Posts
This is the second segment in my sermon entitled, "The Armor of God", delivered to Marion Park on 8/15/09. Before reading on make sure you've read Ephesians 6:10-20.
I. How to Stand in the Evil Day
Well, Paul picks this theme back up, that the days are evil, and in our passage he begins to answer the question for us of how to stand in the evil day. All days are evil, he said in ch 5, but right here he makes clear, and we know it from experience, that some days are more particularly evil than others. There is a certain ebb and flow in this battle over the souls of men and women, like you and me. And most of us, if we're honest, feel a fair amount of anxiety when we think about the passage of time and evilness of days to come. We wonder, "How, O how am I going to stand in the evil day?" Let's look at how Paul answers that question in verses 10-13.
(Eph 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."
I. How to Stand in the Evil Day
Well, Paul picks this theme back up, that the days are evil, and in our passage he begins to answer the question for us of how to stand in the evil day. All days are evil, he said in ch 5, but right here he makes clear, and we know it from experience, that some days are more particularly evil than others. There is a certain ebb and flow in this battle over the souls of men and women, like you and me. And most of us, if we're honest, feel a fair amount of anxiety when we think about the passage of time and evilness of days to come. We wonder, "How, O how am I going to stand in the evil day?" Let's look at how Paul answers that question in verses 10-13.
(Eph 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 this passage Paul gives us three answers to the question of how to stand in the evil. 1. Be strong in God's Strength (Don't rely on your own strength or power. Don't rely on your own resources of strength or ability but on God's.) 2. Put on God's Armor (Get prepared for the battle with the armor that God gives you. Wear the armor of the Lord.). 3. Wrestle Against God's Enemies (Actively engage in the battle with Satan and his demons. Don't stand on the sidelines, or even fight your own battle with your own enemies, but fight against God's adversaries.)
1. Be strong in God's Strength
-Now it would be very easy to come at this passage as many have done throughout the centuries, and to basically tell you, "Time is passing quickly. The days are evil. There's a war going on. So try harder. Fight harder. Work harder." And that would be in one sense true. It would be a great sermon. Everybody would clap the preacher on the back as he descended from the pulpit and every body would go away convicted of their sin, and raised to a liveliness of resolutions to do better the next time an evil day comes around. But you know, I think, if we did that, we would have missed an essential point of what Paul's trying to say to us in this passage. This isn't a try harder, fight harder, muster up more strength, gather together more of your resources passage. And those of us who have done that, who have tried harder and harder over and over again, and I have, know deep down that it doesn't work. That's why Paul goes out of his way to emphasize something else, by saying, "Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of HIS might." Your high emotions and confidence are going to fade after the sermon if all you hear is, "Be stronger in your own strength", and all the anxiety about the evil day is just going to come flooding back in. Learn this lesson of the war of the Christian now instead of wasting any more time mustering up your own strength: Be strong in God's strength.
1. Be strong in God's Strength
-Now it would be very easy to come at this passage as many have done throughout the centuries, and to basically tell you, "Time is passing quickly. The days are evil. There's a war going on. So try harder. Fight harder. Work harder." And that would be in one sense true. It would be a great sermon. Everybody would clap the preacher on the back as he descended from the pulpit and every body would go away convicted of their sin, and raised to a liveliness of resolutions to do better the next time an evil day comes around. But you know, I think, if we did that, we would have missed an essential point of what Paul's trying to say to us in this passage. This isn't a try harder, fight harder, muster up more strength, gather together more of your resources passage. And those of us who have done that, who have tried harder and harder over and over again, and I have, know deep down that it doesn't work. That's why Paul goes out of his way to emphasize something else, by saying, "Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of HIS might." Your high emotions and confidence are going to fade after the sermon if all you hear is, "Be stronger in your own strength", and all the anxiety about the evil day is just going to come flooding back in. Learn this lesson of the war of the Christian now instead of wasting any more time mustering up your own strength: Be strong in God's strength.
2. Put on God's Armor
-Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For you and I to be confident that we are going to stand in the evil day, we need to prepare for it. We need to ready ourselves by putting on the right equipment: the armor of God. And not just some of God's armor but all of it: the whole armor of God. Paul goes into great detail on this panoply of armor later and we will get there in due course. Right now, I merely want to point out to you how Paul claims that putting on this armor is going to help us stand in the evil day. In other words, why do we need it in the first place? The reason we need to put on the armor of God is so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. There is a devil and he is at war with us, and so he's got schemes, tactics, battle plans for how to get you to fall in the evil day. His tactics are geared towards your weaknesses; he's not omniscient like God, but he has been observing humanity for a long time, and so he's incredibly knowledgeable about how to bring us down. He's much smarter than you or I. So we need God's armor, we need his strength and resources, we need the armor of God, which has been perfectly suited by the one who knows all the devil's schemes to thwart them and protect his beloved warriors. And what exactly is God's armor, as Paul sees it here? In Eph 4:14 Paul describes the goal that apostles and preachers are working for: "so that you may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." We teach the Bible so we won't be tricked by deceitful schemes. This is why it's so sad that many in our day are trying to deemphasize the importance of sound doctrine. Faithful teaching of the Bible, sound doctrine, is designed to help us stand against the schemes of the devil and the human teachers that he uses. The devil uses false teachers to preach lies in order to bring us down. Part of what putting on the armor of God means is being equipped with the knowledge of the truth so that you don't lose your footing when you hear something false.
No comments:
Post a Comment