When we began our journey through the Book of Ephesians about a year and a half ago, I described Paul’s letter as our basic training manual. I also observed that since we are in a spiritual battle, we all need to be prepared for that battle by going though the spiritual basic training that is required by that manual. In fact, the title for our entire series has been “Basic Training”. And now, as we enter our final leg of that journey, Paul brings that concept clearly into focus. Let’s read our passage out loud together:
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.
Ephesians 6:10-13 (NIV)
The attacks on our country on September 11, 2001 were a wake up call for our country. As the 9/11 Commission and others observed after the fact, one of the main reasons that we were attacked is that, as a country, we didn’t even recognize that these Islamic extremists were at war with us. And since we didn’t realize that we were in a war, we hadn’t made adequate preparations to prevent such an attack.
Unfortunately, especially in this country, our Christianity has become so comfortable that I’m afraid that many of us have either failed to recognize that we’re in a war, or we’ve long forgotten that over the years. Somehow, when we get in our air-conditioned cars to drive to an air-conditioned building where we enter in and sing joyful songs of praise, listen to a 30 minute message, sing another couple of songs, throw a few dollars in the offering plate to pay others to do ministry on our behalf, and then get together to eat, that just doesn’t feel like being at war.
As Paul nears the end of his letter, he wants to summarize everything he has written thus far for his readers and draw the letter to a close. So he introduces this last section with the word “finally”. That Greek phrase is used here by Paul to call attention to one last matter that is the key to applying everything that Paul has written up to this point.
In essence, here is what Paul is communicating to his readers. He has given them a very clear picture of what God has done in their lives and how they are to live their lives in light of what God has done for them. But what Paul wants to remind his readers, and us, is that just because we know the truth about the resurrection and the power it makes available in our lives, we still can’t take things for granted. Just because we understand the principles about how to conduct our lives doesn’t guarantee that we’ll be able to apply them effectively. The power is there and the principles are there, but there is also one more thing we need to be aware of. The enemy is there also, and he will do everything he can to thwart God’s will in your life.
In other words, whether we recognize it or not, we are in a war. And therefore we need to make sure that we are prepared for the battles that we are going to face each day. The moment that we committed our lives to Jesus Christ, we enlisted as soldiers in that war. So we had better be prepared to fight those battles by making sure that we complete our spiritual basic training.
One of the most important aspects of this war is that God doesn’t expect us to fight it alone. He has brought us all together in one body, the church, so that we can stand shoulder to shoulder and encourage and help each other as we fight. That is the overriding principle we’ve seen all throughout this letter. I think one of the mistakes that many people have made over the years is that they approach this section on spiritual warfare as merely an individual battle. But I would suggest to you that Paul had a much more corporate approach in mind. The United States would never send just one soldier to fight a war. For instance, right now in Iraq, we have around 150,000 soldiers fighting that war. God never sends just one of His children to fight a spiritual war, either. He joins us together with the rest of His body, the church, in order to fight that war.
On the other hand, it is up to each soldier to go through the proper training in order to be prepared to do his part in the battle as part of his brigade. And then he must do his job to the best of his ability when the battle begins. And even a well-trained soldier who decided he wouldn’t go into battle because he was more comfortable hanging out in the barracks watching TV wouldn’t be of any use at all. The same is true for all of us. We must not only make sure that we are properly prepared for war, but we must also be willing to leave our places of comfort and get involved in the battle.
Our passage today deals with the first issue...
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE BATTLE:
1. Be strengthened by God
...be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power...
Most of us have at least some familiarity with the whole concept of the Christian armor. But I’m convinced that the reason that armor is often not as effective as it could be is because we ignore this crucial first step.
Before a soldier is ever trained in handling weapons, he must first go through a great deal of physical training in order to build up his strength. It wouldn’t do much good to equip that soldier with all the latest weapons if he isn’t strong enough to use them. The same thing is true with our spiritual armor. If we are not first strengthened enough to use it properly, it won’t be of much use to us.
Most of our English translations don’t reflect it very well, but the command Paul gives here in verse 10 is in the passive mode – it literally reads “be strengthened in the Lord...” In other words, I can’t strengthen myself. Someone else has to do that for me. We also see clearly that it is God’s mighty power, and not our own, that is necessary. We get some excellent insight into how that process works by going back to the first chapter of Paul’s letter:
...That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:19-21 (NIV)
The phrase “mighty strength” is the exact same phrase rendered “mighty power” in chapter 6. And the mighty power which is described in both passages is very clearly the resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father in heaven. And then in chapter 3, Paul describes how to be strengthened by that power:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...
Ephesians 3:16, 17 (NIV)
Jesus strengthens us with resurrection power as we allow Him to dwell in our hearts through faith. In other words, as I allow Jesus to take up residence and control every area of my life, he will supply my life with His power. And both our passage here in Ephesians 6, as well as the earlier one in chapter 3, make it clear that the need to be strengthened by God is a life-long, continuous process. It is not just something that we do from time to time.
A good soldier is constantly training for battle, even though he does not know when he will be deployed. He has to continually participate in physical conditioning, and practice with his weapons so that he will be ready to go into battle whenever he is called.
Far too many Christians have been deceived into the practice of “praying on the armor” each day as if it is some kind of magical shield of protection. But they have failed to yield the control of their lives to Jesus consistently and constantly so that He can empower them with His resurrection power. And then they are surprised to find that the armor they thought was protecting them isn’t effective at all, because there is no power behind it.
2. Understand the enemy
...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...
In order to be successful in battle, it is essential that one has an accurate understanding of the enemy. During Desert Storm back in the early 1990’s, the United States and its allies were able to defeat Iraq, even though Iraq had a substantial advantage in troop strength and conventional weapons. That was because the military leaders who planned the operations understood the Iraqi military equipment and strategy so well that they were able to plan their operations to take advantages of the enemy’s weaknesses. If we hope to be successful in our spiritual battle, it is essential that we have a proper understanding of our enemy.
• Even though the enemy is not flesh and blood, he is real
Two 6 year olds struggled with the problem of the existence of the devil. One boy said, "Oh, there isn’t any devil." The other, rather upset, said, "What do you mean, there isn’t any devil? It talks about him all the way through the Bible!" the first replied, "Oh that’s not true, you know. It’s just like Santa Clause, the devil turns out to be your dad."
That may be humorous, but the reality of the devil is no laughing matter. And unfortunately, even many who claim to be followers of Jesus have ideas about him that are far too close to the boy who compared him to Santa Clause.
A 2007 survey conducted by the Barna Group found that 57% of the people surveyed believed that the devil is only a symbol of evil and not a living being. What is even more frightening is that nearly half (46%) of those who identify themselves as born again Christians deny the existence of Satan.
Even though our enemy is not flesh and blood, that does not mean that he is not real. Adam and Eve found out he was real. Job certainly would testify to the reality of Satan. Jesus certainly believed that he was real when He met him face to face in the wilderness. And Paul makes it clear in this passage that our enemy, even though we cannot see him, is certainly real.
I’m convinced that the biggest difficulty we face in the spiritual battle we’re in is that so many Christians don’t even realize that we’re in a battle. And even among those who realize that there is the battle, they relegate it to some mystical battle between the concepts of good and evil, rather than a real battle against a real enemy.
• The devil is a powerful enemy
The word translated “struggle” in the NIV is literally “wrestle”. The spiritual battle we engage in is not fought with long-range missiles and smart bombs, but it is face to face combat with a powerful enemy. Peter described our enemy like this:
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
The second mistake we make in evaluating our enemy is that we underestimate his power. We picture our enemy like the Sun Devil mascot, a cute little red guy with horns and a pitchfork who hangs out with the cute cheerleaders. But the reality is that the Bible portrays him as a powerful enemy. And, as we’ll see more clearly in a moment, if we try to take on that enemy in our own power, he will defeat us.
• The devil’s main weapon is deceit
Although it is dangerous to underestimate our enemy, we can also be guilty of overestimating his power and therefore responding inappropriately as well. We don’t have time to investigate this in detail this morning, but the Bible is clear that Satan, and his demons, clearly have limits to their power.
They are not, as some people imagine, “little gods”, or “bad gods”. Unlike God, they are not omnipresent – they can only be in one place at one time. Unlike God, they are not omniscient – like humans they can only know what God has revealed to them. And unlike God, they are not omnipotent – they only have power do what God allows them to do in the life of a believer. That is quite clear in the book of Job.
And so the devil and his demons have to resort to deceit. Notice that Paul writes that we need to be ready to stand firm against the devil’s schemes. That is a word that conveys the idea of cleverness, crafty methods, cunning, and deception. That is exactly the tactic that Satan used in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and it is still the tactic he employs today.
In most cases, Satan’s deceitful schemes today are not quite as personal or as easily discerned as direct assault on Adam and Eve. Instead, Satan, whom Paul described in chapter 2 as the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”, uses that world system that he rules over in order to carry out these deceitful schemes.
Although Paul’s reference to “rulers”, “ authorities”, “powers of this dark world” and “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” may very well describe a hierarchical structure of Satan’s demons, Paul also seems to be writing about how Satan uses the structures of this world system to exert evil influence against the followers of Jesus. We can easily observe this in our culture today where the media, those in places of prominence and even our government promote that which is in opposition to the standards that God has established in His Word.
So this battle we’re in is primarily a battle for our minds, and that’s why, as we’ll see in more detail in the weeks to come, that the armor of God is primarily designed to protect our minds from the schemes of the devil.
3. Put on the full armor of God
Put on the full armor of God...
Therefore put on the full armor of God...
Since our battle is spiritual, and not physical, we need to make sure that we use the right weapons:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:3, 4 (NIV)
Unfortunately, even as followers of Jesus, we are often tempted to use what Paul refers to as “the weapons of the world.” We think that we can use our intellect, or our logic, or our willpower to defeat the evil one. But the Bible makes it really clear that those weapons are totally ineffective against the schemes of the devil. In fact, it is so crucial that we use the right weapons that Paul twice commands us to put on the full armor of God.
Those two commands actually use two different Greek verbs that have slightly different meanings, but both imperatives are a command to put the armor on right now. There is a sense of urgency in the commands. Both commands also mean to put on the armor once for all and keep it on. This is not like putting on your uniform for the game and then taking it off when the game is over to wash it and get it ready for the next game.
That’s why I have such a problem with the very common practice taught in many Christian circles that we need to get up each day and “pray on our armor” before we go out to face the day. The fact is that the battle we are engaged in is ongoing and we need to put our armor on once and keep it on so we’ll be prepared whenever the enemy chooses to attack. One of the great lies of Satan is that we just have a battle here and a battle there, so we really don’t need the armor on at all times. But the moment we take it off, that’s when he is sure to attack.
Paul also commands his readers to put on the “full armor of God”. Let’s consider first what he means by the “full armor”. As we’ll see in more detail in weeks to come, the armor includes both offensive and defensive weapons. And the point Paul is making here is that we don’t just pick and choose among the various pieces of armor as we deem necessary. We need to make sure that we have all of the armor on all the time. So we’ll spend the next six weeks focusing on each piece of the armor so that we can make sure to clothe ourselves with the full armor and know what that means and how to do it.
But what is even more significant is the fact that this is the armor “of God”. Certainly we would agree that it is His armor because He is the One who supplies it for us. But what is even more exciting is the fact that Paul is actually writing here of the armor of the Messiah Himself.
Although Paul may have been influenced in describing the armor of God by observing the Romans soldiers who guarded him in his prison cell, I’m convinced that his primary influences were some Old Testament prophetic passages that described the armor of the Messiah. Let’s look at a couple of those just briefly:
Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Isaiah 11:5 (NIV)
He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
Isaiah 59:16, 17 (NIV)
These passages from Isaiah depict Jesus as a warrior fighting with His own armor in order to vindicate His people. And as we’ll see in weeks to come, many of the pieces of the armor like truth, righteousness and salvation, are actually descriptions of the character of God Himself. So, at least in some aspects, putting on the armor of God means putting on God Himself. It may very well be that putting on the full armor of God is very much the same as what Paul commanded earlier in his letter when he wrote:
Be imitators of God...
Ephesians 5:1 (NIV)
4. Stand my ground
...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
I’ll come back to the principle of standing my ground in just a moment, but let me first address the phrase “when the day of evil comes”. Commentators have several different takes on what Paul might be referring to here, but given the context, “day” seems to refer to this present age in which evil reigns in the world because Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air. But Paul may also be referring to those times when the enemy comes against us like a flood. From the few Biblical accounts that give us some insight to the tactics of the devil, it appears that his attacks seem to come in waves. We clearly see that in the lives of Job and Jesus. And I think for most of us, that has been our experience, too. But whenever the evil one attacks, our response is always to be the same – we are to stand.
The word “stand”, which is used three time in this passage, does not mean just casual standing around, but conveys the idea of digging in. Romans soldiers wore spiked shoes called caligae so that they could dig in and hold their ground and not be knocked off course. It also denotes standing firm against the onslaught initiated by another as opposed to initiating the action on our own.
We are never commanded in the Scriptures to attack the devil. We’re just told to stand our ground:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 (NIV)
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8, 9 (NIV)
In both these passages, the word “resist” is the exact same word Paul uses in Ephesians when he writes that we are to stand against the evil one.
Several years ago, there was a real concerted effort among many Christians to seek out and fight against the devil and his demons. There was a big emphasis on delivering believers from demons. But the Bible never commands us to seek out demons and call them by name and bind them and cast them into the pit. We don’t have to go around looking for demons. If we’re truly followers of Jesus Christ, they will find us easily enough. And when they do, all we are commanded to do is to stand our ground.
We’ve already seen that the devil is a powerful enemy, more powerful and wise than any of us. So we’re never called upon to try to attack him. Instead, we’re called to report to the commander, put the armor on, and stand firm.
I can’t possibly overemphasize to you this morning the fact that we are engaged in a battle. And when we fail to enter into the war as God has commanded us, the consequences are most serious.
David was a man after God’s own heart, but the two greatest sins in the life of David occurred when he failed to go to war, which was his duty as the king. Two times we read that David stayed in Jerusalem “at the time when kings go to war”:
The first, and most familiar to most of us, is recorded in 2 Samuel 11. Instead of going to war, as he should of, David was idle and was hanging around at the palace, where he observed a young woman bathing. We all know how that turned out, with David committing adultery, and eventually murder. And the consequences of failing to engage the battle were serious and far-reaching. As a result, David’s son died and his family became a total mess.
The second occurrence is memorialized in 1 Chronicles 20 and 21. That time, because David was engaged in battle, as he should have been, Satan incited David to take a census of Israel, in clear violation of God’s will. As a result, God sent a plague on Israel and 70,000 men of Israel died.
For us, it is also time for us to go to war. So let’s leave our comfort zone, complete our basic training and put on the full armor of God so that we’ll be ready for the battle.
