Good morning! How are we? Good! Good! Welcome also to those of ...

Sermon Series: Anchored: Twelve Truths for Your Soul

1 ANGELS”

July 30th, 2017 Various Texts “God’s Special Agents: Pastor Doug McNett: July 30, 2017 Big Idea: “Angels move us to relentless worship"

Good morning! How are we? Good! Good! Welcome also to those of you who are joining us across the freeway at Re:new and across the courtyard worshiping in the chapel. As we gather here in our Live! service the rest of our family is also gathering in our other venues to spend time in worship and to join us in the study of God’s Word. Well, my name is Doug and I am the Pastor of Student Ministries here at Church of the Foothills. And this morning, I get the privilege to continue walking through our series, “Anchored: Twelve Truths to Steady Your Soul. 

This has been an incredible series this summer as we have looked at core doctrines of our faith. Once again, the motivation for this series: Our lead Pastor Brian has kept in front of us and I’d like to remind us this morning, comes from Hebrews 6:19 where the author, referring to God’s salvation and the promises associated with it, says this, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” And earlier the author challenges us to “pay careful attention” to what we know about our God and the salvation he provides “so that we do not drift away” (2:1). This is the whole purpose of our series…to revisit the fundamentals of our faith, so that we do not drift. Over the last many weeks we have spent time talking through the Bible being our fundamental guide for faith and life. We have talked through the truth of God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Then, last week Pastor Dillon brilliantly walked through the doctrine of the Trinity and the significance that it holds in our worship of God. Today we’re looking at a topic that many pastors and teachers often avoid. Renown theologian, Millard Erickson, says while talking about the doctrine of Angels that it is, “in some ways the most unusual and difficult of all of theology.” Likewise, theologian Karl Barth who has written more on this subject than any other recent scholar says that this topic is the “most remarkable and difficult of all.”

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Well, being that this morning marks my first sermon at CoTF during our Sunday services, How about we start with a topic known to be the most remarkable and difficult of all! Shall we!? The doctrine that Erickson so aptly calls, “God’s Special Agents, Angels”.

There are many ideas and beliefs about angels in our culture. There are questions about they’re abilities and powers, their presence or nonpresence in our lives, our relationship to angels and many others. This morning, I’d like to spend some time clarifying and going over the truths that Scripture gives us in regards to these beings.

I do want to make one quick clarification right off the bat. First, and most importantly, though a small group of people believe that the Los Angeles Angels have been sent to us from God. I know, I know, players like Nolan Ryan and Chuck Finley and "Mr. Angel” himself, Tim Salmon played for the Angels…but they’re just baseball players! ….It’s not like they’re Giants or anything…winning 8 world series! I may be getting some e-mails about that one from Jeff Nelson and Jeff Ashburn this week! 

But, I digress!  The doctrine of angels! What are they!? 

Well, first and foremost, Angels are created spiritual beings. They have not just always existed, but instead were a part of God’s creation in the beginning pages of Genesis. Paul, writes in Colossians 1 that, "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. This expression that we see in verse 16, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities is seen in some translations as “principalities and powers,” Paul is referring here to angels who worship and serve the Creator of the universe "as He is the cosmic lord Jesus, Paul is using in as colorful and dramatic a language as possible.” 

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We also see that Ezra points to God as having created angels in Nehemiah 9:6 where he writes, "6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” The word host that we see in that passage is seen nearly 500 times in the Old Testament and refers to “angels” or “heavenly bodies”. We also see towards the end of this verse that the “multitudes of heaven worship you", giving us a quick glimpse at the shear volume of these angels. 

In fact, there are an innumerable number of angelic beings singing the praises of God. Scripture does not give us a specific number of angels that God has created. but we see throughout scripture quantities in the tens of thousands, (deut. 33:2), and tens of thousands and thousands of thousands (psalm 68:17). The author of Hebrews writes in chapter 12:22, 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,”. And in case we still can’t grasp how many angels God created we read in Revelation 5:11,

 "11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

"A myriad is a countless or an extremely great number” and in this passage we hear that there are myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of these angelic beings. 

So, that may lead us to ask a couple of questions! Are all angels the same? Are there really guardian angels? Do we each have our own? What do they look like?

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Our culture is fascinated with this topic and there have been throughout the years many books, and television shows and movies that feed the curiosity of both followers of Christ and non-believers alike. Entertainment such as "Angels in the outfield” or “Touched by an Angel” or Michael, or Constantine, or any of the other number of films that show angels adds to the mysteriousness and curiosity that we have towards angels. 

So one of those questions is: "What do angels look like?” What do these “spiritual beings look like? 

I do think it is important for us to remember that key word there, they are “spiritual” beings. Jesus refers to them as such in Luke 24:39 when revealing Himself to His disciples after His resurrection He assures them that it truly is physically Him, and says, "39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Therefore, we are able to conclude that angels are typically unseen unless God has chosen to use them in a way that allows us to see them. Scripture does show us from time to time that God did in fact operate that way and that angels would take on human physical traits. We can see this in 2 Kings 6:17 with Elisha, or in Genesis 18 & 19 with Abraham angels appears as men, or in Mark 16 at the tomb of Jesus an angel was present in the form of a young man. 

One thing to note here is that when angels have been seen, they are without wings. 

I believe the confusion about angels having wings comes from one of the other questions that we often ask, are all angels the same? Well, there are a variety of created beings in the heavenly host. In fact, there are three different types of heavenly beings. 

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First, there is The Cherubim. These angels are charged with the responsibility to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden as seen in Genesis  3:24 where we have recorded, "24 After he {God} drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” We also see elsewhere in the Scriptures that God is enthroned on the Cherubim or that they operate as God’s chariots. We also see them adorned as gold figures over the ark of the covenant with their wings stretched out above the ark. 

The next Spiritual being is The Seraphim, which we only see in the writings of Isaiah 6:2-7 where they are continuously worshiping the Lord by crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”. 

Lastly, we hear from both Ezekiel and in Revelation that there are still more beings that are referred to as “living creatures” that are present around the throne of God. They are described as appearing like a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. They represent a portion of God’s creation and they worship continually as we read in Revelation 4:8, "Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“ ‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’ f

who was, and is, and is to come.”

So, it’s important to note that there are a variety of angels. And that not only are there a variety, but they are different in their appearance. Including, that those whom God has sent as messengers to people have not, from what we see recorded in scripture, been angels with wings, though from what we just read, God has created angelic beings that do in fact have wings. 

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Not only are there are a variety of angelic beings, but there is also a rank and order among the angels. There are two angels who are actually named in all of Scripture. One is Michael who we see in Jude, Revelation, and Daniel. The other is Gabriel who is seen in Daniel and Luke. You might recognize them more aptly known as the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, however, though both of these angels are often referred to by people as “Archangels” there is in fact, only one who has been given that name in Scripture, and that is the Archangel Michael. In Jude 9 this title is given to him with a sense of rule or authority over other angels and in Daniel 10:13 Michael is called “one of the chief princes”. We see him again in Revelation 12:7 where Michael is seemingly a leader of the angelic army. We read, "7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. Paul also refers to this specific position of the archangel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 while discussing the return of Jesus saying, "16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God”. Whether Paul is speaking directly about Michael or if there are other archangels, Scripture just doesn’t tell us. 

Okay, well what about our questions about are there really guardian angels, do we each have our own? Our culture tends to emphasize the idea that we each have a guardian angel. 

I believe that this idea may come from the reality that God has written in His Word in the book of Psalms that He sends His angels for our protection (91:11-12) He writes, 

"11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

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However the question specifically about whether each person, or at the least, each Christian has their own “Guardian Angel” is still left wondering. Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 18:10 when He says, "10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” This may speak to the reality of guardian angels, however, we must also consider that what our Lord is saying is that there are angels charged for protecting this little ones. Theologian Wayne Grudem gives an illustration in his book, "Systematic theology" that a sports analogy may be useful here, saying that the angels could be playing zone as opposed to man-toman coverage. 

Unfortunately there just isn’t enough substantial evidence in Scripture to say that every person has their own guardian angel watching out for them. What we can say for sure about angels are that angels can only be in one place, at one time. It’s important to remember that these are created beings, just as the rest of God’s creation and therefore are not omnipresent, meaning they are incapable of being present everywhere at the same time, like God. 

As mysterious and extraordinary as the existence of angels may be, they have significant implications in regards to our theology of God. See, our theology, which, theology is the study of the nature of God, directly affects the way in which we live out our lives. Okay, one more time. Our theology, what we believe about God, directly affects the way in which we live out our lives. Or in other words, right theology leads to right living. Having a right view of the existence and significance of angels aids us as we journey along as fellow created beings designed to worship and bring glory to God. See, Angels move us to relentless worship.

It is without question, as we look through scripture from the Old Testament to the New, that God wants us to be aware of the existence of angels and their role that they carry out in this world. And so, as renown theologian Wayne Grudem has said on the topic that, “we should not assume that the

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scriptures teaching about angels has nothing whatsoever to do with our lives today. Rather, Gudem says, there are several ways in which our Christian lives will be enriched by an awareness of the existence and ministry of angels in our world…” 

And so I’d like to leave with you today a number of important ways that a right understanding of how God’s purpose for Angels directly aids us in our pursuit of Christ-like living. How the reality of Angels, moves us to relentless worship. 

The first, is that we live in a culture where so many people deny the existence of God and even the reality of things that they cannot see. In actuality, this isn’t anything new. In fact, the early church was in a similar place. There were a group of religious people in fact, the Sadducees who believed that "there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor Spirit” as it’s recorded in (Acts 23:8). However, throughout the pages of Scripture we are given glimpses of the unseen world that are very real indeed. In 2 Kings 6:17 God opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha”. This was a massive angelic army that was sent to protect Elisha. 

We read in the Psalms that the writer would encourage the angels to “Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His host!” (Psalm 148:2). Or in Hebrews 12:22 the author paints this picture of “innumerable angels in festal gathering”. These not only show us the reality of an unseen world, but should move us to a place of awe and joy! The vastness amount of angels who stand in awe before God should move us to relentless worship! We go to Giants baseball games, or Bronco super bowls and we cheer and shout! Oh man, I’ll never forget, as long as I live, never! Oh man. So, there I was…

with Pastor Sam, January 8th 2012, sitting in the nose bleed section of the mile high stadium of Denver Colorado for the NFL playoffs between the greatest team of all time, the Denver Broncos, with an Archangel

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himself as their quarterback, Tim Tebow, in overtime against the Pittsburg Steelers, and Tim an angel of God himself Tebow, just launches this football down the field in a hail mary attempt to Demarius Thomas, and 75,000 people all gasp and freeze as this ball in slow motion sores through the air! Thomas caught the short 15 yard pass and ran for an 80 yard catch and run touchdown winning the playoff game! It was glorious! The stadium erupted! The cheering and jumping up and down was just crazy! People are shaking each other…it was…ahh! ……over a game…with a ball….

Here’s what I see. Here’s what I see. The Psalmist, the author of 2 Kings and of Hebrews, and of revelation, they help us to keep a right mind about this temporary place that we call home, so that we can know, that we will one day stand with all them cheering and screaming and jumping up and down with our voices shouting, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! And NOTHING WE EXPERIENCE HERE WILL EVER BE ABLE TO COMPARE TO THAT DAY! So though there are those who doubt the reality of an unseen world…God says, be assured my friends, there is one, and there aren’t a miniscual 75,000 people, there are innumerable, myriads of myriads worshiping all together! So don’t be distracted by the temporary, by what you see, but have faith in what you do not see. Angels move us to relentless worship!

And if that’s not enough of a reason to have an understanding how God uses angels to impact our lives here. How about this! 

Angels exemplify obedience and worship.  Angels joyfully, immediately, and without question execute the will of God in heaven. Jesus points to this when He teaches us how to pray in Matthew 6:10 when He says, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven”. It is the pleasure of the angels in God’s presence to humbly serve, to joyfully and faithfully carry out what it is that God would have them do. Not, only are they an example of holy obedience, but also in worship. 

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As we previously mentioned, the Seraphim, stand before God’s throne and see God’s immeasurable holiness and in response cry out continuously, “HOLY HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD OF HOSTS! THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY! (Isaiah 6:3). Or, the myriads of myriads proclaiming, “Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing!” (revelation 5:11-12). 

See, these angelic beings have found it their greatest joy to continuously praise God! They see His might, His glory, His, holiness, and can’t help but respond in worship! SO CHURCH! Having a knowledge and an understanding of the reality of these angels gives us an example of how we ought to view and respond to who God is. That we too should delight every day to sing the praises of God and understanding that to do this, to worship him is our highest and our most worthy use of our time, and should, like the angels, be our greatest joy! 

The Angels model for us what obedience looks like. To faithfully, regardless of how great or small the task God gives us, to joyfully do His will. And they show us and remind us of the glory, and majesty, and power that is God. 

And if that isn’t enough! Let me share with you what I find to be incredible. To be incomprehensible. Let me close our time with this! These last two points may be the most important aspect to us having a right understanding of the reality of angels. 

"26 Then

God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… and then in verse 27 of Genesis 1, "27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

As we look at creation unfold, it was only mankind that was made in the image of God. This is significant! Angels live in the presence of God,

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worship Him continuously, obey and faithfully and joyfully fulfill the will of God in Heaven and on earth, yet it was mankind, that God chose to create in His image. It is mankind who bear attributes of God. He fully could have made angelic creatures that way. But He didn’t. He created us in His image. He has blessed us with the ability to bear children. In Genesis 5 we read that Adam, "had a son in his own likeness, in his own image”. Interesting choice of words. There is something very special to be made in the image of God. There is a value there! Again! We should recognize that value that God has placed on us, that we’re valued even more than angels! How that should move us! How that should cause us to respond in obedience and worship! 

Wait, did he just say God values us more than angels? Can he say that?

Yeah. Yeah, I can. Here’s why. 

This is the encouragement. This the hope. This is what I want to leave you with this morning church. As we have discussed the reality of Angels. As we have looked at the different types of angels. As we have even talked about some of the reasons why it so important for us to be aware and knowledgeable of angels. This. This is what I truly hope you grasp this morning. 

Angels demonstrate the greatness of God’s love for us. 

God made a choice about you and I. And He made a choice about His angels. As we see in places like Jude 6, or Revelation 12, or 2 Peter 2 that God did not redeem the angels when they sinned. He didn’t save even one of them. Instead, He cast them into hell. And this was perfectly just of God to do! And no angel could ever complain about that not being right! 

Likewise, humankind has sinned against God. In fact, Romans 3:23 tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. ALL! God had a choice. He could easily deal with us the way He dealt with the angels, and

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let us suffer eternal condemnation. And had He chosen to do that! He would be just! He would be RIGHT! And none of us could complain. 

BUT! God made the choice to send His Son, to die. To stand in our place. To take on the punishment and the consequence that we deserve. Resulting in the salvation of a great multitude from “every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation!” (Rev. 5:9). This is incomprehensible grace, and mercy, and love! It is undeserved favor in its truest form. 

AND IT IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE to the fate of the angels. The length of which God went to have a relationship with you and I…and the reality of this… the significance of God not redeeming angels...should….

Angels move us to relentless worship! So, as Pastor Brian said a few years ago, that my friend Heather Datus shared with me recently, is that we should “outpraise and outshine the angels because we know something they don’t…the saving grace of Jesus!” Amen!?

So, yes, I believe God intentionally chose us to be made in His image, not the angels, and He intentionally chose us to be redeemed, and not the angels. And so I find it very very important to have a right understanding of the reality of angels so that we can have another reminder of the extent of which God went for you and I, to save us. 

AND THAT! Should move you and I to a place of worship, a place of obedience! Not just on Sundays! But as the angels continuously cry out, HOLY HOLY HOLY is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! 

SO CHURCH! The angels have shown us three things. First, that they worship and obey Him out of a place of knowledge about the glory of God. So, I must ask us, are we pursuing knowledge about God. Let me be more specific. I do not mean, do you go to church on Sunday? I mean, are you pursuing God in a way that you “know” Him and are knowing Him more? When was the last time you picked up a theology book to study the

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attributes, to study who God is? When was the last time you joined one of our classes or small groups to learn more about who God is?! 

Second, The reality of angels should be moving us to a life of uplifting the name of God and His character for the world to see. As they’re constantly crying out Holy, Holy, Holy, and as they sing of His glory, it leads me to ask the question! Am i singing the praises of God at work? Am I singing the praises of God at home? Am I singing the praises of God in my small group? Am i singing the praises of God in my conversations with my friends? BUT CHURCH HEAR ME! The angels don’t model for us lifting up the name of God at moments…but relentlessly! I have to ask, do our lives look like this? 

Lastly, the angels find the joy being in the presence of God almighty, which leads me to ask…Church! What are we finding joy in? Or, church! Are we pursuing the presence of God? Are we finding time to be alone with him during our days. Are we longing for His presence and so finding opportunities for prayer walks, retreats, time in His word? Are we relentlessly pursuing the presence of God in our lives? 

WE ARE TO BE A PEOPLE WHO JOYFULLY AND FAITHFULLY OBEY HIM AND SING HIS PRAISES!

A PEOPLE WHO RELENTLESSLY WORSHIP HIM!