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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Friday 11/14 This Means War! What it means to put on the full armor of God: Fight for your faith



Ephesians 6:10-12 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Introduction and Review
We have been spending the past couple of days exploring what is meant by the command to "put on the full armor of God." So far in our consideration of the wider context of Ephesians 4-6, we have suggested that putting on the full armor of God means: Filled with the Holy Spirit and living out the fully-obedient Christian life. Today we offer a third and final suggestion as to what it means to put on the full armor of God: Fight for your faith.

Putting on the full-armor of God means fighting the fight of faith
I want to direct the reader's attention to the following statements in Ephesians 6:11-12 that suggest this third meaning of "putting on the full armor of God".

"so that you will be able to stand firm" vs 11

"our struggle" vs 12

"but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places" vs 12

Think about this: Why would the Apostle Paul be commanding us to put on the full armor of God unless we were not to fight? Now this may seem obvious from the context of Ephesians 6 - however by the way we so often live the Christian life, it seems we are more ready to give up ground to our enemy in the eternal matters of the Christian faith.

All of the spiritual armor has to do with various areas of the Christian life. If we fail to put on the full armor and fight the fight of faith - then we give up much ground. Consider how often we are told to "fight for our faith":

Romans 13:12 "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

1 Timothy 1:18-19 "This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, 19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith."

2 Timothy 4:7  "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."

1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

Jesus Himself waged cosmic battle against Satan and the kingdom of darkness, winning the war of redemption in Colossians 2:11-15. We are as it were the church militant, sailing through the turbulent waters of the history and proclaiming this victory. Jude writes these words in Jude 3  "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints."

Closing thoughts:
We have considered these past several days the meaning of "putting on the whole armor of God." In our studies we have concluded three meanings for this instruction:

1. Filled with the Holy Spirit
2. Fully obedient to the Lord
3. Fight for your faith

This means war! What it means to put on the full armor of God: Fully Obedient


Ephesians 6:10-12 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Introduction and Review
Yesterday we suggested that Paul's command to put on the full armor of God has to do with being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled life entails us surrendering under the Holy Spirit's leadership so as to be more effective in the daily battle of faith. We noted how the Spirit-filled life can be likened unto chain-mail that protects the body from the weaponry of the enemy. Being that the idea of "putting on the full-armor of God" is a command, we suggest that the second meaning of putting on the full-armor of God has to do with the obedient Christian life.

Putting on the full armor of God means living the obedient Christian life
Obedience to God and the Spirit-filled life goes hand in hand. The filling of the Spirit is the power source or motivation for obedience and obedience is the fruit and effect stemming from being Spirit-filled. It is a manifest impossibility to claim to be Spirit-filled and yet not be obedient. Whenever we disobey God in an area, we have just betrayed such a claim. 

Anytime we see God commanding things in scripture, two things are implied: exercise of the will and the need of God's grace to carry out the command. The ancient Christian writer Augustine had a short little prayer that went something like this: "command what thou wilt and will what thou commandest." In other words, God has the right and authority to issue forth commands from His Word for the carrying out by His people. The human will is the primary vehicle of the heeding in such circumstances. Think of a snow-shovel used to shovel a drive-way. How can I go outside in the winter and shovel snow unless I have the proper tool to carry out the task.

However the involvement of the human will in obedience does not complete the explanation. There must necessarily be some kind of power, influence and Person at work with the human will. Just as a shovel by itself would never be able to shovel snow, and thus needs an external person yielding it, so it is with God in the carrying out of His commands.

Whenever we see Paul's instructions on putting on the full-armor of God, certainly the power source in this instance is the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Person Who shapes and molds the Christian to do the will the Lord. However, the Christian in turn must yield in obedience to demonstrate that they are ready to fight the good fight of faith. Notice the commands Paul issues in Ephesians 6:10-18:

"be strong in the Lord" vs 10

"Put on the full armor of God" vs 11

"take up the full armor of God" vs 13

"Stand firm" vs 14

"and having shod your feet..." vs 15

"taking up the shield of faith.." vs 16

"And take the helmet of salvation" vs 17

"pray at all times...." vs 18

These commands indicate that at the heart of putting on the full armor of God is obeying the Lord's will. Even the idea of being Spirit-filled is a command! Our General - Jesus Christ - issues these commands by His Spirit through the Word. We require the Spirit-power to carry them out and the willing obedience to heed the commands. Thus putting on the full-armor of God means being Spirit-filled and living out the obedient Christian life.