Armor of God
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Eph. 6:10-24.
Whenever I think of this passage, my mind immediately goes to the second best superhero of all time, Bibleman!
Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cdqXCMaGg
Even if you think that this is dumb, you’ve got to acknowledge, he looks pretty fun
But what does this passage actually mean? Why do we talk about the armor of God, beyond just a way to make kids think that the Bible is cool.
We are to stand against evil by the power of God and with prayer.
Stand Against Evil
Stand Against Evil
Before we can really understand what we mean by standing against evil, we should probably understand evil.
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.
There’s two ways of understanding what the Bible means when it talks about rulers and authorities and all of this.
Conceptual evil
This is what we think of in evil in society.
So, for instance, racism is a conceptual evil. It’s not as though everyone that is racist is being controlled by the devil!
Or, like we talked about last week, certain types of authority can be held in an evil way.
Hitler had a ton of authority, and he did so in a very evil way.
Spiritual evil
This is the side of evil that we don’t talk about very often
There is a spiritual reality to every piece of our existence. You are not just a body that is living in a physical space. You are a human that occupies physical space, but you have a soul that is spiritual, and there are other beings that are spiritual as well, and not all of them are good.
So, for instance, culture as a whole is not evil. It’s not evil to have people that live and work together, like a school. However, there can be something evil, something very spiritual, that tells students that they don’t matter and that they must do whatever they can to be liked and that the life of faith doesn’t fit in with being a successful person.
All of that is completely false, but it is so BELIEVABLE! It seems like the reason why is that there is something spiritual in culture that calls us away from God and closer to evil.
And, with evil, these two different ways can sometimes be together.
Abuse, for instance, is a concept that we understand. People are abused, and it is an all-too common experience for many people. However, there is also something spiritually evil in that people can be abused, and that abusers can be in a space where they can abuse and where they feel ok abusing.
I’m not saying that individual people are evil, the Bible doesn’t seem to say that any one individual is any more evil than the rest of us, but we are all touched in different ways by evil.
How do we stand against evil?
So, if we understand what evil is now, how do we stand against it?
First, we have to understand that we can’t do this alone.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
It’s not up to you to be strong, we are strong in the Lord
I actually like the CSB, because it says be strengthened in the Lord in His vast strength, which I just like a little better.
So standing up to evil is not just you being awesome, we’re not Bibleman
This is where the significance of that word “stand” comes in.
If these verses said “fight” then we would have some things to figure out, but it doesn’t, it says stand
That means that your job is not to beat up evil in our world.
Stand is a defensive word, not an attacking word.
You aren’t in charge of ending racism or abuse or homework (kidding), we are just supposed to stand against it.
Instead, it is our job as followers of Jesus to not get sucked into the evil that surrounds us, and instead act in a way that loves Jesus.
So, instead of believing the lie that you aren’t good and that you aren’t worth anything except what you can give to others, start believing what God says about you, which is that you are loved by Him and that He wants to be with you.
Instead of giving into the culture of insult and rudeness at schools, be kind and loving to the people in your school that look and act different.
Instead of chasing after quick fixes and sin, we can learn to start living in holiness.
Standing against evil is not something that you and I do alone. We are together, and we are all able to stand against evil by the power of God.
The Power of God
The Power of God
This is where we get to the part that I liked a ton when I was a kid.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The whole armor of God always interested me when I was a kid because every dude wants a set of armor (I can’t say women want one, I’ve never been a woman), but dudes love this stuff.
But the way that we tell people about the armor of God is regularly unhelpful.
It’s a lot about what you can do and how you need to do better and if you just tried hard enough that you could stop sinning, but look at the pieces! None of them are about you!
Belt of Truth - Truth only comes from God, we can only know the truth of God because of God!
Breastplate of Righteousness - we talk about this all the time, we aren’t righteous or holy because of anything that we do, it’s only because of what God has done in us that we can be righteous.
Shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace - The gospel is a gift of God that fights against our fear, but we didn’t do anything to make the gospel happen!
Shield of faith - Faith comes from God! It’s only by the gift of God that we can even have faith
Helmet of salvation - I’m saved by grace alone through faith alone, not anything that I did!
Sword of the Spirit - it says that this is the word of God, which in this context simply means the message of Jesus, which isn’t about me!
ALL OF THESE THINGS AREN’T ABOUT ME, THEY’RE ABOUT GOD WORKING IN ME!
If we want to stand against evil, if we want to stop living in our sin and brokenness, if we want to be people that reflect Jesus, we don’t do it by trying harder to be good enough! We can only be this type of people by the grace of God.
This is all very similar to the sermon that I did awhile ago about putting on the new self.
Remember, that’s the one where I had a white hoodie that I covered in chili?
Look at Ephesians 6:11
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
It’s the same phrase!
So, the thing that we said then is the same thing that we’re saying now.
We need to be people who are made new. We need to be people who abandon the way that we used to live, the lies that we used to believe, and the pain that we let define us, and we need to put on the new self and live like Jesus. We need to put on the whole armor of God so that you and I don’t get trapped in sin like we ALWAYS do, we need to give ourselves over to Him.
The only way that we can ever do this is by the grace of God that He gives because of the death of His Son!
We only have access to the armor of God or to the new self or the life that you and I are supposed to live because of the power of the Gospel! We have no other option, we need Him!
One of the ways that we do this is through prayer.
Prayer
Prayer
VS. 18 starts out in the middle of sentence in the ESV, but often in other translations it’s a new sentence, which makes sense because it’s a new idea.
We have just talked about standing against evil and about how we’re supposed to put on the armor of God, and then we switch to talking about prayer.
This is because, while prayer isn’t part of the ‘armor of God’, it’s an important part of being a follower of Jesus.
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
We are told to pray at all times with “prayer and supplication”
Anyone got an idea as to what supplication is?
Supplication means to ask for something
So, what this section is saying is be constantly praying to God, asking Him for…what?
What, in this verse are we supposed ot ask for?
For strength! For the ability to stand against evil and be confident in our place in the Lord!
We’re told to keep alert and ask for other people as well!
We need to be a praying people.
This can be really difficult! I’m sure most of us find prayer really difficult to do.
That’s one of the reasons why, after winter retreat, we’re going to end up doing a sermon series on prayer and understanding what it is and how to do it.
But just for now, when we’re looking at praying, let’s just try to do this together. Let’s ask God for ourselves and others that we would love God, be strengthened by Him, and follow Him forever. If we can do that, I’m sure God listens, because He says that He does. .
What is your favorite superhero?
What does it mean to “stand against the schemes of the devil?” Vs. 11
How does the armor of God point to the power of God in our lives?
Why do you think we’re told to pray all the time?
