MESSAGE TEXT
Ephesians 6:10-20
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INTRODUCTION
Regarding Ephesians: Ruth Paxson has it Wealth (1–3), Walk (4–6:9), and Warfare (6:10 and following). Many misunderstand spiritual warfare as referring only to power encounters with demonic spirits. Of course, there is that. But the fundamental nature of spiritual warfare is not power encounters; it’s truth encounters. Overall, the Bible describes a great battle over truth. Deceive, divide, and destroy. And if there is no objective or universal truth and someone claims there is, then you're just trying to impose your own limited perspective on everyone else and that makes your arrogant and intolerant by culture’s standards. In this battle, we are to be consistent and careful in making sure that what we believe lines up with reality.
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CONTEXTUALIZATION
Paul is chained at the wrist to a Roman guard with an 18-inch chain 24-7-365. Paul is going through the various elements or pieces of equipment a Roman soldier would wear. While Paul is writing he is looking at members of the praetorian guard (the elite guards of the palace) to whom he is chained in his apartment in Rome (see Phil 1:13) The soldiers would have been chained to Paul in 4-hour shifts while under house-arrest. Paul could literally look over at this guy and describe what he saw. There are both defensive (14-17) and offensive weapons (17-18) – sword and prayer. Each piece is identified with an element of Christian existence that has played an important part in the rest of the letter: truth (1:13; 4:15, 21–25; 5:9), righteousness (4:24; 5:9; 6:1), gospel preparation (1:13; 2:17; 3:6, 8; 4:11), faith (1:1, 13, 15, 19; 2:8; 3:12, 17; 4:5, 13), and salvation (1:13; 2:5, 8; 5:23).
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PROPOSITION
A spiritual battle requires spiritual resources. Accept and activate your God-given weapons of authority. Many aren’t aware of the authority they have against the Devil and his schemes. Paul mentions six pieces of armor in this passage: a belt, a breastplate, shoes, a shield, a helmet, and a sword. They stand for truth, righteousness, readiness of the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Bible. So when Satan says to me, “You weakling. You sinful human.” I ultimately have to say “I’m outfitted in Christ. He says I can have peace, when it’s hard to sleep. He says I have his righteousness, when I failed yet again. He says I can rest on His truth, when I don’t know who to trust. He says when I’m bombarded with messages of rejection and shame, he says I’m seated with him with a new identity and if I’ll believe that, it will be a shield of faith around me.”
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MAIN POINTS
How can we claim the reality of Christ’s victory over the darkness? How can we live in His authority? How can we anchor ourselves and our families to the truth? How can we set someone up to go through a healthy deconstruction and reconstruction process?
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1. Teach them the difference between church hurt and Christ Himself. 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
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2. Prepare them for struggle and suffering before it comes. 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
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3. Encourage honest questions - without fear or shame - and show how God’s truth answers those questions. 6:14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
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4. Surround them with authentic, humble Christians—not perfect ones. 6:14 with the breastplate of righteousness in place.
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5. Root them deeply in the actual gospel—not cultural versions of Christianity. 6:15 feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
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6. Protect them from isolated faith. 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
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7. Make sure they understand what it means to be “saved”. 17 Take the helmet of salvation
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8. Give them solid biblical literacy. 17 the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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CONCLUSION
"Belt of Truth." Truth is not something we invent or create. Truth is discovered. 3 proper responses to truth. Live the Truth. Tell the Truth. Know the Truth – Truth is found in knowing the One who is the Truth (John 14:6). We can get to know Jesus through the Bible, esp. the gospels. But this is more than just learning about Him. It is responding to His words.
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Truth can be known through revelation. There is a "creationary word" - look at the world and your body - it speaks of a Designer and Truth-giver. There is a "written word" - the Bible reveals the larger story of what is going on in the world. There is the "living Word" - the Lord Jesus himself who is the Truth. He didn't come bearing witness to "a truth" or even "his truth" but to "the Truth." Truth has been embodied in a Person and can be known.
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Truth means more to me now than ever before. It's the load-bearing pillar of a biblical worldview. We can't find meaning in life if we don't know the truth. If you don't have Truth, you have no basis for right or wrong; no way to determine what is true or a lie. And if there is no sin, there is not basis for judgement or condemnation.
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You fight this war by the authority that has been garrisoned in Christ. God has given us a wardrobe of authority. You might be saying : “How do I get dressed? I’m being beaten. Satan is whipping me. He is destroying my family. He is capturing my children. He is destroying my mind. He is addicting me to this kind of, influence that is controlling me, whether it’s alcohol or drugs or relationship or what have you.
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Mark Hall of Casting Crowns wrote these words:
“But the voice of truth tells me a different story / the voice of truth says do not be afraid / and the voice of truth says this is for my glory / out of all the voices calling out to me / I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.”