Sealed with Armor

Sealed with Armor

Ephesians 6:10-20

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship! I am so glad to be with you today as we prepare our hearts and our minds to receive Holy Communion. As we get started, I want to mention that some of you have come to me and asked, “Why don’t we have Communion every week?” Well, the simple answer is, “We do. It’s over here and it’s self-serve.” But the truth is, that’s not the best place for a holy moment as people are brushing past you heading for the door. So, starting next week, we are going to try it down here, and I will be there to consecrate and serve the elements each week. No one has to come for communion, but I will be there to serve all who would like to come and receive… but today, we have the table is set and the meal is prepared. So, we are moving toward the historic love feast as we complete our Sealed Series.

This is our final week in Ephesians as we have looked at how we are identified as followers of Jesus Christ. The world around us will recognize us because of the Spirit of God living in us – that we are the very Temple of God. They will know us by the love we have for one another. When we are working together as the body of Christ each one fulfilling what we were created for, living a forgiven life as the light of Christ… living like Jesus, living as the light with wisdom from above… these are the ways that we are identified as followers of Jesus… and one final aspect of our identity… our Armor.

Sermon Slide

I can just see Paul sitting there in house arrest, looking at the various soldiers that were tasked with guarding him. As he looked at their colorful tunic, bronze helmet, breastplate, special shoes, shield, and sword he began writing this final part of his letter to the Ephesians. As with any soldier, The Roman Soldier was known by… identified by their armor. If they were cavalry they wore one type of armor, if they were foot soldiers, or archers, or officer, they each had their own armor. But Paul was saying that we too need to be identified by our armor… the armor of God.

As we get started thinking about this armor, let’s pray.

<Prayer>

We love the underdog stories don’t we. Think of Erin Brochovich, the activist turned law clerk who took down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company after it was found that they had created a cancer cluster due to pollution.

Or Rocky, the small-time Philadelphia boxer who is picked to fight the world champion Apollo Creed.

Or the equally powerful story of Sylvester Stallone who wrote the script for Rocky taking on the cinematic world to make his movie a reality.

We have movie after movie that tell the underdog stories of fiction and nonfiction. Rudy, Shawshank Redemption, Remember the Titans, Tin Cup, The Karate Kid, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own, Jerry MacGuire, The Rookie.

We love the underdog story. In fact, we have a name for them… we call them “stories of David and Goliath.”

But, there is no greater underdog story than the original David and Goliath story. We find it in 2 Samuel 17-19. In this story, the ranks of Israel’s army stood opposite the Philistine Army near the Valley of Elah in Judah. Each day Goliath would come and taunt the Israelites, challenging any who would come against him. Goliath stood over 9 feet tall… his armor weighed over 150 lbs. Everyone was terrified of him… and his taunting went on for 40 days!

Finally, the little shepherd boy David came to deliver a care package to his brothers. He heard the giant shouting threats and insults at Israel and God. So, David said, “I’ll take him on… I’ve killed lions and tigers and bears… oh my! I can take the Philistine out too.”

So, King Saul took his own armor and put it on the small, 14-yr old frame of David.

In fact, here is how scripture records the incident…

2 Samuel 17:38-40

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

Sermon Slide

Rather than wear someone else’s armor, David chose to trust in what God had given him… his intellect, and his sniper-like skills with a sling-shot… his faith. In the end, the giant fell and the underdog was victorious.

Can you imagine what would have happened if David had gone ahead and walked on that battlefield with the armor of Saul? Everyone looking from a distance would have seen the armor, not David. They would have thought Saul was standing before Goliath. David would have gone to battle with the identity of someone else, but because it wasn’t his armor and it hindered his movement, David would likely have died. But instead, David trusted God to prepare him for the battle ahead and give him the tools he needed to defeat the enemy.

Let me ask you… how often are you told that you need more to accomplish what is ahead of you? You aren’t enough… you don’t have the right training… you don’t have the right pedigree… you aren’t strong enough… You aren’t big enough… you aren’t smart enough… your faith isn’t strong enough…

Like Danielson being told he had to join a big dojo to learn Karate or Rocky being told he had to use the latest technology to defeat Drago or David being offered someone else’s armor… how often are you told that you can’t do what God has called you to do?

You and I face challenges every day! We face giants of all kinds every day of our lives. Some of you are facing giants that go beyond anything I could imagine… Medical issues… mental health issues… family issues… job and career challenges.

Society tells us that we can’t face these giants without the prescribed method that the world has justified. We are to place our identity in culture… in the latest fad… in the latest social media phenomenon… We are to trust anything and everything, taking on that character, that identity, that persona.

And yet, God has already given you all that you need. God has already outfitted you with the armor and the tools you need to accomplish all that He has called you to do and accomplish.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called.” God has already fitted us with the perfect armor for the battles we face. It doesn’t restrict, it doesn’t weigh us down. But here’s the thing about armor. Armor is a great tool, but we must exercise the use of the armor.

Exercise the Armor

Today’s military has the most advanced Load-Bearing Equipment in the world. When I served in the military, we wore the All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carry Equipment – known as ALICE or Web-Gear. With that gear, I wore my Kevlar helmet, my combat boots, then I had my first aid pouch here (right chest), I had my knife here (left chest), my two canteens here (hips), my ammo pouches with grenade pockets here (front waist), and my daypack or fanny pack with whatever I needed in it. But, we didn’t only put that on when it was time to deploy, we trained with it. We practiced. We would have “war games” where we would through dummy grenades with glorified firecrackers in them, and we would fire blanks through the rifle in mock fire-fights where we would have to switch mags on the fly.

Today’s military gear or LBE is so much more advanced than anything I knew of. But the soldiers have to practice with the gear… they have to exercise the armor.

Do you think David was able to sling that stone from his slingshot with perfect accuracy without practice? Absolutely not… through research, archeology, and practical demonstrations we have discovered that David, and other slingers, could sling a missile over 60 miles per hour and they trained not to hit the face of the enemy… but actually a specific part of the face. This took practice.

You and I have the tools we need to practice with… that we need to be identified by…

we have the belt of truth, but we have to wear it. The Belt of the soldier's armor held everything together. It was also the item that showed the rank of the soldier.

For us, it is God’s trustworthiness that holds our lives together. It is God’s faithfulness that we depend upon as we go forward into the proverbial battles of life.

Then, the breastplate. Possibly the most visible part of the armor worn by the soldier. Originally they were made out of one piece of solid metal or thick formed leather, but later they were made from scales that would overlap. The breastplate would protect the vital organs and could withstand sword and archer attacks. In Luke 6:45, Jesus is recorded as saying, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart,” That is the sentiment. Our righteousness brings out the good stored in our heart. Righteousness isn’t what we do, it is what God does for us. We are made right by what God has done, not our actions… and so, the good that comes from our heart is the good that has come from the act of God making us right.

The Shoes… These shoes were made in such a way that they gave traction moving forward. They were made for walking and they were made for battle. Paul says that they are the Gospel of Peace. The gospel message of Jesus is for us to carry forward. It is for us to carry out into the world. And yes, it is a message of peace. We live in a time where God’s peace is so needed in our lives, in this country, and across the world!

The Sheild. A large leather weather-hardened shield. The soldiers would soak the shield in water before going to battle, and the leather shield would not only withstand the archer’s attacks, it would also extinguish flaming arrows. All through the Old Testament we find imagery that God is our shield… that God is our protector… Our faith in God isn’t just something of make-believe my friends. Faith is real… if you don’t believe me, let me ask you this… How many of you have ever sat in one of those plastic stackable outdoor chairs? Has anyone seen one collapse under an individual? How did you sit down in the next chair? Kinda gingerly, right… you lost faith in that chair.

But right now, each and every one of you has shown a tremendous amount of faith… you know you are sitting on pews that were constructed in 1896… that’s 128 years ago. But you have faith that the pew will hold you. Why? Because it always has!

Here’s the thing about faith… the more we exercise our faith, the stronger it gets. God is our shield, we carry that shield of faith with us.

Here’s one other thing about the Shield in the later days of the Roman Empire. After Constantine acknowledged faith in God, he had his soldier's shields painted bright red with a white cross emblazoned on them. It became the identifying feature of the Roman army as they marched into battle.

Then we have the helmet. The item that protects the mind, the life of the individual. A soldier could survive the damage of a sword or a spear hitting the arm… they could survive a slinger’s rock penetrating and breaking a leg… but not the head. Almost any wound to the head would incapacitate the soldier and likely kill them. So, the helmet protected the mind, the life of the soldier. For us, our life is our salvation. Protect it. Guard it… as Paul said elsewhere, “guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.”

The final piece of equipment that Paul saw on his soldier, was the sword. The only offensive weapon the soldier wore on a daily basis. With it they could block, parry, and thrust. With it they were able to defend and defeat.

So it is with the Word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The Psalmist reminded us to “Hide God’s word in our heart that we might not sin against Him.”

And that “God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path.”

Sermon Slide

We have our armor, and just like the Roman Soldier of the Paul’s time, and the American Soldier of today…

We are identified by our armor…

So, I have to ask, what armor are you wearing?

Are we wearing the Armor of God?

Do we represent God… are we truthful and faithful, are we righteous in the Lord.

Do we spread the Gospel of peace,

Do we have and live out our faith, are we saved…

Do we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, is the word of God living and active within us?

Wear the armor you were issued

Practice, exercise the armor

When the time comes, stand strong in the strength oh His power!

Invitation