THE ARMOR OF GOD AND THE LIES OF THE ENEMY
The Belt of Truth: Truth Changes from Person to Person
Ephesians 6:10-18
#armorofGod
INTRODUCTION… “Dad, you are in the Army?” (p)
My whole life growing up, my dad was active duty Army. I do not have a memory growing up that does not have the U.S. Army in the background. It was my dad’s career right before I was born and he retired about when I graduated from college. He was a special agent and then special agent in charge in CID (Criminal Investigation Division) most of his career in the Army and retired as a CW4. I was reminded of a memory about that as I read our passage for today and I called my dad to confirm my memory.
As a CID agent, most of the time my dad wore civilian clothes like suits and ties. He said, when I called him, that 98% of the time he wore suits and not the more traditional fatigues/BDUs. I was probably 4 or 5, definitely kindergarten age, when one day my dad came out from his bedroom dressed in fatigues/BDUs about to head to work. This was not his normal look. I looked at him in complete shock and said: “Dad! You are in the Army?” Now, granted he had been in the Army literally every single breath I had ever taken, but because his daily uniform was different, I had no clue. My mom and dad laughed that this was perhaps the first time I had ever seen him in any class of Army uniform.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
Today, we are beginning a series of messages about a word picture of a Roman soldier that the Apostle Paul uses in Ephesians 6 that is quite popular among devotional writers and I am sure has whole devotional books dedicated to it: The Armor of God. To be honest, I am hoping to be intensely relevant to our lives and not softly devotional as we think about these verses in Ephesians 6. I do not want to be quirky or gimmicky, but really applicable for our lives.
My plan is to look at each item in Paul’s description for two weeks and to unpack why we need such spiritual armor in our lives. Verses 10-13 makes it very clear that we have an enemy that wars against us physically, emotionally, and spiritually and that we need to stand firm against all his schemes which often come to us as lies, deception, false beliefs, worldly philosophies, and even beliefs from other religions.
Let’s jump in and read from Ephesians 6:
READ EPHESIANS 6:10-18 (ESV)
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…”
THE ARMOR PIECE: THE BELT OF TRUTH
THE BELT
In Paul’s day, Roman soldiers wore tunics which was a large square piece of material that had holes for the head and arms. It hung low and loose over the body. As you can imagine, a loose tunic in the middle of battle was not a desired thing. Soldiers would gather up any loose fabric and make sure it was all tucked into the belt and any other straps. For a Roman soldier, the belt was made of leather and was most likely a little thicker and wider than we imagine because it also helped protect the soldier’s stomach.
The phrase for gathering up all the loose fabric used in the Bible and in Paul’s day is “gird up your loins.” Nowadays, that phrase means “get ready for something difficult,” which makes complete sense given that it originally meant “get ready for a battle.” This did get me wondering how one might actually gird up one’s loins back in Paul’s day. What does it take? What are the steps?
ILLUSTRATION…artofmanliness.com/skills/manly-know-how/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
I found a website called ‘The Art of Manliness’ which had a step-by-step guide and also illustrations. I actually believe this is my favorite website I’ve found in quite a while.
#1 Hoist the tunic up so that all the fabric is above one’s knees helping with mobility.
#2 Gather all the material in front of you so that the tunic is snug in the back.
#3 Then pull the fabric underneath the legs like a diaper.
#4 Gather half the material in each hand and bring it back around to the front.
#5 One could tie the two handfuls together or better yet tie the material to a thick leather belt.
Now, what if a soldier chose not to “gird his loins.” What if a solider had a loose tunic? An enemy solider could grab any part of the loose tunic and throw them around and cause chaos. More likely, sort of like an ancient wedgie, the tunic could be grabbed and pulled over the soldier’s head blinding them and making them an easy target. I can also imagine that depending on the length of the tunic, one might also trip while trying to put the stabby end of your sword into a soft part of an enemy. Also, it is a bad day to trip onto the sword or spear of an enemy while you are trying to attack. For these reasons and probably many more, a soldier would have a sturdy belt, probably made of leather, and they would make sure their garments were tightly tied to it and ready for battle.
The belt is mentioned first because it is the part of the armor that holds all the other pieces together or it was the piece that a soldier would put on first when dressing for battle or… it is just what the Apostle Paul thought of first as he pictured a soldier in his mind. The order of the items does not matter.
What matters is what is attached to the belt: Truth.
What matters is from what attacks of the enemy do we need to be ready.
TRUTH
Now, as the Apostle Paul is encouraging believers in this metaphor of the ‘Armor of God,’ he states that the belt that gathers us up is ‘the belt of truth.’ He zeros in on truth. Truth is conformity to fact or faithfulness to an original or standard. Repeat: Truth is conformity to fact or faithfulness to an original or standard. ‘Truth’ is a word that is used 139 times in the Old and New Testament not to mention the over 100 times the word ‘true’ is used. Truth and what is true is an emphasis for those of us who follow God and are part of His Kingdom. The command to be a person of truth and to know truth and to speak truth is all over the Bible. The Bible has much to say about truth… for example… just in the Book of Psalms alone there is verse after verse:
READ PSALM 18:30 (ESV)
“This God— His way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.”
READ PSALM 25:5 (ESV)
“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
READ PSALM 51:6 (ESV)
“Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”
READ PSALM 86:11 (ESV)
“Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your Name.”
READ PSALM 119:160 (ESV)
“The sum of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”
READ PSALM 145:18 (ESV)
“The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”
The overall summary we get about truth, just from the Book of Psalms, is that God and His Word is Truth which leads us inwardly and outwardly to live a life that reflects His righteousness and His standard of wisdom.
Why is truth so important?
In the Old and New Testament, truth is a fundamental quality of God. Truth is part of His holiness and part of justice and also part of mercy (Exodus 34:6, Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 57:3). Truth is part of promises and prophecy and covenants. Truth is part of inspiring the writing down of His Word. Isaiah 65:16 describes God as “the God of Truth.” Jesus Christ is described in John 1:14 as coming “full of grace and truth” and in John 14:6 says about Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Holy Spirit is literally called “The Spirit of Truth” in John 14, 15, and 16.
Over and over again truth is a fundamental quality of God. Truth is God’s standard. That is why lying, slander, gossip, libel, blasphemy, boasting, complaining, and many other actions are sinful… they break from the standard of truth. Again, take note that if we are the People of God then we will seek after truth. Christians are people who put away falsehood, gossip, lying, and all those other types of actions because we want to reflect our God.
TRANSITION
The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that a believer in Jesus Christ has an enemy that schemes against what God is doing in him or her. We are to stand firm. We are to be ready. Stand firm against what? Ready for what? What schemes of the devil attack truth?
SCHEME OF THE DEVIL: TRUTH CHANGES FROM PERSON TO PERSON
The question: ‘What schemes of the devil attack truth?’ is a silly question because everything Satan does counters the truth. Jesus literally calls Satan the ‘father of lies’ in John 8:44 and says that his native language is lying.
So, what might be a particular lie that we deal with in our day that we must defend against? I thought of the lie: Truth changes. Better yet: Truth changes from person to person. This is a deep and penetrating lie that can infect all parts of life and society. There are many different ways to state this particular lie:
* Truth changes from person to person
* Whatever you believe in your heart is true is true
* I live my truth and you live your truth
* Whatever is voted on by the majority is what is true
* Truth is whatever you can make someone else believe
* Truth is in the eye of the beholder
* Everything is relative, all truth is relative
* Truth is defined and created by each new generation
* Everyone can be right at the same time
* Different strokes for different folks
* Truth is a matter of perspective
* If you believe something hard enough, it becomes true
Have you heard any of those?
Do you believe any of those?
All of what I just mentioned can be boiled down to two words: relative truth. Relative truth is the belief and worldview that truth changes based on an individual’s understanding. With relative truth, there are no absolute standard and what may be true for you is not true for me, but both are true. Relative truth is a rejection of absolute truth.
A Biblical worldview accepts God as the source of Absolute Truth and because God has a standard, then relative truth does not exist. A Christian worldview sees the Bible as a without error source of God’s truth. God defines what is right and wrong and true and untrue. Remember, the idea of truth from the Scriptures is that God is truth which leads us inwardly and outwardly to live a life that reflects His righteousness and His standard of wisdom. The devil wants any and all of us to exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25) or to exchange absolute truth for relative truth or to exchange His standard for any other standard.
One reason we may want to accept relative truth is because it allows us to do whatever we want and we live life the way we see fit because we are the standard. This is an issue in our personal lives and in our society.
ILLUSTRATION… mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/transgender-man-gives-birth-non-21177808
What about an example? I am going to go with an extreme example and see how that goes. This past week I saw an article from the UK Mirror with this headline: “Transgender man gives birth to non-binary partner’s baby with female sperm donor.” There is much wrong with that headline with regards to absolute truth, but absolutely nothing wrong with regards to relative truth. I read a few articles and one of the people in the mix stated: “Like with many things, people have got it into their heads ‘this is a female thing, this is a male thing’. Having a child is male, female, everyone.” This headline dated within the last week shows us that with regards to marriage, gender, and even human reproduction truth is relative to the people who are talking about it.
Absolute truth would say: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:27-28). Absolute truth would say males and females are the two genders, marriage is between a man-born-from-birth and a woman-born-from-birth for a lifetime. Women physically produce children from material carried by both men and women. Those would be truth from the Bible, not political statements, that impact our relationships, healthcare, and view of identity.
Here is what I want you to take from this example and from the absolute truth from the Bible: * What we DON’T need to be is hate-filled and belligerent and offputtingly ignernt.
* What we DO need is compassion and ultimate pity for these poor folks that have exchanged the truth of God about marriage, gender, and even basic human reproduction and they have adopted a twisted non-sensical illogical lie as truth.
They are so far from truth that it feels hopeless in my mind for them to at all find Jesus. I feel so sad that they cannot see truth because the haze and fog of sin and a society so steeped in Satan’s lies that they have been led completely away from truth. The fantastic truth about Christ is, however, He will pursue them just as much as He would pursue anyone else. I feel like that headline is a tragedy birthed from relative truth.
Here’s the kicker… we have the very same temptation.
It may not be about marriage, gender, or human reproduction for us, but it could be about dating or divorce or money or addictions or sports or expectations of our kids and grandkids or TV shows we watch or what we are willing to do in our jobs or our view about pornography or racism. Any one of us can exchange the truth of God for a lie so we can live the way we want.
APPLICATION
The truth the Apostle Paul mentions in Ephesians 6 is truth that is true for people of all cultures and all ages and all situations. The belt of truth that the Apostle Paul mentions in Ephesians 6 is a belt that wraps around those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ. Absolute truth is meant to be applied to every life with the authority of God and is not a suggestion. Absolute truth shows the truth and makes demands of us rather than offering suggestions or alternatives.
The reason Paul mentions truth is because our society is fill with what is right, what sounds almost right, what is wrong, and what is completely wrong. We need to know the difference. We need to know what the standard of God is from the Bible and how that compares with what we are hearing or what we are believing.
ILLUSTRATION… apologetics315.com/2013/02/charles-spurgeon-on-discernment/
Charles Spurgeon, a famous preacher from the late 1800s once preached: “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”
The word picture that the Apostle Paul lays out for us begins with the belt of truth because there is much in our society that completes for our hearts and minds. Keep in mind the function of the belt of truth because here is where the application of this passage come from the page and impacts our hearts and minds and souls.
You and I need to take everything that surrounds us in our lives and tuck it into and tie it to Absolute Truth. If Biblical truth does not agree with it, we need to let it go. You see, when God and I disagree about something, it is I who needs to change and not Him… because He is the source of truth. We need to change and be secured by Biblical truth in our lives.
You and I must know truth as defined by the Bible (absolute truth) so that when a suggestion, a habit, a person, an opportunity, a fad, a rational choice, and irrational choice, a moral issue, a political issue, or a life change comes our way, we will be able to know the truth and how to navigate it. When the standard of truth is known, then you can run everything else by it to know what is actual truth and you can stay faithful to God. You can stay faithful to the truth.
* The application of the belt of truth is that we always go to God and ask “What is Your opinion on this” and then we align ourselves with what He says.
* The application of the belt of truth is that we gather up what is going on around us and we make sure to tuck it into Biblical truth that supports our whole lives.
* The application of the belt of truth is that of it is not true from God, don’t tie it to yourself.
Now, what if you choose not to “gird your loins” with absolute truth? The enemy can grab any part of your marriage or job or identity and throw you around and cause chaos. It also might be that Satan will come and give you a spiritual wedgie and pull doubt and false beliefs over your head making you an easy target in sexual issues or politics. I can also imagine that you’ll trip while trying to parent or be a wife or husband or be faithful to Christ at work. It is the belt of truth that secures your identity and beliefs and thoughts and emotions to God and secures your mind and heart and soul.
The end result of this for us is two-fold.
First, you and I must be intentional about our relationship with God. If we don’t really know God, we don’t really know truth. It really is that simple. We also need to be in the Bible on a regular basis reading and thinking and meditating on what we read because God has expressed divine truth there. We cannot know absolute truth if we don’t know God or the Bible. You must know the standard of truth for it to gird you up. You must know absolute truth in order to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might stand against the schemes of the devil.
Second, you and I must choose to change when we encounter Absolute truth. Our default in our heart or the way we were raised or society’s standards or even what we think makes logical sense may not be true. It is easy to believe and live lies. We must decide that God is God and He is Lord and His way is best and we will follow Him no matter what is going on around us. Society and politics and science all changes… so we must make sure we align with God. We must conform to the standard of truth for it to gird you up. You must submit and change to absolute truth in order to wrestle against spiritual forces that wish to slide you into chaos off your firm feet.
CONCLUSION
So, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, which will enable you to know truth, live by truth, and not be destroyed in your soul by lies that make it into your heart. Allow absolute truth to guard your mind and heart and emotions and spirit so that you stand firm with God to the end.
PRAYER
INVITATION
