Manchester Lutheran Church

How can good defeat evil?

There is evil all over Manchester. So many people are trapped in poverty: no job, no home, no way to keep sanitary, in constant danger of theft, malnutrition, sores and sickness from poor hygiene. People are trapped by alcohol, drugs, other addictions.

And in our lives each of you face evil on a daily basis:
—bullies, coercive control, people attacking you
—loneliness, a lack of relationships, regret
—setbacks, sorrow, hardships.

Evil is all around us.

Luke wrote his Gospel to give his readers certainty about God’s Word about Jesus. And in chapter 9 verse 51, Jesus set his face to go toward Jerusalem the place where he will suffer, die and where evil will seem to have won.

He sent out messengers to deliver his Word to others, and as they preached they discovered that the Word they proclaim has power over demons.

Jesus then taught them about following him, and then ended with this promise in v. 13:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

So, if God gives the Spirit so freely, but even we ourselves are evil, the reader of Luke would be asking this question: How can good defeat evil?

So now, in today’s story we see two answers:
1) We naturally look for the wrong solutions
2) Jesus’ Word is the power of God

First, We naturally look for the wrong solutions

V. 14 gives us a picture of what the forces of darkness are trying to do:

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marvelled.

Satan is trying to shut people up. He does not want people to speak God’s Word.

In the Gospels the types of healings Jesus does have significance: they teach us something. This man was unable to speak, unable to speak the truth. And now we see people around Jesus have exactly the same problem, v. 15:

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”

Even as this amazing miracle is performed in front of their eyes, these people are spiritually mute, unable to speak the truth, unable to say “Well done Jesus! You are the Christ!”

Instead, they accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan himself. Others make the same mistake in a different way, v. 16:

while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

These people are unable to receive the Word about Jesus, so they look for superficial signs.

They think Wonders! Miracles! Impressive success! are the true signs of God’s power.

But, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, to suffer, to die. Jesus has chosen to embrace weakness.

We are by nature undiscerning, because we want visible success. Paul explains it like this in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

And this natural lack of discernment has pastoral consequences. That is the point of Jesus’ story in vv. 24-26:

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Jesus point is: because we naturally want visible victory over evil this makes us happy with hollow victories; where Satan appears to be defeated on the surface, but is not truly defeated.

And so our natural desire for visible success, for hollow victories, means we frequently look to earthly explanations, v. 27:

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

Some churches are obsessed with Mary, Jesus’ mother. But, Jesus will correct this woman: what matters is God’s Word.

We naturally look for the wrong solutions

As the pastor, I make this mistake and feel this pressure in our church life and evangelism. I want to be a success and project success, and find myself so quickly looking for worldly success. Numbers at church, hits on our youtube channel. These are very tempting to focus on. And, of course, it’s right that we all want the church to grow, but if I focus on worldly success, I am not being faithful, to Jesus or to you.

Plenty of churches in Manchester not only do this, but promise it! Healings, miracles, victory in this life, success… …that’s their message, their brand, their offering.

And we are naturally attracted to that kind of thing. By nature we call good evil. Because, as v. 13 immediately before told us: by nature we are evil.

Where do you naturally look for the wrong solutions? Demonstrations of power, miracles, impressive feats? Jesus set his face to go to the cross, to embrace weakness.

Or how about that connected problem of seeking hollow victories? I was talking to a homeless friend this week whose demon is alcohol. It’s so tempting to talk as though alcohol, not sin, is the source of all his problems. But, getting sober is only a temporary, hollow, solution. My friend is a whole human being, with a much deeper problem. Talking about sin is embarrassing, and faith can’t be measured. But, simply getting off substances is not salvation.

Where do you replace sin with something surface level? Where do you think “if only this was fixed, everything would be fine.” Stress, anger, self-esteem, bad habits, relationship problems… …are just some of the worldly things we wrongly attribute to being the true source of problems.

And so where do you look for physical or worldly explanations? This woman in v. 27 sees Jesus from a worldly, physical perspective. But, Jesus says

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

This is one reason why we simply cannot join with the Roman Catholics or the Orthodox in their treatment of Mary.

We shouldn’t pray to her—God’s Word says in 1 Timothy 2:5

there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

We shouldn’t venerate her—God’s Word says in Matthew 4:10

You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

We shouldn’t call her sinless—God’s Word says in Romans 3:10

None is righteous, no, not one;

While Mary is a wonderful example to us of faith, as Luke himself draws out in his Gospel, this alone—her faith—is the reason she is blessed. That is explicitly Jesus’ point in v. 28.

Now, perhaps most of us here are not tempted to worship Mary, So, where do you look to worldly explanations and blessing?

Money? “Financial security will transform my life.” But Proverbs 11:4:

“Riches do not profit”

Career? “I’ll be fulfilled if I’m promoted to that position.” But Mark 8:36

“What does it profit a man to gain to the whole world and forfeit his soul”

Relationships? “If only I had a life partner, then I’d be happy.” But 1 Corinthians 7:40, Paul says

“in my judgment the unmarried woman is happier if she remains as she is.”

Health? “Blessing is being fit, healthy and good looking.” But 1 Peter 1:24-25

“All flesh is like grass… the grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever”

We naturally look for the wrong solutions All of us do this, but… here’s the second part of Luke’s answer:

Jesus’ Word is the power of God

In vv. 17-22, Jesus refutes the claim that he is casting out demons using Satan’s power, and explains the true source of his power in v. 20:

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Talking to Jewish religious leaders, they would know this is a reference to God’s Word, as Exodus 31:18 says:

And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

The finger of God references how God inscribed his Law into the stone tablets he gave to Moses.

Jesus, now, is God’s God’s finger, giving people the Word of the Gospel. A word that splits the world into two, v. 23,

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

In Jesus’ parable about the unclean spirit, it leaves the man, but later returns in v. 25:

And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.

The man is empty. There is nothing in him. The thing the man should be filled with is God’s Word. And this is why as Jesus says in v. 28,

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

The word translated “keep” here is the same word used in v. 21 and translated “guard”. It means to keep tight hold of the Word. To look away from yourself and look at the promises you have in Christ. Promises made to you in Absolution, in Scripture, in Baptism, in Communion

When you feel overwhelmed by sin, don’t look inside yourself for strength, the Word declares you’re already forgiven in Christ.

When you face hardships, don’t focus on your own ability to endure, the Word promises God will sustains you through all things.

When you struggle to see God’s work in your life, don’t examine your feelings to measure His presence, the Word, which never lies, guarantees: he is there at work.

God’s Word corrects every error that arises from a worldly mindset:

A worldly mindset misidentifies evil but Jesus’ Word gives us true discernment.

A worldly mindset seeks superficial signs like miracles but Jesus’ Word tells us that God’s true power is in weakness

A worldly mindset trusts in visible success we have to work for but Jesus’ Word gives us eternal victory he has already won

A worldly mindset chases hollow victories leaving us vulnerable but Jesus’ Word gives a lasting solution to evil.

A worldly mindset replaces sin with surface-level fixes, but Jesus’ Word fills us and transforms from the inside

A worldly mindset looks to earthly explanations but Jesus’ Word gives us true and eternal blessing.

This is the Gospel… whatever place you feel weak and feel the pull to achieve worldly success: God assures you that is precisely the place where is working in power.

That’s how Paul talks about spiritual war in 2 Corinthians 12:7-8:

a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

Fighting Satan is the one thing Paul is supposed to be good at! Advancing God’s kingdom and defeating darkness. And yet here his testimony is one of constant failure.

Where do you feel weak? A failure.

Perhaps those areas we already mentioned: Money? Career? Relationships? Health?

Wherever you feel weak, there is the power of God in this life, Paul goes on in v. 9:

But the Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Jesus set his face to go toward Jerusalem, because 1 Corinthians 1:18:

the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

God has not forgotten you. You are not a footnote in a larger story. The whole Bible is about the justification Christ won for you. That his power is made perfect in your weakness.

And so in this great battle with evil, this fight against Satan, can I encourage you to do one thing in response this week.

As you talk with someone this week: a friend, a colleague, a family member: point them away from themself and onto Christ.

There is evil all over Manchester, it’s all around us, it’s in us… it’s in my life, in your life, in the lives of everyone we meet.

But, amazingly, Satan’s power is defeated by God’s weakness. Make no mistake: evil is at work in our friends’ lives. So, to point them to Christ’s weakness, is to introduce God’s power into their life.

You can’t control how they’ll respond.

You can’t offer a magical worldly solution. Such solutions are only ever hollow and temporary anyway.

You can push back Satan’s kingdom this week. You can make an eternal difference. You can fight the forces of evil and darkness. Simply point someone away from themself and onto Christ.

How can good defeat evil?

1) We naturally look for the wrong solutions

We misidentify evil, seek superficial signs, trust in visible success, chase hollow victories and surface-level fixes, and look to earthly explanations. I do this and you do this.

But, 2) Jesus’ Word is the power of God

Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, and through God’s Word about Jesus’ death, God’s true power is at work in our weakness. Jesus’ Word gives us eternal victory he has already won. Jesus’ Word gives a lasting solution to evil. Jesus’ Word fills us with trust in God’s goodness to us. Jesus’ Word gives us the true and eternal blessing of assurance that God is positive toward you.

So, this week, point someone away from themself, and toward this Jesus. Because,

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”