Ephesians 6:10-18
SERMON – The armour of God
In his Letter to the Christians living in Ephesus,
At that time the most important city in Western Asia Minor, now Turkey,
And at that time the headquarters or centre of the cult of the goodess Artemis,
Sometimes called Diana,
Paul, writing about AD60, gives words of exhortation and comfort
To Christians
Who must have been suffering from persecution
Especially from those who made a living from making and selling
Souvenirs to people who came to worship the pagan goddess.
We can read in Acts 19 how the first Christians were nearly all killed
By a mob led by a silversmith called Demetrius
Before the City Clerk (or Mayor) calmed them down and warned them
That if they started a riot against the Christians
The Romans would use force against them to restore order.
Paul and his companions, Silas and Timothy, eventually moved on
And travelled to Macedonia and Greece
Before returning to Jerusalem,
But he did not forget the Ephesians and the dangers they faced;
And wrote this Letter to assure them of his love and prayers
And encouraged them to trust the Lord to look after them.
His words were not just for the Ephesians, but are for all God’s people
Living anywhere and at any time and in any situation
But especially dangerous ones.
So Paul’s words are as much for us today as for any other Christians.
His words should encourage us and comfort us
And assure us that God will defend and strengthen us
if we do what He requires of us.
Paul’s words are fine words: Be strong in the Lord – not your own strength,
which is limited; but in God’s, which is not.
‘Be strong’ is not a suggestion, it is a command!
Verse 11 – we should not let the FACT that WE are weak hold us back
From doing what Scripture tells us we should do,
But think of how STRONG God is.
God’s spiritual armour will protect us,
But only if we put it ALL on.
We can do so much, but only so much, with OUR strength and intellect,
Time and talents, experiences and common sense,
And it is probably true that ‘God helps those who help themselves’
But at the end of the day, God’s power is invincible and almighty and boundless
While ours is comparatively inadequate and weak.
So why try to face what the world and the flesh and the devil throw against us
In our own strength
When Almighty God, El Shaddai Himself, is willing and able to help us
Physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually.
That is what Paul is encouraging us to do, when he says;
‘Be strong IN THE LORD’.
He writes: ‘Put on the FULL armour of God, which means ‘don’t just pick and choose’.
‘don’t just trust God in SOME areas of your life, while keeping other areas to yourself’.
Put on the FULL armour of God
For to put on less than the full armour
Implies that you can get by with your own resources
And do not need His, for ALL, only SOME.
God wants us to be totally and completely dedicated and consecrated to Him
And wholly reliant on Him, giving our all to Him,
And taking all that He has to offer, because of His grace,
In return.
God is a generous and loving Father to His children;
He has much for us,
So let us take advantage of everything He has for us,
So we put on the WHOLE, the FULL armour of God, not just part of it.
It is important to notice that we are called to ‘put it on’;
For God will not force it on us.
He has given us free will and the ability to perform voluntary acts of will,
But He loves us and wants only what is best for us,
And we would be stupid not to go His way.
So, we can either learn from the Bible or learn from our own mistakes;
God gives us that freedom.
Verse.12 – We should not under-estimate the devil, he is a dangerous and formidable enemy,
And those who play with fire will inevitably get their fingers burned.
Those who ‘play’ with Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, Palm Readers and Horoscopes,
May take these things as ‘fun’ and only ‘light-hearted amusements’
But they are not.
They can let in to our minds, our souls, the rulers, authorities,
powers and spiritual forces of evil which are allied with Satan.
Verse 12 reminds us – warns us – that our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
And this is a caution against seeing all non-Christians as opponents or enemies;
As if they were the real foe.
Those who are unsaved need to be prayed for and, if God wills it,
Won over by the Gospel.
Our REAL enemy is a spiritual one
And we can see his malign influence almost everywhere around us,
And sometimes even within us!
But he is a defeated enemy;
His days are numbered, and he knows it,
But, like Gadaffi making his last stand in Libya,
He will go down fighting
And try to take many with him.
Most people don’t like to think about the existence of the devil.
Many people don’t believe in God, preferring to believe that they are the product of millions of years of random evolution,
And that our ancestors were monkeys.
Others, who DO believe in God, prefer to not to believe in a devil;
Or if they do, he is only a joke character, an impish figure,
With little horns and a tail and a plastic pitchfork;
But if there is a devil, and the Bible makes it clear that there is,
He is dangerous and powerful.
Satan is a fallen angel, formerly known as Lucifer, the ‘Light bringer’;
In fact he is the god of this world.
He is the tempter who tried to turn Jesus against His heavenly Father,
And who is destined to spend eternity in the Pit of fire,
But until that happens, we are to stand firm against him
And his wicked schemes and plans, powers and authorities;
Which is why we need to wear the full armour of God.
As Christians we cannot compromise or turn a blind eye to evil,
And while the Taliban and child molesters are obviously evil,
Paul asks us to appreciate that flesh and blood enemies of God and goodness
Are nothing compared to what he describes in his Epistle as ‘the powers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.’
We are the children of light,
therefore will always be under attack from the forces of darkness;
I’m sorry but that’s the case and we have to realise it;
But He that is in us, the Holy Spirit, is greater than he who is in the world.
In Chapter 6 verse 13 Paul talks about ‘when the day of evil comes’
And Commentaries interpret this in two ways:
1st is objectively, referring to the Tribulation when the devil will throw everything he has against the people of God
Before the 2nd Coming of Jesus and his, the devil’s, sentence to an eternity of torment.
The 2nd way of looking at this verse is subjectively or personally,
Referring to a time or maybe more than one time
When we are tempted to fall away or reject God
Or do something that we know is wrong.
Either way, ‘when the day of evil comes’
We will be able to stand firm.
God promises that,
IF we rely on Him and stay true to Him, and wearing His armour.
Paul then itemises the various parts of the armour of God that we should wear,
And not just on Sundays, but every day.
In verses 14-17 Paul mentions six pieces of armour.
Paul wrote this Letter while he was a prisoner in Rome;
He was probably being guarded by a Legionary, a soldier,
Who would be wearing just this kind of armour.
The Holy Spirit would have brought to Paul’s mind how Christians,
as soldiers in God’s army, also need armour;
not the armour issued by a Caesar or King
but the armour provided by the King of kings.
1st piece – the Belt of truth.
Jesus claimed to be ‘The way and the truth and the life’
Whereas the devil is the father of lies;
Which is why we should follow the apostle James’ advice
Which he gave in his Letter.
And control our tongue,
Not being given to gossiping or criticising or boasting
But only saying what is good and positive and true,
For whenever we say anything unwholesome or unchristian
We make the devil happy, and weaken our position before God.
.2nd piece – the Breastplate of righteousness.
This is definitely a defensive item; you attack with a sword or a spear,
But hide behind a shield, and a breastplate is a kind of shield,
Worn to protect the vital organs above the waist
And below the neck;
In particular the heart and the lungs and the stomach.
In physical terms, a serious wound to any of these could be fatal.
So Paul is telling us to hide behind righteousness, goodness, purity and holiness,
Of thought and word and deed,
Giving the devil no opportunity to attack us
Because of our unconfessed and unforgiven sinfulness in these areas.
3rd piece – in verse 15 – Paul says we are to have as our shoes the readiness to stand on and proclaim (Lutheran for preach) the Gospel of peace.
In those times many people fought either in bare feet
or wearing sandals bound up to just below the knee,
but soldiers in the Roman army had very protective and supportive footwear which Paul obviously thought gave them an advantage and helped them to be victorious in battle.
If I go hill walking I wear proper waterproof boots which protect my ankles and prevent me from slipping,
And in winter when the pavements are icy I am sure we wear willies or boots with good treads to stop us from sliding and falling.
Paul uses this figure of speech, this Parable-language,
To exhort us to step out in God’s grace
And walk in God’s peace,
The peace that the world cannot give
But cannot take away either.
4th piece – Paul tells us to defend ourselves also with the Shield of faith
With which we will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the devil.
Here again he has the Roman army in mind
Because Legionaries used to carry large shields
Which were covered in leather
And which could be soaked in water
And used to put out flame-tipped arrows.
When Job was tempted by the devil, his wife told him to ‘curse God and die’,
But he defended himself from the devil, and from his wife,.
By clinging to his faith in Almighty God,
Trusting Him to see him through, which He did.
God was his shield.
When we are tempted to stay at home on a Sunday
Or not read our Bible
Or not take something to God in prayer
Or speak out for Him when we get the opportunity,
We should see this as a subtle attack by the devil
And defend ourselves with the ‘shield of faith’
And trust in God, hope in God,
Assured of His presence and love.
5th piece – in verse 17 Paul tells us to wear the Helmet of salvation,
To protect our mind, our brain, our intellect, our integrity, our reputation,
our honour, and our testimony
The devil loves to make us doubt;
Doubt the existence of God;
Doubt the loving nature of God;
Doubt the effectiveness of the death of Jesus on the cross;
Doubt the resurrection of Jesus;
Doubt our membership of God’s family;
Doubt our place in heaven for all eternity.
We defend ourselves from such doubts, such attacks,
By reminding ourselves of what we are: sinners saved by grace,
And reminding ourselves of what we have, because of the shed blood of Christ.
It is not our merits or our works that we rely on
But God’s grace, and the merits of Jesus Christ.
Which gives us peace of mind.
It is the shed blood and the physical resurrection of Jesus
that gives us the assurance that we are saved;
that we are God’s children; and that we are His saints.
This is how we defend ourselves from the attacks of the evil one.
6th piece – the Sword of the spirit.
Belts, breastplates, shields and helmets are all items of armour which defend,
But in chapter 6 verse 17 – Paul tells us to wear the ‘sword of the Spirit’
Which is the Word of God,
Not only to defend ourselves but to attack.
We should all be familiar with a number of Bible texts, sayings of Jesus, proverbs, quotes, that we can speak out when the time is right,
Not to make ourselves look good or to win Quiz prizes,
But to be like Jesus, who when He was tempted in the wilderness
after He was baptized,
Used portions of the Word of God to put the devil in his place
and deny him any success.
Finally, as well as wearing God’s armour, in verse 18 Paul says
we are to Pray in the Spirit – on all occasions –
and with all kinds of prayers – long prayers, short prayers,
formal prayers such as the ‘Our Father’ or informal prayers,
prayers out loud, prayers in the secrecy of our own minds,
intercessory or asking for others prayers,
and supplications or asking for ourselves prayers,
praise prayers, confession prayers, and thanksgiving prayers.
By praying we are telling God that we are putting our trust in Him
And by definition we are telling the devil to go away
And to leave us alone;
But he won’t, which is why Paul exhorts us to always ‘Be alert’
Because the devil is evil and like a lion, always prowling around
Looking for the chance to devour a saint.
We have an enemy but we also have a God, a Saviour,
A heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit, who is / are more powerful.
God, through Paul, has given us this advice, this encouragement,
And He assures us that if we wear His armour, His full armour,
And keep on praying for each other,
That we will survive any tribulation that the devil will put our way.
Amen.
.
