THE ARMOR OF GOD: The Belt of Truth
THE ARMOR OF GOD: The Belt of Truth
IMPERATIVES:
#1 Determine Your Goal;
#2 Pick A Point (It’s important to have a one point message. That way you only have one thing to remember.);
#3 Create A Map (Me-We-God-You-We);
#4 Internalize The Message (Tell a story that takes them on a journey) (Whether it’s a journey to your childhood home or a journey to a life-changing truth, it’s a story that will take you there.) (People make it difficult when they try to communicate points instead of telling a story.) (When you stand up and speak without notes and without having to read your sermon, you’re saying, “This is so important that it’s a part of me — and I think you should make it a part of you, too!”);
#5 Engage The Audience;
#6 Find Your Voice;
#7 Find Some TractionPrayer, Checklist Questions: What do they need to know?Why do they need to know it?What do they need to do?Why do they need to do it?
MAP:
ME - Explain who you are and what you’re all about. Pastor in his church uses as introduction of idea or topic.
WE - It takes me from what I’m thinking or feeling to what WE are thinking and feeling. I have to find an emotional common ground with them around the topic or idea of the message. My goal is to raise a felt need with as many people in the audience as I can
GOD - where I take this emotional common ground I’ve established and introduce biblical truth into the discussion. Now I’m providing a solution to the need I just raised. Remember, we are not teaching the Bible to people; we’re teaching people the Bible. First, we connect with the people; then we move to the Bible.
YOU - Once I’ve introduced God’s view on the subject as the answer to the need, it makes it easy for me to then ask, ‘What are you going to do about it? This becomes the application segment, and if I’ve followed my map well, instead of having to stir up interest in making the application, the application comes as a relief or it’s always the answer to a question they’re already asking. Communicate the challenge at a personal level because life-change is going to come when people apply the truth to their lives. You just go back, and everywhere you raised a need, now you make an application and make sure you don’t raise a felt need that you aren’t going to cover from God’s Word and answer with an application. The worst thing a communicator can do is overpromise and under-deliver. You’re building trust with your listeners. Not just trust in the information, but trust in the relationship.
WE - the place to cast a common vision. A vision of what our lives, our church, and even our world would look like if only we would apply the truth of God’s Word. It’s the inspirational part of the message. My goal at this point is to inspire people to make a change. Sometimes being faced with God’s Word can leave the listener feeling defeated, if all they think about is how far they have to go. But, if I can give them a picture of what life will be like once they apply the truth, then they have a little hope.
GOAL: The Armor of God . . .
POINT: The Belt of Truth . . .
INTRODUCTION
(ME)/(WE)
MESSAGE (GOD)
What Is The Armor of God: The Belt of Truth?
Ephesians 6:10-18
Slides/Pictures of the Belt of Truth
It was the “waistcloth” worn by Assyrian warriors (Isa. 5:27) and the “belt” worn by Chaldeans (Ezk. 23:15); metaphorically it was the “girdle” of righteousness and faithfulness (Isa. 11:5).
A. Undergarments Volume 2, Page 403
Rather than being a mere belt, when it was the sole garment it was a short wrapped skirt, as in Egyptian and Assyrian scenes (ANEP, nos 1, 2, 8 etc.).
Often a garment would be worn ungirded at home, and thus the act of fastening the belt and even at times tucking up the garment indicated preparation for some activity or journey.
Swords were carried inside a belt or in a sheath suspended from a belt on the side opposite the dominant hand (Exod 32:27; Judg. 3:21 [cf. v. 15]; 1 Sam. 17:51; 2 Sam. 20:8; 1 Chr. 21:27; Cant. 3:8).
Belt Page 549
belt. This term is used in modern English versions where the KJV uses “girdle” as a translation of various words in Hebrew (e.g., ḥăgôr H2512) and one in Greek (zōnē G2438). Although the term “belt” was common at the time the KJV was produced, the translators may have preferred “girdle” because the article in question was in most cases a strip of cloth or leather intended to confine clothes rather than support them. In some passages “belt” is clearly superior (e.g., 2 Sam. 18:11, where the support for Joab’s sword is meant). Moreover, the common modern use of “girdle” to refer specifically to a woman’s undergarment makes this term less preferable.
5131
belt
An item of clothing, worn round the waist, used for gathering clothes and holding weapons or money.
The belt as an item of clothing
1Ki 18:46 See also 2Sa 20:8; 1Ki 2:5; 2Ki 4:29; 9:1; Ps 109:19; Isa 5:27; Jer 13:1-11; Da 10:5; Mt 10:9 pp Mk 6:8; Ac 21:11
Part of the battledress of a warrior
1Sa 18:4 See also 2Sa 18:11; Eze 23:15
A leather belt was a sign of rough living
2Ki 1:8 See also Mt 3:4 pp Mk 1:6
The belt symbolises truth and righteousness
Isa 11:5; Eph 6:14
See also
5144 cloak
5145 clothing
5177 robes
5612 weapons
8154 righteousness
8486 spiritual warfare, armour
5. Girdle
The girdle (ḥǎghōrāh; Gr zō̇nē) was of leather studded with nails, and was used for supporting the sword (1 S 18:4; 2 S 20:8). See GIRDLE.
Figurative: For fig. uses see under the separate weapons.
LITERATURE.—Nowack, Hebräische Archaeologie, I, 359–67; Benzinger, Herzog, RE, art. “Kriegswesen bei den Hebräern”; McCurdy, HPM, I, II; Woods and Powell, The Heb Prophets for Eng. Readers, I, II; G. M. Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs; Browne, Heb Antiquities, 40–46; corresponding arts. in Kitto, Hastings, and other Bible dictionaries.
T. NICOL
What Does It All Mean?
30.87 ἵστημιe: to propose or put forward a particular selection—‘to select, to choose.’ ἔστησαν δύο, Ἰωσὴφ … καὶ Μαθθίαν ‘so they selected two men: Joseph … and Matthias’ Ac 1:23. For another interpretation of ἵστημι in Ac 1:23, see 33.343.
85.40 ἵστημιa: to cause to be in a place, with or without the accompanying feature of standing position—‘to put, to place, to set, to make stand, to be there.’ ἀγαγόντες δὲ αὐτοὺς ἔστησαν ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ ‘they brought them in and made them stand before the council’ Ac 5:27; ἔστησάν τε μάρτυρας ψευδεῖς λέγοντας ‘false witnesses were there who said …’ Ac 6:13; προσκαλεσάμενος παιδίον ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν ‘calling a child, he placed him in the midst of them’ Mt 18:2. As may be seen from the preceding three contexts, ἵστημιa may very well imply a standing position, but what is in focus is not the stance but the location.
1. In its use for “to stand” this verb forms the opposite of sitting, reclining, or falling, also of moving.
2. The present hístēmi means “to stop,” “to set up,” “to appoint or institute,” “to stir up or lift up,” and “to place on a scale,” “to weigh.”
3. The middle means “to stand still,” “to remain standing,” “to come before,” “to stand up,” “to arise,” and “to begin.”
4. The perfect and pluperfect forms mean “to stand” and “to be.”
5. The late future and aorist passive share the general meaning.
89.50 οὖνa; μενοῦνb: markers of result, often implying the conclusion of a process of reasoning—‘so, therefore, consequently, accordingly, then, so then.’
οὖνa: πᾶς οὖν ὅστις ἀκούει μου τοὺς λόγους τούτους ‘therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine’ Mt 7:24; συνήγαγον οὖν, καὶ ἐγέμισαν δώδεκα κοφίνους κλασμάτων ‘therefore they gathered and filled twelve baskets with pieces’ Jn 6:13.μενοῦνb: μενοῦν μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες ‘therefore, truly blessed are (or ‘happy are …’) those who hear the word of God and obey it’ Lk 11:28. For other interpretations of μενοῦν in Lk 11:28, see 89.128 and 91.8.
92.7 ὑμεῖς, ὑμῶν, ὑμῖν, ὑμᾶς: a reference to the receptors of a message, whether oral or written (with an added feature of emphasis in the form ὑμεῖς)—‘you, your.’ ἡμεῖς μωροὶ … ὑμεῖς δὲ φρόνιμοι ‘we are foolish … but you are wise’ 1 Cor 4:10; ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ‘your faith’ Ro 1:8.
72.2 ἀλήθεια, ας f: the content of that which is true and thus in accordance with what actually happened—‘truth.’ εἶπεν αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ‘she told him the whole truth’ Mk 5:33. In Jn 8:32 ἀλήθεια is used to refer to the revelation of God that Jesus brings or, perhaps, to Jesus himself for what he actually is as the revelation of God.
77.5 περιζώννυμαι τὴν ὀσφύν: (an idiom, literally ‘to gird up the loins’) to cause oneself to be in a state of readiness—‘to get ready, to prepare oneself.’ στῆτε οὖν περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφὺν ὑμῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ‘stand ready with truth’ Eph 6:14. In the context of Eph 6:14, however, it may be useful to preserve the extended figure of readiness for warfare beginning with Eph 6:13 and extending through verse 17.
2. Greek, however, has a third voice called the middle voice. The middle voice emphasizes the subject’s own involvement in the action of the verb and/or in the resultant benefits arising from the action of the verb.