Ephesians 6:10-11 "The Armor of God"pt.1

Introduction

In the Christian life no one is immune to spiritual warfare. That may sound very strange because you may not really think of your life as a Christian as being engaged in battle. You are not alone. Many Christians don’t see the Christian life as a battle because the have long surrendered to the comforts of this life.

And our current situation in our culture tends to condition us to think this way. Christianity is promoted as a therapeutic religion that is preoccupied with keeping us comfortable in our spiritual journey. This is why we find it so strange when we have to suffer through battles in this world. Because we think that God would not want us to go through spiritual battles in this world as Christians.

Well the Apostle Paul knew that the Christian life would be full of battles and he also knew that we were powerless in and of ourselves to endure such battles and to come out victoriously apart from an alternative power. Look back at your text to verses 10-11a:

I. The Power (10-11a): “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God”

Notice that we see the word, “Finally” being used at the beginning of verse 10. This is not divorcing from the context like a whole new set of ideas but it is building in sequence upon what has come before. And what has come before?

Paul has been instructing the Church about relationships with one another in the congregation and in marriage and the family between parents and children and even in the relationships between servants and masters.

We have seen all of that over the last several weeks and there has been a lot of practical instruction that we have seen in how we should all strive to live in relationship with one another to the glory of God.

If you are connected in the Church and a parent and married and you have a job in the workplace you may feel completely overwhelmed due to what the we have seen in the context of Ephesians. I know I do when I am confronted with my responsibility as a Christian, husband and father. So when Paul says “Finally” he is getting ready to point us away from being overwhelmed to a source of strength.

Then he commands Christians to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” This denotes not only the person of Christ but in all that He has displayed in His sovereign works of power in all that He has done. That is very encouraging when you realize that all three person’s of the Godhead are infinitely omnipotent in power.

Humans are finite or limited in power. We have our limitations and due to our nature can be so distorted in how we exercise the limited power we do have. We may start off with the best of intentions but often in the end our intentions and our efforts don’t always match up.

Kind of reminds me of the Marvel Comic super hero “Ironman.” Tony Stark has all kinds of limitations when it comes to his human abilities. And he finds this a very frustrating thing. So he created a suit that can give him incredible abilities that he normally wouldn’t have. I mean now he can fly and he has enormous strength and he is also fortified against his enemies encased in his iron suit.

Christian in a spiritual sense that is what God has done for us and it is the very thing that the Apostle Paul commands us to put on. “Put on the whole armor of God”

And in the weeks to come we will find out more about the pieces of this armor. But for now understand that armor is a metaphor being used to illustrate spiritual truths. Armor was something that the Christians at Ephesus. They had seen Roman soldiers on numerous occasions. Armor was also depicted throughout the city in carvings and statues displaying various pieces of armor.

Armor was something that a warrior would wear into battle against an enemy. Physical armor had a purpose in ancient warfare and so does spiritual armor. Look back to the second half of verse 11 at the purpose:

II. The Purpose (11b): “that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil”

We have an enemy and he hates us. The devil is a fallen angel who sought to exalt himself over and above God and he was thrown out of heaven for his cosmic rebellion. And he is the one who tempted Adam and Eve in the garden with the same temptation that he himself embraced to be like God and to be the arbiter of what constitutes good versus evil.

Though human beings are made in God’s image, we are not God ourselves. The devil is a master of deceit and he uses lies to distort the truth of God and turn it into a lie. He always operates by deception usually through the world system, or the fleshly appetites of the fallen nature or through demonic influence (world, flesh and the devil James 3:15).

So it is in the Lord or in Christ and His power that we find our strength to stand against the devil’s schemes. Remember as we have seen before in Ephesians this idea of in Christ is not just theoretical but it is talking about our mystical union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We have a whole new identity.

And it is an identity that provides power for living in the life of the believer. Christ has fortified us in the security of His grace and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. It is something better than an iron man suit because the implications are eternal.

There are people who believe in God but they don’t believe in a literal devil. They are already deceived because they already are rejecting what the Bible teaches.

When people do not believe in the Devil’s existence they are right where the devil wants them. If the devil doesn’t exist not only is it contrary to Scripture but it also minimizes the reality of evil and it’s origins. But the devil does not have infinite power. He has power but even he is at the mercy of God and God is using the devil to bring His ultimate purposes to pass.

But the devil is pursuing the Church to attempt to minimize the glorification of God in the world through the Church. This is why the devil attacks the institutions that God has created for His glory through Christ.

This is why the devil attacks the family so hard and he seeks to distort and pervert it’s function. He goes after marriages and our children and even our finances so he can destroy the home. But God’s grace prevails and when we are humble before Him He protects us and keeps us even when we are under assault.

If you read your Bible you will find out that the devil also seeks to infiltrate government too. It is in his deceit that he manipulates whole Nations and eventually he will eventually attempt to establish world domination over the world. He has to attempt it through deceit because he is not sovereign.

He uses the fleshly appetites of fallen man and this world system and demonic beings to manipulate. Our greatest defense is being in Christ and standing strong in the provisions of His grace to us.

Conclusion:

If you are here today and you are not in Christ you have no fortified defense against the devil’s schemes. You are actually subject to them. Because the Bible leaves no middle ground for someone to stand. You are either in Christ or you are not. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 12:30- 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

When you are not in Christ you are under the dominion of the devil. And you may not even realize it because your whole worldview is built upon deceit and distortion from the world, flesh or the devil.

God holds out Christ to you today. May your eyes be opened to the reality of who He is and all that He came to do.

Believer being in Christ not only fortifies you in His grace but it empowers you to stand firm in Him. Where I fail at times in this is thinking I stand by my own power. Truth is even then it is God in Christ that keeps me even when my failures are exposed.

When this happens to us Christian, God doesn’t cast us away. He has secured us to Himself in Christ in spite of our imperfections. He calls us though to confess our sin and in full assurance of Christ and His work to know we are forgiven.

Come to Him! Let’s Pray!