Sermon: "Jesus, A Mighty Captain"
Easter is now just two weeks away.
DID YOU KNOW …
The English name “Easter” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “Eastre.” “Eastre” was a false goddess of light or spring.
Easter never occurs before March 22nd or after April 25th.
Approximately 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year.
That approximately 75% of children eat the ears of their chocolate bunny first.
That Americans spend approximately 2 billion dollars on Easter candy each year.
Isn’t it sad how the true meaning of Easter can get lost in the shuffle of commercialism, traditions and family celebrations?
That is why we are taking three weeks and focusing our attention on JESUS. We are using the question he asked his disciples to help us focus on him. That question was – WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
Last week we saw … “JESUS IS LORD.”
Jesus is Lord because he was both God and man when he walked here on earth.
To live with Jesus as your Lord …
- You must deny self
- You must walk the narrow path (Jesus is the only way)
- You must respect (show reverence) Jesus
and
- You must worship Jesus.
Last week we asked you to consider doing the following things in order to help keep your thoughts focused on Jesus this Easter.
1. Attending worship service the Sunday before Easter, that’s Palm Sunday, which is next Sunday and participate in the Communion Service … with your mind focused on Jesus.
2. Attend the Wednesday Night Love Feast/Communion and Feet Washing Service on the Wednesday before Easter … come with your mind focused on servanthood.
Having someone wash your feet or you washing someone else’s feet is a great reminder that Jesus was a servant and that we also should be servants to others.
3. Take a few moments on Good Friday, whether it is a holiday or work day for you, and focus on the suffering and death of Jesus.
4. Come to the Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m. here at the church … come with your mind focused on the empty tomb. Jesus overcame death.
5. Come to one of the services on Easter morning … come with your mind focused on a risen Lord and Savior and the hope for eternal life that he brings to us.
Now again this morning take a moment and imagine Jesus is speaking to you and says, “Who do you say I am?” Hopefully you can say … YOU ARE MY LORD AND MIGHTY CAPTAIN.
You need Jesus as your Mighty Captain because there is a war going on that began in the Garden of Eden and will continue to rage until the end of time. You are right in the thick of this war.
You will be better prepared to celebrate Easter and be a good soldier for God when you can say … Jesus is my Mighty Captain.
Our scripture lesson for this morning speaks about the war we are in, our Mighty Captain, and our responsibility as a soldier in God’s kingdom.
EPHESIANS 6:10-18 -- 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore 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. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
With that as our background, let’s look at the topic …
I. UNDERSTANDING WE ARE AT WAR
When you are called upon to fight against “powers of this dark world” and “spiritual forces of evil” it is helpful to know when and why the battle started. It all started when …
A. GREAT GLORY WAS GIVEN TO US
Listen to how the Bible speaks of this glory.
GENESIS 1:27 – So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Every human being is created in the image of God. What an honor that is. Listen to how the psalmist spoke of this.
PSALM 8:3-6 – 3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
God shared his glory with us. All that we now ever hope to be Adam and Eve were … but there was an enemy lurking near by … and so …
B. SATAN ATTACKS AND MANKIND’S GLORY FADES
Satan is a mighty angel who had once been glorious himself. He was beautiful and powerful. However, he rebelled against his Creator and convinced many other angels to follow him. He and his followers were cast out from their heavenly home, but were not destroyed. Satan waited for an opportunity to take revenge. He couldn’t overthrow the Mighty Creator, so he turned his attention to this new creature who was created in the image of the Creator.
Satan lied to Eve and that was the first shot of the war that continues up to today.
Listen to what Satan, disguised as a beautiful serpent said to Eve.
GENESIS 3:1-5 -- 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,”
You no doubt know the rest of the story. Adam and Eve fell for the lie and disobeyed God. The glory God had given to mankind faded. Sin, suffering and death became a part of mankind … but God was not defeated. It was just the beginning of the war. You can easily see that as you look at …
C. THE BATTLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
You do not have to read much of the Old Testament to see that war is a central theme of God’s activity.
God goes to war to bring his people out of Egypt in what is called the Exodus. There we see blood, hail, locusts, darkness and death as weapons used by God. Finally, God drowns many of the Egyptian soldiers in the Red Sea.
Then there are the many battles that take place in the land God promised to his chosen people. Israel battles the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Midianites, and the Babylonians. Deborah, Gideon, King David and many others go to war. Elijah wars against the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
Behind all of this fighting is the war between God and Satan over this creature that God created in his own image … mankind. God created mankind for himself. He has a great love for his creation. Satan hates God and will do everything he can to steal God’s special creation.
All those battles in the Old Testament had their roots in this battle between God and Satan. Who would mankind choose to serve? Would God be able to find a way to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind or would mankind, like Satan, be forever banished from God’s presence?
That’s why there was …
D. THE BATTLE TO STOP JESUS FROM COMING TO EARTH
Listen to how the book of Revelation described this battle.
REVELATION 12:1-5, 7-8, 17 -- 1A great and wondrous 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. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Notice who the dragon is now warring against – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
The birth of Jesus was an act of war. You could call it an invasion. For hundreds of years Satan tried to destroy the Jews so the Messiah could not be born as God had promised. Once Jesus came and accomplished his purpose, Satan turned his attention to those who choose to follow, trust and obey Jesus. And so …
E. THE BATTLE CONTINUES TODAY
You have an enemy if you choose to follow Jesus. To live in ignorance of spiritual warfare is very naïve and dangerous. Jesus said …
JOHN 10:10 -- The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
That thief is Satan. The world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of two kingdoms. It is hard to understand the world in which we live if you haven’t come to terms with war being the state in which we live. If you don’t understand a war is taking place, it’s hard to understand why …
- Innocent children are sexually molested
- So many marriages end in divorce
- Dishonest people prosper
and
- Godly people suffer.
Knowing you are in the middle of a war explains why so much of your life is difficult and painful. Knowing you are engaged in what could be called a cosmic conflict helps to explain the heartaches and failed expectations that invade your life as a follower of Jesus.
To be successful in this war you need to have …
II. JESUS AS YOUR MIGHTY CAPTAIN
To have and to experience Jesus as your Mighty Captain you must …
A. ALLOW JESUS TO GIVE YOU A PROPER PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE
That begins with understanding who we should be fighting. Our fight is not against people. Listen to part of our scripture lesson.
EPHESIANS 6:12 -- 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.
Our enemy is invisible and is powerful. Jesus doesn’t want us to misunderstand what is involved in being a Christian. Jesus said …
JOHN 16:33b – In this world you will have trouble.
See your life as a Believer in this world as it really is … you are in a war. You are going to have hard times.
However, you should not be discouraged, for Jesus also said …
JOHN 16:33c – But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Here Jesus is speaking from a vantage point that allows him to see the end. He knows this war will not last forever.
So you need to accept the fact that each day that you get awake, you awaken on a battlefield. Thankfully you are not doing battle alone. There are other Believers around you and Jesus is your Mighty Captain.
But to experience Jesus as your Mighty Captain you need to …
B. USE THE ARMOR HE PROVIDES FOR YOU
Why would you even think about going out on to the battlefield each day without being prepared? Why would you not want to use the armor and weapons your Mighty Captain has provided for you?
Our scripture lesson gives us a good listing of what God has provided for us since we are engaged in a war.
Earlier I read these verses from the NIV Translation. This time I will read them from the New Living Translation.
EPHESIANS 6:13-18 (NLT) -- 13Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
We don’t have time to examine each of these things, but here they are in a nutshell.
- Be truthful … with God, others and yourself.
- Live a righteous life, but depend on the righteousness you receive from trusting in Jesus.
- Know you have peace with God because of what Jesus has done for you.
- Stand firm in your faith – faith is believing what you can’t see. When you receive Jesus as your Lord heaven is your eternal home.
- Know you are saved … salvation is yours in Jesus.
- Read, study and obey God’s Word.
- Pray … for yourself and other believers – often.
Finally, if you are going to have Jesus as your Mighty Captain you need to …
C. ALLOW JESUS TO ENCOURAGE AND EMPOWER YOU
Listen to his promise to you….
MATTHEW 28:20b – And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Jesus is constantly with us through his Spirit who lives within all Believers. We just need to take the time to call upon and follow his leading.
CONCLUSION
Hopefully this Easter you will be able to focus your thoughts on Jesus and see him as your Lord and Mighty Captain.
We need a Mighty Captain because – we are involved in a war.
Jesus will be your Mighty Captain in this war if you will – allow Jesus to give you a proper perspective on life.
Your enemy is more powerful than you are, but Jesus has defeated our enemy. Victory will be ours. The war will not last forever.
Use the armor Jesus has provided for you – every day.
Allow Jesus to encourage and empower you – through his indwelling Spirit.
CLOSING PRAYER
Let’s close by singing a song that speaks of us being soldiers in God’s army, going to war with Jesus as our Mighty Captain.
SONG – “ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS” #496