Super-Angelic Power

October is here, the leaves are falling, and we are beginning to look toward the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The world around us is still mired in the days of football, decorating with a combination of fall pumpkins, cornstalks, and other harvest symbols – and skeletons, black cats, witches, and other symbols of Halloween are appearing across our land.

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people are fascinated with evil supernatural creatures, such as zombies, witches, werewolves, vampires and the like – but fewer are fascinated with truly good creatures and beings, such as angels and Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Many of these same people will say they don’t believe in a supernatural God – yet, they believe in the supernatural ability of black cats to control the Universe, don’t they? It’s such a contradiction to believe only in evil supernatural and not believe in the good supernatural.

Yet, there are also those who are fascinated with angels too much, if the shelves of Christian and secular stores are any indicator. Yet those ceramic and glass creations of men and women which claim to be angels and are placed in locations of honor and even worship by some can rightly be seen to have become idols. I have know those who collect these figures and pay them homage once a week, carefully dusting them and admiring them, lifting them and gently replacing them in that place of honor every week.

It is interesting. We look at the beauty and the power of angels and do not understand the beauty of a mature, believing, baptized Christian. We don’t understand that we can access far more power through the Holy Spirit than any angel has. And yet many people almost fall to worship angels, created creatures of God, while ignoring Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who are far more beautiful and powerful.

Yet angels are biblical. However, unlike the beautiful women with wings who adorn bookshelves and curio cabinets around this land, unlike the baby-faced infants who fly on greeting cards, the overwhelming majority of angels we find in scripture are huge, terrifying, well-built men with powerful voices and legs of brass or bronze. Some fly – but wings are reserved for the seraphim – six-winged creatures who fly in the throne room of God.

Daniel encountered an angel, which he describes in Chapter Ten of his book:

4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

Terrifying? Yes!

In almost every account where an angel appears to a man or woman, that man or woman hits the ground, face down, frightened so much their knees buckled. The first words of an angel are almost always “Fear not!” as they work to help our earthly hero calm down. It’s like the first time you’re driving along and a state trooper turns on his lights and siren while driving one car length behind you.

Daniel describes his angelic encounter:

7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.

10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.

No, those little angel figurines we find in Hallmark shops and bookstores are not very accurate.

Another thing. When someone passes on, when someone dies, at funerals, there seems to always be someone who says something like, “God needed another angel.”, particularly if the person who has died is young. This saying promotes two incorrect teachings. First, that God “took” the person.

Lets understand something. God does not “take” people. God established a world and our ancestors broke it by their disobedience. Part of the breakage is that people die. And we can’t blame just Adam and Eve completely, because we have each disobeyed God at some point in our lives. We have each sinned, and thus needed to turn back to God, apologize, and ask to be forgiven. We have each needed to turn to Jesus, choose to follow Him, and receive the Holy Spirit and a repaired heart through belief, repentance, and baptism.

But the world remains broken and therefore people die. God doesn’t “take” people. People die. So far, all people – even Jesus – have died. For Jesus, though, He came back from the dead. Only a handful of people have been raised from the dead other than Jesus – Lazarus, Dorcas, a centurion’s daughter, a widow’s son. Yet all of us who follow Jesus will be raised again at the general resurrection when Christ returns. That is when the world will be repaired – and we Christians will live again.

So don’t blame God by saying “God needed another angel”.

The second incorrect teaching is the idea that when we die, we turn into angels. Hollywood and children’s books have developed this detailed idea that when we die, we go directly to Heaven and then need to do good works to get our angel wings. We fly amongst the clouds. Remember Clarence, the angel from “It’s a Wonderful Life”, a man who had been dead for over a hundred years and was trying to get his wings? It makes for a nice story, but it is far from biblical. Ditto all the TV shows about angels who are sent to help ordinary people so they can become full angels.

No, the reality is found most developed in today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, a letter in the New Testament. We don’t know who wrote this letter, but various ancient authorities point to Barnabas or Apollos, both of whom are mentioned as excellent teachers in the Book of Acts. Hebrews is a letter written to persuade Jews of the divinity of Jesus.

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

So, first of all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is much superior to the angels. After many verses which we have skipped which supports this, the writer of Hebrews moves onto humans, speaking of God’s actions.

2:5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor
8     and put everything under their feet.”

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them.

In other words, God created people just a little bit lower than the angels, but also put everything to be subject to humans. We are destined to rule over the earth.

But the writer continues: Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. (meaning people).  9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Yes, when Jesus was sent to earth as a baby, He was not as powerful as the angels. But now, because He went to the cross by His own decision, He is now crowned with glory and honor. It was through this death that Jesus brought people to glory, for Jesus was not just the Son of God, but Jesus was also the Son of Man, 100% God and 100% man. His death meant something great because He died as a man for all men and women and so as men and women who choose to follow Jesus, we share in his glory. And He was able to die and be resurrected because He was God on earth. The writer continues:

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹² He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

We are the brothers and sisters. God is the one who is praised.

We are brothers and sisters of Jesus, lifted by Jesus’ sacrifice above the angels, with all the earth subject to us.

If the Queen of England adopts you, don’t you become a prince or princess, above the servants of the household? God’s Son has declared you to be His brother or sister, part of His family, according to God the Father’s plan. The Apostle Paul supports this in his letter to the Ephesians, Chapter One: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ,

We have been adopted into the Royal Family of God. The angels are the household servants of that Family. When we were immature, just as young children in a noble household, we took our orders from the household servants, who protected us and guided us. But as mature, baptized believers, we have been raised above the household servants. We do not die and become angels. When we die, we take our place in the Royal Family, a much better position, for we have access directly to Father God and to our elder Brother Jesus.

Of course, it should be remembered that some angels, those who chose to follow Satan, were cast out and have fallen. They are not powerless – we need the help of Jesus to withstand them. But always remember that we who believe and are baptized are of the Royal Family.

But what does this mean for us? How does this affect us in our day-to-day lives?

And, of course, that means that we have certain responsibilities. We must represent God the Father and Jesus the Son upon the earth, especially to those who have not yet been adopted. We must not be found in compromising positions, we must not act as the rest of the world acts. We have certain obligations to represent our Father well, just as it is one thing to be a random young man who is partying in Vegas – but it is totally different if anyone there knows you and recognizes you as the son of Prince Charles of England. We must represent our Father well. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit, which is super-angelic power – to change the world for good.

And there are indeed certain benefits to being a member of the Universe’s Royal Family. Most important about belonging to an excellent and large family is the fact that we have no excuse for being lonely. Ever. Jesus and Father are ready for our call, our prayer. Other members of the family – those in this room, for instance – are ready for our phone call, our visit, our text.

So why should we ever be lonely? Let me take a few minutes to discuss this common complaint – a complaint which has become more common over the last couple of years because of COVID.

There are a couple of types of loneliness. The first type is the absence of people around us. God made humans to live in groups – families, clans, tribes, villages. We lived for thousands of years out in the open, following herds. The most dangerous time for people was when they were alone, for that was the time the lion, the bear, the wolves would attack. And so, being alone is disturbing – and being in a group of people feels somewhat comforting for most people.

Of course, the size of the group that makes us comfortable varies widely. I have a friend from another church who has trouble sitting in the sanctuary – too many people – but prefers to sit in the narthex, the lobby where he can listen but not have too many people too close. On the other hand, I have friends from China who grew up in cities with 24 million people, and never felt comfortable in Marietta except during the crush of Sternwheeler weekend.

COVID has increased this absence of people type of loneliness, because many people had solved the loneliness problem, they thought, by “going out”. The “going out” was to restaurants, to stores for shopping, to bars, to places to dance, to group meetings, to church events. So many people just liked the feel and the noise of other people nearby, for our families have grown up for generations around other people. But COVID restrictions told us to stay away from gatherings of people. So in this church, we have kept gathering with precautions, safely, and used technology to keep bringing people together even through the worst lockdowns. Facebook, emails, newsletters, even three old technologies – letters and phone calls and visits. Just one evening this week near bedtime, I got a text from a parent asking on behalf of her child a deep theological question. I answered it within 15 minutes. These connections keep people from being lonely, for we are reminded that we have not been forgotten.

The second type of loneliness is sometimes described as “lonely in a crowd”. It is the loneliness that happens when there are people around us, but no friends are around us. Many young people encounter this at college; it hits other people during  a night out, sitting alone or with a couple of acquaintances at a restaurant or bar, shopping in a department store. Although there are plenty of people around, there is no one who we feel understands us. The bar is filled with shallow people tonight, there is no one with us who takes time to know us deeply, the shopping seems pointless, the people in the club only seem concerned with the passion of the club. After all, why go to a photography club if you are bored with photography?

In fact, loneliness may largely explain why men and women have often turned to church when the “lonely in a crowd” idea has struck them in college, as older parent’s children leave the nest, as people retire and are no longer around their co-workers where they were employed, when people move to a new town. The twice-weekly church services replace the children, hometown friends, and the friends from work with new, supportive friends, older and younger.

Young singles can find future spouses at church who have a common philosophy, which helps to make lasting, life-long relationships. Older people from the church can act as mentors, guides, role-models, and friends who can partially replace parents for these young people.

Older people love to meet younger families at church because their own children and grandchildren have moved to other states. And young families can find men and women who can act as substitute grandparents, sources of wisdom, babysitters, helpers, role models who can show how to turn a 5-10 year marriage into a 50 year marriage. Young families can find other families their own age to become life-long friends.

When we moved back from Atlanta 20 years ago and settled outside Marietta, we visited a couple of churches. The first church had several families with children our children’s age – but something wasn’t right, so we visited a second church. There, we found a family who had begun attending the church just a couple of weeks earlier. Their children’s ages filled the gaps between our children’s ages – we became close friends – and we had the couple over to dinner a couple weeks ago, still friends after almost 20 years.

And so, the church – which is the local part of the Royal Family of the Universe – the church family offers people who will understand us and love us, for our Father and elder Brother has taught us to love others, particularly members of the Royal Family. It is part of our Super-Angelic power.

One more thing about loneliness. Every once in a while, I run into someone who says something like, “I feel I’ve fallen through the cracks! No one has called me in ages.” Or “No one contacted me when I was sick.”

Now move your feet back under the pew. I don’t want to step on them too harshly. If you are a person who feels like you’ve fallen through the cracks, I want you to ask yourself honestly – how long have you been hiding in the cracks? How long have you gone without reaching out to others? For Jesus and His apostles all encourage each of us to reach out to other people in the church and in the community, to spread our Holy Spirit salt to the world. If you are overlooked, it is probably because you haven’t reached out much yourself. Phone calls work both ways, after all. Introduce yourself at church to someone new each week, either in person or by phone, and you’ll never go lonely.

In the same way, I’ve found that the people who complain the loudest about not being contacted are often those people who don’t let the church know when they are sick or go to the hospital. If I don’t know, I can’t go! And, of course, COVID has meant the hospitals and nursing homes have been particularly difficult about allowing visitors. Let us know, though, if you are sick – or have someone in your family let us know. Don’t assume we automatically know.

And this leads me to our final point. Donna is beginning to update our directory. Please, everyone, fill out a sheet with your name, address, landline and cell phones, and current emails. Don’t assume we have the right information – take an update sheet and put everything down, printing carefully, especially on the emails. And that will go a long, long way toward keeping you in touch with the other members of God’s Royal Family, the people here at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church.

Amen!

4 Response Hymn  - I Come with Joy 617

5 God Be with Youtill we Meet Again 672