Why Church? Armed For Battle-The Shield of Faith

Introduction

Welcome

I want to begin this morning by asking you a question. What is faith? What does that word mean?

We tend to use that word in many different contexts.

I have faith in: bridge, taxi driver(ridge in New York City), airplane, my truck starting for work. Many other things.

We can use this word faith pretty loosely sometimes. Doesn’t carry a lot of weight in todays vonacular.

What about in the context of your relationship with Jesus? What does faith mean then? How does faith play out in your everyday life?

Today I want to look at how incredibly important our faith is and how necessary it is to make sure we are actively living in faith

Turn in your bibles and stand

Ephesians 6:10–16 (ESV)

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. 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. 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. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

The shield of faith!

As we have gone through the past number of messages, we have looked at 3 different pieces of the armor of God.

Each piece has a different function and role in giving us the ability to fight against and defeat satan

So what does faith have to do with the armor of God? Why is it the shield?

Like we have in the past messages I want to look at the historical shield first and then bring that into todays context.

Slide with picture of shield

Now the shield is different from the rest of the pieces of the armor that we have looked at already.

It’s the one piece of armor so far that wouldn’t have been with the soldier at all times. You see when a soldier grabbed his shield it was a conscious choice to do so.

Your daily armor would have included all of what we have looked at already, belt, breastplate, and shoes, would have been pieces that were put on every day.

As a soldier, your shield would have only been grabbed if you were engaging in ACTIVE warfare.

It was a primary defense against objects that would have been shot at you from unknown areas. Arrows, spears, rocks, others objects that could be thrown or shot were absorbed by the shield.

So why is faith included in the armor of God?

I want to look at 3 ways our faith is a shield in the spiritual battle that we are fighting

The First way our faith is a shield is because

1. It’s Important

Paul begins vs 16 with the words “In all circumstances“ or in the KJV “above all” either way of translation shows us that our faith is of the utmost importance in our defense against satan

And just as the same way a shield for a soldier would have been vital to his defense so is our faith in our fight

Why is our faith important?

First, Faith is

A. How we receive Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:6–7 (ESV)

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

The only way that we can receive Jesus is by faith. We can’t receive him by feelings or sight but only by faith in him

There are a lot of people today who want to “see” and “feel” Jesus. They try to see him through science, meditation and new age practices, some even by chasing the next great spiritual fad.

Well meaning Christians can get sucked into the idea that we need to “experience” Jesus to have a real relationship with Him

Not only is this not false but it is also dangerous

There have been people who have completely walked away from the faith because they are chasing a FEELING not a FAITH!

Faith is also important because its

B. How we live

Romans 1:16–17 (ESV)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

There are many people in the Bible that we can point to that lived their life by faith.

Abraham, Noah, Job, Joseph, Mary, Paul, the disciples, the list could go on and on.

As followers of Jesus our faith is a living and active faith.

Blind folded person getting lead around is a BAD example of our faith

We don’t walk around blindfolded while Jesus leads us where he wants us to go.

We walk with our eyes FOCUSED on Jesus and where HE leads we follow.

Our faith isn’t blind and it definitely isn’t a crutch. It’s our LIFE and as we trust Jesus more and more we will see His faithfulness in us.

So faith is important. We also see in Ephesians 6:16 another way that faith is a shield and its because

2. Its Commanded

Ephesians 6:16 (ESV)

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith

A Roman soldier would have been told to pick up his shield just before the attack. This wouldn’t have been a suggestion or a good idea, it would have been a direct order

And the wording that we see here is the same way. The word take up in the Greek is in the active voice which tells us that we are constantly commanded to take up this shield.

We are to be ready at all times to pick up that shield and fend off the attack.

Now, there are going to be times your faith is going to be shaken. There are times that you may feel like you do not have enough faith to Even begin to take up that shield

Church I have been there! There have been times in my life that my faith was so battered and shaken that it felt almost hopeless.

Im sure I’m not alone in here today.

YET I CAN STAND BEFORE YOU AND, EVEN THOUGH MY FAITH HAS BEEN SHAKEN, GODS FAITHFULNESS NEVER HAS!!

He has been there every step of the way

He has never left me nor forsaken me, he has always been there, and he always will be.

Now how can we have faith even when its being attacked or shaken?

A. We Trust in Gods Character

Malachi 3:6 (ESV)

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hebrews 13:8 (ESV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

When we grasp the fact that Gods character is constant and unchanging then we rest in the fact that no matter what he is faithful

God is Good all the time and all the time God is Good.

That phrase is so true. Even when things are not going well and we feel like our faith is tattered, God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

The second way we can have faith when our faith is weak is

B. We Trust Gods Promises

Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

We can always trust that what God has promised he will keep And that is ALOT

Herbert Locklear Went through the entire bible and found 7,147 promises from God to man

That is alot of promises and He will Keep EVERY ONE of them!

Why? Because he doesnt change and we can trust Him.

Another way we can keep our faith when our faith is weak is

C. We Trust in Gods Timing

Now, if we can grasp the first 2 concepts of trusting Gods Character and His Promises then this one should follow suit pretty well

Gods ways are not always the easiest but they are always the best!

Sometimes we wonder why now when things aren’t going well but we can rest assured there is no trial that comes our way that God Was surprised by!

In fact the trial you may be going through might be something that God is using to bring about a deeper faith in Him, or helping us to chisel away at the areas where we are still holding on and don’t want to give over to Jesus.

Gods timing is perfect and we can be encouraged that no matter what He knows what’s best for us

So we have seen how our faith is like a shield because of its importance and because its commanded now lets look at the last way and thats found at the end of Ephesians 6:16 and that is

3. It’s Effective

Ephesians 6:16 (ESV)

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

Now there are 3 ways that we see how the shield of faith is effective

The first is that its

A. Personal

It says ”with which YOU”

Your faith is YOUR faith And its only as effective as YOU make it. ‘

You cannot fight your battles in another persons armor! Repeat

The armor that you are putting on only fits you and you cannot share it with another person. Just like Saul giving David his armor.

David fought Goliath with the armor that best fit him

We do the same. Dont think that just because your parents had amazing faith or your youth pastor has amazing faith or your favorite author has amazing faith that you can ever fit in their armor.

The shield that they are carrying is custom fit for them and the shield of faith that you are carrying is custom fit for you.

Shirt sizes. You get the wrong neck size or arm length and you know it fast!

The same is going to be true with your faith. If you are hitching your faith to another persons then the first time its really tried or attacked, your shield wont fit.

So your faith is Personal

The second way your shield is effective is its

B. Permanent

with which you can EXTINGUISH

This word extinguish is in the Infinitive Form. Which means that it has no number or amount.

When we get attacked and the arrows of satan come our shield of faith is what absorbs them and puts them out.

Now some context to that phrase. The Historian Josephus wrote this

The arrows were were dipped in pitch, lit and then shot at the enemy. These arrows were up to 7 ft long and had an iron tip that could be as long as 2 ft. Such arrows could travel up to 33 yards. The threat of fire could cause panic among the troops, as a flaming shield would be thrown away, exposing that soldier and the other troops to the fire.

The shield that was used was typically soaked in water and so thick that when the arrow went into it it completely put out the fire

That is how our faith can be effective against satans attacks as well.

Our shield of faith is one that if soaked in Gods Word it has the ability to extinguish all attacks from the enemy

The last way that our shield is effective is that its is

C. Powerful

with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

When the enemy, the ruler of this world, sends his flaming arrows of temptation, doubt, wrath, lust, despair, vengeance, problems, and trials into our lives, we can hold up our shields and extinguish them.

1 John 5:4–5 (ESV)

4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Faith gives us the strength to stand against Satan with firm courage, even when he uses his most fearsome weapons.

We can rest assured he his not going to leave us alone. He wants us to out our shield of faith down for just a minute. As soon as we do the arrows will come.

Satan is going to throw everything he can at us, So we need to make sure that our shields are strong and ready, because when they are, they are powerful enough to take on everything he has

To wrap up this message I came across this quote as I was studying and it hit me really hard.

The shield protected the soldier and prevented panic, from the chaos of the onslaught of arrows, especially as soldiers often stood next to each other and locked their shields to protect the group

Church, spiritual warfare can be chaotic and scary. Each of us in here deal with different attacks at different times.

But what I loved about this quote was what it said at the end. Read BOLD

Each one of us in here today, if you are a believer and follower of Jesus, are enlisted in His army to fight against satan and the powers of darkness.

We are each equipped to fight this battle one on one, BUT we are SO much STRONGER when we lock shields together and protect the group.

If you know of a brother or sister that is weak in their faith right now or that is going through a real battle, rally around them with your shields of faith and lets do this together!

Pray