Don’t Just Do Something – Stand There!!
Many times during situations of panic you hear someone say, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” Then you see people running around like headless chickens, not achieving very much, but doing something.
The three Hebrew children had a choice…don’t just stand there – bow. Or as Pastor Ed put it – Bend or Burn. But they didn’t they stood their ground, they stood for their God, they stood for their faith, they stood for the truth. So the title of this message is …”Don’t just do something, stand there!”
How do we stand in the days we are living, we seem to be living right in the middle of Sodom and Gomorra. There is so much sin in the world, so much hate, so many false religions, false teachings, false doctrines. (benefit fraud) How do we make a stand for God, for Christ, for our faith, for the truth?
Ephesians 6: 10-20
I The Strength Within (v 10 – 11)
Stand is mentioned three times in verses 10-14, and that’s exactly what we need to do. Can we stand on our own strength, is it possible for us to go it alone. Often times we try and do things ourselves, and when we fail we wonder why.
The strength of the Body of Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We rest not upon the arm of flesh, but by the power of His might. By His strength we will put on His armour. What happens when we put the armour on v 11 says that we are able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
A minister travelling on a train in Europe was the sole occupant of a compartment, except for a young man reading a newspaper. The youth was also a Christian, but so weak was his faith, and so many were his temptations, that he told the minister he did not think he would be able to stand life a week longer. The minister took from his pocket a Bible and a penknife and said, "See, I will make this penknife stand up on the cover of this Bible, in spite of the rocking of the train." The young man, thinking that this was some conjuring trick, watched the proceeding with interest, saying, "I am afraid that it will not be very easy to do that , sir." "But," said the minister, "I am doing it." "Oh, but you are holding it," retorted his fellow passenger. "Why of course. Did you ever hear of a penknife standing up on its end without being held up?" "I see," was the young man’s comment. "I see you mean to teach me that I cannot stand unless Christ holds me. Thank you for reminding me of that."
We cannot do it on our own, but when Christ holds us and we put on His armour, in effect we are putting on Christ, as Philippians 4: 13 says I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, even if it is just standing. You see people want us to compromise our faith, they want us to compromise our doctrine, and they want us to compromise our Saviour. We need to stand up and be counted; we need to stand up for our faith, for our beliefs, for our God, for our Saviour. We need to stand up for Jesus, but we cannot stand in our own strength, but we can stand in the strength of Christ.
II The Enemy Without (v 12)
We need to know who our enemy is. Often times the Christian seams to spend far too much time fighting the wrong battles against the wrong people.
We need to stand against Satan, he is the enemy of the church and of God, we see in Ezekiel ch 28 how God threw Satan out of heaven because of his pride. Ever since then Satan has been seeking every opportunity to discredit God. 1 Pet 5:8 tells us that … your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
It was Satan that deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden.
It was Satan who touched the life of Job.
It was Satan who tempted the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness.
It is Satan who will reap havoc on the church in the tribulation period that is to come.
It is Satan who we must stand against
Satan isn’t flesh and blood – V12 we need to remember who we are fighting against Pastor preached about our fight in Psalm 23, World, Flesh, Satan.
• Our flesh wants our old life back
• The world tries to drag us back
• Satan tries to make sure it all goes to plan.
Our flesh (our old nature) actually fights against the Spirit of God, and against the things of God in our lives. Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
This carnal shell, that gets exhausted and sick, that battles fears and insecurities, that lacks faith and physical strength, it can be like a weight dragging us down.
There are times when we don’t feel like going to church, or don’t feel like doing our bible reading or don’t feel like praying. That’s our old flesh trying to pull us down. I wonder what would have happened if Christ didn’t feel like dying on a cross to rescue us from sin and an eternity in Hell?????
The world is one big temptation. We are bombarded with pictures and products, enticements, no rules, anything goes, satisfy yourself and don’t worry about tomorrow and its consequences. The devil makes the world look so good; he makes sin look so inviting. You see the world wants nothing to do with God, but it wants us back….
Satan is out to get us. He wants to distract us, disrupt us and ultimately destroy us. He does not like the fact that God loves us and wants to spend eternity with us. Satan wants us as Christians to be weak, feeble, and ineffective. He doesn’t want us relying on Christ, or in church, or reading our Bible, or reaching others with the gospel. He doesn’t want us to grow spiritually.
We shouldn’t spend our time and efforts fighting against each other. We need to stand together as a body of believers, as the family of God, stand against Satan and he will flee, James 4:7 says Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. It is from allowing God to lead us in our life that we can make a stand against Satan.
III The Weapons Withal (v 13 – 24)
This is a battle and we need to be protected. We cannot take on Satan on our own strength, this would be like trying to put out house fire with a water pistol, it would be like trying to slay a lion with a fly swatter or catch an elephant with a butterfly net. We need to stand in God’s power, we need to put on the whole armour of God, and then stand and see God work.
Exodus 14:13-14 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
You see when you have the Armour of God on, and you stand firm in your faith, the enemy will not see you, they will see Him!! Every piece of armour speaks of Christ ….
A faithful Christian soldier went to his chaplain for advice. "Last night," he said, "when I knelt by my bed and prayed, the fellows began to ridicule me and throw shoes at me. What should I do?" "Well," said the chaplain, "why don’t you stop kneeling down? Just lie down in bed and lift your heart to God in silence and He will hear you." After a few days, the chaplain asked the soldier how he was faring with his evening prayers. "I’ll tell you, Reverend. I followed your advice for three nights, but my conscience began to bother me because I was betraying my Lord. So I began to kneel down as I did before." "And what happened?" "I was really amazed. Not a single fellow ridiculed me. Now the fifteen men in my tent kneel down with me, and I pray aloud for all of them."
1. Belt of Truth (v 14a)
Having your loins girt about with truth. Truth is the foundation on which everything is built. If you don’t know what is true, you can’t avoid deception and will fall to the “wiles” or deception of the devil. There are no multiple truths, the bible rules out anything but itself and God’s truth. Either the Bible is wrong, or all other religions are wrong. We must choose whose word we believe.
The belt is what holds all things together, if the soldier lost his belt, his girdle, he lost everything, his belt prevents the trousers or tunic falling down and tripping him up. The belt formed the foundation of the soldiers armour. Everything in our spiritual life is fastened and held together by truth. Jesus is the True God. He shows us the right way to go in life so we don’t stumble and get off track.
You see Satan is the father of lies, and in this world today we are surrounded by lies. Sometimes Satan’s lies sound like the truth (Hitler said that if you told a lie long enough people would believe it) Jesus will never lie to us or mislead us, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6, when we have God’s truth it will defeat Satan’s lies.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness (v 14b)
The breastplate guards the heart and the vital organs. Only by righteousness can we protect our heart from attack. Satan attacks our heart – the very seat of our emotions, self worth and trust. God’s righteousness is what protects our hearts. Righteousness is either doing what is right or being right before God.
We need to live our lives a certain way doing what is right and pleasing to God. How are we made right before God? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he (God) hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (Christ)” God approves of us because He loves us and sent His Son to die for us. We are made righteous by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
3. Shoes of Peace (v 15)
Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The Roman soldier wore protective and supportive footgear. Why do you think we are told to have our feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace? Gospel means "Good News". The Good News of protection is that Jesus has made peace with God on our behalf. Without Jesus in our lives, we are enemies with God. As Christians, our feet should always be ready to take us places to tell the Good News to others. To tell others is not always an easy thing to do. We need to bring the Gospel message to others so they too may experience peace with God.
Satan wants us to think that telling others the Good News is a worthless and hopeless task – that the size of the task is too big and the negative responses are too much to handle. God has given us shoes (combat boots) that enable us to proclaim the Gospel of peace, news that everyone needs to hear. We can go into the world proclaiming the Gospel Phillipians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. We can stand firm.
4. Shield of Faith (v16)
The shield covered all the armour, a soldier would stand behind his shield and he would be fully protected. (Roman shield 4’) Roman soldiers carried lightweight shields made of wood. Enemy archers would shoot flaming arrows, so to protect themselves they would soak their shields in water so the flaming arrows and darts would be extinguished. Faith is our shield. If we do not trust God fully we will not withstand Satan’s attacks (without faith it’s impossible…..)
Some Christians expect God to exempt them from the struggles of life. When pain or trials come along, they don’t trust God and abandon the battle, then turn around and say that God has failed them. If we obey God and put on His armour, and we trust God’s complete plan beyond what we can see, we will stand strong and our faith in God’s purpose will quench the devil’s attempts to draw us away from God and create doubt in our minds. (Romans 10:17..)
5. Helmet of Salvation (v 17a)
The helmet protects the head. All the religion in the world will not benefit you if you do not take God’s gift of Salvation. Salvation is not found in good works or deeds. Salvation only comes by receiving God’s gift of grace. Satan wants to make us doubt God, he wants us to doubt Jesus, and he wnts us to doubt our salvation. The helmet protects the mind from doubting God’s saving work for us.
6. Sword of the Spirit of the Word of God (v 17b)
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
A sword is both a defensive and offensive weapon. It is the only offensive weapon in the list of Armour. A sword is only effective if it is used properly. Jesus used the word in response to the temptations of the Satan in the wilderness before He began His ministry. That is our example. When Satan attacks, fight back with the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God. Christ is the living Word of God we see in the book of Revelation (1:16, 19:21) Out of his mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword in the battle of Armageddon. The Word of God is a powerful weapon and we are to use it.
7. Prayer (v 18)
Prayer is like calling in the air force during the battle. It is such a powerful weapon, and it is an important part of our daily spiritual walk. Parayer is that which supplies the strength for the proper use of the sword, which is the Word. We are told in v 18 to pray always with all prayer and supplication. We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing, because God always answers prayer.
There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I.
A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend.
"My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered.
The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it."
To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby."
The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down.
He became angry and flustered and finally said, "Well, that’s all the scale will hold. Here’s a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy."
With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed.
After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales?
The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers.
And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman’s prayer had been written-simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread."
Conclusion
The Christian sees through kinder eyes-like Jesus.
He gives from a bigger heart-like God.
He speaks with a purer tongue-like Christ.
He serves with more willing hands-like Jesus.
He walks with a greater faith-like his Lord.
He loves with agape love-like the Father in heaven.
He thinks with a spiritual mind-like Christ.
He sees the needs of others with a compassionate view-like Jesus.
He heals the wounds of others with love-like the Master.
The Christian is different only when Jesus rules his life.
The armour of the believer is spiritual armour because we fight against a spiritual enemy. We are to stand in that armour, and that armour is Christ, the living Christ. Satan himself, in the Book of Job, describes how God protects His own. He said, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? …” (Job 1:10). God has provided protection for us today in the armour He supplies. Romans 8:31 says What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? With God on our side we have the strength to stand in this world and to stand against Satan.
