The Invisible Opposition
Notes
Transcript
10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength.
11 Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil.
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
13 Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand.
14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate,
15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace.
16 Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.
18 Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers.
19 As for me, pray that when I open my mouth, I’ll get a message that confidently makes this secret plan of the gospel known.
20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say.
The Invisible Opposition
The Invisible Opposition
I said last week that there is an war being waged for the heart and soul of our nation. It is real thing. Look at some of the issues that are being talked about today.
Critical Race Theory is being taught in schools. Maybe you have heard it mentioned on the news and have wondered what it is all about. The Washington Times published an editorial about it back in December. The authors wrote:
Critical Race Theory — a Marxist framework that views society only through the lens of race-based oppression — is everywhere these days. In corporations, federal agencies, schools, and even the military, it sows hatred and division in the name of “dignity” and “equality.”
This ideology teaches that “Whiteness” is oppression and that all its manifestations — including “the nuclear family,” “objective, rational linear thinking,” and the idea that “hard work is the key to success” — must be stamped out. It rejects the most fundamental beliefs of our nation, that we are all equal under the law and should have the same opportunities to prosper and pursue happiness based on individual merit.
It holds that all caucasians are racially biased and constantly discriminate without even knowing it, whereas “people of color” are incapable of biased or discriminatory behavior. This is racial stereotyping of the worst kind. (1)
One of many problems with this theory is that is breeds hate. The ones that hold to this theory are using it to stir up hate and resentment between people of different colors.
Another problem and the main problem that I see with it is that it simplistically reduces the problems in the world to an issue of power and social constructs. It removes the moral agency of an individual and class of individuals and takes away the redemptive nature based on the color of a person’s skin.
This primary issue was described well by two writers in the Arkansas Online.
Critical Race Theory has critical errors. By simplistically reducing evil to power dynamics and external social realities, CRT denies moral agency and the redemptive potential of entire groups of people because of their racial identity. (2)
What this theory does it totally removes God from the picture. It removes sin from the picture and places the problems in the world are the direct result of the color of a person’s skin.
This theory does not reflect a Christian, Biblical world view point.
Why do you think that some in the political realm what the government involved in all aspects of a person’s life? It is because they believe that they know best what is good for us.
This invisible virus that has spread around the world is being used to dramatically change how we live. People are increasingly becoming reliant on the government to provide for them rather than helping people become self-reliant.
The tax code was changed as it relates to the child tax credit. It use to be the credit was applies when you filed your taxes. The code was changed and beginning in July, payments will be going out to families with children under the age of 18. What does this mean?
A family with 2 children will get about $500 directly deposited from the government every month for 6 months. They more kids you have, the more you will get.
I’m not opposed to the tax credit, it has existed since we had our first child. What I am seeing though is that the idea has taken a life of its own and now people are becoming increasingly reliant on the government.
Where are you going with this?
There is a war going on, it is an invisible war with an invisible opposition.
This is a war that goes beyond the war for the heart and soul of our nation. This is a war that goes to the heart of humanity. It is a war that has been won. It was won by Jesus on the Cross. The war may be won, but the battle rages on.
Paul in this grand passage of Scriptures tells that we have to be dressed for the battle. He paints a very militaristic picture. I think we get hung up on the military picture and loose sight of the broader picture that he is trying to show us.
Paul wrote
Ephesians 6:11–12 (CEB)
11 Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil.
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
He starts out with the what. He is telling us what we are to do. We are to put on God’s armor. I will be honest about this, I struggle a little about what he is really saying here.
I think maybe the reason that I have struggled with this passage is because we generally read this passage independent of the rest of this entire letter.
I have been trying lately to read it in the context of this entire letter and it has opened a vast different picture for me. Let me take you back to the beginning of this letter.
Ephesians 1:3–4 (CEB)
3 Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven.
4 God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world.
This begins and ends with God. God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Don’t miss that phrase, blessed us in Christ.
There is a newer translation that renders it this way:
Ephesians 1:3 (TPT)
3 Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!
All because he sees us wrapped into Christ. Paul looks at this also in his letter to the Galatians. He was talking about our faith and that through our baptism we are clothed with Christ.
27 It was faith that immersed you into Jesus, the Anointed One, and now you are covered and clothed with his anointing.
What is Paul saying in these couple of verses. God sees us dressed up, wrapped up in Jesus. The righteousness that we have is Jesus righteousness.
Paul is writing to this church in the grand city of Ephesus. It was in this city that the temple to the Goddess Diana was located. This temple was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.
The temple of Diana was not properly the home of the goddess; it was but a shrine, the chief one, devoted to her service. She lived in Nature; she was everywhere wherever there was life, the mother of all living things; all offerings of every possible nature were therefore acceptable to her; hence, the vast wealth which poured into her temple. Not only was she worshipped in her temple, but in the minute shrines which were sometimes modeled after the temple. (3)
Diana was viewed as the Mother Goddess of the earth. This small church was located at the very heart of this cult worship.
The apostle is writing to a small group of Christians at Ephesus, so tiny that they are like a drop in a bucket in the midst of that teaming population because this is what has happened.
Under the influence of the gospel of Christ, this tiny handful of men and women have done one of the hardest things we are ever called upon to do. They have separated themselves from the world. They have severed themselves from revered roots of the worship of Diana. They have forfeited dear and vital friendships, and they are now living an alien life within their own city. They are strangers in their own home. They are foreigners in their native land. They are pilgrims in their own country. They are in it and yet not of it.
They have clothed themselves with Christ, their lives are wrapped up in Jesus.
Do you remember what Paul asked when he met with this little group?
2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you came to believe?” They replied, “We’ve not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Paul talked to them about the Holy Spirit and then he laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Luke writing about that event wrote:
7 Altogether, there were about twelve people.
This was just a small little church.
I can only imagine the opposition that this small group of Christians faced.
Paul met in the Synagogue until he was rejected and he went and found a lecture hall that he could met in. It was from this lecture hall in Ephesus that one if not the greatest outreach and spread of the gospel spread from.
Paul spent 2 years teaching and discipling believers from this lecture hall. Luke wrote:
10 This went on for two years, so that everyone living in the province of Asia—both Jews and Greeks—heard the Lord’s word.
They believe that there was a population of about 2 million people in the province of Asia.
Imagine that, Paul began with 12 believers and in the span of 2 years they were able to spread the Gospel message to over 2 million people.
Can you imagine how it turned that part of the world upside down. It did, it began hitting the pockets of those involved in the cult worship of Diana.
Acts 19:18–20 (CEB)
18 Many of those who had come to believe came, confessing their past practices.
19 This included a number of people who practiced sorcery. They collected their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. The value of those materials was calculated at more than someone might make if they worked for one hundred sixty-five years.
That was a huge financial hit, the texts and materials were valued at about $4,273,000 in today’s dollars. I remember back in the 1970’s that churches would often have a service where musical records and related stuff was burned. Those services were nothing compared to what happened there in Ephesus.
Listen to verse 20
20 In this way the Lord’s word grew abundantly and strengthened powerfully.
God was on the move. His power was was being dramatically displayed.
The city another hit financially. People weren’t buying the stuff related to the worship of Diana. There was a great uprising about the church there in Ephesus. Protests broke out because people were losing their business profit.
It is to this church that Paul is writing. They are facing persecution because the church is having an impact on the community. They were making a difference and the powers of Hell have taken notice.
Paul looks beyond the persecution and the uprisings, beyond the people trying to stop the spread of the Gospel. He looks beyond all of this. The apostle Paul looks beyond the opposition of flesh and blood and the steely barriers of usage and tradition; he pierces the visible veil and beholds invisible opponent, spiritual, alive, active, and hostile. Listen to him:
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
Folks, our fight today is not against human enemies. Sometimes it might seem like it, but if we could beyond the veil of the natural and the supernatural we would see a spiritual world that is sinister and is wanting to see the Church fail, it is wanting to see you and I as Christians fail.
Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit was able to glimpse beyond and see what was really happening. With that vision of what was happening in the supernatural world around he wrote and told them:
10 Now my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last: Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you.
11 Put on God’s complete set of armor provided for us, so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies of the accuser!
This strength and power is supernatural because it is God’s power and strength.
Put on God’s complete set of armor he says. There are a couple of places in scripture that we read about God’s armor. The prophet Isaiah wrote about God’s armor.
17 putting on righteousness as armor and a helmet of salvation on his head, putting on garments of vengeance, and wrapping himself in a cloak of zeal.
Solomon also wrote about God’s armor.
17 For his weapon, the Lord will take his zeal. He will arm creation itself for the fight against his foes.
18 He will put on justice as his body armor. He will strap on honest judgment as his helmet.
19 He will take up holiness as a shield that can never be beaten down.
20 He will sharpen his fierce anger into a sword. The cosmos itself will join with him to defeat those who have wandered from reason.
This is God’s armor and it would seem from these passages that it what God himself wears. Paul knows this and he states “Put on God’s armor.”
Why, why do we need to put on God’s Armor?
Ephesians 6:11 (CEB)
so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil.
Put on God’s armor so that you can stand. He uses that word three times, stand against the tricks of the devil, stand your ground, and still stand.
Stand so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. Satan, the enemy over our souls is seeking to trick us and deceive us to turn our backs on God. He’s been doing it from the beginning.
12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
There are three characteristics of these enemies.
1 - They are powerful. They are rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil.
2 - They are wicked. Power is neutral, meaning it is not good or evil. Power can be used for good or it can be misused for evil purposes. He said they are forces of cosmic darkness. Darkness is where they live, the darkness of sin.
3 - They are cunning. Paul wrote in verse 11 about the tricks of the devil. Look how he tricked Adam and Eve, he is still doing that same thing. Sometimes he comes like a roaring lion. Sometimes he comes dressed like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Sometimes he comes as a subtly as a snake.
How can we stand against the work of the enemy? The enemy is powerful, wicked and cunning. We are too weak.
The Message of Ephesians 1. The Enemy We Face (Verses 10–12)
Yet many—if not most—of our failures and defeats are due to our foolish self-confidence when we either disbelieve or forget how formidable our spiritual enemies are.
The Message of Ephesians 1. The Enemy We Face (Verses 10–12)
Only the power of God can defend and deliver us from the might, the evil and the craft of the devil.
The enemy may be strong and wicked and cunning, but the power of God is stronger. The power that is ours is the same that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The power of the enemy was defeated at the cross.
The Message of Ephesians (1. The Enemy We Face (Verses 10–12))
When Paul urges us to draw upon the power, might and strength of the Lord Jesus (verse 10), he uses exactly the same trio of words which he has used in 1:19 (dynamis, kratos and ischus) in relation to God’s work of raising Jesus from the dead.
Look back to chapter 1 in this letter
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers,
19 and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength.
20 God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens,
21 far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future.
22 God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church,
23 which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way.
Wow, praise God!
Who will we fear? God has given us everything that we need. Paul instructs us to put on God’s armor so that we can stand against, to stand our ground, and to stand.
Chris Tomlin wrote Whom Shall I Fear
You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light
Whom shall I fear?
You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my sword and shield
Though trouble linger still
Whom shall I fear?
I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies is always by my side
My strength is in Your name
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in Your hands
I’m holding on to Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
© 2012 sixsteps Songs / Worship Together Music / Alletrop Music (BMI) (Admin. at EMICMGPublishing.com)
Who are you fearing today?
We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
Ephesians 1:18–23 (CEB)
22 God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church,
23 which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way.
We are clothed in Christ, we have put Christ on. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessings. That is everything that we need. So why should we fear?
(1) Canaparo, G., & von Spakovsky, H. (2020, December 22). Marxist “Critical Race Theory” seeps into U.S. courts. Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/marxist-critical-race-theory-seeps-into-us-courts/
(2) Stonestreet, J., & Padgett, T. (2021, February 20). Critical Race Theory conflicts with Christian worldview. Arkansas Online. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/feb/20/critical-race-theory-conflicts-with-christian/
(3) Banks, E. (1915). Diana; Artemis. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/diana-artemis.html