Belt of Truth
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
We all love when we get the truth from people. We hate when people lie to us, and we want truth. Our generation has been pegged as people who want the truth. We see through lies of this world, but do we exactly see truth.
As we look at the armor there are six pieces. The first three we put on. The second three we take up. So this first one, the belt of truth we put on.
Someone read the beginning of verse 14
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
So we said there would be plenty of soldier analogies in this study. Here’s our first one.
A solider when he would dress for battle would first put on his belt. He would tighten his sash up to where it would not impede him during battle. His belt would hold everything in place.
We can think of the football player who would clench his mouthpiece in his teeth, tightening his belt to get ready for the next play.
Men who wore dresses back then, would not want their dress to be flying around during battle. One man grabs your dress puts it over your head, and WHACK. You’ve lost.
These soldiers needed to be prepared. To be ready. To be alert.
The Belt Holds Everything Together
The Belt Holds Everything Together
Preaching the Word: Ephesians—The Mystery of the Body of Christ The Belt of Truth (v. 14a)
Truth holds the spiritual armor in place and safeguards against deadly entanglements.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
And then we look at this word truth. What is Paul referring to.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Later in that chapter John says
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Earlier in
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Truth…It is the objective, spiritual truth in Jesus and in His Scriptures.
Truth is foundational the Christian life. (pg. 26).
The truth about God. Ourselves. History. Future.
And I do not know about you, but when I put a belt on it is not loose fitting. It is tight around my waist. I want my pants to stay on and have no chance of falling down.
We must strap truth to ourselves tightly. The truth we read in God’s Word must then be applied.
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
When we talk about the Christian life and truth, Christians claim to know “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 only way. There is no other way. No other truth.
Christianity claims loudly to be the truth. and the truth with which we are to be belted in order to face up the devil is, first and foremost, the truth of what we believe: the gospel message of who God is, who we are , and what he requires of us as created human beings. This truth is revealed to us in the Word of God, the Scriptures.
Why is truth so important in the Christian life?
What gets in the way of accessing and believing the truth?
So we discuss truth. The Greek word ἀληθείᾳ refers to the content of that which is true.
What happens when we do not know truth? I’m glad you ask.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
What was the logical flow of that passage?
So we understand the content of the truth we believe is important.
The second point though is not just the content but the quality.
The Quality of the Truth
The Quality of the Truth
To put on, to be girded with the belt of truth is to reveal an attitude of readiness.
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
Pull in the loose ends of your life and forsake hypocrisy. If you consider yourself a Christ-follower live like one.
Paul told this to Timothy in his last letter to him.
4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
“Since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”
Listen to this story
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters to Timothy and Titus A. The Appeal Renewed (2:1–13)
There is, for example, the account of the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, who, “after supplicating the gods that the matter might turn out favorably to the legion,” if the soldiers would only disembark bravely from their ships and join battle, exclaimed, “Leap, fellow soldiers, unless you wish to betray your eagle to the enemy. I, for my part, will perform my duty to the commonwealth and my general.” Or the motivation to please might be in hope of a reward from their commander.
The solider aim for Julius Caesar, a human king, was “I for my part, will perform my duty to the commonwealth and my general.”
Paul expects out of Timothy to pay intense attention to the commander of all commanders. The king of all kings in Jesus Christ.
Then there is the life of Jesus. Fully God and fully man, the one who wore the armor first.
Turn to
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
Jesus could have done any single one of these things Satan told him to do. He could have made the stones bread. He could have fallen off the building and angels catch him.
But that was not God’s will. He knew the truth and he clung to it.
Let’s be honest, we all love our carbs and our bread. Satan tells me to make those stones Olive Garden breadsticks and gives me the power to do it I’m doing it.
From the book
“The more we grasp the truth of Christ’s righteousness in our place, the more this truth will strengthen us in turn against Satan’s lies.” 35
Why is it important that Jesus loved and believe the truth during his early life?
What specific truths about God, about yourself, or about the gospel do you need to grasp or remember right now?
The belt of truth is your foundational garment. Put in on; wear it; be found in it day and night—for in Christ that truth will set you free from the grip of Satan’s powerful lies.