"Put On ..."
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Female emu attacked me in breeding season in Manhattan Zoo because I got in the way of who she wanted to mate with.
Paul believed in an unseen spiritual realm, and Jesus did too. In fact, Jesus spent a large portion of his ministry in direct conflict with the demonic forces and setting captives free.
Captives, of course, imply that there is someone or something you are captive to. So, Paul just picks up right where Jesus left off.
Throughout Ephesians Paul refers to the believer’s life as a struggle, a fight, and warfare against evil forces.
Then Paul goes and ends the book of Ephesians with a list of weapons we need to engage in that warfare.
Last week I told you There’s only two places in the Christian life in which Paul says a Christian can and should flee: sexual immorality and the love of money.
When it comes to monies and honeys, you get out of town, right? Everywhere else, you must learn to stand firm, because you can’t escape. This is what today is all about, how to stand firm.
So, as we did last week, we are going to read through the passage in Ephesians 6. We will read the exact same text with the with the intent of focusing on the second part this week. Read: Ephesians 6:10-24
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, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
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,
19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
21 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.
22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Each of these 7 pieces of armor is simply a way of applying the gospel that Paul has just spent 6 chapters talking about, to your whole life.
Some of them are, in fact, repetitive, getting at similar concepts: putting on the helmet of salvation and taking the shield of faith are not two fundamentally different ideas.
The more important idea is that the gospel should cover every part of your body, your life, because where the gospel has fortified you, Satan cannot attack you.
Putting on these pieces is how you fulfill Paul’s command in vs. 10 to be “strong in the Lord.” Paul for 6 chapters taught you were weak, sinful, walking in darkness, and spiritually dead when God saved you.
You gain spiritual power to defeat the enemy when you realize, “I don’t have the ability to overcome Satan on my own. I am going to have to trust in God’s grace and power to do it.”
So, these pieces of spiritual armor are where you apply the gospel of dependence on God’s grace to an area of vulnerability or weakness in your life.
So, with that backdrop, let’s look at each piece of the armor. There are 7 of them, so we’ll move quickly: First piece: “Take up… the belt of truth” (vs. 13–14)
Your belt goes around your core. It holds all your weapons and the rest of your armor in place. o Now, as far as the metaphor goes, this one is really important, because nobody wants to go into battle with their pants down.
What does Paul mean by “belt of truth?” Two things. Well, we always think of truth as primarily a “what,” but in Scripture it is first a… “who.” John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So Paul is saying, “Gird yourself up with Jesus. Make your identity in Christ the center of your life.”
I’ve always heard that your identity is based on what the most important person in your life thinks about you. Is that PERSON Jesus and have you made what he thinks about you your core identity?
Do you believe is nothing you could do to make God love you more and nothing you have done that would make him love you less? Or are you still basing your identity on your performance?
Do you still care more about what someone else thinks about you than Jesus? If so, that’s a place Satan can and will attack.
That’s how Satan attacked Jesus in the Temptation: “If you are the Son of God.” If you are a Christian, you wouldn’t struggle with this.
If you really were a son or daughter of God, your life wouldn’t be so hard o If God really exists, thins would be different.
The second thing “belt of truth” implies is that you have grounded your perspective on thing in what he says: on things like sexuality, marriage, the purpose of life, generosity, and etc.
Question: How do you determine what is true and right in your life? For some people, they rely on this internal compass, what feels right? They let God influence, but at the end of the day, it’s what they feel is right.
For others, they follow the whims of popular opinion— whatever their friends or professors or their favorite stars in Hollywood think.
The only way to escape the deception of the Enemy is to let the word of God shape your thinking. Do you know the Word of God?
THESE ARE NOT just doctrines to learn, they are means of survival. Wherever you are not covered in the truth of Scripture you are exposed to the attack of the enemy.
Satan’s 1st attack on us was to say, “Has God really said this…?” For centuries now he has not been able to come up with a new line. He doesn’t need to.
His goal is to get you to do 1 of 2 things with God’s word: 1. Doubt it, or 2. Neglect it… which works just as well.
What do you believe about this book, and does how you treat it line up with that? Do you treat it like the life-saving truth you confess it to be?
Second piece of armor… “Take up… the breastplate of righteousness” (vs. 14). A breastplate covers your vital organs. What does he mean by covering your vital organs with righteousness?
Well, again, for Paul, being covered with righteousness first means embracing our identity in Christ. I think the breastplate gives us an interesting picture here, because you’ve seen Roman breastplates, right?
They have the pecs and abs all cut in. Which means that if I put on the breastplate of righteousness, you’re going to see perfect pecs and abs, regardless of the jiggle that’s going on behind that breastplate.
Was Paul really thinking about that? I don’t know. But you have to admit, it is an interesting metaphor. 2 Cor 5:21 says that God made Jesus to be our sin so he could give us his righteousness.
It’s called “gift righteousness” or “Imputed righteousness.” It’s taking Christ’s righteousness as ours. But I think there’s also an obedience element here.
Not only are we covered in Christ’s righteousness, but we also bring our lives into conformity with it. Again, Satan will use whatever part of you that is not surrendered to God.
He will not only take what is not surrendered to God, but he will work tirelessly to conform it to his truth and twist the truth of God just enough to conform you to his will. This is his focal point of attack.
Or let me ask it this way: If you knew, a year from now, that Satan was going to bring you down, what would be the thing he uses to do it? What would he use in your life today?
Third piece of armor: “As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” (vs. 15)
I often heard that the Sword of the Spirit, which we’ll get to in a minute, is the only offensive weapon in the Christian arsenal. That’s not true.
Your feet are offensive weapons, too, because they carry you forward into battle. Paul says we overcome Satan by going on the offense with the gospel.
This overcomes Satan’s work in both other people’s lives as well as our own. First, sharing the gospel with people is how we overcome Satan’s work in others.
Sometimes we only want to share the gospel with those who are interested in it. But that is putting the cart before the horse. How can they ever get interested in it until it has had a chance to work in their lives?
The gospel has the power in it to set the captive free and give sight to the blind, to give spiritual life to those who are disinterested. And that can’t happen in the lives of people who have never heard it.
Salvation belongs to God. Faith only comes by hearing. The Word of God can only go to work once it has been spoken to someone.
Hearing the Word of God is the only thing that creates interest in the Word of God.
Isn’t that how you were? You weren’t interested in hearing the gospel. But then someone shared it with you, and it made you want to hear it.
Not only does that thwart the enemy’s work in others’ lives, it stops Satan’s work in ours. We’re the easiest prey for Satan when we’re bored. That’s how King David fell into adultery.
He was at home, disengaged from the battle, when everyone else was off at war. Everyone else was out fighting, David was at home lounging. Some of you are sitting ducks for Satan because you are bored.
Get engaged in God’s mission church! That’s when Satan loses opportunities in your lives! God has made it so that we are only healthy when we fight.
The Church is not some shanty of saints sequestered together trying to keep out the barbarians, but a missionary people battering hell’s gates.
Fourth piece: “Above all (i.e. this is the most important), taking the shield of faith, by which we extinguish the fiery darts of the wicked one” (vs. 16)
This is really a way of summing up all the other pieces. Satan’s main weapons are the lies he throws—like fiery darts— into our hearts.
Listen: You are not supposed to try to try to out-reason those darts. To do some foot ninja work to avoid them. That won’t work.
You are supposed to hide from them behind your shield, which means coming against them in your mind with what God has told you is true in the gospel.
So, Satan hurls at you: “You’re no good.” “You’re nothing.” “You’re pathetic.” “After what you did, do you think God still loves you?” “You can never make a difference.” “He’ll never use you.”
“Your marriage will always be bad.” “You’ll never be a good parent.” “You’ll always be sick.” “You’ll never get out of debt.”
BOOM! You put up the shield! “Surely goodness and mercy…” “I am blessed coming in and blessed coming out.” “Greater is he that is within me…” “God has plans to prosper me…”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” “My God is working all things together for good…” “He will never leave me or forsake me.” “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he’s watching me.”
Piece five: “Take up… the helmet of salvation” (vs. 17) Again, this repeats in a new way some of what he has already said. But specifically, your head is where you think.
Paul is telling us to let the truth about our salvation and God’s grace in our lives permeate our minds. Every morning there are two things I tell myself before I start each day.
“Jesus, there is nothing I could do that would make you love me anymore; nothing I have done that that would make you love me any less.”
AND … “Jesus, you are all I need for everlasting joy. Your love for me is total and it is enough. May the joy of the Lord be my strength.”
Sixth piece: “And taking the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (vs. 17) Now, we transition to exclusively offensive weapons. We’ve already talked about our shoes.
Now we’ve got our sword, which is the Word of God. (Of course, the Word has been in each of the others.) But he’s telling us, again, so to master this book which gives us the ability to counteract Satan’s lies.
Your ability to overcome Satan is directly proportionate to your knowledge of the Word of God! learn it, read it, memorize it, meditate on. Be so saturated with it that when life cuts you, you bleed God’s word.
Finally, “and praying at all times in the Spirit…” (vs. 18). Many times, people don’t include this in the weapons. But it is. It’s our main one.
Notice that prayer is not something we do only in preparation for battle, but what you when you are dressed for the battle. I say this because we often treat prayer like it is only preparation for ministry.
According to Paul, prayer is the ministry. The book of James tells us the same thing: that the most effective thing we can do is prayer. The fervent prayers of righteous people CHANGE history.
Elijah changed the weather with his prayer! Prayer is where we put into practice what we believe about the gospel. It’s where we say, “God, I believe you are as compassionate as the cross says you are, and as powerful…
Prayer is not the only thing we do, but it’s the first thing we do, and the most effective thing that we do. Some of you have that gift of intercession and need to use it.
But for all of us, though prayer should be the primary way we see ourselves fighting. Bold prayer is how you take the doctrines of the gospel and do battle in the world!
Do you know how much power and compassion God is ready to pour out if we just pray? Ask, Jesus tells us, ask, ask, ask!
So, Paul’s last words are to tell us that yes, life is war, but we can and should be confident that we have a God who is willing to fight for us.
How do you get the devil out of your home? Your head? Out of your church? Preach Christ. Trust Christ. Dwell on Christ!
As a Christian, we don’t have to fight for victory over Satan, but from a victory that Jesus has already won and given to us as a gift! AMEN?
The last verse in Ephesians 6:24
24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
God’s love is the only incorruptible, everlasting, immutable, all powerful, unchangeable thing in this corruptible, fallen, ever changing world!