Father in heaven thank you for gathering us for worship today. As our kids go back to school this week, I want to thank you for these beautiful men and women who serve in our schools as teachers, administrators, counselors, and in operations of these schools. Lord, fill each of these individuals with your overwhelming love. Give them your awesome power. Provide them with wisdom to move in action. Give them an eye and ear for discernment. Let every spiritual gift from heaven be upon them as they ask. Give it to them generously as they lead their students, their peers, and parents from all nations and all people.

Lord, let the education they provide have a generational impact on the lives of their students. Let each of these individuals teach, counsel, and work with the strength you provide. Through them, let curses that hold our students captive break and fall. Allow your heavenly blessings be ushered through your called disciples in their classrooms and school. Yes Lord, the passion they have, multiply it into inspiration and motivation to tackle all and every issue and circumstance.

Today, for the rest of us, give us the strength to be strong in you. Lord give us the faith necessary to recognize that our weaknesses are made perfect through your strength. Help us move forward in your love to be encouraged by your incorruptible love. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. 

Ephesians 6:10-24 ESV

Scripture

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 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.

²¹ So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. ²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

²³ Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:10-24 ESV)

Remember the movie, Gladiator?

It’s the story of General Maximus Decimus Meridius going from beloved leader to forsaken slave to reluctant gladiator and restorer of the republic. The story begins with Maximus leading the legions of Rome in victory against the Germanic tribes and the emperor of Rome asking Maximus to be his heir to save Rome from corruption and to restore the republic. But the son of emperor, Commodus, murders his father so he could become Ceasar. Commodus proclaims himself the new emperor, asking Maximus for his loyalty, but he refuses. Maximus is arrested and is told that he and his family will die. He kills his captors and, wounded, rides for his home, where he finds his wife and son crucified. Eventually Maximus becomes a gladiator and fights in the Colosseum in Rome. As Maximus survives the plots set against him by Commodus in the Colosseum, we see there is a war behind the war, which is the real war.

The story of Maximus is a story most of us have lived or are living right now. We may not have been falsely imprisoned and sieging war against Caesar. The forces of this world want our allegiance, but we declare our allegiance to God and so the powers of this world afflict us, as best as they can until we can go home, to heaven. And if you lived long enough, you have the emotional, physical, and mental wounds and scars to prove it.

That’s spiritual warfare. It’s the fight against forces that cannot be seen because our allegiance and our aim is not for the things of this world, but for God and God’s plan. The good news for us is that God already won the war. The scars and wounds that we have from the spiritual war do not kill us. We get to heaven because of our faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the encouragement from the book of Ephesians.

In the last two chapters of Ephesians, we see that the scars and wounds from being embattled in a spiritual war is actually the consequences of sin in our lives. I know as I studied these last chapters, the Word of God convicted me of my inability to win at a spiritual war. Time and time again, left to my own devices, I will lose the spiritual war and sin. Sin against God and sin against other people. I am totally inadequate and undeserving of the grace that God gives, but that even at my very worst, God gives me grace upon grace to save me from myself and my sins to make me a worthy heir with his son, Jesus Christ.

If you have felt that same feebleness, inadequacy, and powerlessness in your own life because of sin, then be encouraged. Our our God is not feeble, inadequate, or powerless. He is strong, holy, and has already provided victory for us in the spiritual war we are living in. 

We are one of God’s saints living in this hurt, broken, and deceitful world filled with spiritual warfare and by God’s grace, he leads his saints to victory in spiritual warfare. The life, death, and resurrection of his one and only son, Jesus Christ, is evidence of that victory and the hope we need when we are embattled in spiritual warfare.

To live with the hope of God’s saint in the midst of a spiritual battle, we need to:

Point 1. Know God’s strength and our true enemy

Look at verse 10 with me: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

The Apostle Paul says, “finally….” If you don’t measure up to the calling of God, as his saint because:

• you have addiction in your life you’re still dealing with,
• you have relationships that are still flailing,
• you have sinful habits that are still unrepentant,
• you have doubts that clouds your faith,

then be strong in God.

• It is God, our father in heaven, who has the power and strength to satisfy the requirements of justice.
• It is his power and strength that conquers the bonds of an eternity of death.
• It is God’s strength and power that created the heavens in the beginning and will ultimately bring all of creation into fruition in judgment and as it’s finisher.

Our Father in heaven has strength and power for us. Especially when we don’t have any strength and power ourselves.

Is strength something you need to face your life today?

Then ask God, he will provide his strength and will give it more generously and abundantly when asked.

Verse 11.

¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Twice in three verses, Paul tells the church to take up the “whole armor of God” to stand firm against the devil and evil. If you’re thinking that this is antiquated thinking or logic, I want to give you a more modern idiom: dress for the occasion.

Since our true battle in life is spiritual because we’re living in the middle of a spiritual war going on between God and Satan, then we need to put on spiritual equipment.

Some of us are battling spiritual forces with psychological, physiological, relational, economical, and/or political equipment and wondering why we’re battered and bruised. It’s like playing football wearing a bikini and flipflops. In a spiritual war, we need spiritual armor not psychological, physiological, relational, economical, or political armor.  

Our true battle is not against

• people who look different than us; or
• people who have different ideology, religion or values.

Our true battle is against Satan who distracts and keeps us from the promise of God for his beloved children by moving each of us toward sin against one another. The way Satan wins is when our sinfulness toward one another prevails and keeps us from seeing God’s promises for us. That’s the end game for Satan because he knows there is no way he can snatch us away from God, so he does what he can to make sure we miss out on what God is setting apart for us here in this world.

Satan is our true enemy. He causes division. He hurts and wounds. He causes hardness of hearts. Know that and know our father in heaven:

Point 2. God spiritually equips us to live authentically in the culture (vv13-17)

God provides a way and the resources for us to live as his saints. We just need to pick up the armor he provides for the spiritual battle. Verse 14.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 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…

Spiritual armor is actually spiritual practices. We figuratively put on each piece of spiritual armor by incorporating spiritual practices into our daily lives. Those spiritual practices begin to sanctify us to be more like Jesus. Then just like Jesus combatted Satan in the wilderness, we can combat Satan in spiritual war.

As we talk about each piece of armor, take stock of which are not part of your regular, everyday spiritual practice. Then plan to incorporate them into your regular rhythm of spiritual practices. Here’s why: spiritual practices not only provide defense when we are spiritually attacked, but moreover, they allow us to seize more opportunities spiritually.

Belt of Truth

When we fasten the belt of truth in our life, we are embodying the characteristics of truth in our language, behavior, and attitude. We must live in truth and not believe lies as truth.

What is truth? God is truth. Truth is the gospel. Truth is Jesus Christ, his life, his works, and his teachings. We must be truth tellers in this world. To tell the people in this world that there is something wrong, that they are seeking for God and finding emptiness because they are looking for God in the wrong place and in the wrong things. The truth is that Jesus Christ died so those who are not accepted or worthy (those who are excluded) can be accepted and worthy (that is included). That’s the truth of the gospel. We must preach the truth of the gospel to ourselves and live in the truth of the gospel every day.

Have you practiced telling the truth to yourself lately? What about telling the truth to others? 

Breastplate of Righteousness

Practicing righteousness is living out our new identity as a child of God in light of chapter 4 and 5 in Ephesians. That means we live full of love, grace, mercy, holiness, goodness, wisdom, and righteousness and so we do not allow the assaults and arrows of impurity, lust, greed, or injustice to penetrate our daily lives. Our lives must be characterized by the sinless life of Jesus Christ.

Practicing righteousness is more than providing protection against sin in our lives. Righteous living allows the saints to confront and expose evil, triumphing over the evil powers through Christ in our actions. You see, by practicing righteousness daily in our lives, when we are sinned against, we return the sin with love, grace, mercy, holiness, goodness, and wisdom.

Are there times and places you need to intentionally put on the breastplate of righteousness, that is love, grace, mercy, holiness, goodness, wisdom, and righteousness? Is it when you’re home alone? Is it when you are at happy hour with your co-workers? Is it with your kids in the wee hours of the morning?

Shoes of Gospel Peace

Christians who received the gospel of peace from Jesus Christ should be at all times and circumstances be ready to share the good news of peace that they find themselves. If Satan in his warfare brings conflict and division, we must go, with the gospel to proclaim the peace that comes from the gospel to people who need the peace of Jesus in their lives. Christ’s peace is both a peace with God and a peace between fractious human beings.

As we live out our faith in truth and with righteousness, you will certainly be asked, why do you go to church? Who is this God you worship? What is the hope you have? Are we ready to share the gospel of Jesus to people and in places where the gospel of Jesus needs to be proclaimed to bring peace?

[haircut story]

• what do you do?
• P – haven’t gone to church since covid.
• P – Have been too distracted since.
• P – what message do you have for me from God?

Shield of Faith

Faith here is twofold. There is “faith” referring to the core collection of doctrines to which the true church unanimously holds as it relates to God and salvation. This type of faith extinguishes the flaming darts of Satan’s lies and the deceptions of the false teaches. We must take up and know our faith. All of us, to a degree must have a theology to live out our lives. Meaning there are some absolute truths about God we need to hold as true as black and white that do not change. Then we must live our lives in light of those truths about God.

Then, secondly, there is the act of faith, which is the active trust in and dependence upon Christ in the all areas of our lives where we need to be dependent on God. Regarding this, Paul says we need to take faith in all our circumstances. Every single facet of our lives require us to live by faith. I can’t stress this enough, we cannot live on autopilot, we must actively be engaging God in faith with our lives.

[housing story]

Five years ago, Michelle and I bought a house at what seemed like the mouth of hell. Let me tell you how horrible this place was – we had squirrels rip up the shinglings on our roof. We had deer puncture the gasline to our house. Groundhogs rip open the foundation, and skunks spraying every which way of our house every morning. We analyzed everything about the house and did not take one thing into account: What God wanted for us. The spiritual attacks we faced that year left us battered. But we learned a lot of things that year, but one thing stuck: better to depend on God, even in the sure things, than to go without him.

What are the areas of life you need to practice faith? Is it in learning doctrines? Is it in dependence on God?

Helmet of Salvation

Grant Osborne, he’s an American theologian, explains the helmet of salvation this way: The emphasis on salvation is not so much about final salvation as it is about the present experience of salvation… [we] have already received God’s spiritual blessings, and are already seated with God in Christ in the heavenly realm. [We] are a new humanity and part of Christ’s new creation… saved by grace and raised from spiritual death. It is now time for [us] to put this present salvation to work in [our] daily lives.

Simply put, we must live with head held high, filled with joy, and unashamed of whom we placed our trust. If we are saved, we must start living that way.

Do our lives reflect patterns of victory and spiritual blessings? Or are they still weary of spiritual death?

Sword of the Spirit – The Word of God

The sword of the Spirit or God’s word, the Bible, is our sword. God still uses it to cut through our defenses, to prick our consciences, and to stab us spiritually awake. God puts his sword into our hands, so we can use it to resist temptation like Jesus did in quoting Scripture to counter the devil’s lies and to proclaim the good news where there is no good news.

I know for me, every day I’m in the Bible reading, studying, and meditating on it, I gain the mental and spiritual fortitude to combat temptation and spiritual attacks. When I hang onto the words of the Bible, my perspective changes and my actions follow suit. But more than that, I’m more able to share the gospel with people I meet and interact with that day.

If you want more than a nominal relationship with God and a deeper spiritual experience where the power of God is present in your life, then you need to be in the word of God.

Do you need to install a practice of regularly studying the Bible in your life? Then let’s get that started.

Verse 18.

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 stand firm against the enemy’s schemes through with the armor of God and by prayer. That’s the last spiritual practice Paul shares with us for success in spiritual warfare. Pastor John Piper describes the importance of prayer like this:

We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war. Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is certainly that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief…. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world.

Prayer is that important to our thriving in the midst of a spiritual war. I know most of us pray. But I don’t think most of us pray the way the Apostle says we need to pray, which is always. This is hard. I know, I struggle with this myself. At best, I mostly pray sometimes, with some degree of perseverance, and for some of God’s people. If that is you too, it is not a hopeless endeavor.

The Apostle Paul says prayer is empowered by the Spirit of God, who gives us strength and ability to pray even when we can’t and don’t want to. So we pray at all times and must pray at all times by having regularly scheduled prayer and stopping whatever you’re doing to pray. Praying at all times is making prayer a normal part of our every day.

When we practice these spiritual pieces of God’s armor in our lives, and put them on, we live authentically as God’s saints in this culture. If you find that difficult, hard or need accountability, here’s some encouragement. Verse 21.

²¹ So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. ²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

If you spent the summer disconnected with your brothers and sisters in faith. Or if you feel like you never been connected to your family of faith, then it’s time for you to plug in and get with your family of faith.

Let your brothers and sisters in the family of God know how you are, so that you can encourage and be encouraged as you live as a saint in the midst of a spiritual war. If you’re looking for opportunities to connect to form real solid relationships with other people so then look at the around the brook cards on your seats or check out or website for events or serve in one of our ministries. Don’t live life alone. Don’t do faith by yourself. Be encouraged by one another because there are people who love you and want to love on you.

Verse 23.

²³ Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

Paul concludes by using the words with which he began his letter: peace and grace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice how Paul closes.

Big Idea: Living in faith requires us to love Jesus Christ

God’s peace and grace from faith are for those who love Jesus.

• Do you love Christ?
• Have you turned from sin and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as an act of love for him?
• Do you love Him with an “undying love” that will go on into eternity?

If we want to live as a saint of God, then we must love Jesus! If you want to be secure in this spiritual war, then love Jesus. Soon we will see Him, and then we will not regret having put all our trust in His perfect work, and we will not regret having been faithful to his plans and purpose for our lives.

Communion

The last Sunday of each month, we have the privilege of celebrating a spiritual meal together in communion. The purpose of this meal is to encourage and admonish all those redeemed by the blood of Jesus and baptized in obedience to his command to remember the sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross and empower us to live as a saint in the midst of spiritual warfare until he returns.

In 1 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul writes, “23b …. the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [hold and eat the bread]

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. [drink the cup]

We will have four lines to receive communion. The line on the left side of the stage will feature self-contained communion cups for those needing or wanting those. The other three lines will all have bread and juice where you can dip the bread.

Before you come up for communion, take time to reflect, to repent, and seek the heart of God. Once you have received communion, please return to your seats using the center aisle and continue worshipping God in singing with our band or in prayer.

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for loving us. Thank you for providing armor for the spiritual battle we live in. Lord we know that you love us because your one and only son gave up his life for our sake. We humbly accept that sacrifice as an act of grace and mercy for our lives. We know we are undeserving, and it is because of your work that we can feel love like never knew. I pray that as we take in this spiritual meal, we would be nourished for the battle that lays ahead of us this week. Be with us as we put on your armor and live boldly, with our heads held high because of the salvation you provide. We thank you. In Jesus name. Amen.