Ephesians 6:10-20 The Armor of God Sermon preached May 3, 2013 Opening Boy, am I grateful for Spring time.

The beauty of the blossoms on all the trees...being able to go cycling just wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt...the smell of farmers fertilizing their fields...people coming out of their homes in our neighborhood and walking around and talking and laughing together...and then theres the clothes, the change in wardrobe - recently Ive seen several men rocking the sandals with black socks look - young men actually, that used to be reserved to old Italian guys named Giuseppe on the boardwalk on the Jersey shore - seeing that look, makes me realize that Im really back up North, among my people again - but anyway its time to pull out the Spring wardrobe - Im packing up my sweatshirts, getting out my short sleeved polo shirts that I havent seen since Fall. And women get to wear lighter and brighter Spring clothing last year I posted on Facebook that seeing all the women wear their nice Spring clothing made me want to wear something pretty too. But anyway, were pulling out Spring clothing to fit the season...we put away the heavy coats and scarfs and hats and gloves and pull out the shorts and skirts and sandals. Right clothing, for the right time of year. Where am I going with this? Were talking about a kind of clothing this morning wearing a kind of virtual clothing that is appropriate to wear, that we need to wear, at all times when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. Introduction to Ephesians reading Our reading from Ephesians comes from the end of that letter Paul wrote to this congregation. And what you put last, you often want remembered the most. Previous to this passage, Paul has been describing all the great stuff God has done for us in Jesus Christ - the whole first chapter is one long run-on sentence where its like the good news of our salvation comes gushing out of the man like water from a fire-hose - were chosen by God for salvation from the beginning of time, were healed and forgiven and have everlasting life through Jesus Christ, were given the Holy Spirit as Gods very self living inside us, were gathered into the community of the church, where all the walls that divide the human race come atumblin down...he goes into a long prayer, he urges us to live a live worthy of what God has done for us - but then, its like he stops, and says Ok, now pay attention - theres something you have to watch out for. And that something, is reality and power of evil in our world. That take the form of these mysterious spiritual entities that Paul calls principalities and powers and spiritual forces 1

of this dark world. Paul is saying that evil is real. And that it is roaming the earth, looking to do harm. And that we must be not only aware that it exists, put that we have to put on a spiritual kind of armor, in order to be able to fight it. Reality of evil Ive been preaching sermons for 23 years now. And when I get to this subject, theres been a big change since 9/11. Before the 9/11 attacks, I had to spend a lot of time making the case that recognizing the existence of objective forces of evil in the world isnt the relic of medieval superstition - that there really is objective evil in the world that cant be reduced to the harmful results of poverty or ignorance or political ideology. I had to mention the theologian Karl Barths words - and Barth was no bible-thumping fundamentalist Who said, There is a superior, an inexplicable enemy whom we cannot resist unless God comes to our aid...ask me no questions, but we must know the devil exists, and we must get away from him.1 But even then, despite my best efforts, people would roll their eyes when Id talk about this stuff. After 9/11, not so much. Weve seen evil at work in the world - at work like an infectious disease that takes hold of young men and leads them to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings...in the killing fields of Bosnia and Kosovo...in the intractable sufferings of the poor who get trapped in ghettos...in the shootings in Newtown and the bombing in Boston...and on and on. And the hard word from this passage, is that when you give your heart to following he Lord Jesus Christ...you are signing up for battle. Every square inch of this earth is contested territory, as well as every human heart. Why we need the armor And if youre going into battle, you better put on your battle-gear. Friend of mine in my last church, an infantry sergeant, was sent over to Afghanistan in 2010 for combat duty. Led a company in south-east Afghanistan and saw a lot of combat with the Taliban. And my friend said one of the toughest things about the combat missions was the weight of all his equipment and protective armor - wearing body armor and a helmet, carrying weapons and ammunition and food. But when youre in battle and there are AK-47 bullets ricocheting off the rocks around you, youre thankful you carried that body armor with you. 2

We have to wear a kind of armor, says Paul, using for imagery the familiar armor that a Roman solider would wear - helmet, breastplate, shield and so on. Why do we need to wear the armor? Because not only is evil real, the enemy wants to get inside you, and turn you to its side. You see - the problem isnt those bad people out there doing bad things and if we can just stop them or kill them the problem will go away. Thats the tenor of too much conversation in our media - its us versus them - us good people versus the bad people. Christianity teaches that there is a battle going on within each one of us, a battle between good and evil, right and wrong. Because the world is not divided into sinners and saints; were each divided into sinners and saints. Its like Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote in The Gulag Archipelago - a good man who suffered tremendously at the hands of evil men - he said, If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good from evil cuts through the heart of every human being.2 And I have seen frightening cases of evil getting inside people, finding and exploiting a weakness, and leading them to destruction. I had a good friend who was pastor of a nearby church. We were in a covenant group that met regularly for prayer and mutual accountability. A group where we could really share our struggles and ask for prayer and help. Susan and I would socialize with this pastor and his wife. I trusted him, thought I knew him. Then he met a woman, a chance meeting in an airport, he said. She had two kids, just divorced and getting out of an abusive marriage, she needed a fresh start, so he and his church helped her relocate to South Carolina. She needed a place to live, we had an empty house we were trying to sell, so she and her kids rented it. The woman joined the guys church, sang in the praise band, we his friends asked him about it, but my pastor friend said everything was on the up-and-up. You know where this is going. Turns out, they started having an affair, using our house as one of their love nests. And the pastor, leaves his wife, leaves his church, the Presbytery removes his ordination - and in his wake he leaves destruction - a family, a church, friendships, trust, destroyed. Evil got ahold of my friend, and turned him. You are not immune. I am not immune. And we need to wear the armor of God.

Christ has won the battle Now, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. Like this is all too much for you, cant I just come to church and have my prayer time at home and try to be nice to people and everything will be ok? I am reminded of an exercise routine for middle-aged people like me I read about. Goes like this. Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags. Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.(I'm at this level.) After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag. Does this feel overwhelming? Well, take heart, were not in this alone. Paul says, to be strong...not in ourselves...but to be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Jesus Christ came to do battle with these powers. Jesus Christ fought this battle for us. Jesus began his ministry fighting off the devil in the wilderness, he fought sin and evil all through his ministry by hurling the demonic back into hell, by releasing people from sins power, and right at the end of his ministry, in the Garden of Gethsamene, he fought off the temptation to avoid the cross, and on the cross he defeated the powers of sin and death, and through the Holy Spirit he now takes up residence within our hearts and works to push back the darkness within us. On the cross he took them on, let them take their best shot, absorbed their blows and they killed him - the powers working through human beings like us - and theyd thought theyd won, and when the stone rolled closed against the mouth of the tomb, the demons of Hell erupted in a celebration like Times Square on New Years Eve times a thousand...but then God raised Jesus from the dead - and God broke the absolute power of sin over this world and us. Through Christ, we can 4

take our stand against evil, and defeat it. Americans dont like the words, I cant. But this is one time when we have to break down and say it - I cant fight this battle on my own anymore. Im tired. Im losing. Im discouraged.. Help me Jesus. I cant do it on my own. Wearing the armor Help me Jesus. You remember when you were little and you had to get dressed up, maybe for Easter Sunday, your momma would lay your clothes out for you on your bed? Thats like what Paul says God has done for us. Instead of a new boys suit with a bow-tie or an Easter dress, its a metaphorical suit of armor. I could do a sermon series on each piece of armor - but what they all have in common, is this - to put on the armor of God, is to believe the gospel and trust in the power of Jesus Christ. To hold onto the gospel when under assault - no...matter...what. Martin Luther knew this. Every once in a while hed feel under the assault of evil - there is a story that one time the evil one appeared in his study and Luther threw an ink-well at him - but Luthers usual practice was to put his hand on his head and say I...am...baptized! Meaning, I belong to Jesus Christ, who has won the victory! If you have put your hope and trust in Jesus Christ - what is most true about you, is that you belong to Christ and Christ has won the battle. And when you are tempted beyond what you think you can bear...when the memories of the past threaten to drag you under...when despair wants to swallow you down into the living gulfs of doom...you pick up that metaphorical shield of faith, and say, I am baptized! I belong to Jesus Christ and will not succumb, will not despair, will hang on to hope! But theres an offensive weapon, too - the sword of Spirit, that Paul says is the Word of God. Works like this. Remember Star Wars and light-sabers? Could slice just about anything in half. But Yoda and Luke would also use a light-saber to deflect laser blasts. The Word of God is like that in both ways - can deflect, but also cut to pieces, the lies of the evil one. Let me take on one lie in particular. One look wont hurt. A lot of you men, and maybe a few women too, when youre sitting at your computer and theres nobody around, you have that thought pop into your head One look wont hurt. So you start with one click leading to one 5

look...and pretty soon youre looking at hard-core pornography, and you do that enough, you can get addicted to the dopamine rush that it gives you. Statistically, there are likely a couple dozen men in this church this morning who are either addicted to, or starting to become addicted, to pornography. And if youre a parent of a teenage boy, you can be sure that he is being tempted by it too. Remember my pastor friend I told you about earlier? Pornography is what got him started and helped destroy him. You think youre strong enough to handle it? Youre not. There is an incredible amount of spiritual destruction going on in the lives of Christian men and their families because of the evil of pornography. Heres how you fight it off. Memorize and use scripture to cut apart the lies. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God is a good one - you want to be in relationship with God, you cant be polluting your heart. Heres another one - Flee from sexual immorality. You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:18-20 NIV). And this works for just about all the spiritual attacks that will be thrown at you: The Word also says, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It works - because of the power of the gospel, the power of the Word. Final Word Friends, this is so important, not only for your personal walk with Christ, but for this church. I keep hearing that you want spiritual renewal here, and that Central is poised and ready for it. Well, if thats so, we can count on spiritual opposition. We can count on this church being spiritually attacked. So - we have to be on guard personally. Be aware that your weaknesses will be points of attack. Anger, pride, depressive thinking, lust, neediness, resentment - your tender and vulnerable places. Wake up to the fact youre in a battle. So put on your armor. And pick up and use that sword. And we have to be wise and vigilant as a community. Paul says elsewhere of the evil one, we are not unaware of his schemes. And schemes there will be, to divide us, to set people against one another. Be wise, and stand strong in the Lord. And pray - pray for this church - a church that prays is unstoppable.

Closing Well, today Ill wear four or five different outfits of clothing - casual for the first service, pulpit robe for the second service, a suit for the Towne Singers this afternoon, then Ill put on my bike shorts and jersey for a ride this afternoon, and then into jeans and a polo shirt for the rest of the day. You might do something like that too. But when we go home today, no matter what clothing we wear, lets keep this metaphorical armor on, and be prepared to stand fast for Christ. Amen. Endnotes 1. From a sermon by George Jacobs, "The Final Battle," preached August 29, 1993. 2. Quoted in William Willimon, Sighing for Eden, p. 119.