Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Whenever we think of warfare, we often think of tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, bombs, drones and battleships.

Whenever we think of warfare back in Biblical times, we think of chariots, swords, spears, bows and arrows and possibly sling-shots.

One of the things that we see throughout the Old Testament is that chariots were the main weapon of choice for the mighty nations of the day (like Egypt, Babylon, Assyria).

This was because chariots were very swift on the battle field and a single archer or swordsman could be both protected and have the ability to kill dozens of enemy troops who were on foot.

As time went on, though, and the Roman empire came into power, chariots were far less popular on the battlefield.

In their place, the Roman legion became the most feared sight in combat.

The Roman legion was comprised of a great amount of foot soldiers who were extremely well-trained, well-equipped and well led by some of the greatest military minds to ever walk the earth.

The Roman legion was near robotic at times as they would destroy opposing armies with extreme efficiency and with minimal casualties.

When we think of the Romans, we think of their great cities, their seemingly barbaric practices (gladiator games) and their vast power, however we can be quick to overlook the backbone of the Roman empire - the soldier.

There are a couple of different reactions 21st Century Christians have to this passage of Scripture.

1) Some people will absolutely love it because they either love history, war or video games involving warfare.

Some of you love laser tag and paintball and this is your favorite passage in Ephesians because Paul talks about going off to war!

You hear the “armor of God” and you think, this is right up my alley!

2) Others will hear this message and be a little confused.

You read about a breastplate, helmet, sandals, belt and a shield and think that this armor seems a little outdated and you question if the armor needs a software update to include things like a tablet, machine gun, google lenses and a radio.

You find more security in a marine with his grenades and sniper rifle than you do in this soldier and his metal sword.

3) Others will read this passage and feel uneasy in their stomach because war is of the devil and something that 21st century Christians are too evolved for.

Because of that, talking about spiritual powers, warfare and flaming darts makes some people a little concerned and desire to simply stop talking about the matter at hand and skip forward to something else because they like to think that there is not a war at hand and that what we see with our eyes is all that there is until we pass on to glory...

Church, there is a war going on behind the veil and we cannot see it - but it is certainly transpiring at this very moment in time.

There is a war taking place that is greater than flesh and blood, it is between God and the devil, the forces of light and darkness.

That cosmic battle is going on and many people are completely oblivious of it.

They might even be a regular attender of a church, yet they do not have their armor on!

Our text this morning is the famous “Armor of God” passage of , but before we read it, a question: “Are you ready for War?” Are you going to participate in the battle, or are you simply going to stay on the sidelines and hope that other people pick up the slack?

I pray that as we read and go through this passage that you would be encouraged and convicted to put on the whole armor of God in order to rely on the Lord’s strength, stand firm against the devil’s schemes and to be constantly in prayer.

Let’s read this awesome text.

A couple of notes before we look first at standing in the Lord’s strength.

This text might come across as ancient and outdated because of the military terminology used to describe this soldier, however even though technology has changed, the spiritual needs and battle between light and dark has not changed.

This is an ageless text and a reminder that we must be ready for battle today just as believers 2000 years ago in Ephesus because we face the same enemy.

This passage might seem strange and out of place in the Bible but we will see that it is rooted with Old Testament Scripture throughout.

You might think that this is bizarre to read about, however it is actually a brilliant conclusion to this letter to the Ephesians.

In Ephesians we have seen how the battle is already won, Christ has vanquished our foe and we have the ultimate victory, however there is still a battle going on.

We must put on Christ and His armor.

Whenever we do this, we understand that we have nothing to fear because Christ has defeated sin and death.

Even though we might not notice or see the battle taking place, we must look at Paul’s words regarding this real, unseen battle taking place underneath the real world problems that we see on a daily basis.

We must be aware of the battle (10-13)

Our culture is very un-confrontational.

We dislike the awkwardness and isolation that can come with confrontation.

Our society likes to be right, though, so whenever someone has an opinion or view that is odd they like to crucify said person immediately rather than hearing their side.

We hate confrontation.

We hate the idea of there being a battle.

We just got done discussing the household instructions of and the first 9 verses of .

We love the peace that was discussed in those verses and we’d love to go back to that rather than looking at the idea of conflict as we see in verses 10-24 in .

As Martin Lloyd-Jones said regarding the implications of this message from Paul, “This is a stirring call to battle, do you not hear the bugle and trumpet?

We are being roused, we are being stimulated, we are being set upon our feet.....

The tone is strong.”

The peace of Christ’s Cross is to be experienced only in the midst of a relentless struggle against evil.

Friends, we are in the midst of a war and we desperately need the strength of the Lord and the armor of God if we are to survive!

The first step, though, comes in being aware of the battle.

We see Paul state in verses 10-12 that we have an enemy.

As Stott notes, a thorough knowledge of the enemy and a healthy respect for his prowess are a necessary preliminary to victory in war.

We cannot underestimate our spiritual enemy, because if we do then we can easily view God’s armor as unnecessary and we will go off to war unarmed and defeated immediately.

We must understand that the devil is out there and he is strong.

He is powerful.

He is wicked.

He is cunning.

Verse 12 shows us that our war is against the principalities and powers of the present darkness.

Do you recall the temptation of Jesus in the desert?

Satan took Jesus up to look at the surrounding kingdoms and promised to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in the Gospel of John?

The devil is the ruler of this world - as Jesus Himself said.

The devil is extremely powerful!

Even though the cross has defeated these powers in one sense, they have not surrendered to this point and they will not until the 2nd coming of Christ.

Often times whenever someone knows that they are defeated they squirm and they try to avoid the defeat - that is the idea we get from Satan here.

He knows he is defeated, however he is still trying to avoid that fate and cause chaos.

We do not need to go into this battle questioning if the victory will come our way or not, but instead we go into the battle knowing that we are victorious through Christ and that we fight with His armor in this cosmic battle.

Apart from this, though, we would easily be defeated because the devil is powerful.

He is also wicked.

Our enemy knows the power he wields and he uses it for destruction rather than construction.

If you’ve ever seen a wrecking ball, you know exactly how powerful a tool can destruct an object.

Just as it takes a crane and builders weeks and months to construct something beautiful, it takes a wrecking ball a couple of moments to completely destroy it.

The same concept exists here.

Satan is powerful and he uses his power for evil.

His associates do the same.

As JB Phillips put it, they are spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil!

FF Bruce notes that the appearance of Christ on earth was the signal for an unprecedented outburst of activity on the part of the realm of darkness controlled by these world-rulers.

We see so many examples of demonic activity throughout Jesus’ ministry and that happened for a reason, the ruler of this world was not pleased with Jesus’ ministry and wanted to stop it!

Guess what?

That war is still raging today.

The battle is not over.

We must recognize that these powers are ruthless and would like nothing more than to completely destroy us and stop us from spreading the Gospel message.

These powers are also cunning.

The devil is a dangerous wolf but he comes into our life in the middle of the day disguised as an innocent sheep.

Sometimes he roars like a lion, but he usually is subtle like a serpent.

Satan could certainly go about this battle by dropping bombs upon Christians for all to see, however that would be far too public.

Often times he prefers to seduce us into compromise and deceive us into error.

Lloyd-Jones noted that one of the greatest ways that Satan succeeds in this war is to convince people that he does not exist, “I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state of the Church today is the fact that the devil is being forgotten.

All is attributed to us; we have all become so psychological in our attitude and thinking.

We are ignorant of this great objective fact, the being, the existence of the devil, the adversary, the accuser, and his fiery darts.”

The devil is powerful, wicked and cunning.

He is the great deceiver and many people have bought into his lie that he either does not exist or that this battle is no longer being fought.

This is a lie church!

How can we expect to stand against such an enemy?

It is impossible on our own.

We are too weak, yet we try so often to fight this battle on our own because we forget how formidable our enemy is.

Only the power of God can defend and deliver us from the evil one.

The principalities and powers are strong, but God is stronger!

These evil powers are still working today, but they were defeated at the cross.

The invisible world in which they attack us and we defend ourselves is the very world in which Christ reigns over them and we reign with Him!

When Paul urges us to draw upon the power, might and strength of the Lord Jesus in verse 10, he uses exactly the same trio of words in in relation to God’s work of raising Jesus from the dead (dynamis, kratos, ischus).

The power that we so desperately need to fight against this foe is not found in our textbooks at school, it is not found on the football field or in the work place.