Tag Archives: armor

October 29, 2018 · 11:02 am

Dressed for Battle

Peninsula Community Church

Dressed for Battle

October 28, 2018

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

In today’s world many professions have a dress code of sorts. Football players wear uniforms. These uniforms identity the team, the player’s number, and their name, usually. The uniform in essence serves to identity who they are, whose team they are on, and it provides a level of protection or security. A fire fighter wears turnout gear which includes a helmet, a jacket, pants, boots, gloves, and ID badge. These items are worn to identify who they are and for protection. A police office wears a uniform with a badge, a bulletin proof vest, a radio, and cameras. These items serve to identify who they are and the vest, camera, and radio serves to protect them. The same is true in regards to the spiritual armor Paul calls us to wear. By wearing the armor, we are identified by our Lord and people know what team we are on. By wearing the armor we are protected from the enemy’s schemes. To be effective we must wear it. It cannot stay in the closet.

It is noteworthy that in our passage, Paul instructs us to put on the whole armor of God. As I was preparing for this, I was struck by the fact that he exhorted us to put on the whole armor, the complete armor, all of the armor. The insinuation is that we are not to go into battle half dressed. Doing so makes us vulnerable and gives room for the enemy to attack the areas not covered by the armor. Without the whole armor of God we are in fact set up for defeat because the enemy is very aware of our weaknesses when we are not fully dressed. Our enemy is the master of distraction. He is the master of deception and falsehood. He is the master of distortion and he seems to know right where to attack because he knows the spots that are uncovered.

We are to put on the complete armor therefore we cannot pick and choose which part we will wear. We must put on the complete armor. Why is this? It is because we are less than effective when we pick and choose what pieces to wear. Paul exhorts us to stand in God’s strength and we do that best when we put on the whole armor of God. In doing so, we stand and do not give room to the enemy. We stand strong so he does not advance against us or the kingdom of God. As believers, we are to stand because God is the One who wins our battles.

In preparing for this, I was thinking about what Paul exhorted us to do. It was critical enough that he said it twice. I had an amazing thought in this regard. If this armor protects us from the schemes of the enemy, then we need the complete whole armor to fight against and counter those schemes. We cannot go into battle half dressed. For example, it is possible that we can put on the helmet of salvation but fail to put on the belt of truth. We are saved, or at least we believe we are, but our actions and thoughts are not founded in truth, because we do not have the belt of truth securely fastened. The result is that we become tormented by falsehoods, lies, and half truths presented to us. We begin to believe the lies and live as if the lies are true. The result is that we believe we need to work harder, strive more, and be more perfect. We can believe that we are never good enough or righteous enough for God. The result is that we are never satisfied with our relationship with Christ, with others, or our circumstances. We feel defeated because we have not settled the truth in our minds that we are believers who are saved by faith and through His grace.

Without the belt of truth, we will have a distorted view of God and of ourselves. From the beginning of time, the enemy has been at work to distort the truth and cause mankind to believe the lie about who God is and what He requires. It is for that reason, so many think that God is angry with them, and that they have done too much for God to redeem them or set them free. The helmet of Salvation along with the belt of truth leads to correct thinking.

It is also possible that we can have the helmet of salvation on but fail to strap on the gospel of peace. When this occurs, we tend to look to other sources rather than the gospel of Christ to bring us peace. In the end, this causes confusion about our identity and whose we are. In our world today there are so many voices that are speaking into our life. Media continues to tell us we are not good enough unless we drive a certain car. We are not beautiful unless we wear a certain makeup or drink a certain drink. We are not attractive unless we wear a certain aftershave or dress in a certain way. If we could only win the Mega Ball or the Power Ball drawing! These voices tend to give us a false identity. They cause us to strive to be something that God never created us to be.

When pastoring in New York, I had a lady call me to ask my advice about a very important subject but I had to chuckle because she prefaced the question with “I have talked to my psychiatrist, my psychologist, my counselor, my medical doctor, and my other pastor, and I was wondering what you thought.” One of her major issues was the confusion she had because too many people were speaking into her life and were giving her conflicting opinions. She was not looking for truth, she was looking for the answer she wanted to hear.

There are a lot of great people in the world with a lot of worldly wisdom and wise sayings. But, we need more than witty sayings, and worldly wisdom, we need the power of God at work in our life. We need the power of the gospel to guide and direct our steps. We need the wisdom of God to be at work in us. That wisdom only comes from the gospel of Christ. When our feet do not have the gospel strapped on we will be misdirected and misguided. That is why David stated so clearly that God’s word was a light unto his path. It was the source of his decision making and it was the source of his hope (Psalm 119:105). Without the Gospel of peace, we can roam aimlessly through life and never realize that we have been called to a greater purpose. That calling is to influence those around us. We are called to go where God leads and do what God calls us to do.

We can have on the helmet of salvation but fail to secure the breastplate of righteousness. Without the breastplate of righteousness we can believe that we have to work to be good enough. We try to live by the rules without grace. We try to tow the line without the power of God. We fail to remember that we are righteous by His righteousness. It is only through His shed blood on Calvary that we are righteous. It is imputed to us and not earned. That is truth.

We can have the helmet of salvation but forget to wear the sword of the Spirit. The sword is one of two offensive weapons we have. Without the sword of the spirit we are often more reactive than active. We are often misguided in our focus in terms of our enemy and who that is. Without the sword of the spirit we try to fight battles in a way that God never intended. We try to fight battles that have already been fought and won by our Lord. We become weary and tired because we are fighting with weapons God never intended for us to use. When we surrender to the Spirit, we will have His power to assist us and guide us.

We can also have on the helmet of salvation but not hold the shield of faith to extinguish the fiery darts that the enemy flings at us. Without the shield of faith we are susceptible to the darts and painful parts of life. Sometimes faith is all we have to make it through. We do not see the future very clearly, but faith keeps us going. We do not know how we will endure, but by faith we keep moving forward. After all faith is the assurance of things hoped for and confidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The fiery darts seek to cloud our vision, but by faith we see through the darkness to the light of day.

Finally, we can have the helmet of salvation but miss out on the greatest offensive weapon we have and that is prayer. Without prayer we easily become discouraged and distraught. Prayer is the greatest weapon we have in our arsenal. Prayer is our connection with command central. It is our connection with God alone. It is the source of power.

As a soldier, you would never go to war without proper training, weapons, and protective gear. The Bible is our training guide. Our life experiences and our spiritual walk become our boot camp. The temptations, trials, and attacks we face are all a part of the warfare. As a Christian engaged in spiritual conflicts, you must never leave home without the armor of God! And let me tell you it is much better than American Express.

As we close, I came across this prayer in regard to the armor of God. Let me share it with you. Equip me, Lord with the belt of truth. May your truth rule in my heart and be in my mind and on my lips today. Equip me Lord with the breastplate of righteousness. Apart from You there is no righteousness, but through Jesus I have been “born again” and made righteous in Your sight. May I live as a righteous person. Equip me Lord with feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace. May I reflect the Gospel in my words and actions, that through me, with my every encounter, others may be drawn one step closer to You. Equip me Lord with the shield of faith. May I take You at Your word concerning promises about the present and future—promises of everlasting love, abundant life, and so much more. Equip me Lord with the helmet of salvation. Remind me that nothing can separate me from Your love and that I’ve been saved by grace. In Your grace, help me to say “no” to all ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:12,13). Equip me Lord with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. May Your Holy Spirit reign in my life and bring to my mind just the right Bible verses to be in my heart and on my lips. May I be “filled with the Spirit” and ready with Scripture as You were, Jesus, when the devil tempted You. And, finally, keep me in an attitude of prayer. Remind me to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions.” Cause me to be alert and always praying for the saints; to be joyful and to give thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

For an audio of this message go to http://pccministry.org/messages.

Ephesians – Belt of Truth – Getting It to Together

Peninsula Community Church

Ephesians – Belt of Truth – Getting It to Together

May 17, 2015

Ephesians 6:14-15 – Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

This morning we continue to look at the idea of dressing for success by putting on the whole armor of God. It is to be noted that Paul begins this passage with the command to stand. The term standing expresses the idea of not giving up any ground that has been gained, especially by way of Christ’s victories in our life. When watching football, you will hear the commentator say that the defense is taking a goal line stand. What they are saying is that the defense is setup to stop the advance of the offense whose desire is to cross over the goal line for a score. This is the idea of standing and standing strong. It is to position ourselves so as not to give up any territory to the evil one. Many a football game has been won and lost from this position. The word also expresses the idea that when we have done everything we know to do, we keep standing against the schemes of the enemy to avoid his advancement in our lives. We don’t give up and we don’t give in. While not inclusive let me give you a couple of thoughts here. We give up ground when we believe the lies and half truths spoken to us and about us. We give up ground when we live with unconfessed sin. We give up ground when we continue to rehearse and live in the past experiences that have brought us pain and hurt. And, we give up ground when we give into the temptations that come our way.

In this passage, Paul begins to describe the armor that is necessary to take this stand. The first piece of armor in Paul’s list is the belt of truth which is fastened around the waist. To fully understand what the belt of truth is, we must understand the use of the belt in Paul’s day. First of all the belt was used to secure the tunic or the robe of the warrior. This was necessary because the tunic or robe was a long loose fitting garment. If not secured, the tunic would impact the ability of the soldier to effectively do battle as it would get tangled in the soldiers legs or in the armor itself. If this occurred, the soldier’s ability to fight the enemy was diminished and his focus would be on the problem with his armor and not on the ability to fight.

The second purpose of the belt was to secure the rest of the armor. The belt was that piece of the armor that tied everything else together. Without the belt, the armor would not fit properly. The result would be a lack of protection for the soldier because there was the potential of vulnerable spots being exposed. Without the belt being in place during a fight, the soldier might find himself in an awkward state as he would have to hold his tunic, or clutch his armor with one hand, and fight with the other. Such a situation would expose the soldier to the tactics of the enemy.

In this passage, Paul is relating to a well known visual for the Ephesians so that they could grasp the spiritual application of the principle. Paul emphatically states that we must put on the belt of truth. We have discussed the belt but we must also understand the meaning of the word “truth.” The word for truth is “althaea” and it speaks to both the intellectual aspect of truth as well as the attitude of truthfulness and integrity as a character trait. Truth, therefore, is not just the accuracy of specific truths held by a person but it is also the quality of truthfulness. This simply means that the Christian is to not only have an understanding of truth intellectually, but the Christian must be truthful in every area of their life.

The best way for me to illustrate this is with a story that is found in Chuck Swindoll’s book Growing Deep in the Christian Life. In the book, Chuck tells the story about a man who bought a bucket of fried chicken for himself and his date one afternoon. However, when the fast food restaurant gave him his order, they inadvertently gave him a bucket of money from the day’s sales instead of the fried chicken he ordered. After driving to the picnic site, he sat down with his date to enjoy some chicken when they discovered that instead of chicken, they had been given over $800! Once they saw the error, the man quickly took the money back to the store, because he considered himself to be an honest man. As you might imagine, by this time the manager of the restaurant was frantic. The man who had taken the money got out of his car, walked into the store to return the money. He became an instant hero. The manager was so thrilled. He was so thrilled in fact that he wanted to call the newspaper to have them take a photo and have this real life hero’s story published. The manager being excited was quick to compliment the man on his honesty. However, the man was also quick to respond “please don’t do that!” Then he leaned in and whispered to the manager, “You can’t do this because the woman I’m with, is another man’s wife.” The moral of the story is that the belt of truth must be applied to every area of our life and not just to some areas for it will expose us to the tactics of the enemy who will use such an opportunity to attack and destroy our testimony and our life.

As with the soldier in battle, we must secure the belt of truth around our waist. This is needful because for the believer the belt of truth brings security. You see when a believer does not have the belt of truth in place we will be vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. We will walk in fear because we are not dressed for success. Conversely, when the belt of truth has been secured, the believer in Christ will be complete, stable, and ready for every battle. The fact is, when the arrows of deception are flying around and unjust accusations explode around us, we need the truth and we need the truth of character to keep us from falling apart.

Spiritually, we must understand that security and truth is found in the Word of God and that real security is only discovered when the word of God comes alive in our hearts. This is the idea represented by Paul in this passage. To be secure, we must bind the word of God to our hearts. We will be ineffective in our walk with Christ if we are not allowing the word to transform and change us. If our character is not being changed by the truth of the Gospel, there is a good chance that we are not fastening or putting on the belt of truth. Without the belt of truth, we end up living an inconsistent life. Without the belt of truth, we will be entangled with issues and problems that will hold us back and trip up us. We will in essence be trying to hold onto the issues of life and fight a battle at the same time.

In our current culture we do not have to look very far to see that biblical truth is no longer a viable concern in most lives. In fact, truth is no longer valued as the basis of one’s actions or thinking. Too many live as if anything goes. Rather than fastening on the belt of truth, society rejects truth. |And the sad commentary is that many churches and believers today are also rejecting truth. The result is that the acceptable boundaries of God’s word are being moved and reestablished. As a result, society has become unstable. It is interesting to note that people who have forgotten the belt of truth in their life often scratch their heads wondering why life is filled with confusion and why there is such evil in the world.

A second idea is that the belt of truth prepares us for battle. Peter confirms this in 1 Peter 1:13-16. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy. The word used in this text for “prepare” is the same word in Ephesians for “fasten.” It gives us the sense of preparing for battle. In Peter’s case, we prepare the mind and in Paul’s case we fasten the belt of truth to our inner most being. Notice that Peter calls the follower of Christ to not conform to the passion of one’s former ignorance, but live as one who has been called to holiness. Peter understands that our passions are not always based in truth. We can never measure the validity of truth by virtue of our feelings or our emotions. Our feelings can come and go and they can change so quickly. Feelings and emotions are most often based on our circumstances and the environment that we are experiencing at the time. Truth does not change, while one’s feelings continue to ebb and flow. The point is, we must always let truth dictate our actions and not our emotions.

Jesus also recognized the need for being prepared when he stated the following. “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks (Luke 12:35-36). What Jesus is communicating is that we must be continually dressed for action as we do not know when we might engage the enemy. The children of Israel before leaving Egypt were called to prepare themselves as well. Moses wrote. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover (Exodus 12:11). They were to eat and work but they were also to be prepared for the Exodus. As believers, we must put on the belt of truth so that we are prepared to face whatever battle, temptation or concern comes our way.

Finally we must understand that the belt of truth is more than just head knowledge! In John 8:31-32 we find that Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him,“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Here is a point that must be made. The factual reality of truth does not free anyone. We must know the truth and properly apply the truth into our lives. It is the truth properly applied that sets you free and not the truth itself. Notice the key here. It is the abiding in the word of God that allows us to fully know the truth and it is that truth that sets us free. Therefore, truth rightly applied is the source of our freedom, our stability, and our victory. We too can experience the freedom, stability, and victory that comes from having the belt of truth fastened and by rightly applying the truth to our lives.

For an audio of this message go to http://pccministry.org/media.php?pageID=14

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