The Armor of God
Youth Service - June 11, 1995
INTRO:
I have a hard time with things that I can’t physically sense. I’m a fairly concrete person - I like the tangible things in life - like a thick piece of chocolate cake, or the solid handshake of a friend. And it is because of this familiarity with concrete, tangible things that I have trouble with Ephesians 6:10-18. It’s not that I have trouble understanding the concepts involved, or the theology behind them, but its more that my North American upbringing wants to deny the existence and influence of the spiritual realm - I want to deny that Satan and his demons are still active and destroying people all around me. My theology believes it wholeheartedly, because it is prominent throughout the Word - and my experiences back it up unreservedly, because I’ve fought and won and seen Satan fleeing. But still sometimes - as Satan becomes more and more deceptive - I slip back into an ambivalence, almost a denial of what is going on in the spiritual realm. Perhaps that is one of Satan’s primary strategies- to keep us ignorant of his actions and influences...
JOYLYN
As we are all well aware, we have a BIG battle on our hands. As it says in Eph. 6:10-13: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For 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. Therefore 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."
In order to defeat our foe, we must understand the different pieces of armor that are at our disposal, and we must learn how to use each piece correctly so as to protect ourselves. Just think of it this way, every year, militaries from across the globe go in search of the perfect recruits to round out their ranks so that they will have the most powerful armies. We as Christians are faced with a daily war against evil in the Spiritual realm. So why don’t we fight? And why don’t we prepare an action plan against Satanic rule? The Bible specifically explains how we are to wage war against the evil one and even gives us a time frame: starting now.
STEVE
The apostle Paul has established the nature of the battle as a Spiritual one, and has given us our mandate: "STAND". It fascinates me that Paul tells us to stand three times in the space of twelve words - look at verses 13-14: "Therefore, 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. Stand firm". In this passage, we are not called to charge forward against Satan. We are not called to march valiantly against the gates of hell. But we are called to stand our ground. We are commanded to stand firm. We are called, after we have done everything, to stand.
It’s vitally important to notice that we are only called to "stand" in relation to Satan’s attacks on us. We are called to march valiantly against the gates of hell in terms of winning others to Christ - Our entire goal and purpose as Christians is to "Go, and make disciples". We are called to charge forward and rescue people from eternal death. But our goal when we personally are under attack from Satan is to stand. Hold onto that fact in the midst of difficult times - one of the ways Satan will try to discourage you and attack you is by pointing out the lack of progress you are making during his attacks - Satan comes and whispers "some Christian you are - you’re not gaining any ground at all! You’re just standing there, barely holding your ground. If you were a good Christian you’d be making progress..." All God expects of us, all He commands us to do is stand firm- just stand your ground and resist Satan.
As Joy and I were discussing this, she asked a very insightful question: "Isn’t that kind of passive?"
I remember a game we used to play in phys. ed., during the wrestling unit. There was a circle on the mat, and the object of the contest was to knock your opponent off balance and get some portion of his body to touch outside the designated circle - the goal was to stand your ground - and, as you can imagine, that was anything but passive! It works the same with Satan - he’s trying to get us off balance; make us step outside the realm of obedience to God and touch down in his realm of sin. The struggle is anything but passive.
JOYLYN
Thankfully, we aren’t called to just stand there and take whatever Satan wants to throw at us without some protection. In fact, we are covered from head to toe. God has provided for us everything we need to be victorious in our stance against sin. Note the continual reference to the "FULL" armor of God. Verse 11: "Put on the FULL armor...", verse 13: "therefore, put on the FULL armor". Just wearing part of the armor is useless - for example, if you have everything except a helmet, Satan will just attack your head and easily knowck you off balance.
Paul lists the armor for us in verses 14-17. "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Now, the first thing that we need to understand is that Paul understood Roman armor - he was in jail enough times that he would have seen quite a bit of it! He understood what each piece was for, and how it functioned. He begins with the belt - calls it "the belt of truth" - now, for us 20th century North Americans, a belt is just something that holds up your pants - or else it’s a cosmetic - it makes us look better. But the soldier’s belt was something different: it was a big, thick, leather belt that was essential to the proper functioning of the rest of the armor. It held the breastplate in place, so that it couldn’t fly up in your face during battle, causing momentary blindness. It also held the sword and the dagger. Anything valuable (like money) would be kept in a small pouch, attached to the belt.
Why would Paul call it a belt "of truth"? Because truth functions like a belt - holding the other pieces of spiritual armor together. Truth acts as the standard - it is what our entire belief system must be based on. The truth, when we cling to it as a piece of our spiritual armor, sets us free from Satan’s lies. If he can make us doubt the truth, he unfastens our belt and leaves us without our sword, with no anchor for our breastplate, and with no standard to cling to.
Steve
The breastplate of righteousness is the armor that protects all of our vital organs - including our heart. You see, in order to stand firm, we must remain righteous and we must remain pure - without sin. As soon as we sin, we open a hole in our breastplate that allows Satan access to our vital organs. He hampers our relationship with God and hence our effectiveness as God’s servant - and that is Satan’s whole aim. So the breastplate protects our heart - we resist sin and keep ourselves protected by righteousness. Beware of self-righteousness - Satan’s "camouflage" breastplate. Self-righteousness is us, in our arrogance, comparing ourselves to God and seeing ourselves as equals. True righteousness comes from God through Christ, and is the only kind that will offer any real protection.
JOYLYN
Obviously, if your goal is to stand, your footwear is going to be important. Paul characterizes the footwear as "readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" - he speaks of preparation, of readiness that is based on the peace that we have with Christ. In the spiritual realm, a peaceful heart will defeat Satan every time - it doesn’t give him anything to work with! He wants our hearts (and our relationships!) to be full of strife - of discord - of confusion! If we are full of God’s peace, the peace that passes all understanding, Satan will not have a handhold.
STEVE
Take up the shield of faith. Paul calls the shield a "shield of faith" - he says that our faith acts like a shield to protect us from all of Satan’s "flaming arrows".
So, what are some of Satan’s common arrows, and how does faith extinguish them? Well, he loves to get us to grumble and complain. Faith extinguishes those arrows by reminding us that God is in control and that our job is to "encourage one another, and build each other up". He loves to alter our focus - so that we are concentrating on anything except God - because then we lower our shield and give him an opportunity to attack. He loves to shoot arrows of confusion - because they lead to mis-understanding which leads to hurt feelings which leads to strife and discord. Our shield of faith protects us from these arrows by giving us the trust to talk through issues until what we are actually saying is clear to each of us. Besides, my experience has been that we usually end up finding out that we are saying the same thing, just with slightly different emphasis.
Another arrow Satan shoots is one designed to convince us that what we feel is fact. If we believe our feelings are facts, all Satan has to do is get to us feel something that isn’t true - for example feeling that God is distant - or feeling like my salvation is not secure - or feeling that I haven’t been healed because I am still feeling physical pain. It is easy for Satan to manipulate our emotions - and if we always believe our feelings then it’s easy for Satan to get us to believe a lie. Let me repeat that: if we always believe our feelings then it’s easy for Satan to get us to believe a lie. Our shield protects us from these arrows by giving us the faith to stand - in the midst of feelings to the contrary. I may feel God is distant, but I stand on His promise to never leave me. I may feel that my salvation is in doubt, but I stand on God’s promise to hold me tight, and write my name in His book of life for eternity. I may feel some pain, but I stand on God’s promise to hear and answer my prayer, and to heal me.
Satan has a few other arrows in his quiver - like the arrow of spiritual paranoia - "do I have the formula for Christian living down just right - ’cause if I don’t then I know it won’t work...". Faith extinguishes that arrow by reminding us that God knows our hearts - that as His children He wants us to be free and to live abundant lives - not lives lived second-guessing our every prayer. Or how about the arrow of doubt: "does God really love me???". Faith reminds us that we are His children, and He has adopted us into His own family, and that Christ went to the cross because of God’s love for each of us. What about the arrow of negativity: "that won’t work - it never has in the past" - that’s what faith is about - believing in what God can do in the future. How about the arrow of pessimism: "it doesn’t really matter, nothing will ever change...", our faith gives us the courage to believe that things can change - because our God is a powerful God who can change even the most impossible of circumstances. And of course, your personal arrow of weakness that Satan loves to exploit. Faith enables us to stand on God’s promise that sin will not be our master, because we are dead to sin and alive to God.
Look at verse 16 - did you notice the word "all"? "...with which you can extinguish ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one.". You can extinguish them all! Do you believe that - that you can extinguish them all?
But, then why do we sometimes get singed? Well, the biggest reason is that we’ve probably lowered our shield, or compromised somewhere else in the wearing of our armor. If you’ve been burned, you need to check your armor. Ask God to go over each piece of it with you, pointing out any cracks or problems that might have provided Satan with an opportunity to attack. Examine your faith - examine your helmet of salvation - examine your readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Satan will direct an arrow at any opening he can find - he is merciless! If you’ve been burned, check out your armor first, because that’s likely the problem.
However, sometimes God allows a close call because there is something we need to learn. He’ll let Satan wing an arrow that singes our hair on the way by, or that nicks us in the back of our sword hand, to help us grow closer to God and learn where our weaknesses are. James writes "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance...". And remember God’s promise in 1 Cor. 10:13: "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." Sometimes God uses Satan’s missiles to toughen us up, and teach us something that He wants us to know: the point is that we can’t learn anything if we are just pouting about how much they hurt. If we feel like we’ve gotten burned, we need to first check our armor, and then try to see what God is teaching us through this experience.
JOYLYN
The helmet of the Roman era was essential to the existence of the soldier. Without it, they had no protection from the enemy, their heads were like bull’s eyes- just waiting to be pegged down. Similarly, the helmet of salvation protects our minds from the evils of the world. Without it, Satan can fill our minds with as much garbage as he pleases without us ever knowing the difference. But with the helmet strapped to our chins, we can recognize and then reject those demonic whispers. We must aggressively put on our helmet and strap it on tight. We cannot just assume our victory, it must be applied. If we allow ourselves to believe that Satan will be defeated no matter what our actions are, we will CERTAINLY be defeated by him. Neither our faith, nor our salvation is passive.
The sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon mentioned. As we know, the sword of the spirit is the Word of God - The Bible. In the Spiritual realm, the word of God is the weapon that defeats the devil. Remember Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness - remember His response - He always quoted Scripture - "It is written: man does not live on bread alone... It is written: worship the Lord your God and serve him only." The way it works in the spiritual realm is that the Word of God drives Satan away.
We need to have Scripture memorized. It is only those scriptures which you have at your immediate disposal that will be useful in fighting off the devil. Rarely will he attack while you are studying your Bible, with your concordance right at hand, where you can quickly grab your Bible, look up an appropriate verse, and read it to him. You need to have it ready - with you - written on your heart. Then you have a ready weapon to attack with.
So all of the armor - the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, are designed by God to protect us and enable us to stand firm when Satan attacks. Obviously, they only protect us when we are wearing them. We need to actively put on the armor of God. Is your armor uselessly hanging in your closet or do you put it on daily?
Did you notice that there is nothing specifically mentioned that protects your back? The lesson is that we had better face our enemy - as difficult as that is. If we turn around and run in fear, we expose ourselves to his attack.
STEVE - CONCLUSION:
Paul draws his entire section to a conclusion in verse 18, where he makes what really is his major point of the entire passage: "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". You see, prayer is where we actively participate in the spiritual realm - where we battle Satan - where we exercise our defeat over him - where we empower the Holy Spirit to work at our invitation - and where we put on the armor . Prayer is the battle field.
Paul says "Pray in the Spirit". What does that mean - "Pray IN THE SPIRIT"? It means we allow Him to be in control when we pray. Usually, we are the ones in control - deciding what to pray for and how to pray it. What Paul is talking about here is different - it is allowing the Holy Spirit to be in control while we pray. Letting Him guide us - letting Him pray through us - letting Him direct our thoughts and words. Last Tuesday, at our deacon’s meeting, an individual came to the deacons for prayer for healing. As we entered into prayer, Dave instructed us to pray only what the Lord led us to pray. As people prayed, they were sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit - you could hear it in their prayers. And she was healed. SIMPLE! We allowed the Lord to lead, we prayed in the Spirit, and God answered.
So how do you actually pray in the Spirit??? First, you must ask Him to come and to lead - invite Him. Then, quiet your heart and ask Him to reveal to you what you need to pray about - then listen. He might show you a picture in your mind. He might whisper an idea. He might remind you of a person or a recent situation that He wants you to pray about. The key is practice: the more you pray like this, the more you seek the leading of the Holy Spirit while you pray, the easier it will become to hear what God is saying and go where He leading.
JOYLYN
What we’ve tried to do this morning is remind you of the nature of the battle we’re in, and of God’s provision for our defence. Remember Paul’s admonition to STAND, and remember his main point of praying - in the Spirit.
The battle is real, and we are involved. Satan’s goal is to render us ineffective as soldiers of Christ - to pin us down and hold us under his thumb so that we are useless to God. The primary way he does that to us North Americans is by getting us to ignore the battle - to turn our heads so that we don’t see what is going on and thus don’t get involved. He wants to keep us in the dark. We need to aggresively put on our armor, and join in the battle whole-heartledly.
STEVE
Have you been trying to live your Christian life without paying attention to your armor? Do you feel like you’ve been thrown out onto the battle field without the proper equipment? Be encouraged! Not only has God provided us with everything we need to stand firm, He has also promised that He will never leave our sides. He is with us in the heat of the battle, fighting alongside and cheering us on to the victory that is already secured in Christ. As we become aware of the battle, and actively join in, we will see Satan resisted and God’s kingdom established. And we might be wounded occasionally - that’s what battle entails - but we will never be defeated for we fight for the almighty God as His children - and we will never be subjected to more than we can handle. Be encouraged - The battle belongs to the Lord! And be prepared, for we face an enemy that is skilled and powerful, but who is also guaranteed to lose.
