Living as a Christian in Enemy Territory Pt 2
Ephesians: You are Richer than You Think • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 36 viewsCIT: Paul warns Christians to be prepared for spiritual warfare as they follow Christ. Prop: Christians should prepare for spiritual battle for they will face the enemy daily.
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Last week we started this 2 part series entitled “Living as a Christian in Enemy Territory.” We started with this analogy. Let’s say that you were sending a group to go build a fort. You tell the people, “You are the masons. You are the carpenters. Here are the blue prints. You have the materials. Now go get to work.” Now just before they turn to leave you say, “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, the place you are going to build the fort is enemy territory. So, while you are working, there are going to be people shooting at you and trying to kill you.”
They can still get the work done but that is definitely going to affect the way they go about the work.
That is the reality of the Christian life. That is the reality of living in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God on the earth doesn’t have boarder lines around it. It doesn’t exist as a geographical location on the map. The Kingdom of God exists in the hearts of people. The Kingdom exists wherever people bow the knee to King Jesus. Ephesians tells us what it means to be a Christ follower and then it tells us what it means to live as a Christ follower. But, Paul ends by telling us we live as Christ followers behind enemy lines. That is going to affect then how we accomplish the mission.
Last week we looked at two exhortations that Paul gives us on how to live as a Christian behind enemy lines.
I. Be strong (v. 10-11)
I. Be strong (v. 10-11)
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.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
We have to fight in the Lord’s strength because we don’t have enough power to defeat our enemy in our own strength. This means we walk in humility. It takes humility to put on someone else’s armor.
II. Know Your Enemy (v.11-12)
II. Know Your Enemy (v.11-12)
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.
The devil fights with schemes. That means he lies to you in order to trick you into sinning.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
He fights ruthless because he doesn’t fight alone.
Much of life seems like a battle doesn’t it. If we are not careful we will mischaracterize what our real battle is. We think our battle is against a spouse that won’t listen to us, or kids who hate us, or parents who are unreasonable, teachers that give too much homework, the bank that wants the mortgage whether or not we have the money, a sickness that doesn’t care about your situation, a boss that wants more out of your than you can give, etc. On a national perspective, republicans think then enemy is the democrats, democrats think the enemy is the republicans, and independents think everybody is out to get them. We can look at social situations and say that our enemy is abortion or the homosexual agenda.
All of those are real issues, but none of those are our real enemy. Look what Paul says,
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.
Every battle that we face is ultimately a spiritual battle. That’s because our real enemy isn’t physical enemy; it’s a spiritual one. The mistake of looking at our problems like they are physical problems is that we think the solution is a physical solution. I did a Google search for self help books and came up with over 90,000 results. If I can just learn to relate to people better, or manage money better, or change this aspect of my life all my problems will be solved. Well there’s over 90,000 books on solving every problem you can image and things are still a mess. Why?
I’m not saying there aren’t physical components to our problems or there solutions. What I’m saying is that the real battle behind all our problems is a spiritual war.
Look at how he describes the enemy, (v.12).
And you can’t conquer a spiritual enemy using physical weapons. Look at how our enemy is described rulers, authorities, cosmic power, present darkness, spiritual forces of evil.
There is actually a whole lot in this but I don’t have time to deal all this morning, nor deal with all the emails with questions you would send me if I did. But to sum it up for you, notice that this is governmental language. There are different evil spiritual being place into a spiritual hierachy throughout the world to lead every tribe, tongue, people group, and nation away from Christ and into darkness. The mass murder of the unborn and assault on biblical marriage did not come about because the Supreme Court made bad decisions. These are agenda of high level rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this present evil darkness.
So realize, these are not enemies that can be overcome by reading a book on stress management. You are not going to defeat “cosmic powers” by learning how to win friends and influence people. The war we are living in is being fought in a different arena.
To live Christian lives here behind enemy lines, we have to go to war with the weapons of spiritual warfare.
All of those are real issues, but none of those are our real enemy. Look what Paul says,
So, here are two more exhortations on how to live as a Christian behind enemy lines.
I. Prepare for war and stand your ground. (vv. 13-17)
I. Prepare for war and stand your ground. (vv. 13-17)
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.
We are to stand in the sense that when the enemy comes, we don’t give up ground.
At Northside where my kids go to school, Noah plays football. They all have shirts that on the back that say, “Build the Wall.” It’s not a political statement. It means they control the field and don’t give an in to the opponent. We stand our ground and we don’t give an inch because we are prepared for his attack. You do not have to fall into temptation.
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
He tells us how to be prepared. Paul uses the imagery from physical warfare to describe how we should get prepared for spiritual warfare.
How do we prepare to fight? We put on spiritual armor.
What is the spiritual armor? 5 very specific weapons of spiritual warfare: 1. Truth, 2. Righteousness, 3. Readiness, 4. Faith, 5. Salvation, and 6. the Word of God.
Those are the very characteristics of Christ. Ephesians has taught us that we have new identity in Christ. I’m not going to make a big deal about the physical armor that these are connected to. The reason is that this imagery has been used before in Scripture and sometimes it’s the same as what Paul mentions, but it often varies.
truth
For example in Isaiah, the God of Israel is angry because no one has been willing to stand up for justice, so he put on armor for the defense for the cause of truth.
17 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.
Here there are extra armor of vengeance and zeal.
Isaiah
In , look at the attributes that the Messiah will have.
Also, Paul himself changes his metaphor in .
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
So, here righteousness is the belt. In Ephesians, truth is the belt. The point is that these attributes of the Messiah are the attributes that Christians are to live with.
That’s why we shouldn’t be concerned when Paul changed the metaphor in .
Also, Paul himself changes his metaphor in .
Here righteousness is the belt not the breastplate.
8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
Here righteousness is the belt not the breastplate.
In , it’s the breastplate of righteousness, not faith and love.It doesn’t matter what the breastplate is. It matters who Jesus is. And Jesus is a Messiah of faith, love, and righteousness. His attributes are what we live by and we fight with.
Let’s take a look at these attributes that Paul points to in .
Fight with Truth.
A. Truth (v.14)
A. Truth (v.14)
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Jesus called himself, the truth.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the embodiment of the truth that God reveals of himself in Scripture. We live in a world of falsehood and deceitfulness. How do we know what truth is? How do we know what the standard for righteousness and wickedness is? How do we know who God is and who we are. How do we know why we are here? How do we know what it takes to be right with God?
God tells us in his word. That is why it is so crucial to develop a biblical worldview. To understand the world the way the Bible presents it. The world won’t describe any of these realities the same way.
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:
We must wear the truth.
B. Righteousness (v.14)
B. Righteousness (v.14)
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
You have to go to war with the weapons of spiritual warfare.
The question that we have to ask here is, “What kind of righteousness is he talking about?” There is positional and practical righteousness.
Positional righteousness is the fact because we are in Christ and forgiven of all sin, past, present, and future, we are declared righteous.
Theologians call it, imputed righteousness. It means the perfect life that Christ lived earned perfect righteousness. It earned heaven. That righteousness has been imputed to us. Applied to our account when we place faith in Christ.
Spurgeon described this righteousness like this:
1225Saints are so righteous in Jesus Christ that they are more righteous than Adam was before he fell, for he had but a creature righteousness, and they have the righteousness of the Creator. He had a righteousness which he lost, but believers have a righteousness which they can never lose, an everlasting righteousness
We have to understand who we are in Christ to fight well. But that’s not the only type of righteousness that we need to be concerned with.
We have to understand who we are in Christ to fight well. But that’s not the only type of righteousness that we need to be concerned with.
What happens is because we understand that we are saved and the righteousness needed for heaven is not earned, we start to think that a righteous life doesn’t really matter that much.
But Paul is pressing here for the righteousness that we have in Christ to be evident in the lives that we live. We fight practical evil with practical righteousness.
It matters how we live. Paul was facing this issue
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Our identity should be evident in our actions. It matters that if we follow Christ, we actually follow Christ. It means we live in relationship with him. We live daily in his presence.
So, here’s a simple principle. Always act like Jesus is right there with you. When you have a decision to make, what would you do if he were with you. Do that because he is.
He is righteous and we belong to him.
What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? Look at your Bible and it says, “Holy Bible.” What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called “The Holy Land,” and the city of Jerusalem is called “The Holy City.” Why? There is a quality about all three that they share in common. They all belong to God. The Bible is God’s book; Israel is God’s land; Jerusalem is God’s city. They are all God’s property! That is why they are holy; they belong to God.655
*What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? Look at your Bible and it says, “Holy Bible.” What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called “The Holy Land,” and the city of Jerusalem is called “The Holy City.” Why? There is a quality about all three that they share in common. They all belong to God. The Bible is God’s book; Israel is God’s land; Jerusalem is God’s city. They are all God’s property! That is why they are holy; they belong to God.
What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? Look at your Bible and it says, “Holy Bible.” What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called “The Holy Land,” and the city of Jerusalem is called “The Holy City.” Why? There is a quality about all three that they share in common. They all belong to God. The Bible is God’s book; Israel is God’s land; Jerusalem is God’s city. They are all God’s property! That is why they are holy; they belong to God.655
Michael P. Green. (2000). 1500 illustrations for biblical preaching (p. 188). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
We belong to God, so we live holy. And holiness destroys the enemy.
The way to overcome darkness is with light. The nature of light is to shine. Let’s destroy the darkness.
