Armor Up! Part III

Ephesians

For these verses I am using the American Standard Version translation.

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having ‘put on the belt of’ truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saint,” 

“Put on the whole armor of God,” on the onset of reading these words it should at the least alert us to the fact that there is something we need to do. Sometimes the message of Christian duty gets muddied. We say Christ has done it all, which is true but then we read verses such as these from Paul in 1 Timothy, ” study to show yourself approved as a workman rightly dividing the Word of God,” and “I buffet my body least after having preached to others I myself should become disqualified.” The word buffet is a serious word, it means to give yourself a black eye as if your eye is out of line. There is definitely effort in both these two verses, plus our verse, ” Put on the armor,” involves effort.  So which is it, is it Christ’s work or mine? In the context of scripture it is quite clear. Salvation alone is the work of God in Christ. He and He alone is the only one able to save us by atoning for our sins via His own blood. No amount of effort of any proportion could ever accomplish what has been won because of the Cross, period. No debate, no discussion, it was the truth then, it is the truth now and it will forever be the truth.

However bending our ways, making time ( prioritizing ) to seek the Lord is our part. Growing our faith through scripture reading and exposing ourselves to the public teaching of God’s Word is how we partner with the Lord in growing our faith, and of course the Holy Spirit is involved every step of the way. Consistency is our best friend;  as the farmers of old use to say, “put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.” This is the “temper” or type of faith we need. As long as we see seeking Christ as optional we will flounder as believers. Furthermore if our faith does not make us different, then we are not following this verse. If we are not doing this then it’s questionable whether we believe what follows after it

In general the concept of the devil seems to be either overplayed or not discussed at all depending upon the church you attend. Ever since Bill Crosby coined the phase, “the devil made me do it,” the concept of the devil took on an almost humorous notion. That’s unfortunate, for even in the definition of “wiles” one can see he is no laughing matter. The Greek word for wiles is ‘Methodeia.’ We get our English word method, and its definition is “the following or pursuing of an orderly and technical procedure in the handling of a subject.” 

In High School one of my F.F.A projects was to raise chickens (100 of them) for consuming. I had to not only raise them but sell them, kill them, pluck them and then deliver them. We had feathers all over our side yard. It was the worse project I ever had, no wonder why I love plants so much. However in the process I learned how to cut up a whole chicken in pieces, just like in the market, and there is a method to it. The same method I used then is the same method I use now. And the end goal is the same, separate the pieces from the whole. Satan has the same method, to separate us from the Lord and from one another; burden us with guilt, sin, depression, worry, insecurity, fear, lust, false beliefs etc. These are some of tools in his bag and if he doesn’t get us with these, he has more.

A thief follows methodeia as well.  One of the first things any thief wants to do is make himself invisible. Dressing in dark colors, working in darkness, shealthly moving etc., he wants to make you think he doesn’t exist. If Satan can silence his name among the church, then he has become invisible and can have all the freedom he needs. In war if you don’t believe your enemy exist then likely your dead before you even fire your first shot. Hence the reason why so many of us are held captive to lust, pride, materialism, bitterness, fits of anger, bad language, or language that does not honor our Lord, or we lack the joy of living for Christ. We are trapped and we don’t even know it because Satan does not exist. There is no such thing as spiritual warfare, powers or principalities, or demons etc., when in reality they are very, very, real. They HATE GOD and HATE anyone who follows Him.

 I have a neighbor who hates me, he blames me for something I did not do. We are going on eight years of this foolishness. It is a weight to my spirit every time I walk past his house to get the mail and as such God seems to organize our time so that we see each other often. At the grocery store, riding bikes, out with my grand kids etc., I don’t even see my Christian neighbors that much. The sense of being hated is an ugly feeling, fortunately Christ love is much more powerful. I can only imagine how much more intensely the devil hates those who faithfully follow Christ. So it is imperative that we believe that there is a devil who will do anything to destroy us, Jesus believed so. In John 10:10 -12

The thief and wolf in the passage is Satan and through ‘methodeia’ he steals our joy, peace, assurance, our freedom and even our faith to where we even doubt that the Bible is God’s Word or even that God exists. Ultimately satan’s goal is to damn our soul. This is not a game, the stakes are real and the consequences eternal. One of the best ways to play all this down is to deny that sin even exists, that we just need to become more enlightened and that eventually everyone will get there. This is one of the most ignorant lies to believe in. Just look at the world, look at history as far back as this lie has been told, man has not improved, changed, or learned to value his fellow man any more or less than he always has. There have always been givers and takers and those inbetween. Except for periods of revival, life on earth has continued with me being first and you being second. Only when a heart has truly been touched by Christ does that order change. Another lie is that Christ did not die for sin, but to set an example of perfect selflessness. Though Christ himself said while on the Cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” There is no end to the twisting of the truth and through methodeia he seeks to deceive the weak or injured of heart. Christ clearly said he would give his life as a ransom for the sins of the world, that he would be the final atonement for man. Via His death He would create the way for man to come back to a Holy God. Christ words as quoted by Peter,

For the Christian who does know the scriptures the Christian life is very much a struggle. Victory, saying no to sin and yes to God is probably few and far between. Without the Holy Spirit we are no match for the deceptiveness of the enemy. We are like puppets in the hands of the evil puppet master. To even recognize what sin is, is difficult. Most people acknowledge the Ten Commandments as a benchmark for sin, but sin is more than that. If I was to ask what is the worse sin possible we would all have our own opinion. However the “biggest sin,” the one that goes unrecognized is rejecting what Christ did for us on the Cross. For the unspoken statement that says, ” I don’t need a Savior, I’m good enough,” is the number one sin that damns man and from that rejection follows all the crimes of man. If the tree is bad, the fruit will also be bad. Faith in Christ turns us into good trees. It’s a process for sure, one that I really wished we would take more seriously.

Being good is not good enough. Their are those who do charitable work that are not necessarily believers and at times their selflessness puts us to shame. However be that true, we still must distinguish between good and righteous. Good is the work of man and to the highest and most noble it can be, it does not compare to God’s righteousness. Unfortunately it is the rumble and hay that burns at judgement, which saddens me greatly because I know some of these people. They would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. Yet work done through Christ and for Christ because of a changed heart by Christ is what will make it through the fire. Anything less  will not. Without walking with Christ this statement is at the very least hurtful, however when one gets a glimpse of God Holiness it is understood.

Peter understood, even if it was for a moment. Jesus after teaching all morning Peter’s boat asked Peter to take out the boat to go fishing. Peter and the others just spent the whole night fishing, when it was the best time, and caught nothing. Fortunately for Peter he obeyed, it could have easily said no but at the Lord’s command they went out and casted  their nets. They caught so much fish that the boat began to sink. Peter could of had several reactions at seeing such a great amount of fish, “great Lord thank you, now I can pay off my house,” or ” I will sell this fish and from the money take two years off” etc., but nothing of self interest was said, instead he said ” get away from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” For in that moment Peter understood that what just happened only God could do and faced with the Divinity of Christ his sin was glaring at him and it  was beyond what he could take. We are not free agents like we would like to believe, but are easily manipulated if we are not being guided by the Holy Spirit.

Do yourself a great favor, believe The Holy Spirit’s words. The wrestling we engage in is the unseen battle that exists in the minds and hearts of man. Lust, hatre, gossip, evil speech, covetousness, sexual misconduct, fornication, adultery, pride, even complacency are all weapons the enemy uses to take ground in our souls. He burdens us with guilt and low self esteem, thereby making us weak and unable to fight. These and more are the tools in his bag.

Therefore how do we fight an enemy that is as beguiling and invisible as him? And it is not just how to fight, but how do we win? How do boxers win, kick boxing athletes, or karate contestants, you train till your the best and in the process you get beat up, but if **we continue with the Lord and do not get discouraged it becomes part of our training. As Proverbs says, “one man sharpens another.” Each time we get beat up it exposes where we are weak, so we must train to strengthen those areas. After a while there are no more weakness, God’s Word is in you and we have become battle tough. It takes time, consistency in the Word and prayer and not just when we are in need, but a discipline of study and prayer. As mentioned prior, Paul said he buffeted his body so that after preaching to others he himself would not become disqualified from the race, 1 Corinthians 9:26-27,

**To really start becoming disconnected from the world in the sense of not valuing what the world values, takes time. To truly know that if you have Christ you have everything is a sign of maturity. That we do not need the latest car, the nicest clothes, a big house or a important title at work to feel we have value or worth. None of these things do we strive for or value as we value as having Jesus. With Him and with Him alone, I am wealthy. I truly have what material wealth or worldly value cannot provide. We buy into the world’s list of values because we are weak or young in the faith. We believe by having those things we will be happy, peaceful, loved, important etc., yet the world’s goods or title do not bring the continued peacefulness or love we are seeking. They are fleeting and come with their own set of problems. To know that you have everything your soul needs when the Lord Jesus is front and center of our life takes time, our soul needs to be purged of its worldly desires and pride to develop this conviction. However it is a wonderful goal to pray towards and surrender to and it’s a goal we will never fully attain to here in this life but as the peace of Christ and the presence of God grows in one’s life the assurance of walking in the truth brings much joy. And if through faith, hard work, skill and integrity we have wealth, nice possessions and/ or a position at work that leads others, these are then seen as stewardships that I use to honor my Lord. However my identity and standing is firmly placed in Him; nothing exceeds being His son or daughter.  “My righteousness” therefore comes from “having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” which ever strengthens as my faith grows. The more of me that is found in Christ and the less of me that identifies with the world’s lusts and values, the more “battle ready” I become. My armor “fits,” and I become part of an advancing threat in my Father’s army against the darkness that seeks to rule over the heart of man.  (Amen).

Father God,

Thank you for this study. Materialism and a comfortable life has never made a good soldier, only those who seek to pamper themselves. Let us, the church, repent violently of this indulgent life and possess this life as not possessing it, ” as sojouners, or strangers.” We are truly just passing through; easy to say, hard to do – help us Father.

Thank you and Amen.

Move Forward In His Grace – Arthur