How do you cope with evil and the difficulties it causes?
When problems arise in your life, what do you do, how do you respond?
Jack Handey in his book Fuzzy Memories tells the story of a teenager who was being bullied everyday at school and was forced to hand over his lunch money. Eventually he decided to do something about it and enrolled in karate classes. However after awhile he stopped attending the karate classes and gave into the bullies because it required less effort and less money to be bullied than it required to attend karate classes.
Unfortunately, many people do the same when it comes to living out the Christian life.
They take what appears as the easier way out.
They give into the greatest bully of all Satan because they think it is easier to do so.
And yet God gives us everything we need to deal with what Satan dishes up.
And our reading from Ephesians 6:10-20 highlights some of these things.
Now the Ephesians passage is written in the context of the church in Ephesus.
Over the last few weeks we have explored how this is a church that is diverse,
and God through St Paul is encouraging them to work together, respect each other and be unified under Jesus
not because of what they do but who they are focussed on.
Focussed on Jesus.
Such a context gives us an insight into what is evil
Evil is anyone or anything that encourages us to be focussed on other things in our life rather than God and how God calls us to live.
In the same way as darkness is the absence of light.
Evil is the absence of God.
Think about your life for a moment.
What discourages or gets in the road of you having a relationship with God?
If you are like me it is not just the major scarey things.
It is also some of the things and people that God has created for good that I use for evil.
And this is how God sees it as well
Listen to verse 12 again
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.
Things and people in themselves are not evil.
But they can be used for and do evil things.
Even you and me can be used for evil.
Take for instance a knife.
I could use it for good by cutting up a cake and sharing it out to others.
Or I could use it for evil, by taking it and plunging it into your ribs.
Luther when explaining what the bible says about evil,
says when we pray for protection from evil
we are praying to be protected from Satan, the world and our sinful self.
Whilst Satan is always evil.
The world and our selves are evil when Satan is working in us to focus us away from God.
But fortunately we are not always evil.
The world and our selves are holy when God is working through us to bring God’s love to people and encourage people in a relationship with God and others.
This is why God is constantly offering us forgiveness and encouraging us to return to living a new life not only for Christ but under God’s protection.
And in doing so we are prepared for evil that will occur in our lives
Verse 13 says
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.
Unfortunately, our nature as humans is often about trying to deal with or fix a problem after it occurs.
My doctor says most people only see him when they are sick, when problems occur.
Car mechanics say many people don’t get their car serviced regularly but wait until there is a problem
And both of these people say it would be best if people saw them regularly so that they are prepared and even problems prevented.
And likewise many Christians only fully put their trust in God after a major disaster occurs.
Shortly after the September 11th bombings church attendance was up.
When people experience problems in their lives that they can’t explain or deal with they often turn to God for help.
Yet God is not just offering a band aid solution and comfort after a bad event.
He also gives us tools to prepare us to deal with the difficult stuff that occurs in our life.
I encourage you to constantly be prepared for the future by God, and not just turn to Him after you experience problems.
Verse 13 mentions the first of these tools
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
Belts are usually around the middle of our body.
They hold up things.
They keep things in place.
And for the Christians having God’s truth central to everything is important.
It gives us perspective on everything.
With the belt of truth central in our lives we gain God’s perspective on everything else in our lives.
In John 14:6 Jesus says 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus puts everything else into perspective.
With Jesus our life is one of receiving and sharing his forgiveness.
It is being assured that Satan has no chance of winning, which is revealed to us in the Book of Revelation.
And to know this truth we need to be interacting with God through the bible, worship and small groups.
We need to constantly measure up what we think and do,
against scripture.
The second tool God gives us is breastplate of righteousness.
Righteousness is not something we do in order to gain something from God.
Scripture reveals it is a gift from God.
In Romans 10, verse 4 we hear
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
And in Romans chapter 3, verse 22 we hear
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Some Christians think they can choose to live a righteous life or not.
Now we can.
But choosing not to live a righteous life is snubbing God.
It is saying I don’t appreciate your son Jesus dieing on the cross.
I don’t really care for the gift of salvation that makes us right with God.
Our aim as Christians should always aim to live a righteous life.
1 Peter 2:24 says
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
And so we should grab hold of the gift of righteousness that God gives us and allow it to affect how we relate to others.
Verse 15 highlights that we are fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
The Gospel of Jesus dieing on the cross and rising again is ultimately about brining peace between God and you
That is what Jesus Christ created through the cross.
And this Gospel should influence us in how we live.
Forgiveness therefore is a major tool in our lives.
If there are sins bothering you from your past,
grab hold of the Good News that Jesus Christ died and rose so those sins can not affect your relationship with God
Accept God’s gift of forgiveness
Also when people sin against you be active in initiating forgiveness.
As the verse says be ready to share the Gospel of peace
Verse 16 highlights another tool
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one
When it comes to faith people have faith in many things.
But the faith that is being referred to
Is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This faith is expressed in the creeds of the church community.
And as Ephesians 2 verse 8 says
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Now interestingly the word used for shield in this verse is a Greek word that referes to a huge rectangle shield.
Not some small round shield.
These shields were not just used for individual fighting and defence.
But also used together with other shields.
Front row in front, then others place them over their head and marched together.
This gave armies strong protection.
Likewise when we join with others of faith.
Our combined faith will also help us.
One of the advantages of being a pastor is that you get to see and hear about how others have been encouraging in faith.
Some years ago a lady told me that one of the important things in her faith journey was the faith that others had and shared.
Why?
Because at times when she was struggling with faith others encouraged her, others helped her.
Next is the helmet of salvation.
Through Jesus death on the cross.
The gift of salvation has already been given to you.
This is a great weapon to use against Satan.
Everytime you think, what is the point with all this Christian stuff.
Remember it is Jesus who has saved you!!!
Jesus salvation is something you don’t have to earn.
By having trust in Jesus Christ your salvation is secured.
In his letter to the church of Thessalonica St Paul talks about salvation as our hope.
And so if you need hope and want to make sense of this world and your role in the world.
Remember that God has already done what is needed for you to be saved.
You just need to hold onto this gift.
Finally is the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word
In Hebrews 4 verse 12 we hear
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
God’s word clarifies for us what is good and what is evil.
It helps us see the world from God’s perspective, the true perspective.
Helping us to understand the future God is preparing for us in heaven that has been secured through Jesus Christ.
Interestingly Paul when writing this was locked in prison.
And yet he wrote like someone who was full of hope, and was able to deal with difficulties
And with God’s tools in place, God’s Armor on
we are encouraged to then 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 our Christian life is not just for our ourselves,
more importantly we live to help others see and experience the future that goes well beyond the problems of this world.
God is not only protecting us from evil, He is helping us shine His light amongst the evil we encounter. Amen
