SUIT UP!
Ephesians 6:10-19 (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.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
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.
In previous chapters
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.
Unity is the result of submission to the Holy Spirit of God.
All of that FINALLY brings us to Ephesians 6:10-19.
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.
Notice
I. WE DO NOT WRESTLE FLESH AND BLOOD
We generally say that the Christian has three enemies:
· The world – governments and world systems
· The flesh – our sin nature and the desire to be our own god
· The Devil-and those angels that followed him in rebellion against God
I got to thinking about it:
· The prince of this world is the devil
· The devil is the father of all that are in the flesh and
· The devil is the devil
Truly, Ephesians 6:10 (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.
· Our battle is not against Washington D.C.
· Our battle is not against the lost of this world and certainly
· Our battle should not be against anyone in our church
If you have a problem with somebody, just figure it – your problem is with the Devil.
II. WE NEED ARMOR
Ephesians 6:14-17 (KJV)
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Not long ago I spoke to someone about Special Ops/SEAL teams. It’s amazing. They go into combat situations where they are frequently outnumbered 20 or even 50 to 1.
When four navy seals found themselves surrounded in 2004 by over 200 enemy soldiers, the military flew in just 16 men to help them.
Didn’t make sense to me until I learned that the enemy’s weapons are so poorly constructed that maybe 1 out of every 20 rounds they are issued will even fit into their weapon and the weight of the bullet and the amount of powder in each shell varies so much that the enemy combatant has no idea where his bullet is really going to hit.
Our guys don’t need numbers as long as they have our armor.
Satan’s weapons are no match for the Christian as long as the Christian has his armor.
The trouble is, we don’t take this passage seriously enough.
Truth
We will see the Bibler a few verses down, so this is a reference to something else.
To live an absolutely honest life. Not just your words, but your character. And to allow truth to be spoken to you.
Righteousness
"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Do you reflect, imitate, live out the very righteousness of God?
The gospel of peace
There is only one gospel in the Bible. I think it is given different descriptors[3]to emphasize various results of it.
Do you have peace in your soul? The gospel that saves gives peace.
Faith
Faith believes God, trusts God, clings to God in times of despair.
Salvation
A person who is saved can never be delivered a death blow. His mind will be filled with the things of God. He has assurance, wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
The Word of God
Have you been in your Bible today?
The one thing I think we miss so often is that we wear all of this armor in fellowship with others in the same armor in our church.
Marcus Luttrell was part of a four-man SEAL team ambushed by more than 200 Afghanistan combatants.
For more than 3 ½ hours, he and his team fought the enemy. They had been taught to never quit fighting. But eventually, he saw all three members of his team killed.
Luttrell later said that he gave up.
In an interview I heard he said that he had been trained to fight as a team. When the last one died, he crawled in a hole and hid the rest of the day.
Christian, you were never meant to stand against the wiles of the devil alone.
God designed you to be a part of a team, a local church.
III. THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE ARMOR
Ephesians 6:18-19 (KJV)
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel[4],
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
· We wrestle against principalities and against powers
· We wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world
· We wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places
How do we do that?
Praying always…..
· Praying for all saints (Christians)
· Praying for the man of God who preaches the Word of God
But,
· If you’re living a lie
· If Christ isn’t living through you
· If you have no peace with God and you at odds with the believers
· If you crumble in the face of adversity instead of standing in faith with God
· If you have no wisdom from above and
· If you are not filled with the Word of God
· If you are not in close fellowship with the fellow members of your church
Then your prayer life looks more like the ammo of the enemy than the advanced weaponry of the Lord.
[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] Gospel of the kingdom, gospel of Jesus, gospel of the grace of God, gospel of His Son, gospel of Christ, gospel of peace, gospel of God, my gospel, Christ’s gospel, another gospel, any other gospel, the gospel of the circumcision, gospel of the uncircumcision, gospel of your salvation, gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, glorious gospel of the blessed God, everlasting gospel
[4] The gospel is the answer for every issue. The problem is it is a mystery to most people. We have got to pray in such a powerful way that the mystery is made known to those who hear it.
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