Truth. What is truth? Is there really such a thing as absolute truth? Who is the source of the truth you believe? Why does this matter?
Ephesians 6:10 – 20…
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. 13 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. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Last week we learned that God calls us to take a stand. He calls us to take a stand in the strength of the Lord and to take a stand in the protection of the Lord and to take a stand in the right fight. We live in a spiritual warzone and we have a very real spiritual enemy called Satan. And Satan’s chief aim is to coerce you into believing lies about whom God is.
Satan wants you to believe lies about whose you are and who you are and how you are to live in this warzone. The fight we are in is real. The fight isn’t out there against some physical enemy. The real 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.
The Christian life is like a warzone…
But it’s not the kind of warzone you may think it is. We definitely live in a material world and the subtle but deadly temptation for us is to live like the war we are meant to fight is merely in the physical realm against physical enemies. But Paul explains here that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our battle is against a spiritual enemy named Satan and we are public enemy number one. And we don’t stand a chance against him apart from Christ.
This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 – 5 that although we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. You see, our battle is against opinions and arguments that are contrary to the revelation of who God is and how God interacts with humanity. This is commonly called the battlefield of the mind and we are instructed to bring every thought into captivity by putting on the mind of Christ so that we may know him and obey him.
But isn’t there a battle to preserve biblical morals and ethics in this present darkness?
There certainly are many battles to be fought in the physical realm in regards to the preservation of biblical morals and ethics. The world we live in is like a run away freight train headed towards derailment at any time. Society as a whole is like a melting pot of opposing values, opposing morals and opposing ethics.
Truth has become relative which means that truth is open to individual interpretation. And truth has also become pluralistic which means that when my truth says that your truth is a lie then we must agree to disagree and then live in the grey space of truth and lies. And the outcome of this kind of society is a society that values tolerance and entitlement over truth and justice.
Think about this for a minute. Truth has become relative and pluralistic. Tolerance and entitlement are deeply held values that act like powder kegs when confronted. Moral and ethical authority has been taken captive by a society full of broken human beings. Did you catch that? Broken human beings are the arbitrators of what’s true and false.
Our society argues that we will not tolerate intolerance. In other words, I will not tolerate your intolerance of the values, morals and ethics that I believe are right and true while I demand that you tolerate me. It is my right to demand this and you are oppressing me if you take my God-given right to American life, American liberty and the American pursuit of justice away. This is the melting pot of our quote un-quote free American society. It’s an absolute mess.
And if we are not careful, it can be really easy to get caught up in this stuff as though it is our primary fight or we can just ignore it like it has no consequences for us. I would argue that either extreme is wrong. We cannot make cultural reform our primary fight and we also cannot ignore the moral and ethical decline of the nation we live in either.
So what are we suppose to do then?
Well, in verses 13 – 14 of our text in Ephesians, Paul says that we must 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. Stand firm therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. The only way to take a stand in the evil days we live in is to be covered in the armor of God. The only way we will withstand the moral and ethical decline into greater and greater relativism, pluralism, intolerance and entitlement, is to take a stand in the covering of the armor of God. This is a fascinating passage to contemplate while living in the culture we’re currently living in. I’m certain that it wasn’t very different in Paul’s day.
Think about the melting pot of the church in Ephesus…
Paul wrote this letter to a church he planted in a super irreligious culture. And let’s not forget that Paul is writing this letter from prison for preaching the gospel. He’s chained to a Roman guard and I can just see the apostle examining this guard’s armor as he prayerfully writes to a church that needs to take a stand in the truth of who God is and take a stand in the truth of who they are in Christ and take a stand in the truth of how they are to live in a wicked and perverse, evil culture.
From our study we’ve learned that Paul was speaking to a mixed audience in the church. His audience was full of people from vastly different ends of the spiritual spectrum. His audience was a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles. Jewish Christians in that day could be compared with conservative Christians today. Gentile Christians in that day could be compared with libertarian or liberal Christians today. And yet, Paul spoke to both of these audiences together as one audience because the dividing wall of hostility between them had been torn down by the cross of Christ. This is what the cross of Jesus Christ does. It brings people together from various backgrounds and it reorients their worldview around the gospel of Jesus Christ alone for the glory of God alone.
Now think about the culture outside the church in Ephesus…
The culture outside the church was known for its moral and ethical decay. Public sexual sin was rampant and celebrated in Ephesus. Temple worship of a sex goddess through ritual prostitution was one of the major money-making industries in the city. Witchcraft wasn’t just a backyard hobby or a video game. It was part of the DNA of what it meant to be a citizen of Ephesus. Making a fortune off your ability to own another human being was celebrated and encouraged. Think about how all of this translates from being a citizen in Ephesus to being a citizen in the United States of America. There appears to be a ton of similarities here right?
And let’s not forget that abortion on demand was popular in the Roman culture. They didn’t have abortion clinics to protest with signs. They had piles of dying babies in the streets. The Romans actually practiced not partial-birth abortion but instead they practiced post-birth abortion. And to be known as a Christian in that culture didn’t mean picketing with signs that heaped accusation upon the heads of the women whose babies were in those piles.
Being a Christian in that culture meant that you walked up to that pile of babies and you grabbed as many of them as you possibly could and you took them home with you to care for them and raise them. This is what it meant to care for the poor and to care for the orphan and to care for the widow outside the church family.
Everyone in the Roman culture would know that you were a Christian, not by your public protest of what you stood against, but by your public demonstration of what you stood for. Let the nuance of that contrast set in for a moment.
Doesn’t this description of the church and the culture outside the church in Ephesus sound vaguely familiar?
Into this mess of a culture, Paul says in verses 13 – 14, 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. Stand firm therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. Now, I can just imagine someone saying… Truth? What is truth Paul? Is there really such a thing as absolute truth? Who is the source of this truth you speak of? Why does this matter Paul? Who cares about your religious ranting? I think your brain is going dim. You’ve been chained to that Roman guard in your prison cell for far too long.
What is truth and who is the source of truth?
Philosophers and scholars have written entire volumes regarding the topic and origin of truth. Even Pilate on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion asked Jesus sarcastically to define the truth. Interesting how ironic that is to be in the presence of the very essence of truth and yet be deceived enough to try to kill truth by nailing him to a cross. It’s equally mind boggling to think about how you really can’t kill perfect truth. This is why the tomb was empty three days later.
Truth is eternal. It doesn’t shift with the changing of the times and it doesn’t bow its knee to your every whim and desire. Furthermore, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that he is the source of truth and the embodiment of truth. He is the Word of God in the flesh. All of the Scriptures are about him. He is the author of truth and the book of truth at the same time. Truth is perfection and Jesus is perfect. One scholar even says that truth is the self-expression and self-revelation of God in all of his perfection to humanity. (Jn. 14:6; 17:17; Lk. 24:13-35; Ps. 119)
Why does this matter?
Listen to what Paul says to the Roman church regarding truth. In Romans 1:18 – 25 he says that men, by their unrighteousness suppress the truth… for although they knew (about) God, they did not honor him… but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened… they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
So a right understanding and relationship with Jesus who is the author and embodiment of truth is vital to our eternal well-being. There are only two roads here. The road of truth in Christ or the road of suppressing or quieting the truth by believing demonic lies which lead to foolishness, darkness and deception.
This relationship with the truth that I’m talking about here is important because without it we live in bondage and separation from God because he ceases to be the object of our affections when we make what he has created to be the object of our affections. Now think about how easy it is to become consumed with a battle to win in the physical realm to the extent that we actually worship that battle rather than worshiping our Creator.
The physical battle in front of us is not an eternal battle. It has eternal consequences but it has an end date stamped on it. And our God who is the victorious winner of the battle through the cross and the empty tomb of Christ is eternal. We must be careful not to suppress the truth in our addiction to fighting physical battles.
Suppression of the truth isn’t always outright obvious…
Our enemy has won more battles in the spiritual realm with tiny little distortions of truth rather than with massive obvious distortions of truth. God’s Word is clear. Jesus is clear about what is true and false. The problem is that we don’t like to submit to Jesus as the arbitrator of truth. We would rather make up our own truths or take a little bit of this truth and a little bit of that truth and mash it all up in a big ol ball of religious half truths whereby we lose the point of the truth which is Christ alone for the glory of God alone.
Wasn’t this the tactic of the serpent in the Garden of Eden? Wasn’t his tactic simply proposing half-truths to coerce Adam and Eve into questioning God so that they would fill in the blank with their own version of truth? Think about how truth became relative to the moment for them. Think about how their belief (morals) and their behavior (ethics) became relative to their circumstances. Think about how their desires were controlled by what appeared to feel good or taste good. Adam and Eve’s fall into sin began with a suppression of the truth as they listened to Satan’s lies.
Think about the lies you listen to in relationship between the armor of God and the nature of God…
In the armor of God we have seven pieces of armor: truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, God’s Word and prayer. Now think about how you have a tendency to listen to lies about those pieces of armor in relation to who God is, who God says you are and how God calls you to live.
#1: If truth is relative to my circumstances, my desires or the culture I was born into then I can create a god whom I can control. Have you ever done this? Ever made this mistake? Ever try to control or manipulate God?
#2: If my right standing or my ability to stand in the presence of God can be earned by my behavior then God becomes a disengaged father or a cruel taskmaster. Have you ever seen God this way? Like a disengaged father or a cruel taskmaster?
#3: If peace is based upon my circumstances then God becomes more like a bellhop or an errand boy that I can control and my obedience becomes the bargaining chip that I give him for getting me out of hot water or the tip I give him for getting me what I really want. When was the last time you obeyed God just to get something from him instead of obeying him because you get to be with him?
#4: If faith is something that I can muster up by pulling up my bootstraps in my own strength then God’s ability becomes enslaved to my ability. God is only able to do as much as I am able to do. Have you ever been guilty of obeying God in your own strength?
#5: If salvation is dependent upon my list of good works done to outweigh the list of sinful works done then I will ultimately become the arbitrator of what’s right and wrong so that I can give myself points on a sliding scale that tilts everything into a grey space of convolution. In this kind of salvific system, God becomes my homeboy who is just along for the ride to give me an occasional pat on the back and encouraging word when I stumble and fall while trying to save myself. How often do you catch yourself treating God like he’s just your buddy that gets invited over a few times per week to hang out?
#6: If God’s Word is open to my personal interpretation then my word trumps what God has actually said and he becomes subject to my interpretation. His law becomes a list of do’s and don’ts that are used to justify my life or beat others and myself up for failing. Jesus gets reduced to a great example of a good man at best and I try to prove how I am just as good as he is. When was the last time you tried to justify yourself with your list of things done right or done better then the last time or done better than that other guy?
#7: If prayer is merely a means of getting what I want, then God becomes my personal vending machine that I only come to when I am hungry for something and I drop some coin in the machine when what the machine offers looks tasty. But, when I don’t get what I want from him I shake the machine, I yell at the machine and I punch the machine for not giving me what I want and then I go looking for a better machine to drop my coin in. When was the last time you treated God like a vending machine in prayer?
Now let me ask you… how many of the things that I just listed are you guilty of doing? Ever make the mistake of distorting the truth in any of these areas of the armor and nature of God? Do you know what the Bible calls those little things that we call mistakes? Let me take one more crack at pointing out how often we get God’s armor wrong in relation to God’s character.
Look at verses 13 and 14 again…
Paul says 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. Stand firm therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. Now the way we often hear this teaching is that we need to do something to put on the armor of God. We need to study more to make the truth more central in our lives. We need to live more rightly to put on the breastplate of righteousness. We need to reach way down deep inside and conjure up the faith we need to withstand this storm. We need to remove ourselves from the world and all of its conflicting agendas or we need to go to war to annihilate everything that seeks to steal our peace. We need to recommit our lives to Jesus and get resaved at least 3 – 4 times per year by saying the sinner’s prayer over and over and over again at summer camps, youth retreats and evangelistic meetings. We need to listen to more sermons, read more books and boil God’s Word down into neat little action steps so we can pat ourselves on the back when we’ve done better at obedience than we did last week or when we’ve done better at obedience then that other guy. We need to pray more consistently to put this armor on more fully.
Have you ever thought these things or been taught these things?
Have you ever believed these things to be true and then run out and given all of your effort to doing these things so your armor can be more secure? Do you know what the problem with these things is? If you go back to the one thing you struggle with the most from our previous list, and if you look at the way we commonly talk about putting our armor on, you might be surprised to notice how me-centered they are. I think we have been so conditioned to believe that we are the key to putting on the armor of God that we actually distort or suppress the truth that only Christ is capable of putting this armor on for us.
Think about the truth again. Truth is the self-expression or self-revelation of God to mankind regarding who he is, whose we are and how we are to live. In short, when we make the armor of God all about what we can do to put it on then we make ourselves the objects of our attention which in short is called the worship of self. And the worship of self – flows out of a deeply ingrained desire to not just be like God but to actually be God. Right back to the lie in the Garden of Eden right? Eat this fruit and you’ll be just like God. Do this and you’ll be equal to God.
Another way of explaining this would be to explain that what we’ve often heard regarding the armor of God is nothing more than a works-based religion that relies on my efforts and what I can do rather than relying on Christ’s effort and what he has done in the cross and the empty tomb. This is a performance centered gospel that isn’t good news at all.
The reality is that when we make a mistake regarding the armor of God and the nature of God and our identity and our responsibility to live obediently… when we make mistakes here… when we get things backwards here… when we suppress the truth here… we fall into something called sin. Sin is missing the mark of perfection. Sin is quite literally distorting the truth and if the truth is embodied in Jesus Christ then the reality is that sin is a suppression of or a distortion of Jesus himself.
So what do we do now? Seems kind of hopeless doesn’t it?
Every one of us in this room has distorted the truth. We’ve all suppressed or minimized Jesus while elevating ourselves to the throne room of control through our own hard work. And the paycheck for our sin of suppressing Jesus is eternal death and separation from God. But the good news is that Jesus went to the cross to pay that penalty for us.
So what is the one thing we are called to do above all other things? The answer is and always is, and always has been… repent and believe. We are called to repent and to believe in Christ Jesus who through the cross and the empty tomb became victorious over our enemies. Jesus beat Satan, sin and the penalty of the grave for us and he didn’t do it with Facebook posts or protest marches or political rants.
None of those things will set you or our neighbors free. The truth sets us free and that’s why the Scriptures teach us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. This isn’t about head knowledge. This is about personally knowing Jesus who is the embodiment of truth.
Jesus beat Satan, sin and the grave with two sticks, three nails and an empty tomb. And his call to us is to repent and to believe and when we do this he covers and fills us with himself. He covers and fills us with the Spirit of truth. He covers and fills us with his perfect righteousness. He covers and fills us with his presence as the prince of peace. He covers and fills us with the ability to believe him and trust him in every circumstance. He covers and fills us with his salvation. He covers and fills us with his eternal, perfect and trustworthy Word. He covers and fills us with his very presence so that we may know him personally through prayer.
We put on the armor of God as we kneel in full surrender at the foot of the bloody cross in the doorway of the empty tomb of our risen Savior. So stand firm my friends. Stand firm rooted in who Christ is and rooted in who Christ says you are and your obedience will flow out from under the shadow of that bloody cross and in the doorway of that empty tomb and you will be enabled to 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. (you will) Stand firm therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. – Amen?