire of our will for what we have asked and petitioned for

1. In the Old Testament (1Chron.16:36; Ps.106:48)

1. Ps. 57 taught them “Hallowing God’s Name

1. Before a statement expresses the truth of what is about to be spoken

1. Our faith, trust, and confidence in God’s truth

1. It must be prayed from the heart with earnest desire

1. Limitations to God’s answering our petitions

1. God will answer only if it is expedient (the right timing) for us

1. Daily Bread comes with doing God’s Will/Commands

1. To have thanksgiving and praise toward God for his provisions and deliverances

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Episode Eight: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.3

Andrewes on Asking for Our Daily Bread and

Seeking the Forgiveness of Our Debts as We

Forgive Our Debtors

Dec.12, 2020

Sermons 13 - 15 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      With the 7th, 8th, and 9th sermons of this 13-sermon collection on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” “Forgive Us Our Debts,” and “As We Forgive Them That Trespass Against Us.”

Outline:

1. “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

1. Introduction

1. We now move from the eternal petition for glory and the spiritual petition for grace, to the natural, temporal petition for necessities to live and to be able to serve God.

1. The benefits of our asking God to give

1. We confess that we are in want (maintaining our dependence upon God)

1. He gives bread to believers and unbelievers by blessing the earth w/fruitfulness

1. “Bread” is symbolic of many things

1. The physical necessities needed for bodily health, peace/comfort, and contentment

1. The nourishing force of God’s Word (“bring us out of our dry spell”)

1. When we ask for “Our” Bread we mean that which rightfully belongs to us as God’s Children

1. To receive the necessities that are ours by right for faithfully laboring for them

1. Not the bread of violence, deceit, or demons, but of God

1. We are asking for our daily care

1. Natural sustenance for our natural body

1. Necessity, not wantonness

1. The Reason God gives to us

1. God cares for all His creatures

1. God gives to us for the purpose of blessing others

1. We are seeking our present need, not our future needs

1. Intro: the dual nature and purpose of prayer/grace: to receive good and to remove evil

1. Glory for Kingdom to Come – Removal of Sin

1. “Debts” = “Sin”

1. It prevents entrance into the Kingdom/Heaven

1. God desires to pardon the sins of man

1. Sins of Commission (Committing the wrong actions)

1. Our duty to desire the forgiveness of others as much as ourselves

1. Even the Apostles were Debtors

1. Like the indebted widow, the prophet provided her debt and livelihood (2Kng.4)

1. Leading us to confess, not justify

1. We learn our sins are forgivable

1. We are to apply Christ’s satisfaction to ourselves by this prayer confessing sin

1. The two “as”s of our Lord’s Prayer

1. Duty we owe pertaining to God: “As in Heaven”

1. If we desire to be forgiven, we mustn’t only not hate our brother, but must forgive

1. “Every man is a debtor [to God], having a debtor [also who owes them]”

1. We forgive the debts of those to whom we might one day owe a debt; God forgives the debts of those whom He will never be indebted.

1. God gives us the power to forgive even as He forgives, whereby a person can be to another even in God’s place

1. The greatest honor for us to aspire to is to more and more resemble the Father.

1. Outwardly, we have a covenant with God in which we can press for forgiveness

1. We are to both forgive our brethren and forget their offence, thus we must strive to master all corrupt desires for revenge in either word, deed, or sight

1. Forgiveness is something all men have to give

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Episode Seven: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.2

Andrewes on Establishing God’s

Heavenly Honor, Kingdom, and Will on Earth

Nov.14, 2020

Special Guest: Bishop Chandler Jones

Sermons 10 - 12 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      With the 4th, 5th, and 6th sermons of this 13-sermon collection on the Lord’s Prayer, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of “Thy Kingdom Come” “Thy Will Be Done,” and “In Earth as it is In Heaven.”

Outline:

1. “Thy Kingdom Come”

1. Seek first the kingdom of God/heaven (“Thy Kingdom”)

1. By seeking the renewal of our minds by God’s Spirit of Wisdom and understanding (cf.Isa.11:2; Rom.12:2; Eph.1:27).

1. It is a Universal Kingdom, with God reigning over all things, kings, rulers, and nations (cf.Ps.99)

1. Against this, the Kingdom of Satan seeks to rule the world in God’s stead,

1. This part aspect of the Kingdom grants the New Birth to those who desire it,

1. When it comes, it reveals our corrupted appetites for the things of this world,

1. We enter the Kingdom of Grace now that we might enter the Kingdom of Glory;

1. We are seeking the grace to “Do”

1. We seek God’s grace to reign in us now that we might reign with Him in glory.

• For His Pleasure

• Anything not plainly spelled out can be dissented to

• Disclosed to us

• Be it death,

1. We must lay aside, seek the conversion of, and discipline of our own wills for God’s Will

1. God’s Passive Grace – that which awakens us to life from above.

1. As an Appendix to the First Three Petitions this shows us that it is not just about doing the action of hallowing God’s Name, spreading God’s Kingdom, and doing God’s Will, but equally about how, and in what manner, these actions are done.

1. Just as the three Heavens of Nature (weather), Heavenlies (sun, moon, and stars), and Throne Room (God, the Angels, and the Saints) obey the will and commands of God, so

1. Heaven can use us to bless the earth like the weather

1. Like the Sun and Moon which stopped for Moses

1. We seek progression in this life and perfection in the one to come

1. As we pray for the Will of God to be done, we must seek to perform it once it is revealed to us – both the Micro, Particular Will for us (personal sanctifications) and the Macro, General Will for all (patience under suffering)

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Episode Six: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.1

Andrewes on Understanding God as Our Father in Heaven

And Sanctifying His Name

October 3, 2020

Sermons 7 - 9 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      With these first 3 sermons of the 13 sermon collection, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of “Our Father,” “Which art in Heaven,” and “Hollowed be Thy Name.”

Outline:

1. “Our Father” (Connecting to the perfection of God’s goodness and merciful nature)

1. Benefits of Praying to God

1. The guarantee of being heard when we prayer

1. It reinforces our trust in God’s goodwill and favor toward us

1. Calling God “Father” demonstrates the love we bear to Him

1. His Majesty ≠ our baseness (having been made from dust and ashes)

1. We are given an exalted position above the Patriarchs and Heavenly Spirits

1. He is the Father of all creatures

1. His fatherly love for us is unchanging in both chastening and blessing

1. It doesn’t take much to satisfy a Father’s anger

1. To live as becomes His children and to repent/return to the Father when we haven’t

1. This fights against pride

1. This phrase is meant to be and expression of the Father’s greatness and power more than a description of the location to where the prayer is being sent.

1. In desiring to be in heaven, we begin to desire wanting to learn its ways

1. Praying for the ability to sanctify God’s Name is the 1st Petition to be sought in prayer

1. Therefore, it must come before even requests for the Kingdom

1. People (like the Old Testament priests or Paul in the New Testament)

1. Pray not to misuse it

1. Either by slip of the tongue or through contempt

1. In our hearts

1. Pray that people will come to know His Name

1. Not ourselves nor other men

1. Knowing their unworthiness

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Episode Five: That War in Heaven

Andrewes on the Role of Angels in Revelation 12:7 and the Bible

Recorded August 29, 2020

Sermon 13 of Lancelot Andrewes preserved in A Collection of Posthumous and Orphan Lectures preached by him in the Parish Church of St. Giles outside Cripplegate, London on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, September 29, 1599.

A copy can be found in Apospasmatia Sacra, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

      In this sermon, Andrewes expounds upon the Twelfth chapter of St. John the Divine’s Revelation which tells about the war fought in heaven between the forces of Michael and his Angels and the forces of the Dragon and his Angels, using it to explain both the roles of all Angels in the life of the Church and her believers as well as the congratulations due to God and these Angels that should be offered by the Church and her believers. A detailed outline is as follows:

1. Introduction: Angels in the Christian Faith

1. The Christian Faith neither worships nor dismissed Angels and the spiritual realm

1. Adoration and worship are due solely to Jesus Christ ( Col.2:8; Rev.22:9)

1. Beings who willingly leave the bliss of God’s Presence in heaven to serve those on earth by taking charge, protecting, and ministering to believers ( Matt.18:10; Ps.16; 91:11; Heb.1)

1. They offer direction, knowledge, understanding, council to God’s people ( Gen.31:11; Dan.9:22; Rev.1:1)

1. We Celebrate their Great Battle Against and Victory over the Dragon

1. Michael

1. Michael serves under Christ taking charge over the Church on earth (cf.Dan.10:13,21)

1. The Dragon is none other than the Slanderer of old [Hbrw: Satan & Grk: Devil] who is shown to both slander the LORD’s goodness to man (Gen.3) and man’s goodness to the LORD (*Job1*).

1. BIBLICALLY SPEAKING: in the Old Testament “Satan” or “the Satan” is never used to speak of the chief rebel of the Bible, but during the Second Temple period when God’s people began trying to understand the evil they were experiencing in the world from a Biblical perspective this idea developed. See below.

1. The angels on Michael’s side are elect of God and are shown to excel in strength and obey God’s commands (cf.Ps.103:20; 1Tim.5:21)

1. Scriptures inform us that while they are known as Angels of Peace, they also war and battle for the sake of it (cf.Isa.33:7; Gen.32:2; Isa.6; Lk.2; Matt.26). For they must work toward and fight for the same peace God works and fights for (cf.Heb.11:14; Matt.13)

1. BIBLICALLY SPEAKING: we are told about a “Divine Council” (1Kng.22:19-23; Job1:6-12; Deut.32:8-9; Ps.82)

1. The First was when the Dragon attempted to make himself like God and Michael stands asking “Who is like God” [the literal meaning of his name] (Isa.14:13; Dan.7)

1. The Dragon could not abide to honor a piece of clay [Wisd.2:23-24; Life of Adam and Eve]

1. Michael and his Angels are intrigued, not irritated, by Christ’s redemption of man and worship Jesus for this great saving work ( 1Pet.1:12; Heb.1:6; Rev.5:12-13)

V. The Rightful Response of Humanity

1. This victorious battle should evoke a thankfulness to God and change of perspective:

1. Man is a desirous palace worthy fighting for by both the forces of heaven and hell, thus if heaven and hell esteem us as such so we ought not think so badly of ourselves. Man is no ordinary thing.

VI. Last Call Material: Old Testament Imagery for Describing the Devil:

      “Beelzebub” = (Baal Zebub, chief of demons 2 Kings 1:2,3,6,16; Matt.22:24; Mark.3:23; Lk.11:15). Spoken of as such, he is the strong man that holds men and women in slavery by the fear of death until the stronger One comes (cf.Matt.12:24-29; Heb.2:14-15). He is behind all of human idolatry – the giving our allegiance to the lord of the flies, the kingdom of death. All other sins flow from that. The New Testament’s question is not “do you know without a shadow of doubt that if you die tonight you will go to heaven” but rather “Whose team are you on? Who is lord? When things get hard what are you leaning on? (Bank account, bottle, attractiveness, good deeds, etc.) what are you leaning on for significance meaning and worth? To kingdom of God or the kingdom of Beelzebub? Faith is more than believing unbelievable things. Biblically speaking faith is about pledging allegiance to and living within a kingdom system.

      “Lucifer”[1] (King of Babylon)= Babylon is the symbol of man’s corporate rebellion against God and when “Lucifer” is used it is done so to describe him as the leader of it (cf. Isa14:12). Thus, he is the force behind the kings and kingdoms that oppresses the nations. When this title is used it speaks of him as the king, political and economic ruler/god of the world (cf.2Cor.4:4). He is behind the oppressive political and economic structures God’s people are called to come out from under in their lives (Rev.18:4).

      “Satan” (Hebrew literally meaning “adversary/opponent”; “Devil” is from its Greek synonym), is the spiritual power that pushes against God’s kingdom from being realized among His people (cf.Rev.12:9). He is behind the dark current that is flowing against the kingdom of God and His ways, preventing it from taking root or finding footing (cf.Matt.13:19). His influence is what causes people to say to God, “We can’t do that in our situation.” He controls “the pattern of the world” (cf.Rom.12:2) of apathy and hate that the world wants us to fit into and that the Scripture calls us to resist.

[1] The King James Bible, from the Vulgate tradition, retains “Lucifer” here while most other English translations translate the word “Morning Star,” “Day Star,” or “Shining One.”