Our Unseen Battle; The Sword of the Spirit

It's good to be with you. We today are

finishing our series on the armor of God

found in Ephesians

6:es 10-20.

And as we do that, u let me start with

an opening story.

It was

a solemn funeral.

Matthew Snyder in Iraq was in Iraq just

for a month in 2006 when he was killed

in a rollover accident.

But what greeted the grieving family and

the grieving father that day was

unexpected.

In addition to the friends and family

gathered to honor Matthew's legacy,

there were protesters

and they were loud.

They positioned themselves about 30 ft

from the main entrance of the church and

they held signs

that said,

"God hates you."

Matthew father's Matthew's father Al was

in dismay as he recounts this

occurrence. He says that it was just a

nightmare.

And the next day too in Colorado,

the same group of people, the

Westboroough Baptist Church from Kansas,

who's made up uh predominantly of family

members, they too were protesting

another soldier's funeral.

This time they shouted to the family and

those gathered to grieve,

"You sent him to hell with your

hellbound ideology."

This is what they yelled.

They claimed the soldiers were evil

because they had defended a country that

was tolerant toward what they believed

was evil.

It's these and other examples

that we might be familiar with. The

Westboroough Baptist Church had become

famous for its egregious displays of

protest that typically occur at funerals

of those who are grieving the death of

loved ones.

Thus, heaping upon these families and

other mourers additional and unexpected

grief.

The grief that they experienced from

this particular group leaves many of us,

many spectators, a gasast at what's

happening.

See, the signs that were raised in

protest this day at these funerals

were obscure because the messaging on

them masquerades like Christian

verbiage.

Scripture is quoted upon these picket

signs. Bible verses are written in large

uh poster boards. The name of God is

invoked.

This display leaves most if not all of

us scratching our heads asking how could

this group

of people come away from the Bible

and think that this is what they are to

do with the knowledge of the gospel.

Here our reading again today from the

book of Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Paul writes,

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in

his mighty power. Put on the full armor

of God so that you may take stand

against the devil's schemes. For our

struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers, against the

authorities, against the powers of this

dark world, and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God

so when the day of evil comes, you may

be able to stand your ground and after

you have done everything to stand.

Stand firm then with the belt of truth

buckled around your waist with a

breastplate of righteousness in place

and with your feet fitted with the

readiness that comes from the gospel of

peace. In addition to all this, take up

the shield of faith, which you can

extinguish all the flaming arrows of the

evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the

sword of the spirit, which is the word

of God.

And pray in the spirit on all occasions

with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always

keep on praying for all of the saints.

This is the word of our Lord. Thanks to

God.

>> Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. Pray

with me. God,

would the words of my mouth and the

meditations of all of our hearts be

pleasing and acceptable in your sight,

our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

So, there's going to be two parts to

this particular sermon. The first of

which we are going to look at our final

piece of this armor of God which Paul

writes is the sword of the spirit or the

word of God.

And I'll tie that into the illustration

that we just had a moment ago. And the

second part I just want to kind of put a

capstone on our series in the armor of

God. Some big takeaways that I believe

have been prevalent throughout the

entirety of this sermon series.

So this is our final installment on the

armor of God. And today we are focusing

on that component of armor, the sword of

the spirit which is the word of God. And

I am for one glad that the sword comes

at the conclusion of the armor of God

because it can pose I think a few

difficulties for us Christians.

see all the former components of the

armor of God, the belt of truth, the

breastplate of righteousness, the boost,

the boots of the gospel of peace, the

shield of faith, the helmet of

salvation. All of these elements of this

armor are protective and defensive.

They are protective and defensive pieces

of armor. And we're supposed to take

these things up to stand against the ws

of the evil one or the schemes of the

devil.

Yet this final piece of the set of armor

is a sword

which I think raises many questions for

us as Christians like what am I to do

with this sword? Who or what am I

supposed to use it against?

Shouldn't the Christian like Christ lay

down their life, lay down their weapons

instead of take them up against their

enemies?

See, I think the sword is a a tricky

piece

of this armor. It's a tricky piece of

this metaphor that we get from Paul.

Scholars and commentators alike too are

divided over whether this instrument is

supposed to be used offensively or

offensively or somehow both.

And not only is the weapon imagery hard

for some of us to pallet,

but this weapon imagery is

the word of God, the Bible, the thing of

which we look at every week that brings

us so much comfort, that brings us so

much edification. How is it that this

book is a sword?

And I think like the illustration that I

read earlier, we might be all too

familiar with how the word of God or the

Bible has been weaponized against

certain groups of people.

We have used or we have seen others use

or we have been the victim of those that

would use the Bible as a weapon

especially for determining who is in and

who is out, who is right and who is

wrong.

It has been used to shore up confidence

as an irrefutable argument against

opponents of the wielder.

I can recall and maybe some of us can

recall the oftage

that the Bible said it, I believe it,

and that settles it.

Which is an adage that appears to have

no nuance. It does not address the

complexity of scripture. It seems to

oversimplify

this beautiful text that we have, this

word of God.

I think some of us shudder at this very

comment because we have come in close

contact with those who would like to use

the sword of the spirit to hack and to

slash

at anything that is deemed as the enemy.

all with irreroachable protection

because after all

the Bible told me so.

If there was any single piece of this

armor that Paul illustrates here, if

there were any single piece of this

armor that I wish had additional

instructions, it would be this this

component here.

I believe that it is wise for us to take

a step back and to broach the subject as

a church to look at what are some of the

provisions around it some direction

around the sword of the spirit which is

the word of God.

So first of three I think that it is

helpful to understand the nature of the

weapon in which Paul is describing in

this text.

It is not the crossbow of the spirit in

which we are to lob indiscriminate

arrows at our enemies or what we think

the enemy is. It is not also the broad

sword

of the spirit in which we are to take up

with two hands and to swipe and slash

this sword that Paul describes here

rather as one commentator puts it that

the sword of the spirit.

This word here refers to a short sword

used for hand-to-hand combat.

The Roman soldier would use such a sword

when the enemy was immediately before

them in the thick of battle.

The the sword that we are armed with is

not designed to be used

to hack and to slash, but rather to be

in close range precision with

carefulness that acknowledges its

surroundings. The sword of the spirit or

the word of God should be used with

carefulness and precision.

Secondly,

there are passages in the Bible that

admonish believers to be under the

authority of the word of God and that

the Bible is suitable for correction and

instruction.

And I think perhaps these Bible passages

are familiar with us because our

grandparents had used them liberal

liberally just to, you know, re in our

crazy behaviors and to, you know, check

ourselves against the word. But far more

often than the Bible is used as like

this tool of of correction,

it is a tool that is not overbearing,

but rather poetic and beautiful and

encouraging and faith forming and

gentle.

Many of us can recall passages of the

Bible that we've held with us for years

that have been a source and a fountain

of goodness for our lives.

like your word, writes the psalmist, is

a lamp to my feet and a light to my

path.

Or as Jesus says that humankind will not

live on bread alone, but by every word

that proceeds from the mouth of God.

these verses that we've committed to

memory that encourage us that build us

up that bring beauty and goodness to our

lives

that create a strong foundation.

See, we're equipped with the word of God

for our edification, for our

encouragement in faith, for our

flourishing as humans who are loved by

God and surrounded by God's good news.

And thirdly,

in contrast, I think to our opening

illustration, the word of God is used

with precision. It's used as a source of

encouragement, but it's not to be used

to disparage one another.

It's not used to tear one another down.

It is not used against each other in

order to heap up arguments on our behalf

and bring those who we believe

are in defiance down. But rather

scripture reminds us that what we are

tearing down with this word of God are

the lies and the systems of evil in this

world around us. Like 2 Corinthians 10

says that for though we live in the

world, we do not wage war as the world

does. The weapons we fight with are not

weapons of this world. On the contrary,

we have the divine power to demolish

strongholds.

See, our weapons are used to break down

strongholds, not in each other, but

rather of these systems of injustice.

Again, we've said this many times in the

series that our neighbor, our fellow

human,

they are not our enemy.

The enemy is all that seeks to separate

us from the love of God that is in Jesus

Christ. See, the word of God is useful

for warfare,

but that warfare is against the

strongholds that surround us, those

things that oppose the gospel, those

things that stand and try to separate us

from the love of God.

But how is that true? How is it that

that is true? In what ways does the word

of God equip us to do battle against the

evil in this world?

I think that the word of God reminds us

and reveals to us

that what is worth fighting for,

what is worth fighting for

in this world is all of God's goodness.

For instance,

we know that God desires to bring God's

kingdom to earth. We pray this every

week as we prayed just a moment ago. We

say that thy kingdom come, God's kingdom

come, thy will be done on earth as it is

in heaven. And this is a reminder that

we we get from scripture or the word of

God. It reminds us and reveals to us

that we are praying and working for

God's will to be done here on earth

as it is in heaven.

And hopefully this isn't too much of an

aside, but there I think are many

theologies,

different theologies and schisms between

them. One theology I think it promotes

the idea that that Jesus has come so

that we can be saved so that when we die

we can float up to heaven and be rid of

this evil world.

Many of us will call this uh fire

insurance theology or escapist theology

that God became man in Jesus so that

when we die we can escape this place.

But we know that fire insurance theology

is not at all what we get from

scripture. God wants to restore and to

renew God's creation. We are

participants in ushering in the kingdom

of heaven here and now.

God called creation good and will not

scrap it in favor of a disembodied

ethereal place in the stars.

See, it's with these promises from the

word of God that we are equipped to

fight for the good of the world, for the

restoration of all things, for peace and

justice for all humankind.

It is that word that we are equipped

with as a sword.

The sword of the spirit

is meant to be used carefully with

precision. Is meant to be used for

goodness and encouragement. It is not

meant to tear one another down but

rather to tear down the strongholds of

evil in our world.

So that's the sword of the spirit and

that completes the armor of God that

we've been looking at.

for the last few weeks. And here I think

I want to close us in our series on the

armor of God. And I want to make three

big idea, big points that we we've been

reiterating each week. And I think we

need to leave here understanding.

So first of all, that we do not struggle

against flesh and blood. We said this

that no matter how hard we want to make

our enemy, the person whom we deeply

disagree with, the person who may vote

in a way that we think is absolutely

insane, the person that seems to to do

the exact opposite of all that we think

is good and right and true, we must

believe that that person

is not the enemy.

They might be physically or mentally or

spiritually unwell. They might be

flatout wrong. They might even be

participating in evil

and they might need correction or bear

the weight of their punishment for

wrongdoing, but they are not the enemy.

Two,

evil is real.

I think in our understanding in our

postmodern world, it can be easy to say

that everything is subjective. Like what

is good to me might be evil to you or

what is evil to you might be good to me.

It can be easy to land on that in the

day and age in which we live.

But I think what the Bible highlights

for us, the word of God highlights for

us

that evil is real.

Even though it might be difficult to

define, it might be difficult to put our

finger on exactly what is evil, what

we're talking about when we talk about

evil, but I think we have a hunch that

it's not some little red dude running

around with pointy horns and a

pitchfork.

I think we have a hunch that it is not

some like maybe metaphysical presence or

magical presence working against us and

against the goodness of God in our

world. It is not that.

But we have a profound sense as

followers of Jesus.

We have a profound sense of when we see

evil, we know what it is. Whether it be

systems of injustice that hurt our

neighbors or pervasive attitudes toward

groups of people, placing one particular

group of people above others or

believing that some are are inherently

more or less deserving than others.

Though it might be difficult to give a

concise definition of what evil is, our

radar for evil, as followers of the way

of Christ can easily detect what it is

when we see it and when we experience

it.

Lastly, a big idea from the from the

armor of God.

And it's broad,

but the armor of God, we know, we know

that we are to put it all on in the

truth and righteousness and peace and

faith and salvation and taking up the

word of God. We are to put on this armor

of God. And as we do so, we are

preparing ourselves to stand against all

the ws of the devil.

And when we put on that armor of God in

all of its attributes, we must know

that it is not a fanciful guarantee that

we will not be affected by the forces of

evil in our world.

It is not a protective force that helps

us evade all that is bad on that day of

trouble that Paul describes. rather

putting on the full armor of God by the

grace of God helps us to stand

when the day of evil comes.

And I think the difference here is

important to recognize. There is a

pervasive attitude that believers when

they do what is right and what is good

that we will sidestep difficulty and

turmoil.

But that is simply not true.

Jesus says that that the rain falls on

the righteous and wicked alike.

Good and evil happen to anyone and

anywhere.

When we put on the full armor of God, it

does not deliver us from the day of

evil,

but in that evil day,

it will help us to stand.

So today as we close this sermon series,

I want to read one more time our

scripture reading and I want to read it

as a prayer over us so that we can be

reminded

of what Paul and the witness of

scripture calls us to take up.

So hear this one more time.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in

his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God so that you

can take your stand against the schemes

of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh

and blood, but against the rulers,

against the authorities, against the

powers of this dark world, and against

the spiritual forces of evil in the

heavenly realms.

Therefore,

put on the full armor of God, so that

when the day of evil comes, you may be

able to stand your ground after you have

done everything to stand.

Stand firm then with the belt of truth

buckled around your waist, with the

breastplate of righteousness in place,

with your feet fitted with the readiness

that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the

shield of faith with which you can

extinguish all the flaming arrows of the

evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the

sword of the spirit which is the word of

God.

Amen.