Priority for 2007
Happy New Year’s Eve! This coming New Year reminds us that there is always a new chapter to be written, with new opportunities and great possibilities. So as the church, how shall we move on, what are the new opportunities and possibilities?
In the Bible, we find Paul the apostle, speaking to this in our text this morning. What is the church to do with the future? He says this…
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20)
DVD Clip from LOTR 2nd disc chapter 29 – aragorn’s fiery speech as they face their final battle.
Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West
Can you see how similar the speech of Aragorn is to the text of the Bible. Both speak of standing your ground or to hold your ground. Both have scenes of warriors with armor, flashing the sword, with helmets on and shields for protection - the putting on of the full armor. Both speak not backing down against an enemy that would scare the daylights of brave soul! Both say…This day we fight!
1. From now one we FIGHT!: It is a call to battle! We’ve got a fight on our hands!
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God…you may be able to stand your ground…” (v.10-13)
The word “Finally” according to John Stott, ought to be rendered or translated as “henceforth” or for the remaining time. I looked up the Greek, and he is right on the money! Henceforth, we need to be strong in the face of a fearful enemy. Henceforth we fight… this day we fight! This word is connected to the preceding chapters of Ephesians which speaks of God’s purpose…
1. LOVE: In His love, He has chosen you to be in on what He’s doing -creating a new human society where there is no division or discrimination, where His richest blessings are poured out, to praise of His glorious grace(Eph.1).
2. GRACE: This accomplished by at a real cost – attested to by concrete historical events - Jesus’ death and resurrection power, grace is the word (Eph.2-3).
3. FAMILY: Therefore under his headship, there is on family, one people, one body (Eph.4)
4. UNITY: They are called to demonstrate that unity – using their diversity of gifts to strengthen each other, bearing with each other, forgiving each other, not more putdowns (Eph.4).
5. SPIRIT FILLED LIFE:They are to throw off their pre-conversion behavior and live a life of purity, filled with the Spirit (Eph.5)
6. SUBMISSION: This means the tough call of submission to each other in practical everyday life. (Eph.5-6)
After I told you this Paul says… this day we FIGHT!
If you think the Christian faith is a timid faith, you are of course, dead wrong. Faith is muscular. When we received Jesus as our God and Savior, God put into us His Spirit. Eph.1:19 speaks of “incomparable great power for us who believe.” God’s mighty strength, the power of His resurrection life is in us. I like the way Eugene Peterson’s Bible The Message says it – that our Spirit-enabled lives are not “timid grave tending” lives (Rom.8:15). We have been blessed with something that’s way stronger. Faith in God calls for a sword swinging armor laden, standing your ground clash with the enemy of our souls. Life in Christ is a deadly armed struggle against an unseen and scheming adversary. 1 Timothy 6.12 says “Fight the good fight of faith.” That is why Paul cries out “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” It is nothing but a stirring militaristic cry to battle - It is a fight to the finish! Put on the full armor… “you may be able to stand your ground, And after you have done everything to stand”. No turning back, don’t back down! Can you just picture it? It is the locker-room pep talk before the onslaught of evil in the way Aragorn spoke to his troops.
2. REALITY: we will face constant hostilities.
As Christians we face a life of constant hostilities. Whether you sense it or nor the fact is there is an unseen battle. “Our struggle is not against flesh blood” says Paul. According to a 1999 Gallup Poll, more than 86% of Americans believed that there is a God. Some polls have that as high as 95%. But only 63% of American’s believe there is a devil. He wants it that way. Jesus says the devil is the father of lies and he’d twist the truth (John 8:44). Satan can look a lot like an angel of light (2 Cor.11:14).
• The real enemy is deceitful.
…so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (v.11)
• The real enemy is not people.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood (v.12)
• The real enemy is unseen
“but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil…” (v.12)
• The real enemy is powerful
Like any battle, there will be casualties, there will be those who will be wounded and those who will be left shaken. People so deceived that they will pierce themselves to get close to God (see Thaipusam festivals in Malaysia). So Paul cries out “be strong in the Lord”, do not move out to fight on your own!
3. From now on we FIGHT STANDING in Christ!
So from now on, you need to keep fighting, standing your ground in the Lord! This is not peace time yet. I need to say this - the WAR is OVER! But the battle continues.
The enemy the devil is defeated but he is going down fighting and will drag down as many as he can. So do not get comfortable. Do not lull yourself into sleep. This is not a videogame, where u can press pause and get some snacks. Sounds intimidating, sound scary. Shall we just quiver in our boots and be at their mercy? ARE WE HELPLESS?
Guess what, you are not left alone in this titanic struggle. The bible says, “Be strong in the Lord and his mighty power”. You can be infused with power from God. We Fight standing in the ground that Jesus won for us. Trans. – you’ve got what it takes to win. With God on your side you are the majority.
The bible says…“he (Christ) disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” Col.2:15 (NLT)
But you need to decide to have God in your life, to listen to His orders and follow them to victory, then you can have the hope of defeating the demonic hordes, you cannot gut it out alone.
Would you make sure you are positioned in Christ? Putting on the full armor of God is simply a metaphor of putting God on. That you’re not fighting on your own, without any ability to defend. Put on that belt of truth, don’t fight with your pants down! The Truth of Christ, needs to be in you, so that u won’t be embarrassed when the fighting takes place! Who is the truth? Bible says, Jesus is the way the truth the life! Put on breastplate of righteousness, and who makes us righteous? Bible says that no one is righteous, only Jesus is! He is the one who’ll guard our hearts, protect us from the accusations of condemnation. Get your shoes ready with the gospel of peace! Who says peace to us, that God will serve us grace and not war, Jesus! Get ready to spread peace and share this good news. Take up shield of faith – faith in what? In Christ of course! Helmet of salvation – don’t get head injuries now, by wearing the helmet you get protected, remembering it is faith alone in Christ that will get you through, not your achievements. This is defensive action that’ll stand! Put some D on with the Lord Jesus! Be strong in the Lord, not on your own!
4. FIGHT IN THE SPIRIT WITH OTHERS!
18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
No believer is left alone, each believer has the Spirit. The bible says, “And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago” (1:13). It is up to each believer to pray, seek time alone with God, take the steps to get to know God who is within praying distance.
Also enlist the help of others, ask others to pray for you. Besides the occasion of Sunday mornings, we are setting up the occasion of small groups. This happens next week! “Always keep on praying for all the saints” the Bible says! It is not easy to pray, believe me, been there! It really helps a lot to have others to pray with you and for you. The bible says to use all occasions. Even the great Paul desires it as he wrote, “Pray also for me… Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should”(v.19-20)
There is no better occasion than to be in a small group to fight the unseen battle, to regroup with all kinds of prayers and requests. The small group is where you will find this resource of the Spirit with others.
Join in this good fight of faith with others.
Many teams competing, for instance,in the world cup of soccer know who the enemy is. They get scouting reports, their coaches prepare them to take their stand and with the hope of coming out on top. That’s what I want to do today. Be a coach, give you a scouting report so you can stand firm, be a hero, not a zero, coming out on top in the onslaught that’s bound to come. That’s what’s intended here, to stand, stand tall when all the bullets are fired, stand when dust settles, stand like Jedi knight blazing with a light sabre holding your ground, not giving an inch of your turf, already won in Jesus.
“If you have ever been to a circus, you’ve no doubt seen the huge bull elephants chained to a peg in the ground. Perhaps it has occurred to you that the elephant could easily pull the peg out of the ground and escape. However, he does not try. As a baby elephant he was tied to a huge stake that he could not pull out of the ground. Weeks of pulling and tugging only wore a trench around the stake, and finally he gave up. Now that he is full-grown, with great strength and the physical ability to pull the peg out of the ground, he remembers only the futility of past efforts and does not even attempt to escape. He is conditioned to failure.”(Dr. Arthur Caliandro, of Marble Collegiate Church, New York City)
I trust today, you have seen the scouting report. You can have the victory. If you have been conditioned to failure like the huge bull elephant, FIGHT it off with renewed faith! Fight standing in Jesus alone, not own your past or on your own merits. You’ve got great strength. Be strong in the Lord and his mighty power! You can easily defeat the defeated adversary! And will you, fight in the Spirit with others? Sign up with others to pray for you and with you for others, this is a church that must not struggle alone! In 2007, Let us move on confidently connected to God who’ll never leave us. Let us grow Christ-centered disciples with muscles. Let us be warriors in this unseen battle! Amen!
