Ephesians 6:10-12
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction: Growing up I loved wresting. I don’t follow it anymore…it has always been pretty dramatic, but these days it is a total soap opera. In my opinion it is hard to be entertained by it, plus I think it has gotten a lot more graphic and sensual with the ever passing years. But anyway, I used to love it and not to brag but but one time I even touched Marty Genetti! (The Rockers)
Look at this guy...
Not only that I touched Koko B. Ware
Look at this guy...
Did you ever watch WWF or WWE? If so who was your favorite “wrestler?”
But I loved - the Ultimate Warrior - this dude was something else. (nightmare - when i had covid)
Have you ever watched a ppv event? Usually it is for some big anticipated event. One time I chipped in some money to watch a boxing match but all I saw was Mike Tyson eating Evander Holyfields ear! I didn’t pay to watch this guy eat…I paid to watch him box! But anyway, at the beginning of these major events there is a guy by the name of Michael Buffer who has done pretty well for himself by coining a 5 word phrase, “Let’s get ready to rumble.” Do you know that depending on the match, Buffer earns between $25,000 and $100,000 every time he utters those five famous words. On a few extremely rare occasions, Buffer has been paid $1 million.
Now I manuscript most of my sermons and last week my word count was 5607 words. Now according to the simple math, I have decided that I will be submitting a $28,035,000 check request. Annette, you might need to move some money around to cover it.
This does go to show that clearly there is an imbalance in the world. It also goes to show that instead of spending 3 years getting my 99 credit hour MDIV, I should have spent a week perfecting a perfect catch phrase to announce sporting events…and work on my voice intonation and buy a nice suit. That could have been me. Cleary I have chosen the wrong profession!
Anyway, we are coming up on the last 4 messages in Ephesians and Paul is going to play the part of a ringside announcer today in the text and he is basically saying, “Let’s get ready to rumble.”
Paul is writing this from prison and one thing about prisons we need to be aware of is that prisons have prison guards. As Paul is finishing this correspondence to the Ephesians he is sitting in a prison and is under the watchful eye of a prison guard and his mind starts to wander a bit and he gets to thinking…how can I end all this instruction? What I have communicated and written so far is so, so important. There is a lot at stake if they hear what I have to say and it then it goes in one ear and out the other hat would be bad. Or even worse if it goes in one ear and they think…ah…this isn’t that important or even more detrimental…it’s not true., that would be really really bad. So Paul is sitting there in prison, guarded by a fully armed and equipped Roman soldier and a lightbulb appears over his head and he begins to formulate some sentences in his mind that can instruct the Ephesian believers on one final matter before he ends his correspondence. He looks at a Roman solider who is fully equipped to engage in defending and fighting for his country and Paul then writes these words.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 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.
Textual Idea: We must ready ourselves for a rumble.
Textual Idea: We must ready ourselves for a rumble.
When you hear the phrase, “spiritual warfare” what is the mental image that parades across your mind?
Paul is going to proverbial say after all that he has said so far the the Ephesians… “let’s get ready to rumble. There are really three matters that Paul wants to bring up into our minds. In these three verses he will say to us:
Get right, get ready, get to rumblin’
Get Right (v. 10)
Get Right (v. 10)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
What is the importance of the word “finally” in verse 10?
Finally - this is really important - make sure you get this. This potentially is kind of saving the best for last. When you save something for last it is usually really important. Don’t forget to buy milk when you go to the store. Your last words usually have retention power and their message lasts longer.
Finally, in a sense everything Paul has said up to this point has lead to this teaching. It is kind of like a football team coming out of the tunnel to play on Sunday. The time has finally arrived. You put all your reps in throughout the week in practice and in game planning and finally, here we go. Let’s put it all into practice. Let’s go play the game.
It’s go time. We have had 27 messages of instruction so far in this series and we feel equipped and prepared but as we run out of the tunnel and onto the field, we realize that there actually is an opponent that has been prepping as well. There is an adversary that has been studying game film for a long time and he is going to attempt to disrupt everything that we have worked hard at learning for last 10 months.
All of this is at stake. The lessons we learned in chapters 1-3 about how we relate to God will be attacked. The practical ways in which we are to relate with one another, chapters 4-6, all of it is going to be threatened and attacked.
If there is one lesson from the book of Ephesians dating back to January 17 that Satan would want you to forget or doubt its truth, which one would it be?
Today there might be a few football and wrestling talking points.
So, “finally” is the first word in the sentence but it is followed up with this: “be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.”
What does it mean to be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might?”
First of all notice that this is an imperative form. That means this message is coming with a great sense of urgency. This is something that you MUST do if you hope to survive the battle. We must “be strong.” This word carries the idea of “capability.” It means to have the ability actually perform a task. We say…man…I don’t think in and of myself, if I am going up against, “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” I am not sure if I am that capable. If you think that…good for you. You are assessing the situation rightly.
You are like the looney toons going up the Mon-stars…you need Lebron James on your team. Actually you need Michael Jordan…come on!
You are not capable, that is why Paul says, “in the Lord” and “in the power of His might.” It is His might that you are to be “strong in.”
Guess what…God has quite a bit of strength. So many times my kids when trying to figure out how awesome God is or how strong God is they will say something like, “Jesus could pick up that mountain.” Or “Jesus is so tall.” Or… “Jesus is so fast…the fastest guy in the world.” Do you know what demonstrates power more than all of those physical abilities? How about the fact that through Him all things were made.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Romans 4:17 (ESV)
17 ...(God) gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
His means of bringing all things into existence was by His word.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
The Spoken word of God is extremely powerful and so is His written Word. His word is the strength of His might and if you are to make any headway into your game plan against the enemy, you better grab hold of this truth with all you got.
Here is another wrestling talking point to illustrate what it means to be strong “in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
How strong and powerful must God be if He created everything out of nothing with only using His Word?
Satan is more experienced, stronger and has more strategic skill than us, what chance do we have to defeat him on our own?
When I was in high school my favorite class was P.E.! One of the worst things about my favorite class was when we had to do a 1 or 2 week circuit on wrestling. One of my good friends was Kelly Rausch and if I had to spend a few weeks being sweaty and grappling with someone in the middle of my school day, I thought…ya I guess I do that with him. Now he was just a little bit lighter than me, but he was wrestler and in fact he took 4th place in the state tournament two years in a row. We were a 5a school. Now although he weighed less then me, he had way more experience and strength and strategic skill. The problem is, is if you are kind of strong and somewhat athletic in high school like I was, but have to wrestle someone in gym class who is stronger, more athletic and very advanced in the knowledge of pressure points and leverage and all the varied skills that you must have in your tool belt if you are to take 4th place in the 5a State Tournament two years in a row for your weight-class, you end up getting twisted up like a pretzel and it actually really hurts.
Our adversary has been at this a long time.
The one we are grappling with has way more experience at this. He has way more strength than us, and he has a tried and true tactic that he has nearly perfected over time and he has used it since the beginning of time. He knows how to apply just the right pressure at just the right time and in just the right place to leverage all of his experience and strength against us as he floats the phrase across our minds, “Did God really say?”
So although we find ourselves in a wrestling match with an opponent that is stronger than us, Paul says that we can place ourself “in the Lord” and wrestle with the strength that only He can provide. Believe it or not…even though it doesn’t feel like this in our day to day experience, we are wrestling against someone who has already had his head crushed.
Now, what if before I stepped out on the the wrestling mat I happened to glance over in a mirror and to my surprise I looked like Ultimate Warrior? If I looked like this, I would have a pretty amazing strut as I approached the mat. I would have quite a bit more confidence! That, in a sense is what Paul means when he says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Don’t try and bring your A game to the mat…it isn’t good enough. Hide yourself in the Lord and see what only He can do.
Now, let’s take the analogy one step closer to the truth. What if after admiring myself in the mirror, I stepped out onto the mat and I looked at Kelly and I noticed something looked different about him…I can’t quite put a finger on it, but finally…I look him up and down and I realize that something indeed is quite a bit different. The dudes head is crushed.
Now my chances for survival and not being twisted into a human knot have just shot up sky high. In that scenario, I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring. Bring it on. I would think, “I got this, because of the strength that is being supplied to me by my Ultimate Warrior physique and my opponent has a crushed head. I like my chances here.” In fact, having an opponent with a “crushed head” gives you such an advantage in any given match that you actually have the ability to win every time you step onto the mat.
So we can go about engage in our spiritual battles with the adversary knowing that God is empowering us and that our enemy has a crushed head.
A Mighty Fortress is Our God - “the prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure…one little word shall fell him.”
What’s the word??? Sunday school answer is? (JESUS)
Martin Luther actually wrote about the little word in a publication that he penned against the teachings of the Catholic church. “Devil, you lie.”
Jesus told us that Satan is the Father of lies…so if we hear the accousing voice of the enemy of our soul making accusations against us concerning our relationship with God Almighty making us questions our Fathers, love for us, or His care for us, or His God ordained purposes for us…if we here those statements we can put them in trash bin and dump them because the Devil is a liar and he has been so from the beginning.
Devil, you lie. If you ever have something come across the movie screen of your mind telling you something that is contrary to what you see in God’s Word, you can step out onto the mat with confidence and pin your opponent. If you ever experience something in your feelings that communicates something contrary to what God has already said in His word, then you can go out on the mat and put the crushed head of your opponent in a full nelson until he taps out.
Devil, you lie. This just goes to show you how important it is to know the truth. Jesus said,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Get Ready (v. 11)
Get Ready (v. 11)
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
We aren’t going to talk much today about the specific pieces of our armor, that will be over the next 2 weeks. Today, we just want to acknowledge that there is indeed armor to be assembled and utilized by the believer. We need this armor so that we might be able to “Stand against the schemes of the devil.”
So Paul tell us four times in the text that we must “withstand” or “stand” against the devils schemes. If someone tells you 4 times in a few short sentences to “stand” there is something important being communicated. We should picture something firm and not wobbly. We should imagine a structure whose foundations was built on a rock on not on the sand. Stability, firmness, and rock solid confidence because of being in Christ should sure up our confidence in the battle.
We are “to stand” “against the schemes of the devil.” What is a scheme?
A scheme is something that is designed to trick us…something that is against us. It is a strategic plot. The greek word is, “μεθοδεία.” What does that sound like? (METHOD). There is a method to his madness. We could take weeks trying to identify these specific methods, but I am trusting that you personally know of the specific sins that so easily entangle you…so we won’t take weeks to look into these things. I trust God, by His Spirit will open your mind and heart to see how the devil is personally game planning against you.
So often when it comes to spiritual matters, we get on a teeter totter. We don’t really find a balance. We slam one side down, or we slam the other side down. Sometimes we either blame the devil for everything, or we think he is responsible for nothing. The truth is somewhere in between. One thing, I think we can be sure of is that he wants us to be unbalanced in how we think of his tactics.
Martin Luther once noted that Christians are often like a drunk trying to get on a horse. First, the drunk falls off one side, only to climb back up and fall off the other side.
The primary scheme of the enemy is attempting to get us to doubt God’s Word. He tries to deceive us by making us think that what is false is actually true and that what is true is actually false.
Think about the scene in the garden. God, graciously spoke the truth about the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but Satan twisted God’s words, challenged His authority and then flat out lied to our first parents. This is his tactic and so often it works.
Adam should have put ever beast under his feet in the garden. He was charge by God to rule and exercise dominion over every beast of the field including the crafty serpent, but instead Adam was deceived by the serpent. The serpent was crafty and slipped out from underneath Adam’s God given authority. Adam should have crushed the garden intruders head because of his deceitful intentions, but since he didn’t, God made a promise that one day His very own Son to do some head crushing. But His head crushing will be different than that of the serpent who came in deceit.
In fact, the Son of God’s methods were and are the exact opposite of Satan’s methods. Satan uses lies…God uses truth. As redemptive history unfolds, Jesus shows up on the planet, “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).
If are under spiritual attack and all of us certainly are, don’t believe the lie.
You might be doubting your faith.
You might be attacked with discouragement.
You might be pummeled with troubled thoughts.
You might be given over to entertaining anxious and worrisome thoughts about your health, or finances, or your need for “daily bread” type things.
You might feel like clicking on that link that will take you to a website that you shouldn’t visit because you think it might provide some sense of satisfaction.
DON’T TAKE THE BAIT. Don’t believe the lie.
Where do you sense you more most vulnerable to spiritual attack?
Making us doubt the goodness of God or making us question whether or not God is holding out on us is our adversaries bread and butter play.
Jesus told us that Satan is the Father of lies…so if we hear the accusing voice of the enemy of our souls making accusations against us concerning our relationship with God Almighty making us questions our Fathers, love for us, or His care for us, or His God ordained purposes for us…if we here those statements we can put them in trash bin and dump them because the Devil is a liar and he has been so from the beginning.
The antidote for something that is false is something that is true.
If you are well acquainted with the flaming arrows of the evil one and feel that you are frequently under his oppressive attack and those feelings leads you to ignore the truth or doubt the truth that is this book…then your problems will persist.
If you are well acquainted with the flaming arrows of the evil one and feel that you are frequently under his oppressive attack and those feelings leads you to pour over the contents of this book, then your problems will still persist, but you will recognize those feelings for what they are…they are false…we don’t walk by feelings, we walk by faith. Specifically, faith in the Word of God, that was made flesh and dwelt among us…Jesus the Son of God who told Pilate right before He was handed over to be crucified that,
John 18:37 (ESV)
37 For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Jesus is the final revelation of the Father. He is the Final prophet. So we would do very well to heed the advice of God when He spoke from heaven while Peter, James and John were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
Listen to, believe, and obey the teachings of Jesus over and against your feelings, or your failing and even over things that potentially seem factual. God said it…we must believe it.
Get right. Get ready...
Get to Rumblin’ (V. 12)
Get to Rumblin’ (V. 12)
12 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.
Notice that it doesn’t say…get ready to rumble…it is written in a way that indicates that we are already in a rumble.
We do not wrestle…this is something that we are already engaged in. Some of you are already twisted up in a knot and you didn’t even know it. That is a very bad place to be. I want to scream to you from the corner…wake up…watch out…this isn’t just some circuit in PE class, this isn’t some passive play and pretend time. This is the real deal. Paul says the “days are evil” so be careful how you walk not as unwise but as wise.
What we see here is that there is a structure to the forces of evil that are against us. Now, to use the analogy that Martin Luther brought up earlier...I don’t want any of us to fall off the horse on either side.
Some within Christendom have developed whole systems regarding spiritual warfare that are based on this text, but it is not what this text is teaching.
Some will look at texts like this and texts like 2 Cor. 10:4, and build strategies for taking out these various forces that supposedly are occupying different territory. 2 Cor. 10:4 says...
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
So there is talk of weaponry, warfare, power, and the destruction of strongholds in that passage. So there are military analogies being used…so some think that we need to go on the advance and, “go into the enemies camp and take back what he stole from me.”
If you think that way…then you have learned one way of falling off a horse. Now, Paul does discuss weaponry in this verse, but if you read all of 2 Corinthians you will notice that Paul already defined our weapons in chapter 6:7 as truthful speech and right living. Look at it...
7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
The weapons that Paul already informed them of was their “truthful speech” and there “right living.”
Some see spiritual warfare as some sort of spiritual turf war and we must arm up and go out and claim back the turf.
This thinking supposes that instead of God ruling in a certain location there is a “ruler of evil,” or an “evil authority,” that needs to be kicked out of certain location. Or there must be some cosmic power or spiritual force of evil that needs to be dethroned from a certain location. This thinking imagines unseen demons around every corner ruling this planet. Our job is to engage in some sort of “spiritual warfare” against them and the territory they occupy.
This is a very bold way (might I say proud way) of approaching the unseen demonic world. How strong do you think you are? Ok…let’s think about this for a moment. Jude tells us in verse 9 that,
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Whatever this means, at least one thing in clear…the archangel Michael didn’t go “smacking down demons.” He left the rebuking to the Lord. We won’t be able to send the prince of the power of the air to his funeral…with our chants and with our hands wrapped around a crucifix. Satan isn’t tossed into the abyss until Revelation 20:10 so although we might want to throw him in now, we can’t. We must remember that Satan is God’s devil they are not equals. God is sovereignly ruling.
A turf and territory war is not the way Paul describes spiritual warfare.
The strongholds that need to be destroyed and claimed back are not a physical location, it is your immaterial mind that has been lied to for so long that you are starting to believe that the lies you have been told are the truth and those lies have impacted the way that you are living.
Now, think about how scheming and strategic it is of our enemy to deceive us in matters of spiritual warfare. Right? Let’s deceive them in the way they think about the way I deceive them. This is very a very cunning and brilliant tactic.
It’s kind of like a “play action pass” in football. The quarterback fakes handing the ball off to a running back so that they linebacker on the other team crash in to stop the run and then it opens up a gap behind the linebackers and in front of the safety’s for the quarterback to safely toss the ball to a wide receiver or tight end who is streaking unabated toward the goal line.
If you as a defender try and tackle the guy who looks like he has the ball but doesn’t, that make you very susceptible and vulnerable to getting burned by the guy who actually has the ball. This is what the adversary is trying to do. Spiritual warfare is not battle over turf and territory it is a battle for truth.
Is spiritual warfare reclaiming surrendered turf or reclaiming and clinging to the truth?
So we need to know the truth because the truth will be the key to your success in the battle. It’s almost as if the truth will set you free. That has a nice ring to it don’t you say?
Ya it does...
So if you want to be set free, you need to know what is true and Jesus agrees with that assessment. That is why He prays for us still the prayer He prayed in the upper room for His first disciples.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
The truth will end the wrestling match. The truth will be the answer to the Hail Mary pass at the end of the game. The truth will set us free.
Prayer:
Benediction: Head crushing
19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
God will continuing crushing the serpents head as we take Him at His word and live according to what He has said. As we follow after the teachings of our Messiah and when our obedience is known to all, the God of peace will crush Satan underneath OUR FEET.
Let’s pray