Have you ever met someone with a tattoo on their knuckles with the words Hold Fast?

Transcription

1 Hold Fast A sermon preached at The First Mennonite Church, Vineland, ON by Carol Penner May 5, 2013 Text: Ephesians 6:10-18 Have you ever met someone with a tattoo on their knuckles with the words Hold Fast? It s a sailors tattoo from the time of the tall ships that were powered by sails. If you have a dime, you can look at a picture of a tall ship, or if you go to Port Dalhousie at the end of June, you can see them too. Tall ships were powered by these giant sails. And the only way the sails were put up and taken down, was by men who climbed up the ropes and stood there high above the water and fastened them on to the masts. Now if you are 50 feet above the deck of a ship, and you are standing on a thin rope, you want to make sure you hold fast to the rope, because if you don t, you will fall. In order to do your job, to change the sails, you have to hold fast. Now maybe you are picturing people climbing up high on a beautiful day and enjoying the view. The thing is, sailors needed to change the sails whenever the captain said they had to do it: night and day, no matter what the weather.

2 Especially in a storm, the captain needed to set the sails to change the motion of the ship so it wouldn t tip over; he had to rely on his crew to go up, regardless of the motion of the waves or the strength of the wind. Hold fast! The ships needed to have their sails changed even when ships were engaged in battle and so the sailors could expect that they had to hold fast to the ropes and change the sails even under musket ball or cannon ball fire. One sailor couldn t change the sails, everyone had to work on that together. Sailors knew that all their lives depended on each one holding fast Sailors had a reputation for having very very strong arms, and

3 being very agile. Capable. Dependable. They followed orders because the captain knew best the captain would make sure they would get to their destination. If tall ships had been invented in Paul s time, he might have used this image to describe the Christian life. As Christians we are given a job to do. We are called to be faithful to Jesus Christ. In fine weather it might be easy to be faithful, but there are forces that are trying to stop us from doing our job for God. Even in heavy weather, when we are under pressure, stressed out, sick or simply really really tired; day and night we are called to be faithful. And God equips us for this job. To hold fast to our faith. Paul did sail on ships, but they didn t have tall ships in those days. When he was sitting writing this letter to the Ephesians, fishing around for an image describing the challenges Christians face he thought of the Roman Army. It was something everyone knew about and saw every day. The Roman empire was huge because of the strength of the Roman army that conquered every enemy. Jesus himself knew about the strength of the Roman army. Remember in his conversation with the centurion? The centurion told Jesus about if you are a military man you are given a job, you do it; you say to this man go, and he goes. That s military discipline. Soldiers were called to fight together, and to stand, and not give way. And to equip soldiers to do the hard job of subjugating peoples, invading countries and extending the Roman frontier, the Roman emperor made it a priority that all Roman soldiers were well equipped. From Paul s point of view this was a good image. However much we, as Mennonites might not like this image, it is a vivid image that works. God gives the church a job to do. It s not a job for individuals, it s a job for a group of people; and they have to do this job in the face of stiff opposition. But in order for the group to do its job, each individual soldier is very important. Twice in this passage Paul talks about standing. Standing your ground was very important. The Roman line was only as strong as its weakest link. That s why every soldier was equipped with the same effective and efficient equipment.

4 Paul spent a lot of time around soldiers. By the time he is writing this letter to the Ephesians, he has been arrested and has been guarded by and travelled with Roman soldiers. He has seen them in action. So he is writing from his own personal experience. Like an army facing enemies, Paul is absolutely clear here and in his other writings, that Christians will face persecution. He knew this from experience, on both sides of that equation. He had spent a good part of his life tracking down and prosecuting Christians. And from the moment he met Jesus, he was told that he would suffer for Jesus name. It was simply a fact of life. Paul uses sharp language when describing the forces lined up against the church. He talks about the wiles of the devil, and that our struggle, is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This is not a Sunday school picnic. Being baptized means that you are embarking on a journey where you will face serious opposition. Some of you may feel very comfortable thinking about the devil, and it s helpful for you to imagine God rescuing you from Satan and Satan s plans. Others find that imagery difficult to relate to. Some of you, when you hear the words rulers and authorities, cosmic power of this present darkness ; might thin about the military industrial machine, or multi-national corporations. You think of capital S sin, as the tendency in all human beings to hurt each other, and go the wrong way. How do we explain the fact that a peaceful and beautiful and productive country like Syria, can be absolutely convulsed with fighting? Damascus, it s capital city, was known as the pearl of the east. It s a three thousand year old city, with 2 and a half million people.

5 And now two years later it s a wasteland people living in fear, normal life is gone, shelling is constant, government and rebel forces vie for power, hundreds of thousands have fled. What makes a city, a country, suddenly be consumed with destruction like this? What is it in the human heart that takes something peaceful and beautiful and blows it up? It s something beyond the human heart, some force that bends towards evil, towards violence. It s a very powerful and very scary force. It s the opposite of love, the opposite of God. This is what Paul is talking about. Regardless of how you frame the enemy, or the evil forces arrayed against the Christian church, the bottom line is that as Christians we will face resistance. Serious, concentrated resistance. Because people don t become bad overnight; it s a gradual process, and the battle is fought one little part of our brain at a time.

6 As a human being, as a Christian, you have boundaries...this is acceptable behaviour, and this is unacceptable. This is what I do, and this is what I will never do. You get changed from being this type of person to being that type of person not overnight, but by a thousand tiny movings of the boundaries. I just read this week about a Toronto pastor who stole over six million dollars from his church members, with a Ponzi scheme. He told them if they invested their money with him, he would provide big returns. One woman, a single mom with two blind sons living at home, lost $60,000 her whole inheritance from her father. You don t begin your life of crime saying, I want to steal money from needy people by pretending to follow God and being their pastor. You start out as a pastor serving god and you slowly start to be corrupted. You tell a lie to get some money, you fully intend to return it. The boundary moves a bit. You tell another lie. The boundary moves again. At first you only take money from people with lots of money. The boundary moves a bit, and you are defrauding the poor and defenceless. The boundary moves and moves, the devil is wily, before you know it you can find yourself in a very foreign place. It s a battlefield out there, and Paul wants us to be prepared, be prepared to do battle. It s not something we prepare for on our own. God doesn t leave us defenceless! We are equipped to face the forces arrayed against us. Paul talks about the whole armour of God. He says that phrase twice. The whole armour of God. It s not a piecemeal approach, some of you will get a helmet, others might have a sword. You share a pair of boots. No! Each person has access to everything they need. What are we equipped with to fight the enemy against us? The belt of truth. I wonder why Paul started with a belt you would think he might start at the top and work his way down. But the belt was important piece of clothing for a Roman soldier. It is what his scabbard and his sword were attached to. And it usually had leather straps hanging down to provide protection for the lower body. You can imagine in a battle with swords swinging around, those leather straps might protect something important.

7 Paul says that the belt around us is Truth. Something that you can wrap around yourself,, something that holds you up. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Next Paul mentions the breastplate of righteousness. In battle people needed to protect their heart. A quick sword through the ribs and the heart will stop beating. You re finished. So in a battle the swords start flying, you re dodging the blows and then a sword strikes home. CLANG! Instead of the sucking sound of knife piercing flesh right to your heart, there is only a sense of pressure. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! No matter how they try to get to your heart, it is well protected by the breastplate. Righteousness bring right in God s eyes. Living in a way that is right before God. When we put on righteousness, we are putting on a way of life that protects our heart. God gives us this protection. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Shoes were an essential part of the equipment issues for Roman soldiers. Roman soldiers were a travelling force. That s why Caesar Augustus built so many roads he needed a way for his soldiers to get from place to place. And they marched all over the empire. The shoes they wore were leather sandals, tied on to the legs so they would never fall off. The soles of soldier s shoes had nails put in them to provide a better grip even in muddy or slippery weather. The shoes were an essential part of the Roman soldier being able to stand firm.

8 If a soldier had good shoes he could make time, he could get to where the fighting was taking place. The shoes were made for walking. And once he got there, the shoes were good in battle. They protected your feet from injury and helped you to get a good grip on the ground, so you could stand firm. Paul says as shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. The Roman army was sharing the peace of Caesar; you must accept the peace of Caesar or we will kill you. Once you accept us as your leader, then we will have peace. That might makes right approach to peace is not the gospel Paul is talking about. He is talking about the gospel of peace, the good news of peace that Jesus brings. Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. We are equipped with the gospel of peace; we can proclaim it. Peace is our walking shoes, peace will take us where God wants the message of peace proclaimed. Peace will take you into the school, into the hospital, into your workplace, into whatever place God calls you. Good shoes allow you to travel without thinking about your own painful feet, your own trials. In the same way, the gospel of peace equips you to be less self-centred about your own pain, and more focussed on the message you are carrying, a message from the Prince of Peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, The Roman soldiers were probably most famous for their shields. These were big rectangular shields made out of wood and leather, and they could cover almost their whole body with the shield. The shields were all entirely the same. There weren t little shields for little people, and people who liked round shields got round shields. No, the shields were uniform so that they could be held together, and form a protective wall. Paul goes on to say, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. People would fire flaming arrows at the Romans; they knew this was coming. Not many people want to hold onto a flaming piece of wood, at least not for very long. So then one person in the line would drop their shield, and there would be a break in the line. That s why before battles soldiers would soak their

9 shields in water. The flaming arrow would hit the wet surface, and it would be quenched, it would go out. While you wear a belt and shoes and a breastplate, the shield of faith is something that you have to pick up. It s heavy, and you have to hold it in place. Everyone depends on the least person in the line not to give way. The shield is faith. Faith guards you and protects you. It s your first line of defence. Yes, you have other armour on your body, but better to stop the blow far away from your body if you can. Temptations come there are fiery darts coming at us, trying to hurt us. Don t put your guard down. Putting down your faith for a moment can be disastrous. I was honest my whole life until that one lie about taking the money. I didn t cheat on my husband until that one time. We encourage each other to hold fast. To stand together. Take the helmet of salvation, The helmet for the Roman soldier was essential. You see a man in helmet like this, and he is prepared for battle. No one can come up behind him and hit him over the head he is protected. Our heads are fragile without a helmet bad things can happen. That s why we re always telling kids to wear helmets when they ride a bike. The helmet is salvation here Paul is quoting from Isaiah 59, where God resolves to help Israel, and girds for battle, putting on a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation. Salvation is the good news that God loves us, God is protecting us, we can never go anywhere without God. Roman soldiers always had to wear their helmets. It s their signature look! For Christians too, salvation is something we cannot do without, it s our total basic equipment. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

10 Up to this point, the Roman soldier could be seen as basically a heavily armoured moving target. But the sword is different. For the soldier, the sword is what gets the job done (if the presence of this heavily armed moving fighting force doesn t make people flee away in terror!). This Roman weaponshad two sharp edges for slashing and a very sharp point for stabbing. It could penetrate even very thick armour. In Hebrews Paul writes, Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We already know that the devil or the forces of evil like to deceive us, to move us gradually closer and closer to their side. The word of God is what we need to pierce that deception. The word lays it plain. For that pastor who cheated his congregants of money; if he had read the Bible there is no way he could have continued doing what he was doing. Thou shalt not steal. Protect the widows and the fatherless The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The word of God cuts through lies and deception, and reveals the truth. Paul gives this detailed description of the defences God gives us, because he has a clear view of the enemy. He knew firsthand about the forces trying to stop him from preaching the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Paul tells about the trials he face imprisonments, with countless floggings, (he was often near death). Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger

11 at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. Paul has launched into this description of the defences we need right after the Household Codes that are found in chapter Five. We looked at that last week--where he gave counsel as to how people should relate to each other in their homes as husbands and wives, parents and children, slaves and free. And then in the very next sentence, here he is talking about putting on the armour of God. He has not changed the topic, I think that he puts these two things close together, cheek by jowl, to remind us that it is precisely in our most intimate relationships that we are most sorely tempted to be unfaithful. When we are least expecting it, the forces of evil are trying to move us, even in the privacy of our own homes. Put on the whole armour of God; I think this is a good text to preach on, and I think I ll use it next time we have a baptism service. When people get baptized, they are full of hope and excitement about the life they face together with God. These words of Paul are our marching orders. This is your assignment, should you choose to accept it. This is not a Sunday school picnic. There are forces that want to destroy your faith, that want to stamp out the love of God in the world. We are called to be soldiers of the cross. Again as Mennonites, who believe in peace, we are very wary of this language, and I think rightly so. But Paul was using an image that made sense to him, that made sense to all his listeners. There are lots of other images that can help us; the image of holding fast, of being part of a team of people who are equipped to do a task, each person doing their job, no matter the dangers or obstacles.

12 When I saw this picture I was so disturbed; but it s the image that Paul chose. If he lived today, he would be talking soldiers. We ve seen them with their belts holding walkie talkies and grenades and guns, their flak jackets and their combat boots, the bulletproof glass that acts as a shield in their vehicles, their combat helmets and their guns. You compare this picture to someone just wearing regular civilian clothes, and it is obvious this soldier is ready to confront any enemy. Paul uses this image NOT to say that fighting is good and that Christians should take up swords and fight. It s a picture he uses to help us remember that as Christians there is an enemy. It s not a Sunday school picnic, there are forces that are trying to kill your faith. That s why Paul ends this section of Ephesians with the words: Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. This week, I wonder if we can go into our week with these strong images seared in our minds. Maybe it will help us understand our reality a bit better. It is in the devil s interest to make us blind to the fact that the boundaries are being pushed, that we are being tempted continually and seriously to give up our faith in God. Where is the battle happening in our own lives? Where are the battle lines being drawn for our own congregation? Seeing the enemy reminds us that we need to hold fast to God, we need to pray for each other. Which is what I hope we can do today and every day.

13 God of grace: Open our eyes to the ways we are tempted to be unfaithful. Show us how the boundaries you have drawn are being crossed in our own lives, in the life of our community. Thank you for giving us the strength we need to hold fast. Amen. [this sermon draws on the resources from this informative website: