April 30, May 1-2, 2016 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 2 Kings 6:15-17 “LORD, OPEN OUR EYES!

EASTER 6

April 30, May 1-2, 2016

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 2 Kings 6:15-17

“LORD, OPEN OUR EYES!

1.     To see the real enemy.

2.     To see Your real protection.

2 Kings 6:15-17 (NIV1984) “When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. ¹⁶“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

          Some of you may be familiar with the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a Lutheran pastor in Germany during the time of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. He spoke against the Nazi government was imprisoned and executed just two weeks before U.S soldiers liberated the prison camp he was in. Bonhoeffer is famous for writing a book called the Cost of Discipleship in which he spoke out against what he called cheap grace. Now obviously grace is free. It’s God’s goodness which flows from His love freely given to undeserving sinners. From my quick perusal it appears Bonhoeffer was frustrated with how he saw members of the visible Christian church living and so he described cheap grace as “any grace that justifies sin along with the sinner, grace that preaches forgiveness without requiring repentance and grace that comes with no expectations of discipleship or cross.” Without totally agreeing with him because grace is just that, grace, what I think he was really reacting to was the way sinners cheapen God’s grace when they use it as an excuse to keep sinning instead of motivation to fight sin, or to stop calling sin what it is, or use grace as an excuse for lazy Christian living instead of zealous Christin living.

          That makes me wonder if we could also talk about a cheap Easter. No, I don’t mean saving your pork perks to get a cheap Easter ham, which is good. I mean when we Christians don’t allow the message of  Easter to permeate our everyday living. Jesus lives! He is risen indeed. Joy is ours. We have the right to be the happiest people on the planet. There is no such thing as hopeless. Those are facts that nothing can change. But when we live as though Jesus were still dead, have no joy and no confidence are we cheapening Easter? There are some things only God can do. One of those is enabling us to see things as they really are. Let’s keep that thought in mind as we look at an event that happened way before the first Easter in Old Testament Israel where the Lord had to open some eyes as well.

          These were not shining times for the people of God. The 12 tribe kingdom of Israel God had established had been broken in two for almost 100 years now. The northern kingdom of Israel had suffered under the reign of wicked King Ahab and wickeder Queen Jezebel. Now they were dead. So after suffering attacks from within the nation, now God’s people were being attacked by neighboring nations including Aram or Syria. Elijah the prophet had been taken to heaven and his successor Elisha was God’s spokesman. Whenever the king of Aram planned an ambush to destroy Israel’s army, God, through Elisha, warned the king of Israel. As you can imagine the king of Aram thought he had a spy in his camp. But his men, probably remembering how their general Naaman had been cured of leprosy told him, “No! There is a prophet of God named Elisha. He’s telling them where they are.” So the  king of Aram sent soldiers to capture Elisha.

          That’s where we join the story. “When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. ¹⁶“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha’s servant was scared. Who could blame him? An army with horses and chariots was surrounding their city. They were facing a strong enemy. But Elisha’s servant didn’t see the real enemy, did he? Look again at Elisha’s response. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Now we know from what’s coming that the “Those who are with us” are God’s angels. Who then are the “those who are with them?” The them is the army with chariots and horses. The “those” are the opposites of God’s angels, the demons. The Devil. This is the real enemy. He was behind the attacks against God’s people just like he had been behind Ahab and Jezebel.

          Brothers and sisters, times come in our lives when we wake up and look around and we find we are facing enemies. We see a society that keeps rejecting God’s rights and wrongs and seems to blame us Christians for what God says. We see the drug dealers who are trying to lure our kids into a lifetime heroin addiction. We see a family member who keeps saying those hurtful words. And it’s true that those in the world who love sin and hate God are enemies. But Lord, open our eyes. The real enemy is the Devil and demons with him whose ultimate and eternal existence is Hell, the fire God prepared for them. As God had the Apostle Paul remind us in Ephesians 6, “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.” LORD open our eyes to see the real enemy.

          And open our eyes to see your real protection. “And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Elisha prayed for the LORD to open his servant’s eyes and when he did the servant saw the truth, the angel armies of the Lord. There was nothing to be afraid of. God had it under control.

          God has it under control. These attacks on Old Testament Israel were not just happening because the Devil and the demons like to see people hurt and killed. These were attacks against Jesus, even though He had not yet come into the world. Just as the Devil tried to use people to kill Jesus right after He was born and before He went to the cross the Devil was trying to kill Jesus by getting rid of His ancestors. But it didn’t work. God is always about the salvation of souls. He will not be denied. As Elisha’s servant saw those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

          That’s God’s real protection. If He chose He could open our eyes to see the angel armies. While there are enemies to God and His people today, enemies with skin on, and we can and should take the appropriate steps to keep our kids safe from predators and drug dealers or to speak up as US citizens against advancing immorality God’s real protection is Himself and the angel armies thwarting the plans and plots of the evil one. Fear is not our master. Doom and gloom not our destiny. Jesus is our master and heaven is our home. And absolutely nothing happens in our lives that is not under God’s control. Nothing happens that He will not also work for the good of people like us who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. Lord, open our eyes. We don’t want to live lives like Elisha’s servant wringing his hands whining “What are we going to do?” Rather we want to live lives like Elisha with a light smile saying, “Let’s see what God will do, with us or without us!” Lord, open our eyes!

          Open our eyes so we aren’t guilty of having a cheap Easter, you know where Christians cheapen Easter by acting as though Jesus is dead and the Devil won instead of  Him. Think of the message of Easter. Joy. Confidence. Comfort. When we live our lives letting Easter truth permeate our existence we will be the happiest people on the planet. Oh we may fail in that from time to time. But we don’t have to and we don’t want to. We don’t want to because we heard Jesus in His letter to the church at Laodicea say that lukewarm Christians are distasteful to Him. We heard Him tell His disciples there is no reason for our hearts to be troubled nor be afraid. Jesus lives! And because He lives those who are with us will always be more than those who are with them. God give us strength to believe it and live it outside these walls. Amen.