Weapons for the War Ephesians 6:10-18 September 14, 2014 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 Lord s people. We ve been talking about fighting temptation from the devil for a few weeks, and this passage is perhaps the most frequently referred to passage when it comes to spiritual warfare. So today, we re going to start by looking at specific schemes of the devil, and then we ll move on to our armor and weapons to fight against those schemes. Starting with the devil s schemes: What are they? We ve said that the primary weapon of the devil is the lie. In fact, the word diabolos that s the word that gets translated as devil means, slanderer. A false accuser. Using lies to discredit someone else. That s what we see the very first time the devil is represented in scripture. Think back to Genesis chapter 3. The serpent speaks to Eve: Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? Vs. 1 Which itself is a lie. That s not what God told Adam and Eve. Eve first corrects the serpent: No it s the tree in the middle of the garden we can t eat from, or we will die. Then listen to what the serpent says next: 1
4 You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. 5 For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Who does Satan slander? God. Satan accuses God of withholding truth and goodness from Eve. God doesn t want you to eat that fruit because if you do, he knows you ll be like him and so you won t need him. By lying, Satan wants to discredit God or you, so that you will see God or yourself in a distorted way. Why? Satan wants to destroy your connection with God and keep you from pursuing after God s will for your life. So, when Satan discredits God, God seems uninspiring, and life with God seems unnecessary. Satan tempts you into asking, Why would you want to pursue a god who withholds his goodness from you, anyway? And when Satan discredits you, God seems unapproachable, and life with God seems unobtainable. Why should you expect that God would not only forgive you, but also have compelling plans to use a sinner like you? Either way, when we buy into these lies of Satan, we create a separation between God that should not and need not be there. Let s look at just a few specific ways the devil does this. There s a book by the Puritan Thomas Brooks from the 1600s called Precious Remedies Against Satan s Devices. And he identifies particular lies of Satan to tempt us into sinning by discrediting us or God. Let s look at ways Satan discredits God. One, Brooks writes he shows to us crosses, losses, and sufferings for those who live obediently to God. And so we think, Well, God, if this is how you are going to treat your friends, I don t need any of that. I m suffering anyway, I might as well give into this temptation. Two, in Brooks words, Satan shows us the outwards mercies enjoyed by people who walk in sin, as well as their freedom from outward miseries. What does that mean? Satan shows us the happiness of those who we know don t follow God or care too much for God s ways, and we think, Well, God, your system of rewards is a little out of whack, aren t they? God doesn't seem trustworthy. Three, Satan presents God as one made up of all mercy. Now what s wrong with that? He means that Satan portrays God as one who just winks at sin. Who lets it slip by without doing anything. That God is just a big softy and is not just. The truth is, if you ve ever been a victim to the sinfulness of others, or if one of your loved ones has ever been a victim of the sinfulness of others, or if you are grieved 2
by the evil that happens in the world, you want God to be a just God, who won t just wink at sin oh, that s okay but who is working to set wrongs right. By making God to be all grace, no justice, a big softy, Satan is painting a picture of God not worthy of your life. Four, Satan gets you to interpret suffering in your life as retaliation from God because of your sins instead of restoration with God who loves you. The truth is, our sin often has the consequence of damaging ourselves, and damaging our relationships with others. And when we suffer, Satan wants us to think God is a punisher, instead of seeing our troubles as within the control of God meant for our long-term restoration and good. Now, how does Satan discredit you? One, he reminds you of your sins, so that you remember your sins more than your savior. In your eyes, there is no way that God could love you. Two, he gets you to compare yourself with those who have the reputation of being worse than yourself. He wants for you to see their same sins in you so that you will condemn yourself. Three, he gets you to compare yourself to Christian leaders who sin, so that we will think, Well, if they do it, it must not be that big of a deal. Notice, we start rationalizing our sin. There s another way Satan does this. Four, as Brooks puts it, Satan paints sin in virtue s colors. We think we re actually doing good. We re taking the speck out of someone s eye when we re failing to take the plank out of our own eye. I m not being judgmental of someone, I m just concerned for them. Or, I m not a gossip, I m a problem solver I m just seeking to solve someone else s problems with some friends of mine. I m not argumentative, I m liberating people from their vastly inferior thinking. Those are the schemes of the devil. So Paul writes, Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand. What I want to do is show what the armor of God is and how it defeats Satan s lies about who God is and who you are. So let s look at the armor. The first thing mentioned serves as an overall summary. Verse 14 says: Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist... 3
Without a true understanding of who Jesus is, we will not stand against the devil s temptations and accusations. Last week, we looked at a primary scripture for spiritual warfare, 2 Corinthians 10:5:... we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Be careful about what you think, in other words. Then, Paul who wrote this gets specific. What, in particular, must we be careful of with our thoughts? Look at what he says in chapter 11:3-4: 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached... you put up with it easily enough. 2 Cor. 11:3-4 Satan wants us to believe in a different Christ than the true Christ. So, the armor of God begins with standing on the truth of who he is. Why is this important? Because, as we ll see as the armor is described, who Christ is the very image of the invisible God shapes who we are. Look next in verse 14: Stand firm... with the breastplate of righteousness in place... Eph. 6:14 Righteousness, put simply, is being in a right relationship with someone. What does that mean? It s a relationship that works. It s healthy. It s not closed. There are plenty of things that will close down a relationship, at least in part, one of those things being an offense of some kind. What scripture says is that God gives us righteousness with him. He makes that relationship right. In other words, all the offenses have been covered up. Our sin has been covered up through the death of Jesus Christ. Wearing the breastplate of righteousness means you are shielded from any of the accusations Satan makes, insisting that God isn t pleased with you or wouldn t be in a relationship with you. Because he has covered up your offenses. Now, how does this shape us? The righteousness receive should move us to act righteous in our relationship with others. If we indeed are right with God which we are through faith then we should be loving and forgiving and gracious towards others because we don t need anything from them. We already have everything we need from God, so we are secure. But what Satan will do is anytime we are a real jerk, anytime we act real selfishly, he ll say, Just look at the real you. 4
Do you really think you are God s kind of person? And the answer is, Yes, yes I am, because God has made me righteous with him. Now, what Paul does in describing our armor is he hammers this again and again. What God has done for us should move us to do what we should do for others. Verse 15: stand firm With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace We have to know the whole truth of the gospel. Not reduce the gospel to a favorite Bible verse. John 3:16 is great. God loved the world. If you believe, you ll have eternal life. That s great. If you like Romans 6:23, that s great. Wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. But that s not the whole truth of the gospel. What s the whole truth? What was the gospel according to Jesus? Jesus presents several very important things about the gospel in the gospels. The gospel, according to Jesus, includes the news that God has drawn close to you because he loves you, and he has come to bring his love, favor, and provision to you. The gospel includes Jesus Christ being God in human form, dying so that your sins would be forgiven and rising from the grave as a sign that God will one day bring life to your dead body and a renewal of the whole physical world in fact. Now, if that s the news, scripture prompts us to ask, What now? What now is you share it! Give your life for the work of spreading that news. In other words, you were created to do more than earn a paycheck and take care of the family. You are here as a sign of God s love to a planet full of very hurting, needy, and lost people. Don t give into the lie that making a good contribution at work is what you live for. We see that again in the next part of the armor. Next, verse 16: In addition to this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Eph 6:16 Faith is believing what the word of God says is true. It is drawing a line in the sand when you are under attack: I m going to believe what God has told me. And when my experience doesn t line up with what I understand to be true, I don t adapt my understanding to fit my experience. I interpret my experiences in light of my understanding. I keep believing in a God who loves me completely and who has my life and the events of my life completely in his hands. And it is a living 5
faith, right? A faith that is proven by action. Faith without action is dead. Since I believe so strongly in God taking care of my life, I am able to live faithfully. Next verse look at verse 17: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Eph. 6:17 Notice that in the armor, we see different words that similarly describe our relationship with God: we are righteous before God. The gospel tells us God has saved us. God has given us salvation. Again and again we see who God is he saves us, he loves us, he forgives us, and it defines who we are we are God s beloved. So live like it. It s true with our salvation, too. Philippians 2:12-13 says:... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Notice, You are saved and God is working in you for a good purpose. And so now live like it. Now, how do we rely on all this to battle Satan? The Word of God and prayer. You must know what God s word says about the greatness of God and what that means about who you are: you are God s beloved, and he has made you to stand strong. One of the things that is available to you is a tool called The Disciple Profile, which is on the church s website. Glenna s going to show that to us now. If you will remember our sermon series in the summer, we looked at core beliefs of a growing disciple that we learn from Jesus. This tool is to help you know God better, so you can know yourself better, and know how to live. It s a tool to study God s word. Here s how it works, The Disciple Profile identifies 8 core teachings of Jesus, and then according to Jesus, 9 core actions and 9 core attributes of a disciple. What I hope you will do is look for areas where you are weaker, in your beliefs, in your actions, or in your attributes, your character. Say that you do struggle with trusting God fully on how to live. You can find resources to help you grow in that trust. Go to Personal Nature of God. Here s what it s about: God created me, knows me, loves me, takes care of me, and faithfully keeps all his promises. He is personal, and he is powerful. Then, there are resources sermons, scriptures, even songs and books which will help you grow in that way. Or, you could go to Authority of God. Look at that one: I can trust God s authority in my life, 6
expressed through his word. God is completely truthful, loving, and trustworthy in all he says. Remember, Satan is going to try to discredit God. We must stand strong in God s word. Or what s the other thing Satan does? He tries to discredit you. Maybe you re struggling with that. Maybe you struggle with believing you do have eternal security with God. Then go to the Salvation of God button: I am saved by God s grace through my faith in Christ and have eternal life with God. Without turning to God, because of my sinful nature, I am lost. Or maybe try the Identity in God button: My identity and worth are first and foremost in my status as child of God. But Paul doesn't just say turn to God s word. He says also, Pray. Ephesians 6:18 says: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Why not just read God s word? Because we can do that in a way that doesn't draw close to God. Prayer is what makes God s word personal. Prayer is having your Bible in front of you and listening to what God is saying to you through it. Prayer keeps our trust grounded where it needs to be. I love how the old English pastor, William Gurnall, puts it: We must not confide in the armor of God, but in the God of this armor. God s promises, yes, we need them. But ultimately, who we need is God himself. It s like the old hymn: When darkness seems to hide his face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. The veil of the temple of God. And what was found within the veiled holy of holies? God s very presence. So bring your temptations to God. Bring the lies to him. Allow God to make his word strong in you. His word, through prayer, will bring you to his presence. And then stand. 7
Key Points: Study Guide: Weapons for the War Ephesians 6:10-18 When Satan discredits God, God seems uninspiring, and life with God seems unnecessary. And when Satan discredits you, God seems unapproachable, and life with God seems unobtainable. Satan slanders God by: showing to us crosses, losses, and sufferings for those who live obediently to God. showing us the outwards mercies enjoyed by people who walk in sin, as well as their freedom from outward miseries. presenting God as one made up of all mercy. getting you to interpret suffering in your life as retaliation from God because of your sins instead of restoration with God who loves you. Satan slanders you by: reminding you of your sins, so that you remember your sins more than your savior. getting you to compare yourself with those who have the reputation of being worse than yourself and see their sins in you. getting you to compare yourself to Christian leaders who sin, so that we will think, Well, if they do it, it must not be that big of a deal. painting sin in virtue s colors so we will rationalize sin. The armor of God: begins with a foundation of Truth. Four pieces of armor that reveal who God is and thus shapes who we are: Righteousness, Gospel, Faith, Salvation Two weapons: o Word keeps us grounded in the truth; o Prayer keeps our trust grounded where it needs to be William Gurnall: We must not confide in the armor of God, but in the God of this armor. Questions and Reflections: Satan s scheme I am vulnerable to: Satan s lie I tend to believe: God s Word that exposes that as a lie: 8