Fighting From Our Knees
Following Christ our Head • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
We are engaged in the battle for the souls of humans. Today, Paul will tell us when the days grow evil, we will overcome with the gospel if we know who’s in charge, know our enemy and stand firm against him, and put on God’s armor and fight from our knees.
Know Who’s in Authority
Know Who’s in Authority
Our passage begins with the main theme of Ephesians: Jesus is Lord; He is in charge.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
In the battle for human souls, are powerless. Your strength will fail. But in the battle for human souls, who is in authority? Paul is convinced that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Jesus had said,
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
As Paul reflected on this reality, he sees Jesus practicing His authority through the gospel preached and lived out by His disciples to deliver people who are dead in their sins to share in the eternal life of God. And the church of those regenerated people, rooted in God’s love for us in Christ, filled with the fullness of God, will be His crowning glory before the rulers in the heavenly places.
so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
As we saw last week, humans will enslave one another and lord their authority over one another. But as we’ve seen through Ephesians, God’s desire for humans is freedom from spiritual enslavement for eternal life with Him, filled with His fullness through your union to Christ Jesus.
Jesus had said that His church would storm the gates of hell,
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Paul said he thought about his ministry as seeking to free people from captivity to the devil.
and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
So, here’s the picture: Jesus will command and win the conflict between God’s kingdom and the wicked, rebellious angels and men who would enslave people. As we make disciples of Jesus in the authority of Jesus, and baptize them into union with God and the church, we are tearing down the gates of hell and releasing the captives inside.
Rely on the strength of the Lord Jesus. You will be faithless, but Jesus if faithful. You will complain, but Jesus never opened His mouth when suffering. You will want your own way, but Jesus is always obedient to the Father, even to the point of shedding His blood on the cross. He alone knows the full power of sin and temptation, and He has overcome. You have been crucified with Christ, and now He lives in you, so learn to be strong in the strength of His might. When the battle gets too hot, surrender to Him, let Jesus lead. Paul gives us a helpful image for our minds.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
We should expect the devil to be scheming against God and us. He does not want to let go of his captives and he would not see his kingdom fall. But God will supply us with His armor for the battle. If we rely on the Lord and not our own strength, we will stand with Jesus at the siege of hell. I can’t help but think of Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. Every scheme Wile E. Coyote dreams up never works against the roadrunner. When we have put on the whole armor of God, this is our reality.
Know Your Enemy and Stand Firm
Know Your Enemy and Stand Firm
Standing firm is the key posture of this passage. Paul repeats it four times in verses 11-14. Why do we need to stand firm? Because we have a powerful enemy. Our enemy is what Paul describes in verse 12 as spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
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.
We tend to see people as our enemies. My egomaniacal boss. My lazy, lying coworker. My tyrannical teacher. My crazy neighbor. But Paul says that’s the wrong perspective. Our fight is not with humans. People are not my enemy. We have a cosmic, unseen enemy that has created a spiritual darkness in our world. My boss, neighbor, teacher, coworker, are victims of the devil who has taken them captive behind the gates of hell. If I treat them as enemy combatants, I’ve already lost to the devil’s schemes.
Know the true enemy. The Bible describes humans as creature made in God’s image the partner with Him in ruling the earth. And it describes other creature, “heavenly beings”, who share His dominion in the heavens. Earth and heaven seem to reflect each other. Just as humans have rebelled against God’s rule on earth, there are heavenly beings who have rebelled against God’s rule in their realm. They are powerful, and they are very crafty.
One deception they use is the lie that we can be like God, self-sufficient, manifesting our own reality, self-reliant. So, we begin by rejecting the lie and living in truth. Without God, I am powerless and my life is unmanageable. I need God if I’m going to stand firm.
Put on God’s Armor and Fight From Your Knees
Put on God’s Armor and Fight From Your Knees
How do we fight this powerful enemy? Paul says it is like putting on armor. He will use the armor of a Roman soldier as his template. But he says to put on God’s armor? What is that? Paul probably had Isaiah 59 in mind. Isaiah was writing at a time when all God’s people had fallen to the deceitful schemes of the enemy. He says, this is when God puts on His armor.
For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
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.
According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.
So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the Lord drives.
“And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.
When the days are evil, when injustice keeps people enslaved, when truth is lacking, what does God do? He puts on righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet, and vengeance against evil for clothing, and zeal as His cloak. God’s armor is His power and zeal to judge oppression and save and redeem the repentant. This is the armor we put on.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
The evil day reminds us of chapter 5,
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
The days may be evil, but we are in the redemption business. We have the gospel of salvation in Jesus to share with the oppressor and the oppressed alike. We don’t give in. We stand with Jesus and besiege the gates of hell. And when all is said and done, we’ll still be standing in His power.
So, for the fourth time, in verse 14, Paul says,
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Paul chooses a familiar visual image of the armor of a Roman soldier as framework for describing the armor of God. He starts where Isaiah left off.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
He begins his framework with truth, the attribute of God that ties them all together for us. If we don’t believe God is true and if we don’t submit to His truth, we will fall to the devil’s schemes. Like the belt that tied all the soldier’s equipment together, truth ties everything together for us.
Righteousness protects our vitality. The devil wants to take out Christians through guilt and shame for our sins, and righteousness is our immunity. This is not our righteousness, it is the righteousness of Christ that we receive by faith. Christ in me guards my heart.
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
A Roman soldier wore spiked sandals or boots to be able to stand against an charging enemy or to make a charge of his own. We should have the gospel of peace with God through Jesus ready for ourselves when the devil comes charging with temptation, condemnation, and shame. We should also have it ready when someone else is suffering the same things. The gospel is that we have condemned ourselves to judgment in our sin and rebellion against God’s rule, but we have peace with God and eternal life through Jesus’s death and resurrection. (By the way, we have tools to help you be ready to share that gospel.)
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,
Faith that God’s words are true and He truly loves us extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the evil one who has been tempting us to doubt God since the garden of Eden. And God’s salvation defends me against the fatal blow of eternal judgment. My salvation in Christ is also my victory in the battle that rages for my mind. We have access to divine power to take every argument, opinion, and thought captive to obey Christ when we have become obedient to Christ as saved people.
The final piece of armor is two-edged. The sword of the Spirit, God’s word, and praying in the Spirit.
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
This is another way we let Jesus lead. He is the living word, who used God’s written word to defeat satan’s deceitful schemes in the wilderness. In our own moments of temptation, the Holy Spirit uses God’s word in every and all situations to cut though the darkness, the lies, the deceptions, the confusion caused by the deceitful schemes laid out over ages by our spiritual enemy and the deceitful schemes created in our own time by men.
Is the Bible a book you read, or have you experienced the Holy Spirit speaking to you as you read it? Do you kind of know what’s in the Bible in certain places, or do you meditate on it so God’s word is ready at hand? Are you familiar with which passages will cut deep into which chambers of our hearts? If a soldier did not have an intimate knowledge of his sword and have practice using it, when the battle began, it would be too late to learn.
What is the last time the Holy Spirit showed you your next step of obedience to Christ in the Bible and you took it? When you are talking with someone who is racked with shame, would you be ready to bring them to Romans 8 or Colossians 2 or Hebrews 12? If someone wanted to know why you believe Jesus is God, where would you take them in the Bible to help them consider the evidence we have? If you are being tempted to round up extra time on your time card at work, would any of the Proverbs or the teachings of Jesus come to mind?
What’s the connection between the sword of the Spirit and prayer in the Spirit? When God’s word is hidden in your heart, the Holy Spirit will guide your heart and mind in prayer in ways you did not know possible. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been praying through a thorny problem, and the Holy Spirit has brought a passage of scripture to mind that makes the answer much more clear. This is when I’m most confident that I am praying in the Spirit. There are all kinds of prayer and supplication, which means asking for stuff. But we can be confident we are asking for the right stuff if we pray according to God’s word guided by the Holy Spirit.
Praying in the Spirit means other things too. Sometimes it is a deep resonance in our spirit that something is wrong and we should pray for guidance or for a certain person. Sometimes the Spirit brings a peace that is beyond understanding that helps us know we have our answer. He may give you an unknown language for your conversations with God, and your heart will engage with Him even if your mind doesn’t fully understand it. The Holy Spirit ministers in our spirit in deep ways we can’t put into words.
But often He ministers to us in prayer by helping us know how to pray when we don’t know how to get started. You can ask Him to teach you to pray, and He will. He also guides us into praying the will of God. He will show you motives in your heart that need to change. He will minister comfort to your heart through God’s word so you will surrender your will to God’s will without fear. The hardest battle ground of all is our own will. And when we fight on that ground not standing, but on our knees, the Holy Spirit can work with a humble and contrite heart.
Paul closes with this request,
To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me,
that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
We end where we began, making disciples of Jesus by proclaiming His gospel. This is the calling of all the saints and apostles. Paul is chained, but the gospel is not chained. Especially when it seems the enemy has won and bound a great gospel preacher, we recognize there is an unseen reality at work. That preacher may be bound to a captive audience. When the days are evil, we fight from our knees so we will stand in the strength of Jesus Christ.
Are we vigilant in our prayer, asking that God would help us take every opportunity to pray for boldness to share the gospel?
