"dress For Success"

Title: “Dressing for Success” Type: Expos/ Spiritual Warfare

Script: Eph. 6:10-17; Rom. 13:12-14 Location: GNBC 4-7-02/ RW 1-22-23

Intro: While in college I took exactly one business course as an elective for some general hours. To tell you the truth I don’t remember a lot about the class. One principle, however, that I do remember, which was stressed in the yuppy’s glory days of the 1980’s was: “Dress for Success”. In other words, always attempt to dress and look professional and you will go further in business. I think it was taken from the legion of dark suits in IBM! (I think we forgot that principle somewhere in the 1990s!). Regardless of the applicability of that statement in today’s business world, it is a principle that should be applied by every Christian when it comes to spiritual warfare! The Christian can dress for success when comes to sw.

Prop: Are you dressing for success when it comes to spiritual warfare?

BG: 1. My view of demonic forces is patterned off of Lewis’ comments in Screwtape Letters: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which Christians can fall when it comes to demons. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe and feel an unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors…” Balance needed.

3. Examining Eph. 6:10 – 17 passage. In this Paul paints a vivid picture of the resources the saint has when he or she is confronted with the wiles of the enemy. Whether or not realize it, you are at war, Christian. General Dwight Eisenhower once said (source unknown), “War is a terrible thing. But if you’re going to get into it, you’ve got to get into it all the way.”

Prop: Three Ideas we Need to Understand in order to Properly Dress for Success in Spiritual Warfare.

1st Idea: Put on the Spiritual Armor God Has Provided. (Read Eph. 6:10 –18)

A. God has given His Children Spiritual Armor of Protection.

1. We need to wear God’s armor because we have a terrible foe and we are in a battle.

a. Illust – In the OT there is a very famous story of how a young shepherd boy defeated a Philistine giant who had been a warrior from birth. Of course, I am referring to the story of David and Goliath (I Sam. 17ff). As the armies of the Philistines and Israel faced off against each other, the pagan champion came out to meet his challenger. Let’s look back at the armor that Goliath was wearing. He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of bronze armor. It weighed 125 pounds. On his legs he wore bronze guards. He carried a bronze javelin on his back. His spear was as big as a weaver's rod. Its iron point weighed 15 pounds. The man who carried his shield walked along in front of him. (vv. 5-7) That is some heavy-duty armor! Who remembers what David’s armor looked like? He didn’t wear any. Say: David tried on King Saul’s armor, but he didn’t like it, it didn’t fit him, so he went to battle Goliath with just a sling and five stones. Yet David won the battle! I believe David was wearing the armor of God.

b. Before God created our world, He created angels (Job 38:4-7). God made a magnificent angel named Lucifer. He was beautiful, powerful, and good. But Lucifer became proud, and he wanted to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-14). His pride was sin. It is the first sin that we know of. Because of his sin, Lucifer could no longer live with God, so he was thrown out of heaven (Ezekiel 28:17). Lucifer chose to become God’s enemy. His name was changed to Satan, or the devil. Satan has no power to battle God, so he has chosen to battle against God’s best creation, people. In Genesis 1:27, we read, “So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (NLT) The reason people are so valuable is that each man, woman, and child is created in the image, or likeness, of God. God even commands that we treat each other well because we are created in His image (Genesis 9:6). Since Satan doesn’t stand a chance at battling God, he spends his days attacking people. Every time Satan harms a person, he strikes a blow at the image of God.

2. God tells us what to wear so as to dress for spiritual success.

a. Most scholars think Paul got idea of the Christian armor from the Roman soldiers he was chained to wrist during Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:20/IITIm1:16), 59-61 ad.

b. This is a continual, lifelong process that begins at salvation. We cannot trust completely in Christ to save us until we come to some awareness that we are helplessly, hopelessly lost and unable to save ourselves by our own good works. As Spurgeon put it, we must see that we are convicted and condemned, with the rope around our neck, before we will weep for joy when Christ pardons us (C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography [Banner of Truth], 1:54).