& Be Battle-Ready

God Has Enabled & Equipped You To Stand Firm

9.15.24 [Ephesians 6:10-18] River of Life (17th Sunday after Pentecost)

On a blustery winter night, Hessian Colonel Johann Rall was given a note written by a local farmer. Without opening it, Colonel Rall tucked it into his coat pocket. It was Christmas, after all. It could wait. He and his men were weary from bad weather and garrisoning the city.

The next day, Colonel Rall and his men were shocked to see three columns of Continental soldiers marching through thick snow. One group opened fire. Another entered the city from the north. The third group marched into Trenton from the west on River Road. The battle was over in about an hour. Colonel Rall was mortally wounded and his confused and disoriented men broke ranks. The survivors fled to an orchard to the east where they were forced to surrender.

Today, it is remembered as General George Washington’s finest hour.. Anyone who has seen the 12 ft. by 21 ft. canvas entitled “Washington Crossing the Delaware” cannot help but be impressed—no awestruck—by the courage and mettle of Washington and his men that night.

But Washington bravely crossing the icy Delaware River would be remembered far differently if Col. Rall had opened, read, and trusted the note that he was given that Christmas night in 1776. A local farmer, who was loyal to the crown, was trying to warn Col. Rall and his men that Gen. Washington was planning a surprise attack on Trenton.

That intelligence would have allowed Rall and his men to ambush their attackers. Rall was given an enormous & critical advantage. But he wasted it. In battle, it’s not enough to have an advantage. You must use it or you run the risk of losing everything like Colonel Rall.

God’s Word from Ephesians 6 reminds us that we’re engaged in battle. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are fighting an unseen enemy. Satan is scheming against you. The devil has a savvy strategy. He is marshaling his demonic forces against the people of God. When you were baptized and given the only name by which sinners can be saved, you became a target of the evil one.

That reality check can send a chill down your spine. But what’s worse: to think you’re safe and be ambushed or to be warned in advance? If you were one of the men at Rall’s command would you rather have a peaceful Christmas night or prepare yourself for battle the next day?

To enter into the kingdom of God is to enter into combat against the prince of darkness. But it’s not all bad or scary. Look at what God gives to you for this struggle. You have superior strength. You have incredible intel. You have a full suit of armor perfectly tailored for the fight you face. And your mission is simple. Straightforward. Easy to remember. Stand firm. That mission is repeated four times, each in a slightly different way. How hard could it be to stand firm?

Incredibly. As we carry out this mission, we come to see how challenging it really is to just stand firm. Our struggle is not against the flesh and blood right in front of us, but against the sinful flesh, against the pressures of this sinful world, and against the devil’s schemes. We must fight against conceit, complacency, a desire for comfort, and our own cowardice.

The devil has done his research. He knows the typical patterns of his enemies. And it’s not hard to guess where and when a person might go wrong. He will pounce when we are conceited—thinking we are too smart, too strong, too spiritual to fall into this or that temptation.

He will dupe us into complacency, convincing us that our particular sins do not rise to the level of a serious threat.

He will seduce us with comfort—whispering into our ears that life doesn’t have to be such a struggle. That, if God really cared about us, our lives should be filled with far more of the comforts we see everyone else enjoying.

These first three C’s—conceit, complacency, and a desire for comfort—are among the Tempter’s favorite tactics. They’ve proven to be very effective again & again against a wide variety of individuals across all generations. Sure they need updates, a tweak here and there, a fresh coat of paint every once in a while. But fundamentally they work the same as they ever have. Conceit leads us to take pride in our own abilities. Complacency lulls us into laying down our arms for a little bit. And who doesn’t want to be comfortable? The devil loves when spiritual soldiers dress like they’re reporting for desk-duty rather than active combat. He licks his chops each time we look to our own strength. Satan smiles when when he hears us say we need to blow off some steam.

Once he has gained the upper hand through any or many of these tactics, the Tempter switches modes. He transforms into the Accuser. All the things that he enticed us with before he rakes us over the coal for.

How can you claim to be child of God when you fell in line with what the wicked and disobedient ones do under the cover of darkness? How can you call yourself faithful when you’ve behaved so foolishly?

Think about all the times you knew what was right & you said nothing. You did nothing. You let evil slip in. Win the day. You’re culpable!

You’ve not only failed yourself, but you’ve failed your friends & family, too! Think about all the times you were jealous of sinners! You looked at their lives—what sin got them—and you longed for a taste of that life. Your heart was intoxicated with lust, with greed, with jealousy.

How can you call yourself a follower of Christ when you’ve avoided the cross and pursued a life of comfort, of ease, of doing things your way rather than God’s way? You are not worthy of the One who is holy!

Confronting us with all our past iniquities quickly makes cowards of us all. Nothing silences us faster than the father of lies exposing our lies. Few things send us running for the hills faster than someone threatening to lay all our transgressions out in the open for all to see.

These schemes and strategies will wreck us if we’re standing in our own might. If we’ve exchanged the truth of God for a truth we’ve fashioned for ourselves, we don’t have a fighting chance. If we think having our armor tucked away in the closet is good enough, we will be crushed when the devil pounces. We are damned fools if we think we can dodge all the devil’s flaming darts with our quick wit or logic.

Because none of this is what God has given you for this battle. He has given you superior might. Not your own, but his power. He has given you incredible intel about your enemy. The devil is a liar, he cannot speak the truth. Even when he does quote the Scriptures it’s deceitfully. You have been given a full suit of armor that is perfectly tailored for the battle that you face. You can stand firm because you are in the Lord. You stand in his mighty power. Because he has given you Jesus.

Each piece of your battle armor is a piece of the person and work of Jesus Christ. God begins with truth as your belt. The first piece is uncomfortable. It’s not the sweatpants of situational ethics or the elastic waist of everyone can do as they please. But remember battle armor is designed for strength and speed, not comfort. It is not intended to pamper you, but protect and persevere you. God has been nothing but honest with you about your weakness, your foolishness, and your sinfulness. Remember God’s stunning insight into your daily life. The good you want to do, you do not always or continually do. The evil that you despise, you cannot help yourself from falling into. The truth is you make a terrible Savior. So God sent a perfect one. His Son. Jesus.

Jesus is your righteousness, the sturdy breastplate that protects your heart. He did the good things that you could not, that you would not, that you did not. He rejected the temptations that you yielded to. Then, out of his great mercy, he transferred his righteousness to your record. By grace, through faith, Jesus’ spotless life has been credited to you.

And because of him you have peace. Your feet are ready for whatever comes your way. Roman soldiers often studded their sandals with nails, a little like our modern day cleats. The nails gave them stability on shaky ground. The nails of the cross give you stability, even in shaky situations. The cross is Christ’s clear testimony to his faithfulness and love. When he declared It is finished, he was talking about the war between sinner and their holy God. His punishment, suffering, & death has brought us peace.

But our confidence extends into eternity. It’s not just that God loved us for a moment. Each time Satan shoots his flaming arrows, we can extinguish them by faith. We return to all the promises of God. If God said it it is as good as done. If Satan snarls it, it is surely a lie.

Any armor would be laughably incomplete without a helmet. So God guards our minds with the assurance of our salvation. Salvation is ours because our Savior lived, died, and rose to life for us. We are not saved because we made some choice to listen to God, to follow his Son, or to live righteously. We do these things because God has enlightened us with his gifts. He has opened our ears to his Word through his Spirit. He has guided us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. We did not choose this struggle. He chose us. And strengthened and equipped us.

And he has placed in our hands his powerful and precious Word, the sword of the Spirit. With this powerful truth we fend off the old evil foe. The Word of God must never be like the note Col. Rall was given. We must not think we’re good because we know where our Bibles are. If you are someone who carries a side piece, don’t you go to the range? Don’t you practice regularly? Why? Has the gun changed? Of course not! But you know that under duress you need to react quickly. Practice gives you confidence. It’s no different in handling the sword of the Spirit.

With the sword of the Spirit at our side, and the full armor of God covering us from head to toe, we can and do stand firm. And that is what you are doing now. Day after day, as you quietly meditate on the Word of God—what Christ has done for you—you are putting on the full armor of God. Satan’s scheme may change from day to day. His tactics shift as we move from one stage of life to another. But no matter what he does, no matter how he tries to attack us, he cannot and will not win. Not when we take up the full armor of all that Christ has done for us. Not when we stand in his mighty power. Not when the Lord is our strength. Then, after everything, we will stand firm forever. Amen.