Don't be a wimp!

Today we’re going to be restarting our “Life of a Warrior” series that we began last October. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been talking a lot about our identity as Christians, especially our identity as God’s children. But last year we also started talking about our identity as God’s warriors. And in that series, we learned the importance of leading our hearts and accepting our limitations. If you missed it, please check it out on Youtube or on our podcast.

But in this next series, Pastor Fumi and I will be speaking about a third thing that is necessary for us as God’s warriors: the armor of God. So for the next several weeks, we’ll be diving into Ephesians 6. But let’s start with a word of prayer…

When I was a kid, I used to read comics a lot. And there were certain ads that were always in there. Looking back at them now, they’re hilarious. Here’s one:

It’s hard to see the print but it was an ad put out by a famous body builder named Charles Atlas. And in this ad, it shows this wimpy guy who always got bullied. And one day, he says, “Charles Atlas says that he can give me a real body. All right, I’ll take a chance and get his free book!” And so he joins Atlas’ body building program and in the end, he beats up the bully and his girlfriend says, “Oh Mac, you’re a real man after all!”

This was a real ad!!!

Now I was a pretty skinny kid growing up, but I will say I was never even close to being tempted by this ad. I never got physically bullied, so I guess it was never really an issue for me.

But as ridiculous as this ad was, there is some spiritual truth to it. As Christians, we have an enemy, and he doesn’t just want to bully us, he wants to destroy us. And as long as we remain spiritual wimps, we’ll get beaten up by every attack that he throws at us.

What’s the result? We constantly walk around with these clouds of discouragement and defeat hanging over our heads. “I’m not the Christian I should be. I can’t change. I’ll always be this way.”

Is that you?

Sooner or later, we need to stand in front of the mirror and say, “Enough! I’m tired of this! I’m tired of being a victim. I’m tired of being a spiritual wimp. It’s time to do something and take a stand.” And that’s what Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. Let’s take a look starting at verse 10.

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.

I want you to notice a couple of things here. First, while we unfortunately can’t see it in our English and Japanese translations, Paul is clearly saying, “All of you, be strengthened by the Lord.” This is not a command for individual Christians. It was a command for Christ’s army.

Now of course, Christ’s army is made up of individual Christians. Each one of us as God’s warriors is to be strengthened by the Lord. But it seems here that Paul is saying, “Hey! All of you! Stand together as God’s army, strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.”

You see, the Christian life is not meant to be an individual thing. It’s not meant merely to be a one-on-one relationship with God. Of course, as Christians, we are called to have that one-on-one relationship with God. But if we only think of our Christian life as a one-on-one relationship, we’re missing something.

You’re a child of God, but you are not an only child. You’re part of a huge family. You’re God’s warrior, but you’re not a lone soldier on a battlefield. You’re part of a mighty army.

And while it’s possible to be strengthened as Christians in our one-on-one walk with God, we will never be as strong as we should walking or fighting alone. We need other Christians in our lives. We need each other, to support us, to challenge us, to pray for us, to help pick us up when we fall. Let me ask you something: do you have Christians like that in your life?

The second thing I want you to notice is that Paul doesn’t say, “strengthen yourself.” He doesn’t say, “generate strength in yourself.” He says, “be strengthened.” How? What’s our source of strength? Paul tells us. “Receive your strength from the Lord and his vast power.”

Sometimes we Christians think we have to will ourselves to be strong. That we have to generate this strength from inside of ourselves. In Japan, we have this, “gambarou” mentality. This attitude of “buckle down” and just do it! But that’s not what Paul is saying. He says be strengthened by the Lord and his mighty strength.

Can I give you a Bible reading tip? Whenever you read a short book like Ephesians, it’s a good idea to read it all in one sitting. You see, Ephesians is a letter. How many of you read a letter or an email and say, “Okay, I’ve read a third of this. I’ll read the rest later.” But we do this all the time with Paul’s letters. Now of course Paul’s letters are longer than your typical letter or email. But when we don’t read Paul’s letters all at once, we often miss things.

In this case, if you read only chapter 6, you miss the fact that Paul has been talking about this concept of the Lord’s strength and receiving that strength earlier in this letter. In Ephesians 1:18-20, Paul prays that we would know God’s power in our lives. And he tells us, “Do you know how great that power is? It’s the power that raised Jesus from the dead! That power is in you.”

Later in chapter 3, he prays for us again and goes on to say that through his power in us, God is able to do far more than we could ask or think (3:16, 20). Now in chapter 6, he says, “I’ve told you about God’s power. I’ve prayed twice that you would know this power in your life. Now be strengthened by it.”

How often, though do we Christians remain spiritual wimps? When problems come, when discouragement comes, how often, do we simply fall apart. We hide behind God, we hide behind other Christians, and we say, “I can’t handle this. Help me. Do something for me. Fight this battle for me.”

Now don’t get me wrong. There are times we face things we can’t handle on our own. And God is our fortress. He will fight for us. And again, we’re all part of an army. We have brothers and sisters that will fight alongside us. But God doesn’t tell us to simply cower behind him and other Christians. He calls us to stand. To fight. To battle.

It makes me think of the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt in the book of Exodus. God had worked many miracles to convince Pharaoh to release the Jews from being his slaves. Now the Jews were finally free, but Pharaoh suddenly changed his mind and started chasing after them. Worse, the Israelites were trapped against the Red Sea and so they started to panic. So Moses told them, “Hey, stand firm. God will fight for you. All you need to do is be still.” But right after Moses said that, God told him, “Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to get moving.”

Now this was one battle that the Israelites couldn’t fight. They had no weapons to defend themselves against Pharaoh’s army. God had to fight this one for them and he did. He drowned Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. But at the same time, God didn’t tell them to simply hide behind him. He didn’t say, “Hide behind the cloud I put between you and the Egyptians.” (Exodus 14:19-20). He told them to do something, to change the battleground, and there, God would wipe out the enemy. God told Moses, “Use that staff I gave you to perform miracles earlier. Fight using the ‘weapon’ I have already given you. Raise it and stretch it out over the sea, and I’ll make a path for you.” Moses did, and God delivered the people of Israel.

That’s a picture of what it means to strengthened by the Lord and his vast power. We don’t just hide behind God or others in fear when trouble comes. We stand in the power of God, following his orders, and fighting with the weapons that he has given us. And that brings us to verses 11-13.

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. (11-13)

There’s a lot to unpack in these three verses. The first thing we need to know is who our enemy is. Our enemy is not people. As much as people may hurt us or make our lives miserable, they are not our enemies. They are people for whom Christ died. They are people that need to be freed from our true enemy. And our true enemy is Satan and his demons. Paul calls them the “rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of darkness, and the evil, spiritual forces in heaven.”

And make no mistake, they are real. They’re not mere metaphors for the evil that exists in mankind. Satan and his demons actually exist. C.S. Lewis, a famous Christian writer, once said that there are two opposite mistakes people often make about the devil and his demons. One mistake is to get too fixated on them. And there are some Christians that seem to look for demons under every rock. But not every problem or temptation you face is the result of demonic activity. Believe me, there’s still enough sin in each of us to cause problems even without Satan and his demons.

The opposite error, though, is to believe they don’t exist at all. They may not be so visible as they were in Jesus’ day. But they haven’t gone away. And they are hostile to us.

That’s the reason it’s a bad idea to get involved with tarot cards or any kind of fortune telling. Lots of people think it’s just for fun. And some of the people you see offering fortune telling services on the street are simply frauds. But others actually have demonic activity behind them.

As Christians, we often tend to think of all the idols we see at temples or shrines as mere stone or metal objects. But the apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10:19-20 that while these idols are nothing in themselves, there are demonic influences behind them. I’m not saying you can’t visit shrines or temples for sightseeing. But be very careful what you do there. Don’t take the ritualistic activities that go on there lightly, because Satan and his demons are behind those activities. And the apostle Peter tells us that Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

The thing to remember about Satan, though, is that a lot of his attacks are not frontal assaults. He doesn’t just use brute force to try to destroy us. He schemes against us. And most of those schemes involve deceit. Jesus called him the father of lies. Jesus said lies are Satan’s native language (John 8:44). That’s why what Pastor John said last week was so important. When Satan lies to us, we need to be able to stand firm and say, “The truth is…”

When Satan tells us, “Did God really say that in the Bible? God’s just trying to steal your joy! Don’t listen to him. Just follow your heart,” we need to be able to answer, “The truth is my God is good and he loves me. The truth is my God created me, and he knows how he designed me to live, how he designed me to flourish. And so I’ll believe his way is best.

When Satan speaks through the people around us telling us we’re worthless, we need to be able to say, “The truth is, I have value because God created me. I was created for him and his purposes. And I am significant and valuable in his eyes.”

When Satan uses our own hearts to accuse us and say, “You blew it again. What kind of Christian are you? How long are you going to keep struggling with that sin? You’re the only Christian who struggles like this” we need to be able to say, “Yes, I’m struggling with this sin. But the truth is, I’m not alone. Other Christians struggle with the same things I do. And the truth is I’m not hopeless. Sin has no hold on me. And with God’s help and the help of my brothers and sisters, I will overcome this sin. It may take time. But I will overcome. And the truth is I am a child of God. God has clothed me with Christ’s righteousness and I am blameless in my Father’s sight.”

That’s what we should be able to do. Satan is a defeated foe. He has no right to accuse us. He has no right to push us around and knock us down. And yet so often, we let him. We’re spiritual wimps. God does not call you to be spiritual wimps. He calls you to be warriors. And as warriors, he calls you to stand. He calls you to resist Satan and his attacks.

When Paul tells us to stand or take our stand, the picture is of us holding our ground against the enemy’s attacks. Imagine standing on a hill in the battlefield. You have the high ground and Satan is trying to knock you off of it. It’s not that Satan has the high ground and you’re trying to knock him off of it. You have the stronger position. So Paul’s not primarily talking about an offensive war here. He’s talking primarily of a defensive war. He’s telling us, “Christ has already won the victory at the cross. You don’t have to battle to win God’s love and acceptance. You already have it. You don’t have to fight to earn God’s forgiveness. You're already forgiven. You don’t have to break the power of sin in your life. Jesus has already broken it. Now, hold your ground. Don’t let Satan push you around and knock you down. Hold your ground.”

But how do we do that? Earlier, we talked about not just trying to “gambaru,” but being strengthened by the Lord. But what does that look like practically? Two things. First, put on the whole armor of God. Paul thinks this armor is so important he tells us twice in these four verses, “Take up the whole armor of God.”

Pastor Fumi will talk about the armor more in detail in the next two weeks, but for now, I want you to notice something. Truth is an integral part to each piece of that armor. Have you ever noticed that? God’s truth shows us what his righteousness is like. It shows us how God designed us to relate to him and others. Truth, particularly the truth of the gospel, helps us stand firm, confident about the peace we have with God.

Truth is central to our faith. Namely, the truth that God is good, that he loves us, and that his way is best. Truth protects us from all the arrows Satan shoots at our heads trying to get us to doubt our own salvation. And with the truth of God’s Word in our hands, we’re able to poke holes in all the lies Satan tries to tell us.

Do you want to be strengthened by the Lord so that you can stand? Cover and arm yourself with God’s truth. How do we cover and arm ourselves with God’s truth. Well, of the course the main way is to spend time in God’s word. Read it. If you want some help with that, I strongly recommend subscribing to our Bible reading plan. A second way is through our Sunday messages at church. A third way is through Christian songs. It’s amazing to me how often God has used the truth in Christian songs to help me in my spiritual battles. A fourth way to saturate your mind with truth, though, is to spend time with other Christians who value God’s truth as much as you do.

And that brings me to the second way you be strengthened so that you can hold your ground: stand together with other Christians. What do I mean? Prioritize time with other Christians. Again, we are not individual soldiers fighting a one-on-one duel. We are an army fighting a war against Satan and his demons.

I’ve talked before about how when I was a young Christian, I was ashamed of my faith. That one time, my friend asked if any of us were Christians and he began ridiculing Christians, and I couldn’t say a word. I was a wimp.

Do you know what changed? In my high school, for the first time in my life, God brought Christian friends into my life. They helped give me courage. They let me know I wasn’t alone in my walk with Jesus. God worked through them to strengthen me in my faith, to make me bolder.

And over time, God brought in other friends to challenge me and push me forward in my Christian walk. God brought in people who believed in me, and gave me the chance to start doing ministry. God used others to get me thinking about leaving that comfortable little rock called Hawaii and becoming a missionary here in Japan. I can tell you that I would not be here with you right now without them.

But you know what? As much as God used them to strengthen me, I’ve had friends tell me how God used me to strengthen them in their faith. They needed me as much as I needed them. Who are those people in your life? Who are the Christians that God uses to strengthen you with his power. Who are the Christians God is using you to strengthen? Can you name at least one Christian that you are intentionally and consistently interacting with in that way.

If not, can I make a suggestion? Carve out time in your schedule to start doing so. We have plant groups that you can join, and you can find information on them on our information board. But if those times are not good for you, start thinking about people that you know in this church. Talk to them, and see if you can’t at least start meeting them once a month for coffee or lunch or whatever. Maybe it’s something you can only do in a video chat. That’s fine too.

But intentionally, consistently make time for each other, not just to talk about life, although that’s important. But share what God is speaking to your heart about in church or in your Bible reading. Share about your struggles and your victories in trying to follow Jesus moment to moment, day to day. And pray for each other.

And as you start walking with Jesus daily, not alone, but together with other Christians, you’ll suddenly find you’re not a spiritual wimp anymore. You’re not a victim. You’re a warrior. Not easily battered by your trials. Not easily discouraged or pushed off your faith. Not easily defeated by temptation. Not easily deceived by the false ideas of this world. But standing your ground. Is that what you want? I’ll tell you this: it’s what I want for you. It's what Pastor Fumi wants for you. And most importantly, it’s what Jesus wants for you too.