Paul is calling us to know who and whose we are and he’s calling us to walk obediently as children of God and the way that Paul says we are to get that done is to take a stand. Know who you are. Know whose you are. Walk like a child of God. Take a stand in these things.
Ephesians 6:10 – 12…
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. – Pray…
Introduction…
As we give our attention to the final sections of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians I find myself living in the past a little bit in a good way. I’ve found myself reminiscing over where we’ve been in our study of the book of Ephesians and I honestly keep getting overwhelmed at the wealth of doctrine we’ve studied together. This has been a rich study. Amen?!
Who does God say that I am? (Ephesians 1 – 3)
One of the first questions we wrestled with in this study was “Who does God say that I am”. This was the “sit” portion of Paul’s letter. He was concerned that we might be seated or sitting in the mess of lies regarding our identity. I remember with a vivid imagination what it was like early on in our study to wrestle with the truth that I am blessed beyond belief. I’m not cursed. I’m blessed. In Christ, God chose me before the creation of the earth. I was made perfect and blameless in front of my Father because of Christ’s work at the cross.
I’ve been adopted by my Heavenly Father. My adoption papers have been signed by the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross. The sin that was erased by the blood of Jesus on the cross cannot erase my name from my adoption papers. My eternal destination has been sealed by the Holy Spirit. I’ve been delivered securely into my Father’s hands for all of eternity. I have nothing to fear. In Christ I am redeemed. Priceless. Twice owned by the God who created me and the God who paid the price to purchase me from the slave-owners of Satan, sin and the grave.
I am forgiven not forgotten, loved not left out and in Christ I have the hope of an eternal inheritance called Heaven. I’m not a mistaken afterthought of leftover worthlessness. I am treasured beyond comprehension. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit made a plan before the beginning of time as we know it and that plan had my name on it (and it had your name on it if you have trusted in Christ) and when Jesus died at the cross, he died with my name on his lips and my face in his mind. And when he declared that “it is finished” he literally meant that his work of saving me was complete not incomplete.
Though I was once dead in my trespasses and my sins as a son of disobedience, God made me alive in Christ Jesus and the power of the empty tomb now courses through my life. I’m an object of wrath no longer. I am an object of my Father’s endless mercy and faithful love. For by grace I have been saved through faith. Nine words. Nine glorious words that lead to some of the deepest theological truths in all of Scripture.
For by grace I have been saved through faith. This faith that believes God and trusts God by getting into the wheelbarrow on the tightrope of my fear and my weaknesses and my sin is not my own doing. It is the gift of God to me, not a result of my works, so that I have nothing to boast in except Christ and Christ alone. For I am his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which my Father prepared before he saved me so that I could live them out to his honor and his glory. I am a masterpiece designed to point to the master of the piece.
At one point I was separated from Christ like an orphan child without parents. I was like a lost little boat sitting in a pawnshop window. I had no family and I had no hope. But Jesus brought me near to the Father and not only that but he made peace between me and my father whom I had treated like my enemy. Jesus’ work at the cross and in the empty tomb turned enemies into family members. At one time I lived like an enemy of Christ. But thanks be to God the Father in his kindness and in his mercy he killed the hostility between him and I through the shed blood and the broken body of Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.
I am no longer like a broken brick lying helplessly in the mud of my sin and my guilt and my shame. The Lord saw me in my broken and helpless and dirty state and he picked me up, he put the pieces back together again, he washed me white as snow and he glued me together with other fixed up bricks and together we make up the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the church family, the residence of the Spirit of the living God.
And the posture of Paul’s prayer for you and I in chapter 3 was like a mountain top experience that I never wanted to leave. I think we spent something like 13 weeks there. The thought of someone praying for me so that I would have the strength and the power to know the kind of love of Christ that surpasses mere head knowledge and that I would be filled with the fullness of the presence of God and that Christ would come not merely to live in but to completely inhabit and dwell within every crack and every crevice of my heart and that God is more than able to do far more abundantly than all that I could put words to or dream about still blows my mind.
I remember this too. I remember learning that nothing can change the declaration of God over me and over you if you’ve trusted in Christ as your Savior. When God declared that I was saved by him, there’s no word, no action, no thought, no extracurricular plan, no sin and no spiritual or physical force that could undo his declaration of saving love over me. Nothing can separate me from the love of my Father in Christ Jesus. That’s a kind of security that kicks fear, anxiety, insecurity, worry, pride and arrogance right out the door. Amen!
This is who I am. And this is who you are if you’ve trusted in Christ as your Savior. In Christ Jesus you are seated with him in the heavenly realms and nothing can kick the legs of that stool out from underneath you. This is who and whose you are. This is your identity in Christ. Your behavior doesn’t dictate who you are. Who you know you are, when digested deeply, dictates what you do.
How does God call me to live? (Ephesians 4 – 6:9)
The second question we wrestled with in this study was “How does God call me to live”. This was the “walk” portion of our study. Who you are is meant to drive the way you walk. This is how Paul turned his attention away from who we are onto what we are called to do. It’s almost like Paul has been building a house. He began by laying the sure and certain foundation of our identity and then he moved on to the walls of how we are called to walk.
And he doesn’t pull his punches in the “walk this way” section either. He literally came out with his guns blazing and he didn’t run out of ammo. We are called to walk in a manner that is worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus. We are called to belong to Jesus and to live like Jesus. Every one of us is like an appetizer combo that attracts the affections and points our hunger to Jesus who is the only satisfaction for our hungry souls. If you are still caught up with an unquenchable hunger for a physical lover to love you or physical belonging to satisfy your sense of worth or a physical goal to feed your sense of accomplishment you’ve missed the truth that Jesus is the only satisfaction for what your heart craves.
We are called to understand our unique wiring and then we are called to give ourselves away to God as instruments of righteousness and loving service in the building of the kingdom of God as we serve one another in unity and humility. We are called to unity and maturity not division and immaturity. We are called to serve one another affectionately and speak the truth to one another lovingly.
We are called to put off our old lives and walk in the new life. We are not to walk in deception or corruption or maliciousness. We are called to walk in truth and honesty while laying aside our selfishness for the good of others. We should not be known for anger, bitterness, strife, gossip, slander or harshness. We should be known for our tenderhearted, forgiving, loving, others focused, Christ exalting community.
Sexual sin of any kind should not even stand the chance of being named among us. There shouldn’t be the slightest hint or the slightest speck or the slightest question in the minds of the community around us that there may be sexual sin among us. We are called to live above reproach in a sexually saturated society. Our language and our behavior are to be clean and proper and wise and pure instead of dirty, inappropriate, foolish or crude.
We are not to align ourselves with anyone who calls himself or herself a believer but lives differently than this. We are called to walk as children of the light who are lights in this dark and perverse world. We are called to be a shining city on a hill therefore we should not be known for our foolishness. Instead we should be known for the wisdom of how we live as Spirit filled sons and daughters of the resurrected and living Savior.
Our marriages, our families and our working relationships are to be a reflection of the cross of Christ instead of a reflection of our pursuit to satisfy our unmet wants, desires and cravings. The call to walk in holiness as we seek to bring honor to the God who redeemed us at the cross, hinges on who and whose we are.
But the question remains: How? How do we do this? How do we apply this to our lives? How do we begin to believe this and how do we begin to obey this? That’s where Paul makes the jump into the “Stand” portion of this letter, which brings me to our text for today.
The Text…
In this passage, verses 10 – 12, Paul instructs us to be strengthened in the power of the Lord and to stand against Satan’s schemes because our fight in the physical realm is actually part of an invisible spiritual battle. He instructs us to be strengthened and to be protected and to be aware of the fight we are in. We need to be strengthened in the power of the Lord, we need to be protected by the armor of God and we need to be aware of the fight we are in.
We need to literally take a stand. Oftentimes when we think about taking a stand and doing spiritual battle we start thinking about all the things we want to take a stand against out there in the world. And then we run off to take a stand against abortion or same-sex marriage or racism or poverty or the decline of Christian values in America or this political party or that political party.
And as good as some of those things might be, they aren’t the main things. They’re not even the things Paul is talking about here. And when we make the wrong things into main things we miss the most important things and we miss the entire point of what Paul is saying here and we misapply it at best or we just completely ignore it at worst when it comes to our own identity and walk with Jesus.
Seriously, can you see a dude with out of control addictions standing on a street corner blasting the abortion industry like somehow this is taking a stand in a spiritual battle while he minimizes his late night out of control cravings? Or maybe you can envision a woman whose addiction to gossip goes completely unchecked while she rants and raves about this political party or that political party on Facebook like somehow her stand on politics is the main thing to be involved in while the character of Christ being formed in her is completely ignored.
Listen, the simple truth that could be easy for us to miss here is that Paul is calling us to know who and whose we are and he’s calling us to walk obediently as children of God and the way that Paul says we are to get that done is to take a stand. Know who you are. Know whose you are. Walk like a child of God. Take a stand in these things.
#1: Take A Stand In The Strength Of The Lord…
In verse 10 Paul says finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Be strengthened in the Lord’s power. Don’t try to do this in your own strength. Satan is the accuser of God’s children. He is the Father of lies and there is no truth in him. He is a roaring lion seeking to devour God’s creation. He comes with the intent to steal, kill and destroy. And he’s been at this game for at least a few thousand years longer than you’ve been alive.
You and I do not stand a chance against an adversary like Satan on our own. When he comes against you he comes to rob you of your identity and to coerce you into walking in opposition to your Father in Heaven. He is a powerful enemy. And yet, even though Satan is a roaring lion, he is a kitty on a leash that is held by the hand of a sovereign King who not only dictates what Satan may and may not do but he’s also defeated Satan at the cross and the empty tomb of Christ.
You may have walked in here today in weakness or brokenness or fear or sin. But at the end of the day, the Scriptures teach us that in our weakness, in our brokenness, in our fear and in our sin God’s strength is made visible. Don’t posture yourself as being stronger than you really are or less broken than you really are or more confident than you really are or less sinful than you really are. God’s strength and power is not made visible in our pretending. God’s strength and power is made visible as we surrender to him for help. So take a stand in the strength of the Lord.
#2: Take A Stand In The Protection Of The Lord…
In verse 11 Paul says put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Think about how crafty Satan is. He is a schemer. He is a planner. Satan doesn’t just nonchalantly come after you. He comes after you with a vengeance because you have the image of God built into you. Broken and weak and sinful as the image of God is in you, Satan hates the thought of even a sliver of godliness in you. His ultimate aim is to wipe away any trace of God in you because he hates God and he wants to divert your worship of God onto yourself. This is what it actually means to worship Satan. It’s to remove your attention from the God who created you to anything created. This is why we need to take a stand in the protection of the Lord. This is why we need to put on the whole armor of God.
Every piece of the armor that we are going to work through in the coming weeks is interlinked. The belt of truth holds it all together. If you don’t have the truth regarding your rightness with God then your heart will be vulnerable. If you don’t have the truth regarding the gospel of peace then the way you walk out your life will be in opposition to God. If you don’t have the truth regarding what it means to believe and trust God then you’ll never get out on the tightrope in the wheelbarrow with your shield of faith.
If you don’t have the truth in regards to salvation then your mind will constantly be consumed with anxiety and worry and fear instead of the assurance of your eternal salvation. If you don’t have the truth in regards to God’s Word – if you think God’s Word is just a collection of non-authoritative human writings then your only offensive weapon will made into cardboard. And lastly, if you think prayer is just a way of getting what you want or if you think it’s just a mere duty to be performed then you’ll miss out on the life giving presence of the living God.
Weaknesses in any piece of your armor will leave you vulnerable to the schemes of the devil. And Satan has declared that you are public enemy number one. You don’t stand a chance against him if you don’t know who you are, whose you are and how you are to walk. You don’t stand a chance if you’ve just got a little bit of Jesus with your morning coffee. You don’t stand a chance against Satan if you listen to what you like about God and reject what you dislike about God. But, if you hold tight to a bloody cross while kneeling in the doorway of an empty tomb of a resurrected Savior then you will stand firm with the full armor of God over you. So take a stand in the protection of the Lord.
#3: Take A Stand In The Right Fight…
In verse 12, Paul says, 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. Our physical struggle pails in comparison to our spiritual battle. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. The abortion doctor is not my enemy. The gay or lesbian couple down the street are not my enemies. Illegal immigrants are not my enemies. The guy on the other side of the political aisle is not my enemy. The pastor on the other side of the theological issue is not my enemy. All of those fights that I could get caught up in are simply smoke screens for the real fight we are called to be engaged in. The real fight we are in is to rest in who we are, whose we are and how we are to walk.
And here’s the deal. Our enemy has a multi-layered fight plan. Satan has rulers and authorities and cosmic powers and spiritual forces. Like a general with commanders and lieutenants and battalions and special ops forces our enemy is organized in his approach and the battlefield is clearly defined. He wages war in two places: “this present darkness and in the heavenly places.” You might remember that when Satan came after Job he walked right into the presence of God and asked him for permission to attack Job. That truth should jack with your theology of the fight we are in.
The fight isn’t only being waged somewhere out there in the invisible heavenly realm. The fight is being waged right here in this present darkness that we live in. One of my favorite books of all time is a book called “This Present Darkness” and it’s sequel “Piercing The Darkness” is right next to it. And all throughout these books the author does a fantastic job of describing the right fight for his readers. The fight isn’t over smoke screens. The fight is over the truth of who you are and the truth who you belong to and the truth of how you are called to walk. So take a stand in the right fight.
The Conclusion…
In conclusion I want to say that the weapons of our warfare are not physical but they our spiritually mighty for the pulling down of spiritual strongholds. Truth, righteousness, the gospel, steadfast faith, assurance of salvation, God’s Word, vibrant desperate prayer… these are our weapons. These are the pieces of the armor that we will be studying over the next few weeks and Jesus is the embodiment of every one of those pieces of armor.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Christ’s righteousness is our righteousness. Jesus is the point of the gospel that turns enemies into family members. Jesus is the author and the perfector of faith that believes and trusts. Salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh and lived among us. Through prayer we actually commune with a resurrected and living Savior.
The fight we are in is real. The fight isn’t out there against some physical enemy. The fight is right here inside of each and every one of us. Our heads and our hearts and our hands are constantly under attack in this present darkness. So stand firm then against the schemes of the devil clothed in Christ, clothed in who you are, clothed in whose you are and clothed in obedience. Take a stand in the strength of the Lord. Take a stand in the protection of the Lord. Take a stand in the right fight.