Star Wars
January 3, 2016
Isaiah 14:9-16
9 The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond, they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.”
11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble?”
Last week Julie and I caved in to the cultural phenomena that is sweeping our nation. We went to “Star Wars” (part seven). Neither one of us thought it lived up to the hype. It certainly didn’t justify the packed crowds and all the excitement – in my opinion. But a few things caught my attention.
I remember when the first Star Wars came out. It generated the same kind of sensationalism – and rightly so. The special effects were mind blowing. Those things that looked like flying motorcycle flying through the trees – wow! The space ships flying at warp speed through space was just awesome. We were all amazed at how they could do that. Were there really machines that could do that kind of thing? We didn’t know. Remember those big walking robots with the people up in the head making them walk and fight? MINDBLOWING!
That was seven movies back. There was no cutting edge technology and amazing special effects for this one. They had to bring back the original Hans Solo and Princess Leya to generate enthusiasm among the faithful fans and excitement at the box office. So I was a little disappointed. I enjoyed the date and spending time with my favorite girl – but the movie was average at best.
But, ya know, God can use the simplest and silliest things to teach us. And “Star Wars” had a few spiritual lessons in it. I was reminded of some spiritual truths. Some were pretty obvious. I’m sure you picked up on some. But there were four things I want to bring to your attention this morning. Here’s the first one. 1. We are at war. Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we forget that there is a war going on among the stars right now – and we are the prize.
Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Luke 10:18
Jesus is the only one on earth who could say such a thing. Maybe some of the angels could say they saw Satan fall from heaven – but, certainly no human could. But God revealed to John that Satan didn’t go alone. John wrote,
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth…” Revelation 12:1-4
Do you understand that the ‘women’ represents the Church – the Bride of Christ? I won’t go into all the symbolism here but I want you to notice that the dragon swept a third of the ‘stars’ or ‘angels’ from heaven and flung them to earth. I believe those are Satan’s demons. They are here on earth. Some of us have experience literal confrontation with them at times. You don’t want anything to do with the ‘dark side’. It is evil and frightening. But I say this to let you know we are at war. We have an enemy. And he is evil.
That brings me to the second point. First, we are at war; Secondly, we have an enemy who is out to destroy us. Jesus said,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” John 10:10a
DO you understand that that is the enemy’s nature? It is not that he hates you so much. You probably haven’t done anything to harm him or even threaten him. But you wear the uniform. You belong to the King. And that is enough for Satan. Years ago the Holy Spirit gave me a couple of illustrations to understand this. Some of you old timers may remember an ad that was in nearly every magazine. It was an ad by Charles Atlas to buy his program which would make you stronger, bigger, and tougher.
It featured a skinny guy at the beach with a beautiful girl. A bully comes by and kicks sand on the guy and embarrasses him in front of his girl. Every man dreads that. Atlas promised to build us up. The next frame shows the skinny guy, now with rippling, bulging muscles, kicking sand on the bully with the beautiful girl laughing on his arm.
Satan is like that bully. He is a destroyer. He is a hater. He is out to get you simply because God loves you. Here’s another illustration I got through the years. The question is, why does Satan want to hurt us so much?
One day I was thinking about how much I loved my kids. They were little and having a good time playing around. Did you ever have your heart fill with so much love that tears came to your eyes? That’s how I was. And the thought came to me that if someone wanted to hurt me - the most pain wouldn’t be to punch me in the face or whack me with a club or inflict bodily harm on me. The most pain would be to hurt someone I loved. It would crush me if someone hurt my wife or kids or grandkids or my friends.
That is why Satan wants to hurt you so badly. Hurting you – hurts God. That is why Jesus wept at Lazarus’s grave when He knew He was going to bring him back to life shortly. Jesus felt the pain of those He loved. Another time He looked down over the sinful city of Jerusalem and wept. The Bible says,
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it”
Luke 19:41
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37
Jesus loves you like that. He loves you so much that he weeps over you. He loves you so much that He, and the angels in heaven, rejoice when you do well. That is the painful or passion side of love. Those we love can hurt us like no one else. And Satan tries to use us to hurt our Heavenly Father. He attempts to cause our Savior Pain by making us fall; by causing us to deny Christ or rebel against Him. That must be the greatest pain of all.
We are at war. We have an enemy. So what are we to do about it? My third point is 3. We need to put on our armor. The Scripture says,
“11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:11-17
We come into this world innocent, ignorant and defenseless. We are vulnerable to the enemy’s suggestions, temptations and trials. Some people are destroyed in their youth. Some never recover from the wounds the world and the enemy inflicts upon them. All their lives they are victims; wounded, needy and harmless to their real enemy. It isn’t until we realize we need a Savior; that we need to be rescued - that real life and purpose and power begins.
When we come to our Savior one of the first things we need to do is get untangled from the snares of the enemy. The Bible says,
“3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” 2 Timothy 1:3-4
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” Hebrews 12: 1-4
When you go into battle, it is essential that you untangle yourself from civilian affairs. You need to be single-minded and you have to put all business dealings, thoughts of home and family, from your mind. Spiritually, when you join the Lord’s Army, you need to repent of all sins – it entangles you – and you need to make pleasing your Commanding Officer your highest Priority.
The problem with too many Christians today is they are uncommitted and give half-hearted lip service to the Lord. They are still all tangled up in the world. That ought not to be. A good soldier is singled-minded and unencumbered.
In all the wars our country has fought – from the War of Independence, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and our modern day wars – the American soldier gladly fought for our freedom and way of life. Many willing sacrificed their lives for that great cause. They put on the uniform; they donned their armor; they picked up their weapons and willing suffered and sacrificed for their country.
As soldiers of the cross we need to put on all the armor God has for us. Did you notice what they were? The belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, good boots that enables us to go share the Gospel, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God.
A battle is won by both defense and offense. The breastplate or bulletproof vest, as we call it now, is our righteousness. Doing the right thing protects us. Salvation protects our head and mind. Faith shield us from all the fiery attacks the enemy throws at us. Life is so much easier when you live by faith.
Don’t forget the offensive weapon. Mine was pistol and rifle. I was an expert with the .45 pistol and the .30 caliber, M-14 rifle. I was trained with hand grenades, grenade launchers and other weapons as well. My weapon of choice now - is the Bible, the Holy Word of God. I study it daily. I handle it continually. I’m pretty good with it – but I am still learning.
Are you able to attack the enemy with the Sword of the Spirit? Jesus did during his first great trial in the wilderness. Every time the Enemy attacked Him Jesus used Scripture to put him on the run. We need to do the same.
That brings me to the last point. 4. We need to get in the fight!
I just finished a book on the Alamo. Those men were incredibly brave. They knew they would all be killed if help didn’t arrive. It didn’t arrive. General Huston was looking at the big picture. He wanted to win the Rebellion and if the Alamo had to be sacrificed he was willing to do that.
People thought him a coward because he wouldn’t join the fight. Time and again he pulled his army back. Once a group was ready to mutiny. Only some quick action by Huston prevented it. But finally the time had come. They had enough men – not as many as the enemy – but enough to win the battle. General Huston led the Army of Texas into battle and routed the enemy.
Ya know, if you don’t engage the enemy you can’t win. Many soldiers are highly trained, superbly equipped, and highly motivated – but for one reason or another they never get into the fight. Consequently, there is no honor for them; no medals; no glory.
We are at war. We have an enemy. We need to put on our armor. And we need to get into the fight! Are you fighting? If you aren’t fighting you ought to be training for war. Find your purpose. Find your talents. Star Wars – the movie is just entertainment. But the REAL Star Wars is for your eternal destiny. We have to win this fight. Pick up your Sword. Put on your armor! Get into the fray. May the Force be with you!
“Whom Shall I Fear”
