The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-18

Id like to take a break from the parables for a moment as we come into Memorial Day tomorrow.

This is a day that we honor the men and women who have served our country as soldiers, and we are forever grateful for them and what they have done and continue to do.

Being a soldier comes with honor, comes with respect, it comes with a purpose, a common mission, a common bond between fellow soldiers, and a common enemy.

And though we must not forget them on this day, there is another thought I want us to not forget, not only as we acknowledge another Memorial day, but every day we live on this earth.

Christians are called many things in Scripture. We are called not only Christians, but disciples, workers, ministers, ambassadors, brothers, sisters, family, God’s household. There is another name I think we should not forget. Christians are also called soldiers.

Our primary text for this morning is Ephesians 6:10-18.

When talking to a lot of people about spiritual matters, we always bring up the one thing that is always occurring, something we always as Christians are involved in, and that’s the constant spiritual battle that we are in. But too often when mentioning this, most just shrug it off as yea, but not really. Or they really try to avoid it. Or they look at you like you’re some religious nutcase way too involved in spiritual matters. And a lot of times it can be perceived as being solely apart of the charismatic movement.

Although they do tend to overemphasize it, and especially mistreat it, it’s a reality and something we need to be aware of. Let’s read Ephesians 6:10-18. (Find and Read)

Ephesians chapters 1-3 describe a true Christian. Chapters 4-6:9 describe a Christian who lives a faithful life in Christ. And so, Paul ends his letter with words of warning and encouragement. That those who are true Christians living a faithful life can be sure that they will be involved in spiritual warfare. And then the encouragement of what we must do.

But before we begin to break down the text, I want to quickly talk about a movie I saw growing up. The Ghost and the darkness? It came out in 1996, it had Val Kilmer in it, and it was based on the true story of a pair of unusual man-eating lions that terrorized workers in Kenya as they were building a railway in 1898. These lions would attack mainly at nighttime, drag workers from their tents and eat them, and they killed some workers just for sport. They had to put up defenses like thorn fences around their tents, the movie is based on the guys who came in to try to hunt and kill the lions, the workers were terrified, the railway project halted many times.

And my point is, here in Wyandot county, we don’t have to worry about apex predators hunting us down as we go out into the parking lot. But I want us to think for a minute, What if there were lions all around in Wyandot county looking for people as prey. Would that change how you live day to day? I think it most definitely would. How would you prepare for church differently? You would always be on alert. What weapons would you bring?

Well, we don’t have to worry about lions prowling around in our area, but truth be told, there is a bigger threat out there, one that we need to prepare for, one that we should not be unaware of.

Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8, Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

- We need to be alert of what’s going on around us, being watchful of what we are doing, what we are involving ourselves in, the things we let our kids do or get involved in. Making sure we are always in the word so we know what Satan and his demons are trying to do.

2 Corinthians 2:11, It tells us to forgive one another so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

- Which suggests, Satan and his demons are always scheming, always prowling around waiting for an opportunity, waiting for an advantage. We are not ignorant of his schemes because God sees all and therefore has given us all the wisdom we need to know what our enemy is doing.

Ephesians 4:26-27, Paul again tells us to not be angry through the night, so that we do not give the devil a foothold. Paul warns us, don’t crack the door open even a little, because the enemy is right there, waiting to wedge his foot in the door.

Philippians 2:25 (Find and read) When Paul says that Epaphroditus is a fellow soldier, it not only means he is a partner in the work of the gospel but also gives us the realization that Christians are actively engaged in spiritual battles.

Philemon verse 2, Paul also counts his Christian friend Archippus as a fellow soldier.

- The term fellow soldier is one Greek word, and it was used in the NT to describe a companion in the spiritual battle, and it emphasized camaraderie and shared mission, shared struggle and shared commitment in the Christian faith.

Paul uses the term soldier to show the church is a community of believers who are united in purpose and mission, much like soldiers in an army. It also conveys the seriousness and dedication required in the Christian life. We are called to be vigilant, disciplined, and ready to endure hardships for the sake of the Gospel, much like soldiers in a war.

Now to this, many Christians in America today will say, wo wo wo, it is not that serious, everything is cool, calm and collected, we don’t see crazy spiritual things happening today. It’s all good, it’s time to kick back, relax, eat drink and be merry.

Well may I suggest to them as we turn to 2 Timothy 2:3-4, that being complacent or in other words, out of the fight or even unaware of the battle is actually a tactic or a trap of the enemy.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 (Find and Read)

- Paul tells timothy to suffer hardship with him, just like a fellow soldier in a battle.

- Why? 2 Timothy 3:12 – (Find and read)

o If we desire to live a godly life, persecution is inevitable.

- And two things we see in verse 4, if you belong to Christ, He enlists us as a soldier, and we are always in active service.

- And Paul charges us with a warning, since we are soldiers in active service, we can’t entangle ourselves in the affairs of everyday life. Why? So that we can please Christ who enlisted us.

- To entangle ourselves means to be involved with so much that it distracts us or hinders us. In the Greek it’s used to emphasize distractions that can hinder one’s spiritual focus and mission.

The call is for us to become fellow soldiers of the Gospel mission. It’s also the first and last command of Jesus to his disciples. It’s one thing to talk about the tactics of our enemy, and never our main mission. What is our main mission in this Christian battle?

Mark 1:17 Jesus said, “follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

Matthew 28:19 – Go and make disciples.

Act’s 1:8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses…

Our mission is to be his witnesses, to give the gospel and make disciples. But it doesn’t come easy, because there is a foe, an enemy trying to distract us or to hinder us in any way they can. They will put up a fight, they will be relentless, the question is, will we?

That’s our main mission. Our focus is on our King, Christ Jesus. The only way we can do the mission is if we dwell in Him, keep our eyes on Him, the author and perfector of our faith, and get to know Him personally, intimately every day. Because without our devotion to Christ, without the wisdom of the word of God, we cannot move forward with our mission.

Philippians 3:8 (Find and Read)

- Look what Paul does, the thing that matters most to him, the thing of upmost importance, The top priority in his life is: Knowing Christ. Everything else is but rubbish compared to that.

So, if our fuel for the mission and the joy of our life is knowing Christ, our devotion to Him or in other words, our relationship building with Him, and if our enemy is very smart, cunning, relentless, evil and always scheming, which they are, where do you think their focus is going to be to attack us?

Our devotion to knowing Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:3

- Right there is the main attack, his master plan if you will. He is crafty and just like he deceived Eve in the garden. His plan is to distract us, to corrupt us and to keep us from our devotion to Christ.

Why? Because nothing is more valuable to us in so many ways than our devotion, our knowledge of Christ. And that’s what we are learning in Psalm 119 right now.

The word of God blesses us, it keeps us pure, revives us, teaches us, all these wonderful things, and the psalmist says many places that he delights in God’s word and in verse 72, he says God’s word is better to him than thousands of gold and silver pieces. God’s word is the most valuable thing we have.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

- Right there again, we see the main attack is against the knowledge of God and it has been since the beginning in the garden. Did God really say?

- That is the battle, the battle over our mind. The enemies attack is to get us distracted or even disengaged from reading and studying the word, to grow our knowledge and relationship with Christ, our head.

- As truly saved followers of Christ, they cannot destroy us, but they can distract us. They cannot drag us into hell, but they can eat away at our joy and rewards in heaven.

Paul in verse 12 of Ephesians 6 says our struggles, our battles are not against physical foes but against worldly and spiritual forces. An unseen enemy. So, what are we to do? Is there any hope? Well, if we try to battle ourselves, no, there is no hope. Jesus likens us all to sheep, sheep are very docile and not smart animals, they don’t have claws or teeth, they don’t have any defense mechanisms and neither do we as people on our own in the spiritual realms.

We could try our best to build our own spiritual armor, our own wisdom, but in the end, it will fail. It will not hold up.

In verse 11, we are not called to put on our own armor but put on the armor of God. It’s God’s armor that is perfect, unfailing and it’s our only defense against the schemes of the enemy. Not only are we protected, but we can stand firm, and be strong in the might of God’s strength when we put on not just a few pieces, but the full armor Paul says in verse 13.

And so, we are going to take a look at these 6 pieces in the following verses. This is going to be a very brief overview. There’s a lot that could be said in this section. In just these 9 verses alone, Martin Loyd Jones had 52 sermons over this section. This is more of a flyover. But this is what we must do if we desire to live a godly life and to overcome the enemy.

Verse 14: Having girded your loins with truth.

- We know this piece of equipment as being a belt. A belt was worn especially in battle to keep their clothes girded and out of the way so they wouldn’t trip or stumble over them.

- The truth here is actually talking about our life in a sense. It’s keeping our life tight and close to the truth of God’s word.

- Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

- So, before we even think about putting the armor on, we need to set aside weights and sin that will cause us to stumble in battle.

- Practically it’s living a life of integrity and transparency before the Lord, confessing our sins and submitting our life to His truth.

Verse 14b: The breastplate of righteousness.

- Protected the vital organs. It is unthinkable that a soldier would enter battle without a breastplate.

- We enter battle with the reality that we are clothed with Christ’s righteousness. Not of our own, but His.

- The heart is the main area of attack from Satan, shaming us, getting us to doubt our salvation, get us to doubt our standing with God, and saying, look how dirty and nasty your heart is. And we say, you’re right, I have no righteousness in my heart. But I wear the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Verse 15: Shod our feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

- Leather straps with spikes.

- Stability and traction. Losing one’s traction was losing their life.

- Always be ready to share the gospel. 1 Peter 3:15

- The spreading of the gospel is the reason we live.

- When the gospel is not our main focus, our greatest aim through this life, our footing in a spiritual battle becomes unstable. Failure to preach the gospel makes us vulnerable to spiritual attacks from the enemy.

Verse 16: Shield of Faith

- Roman shield was 4.5 by 2.5 feet. Covered in animal hide and soaked in water before battle to extinguish flaming arrows that enemies commonly used back then.

- Satan constantly and relentlessly hurls a barrage of different arrows our way. It could be doubt, pride, lust, laziness, anger, bitterness, and complacency, being content in our spiritual race.

- It must constantly be up, exercising our faith in God not just on Sunday morning or our small devotional in the morning, but constantly looking to God who is our shield, our rock, and our author and perfector of faith.

Verse 17: Helmet of Salvation.

- The last thing we put on, but arguably the most important.

- A person can get stabbed or shot multiple times in the body and live, but just one blow to the head can be lethal.

- Another big strategy of Satan is to rob us of our assurance of salvation.

- Strapping on our helmet of Salvation each day is saying: For (Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord) and that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit who was given as a pledge of our inheritance.

- 2 Peter 1:10make your calling and election sure. God wants us to be sure we are a Christian so we can enter the battle confidently not wondering which side we are fighting for.

- 1 John

Verse 17b: Sword of the Spirit – The word of God.

- 5 defensive, 1 offensive weapon.

- Not just defensive but also offensive.

- Word – not logos, but rhema

o Not the word as a whole, but individual sayings or utterances.

o Matthew 4:1-10

o It’s memorization, not running to get your sword but always having it with you.

o Not a long sword, but a dagger, we are slashing and stabbing.

- Proverbs 2:1– treasure my commandments within you.

- Colossians 3:16– let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Verse 18: Prayer at all times and for all the saints. Always talking to our Father in heaven. And always being on alert. If we are sheep and our enemy is a lion, we need to be on alert in this life, and if the lion charges, we run to our shepherd for protection. God is our rock and our shield, our fortress. Run to Him!

- Matthew 28:20I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

There are two extremes when understanding spiritual warfare. One is looking for a demon under every rock, and the other is being completely oblivious to the fact. Both are not correct, and we need to meet in the middle understanding it’s a real thing. The enemy is there, trying to deceive, distract, and devour.

This passage of scripture about putting on the full armor of God is not a suggestion. It’s a command and the Christian only puts on the full armor when they realize the gravity of the situation, understanding what the enemy is trying to do.

2 Timothy 4:5-7. One of the last things Paul writes before his death is to Timothy: (Find and Read)

So, let this be an encouragement, let’s go out there while there’s still breath in our lungs, let’s put on the full armor of God and let’s go out and fight the good fight. Let’s finish the course.