FIGHT OR FLIGHT? (EPHESIANS 6)
Intelligence experts had initially anticipated that Russia would take Kyiv within days of its attack on Ukraine, but more than a month into Russia's invasion then in February 2022, the Ukrainian with its smaller size, budget and number of munitions, manage to reclaim a town in the northeast, while Russian ground forces have stalled around the capital.
Within days of its invasion, Russia was struggling with fuel and logistics supplies, and verified images and videos of destroyed Russian military vehicles and tanks circulated online.
The U.S. and NATO supplied Ukraine with more than 17,000 anti-tank weapons, including Javelin missiles, in less than a week, the New York Times reported in early March. The anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons such as the Javelin on the ground and Stinger systems in the air against drones can be fired by just one or two people.
The shoulder-mounted Javelin in particular has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Known as a "fire and forget" weapon, the Javelin uses an infrared guidance system to travel toward a target, allowing the gunner to fire and then immediately take cover. The missile system can destroy tanks and other armored vehicles. The shoulder-fired Stinger missiles target low-flying aircraft.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/key-lessons-ukraine-conflict-conventional-warfare/story?id=83746590
The book of Ephesians in a glance:
1 2 3 4 5 6
Father Friend Face Fellowship Family Foe
Pay the Price Patch the Hole Pass the Torch Play the Part Please the Master Pack the weapons
What is the spiritual warfare that we must not let down our guard? What are the spiritual weapons and warfighting tactics God has supplied to us? The chapter begins with one’s inner circle of the family to the outer circle of foes.
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1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
A magazine asks some young people what they think of the word “parents.” Here is the response:
“Shut up and eat.”
“Don't bother me now!”
“If you break a leg, don't come running to me.”
“Because I said so.”
“This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you.”
“If Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you?”
“When I was your age, I walked twenty-six miles to school one way through blizzards, hail storms and 110 degree heat.”
Paul fairly dropped two imperatives to both children and parents – obey and honor for children and exasperate and bring up for adults.
What is to obey? Basically, obey is hear and heed. The Greek word is “hupakouo,” or “under-HEAR” – to listen under a parent’s care.
I do not have kids of my own but I have two spiritual sons from China who stayed with me during the weekends. I clean the floors, buy them breakfast and wash their clothes for them to wear next week! Reciprocating with attention, action, availability and affection is a good bargain to them!
Honor, on the other hand, is recognition and respect. What is the difference between obey and honor?
Quotes:
“It is possible to obey without honoring, but impossible to truly honor without obeying.”
“Honor respects another person and attributes value to them.”
The given reason (gar) for honoring parents is that it may go “well” (eu) with children. Well means God’s grace, goodness and guidance in your life.
Parents, on the other hand, are commanded not to exasperate/”provoke anger” in their children. Provoke anger is to discount or dismiss their opinions, disparage or demean them, and deflate and or dampen their feelings.
Bring up (v 4 KJV) occurs in the book of Ephesians only, the other time being husbands not hating their own flesh but to feed/nurture it (Eph 5:29). Training/nurture means to teach, train and treasure them. Training (paideia = child training) and instruction (nouthesia = mind placing) are different as in tender and tough, heart versus head, kindness and knowledge.
Below are the differences between a negative and a positive PARENT:
Negative Parenting Positive Parenting
Pessimistic Positive
Angry Affectionate
Repressive Respectful
Embarrassing Engaging
Nagging Nurturing
Threatening Trusting
Sanctify Service
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
One of the best bosses in the world is Michigan’s Bob Thompson who sold his road-paving company for $422m and shared $128m (23.2%) from the sale to his 550 employees, making all his 80 senior managers millionaires overnight.
The Thompsons have given hourly paid workers $2,000 for each year of service, and salaried ones have received checks or annuity certificates which they could cash when they reached 55 or 60 - in lieu of a pension. Even their taxes were paid.
“For 40 years, we've asked the people to go out and perform as good or better than our competition, and they've done that,” says owner Thompson. “Whether everybody does it or not, it is the right thing for us to have done, and these folks have earned it. And they deserve it.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/boss-creates-550-instant-millionaires-1119243.html
Servants (vv 5, 6, 8) have a double identity as servants (v 5) and servants of Christ (v 6). Their job at hand is to serve their masters, but their joy in life is to serve the Lord. The verb “obey” (hupakouo) is an imperative. It is the same imperative for children to obey their parents (Eph 6:1, Col 3:20), so it is not harsh, horrible or hurtful. Obey is an arrangement, an agreement and approach rather than ability, authority or aristocracy.
Earthly masters (v 5) are contrasted with Master in heaven (v 9). Respect and fear (v 5) is fear and trembling in most versions (KJV, NASB, RSV, ESV). Fear is on the inside but trembling appears on the outside. The noun “heart” appears twice in verse 5 and 6, “sincerity of heart” and “doing the will of God from your heart.”
Eye/eye-service (v 6 ophthalmo-douleia) means sight, status or stimulus. Service in “eye-service” (KJV) is derived from the same word as “slaves/servants” (v 6 doulos). It is a contrast to “slaves (doulos) of Christ” (v 6) and “heart” in the same verse.
The verb “reward” (komizo) in verse 8 is “receive” in KJV. It has a connotation of to tend, i.e. take care of, so it is not about cash or compensation but comfort and compassion.
The verb “treat” or “do” (v 9) in Greek is an imperative in the present tense, which means ongoing and not once, continuing and never ceasing, and in this case, active and not passive. Do in the imperative is always in the active voice, never passive.
There are two “how-to” participles or methods, contrasted to two participles for the servants (v 6 doing, v 8 knowing), of which the first is “forbearing” in KJV but missing in NIV, which is translated as loose (Acts 16:26) or leave (Heb 13:5). It means letting go, losing, lacking threat and not lengthening, lessening or lightening threat.
The second participle is “knowing” (not “know” in NIV), same as verse 8, that your Master is in heaven. Paul contrasted two things with verses 5 and 9, your masterS (v 5) with your master (v 9); your masters according to the flesh (v 5) and your Master also is in heaven (v 9).
Stump Satan
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. 13 Therefore put on the full armor 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 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. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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 saints. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. 21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. 23 Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
The 2023 Gallup poll found that the percentages of Americans who believe in each of five religious entities -- God, angels, heaven, hell and the devil -- have edged downward by three to five percentage points since 2016. Still, majorities believe in each, ranging from a high of 74% believing in God to two-thirds each believe in angels (69%) and heaven (67%), and lows of 59% for hell and 58% for the devil.
Compared with 2001, belief in God (90%) and heaven (83%) is down the most (16 points each), while belief in hell (79%) has fallen 12 points, and the devil and angels are down 10 points each.
Unsurprisingly, between 78% and 87% of Republicans believe in the five entities, while 56% to 66% of Democrats believe in God, angels and heaven, while less than 50% say they believe in hell (71%) and the devil (68%).
https://news.gallup.com/poll/508886/belief-five-spiritual-entities-edges-down-new-lows.aspx
What is your role and your responsibility in this spiritual warfare? What are the requirements and the risks of engagement? What are the resources and reserves that God has given us?
Paul concludes his epistle with the first (v 10) of five imperatives (vv 10, 11, 13, 14, 17) - “be strong” (v 10, en-dunamoo), literally meaning “empower” - “en” (in) plus “dunamoo” (strengthen). This word occurs very late in the Bible bypassing the Gospels when the new convert Saul or Paul who “increased… in strength,” and confounded the Jews (Acts 9:22). “Be strong” is on the person and on the inside.
The next imperative (v 11) is “put on,” meaning clothe or cover – to enclose, encase or endue. It comes with a purpose (infinitive) - to stand (v 11), repeated (vv 13, 14) twice. Stand is foundational, firm and fixed. Stand is in the footing, the footwear, the footsteps and the footwork. Also, withstand is anti-stand (v 13) in Greek. The reason (gar) given by Paul is that Christians are involved in an earthly “struggle,” or “wrestling” in Greek. The “struggle/wrestling” makes its one-time only debut in the Bible. A struggle is a combat, a conflict and a clash, not a mere skirmish, a scuffle or a squabble.
The third imperative verb “put on” (ana-lambano) in verse 13 is a commanding and conclusive imperative. Different in Greek from verse 11’s “put on,” it comes with the preposition “ana” – meaning “up” or “again,” recurringly or repeatedly.
There are two Greek words different from but related to each other for “stand” in this passage. The first is in verse 10 and 13 – the first and last “stand” of the passage – and the second is “stand your ground” in verse 13. The second “stand (the ground)” is the purpose of the imperative “put on.” The verb “stand the ground” (ant-histemi) literally means “against” (anti) “stand” (histemi) - or “withstand, adding “anti” to the regular word for “stand.”
The fourth imperative is the last “stand” in verse 14 differs from the first two in verses 11 and 13 because it is an imperative – an order to obey God and oppose Satan.
Foremost in the armor of God is the belt of truth (aletheia), fighting the father of lies with facts, not falsehood.
The next piece is the breastplate of righteousness, which counters Satan’s practices.
ARMOR OF GOD (EPH 6)
6:14
Belt of truth 6:14 Breastplate of righteousness 6:15
Feet fitted 6:16
Shield of faith 6:17 Helmet of salvation 6:17
Sword of the Spirit
Confession Consecration Commission Certainty Conversion Conquest
Teaching Transformation Testifying Trust Triumph Testaments
Stance Sanctification Sharing Steadfastness Security Scripture
The third piece is the gospel of peace (eirene). Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
The shield of faith (pistis) is to put out the flaming (puroo) missiles, spears or darts – plural - the devil throws at us. This is the defensive weapon.
Christ’s soldier cannot enter the battlefield without the helmet of salvation (soterion). The last imperative is the verb “take” (v 17), but not the least imperative, the fifth so far (vv 10, 11, 13, 14, 17). The head is vulnerable the sun and the winds, to trauma and concussion, to blows and colds.
The sword of the Spirit (v 17), which is the word of God, is the offensive weapon. The word of God is the only offensive weapon in the armory. Another way to put it: truth is the believer’s prerequisites, righteousness is his practice and peace his presence; faith is perseverance in God’s word, salvation is His promise and the sword His power.
Finally, to top it off with prayer; not only praying, but praying and watching (“alert”) – the two participles in verse 18. Also, the word “all” occurs thrice in verse 18 - prayer on all occasions, not just when evil comes; and on all (missing in NIV) alert and for all saints, not just for yourself. The first is about “when,” the second on “how” and the third concerns “who” – the time (when), followed by the mindset (how) and then the participants (who). True prayer is incessant, intense and intercessory.
Conclusion: It’s been said, “Never give the devil a ride. He'll always want to drive.” Are you a true dragon and devil slayer? Are you awake or asleep? Are you carrying ammunitions or accessories in your armor? Are your weapons sharpened and brandished, or are they rusted, dulled and blunted? Are you in training or out of touch? Are you fat or are you fit in the spiritual battle? Are you fighting in your strength or in God’s power and with others’ intercession? Are you a warrior, a watchman and a witness, or are you a weakling, a wimp and a wanderer? Do you have weapons or do you merely have wishes?
Do you have a plan C:
Courage
Cause
Conditioning
Concentration
Comfort
