Keeping the Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Kids, did you know that they won’t let you keep coming to VBS after you are a certain age. Because of that, a lot of the adults feel left out and they are really sad. So we are going to cheer them up and let them join us on our last day of Vacation Bible School. Today we only have a short amount of time so we won’t be able to do crafts, snacks, and games.
It has been a wonderful week getting to teach children about truth. It is the duty of the church to equip children as they grow up to be able to face the world that we live in. I think we can all agree that our world is a battleground. You may not consider yourself a follower of Jesus but I think it is obvious that there are powers that can’t be seen that are fighting. And I believe that one of the largest battlegrounds is with our children. They are moldable at the age that they are. And there are two kingdoms that are fighting this battle over the souls of not only us, but our children.
Do you remember what the kingdoms were kids?
We spent a lot of time explaining to them this week the difference between the good kingdom and the bad kingdom. And I know for the adults that this may seem silly and really dumbed down, but this is still extremely relevant to us today. They learned that the good kingdom is ruled by King Jesus and that the bad kingdom is ruled by Satan. I had the privilege of teaching them some in the lesson block. One night I asked them if they knew of any books or movies that came to mind that showed this fight between good and bad. And to be honest, I didn’t know half of the things that they told me. But as an adult, I can look back and think of movies such as Gladiator, Mission Impossible, or maybe a war time movie like Saving Private Ryan. There is something that resonates with us about this fight between good and evil.
This idea of a kingdom brings along with it the idea of warriors. We used the picture of a Knight. Knights are known for their armor that they wore to go to battle. This is where is comes together for us as we think about fighting in the spiritual battle for the souls of people and of children. We must be ready for battle. The way that we are ready for battle is that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, have the right armor for this battle.
The central passage for the week was found in the book of Ephesians in chapter 6. The heading of the passage in your bible may say something like “The Whole Armor of God”.
English Standard Version Chapter 6
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
I want to quickly go over what we have covered this week in our first 4 days. But we are treating today as our 5th day of VBS. So you adults won’t feel left out. We spent each night going over different pieces of the armor that we need as followers of Jesus.
The first night, we talked about this battle that we are in with the two kingdoms. There was a focus on truth and where truth is found. Kids, where do we find truth? The book of truth is another word for what we call the Bible. And that the bible isn’t only true but that it contains absolute truth. And because there is a such thing as absolute truth, we have a saying for the two kingdoms. “Of two, only one is true.”
The second night we spend talking about the belt of truth. We talked about the reason that we need to fasten on the belt of truth is because there is so much trickery out there. And who committed the first trick kids? Satan did in the garden of Eden when he tricked Adam and Eve into eating of the one tree that they were told not to. And because of that disobedience, we have taken on the sin of Adam in our own lives. And that this happens at birth. And because of that, we are actually born into the bad kingdom and not the good kingdom. This is why we need to hold onto truth and keep it fastened to us. And where do we find truth kids? The bible.
On night 3, we talked about the breastplate and the shoes. Breastplates protect our bodies from attacks. The breastplate of righteousness is put on through obedience to God. We don’t want to think, “what can I get away with when it comes to obeying God”. We should love God to the point that we want to do what He commands us. But a good Knight also has shoes on. These shoes are the shoes of the gospel of peace.
The last night, our pieces of armor were the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. The shield of faith is used to protect us. When we have faith, it doesn’t matter what the bad kingdom throws our way because we have the protection of knowing that Jesus died for our sins. We also have the helmet of salvation that reminds us that Jesus has saved us. Our shields and our helmets protect us from the arrows that the enemy throws at us. We called those D-Darts this week. Do you remember what the D-Darts were? Destruction, doubt, discouragement, doing wrong, and division. These are all arrows that are thrown at us by the enemy to try to take our focus off of Jesus.
Now we get to the last piece of armor that we are going to cover today. That is the sword of the spirit. Just so you know what I am going to do, I am going to take some time to talk about the sword of the spirit, and then I am going to use this same passage to show us how to put all of this together and how it applies to us today.
Sword of the Spirit
Sword of the Spirit
English Standard Version Chapter 6
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,
As we have gone through the armor of God and talked about each piece, you may have seen something that is similar about all of them. Each one of them is a defensive piece. They protect you from attacks. But this last piece is what we would call and offensive piece. That means that it is used to attack the enemy. As warriors for the good kingdom, Knights for Jesus, we cannot just sit back and take a beating the whole time. We must have a weapon to fight back. Adults, I am sure that we could all think back to a movie or a story about a warrior with a sword. Maybe you think of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart. Or maybe you think of the Highlander, Connor McCloud. One that I go to is King Arthur and Excalibur. And this theme this week has been loosely based off of that time period and setting. We have this young man who wants to be one of the Knights of the square table.
Weapons are important. Weapons are even important in our spiritual battles that we face. This is why we have been given the sword of the spirit. Which we are told is the word of God. The word of God is the bible that we have. This is the book of truth. It is called the sword of the spirit because the power that it has comes from the Holy Spirit. Something interesting about how this was written in the original language (the New Testament was written in Greek). Most of the time, the author would us the word logos when it is translated to our english term, word. This would be used when referring to the written word of God. But here, the original word is rhema. This is used when referring to the spoken word of God.
“If that is the case here, then he is referring to speaking the gospel, which is powerful and effective by the Spirit of God (O’Brien, Ephesians, 482)
Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 182.”
What this means for us is that if we want to wield the sword of the spirit, it is more than just having a copy of the bible sitting on the shelf to collect dust. That is not being ready for battle. Just like a warrior, your sword must be shard. A dull sword will lead to death. The way that you have a sharp sword of the spirit is even more than carrying a bible in your hands at all times. Having a sharp sword means that you have the bible in you. If you are not carrying God’s word in your heart, it is difficult to stand against the schemes of the devil.
My dad collected swords when I was younger. I even have one now. It is not a real one but I have a claymore sword. Dad had all kinds of swords. He had katanas, claymores, a rapier, and maybe even a cutlass (not the Oldsmobile). My dad was also a police officer. So I want to put a scenario in your head. Let’s say that someone decided to break into my parents home. Probably not a smart idea. My father wakes up and he hears someone in the house. Next to the bed, he has two weapons. He has his handgun and he has his sword. He has a decision to make. He has to choose one of these two weapons to pick up to protect his family. Which one does he choose?
This is an easy decision. The sword is much heavier and bulky than the gun would be so it would be easier to carry into battle. Wars today and not fought with swords at close distance but with guns at longer distances. Swords are now something that are found in a museum rather than battle. The same is true with the bible. Most of us own a bible. Many of us have one of those family bibles that is humongous. But a lot of us never use the bible. Why is that? The same reason that we don’t see people carrying swords into battle. Because it is not seen as a relevant weapon in the battles that we face. But this is a lie. The bible is the most relevant piece of literature today. And we should not even see it as just literature.
The bible is a book that contains 66 other books that are divinely inspired by God and penned by human men. It tells us about the birth of nations, those same nations turning their back on God for decades, and then restoration. It tells us about people breaking God’s law and wondering why they were not blessed. It has pictures of love and betrayal. And it tells the greatest story of redemption that has ever been told.
The story that began with Adam and Eve in the garden and Adam breaking the one rule that God gave them. And because of that, we now are in the middle of this battle between the good kingdom and the bad kingdom. And although we could pursue the good kingdom by following rules and trying to be good people, it will never be enough because we are now born as citizens of the bad kingdom. So we need someone to save us from this. Because of that God sent his son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and to die a horrible death in our place. We should have been the ones on the cross paying for our sins. But Jesus went instead. And they buried him but he did not stay dead. Because Jesus has power of life and death. Jesus struck a big blow to the bad kingdom when he rose from the grave.
And just like we taught the children this week, if you admit, believe, and forever receive then you will be saved.
Admit that you are a sinner and were born that way. That you need someone to help you out because you can’t do it on your own.
Believe that Jesus came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross for you. And that he rose from the grave to prove that he has power over death.
And if you do those, you will forever receive the kingdom of God. It won’t always be easy and in fact, it will be hard. But because we believe these things, we will obey God’s commands and pursue to live a life that wants to be like Jesus.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We have talked a lot this morning going over the armor of God. And you just heard me explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that there are 2 different kinds of people that are here today that have heard this sermon. People that are committed followers of Jesus and those that aren’t.
First I want to speak to you who are followers of Jesus. You have heard this sermon about the Armor of God. And you are wondering how we put all this to practice in our life. This is a great question that is answered here in these verses. 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
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 6:18.
The way that we are able to put this armor on is found through our prayer life. If you think that your armor has holes in it, I ask that you examine your prayer life. Prayer is something that is greatly neglected and some of us never pray. And we wonder why we feel like we can never withstand the attacks of Satan. You aren’t praying. And we are told in this verse to pray with perseverance. Do not give up on your prayers. Keep praying. Pray until you feel like you cannot pray anymore, then keep praying. My challenge to you this week is to set aside 5 more minutes each day and try to pray. The words may not come to begin with, but don’t give up. Persevere in your prayers.
But maybe that isn’t you. Maybe you are not a follower of Jesus. If you have came here this morning and you want to know what you need to do to be saved, this is what you need to do. Admit and believe. We use the word repent in church. It means to make a complete turn. When you do that, you are admitting that you can’t do this on your own because you have this sin in your life that is keeping you away from God. When this happens, you then believe that Jesus came and died for your sins on the cross. But just saying these words and thinking that these things really happened doesn’t make you a follower of Jesus. True belief means that you are willing to lay your life down in order to live a life that is chasing after Jesus. This means that your life will look different. You may stop saying the words that you used to say, stop talking about people the way that you used to, and maybe even change the crowd that you hang around. But one thing is for certain, you will love Jesus and want to be like him.
Is this you? Are you taking the step today and professing that you believe that Jesus died for you and because of that, you will live for him? If this is you, I want to know. I am not going to embarrass you and make you walk up front. But if you would take a moment and write your name and phone number on the side of your bulletin and tear it off for me and just leave it in your seat, I want to be able to talk to you about this. We all have steps to take. Maybe it is telling the world that you believe, maybe it is doing that through the act of baptism, maybe it is devoting ourselves to reading the book of truth and expanding our prayer time. Brothers and sisters, it is time to take that step.