suiting up for battle

The call to battle (10 - 13)

The equipment of battle (14-17)

The strategy of battle (18-20)

Good day everyone,

My name is Joe, and I’m one of the pastoral staff here at Abbotsford Presbyterian Church, after the sermon, there will be time for questions, so please do take notes

before we begin, let us pray

God be with us as we unpack your word today, may you grow us by your Spirit to be more Christ like each day,

Please open our hearts and minds to your word this morning,

In Jesus name,

Amen

Are you aware of the current war going on? (Slide)

I’m talking about the biggest war known to humanity, It’s massive, and it’s the most deadly war the earth has ever seen.

Before reading this passage we may have thought the biggest wars are currently found in the Middle East or Europe, but this passage tells us the biggest war known to earth is in fact a spiritual war,

Yet, like all war, it’s messy, it’s brutal, and it’s confusing.

Brothers and sisters, today we reach the final section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, and here we are to learn about the worlds most brutal war the earth will endure.

Previously, Paul, the author of the book of Ephesians has grounded us in God’s work and what he has done for us, to then show us how we are to respond to what God has done.

Today’s passage, brings us to the ultimate purpose of what all this Christian living adds up to. It provides the context of why all of Paul’s exhortations for us to live Christian lives matter.

We are at war, dear friends. We are in the midst of a great and powerful battle. And you are a soldier being called to participate.

Our Passage today can be summarized in three sections (Slide)

The call to battle (10 - 13) (Slide)

The equipment of battle (14-17) (Slide)

The strategy of battle (18-20) (Slide)

Let us begin by understanding this call to battle:

The Call to battle (10-13): (Slide)

Finally, Paul says. Finally, as in we have now reached the conclusion of Paul’s letter, we are told verse 10 (Slide) to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Which, given the scope of the letter so far, is a summary of all that Paul has said up until now.

Effectively Paul is saying, be the person described in chapters 4-6, because of what God has done in chapters 1-3.

Because, (Slide) chapters 4-6 is essentially what strength in the Lord looks like. Strength looks like humility, maturity, unity, it looks like putting off falsehood, speaking truthfully, not sinning in anger, strength looks like a marriage that builds each other up in Jesus, it looks like children who listen to mum and dad, and masters who look after their households. That is proper strength.

And equally (Slide) Chapters 1-3 is what God’s mighty power looks like. God’s power looks like his message of truth, the gospel of salvation. His rule and authority, his Resurrection, his unity.

So given all that Paul has said in this book, Verse 11, Paul says (Slide) Put on the full armor of God.

Hmmm. We might think.... Living strong… Right.... In God’s power.... Right..... But.... Armor? What’s going on here?

Now, we all know that excitement that comes from getting ready for an occasion. If I’m going to the beach, I’m not going to put on my wedding suit, no! I’m gabbing my shorts, t-shirt, sunnies and a hat.

Here, Paul is telling us to go to our closest and pull out the armor. Not just any armor, God’s armor, his equipment, Given to us by God. (Slide)

And it’s armor we need, not sunnies and a hat, because we need to be ready to stand against the devil’s schemes, which given the need for armor, the devil’s schemes are equated to warfare.

Schemes that we know are effective in our lives today, Paul’s already told us that Satan tempts us in every way.

the Bible is clear that Satan is truly against God. This battle is Satan vs God.

Which Paul makes no doubt for us, as he states the struggle is (Slide) not against flesh and blood. Rather it is against all these authority titles: (Slide)

Paul is using the language of the authority because this Spiritual enemy is fighting for claiming the title of God for himself.

So we need to understand correctly that this is a spiritual battle we are being drafted into. Granted, the effects of the spiritual war will most definitely spill into the physical world.

As a note, In places like Australia we don’t overly connect with the spiritual world, it’s not a daily thought we consider. Rather we find various cultural ‘isms’ take stage as the forces against our lives. Materialism, Nationalism, Consumerism, Racism and so on.

While ideologies can be portrayed as demonic powers, we cannot expect Paul was thinking only in terms of what impacts the Western world. I encourage us all to embrace a wide view of the supernatural. Because it’s far bigger than we can imagine.

(Slide) Therefore Paul says verse 12 we are to Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Therefore know that evil is still present, and we must not underestimate the power of the devil, (Slide) for we are being called to stand our ground suited in God’s armor. Standing, because we need to be alert and ready.

But what exactly are we wearing?, what is God’s armor?

The equipment of battle (14 - 17) (Slide)

The battle equipment is largely a list of items that all together make up the whole, and like dressing for a costume party, you really are not a clown if you just show up with the shoes, or just the bow-tie. the costume is not complete without all the elements together.

Much like the armor of God. Previously, Paul wrote in an imperative, to put on the full armor. Now in verse 14, (Slide) he writes, stand firm then. In the assumption that you are in the full armor, not just this part or that. But standing firm in it’s fullness.

This standing firm verb in in fact an imperative verb, which is important because the four verbs that are to follow are participles, That is to say, the imperative is stand firm in the full armor, which is made up by these elements, and so we have the four participle verbs here:

Buckled

in place

fitted

take up

Now I know what you’re thinking, Joe, in place is not a verb, and none of these have ING behind them. Well, to satisfy the curious among us, (Slide) the Greek words are Girding, Putting on, binding under, and taking up. Please don’t feel short changed by the translation you have, to literally translate the Greek it would be very clunky. So the NIV has done a great job!

Two more pieces of armor will follow, but these first 4 are all grouped through the use of the participle verbs that draw back to standing firm.

Now the language of God’s armor is also not new to the followers of God that Paul is writing to. Paul is using inspiration from(Slide) Isaiah 59:17 which reads: “He 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.”

It is normal as it were, for God to use this kind of metaphor for revealing something about himself.

Which brings us to our first item of choice for the soldier in God’s army. (Slide) the belt of truth buckled around your waist v14

It’s no coincidence that truth is listed as first among the armory to adorn. For Truth is central to the Christian faith and life.(Slide)For Jesus answered I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

Paul has told us to use truth previously in his letter, we are to speak the truth in love. But the belt of truth is not simply general truth, because the Devil knows also what is generally true. The belt of truth is getting to fundamental beliefs and convictions.

The belt of truth is something the Devil cannot wear because it declares God as the king and savior of the world, it says, Jesus has defeated sin and death. It also says, Jesus loves you

Because that’s the gospel truth, it’s speaking at the level of belief and conviction, belief that God is who he says he is. And this is fundamental as a starting point in the armor, because if we don’t believe that God is who he says he is from this Bible in our laps, then the rest of the armor just wont fit at all.

Paul is really driving at the need to get God’s truth as our baseline for all that we see and do in life, not living by our truth or living by their truth, but living by God’s truth.

The second item then to adorn (Slide) is the breastplate of righteousness v14

Now we might suddenly jump to the righteousness of Christ that is given to us. For we know that we are unrighteous, and only made righteous through the forgiveness of our sins by the death of Jesus.

However, that is not the breastplate of righteousness that Paul is speaking of here. In this context, righteousness is acting rightly according to God’s standards. It is being right in relationship with both God and people through our daily actions. .

As a family, we enjoyed watching Inside out 2 the other day, (Slide) Riley the main character wrestles with her newfound emotion called anxiety. The movie depicts her drama as she tries to do the ‘right thing’ when she attempts to set herself up for high school social success. And brilliantly, the movie shows how doing the ‘right thing’ looks different when looked at through different value systems. And basically for Riley, it all gets so overwhelming that she has a panic attack.

(Slide)The breastplate of righteousness would have been a valuable tool for Riley. As it describes the value system to which all decisions should be made. When you wear God’s breastplate you are putting on God’s values. Therefore decisions made in his armor will show that God is valued above all other factors.

For us choosing to act in righteousness is choosing to do the action that draws glory to God. Every situation will look different, but our response, no matter the situation we can and should bring glory to God. For this is God’s battle.

That might look like choosing to forgive the person who crashed into your car before you inspect the damage. Or choosing to hold back your words when you don’t have anything nice to say.

Third, wearing the gospel of peace on your feet. v15 (Slide)

Notice that Paul saw fit to include the qualifier of Peace, to the word gospel, which is to say, adorn the good news of Peace.

Peace is a difficult thing to live by, let alone stand firmly in. Too easy it is for us to find ourselves involved in conflict and choose one of two paths, (Slide) Avoid it or Confront it?

Often in conflict we might feel the need to avoid it. Hide from it, hope that it will just go away. This is called (Slide) Peace-faking and it is a real problem that broods dis-contempt that leads to despair.

The other path is to confront conflict head on. That we may feel the need to expose the object of our conflict and express our anger by giving them a dose of our attitude. (Slide) This is known as Peace-breaking. once again, it’s a real problem in society that is intimidating and leads to further anger.

Often we feel caught between the two options of hiding or attacking. Peace-faking or Peace-breaking. So Paul in this passage is telling us of the third option, or rather the first option of God’s people. And that is peace making.(Slide)

Wear God’s sandals of peace, knowing that in every conflict there is a gospel hope, a pathway to peace that will unite people together in Christ that does not look like hiding or attacking. And neither is it a compromise.

For the church that Paul is writing to, he is trying to bring together both Jews and Gentiles, he said in chapter two (Slide) Jesus’ purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility

That is God’s peace making gospel and it happens when we seek to glorify God by reconciling with others through the cross. (Slide) That looks like: first taking the log out of our own eye before taking the speck out of others, forgiving others as Jesus forgives us, carrying the burdens of others.

Paul is telling us to have a Peacemaker response to the cosmic attacks of the devil, that are felt in the experiences of our relationships.

And fourth, (Slide) the shield of faith enabling believers to extinguish the burning arrows of the evil one v16

Flaming arrows here are representative of the ways Satan and his minions are able to shoot at Christians to hurt them. Which in our lives can look like flaming arrows of doubt, arrows of unbelief, and arrows of false belief, arrows of temptation.

And all of these can be felt in our lives when we struggle with believing all that is good and true about God.

God doesn’t care about you… (Arrow shot)

If God loved you… you wouldn’t suffer like this… (Arrow shot)

These arrows are evil, and they rot the faith and belief of the Christian. Therefore, this shield is given as a piece of equipment to block those wicked attacks. Use it and say “God’s got this” “God loves me, so much that he gave himself to die for me”

Final two items

Which brings us to our last two items of the armory. The reason these are separate is because of the new imperative verb (Slide)“Take” as it is written in the NIV, which might easily be missed.

However, the grammatical use of this word in the Greek shows clearer the difference in one’s ability to initiate the action.

Notice, the first four pieces of armor are for you to put on. They are a list of qualities which involve a certain degree of human effort.

But now, (Slide)we shift to objects that are gifts of God in their purest sense “salvation” and “the Word of God” The distinction here is that no one is able to add to either their salvation, nor the word of God. Rather these items in their fullness can only be received from God.

(Slide)Therefore, take the helmet of Salvation. That is, take the knowledge that God has already rescued you, God has already saved you. We are not waiting to be rescued when we’ve proven ourselves worthy. We are not hoping to be rescued but worried that maybe we wont. Neither are we worried that the rescue we have received, might one day be lost or taken from us. No, our rescue is now and it is complete.

Because Jesus has taken the punishment for our sins, there is no more sacrifice to be paid, the debt is settled, fully and completely by the blood of Jesus who died on the cross to set us free from captivity to sin.

God is our salvation.

(Slide)And so receive also the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

This final piece of equipment, the writer shifts from the defensive to the offensive. The sword is the crucial offensive weapon in close combat.

Now, I want to be very clear here, This Bible in your hands is the word of God. Reading your Bible is very important to the life of the Christian. But do we understand why the bible is considered a weapon? And how does that work?

The key to understanding this is to remember who this battle is between. Satan verses God. The whole history of God’s people is basically a tragic story of Satan’s evil work of turning God’s people against him again and again.

Until one day when God fights back. There is one essential moment in the Bible when God fights against Satan directly, and the weapon of God’s choice is not a sword, nor a book.

God’s weapon of choice is Jesus, sent not to fight against flesh and blood, but sent to fight against the great power of Evil, Satan himself. And he did this with nails and a cross. This climactic moment is the gospel that we present each week here at Abbotsford because it is this gospel that has the power to defeat Satan and all his evil schemes.

Which is the message of God’s word that is given to us in the form of this book that we call the Bible. That is why it is a weapon

but how does it work?

Well Jesus shows us in the book of Matthew when the devil tempts him in the desert. This moment of temptation for Jesus is combated through the use of reciting scripture, see Jesus uses God’s word against Satan, as a weapon, like Paul is telling us here now. Jesus recites words from Deuteronomy 6 to say that God is Lord above all, and he will not serve any others but God alone.

Words that cause the Devil to leave Jesus alone, ending his battle against Temptation.

Which is why the Bible is the central tool in the Christian life, because it reveals to us the wonder and power of God. For it is God’s power, God’s weapon we need to fight against Satan.

See all this armor adds up to each of us standing firm in God’s power, ready to fight in God’s battle. And the amazing thing is, God has already won.

That means, we stand ready to fight the daily struggles of life, not for the victory over Satan,

because that victory has already been given to God.

No we stand ready to fight the daily struggles of life because the victory has already been won by God. We stand in victory.

Which leads us to the final point, crucial for understanding how to make use of all this armor. we turn to the strategy of battle

The strategy of battle (18-20) (Slide)

A strategy that can be summed up in one word

Prayer. (Slide)

Some people mistakenly consider prayer to be the 7th item of armor. But that’s not overly helpful, because it misses the fact that prayer is fundamental in the spiritual nature of the battle we face. Prayer underlines all the equipment we are given to fight with.

Putting on, taking up, and receiving God’s armor all require an attitude of dependence on God. (Slide)Pray therefore on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests, not just the big issues, but the small ones too, “Lord help me find a car park, Lord please also help me settle my conflict with my boss”.

(Slide) With this in mind be alert and always praying for all the Lords people. Man, I love that as Christians we pray for each other, knowing that people pray for me has gotten me through some pretty tough times. So how great, that Paul’s encouragement to us, is to pray for all God’s people!

Then if you weren’t sure how to pray for others, Paul shows us in verse 19,(Slide) . Pauls says “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

that whenever we speak, words may be given to us that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

While we are not yet in chains for God’s message, we must pray that we would fearlessly declare God’s gospel truth.

And brace yourselves people, God answers prayer! As we stand ready for battle, we see Paul teaches us, what the battle is fought over. It’s fought over the souls of those around us.

Declaring the Gospel is declaring God’s saving grace to those who are trapped in the schemes of the Devil. Only through prayer adorned in God’s armory are we able to stand boldly against the Devil to join the battle to save souls.

(Slide)This is Gods battle, with his weapons, and we are not on our own to fight it. God is with us and he provides all that we need.

So dear brothers and sisters, Paul has written this passage for us that we would know that reality of the world we live in. And that we would not loose sight of the mighty and powerful God, who by his grace saved us from the everlasting death of sin.

So stand firm, adorning God’s armor, that together we would fight the good fight

Let us pray.

God, you are the ruler and authority over our lives, you are the true king and ruler of this world. God, we pray that you would help each of us be equipped for this battle, that no one would loose sight of your glory and goodness. Lord may we glorify you in all our actions, in all our words, may we be able to speak your truth that others would understand the mystery of the gospel, that more would come to know you as king and savior.

We pray this in Jesus name,

Amen.

Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”