Battle Stations

Welcome

Good Morning! I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.

We believe we are a called people! Called to worship and exalt our God among the nations in order that His glory may be spread over all the earth!

If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to know that ...

We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love others, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”

We have a connect card in the pew in front of you. I invite you to take one and fill it out! If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well.

I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon. You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.

Memorial Day Moment of Silence

Scripture Memory

Galatians 6:9–10 ESV

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Opening Scripture

Psalm 55:16–18 ESV

16 But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. 17 Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. 18 He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.

Ephesians 6:10–18 ESV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 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,

Introduction

Who’s Your One?

We started talking about the importance of reaching your a few weeks ago before Mother’s Day.

Hopefully, you have been praying for your one every day. Maybe you have been bold enough to strike up a conversation with them or to invite them out to lunch. Some of you have begun inviting your one to join us here in worship at our church gathering.

If you haven’t, may I ask you, “why not?” What is holding you back? I am sure there are good reasons for why you haven’t. But are those reasons legitimate or are they simply excuses.

Our adversary, our enemy, the deceiver, the slanderer, the prince of this world, the one we call the Devil or Satan would love nothing more than to help you create excuses for why you don’t want to suffer potential ridicule or shame by sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with your one?

On this Memorial Day, “Do you realize that we are at war?”

Do you remember, I preached a sermon to you last July, almost a year ago, titled, “Serving on the G.K.S. Ephesus.”

In that sermon, I attempted to relay a message from Captain Jesus where we used our imaginations to hear him say...

“Realize that you are on a warship! We are at war! Satan will fight against us at every leg of the journey. He does not want to see the G.K.S. Ephesus become a formidable foe.

He will even use other people against us, possibly even some of this crew. Again, you must be humble and loving at all cost, especially towards those who oppose us.

Please allow God’s Word to transform them as it is transforming you. Be brave, courageous, and strong. It will be very difficult to know what issues are worth drawing a line in the sand and saying this far and no farther. Pray for discernment and when the time comes to act, act boldly and decisively!”

Ephesus, do you realize that we are at war? Our sermon today is titled, “Battle Stations!”

Today’s call to man our Battle Stations comes from the pen of the Apostle Peter in the epistle named after him.

I want to share with you three things we need daily as we man our battle stations as well as the promised result of faithfully standing firm in those battle stations.

Join me in 1 Peter, chapter 5. I am going to start reading in verse 5. Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s inspired and inerrant Word.

1 Peter 5:5–11 ESV

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Context:

Peter wrote the letter we call 1 Peter while he was on mission in Rome. The letter was written to a group of churches in Asia Minor who have been affected by the dispersion.

We know from the letter that the original readers were facing suffering and persecution because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

The persecution was not state sponsored or an official policy of the Roman empire at this time. Instead, the suffering was local and sporadic. Being a Christian was not technically illegal.

But these disciples were called “strangers” and “aliens.” They are the new people of God, but as God’s people they are disenfranchised, discriminated against, and mistreated. Their home is not earth but heaven. This was not a time of peace and comfort, rather it was a time of war and of suffering.

Peter has a few things to say to these believers about how we should approach the harsh reality of spiritual war. I think all he says to them is extremely relevant for us today, for we too are at war, whether we realize it or not.

1. As we man our battle stations, we must man them with humility.

Peter has just given some final instructions to the Pastors and Elders who are leading God’s flock through this difficult season of suffering for the Gospel.

Now he turns his attention to those who are “younger” in the faith. He reminds them of their need to be submissive to their elder leaders. Then he describes how they are to do this. Now, this applies to each and every pastor and leader as well, but it is originally spoke directly to those who are their followers.

Listen to what Peter tells them in regard to humility.

1 Peter 5:5–7 ESV

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

You can’t man your battle stations effectively without humility.

Since God resists the proud and pours his grace upon the humble, “therefore” believers should humble themselves.

By humbling themselves they will experience God’s grace, for God bestows his favor on those who acknowledge their need of him.

So we are to clothe ourselves with humility.

As Charles Spurgeon once wrote,

“Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self.”

Humility is to be aware of personal strengths and to be thankful to God for them. Humility is to be aware of personal weaknesses and to be dependent upon God to help you improve in those areas.

Beyond this, humility describes an attitude which puts others first, which thinks of the desires, needs, and ideas of others as more worthy of attention than your own.

Beyond that, humility describes a heart that seeks to submit to God’s will and authority over their life. It is a life that puts God’s glory ahead of its own glory.

When we lack humility, we dance with pride. We trust only in ourselves, our opinions, our ideas. In our pride we seek attention and glory for ourselves.

God stands opposed to this sinful attitude. As followers of Christ, we are to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. Although we may experience deep pain and suffering, humility before God will still protect us and bring us safely through.

Pride, leads to worry because it denies the care of our immensely good and sovereign God.

How do we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God?

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Thomas Schreiner comments,

“Believers humble themselves by casting their worries on God. Conversely, if believers continue to worry, then they are caving in to pride.

How can anxiety and worry be criticized as pride? We can see that it might be a lack of faith, but does it make sense to identify worry as pride?

Worry is a form of pride because when believers are filled with anxiety, they are convinced that they must solve all the problems in their lives in their own strength. The only god they trust in is themselves.

When believers throw their worries upon God, they express their trust in his mighty hand, acknowledging that he is Lord and Sovereign over all of life.”

It has been said,

“Affliction either drives one into the arms of God or severs one from God.”

What are you worried about? God is in control, what can other men do to me! Verse 7 reminds us that God “cares for you!”

Bring on the battle! Share the gospel with no fear because Christ will be glorified in you if you trust Him!

As we man our battle stations, we must man them with humility.

2. As we man our battle stations, we must man them with vigilance.

With two aorist imperatives, Peter implores and summons us to be vigilant: “Be sober - minded (self-controlled); be watchful (alert).”

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

We must remain ever vigilant until the very end of our lives. Why?

Because we are at war!

“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

That evil deceiver wants to do to you what he did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He wants to inflict you with suffering and persecution so that you will seek the comfort of a lie and in essence deny Christ and destroy your faith.

Peter identifies him as our adversary, our enemy!

The devil roars like a lion to induce fear in the people of God. Suffering and persecution is the roar by which he tries to intimidate you in the hope that you will surrender at the prospect of suffering and deny your faith.

He doesn’t care if you deny it verbally or through your actions as you allow the world to allure you away from doing what you were made to do: Glorify God!

The difference between God and the devil is quite clear. God tenderly cares for his children (5:6–7), inviting them to bring their worries to him so that he can sustain them. God promises to protect his flock in all their distress.

Conversely, the devil’s aim is not to comfort but to terrify believers. He does not want to deliver them from fear but to devour their faith.

Peter warns us to be vigilant. The roaring of the devil is the crazed anger of a defeated enemy, and if we do not fear his ferocious roar, we will never be consumed by his bite.

David Walls remarked,

“C. S. Lewis once suggested that the two mistakes Christians make in talking about Satan are that we either joke about him or we ignore him. According to this verse, neither of these is an option.

In essence, this verse says, “Wake up! Pay attention! We are involved in a spiritual battle. You need to know the enemy and his characteristics. You need to understand that we are in a life-and-death battle.”

As we man our battle stations, we must man them with vigilance.

3. As we man our battle stations, we must man them with active resistance.

1 Peter 5:9 ESV

9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

To resist represents and active engagement against a foe. Resistance, then is active, not passive. No matter how strong a believer you claim to be, you will not triumph over the devil if you remain passive.

The call to resist is not a call to huge things for God. It is not a call to gather all our resources for some vast campaign. No, the call to resist means that you trust God and grow firm in your faith.

Perseverance through resistance until the last day is not accomplished on the first day or the last day, but it grows stronger each and every day as we learn to remain firm in the faith and resist to last by faith.

Satan wants us to be drawn in different directions, to be divided and distracted. When we limp in this direction, we do not resist Satan, rather we play into his hand. He wants us to put more trust in ourselves and others as opposed to God.

Peter envisions the devil as a cunning and evil personal being who has the ability to attack Christians and to disrupt the life and unity of the church.

Theologically, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection won the decisive victory in the war against the powers of darkness. This does not mean that the battle is over.

Because of the cross, we have the assurance that these evil powers have been disarmed. We share in Christ’s authority over them.

But we do not have an automatic immunity to the influence of Satan and his demonic powers; otherwise, Peter’s counsel regarding resisting him would make no sense.

We all suffer. We are not alone in our suffering. It happens to believers all over the world. Some experience consequences much worse than ridicule and rejection.

Regardless of our personal suffering, we must join many other Christians suffering in other parts of the world in standing firm together in a united and active resistance to the assaults of the devil.

As we man our battle stations, we must man them with active resistance.

How do we stand firm and fight a good fight in the various battle stations of life?

A. Trust God in everything!

B. Commit to being an intentional witness.

C. Recognize and Repent of Past Excuses.

What excuses you might say, well let me share a few.

1. SPIRITUAL LETHARGY

Bill Bright used to say,

“If you are not excited about something, chances are you won't tell many people about it. For many Christians, the excitement of the Christian walk has been dulled by everyday distractions, materialistic pursuits, and unconfessed sin.”

Spiritual lethargy takes place when we fail to obey. A lack of growth will inevitably lead to a diminished desire to share Christ with others.

2. GROWING INCLUSIVENESS

“All religions lead to God” is a prevailing opinion.

Sometimes this view affirms Jesus is not the only way to salvation, but He can be found in other “good religions.”

It’s a subtle belief that somehow “good” followers will make it to heaven outside of true Christian conversion.

So, as long as they believe something and are good people, as our excuse can go, we don’t need to press them too hard.

3. DISBELIEF IN HELL

We talked about this last week. If we don’t believe in a real torment in hell, we undermine the urgency of calling a person to place their faith in Christ alone.

One must escape the wrath of God, and Jesus is the only refuge. Stop deceiving yourselves. The war is real! The eternal outcome is just as real.

4. BUSYNESS

“I would do more to tell people about Jesus, but I am just so busy. If only I had more time.”

The lost souls around us need us to tell them about Jesus. This needs to be on our primary to-do list. What priority do you give to reaching the lost?

5. FEAR OF REJECTION

We possibly will be persecuted by unbelievers, as well as believers, but the fear of man will prove to be a snare.

Proverbs 29:25 ESV

25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

Christ said of those who feared to confess His name,

John 12:43 ESV

43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Research shows that only one in four un-churched people will be resistant to conversations about faith; 75 percent are open.

The few with an antagonistic attitude are not rejecting you personally; their anger is merely a reflection of something in their past. They still need to hear the Gospel, and we need to tell them.

6. A DESIRE TO BE TOLERANT

The gospel is, in some sense, intolerant. The one true God insists there can be no other gods. He is a jealous God. Jesus said,

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Luke 13:23–24 ESV

23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

The Gospel is a free gift to anyone who will believe it, that is hardly intolerant. If anything it is the most tolerant hope we have.

7. LOSING THE HABIT OF WITNESSING

For many reasons, you may have quit witnessing. Witnessing is a discipline. It can be regained!

8. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY

When you have someone holding you accountable, it can increase your zeal for witnessing. Find a brother or sister in Christ and start going out together to intentionally share the gospel with others.

9. FAILURE TO INVITE

When was the last time you invited an unchurched person to church? Have you offered to take someone to church or meet them at church? It’s such a simple gesture that can have a significant outcome.

Yet, we allow the evil one to tell us we can’t do it. Why? Trust God, tell someone about Him and invite them to worship Him with His church.

10. CHURCH NOT INTENT ON REACHING THE LOST.

“Pastor, how can I invite someone to church when my church doesn’t care about the lost. They simply don’t seem to want to reach them.”

It is said it takes 85 church members to reach one unsaved person. What a terrible ratio! 85:1 Churches must regain their passion for the lost.

Ephesus, if we want to see the promise of God fulfilled in us, then we have to regain our passion for the salvation of others for the glory of God.

Conclusion:

The Promise of God.

1 Peter 5:10–11 ESV

10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This is more than a hope; it is an assertion of what God will do. God will restore or repair whatever is damaged, so the you will be able to face whatever lies ahead.

Failure in the past does not doom a person to failure in the future.

He confirms

He strengthens

He establishes

1. Will you be intentional in resisting?

2. Will you be accountable in growing, serving, and sharing?

Hymn of Invitation:

Hymn No. 294

Have Thine Own Way Lord!