Shield of Faith (2)

Faith is Better than Kevlar

In today’s technology, the best lightweight materials for protecting soldiers against bullets are made from Kevlar. Kevlar was invented in 1965 by Stephanie Kwolek who worked for Dupont. Dupont was looking for a lighter but stronger replacement for tires. Since then, Kevlar has been used in everything from marching bands to bulletproof vests.

Today we are going to look at something even more protective than Kevlar – faith. John Paton was a missionary in the mid and late 19thCentury. When he was translating the Bible for a South Seas Island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard came into the missionary’s house, flopped himself in a large chair and said, “It’s good to rest my whole weight on this chair.” “That’s it,” said Paton. “I’ll translate faith as ‘resting one’s whole weight on God.”[1]

“Resting one’s whole weight on God” is a really good description of faith. It is a good definition to have in our minds as we consider the passage today.

Ephesians 6:16 NIV

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Now, we will spend a good deal of time today discussing the benefit of faith – that you can use it to “extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one”. But knowing that faith will ALWAYS hold your weight is important to remember.

Watch Out for Fiery Darts

The Apostle Paul mentions that the devil will use fiery darts to attack us. In ancient warfare, these fiery darts were launched in great number at the beginning of an attack. The idea was not only to injure the enemy, but to shoot at him at all sides with a massive number of darts, and thus confuse and panic the enemy.

Even when such a missile was caught by the shield and did not penetrate to the body, says Livy, it caused panic, because it was thrown when well alight and its motion through the air made it blaze most fiercely, so that the soldier was tempted to get rid of his burning shield and expose himself to the enemy’s spear-thrusts. But the shield of faith not only catches the incendiary devices but extinguishes them. (F F Bruce)

Thoughts, feelings, imaginations, fears, lies - all of these can be hurled at us by Satan as fiery darts. Faith turns (all of) them back. Paul said, “the shield of faith CAN extinguish ALL of the fiery darts of the enemy.”

The Shield of Faith

You may remember the name Oliver Wendell Holmes from your high school English class, but did you know that he was a Christian? As we talk about faith today, we should not forget that the shield is part of the armor of God.

- We have put on the belt of truth

- Our shoes of peace are on our feet

- The breastplate of righteousness has been fitted

- We will learn more about the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and the “lance” of prayer in the upcoming weeks.

Too many nominal Christians believe that the shield of faith is all they need…AND, that is why we have so many Christian casualties. Remember, we are to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD!

Back to Oliver Wendell Holmes, he makes the same point:

[He] said “It is faith in something that makes life worth living.” That sounds good but it is a half-truth and in spiritual life it equates with a lie. It's like the little leaguer who told his mom, “I think we’re going to lose the game today” to which she answered, “No son, think positive!” His reply was “I’m positive we’re going to lose the game today.” She wanted him to put faith in faith. But faith must be in something that’s worth putting one's faith in. For the Christian, faith is believing God and remembering that every fiery dart that Satan shoots is a lie. If we believe his lies, we are not believing God. It's really that simple. If God said it, then it’s true, and we are to believe it. Which comes back to the source of our faith, God's Word of Truth. We can know all the pieces of the Roman soldier's armor, but if we are not daily in His Word, letting His Spirit remind us of His faithfulness and renewing our mind to think like Christ rather than like the evil world system, then we are destined for defeat in our spiritual battles….. God will not force us to be victorious, but He does supply everything necessary for victory.[2]

And, one of those weapons that we have is the shield of faith. The shield of faith has some unique characteristics that can teach us valuable lessons about standing our ground against the enemy.

The Shield of Faith is Like a Door

The first characteristic of the shield is that it is like a door. In fact, that is where its name comes from. The Greek word for ‘shield’ is thureos from Thura or ‘door’. It would have described the stone that covered the door to the tomb of Jesus, for example. The Roman shield was about 4 x 2 ½ feet. It covered the armor and allowed the soldier to stand behind it fully protected.

It is easy to imagine the Roman legions placing their shields side by side and layer on layer to create a virtually impenetrable wall. But, what happens when we drop our shield, the door, in our lives?

Depression or discouragement begin to eat at us? Keep the shield up or drop it?

Sin begins to tempt us…a little pride, a little pleasure, a little greed, a little indulgence. Keep the shield up or drop it?

God’s Word and the Holy Spirit challenge you (greater commitment – financial, time, talents). How do you answer the challenge? Do you drop the shield?

I like the imagery of Psalms 5:12

Psalm 5:12 NIV

Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

I can imagine the seasoned Roman war veteran telling his men to trust the shield as the arrows of the enemy came sailing in. Trust it! Hold on! It’s almost over! After the siege of Dyrachium, the Roman soldier Sceva counted 220 darts sticking into his shield.[3]

Trust it!

The Shield of Faith is Kept Wet

I probably should have mentioned earlier that the shield was made of many materials, but the earlier ones would have been made from wood and animal hide. The hides would have been stretched on the shield to be tight. Before the battle they would saturate the hides in water to make them as wet as possible.

“The military of New Testament times used three types of arrows. First, there were regular arrows, similar to the arrows one would shoot from a bow today. Second, there were arrows that were dipped into tar, set on fire, and then shot through the air. Third, there were arrows containing combustible fluids that burst into flames upon impact.”[4]

You can see why keeping the shield wet would help the soldier.

The Shield of Faith is Kept Oiled

If you have something made of leather that is of value, you realize the need to keep it oiled. It may be a motorcycle seat, baseball glove, or a knife sheath. From time to time, you need to condition the leather with a product like saddle soap. In a spiritual sense, we need to do the same thing but with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In the church we use the word ‘anoint’ in many different circumstances but they all refer to God’s hand begin on something.

The word “anoint” … was originally a medical term. When a patient with sore muscles came to see his physician, the physician would pour oil on his own hands and then begin to rub that oil into the patient’s sore muscles.

Technically, then, the word “anoint” has to do with the rubbing or smearing of oil on someone else. I call the anointing a hands-on situation!

Thus, when we speak of a person who is anointed, we are actually saying that the hand of God is upon that person and that God is rubbing the strong presence of the Holy Spirit into that man or woman’s life or ministry. If a person’s sermon is anointed, it is anointed because the hand of God is upon it. If a person sings an anointed song, the song is anointed because the hand of God is upon it.

The anointing is the result of God’s hand personally imparting the strong presence of the Holy Spirit into something. Therefore, if you need a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon your faith, you must come before the Great Anointer! He alone can give you what you need. Open your heart to the Spirit of God, and allow Him to lay His hand upon your life and your faith in a fresh, new way. As you do, a strong anointing will follow — this is guaranteed! [5]

Pastor Akers and Sis Akers were always encouragers. In 1999 we built this building, and we spent many days and nights up here doing the electrical and insulation. My kids were 8 and 10. I was teaching at MHS and in the Reserves. I remember them pointing out that it would have been impossible to do all the things that Cindy and I were doing if it were not for the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit.

I still need it. You need it. The touch of God on our lives pulls us together, it breathes life into dead spots and brings us to life. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to deal with our families, work spaces, hopes and dreams, and in our struggles of life!

Shield Practice

I think it would be good for us to do a little exercise. I am going to present a fiery dart that the devil might use against us, but then we are going to put up our shields of faith and defend ourselves by snuffing it out.

Nobody did it better than Jesus, so let’s look at His example first.

Matthew 4:1–11 NIV

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Each time the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus used the Word of God as a shield to deflect the temptation, so let’s do some shield drills.

Fiery dart #1

Attack #1 - “You are way worse than anyone else”

Shields Up!

2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Attack #2 - “You’ve fallen again. There’s no hope for you”

Shields Up!

Proverbs 24:16 NIV

for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

Luke 15:20 NIV

So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Attack #3 – “You’re too weak. You’re not strong enough to be a Christian”

Shields Up!

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Joshua 1:5 NIV

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

We could go on and on, but I believe you get it. What becomes very obvious is how much of the Word of God do you have ready. This is why we’ve identified one of the strategies of Grace Chapel is “A Place to Grow”. We must be constantly growing through reading, learning, and memorizing the Word of God so our defenses are solid.

Time for Some Shield Maintenance

Paul said that we need to “take up the shield of faith” which implies that the shield of faith can be overlooked or set aside.

Have you left the door open for the enemy to get into an area of your life?

Have you allowed the fiery darts of the enemy to burn into your shield?

Have you allowed your shield to become brittle and cracked because you have been neglecting the oil of the Spirit to work its way into your life?

It is time for some shield maintenance.

[1] MacArthur, J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press [2]PreceptAustin.com [3] https://www.preceptaustin.org/ephesians_616-17 [4] Excerpt From: Rick Renner. “Dressed to Kill.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/dressed-to-kill/id595411385 [5] Excerpt From: Rick Renner. “Dressed to Kill.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/dressed-to-kill/id595411385