Sermon Tone Analysis

SATAN WANTS TO DESTROY THE CHURCH

Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5

 

            I have stood in this pulpit and preached about 275 different messages in the history of this church, but I have a dilemma.

Now that I’m a lame duck pastor, what do I preach?

What should I do?

It would be easy and very tempting just to pull out one of my better sermons of the past, work it over a bit, bring it up to date with a few illustrations, add some warm and fuzzy comments, and preach it to you.

Again, that would be easy to do, but I’m not convinced that is what God would want me to do.

You see, we’re all here together this morning, young and old and those in-between, teenagers, families and singles and single parents, members and visitors and guests.

What is the message that God would have me bring to you today?

Maybe it was in response to this concern that an idea began to formulate in my mind.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to talk with many of you who have come to Faith from so many different places.

You’ve opened up your hearts to me.

Some of you have been extremely kind in expressing how much you love attending Faith.

You feel that you have found a “church home,” and you look forward to coming here.

I’m glad that you feel that way, but some of you have also poured out your heart to me about your former church, about some of the personality problems and heartaches and power struggles that seem to be going on in some churches.

You’re confused and heartbroken over what is happening.

But folks, it’s almost everywhere.

Why is that?

Why does it seem that so many churches are having problems of different kinds?

Well, I believe I know the answer to that question.

And that is the reason I have chosen to use as the theme of my message this morning an idea presented in a small but powerful book by C.S. Lewis that I have read called the /Screwtape Letters/.

In it he suggests that: “THE DEVIL AND DEMONS GO TO CHURCH!”

Does that idea surprise you?

Do you have a hard time accepting such a thought?

Then perhaps you ought to consider the following: Have you ever experienced the Sunday Morning Wars?

It happens to Christian families all over the world as they prepare to worship in their local congregations.

Just why is it that Sunday morning is the one time that everything seems to go wrong?

Kids cry, cars don’t work, and parents are unusually on edge with one another.

And it doesn’t always end when we reach the friendly confines of the church building.

In some ways, it can even intensify.

As a preacher I’ve sometimes wondered if the devil pinches babies at just the critical time in the service when everyone’s attention is focused on the Lord.

Or consider the use of modern technology in our services.

It can be wonderful or it can be another opportunity for the devil to distract us as we wait for missed cues, sound-system malfunctions, video projection mistakes that keep taking us to the wrong verse of a song, or …. well, you can fill in the blanks.

You know what I mean.

In fact, I believe that I can safely assert that demons spend more time in church than many Christians.

It makes sense for him to do so.

If they can hang around Christians and create confusion, division, or discouragement, then he has effectively gotten the church off-track and has won a great victory.

All too often the church has forgotten about the enemy’s concern over what we do, and in our ignorance, we allow him to create problems within the church.

Remember, the Bible clearly warns us, 1 Peter “5:8  Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

(NIV)

There is a very real reason that demons go to church.

The Bible presents a picture of a great cosmic battle going on between the forces of God and the forces of Satan.

And those of us who have become Christians are people who have changed sides and are now on God’s side in the battle.

Have you ever thought about it in that way?

Paul writes about this switching of sides when he says:

“In the past you … sinned and fought against God.

You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil.

He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn’t obey God.

… But God was merciful!

We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you.”

(Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5) CEV.

The enemy of our God has become our enemy.

When Christians gather as the church, we become a real threat to Satan.

We are there to worship as we pray, as we teach, as we instruct, and as we encourage one another to live and proclaim the kingdom of God.

And Satan will do all he can to prevent that from happening.

C.S. Lewis tries to help us understand that in his book, The Screwtape Letters.

In it, Satan is telling Wormwood, an apprentice demon: “One of our great allies at present is the Church itself.

Do not misunderstand me.

I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.

That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy.

But fortunately, it is quite invisible to these humans.”

The real danger for us is our being unaware of our enemy’s schemes.

We seem to act as if difficulties in church are just natural things.

When churches divide up over whether or not to use hymns or contemporary choruses, it is not natural.

When the flock turns on the shepherd, it is not natural.

When the saints, called to live in love, instead spend their time criticizing and accusing one another, it is not natural.

In such circumstances it is easy to see that the devil has come to church!

There is one obvious thing about Satan’s attacks on the church…he is consistent.

He does basically the same things over and over again in church after church, as he has done down through the ages.

How does Satan want to destroy the church?

\\ 1. Satan Wants To Destroy the Church Through DOUBT and DECEPTION

Sowing doubt and deception has been one of the devil’s weapons from the very beginning.

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent came to Eve and caused her (and Adam) to doubt God’s Word…asking the insidious question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat…?”

In other words, “Does God really mean what He says?

Then when Eve told him what God had said, and that the punishment was death, the devil replied, “You will not surely die … for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).

The demons are going to church today and still trying to cause people to doubt God’s Word.

Just listen to the controversies in many denominations now.

The Bible speaks clearly on some of the subjects they’re discussing, but there are many who doubt that God really means what He says.

So discord and division is the result.

Again, there is no shortage of Bible studies in churches today.

But too often we debate the meaning rather than living out the intent of God’s Word.

We have fallen into the devil’s trap that James warned us about.

He writes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says” (James 1:22).

Studying Scripture without doing it is one of Satan’s great deceptions.

But it’s not just doubt about God’s Word that the devil seeks.

When tragedies come in life (and they do), even Christians sometimes find themselves victims of the devil’s schemes seeking to cause us to doubt the love and mercy of God.

And he causes us to cry out, “How could a loving God allow such a terrible thing to happen to me?”

Now it would be perfectly possible for me this morning to spend some time discussing that question with you.

But that’s not my purpose right now.

All I want you to see is that our whispering enemy is constantly at work seeking to cause God’s people to doubt the goodness and power and love of our God.

Truly, the devil is going to church today “like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack.”

(1 Peter 5:8) CEV

\\ 2. Satan Wants To Destroy the Church Through DISCOURAGEMENT

I know that some of you are discouraged because I have resigned, you even told me you are mad at me, but I have confidence that this won’t deter this church from becoming what God desires for it to become.

There is a verse of scripture in the Book of Hebrews, where the Apostle Paul, urges Christians to be faithful in gathering together to worship Christ.

He says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Hebrews 10:25

Did you notice, the focus of the passage is not merely on meeting together, but on encouraging one another?