The Armor of God

Being a Christian isn’t easy, right?

I’m a little disappointed actually. When they told me about the gospel, I thought it was going to be all rainbows and unicorns!!

You laugh, but it’s true. We tend to think about persecution, and being hated by the world is what makes it hard to be a Christian.

What if I told you the most difficult part of being a Christian is internal instead of external?

What if I told you the most difficult part of being a Christian is dealing with conviction and discipline?

We have been discussing how Paul points to a soul transforming relationship with God. This is the last sermon in our series on Ephesians.

Our passage today, brings a unique understanding to that soul transforming relationship. What is most commonly discussed and pushed, although it hits the target, misses the bullseye.

We’re going to be in Ephesians 6:10-24 today.

We’re going to get an understanding of what Paul means when he talks about the armor of God.

There are three concepts we should understand about this passage.

It is Spiritual Warfare

What is the Armor of God

It Takes Relationship

Paul transitions to the closing of his letter to the Ephesians 6:10

Ephesians 6:10 NKJV

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

The Greek word translated “finally” is an interesting transitional word. It not only signifies the coming to an end of the letter, but it implies from now on, or continuing forward.

The Greek word translated “be strong” is once again a passive verb, and should bring to mind in the readers and hearers what Paul said in Eph 3:16

Ephesians 3:16 NKJV

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

Our strength is a transformed soul. A soul that imitates the character of God. So put on the armor of God because this is Spiritual Warfare.

Spiritual Warfare

Ephesians 6:11 NKJV

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Paul says put on the “whole” armor of God. Not just the parts we like to wear. Not just the parts that are comfortable. The whole suit of armor.

I love the helmet of salvation, I like the sword of the Spirit. But I really don’t like the belt of truth, and that breastplate of righteousness… well that is quite uncomfortable to wear.

Paul says we must wear the whole armor to withstand the wiles, that means the schemes, of the devil. Satan is a cunning enemy who doesn’t fight under the rules of the Geneva Convention.

He uses every dirty trick in the book. And yet, the church today is like, nah, I don’t need to do that.

All I have to do is pray for God’s strength and I’m good. God and I are tight, we’ve got this all figured out. He has faith in me.

Then what do we do? We begin to fight against the things our society is doing. We fight social issues, political battles, and crazy ideological trends.

We make it a Christian versus secular society battle. Paul makes it clear it’s an individual battle.

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Wrestling was a popular competition of the games in Ephesus and even the Roman Coliseum. Although a person might “represent” a group of people, it is very much and individual competition.

Not only is it individual, it isn’t even against secular society. It is against spiritual forces.

Paul uses the word against 4 times in verse 12. He progressively expounds on the spiritual enemy we are up against. Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and hosts of wickedness.

Do we really think God has faith in us to fight against those spiritual forces? No, and neither does Paul.

Ephesians 6:13 NKJV

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Now that you know the evil, wicked, powerful spiritual enemy against you. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God.

This again should bring to mind Eph 4:27

Ephesians 4:27 ESV

27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

Why? So we can stand firm in the evil day. In those days if you didn’t remain standing in battle you were easily susceptible to enemy attacks. Plus you could not advance your attack.

The Greek word translated “having done” means to do something with thoroughness. Here’s the crazy part. We aren’t fighting a war, the war has already been won.

Jesus already advanced to, destroyed, and rules over all that satan possesses. We have nowhere to advance in the war. There is no victory to be won, because Christ has already secured victory.

The advance we make. The battle we fight. Is allowing God access to our entire soul. Having done means our souls are already thoroughly transformed.

And can you imagine the Ephesians reading or listening to this letter up to this point?

Full armor of God? What is he talking about? I think Paul’s time in prison is making him lose his mind.

What is the armor of God?

What is the Armor

Praise God, He didn’t have Paul stop there. We’d all be wondering what Paul was talking about.

Ephesians 6:14–17 NKJV

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

For the third time Paul says “stand” but this time he follows it up with another therefore.

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.” You will notice the first three pieces of armor are predicated with having.

The armor of God isn’t something we pray on every morning. It’s not some kind of superpower we are given to fend off Satan.

It’s not some external armor we take off at night and put back on in the morning. Having means we already have it in place. The armor of God… is our soul transformed.

The helmet of truth. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and maybe just omitted something about yourself? Something that may have made you look bad or embarrassed you?

Believe it or not, that omission is still a lie. Satan can use that omission by bringing it to the light. Thus destroying our witness.

If we are completely truthful in everything it gives satan no opportunity. That’s a really difficult task isn’t it? Being that vulnerable, all the time.

We worry about what others will say or think if we are that vulnerable. We worry about how it may be used against us and/or to hurt us.

When we should be worried about how satan will use it to destroy our witness. Which leads to the next piece of armor tied to this one.

The breastplate of righteousness. We can’t be that vulnerable without having been shaped and transformed by the Holy Spirit.

My daughter that just came to stay with us has not had a relationship with me since she was about two or three years old. She has been told a lot of things about me that took small grains of truth and twisted them into horrible lies.

She is still trying to work through what she’s been told and what she’s experiencing in our newly rekindled relationship. I have had to answer some tough questions.

I have had to admit to behavior and character flaws that are quite embarrassing and don’t make me look very good. But, I can stand firm in that vulnerability now.

I stand firm in the righteous transformation the Holy Spirit has done in me. I am no longer the person I was back then.

And because that transformation is from the Holy Spirit I can maintain my new character. I’m not faking it for a little while until I just can’t fake it any more.

The transformation deep in my soul. The transformation in my character is God’s righteousness made natural in my behavior.

We had a conversation a while back about this. I told her that I wasn’t naive. I knew she is just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I said I can understand why you’re waiting for that shoe to drop. But, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.

However, we do have another shoe to drop. The preparation of the gospel of peace.

The Greek word translated “preparation” in some versions “readiness” is both active and passive at the same time.

It implies both the active “to make ready or making ready” and the passive “readiness, to be ready.”

This brings to mind Philippians 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We never get anxious about anything, right?

There are areas of our lives that we are not anxious about anything. Those are the areas that the Holy Spirit has provided readiness.

Then there are those areas… You know the ones I’m talking about. The areas where we are anxious about everything. Those are the areas the Holy Spirit is making us ready.

Paul is saying our souls should be so thoroughly transformed that we are saturated in preparation of the gospel of peace.

We must have that peace that surpasses all understanding. Because we will need it for the last three pieces of the armor.

Paul changes his language from having to in all situations take. Here’s where our free will is in direct contact with God’s will. Take the shield of faith.

In Paul’s time they would dip the tips of arrows and darts in pitch and light them before being shot. A wooden shield would catch fire and have to be discarded or risk serious injury.

The shield Paul talks about is a tall wide shield that protects the entire body. It was covered with leather and thin sheets of metal to protect it from the fiery darts and arrows.

Our faith is that shield. Do we trust in God or are we placing our trust in worldly things? Do we allow satan to whisper lies in our ears and make us anxious, angry, or even self-conscious?

We can choose where we place our trust, but only trusting God protects against the attack of satan.

Take the helmet of salvation. No, our free will is not what saves us. Rather in all situations we are to stand firm in the hope of our salvation.

The helmet protects the head. It should protect us from any intellectual surrender and/or doubt. Our souls rest in the glorious truth of our salvation.

Take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. The foundational truth of our entire existence lies within God’s word.

We must remain disciplined in our study and reading of Scripture. As we do the Holy Spirit enlightens us and transforms our souls.

As the Spirit transforms our souls we aren’t just taught how it applies to us. It actually becomes a natural behavior to apply it in our lives.

Both for our benefit and for the benefit of others. The word stored in our hearts is a sword to be used to defeat Satan’s lies in our lives.

It cuts deep in our souls and convicts us and if we embrace that conviction brings repentance. If used correctly it can cause a conviction in others that brings them closer to Christ and repentance.

All of these pieces of armor aren’t some external piece of clothing we put on every morning. They are a transformed soul that imitates the character of God.

How many here have seen the movie Robin Hood with Kevin Costner?

There’s a scene where he’s talking about fighting back. One person they call Bull, who is not the mentally brightest person, says, “but they’ve got armor.”

He says, “they’ve got armor Bull?”

“Yeah, they’ve got armor.”

“I can teach even a child to find the chinks in every suit of armor.”

Do you think we might have chinks in our armor of God?

Satan knows those chinks better than we do and he will exploit them every chance he gets. We must allow our convictions to cause repentance so we continually remove those chinks.

We can’t do that alone and Paul makes that clear in verses 18 thru 20. We must have corporate relationships.

It Takes Relationship

Ephesians 6:18–20 NKJV

18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

This is an equivalent of pray without ceasing. “All prayer and supplication.” is literally every type and form of prayer.

Including but not exclusively, a quick utterance, secret, spoken, social, congregational, and any other form of prayer that comes along.

These prayers require diligent perseverance to pray humble intercessory prayers for all believers. Paul asks for intercessory prayers for himself as we should ask the same of others.

Part of our relationship is our humble prayers and conversations with God. The other part of our relationship is open honest communication with each other seeking fellowship and intercessory prayers from others.

Paul demonstrates that honest relationship we are to have with each other in verses 21 and 22..

Ephesians 6:21–22 NKJV

21 But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; 22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts.

“That you also may know my affairs.” Paul is laying his life out in the open. There’s nothing to hide.

Now that’s courage. But can you imagine the freedom that comes with that kind of openness?

I don’t know about you, but when I’m being open with people, I open the closet and there are some skeletons I’m throwing and kicking back in there before they can get out.

Oh no, your not getting out of the closet, ever, so get back in there.

Every one of those is a chink in our armor. Every one of those gives the devil a place to attack.

Our armor of God is our souls transformed to be God’s character. It our lives being lived with fully open and honest transparency.

It’s embracing our convictions and letting the Spirit transform our soul so we have true repentance.

It’s living with full faith that trusts God over all things. It’s standing firm in our hope of salvation and not letting our intellectual soul and doubts cause us to stumble and fall.

The armor of God is living a holy, righteous life in Christ as the Holy Spirit transforms our souls to imitate God. It’s acknowledging our flaws, our mistakes, our sins, and accepting consequences.

Christ has won the war, He has claimed victory. We are to live in His victory.

In His victory we can trust His righteousness is credited to us. Our soul transformed shines brighter than anything we are trying to hide.

Our transformed soul doesn’t wipe our mistakes away, but it speaks louder over time. My daughter is finding out that I am the person she has come to know in the last couple months.

She’s finding out that the mistakes I made in the past don’t define who I am today. My transformed soul, the Holy Spirit working in me, speaks louder than anything else.

It seems daunting and scary, it’s difficult and takes faith. But bringing every skeleton, every sin, every flaw into the light.

Oh man, I’m telling you it is the most freeing experience I’ve ever had. Recognizing how much my character has been changed by the Spirit never ceases to amaze me.

I’ll give an example. I used to hate people. I didn’t want to be around them, I didn’t want to have relationships with them. I would have been completely happy being a hermit.

The Holy Spirit transformed my character. I can’t believe I’m saying this but, I have a natural love for people. I have a desire to shepherd and disciple people.

This is God experienced.