Taking Up The Armor (Ephesians 6:13-14)

Our text this morning is verses 13 and 14, but for reasons that will become evident to you I am going to start by reading our passage from verse 10. You can find that on page 1163 in the navy blue Bibles found in your pews.

Ephesians 6:10–14 (ESV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

B. The Design of Ephesians

I have started out almost every sermon the last few Sundays by reminding you of how Ephesians is written, and how Paul fits it together. But it is important enough—especially in this last Chapter for us to be reminded of it yet again.

The structure of Ephesians is that the first three chapters is doctrine, particularly the doctrine of salvation and how we are saved by faith alone through grace alone unto good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

Chapters 4 thru 6 then walk out the necessary (though perhaps not always obvious) implications of those realities.

And when we went through Chapter 5 and the first parts of Chapter 6, we saw that Paul places a peculiar importance on understanding marriage as this metaphor for Christ and the Church. We saw also that important responsibilities are given to Children, to Fathers, and to those in positions of authority with the master and servant paradigm.

And what I want you to take from that is that when you are living out God’s plan for marriage, family, employment, all of life, you are living and and proving the theology of Chapters 1-3.

The scoffing of the world will be silenced when they are able to see the glories of the goodness of God lived out in churches and homes. To the skeptic and the critic and the scoffer we say “Come and see.” Come and see if this is real. That’s what we say to the world. Do you doubt that the teaching Jesus has given us on marriage works? Come and see. Come over for dinner. Join us on Sunday. Join us on Wednesday. Come and see.

And this is why you see the themes of light and darkness so common in the New Testament. Because the One who made us understands that Satan’s favorite plan for destroying the witness of the church is not spectacular temptations that come out of nowhere, but a slow rot in marriages, families, and friendships. A slow rot in churches, in congregations. A slow rot on Sessions and Deacon Boards, and Presbyteries. That stays hidden in the darkness. Until it becomes un-missable hypocrisy.

What we established over the last two weeks is that we are in a fight, and the fight is real.

This morning, from verses 13 and 14, I want to talk to you about this Armor of God, specifically that it is

1. Armor to Stand 2. Armor for the Body 3. Armor of Truth and Righteousness

I. Armor to Stand

Paul has been building a point here in this section of chapter 6 using the idea of standing and standing strong. You see it starting in verse 10.

Ephesians 6:10 (ESV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

So strength is in play.

Strength to do what?

Ephesians 6:11 (ESV)

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

Standing is the goal here.

Ephesians 6:12–13 (ESV)

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 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 firm.

Be able to stand.

Withstand.

Having done all, Stand firm.

Having done all of what? Well, having done the work of the previous chapters. Having believed the good news of the Gospel. Having engaged in the work of chapters 4, 5, and 6. Having done the ever ongoing work of putting the old man to death and seeing the new man raised to life. Paul has given lots of instruction and command in the last few chapters.

And Hearing commands is not hard. It’s not hard to sit and to hear a sermon, and to listen to what God has called us to do.

And, furthermore, broadly speaking, obeying what God has said in a moment is not that hard. If I said “Brothers, the whole of the Christian life is loving your wife for the next 5 hours” most of you could do that without much of a problem.

But long arc faithfulness is where the real fight comes in. As a body what we are called to to stand. And to withstand. And to keep standing firm. This is a hard word, but it’s a good word that all of us need to hear. Because everything is easy at the start.

When you get married, you enter into what some call the honeymoon phase, and most trouble that you face is easy. This is not every couple’s story, but it is the story for many couples. That the first few years while they bring with them the challenges of learning to live together and get alone and be patient with each other, and bear with each other’s weaknesses, you tend to have a lot of hope and patience and optimism. The hard work of marriage actually gets going when love is costly and when submission is hard. When not provoking children to wrath means stepping up to parent rather than retreating to your phone or tablet or television.

This is even true for children. Kids, when you are little, obeying mom and dad is pretty easy. As you move into the teenage years, it tends to get harder, and your Christianity gets tested in a new way it hasn’t before. And if you’re not that old yet, I am telling you these are the temptations that are coming for you in a few years, be ready for them. Because every voice in the culture is shouting at you that obeying mom and dad is dumb and that mom and dad are really in the way of your happiness, don’t believe the lies.

This is also true when you first join a church. When you first join a church there is something similar to a honeymoon period. Where everything feels new and fresh and exciting, and you have a good amount of patience for shortcomings, and you have energy for service and volunteering, and things feel easy. But then when a few months or years pass, and you can’t rely on that feeling of ease to fuel your impulse and desire, that’s when it gets harder. When the annoyances persist. Or maybe some disappointments multiply. Or maybe the same old thing just starts to feel kind of boring. And everybody knows that customers should never get bored, right? It just gets harder. It no longer feels easy.

This is also true when you start a new job. When you’re learning the ropes and the best practices and the training is all new and kind of exciting. And then you have to get on with the day in day out patterns that always feel the same.

And our culture has been defined for the last 100 years or so by the terror of boredom. We have become so addicted to the sensation of things feeling fresh and new and easy, they if they feel stale and familiar and difficult, we imagine that something must be wrong.

C.S. Lewis addresses this in the Screwtape letters when Screwtape advises Wormwood to encourage a certain fear in humans, namely, fear of the Same Old Thing. He says,

The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart—an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship.

The Screwtape Letters, Letter 25 From The Complete Signature Classics Collection by C.S. Lewis (HarperOne, 2002), page 257.

One of the biggest threats to your spiritual life is boredom and as Screwtape says fear of “the Same Old Thing.” We are a people of quick fixes, quick solutions, immediate relief, and a fear of boredom.

To this the Apostle says “Our Lord Jesus has shown us the way. Stand, therefore. Withstand the devil. Having done all, stand firm.

II. Armor for the Body

And notice that this fight is for us, as a body. A lot of times we like to individualize this passage and speak of it as private spiritual warfare, and we read Paul as telling each individual believer to grab a helmet, to get a breastplate, to put on a sword and so forth. So we make this passage primarily about private prayer and quiet times. And that’s not an entirely bad application.

But never forget that the context of Ephesians is an address to one body. This is armor for the body so that the body will

Be able to stand.

Withstand.

Having done all, Stand firm.

When speaking of the victory of Jesus, Paul said that the Father has

Ephesians 1:22–23 (ESV)

...put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The mystery of the Gospel is...

Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

We are told that...

Ephesians 4:4 (ESV)

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

And we are told that God has given gifts

Ephesians 4:12 (ESV)

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Paul has been emphasizing throughout this book that we are in Christ. It is certainly true that Jesus lives in our hearts individually, Jesus is in us, but the much bigger reality is that we are in Him, and this One Body must be equipped together to be able to stand.

And to full understand what’s happening here, there’s a Greek word I want to tell you about, it is

Aristeia

ἀριστεία

It’s a literary device that shows up in Greek literature, like the Iliad.

And one of the closest modern-day parallels to the Ancient Greek Aristeia is let’s say you are watching a movie and you see a deserted street in an old Western town and a tumble weed blows across, and you hear the whistling music that you’re all playing in your head right now with the muted trumpet.

You know what’s about to happen. There’s about to be a gunfight. It is high noon. The sun is brightly shining. You see a mom grab her kids and scurry off inside. And a man steps forward, and he pulls back his coat, you see his finger resting over his gun.

And there’s no narrator’s voice saying “That day there was a gunfight” because that would be insulting to the audience. Not a word of dialogue is spoken yet, because you don’t need one. By the way the scene has been set up, you know exactly what’s about to happen. If you are a director, and you want to film a gunfight scene, this is how you do it.

The Aristeia shows up in Ancient Greek literature when one of the gods is about to divinely empower the hero to go on an absolute rampage on the battlefield. He’s about to go Rambo. All his enemies are about to go down. And right beforehand, what happens is, the camera goes into slow motion and we get an overview of the hero’s armor. Piece by piece as it’s being put on him. And if you’re hearing this in Greek culture in the first century, you know what’s about to happen is that a hero is about to go on a rampage.

And that’s what is happening here.

Paul has spent three chapters describing the great work of salvation in Christ, and the reality that we, as a body are in Christ. He’s spent another three chapters detailing the work and the fight to which we are called. To fight against sin, as a body and as families and as workers, and as individuals. And then the camera goes into slow motion as Paul describes the armor of God. The church is being equipped to go on an Aristeia. The fight is about to start.

And so you see, the way this text is usually preached is on an individual level. We usually read this passage as individuals. But Paul is speaking about arming this corporate body, this new man – the church militant. When we read this only as individuals, we are aiming way too low. We think of putting on the armor of God as being really consistent in your quiet times. But Paul is talking about us as the body of Christ being on the march here in Alexandria, in Rapides Parish, and far beyond.

This armor is meant for the body so that we can stand. So that we can

Be able to stand.

Withstand.

Having done all, Stand firm.

And so today, we will begin the aristeia with the first two items in verse 14. And that’s our third point.

III. Armor of Truth and Righteousness

Ephesians 6:14 (ESV)

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

So the first two pieces of the armor are a belt of Truth and a Breastplate of righteousness.

This is no doubt an allusion to Isaiah 11:5. And the connection is clear enough in the ESV, which is based primarily on the Hebrew Old Testament, what’s called the “Masoretic Text.” But it’s interesting that the version of the Old Testament that Jesus and the Apostles most often quote from is actually the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, and the connection is even clearer there. Isaiah 11:5 in the Septuagint says:

Isaiah 11:5 (LXX)

And he will be girded at the waist with righteousness and enclosed with truth at his sides.

The Lexham English Septuagint (Lexham Press, 2019), page 1079.

Isaiah in Chapter 11 is speaking of The Messiah’s Kingdom, and he describes it as being characterized by righteousness and truth around his waist.

And it seems that what Paul is doing is he is taking that image and he is telling the Christians in Ephesus (and us here today, at 4900 Jackson Street) that the armor that the Messiah wears is now furnished and provided for his people. This makes sense, since the church is the body of Christ on earth and that body is here being armored. I keep going back to that picture of the body of Christ, because Jesus seems to be far more invested in building us up as a body than we are. We are so foolish, because we tend to think that the only thing needed for authentic discipleship is doing a lot of reading in a study, and memorizing a lot of Bible verses.

That is important, but embodied life is where the fight actually happens. The devil is quite happy to convince you in your private study that you are a pope unto yourself, a prophet in the wilderness, and a monk on an island, and he wants you to stay there, because embodied life is where the fight actually is.

This armor is armor for the body to stand firm together. This battle is real, and you were never made to fight it alone. You were made to fight it in gathered worship and with the weapon of gathered worship. You were made to fight it with prayer and in prayer with others, as we do on Sunday nights. You were made to fight it in the context of fellowship, and with laughter and singing, because the armor of God goes on the body of Christ.

So think for a moment about the belt of truth. What does that mean? Well there are two possible ways you can go with it, and i think both are in view.

Truth is both what we confess and truth is how we talk and think. We are strengthened by God’s truth, and so we (as individuals, but more broadly as a people) put truth on display. We put on display the characteristics of Christ, and that is how we give no opportunity to the devil. You should long to see Grace Presbyterian Church be a place where when people get close to us, they start to say “Wow. Maybe all that stuff about Christianity is real. Maybe those outdated teachings on marriage and family and hard work and repentance really are what we were made for. If it is not seen in the home and the church, it will not be believed by the next generation, no matter how many individuals alone in their study make a good run of it.

After the belt of truth comes the breastplate of righteousness.

Ephesians 6:14 (ESV)

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

The breastplate was the piece of armor for the chest that would protect against blows and arrows.

Again, Isaiah is in play here. Paul has Isaiah 59:17 in mind, which says

Isaiah 59:17 (ESV)

He [Yahweh] put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

This verse pictures Yahweh as putting on the breastplate of righteousness as he comes to deliver his people and punish the nation’s enemies.

And now that breastplate is being put on the body. Because the body has been made righteous. And this is really critical—if we do not understand righteousness, we miss the whole Gospel.

Because what the Gospel creates is not simply an individual who feels forgiven, but a body of people who authentically are forgiven.

This is so important, because guilty people are easily manipulated. Guilty people are easily tricked, fooled, and led around. And we are—as a nation—a people covered in guilt. There is guilt in our history, which many wicked men exploit so that the guilty people can be controlled. There is guilt in our present, as we have reached a point, for example, where we all know what abortion is, and we all know what abortion does, there are just degrees of willingness to lie about it, excuse it, or tell the truth of it.

We sin and then we hide, and when we hide our sin, our voices are muted because we are ashamed of ourselves. So we retreat and retreat and retreat when God has called us to Stand.

Be able to stand.

Withstand.

Having done all, Stand firm.

And what is truly disturbing and terrifying to all the hellish diabolical forces of wickedness in the spiritual realm is truly and authentically forgiven and clean men and women who march together.

Truth and Righteousness go together because the greatest truth of the Gospel is that we have the righteousness of Christ. That by the death of Christ on the Cross, by his resurrection and victory over sin and death, by his ascension and reign over all things and all authorities and all peoples—we have been given his righteousness. Do you realize how desperately men and women want to be righteous? Want to be clean? What to be cleared of their offenses? Want to be pronounced forgiven and given rest from their sins? This is what Jesus does. The truth that we wear around our waists is that Jesus Christ takes our sin on himself and in exchange gives us a perfect righteousness that is a breastplate against all the threats and accusations and attacks of the enemy.

Men and women who—with the voice of the Psalmist—dare the forces of wickedness to bring their charges and accusations. What have you got against me? Sin? Hah! That’s already been confessed. My wife knows, my elders know, most importantly my God knows and has forgiven me. I’m free. You have nothing on me! Failure? Inadequacy? Oh, please. I’m a tiny bit of dust and dirt that God has breathed life into. And on top of that, he has loved and He has baptized, and He has redeemed.

And the demonic hoards will flee before an army of clean (and therefore fearless) men and women who cannot be manipulated by leashes of guilt.

We must be armed with God’s own righteousness if we are to be protected against spiritual enemies, and to advance in the good work and indeed the good warfare set before us.

But this will only happen if we stand together as a people. Holding each other accountable. Confessing sin. Hearing forgiveness. Owning forgiveness. Rejoicing in forgiveness. Working together. Fighting together. Feasting together. Laughing together. Singing together. Fitted for the fight by the very Armor of Yahweh.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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