Prepared for Battle

Ephesians 6:10-24 - Prepared for the Battle Doug Partin - The Christian Church - - 06/28/20 Paul's final words of encouragement to the believers in ancient Ephesus were "Be strong in the Lord." It is the kind of thing that we might say to someone today after hearing that they had been going through a tough time. And most of us feel that way, given all of the guidelines we've been asked to follow in response to the spread of this corona virus. It makes everything we do more difficult, in the sense that we have to go about it differently, being concerned about the spread of disease through the use of common surfaces, physical touch, and exhaling particles when we talk or sing. It has changed travel, gatherings, work, and even just putting gas in your tank. Even when we gather for a wonderful celebration, like Evan and Angela's wedding, which took place on Friday. It prevents family and friends from joining them, and all of the arrangements to accommodate them. But, we tell each other to stay strong, and we find ways to keep the concern over spreading this disease from diverting us from our destination. As Evan told Angela when they were having to change all of their plans - "Don't worry, come hell or high water, we will get married on June 26th," and they did. Even non-believers encourage one another to "stay strong" when the going gets tough. Despite the dangers, the obstacles, the oppositions, we encourage each other to keep moving forward. Paul's charge to the believers in ancient Ephesus, "Be strong in the Lord" brought to mind some other verse about taking a stand. The phrase "be strong" shows up over 20 times in the Bible. Don't worry, I won't quote them all, but here are a few of them: * "Be strong and courageous" Joshua 1:6 * "Only, be strong and very courageous" Joshua 1:7 * "But you, be strong and do not lose courage..."1 Chronicles 15:7 * "Be strong, and show yourself a man" - 1 Kings 2:2 (David to Solomon) * "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." 1 Cor. 16:13 * "You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 2:1 Paul said, "Be strong" because he knew, from his own experience, that it wasn't just into a difficult situation that these ancient believers in Ephesus were headed, they were headed into a war zone. And they were not going to be there as observers, or civilians, they were going to be in the thick of things as soldiers. Yes, the battle belongs to the Lord, and the victory has already been won on the cross, but the conflict continues as Satan does all he can to destroy, divide, and dehumanize. He is still roaming around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. He has not chance in ... well, that other place, of winning; but as history has so clearly shown, the forces on the losing side will continue to fight, sometimes, to the last man; with no hope of victory. With our nation's annual celebration of independence just a few days away, which is sure to be politicized since this is an election year, we should be reminded that there were some in England who felt that the British were fighting a losing battle from day one. While others felt that the Americans had no chance of winning because the rag tag continental army was no match for the best fighting force in the world at the time. Either way those who lived back then might have looked at it, one thing was for certain, they were headed into a war. And for the soldiers, it would be a life and death proposition. It looked like the British had the upper hand until the winter at Valley Forge in 1777. It was a brutal winter, some 2000 American soldiers died as a result of the harsh conditions, but it was there that the Continental army received much needed rest, training, and disciple so they could stand strong against what seemed like a superior force. And they emerged from that encampment hardened, unified, and ready for battle. Paul commanded the believers in Ephesus "by the strength of His might, 'put on the full armor of God." Which tells me, that just putting on the armor that Paul was envisioning is not an easy thing to do. If it were easy, we could do it ourselves. Take a look again at Paul's phrasing, and not just the verse breaks. He said that we need God's strength just to put it on. Whatever this armor was, it would help them take their stand against the schemes of the devil. The word translated "schemes" was "methodeias." We get the word "method" from it, but we use that word quite differently than they used it. It is a compound word "meta" and "odia." "Meth" or "Meta" you've heard before, as in "metonoia" to "change the mind" the word that gets translated "repent." The changing that is needed to turn around is to be "against" where the person was once headed in their thinking. "Meta" means to be against. "Odia" is a term for the road, a journey, to travel. So "meth odia" is to be against a journey. It was used to talk about those things that a person might do to alter another person's journey. I just listened to a novel about the competitive race to find dinosaur bones in the early American west. One team would lie to the local people about the other team, so when they showed up, everyone would think them scoundrels. They would hire men to poison the other team's water supplies, or run off game, or even ambush the wagons transporting the bones. Because they knew about each other's schemes, they took every precaution to be on guard against the other, and all they did to "alter" or "change" the other team's journey. And the devil is doing everything he can to alter the journey of the believers. Which is why Paul reminded these ancient believers that their struggle was not against people, but against the spiritual forces that were the masters over those who were slaves to sin. These forces might well use those people to come against the believers, but the problem was not the people, it was the opposing forces. Those people were no better than slaves, doing what their masters told them to do. And back then, slaves were often sent into battle against others, by those who "owned" them. If there were any plans in regard to these people, it needed to be a plan to set them free just as they might for any other slave. And to be quite honest, those spiritual forces were not going to give up their spiritual slaves without a fight. It was going to be a struggle. It was going to be a battle. And Paul wanted these believers to prepare themselves for that battle by putting on the full armor of God. In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul had mentioned a spiritual armor, the armor of light. He told them that they had to lay aside the deeds of darkness. Deeds like carousing, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, sensuality, strife, and jealousy; before they could "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 13:12-14) Which might give you an idea why we need a little help from God to put on our spiritual armor. Warfare was conducted a little differently back in those days. The Roman Legion was a host of soldiers who prepared and armored themselves to stand against their opposing forces. They introduced some advances over the Hellenistic Phalanx, a formation used by nearly everyone else. But when these two opposing forces met it was like a military scrum. Ranks and files of locked shields and weapons pushing against ranks and files of locked shields and weapons. Standing firm was vital, for when the ranks of one side were broken, and the soldiers from fear turned to flee, that was when most of them were cut down. Before the scrum, they would try to "soften" each other's line by shooting waves of flaming arrows, boulders, and anything else they could contrive. They even armored elephants and charged them into the enemies lines hoping to break their cohesion. The descriptions of these battles that remain, are horrific at best. It could be that Paul was painting the image of the forces of darkness and wickedness being on the march, hoping to enslave all that stood in their way, especially those who follow Jesus. But it could be that it was the Church Paul envisioned as being on the move, coming against the remaining stronghold where people were still held captive, still enslaved to sin, and were coming against them. Sort of like what Martin Luther envisioned in his song, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." Where the church was standing before and pressing against the very gates of hell, and, because the victory has been won, we know that those gates will not prevail. The church, by God's power and strength, will come against them, it will batter them down, and by the power of the cross, those held captive will be set free. Either way, when a spiritual battle takes place. The church needs to be ready to take its stand, as one. Like Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said to the leaders of the American revolution, "We must all hang together, or surely, we will hang separately." We are easy prey when we do not stand as one. The spiritual armor Paul encouraged them to put on sounds a lot like the armor that Isaiah called ancient Israel to wear. But they did not listen to Isaiah. Ancient Israel was not unified in its obedience to God. They had embraced choices that looked more like the deeds of darkness, and they justified thier behavior. But, the truth was that the poor were taken advantage of, objectors were imprisoned, and immorality was encouraged. They turned their hearts away from God, even though they gave Him lip service. They thought that they were on the right road, that they were traveling well, but Satan had changed their direction. His schemes are so effective that they didn't even know that they were headed in the wrong direction. And when it was pointed out to them, they silenced those voices. God entered in, promising to save from among them a faithful remnant, a root from the stump of Jesse. And so, their nation was taken captive by their enemies, and that is what it took for God's people to open their eyes and realize that they had been deceived, they had been going in the wrong direction, and to regain a desire to do things God's way. When we embrace truth, righteousness, and the good news of peace with God; we will, by faith, be saved by God's grace. We will be set free, turned the right direction, and we will be filled by God's spirit, and His word will be at work in our lives. With this "armor" we will be prepared to take our stand by expressing God's love to another, and to our neighbors, and to anyone else we might encounter. I had an interesting conversation with a person recently about "home defense." We were reflecting on it, spiritually speaking. I am sure that you have noticed that many people arm themselves with weapons so they can protect their property by shooting those who invade it. But you don't hear of people making plans to protect it by preparing themselves to give it all away. You don't hear people saying. I know that you are coming to take my stuff because you are poor, my doors are open, come see me, and I will do what I can to help you. Are you hungry, I'll get you something to eat. Are you hurt, I'll help bind your wounds. Are you addicted, I'll help break that addiction. How can I help? When we, the church, are united in pushing back against what Satan is doing to destroy lives, we can and do have an amazing impact. But if we were more united, we could have an even greater impact. Just think what could happen if the church in Los Alamos was really united. We are a small community. But I want you to think of a map of our county. Now, I want you to locate all the Church buildings. Now plot all the staff of those churches. Now all the volunteer leaders. Now all the members. You'd have a lot of dots all over this maps. Now imagine what would happen if we all dawned the armor of the Lord. Imagine what would happen if we locked our shields of faith together. If we pushed forward with righteousness, if we advocated truth, if we unleashed the Spirit of God. We just might change someone's mind about things. And though that "repentance" they might end up going a different direction. But far too often, the church has been altered off course by Satan and his lies. His "fiery darts" have broken the cohesion of the church. And we, the church, are often marching off in different directions. We see each other as the enemy, and attack each other. We are often full of fear, and have lost sight of the truth that the victory has already been won. Make no mistake about it, we will come under attack, so we had better be "on alert" at all times. And, as Paul encouraged, we need to put up with, and pray for, one another. Instead of attacking and trying to devour one another. We need to push against our common enemy. As the church, we who believe, need to stand side by side one another, so we can push against the darkness with our armor of light. As a part of the battle plan, Paul wanted those ancient believers in Ephesus to pray for him. He was in a real prison for his faith. And he wanted them to know that, even though he was separated from them, he was still standing united with them, still pushing against the enemy, by preaching the gospel with boldness. We find that Paul was sending to them a man named Tychicus, who probably carried this letter, to let them know just exactly how the battle was progressing on his front. For Paul knew that they were worried about him, just as he was worried about them. Paul "signed" his letter with a blessing. A blessing that began with the Greek word for peace. It was as if he had said to them, "Shalom." Not just as a greeting, but as a reminder that God was in control. And they needed to trust God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, whose grace was with all those who love Jesus, with a faith that does not shrivel up. May we prepare ourselves to stand with one another as we imitate God, loving as He loves, knowing that His enemies will attack us for doing so. And may that bring them close enough to us that we might use our spiritual weapons to reach into their lives and set them free when they embrace the grace of God. Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us stand together as one with You. Amen.