Ephesians 6:15-17
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Mom and Dad are in the crowd
Martin Luther - “Where Christ builds His church, the the devil builds a chapel.”
Introduction: Fight - so with the creek being swollen behind our house there has been an increase in fish activity. They are jumping everywhere so I grabbed my pole and spent some time fishing last Sat. I caught two fish! If you have ever caught a fish it is pretty invigorating. They fight. With every fiber in their being they fight. You would too if you had a barbed hook in your mouth. They run this way and that, they bob and weave. Even when you pull them out of the water and all seems absolutely lost at that point for the fish because they are out of their natural environment and not surrounded by anything that they can use their fins or their tail to push against to continue the fight. They seem to have at this point lost the battle. They have no leverage as you pull them out of the water. They seemingly have lost the battle.
Speaking of lost…the two fish I caught, I lost as I was pulling them out of the water.
So even though those fish that I caught had nothing in and of themselves to fight against my lure and rod as I pulled them out of the water, there was something external to them that came in at the very last minute as they struggled. It is what we call the law of gravity.
As we engage in this battle we must fight with everything we got in us, but the deliverance from such a wicked fate will be administered by a greater Being than ourselves. A greater law has to be at work for us to escape. They fought and wriggled with all their might until the 11th hour when a power external to themselves, that had been present all along, finally enabled them to enter the path of escape from my filet knife as they splashed down and descended to the depths with a ripped up jaw.
Let’s make a connection, enter Jesus stage right.
In my personal battle with my own sin nature or against the “spiritual forces of evil” that I am to stand against, I have often quoted two verses
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
God is the One Who will deliver me from evil…I need to call upon Him in my day of trouble…now I can fight all I want to those pressures that are rising up inside of me or that are coming at me from an external source, but I need God Himself to be like the gravity pulling on that fish back to the safe waters in order for me to find deliverance in my time of need. Since that is the case, I can say with Psalmist...
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Another Scripture I quote in those moments when I am being dragged away and enticed to act on my own indwelling ungodly desires is what Moses said to the nation of Israel when they were trapped on the shoreline of the and the enraged Pharoah of Egypt with all his armed forces were bearing down on them for a blood bath. Moses, with great confidence in God’s provision in that moment, with great conviction raises his voice and says,
13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
If I am to escape my moments of temptation whether they come from within me or if they are placed in my lap by the “spiritual forces of evil,” I need Jesus to do as His names says, “save me from my sins.”
We are engaged in a battle against, “spiritual forces of evil” Paul says. And the way Paul writes this section it is as if this may be the most important thing for us to recognize as he begins to close his correspondence with the Ephesians. He starts this whole section with the word, “Finally.” In light of all that I have written…finally. For us today, in light of all that we have talked about for 10 months....finally. You must realize this. All of it will be attacked by a very powerful, fallen angelic being who has hordes of diabolical, devilish demons who want nothing more than to trip you up , laugh at your misery and then kick you when your down. There needs to be a constant vigilance given to this fight because, this is no joke. This is no game. You must get ready to rumble.
Now those fish might have some messed up jaw lines, but they have escaped with their lives.
This is the fight of your life, you must stand. There is no time to be slipping.
Textual Idea: We must ready ourselves for a rumble.
Textual Idea: We must ready ourselves for a rumble.
Last week we entered the dressing room and were handed a belt and a breastplate. Truth must be wrapped around us so that we are ready for the fight. We must also have something to cover our vital organs, a breastplate if you will. We need the “objective"righteousness of Jesus Himself that was given to us at the moment of our salvation that actually gives us a “new heart” like the Prophet Jeremiah said. And we need a “subjective” righteousness that has been accumulated over time as we moment by moment follow Him on the narrow path. This blend of righteousness must guard our hearts at all times. We can never depart from the truth or God’ given righteousness that leads to right living. Your personal holiness attracts Satanic attack much like bugs are drawn to a light source. If you actually follow after Jesus get ready because there are coming. “The demonic realm does not take kindly to someone who renounces Satan and declares allegiance the Lord who by his cross and resurrection has defeated death and ransacked hell.” He certainly has a bone to pick with those who have ears to hear.
Now today, let’s look at the rest of our attire.
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 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, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
We have covered our waist and our hearts, but what about our feet?
Shoes for your Feet
Shoes for your Feet
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
This piece of armor has always been a little confusing to me. I can see how putting shoes on if you are a solider can make you more sure footed in a battle against physical enemies, much like cleats for football player of spikes for to track stars, but what exactly might Paul mean here as we engage in a spiritual battle against forces of evil. How do shoes equip us and what is meant by, “the readiness given by the gospel of peace”?
The word translated as “readiness” carries the idea that there is something that we are to be doing when we are all armed up. We are to be in a “state of being ready for action.” Kind of like when a quarterback says, “Down…Set....(What’s next?) There is either a verbal clue or a clap of the hands or the center just snaps it as he wishes, but the moment the ball moves…the play officially starts. Putting on shoes in this case would be the equivalent to the, Down…Set portion of all the pre play activity.
Shoes help us on offense.
First of all, shoes prepare us in a way to be on the offensive against the forces of evil. The shoes that you have on allow you to engage offensively the moment the quarterback says hike.
So what are we to do now that we have shoes on? Well there is a great word that we have all grown to love in this text. Gospel. Gospel is Good New that is “proclaimed” to others. It is news of a victory that was won by Jesus Christ the Righteous when He died on the cross, was buried, rose again, and after before commissioning His followers to go and proclaim His ‘Good New’s’, His ‘Gospel of peace’ He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God.
We were once enemies of God and at war with Him, but as Paul mentioned earlier to the Ephesians in chapter 2 verse 14 that Jesus Christ is Himself our peace. In Ephesians 2:17-18
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
We, who were once at war and alienated from God because of our sin have now been brought near and have access to God by means of the sacrifice of Christ and His indwelling Spirit in our hearts. Wow.
And since this is our reality, and since the message was “preached” to us by Jesus even when we were near or far off, we lace up our boots and exist in a readied state of action so that we too might “proclaim” the Gospel of Peace to anyone at anytime the Spirit prompts us to speak. We proclaim what Jesus did because through the death of Jesus, Hebrews 2:14-15
Hebrews 2:14–15 (ESV)
14 ... he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
We are Gospel proclaimers. The victory is won. Those held captive by the cords of their sin, or the accusations of the devil can be freed and released to worship God with reverence and awe as He says through the Prophet Zephaniah
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
This is a Gospel that has quieted our souls and brought us peace, so we are eager and ready to share it with anyone who may still be troubled at heart and have no means of having any semblance of peace…because they don’t know the Prince of Peace.
Let’s introduce them. And when we do…we will have what the Prophet Isaiah said,
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The proclamation of the Gospel is certainly in Paul’s mind because in a few short verses he is going to ask for the Ephesians to pray for him in verses 19-20, to have the right words to say as he boldly proclaims the mystery of the Gospel for which he was an ambassador in chains. Paul was thrown in prison for what he was verbally saying about Jesus because he had his shoes on. He was made ready by the Gospel of peace. He was proclaiming peace and he was thrown in prison. It just goes to show you that Jesus was telling the truth when He asked us to remember something. He said,
John 15:20 (ESV)
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Shoes help us be on the offense, but they also help us have sure footing as we seek to “Stand firm against the devils schemes.” If you look closely you will see how Paul words it, our readiness “comes from” the Gospel of peace.
Revelation 12:10 informs us that Satan is the “accuser of the brethren.” He is does this “day and night.” He is relentless and hell bent on making us join him in his misery. The shoes that we put on help us advance the Gospel message to places it hasn’t been before, but our shoes also help us defend ourselves against his accusations which are incessant. Our shoes advances us and defend us.
Lace em up! Because flaming arrows are coming your way…but those flaming arrows can be averted with your Shield of Faith.
Shield of Faith
Shield of Faith
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
What is faith? It is stepping out over an abyss in order to continued your quest to the holy grail like Indiana Jones? Like you walk up to the cliff and there is no reason for you to step out, but there is no way you can go back, so it becomes an all or nothing gamble and you step out? NO! Faith is not blind.
Faith is not the development of a glass half full instead of a glass half empty mindset. It is not just some spiritual crossing of your fingers hoping that things might break your way. Faith is the confident assurance of things not yet seen. Authentic faith is not opinion, mindless thought or conjecture. Faith as presented in the bible is reasoned and deliberate. It is arriving at a drawn conclusion after intentional thought. What should we think about? God and all that He promises.
Art Azurdia - If you are absolutely gripped by the coming realities that have been promised to you by God, then how you live your life in the present will be radically different than if you did not possess that certainty. This is what faith is, my friends! Positive certainty expressed in action.
Do you wish to be a more consistently obedient, steadily persevering Christian? A stronger Christian? A more courageous and outspoken Christian? Then you need to strengthen your faith! Your faith instinctively strengthens in direct proportion to the expansion of the object of your faith! If you expand your understanding of the object of your faith then faith itself will obediently follow. The object of your faith--if indeed you are a Christian--is Jesus Christ and all of his promises. Is your faith weak? It is owing to the fact that you don't know the object of your faith well enough. But when Jesus Christ becomes progressively bigger, or better yet, your understanding of who he is progressively conforms to reality, your faith will become increasingly stronger. But how does that happen? By immersing yourself in the faith-arousing Word of God.
We must be people of this book.
If you take up your shield of faith…then the flaming arrows will come, but when they come, they will come in contact with your shield of faith which is constructed out out your certainty in the truth of what God has said, those arrows will be vaporized right before your very eyes. If you don’t believe that or if this hasn’t been part of your actual experience in life 1) Read God’s Word every day and hide it in your heart, 2) find someone who has had that as their experience and ask them to disciple you, 3) continue to cry out to God for Him to reveal His nearness as the Great Physician so that He can begin healing your puncture wounds that the arrows from the evil one has left.
Trust in Him and His words by means of your faith. Trust in Him over your feelings, your failing and perhaps what even seems factual.
Helmet of Salvation
Helmet of Salvation
Ephesians 6:17 (ESV)
17 and take the helmet of salvation,
We live in a safety culture. It seems like everything is out to get us these days. When we were looking for car seats for Elijah, I remember laughing to myself as one of the sales people was explaining to me one of the cars seats we were looking at utilized some of the technology that was used to ensure the safety of Nascar drivers. I just kind of laughed inside. I wasn’t planning on entering my half broken down Nissan into the Indy 500. I was just hoping to get to the Aldi a half mile away. Man alive. I do value the safety of my kids. One thing I can personally vouch for is the importance of a helmet.
Illustration: Middle school riding home. (Lip in the sidewalk / over handle bars / black out / I will just ride home / Eddie Penn’s house / survey the damage / 1 mile to go). - it was nasty that is what is wrong with me!
Helmets are very important if you are on a bike and especially if you are a battle. A physical helmet protects your brain. Your spiritual helmet protects or immaterial mind.
Your mind is a battle field. A war is being waged between your ears.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV 1900)
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Okay, I see the importance of protecting my head, but what is the “helmet of salvation” that I need to take up? Well we know what a helmet it…so what is salvation.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 6.38 περικεφαλαία, ας
περικεφαλαία
peri - around our surrounding
kephalaia - head
Paul is talking about something that can surround your head. Salvation that encircles your head. Salvation all around you. In what way?
Your salvation needs to always be on your mind. THE PENALTY, THE POWER, THE PRESENCE.
Salvation was Past: God has saved you from the PENALTY of your sin. God has saved you in the past. You need to remind yourself often that there was a definitive time in your past, after hearing the truth of the Gospel responded to it and were declared, ‘not guilt’ in God’s sight anymore. Your cosmic treason against God Almighty has been atoned for by Jesus.
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
You were saved in the past. Think about that often.
Salvation is Present: God is continually saving us from the POWER of sin. He is progressively changing us as we daily rely on His power to battle against that which used to easily entangle us and trip us up. We join him and choking to death the sin that still occupies the dark corner of our hearts until there is no more breath. We grow in our personal holiness as our reasonable response for what we have noticed about God’s mercies. We are a work in progress.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Our salvation is present day. Let that encircle you brain…often. And finally,
Salvation will be Future: God will eventually save you from the PRESENCE of sin. Don’t you just long for that day?
Think on the words in the hymn “There is a Fountain” by William Cowper. Think on these words concerning the truth of your future salvation.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood, Shall never lose its pow'r,
Till all the ransomed Church of God, Be saved, to sin no more:
Be saved, to sin no more,
Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Lord, haste the day when our faith be made sight.
Let these wonderful thoughts fill your mind…let them encircle and protect the vital organ by which you process all incoming information in your life.
And for the final piece of armor to take up before we talk about the final action we must always be engaged which is prayer, we will tackle that next week, we must take up the...
Sword of the Spirit
Sword of the Spirit
Ephesians 6:17 (ESV)
17 ...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
I truly hope that at this point in my ministry here, you realize how important this book is. If not, I have absolutely and utterly failed at my calling. If at this point in my time here, I have failed to emphasize the importance of the truth contained in this book, you should come up here and escort me off the stage right now in front of my family and my mom and dad. This word is “no idle” word, it is your very life. This word IS the power of God’s might. The truth contained within this cover is the one thing God has promised to “not return void.” It will accomplish all that it was sent out to do. This word, “thoroughly equips us for every good work.” This word is living and active. This word can discern your thoughts and intentions. This word will provide illumination for your feet as you walk the path. This word will warn you and when you keep them you will be rewarded greatly. Do you know how tempting it is for me to make this sermon go really really really long with talking about the excellencies of this book?
Do you want to make any headway in your personal walk with Jesus? Do you want to make progress down the path toward the celestial city after having left the city of destruction? Do you want to be “wiser than your enemies” like it says in Psalm 119:98? Do you want to be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it fruit in season? Do you want to receive nourishment for your soul the way milk nourishes a babies body? Do you want to grow strong in your faith and give protein to your spiritual muscles the way meat does for your body? Do you want something inside of you when the grass withers and the flowers fade? Do you want your life to be built on a rock instead of sand? Do you want to get rid of your moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent in our society? Then humbly accept the word that has been planted in you.
If you want any or all of these things? Read of Jesus Christ daily from this book.
Stand on these promises. This is an offensive and a defensive weapon. You can use it to thrust your opponent through or block fatal strikes from the enemy without and the enemy within. Use it with great skill, tenacity and at all times. Slice the sin off of you with this word. Deliver a death blow to Satan as you evaluate everything in your life and thinking against the truths presented in this Word.
I could go on and on about this word because one day the grass will wither and the flowers will fade but this word will stand forever.
What are the shoes we are to put on? How do they help us in our battle?
What is shield of faith? What is faith in the first place?
What is the helmet of salvation?
In what way is our salvation in the past? in the present? and in the future?
What metaphor speaks to you most about the importance of the word of God? (milk, meat, light to path, mirror etc?)
How are you doing in your daily intake of God’s Word? What needs to change in order for it to be more consistent if it isn’t already?