By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
March 17, 2024 – Ephesians 1:19b-23
We have been working our way through a series entitled Christus Victor – Christ the conqueror. Through Christ’s life, death and resurrection, he conquered Satan, evil, sin and death. In a previous sermon, we looked at where evil originates. The Bible sums it up quite neatly when it talks about the “world the flesh and the devil.”
The flesh is our stuff. Our brokenness and our sinful natures leads us to sin, and it draws us toward evil. We talked about how Christus Victor can help conquer the flesh.
Today I want to talk about the evil we see that is outside of us. When we talk about the world, the flesh and the Devil – the world and the Devil are outside of us, moving us and moving our world towards evil.
The world is changing fast. I don’t know about you, but to me, it feels less stable than it has been in a long time. Between wars in first-world countries, looming environmental disasters, changing social norms, and technology making life different from before, there seems to be a lack of stability.
Add to that the ideology of our world seems to be becoming hostile to the Christian faith. The culture in our educational institutions, government, and many corporations seems to have lost its moral compass and, in some cases, its common sense. It seems to me that we live in a world that is more difficult to navigate than it was 25 years ago.
Most of you who are listening to me are followers of Jesus. You know that while the gospel is still as powerful as it ever was, the church seems to have lost moral credibility and a lot of spiritual power. While I see some glimmers of hope locally, the church in North America is in decline.
Taking all these things into consideration, I thought that it would be good to talk about Christus Victor as it relates to the world and the Devil. We need to know who Jesus is in our world and we need to know how to live in our world.
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When the bible talks about the world, it uses the word in a number of ways. Sometimes, it uses the word “world” to describe the earth. Sometimes it uses it to describe the people of the earth. “For God so loved the world”. Sometimes, and in the case of what we are talking about today, the word “world” is used to describe places and systems that take no thought of God. The morals, ethics, and goals are formed and lived out as if God didn’t exist. When government systems, or educational systems, or businesses run as if God does not exist – they will eventually end up promoting evil.
It is not as if they set out to promote evil, but if you are exclusively driven by profits, you are going to treat people poorly. If the only thing that matters is the next quarterly report, you will tend to make bad decisions about the future. If what matters is that you can get re-elected, then you will probably end up choosing what is popular, not what is good. It is not that these entities start out trying to promote evil – but that is where they sometimes – not all the time – but sometimes end up.
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The Bible also talks about evil coming from the Devil. Now, Satan is not everywhere present like God is. He can only be in one place at one time. But he carries out his work through what we know as the demonic. When Satan rebelled against God in heaven, one-third of the angels rebelled with him. God cast them out of heaven. These fallen angels became the demons.
These personal spiritual entities influence people and systems toward what is evil.
We have looked at how the triumph of Christ can deal with evil in the human heart. Today, I want to look at how his life, death and resurrection triumphed over the world and the Devil.
I am going to take you to a passage of scripture that we looked at a few weeks back. It is one of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians. In it, he talks about “rule and authority, power and dominion.” Rule and authority are about earthly authority. In other words, it is related to what we have been referring to as “the world.” Powers and dominion, I believe, is referring to Satan and his demonic hosts.
Come with me to Ephesians 1
Ephesians 1:19b–23 (NIV)
That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Far above all rule and authority power and dominion. Or if we were to use another translation, it would talk about principalities and powers.
As I said before, he is talking about the demonic. There are personal spiritual entities that have power and dominion over specific geographical and demographical areas. Jesus was victorious over these demons.
Colossians, talking about what Jesus did on the cross, says,
Colossians 2:15 (NIV)
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Powers and authorities. It is talking about triumphing over the demonic. Many commentators note that embedded in these powers and authorities are also the power structures of our world.
Who has the power in our world? It is governmental systems and economic systems, and corporations. It is media in all its forms. It is systems that have a lot of money.
Walter Wink put it this way, “These are social, political, and economic realities that are diffused throughout culture. Their power is in their capacity to control the imaginations and behaviour of human beings individually and communally”. (Walter Wink from Marva Dawn paraphrased)
He is saying that the media, government and the educational system capture our imagination. They define what “the good life” looks like. They define success. They define what is socially acceptable and what isn’t.
They capture our imagination. Alongside them are the principalities and powers. They work alongside of the power structures of our world to influence us towards evil.
When you start to get it, you see how the world works. I want to give you an illustration of this.
This being the season of lent, we have been orienting ourselves towards the cross.
Think about the night that Jesus was betrayed. He was arrested in the garden by the temple leaders. He was put on trial in front of Jewish religious leaders. He was then handed over to Pilate, a Roman governor. He was questioned by Pilate. You would have heard the crowds yell, “Crucify him, crucify him.” You would have seen him handed over to soldiers who mocked him and beat him. They placed a crown of thorns upon his head, and finally, he was whipped with a whip that would rip flesh from his back. Finally he was nailed to a cross.
You are familiar with the story. But let me ask you this. How did demonic evil show up? If you were at the trials of Jesus, you wouldn’t have seen any demons. If you were with Pilate, you wouldn’t have seen a demon whispering into his ear. You wouldn’t have seen the demonic stirring up the crowd. You wouldn’t have seen the demonic as they beat Jesus. You wouldn’t have seen the demonic as they nailed him to a cross.
If you had been there, you wouldn’t have seen any creatures from the nether world. You would have witnessed political and social forces in play. For those of you who live in the world of office politics, you would have readily grasped the situation. Look at the historical forces in play.
There were religious powers at play. He went before the Sanhedrin. They were both the religious leaders and the governmental leaders of the Jewish people. Israel was occupied by the Romans. Their place of power was tenuous at best. Jesus had been drawing big crowds. They saw him as undermining their authority. They knew that if they didn’t shut Jesus up, they might lose their place of power.
Just as an aside, these were religious leaders. Just because you invoke the name of God does not mean that you are not functioning as practical atheists. I’ve been around the church long enough to know that oftentimes, what happens in the name of God has nothing to do with God. When that happens, even though we are the church, we get into the area of principalities and powers.
Come back to the story. There were political powers at play. First Pilate, then Herod and then Pilate again. You could tell – this was a political hot potato. Pilate was trying to placate the Jewish leaders. He was trying to keep the peace. You could tell he would like to do the right thing if he could without too much hassle. But Pilate’s ultimate value was looking good, both to Rome and to the Jewish leaders.
There were also social powers at play. The crowd was yelling crucify him, crucify him. There was a mob response. The crowd the week before had been worshipping him on Palm Sunday; now they had turned against him.
So, what is going on here? Did Jesus get crucified just because of social and political forces? The answer is yes and no. There was also a huge spiritual battle going on.
The religious powers, the political powers and the social forces all served as agents of a more sinister invisible power. Principalities and powers. They are demonic, and yet they use the power structures of this world.
If you live in the world of office politics. If you live under oppressive bureaucratic power and control. If you live under systems that dehumanize you, then you will readily understand this kind of power and authority.
What happens is that the demonic links up with the power structures of our age. The line between the human and the demonic becomes blurry.
And if you don’t understand this, you will not understand the ground rules of the world you are living in. You live in a world where choice makes a difference and where what we do matters. We live in a world where executing an effective strategic plan takes us further down the road to our goals than doing nothing. But we also live in a world where the Bible says
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
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.
You need to understand the dual nature of the world we live in. There are spiritual realities and human realities, and they all impact the same set of circumstances and the same event.
This is especially true of the power structures of our world. Look at the government; there are spiritual realities and human realities going on. That is why we are told to pray for our government leaders.
Look at your workplace. There will be human realities and spiritual realities going on.
I have watched when people have been forced to work 70 and 80-hour weeks for extended periods of time in pressure cooker stress situations. When a company cares for its bottom line but doesn’t care about the people who create the bottom line, when companies chew people up and spit people out, there is something spiritual going on there, and it isn’t good.
When our imaginations tell us that keeping up with the Jones is the overriding goal – something spiritual is going on. We think we need a bigger house because they have one. We need to travel around the world because they did. We can’t drive a 5-year-old car; it doesn’t look good. So, to maintain our image, we have to work the 80-hour weeks, all the time, just to meet the bills. The kinds of forces that drive us to things like that— and we have all felt them — are principalities and powers.
We live in a world where there is a revival of superstition and religion on the one hand and a growing sense of fatalism and reckless gambling on the other hand.
Globalization has created forces that have unleashed even more inequity. We have so many displaced people in our world that we hardly take note anymore.
These are social, political, and economic realities that are diffused throughout culture. They are capturing the imagination of people. As we pursue them, we become more and more dehumanized.
These principalities and powers can be involved in any of the power structures of our world. Government, media, business, economics, family, church, charitable organizations, and the list could go on.
You have heard the saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Why is that? Because there is more going on than just human power in human institutions. There are principalities and powers at work.
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If this is the reality we face, how do we live? First, we need to realize that although we live in the world, we are not of the world. The ultimate power in our lives is not getting more money, or a better position, or preserving our turf, or our reputation. Our allegiance is not to the principalities and powers but to Jesus Christ. We live in his kingdom, and he is our king.
This can be a real revolutionary way to live. For instance – Capitalism works essentially because of greed. When you start functioning in our economic system with a different set of values, you will leave people scratching their heads.
The fact that many of us give substantial amounts of money to the church and other charitable organizations just will not compute for many people. But people you live in this world, you are not of this world.
The next thing you need to know, if you are going to live in this world, is that you cannot Christianize the world, and you cannot Christianize the Devil. You cannot Christianize the Principalities and powers. It seems to me that Christians have tried to spend a lot of time doing just that. Nor is our call to destroy them. That will not happen until Jesus comes back. We are not called to make a Christian country or even a Christian company.
The best we can hope to do with the principalities and powers is to tame them. This process of taming is an ongoing struggle. It is possible to tame “the powers that be.” Workplaces can change from sweatshops into places of dignity. Governments can change from oppressive to orderly. We can strive to live where the freedom of the individual is balanced by the freedom of the collective. We can strive towards justice and against oppression. We can work together to see the needs of the poor met. That is a good reason to contribute to the food bank as you can see people have done.
Next, you need to know that Christ has already conquered the principalities and powers. He is Lord. This is not a struggle of two equals. Christ is Lord, and all things must come under submission to him.
The last thing I want to remind you of is that you deal with problems appropriately. If you work in a system, then use that power within the system to promote the dignity of people. Use your power in that system to promote what is good and right and true and beautiful.
While you make those kinds of choices, remember that principalities and powers can piggyback on those kinds of systems to promote that which is not good. Just like if you were at the crucifixion of Jesus, you wouldn’t have seen the demonic – but it was there nevertheless. You may not see the enemy of your soul around you, but you can be assured he is involved in the stuff that isn’t good.
How do you fight what you cannot see? You fight it through prayer. You fight it through the promises of God. You remember what God has given you.
Let me remind you of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians a little further on in the book.
Ephesians 6:10–18 (NIV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 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.
18 And 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 Lord’s people.
God tells us to be strong in the Lord. You know you get strong by doing your spiritual exercises. Don’t wait for the battle to start building spiritual muscles.
God tells us that our struggle isn’t against people it is against principalities and powers. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
God tells us that when the day of evil comes, our call is to stand firm. You have the defence of salvation that was bought with a price, righteousness, truth, peace and faith. You have the weapons of the word of God and prayer. Your job in the middle of the battle is to stand firm.
Yes, we live in a world that feels unsteady. Yes, we live in a world that seems to be getting worse. We live in a world that takes no thought of God. We live in a world that has captured the imagination of many for what is good and desirable. We live in a world where principalities and powers, directed by Satan, want to bring about what is evil.
But remember what Jesus said,
John 16:33 (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
So, be strong in the Lord. Tame evil where you can. Put on the armour of God. When trouble hits – stand firm.
Sermon Questions
March 17, 2024
Introduction
1. What made your gratitude list this week?
2. What are you praying about this week?
Digging in
4. Read 1 John 2:15-17. What does the word “world” mean in the context of these verses?
5. Read Ephesians 1:19-23. What is Paul talking about in verse 21? (Colossians 2:15 may give you some clues)
6. What are some of the differences between God and Satan?
7. Think about what happened on Good Friday. How was the power of the world, and how was the power of Satan involved in what happened?
8. Read Ephesians 6:12. What does this tell us about the world we live in?
9. The sermon gave four things we need to know or do to live well in our present reality. What do you think of these four things?
1. We live in the world, but we are not of the world.
2. Know that you cannot Christianize the world and the devil.
3. Know that Christ has conquered the principalities and powers.
4. Deal with problems you face appropriately.
10. Read Ephesians 6:10-18. List what we are commanded to do in this passage?