The Armour of God - Message for August 25, 2024
At the beginning of world war II, France believed they had a solution to a potential German invasion. They had built what was called the Maginot line. The Maginot line was a defensive line built in the 1930’s that stretched for over 200 miles on the NE border of France.
You can see on the map, the strongest fortifications were along the German border. It was state-of-the-art, built of thick concrete with living quarters, heavy guns, store houses and underground rail lines.
There were 45 main underground forts, 97 smaller underground forts, 352 large guns that could rise out of the ground. They were connected by an underground railroad system and underground corridors.
French soldiers enjoyed state-of-the-art living conditions. It was designed to hold off a German attack. However, the Germans defeated the French by simply going around it through Belgium and through the Ardennes forest, which the French considered impenetrable.
The French were not prepared for the manner in which the Germans overcame this defensive line, simply by avoiding it.
In the end, the Maginot line was useless and France surrendered. France fell because they underestimated their enemy and relied on the wrong weapons. They didn’t anticipate the attack their enemy used. They thought they were protected, but weren’t. Pause
My wife and I recently again watched Band of Brothers, which is a superb 10 part TV series made around the turn of the century. The series dramatises the history of “Easy Company”, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. They played a pivotal role near the end of the second world war.
I was born 17 years after the end of the second world war, and as a Canadian, I have been spared the spectre of war, which is rare in the history of the world. Most people in most of earth's history have had to live with war at some point in their lives.
Very often, on top of the individual struggles of people, there is this massive external battle going on around them. But in terms of war and such, mercifully, I and we have largely been spared this.
Unless you came to Canada from part of the world where there was such violence and chaos. If that’s you, I’m really glad you are here. We welcome our friends from other nations seeking a new life in Canada.
You see here we don’t have to deal with the threat of bombings, generally speaking, and we don’t have to fear for our lives every day, wondering how we’re going to eat, how we are going to deal with the hardship and brutality of war.
So external battles are not all that personally familiar to each of us. But internal battles...that’s a different story. Every single person in this room faces them. You might be facing them today.
You for sure have faced them in the past, and… You will face them again in the future!
Paul begins this section of Scripture that we are reading today, in verse 10 with an admonition, and encouragement to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
God is strong, and he wants us in him to be strong. He wants you strong, so that you can handle all that life throws against you. Do you believe that? He wants you strong so that you can take your stand against the schemes, the intentions for your harm that the devil has. God wants us to be able to handle everything that the devil throws our way.
And of course the key is that we do not fight on our own. We do not face the challenges and hardships of life in an isolated way, with our own limited resources.
God has given us amazing resources to be able to withstand and even thrive and triumph in life despite the hardships that we, if we are mature, will expect, will anticipate;
we will not be shocked when such hardship comes.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power". Does this sound like a suggestion? No. Here we are commanded to be strong - in Jesus and in Jesus mighty power. We’re commanded by God, and then we’re given the HOW.
The fact that God commands us to be strong means that we actually can be strong. AS a believer in Jesus Christ You have that ability because God dwells in you be the Holy Spirit.
Ever feel weak in your faith? Just say to God: “Lord, I’m feeling weak in faith. “I pray that you will strengthen my faith”. I’ve found that God delights to answer that prayer when prayed sincerely. And then of course we don’t indulge in things that make us weak, that make our faith weak.
We don’t pray out of one side of our mouth and then curse God or people out of the other side of our mouth.
To be mature means that we work together in cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God, simply aligning ourselves with our own prayers.
So it specifically says “Be strong in the Lord”. That is both choosing to live with confidence in Jesus and in His power and it’s also about DOING those things that help you to be strong in the Lord.
What’s something that helps you to be strong in the Lord? Gathering with God’s people.
Maybe you come to one of the multiple Bible studies we run every week. That’s part of it.
Being with the people of God. You are here, so that’s a good thing. In my experience, going to church is helpful. Getting involved more deeply in serving the congregation makes you stronger.
Using your gifts and abilities to encourage others makes you strong. Hoarding your gifts and abilities makes you weak.
What can you do personally that can help you to be strong in the Lord? Develop healthy daily rhythms in your day where you give God the time one-on-one with you to grow in your relationship with God.
What are some healthy daily rhythms you can develop to help you be strong in the Lord?
Read the Word of God. Let God speak to you through the Bible so you get to know His heart, His will, His character.
Pray. Talk to God about your life. Spend time in reflection and repentance. Tell God what you're sorry for and ask for strength and grace to change to become more like Jesus.
And make sure you pray for others. Make a prayer journal and put the names of people who over time come to your mind. Renew your prayer list or journal every year to keep it fresh.
All of those things - being with the body of Christ, and then on your own in your prayer closet - those are things that you can do to be strong in the Lord.
How do we do that? Well, today’s passage gives us some incredibly helpful insights that answer that question.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Paul says for us to put on the full armour of God; not a superficial bumper sticker, not a partially prepared tunic or a rusty sword. What happens if you put body armour on a well-conditioned soldier. First, they can bear the weight of the armour. Second, they can fight and make advances on the enemy, making strong offensive action.
Third, the armour protects them from the enemy so that their progress is not halted or compromised.
So first we grow strong in the Lord. We do that by doing our healthy daily rhythms so we get a solid spiritual workout. God wants us to put on the full armour of God, so that we are fully and completely ready and prepared for what’s coming.
After stating in verse 11 the problem that should be taken very seriously, that there is a devil, that he has schemes, and that we must take a stand against them, he then begins to break it down in verse 11.
12 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.
He does this because we can get it wrong so easily. It is incredibly easy to mistake disagreements with family members as though we are under spiritual attack. That is not always the case.
It’s very easy for us to think of ourselves as victims, or to see general hardship and challenges that we face as either being spiritual warfare, or that the challenge we are facing, the obstacle that’s in front of us is somehow a sign that God is not with us.
And it’s easy to see those on the attack against us as the ones we are struggling against. Other humans.
Paul wrote this letter and this portion of this letter when the Roman Empire was the enemy of the church.
It was so easy for those early Christians to mistake the pressure they were under from the Roman state, which eventually included being fed to the lions in the colosseum for sport, as simply the work of evil men, flesh and blood.
But the words which Paul uses, powers, authorities, world-rulers, are all names for different classes of evil spirits.
For us, when we see injustice, when we see institutions that are supposed to be designed to help people in reality hurting them, when we hear of nations threatening war, we have to remember in those cases and probably in more personal cases, that our struggle is not against other people, flesh and blood.
Without being paranoid, we just need to be aware of Satan’s schemes. And as James says in 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you”.
So in case we’re confused about what it is we are battling, what the struggle is all about, Paul gives us clarity:
Our struggle is not with people. It’s important to realise this, because when we think that our struggle is with people, we then begin to view those people as enemies.
And even though Jesus is extremely clear when he says that we are to love our enemies, we are generally confused by that command, and so we can be tempted to ignore it in practice.
Our struggle is harder than if it was just with humans. If it was just against flesh and blood.
In reality, there is a larger spiritual struggle going on.
The Apostle Peter says: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, 1 Peter 5:8-9a
A lion prowls because he’s hungry. It’s his nature. And when he hunts and captures its prey, it is merciless. Doesn’t even consider mercy. Just captures and eats.
It’s not pleasant to observe. Satan prowls around because he’s hungry. He’s eager to destroy. Mercilessly. To be blunt, He wants you dead. Before you came to Jesus and trusted in Him for your salvation, you were no threat. Not even on Satan’s radar. Generally without knowing it, we were on his side.
Without hope in the world. Our sins still condemning us. Living unreconciled with God. Dwelling in a very dark place. Scripture speaks of this when it talks about what we have been rescued from through faith in Jesus Christ.
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1
That dominion of darkness is no longer our home. Our home is the kingdom of the Son of God, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
And so we take our stand against the schemes of the devil in our own lives and wherever we observe chaos and evil at work. But we do so with wisdom and understanding. The wisdom that comes from God.
So here Paul set us up to understand that we are not fighting against things that we can see, things that are obvious, like an enemy in battle who's pointing a gun at us.
There are far larger hazards that are facing us and that are much more difficult to discern.
13 Therefore put on the full armour 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.
What does it mean when a person is standing after a battle? It means that they have prevailed, they have won. Maybe they’re wounded, maybe not, but they’re still kicking, and still alive to fight another day.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.
Truth can be hard to pin down. One of the most ironic or sad-but-funny scenes in the Bible, is when Pilate stands right in front of Jesus and asks what is truth.
He is literally standing in front of “the truth“, and he is asking what is truth.
We’re equipped by God to take our stand. And first we’re told to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around our waists.
For the Roman soldier, the belt held his tunic. Kept him together, so to speak.
The belt also held his sword. It was the belt which held up in the soldier's tunic and from which his battle sword hung and which gave him freedom of movement.
Others may guess and grope; the Christ-follower moves freely and quickly because he knows the truth.
Our source of truth is the Word of God, through which we know Jesus Who is also referred to as the Word of God.
So...how is your belt? How familiar are you with the Bible? The Bible reveals the mind and heart of God.
To know your Bible is to understand all that God intends you to understand about Him, about yourself, about life and about humanity.
Knowledge of the Bible gives us freedom of movement. We’re free because we’re clear on what God says. If we’re guessing and groping, we’re not grounded in the Word. If we feel pulled in numerous directions when it comes to right and wrong, we’re not likely particularly grounded in and obedient to the Word of God.
Which is not where we want to be. We move freely and with authority and with speed in dealing with challenges because we know the truth. Both the Words of Scripture and He Who is the Truth, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
We have the belt of truth around our waist. Then we have the breastplate of righteousness.
The breastplate on a soldier protects what? The heart and other vital organs. When a person is clothed in righteousness he or she is impregnable. Words are no defence against accusations but a good life is.
I have a friend in ministry who years ago was accused of something terrible. His reputation in general was stellar, and when the investigation into the accusation was conducted, dozens of people that he worked with or worked around were questioned in detail about him.
They all responded that they had never seen or experienced anything but good from the gentleman. None could fathom that the accusations were true.
He was put on hold for 6 months, unable to work directly with people while the investigation was carried out in great detail.
There was found to be no truth in any of the accusations.
After he was cleared of the accusation, the person who created the accusation called and left a message on his machine confessing the whole sordid set up.
Confessing that he had been jealous and bitter toward my friend and confessing all the details of the set up.
You’d think the average victim of a false accusation would use that to finally prove his absolute innocence, or maybe use that recording to sue the person who caused him such grief.
But no. My friend just played it for me and tossed it in the garbage.
This was and is a righteous fellow who has gone on to serve God and God is doing great things through him.
A good life, one that reflects the goodness and love of Jesus, is the only defence against lies and falsehoods.
How’s your breastplate? Is it solid? Is your life protected by living well? By making a lifestyle of the way of Jesus?
If it’s not, it can be. Learn the attitudes, behaviour and character of Jesus by reading the Bible. Draw close to Him. Really let your relationship with Him grow. He’s closer than your own breath.
Become like Jesus, which can also be understood as becoming the best version of yourself. Become like Jesus as my friend seeks to be, and then your breastplate of righteousness will always be in place, come what may.
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
There are the sandals. Sandals were the sign of one equipped and ready to move. We want to be ready to share the gospel with others who have not heard it.
16 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 word Paul uses is not that for the comparatively small round shield; it is that for the great oblong shield which the heavily armed warrior wore.
One of the most dangerous weapons in ancient warfare was the fiery dart. It was a dart tipped with tow dipped in pitch. The pitch-soaked tow was set alight and the dart was thrown.
The great oblong shield was made of two sections of wood, glued together. When the shield was presented to the dart, the dart sank into the wood and the flame was put out.
Faith can deal with the darts of temptation. With Paul, faith is always complete trust in Christ. When we walk close with Christ, we are safe from temptation.
17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
There is salvation for a helmet. Salvation is not something which looks back only. The salvation which is in Christ gives us forgiveness for the sins of the past and strength to conquer sin in the days to come.
How does the helmet of salvation protect us? Your knowledge of who you are in Christ should protect your mind from lies, corruption, doubt and deception. Satan’s greatest weapons are his lies. He’s the architect of lies.
He will attempt to fill your mind with rationalizations of why you can sin and why you can engage in acts that are obviously contrary to the Bible.
He loves to point out our failures and faults and anything else that seems negative. He wants us to doubt our salvation, to doubt God’s goodness, to doubt God’s word, to be just generally depressed. satan will try by every means at his disposal to discourage and defeat us.
When the enemy is trying to fill your head with lies concerning God’s love for you and for the salvation we have received, we need to believe and trust in our salvation as a fact.The helmet of salvation gives us confidence in Christ.
We have been saved by what Christ did for us on the cross. No one can take that away. The helmet of salvation protects our minds from the attacks of our enemy. There is the sword; and the sword is the word of God. The word of God is at once our weapon of defence against sin and our weapon of attack against the sins of the world.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
This comes back to our earlier insights on healthy daily rhythms. I won’t repeat those, but it’s amazing to know that God always wants to hear from us.
God always wants to be in conversation with you. All occasions. All kinds of prayers. Requests without limit.
Always be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Whatever helps you to be faithful to this command, to always be praying for the Lord’s people, you need to do it.
May we consciously and intentionally live mindful of God, aware of His presence, being wise in life by always putting on the armour of God.
So, Church, put on the full armor of God, Stand firm 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.
And take up the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
And may Jesus continue to use and and bless us as He seeks to bless the city through His church. In His name we pray. Amen.
