Be Strong in the Lord
Well, we come to the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians today so I thought we might stop and think about what we’ve heard over the past 8 weeks.
We began with a reminder of the way God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ; how he chose us before the creation of the world to become his children; how he’s lavished his grace upon us by wiping away our sins. We were also reminded that God has revealed to us the mystery, that is the details, of his plan for the final completion of his creation; what he calls the completion of time.
Then we thought about the amazing result of Jesus death and resurrection, which is that through no efforts of our own, by God’s grace that is, we’ve been saved, raised up and seated in God’s presence in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And because we’re now in Christ Jesus all the barriers that divide us from other human beings have been broken down.
We were then reminded again of that great mystery, hidden for ages in God but now revealed through the church. Do you remember what that mystery was? Paul describes it as the wisdom of God in all its rich variety. It was his plan to create a people for himself from every nation on earth; in fact a world-wide family that takes its name from God the Father. And so Paul prays, in chapter 3, that they might have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that they may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:18-19)
So, having set that foundation of who we are and why we’re here, we then went on to explore what the practical outworking of all that might be. The first and perhaps most foundational implication was that we need to live out, in our lives together, the reality of our unity in Christ. There’s one God and Father over us all, there’s one Lord and saviour who calls us into the one body and there’s one Holy Spirit who fills us all. God has established his church and given gifts to its leaders so that the body of Christ may be built up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. Now, that will require a radical change in how we live. We’ll need to live useful lives, we read; we’ll need to put off falsehood and speak truthfully to one another; we’ll need to train our lips to speak words that are helpful for building one another up; and we’ll need to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us. To sum all that up we’re to be “filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing and making music from our hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Then last week Chris helped us sort out the issues around the demographic and cultural distinctions that so often mar human relationships: the distinctions around gender and race and economic and political power. Of course there’s no mention in that passage of our more modern domestic situations, where for example 25% of all homes are single person households. But the point remains we need to work on the way we relate to one another from the basis of our each being a member of Christ’s body.
Do you remember what the key verse was in that passage? It was v 21: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Now I’m told that some people don’t like that word submit. It sounds too much like a throwback to past ages of master and servant. It’s certainly been badly misused in the past, as Chris pointed out last week. And it certainly goes against all we’ve been taught in recent times about the need for personal freedom, individual agency. But this calls for a radical reshaping of our attitudes. Like the husband mentioned in chapter 5 we need to model Christ who gave up all power and status and became a servant in order to bring us back to God.
So it was good to know that that was all sorted wasn’t it? Though you may have noticed the large red question mark on Chris’ PowerPoint slide.
As Chris knows and we all know very well, it isn’t sorted, is it? We haven’t sorted out sexism and racism. The gap between rich and poor hasn’t improved. The sense of powerlessness among the majority of people is only getting greater.
And Paul understood this as well. Do you see what he says at the start of todays passage? “10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Paul knows that apart from the problem of our own weakness, our hardness of heart, our inbuilt desire for control, there are spiritual forces in the world that’ll try everything they can to stop us showing forth God’s wisdom and glory. The reality of life for the Christian is that we face opposition from the spiritual forces around us every day. We have an enemy whose sole aim is to ruin our efforts at every point. So Paul warns us.
So what do these spiritual forces want to do? They want to thwart God’s plan. Is God’s plan to create a new society? They’ll do their best to break it down. Has God, through the death of Christ, broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, indeed between all people, independent of gender, race, or culture? Then the devil and his agents will try to build that wall again. Does God intend his new people to live together in harmony and purity? Then the powers of evil will sow the seeds of discord and sin in our midst. We must never underestimate the danger. Never take for granted the victory over sin. Never stop fighting temptation. Never give up in our efforts to overcome it. And never be surprised when you see a Christian leader fall into sin of some sort or another. Until Christ returns to take us to the Father we’ll always be fighting these spiritual battles. The peace, which Christ has bought by his blood, is still a promised peace. It’s a peace that we enjoy in the midst of a relentless struggle against evil. The war is won but the battles continue.
So never underestimate the devil. Paul describes him and his followers as powerful, evil and cunning. They’re the rulers and authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness. Until Christ returns they continue to wield their power. Christ has won the victory but they continue to fight, and will continue to do so with more and more desperation, until the last day. And make no mistake, their intentions are evil. They’re the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Whether we realise it or not, we’re opposed by spiritual forces whose desire is to conquer us and to rule us, to lead us astray from following Christ.
Notice too that the devil is a wily opponent. That is, he combines tactical shrewdness with ingenious deception. Jesus called the devil the “Father of lies” (Jn 8:44). He’s described as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He even disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). If he finds one strategy isn’t working he’ll try another. And of course one of his great strategies in this day and age is to convince people that he doesn’t exist. The devil, like sin, has become a joke word. “Oh, the devil made me do it!” But do you see that that’s one of his great successes. If you don’t believe in the devil, you won’t be worried about his lies and temptations. If he’s just a children’s fable we can forget him because we’ve outgrown that sort of childishness. But we mustn’t be fooled. The devil is real. His opposition is something to be reckoned with. What we’re fighting against isn’t just human weakness. Psychological counselling and self-help groups may solve some problems, but they won’t help with this one!
So Paul reminds us that we’re not on our own. We’re to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. So that’s sorted as well is it? Well, not quite. We have God with us but we’re the ones who have to put on the battle gear, the bullet proof vest and the helmet, check our ammunition, go through the training drills. Notice v15. “Whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.”
We need to be prepared. We mustn’t be overconfident as some Christians are. As I said before there are plenty of Christian leaders who’ve fallen for the devil’s temptations, possibly because they thought they were immune, or at least that they were strong enough as Christians to resist those temptations. But this is described as a battle for good reason. We live in a world that strongly opposed to the Christian Gospel even though it’s a world that’s crying out for the sort of peace that only God can give. And the devil is quite happy to work through people who don’t trust Christians in order to hold us back. He delights in using the blackspots of our Christian history to turn people away from the message of the gospel.
So God offers to help us by giving us the personal armour we need. Look at what those things are that will protect us.
First there’s truth. There’s a story that Nicky Gumbel told in the early Alpha course, of a Christian who was working as the personal assistant of the head of one of the major department stores in London. One day someone rang up to speak to his boss and the boss signalled to tell them that he wasn’t there. The assistant instead passed the phone to his boss, much to his displeasure. When the phone call was over the boss called him into his office and blasted him for not getting rid of that call. His response was to say “If I can lie to that person, I can also lie to you. Which do you want?” He understood that truth is a highly valuable and often scarce commodity in our world today.
Then there’s righteousness – the breastplate. The piece of armour that protects the heart. How does that work? Well the righteousness we have is that which Christ gives us by grace alone. So when the devil tries to accuse us of our unworthiness our heart responds with the reminder that Christ’s blood has cleansed us and set us free from all guilt. This is similar to the helmet of salvation that comes up later in the list that protects our head.
Then there’s the gospel of Peace; footwear that will keep us steady as we walk across rocky ground; that will help us when we find ourselves opposed by people who don’t trust us; that will pour water on any fires of disharmony in our church setting (my apologies for the mixed metaphor).
There’s the shield of faith if I can continue the fire metaphor, a shield he says with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The Roman shield had a covering of leather that was designed to put out flaming arrows. But they were also designed to fit together to form an impenetrable wall. So there’s also the idea there of my faith being strengthened by you standing by my side as we work together. Our faith grows as we share it with one another. I was impressed this week when I joined Greg’s men’s group, to hear how they’d grown in their faith by sharing their life stories with one another.
The only offensive weapon in the list is the sword of the Spirit. And what’s this sword? It’s the word of God. There’s a tendency among some Christian's today to dismiss the Bible as God’s word, mainly because they don’t like some of what they read there, or they don’t like the way some people have interpreted it. But if we dismiss God’s word, if we choose not to listen to it, not to study it carefully to make sure we understand it, then we’re throwing away the only real weapon we have to fight back against the attacks of the evil one. Without God’s word we might as well give up the fight. But with it we can overcome all the attacks of the devil. Listen to what Hebrews tells us about God’s word: “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). God’s word cuts through people’s and our defences, pricking consciences, throwing light into dark places, and bringing truth to the situation.
Finally he warns us to pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. This is the thing that will keep us going, that will supply the energy and power we need to fulfill our mission as God’s people.
And notice how we’re to pray:
- In the Spirit: that is, guided and prompted by him;
- at all times: it doesn’t matter how important or otherwise the situation seems to be. God loves us to pray to him.
- similarly we’re to pray with all kinds of prayer and request. Pray long prayers and short prayers, depending on the situation. And don’t forget to go to him with thanks when you find your prayers answered, or when good things happen to you.
- pray with alertness and perseverance. Be aware of what’s going on around you. Be alert! And keep on praying even when things don’t seem to be going well.
- pray for all the saints. Remember others who are with you in this spiritual battle. And notice that he asks for prayer for himself. Don’t forget to pray for those who are your leaders in Christ.
So let’s never take for granted the victory over sin that Christ has won for us. Let’s never underestimate the devil. He’ll oppose us at every opportunity. Never give up in the fight against sin and evil. But always remember the power of God and the armour with which he’s equipped us. And finally, pray on every occasion that you and your brothers and sisters will be able to stand firm and that together we might proclaim through our lives the manifold wisdom of God.
