Protection Beyond Imagination

Did you enjoy your Christmas celebrations this week? How many of you have more still to come?

Let me ask you this: Do your Christmas traditions and celebrations acknowledge or ignore the Spiritual Battle that Christmas represents?

It seems ironic to me that most of our traditions are warm, cozy, even shiny celebrations when the first Christmas was anything but those things.

Sometimes we feel the need to make our homes look “picture perfect” after the latest trend we saw in the home decorating magazines this year.

Others busy themselves with parties and Christmas shopping and concerts and charity events and family get-together's.

In themselves, these things aren’t bad… most of them can even be GOOD… but they can also be a scheme of the enemy to keep us distracted.

Some of our traditions might even acknowledge “Jesus as the Reason for the Season”: a birthday cake for Jesus… a nativity set on the mantle… a reading of the Christmas story before opening presents...

But the enemy can easily use even our “Christian” traditions to minimize the truth of Christ in our hearts…

To make us think that our keeping of these Christmas traditions is a replacement for genuine faith.

He might keep us thinking that Christmas was cute… rather than bloody warfare.

Some of us acknowledged the spiritual battle in our traditions because we were forced to…

Celebrations get interrupted by sickness...

Grief over the death of a loved one overshadows what is otherwise our favorite season...

Anxiety floods our minds because the to-do list is so long… or because money is tight and we can’t give what we wish we could.

Tension fills the dinner table because of family arguments that continue year-after-year.

The question is: Are we surprised and thrown off by this battle? Or do we allow the presence of the battle to remind us of the true reason for the coming of the Son to earth?

I would suggest to you that whenever we feel like life is a battle, we should NEVER be surprised...

The passage we are studying today tells us… without a doubt… that we are in a battle…

Not just against sickness and death… not just against other people… not just against bad things happening…

We are in a spiritual battle of cosmic proportions.

And whether we feel the battle or not, we must always acknowledge the battle… because failure to do so will ensure our fall.

But the Lord has come to win the battle for us and to protect us in it.

Here’s our Big Idea for today:

Big Idea: Stand strong together in the spiritual battle, protected by the Lord.

We are finishing our sermon series through the book of Ephesians today...

And our goal for this series… hopefully you remember it by now… is to pursue God’s unimaginable vision for his church so that he might receive MUCH glory.”

And I believe God HAS been getting much glory as we understand and pursue his vision for his church.

I’ve seen SO MANY specific ways many of YOU have sought to practically apply what we are learning here… and that is so encouraging.

So it’s always good to ask yourself at the end of a study like this: how has God challenged and grown me through his word this Fall?

Maybe that answer is immediately clear to you...

Maybe it would be wise to revisit some of your sermon notes from this Fall… or reread the whole book of Ephesians in one sitting again...

Next week we are going to give you opportunity to share with God’s people how God has been working in YOUR heart...

And if you have nothing… if God has not been moving you at all… if you are stuck in your walk with Christ as a part of his church…

…then I would suggest that it is because you are not applying this last section of the book of Ephesians we are studying today.

Read Eph. 6:10-24.

Stand strong together in the spiritual battle, protected by the Lord.

Some people have a hard time understanding how this passage fits within the context of the rest of the book.

Paul moves right from his household text about husbands and wives, parents and children, and masters and slaves… right into this passage about Spiritual Warfare and the armor of God.

So people will wonder… “What’s his train of thought?”

Add to that the fact that in recent years, Christians have typically individualized the teaching on spiritual warfare the armor of God…

We have assumed that you put on your armor alone in the privacy of your prayer closet, and you go about your daily battle alone.

We tend to hide our struggles and temptations from others in the church instead of fighting together.

And it can be hard to connect the dots between this section and Paul’s grand theme for the whole book.

But we are going to see today... that this passage... in it’s context… is the perfect conclusion for how to pursue the vision God has for his church.

Because Paul’s letter to the Ephesian churches started with God’s cosmic plan for his church…

He then zoomed in on how that plan works out practically in our local churches and our new practices in a pagan world… how that plan works itself out in our households and work…

And NOW Paul is zooming BACK OUT on God’s cosmic vision for his church…

He’s acknowledging that the practical outworking of the church on earth is directly impacted by the battle raging in the spiritual realm.

And it is clear that God expects his people to stand firm in that battle.

FOUR TIMES in this passage, Paul tells believers to STAND or WITHSTAND in the present evil age.

We CAN stand firm because we are IN THE LORD...

And we MUST stand firm because we are IN THE LORD.

4 Reasons We Can and Must Stand Strong Together:

The first we see is this:

1) We have a spiritual enemy that the Lord has defeated.

Paul sets our minds here in v. 10-11 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

This passage is NOT meant to inspire FEAR and speculation or obsession about Satan and his demons… It’s meant to encourage us to rely upon the Lord.

I’ve said it this way before: Our enemy is more powerful than you, but he is NOT more powerful than the Lord: Don’t rely on yourself, rely on him.

Jesus has already won the victory over the rulers and authority in the heavenly places...

Paul has laid out this theme throughout the book of Ephesians:

He tells them of his prayer for them in Ephesians 1:19-23

“[that you may know] what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:19-23 ESV)

God worked GREAT MIGHT in raising Christ from the dead… and it is THAT MIGHT… the might that has now secured Christ’s place above all things in the heavenly places… that is now ours in Christ...

In chapter 2, Paul says that believers are seated WITH CHRIST in the heavenly places… which means we too have been given a place far above the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Now from an earthly perspective, these rulers and authorities still very much wrestle with God’s people…

They mess with our circumstances and tempt our flesh and exploit our weakness...

But in the LORD, we stand strong in the strength of his might.

And this is what we were saved to do. Remember God’s cosmic vision for his church in chapter 3...

Ephesians 3:10 - “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Remember what we said about this verse: the CHURCH is the trophy case of Christ’s all-wise plan to defeat Satan and his demons.

The church is where God is proving his victory by bringing together a people for himself who do not belong together:

A group of dead sinners who were at war with God and at war with one another.

A group of people who were enslaved by the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places… but now are set free by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ..

That is our calling… and that is why we CAN and MUST stand firm.

But this begs the question: if Christ has won the victory, then WHY are the rulers and authorities still wrestling with us?

This is a good and complicated question, but I believe we can find the answer right within the titles that are used for the forces of darkness there in verse 12.

Look at verse 12 again - Eph 6:12 “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.”

They are called “rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness.”

This is language of DOMAIN or DOMINION.

You see, in Genesis 1, God gave dominion to mankind over all the earth… to spread the beauty of Eden and the image of God in humanity to the ends of the earth.

But a fallen angel named Satan and the Devil… the Ancient Serpent… tempted Adam and Eve...

And they gave into his temptation… they trusted his word more than the word of God…

They allowed the serpent to rule over THEM for just a moment… and in doing so, they relinquished their authority to him until the offspring of the woman could win it back.

That is why he is now called “the prince of the power of the air.” He has been given authority over the earth… ad he has enslaved mankind to sin by wielding the power of death.

We read earlier in chapter 2 that he is at work in the Sons of Disobedience (that was a reference to ALL of mankind in our sin nature)…

And we know from 1 Pet. 5:8 that he runs to and fro throughout all the earth seeking whom he may devour.

Not only that… we learned last Sunday and this past Friday night that when Satan rebelled, he led a host of angels with him… we know them commonly as “demons.”

But the Bible also refers to them as the “gods of the nations” or with ruler language like “the prince of Persia” in Daniel.

They are rulers and authorities in the heavenly places who stand behind the affairs of the rulers and authorities in the earthly realm.

The nations have been given over to their authority… every nation except the true Israel.

That sounds kind of dramatic and scary… and it kind of is… which is why it is important to understand this key phrase Paul uses: their authority is “over this PRESENT darkness...”

Their authority is for a limited time only.

There is coming a day when they will have no authority at all.

And that’s because when Jesus Christ, the Son of God came and lived as the perfect Adam… he came as the serpent crusher to take back the authority we gave up.

And he died the death that all the Sons and Daughters of Adam deserved to die…

And he rose again in victorious life, securing the victory for all people who would be united to him through faith.

These rulers and authorities were put under his feet… and in Christ, we have the same authority and power over them as he does.

Every time the gospel advances and another person is added to Christ’s CHURCH through faith in Christ…

…every time the gospel goes to the nations and disciples are formed into churches…

...another part of the enemies domain is taken from him.

THAT is why the cosmic powers over this present darkness are still wrestling… they are not ready… and it is not time for them,… to admit defeat.

Dr. Michael Heiser uses this illustration: you can think about the ministry of Christ that started with his first coming kind of like a giant game of RISK [show picture].

You have Christ vs. Satan… Red vs. Black…

And at first it appears hopeless… the black has control over almost the entire board…

It looks like the game in the bag for Satan...

God’s people have failed again and again… they are in exile… their hearts are far from God...

And the red player has one piece left right in the area of Israel…

And then all of the sudden, that piece starts to win battles…

Slowly at first… then more and more…

He resists the devil’s temptations…

He casts demons out of people…

Then there is this major turning point in the game where the black starts majorly losing ground...

Jesus dies on a cross and rises again...

And the news of that victory begins to spread and take root in the hearts of God’s people from every nation.

And you realize that this ws his strategy all along… his plan was to prove his superior wisdom in THIS WAY… through THIS ONE man...

Soon the Red player has pieces on every continent…

And then he makes one final move and wins the whole thing… he returns in power and vanquishes his enemies… and the game is over.

Christ was the singular red piece in Israel… and The CHURCH (which is his body) is the red pieces in every nation… the CHURCH is the means and proof of Christ’s victory in every place that Satan and his fallen angels currently rule.

So WHY are they wrestling with us? Because they are fighting to retain whatever authority they have left for whatever time they have left.

And they will do ANYTHING they can to slow the advance of the gospel to the nations under their dominion.

That’s the whole goal of their “schemes” (as Paul calls them)...

They can’t defeat you… so they will slow you and distract you and cause you to stumble.

This word “schemes” implies that the devil has a playbook that all his cosmic powers run with…

And this totally matches up to our experience, doesn’t it?

If you look at their work throughout history, the rulers and authorities don’t really need to come up ith anything new to appeal to our flesh and slow us down: get to know their common plays in your life.

They will slow you with enticements to sin that disrupt your communion with God...

They will distract you with temptations to focus on your own self-preservation or self-promotion...

They will fill your mind with doubts about the trustworthiness of God and his promises.

They will slow you with disagreements WITHIN the church so that you don’t spend time spreading the gospel OUTSIDE the church.

They will grip you with fear or complacency so that you don’t share the gospel with others.

They will stop your growing before you even start you by convincing you that you are more likely to face defeat than victory.

Have you ever seen any of those schemes play out in your life?

If not, it probably means that you are’t being much of a threat to the enemy and he can go focus on other believers who are.

But if you HAVE seen him use those tactics on you, rest assured: our Lord has already defeated the enemy on your behalf.

The victory is won! You just need to fix your eyes on his victory and walk in his freedom away from temptation and toward his righteousness.

And the only reason he delays from fully taking us out of the battle is because he plans to USE us to FINISH the battle.

We demonstrate his victory over the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places as we stand in defiance of their schemes to advance his gospel…

Believer, I can’t say this enough: Fight from a position of VICTORY, not defeat.

If you are IN CHRIST… then you CAN and MUST STAND…

In the strength of his might… in his victory over the enemy.

Do not roll over and give into the schemes of the devil as if Christ has not already rescued you out of his grip.

Do not mope around after you’ve messed up, thinking, “Oh, I’m so ashamed. I guess I’ll never overcome this sin… I guess I’ll always have to walk with this dark secret.”

That’s one of the Devil’s schemes!

Christ has already provided the blood to cleanse you from all unrighteousness if you walk in the light.

Do not settle for a vision of the Christian life where you think you are alone in your fight against sin… where you casually attend church on Sunday but then should go fight the devil by yourself throughout the week...

That’s one of the devil’s schemes! He loves to isolate believers and get them discouraged and lonely and ashamed...

But if you are a follower of Jesus, then Christ has already covered your guilt and shame so that you can walk in the light with his people and expose the lies of the Devil together!

You have a spiritual enemy… he is stronger than you, but he is not stronger than Christ.

We stand in his victory.

Now that is great in theory: but what does it look like in practice?

That’s what the armor of God is all about:

Look at v. 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.”

We CAN and MUST stand strong because...

2) We have a spiritual armor that the Lord has fashioned.

The armor that Paul describes here is actually the victory that Christ has already secured in our lives: his truth, and righteousness, and readiness through the gospel of peace…

Christ’s finished work fashioned our armor in which we CAN and MUST stand firm in this evil day.

It’s interesting… Paul is picking up on armor imagery that is found all throughout the book of Isaiah… only there, the armor is worn by the Messiah himself…

Here are a few examples: 

Isaiah 59:17 - He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. (ESV)

 Isaiah 52:7 - How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (ESV)

Isaiah 49:2 - He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. (ESV)

Understand: Jesus... our Messiah (our Savior King)... he wore the armor first...

He won the victory in it… and then gave HIS armor to us.

Our responsibility… our opportunity... is to put it on as members of his body.

His armor is form fit for those who are (together) growing to maturity in him.

This is no different than what Paul said in Ephesians 4:24… that we are to...

“put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24 ESV)

To put on the armor of God is to live in the strength of his might that is ours in Christ.

It’s to live consistently with our spiritual identity in Christ and to no longer gratify the desires of the flesh.

We put on the belt of truth when we allow the truth of Christ to uncover every lie of the devil.

We put on the breastplate of righteousness when we trust Christ’s righteousness instead of our own, and when we pursue his righteousness… his perfect standard… in our relationships with others.

We put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace when we prayerfully seek out opportunities to display and declare Christ.

We take up the shield of faith that extinguishes the enemies’ fiery darts when we pray and act in faith against the accusations and temptations of the devil.

We take up the helmet of salvation when we allow our mind and thoughts to be shaped by God’s work of salvation past, present and future in our lives...

And we take up the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, when we speak the living and active truth of the word of God in love to one another.

Our Lord… in securing our victory… has fashioned an armor that can withstand the enemy in the evil day.

Do you stand in this armor?

One of our specific goals for this series was “That God would expand our WONDER at our identity in Christ so that his work defines our daily experience.”

We’ve talked about this “identity in Christ” many times throughout the series… and the armor of God is just another wonderful way to describe it:

In Christ we stand in truth and righteousness and peace and readiness...

In Christ, we stand in faith, saved from sin past present and future, fully able to apply the word of God appropriately.

And this identity of being IN HIM (in his armor) must be the way we view ourselves if we are to stand firm in the Lord.

For you to be a follower of Jesus… Christ must totally define your life.

That’s is the ONLY WAY we can stand against the schemes of the devil.

Are you increasingly living out of the truth of who you are in Christ?

Or do you act as if Christ’s victory makes no difference to you?

Has the Lord been convincing you of your identity in him over the course of this study in Ephesians?

If not, go back and re-read the book and look for every time Paul uses the words “in Christ” and make a list of everything that is true of those who have been united to him by faith.

And then believe it is true of YOU.

Memorize the list. Rehearse it often.

Your identity in Christ IS your armor for the spiritual battle.

It is how you stand firm.

But as I mentioned earlier, the wearing of this armor is NOT intended to be an individual activity…

Look at how Paul says we put on the armor in v. 18 - “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

We put on the armor through prayer… and not just prayer for ourselves, but for ALL the saints.

We don’t fight the battle alone… we can and must stand strong because...

3) We have a spiritual army that the Lord has appointed.

So prayer... and supplication... is how we put on… or take up the armor.

We don’t use that word “supplication” much anymore… it means “to ask” or to “plea”...

It implies a great NEED.

We must acknowledge how much we NEED the Lord in our battle against the enemy.

Paul says prayer is also how we KEEP ALERT with all perseverance in this battle.

Prayer is how we keep standing until the end.

Never underestimate your need for fervent prayer.

And not just for yourself, but for ALL the SAINTS.

Prayer is not just a “you and God” thing… it’s an “us and God” thing...

That’s why we INSIST on praying TOGETHER.

We are God’s ARMY together.

We stand strong TOGETHER.

All of the command words… the “imperative verbs” in this section are PLURAL… they are written to the whole church.

We wear the armor and stand together.

This is especially evident when we consider one particular piece of the armor: the shield of faith.

There are two types of shields that Romans used: a small round shield for hand-to-hand combat… and a long, oblong shield for marching as a battalion in formation.

Guess which one Paul uses? The long oblong one.

[Show Video] Here’s what it would have looked like...

The enemy is shooting his fiery darts at the battalion...

But they have their shields side to side covering all angles so that none of them get through… they are protecting one another with their shields.

THAT is what is happening when we make supplication for ALL the Saints… we protect one another’s blind spots through our faithful praying.

This is why we INSIST on praying TOGETHER at Oak Hill…

If you don’t make prayer for others in our church a priority in your life…

If you refuse to participate in our prayer times after the sermons…

If you sit back and don’t offer prayers with your Gospel Community as you start out with Scripture-fed, Spirit-led, Worship-based prayer...

If you altogether neglect our Lift Up prayer nights…

…then you are undercutting our ability to stand firm...

You are giving the enemy a foothold.... not just in your own life… but in the life of our whole church.

We must pray for each other… and not only for each other… for those on the front lines of mission.

Verse 19 - Eph 6:19-20 “and [pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

These churches receiving this letter were embassies of the gospel… but their ambassador was out securing new territory for Christ.

And he needed their fervent prayer to boldly proclaim the good news of Christ’s victory in hostile territory…

Even as he found himself under house arrest in Rome.

God’s vision for his church includes EVERY local church… not just ours. And it includes the advancement of the mission through the making of disciples and the planting of more churches.

That’s why we pray for churches and pastors in other places: because the victory of Christ is demonstrated when the gospel goes EVERYWHERE.

That’s why we give to church plants in Spain…

That’s even why we pray for other churches here in Solanco… because the victory of Christ must be made know through EVERY local church… EVERY embassy of his Kingdom.

Now here’s the awesome part about this: when we participate in God’s mission for his church, we don’t just pray for them, we receive encouragement FROM them.

Look at v. 21 - Eph 6:21-22 “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”

Tychichus is carrying this letter to them... AND he is meant to be a walking prayer letter on behalf of the apostle Paul about his ministry and condition...

He’s supposed to encourage them with news about the gospel going forward through Paul in Rome...

It’s just another reminder that they were part of a bigger army that the Lord had appointed.

If the work of the ministry ever seemed hard or futile, they could hear and remember reports of how the gospel was gaining traction all over the world, even in the very seat of the empire that opposed God’s people.

That’s one of the reasons why we send out prayer letters from global partners…

We sent out two this week… one from Spain and one from a GCC partner in India...

And we want you to be encouraged about the way the gospel is taking ground around the world.

We have a spiritual army that the Lord has appointed, Church… we are PART OF that army...

One of our goals for this series was that God would expand our VISION of church ministry so that we each maximize our role in the body.

We are part of the body of Christ… the army of God… that is moving the gospel of Christ’s victory throughout the world.

And as we play our part here by being a healthy member of THIS local body… as we play our part by praying, giving, and going as the Lord calls… we stand strong together against the enemy and his schemes.

We CAN and MUST stand strong together because...

We have a spiritual enemy that the Lord has defeated.

We have a spiritual armor that the Lord has fashioned.

We have a spiritual army that the Lord has appointed.

Finally this..

4) We have a spiritual blessing that the Lord has secured.

Paul closes out the letter with these words: “Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”

It’s much the same way he started the letter… Eph 1:2-3

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...” (Eph 1:2-3)

Paul is reminding them that in the midst of this battle that rages on against us in the heavenly places, they have a spiritual blessing that is already secure in the heavenly places.

They have PEACE with God… which brings PEACE between Jew and Gentile… he himself IS our Peace (we read in chapter 2:14).

They have LOVE from God…

“in LOVE he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Eph 1:5)

They have FAITH in God’s work through Jesus Christ… he THANKED GOD for their faith in chapter 1:15...

And that faith is the means through which God extends to them his lavish saving grace...

In chapter we read that he saved us Eph 2:7

“so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:7)

And the spiritual blessings of that grace are meant to sustain the believer in the present battle so that they might stand firm.

It’s the nourishment… the food… that our souls need to fight another day.

Believer: feast on his grace. Drink deep of his blessings.

It is the only way you can live out God’s unimaginable vision for his church.

These blessings are for those who LOVE our Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible.

They are for those who do not shrink back in the day of trouble, but stand firm… who persevere to the end with all prayer and supplication for all the saints.

Is that you? Do you love Jesus with a love incorruptible?

Have you so experience the outpouring of his grace that you can’t help but love him?

Our last specific prayer for this series was that God would expand our PASSION for the gospel of grace so that we carry it to the lost.

Do you love Jesus so much that you can’t help but tell others about this gospel of grace?

Our next study in the book of Mark is going to be all about that idea: NOW is the time to tell others the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But you won’t do that unless you love him.

Unless you grow a passion for his gospel of grace in your heart.

And that passion grows by understanding all of the spiritual blessings that have been secured for us THROUGH Christ’s grace.

We have a spiritual blessing that the Lord has secured in the heavenly places.... and that’s essential because we are in a spiritual battle in the heavenly places.

As your holiday gatherings continue this week...

As you continue your traditions and celebrations...

As you reflect on this past year, and get ready for the next...

As you spend time with family… and then get back to work… and as you set your goals and resolutions for the new year...

Acknowledge the battle… don’t ignore it… don’t grow complacent or indifferent to it.

Consider how you will stand strong together in the spiritual battle, protected by the Lord.

Adore:

Father, we praise you for your strength when I feel weak against _____ [one of the enemy’s schemes]

Align:

Pray for our church, that we would walk in the armor of God this next week and year. Mention specific parts of the armor that we will need.

Ask/Acknowledge:

This week I am facing the spiritual battle with ____. Commit to asking someone else to stand with you in prayer for this battle.