Suit Up!
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
EPHESIANS 6:10-18 PRINCETON CHRISTIAN CHURCH 13 OCTOBER 24
How is your life going right now?
Sometimes, we need to step back and examine our lives to determine how we are doing, where we are headed, and how we plan to get there.
Very often, we seem to find ourselves humming right along. Everything is just awesome. Life is good. We seem to be accomplishing what we set out to do. We’ve got it made!
Everything in my Christian life was going very well—you think, “I am doing better than I ever had before.”
But just when we come to that conclusion ---BAM--- it hits!
All kinds of temptations and enemies attack—trials and difficulties come from the workplace, family members, and every other place in life.
What’s happening?
Well...
it is called Spiritual Warfare. And spiritual warfare puts you into the heat of the battle.
We want it to stop. We’d like to find a foxhole somewhere and crawl into it until the battle is over.
But we know that hiding from the battle will not end the battle.
And we also know – though we sometimes forget – we know that as believers in Christ, we have some ways that we can move forward and counterattack the enemy of this battle with spiritual warfare.
So, before we step onto the battlefield, we must get dressed like someone going into battle.
READ: Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 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. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 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, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Paul instructs Christians to put on the full armor of God.
We cannot pick and choose which pieces of armor we want to put on. If we do, we are not fully protected; we are not fully ready to step onto the battlefield.
In verse 11 of Ephesians 6, Paul says to put on the full armor of God. Without the full armor, we will not be equipped to fend off Satan's attacks.
What if we say I want the armor that will cover our upper body, but I don’t want the helmet? After all, wearing that helmet will mess up my great-looking head of hair.
How about – I don’t need a sword. I’m a pretty persuasive talker. I’ll just convince my enemy that he doesn’t want to attack me.
Sounds nuts, doesn’t it? Of course, it does. No one in their right mind would walk into a battle with an enemy stronger than himself without the necessary protective equipment.
Each part of the armor is necessary. You don’t read Paul saying, "Here is the list of available armor." Choose the pieces you like when you go into battle with the enemy.
And as we face spiritual battles—spiritual warfare every day of our lives—we must prepare to fight with the armor God has provided for us.
Without it, we are a really easy target for Satan, and we will go down very quickly.
We occasionally find ourselves thinking that we have everything under control – life is going really well. It is at those times that Satan stands behind you with that sneaky grin on his face, thinking – now I’ve got him or her.
And because life is going well at the time, we are more likely to lower our defenses. “Things are going well—I don’t need help from anybody.”
And, of course, it is an admirable quality to be able to fend for ourselves, to be able to take care of life’s needs, and to promote our survival.
Again, that is when we begin to think – “I’ve got everything under control. I don’t need any help.
The Proverbs writer has something to say along those lines.
” Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit goes before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18.
Ignoring the protection of the armor leads to a double weakness --- when you think you are strong in any area, you will begin to lower your defenses. In that case, even a small thing can bring you down.
We can look at the lives of men and women mentioned in the Bible and see that they also sinned when they fell in the area of their greatest strengths.
Think of Abraham. He was known as a man of faith. But he had times when his faith was weak. He asked his wife Sarah to lie and say that she was his sister to avoid his death. Abraham – known for his great faith – fell in the area of his greatest strength when his faith was weak.
Then, think of Moses – known as the humblest man (Numbers 12:3) –
“Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.”
Yet Moses once lost his temper and struck a rock that God had specifically told him to speak to. Then, he took credit for what God had done. His punishment was not being allowed to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:7).
And now, let’s look at Peter. Peter was known for his courage.
He was one of the first men to publicly follow Jesus and give his all for Him.
But in the Upper Room, he declared to all who were present there –
“Even if I have to die with you, (Jesus) I will never deny you.”
In making that statement, he was contradicting what Jesus had said,
“Before the rooster crows today, you will disown Me three times.” – Matthew 26:34-35.
Do you have any area of your life that you would say that you would never fall into? If so, remind yourself to put on your entire armor every day to avoid becoming vulnerable in that area.
So, we have to put on the whole armor of God.
What is the whole armor of God?
There is the belt of truth – gird your waist with truth.
Why is a belt an important piece of armor - a piece of protection?
It is because the belt holds the sheath where the sword sits.
The breastplate is attached to the belt – it is leather or metal – and protects the vital organs.
Each of these pieces of armor speaks to something in your Christian life while you are engaged in a spiritual battle.
The belt of truth represents a life and a mind that is pulled together and ready to serve for the glory of God. It speaks of having truth on the inside – it speaks of integrity.
Do you know the definition of integrity? It is not the dictionary definition, but it is what integrity represents – and that is – integrity is what you are when nobody is looking.
It is one thing to seem to be a certain way in public, in church, or among any group of people. It is another when you are all by yourself with nobody watching that speaks of your integrity.
It is what David was referring to when he said in Psalm 51:6 –
“You desire truth in the inward parts.”
Integrity is the opposite of duplicity. Now, there is a word I don’t use often in conversation. But what duplicity is – is hypocrisy. Someone who speaks hypocrisy is known as a hypocrite – someone who is trying to live a double life.
As Christians, we must be truthful. We must be who we say we are—both when we are alone and when we are in the company of others.
So, if we lack the belt of truth, then all the other pieces of armor become somewhat irrelevant – maybe even useless.
You have your breastplate and your sword's sheath, but if your belt is falling off, you don’t have truth at the core of your being, and that will cause weakness in the heat of the battlefield of life.
In that case, you are trying to live in two vastly different worlds.
Now, we will look at another piece of the protective armor necessary as we face the battles in this life as Christians.
The Breastplate of Righteousness –
as we have already said, the breastplate of righteousness is attached to the belt of truth.
To put this breastplate in perspective – think about what our soldiers and police officers today wear. A major part of their equipment is a bulletproof vest they wear.
If we are engaged in battle, we want to have full protection. But the fact of the matter is that if we are in a battle, the most vulnerable and deadly part of our bodies is not our arms or legs but our midsection.
It must be protected because we cannot live long without our internal organs.
So, this breastplate protects our vital organs, and the breastplate of righteousness protects our spiritual survival.
It speaks of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, we may not behave as righteously as we know we ought to. But our attitude should be, of course, that we are righteous before God – not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done for us.
We don’t obtain righteousness through what we do for Him, but His righteousness is given to us.
The righteousness that God is telling us to put on, which protects our vital organs and is essential for our spiritual survival, speaks of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
It describes how God sees Christ when He looks at us.
We often doubt that we are righteous or that we can be righteous. That doubt, though, comes from the fact that we know ourselves. We know where we are strong and where we are weak.
We take an assessment of ourselves – “I think I am doing fairly well, looking back at my week – I read my Bible every day; I attended Sunday School and Sunday morning
worship service; I attended mid-week Bible Study; I prayed every day – on and on with the things “I” did.
Then it happens. You lower your guard. You get hit spiritually, and you fall.
Now, you feel guilty and stop reading your Bible every day. You neglect your prayer life. You neglect the assembly—all because you feel short of your own expectations and the expectations of your Lord.
What has happened there is that you are relying on a breastplate of self-righteousness.
Your breastplate was not made of leather or steel. Your breastplate was made of Styrofoam.
A breastplate of Styrofoam is not highly effective. You don’t want that. What you want is to wear a breastplate of God’s righteousness.
When we have sinned, Satan is there, ready to tell God, “See, he/she wasn’t strong enough to follow you.”
Satan wants you to feel guilty and condemned – useless.
His strategy is to keep you away from God.
God, on the other hand, convicts you with his Word in love. His goal is always to bring you back into fellowship with Him and His Son.
When Satan tries to convince you that you are not worthy to approach God, that is when the breastplate of righteousness comes in to work for us.
Satan is a liar.
You are worthy, capable, and encouraged to approach God because of what Christ has accomplished for you and through you.
It is so important for us to stay in fellowship with God and with one another – keeping the breastplate on.
So, those are two of the pieces of armor those who have committed their lives to Christ have available to them.
Next week, we will look at a couple of the other pieces of armor we, as Christ's followers, have available for our protection and power.
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