The warrior side of Christmas

I want to invite you to go with me to the word of the Lord in the first Epistle of the Apostle John, Chapter 3, verse 8. It is a somewhat enigmatic expression and some would say that it is inappropriate for a reading on Christmas day at this beautiful moment. in that we are celebrating the light, the joy and the gladness that Christ brings to the world. We speak of peace that Christ brings. We talk about a silent night, we talk about a humble baby born in a manger. And we have to remember that the essence of Christmas is Christ, the coming of Christ into the world. After all that, that's the summary of Christmas.

Although at this time society in its desire to be inclusive and pluralistic in this culture that we live in where there are so many different races and religions and denominations, they try to make Christmas generic. And it has been tried, perhaps not on purpose, but in many places one almost feels ashamed to say, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Nowadays, the politically correct thing is to say, happy holidays. Something generic that encompasses the whole world, but in reality this time, the only way it has meaning is when we remember that at this time Jesus Christ was born into the world.

And the world will try to steal from us all the days that Christianity has given humanity, but we cannot do it. We have to remember that which is the coming of Christ into the world. So, I was meditating this morning and I said, Lord, what do you want me to preach? And I asked the Lord not one of those generic messages, those generic texts that we always read about the birth of Jesus in the manger, the appearance to the shepherds, the three wise men, the announcement to Mary or Elizabeth. They are the texts that we generally choose to celebrate Christmas. But we do not want to be generic, we want to give the Lord a text.

And so, we want to preach something that is relevant, that is relevant to today's moment. What word does God have for us today, this morning, this afternoon, in this place, to this Congregation? And when I asked the Lord for that, this text came to my mind and I confess that I struggled a little with it because it is a little gloomy, what's more, I could call this, this sermon, like the Sinister Side of Christmas, but no. I'm going to do it.

The Apostle John, in Chapter 3, see 8, the last part of that verse says:

“…for this the Son of God appeared, to undo the works of the devil…”

For this the Son of God appeared, to undo the works of the devil. And you can immediately see how that hits the Christmas sensibilities, because maybe we're looking for something a lot more relaxing, and simpler, we don't want things too complicated. And perhaps someone is saying, Pastor Miranda, give us a vacation, my gosh, tell us something celebratory and joyful and not so heavy. But I believe that is what God wants us to focus on this afternoon.

Because again, Christmas is the coming, the appearance. This verse came to me because for this he appeared, Jesus came, Jesus landed in the world. The Lord came with a mission to this earth. And it's interesting that this passage gives us a very different perspective than what we normally think Christ came to do in the world. One would think, well, this would be said by one of those strict Pentecostals, who only think about spiritual warfare or demons and all this kind of thing, the negative part, always looking for the other side of things.

But I believe that we have done a great injustice to Christmas, because we have often reduced Christmas and reduced Jesus to that perpetually fragile baby and it was like Jesus always remained the little Jesus in the sensibilities of many people. He always remained there fragile and many times we present Jesus, even when he is already an adult, with a languid look in his eyes and a very delicate body and with blond hair and green eyes, which he did not have, I am sure, because he was a first century Jew, and he was a Semite who would look more like an Arab. And by doing this, I believe, we reduce Christmas to only its most superficial dimension.

But we have to understand that Christmas has a conflicting side, even in the angel's announcement, he told Mary, that a sword would pierce her heart. And Christ himself said, I have come to bring the sword and not only peace. Christmas also has overtones of conflict, darkness and struggle. I believe that at the moment that Christ was born there was a clash of power in the air and you could almost have heard thunder when the front of the Kingdom of God collided with the front of darkness, because the child represented the glory of God . That fragile child embodied the fullness of God's life and that child came with a military mission, he came to wrest power from the devil. Satan had occupied creation, he had illegally seized what belongs to God, and what humanity was bequeathed by God.

And then the Lord appears to snatch that away and to re-establish the order of creation. We have to remember that in the midst of that time of light and celebration there are also magicians who are scientists and high-ranking men who came from a distant place, attracted by something mysterious that was a star, and they came traveling great distances. We have to remember the anguish of Joseph and Mary as they searched for a place where their child could be born because already the labor pains were speeding up and accelerating and Mary had to find a place and there was pain. There was rejection on the part of the people, the society for that child to find a place to be born. There was a king who was an incarnation of evil, Herod, who when he heard that there was a possible opponent, as he saw it, and of course he was, because he was, from his claims to illegitimate authority, he wanted to kill the child. And we remember the flight, the flight to Egypt.

And there are many things that remind us that Christmas is not only the part that lends itself to Christmas postcards, but that there is also another dimension of war. And also a dimension of promise and redemption, because in that there was hope for humanity, there was blessing for us too.

So, I believe that John, the Apostle John, captures that dimension of Christmas and tells us that Christ appeared to undo the works of the devil. One of the reasons for Christmas, yes, was to make it possible for us to have redemption and eternal life, reconciliation with God, it came to undo the consequences of the Adamic fall, it came to unite men and women and make a new humanity , a redeemed church. But behind all that, interestingly, we are told that he also came to fight against the evil industry.

Everything that feeds evil in the world, all the works, erga, it says in the original Greek, all the actions, all the movements of evil, the Lord came to undo them and make war against them.

And one can ask, well, works, the works of the devil, what are the works of the devil? One always immediately thinks only of the most obvious manifestations of evil. We think of war, we think of poverty, we think of crime, we think of promiscuity, we think of all the dark things, the abuse, but also Christ came to undo less obvious things about evil. He came to undo injustice, he came to undo the oppression of man against man, he came to make war against lies, against manipulation, insincerity, selfishness, and even beyond that, he came to make war and to undo the culture that is against the lordship of Christ.

The Lord came to undo, I believe that one day in those museums of the world, where there are precious works of art, if these works were not made to glorify the name of the Lord, if they were not done with reverence before the author of those works, in reality, who was the one who gave the gift, those works will perish, they will burn, they will burn in the fire. And governments and laws that do not glorify the name of God, that do not obey the spirit that gives life and that animates the life of God, these works are also going to have to be undone even in the religious world, brothers, religions that do not recognize the lordship of Christ, who keep people on a surrogate, on a surrogate drug, to make people feel pious and falsely secure, but one day lead them into a Godless eternity. Those works will also be, and are being undone by the Son of God.

He came to undo all these things and even more so, even in the Christian religion, in the churches there is so much that is not from God, so many attitudes, so many practices, so many customs, so much manipulation, so much abuse of power, so much corruption even those things the Lord came to undo all those works and to establish his kingdom of justice. Governments in their actions, which are unjust and do not fulfill the purpose of a government, which is to bless the governed, encourage life, strengthen the weak, express compassion and mercy to the powerless, and protect the powerless. have a voice and help the ignorant to be educated and the oppressed to come out of the yoke of oppression love and justice and grace in the world, even those works, Christ came to undo all those things.

I was commenting with the 9 o'clock group that, and I cannot repress this, even though it is a political comment, in any case I believe that it must be done, my heart broke when I read about this decision that the United States government made , the House of Representatives and the Senate to kill the Dream Act, that act that would have made it possible for young immigrants, Latinos of other nationalities, who want it to study and bless this nation.

Many of them have practically spent their entire lives here, they are not citizens but they have lived a long time, that is all they know here. they want to study, they don't want to sell drugs, they want to bless this nation with their studies, with their skills and they come from families that know what hard work is and what effort is and there are so many young people today without purpose, selling drugs , killing, doing so many things, filling the jails, and these young people want to study, go to the university and do their studies and a group of people, in my opinion obstinate, for not giving up and for not exercising mercy and love , kill the dreams of so many young immigrants. It seems to me that it is one of the works that Christ came to destroy and undo.

Perhaps you think differently, but unfortunately I am the one with the microphone, so I am the one who is speaking and I respect your point of view, but I believe that these things must be denounced, because an opportunity has been lost for this nation do what you have done so many times is open your beaches, and open up your wealth so that outsiders can find a place of refuge. This would have been a great opportunity to exercise mercy and grace and love and compassion.

I believe that this issue of immigration is not going to be resolved with the law, with self-righteousness, but rather it is going to be resolved with justice, with love, with compassion towards the poor, towards the weak, towards the needy, people who come to bless this nation with its values and with its fear of God, instead of so many people who are out there sowing death in this nation, very highly educated, but with a reprobate mind that does not know the Lord.

And I believe that this must be denounced as well. What I mean, brothers, is that Christ came, appeared on this earth to confront and undo all the works of the devil in whatever manifestation it was. The Bible says that the devil dresses himself as an angel of light many times and I believe that one of the things that the Lord came to do the most in this world was to establish grace and mercy. If the rulers of this world understood what grace is, if they extended into history, they would have to get to that first day of thanksgiving, where the first Puritans who were illegal, in fact, because there were already people here residing, who were the Indians, who were the true owners of this country.

And these people came here to dispossess and dispossess all nations, there were many nations, small groups, hundreds of thousands of people here who were the true immigrants. Those came here undocumented. Today they despise and attack the others who also come looking for a piece of the pie and fleeing from nations that are often the way they are because we here have contributed to the evil that exists there as well, but we are not going to start talking about that because it will throw us very far.

But I believe that these things must be denounced and it must be understood that the Lord came to denounce and undo all the evil in the world. And that is why I say to the Lord, Lord, help us every day, because what threw me into this line of meditation is that sometimes we think of the church, we are so superficial, in the way we see the redemptive work of Christ , and we believe that it is simply a matter of you punching a card, getting an evangelical card. Ok, I have come forward, I have already said that I receive Christ and now I lie down to sleep until he comes and takes me away.

No, there is much to do inside of us. You know what? The works of the devil have to be undone within us, in our own bad conscience. The things that we have, the Lord is undoing diabolical works in my life and in yours right now and we have to yield to the Lord our being, mind, soul, body, emotions, will, memories, everything and say, Lord, undo the works of the devil within me because I want to be more like Christ. I surrender to the Lord everything that is not his, I surrender to the Lord selfishness, I surrender to the Lord manipulation, I surrender to the Lord the desire for glory. I surrender to the Lord believing that I always have my rights to be given to me, I surrender to the Lord always keeping my little piece of the cake and not sacrificing anything for others. And in my marriage there are works of the devil that have to be destroyed as well. I have to be a better husband, a better wife, I have to be a better father, I have to be a better son, I have to put rebellion aside, which is what characterizes the devil, if I am young and submit to the authorities. I have to love my neighbor, I have to give to others, I have to sacrifice myself so that others may be. Because it is the Christmas spirit, it is the spirit of Jesus. He stripped himself of his divinity, stripped himself of his glory, came into the world and incarnated in a humble baby to give us redemption and eternal life. I have to imitate the spirit of Christmas.

I believe that we have to be in the matter of each day to be more and more like Christ, that each day God banishes the works of the devil in our conscience. I ask the Lord that our church always be a place of grace, love, and mercy, because that is what characterizes the Kingdom of God. We have to go deeper, brothers, than simply being evangelical, being religious, because the spirit of Christ is a spirit that wherever he sees something that reminds him... because the devilish spirit is the Darwinian spirit, it is the spirit that the strong it is the one that governs, it is the spirit that I get away with what is mine because I have the right to do it and because if someone else does not do it, I am going to do it. It is the spirit that does not consider, does not sacrifice itself for the other, that does not forgive, that always demands its pound of flesh as they say in English. If they did it to me, they pay me. And that Darwinian spirit, that self-righteous, sterile spirit, that is what kills us, brothers.

And you know what embarrasses the devil? Do you know what the enemy can never destroy in us? It is the spirit of Jesus. That fruit of the Holy Spirit in us, that grace of God in us, because that is what that fragile baby represented, it was the lie, it was the contradiction of all the paradigms that govern humanity without Christ. Everything that this world, the government of this world, Christ came to question everything, turn it upside down and upside down. That's why he was born as a boy, grew up and was born in a poor, miserable family, not in a rich place. That is why the announcement was first given to pastors, men who were considered impure, due to their profession by the high-ranking people of society and by the religious of their culture. He appeared to humble shepherds.

And that is why he brought people from outside the Jewish culture, men who were searching, they were hungry and they were investigating the stars with impure reasons, because it was astrology and the occult, but they were hungry for the supernatural, they were hungry for God. I hadn't received the truth and I say, you know what? There where you are, hundreds and hundreds of miles away, I am going to bring you, I am going to guide you so that you can see my Son and know him before others know him.

Because the Lord was saying, it's not the insiders, it's the outsiders who I love many times. Not the ones who are comfortable, not the powerful ones, but the ones who are fragile. Those are the ones that God comes looking for. And I believe that in that Christmas drama, in all the things that occur, a number of things, a humble woman, Maria did not have a doctorate, she was not a renowned woman, a humble maiden who surely had the heart of a child, That God gave the privilege, not to a queen, not to a princess, to a small and humble little woman. He said to that, you are going to be the bearer of my Son. You are going to give birth to divinity, because the Lord was saying, I want you to know, every time you talk about Christmas that I came to undo all the works of the devil wherever it is, be it in the palace, be it in the house of government, be it in the religious house, be it in the art museum, be it in the university, be it in the social work office, wherever there is no love of my Father, there I am going to undo those works.

One of the passages that I always like in Scripture, what is the essence of Christ's work in the world? It is the passage of a humble woman who says that the Lord went to a synagogue on a Sabbath day, which is interesting because the Sabbath, the day of rest, the day we find refuge from our work, our cares, because it is where the Lord wants to take us, that's why he came, to give us rest. Give humanity rest. And on that Sabbath, he meets a poor woman. She says that she was bent over for 18 years, I think it was something like that, that woman like that, bent over for an eternity.

In the original Greek sunquoto, she was as if doubled as herself. I have seen people like that walking through the streets, they have broken my heart, completely bent their spine. It's something demonic. I have seen that and there must be something bad there, because it is like a spirit that enjoys breaking a human being and enjoys itself in agony, always looking down. And so was that woman there, on the Sabbath. And the Lord saw her with compassion and mercy, grace, love. And he used his redemptive power, because that's what he came for.

He was there in the middle of that place, he saw that scene and he came to undo the works of the devil. And that was a woman who was under oppression, she had a spirit, she says, of sickness in her, and the Lord told her, “woman, you are free from your scourge”, and that woman unfolded and straightened herself up again. And the Lord manifested his redemptive spirit in this way, because that is what he came to do, he came to undo the works of the devil.

What's going on? That right there in that house of religion, the head of the synagogue, the pastor, the priest in these cases the equivalent would be, got angry with Jesus, got angry with Jesus because he had a different spirit from Jesus.

Because I tell you, brothers, once again, in the churches there is sometimes as much evil and as much work of the devil as outside, unfortunately it is the truth. That's why we have to be careful. I am not saying this to make us depressed, I am saying this so that we are alert. We have to look for the leaven. That custom that the Jews had at the time of one of their festivals of women going in to look for leaven everywhere, was a symbol of looking for sin wherever it was found in the house.

We have to ask the Lord, Lord, enlighten us every day, where are the works of the devil? In my mind, my heart, my will, my memories, depression, anguish, anxiety, manipulation, rebellion, abuse, selfishness, all these things. We have to look for ourselves, not with eagerness or with paranoia. No, no, we have to look for ourselves knowing that we are already restored. Christ already loves us. God has already redeemed us, but now we have to give the Lord the best, we have to undo the works of the devil in our lives, we have to be agents of good.

And we have to say to the Lord, as the psalmist says, examine me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there is a wicked way in me. Put there, work of the devil. And see if there is in me a path of perversity, and guide me on the eternal path. That is the cry that we must make every day as a church, as individuals, as ministries, as leaders. Lord, where are the works of the devil in my life, in this church and help us to undo them, because sometimes they are in the most unexpected places. Where the works of the devil are, there is the devil, and it can be in our homes, it can be in our marriage, it can be in our children. And I say to him, Lord, remove all the landing strips that the devil has in my life, all of them, so that he has nowhere to land and bring his death drug and all his harmful and terrible things. Because the Lord came to undo.

So this Pharisee got angry with Jesus and said, look, how dare you heal a woman on the Sabbath? If you are going to heal her, do it on the other 6 days of the week. And the Lord said, hypocrite, I imagine that he filled his mouth with the word hypocrite. Hypocrite, he says, if you had an animal and that animal fell into a hole on Saturday, wouldn't you rescue it? How much more this poor woman than the devil, she says, had tied up. She doesn't deserve it, she is a daughter of Abraham too, just as you consider yourself a son of Abraham.

And I see there, that confrontation of love and grace, and the mercy of God colliding with the works of the devil in the heart of that Pharisee who has no compassion for this woman. It's not funny. It is that religion devoid of grace, mercy, love and compassion, goodness, the spirit of Christ, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, is as evil as killing someone with a gun. It's awful. What's more, it is even more terrible because it leads people to an eternity without God, without Christ, thinking that they are going to eternity with God, because it gives him a substitute that is death, and makes them feel pious when they are not, they are not redeemed.

We have to be careful. I ask you, Lord, allow our church to be a church of grace, love and mercy, even while we proclaim holiness and even while we seek to please God in everything possible. But we have to do it in a relaxed spirit, a spirit of joy. God already likes us and now we have to give him the best because he already gave his best for us.

So our pursuit of holiness is not to please God or to show that we are better than anyone else. No, it is because we have to celebrate the goodness of God for our lives with works of good. Go? It's a very different perspective, and that leaves us free then to be holier and more pleasing before God. Good works that supplant the works of the devil.

So, God tells us, look, look for the works of the devil, and look for the works of good where you least think they are. God encourages us to go to a much higher level of ethics. Many times we evangelicals are so clumsy and crude in our morality and ethics that we believe that by simply throwing some coins in the tithing basket to God, and coming to church on Sunday, we are already done with that. No, it is to praise and adore God and to do good works is to give ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God so that our life is a continuous bleeding of all that is bad and a filling of the spirit of Christ Jesus in our lives. Undo the works of the devil.

I end with this idea. There are many beautiful things here in this passage, but one of the things I like the most is the idea that Christ came to undo the works of the devil, to undo. That word in the original Greek is Luso, which means, to dismantle systemically, systematically, tear apart, break into pieces. It is as if you imagine a piece of paper and see powerful hands tearing it into 20,000 pieces, undoing it.

That is the idea of what Christ came to do to the world at Christmas. He came to take away its coherence, I would say, from evil in this world. He came to radically question it, he came to take away its legitimacy. He came to show his bankruptcy. He came wherever he was, ripped those pieces off and that's the idea, which isn't just crude and obvious, right?

The Lord is searching the whole world, wherever there is something harmful, there the Lord says, I am going to undo that, I am going to destroy it and the Lord is in his process of redemption in history. Did you know? You and I are the continuators of the work of Christ Jesus. He has left his church here on earth to continue the work of undoing the works of the devil.

Every time we get together on a day like this, for example, every time we come to church on Sunday, every time we meet in a home cell, every time we invite each other to eat at home and celebrate our brotherhood As children of God, every time we do a good work, every time we show love towards someone, every time we keep quiet when we are offended so that there may be peace at home or at school, or in the workplace, every time Every time we do a work like the works of Christ, we are participating in undoing the works of the devil. Every day, every day, we, you and I, and that is why we have to purify ourselves.

If you look at that passage from First John, Chapter 3, that powerful statement that he came to undo the works of the devil is given in the context of a call to live a holy life, to purify ourselves, not to practice evil, because the who practices evil is the devil and Christ came to undo the works of the devil. So we also have to clothe ourselves with light, we have to use the weapons of light. Our weapons are not carnal, but powerful in God for the destruction of strongholds. We have to defeat evil with love, by grace, by mercy. We have to be a Congregation of grace, love, acceptance, kindness, forgiveness. Still, as I say, not underestimating the importance of holiness, but there is a way to be holy that includes that benevolent attitude of Christ Jesus.

I rejoice every time I see my brothers laugh among themselves and for me one of the pleasures of being here every day of the week is when all the people who work in this church and I invite the musicians to please come by here a little moment, when all the people who work in the church, on the daily days of the week, and I walk the corridors of these buildings and I hear laughter and joy and celebration among the members of the staff of this Congregation, when there are demonstrations of love and grace. And when people come to church and say, you know what? When I walked through those doors I felt the presence of God. And that is what truly glorifies the Father.

And that is what God wants in our homes and in our jobs, that we be agents of peace and good and blessing, undoing the works of the devil. Every time we declare praise to God through music and singing, we are informing principalities and powers that Christ is the great illuminator of humanity, the one who blesses humanity, the one who redeems humanity, the who undoes the works of evil in the world.

We are doing the work of the Lord. You are an instrument of God's salvific work. And the best channel for that work is kindness, love, mercy towards others, the spirit of Jesus Christ. And that will bless you, it will bless your family, it will not allow the devil to have a foothold in your house, in your heart, in your marriage, in your children. Let us be carriers of that grace and undo the works of evil, wherever they are.

Brothers, that this Christmas we remember that giving, generous spirit of Jesus. I ask the Lord that our church, our family, be a church of goodness and mercy, always undoing the works of the devil. Let us be humble hunters, but very powerful wherever there is evil, darkness, evil, we will be there denying those works with our life, our example, our words, our attitude, our hearts, our generous spirit.

May that spirit dwell in you and me on this day. Let's stand up for a moment. We thank the Lord for his work of goodness. Thank you, Lord Jesus, because you came to undo the works of darkness and we have the privilege of continuing that work, Lord. We bless you, Lord, we thank you.

Lower your head for a moment, and tell the Lord, Lord, where are the works of darkness in my life? I want to give you those works. I want to give you those works. I give you all my being Lord Jesus. We give you, Lord, our lives. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. We adore you, Lord, we bless you. Thank my Lord. Thank you.