The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints, 19 and pray in my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (NASB)
Listen again to the opening verses of the Epistle lesson. Ephesians 6:10-12 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
There are few more profound or important passages in the Bible for the Christian than what I just read to you and the rest of the epistle lesson. This has been written for Christians. It’s family talk. This passage applies to the people of God who have already been called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified in true Christian faith. It was written for people who have already been promised and given the victory over the “rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” 1 John 5:4 “For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.”
The epistle reading this morning is not a Gospel text in the sense that it sets before us the doctrine of justification. It doesn’t tell us that the Son of God took on flesh, lived the perfect life in our stead and became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world so that he who trusts in Christ for the remission of sins is saved.
Nor is this a text of Law in the sense that it gives us rules for living or a pattern for holiness. It is a text for the “already Christian” about what it means to believe and live as Christians in this sinful and dark world.
Yet, of all the Bible passages assigned to be read during the three year series, Ephesians 6:10-20 is rarely given the attention it deserves and when it does come round, the people in the pews and too many in the pulpit don’t take these words seriously.
There’s a reason for that. We are Christians of the West. We are Christians born both of western civilization and the Word of God. We are in part shaped by what we have come to know from the Word of God and by the age of rationalism. We live in a language (theology) and a culture (the biblical church) that transcends the centuries. We also live in a culture of post-modernism– where truth is just an abstract and outdated idea. We are materialists, naturalist, people of science, sort of, who look cynically at claims of an unseen world. So a Bible passage or two, or three, or a hundred describing an unseen world and unseen war seems pretty far fetched.
It is true you know, that the Christian has three enemies. We speak of them a lot in the Lutheran church. The name of our enemies are; the devil, the world, and the old sinful flesh. Ephesians 6 covers mentions two of them: world forces of this darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The struggle against the old sinful nature is very real to us. Jesus made it clear in the Gospel lesson what human nature is like. He said in response to the Pharisees’ teaching that people are basically good, but become unclean by things that exist outside of the themselves. Jesus taught “that which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. . . . 23 All these evil things come from within and defile the person.”
We know what’s right, but we very often do or at least we want to do the thing that is wrong. St. Paul understood. Roman 7:17-19 “But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”
The world is our enemy too. That’s pretty obvious these days. We’re back at the Romans 12:2 passage. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
God’s Word tells us that we are not to think, speak, act, or be like the world. The world demands we yield the truths of Bible, forsake our Savior, and embrace the religions of the woke, virtue signaling, and believe as required. Since the fall into sin the world has been hostile to God and to His children.
Then there’s the devil and demons, the fallen angels who make war against God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and His children. Ephesians tells us to put on the “armor of God” so we can stand against “the schemes of the devil,” which means there schemes of the devil. What is the purpose of these schemes? To separate the children of God from their heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ.
12 “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
The enemy is a very powerful being. Evil and the schemes of the evil one are not to be toyed with, or under estimated, or denied, or ignore, or put to use for our own amusement. Lutherans are suppose to understand that. They use to under that. The hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is called the battle hymn of the reformation. Remember these lyrics? “The old evil Foe Now means deadly woe; Deep guile and great might Are his dread arms in fight; On earth is not his equal.”
Our enemy is never the man or the woman who may be causing Christians or the church trouble. They usually are trapped, enslaved, spiritually blind and deaf, and in need of rescue just like the rest of us. They need to hear the Gospel and forgiveness from us. Our enemy is always the devil.
St. Paul began this section with an exhortation: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Don’t rely on yourself to fight your enemy. Do not rely on your own understanding, or wisdom, or will power. Don’t rely on conventional what you have been taught by the world. Don’t even rely on your natural instinct or reaction.
Rely on Christ, the Gospel, His Word, and His doctrine. Strength of His might is faith in Christ and His faithfulness. This also requires an opposite loss of confidence in your own fitness and ability to fight against sin, death, and the power of the devil. To be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might means that you humble yourself, learn what God says about the battle and enemy we are to confront. It means that we learn from the Bible and apply the truths of the Scripture to our own self understanding and in understanding the world around us.
When Christians think, speak, and act like the non-Christian world, there’s a problem. When you or I become echo chambers of what we hear from an unbelieving and rebellious world, then we have already fallen prey to schemes of the evil one.
14 “Stand firm therefore, having belted/girded your waist with truth.” These words echo Isaiah 11:5. “Also righteousness will be the belt around His hips, And faithfulness the belt around His waist.”
“To gird” means “to equip, to prepare for action.” You must equip yourself with the truth. Let me say that again. You must equip yourself with the truth. Jesus said “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Since our enemy is the father of lies and the great deceiver, we must be girded with the truth and ready to answer the lies and deceptions. Christians haven’t been very good at this in the last few generations. We didn’t raise our children to gird themselves with the truth so they can do battle. We didn’t even teach them that there was a battle.
Next, “the breastplate of righteousness.” Paul is describing the weapons of the Christian in terms of hoplite armor. The hoplite armor was battle uniform of the Roman foot-soldier. Ephesians tells us that we are told to put on the “full armor of God.” The word for “full armor” is “panoply,” which is a technical military word for the armor worn by the Roman soldier.
The breastplate was the strongest part of the uniform. It protected the heart and therefore the life of the soldier against the swords and arrows. In the heat of battle, it was very difficult to kill the enemy through heart. The soldier had to strike around it because you could not cut through the breastplate.
In the language of the Bible the breastplate of righteousness is Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. 1 Corinthians 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
The word “devil” means “the accuser.” He accuses us and reminds us of our sin and our just deserts– death and damnation. The only defense against these accusations is the fact that Jesus died in our place and has bestowed on us His own righteousness. God judges us by His Son, just as He judged His Son by our sin.
15 “And having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace.” No soldier or army could fight effectively without footwear. That was true in the ancient world as well. The only way they had to get to the battlefield as by walking. You try walking around all day outside without footwear and see what happens. Imagine what it would be like fighting on a battle field without footwear.
We are prepared for the field of battle with the footwear of the Gospel of peace. God is at peace with us. We are at peace with one another. Our sins are forgiven, so we know that no matter what the terrain we encounter in this spiritual battle, God is not against us, nor are things out of control and hopeless, but we are at peace with God and He with us.
16 “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” The shield of faith is nothing more than trust, real trust, not lip service. Trust in God and in His promises. These alone can extinguish all the flaming arrows of temptation, doubt, guilt, and fear. It is faith that cries out, “If God is for us, who can be against us!” It is faith that clings to the promise “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
17 “And take the helmet of salvation.” We also wear the helmet of salvation, which is Christ Himself our head. Colossians 1:18, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in ll things he might have the preeminence.” In 1 Corinthians 2:16 “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” The helmet of course protects the head, which is both the leader of the body and the mind of Christ. Again we are to be a right thinking people. We are suppose to think theologically in accordance with the Bible’s teaching.
17 “…And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Finally we pick up the sword – our principal weapon in this cosmic battle, which is the Word of God. Anyone who has been in the military or anyone who has undergone instruction for the use of a weapon, knows well that the first order of business is to know your weapon. You’re suppose to know how the weapon works.
The second is to know what the weapon can do.
The third is to know how to use the weapon.
The fourth is to know when to use the weapon.
Today Christians have no idea how the weapon works. They have no idea what it can do. They don’t know how to use the weapon. Finally, they don’t use the weapon when the opportunity presents itself. The weapon of course the Word of God– The Bible and Christian theology.
Like it or not the Battle is met. It is, in truth, as old as time. But while the battle rages around the world against the church and we fight daily against our three enemies, the victory has already been won. Take comfort yea soldiers of Christ.
2 “With might of ours can naught be done; Soon were our loss effected. But for us fights the valiant one Whom God himself elected. You ask, ‘Who is this?’ Jesus Christ it is, The almighty Lord. And there’s no other God; He holds the field forever. . . 3 Scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done! One little word can fell him.”
Amen
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.