I’m sure that many of you have probably heard or read something similar to this, but when I ran across it again this week, it seemed to be an appropriate introduction to this morning’s message. I’ve edited it a bit for time, but I think you’ll get the idea:
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s & 80’s!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets...
As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . CONGRATULATIONS!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
Let’s go back to just one of these items that has particular relevance for us this morning:
...when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets...
Even though it is true that many of us did indeed survive riding our bikes without a helmet, since we didn’t really know better and they weren’t readily available, no one would advocate that either we or our kids do the same today. I know that when I ride my bike, I certainly put my helmet on every time because I never know when I might need it to protect my head. And in the spiritual battle that we’re engaged in as followers of Jesus, we need to make sure we always have our spiritual helmet on, too, because we never know when we’ll need it. Let’s continue our study of the armor of God as we read our passage for this morning:
Take the helmet of salvation...
Ephesians 6:17 (NIV)
As we did last week with the shield of faith, let’s answer three essential questions about the helmet of salvation this morning:
• Why do I need the helmet if salvation?
• What is the helmet of salvation?
• How do I take the helmet of salvation?
WHY DO I NEED THE HELMET OF SALVATION?
Once again, understanding the nature and the purpose of the Roman soldier’s helmet will give us some insight into why the helmet of salvation is so important to those of us who are followers of Jesus. Roman military helmets could be made out of either leather or metal. The helmet had a band to protect the forehead and plates for the cheeks, and it extended down in back to protect the neck. When the helmet was strapped in place, it exposed little besides the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Although the helmet would protect the head from arrows, its primary purpose was to ward off blows from the enemy’s broadsword. Next week, we’ll look at the sword of the Spirit, where Paul describes a smaller, dagger-type sword. But the broadsword was a massive, three to four foot long weapon that was held in both hands like a baseball bat. A soldier would lift it over his head and chop down on his opponent’s head in order to try and create a split personality. And the helmet was the primary means of protecting the head against those blows.
It’s not too difficult to see the spiritual implications of the helmet. We’ve consistently noted that Satan’s attacks primarily come against our mind. And it is the helmet of salvation that protects us from those attacks. And based on what we know about Satan’s attacks both from the Scriptures and our own personal experiences, we find that just like the broadsword had two sides, the attacks of Satan also have two main sides.
The two sides of Satan’s ‘broadsword”:
• Discouragement
Satan loves to discourage us in our Christian walk. He tries to get us to question whether following Jesus is really worth it. He’ll bring all kinds of discouraging thoughts into our minds: “You go to church every week and read your Bible every day, but your husband still doesn’t treat you like he should and look at your kids. They’re no different than anyone else’s kids. You prayed to God, but your health hasn’t improved a bit. In fact, it’s actually gotten worse. You’ve taught the children’s Bible study class for two years now, but how do you know if they’re really getting anything out of it?’
Even pastors aren’t immune to that kind of discouragement. I know Satan often tries to discourage me and to get me to question whether all that I do each week really makes any kind of difference at all in the lives of others.
• Doubt
Satan also loves to bring doubts into our minds. Every time we sin, he’ll try to make us doubt our salvation. He’ll bring into our mind thoughts like these: “How can you call yourself a Christian and do the things you do? Are you sure you’re really saved? You sure don’t deserve to be. There is no way God is going to accept you when you do those kinds of things.”
And if, like me, you’ve tried to fend off those attacks of Satan in your own power, you realize just how futile those attempts are and just how much we need the helmet of salvation. That leads us to our second question this morning...
WHAT IS THE HELMET OF SALVATION?
Our initial reaction when we see the phrase “helmet of salvation” is to assume that it the act of committing our lives to Jesus Christ that protects us from the twin attacks of discouragement and doubt. But we immediately realize that there are a couple of problems with that view.
First, Paul is writing here to those who are already followers of Jesus. He is not writing to unbelievers and encouraging them to commit their lives to Jesus.
Secondly, if all we have to do is commit our lives to Jesus in order to put on the helmet of salvation, then why do all of us still have to battle with discouragement and doubt?
In order for us to understand the helmet of salvation, we need to go back to some very basic theology. We’ve already seen evidence of this throughout Ephesians, but it will be helpful to go back and review. In Ephesians, as well as throughout the rest of the Scriptures, we discover that there are...
Three aspects of salvation:
1) Past – justification – freedom from the penalty of sin
2) Present – sanctification – freedom from the power of sin
3) Future – glorification – freedom from the presence of sin
Paul has frequently made reference to all three of these aspects throughout Ephesians. We were saved the very moment that we committed our lives to Jesus Christ. At that moment, we were positionally righteous before God and freed from the penalty of our sin. We are being saved right now as we live out that righteousness. That’s what the last three chapters of Ephesians are all about. We are no longer under the power of sin. And one day, our salvation will be complete. Paul has described how we have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we will one day receive the full inheritance that God has in store for us. In his letter to the Romans, Paul summarized all three aspects of our salvation like this:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith [past], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand [present]. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God [future].
Romans 5:1, 2 (NIV)
So which of these if Paul referring to here when he describes the helmet of salvation? Let’s spend a few moments on each aspect to see if we can figure that out.
1) Past – justification – freedom from the penalty of sin
We can deal with this pretty quickly. As we’ve already seen, no one is even in the army unless they are a follower of Jesus. If you’re not a believer, Satan doesn’t need to attack you, because he’s already captured you and then you would be fighting God and not Satan. So if you’re already in the battle and need the armor of God then you already have this aspect of salvation. So there is no need for you to take it up as Paul instructs believers to do here in verse 17.
2) Present – sanctification – freedom from the power of sin
Throughout Ephesians, and in fact all throughout the New Testament, we see that the moment we are justified before God, we enter into this process of sanctification where God transforms us day by day to become more and more like Jesus. Paul described the process like this in one of his other letters:
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
When we looked at the breastplate of righteousness we discovered that Paul was writing there about practical righteousness, which we described as living out the righteousness of God that has been given to us in Jesus. That process of practical righteousness is really just another way to describe this process of sanctification. And there is no doubt that is an important piece of our armor. But I’m not sure that it is the piece of armor that really deals best with our discouragement and doubts.
The night before his crucifixion, Jesus spent some time with His disciples in the garden and he spoke these words of both warning and encouragement:
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
John 16:33 (NIV)
Even though Jesus encouraged His followers by making it clear that He has overcome the world, he also warned them that as long as they were in this world, experiencing the process of sanctification, that they would face troubles. God never promised His children that they would be free from troubles and worries here on earth.
In fact, I don’t think that I would be off base at all to suggest that this aspect of our salvation not only fails to overcome the discouragement and doubts that Satan brings into our minds, but that it may actually even further those thoughts. God has promised that He will use everything in the lives of His children for the ultimate good of conforming us to be more and more like Jesus. But let’s face it, some of the trials and difficulties we go through as part of that process are certainly fodder that Satan attempts to use to get us to question and doubt whether God really knows what He’s doing or whether He really has our best interests at heart.
But in that same passage Jesus certainly hints at the third aspect of our salvation. And since we’ve seen that the helmet of salvation is not referring to the past or present aspects of salvation that means that the third and final aspect must be in Paul’s mind.
3) Future – glorification - freedom from the presence of sin
There is one other place where Paul refers to the helmet of salvation in his letters:
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:8, 9 (NIV)
In this passage, Paul very clearly points out that it is the hope of salvation that is our helmet. And in verse 9, that hope is very unmistakably connected with the future aspect of our salvation. He is pointing out that there will be a day in the future where we will not suffer the wrath of God, but instead receive the full measure of our salvation. Paul has written about this concept frequently in the earlier section of Ephesians when he wrote about our inheritance. And that inheritance, that future glorification, is assured for every believer by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to every follower of Jesus as a guarantee that we will one day receive everything that God has promised to us.
Unfortunately, we tend to miss out on the significance of what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians because of the way we use the word “hope” in our English language. Like all the people who hope they win the Powerball Jackpot each week, even though the odds of winning are about 1 in 146 million. Of course, if you’d be willing to settle for the second prize of $200,000 then the odds are much better – only 1 in 3.5 million. Or maybe some of you guys out there are hoping to date a supermodel. Somebody actually calculated (don’t ask me how) that the odds there are much better – only 1 in 88,000.
But the Biblical concept of hope is much more than just wishful thinking. It is a confident expectancy, and the absolute assurance of the good that God has in store for me in the future. When we apply that concept to our salvation, we come up with a very clear picture of the helmet of salvation:
The helmet of salvation is the absolute assurance that God will be faithful to bring our salvation to its full and complete fulfillment.
And when we define the helmet of salvation in those terms, it is very easy to see how this is such an effective weapon against the weapons of discouragement and doubt that Satan launches against us.
This last week, I was watching the women’s marathon at the Olympic Games. At about the halfway point Constantina Tomescu of Romania pulled away from the rest of the pack and opened up a big lead. The commentators kept wondering if she would be able to maintain that lead or if the group behind her would catch up. But they kept making the same point over and over. Once Tomescu made the final turn toward the Bird Nest stadium where the race would finish, she would be able to see the stadium and that would give her the extra shot of adrenaline she needed to finish the grueling race.
That is a perfect picture of how the helmet of salvation protects us from the discouragement and doubt the evil one would try to use to injure us and knock us from the battle. There are a lot of things in this world that can discourage us and give us doubts. I gave you some examples earlier, but all of us have our own unique trials and difficulties to deal with. But what allows us to move beyond discouragement and doubt is the absolute certainty that this is only temporary and that one day we will receive the totality of the inheritance that God has promised to us.
That’s why Jesus could warn His disciples that they would experience problems and difficulties here on this earth, but in the same breath encourage them by reminding them that He has already won the war, even though the Evil One continues to fight. As someone who I respect very much likes to say, “The end product is assured.”
So when we come to the end of our rope and get so discouraged that we think we can’t go on any more, we do like Constantina Tomescu and we look toward the finish line and we get that extra shot of spiritual adrenaline we need to persevere.
That sounds really good in theory, but exactly...
HOW DO I TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION?
The word “take” in verse 17 is a command which literally means to “receive” or “accept”. Once the soldier had on all his other armor and was ready to go into battle, his attendant or armor bearer would hand him his helmet and his sword, so the soldier would have to take or accept those pieces of the armor in order to be properly prepared for battle.
There are two interesting things about that command. The first, as you might expect by now is that the command is plural – y’all take the helmet. The second is that the verb form makes this an urgent command. It has the sense of “do this right now; don’t delay.”
So, as we’ve seen with the other pieces of the armor, there is something that I must do to put on the armor. No one else can do it for me. There are so many principles that I could share with you this morning about how to put on the helmet of salvation, but I’m going to limit it to just three essentials:
• Base my hope on God’s Word, not my feelings
Satan loves for us to act based on our feelings. We’ve seen that the weapons that he aims at us are intended to attack our minds and our emotions and to try to get us to be discouraged and to doubt. And since our feelings are certainly impacted by the circumstances of life, they change all the time as our circumstances change.
But God’s Word never changes. So if we base our hope on His Word, our hope will be consistent and we won’t be tossed around by our feelings. In fact, one of the reasons God has given us His written Word is so that we can know without a doubt that our salvation is secure.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:13 (NIV)
John was writing to followers of Jesus so that they could know without any doubt whatsoever that they have eternal life. The verb “have” in that verse is in the present tense, which indicates a continuous action. In other words, all three aspects of our salvation – past, present and future – are assured.
We see this essential principle in action when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus had been fasting and praying for 40 days in preparation for the start of His public ministry. He was hungry and tired. It would have been easy for Him to give in to discouragement and doubt. But rather than relying on His feelings, the Word of God was the firm anchor that allowed Him to turn away the attacks of the devil and stand firm. We need to do the very same thing.
• Remember that my salvation is all God’s work
There is a reason Paul spent the first half of his letter laying out doctrine. He wanted to confirm for his readers the fact that our salvation is 100% God’s doing. He chose us, He predestined us, He redeemed us and He sealed us. Even the faith that we have in order to accept the salvation He had made possible comes from God.
And because our salvation is not based on what we have done, but on what God has done, there is absolutely nothing we can do that will nullify what God has done in our lives. In his letter to Titus, Paul summarizes that concept:
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:5-7 (NIV)
Because God provided for our salvation through Jesus, completely apart from anything we did to deserve it, then we are in fact God’s heirs and our inheritance of eternal life is 100% certain. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul confirms this same principle again:
...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
God has promised that he will be faithful to carry to completion the work that He has started in every follower of Jesus Christ. If we have been saved through the blood of Christ, then we can be assured that we are begin saved right now, and that we will be saved in the future. That fact is not rooted in what I do, but in the character of God Himself.
Finally, on this point, let’s listen to the words of Jesus:
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 10:27-29 (NIV)
Since Jesus gives us eternal life and since, as we saw earlier, He has already overcome the world and the evil one, then no one can snatch us out of His hands or out of the hands of our heavenly Father. And when I say no one, that includes self.
So when Satan comes and tries to get us to doubt our salvation, all we have to do is to remind him, and ourselves, that our salvation is God’s work and that therefore there is no way that it can ever be lost or taken away from us.
• Keep my eyes on the finish line
Life here on earth is often hard. There is no doubt about that. As we’ve seen, we shouldn’t be surprised at that since Jesus warned us about the difficulties of life. But the way that we keep from becoming discouraged is by knowing that there is a finish line for our life here on earth and that our life on the other side of that finish line is going to be full of unimaginable joy and peace.
One of the reasons that Dana and I spent four weeks looking at heaven at the beginning of the summer is to encourage all of us to persevere in this life because there is something far better to come. I love that way that Paul describes that reality in Romans:
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Romans 13:11 (NIV)
In effect, Paul is encouraging his readers by letting them know that the finish line is closer now that the day they first believed. Constantina Tomescu and all the other marathon runners could only keep going because they knew that with every stride they took, they were getting closer to the finish line. In fact, they wouldn’t have even started the race if they weren’t confident that there was a finish line at the end of the 26 miles, 385 yards.
Even Jesus was able to overcome any possible discouragement in His life because he knew that there was a finish line and He kept His focus there rather than getting distracted by the circumstances around Him:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
How was Jesus able to persevere to the end? He looked to the finish line, to the joy set before Him.
If we want to put on the helmet of salvation, we must keep our eyes on the finish line and persevere to the end. In fact, the Bible promises us that if we do that, our hope will be sure:
We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Hebrews 6:11, 12 (NIV)
There are a lot of us here in this room this morning that survived many years of riding a bicycle without a helmet. But if we want to stand firm against the doubt and discouragement that Satan wants to encourage in our lives, we can’t survive without the helmet of the assurance of our salvation.
