Stand - The Shield of Faith
Ephesians 6:10-17
Chenoa Baptist Church
Pastor Jefferson M. Willams
05-12–2024
[Armor of God bumper]
Hail!
Several years ago, I traveled with two friends to Wyoming to hike the Tetons. We hiked nine hours nearly straight up and camped near the Continental Divide.
On the way back down to the trailhead, we were walking through a beautiful meadow when we noticed the black clouds approaching.
It began to hail. Not little pellets but probably marble-size or bigger. There was nowhere to hide. My friend yelled for me to get on the ground in a ball and cover my head. I survived the hailstorm with some bruises but I wish that I had something that could have shielded and protected me that day.
Review
We are learning that we are all in a spiritual battle that we cannot see. The Christian life is not a playground but a battlefield.
Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase is helpful:
God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet.
Paul is finishing his letter to the Ephesian church and wants to warn them to be armed and ready for attacks of the evil one.
He was probably chained to a Roman guard and started staring at his armor and thought, “That would make a perfect word picture for what I’m trying to communicate!”
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)
We’ve studied the belt of truth and learned that truth is the foundation of our Christian journey.
We’ve studied the breastplate of righteousness and learned that God calls us to live our faith with a hunger for holiness shining the light of Jesus into a dark and dying world.
We’ve studied the shoes of peace and learned we can have peace with God, the peace of God, peace with others, and that we can share that peace with others.
I love this lyric from Rich Mullins’ song, “Let Mercy Lead.”
“Let mercy lead / and in every footstep that you leave / there’ll be a drop of grace.”
In Paul Tripp’s devotional, “New Morning Mercies” he writes:
“This is the good news of the Gospel. Peace came. Peace lived. Peace died. Peace rose again. Peace reigns on your behalf. Peace indwells you by the Spirit. Peace graces you with everything you need. Peace convicts, forgives, and delivers you. Peace will finish His work in you. Pease will welcome you into glory, where Peace will live with you in peace and righteousness forever. Peace isn’t a faded dream. Peace is real. Peace is a person, and His name is Jesus.”
Today we are going to look at the shield of faith. We will learn that our faith in God’s goodness and promises protects us from the fiery darts of the evil one.
If you weren’t here last week, you can always listen to or watch the sermon on our YouTube page, website, FaceBook.
Turn to Ephesians 6.
Prayer
The Shield
A Roman soldier’s shield was 2.5 feet wide and about 4 feet tall (the size of a door) and had two layers of wood, covered in fabric or animal hide with iron around the edges.
It was curved and had a handle to allow the soldier to carry the shield which weighed as much as twenty pounds.
Often, it was painted red in honor of the Roman god of war, Mars. It would also have lightning bolts to honor Jupiter/Zeus and eagle wings to depict the power of the Roman Empire.
Interesting fact - archeologists have only found one of these shields. It dates to about mid-3rd century AD and was discovered in eastern Syria.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The belt, the breastplate, and a soldier’s sandals stayed on regardless of their duty. But the shield was stored until the time of battle and then the soldier would “take it up.”
Without a shield, the soldier would be easy prey for an enemy’s arrows.
The arrows would be hollow, made of cane, and filled with combustible material. They would also be dipped in pitch and set on fire before launching.
The soldier would douse his shield in water and that would extinguish the fiery darts launched at him.
After a particularly fierce battle, one Roman soldier counted 220 arrows stuck in his shield!
It could even be used as a stretcher to carry the soldier’s body back home.
As Paul stares at the guard’s shield, he realizes that this would make a great word picture as part of the spiritual armor he is describing.
God is our Shield
Paul’s imagery is rooted in the Old Testament where God is described as a shield.
Speaking to Abram, God said:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Gen 15:1)
Proverbs 30:5 says:
“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” (Proverbs 30:5)
David wrote:
“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.” (Psalm 33:20-21)
The verses that were on his mind when writing about the shield of faith were probably from Psalm 91:
“Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” (Psalm 91:3-6)
God is our shield and it is our faith in His faithfulness that connects us to the protection provided for us through Christ.
You Gotta Have Faith
George Michael sang many years ago, “You gotta have faith.” Bon Jovi encouraged us to “Keep the Faith.” But what does this mean?
The word Paul uses here means “belief, confidence, faithfulness, fidelity.”
In the letter to the Hebrews, faith is defined this way,
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
[Ask for a volunteer to come and sit in a chair]
That was an amazing act of faith. They didn’t even hesitate. They just sat right down. They had faith that the chair was stable and wouldn’t fall apart.
You have faith there is oxygen in this room. You had faith when you started your car this morning.
I’ve always said that it takes more faith to be an atheist than a Christian. It takes a lot more faith to believe that everything came from nothing than to believe that God created it all.
Faith is a deep confident trust in what we can not see. It is vital if we are going to have a relationship with God.
Five verses later:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
How much faith do we need? Jesus said a mustard seed faith is enough.
Three Possible Meanings
There are three possible meanings that Paul has in mind.
Saving Faith
Many people in our culture say that they “believe in God.” But what does that mean? The demons believe in God but they are said to “shudder” in awe and terror at the greatness of God. (See James 2:19)
Saving faith is something much different than a general belief in a deity.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 2:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
As we learned in last year’s “Solas” sermon series, we are saved through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
Even the faith to believe is not from ourselves but a gift of God.
What is saving faith? It’s when we recognize that we are sinners and can never hop high enough for God’s holiness. We understand that we are hopeless, helpless, and hell-bound without rescue.
We believe by faith that Jesus lived a perfect life (that we could never live), and died a substitutionary death on the cross, in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins.
Admit you’re a sinner. Trust Christ as your savior. And surrender your life to Him as your leader and Lord.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Rom 10:9-11)
The faith
When we studied the little book of Jude, we read
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” (Jude 3)
Jude isn’t writing about saving faith but “the Faith” - the objective truths of the Gospel. This is the complete knowledge of Christian truth concerning the Bible, Jesus, sin, redemption, heaven, hell, etc.
Personal Trust in God
Imagine that you are drowning in the ocean and there is no hope for being rescued. When suddenly, a rope is thrown toward you.
You would have to believe the rope is real and it was sufficiently strong to hold you.
Then, you would have to believe that on the other end of the rope is a person capable of pulling you in.
But there is one more thing that you have to consider. Is the person on the other end of the rope a friend or foe? If an enemy is on the other side of the rope, they may shoot you when they pull you in. But if your best friend was on the other side of the rope, would you grab it and hold on for dear life?
That’s the faith Paul is writing about here at the end of Ephesians.
Solomon wrote to his sons:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov 3:5-6)
It is the faith in the promises of our faithful God that have the power to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Faith must be put into action. We must live out our faith.
Charles Blondin was a famous tightrope walker. He was the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (a quarter of a mile) across Niagara Falls on September 14, 1860. People from both America and Canada came from miles away to see the great feat.
He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times…each with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet while sitting in the middle of the rope.
He also pushed a wheelbarrow with a sack of potatoes in it. When he arrived safely on land, the crowds went crazy!
He asked if they believed he could carry a human in the wheelbarrow. The crowd roared. Someone yelled, “You can do it. You’re the greatest tightrope walker of all time.” He looked at a young man and asked, “ Do you believe I can do it?” The boy said, “Yes sir, I do!”
Blondin smiled and said, “Well then, get in.” At which the young boy slinked back into the crowd. No one was willing to take him up on his offer.
When we go through tough times, our faith is rooted in the promises of God.
Several days after Kimmy died, I posted this on Facebook after someone asked me how my faith could be strong even though I was so sad:
"A student asked me this weekend how my faith can be so strong and I can be so incredibly sad at the same time. I explained to her that 25 years ago I went "all in" with Jesus. I committed to trusting Him with the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I took God out of the little box I had grown up with and permitted Him to be the Sovereign, (in charge), God of the universe.
He doesn't owe me explanations. He doesn't owe me answers to life's hard questions.
I know two things for sure - that He is Good and that He loves me. How do I know that? Why do I not doubt in terrible times like these?
Because the cross said it all. At the cross, God demonstrated the most extravagant love possible. Kimmy knew this love. Kimmy was changed by this love.
And because of Kimmy Rachelle Blair's trust in the cross' power to save us from our sins and give us new life, I do not grieve as those who have no hope.
She has seen the face of God. The older I get, and the more people I know who live in heaven, the more jealous I am of that fact. I will see her again. And she will eat all my mashed potatoes.
This week, we can run to Him or run away from Him. As I have done for the last 25 years, I have chosen to run to Him. Please run to Him with your questions, anger, doubt, sadness, rage, confusion, and all the other emotions that are keeping you, and me, up at night. God is big. He can take it. And He wants to comfort you. David wrote in the Psalms that "God is near to the brokenhearted and is with those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18)
Have you decided to get in the wheelbarrow with Jesus?
Flaming Arrows
Paul has established that our enemy is not flesh and blood but an evil accuser who gets great delight in shooting arrows at us.
Peter wrote:
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8)
He uses accusations, lies, and temptations as arrows to pierce our hearts.
Steven Lawson says,
He enflames ambition, ignites passion, excites lust, sparks discontent, kindles fears, incites pride, sets fire to doubt, and arouses distrust of God and His Word.”
He specializes in discouragement, despair, depression, envy, anxiety, and anger.
And if we don’t have the shield of faith in place, these arrows will be sticking out of us like a human pin cushion.
When our feelings lead us, we will run off the tracks into doubt and discouragement. Our faith must lead our feelings. And we must take refuge in trusting in the Gospel.
Satan’s Arrows
When satan whispers his lies into your ears, you remind yourself of these truths:
When satan shoots the arrow of “God could never love you. You’ve messed up too much.” Remind him that you:
Are extravagantly loved by God
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
When satan whispers that you are a mistake and a screw-up, remind him that you
Are wonderfully and purposefully made - a masterpiece
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)
When satan, reminds you of your past sins, remind him of his future!
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col 2:13-15)
When satan throws it in your face that you are not different, remind him that you
Are a New Creation
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. (2 Cor 5:17)
When satan whispers that your mom or dad didn’t love you, remind him that you are
a Child of the King
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! “ (I John 3:1)
When satan whispers in your ear, reminding you of that sin you committed, remind him that you are
Free From Condemnation
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Rom 8:1)
When satan whispers that you have gone too far this time and God is probably done with you, remind him that you
cannot be separated from the love of God
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)
When satan throws the arrows of abuse at you, remind him that God promises to
“…provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:3)
God promises that in grief, depression, and despair, He will walk us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).
As we sang at the beginning of the service, God promises that “…in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
God promises never to leave us or forsake us. (Heb 13:5-6)
When satan shoots the arrow of doubt, “Did God really say?” Remind Him that God doesn’t stutter!
God promises that those who place their faith and trust in Him will be with Him in heaven forever. (John 14:4)
Next Steps
James wrote that faith without works is dead. We must put our faith into action for the power to protect us.
If you are a fairly new Christian, start small.
Commit to reading/or listening to Scripture for two minutes a day.
Commit to praying for one person a day
Commit to being at church every Sunday possible.
“…faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Rom 10:17)
How much faith do we need? Jesus said we only need “faith the size of a mustard seed.” (Luke 17:6)
If you are currently struggling, seek help.
Paul wrote these words to us individually. We are to take up the shield of faith daily to protect our hearts from the attacks of the evil one.
But he also meant it corporately. As a church, we need to learn how to tortoise!
In battle, they would march together and assume the tortoise formation.
[The Eagle - start at 3:13 - 4:06]
This is an amazing picture of what the church looks like when we lock shields together and, by faith, stand against the enemy.
Who are the people who encourage you to remain faithful?
One of my encouragers is Phil. This week, I had several flaming arrows shot my way, and each time Phil sent texts to encourage me.
Here’s one of the texts that he sent me:
I think instead of “kicking the hornet’s nest” you (and the rest of the true believers) have disrupted satan’s stronghold. The gospel is being preached weekly, the saints are praying, baptisms are happening, and the truth is being heard. God has been moving in our church for the past five years.”
If you are a mature Christian, commit to remembering God’s faithfulness every day.
Write in your journal how you see God working behind the scenes.
Share with one person how God has been faithful in your life.
Give room for God to do the impossible.
In 1993, I felt called to go to seminary. But, we were newlyweds and poor as church mice.
Maxine’s mother called me and said it was time to go to seminary. When I told her we couldn’t afford it, she laughed and said, “Well I’ll pray that God makes it clear that it’s time.”
The next week, without warning, Maxine lost her job. We looked at each other and said, “Let’s start packing!”
We packed everything we owned into Maxine’s stepdad’s white van and drove to Atlanta.
The next morning, we attended church with her parents and in Sunday school, (probably 100 members), the teacher said he wanted to show the class a video. He did not know we were coming or that we were in the back. The video was about a couple that went to seminary on faith and God used their mustard seed faith to do great things.
We arrived in Jackson, MS the next day and unloaded what little we had into a small apartment on campus. We didn’t have the money to pay the registration fees, let alone to live.
Over the next three years, we worked five jobs between us and never made more than 17,000 a year while I went to school full-time and did an internship.
I graduated with honors and debt-free! Again and again, we experienced God’s provision and faithfulness. Why? Because we had faith like a mustard seed. And we wanted the adventure of getting in the wheelbarrow.
