The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

Joel Gilbert

The Real War We Wage • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago • Presented 4 years ago • 48:51

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Our world and our society is filled with conflict, and yet the real struggles that we encounter are superficial in comparison to the theater of spiritual warfare that exists.

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The Theaters of War

Several years ago, I had an opportunity to take a group of senior adults down to the WWII memorial in Washington DC. It had been recently completed, and no one on our trip - including me - had been there to see it.

The WWII memorial is a massive monument. The central feature is an oval-shaped pool with a large fountain on either end and many smaller fountains encircling the pool. Around the pool are two large monuments - one for the pacific theater and the other for the European theater of conflict. There are smaller monuments noting each of the states and territories that contributed soldiers for the war. There are over 4000 gold stars signifying the 405,399 Americans that lost their lives in the war. (source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/ww2memorialguide.htm)

One of the things that was fascinating on this trip was that I got to visit the memorial with people who had served in that war. Some served in the Pacific Theater, others in Europe - even some in other parts of the world - away from the dangers of the conflict. They each had their own stories, impressions, regrets, victories. The war impacted them all differently.

War is a complicated enterprise. It involves more than simply shooting enemies and taking territory. There are advancement and retreat strategies. There are logistics for getting supplies, reinforcements, food, and more to each of the different theaters or locations of the war.

Beyond that, each theater has its own requirements and limitations. The invasion and battle of Normandy required vastly different resources and considerations than did the campaign that took place in Italy or the air assaults that took place in the Pacific - and yet all of this was one big ugly war.

War impacts the lives of those in the field and the lives of those at home.

The resources that were used in the war are not provided by the soldiers themselves - but by the nation that they serve. The strategies were implemented on the ground, but decided in the highest ranks. Most of the people in the front lines of the battle never saw the true enemy - they only faced the ambassadors or emissaries on the other side of the battle line.

History tells us that there has never been a century when the whole world has been at peace - maybe not even a decade. Conflicts between nations, tribes, people groups, and political parties have been almost a constant in some part of the world throughout history. And those are only the fights we can see.

Today, we are going to start a journey that considers the war we can’t see - it’s a war that is beneath the surface - it’s a war that lives behind the headlines - this is a spiritual war. As we walk through this journey, we’re going to reflect on Ephesians 6:10-18 as it provides not only the perspective of the war but also information on our part in it. Each week in this series, we’re going to read Ephesians 6:10-18 - we’re also going to work on memorizing this passage together.

We’ve already read this once, but so that we can have it clearly in our minds, let’s read this aloud together.

Ephesians 6:10–18 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil 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 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,

For this week, work on memorizing the first verse - Eph. 6:10.

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Each Sunday, we’ll take time to read this and we’ll also make time for people to recite this. For those who are here, you’ll have a chance to recite it and be encouraged by others. For those at home, if you’d like to submit a video of you reciting the section of scripture that we’re memorizing, feel free to send it to me by Thursday and we’ll see if we can get it in the service.

But today, we’re going to consider the first few verses of this passage as we ponder the reality of Spiritual Warfare.

The war is real - but the enemy is not visible (Eph. 6:12)

With so much conflict and strife in the world, we have become used to the fact that struggles exist. We see the political left and right fighting for power and change. We see progressives and conservatives laying out their agendas on the moral landscape of the nation. We hear talk of justice, equality, acceptance, and unity - but rather than being measured with grace there is judgment - one false move and the cancel culture cancels you.

We hear statements and read signs and hashtags that say that black, blue, or LGBTQ lives matter. We pick our battles and pick our sides, but I fear that much of this is in vain. Our rants on facebook and twitter or the signs we post on the lawn only seem to exacerbate the conflict like throwing gasoline on a fire. I’m not saying we should take down our signs or others, but to recognize that what we see is only superficial and maybe even distracting to the real issues, the real war.

You see, Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against what is seen, but against what is unseen.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

There is some debate and speculation about where evil began and when this cosmic battle really got started - but as it pertains to us - the war began in Genesis 3. You see, when the serpent tempted and deceived Eve - he began the spiritual war. Think about this for a moment.

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), which means that to some degree they already bore some likeness to God - not necessarily in their physical appearance - because God has no physical appearance - He is Spirit. There is something innate in our being that allows us to bear God’s image - some suggest our creative abilities, others suggest our relational abilities. And yet when the serpent tempted Eve - he said that she would be “like God” - in this case - knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). When Adam and Eve saw that the fruit was good for eating and delightful - they took and ate of it. At that moment - sin entered into the world. At that moment - they did know good and evil - they also knew shame. This initial attack was the first of many to come.

In response to their rebellion - God makes life difficult and challenging for Adam and Eve. You see he had told them from their earliest days...

Genesis 1:28–29 ESV

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

In order to accomplish this mission, they would need each other. In order to bear children - it would require a male and a female. While there is much joy the birth of a child - because of the fall - now there is pain (Gen. 3:16).

In giving the mandate to subdue the earth, God provided the joy of work - meaningful labor. Because of the fall, now that work is filled with toil and frustration (Gen. 3:17-19).

But - to the serpent - God cursed him and declared what the future would hold.

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Notice at the end, it says that he - the offspring or the seed - will bruise the head of the serpent. Some translations use the word “crush.” The point being that a head wound is fatal. A heal wound can be painful and even debilitating, but not fatal.

So, throughout Scripture - we’ve seen this battle between the people of God and the serpent play out. Here are a couple of instances

In 1 Samuel 11 - Saul had been anointed King but had not been fully accepted by the people. The nation is confronted by Nahash, the King of the Ammonites - whose name means “snake.” The Ammonites not only embodied Israel’s adversaries, but they had set themselves up as enemies of God and his ways. So Saul’s very first battle as king may have brought reminders to the people of Israel about the conflict that had begun in Genesis 3 with the serpent.

When David confronts Goliath, one commentator suggested that his was again a reminder of the original battle as Goliath’s armor seemed to be scale-like (9Marks Bible Talk, episode 1).

Not every physical battle or skirmish or every image of a snake becomes a manifestation of this spiritual conflict. But there is something that we need to pay attention to beneath the surface, behind the headlines - that is this ongoing battle between the ways of God and the deception of the evil one.

Jesus Christ - his life, death and resurrection become the perfect embodiment of not only this war, but the eventual victory that God will have.

We need to remember that Satan is not the polar opposite of God. It’s not like God is the good God and Satan is the evil god. Satan, as powerful as he and his legions are, are lesser beings - fallen angels.

So, what does this mean for us to day in the physical world, in the things that we can see, touch, experience?

We need to pray that God would give us eyes to perceive the war with spiritual eyes. It’s so easy to see this spiritual battle as a simple conflict between republicans and democrats, or left verse right, or one ethnicity/race against another - but I wonder if that is exactly what the enemy wants - he wants us to focus on these petty squabbles. The republicans are not all good and right or evil and wrong. The democrats are not all good and right or evil and wrong. There are deceptions and lies at work on both sides of the political battles.

Understand the enemy’s tactics. His foundational method is deception. He loves to make what is wicked or evil - look good. He is referred to as the “angel of light” because of his nature to deceive. He wants to deceive us into sin. He wants to trick us into moving away from godliness. He wants to undermine everything that God is doing - destroying our witness by lies.

This war is not fought with the same weapons as the conflicts that we experience in the world. Sure, there are tools that we can use in this world, but we need to be careful not to only use the weapons of this world - it’s not in social media, advertising, signage, hashtags, or physical weapons. The weapons that we wield in this conflict are from the Lord.

Let me just bring this home for a quick moment. When we were in the heat of the riots and responses to George Floyd’s death - there were a lot of posts and signs and sentiments that said - “Black lives matter, silence is complicity.” By making this an either/or statement - it seems like the Enemy (satan and his legions) is trying to keep the strife going - forcing people to choose sides. A sign doesn’t a a statement true - it only makes a statement. You see the lives of African Americans do matter. Black, brown, yellow, red, white - all life has value because everyone is created in the image of God - we are all image bearers. Any yes, there have been injustices thrust upon some people - but I personally can’t put up a sign that also suggests allegiance to an organization that is doing some good but also stands for so much that is antithetical to scripture - such as the value of the family. There must be a better, more biblical way to navigate this spiritual battle.

Which brings us to our second point to consider. Not only is this war for real, but...

God’s armor for us is thorough (Eph. 6:11)

Ephesians 6:11 ESV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

In the armor that God has for us to wear into this spiritual battle, he has covered all of the bases. He has provided a thorough defence for us to withstand the evil one and his wicked schemes

We’re not going to look at this too closely right now, but rather over the next several weeks, we’ll seek to gain an understanding of this more fully as we reflect on each element of this armor of God. You see, God’s armor is defensive as we are reminded of what He has done for us and what the ultimate outcome will be. His armor is offensive as we put the Word of God into action.

But, I want us to consider one final thought today, that is...

God’s strength is sufficient (Eph. 6:10)

This, again, is the verse that I want us to memorize this week.

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

But what does this mean?

How can we be strong in the Lord?

How can we be strong in the strength or power of his might or dominion?

This is where context becomes key. Every verse of the Bible sits with other verses around it - making up paragraphs (at least in the prose passages). These paragraphs find themselves nestled in chapters and those chapters in books and those books are part of the greater whole of Scripture.

We’ll see this more when we get to the epistles in our study of God’s story in Scripture - but that won’t be until sometime after the new year - but if we were to simply outline the book of Ephesians it could be outlined in two sections:

Indicatives (ch. 1-3)

Imperatives (ch. 4-6)

The first three chapters reveal or indicate things about God and us. The second three chapters give us instruction on what we should do or how we should live in light of what we know.

So, Eph. 6:10 tells us to be strong in the Lord and the the strength of his might - what does the context of Ephesians tell us about God and his might and our ability to find our strength in him?

Consider these truths that can give us confidence/strength in God...

We have been:

blessed by God (1:3)

chosen before the foundation of the world (1:4)

adopted into his family (1:5) - and nothing can remove us from his family

redeemed by his blood (1:7)

forgiven of our sins (1:7)

lavished with his grace (1:7-8)

given insight into the mystery of his will and his eternal plan (1:9-10)

given an inheritance (1:11)

sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit who is our guarantee of our inheritance (1:13-14)

and that’s just part of chapter 1!

These first few chapters also reveal that:

God had put all things under Christ (1:22)

We were dead in our sins, and now we are alive to God (2:1-9)

We were saved by the grace of God, not by our own works (2:8-9) - which means that we can’t lose our salvation by our works.

We, however, have been created to do good works (2:10)

We were far off from God as gentiles, but have been brought near (2:12-13)

Jesus is our source of peace with God (2:14)

We have access to God through the Spirit (2:18)

We are being built up into one body, household, and temple (2:16, 19, 21)

We are the dwelling place of God by the Spirit (2:22)

Beyond all of that, as the church of God, the body of Christ, we get to display the wisdom of God through into the spiritual realm:

Ephesians 3:10–11 ESV

so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Because of all of this truth, all of these indicatives, and more... the Apostle Paul’s desire for the Ephesians - and I think all believers is this:

Ephesians 3:14–19 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Part of the structure of this book is bound up in the fact that Paul wants to remind us who we are in God. He wants to firmly establish our knowledge of God and us, so that our actions are not lived out in tradition, or random commands - but rooted in our identity as the people of God and His disciples.

You see, the deceiver’s methods want to undermine all of that.

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

You were saved by God, chosen by God, established by God, sealed by God, called by God, given work to do by God.

Your identity and significance is wrapped up in who you are in God, in Christ Jesus - not in your mistakes, not in your tendencies, not in your failures, not in your sin. Satan wants to undermine that. Satan was to make you think things that are not true.

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Closing thoughts

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to consider this real war we wage and the armor that God has given us. As we do this, let me encourage you to memorize this passage with me. Let me also encourage you to take time maybe once each week to read or listen through the book of Ephesians in one sitting. It will only take 15 minutes or so - but it will keep your mind fresh on what is true.

Next - if you are not yet a follower of God - call on Him, repent of your sin and trust in what Jesus did on the cross. He is our ultimate victory in this real war we wage. If you don’t understand how to do this - talk to me after the service or leave a note on Facebook or send me an email and it would be a joy to sit down and open the word of God with you.

Finally, this idea of spiritual warfare sometimes has people thinking that the devil is out to get them or that demons are lurking under every rock. There may be some truth to that at times, but we have to remember that Satan and his demons are limited in power and location. They may be extremely old, but they are not in every place all the time like God is. That being said, nearly 80 years C. S. Lewis wrote a series of letters from the perspective of an elder, retired demon to his nephew and younger apprentice. I’d like to read one of these letters to you from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood.

(copy and paste or simply read from the book) Read Letter 2

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Extra-biblical Sources:

Elwell, Walter A. Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Electronic ed. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996.

Erickson, Millard Christian Theology, (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2004)

Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition (HarperColins, New York, 2013).

Moreau, A. Scott, Harold Netland, and Charles van Engen. Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Baker Books; A. Scott Moreau, 2000.