“Battle Lines” – Part Two
Eph. 6:10-20
OPEN: Here’s my dilemma - I find myself in kind of an awkward place in my teaching schedule. Here it is a couple of weeks before Christmas and I’m still in Ephesians and I’m talking about spiritual warfare and the armor of God. And of course that doesn’t fit real well with the yearly calendar. – I’m tempted to just wrap up this series and move into something new with the start of the new year. But there are such great themes found in the armor. Is it worth spending a Sunday morning focusing on the importance of truth? Righteousness? The gospel? The shield of faith? The helmet of salvation? The sword of the Spirit? What would serve us better go through it quickly on one Sunday or slow down and let it marinate in our soul? - the cost is too high if we don’t get this. If the Church is becoming ineffective – in one way or another it is tied back to this issue. If a Christian is weak and ineffective – it has to be tied back to the issue of not really understanding and wearying the armor. I can’t see how doing the normal 20 minute talk on the armor really serves us.
I came across what I thought was a rather interesting story this week as I was preparing for this message. It was a story detailing a class action law suit aimed at a company called Second Chance Body Armor. Second Chance manufactures bullet proof vests for police officers and security personnel. Their products are used by hundreds of police departments throughout the country. Apparently several policemen have been killed recently even though they were wearing the vest. Following some independent field tests on several of their vests it was discovered that there was a flaw with some of their products and it wouldn’t actually stop a bullet that was fired at it. So apparently some rather picky quality control people got all bent out of shape and decided to sue this manufacturer for misrepresenting the quality of its product. The lawsuit alleged that the company withheld information about known defects in its bulletproof vests and sold them anyway. But in all fairness you have to give the company its due – Trying to maintain its image as being a caring and compassionate business the company responded by participating in a voluntary replacement program for anyone who had purchased one of the potentially lethal vests at no cost to the end user. (So if you have a vest and you haven’t been shot yet, they are willing to give you another one.) Along with its replacement program the company has on its website an apology for any inconvenience that their faulty vests may have caused anyone.
Now I think that was rather nice of them, don’t you? - To offer an apology for the inconveniences of a bulletproof vest that doesn’t work? “Hey we’re not too proud to admit when we’re wrong. We just didn’t realize at the time that you wanted every single vest to work. Sorry for the misunderstanding.” The attorney General spearheaded the class action lawsuit - which Second Chance loss. Upon receiving the terms of the settlement, it promptly filed for bankruptcy to avoid having to actually pay out any claims. When you hear stories like that doesn’t it bother you? When you’re dealing with something as serious a bulletproof vests – what margin of error is acceptable? Absolutely none right? The thought of someone being careless or more concerned about money than safety when it comes to protecting the lives of police officers is unimaginable. When you got someone shooting at you – you want to know that the armor you’re wearing is actually going to work right?
Well today we are going to be looking at the armor of God – and one thing we can be absolutely assured of – this armor will hold up in the heat of battle. Last week we talked about the reality of spiritual warfare and that the battle lines are drawn. We are pitted against an incredible spiritual enemy that is beyond us. We can't see him, we can't touch him. We can't out-think, outwit him. It’s an enemy that is deceiving, lying, powerful, supernatural, and superhuman. We live during a time when the battle is heated. We live during a time when the enemy is doing everything he can to prevail against us. So we have to learn how to fight effectively.
- every generation of believers has to take its place on the battle line.
In some ways every generation’s battle is unique. Every generation faces circumstances that are unique to its time period in history. I doubt that there’s been even one generation who has felt that their circumstances are more difficult than the previous one. Every culture has a unique twist or different dynamic which presents unique and peculiar situations. So in some ways the battle each generation faces is unique. But in other ways, the battle every generation faces is the same. Every generation of believers face a battle for truth. Every generation of Christians face a battle with rulers, authorities, against powers of this dark world, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Every generation of believers face spiritual warfare. One thing is for sure – there is no neutrality in this battle - there are no spiritual Switzerlands. – there is no place of spiritual neutrality.
We need armor that protects – that really works – and that’s what God has given to us. We need real soldiers on the front lines. In fact I’ve run across a couple of pictures of soldiers from our group.
- I always get a little worried when I speak on the armor because I think sometimes we get all caught up in the imagery of the armor and not really bridge to the practical application of the text. – the other danger is that some of you have learned about spiritual armor way back when you were in Sunday School. So it’s easy to take an, “Well-I-already-know-all-about-this-one” kind of an attitude. And I want to warn us all about never allowing that kind of a prideful attitude to sneak into our thinking. If you ever find yourself thinking, “I know all about this” it’s pretty much a guarantee that you don’t. God’s Word is deep and I find something new every time I study it. This might be the 18th time you’ve heard messages on the armor of God – but for others here it’s the first time – I’m convinced there is something fresh for all of us. – this is really basic discipleship.
- The Basic premise that this entire passage is built upon
- God Wants You To Win.
Satan wants you to sin – but God wants you to win. You are equipped! In case you miss the point – three times in this passage Paul tell us the goal is to “stand firm”
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes… 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 then… (Eph. 6:11;13;14)
Do you know why people teach you the word of God? Teen ministries – Olympians – Women’s ministries – prayer meeting – Bible study - Because we want to equip you to win the war. We want you to have the principles to get the armor on and live the life and be victorious. We want to cut a swathe through Satan's kingdom that will make a difference. We want to lift up and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and unless we keep that vision in perspective we forfeit all the things we gain. God has provided you with the ability to be a winner -
Don’t Fight An Upside Down Battle
- 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.
What amazes me about Paul's words here is not what he affirms but what he denies. I'm not surprised to hear him say that we wrestle with evil angelic, demonic, supernatural powers. What surprises me is that he says we do NOT wrestle with flesh and blood. I want to say to Paul, “You've been stoned and beaten and imprisoned and run out of town and shipwrecked. Your flesh has been torn and your blood has been spilt and that has hindered your ministry again and again. Others have hurt you the blood of others has boiled against your blood. What do you mean you don't wrestle against flesh and blood? It's people with their hands and their stones and rods and chains that have cost you dearly and tested your faith almost to the limit.”
I think Paul would answer. “You're right. Flesh and blood is real and it can be very evil. But what I mean is this: Whenever someone attacks me, or someone's blood boils against me or man hinders my way, something else is also going on, something deeper, bigger, more terrible, more sinister, more destructive than meets the eye. I don't mean that flesh and blood can't hurt or hinder the cause of Christ. I mean that the prince of the power of the air is more dangerous than any of his subjects and that he must be overcome in every instance of conflict, or the battle is lost.”
Let me ask you a question: When we have a problem going on in our life, how do we define it? What is the one thing that gives you the most difficulty in life? For most of us, the answer to that question, in one form or another, comes down to one thing: People. You may struggle intensely with a family member, your spouse or child or a parent – a neighbor, a friend. You might have personality conflicts and struggles in your office, or in your church, or in your neighborhood...But the apostle Paul says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our true battle is not about the struggle of man against man. It is not a political struggle, a social struggle, an economic struggle, or even an interpersonal struggle. The battle is not against people, but against unseen spiritual powers. In fact, the entire human race is under a vicious assault by certain principalities and powers, world rulers of darkness, wicked spirits in high places.
Satan wants you to think it a struggle rooted in a person. - the enemy wants you think that some man or some woman is your enemy
- He wants you to think of your spouse as the root of the problem – or your boss – or your parents – or your co-worker “If only they would wake up and see how wrong they are, my problems would go away. If only someone else could make them see that they are the problem.” Put yourselves into the shoes of a general in Satan’s forces for a moment. Play the part of the devil’s advocate for a moment - If you were a commander of an army wouldn’t you love if your enemy was engaged in a battle with someone else? Sure you would. You could sit back and let them slug it out while you enjoy the scenery. That’s the way to fight a war isn’t it? Let someone else fight your enemies for you. That’s exactly what Satan does. He gets you focused on fighting your wife, your boss, your kids, anybody but him.
– You’ve got to use spiritual means to win in spiritual battles. You’ve got to use the armor God has provided. When the battle appears in your life do not run in anger towards the other person – run to your Bible to see how you can sure up your defenses. Run to your Savior and cry to him for his mercy and wisdom and strength – run to your prayer closet and fight the battle on the proper field where it must be fought
Notice the word “struggle” in v. 12. That word in Greek means hand to hand combat, elsewhere it’s translated as wrestle. This isn’t a case where you stand back with a sniper rifle and take pot shots at the enemy, - this is up close and personal, down in the dirt, hand to hand, blood, sweat and tears. This is a personal fight for each of us.
KJV has a better translation: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” “Wrestle” doesn’t mean like professional wrestling where it’s mostly a show, and they stop the match after time is up. Here it’s talking about a fight to the death. When Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, the gladiators were fighting in the coliseum in Rome, and they didn’t stop till one of them was dead. In Roman times when the wrestlers went into the ring to wrestle the idea was to get two hands around the neck of the man in a stranglehold and press not only his shoulders but his head to the ground. And if his head was on the ground for a certain time he was killed; if only his shoulders touched and you didn't get his head down he lived to fight again. Never loose sight of the reality that the exercise of our faith is a life and death matter. – Just talk to anybody that’s been down in the dust recently – with Satan doing his best to pin them down to the dirt using a strangle hold of pride or addiction or lust or anger or arrogance.
Put On The Full Armor of God – And Keep it On
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.
Note the “therefore” Therefore points back to the reality of what he has just said about the war that is taking place in your life. You have to respond. You have to get prepared. – by the way every command in this passage is second person plural. In other words we are to stand together. No one stands alone. No one goes it alone. We stand together – we fight together – we hold our ground together. No one-man battles here. He says take put on your armor and take your stand.
Effective armor is a crucial element of victory in any war including spiritual warfare...If you leave anything unprotected, the enemy will find a way to exploit that chink in your armor and he will destroy you. Note that word full. We cannot merely put on this or that piece of God’s armor in some random or incomplete fashion. We can’t leave any part of ourselves uncovered and unprotected. We cannot give our enemy any little opening, or he will exploit that opening to his advantage.
- you don’t go to battle wearing the same kind of clothes you might wear on the tennis court. How long do you think a soldier would last on the day of battle if he shows up dressed up for tennis while his buddies have on all the battle gear, protective armor and weaponry?
By the way - this isn't like game uniforms, where you just put it on Saturday when it's game time; you put the armor on once and leave it on the rest of your life. You never lay your armor down until you meet the Lord. You put your armor on and keep it on. And if you don't have it on you become vulnerable at any point. And so Paul, probably chained to a Roman soldier as he wrote this, sees the whole of the Roman soldier’s uniform and all the armor that went with it as a perfect illustration of how the believer is to be prepared to fight the enemy. Verse 14, he speaks of this armor, the loins are girded about with truthfulness, the breastplate of righteousness, the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
- when you begin to sense that you are suffering defeat in your life – do an armor inspection. What piece of armor have you laid down? Do a checklist – Am I walking in the truth? Am I shielding my heart with the righteousness of Christ? Are my feet rooted in the Gospel? Am I wearing the helmet of salvation – filtering my thought life through what Christ has declared to be true about my future? Am I holding up the shield of faith deflecting the arrows of the enemy by what the Word of God says?
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist NASB says Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, We don’t use that kind of language today – “Gird your loins” When’s the last time you girded your loins? (this morning hopefully!) My grandmother would say, “Hitch your pants up” in other words “tighten your belt” or get yourself together - don’t be sloppy
Now let me describe the belt so you'll get the image a little better. In Paul's day a Roman person, even a soldier, wore a tunic. A tunic was a big square piece of material for the most part. Had a hole in it for your head and two holes for your arms. That was about it. You just threw it on. It was kind of a non-gathered piece of material. But if you were going into a war you wouldn't go into a war with that thing flying around. girding your loins was gathering up all this loose material so that you could get ready to go. What that means, then, is readiness, preparedness. It's the idea. The belt was preparedness. The Roman soldier wouldn't go into a battle with his dress flapping in the breeze, somebody would pull it over his head and that would be the end of it. You wouldn't fight a battle with that flopping all over the place. Ill - when you watch football games - how tight all the uniforms are because they don't want anybody grabbing anything. You don’t want your shirttail flapping in the breeze so someone can grab it and yank you down from the back. What uniform companies have done is invented what they call break-away shirts. You see them nowadays in the colleges and they just keep ripping them off people. And they'll run down there with their shirt gone. And the guy will have a handful of shirt and that's it. That's because they don't want anything that is flopping around in the combat. And the same thing is even more important in warfare. You want to make sure in hand to hand combat that something is not flapping in the breeze.
Why is the belt of truth mentioned first? It has to be first. Because the primary weapon of choice for our enemy is what? It is the lie. The Bible says Satan is the father of all lies.
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies…. If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me...The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. (John 8: 44-47)
In other words – every lie you and I tell is somehow connected back to him. (Imagine how different history might have been if Adam and Eve and girded their loins with truth)
We carry the name of the one who said, “I am the truth”. Over 80 times in the gospels, Jesus prefaced his teaching with the phrase, “I tell you the truth…” In Isa. 11: 5 it says, “Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness (also translated truth) the belt about His waist.” We are aren’t asked to do anything in this passage that Jesus hasn’t already done. – You’ll find in the book of Isa. that Jesus wears every piece of armor described here. Being a Christian is all about walking in the truth. It’s the first place the enemy attacks. Ill – of listening to a man tell me about his daughter who is in the ninth grade history class. They started talking about Israel and its right to the land. The teacher made a comment, “Israel has only existed since the UN established it in 1948.” His daughter raised her hand and said – “But what about Israel’s history as it is given in the Old Testament in the Bible.” The teacher’s response? “The Bible is a book of stories and myths and is not to be believed literally.” Really? How is a ninth grader supposed to argue that with her teacher? In one sentence this teacher attempts to rewrite 1000’s of years of history! “Who cares what archeology reveals? – What is actually recorded and happened in history? - If it doesn’t agree with my ideas – I simply write it off and make it conform to my ideals.” And then teach it to others!
– ill of doing a door to door Bible distribution. We simply hung the Bibles on the door. As I walked away from one home a man came out looked at what was hanging there and then shouted at me – “This is what I think of this book” and he throw it out onto the dirt in the street. That’s a classic example of how many people are treating the word of God today. In the pride and arrogance of their hearts they simply throw the revelation of God away. Because of the imagination and speculations of their own ideas and philosophies they discard the Bible as no more than fantasy. Listen some of the greatest minds in history have studied this book the entirety of their lives and at the end of if all they will tell you that they haven’t even really scratched the surface of it. Now I’m not talking about understanding –The Bible is easily understood by anyone – but it’s deep. There are deep truths of Scripture that are beyond a surface understanding - It goes deeper than the mind of man. So many people are passing vain judgments on the Word of God and the reality is that if you quiz those people most of them have never even read it. What many people do is instead of reading it for themselves; they listen to what some skeptic has said about the Bible. And that gets passed on to person to person. Each trying to make themselves sound as if they know what they are talking about, but not really having spent any time doing deep research themselves. There’s a lot of people who will pass superficial judgment on the truth of Word - but if you stop and ask them how much time they’ve actually spent in personal exploration and study of the Bible – they would tell you very little. – so the bottom line is they really don’t have a foundation to make an informed decision.
We live in a world where the idea of absolute truth has been all but abandoned. Relativism reigns in our culture today. Our pluralistic society wants to avoid the idea that there really is a right and wrong. So truth has been placed on the chopping block. If something doesn’t agree with my personal moral perspective I simply rewrite the rules. Truth is relative to the individual “you have your truth – I have mine” “It might be true for you but not for me.” – the concept of absolute moral truth is out of date and equated with intolerance in our society. But it’s not a new element in the battle. Moral relativism goes all the way back to the Garden. It was also rampant in Jesus’ day. Remember when Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate and Jesus said,
“You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, tor this reason I was born and for this cause I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate asked the question “What is Truth?” (John 18:37)
I’ve always thought Pilate asked the wrong question. He shouldn’t have asked, “What is truth?”
He should have asked, “Who is truth?”
The fact is Jesus is truth. He says “I am the way the truth and the life.” - You’ve got to come to a settled conviction - to accept God’s Word without reservation – which is going to be grounded in the person of Christ.
What does it mean to buckle the belt of truth around your waist?
Believe the Truth
In John 8:32 the Lord Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I believe Paul is talking about the objective written word of God. What you find written in this book is the truth. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth, Your word is truth.” What does this belt of truth do for you and for me? Number one it protects us from error. The objective written word of God protects us from error. We know what’s right and what’s wrong. The devil is a liar and a deceiver. He wants us to make mistakes. Our defense against doing that is this word which tells us what is right and it tells us what is wrong. If you don’t get into this word and study it every day, you’ll fall into error. If the only time you ever study the word of God is when you come in here to church on Sunday morning and you hear me teach it or if the only time you ever open this word is when you go to your Sunday School class and you never do it six days a week, you will be a poorly equipped soldier. You must get into the word every single day so you will know what is right and what is wrong. This belt protects you from the world.
Ill. – Many people are infected with “Moral AIDS.” AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, when the body is no longer able to detect diseases and illnesses and soon dies. We have become so desensitized to sin and evil in our culture that we are no longer able to resist it and fight against it. Evil and wickedness is like a cancer eating through our culture. There are people out there who have absolutely no moral standards. There are people who justify in their own eyes what is right and wrong, but the Bible says there must be an objective standard - the word of God. The Bible is our guide. This is the truth that tells us what is right and what is wrong.
Live Truthfully
This is not just knowing the truth – it’s about being mastered by the truth. If you are going to gird yourself with a belt of truth – you’re not just going to see the belt hanging in the closet – “Hey there’s a nice belt” – you’re going to put it on and wear it – assimilate it into your life. Your own theories and speculative convictions will fall to the wayside and you will embrace the truth of God. It will bind you – hold you together. All other aspects of your walk will be attached to it.
Nothing set Jesus off more than people who refused to be truthful about who they were and how they were actually living. Nothing set him off more than the issue of hypocrisy. There is nothing more distasteful in the eyes of our Lord than a pious pretender – an actor who grandstands in front of others but in reality is someone else in private.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
What a picture Jesus paints here. A guy with 2x4 across his eyes - he can't see a thing - he's got a pair of tweezers in his hand and he's saying, “Don't worry, I'll get that speck out of your eye.” It's a picture of a blind ophthalmologist. You'd say, “That picture is absurd!” That's why Jesus painted it! He says, “Do you realize how absurd it is for people like us fallible, failure prone - here we are blind as can be and here we are making judgment calls on other people's behaviors. Jesus says, whenever you are tempted to get the tweezers out to go after somebody else’s little problem, push the pause button. Remind ourselves that there still dark parts in our own souls and that we really are blinded to parts of our depravity – Ask yourself if you are living truthfully yourself.
Speak the Truth
- To God. Confess our sins.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Truthfulness is such a big deal to our Lord – he says I want you to be absolutely totally honest in your relationship with me. Don’t hold anything back. Don’t try to cover over something when you fail. Don’t try to pretend something didn’t happen. Don’t try to argue with me why your situation is the exception and somehow you were justified in your sinful behavior. Just be honest.
- To Yourself
– This calls us to eliminate any thoughts and habits which would hinder our walk with
the Lord. The truth of God should penetrate to the point to where we are telling ourselves the truth.
- any point of ongoing defeat you might be dealing with in your life – there is a separation between what God says to be true and what you say is true for you. Ill of survey done by Josh McDowell – 87% of evangelical teenagers surveyed said they define truth for themselves. Any place where there is a divergence between the Word of God and our own ideas, is the place where we will fall victim over and over again – and sometimes live in defeat the entirety of our lives.
Psalm 42:1-11 is a great example of what I’m talking about: David is struggling with depression. He says, I Feel as if God has forgotten me – I go about mourning. I’m oppressed by the enemy. I’m in agony. I’m being taunted by those who don’t believe.” He’s got this mixture of some things that are true and some things that are simply the result of his own emotional sate. Then in verse 11
Why are you downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God – and I will yet praise him my Savior and my God.”
He starts speaking the truth to himself again. – the enemy loves it when you tell yourself lies and believe the lies that you say to yourself.
- To Others Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Eph 4:25)
Notice the word must here – you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully – Jesus spoke only the truth to us. He expects us to speak only the truth to each other. But remember we are to speak the truth in a spirit of love. Not harsh, not anger, not criticism, not judgmental but in love
CLOSE: Is every aspect of your life characterized by truthfulness?
