The Real Enemy

Good Morning and welcome to another week here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we are able to be together this morning and worshiping. For many of you who don’t know I first started my ministry as a children’s and youth pastor. This was a very challenging position because it covered a broad age range and it was always a fun challenge to minister from birth till college age. One of the things thought that i did as a Pastor was i tried to stay on top of current pop culture that the kids might be reading or watching so that i could help inform parents if they had a question and how it might be related in a spiritual sense.

This exposed me to a lot of young adult series that i may not have read if it wasn’t for that role of my job. On occasions it was not the most enjoyable because teenage authors sometimes get stuck on similar themes and works don’t feel really original, or they are so similar you forget what world you are in.

One series that i had to read though was the...

Hunger Games

I actually really enjoyed this series because it presented some serious moral questions about society and also had some very entertaining action sequences and were suspenseful.

If you haven’t seen the movies or read the books i will give you a brief summary right now. It is set in the future and war had plagued the earth and had left the earth population devastated. Somewhere, in what was once the United states is the country of Panem. The country is split into twelve districts and the Capital. The Capital is the center of the country and government. They hold the military power and the control over all the people. Each district is responsible for producing a good or service such as food, coal, electricity, etc.

At one point there was 13 districts, but district 13 tried to rise up against the capital and they were destroyed. This was the type of power and control the capital maintained. In honor of past wars and to not forget the cost of uprising against the captial they started an annual event called the Hunger Games. Each district would have to offer up two of their children between the age of 12 and 18 as tribute to fight to the death in an arena. One one child would emerge victorious.

Bleak isn’t it.

it is in this dystopian future we find the story of Katniss Everdeen. This young lady is forced into the hunger games to save her sister. To make a long story short she emerges victorious only to be thrown back into the game the next year because she was able to defy the capital and they wanted to punish her for her actions. it is in this second story she is faced with the challenges of making allies from other districts and she becomes engaged into a greater rebellion to overthrow the Capital.

As you can see there are a lot of moral questions and struggles with this book series that are challenging. It made me think about the last several weeks of sermons that we have talked about the importance of some of our moral standards and it drew me to the first verse that we will take a look at this morning.

Ephesians 6:10 NIV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Be strong in the Lord

Paul starts out with making this clear this is the end of the letter with this statement. Finally to me is always a word that grabs my attention and makes me listen a little closer. They always say in preaching or in public speaking the first and last points are the most important because they tend to be the ones that people remember. The first because you all are still engaged and the last because it is the easiest to remember because you leave on that note which grabs our attention.

Similarly when we are reading scriptures Paul is trying to end on important final note for us. This final command is a reminder of all the past verses that had been laid out to help us understand that this is what Paul was leading to.

I think also that this is a moment that we can be reminded of our trust in God because he is powerful and mighty and that can give us a confidence in our strength that comes from him.

Strength though and power draws me to battle or preparation, kinda like we were talking about with the hunger games earlier. it is important because it helps us realize that today we have to be prepared to fight. That makes me ask the question though...

Who is the real enemy?

In the hunger games when Katniss is thrown back into the arena the other characters have bigger plans for her. She has become the face of the rebellion and they want to protect her and keep her safe. It is this desire to free her from the games and help spark the rebellion that one of her friends tells her something really important.

“Remember who the real enemy is”.

He was trying to reminder her that though she has to try to survive in the arena and she may have to kill other contestants at the end of the day he wants her to think who is the real enemy.

For Katniss the real enemy is the Capitol.

We face a similar problem today.

Who is the real enemy?

You see this question is an important one for us to ask because we have to face the reality that our true enemy wants us to remain confused about who the enemy is. It is in the confusion that he wins. it is in the moment of us fighting each other that he is the ultimate victor.

Thankfully Paul reminds us who the real enemy is.

Ephesians 6:11–12 NIV

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The enemy we face is Satan.

No matter what you think about Satan and what his role is and how it all breaks down it is important for us to remember that we live not only in a physical world but a spiritual world as well. This is why this verse is so powerful. It is a reminder that spiritual forces are working against us and if we aren’t careful we can allow them to over take us. It is this reminder that we must take to heart.

Satan wants us to be fighting each other, he wants us to hurt each other because it hurts the message of the Gospel. It is here that he gains victory because he knows that it can create moments to turn people from the hope that is the good news of the Gospel.

As Christians we must never forget this because it is how we approach life and live that is so important. Remember this verse from last week

Ephesians 5:16 NIV

16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

We must make the most of every opportunity because the evil one is pressed against us and working to defeat us. Yet, we can’t lose sight of the end mission and goal.

The Mission

Paul helps us to know what the mission is in the coming verses lets see if you can figure out what it is.

Ephesians 6:13–18 NIV

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Did you catch it. Are you sure?

Did you think it is to put on the Armor of God?

If you did than you missed it.

At the end of the day the mission is not just to get prepared to for Battle. You see that is what we are doing when we put on the Armor of God. Now don’t get me wrong this is very important for us to do because it is an essential part of who we are as Christians but it isn’t the final mission.

The Mission: Is to Stand

We are called to Stand our ground.

Ephesians 6:13 NIV

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

At the end of the day we are called to stand and fight. Trust me when i say that we are to do everything to be prepared for Battle against the evil one. Yet, you can prepare and prepare but if you never stand up before him and stare him down and face him unafraid with the might and power of God i your heart that preparation is for nothing. We are to prepare so that we can stand and be strong.

Now some people will here this message and they think that this means we have to stand for a high moral standard or we have to stand for certain issues or concerns in this world. While those things are important we must always remember that this idea of standing is one of a spiritual nature. it is one that calls us to be more than just the earthly concerns we have but to look to God to direct us on what is the most important thing for us to be worried about.

We are to be always fighting to bring people to know God.

To stand and share the message of the good news that us Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.

At the end of the day what better message is there.

That no matter what you have done the creator of the universe loves you and wants to have a relationship with you and wants you to recognize that. To confess to him that you have sinned and then to turn from your sins and try to live a life that follows after him.

To pursue a life of holiness and a life that is pleasing to him and then in turn to face down the evil one and beat back the dark forces of this world one person at a time who recognizes that God is ruler over all and that we need his love and forgiveness.

At the end of the day we must never forget that Satan wants nothing more to disrupt that and that we are to stand strong in God’s might power before him and win the day because he has called us to that.

Let us pray.