January 5, 2025
Gearing Up for the Battle
Ephesians 6:10-12
I have an easy question for you to start this new year; in 2025 do you want to be used mightily by God for His glory? Do you really want to be used, no matter the cost? Do you want to see God do mighty things in your personal life, in your family's lives, in your church and in your community? If you answered yes, do you realize that you just put yourself in the crosshairs of our enemy? Even though no true follower of Christ can expect to be exempt from the attacks of our enemy, those who are willing to walk in total obedience with God are going to be attacked more often and more severely. When we ask a follower of Jesus if they want to be used by God, their natural first response is probably going to be yes. However when it comes to seeing this happen in their lives, when they learn about the cost that is involved in following and being used by God, many times they will retreat into their comfort zone. When we retreat into our comfort zone, we are no longer walking in faith, and we will not be stepping out in faith when God calls us to big and seemingly scary things. When we do not live our lives according to our faith in Jesus, we are not a threat at all to the enemy because we are just seeking ourselves in everything. That’s exactly what our enemy wants and because of the way we are living our lives, we will see less attacks in our lives. There is an old saying that ships are safest in port, but that’s not what they were built for, and the same thing can be said of Christians. Christians are safest in their comfort zones, but that isn’t what we were saved for. We were saved to live and thrive in our walk with Christ that is always outside of our comfort zone. It is where we grow in our faith and where we serve God and bring Him glory. It's where we share our faith with a world in need of hope, and it’s the place where we see God do things we never imagined possible. The more we operate outside of our comfort zone, the more that place, that once terrified us, will become comfortable. The more we walk in faith and obedience to God in all parts of our lives, not only will it become easier, but we draw the attention of the enemy. This can be concerning, but we need to understand that we have been given everything that we need to fight this fight and find victory in our lives as we live for Jesus. Today we are going to start a new sermon series that explores the gear that God has given us to fight these battles. We can have an understanding on how to use what we have been given and realize that when we gear up and step out in faith to follow God there is nothing to fear.
Empowered for the Battle - Ephesians 6:10
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
The book of Ephesians starts off with Paul laying out quite a few doctrines that the church needs to understand, but as we know from Scripture, just knowing isn’t what we are called to do. We are called to live it as well. That’s the focus that Paul shifts to halfway through the letter — how we are supposed to live out our faith in our walk with Christ. By Chapter 6, Paul’s focus is no longer on just our walk, but he is focused on all-out war. He starts off this new focus with a command that is almost lost in the English translation. The phrase “A final word” also carries the meaning that “if you haven’t been doing this all along, you need to start now”. It’s kind of like what they say about saving and investing money. The best time to start saving was 20 years ago, but the second best is today. That’s what Paul is encouraging the reader to do here. We are at war and there is a certain way that we must approach these battles. If you haven’t been doing it right, start now. The first step in getting ready for our battles requires us to rely not on our own strength but to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. The idea is that we must continually do this. This fight is going to be long and relentless. We will see victories, but we will never see victory in our own strength. We don’t have enough to fight the fight the way we must with the intensity that we must and with the consistency that we must. Instead we must rely on God. Paul goes on to explain how we become strong in the Lord in the next verse. It's in this verse that we see our first clue about how this fight will be won. It’s not going to ever be about us or what we can do or what we bring to the table, but rather it’s going to be all about how much we trust God. This is the foundational principle that every piece of gear that God has given us for the battle is built upon. It’s this gear that allows us to be empowered by Christ in our battles.
Equipped for Victory - Ephesians 6:11
Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
Paul was writing this letter while he was in prison in Rome, shackled to a Roman soldier. It’s not too hard to imagine that the Holy Spirit used this situation in his life to inspire him to write here. As Paul looked at the soldier, I’m sure he was thinking about the gear that this soldier was wearing when he commanded us to put on God’s armor. One of the important parts of this command is an idea that we saw in the previous verse. We are not going to fight our enemy in our own power and might, but the gear that we are to use isn’t going to be ours either. It will be gear that belongs to God alone. Even though we are borrowing this gear, the command to put it on is a personal one. It’s something that we must each do for ourselves as we fight. It's how we stand firm. Now the idea of standing firm is mentioned several times in this final chapter of Ephesians and each time it means the same, it means that we are victorious. When we put on the armor of God and fight in the power of God, using the ways God has commanded us to fight and when the barrage of the enemy’s attack stops and the dust settles, we will be standing tall through the power of Jesus Christ. We will see the details of this as we examine each of the pieces of gear God has provided individually. However we need to once again understand that it is not going to be us or anything we bring that will enable us to be able to stand against our enemy — it’s all about Jesus. But who is this enemy? Throughout the Bible our enemy is described by many different names: Lucifer, tempter, wicked one, ruler of this age, the dragon, a lion and there are quite a few more and they all describe different attributes of our enemy. However Paul uses the word devil, which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “Satan”, and both mean the accuser. The reason Paul chose this name to describe our enemy will be made clearer as we explore the gear God has given us. This name is important as it will help us understand what these strategies the devil uses are and how we can overcome all of them through Jesus Christ.
Before we move on to understand the reason for Paul’s insistence on not using our own strength or any of our own means when we battle the devil, I want to mention another important truth when it comes to the soldier metaphor Paul has adopted. A soldier, no matter how well trained or skillful they are, will always be much more effective when they stand together with other soldiers. The Roman military was a mighty power and much of that military supremacy that they experienced came not only from their gear and their training, but rather it came from the fact that they knew how to stand together. They knew what formations to use in every situation and when they were all on the same page they could not be stopped. This is important for the church to understand. Even though we each must individually put on the armor of God and fight, we must always stand together. When we do, we are an unstoppable force for Christ. We need each other and we must stand together. In the coming year we must stand together instead of being at odds with each other. A church, in this aspect, will only be as strong as its weakest link. Therefore we must put aside disagreements and focus on the mission that we all have. We must bring the Gospel to this community and make disciples.
Identifying our Adversary - Ephesians 6:12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
It’s here in verse 12 that Paul tells us that the reason we cannot trust in our own strength or in anything that we bring to the table when it comes fighting the battle against our enemy and the reason is because these are not enemies that exist in the supernatural world, but enemies that exist in the supernatural. While we are limited in our understanding and in how we can operate in the supernatural world, God is not limited like we are. Yes, we might run into people in the natural world that might be seen as our enemies, but Paul wants us to understand that those people are not our enemies. They are being deceived by and used by our enemies. So if we are going to battle a supernatural enemy, we are going to have to use supernatural gear to be able to stand against their attacks. Paul goes on to tell us a little more about these battles, these battles are not just on a large scale, but rather they are hand to hand battles that we all must fight individually. That means we cannot just sit back and let others fight the good fight. We must be involved each day, fighting these battles so that we don’t become a causality of the battles and the weak link in the church. I’m not saying that we cannot stand together because that is of utmost importance for the church to survive. I’m saying that we cannot be bystanders in this war, because there are no ceasefires, there are no truces. There are only bystanders that become casualties when it comes to this battle. Paul then goes on to describe our enemies by describing an organization that we are battling against. The importance of this is to understand that the devil is not as powerful as God. The devil is not all powerful nor is he omnipresent, therefore he must use a group of fallen angels to carry out his battles. He is limited in his power, but God is not and as followers of Jesus we are on the right side.
These few verses can seem scary, but that’s not what Paul means for them to be at all. These three verses are considered verses of hope. The only way that this can happen is because of the cross. It was at the cross that the war was won once and for all. It's because of this fact that the devil fights harder and harder knowing that he is ultimately defeated, and his judgment is coming soon. He’s going to do everything he can, but don’t let it discourage you. God has given us what we need and when we get discouraged in the battle, just remember the empty grave!!
