BATTLE-READY BELIEVERS
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 7, 2024 under 2024 |
Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from January 7, 2024 from Ephesians 6:10-13
Theme: We must take up all the spiritual provisions given to us by God in order to stand strong in the faith.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, we come to the last main section of the Book of Ephesians—the final exhortation that the apostle Paul gave to his brothers and sisters in this letter. And before we look at it, let’s first go back and review the things that Paul had already affirmed in his letter.
He began with the words that we find in Ephesians 1:3; that the heavenly Father has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. That’s an astonishing and uplifting truth. And the first half of this letter is all about those rich blessings—and about how they are already our present possession through faith in Jesus.
In Chapter 1, Paul wrote about the ways that the three Persons of the Triune Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—have all worked together to perfect our salvation in Jesus and to make us co-heirs together with Him. We’re told that the Father did all of this for us freely—to the praise of the glory of His grace. Paul even prayed in the later half of the first chapter that our spiritual eyes would be opened so that we would grasp all of this—so that we would truly know the hope of God’s calling, the riches of His inheritance in us, and the greatness of the power at work in us to bring it all to completion.
And then, in Chapter 2, Paul explained to us that the Father’s motivation for all this was love. He told us about how the Father’s love for us is shown in the fact that, even though we had been dead in trespasses and sins, He has made us alive in Christ and seated us together with Him—positionally—at the place of highest honor in heavenly glory. And what’s more, Paul wrote about how the Father has now even brought us Gentiles—who had formerly been ‘far away’ from the covenant promises of God to Israel—’near’ in Christ; and has joined us together with believing Jews into ‘one new man in Christ’. We are now built together as the ‘dwelling place’ of God—with Jesus as the chief cornerstone.
In Chapter 3, Paul went further and shared with us the glory of the ministry that had been given to him personally. Even though he was unworthy, he had been given the wonderful privilege of revealing the mystery of the plan of God for us from before the world ever was. It was all so that the principalities and powers in the heavens would praise God for the richness of the glory that He will one day reveal through us in Christ. Paul even prayed again at the end of Chapter 3 that our eyes would be opened to all this—and that we would comprehend the greatness of the Father’s love for us in Christ.
So then; all that we find in the first half of the letter speaks of the greatness of our riches in Christ. And then came the later half of the letter, where Paul urged us—in Ephesians 4:1—to now “walk worthy of the calling” with which we’ve been called in Christ. This was not so that we would somehow become worthy of these glorious spiritual blessings. Rather, it’s because they are all already ours by God’s grace … and that, as a result, we should now live in a worthy manner of God’s gift to us. He taught us about how God has brought us together in the church as ‘the body of Christ’; and how He has gifted us in different ways in order to cause the body to grow. He taught us about how we should work to preserve that precious unity that is already true of us; and that we should learn to serve one another in love. In the latter half of Chapter 4, he taught us about how we’re called to live as brand new people in Christ—putting off the behaviors of the old people we once were, and putting on the behaviors of the Lord Jesus Himself.
In Chapter 5, Paul wrote about how we used to be children of darkness; but that we now are children of light—and that we must walk in the light as followers of Jesus. He wrote about how the Holy Spirit Himself takes up residence in us to empower us. And then, in Chapter 5 through Chapter 6, Paul showed us how the immeasurable power and help of the Holy Spirit enables us to transform the way we relate to others—how He transforms our behavior in marriage, in family, and in the workplace.
All of these glorious riches are ours right now. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; so that, through faith in Jesus, we can now live truly transformed lives in the present, and rejoice in the glorious inheritance of Christ to come. I hope that you’ve been blessed by this wonderful letter—Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. I hope you’ll read it often, and let the glorious truths it unfolds to us sink deeply into your heart. Studying it together as a church family has been like opening up the heavenly treasure box of all our riches in Christ—and rejoicing together in all that is now ours in Him.
And it’s then that we come to the very last section … and the tone of things suddenly changes and becomes very serious. This section warns us that we have been given all of these glorious heavenly riches as a gift of God’s grace while living on earth under the threat of a very powerful enemy. That enemy hates us, schemes against us, and labors hard to destroy us. And unless we’re very careful—unless we faithfully do what Paul urges us to do at the end of the letter—we can end up losing the blessedness and benefit of the things that God has given us in Christ.
Paul wraps up this survey of our riches in Christ with these words in Ephesians 6:10-20;
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:10-20).
I wonder if those words wouldn’t have surprised the believers who first heard this letter being read to them. I wonder if they shouldn’t surprise us still. After having read about all the spiritual blessings and the rich inheritance that is ours in Christ—after learning the details of all the ways God has poured His grace upon us and secured us in Christ for eternal glory—we might have been tempted to think that we should then receive glorious robes of honor and comfort, and be invited to rest on fluffy clouds of ease. Instead, we’re issued combat armor, handed a sword, and told to defend ourselves in the power of Christ against the threats of the enemy.
It would be very foolish and dangerous to ignore these closing words of instruction.
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Now; when I think of this final section of Ephesians that we’re beginning to look at today, I also think of the beginning of the Book of Joshua.
In a lot of ways, the Book of Joshua can be thought of as the Old Testament parallel to the New Testament letter of Ephesians. In both books, God set before His people the glorious inheritance that He was giving them. In the story of Joshua, it was the inheritance of the Promised Land. In Ephesians, it’s all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. And in both books, the call to go forth and take hold of the blessings also required that the people of God also take up the armor of battle.
Do you remember God’s words to Joshua just before he led the people of Israel into the land to take it as their possession? Joshua knew that there were many hostile enemies that would fight against God’s people, and who would put up a fierce resistance against them. The Lord told him;
Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:6-9).
The inheritance that the Lord gives us in Christ is—in many respects—far greater than the inheritance He gave to the nation of Israel. In their case, it was a glorious land. But in our case, it’s all the heavenly riches and resources of Christ Himself. And the enemy that resists us is also greater than the enemy that resisted the ancient people of Israel. Back then, the enemy was a group of wicked nations—adversaries made of mere flesh and blood. But in our case, the opposition is immeasurably more powerful—composed of spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. In taking up their inheritance, the people of Israel needed to be very careful to put on their physical armor in order to stand against a physical enemy. And in taking up our spiritual inheritance in Christ, we need—even more—to take up the spiritual armor God has given us in order to stand against a spiritual adversary.
And just as it would have been very foolish and reckless for the people of Israel to rush into the battlefield without their armor, it will be even more foolish and reckless for us to do so.
So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; the thing that Paul is urging us to do in this passage is no small matter. It isn’t just mere ‘over-the-top preacher hyperbole’. Paul’s words deal with something very real and threatening—something crucial to your and my spiritual life. You yourself—in your own Christian experience—already know how crucial it is. As we think about the many seemingly strong followers of Jesus that we know of right now—men and women who appear outwardly strong and sincere in their faith; and who are bold and effective in their witness for Jesus—it’s sobering to think that, a few years from now, some of them will have become spiritual casualties in the battle. They will have been soundly defeated by the enemy. They will have suffered a terrible loss of their witness to Christ. They will have forfeited much of the rewards for their faith that the Lord Jesus desired to give them. Some of them will even end up throwing it all away; and will deny the Lord altogether. You’ve seen it happen before. It’s happening more often today—and in some very public ways. And in almost all of those cases of loss, the reason will prove to have been because those fallen believers didn’t heed the warning that the apostle Paul gives us in this passage. They will have failed to remember that we’re called to live the Christian life while on an active spiritual battlefield; and they will have failed to put on the full and necessary armor that God has given us for our protection and our victory.
Now; in this closing section of Ephesians, we see an inventory of the various pieces of defensive armor that God has given to us. In the original language, it’s called a ‘panoply’; which means ‘full’ or ‘complete’ armor. That’s what’s described to us in verses 14-17. Each piece is worth considering all on its own; but each one of them is necessary for our defense. We must not try to enter into the battle for the faith with any piece missing. If we leave any piece off—if we are so crazy as to think we can do without any single one of them—then that’s exactly the spot of vulnerability at which the enemy will seek to attack us. And then, in verses 18-20, Paul describes what might be called our ‘offensive weaponry’. Paul speaks of the offensive weapon of prayer in verses 18-19; and in verses 19-20, he speaks of the offensive weapon of the proclamation of the gospel. When those two offensive weapons are joined together and used with dependence upon the power of the Lord Jesus, our spiritual adversary is powerless against them.
But in the first few verses of this section—in verses 10-13—the apostle Paul sets before us the absolute necessity of taking up the whole armor of God. He shows us that we must take up all the spiritual provisions given to us by God in order to stand strong in the faith; for it’s only then that we can be truly ‘battle-ready’ believers.
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So then; let’s consider the first thing he tells us; and that is …
1. THE STRENGTH IN WHICH WE MUST DO BATTLE.
None of the spiritual riches that we have been given in Christ became ours through our own power. And it won’t be by our own power that we defend and protect them either. And so, Paul tells us in verse 10; “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
In order to fight our spiritual battles, we need to be strong. But we should never trust in our own strength. Even at our very best, we’re no match at all against our spiritual enemy. The strength in which we’re to be ‘strong’ is the strength that only comes from a deep, personal, whole-hearted, ongoing relationship of dependency upon Jesus Himself. It’s only by “His might” that we will have the power to fight our battles.
This is made very vivid to us in the story of how Jesus’ disciples once tried to cast an evil spirit out of a boy without Him. The Lord was up on the Mount of Transfiguration with His disciples Peter, James, and John. And when He came back down with them, He found all the other disciples trying to cast the spirit out of the boy—and miserably failing at it. It was only when He told them, “Bring him to Me”, that anything was able to be done. And that will always be true. We haven’t the power—in and of ourselves—to do anything against the spiritual forces of darkness. But we will have the necessary power if we are “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”.
Think of what the Lord once told His disciples in John 15:1-8;
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:1-8).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; we can’t do a single thing in the Christian life that is of any value at all apart from Jesus. We must ‘abide’ in Him—which means remaining vitally attached to Him and drawing our supply of strength immediately from Him. Just like a branch on a vine, we can only draw our power from a personal relationship of dependency upon Him. And the way that the apostle Paul puts this, in the original language of Ephesians 6:10, is that it is a constant, continual habit of life. It’s not a once-in-a-while thing. We’re to keep ourselves ongoingly strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
So; here’s the first thing that we need to remember. We need to keep an ongoing personal relationship of love for, dependency upon, and obedience to the Lord Jesus; because it’s only by abiding in Him that we can have the strength to fight our spiritual battles.
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Now; Paul then went on to let us know one way that we’re to specifically and practically rely on the strength of the Lord. And that’s by taking up the provision that He has given us. We can’t be strong in the Lord’s might without taking up the armor He gives. In verse 11, Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
And so, this reminds us of …
2. THE ARMOR BY WHICH WE ARE PROTECTED.
When Paul wrote these words, it seemed that he was in prison. In verse 20, he tells us that he was an ‘ambassador in chains’. And I have often wondered if—as he wrote these words—he might have been looking across the cell at a Roman soldier who stood guard over him. It may have been that the soldier was wearing his full panoply. Each piece of armor that the soldier wore had an important purpose. And so, Paul urged us to make sure that we too—with full dependency upon the Lord Jesus—are wearing every piece of armor the Father has given us.
Paul mentioned each piece in verses 14-17; “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God … (vv. 14-17). And did you know that this wouldn’t be the only time that Paul had written such a thing? In 2 Corinthians 6, he wrote about how he and his other ministry partners conducted themselves in ministry; saying, among other things, that it was
by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left (2 Corinthians 6:7).
And he said a similar thing in 1 Thessalonians 5. He told his brothers and sisters in ancient Thessalonica that they were no longer of the darkness … like the unbelieving people around them. He told them;
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
In a very similar way then … but in much greater detail … he urged his Ephesian readers in verse 11; “Put on the whole armor of God …” Put on each peace by prayer and with full dependency upon the strength of the Lord. Don’t leave a single piece out. Clearly, taking up the armor is an essential element in living victoriously for Christ.
And notice why. It’s so that we will “be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” That word “wiles” is a rather old-fashioned one. It refers to the devil’s schemes. In the original language, it’s the word from which we get our English word “methods”. And that describes the devil’s schemes against us very well. He isn’t thoughtless and reckless in the way he attacks us. He doesn’t spring forth suddenly and say, “I’m the devil! I’m here to destroy you and rob you of the riches that Christ gave you!” That wouldn’t work. Instead, he has ‘methods’. He’s a wise and strategic enemy who knows how to trap us in such a way as to not let us know he’s coming against us; or who knows how to divert our attention toward one direction while he comes against us from another.
He often attacks us through things for which we may not even think armor is needed at all. He’ll make us think that we can use substitutes for the armor of God—thinking that we can fight our spiritual battles through religious rituals or ceremonies or good deeds. He’ll make us think that if we are made strong through one piece of armor, we won’t need another. He’ll even make us think that we will be safe if we check ourselves out of culture completely, and simply keep out of the battle altogether, so that we’ll think we won’t need any armor at all. I suspect that the reason some Christians have fallen by the wayside is because of a failure in this very sort of thing: The devil used one of his many methods on them to get them thinking that they didn’t need to take up the whole armor of God.
We may not pay attention to whether or not we put every piece of armor in place. But we can be absolutely sure that the devil pays attention! He’s ‘methodical’ in his attacks; and wherever he sees that we’ve left ourselves vulnerable in some way, that’s precisely where he targets his attack against us. So, dear brothers and sisters, let’s heed Paul’s warning; and learn to faithfully and prayerfully put on every piece of the whole armor of God!
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Then, Paul goes on to show us why it’s important that we do this. He helps us to understand …
3. THE ENEMY AGAINST WHOM WE WRESTLE.
In the beginning of verse 12, he tells us, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood …” If our enemy truly was merely ‘flesh and blood’—like we are—then we might stand a chance in our own power and without God’s armor. But it’s important to remember that our spiritual battles are not—ultimately—against people. Our true enemy may—at times—use ‘flesh and blood’ instruments in his attacks against us; but those flesh-and-blood people are not our ultimate enemy. We’re commanded by our Lord to love our enemies when those enemies are only flesh and blood. We should always remember that; lest our true enemy fools us into attacking the wrong adversary.
So; who is the nature of our true enemy? Paul wrote that our real battle is “against principalities”, which speaks of spiritual organization in the realms of wickedness—like a spiritual ‘organized crime’ ring over which the devil himself holds control. They’re also called ‘powers’ or ‘authorities’, which suggests that some of them hold rule and command over others in groups and chains of command—almost like a group of diabolical mobsters who have henchmen who do their dirty work for them. In the translation I’m using, they’re called “the rulers of the darkness of this present age”; and here, Paul uses a very interesting word. It’s the Greek word that sounds something like ‘cosmo-crats’; and it can be translated as ‘rulers of the world order’. And we’re told that they rule over ‘this darkness’, or ‘the darkness of this age’. This makes us think of what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1-3;
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:1-3).
These evil beings serve the bidding of the devil; and with him, they hold control over the course of the sinful culture that we find ourselves in today. And, surprisingly, we’re told that they are “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” They—to some degree—are permitted by God for a time to do their evil work even in the heavenly realms, and this reminds us of how truly formidable, powerful, and dangerous they are.
And notice one more thing. We’re told that our ‘wrestle’ is against them. When Paul wrote about ‘wrestling’, he wasn’t thinking of the kind of thing you find on TV—with guys dressed in costumes who throw each other around as part of an act. In Paul’s day, Greek wrestling was considered to be the most artful of sports; and a skilled wrestler in the Greek games knew how to use quick moves and changes in posture in order to trap his opponent—and to use skillful tricks and deceitful ploys in order to throw him down. The kind of ‘wrestling’ Paul was speaking of was like a game of chess—requiring the wrestler to think ahead strategically of one move following after another. That’s how Paul describes our battle with these powerful spiritual beings—a wrestling match in which we are easily swung around and thrown down by the tricks and clever moves of a spiritually powerful enemy.
It’s no wonder that ‘flesh and blood’ weapons are useless against such an adversary as we face. We need nothing less than the spiritual weapons that only God can give us—and to only use them by the power of the Lord Jesus Himself.
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And that leads us, then, to one more thing to notice that Paul tells us in this passage. It’s the practical summation of all that Paul has mentioned thus far. It’s …
4. THE RESOLVE THROUGH WHICH WE STAND STRONG.
We must make a commitment of obedience. In verse 13, the apostle Paul writes, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” The ‘evil day’ is the day of conflict—that period of time in which the attacks of the devil and his henchmen are the strongest against us—the time of battle in which the forces of hell are marshaled against us in order to separate us from the Lord and from the rich treasures in Christ that He has given us. It’s the kind of circumstance that’s described for us in Ephesians 5:15-16;
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).
Given the nature of the spiritual opposition we face, and given the kind of times in which we face them, we cannot put up any kind of resistance—and having done all, to still be standing—unless we wear the full armor that God has provided for us, and keep our trust in the power of Jesus Christ.
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Now; the good and glorious news, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is that our enemy has already been defeated by our Lord. One day, we will no longer be living for our Lord in the midst of a spiritual battlefield. Revelation 12:10-11 tells us the good news;
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:10-11).
The outcome of this battle is declared to us in Romans 16:20; where Paul told his fellow believers;
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly (Romans 16:20).
But until then, let’s be realistic and serious about our situation. Let’s remember that we’re called to live out our Christian life—and called upon to make full use of all the riches that are ours in Christ—while in the midst of an intense spiritual battlefield. Let’s heed Paul’s warning … and faithfully take up all the spiritual provisions given to us by God in order to stand strong in the faith.
Let’s put on the full armor. Only then will we be able to stand.
AE
