Sermon Tone Analysis

Dressing for Success

Who knows the fashion rules today?

But generally clothes should be functional.

They protect us.

They help us present ourselves to others.

But if they don’t enable us to function freely, they become a hindrance.

Nobody knows this more than those serving in the military.

Millions of dollars of research goes into the apparel that our troops wear.

It has to be functional.

Those who wear the standard uniform may do everything from sit behind a desk for most of the day to marching for days in the jungle or desert.

They need to function when someone is sitting at their post in the hot sun for hours, or taking on bullets from enemy fire.

Most of us don’t find ourselves on the frontlines of modern military action, thank God.

Neither did those to whom Paul was writing this letter.

But he was writing it from prison and few realized like he did that being a follower of Jesus can be a dangerous activity.

As he’s been emphasizing throughout this letter, our privileges in Christ are second to none.

But as SpiderMan’s grandpa said: with great power comes great responsibility.

:)

Paul has been reminding us that the days are evil.

One commentator put it this way:

“Readers need to be prepared, as if for battle, for right living does not just happen and opposition is certain.”

Klyde Snodgrass NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians, p. 334.

So as Paul is writing from prison he’s likely getting a close up look at the military garb of his guards.

In Acts 28 we see that Paul lived with a guard when in Rome.

I could see Paul writing this letter chained to a guard and using it as an opportunity to explain the gospel to this guy while writing a letter of encouragement to the church at Ephesus.

Awesome stuff.

Paul wants us to be strong.

But for followers of Jesus, our strength comes from another source.

We are to:

be strong IN THE LORD and in the power of his might!

Paul has already referenced this power when he described what God has done for us in Christ Jesus back in chapter 1.

Now Paul is showing us where this power is to make a difference in our lives.

We are to make it our source of daily strength.

It is a power that goes far beyond what any workout plan or supplement could give us.

But it requires discipline and action steps to experience it.

Perhaps part of the steps is admitting that we aren’t strong enough on our own.

Notice it doesn’t say have tremendous personal strength of personality and add a little Jesus to it.

No, it says let the power of his might become your strength.

There’s a bit of process of submission going on, maybe for years to really let that happen.

That’s especially true if we’ve been highly self-reliant for decades before deciding to follow Jesus.

To be strong in the Lord is different:

Paul wrote about this over in

It’s an art of learning to let go of our own perceived strength and pride, taking hold of the strength God gives us.

It calls for prayer, reading the Word, learning to get along with others in the Body of Christ and in the world, learning new patterns of holy living, learning a new way of thinking and seeing the world through the lens of the gospel.

So we understand that when people mistreat us or things seem to go oddly wrong, we need to remember that we aren’t truly wrestling against other people.

For example, often an employee who seems rude may be just implementing the policy of company leaders.

If the economy is bad and your boss is tightening your budget it may be large factors beyond their control.

Maybe chief economic advisors to the president have made decisions that affect your industry.

Globalization may increase your competition.

Tariffs may cut off your customers.

Rulers and Authorities push the big levers that sometimes affect us negatively.

But even above them we have spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Here I think Paul is using a combination of code language while referring to the Roman authorities who put many unjust policies in place and spiritual language referring to demonic forces in the spiritual realm.

The point is this: try not to get too distracted and frustrated by low level human adversaries.

Cut them a break.

Realize when it’s really a spiritual battle that requires a loving spiritual response.

In this way we may be able to live with less frustration and more traction.

We know when to move on to bigger battles.

But we should be willing and able to stand.

That’s a military term.

Taking up a position and standing firm, ready to respond.

It doesn’t mean picking a fight.

It means being willing to lay down our lives.

This becomes our new way of living.

These become our new items to wear, if you will, daily.

We put them on, not casually, but with purpose.

Here is how Paul says we should dress daily for spiritual success....

In a world where our leaders lawyers say “truth isn’t truth” we need to be wary.

Truth matters.

Jesus said

The belt is a key anchor point for holding your armor together.

The truth holds things together.

And in Jesus we know truth isn’t just the right information.

The truth is a person...

so the truth is remembering who Jesus is, what his authority is, and being in relationship with him.

Anxiety can quickly overtake us when we speculate too much about things.

Stick to what you know for sure: Jesus is God.

Jesus loves you.

Jesus died for everyone’s sins.

Jesus rose again victorious over sin and death and hell.

Jesus is coming again to defeat every enemy and bless all his dear children.

Jesus has the power to get you through any circumstances.

Jesus has the power to change any life, even the one giving you a hard time right now!

But also at the core of your being live by the truth.

Do things in line with the truth.

Make changes as necessary to reflect the truth in your life.

Otherwise things won’t fit quite right...

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Paul says our own righteousness isn’t worth much but....

Again, not our own strength and not our own righteousness.

That doesn’t mean we don’t live righteously.

It just means that Jesus works deeply in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

As more of his power flows into us, we take on more ability to live out God’s righteousness.

In a certain sense it’s credited to us, based on what Jesus did.

But in another very important sense, it is imparted to us.

God applies it to our lives.

We really change and become more like Jesus.

Righteousness keeps us from getting into bigger problems.

So in that sense it defends us from many attacks.

We avoid the danger altogether.

One of the genius things about the Roman army was their emphasis on mobility.

Needless conflict will weigh you down.