Nov. 5, 2000 Ephesians 6:10-13
“Spiritual warfare – stand your ground!”
1. Remember where your strength comes from. (vs. 10)
In the unchanging, unending power of the Lord - “be strong in the Lord”
One of the teachers at my wife’s school died on Friday. Her husband, Mr. Packard spoke at the funeral and talked about the source of his strength. His strength was not found in his wife. (Psalm 46) I spent a lot of time in the hospital this week. They took all the life-support off of Jim Morris on Wed. Then on Thursday, a new life came into the world – Nicholas Scott Elliott. Life changes. Anything and everything about your life could change at a moment’s notice. The only way that you can be safe is to base your source of strength on something that will never change.
What is the source of strength and stability in your life? If it is anything but the Lord, then you are walking on unsteady ground. The Lord is the only person in your life that never changes.
“dynamo” like the Energizer battery “It keeps going and going and going . . .”
(Isa 40:27-31 NIV) Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
In the hand that will not let me go – “in the power of his might”
This phrase could be very loosely translated, “In the grip of his hand.” We don’t have a hold on God. He has a hold on us.
(John 10:29 NIV) My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
2. Remember why you are fighting. (vs. 11)
Because you will fall if you don’t fight – “so that . . . stand”
Because the enemy is tricky – “against the wiles of the devil”
3. Remember who your enemy is. (vs. 12)
Paul describes the battle as a “struggle”. The word which he uses here actually refers to wrestling. Now, he’s not talking about the WWF kind of wrestling where you bash the other guy’s head in with a chair or where you jump down off the ropes onto the guy’s chest. He’s talking about the kind that you see in a high school or college gymnasium. The kind where two guys are entwined with one another and are trying every kind of move that they can think of to pin the other guy to the ground. It’s the kind of battle where you have extremely close contact with one another.
Not people – “not flesh and blood”
Paul had just finished talking about husbands and wives, children and their parents, employers and their employees. It’s easy for each of these categories of people to fight with one another.
You are not my enemy. We may be mad with one another about something, but that does not mean that we are enemies. We are brothers and sisters. We are family. We need each other. [refer to church covenant portion of constitution] It is because we need each other that God gave the command for us to not forsake the gathering of ourselves with one another. You are only my enemy to the extent that you do not fight alongside with me or to the extent that you become a traitor and fight for the enemy.
Enemies deal with conflict either by avoiding one another or by attempting to destroy one another. True brothers who love one another deal with conflict by finding some way of resolving the situation – by seeking forgiveness, by remembering all that they have in common, by loving each other with the same kind of love that Jesus loves us. That’s the kind of love that puts the needs of the other person above my own needs. (Mat 5:23-24 NIV) "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
If I am not wrestling against you, then I must be wrestling with you. You know how you get first impressions of people when you first meet them. Two years ago, when I first met Mike Bullough, one of the first things that came into my mind was that he looks like one of those wrestlers that you might find on WWF. And then, when Mike Nicewarner became a part of this church, I thought, “Here, we have the perfect tag team.” If Mike Nicewarner was to shave off the sides of his beard, then they would be the perfect pair. If I preached on something controversial, I could have them stand beside me on either side of the pulpit, with their arms folded to protect me.
Wrestling alongside people requires that you get up close and personal. You have to get in tight. Some of you are content to remain on the sidelines. Maybe you’ve been in a wrestling match before, and you got hurt. Maybe your teammate let you down. Maybe you’re scared that if you get up too close, then you’ll find out that your teammate smells – your teammate is fallible. He’s just “flesh and blood”. If you get up close on me, then you’re going to find out my areas of weakness. At that point, you have a decision to make. You can either judge me for my weakness, and choose to walk away, or you can decide that you’re going to help me in the areas where I am weak.
When was the last time that you wrestled alongside another Christian? You wrestled with them in prayer. You wrestled with them about an important decision that they needed to make. You wrestled with them as they struggled with a weakness they were trying to beat. You wrestled with them as they attempted to lead someone to the Lord. Are you trying to win the match by yourself? Are you forcing others to enter into the match alone because you won’t partner with them. We need each other. You are not my enemy. You are my teammate to help me against my true enemy.
Spiritual forces – “against the rulers . . . heavenly realms”
- They have power and authority; don’t treat them lightly
Though they have a lot of authority, they don’t have all authority. (Mat 28:18 NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Since Jesus has all authority, He has the right to command us what to do, and we have the responsibility to obey. His command to us is this: (Mat 28:19-20 NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Do you know what He is telling us to do? He is telling us to invade the enemy’s stronghold. That’s dangerous – or at least it would be if we didn’t have the assurance that we were going to win and if we didn’t have the One who has all authority on our side.
- They are evil, and their goal is to spread evil
- They are spiritual, so they must be fought with spiritual weapons
(1 Pet 5:8-9 NIV) Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
4. Remember how you can win the battle. (vs. 13)
Put on the whole armor – you can’t pick and choose
A couple of weeks ago, I asked you how many of you would walk out of your house without any clothes on. Everybody laughed or got this look on their face like that was the furthest thing from their minds. But then I asked, “How many of you walk out of the house every morning without your spiritual clothing on?” That’s just as foolish, and just as dangerous. You have to put it on.
You have put on all of it. What happens if you don’t put on the whole armor? “Let’s see; I like that sword of the Spirit. I want to chop some enemies up. And I like the belt of truth, so long as the truth doesn’t get me into trouble. I might have to take that off from time to time. But now those shoes that I’m supposed to put on that mean I’m ready to share the gospel at a moments’ notice – I don’t like that too much, so I’ll just leave those off.” When you leave off a part of the armor, you leave a part of you exposed and vulnerable. The part that is exposed is the part that the enemy will shoot at. He doesn’t shoot where the armor is strong. He looks for weak spots.
You have to have it on at all times. There is no time that you can let down your guard because there is no time that the enemy stops the attack. The moment that you think that you are safe is the most dangerous moment of your life. (1 Cor 10:12 NIV) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
One size really does fit all. This weekend, while I was at the WV state convention, Ricky Persons, the pastor of Kingwood Baptist Church got up to speak. I have a great deal of respect for Ricky. One, because he is a man of great integrity and great passion. But secondly, I have respect for Ricky because he is a short man like me. Some in the group had been giving Ricky a hard time about his height. Every time he got up to the podium to speak, he had to keep lowering the microphone. So the last time he got up, he said this, “The only time recorded in the Bible where a tall man picked on a short man was when a short man had five little stones in his pocket, and the tall man wound up dead.” In that instance of David and Goliath, Saul tried to help David even the odds a little by getting David to put on Saul’s armor before he went out to face Goliath. But David refused because the armor didn’t fit him and because he was not used to using it. Next week, as we look at the armor God has provided for us, you might say, “That doesn’t fit me. I’m going to be stumbling all over the place if I try to wear that.” There’s only one size of armor. If it doesn’t fit you, guess who needs to change.
Christmas is coming, and invariably, you or your kids are going to get some clothes that are too big. With you, you know that by the end of the Christmas season, they probably won’t be too big with all the eating that you will do at all the Christmas parties. But with the kids, rather than facing the return and exchange lines at Wal-mart and the mall, you just say, “You’ll grow into it.” Part of the reason that you are here this morning is so that you can grow into God’s armor and get used to wearing it. You try it on for size here, you practice using the sword of the Spirit here, so that when you get out into the battle, you will be prepared to face any enemy.
Conquer every enemy – including the ones on the inside
That last phrase of verse 13 says, “having done everything”. One translator rendered it this way, “having conquered every enemy.” There is another enemy besides Satan and his forces that we need to conquer. It’s called sin. Putting on the armor of God will not enable you to win the battle, if the cancer of sin is eating away at you on the inside.
CONCLUSION
We cannot succeed as a church if . . .
we are fighting in our own strength
we are fighting the wrong enemy – one another
everyone is not fighting – we need everyone in the battle
everyone is not fighting together – we need to be fighting arm in arm with one another. We’re not supposed to be commandos that go into battle alone.
there is an enemy in our midst - sin
