Satan has asked to sift all of you.

 

Sermon for the 2^nd midweek Lent, March 9, 2022

The God of love and peace will be with you all.  Amen.

Luke 22:31-32  ³¹The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, pay attention: Satan has asked to have you all, so that he may sift you as wheat.  ³²But I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.  And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers. (EHV)

Satan has asked to sift all of you.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            “Simon, Simon, pay attention: Satan has asked to have you all, so that he may sift you as wheat.”  I remember my grandmother sifting flour before baking bread, and in that context, this statement seems rather mild.  However, what Jesus is really warning could be compared to us saying that the devil wants to run you through the combine with its beating, tearing, and sifting wind.  The devil didn’t have some gentle shaking in mind.  His goal was to rip and tear the disciples’ spirit and separate their souls from Christ.  That night and the next three days would be the most terrifying, disheartening, gut-wrenching hours those twelve men had ever faced.  One wouldn’t make it through, the one destined for destruction for betraying Jesus.

This is serious stuff.  Of course, the devil’s main objective wasn’t just to destroy the disciples.  His chief goal was to destroy Jesus, but his back up plan should he fail was to take away those who followed Jesus.  Satan has the same goal for us.  Throughout the trials and turmoils of life in a sinful world, the devil will seek every opportunity to challenge our faith and torment our souls.  We need to pay attention here so that we understand where our help comes from.

After this conversation, not much time would pass before Jesus confronted His betrayer.  Here, either still in the upper room, or on their way to the Mount of Olives where Jesus would say His final prayers, Jesus gave His last warning about the events that immediately follow.  He again warned the disciples that His death was at hand, that it would look like the enemies had won.  He also was warning about how their faith in Him would be shaken.  Bold, impetuous Peter didn’t believe he needed Jesus’ warning or strength.  When Jesus told the eleven that they would all abandon Him, Peter rejected the notion completely.  We all know how that turned out.  Thus, this warning.

Peter didn’t yet understand the weakness of his boldness.  He didn’t yet understand the terrifying turmoil that would hit him when he saw Jesus arrested, bound, put on trial, and mocked.  Peter couldn’t yet imagine the agony he would feel after he denied his Lord three times.  Peter didn’t yet have any clue about the despair he would feel as he saw His beloved Teacher and Lord beaten, crucified, dead, and buried.  Yes, Satan was going run those disciples through the thresher.  Their emotions would be beaten to a pulp as they were flung up and down like winnowing forks throwing wheat in a hurricane. 

Now, maybe we won’t have to go through anything like that, yet how many Christians today are facing some of the most terrifying persecution?  How many Christians are being driven from their homes by war and demonic politics?  How many will face execution, rape, imprisonment, and other horrors simply for following Jesus?  Even if none of those things ever come our way, how often doesn’t the devil use the ordinary trials and griefs of life in a sinful world to make us doubt our salvation?  When a job is lost or a loved one dies; when bankruptcy looms, or we are afflicted with cancer or any number of other life threatening, or life changing illnesses; we can and should expect to hear the devil taunting us, maybe not out loud, but the feelings, thoughts, and imagination can rage against us.  Yes, Satan will just as willingly sift us too.

When Jesus spoke these words, Peter should have remembered the life of Job and how the devil had asked to try his faith.  I can’t say whether Peter did or didn’t, but he should have for two reasons.  One, he wouldn’t have argued against the idea that his faith could be weak, and second, he would have remembered that the devil can go only so far in his wicked schemes.  God will allow bad things to happen to His people to suit His good purposes.  God doesn’t cause evil.  He doesn’t inspire it or encourage it.  The point is, as Paul would later write, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)  That will be the case as long as this world stands.  The devil is called the prince of this world because of the destruction he causes.  Yet, these evil forces are restrained by the Lord who loves us.  Furthermore, the Lord will help us.  God allows this world to continue in all its corrupted wickedness so that He can save some. 

Jesus warned Simon about the threshing he would soon undergo, but then He offers a promise: “But I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.  And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers.”  We often assume that when Peter denied his Lord, he had completely lost his faith in Jesus.  Yet, from Jesus’ words here, we see that is not the really the case.  Peter’s faith, of course, became very weak and very severely tested in those moments of watching Jesus be accused and abused in the high priest’s courtyard.  Peter was certainly terrified for his own life.  Yet, the flicker of faith in Jesus continued, weak though it was, because faith isn’t something we do but is something God gives and works in us.

If you read through Jesus’ high priestly prayer from later that night, you will find that Jesus prayed for His disciples and for you and me.  Jesus placed their faith in His Father’s hands knowing that these men were given to Jesus by His Father.  It is God’s will to save us that determines whether we are brought to faith and preserved in that faith.  At the same time, that doesn’t mean we should just go merrily on our way without regard to keeping our faith strong.  We are reminded many times in Scripture about our need to remain in the Word and to be fed by the precious body and blood of our Savior so that we are kept strong in our trust in Jesus.

Jesus prayed for Peter so that his faith would not fail under the devil’s assaults.  Jesus knew Peter’s bold impetuousness would be challenged.  In fact, these trials would make Peter a much better witness to the love of his Savior.  The arrogance would be knocked down.  The bold self-reliance would be forever eliminated.  Peter would very quickly understand how weak he and all of us are under the devil’s attacks.  But, Peter would also learn about His Savior’s strength and his Savior’s love.

“When you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers.”  Peter would sin gravely in denying Jesus.  His heart would be crushed by the guilt he felt.  Yet, what great joy came to Peter when he saw his Savior risen from the grave, alive, never to die again.  And Jesus didn’t turn him away.  Later, Jesus would have another conversation with Peter asking him three times whether Peter loved Him, and three times in reply to Peter’s repentant affirmation, Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.” (John 21:15-18)  Jesus wanted Peter to know that his sin isn’t held against him.  Thus, this man, once so bold but now almost broken by sin, could see that he was still one of Jesus’ chosen servants to carry the gospel out into the world with his fellow apostles whose hearts had also been shaken.  They would need Peter’s encouragement when the time came. 

You and I need the same encouragement, and we too have brothers and sisters in the faith who need our encouragement.  The devil is always on the prowl looking for stragglers and the hurting souls afflicted by his torments.  Who can we reach out and touch with the good news that Jesus has paid for their sins?  Who do you know that needs to hear that his or her sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake?  The writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing.  Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) 

Maybe you have wondered whether coming to church every time we gather is worthwhile.  Maybe you have found other things more important or more fun.  Maybe it’s just easier to stay home.  However, Jesus wants to share His forgiveness with you at every opportunity because the old evil foe still prowls around looking for souls to devour.  Jesus wants us to mutually encourage each other with the promise of the gospel that all our sins are forgiven and the gates of heaven are open for all who believe in Jesus.  If you don’t think you need to hear that message often, you are simply fooling yourself at the devil’s urging.  Satan would like nothing more than to entice stragglers into wandering through life by themselves.  They make easy pickings for his lies and accusations. 

Therefore, if you know someone wandering alone, encourage them with Jesus’ promise, and when you are not able to be here in person, join us online or have the pastor bring you the Good News and the Lord’s Supper.  We will encourage each other.

Dear friends, in His prayer later that night, Jesus prayed for all of us pleading with His Father,

May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you.  May they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.  I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one: I in them, and you in me.  May they become completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.  Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am so that they may see my glory—the glory you gave me, because you loved me before the world’s foundation. (John 17:21-24)

May we always take Jesus’ prayer to heart and walk with Him who gave His life to set us free.  The devil will do his best to run us through the thresher as we journey through this troubled world, but Jesus has prayed for us that His Father may bless and keep us.  More than that, Jesus gave His life so that we might be set completely free from all sin and guilt, so that we can stand before Him at the judgment with pure hearts made holy by His blood and sacrifice.  Let Jesus’ words here ring clearly in our ears all our days, “When you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers.”  Amen.

May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with you all.  Amen.