Sermon Tone Analysis

Shielded from the Flaming Darts

Armed for Battle 4: Wield the Shield

We are spending our Sunday mornings, right now, looking at the Armour of God.

Something about this armour that we need to be clear on - what this armour means for us - - The Bible says some amazing things about what we have when we become Christians.

Oh we are blessed, brothers and sisters.

Paul begins this letter, in chapter 1:3 by making a startling statement: “God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”.

HAS - past tense .... “BLESSED US ...” not with some nice blessings now - and some you have to work for.

“HE has blessed us WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in Christ.”

, “(God) HAS (already) seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Elsewhere the Bible tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father .... that may not mean much to you - but the RIGHT hand is the place of greatest power in the kingdom.

It’s the prime minister’s place.

It’s the place of the greatest intimacy - You have the ear of the king.

You are at the right hand - it’s the place of favor.

And the fact that you, as a Christian, are ALREADY seated with Christ, means that if you are a Christian - then friend, you already are in the place of God’s favor, his love and His power.

says this: “His divine power has granted to us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness ...”.

You have everything you need to live the life you want to live for maximum joy in Christ.

So when Paul says, “PUT ON THE ARMOUR” - he’s saying, “Take the benefits and the privileges and the gifts and the power that you have in the gospel … and USE IT ALL.”

That’s massively important.

And once again, here is one more way that Christianity is NOT like any other religion.

Other religions say - - “The spiritual/ religious life is living as uprightly, morally as you can .... following this list of rules ....and offering your best up to God.” “Hopefully it’s good enough and God will accept your best.”

Christianity says, “NO - - The heart of true religion is that Jesus has come, lived a righteous life, paid the penalty - and then given his goodness to us.” “You are accepted because God loves you and has made you acceptable!”

The implications of that are huge.

So when we come to the armour of God .... remember - this is not the equipment you put on to try and impress God … this is the equipment God gives you because He loves you and wants to see you protected from spiritual danger and wants to see you live in holy delight.

This morning our focus is on the FOURTH ITEM of armour.

It’s described in v. 16:

“… In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”

1 THE SHIELD

When you think of a shield – you probably tend to think of Captain America - his shield made of vibranium is pretty much indestructible … he takes it everywhere … runs with it - protects himself with it, uses it like a weapon to smash the bad guys with … he

throws it like a boomerang in battle - always comes back to him.

It is an amazing piece of armour that helps a super hero to be super.

It’s a piece of armor that every soldier could use.

And it’s so portable and light - the size of an overgrown Frisbee.

When we come to the Armour of God and read about the ‘shield of faith’, maybe you picture something like Captain America would carry around.

But when Paul brings up the piece of armour he calls a shield - he’s thinking of something much bigger than that.

He’s thinking of the shield a Roman soldier would use.

The Roman soldier’s shield was about 5 ft tall and about 2 ½ ft.

wide.

That’s big.

But it is especially large sounding when you consider that people tended to be shorter than they are today.

There weren’t many 6 foot tall warriors marching into battle.

The average height of a soldier in the Roman Army was 5’7’’.

So this shield is almost as tall as the soldier is - - not exactly the same height - or you couldn’t even carry it.

But it’s huge - like a door … a portable wall that you hold in front of yourself and you can hide your whole body behind.

Maybe you’ve seen pictures of the Roman army advancing in battle -

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These shields are particularly sturdy - made of wood, but the wood is then covered with a fire-proof metal lining, and then over top of the metal, the shield is wrapped in leather - so that when the enemy shoots his fiery darts - or arrows - the flaming darts hit the metal lining and bounce off without doing damage to you.

The shield protects you - - THAT’S a shield.

Now remember, we are dealing with spiritual armour here - not physical.

We are not dealing with protection that wood and metal provides.

Paul is concerned with something bigger than body alone … he is concerned for you Christian.

He is concerned to protect you, spiritually, from a real, personal enemy - the devil himself, who hates you because you belong to the God of heaven - and the Sovereign Lord of the universe loves you.

Now this enemy loves nothing more than to make, before our eyes, to make God’s glory seem … SMALL.

To make Jesus Christ’s saving work and presence with you … seem BORING.

He would like nothing more for you and me, than to make us, GOD’S PEOPLE - the heirs of heaven, adopted children into God’s royal family - - he would love to make us ... miserable, joyless, passionless zombies .... who mindlessly follow the ways of the world.

The devil wants to suck away your joy.

So when Paul is writing about a shield - - he’s not just writing about any shield – as verse 16 tells us, he is writing about the shield of faith.

So what is the shield of faith?

These shields were made of wood, but were covered with a fire-proof metal lining on the surface, so that when the enemy shot their fiery arrows, they would hit the metal lining and bounce harmlessly off.

2 THE SHIELD OF FAITH

Now remember, we are dealing with spiritual armor here – not physical armor – Paul is concerned to protect us spiritually from the enemy who would love nothing more than to make God’s glory seem small, by making God’s people miserable, joyless, passionless zombies, mindlessly following the ways of the world.

What kind of faith are we to understand here?

What does this have to do with me today, you wonder.

You hear the word, ‘faith’ - and maybe you think, “Ahh - saving faith.

When I put my trust - my ‘faith’ - in the finished work of Jesus Christ, when I turned from my sin and rebellion against God … turned TO Jesus Christ and gave my life to Him … that’s saving faith - that’s the faith Paul is talking about here.”

Well that IS SAVING FAITH … but that’s NOT the faith Paul is talking about here.

This is NOT armour that you put on to become a Christian … this is armour for those who are already saved.

This is a shield for those who DO HAVE FAITH in Jesus Christ and that faith itself is now under attack.

This can’t be about saving faith - a decision you made in the past to trust in Jesus Christ.

Paul is not just writing about any shield – he is writing about a shield of faith.

So what is the shield of faith?

What kind of faith are we to understand here?

We hear the word ‘faith’ and we probably think about saving faith: Put your trust – your ‘faith’ in the finished work of Jesus Christ, turn from sin and give your life to him.

That’s saving faith.

BUT – This is armor for Christians – the armor of God is for those who have already put their trust in Jesus Christ.

This is armor for people who have faith – and their faith itself is under attack.

So it cannot be saving faith.

So, what is it?

To help you understand that - let’s take a look at v. 16 again.

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one ...”

To understand what this shield of faith means for you - how it’s relevant to your life today - - I want to point out a couple of differences here in this verse, that mark this shield off from the pieces of armour that we’ve already looked at in the list.

FIRST - Notice that there’s a change in the verb here in v. 16, that tells you what to DO with this piece of armour.

Up until now, as Paul describes each piece of armour, he’s been saying, ‘HAVING put (it) on’.

Well, actually, the NIV makes the reading flow more smoothly, by not translating the word that actually is there in the original Greek.

The ESV and NASB do translate the word.

Look at v. 14, “HAVING fastened on the belt of truth; HAVING put on the breastplate of righteousness; v. 15, “... as shoes for your feet … HAVING put on the readiness ....”.

Time after time, item after item - Paul says ‘HAVING put it on’ … in other words - in the case of every piece of armour up until now, God’s word expects you to put it on and keep it on - - - fastened to yourself.

You put it on and LEAVE it on.

You take the belt of truth, you cinch it around your waist - and you leave it there.

You take the breastplate of righteousness, you fasten the straps on and you leave it on; you take the shoes of peace … wrap the straps around your legs - — and you leave them on.

Then what is it?

To help you understand that – let’s take a look at v. 16 again.

There are a couple of differences about this piece of armor that mark it off from the pieces that have been named before.

But now, in v. 16, Paul talks about wearing this item in a different way.

NO longer is it, ‘Having put on ...’.

Now it’s: “TAKE UP the shield of faith” (The NIV does translate that).

Then, in v. 17, he goes onto the next pieces of armour and says, ‘TAKE UP the helmet of salvation AND the sword of the Spirit ...” Did you catch that?

This is more than just a matter of interest, this is not just trivia.

Do you see what Paul is getting at here?

These items, starting with the shield of faith, these are things that you don’t always have fastened to your body.

You don’t tie a shield around your arm and leave it there - when you’re resting for the night.

But when a special attack comes .... you know that what you are wearing isn’t enough, so you grab the shield - you ‘take it up’ - and you protect yourself with it.