Ephesians 6:13-18
Beloved, We Are At War
Conclusion We are in a battle brothers and sisters. Our enemy is vicious. We need the armor of God. If we are to win, we must clothe our lives with Christ Jesus, just as Romans 13:14 says. I read a hymn this week by John Monsell that captures the ethos of our struggle:
Beloved, We Are At War
Illustration:
Kids dressing themselves. Reese,
pants on backwards & inside out, shirt on inside out, shoes on the wrong
feet, and jungle-woman hair. It’s funny
when kids don’t get dressed right. It’s
not funny when Christians don’t get dressed right.
Paul tells the
Ephesians to “Put on the full armor of God” (v11, 13). He speaks this way several times in his
letters. For instance, in Romans 13:12
he says to “put on the armor of light.”
In 1 Thessalonians 5:8 he said to “put on the breastplate of faith and
love”. To the Ephesians he says to put
on the armor of God. It’s an order. It’s something we do.
Now the reason he
gives the order is so that we can take our stand in this spiritual fight we are
in. Regardless of whether you believe it
or not you are in a war. Regardless of
whether you fight or not, your enemy is fighting against you. The point is to jar you awake to realize what
you are facing and dress yourself with the armor of God so that while you are in
this fight you can actually stand. The
point is simple, if you want to stand, get your armor on.
As I’ve thought
about this section I think it helps us understand the armor of God if we do not
focus on the metaphor. For instance, I
don’t think Paul wants people thinking about a belt so much as prioritizing truth
in our lives. He doesn’t want us
thinking about a shield so much as living by faith. He wants us focusing on these elements of the
Christian life, not the metaphor describing them. In other words, he wants us to see that truth
and faith and righteousness and so on are what should characterize our lives as
Christians.
Success in the
battle depends on whether or not we are clothed with these things. Here are 6.5 ways to make sure
you as a Christian win in spiritual warfare.
#1: Truth
Notice
in verse 14 Paul says, “Stand firm then with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist…” The
belt was an important piece of equipment to the soldier. It kept loose clothing tucked in so it didn’t
get in the way during combat. The belt
was a place to fasten the breastplate, and a place to hang weapons and
equipment. Next time you see a cop look
at his belt. Look at all the stuff he or
she has attached to it. My brother in
law says that his belt and vest together weigh almost 40 lbs. The picture in our minds is that without his
belt, a soldier in Paul’s day would be trying to hold up his pants with one
hand and fight with the other.
That’s
the way it is in the Christian life.
Truth holds it all together.
Everything can hang securely and be in it’s place when truth is in it’s
place. And that’s what Paul is getting
at here. He wants us as Christians to
keep truth in it’s place. The right
place for truth is in our lives. Truth should
be seen in our lives because of a commitment to God’s truth.
Illustration: There was an older gentleman who had some
health problems. He went to visit his
doctor and was told to change his diet.
The physician lectured the man on the importance of eating well, and
gave him a long list of things to eat and not eat. The gentleman called his sons to let them
know about his declining health as he
knew his son would be concerned. He
explained the doctor’s prognosis and his prescription for restoring good
health. A couple of week’s later one of
the aged man’s sons called to check on him.
“OK, Dad, the doctor gave you some instructions awhile back. How is the regimen going?” The old man replied, “I’ve changed
doctors.”
Sometimes we
don’t want to do be committed to the truth like we should be.
There are those
who do not let truth have a place in their lives, Romans 1:18 says they “suppress
the truth in their wickedness”.
Satan wants people’s lives to be characterized by lies and
falsehoods. He wants us to lie, to
believe lies, to live lies. His
favorites are those who live the worst lie of all and say, “I’m a Christian”,
but, they live like the world around them.
They live secret lives that betray God’s truth.
Paul said earlier
to the Ephesians in chapter 4:20 that they have been instructed about the truth
that is in Jesus and he meant they were to live according to that truth. Turn back with me and listen again to how he
says it, and listen to how he emphasizes truth.
[Read]
William McDonald
said, “We must hold up the truth, and,
the truth must hold us up too.”
Jesus said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life” (John 14:6). We are those who heard the word of truth
and believed (Eph. 1:13), who have been sanctified by the truth (John 17:17),
who belong to the truth (1 John 3:19) and who worship God in truth (John
4:23-24). Paul’s point is that as those
who are saved by the truth we are to live by it. Sincerity, integrity, and honesty are to mark
us. Like the Psalmist said in Psalm
51:6, “Surely, O LORD, you desire truth in the innermost parts.”
If we want to win, we need the truth.
#2: Breastplate of Righteousness
Secondly,
the Breastplate of righteousness. Notice verse 14 again, “Stand firm then with the belt of
truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place”. A breastplate was an important piece of
armor. It was sleeveless and covered the
whole torso from the neck to the waist.
It could be made of chainmail or large pieces of metal formed to the
shape of the man. Polibyius called it
the “heart-protector” because it covered the heart and all the vital
organs. No soldier went into battle
without his breastplate.
Paul
says to put on your breastplate of righteousness. It’s interesting that Jesus Christ is
described as doing this in Isaiah 59:17 when it says, “He put on righteousness as His
breastplate…”
There are 2
things Paul is not referring to here.
First, he is not referring to imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of
God that gets credited to our account when we trust Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “God
made him who had no sin to become sin for us so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.” Works has
nothing to do with this righteousness. It
is the righteousness that we can only get by faith alone.
Secondly,
when he says to put on the breastplate of righteousness Paul is not talking
about our own legalistic righteousness. No
religion, no personal standards, no man-made system is equal with God’s
righteousness. That means that no
man-made religion can ever provide a way for a man to become as righteous as
God. Romans 3:20 says, “No
one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law.”
When
Paul says to put on the breastplate of righteousness he means our practical
righteousness. What that means is we put
into action the kind of behavior that is in line with who we now are in
Christ. Ephesians 4:20-24 says it
perfectly, turn there with me. [Read]
What Paul is
saying is that we are to live righteously because we know that we have already
been made righteous in Christ.
Legalistic righteousness says I’m going to try and become righteous
before God by my own efforts. But
practicing Biblical righteousness says I’m going to live righteously because
God has already made me righteous and I want to live according to who I now am
in Christ. This is what Paul was talking
about in Ephesians 4:1 when he said, “Live worthy of your calling”.
Putting on the
breastplate of righteousness not only protects your heart as a believer, but,
it comes from the heart. Jesus said this
in Matthew 5:6 that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.” He said it again in 6:33, “But
seek first the Father’s kingdom and His righteousness…” Living righteously comes from the heart –
from a heart that is seeking the righteousness of God. This requires we tend to our hearts.
Illustration: When we live righteously we stick to the
right things. The other day I put an air
freshener in my car. On the back of the
air freshener there was a sticker so I could stick it wherever I wanted in the
car. Well as I took the protective paper
off the sticker I dropped the air freshener.
It fell on the floor and dirt got on sticky part. How good do you think the freshener was going
to stick? Not very good. The adhesive will stick to whatever touches
it. For it to work the right way you
can’t let dirt get on it. If dirt gets
on it then it loses it’s stickiness. It
has to stay clean in order for it to stick to the right things.
It’s the same thing with us. Whatever we let touch us will stick to
us. If we are going to live the right
way for God we can’t let dirt get on us.
If we do, and we get covered in moral and spiritual dirtiness, we will
lose our stickiness to the righteous things of God.
Listen to how
Romans 6:13 says the same thing, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin,
as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who
have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him
as instruments of righteousness.”
Why is this
important? Why is the breastplate of
righteousness important? I’ll give you
three reasons. First, because it will
protect your conscience. In 1 John 3:21
it says, “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence
before God”. If there is sin in our
lives our own hearts will condemn us.
The Holy Spirit will convict us too.
What do we do? Do we justify
it? Do we
Second, because
it will protect your testimony about Christ to others. Someone said, “When a man is clothed in practical righteousness he is
impregnable. Words are no defense
against an accusation, but a good life is.”
In 1 Peter 2:12 it says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that
although they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify
God on the day he visits us.” Live
to the honor of Christ’s name.
Third, it will
protect you against legitimate accusations before God. Your enemy seeks to accuse you before God on
High. Revelation 12:10 says this about
Satan, “He is the accuser of our brothers, and he accuses them before our God
day and night.” Put on the
breastplate of righteousness, live righteously so Satan has nothing true to say
about you before God.
***You might be thinking, what if I have
sinned and Satan’s accusations to God against me are true? In that case, 1 John is your guide. In chapter 2 he answers that very question: “But
if anybody does sin we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus
Christ, the Righteous One.” When
Satan accuses us before God for our unrighteousness, The Righteous One, Jesus
Christ comes to our defense.
***But what am I to do? Depend onIn chapter 1 verse 9 it says, “If we
confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Conclusion We are in a battle brothers and sisters. Our enemy is vicious. We need the armor of God. If we are to win, we must clothe our lives with Christ Jesus, just as Romans 13:14 says. I read a hymn this week by John Monsell that captures the ethos of our struggle:
“Fight the good fight with
all thy might
Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right.
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally
Run the straight race through God’s good grace
Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its way before thee lies
Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.
Cast care aside, lean on thy Guide;
His boundless mercy will provide;
Trust, and thy trusting soul shall prove
Christ is its life, and Christ its love.”
Comments
Post a Comment