Why Church? Armed for Battle-The Helmet of Salvation

Introduction

Good morning and good to be here!

Its been a long time since I’ve said ”open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians“

So it feels good to say to you this morning “open your Bibles to Ephesians 6”

This morning we are going to continue on with our study of the book of Ephesians in our series called “Why Church”

Throughout this series we have looked at some of the major foundational doctrines of the Church and how we as member of the “Church” Body of Christ, are to live.

At the end of the book, Paul wraps things up by writing about this concept called the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:10–17a (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; 17 and take the helmet of salvation,

So as we went through the text we read through the armor of God that we have already looked at

Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, Shield of Faith

Every piece that we have looked at so far have been defensive. All of the pieces were used primarily for defense against the attacks of the enemy.

Today we will look at the FINAL piece of the defensive part of the armor of God. The Helmet of Salvation.

Now, to get a better concept of what a helmet that Paul would have been talking about here looked like, I have a picture of an actual 1st century Roman Soldier helmet.

This Is found in The British Museum and the description that they have with it states this “The helmet would have protected the wearer's head with an inner iron head-piece and neck-guard, which are now largely missing. Though the small bosses would have helped deflect blows from weapons, the outer bronze casing is mostly decorative. A silvery coating of tin was applied to the dome, neck-guard and cheek-pieces, giving a striking contrast with the golden-coloured bronze parts. The crest box, one cheek-piece and several of the bosses are now missing.

The importance of the soldiers helmet goes without saying! I mean really if your head goes so do you!

The Roman soldier would have NEVER left his post without his helmet.

In fact, in the Roman army, a special arms bearer was assigned to EVERY group of soldiers, and his ONLY job was to put on the helmet of every soldier in his company.

He was to be responsible for putting the right helmet on the right soldier and properly secure that helmet so the soldier was fully prepared for Battle.

The helmet was the LAST piece that went on the soldier, and the most important.

Church, this mornings message is one that I feel is so crucial for our time and day, and along with that ABSOLUTLY CRUCIAL for fighting the toughest battle when it comes to spiritual warfare!

Because what we are going to be dealing with today is your MIND! Your thoughts! The area of your life that houses your deepest fears, passions, anxieties, hopes, goals, and temptations.

Now there are 3 facets of the helmet of salvation that pertain to our minds that I want to look at this morning the first facet is the

1. Process

What do I mean by that? Does that mean that the helmet of salvation is something that takes a long time to put on?

The answer to that question is, yes and no.

Let me explain. In this text the Greek word used for salvation is Soterios. This is where we get the English word Soteriology, which is the study of how people are saved.

This word Soterios means bringing salvation or the process of saving. It’s not talking about the finished work of salvation.

The theological word we use, and hopefully you have heard before, is sanctification.

This is the process that each and every christian is going through at this moment. It’s the process of becoming more and more like Jesus

Its the process of handing over to God the areas of our lives that are not under Jesus’s control.

Its a process that we never stop going through and it looks different for everyone! In a sense its what our Christian walk is all About.

Paul writes about this process quite a bit in the New Testament, but I want to look at a couple verses here this morning that deal specifically with the mind

Ephesians 4:22–24 (ESV)

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

This verse truly captures the essence of what the helmet of salvation helps us to accomplish and the process that it is to get there

Paul starts here dealing with what he calls the old self. The man or woman you were before you surrendered your life to Jesus

He tells us that it was corrupt with deceitful desires. But then there is a change. A process of putting on the new self, and that process is being renewed in the spirit of your mind.

When you give your Life to Jesus it begins A process of transformation, that we will look at later, and it starts with your mind.

It starts when we put on the helmet of salvation.

You see we don’t have the power to just change our own mind concerning sin. Romans 5 ,6 let us know the grim reality that, outside of being set free by Jesus, we will always choose sin over righteousness.

BUT! There is HOPE! In Ephesians 2, Paul sets the same stage of of that grim reality in verse 1-3. But he doesn’t stop there. In vs. 4 and 5 we see the hope!

Ephesians 2:4–5 (ESV)

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Once we put that helmet of salvation we are saved, but we are also in the process of being saved and walking with Jesus!

The second set of verses I want to look at are Colossians 3:2-3

Colossians 3:2–3 (ESV)

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The process of wearing the helmet of salvation and salvation having a direct effect on our minds ALLOWS us to do what this verse says.

Setting our minds on things above, not things that are on the earth!

How does this work practically? Does this mean that we are ONLY allowed to think about heavenly things ALL THE TIME? What does this mean?

I think the King James Version captures the essence of this verse perfectly.

It uses a different word then mind here. Who here has the King James? What does it say there? AFFECTION! Set your AFFECTION on things above.

You see what our minds are consumed by will generally be where we spend the most of our time and energy! When the KJV uses the word affection it speaks of a whole different area of our mind.

Paul is saying here that our salvation should have a direct correlation to what CONSUMES our thoughts. Again this is a process.

When we put the helmet of salvation on we are saved, yet in the process of being saved!

The second facet of the helmet of salvation is that of

2. Protection

What does the helmet of salvation protect us from? Remember we are in a SPIRITUAL battle against an enemy that rules the powers of darkness and evil.

So with that in mind, and also remembering that putting on the helmet of salvation is a process of affecting the way that we think lets look at

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Peter here starts out with a direct command. BE SOBER MINDED! whats this mean?

The main idea of being sober minded is to be alert and not under the influence of the surrounding circumstances.

Our mind is to be sharp and alert, and free from constant barrage from the culture around us.

You see everywhere we look, whether its TV, social media, websites, blogs, books, or podcasts, we are being told ALL the time WHAT TO THINK!

Some of its good but a lot of it isn’t!

The helmet of salvation helps to protect our minds from all of this stuff, WHY? Because the helmet of salvation is the PROCESS by which our minds continue to think more like Jesus!

Now whats the reason we are to sober minded? Is it just a good idea? Maybe it will help us become smarter?

The verse here says that we are to be sober minded because we are in a BATTLE!!!

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

As soldiers wait and watch, so believers must be constantly alert for the enemy. All of the persecution facing believers ultimately comes down to one source: your enemy the devil, he is the source of all evil in the world.

He hates God; which means he also hates God’s people and is their enemy as well.

While Satan has no power against God, he does what he can to harm God’s people.

PICTURE OF LION

Peter described him as prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert.

They prowl quietly, watching and waiting, suddenly pouncing when their victims least suspect it.

Church, This is Exactly the enemy that we face today! Satan is going to lurk around and wait until we let our guard down.

That weak moment when we take of the helmet of salvation for just a second and consume our minds with all the JUNK this world has to offer us. At that moment, just like the lion in the picture, satan will pounce!

Lets stay sober minded and alert with the helmet of salvation firmly fastened on our heads to protect our minds!

The third and final facet of the helmet of salvation is that of its

3. Purpose

We looked at how putting the helmet of salvation on is a process, we saw that it offers protection, now we have to ask the question what is its ultimate purpose?

What’s the goal of putting on this helmet?

Romans 12:2 (ESV)

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Church, the goal of the helmet of salvation is TRANSFORMATION!!

We don’t put this helmet on to become a better person, or to live a better life now, or even to just defeat temptation and the devil! These are all fine things but the ultimate goal is a COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION!

The Greek word here for transformed is metamorphoo! If that word sounds familiar it should. It is the word that we get our word metamorphosis

Our transformation is not one that just changes a little here and a little there. NO we go from SINNER to SAINT!

We go from CONDEMNED to CHOSEN! We go from DEATH to LIFE! And the helmet of salvation is the way that we transform our minds from DECEIVED to DISCERNING!

Because we are saved by the grace of God our mind is FREE to be able to choose to think and act according to what God wants us to do.

Which means that we are called to think differently than the world

Now what are the ways that we can do this?

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (ESV)

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

We begin by actually taking EVERY thought captive.

Everything that we think needs to come under the submission of Jesus Christ.

Our minds are a place that only us and God get a glimpse into. That might sounds comforting, because that means no one else can see what we are thinking

IT should TERRIFY us! There are times that it would have been better if the person I was thinking bad thoughts against new what I was thinking, rather than God knowing.

The perfect, sovereign, sinless, all powerful God see EVERYTHING that we think. That’s sobering.

We are to take our thoughts captive to obey Jesus. He is the one that can help us do that, but we MUST have the helmet of salvation on first.

The second way that we can think differently is found in

Philippians 4:4–9 (ESV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Now, there is a TON of stuff here in these verses but I want to zero in on verses 7-9.

Paul tells the Philippians and Us that the peace of God is what will guard our hearts and minds! That peace is the peace we get when we become saved and put on the helmet of salvation.

And then, because of that peace, the verses that follow are a command. READ VS 8,9

Once we take our thoughts captive and bring them under the submission of Jesus, then we fill our minds with all of these things.

Take this as a litmus test for the things that we are consuming our minds with right Now.

Is this thing that I am thinking about true? honorable? just? Pure? Lovely? Commendable? Excellent? Worthy of praise?

I truly believe that if it passes this test then it will be more than worth thinking about and consuming our minds with.

Is this going to be easy? NO! I struggle every day to take my thoughts captive and to think about true, honorable, just, pure things!

But that doesn’t mean we give up or we don’t try! Our goal is to become more and more like Jesus And to do so we need to think about the things that Jesus thought about.

There is a warning in all of this though.

It’s absolutely pointless to try to modify our behavior if we are not saved! All we will become is the most moral person in hell!

WE NEED JESUS! WE NEED THE HELMET OF SALVATION!

If you are here this morning and haven’t surrendered your life to Jesus, PLEASE don’t wait come talk to me or Myron or someone else here, and don’t think that by changing the way that you think and act is the same thing.

They are not! Christ is the only way that we can live, think, and act differently and the helmet of salvation is the Process, the Protection, and the Purpose by which we can do this And be victorious!

Pray