EQUIPPED TO STAND

Introduction

-{GIDEON PRESENTATION}

-{Ephesians 6}

-One of the first dates that Trish and I went on was at a Renaissance Fair in Wisconsin. Renaissance fairs are interesting places that try to recapture the atmosphere of medieval times in England. There are booths and food and games and attractions that hearken back to the days of kings and knights and fair maidens.

~Part of the attractions of these fairs is recreating events from those times. For example, they might have a recreation of a jousting event, where two knights on horses race toward each other with 12-foot lances trying to knock the other knight off. You would think with such a large weapon that it would severely injure or kill the participants. And it would, were it not for the metal armor that the knights would wear and the shield that they would brandish. The armor and shield were there to protect the knights life and health, as well as helping them to stay strong and steady on the horse, not to be knocked down by their opponent.

-To me, that is an appropriate picture of what we go through in life on a spiritual level. Those of us who belong to God through Jesus Christ have an enemy that bears down on us with the lance of his hatred and evil, and if we are not well equipped, we can be severely injured spiritually, or we will be knocked down and rendered useless in the fight. But if we equip ourselves, we not only are able to put up an effective defense against his attacks, we are also able to gain ground on the offense. But this is true only if we have the right equipment.

-I have been doing a study on spiritual warfare, and what I want you to take away from today’s study is that we are able to stand firm in the faith in the midst of spiritual warfare when we are equipped with the benefits Christ gives us through His gospel. I want all of us to be equipped and prepared to engage in the spiritual warfare so we can stand firm in Christ. And the apostle Paul wrote about this equipment in:

Ephesians 6:13–20 LSB

13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, 17 also receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 as well as on my behalf, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel— 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains—so that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

-{pray}

-In v. 13 Paul gives his Holy Spirit-inspired purpose for writing what he writes, with the rest of the passage being the explanation of how to do it. He says the purpose is for us as Christians to be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. Paul is warning us that there is a spiritual enemy that is going to try and render us useless for Christ and the gospel; but Paul wants Christians to be equipped to remain in battle and be victorious in warfare.

-The enemy may try to render us useless by taking our focus off of what has eternal importance, and we become so wrapped up in ourselves that all we think about or care about is our earthly life, not our future, eternal, heavenly life. Or as it is sometimes said, we are too earthly minded to be any heavenly good. As John described the church of Laodicea, we are lukewarm.

-Or else the enemy may try to render us useless by leading us to compromise on our faith either theologically or practically. He may cause us to theologically compromise by leading us astray through false teachings where we then deny or change the important doctrines of the faith. Or he my cause us to practically compromise where we deny or change what God says is right and wrong, and either we water down or deny what God says is sin, or we practice what God says is sin, or we encourage others to practice what God says is sin. Such people no longer are on the battlefield for God.

-There are many other ways that the enemy of our souls might try to render us useless, but Paul wants all Christians to be ready and equipped for battle so that we can resist, and then by resisting we are able to stand firm—meaning to stand our ground in the faith. The picture or resisting here is that there is an opposing force that’s trying to put pressure on us to force us to buckle under its weight. But we don’t, we resist. And the fact that we are able to resist is demonstrated by the fact that we stand firm—we hold our ground. We are not moved.

-As Satan and his demons and their earthly counterparts try to put pressure on us as followers of Jesus Christ to either stand down or change, we do not—we resist and we stand firm. As they try to mold us into their likeness, we resist and stand firm. As they try to break us through persecution, we resist and stand firm. As they tempt us to compromise on our beliefs and ethics, we resist and stand firm.

-But how? How do we resist and stand firm? That is what the rest of the passage answers. Paul tells us what God has provided so that we are equipped to stand. So, quickly I will give these two ways in which Paul says we can be equipped. First, Paul tells us to:

1) Dress ourselves in the armor

-In v. 13 Paul tells us to take up the full armor of God. I want you to notice a few things. First, it is armor that God provides for His people. This isn’t some sort of armor that humanity can come up with themselves. This is not some sort of armor based on human philosophy or ingenuity. Paul elsewhere tells us that our weapons and our armor are not worldly or carnal. This is armor that is divine, heavenly, and its source is God Himself.

-Now, we know that Paul is writing this letter from prison, chained to a Roman soldier, so that is partly the inspiration of the picture that he paints of these various divine virtues that are our protection. But I believe another inspiration for Paul comes from the Old Testament verses that talk about God being a mighty warrior. For example, in our passage Paul talks about girding our waist with truth; the prophet Isaiah says of God:

Isaiah 11:5 LSB

5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.

-Paul talks about breastplates of righteousness and helmets of salvation. The prophet Isaiah says of God:

Isaiah 59:17 LSB

17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

-Paul talks about the sword of the Spirit. Isaiah says of the Servant, whom we know to be Jesus Christ, the Word of God:

Isaiah 49:2 LSB

2 He has set My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also set Me as a select arrow; He has hidden Me in His quiver.

-The point being that not only does God provide the armor we need to stand firm, but it is His own armor with which He battles. It’s as if God takes His armor off and places it upon us, and tells us to go out and resist and fight. God gives us everything we need to stand firm.

-But something else I want to mention is that we are told to put on the FULL armor of God. These pieces of armor that Paul mentions are not optional. This is not a buffet where you pick and choose which piece of armor you want. You want the whole uniform. If there is a missing piece, you leave yourself vulnerable. There will be a soft spot that the enemy can use to his advantage. Just think of a Roman solider who had a breastplate and helmet, but didn’t have a shield or sword. They wouldn’t last long in battle.

-Think of how important it is to have all your equipment in sports. If a football player had his uniform, but didn’t have a helmet, shoulder pads, or cleats, he’d get crushed. If a baseball player had his uniform, but didn’t have a bat or glove, he’d be useless.

-Christian, we need every bit of armor that’s mentioned so that we are ready and prepared and equipped. Our enemy is strong and cunning, but our God has given us everything we need for victory—so, we have to choose to put the armor on, and make sure every piece is strapped in place. So, what is the armor we need?

-First, Paul says to gird truth around our waist. We often refer to it as a belt of truth, although there was more to it than what we might consider a belt—it covered more area. But like a belt, it did bind everything and hold it together. Truth holds our armor together. But not just any truth; it’s the truth of the gospel. The truth of who Jesus is—Jesus is the truth. And the truth of what He has said—Jesus said that God’s Word is truth.

-This refers to having right beliefs according to the truth, and then living according to that truth. This is why it is so important to have correct doctrine. If you’re doctrine is wrong, everything else unravels. On the other hand, if you have right doctrine, but do not conform your life to that doctrine, everything still unravels. You are protected when you have the truth about sinful humanity, the sacrifice of Jesus, the need for repentance and faith, and the holiness that He enables us to live. But the protection is only effective if we live according to the truth. Truth holds everything together.

-Then Paul says to put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covered the most vital organs of the body. We need to righteousness to cover our most vital spiritual organs. First, we need the imputed righteousness of Christ in order to have any armor at all. Since all of humanity is sinful, we do not and cannot stand in a right relationship with God. We are guilty and we cannot get rid of that guilt ourselves. But Jesus died in our place, paid the penalty, and He gives us His right standing before God. The only way to be right with God is with what Jesus gifts us with.

-But then, having received that righteousness, we then have the power and motivation to live rightly before God according to His standards. If we choose to live our own way or the way of the world, it’s as if we took the breastplate off and left ourselves vulnerable. Jesus didn’t give us His righteousness for us to turn around and do our own thing. Not that we can save ourselves or maintain our salvation, but in Christ we are born again and made new, and so we are empowered to live new. And we will only stand firm when we willfully choose to live according to that newness. If we choose otherwise, we do not lose our salvation, but we are spiritually vulnerable.

-Then we are told to tie on our feet the preparation of the gospel of peace. The Roman soldiers footwear was a special sandal or shoe that was strapped to the foot and up the thigh. On the bottom of the shoe were nails that gave the soldier traction to both stand their ground and give them the ability to advance. The gospel does that for us.

-It is called the gospel of peace because it is the only way for humanity to have peace with God, and only when we have peace with God do we have any other peace in our lives. Jesus’ death and resurrection ensures that we have peace with God because all of our sins are forgiven in Christ. The enemy will try and make us doubt ourselves, but we stand firm when we remember that our standing with God has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with what Christ accomplished. When our security is found in Christ, the devil can’t push us back or push us down.

-But because the gospel is the only way of salvation, we also know that it is a message that needs to go out. So, it is the gospel of peace that propels us forward to take ground from the enemy, as we share the gospel and people are saved and leave the kingdom of the enemy.

-Then we are told to take up the shield of faith. It refers to the larger shields that were about 4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide. They were made of a metal frame, usually covered with leather or hide. They were used to protect against a rain of arrows or stones. They could be dipped in water and if the enemy shot arrows the were aflame, the fire would be doused.

-Our enemy shoots many a flaming arrow at us to get us to doubt God and His character and His goodness. He will try to get us to question God. But if we are to shield ourselves, we do so with faith—believing and trusting in God’s goodness and mercy and everything else that God revealed about Himself in His Word.

-Then we receive the helmet of salvation. Elsewhere Paul calls it the helmet of the hope of salvation. While the enemy tries to fill our minds with doubts, we remember that our hope is in what Christ accomplished for us in His death and resurrection. That is our only hope of salvation—and that hope will never disappoint.

-Finally, we are told to take up the sword of the Spirit. The sword is used for both defense and offense. And that is something that we need to remember. Our living for Christ is not just day to day defense. We need to go on the offense against the enemy. We are told that we will storm the gates of hell. You don’t storm anything merely playing defense. You go on the offense. And we have a sword to do that.

-Paul says that our sword is the Word of God. The Word for “Word” here is RHEMA and not LOGOS, so it is not just the individual words, but it is the entire message of the gospel as encapsulated in Scripture that is our sword. God’s Word shelters and it slays. This is the weapon God Himself uses. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God’s Word is a double-edged sword. Jesus is pictured in Revelation as having a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth. It is with the Word of God that we slice through and penetrate the enemy’s lies and schemes. If the enemy is the father of lies, then we defeat him with the Sword of the Word of Truth.

-This is the full armor of God. Only when we are dressed with the full armor are we able to resist and stand firm. But then there is another part of the puzzle for standing firm, and that is that we are to:

2) Establish ourselves in prayer

-Another foundational part of resisting and standing firm is prayer. Paul goes on to say to pray at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit. While we dress ourselves with the armor, prayer is the solid ground on which we stand. Without prayer, it would be like wearing the armor while trying to trudge through quicksand. The armor and prayer go together. John Stott said:

[Paul adds prayer here] not because he thinks of prayer as another though unnamed weapon, but because it is to pervade all our spiritual warfare. Equipping ourselves with God’s armor is not a mechanical operation; it is itself an expression of our dependence on God, in other words, of prayer.

-It is through prayer that we keep on spiritual alert at all times, always ready for battle. It is through prayer that we are able to persevere through the fight. When we begin to get fatigued in the battle, when the armor seems to be getting heavy, it is through prayer that we get our second wind and remain in the fight. The enemy will try to wear us down, he will hit our armor hard, but wearing the armor, standing on prayer, we will be able to endure.

-Notice that Paul says that we are to pray for other Christians. We are not alone in the battle. We have comrades in arms in the war. What happens to others affects us as well. If we want our platoon (so to speak) at peak performance, we need to lift up our fellow soldiers in prayer to the Lord.

-This comes with the understanding that we need the prayers of others as well. You notice in v. 19 that Paul asks the Ephesians to pray for him. Here is Paul the apostle, who we would probably think that if anyone is at the height of spirituality it would be Paul. But not even Paul can fight the battle on his own, in his own power. Even Paul needed the armor, and even Paul needed to be established in prayer. If Paul had such needs, how much more us normal Christians.

-But notice the topic of what Paul wants to be prayed for him—something that we all should want prayed for us. He didn’t want prayer to have a protected, comfy life (although prayers of protection are appropriate). He wanted prayer so that he would be able to have the words to speak boldly about the the mystery of the gospel. His most coveted prayer was that God would empower and enable him to effectively share the gospel of Jesus Christ in the midst of whatever circumstances he found himself in. For example, he is writing this from being imprisoned, and he wants boldness to share the good news of Jesus with the Romans and anybody else that he runs into. May that be our prayer as well—and may we establish ourselves in prayer to be on solid ground.

-I remember years ago watching a football game where there had been so much rain in the days leading up to the game that the field ended up to be a muddy mess, and players were slip sliding all over the place. They couldn’t go very far because they had no traction—no sure ground.

-Without prayer, that’s the way we are. We have no grounding. We have no footing for the battle. So, dress in the armor, and establish yourself in prayer.

Conclusion

-I’ll conclude with this thought.

-In the book the Hobbit, there is a big, fierce dragon names Smaug who attacks a village. Every weapon just bounces off his scales. However, a thrush told a man named Bard that Smaug has one missing scale over his breastbone. Bard shot a black arrow and hit that one spot, killing the evil beast.

-You see, it only takes one weak spot to be brought down.

-Christian, come to the altar today and pray and ask God to put His full armor on you so you can resist and stand firm and be protected.

-But if you are not Christian, you are already in the enemy’s hands. But you can be rescued—Jesus died for you and rose again to grant you forgiveness. Come and believe...