GEARING UP FOR WAR - The Breastplate of Righteousness
September 18, 2022
Ephesians 6:10-14
Introduction:
One of my favorite stories from the book Messy Spirituality goes like this…Mike Yaconelli writes:
When my children were young, track meets filled part of each week during the spring. One particularly hot spring day, I attended a junior high track meet, arriving in the middle of the boys’ 1500 meter race. During the last lap of the race, the audience stood, cheering two boys running side-by-side for the final fifty meters. A short distance behind them ran a pack of about four or five boys jockeying for third place. The crowd broke into applause for the first and second place finishers, and then crescendo as the pack fought for third place.
Another runner suddenly caught my attention. As I looked down the track, I saw one boy lagging far behind. Poor kid. The portly seventh grader struggled for each breath, his face red and sweaty, the main artery in his neck bulging and throbbing to supply oxygen to his deprived muscles. Suddenly the woman to my left stepped over me and rushed down to the railing overlooking the track - obviously the boy’s mother.
She screamed, “Johnny, run faster!”
I wish you could have seen the incredulous look on the boy’s face. He had to be thinking, Mom! I’m running as fast as I can!
Spiritual growth does not happen by running faster.
What keeps many of us from growing is not sin but speed.
Most of us are like Johnny. We are going as fast as we can, living life at a dizzying speed, and God is nowhere to be found. We’re not rejecting God; we just don’t have time for him. We’ve lost him in the blurred landscape as we rush to church. We don’t struggle with the Bible, but with the clock. It’s not that we’re too decadent; we’re too busy. We don’t feel guilty because of sin, but because we have no time for our spouses, our children, or our God. It’s not sinning too much that’s killing our souls, it’s our schedule that’s annihilating us. Most of us don’t come home at night staggering drunk. Instead, we come home staggering tired, worn out, exhausted, and drained because we live too fast.
Speed is not neutral. Fast living used to mean a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious. Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls.
Satan would like for us to believe that righteousness can be attained if we “just ran faster!”
It’s one of the greatest weapons he uses as he schemes and attacks Christians.
Here’s what I mean…
The only way any of us can be righteous is through the actions of Christ and not in ours…I've GOT SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME BAD NEWS....
I. HERE’S THE BAD NEWS
Here’s what the Apostle Paul writes concerning our righteousness…whether we’ve been Jews under the law of God…or Gentiles who have never heard of it…
ROMANS 3:9-20
4 times Paul uses the word “stand” in our text from Ephesians 6…“take your stand”…“stand”…“stand your ground”…“stand firm.”
These are imperative, urgent commands…God’s people are to be on guard…to be alert…standing firm as the evil one attacks.
We are to realize that our battle isn’t against other people, “flesh and blood,” but against the dark forces of Satan and his army.
It’s why we put on the belt of truth first. He’s a liar. Our foundation is in the teachings of our commander…“Everything He has commanded us.” In fact Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:7)
He is the only one who deserves to be called “Righteous.” He is the only one who has never broken the laws of God.
The bad news is… “We’ve all sinned and fallen short of His righteousness.” “Not one person is righteous…no not one…left on our own Jesus said this about our hearts…“From within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from the inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:21-23)
No law can change the human heart. Some might be afraid of the consequences but it still doesn’t change what’s there…Maybe you hate someone enough you’d like to kill them…but you don’t want to go to prison…so you don’t …but the hate’s still there…as well as the desire.
The Breastplate of Righteousness attaches to the Belt of Truth…it covers all the vital organs…especially the soldier’s heart.
SHOW PIC OF SOLDIER’S BREASTPLATE
Remember…this is the armor of God we’re told to put on…not ours…Remember this is the Breastplate of Christ’s righteousness…not ours.
Any righteousness outside of Christ’s righteousness is like using a filthy rag to cover your heart and hoping Satan’s arrows won’t pierce it.
But it’s what we do many times isn’t it? “Run faster Johnny.” “Earn your parent’s love Johnny.” “Be more righteous Johnny.” “Work harder Johnny.”
And the bad news is Satan influences people to tell us… “Just double down on those filthy rags and you’ll be good…or people become critical of what we do…the most hurtful people aren’t those who call you names…it’s from those who accuse you of not being good enough, or working hard enough…the truth is…most of the time these accusations come from a heart covered in filthy rags.
You can’t escape the battle…it’s being waged daily…Satan will shoot at your heart…and sometimes people will hold his bow as he pulls the strings…
But here is
II. THE GOOD NEWS
The child of God doesn’t wear a breastplate made out of filthy rags…we wear the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness.
Listen to what Paul writes to the Romans in Chapter 3 right after he says “No one is righteous…not even one.”
ROMANS 3:21-26
A righteousness promised and provided by God is given through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe…It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile…both have sinned…all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Here’s what that means…when we are born again in Christ…we are given a brand new heart…and that heart is covered and protected by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
The Greek word Paul uses for righteousness is “Diakaisune” (Diak-os-su-ne) and it literally means “In a place that is acceptable to God.” “Standing in front of God and having His approval.”
What allows us to stand before God and receive His approval?
“FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.”
It’s not by our works so that we can brag about how righteous we are…?
It’s a recognition through faith of how great God’s grace is…our works show whose masterpiece we are.
EPHESIANS 2:4-10
Let me give you a really simple way that I understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant of grace.
[Suppose Kari gave me a list of things she expected me to do…and on this list is “wash all the dishes…make sure they are super clean…dry them so there are no water spots, before you put them carefully away in the right stacks.” “By the way…I’m going to check to make sure you did it right too.”
My reaction would be…“Nope!!!” But by some cosmic shift of a miracle I decided to do what she asked…what kind of attitude do you think I’d have…what thoughts would I be thinking… “OK I’ll wash your stupid dishes.” “Oops…sorry dropped your favorite cup.” I’d feel it was a drudgery…I’d always be insecure and angry while doing it.
But what if I came home one night and Kari was sick in bed and the sink and counter overflowed with dirty dishes…what if I washed them all because I love her and I want to serve her…I want to say thank you for being my wife, the mother of our children and “Nana” to our grand babies…what if I looked for opportunities to serve my wife because I love her and I’m grateful…do you think my attitude and joy would be different?]
Me too.
You can always know when someone wears a breastplate of filthy rags…They’re trying to run faster to please others…they’re trying to be good enough…and eventually it makes them feel like its a drudgery…they get angry critical of others and start shooting arrows.
But when you wear the Breastplate of Christ’s Righteousness…you realize you’ll never be good enough…and it’s freeing because you don’t have to be…He’s good enough and “Man, that’s Good News.”
[Let me end today with something special that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. It was a God incident in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
I was invited to be part of a panel that would honor the memory of Wayne Smith by sharing stories about him and how he influenced our lives…I got to sit right next to Brewster McLeod on the panel…Brewster was my youth minister and had baptized me into Christ almost 42 years to the day as we sat there…I got to turn to him and say… “Wayne is the reason I went into ministry…but you are the reason I’m going to heaven.” It was pretty special…but that wasn’t what I want to share with you…They introduced all of us on the panel…of the 100+ ministers there I’m friends with 90 of them and have know them forever…so when they introduced me…they made sarcastic noises and kidded with me…”Yeah, yeah…next.” It was funny and I loved it…but one of my friends named Jon Welch from Leesburg Christian Church started to clap for me…He wouldn’t quit clapping and smiling at me. He said, “I love you bro!!”
And as I write this message, I thought: “Wow…it doesn’t matter what others say or do…if one day Jesus is smiling and clapping for me and says: “I love you, well done good and faithful servant.”]
Here’s the best news…Jesus loves you…He died for you…He has given you an opportunity to wear His Breastplate of Righteousness…
And it only matters if HE claps for you.
