Sermon Tone Analysis

“Take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”[1]

Marine recruits were each issued a service bag filled with clothing, in addition to a rifle, a cartridge belt, a bayonet, and a heavy steel helmet.

Since those just arriving on base did not know how to care for themselves, recruits were also issued basic supplies for their hygiene needs—the so-called “bucket issue,” though the Corps had another name.

Among the items of clothing were what were to become known as BDU—battle dress utilities.

Until somewhat recently, BDU was an acronym referring to the combat clothing worn by American soldiers into battle.

A marine would have various uniforms to be worn for different occasions.

BDUs were issued to give the marine some advantage during combat.

In the ancient world, battle dress included armour which gave a measure of protection from injury during combat.

We saw in a previous message that God has assigned His people to stand firm in the face of relentless assault by a vicious and ruthless enemy.

The Lord did not throw His people into the fray without the means to defend themselves; God has provided His people all that is needed for protection against the foe.

It will be beneficial for us to review God’s provision, learning to employ the equipment we were issued.

The text before us provides both a review of the armour provided, and a statement of the purpose of each piece.

*The Purpose of Our Armour* — “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The divine armour we have been issued is primarily defensive armour, though we are provided with a superior weapon that allows for vigorous defence when we are attacked.

This is in keeping with previous studies that demonstrated that we are not commanded to attack the enemy; rather, we are to stand, defending the ground won by the Master.

Underscore in your mind that we Christians are commanded to */stand/*, not to attack.

The idea of the fighting fundamentalist, the concept of charging the devil’s stronghold, the thought that we are attacking evil is erroneous—we are charged to stand.

I do not mean that we are to be tolerant of evil, but rather than mounting a noisy march to show our displeasure with social ills or attempting to generate a vigorous voters’ drive, we are to stand firm.

Standing firm is nothing more than being holy and fulfilling the command that we have received.

The churches of this day are often seen as irrelevant, puerile in their efforts among the inhabitants of this dying world—they make little practical impact in transforming society.

Feeling that they should “do something,” Christians attempt to evangelise through paying someone to conduct one campaign or another that demands little of the individual.

The thought seems to be that we can pay an “evangelist” to do what we are unwilling to do on an ongoing basis.

Or perhaps we imagine that we can organise a march or a demonstration, showing our displeasure and generating sympathy for our position.

However, our silence during the remainder of our lives destroys any good we might otherwise have accomplished.

The armour God has provided equips us to stand firm on holy ground taken by the Master.

In short, this means that we are to be engaged in holiness as a lifestyle, in godliness as a means of guiding our steps, in righteousness as essential to defining who we are.

It means that church is not where we go for a couple of hours on Sunday, but it is who we are.

It means that prayer is not an exercise we engage in when we need something from God, but it is a guiding principle for daily life.

It means that reading the Word of God is not an occasional activity to salve a guilty conscience, but it is our guidance for our ongoing walk in the world.

Rather than stand firming and standing together, Christianity has been reduced to a spectator sport in which religious people go to a meeting on an intermittent basis to watch a performance.

We rate the performance on how it makes us feel rather than whether we are equipped to act godly and to honour the Lord.

When we “worship,” we demand a “worship team” and a “praise band” to provide lively music with a catchy melody and a speaker than gives a pep talk demanding little of us but making us feel good about ourselves—and the show only costs a little bit of time and a few dollars.

We enter the building as individuals, and we leave as individuals, though we believe that because we shared the brief time together, we are a church.

There is a reason the enemy seldom bothers such congregations—they make no practical difference in the world and they change no lives.

They are not a threat to the enemies of the Faith, for they are quiet when challenged and incapable of standing firm in the Faith.

However, the congregation that dons the whole armour of God and stands together to resist the onslaught of the wicked one will find themselves opposed, and the major opposition will be from those who are professed believers in the Lord.

I do not want anyone to imagine that I am trying to create a “little flock” syndrome or induce an Elijah complex among the people of God.

Christians that seek to follow hard after the Lord are not alone, but they are not in the majority nor have they ever been a majority.

They must not reject those who seek to honour God, however imperfectly their efforts might appear.

Bear in mind, however, that minorities, not majorities, write history.

It was Wilberforce, together with a small group of evangelical believers, who moved the British Empire to abolish slavery.

The battle was long and the burden was great, but the goal was worthy of the effort.

Jeremiah Lamphier, a concerned layman announced a noon prayer meeting for September 23, 1857.

Those praying were invited to meet on the third floor of the “Consistory” of the Old Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street in New York City.

Christians were disillusioned and churches were sliding into marked lethargy.

Preachers had ceased declaring the authoritative Word of the Living God.

Cynicism reigned over much of Christendom as result of the wild-eyed excess of William Miller who had predicted the return of the Saviour on October 22, 1844.

However, Lamphier was burdened for the nation and believed that through prayer, God would transform hearts.

On the assigned day, only six people showed up to pray for the first prayer meeting.

However, by spring, over 10,000 people met daily for prayer throughout the city.

It grew to become the greatest spiritual awakening the United States ever experienced.

Athanasius was raised up by God to transform the churches at a time when they were following error to depart from the Faith.

Arius had swayed the entire Christian world to the heretical view that Father, Son and Holy Spirit were separate entities.

At the Council of Nicaea, Athanasius gathered a small band of men.

Praying all night before he appeared before the Council, the prayer band sought the face of the Master.

Athanasius stood to defend the Trinitarian position presented in the Word of God; and speaking the power of the Spirit, he led the assembled prelates to declare the truth that God is one.

Always and ever, it has been minorities, and not majorities, that have written history and advanced the cause of Christ.

Our armour is given so that we can stand firm before the assault of the wicked one.

We are charged to stand together, reaching out to as many as possible so that all whom the Lord shall give us will join us in standing firm against the evil one.

We must not despise those who are now walking in darkness, but we must let our light so shine that we adorn the doctrine of Christ.

Then, walking in the light, we shall turn many to righteousness.

*The Armour Provided* — “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

*/The belt of truth/* is the first item named.

In the ancient panoply, the belt held everything together.

The Roman warrior wore a leather belt that not only held his clothing out of the way, permitting freedom to move as required, but it held his sword and any other light weaponry he might be required to carry.

Perhaps you have read, especially in some of the older Bibles, the command to “gird up your loins” or a reference to having the loins girded.

It is a literal translation of the Hebrew and the Greek in a number of instances, when God wishes to convey the thought of making oneself ready for a task.[2] The long garments worn in that ancient day would be liable to get in the way whenever one was required to work, or more particularly, when an individual went into combat.

Thus, the belt was important to the soldier as it enabled him to free his legs so that he could move rapidly during combat.

This allowed him to respond to the enemy and to dodge his thrusts and parries.

Wearing the belt gave the soldier a sense of fortitude and strength, as it held his weapon and was the evidence that he was prepared for combat.

The Christians’ belt that holds his panoply together is truth.

Truth can refer either to Christian doctrine (“the truth of God”) or integrity (truthfulness).

In Paul’s use of the term, he seems to have both concepts in view, since a Christian cannot segregate the concepts.

Inner truthfulness begins with knowledge of God, who is truth; knowledge of the truth of God must, of necessity, lead to a change consistent with the character of God.

Therefore, we are called to be truthful—men and women of integrity, but that truthfulness will only become evident as we fill our minds with God’s Word.

I believe it significant that Paul placed truth first in the list of Christian battle dress.

Successful spiritual warfare begins with fixing the great doctrines of the Faith firmly in our minds.

It is dangerous in the extreme to rush into battle without knowing what we believe or why we believe it.

Yet, that is precisely what many Christians attempt to do.

The evangelical world is fertile recruiting territory for the cults.

Many professing evangelicals do not know what they believe or why they believe it.

Consequently, they are unable to answer the Mormons, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Adventists, or the secularists.

Because they are essentially ignorant of these great doctrines, they believe that all churches are identical; thus, they choose where they will attend and serve on the flawed basis of personal desire—what makes them feel good, rather than what pleases God.

The second item named is identified as */the breastplate of righteousness/*.

As was true for the concept of truth, so righteousness can imply two separate concepts.

Theologians sometimes speak of imputed righteousness, which refers to the righteousness of the Master that is reckoned to the believer’s account.

This imputed righteousness enables the child of God to stand before God.

It is this imputed righteousness that is in view in *Ephesians 1:3, 4*.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”

Alternatively, “righteousness” can refer to specific acts, or we might speak of personal holiness.

Focus for a moment on the third chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah [*Zechariah 3:1-5*].

There, the Lord rebukes Satan before commanding other angels(?) to remove Joshua’s filthy clothing, replacing them with clean vestments and a clean turban.

Those who are commanded by the Lord act in accordance with His command.

This is a picture of Christ’s righteousness which is imputed to the believer.

The clean clothing is not something that Joshua acquired himself; it was given to him.