THIS IS A TEAM SPORT

Ephesians 6:10-12 (KJV)

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

It’s been a full month since my last message from the book of Ephesians so I think it would be especially wise for me to refresh our memories concerning what this book is all about.

It is written by the Apostle Paul while he is in a Roman Prison and taken to Ephesus by Tychicus.

Those of you in my Sunday school class this morning might remember that shortly before his execution, Paul told Timothy he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus – perhaps with this letter.

The book of Ephesians is the foundational resource for the doctrines concerning the local church.

The purpose of the book is to show how God, through Christ, reconciles both Jews and Gentiles and places them both into one body, the local church.

These two, who had been enemies for so long, have been reconciled to God and to each other. God has made of the two, one new man in Christ.

Paul has explained that:

·   The local church[1] is the mystery of godliness

·   The local church is the fullness of Jesus Christ and

·   Christ loved and died for the local church

Paul’s preaching and teaching on the local church is the reason he said he was a prisoner[2] – it was a doctrine for which he was willing to die.

Paul used the marriage relationship to demonstrate what a local church is and stressed that, in each case, effort was essential to maintain unity in that church.

I wrote something this week, based out of Ephesians 1:23[3] I want you to consider -

No church is perfect, because it contains members who have a sinful nature; but the local church is in God’s eyes, the perfect place for them to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

You may also remember that I have repeatedly said, based on what I think is the lesson of Ephesians that:

·   You will only see Christ properly when you see God properly and

·   You will only see the church properly when you see Christ properly

One of the major reasons we see the problems we see in some churches today is because:

·   People have a lower view of God.

·   That leads to a weakened view of Jesus Christ and

·   That leads to a casual view of the church

Remember that I said:

·   The most important thing to God is Christ

·   The most important thing to Christ is the church and

·   The most important thing in the church is unity

Unity is the result of submission to the Holy Spirit of God.

All of that FINALLY brings us to Ephesians 6:10-18.

Seems to me that most Christians want to skip all the rest of Ephesians and get right here.

And I think it is why Christianity seems so powerless.

We want to wrestle for God without the church.

We want to do something for the Lord – we just don’t get how important the church is in our doing it.

There are two metaphors bound together in verses 10-18

·   The Roman wrestler

·   The Roman soldier

I want to consider the wrestler tonight and the soldier next time.

I would hate anyone to think I know anything about wrestling. I do not. But I did go out for out for the wrestling team for three years in Junior High and high School.

Every year of those three, for me was in a different school.

·   Sir Isaac Stevens Middle School in Pasco

·   Chief Joseph Middle School in Richland and then

·   Hanford High School in Richland

The next year we moved to Waitsburg and they did not have a wrestling team.

The only reason I went out for wrestling is because I had this Air Force Liaison officer who was planning all my classes and activities to get me into the Air Force Academy.

Wrestling is the most difficult, intense, exhausting activity I think a person can do. It requires:

·   Strength

·   Speed

·   Agility and

·   High intensity endurance

A wrestling match only lasts 4 ½ minutes, but it is 4.5 minutes on full throttle.

When you are on the mat it is you and your opponent. Everyone there is watching you.

·   They see your mistakes

·   They see your weaknesses

·   You don’t have a whole lot on so they see your whole body.

·   They hear you gasping for air

·   They watch as you either win or lose

The focus is all on you and your opponent.

We had cheerleaders, but they never went to the matches – they just cheered us when we left and greeted us when we got back.

There is nobody to watch and nothing else to see at a wrestling match but those one the mat.

But wrestling is not an individual sport.

It is a team sport.

The wrestlers are divided into different weight classes, and there is a captain of the team. Every point you earn while wrestling goes not only to your own score but to your team’s overall score.

·   Every win is a team win

·   Every loss is a team loss

Your Christian faith is exactly like that.

You may think it is just you against whatever are your opponents.

It’s your life – you can do with it as you please.

You may feel like there is nobody there to help you out and

You might feel like there is no one there to cheer you on

But the truth of the matter is that

·   Your victories as a Christian are victories for your church and

·   Your losses as a Christian are losses for your church

·   When you fall away

·   When you backslide

·   When you give in to sin

You’ve hurt the whole cause of Christ in His church.

If you don’t get hold of the idea that this is a team, that what you do or do not do in obedience to the Lord, matters not just to you but to the whole –

·   You will fail more often and

·   You will contribute to the failure of the whole church body God has placed you in.

I want to give you just three things I notice from the passage

I. HIS STRENGTH IS NOT HIS OWN

Ephesians 6:10 (KJV)

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

The wrestler’s strength is no his own.

Good wrestlers are strong and powerful – the spiritual wrestlers don’t depend upon their own strength and power.

They draw their strength from their Lord.

My wrestling coach at Hanford High school just so happened to also be the Air Force Liaison officer I told you about.

The thing about a coach is, they aren’t there to drive the bus. No matter how good the wrestler thinks he is, he has a coach to make him better.

If he won’t listen to his coach, he won’t perform as well as he could.

If he refuses to listen to his coach long enough, he won’t be any good at all.

Too many Christian have decided they are good enough without paying attention to the finer details of the Word of God.

They feel like they have gotten better than almost everybody around them so they don’t need to get anymore coaching.

Trouble is, we aren’t wrestling those people we think we are better than.

We’re wrestling the devil and

II. HIS OPPONENT HAS WILES

Ephesians 6:11 (KJV)

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

That means he is conniving and tricky.

Wrestling involves more that strength, power and agility.

It also involves mastering certain moves.

·   Some of those moves are offensive, you go on the attack to take down your opponent.

·   Some of those moves are defensive, you use them to counter your opponent’s attacks.

The devil has some pretty tricky moves.

You need to

·   Stay practiced

·   Stay coached and

·   Stay motivated

In order to counter them

The Christian wrestler,

III. HIS CONTEST IS NOT WITH MAN

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

I think one of the biggest mistakes in Christianity today is that we wrestle the wrong things.

·   We wrestle against people who do things we don’t like

·   We wrestle against politicians we view as too progressive

·   We wrestle against ideologies we view as abhorrent to our faith

We put time and energy and money into things that we think will turn the tide of politics.

But none of that matters – we feel pretty good about this election, but we will surely feel pretty bad about a future election.

Our time, our energy and our resources need to be poured in to

·   Planting new churches

·   Building spiritual unity and through that

·   Reaching unsaved souls

Everything else is just wood hay and stubble.

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[1] I use the term local church to avoid the presupposition that the church is universal and invisible. No such church exists in the pages of the Bible.

[2] He was captured in Jerusalem because the Jews believed he had brought a Gentile into the Temple. The Jews hated the Gentiles and hated Paul for ministering to them.

[3] Ephesians 1:23 (KJV)

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.