Rich in Strength

Intro

The Kids Question of the Week is: What is one of the five qualities of prayer that Paul describes in our passage?

What we see around us isn’t all there is. The Bible presents a portrait of reality that includes what we see, but also a spiritual realm that has impact on what happens around us too. Over the course of Church History, various authors have attempted to described what that reality looks like. Everything from Dante’s Inferno, to C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, to Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness, seek to help reorient Christians to seeing the reality of spiritual beings and their impact on the world that we do see. These literary works along with other types of media can help us maintain a view of reality that includes spiritual beings.

Kent Hughes says

The prevailing materialistic, mechanistic thinking of our age leaves no room for the supernatural, or indeed anything without a physical cause. Sadly, many Christians are so influenced by this thinking that even though they give conscious voice to their belief in Satan and spiritual warfare, their lives show no evidence of this reality. They actually live in unconscious disbelief.11 R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), 212–214.

Our passage today is one that forces us to reckon with the reality of spiritual warfare.

Main idea: We are engaged in a cosmic battle in which God has given us the tools to be victorious

In today’s passage, Paul gives us the call to arms, describes our tools, and our allies.

Let’s read it together and then we’ll dive in

Ephesians 6:10–24 CSB

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should. Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts. Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Call to arms (v. 10-13)

Paul initially gives us a call to arms. And he uses a Parallel framework to do it.

These verses are organized in a popular Hebrew style of parallelism. In this type of parallelism the parallel lines will help illuminate one another. Verse ten matches verse twelve and verse eleven matches verse 13. One of the ways we know there’s a parallelism here is the face that verses 11 and 13 say almost the exact same thing. Boiled down both verses say: “take up the full armor of God so that you can stand firm.”

Verses 10 and 12 show contrast. Paul first introduces the power by which we receive strength. Paul says we are strengthened by the lord and by his vast strength. God’s strength and its work in our lives has been a recurring theme through Paul’s letter and he uses it as a way to set up his final thoughts. Paul reminds us that our power for any action in this battle comes from an external source, namely our union with the Lord Jesus.

Contrasted to the strength we receive from God is our cosmic enemy.

First, Paul is clear, we are engaged in battle. This isn’t an artillery battle that is fought from a relatively safe distance. The word translated “struggle” has the root idea of hand-to-hand, close quarters combat. It is intensely personal. Mano a mano, sweat against sweat, breath against breath, intimate battle.

Paul goes on to tell us the struggle is not with flesh and blood. In other words, we are not at war with people. We are not at war with people who disagree with us, look different, talk different, have a different religion, or try and kill us. We are not at war with people. Our battle is in the heavens. Commentator Ralph Martin describes it this way. He says:

Paul lifts the veil and permits his readers to see the [cosmic] dimension of the church’s struggle in the world. On the level of history that struggle is between men of goodwill and men of evil disposition. But Paul dismisses this account as too simplistic. The conflict at its in-depth level is not against human powers: flesh and blood ... Rather it is directed against the real power behind the persecutors on earth, demonic agencies which, according to 1 Corinthians 2:8, were primarily responsible for Jesus’ death. Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate were the historical instruments of these malevolent angelic powers, says Paul. —  Ralph P. Martin, “Ephesians,” in 2 Corinthians–Philemon, ed. Clifton J. Allen, Broadman Bible Commentary (Broadman Press, 1970), 174.

In other words, what we see as historical, or people fighting against people, Paul views as the physical manifestations of a cosmic battle.

Without getting too far into the weeds, Paul uses four ways to talk about our cosmic enemies. Some commentator over the course of church history have suggested that the different descriptors are divisions of evil spiritual beings. That may be the case, but I don’t think that’s his point. Paul is drawing attention to the fact that there are spiritual forces that are set on keeping humanity from being the images God has designed us to be.

Paul uses a word picture to describe how to prepare ourselves for the spiritual battle ahead. In the same way that many of you are familiar with the gear required for combat today, Paul would also have been familiar with the armor of a Roman soldier of the day. It is possible that he was partly inspired by the fact that he was under guard by a Roman soldier while imprisoned. His meditation on scripture likely collided with the armor metaphor that he saw day in and day out and he put it together into a helpful picture for those in Ephesus.

In virtually all the Old Testament passages that speak of armor like Paul uses in our passage, it is God who is putting on the pieces of armor. Paul tells us to put on God’s armor. The armor that Christians are to put on is the armor that God is said to wear.

Now as I read the passage in my preparation the past couple weeks, there was one question that I really had in my mind that I had trouble answering. The question that I had was, “what does it mean for our interpretation of this passage that it was written to a group, not to individuals?” The reason I had that question is that whenever I hear pastor preach about the passage, it’s almost always individualistic. “How can you, Johnny, put on the armor of God?” But the Greek commands that Paul gives are all plural, “y’all do this,” “y’all put this on,” “y’all stand.” And over and over it goes. The whole letter is written to a group and each of the applications that Paul has is for the group, there is no shift here to the individual. So I pondered what it meant that this passage was meant for the church to put on the armor of God and this is what I came to realize. If the armor is God’s armor, the only way we are able to take it up is as his body. As Christ’s body, we are able to put on the armor that is his to wear. It is an us thing, not a you thing.

And so we need to take up the full armor of God.

The double command of standing against the schemes and withstanding is a military expression that refers to a posture of opposition to an enemy. It’s less about taking ground, more about holding ground.

We’re to stand against the devil’s schemes. Just like his strategy in the garden with Eve, he deceived her into taking the fruit and

he still uses the cunning and deceit today in order to accomplish his purposes.

Verse 13 says, “having prepared everything, to take your stand.” The idea is that there is a certain amount of preparation and action we are accountable for in our withstanding Satan’s attacks. It carries the idea of total preparedness, ready to meet an enemy at any time. Get ready and stay battle ready, otherwise you will not be able to withstand what Satan throws at you.

We’re engaged in a battle. You have the choice to do your part in preparation for battle and to stay ready and the best way to do that is in community.

Description of God’s armor (v.14-17)

After Paul’s call to arms, he describes the armor that we are to put on. He names six items.

Belt of Truth

Chest armor of Righteousness

sandals of the gospel of peace

shield of faith

Helmet of salvation

sword of the spirit

Many sermon series have been written on the armor alone, so we’re merely scratching the surface. I encourage you to take one of the pieces of armor and meditate on it along with the passage I think it likely references from the Old Testament this week and see how the Lord encourages you in it. Take the deep dive if you want. Plumb the depths :-) We don’t have time to do that today. So think of this as a primer.

The Belt of Truth

The belt, while not technically part of the full armor of a soldier, had a very practical purpose. It held the chest armor in place and provided a holder for the sword. Paul drew on imagery and language from Isaiah 11:5 which is a poem about the future Messiah. The Septuigint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was popular during the time of Jesus, reads, “He shall be girded with righteousness around the waist and bound with truth around the sides.” In the CSB it says, “Righteousness will be a belt around his hips; faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.” The armor that the Messiah wears in battle in order to bring justice and righteousness to the world is granted to his people, the church, so that they can stand firm in spiritual warfare. There is objective truth that Jesus brings us by his Spirit and in the scriptures. Without truth, we don’t have a chance in the spiritual battle at hand.

Chest Armor of Righteousness

The belt of truth helps hold in place the chest armor of righteousness. The chest armor of righteousness is the righteousness that we are given by God because we are his people. This is given to us freely, it is not something we can earn or generate on our own. It is part of the inheritance we have as children adopted by God.

Isaiah 59:17 gives us a picture of God’s Messiah putting on righteousness as armor as he goes out to bring justice to the nations: “He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”

For the church to put on the armor of righteousness is an opportunity to live in a way that shows the world the Kingdom of God, to demonstrate his righteousness. We do as Jesus did. We highlight the perverted values, crimes against humanity, oppression, and violence that this world thrives on and bring Jesus’ compassion to those who suffer at the hands of those who perpetrate it.

We have the belt of truth and the chest armor of righteousness. Now we strap on the sandals of the gospel of peace.

Sandals of the Gospel of Peace

The sandals that Paul has in mind, is likely the caliga. It’s a open-toed leather boat with a nail studded sole, not too different from baseball spikes. Their main function was to prevent sliding particularly when engaging the enemy.

The gospel of peace is how we are able to plant our feet and stand firm in battle. In Christ’s death and resurrection, he has brought peace between Jew and Gentile, they have been brought together by his blood. There is no us versus them. Our battle isn’t against flesh and blood.

Peace has also been brought to us between God and man as our sins are covered by his blood, we no longer stand as God’s enemies. Instead, as followers of Jesus we proclaim this peace, always ready for peace between us and our neighbor, between us and our enemy, and motivated to action by our hope of peace where it doesn’t yet exist.

Both Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 describe those who bring good news about salvation,

Listen to Nahum 1:15

Nahum 1:15 CSB

Look to the mountains— the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace. Celebrate your festivals, Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked one will never again march through you; he will be entirely wiped out.

Those who proclaim peace are able to stand firm on it because they know of it’s truth. They’ve seen it with their own eyes and proclaim it boldly.

Shield of faith

The fourth item on the list is the shield of faith.

The shield that Paul speaks of was a shield measuring about 4 feet by 2.5 feet. It was made with wood and overlaid with canvas and leather. It was designed to protect the whole body and was often soaked in water to extinguish arrows that had been dipped in pitch and set on fire before being let loose.

Psalm 115:9-13 describe God as a shield:

Psalm 115:9–13 CSB

Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. House of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; he will bless those who fear the Lord— small and great alike.

Benjamen Merkle says, “What shields believers is their confidence and trust in God. Because faith is at the very foundation of the Christian walk, it is necessary “in all circumstances,” at all times of battle.” Our faith and continued trust in God when times are hard are a shield that keep us from the cunning schemes of the devil which may be little temptations or large-scale attacks.

What do you lean on when trouble comes? Do you revert back to old behaviors or do you stand with the shield of faith covering you. The shield doesn’t protect you from feeling the weight of the enemy arrows or assault. The added weight of the arrows or the enemy soldier slashing against you is still felt. But the shield keeps you from mortal harm.

Helmet of Salvation

The fifth item on the list is the helmet of salvation.

In the passage we looked at about the chest armor of righteousness, the Messiah also wore a helmet of salvation. Isaiah 59:17 “He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”

The helmet, like the shield, is about ultimate protection. Salvation is about restoring or making whole. The helmet of salvation is a reminder that even now, we are being restored and made whole. This seems counter-intuitive mainly because as we get older, we seem to be falling apart rather than being made whole. But as we mature in Christ, becoming more like him, we begin to become more fully alive and live the way we were designed to live. As a community growing into Christ-likeness we show the world what community is supposed to look like. We show the world what love looks like. We experience the restoration of our souls in our relationship with God and are being made into people who are united in body and spirit to the God who created us.

We’ve looked at the belt of truth, the chest armor of righteousness, the sandals of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and finally we come to the final piece of the armor, the sword of the spirit.

Sword of the Spirit

Paul here calls the sword of the Spirit the word of God. In Isaiah 49:2, the Lord’s servant, or Messiah, describes himself this way: “He made my words like a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; he hid me in his quiver.”

The Greek word that is used here is rhema which is used within the New Testament to communicate the ideas of either gospel proclamation or the word that was expressed by God, usually what we would describe as Scripture. The word from the Messiah in Isaiah 49:2 is the word that he speaks. As Paul looks back on this passage, he recognized Jesus as this Messiah and applies it to his words. This would be the gospel message that Jesus proclaimed and his teachings throughout his ministry.

The sword that Paul speaks of here is a relatively short sword used for cutting and stabbing in close quarters. It is the only offensive weapon that Paul describes. It is how we ward off the schemes of the devil: we use God’s word.

Jesus gave us this example as he was tested in the wilderness. God’s word was his way to repel Satan. You can read about Jesus’ testing in Matthew 4, but three times Satan comes to tempt Jesus and three times Jesus repels him with quotations from Scripture.

Kent Hughes describes four ways to take the sword of the Spirit. He says this:

First, by reading it! It is amazing that a Christian can imagine that he or she can live a Christian life without regularly reading the Bible, for that is impossible! Our minds are such that we do not retain what we need to know. They need to be refreshed again and again. . . . Second, we take up the sword by meditating on it. This is the secret of God’s great warriors. . . . Third, the sword is grasped for effective battle through memorization. . . . Fourth, we become mighty with the sword by studying it.

I think the individual application of taking the sword of the Spirit is pretty clear, but I want to hone in on corporate application.

Do you read scripture in community? Do you meditate on it with others and talk about how it was livened? Do you memorize scripture with others? Are you able to help one another through tough times with memorized scripture? Do you study scripture with others? I don’t mean listening to what others have studied, but sitting down and wrestling with the text with others?

This is an opportunity for you to take up the sword with others. Up until Guttenburg’s printing press and unless it was memorized, Scripture was only ever experienced in community. I challenge you to spend time with Scripture in community with others. One place you can do that is in LifeGroups. Another is with a friend or spouse, over coffee, before bed, or first thing in the morning. The possibilities are endless, but let me challenge you to spend time with Scripture in community.

As we take up the armor of God, as a community, we become stronger against the schemes of the devil. But Paul reminds us that we also have allies in the fight and we can support one another.

Allies in the fight supporting one another (v. 18-24)

As Paul transitions to the last few verses of his letter, he asks for prayer for himself. It’s a reminder that as we are all engaged in the cosmic battle, we have allies in one another. We have the opportunity to support one another through the act of prayer.

Paul describes prayer with five qualities:

at all times

in the spirit

with varied prayer

persistent

intercessory

At all times

If you’ve ever heard the command to pray without ceasing and tried to do that, you quickly found that it is impossible to have continuous verbal dialogue as we go about our day: through business, errands, family life, or any number of other things that characterize our day. Prayer is not just about the speaking of words, as much as a posture of the heart towards God’s presence. Brother Lawrence describes this in his little book, Practicing the Presence of Christ. And Thomas Kelley discusses it in his Testament of Devotion saying,

There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we can be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.

This is something that must be cultivated and practiced, it doesn’t happen naturally. It takes intentional direction to pray at all times, but it can be done.

So we are to pray at all times and we are to do it in the Spirit.

Spirit-Led Prayer

Spirit-led prayer, as I’ve experienced it, is a slowing down of prayer. Rather than lobbing haphazard requests into the sky, praying in the Spirit, or being led by the Spirit, is praying with the Spirit’s help.

Romans 8 is helpful here. Romans 8:26–27“In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

In other words, Spirit-led prayer is Spirit-energized, Spirit-enabled, and Spirit-directed. It’s an admission that we don’t know how to pray as we ought. The Spirit helps us do it.

Varied Prayer

Paul uses the phrase “every prayer and request” to describe varied prayer. There are different types of prayer: confession, thanksgiving, intercession, adoration, supplication, lament, praise and more. Paul’s encouragement here is that we are to be exercising the various types as the Spirit leads. Or maybe a better way to say it is: your prayer life shouldn’t look the exact same today as it did ten years ago, or even last week. We should be engaging in various types of prayer throughout the day and as the Spirit leads.

Persistent Prayer

Paul makes a distinction between constant prayer and persistent prayer. Constant prayer is about the posture, persistence is more about continuously bringing what has been laid on your heart to the father. Jesus tells a story about a persistent pray-er in Luke 18:2-5

Luke 18:2–5 CSB

“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ”

Jesus’ point is that because God is more righteous than this judge, he compassionately grants the requests of those spirit-led prayers made with persistence.

Intercession for the saints

Here is where our allies receive our help and we receive theirs. Paul has already described some of the prayers he prays for the believers in Ephesus, and directs them to intercede for other saints as well. In interceding for other saints, God is working behind the scenes to accomplish things that we might not otherwise know to ask for.

In an incredibly practical move, Paul asks specifically for prayer for himself and his ministry.

Paul reveals in his request for prayer that he experiences that he is not as bold as he believes he ought to be in the proclamation of the gospel.

He was no longer able to go around speaking to big crowds in new cities, but was instead under house arrest under guard every day. His mode of gospel proclamation become very personal. More one-to-one and less him to a crowd. He’s not asking for boldness to give his sermon to the synagogue, he’s asking for boldness to speak of the gospel in regular conversation.

The saints in Ephesus are asked to pray for Paul and at the same time, they are sent Tychicus to give them a further report about Paul and his companions in Rome. The Ephesian believers have allies in Rome and likely will be encouraged by the report of how Paul is doing.

We receive encouragement as we receive reports from or about the leaders who have gone before and may now be absent. It’s a reminder we aren’t alone and it can serve to galvanize some action that was needed. We all need encouragement, and when we are reminded that we are not alone in this cosmic battle it can be the encouragement we need to keep going.

With a farewell of grace and peace, Paul closes the letter.

Application

Respond to the good news of Jesus because we’re in a cosmic battle. The world is really in a battle between two kingdoms. which kingdom are you in?

Develop a vibrant prayer life. Some books that may help you learn this would be Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God, Jeanne Guyon’s Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, Dallas Willard’s Hearing God, among others. These are great books for learning about prayer, but a better way would be to get together with others and pray with them. Our Wednesday night Bible Study is focused on prayer and a good place to learn. Another place to learn would be with a Spiritual Director or other spiritual mentor in a one-on-one type of learning environment. If nothing else, a Spiritual Director can help you develop a plan to learn a more vibrant prayer life. It’s about moving from knowing about prayer to knowing how to pray. It won’t happen unless you plan, or as Dallas Willard would say, “don’t just try, train!”

These fitting words from Dr. John Piper’s book Desiring God: Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV! The natural unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it. Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need mid-course corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer — for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy.1 1 R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), 257–258.

The battle rages whether we like it or not. We’re in a battle. We need each other to fight the battle, and God has outfitted us with everything we need. Let’s work together, each of us doing our part, so that having prepared everything we can stand firm.