What is your heart captivated by? What are you in bondage to? What lies have you believed that have lead you into a jail cell of doubt or worry or despair or shame or guilt? Jesus said that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. And Paul said that we have been set free to be set free.
In Ephesians 6:10 – 20 Paul also says…
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.
So what is it that you are captivated by or in bondage to? Is it a vocational goal or a relational dream or sinful habit or an experience of suffering or a financial need or a social issue or a political construct? What is your heart captivated by today?
Now with that thought in your mind, please take a walk down memory lane with me. Over the last few weeks we’ve learned that God calls us to take a stand. We are called to take a stand in the strength of the Lord, in the protection of the Lord, in the right fight. We live in a spiritual warzone called “this present darkness” and we have a spiritual enemy named Satan. Satan is a liar, a schemer, an accuser of God’s children and he is a lion who comes to steal, kill and destroy and he has targeted you and I as public enemy number one.
Satan’s chief aim is to coerce you and I into believing lies because when we believe lies then we live in bondage and the image of God in us is diminished. Satan wants you to believe lies about who God is and lies about whom you are and lies about how you are to live in this spiritual warzone.
You see the fight we are in is real. The fight isn’t out there against some physical or political or social enemy. The real fight is right here inside of each and every one of us. Our heads (what we believe) and our hearts (what we desire) and our hands (what we do) are constantly under attack in this present darkness.
This is why the first piece of armor that we talked about last week is so vitally important for us to wrap our minds around. You might remember that the first piece of the armor is the belt of truth. The belt of truth is central – not only in respect to where the belt is located on the body but also in respect to every other piece of armor.
Every piece of armor is embodied in and held together by the person and the work of Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary and the empty tomb. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the perfect Word of God in the flesh. In Christ we have the bodily manifestation of the truth of who God is and how God interacts with humanity.
And all of this culminates in the cross of Calvary and the empty tomb. God is the one who supplies the armor, clothes us in the armor and empowers us to wear the armor. We do not supply the armor. We do not necessarily put on the armor and we certainly do not have the strength to wear the armor well. This truth becomes more and more clear throughout the context of this passage especially when you contemplate our slavery to self-sufficiency.
It is way to easy to believe the lie that I have the ability within myself somewhere to stand and fight. The truth of the gospel is that I am not self-sufficient. I am a sinful and broken and fearful and prideful person. I am utterly helpless and incapable of supplying or putting on or standing firm in the armor of God on my own. This truth has to resonate with every one of us as we contemplate our own individual journeys for a moment.
In our own individual journeys we make truth relative so that we can control our circumstances. We try to earn God’s favor because we believe that he is either disengaged or out to get us. We base our peace on circumstances and we turn God into our errand boy. We turn faith into something that we can create or muster up in our own self-sufficiency and we limit God’s ability. We make salvation into an experience rather than a lifestyle. We make God’s Word into a list of rules or a handbook for getting your best life now. And prayer becomes a means of getting what we want as we turn God into our personal vending machine.
These realities in our own spiritual journeys are meant to shape our heads and shape our hearts and shape our hands with the knowledge of the gospel. The gospel teaches us that where we are utterly helpless to do what God calls us to do… we can trust in what Christ has already done.
The gospel doesn’t teach us to come to Christ by faith and then secure our ongoing relationship with God through our works of the flesh. The gospel teaches us that we come to Christ as helpless people who find security in the finished work of Christ that then transforms what our heads believe and transforms what our hearts desire and transforms what our hands perform.
The background of the gospel brings out the beauty of what Paul says in verses 14 – 16 where he says, “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. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” In these verses we have the belt of truth (which we dealt with last week) and the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of the gospel of peace and the shield of faith. I want us think about and apply the last three pieces of armor in this list in a few moments but I want us to do this against the background of the message of the gospel.
So keep the message of the gospel in your mind as we dive in today. Please do not forget, even for a second, that God created us to be with him but then sin entered into the world through Adam and Eve and sin separates us from God and our sin cannot be made right by good works but Jesus died to pay the price for sin and he rose again so that he might give us the gift of faith so that by grace through faith we can experience life eternal with him.
Don’t forget the message of the gospel as we examine the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace and the shield of faith. I say this because every piece of this armor that Paul is instructing us to take a stand in is like a piece of delicious pie that is designed to wet your appetite for more and more of the one who makes each of these pieces of armor available. So with that said let’s dive into the first piece of armor for today…
#1: The breastplate of righteousness…
The breastplate of righteousness covers our hearts. In a physical battle, warriors are trained to go after the head and the heart because they are kill shots. In a battle with a physical enemy, you can take them out by taking a shot at either their head or their heart. The Bible uses the heart metaphorically as the center of our desires and our affections. The heart is where the “want to” is located. And oftentimes our “want to” is poisoned by a “got to”.
Our hearts are like deceitful little pleasure centers. When something feels good, looks good, tastes good, sounds good or smells good our hearts leap with an overwhelming sense of pleasure. God designed us with an appetite for pleasure. So alternatively, when something doesn’t feel good, look good, taste good, sound good or smell good, then our hearts begin to hunger and thirst for something else that we just “got to” pursue.
This is what happens when we make created things into ultimate things. Things like relationships, belongings, money, power, success and status. When we make those things into ultimate things we exchange the worship of our Creator for the worship of creation. And let’s not forget that Satan was the worship leader of Heaven. He was designed to lead all of Heaven in the worship of our Creator but because of his pride he sought to turn all of Heaven and ultimately all of creation against it’s Creator through self-worship.
When Satan goes after our hearts, he’s going in for the kill shot. He’s seeking to entice your heart to desire something, anything outside of Christ. And Satan isn’t a weak adversary. He’s sneaky and he’s deceptive.
For one person, an all-out assault of perversion and pornographic images is all that is needed to strike the kill shot to the heart through its desire for intimacy. For another person, the enticement of bettering their credit score is all that is needed to strike the kill shot to the heart through its desire for self-sufficiency. For another person, the temptation to say yes to too many good things is all that is needed to strike the kill shot to the heart through its desire for self-promotion.
Now, there are a myriad of different ways that Satan comes after our hearts. Loneliness, insecurity, arrogance, despair, mistrust, jealousy and hurt; these are all a variety of ways that Satan seeks to steal, kill and destroy the image of God in us. When Satan goes after the heart, he’s going in for the kill shot. And what we need is a rock solid piece of armor that will protect our hearts in the midst of the war. We need a piece of armor that is not dependent upon our performance. We need a piece of armor that cannot be penetrated. We need a piece of armor that is secure and dependable.
This is where the breastplate of righteousness has been supplied to us. And the word supplied is a key word here. Our righteousness or our right standing with God does not originate with us. Our right standing with God comes through Christ’s finished work at the cross. And not only does Jesus supply our right standing with God, he clothes us in our right standing with God and he enables us to wear the new clothing of our right standing with God.
The hero of the gospel story is not you or I in our ability to go take a stand. The hero of the story of the gospel is Jesus Christ in all of his ability and all of his sufficiency and all of his power. In my weakness is when I am actually made strong in the righteousness of the Lord. And according to the Psalmist we can call upon the God of our righteousness for relief in our distress. (Ps. 4:1) In our fight against Satan, sin and the world, the thing that gives me hope in my troubles is the truth that God himself through the cross and the empty tomb of Christ is my righteousness.
In Philippians, Paul says that he counts everything he’s ever done right as a piece of garbage so that he might gain Christ and be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of his own that comes from performing or obeying the law but instead a perfect righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, the kind of righteousness from God that depends on faith so that he would know Christ and the power of his resurrection so that he might share in the suffering of Christ and become like Christ in his death and resurrection. (Phil. 3:8-10)
Long story short, studying the theme of righteousness throughout the Bible will consistently lead you to the truth that you are incapable of being righteous in God’s eyes because the standard of righteousness is perfection and there is only one who is perfect and that is God himself.
And the good news is that he gave his one and only Son to die on a cross so that you and I could receive his perfect righteousness through faith in his finished work rather than finding our righteousness in the filthy garbage rags of our performance and our works. This kind of good news reminds me that I am at peace with my Father in Heaven. Which brings me to the next piece of the armor…
#2: The shoes of the gospel of peace…
The shoes of the gospel of peace cover our feet as we walk. Where we once walked as enemies of the cross of Christ we now walk as adopted children of the living God. Where I once walked as a child of destruction the cross of Christ has transformed me into a messenger of the gospel. We are at peace with our Father because he made a way for us to come into his presence as redeemed children through the very cross that we once were enemies of.
Jesus died for us when we were living like sons of disobedience so that we could be transformed into his image as the Son of perfect obedience. And, the Bible teaches us that the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath our feet. (Rom. 16:20) This promise, that Satan will be crushed underneath our feet as we walk out the gospel of peace, hinges on the truth that it is God himself that does the crushing. It is God himself through the message of the gospel that crushes Satan through the power of the cross and the empty tomb.
Through the gospel of peace we are transformed from people who were running headlong off the cliffs of our sin in despair and despondency into people who are clinging to the cross of Christ in the readiness that comes with the gospel. The gospel is what enables us to be aware of and alert to and ready for the attacks of Satan as he comes to make war against our heads and our heart and our hands.
You might have come into this building today living in fear or living in despair or living in complacency or living in pride-filled arrogance. But the truth that I pray would penetrate your heart is this truth that the good news of Jesus Christ is not go and do. The truth of the good news of Jesus Christ that creates real peace as well as a new attitude of peace is the message that what you can never do, Christ has done for you. This message creates the kind of peace that enables and empowers us to lift up the shield of faith. That brings me to the last piece of armor for today.
#3: The shield of faith…
The shield of faith deflects the flaming arrows of our enemy. In every circumstance, we are to hold up the shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Satan is a crafty enemy and he comes at you from every direction. If he can’t get to you by enticing you to ignore God with little red bubbles and notifications on your cell phone then he will attempt to get to you through the hurtful words of a friend.
If he can’t get to you through the devastating loss of a loved one then he will attempt to get to you through the enticement of an inappropriate relationship. If he can’t get to you through the temptation of compulsive spending then he will attempt to get to you through the temptation of hording your wealth.
Ultimately, Satan will do anything in his power to coerce you into placing your trust in created things rather than the Creator himself. He wants you to believe that God is incapable of meeting your needs. He wants you to believe that God cannot push you across the tightrope in a wheelbarrow over the deep caverns of your sinful desires and fears. He wants to diminish the power of the cross and the empty tomb in your life by turning your attention to the circumstances of your life.
I don’t know where you are at today. I don’t know what circumstances you are facing. I don’t know if you are overcome with worry or doubt or despair or fear or insecurity or depression or anger or hurt. But I do know this. The circumstances of your life are meant by Satan for your harm and destruction but God means it for your good.
And it’s not the kind of good that is found in the false gospels we hear all over America today. I’m not talking about your best life now. I’m not talking about health, wealth, prosperity and all your American dreams coming true. I’m not saying, come follow Jesus and trust in him and all of your pain and your suffering will go away. Jesus doesn’t promise you new cars, great marriages to the person of your dreams, bigger houses or better friendships.
The promise of the gospel is that as you follow Jesus, all of the things in this life that you once counted as nearest and dearest to you, will become like garbage in light of gaining the eternal presence of Jesus. Jesus is the author and the perfecter of authentic faith. He is the only object worth placing your faith in. And a small amount of faith in a great big God is better than a big amount of faith in a false god. So holding up the shield of faith is much less about you and your ability to hold it up and it’s much more about who the object of your faith really is.
If the object of my faith is me and my ability then my faith is broken and useless and I will live in fear and shame and guilt and worry and despair because my right standing with God will be dependent upon me keeping a list of do’s and don’ts. And Satan has been having a hay day with this false gospel of moralism and performance and works for thousands of years.
In Conclusion…
This is why Paul says, “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. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” Paul was one of the most vocal enemies of the false gospel of moralism and performance and works. He had experienced true freedom from the bondage of Satan’s lies through a radical encounter with the risen Christ.
Paul knew what it meant to have his heart covered in a righteousness that was not his own. He knew what it meant to walk in the readiness of the gospel of peace. And he knew what it meant to believe and to trust in Christ’s finished work at the cross and the empty tomb. He knew that the message of the gospel of Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s peace and faith in Christ was not centered on what you and I need to go and do but instead, is centered on what Christ has done.
Christ has won your righteousness for you. Christ has made peace between you and your Father in Heaven. And if you are following Jesus today, then he has written the book of faith upon your brand new heart. You can stand with an attitude of security and an attitude of boldness in the knowledge that Christ has supplied your every need. He has clothed you in himself and he will give you the faith to take a stand in this present darkness.