Ephesians: Know Your Enemy, Know Your Equipment (6:10-24)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast.

At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve.

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The second lesson is from Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 to 24.

Ephesians 6:10–24

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, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as for 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, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

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, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Let's pray.

Equip us, Lord, with your gospel.

Grant us grace to take up the shield of faith today and every day.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

At your highest moment, be careful.

That's when the devil comes for you.

At your highest moment, be careful.

That's when the devil comes for you.

If you recognize that quote, it's not because you recognize it from our study in Ephesians.

You won't find a chapter or a verse reference.

In fact, it's not going to be found in the Bible.

You probably recognize that from Will Smith's Oscar acceptance speech from last Sunday evening.

The Oscars aren't really my thing.

If the Oscars are your thing, that's great.

I'm glad that that's your thing.

But it's just not really my thing.

But I've watched more of the Oscars in watching that five-minute clip than I have in about 20 years.

It's an interesting clip and it's an interesting moment that I've been chewing on for about a week now.

If uh you're unfamiliar with what happened last week at the Oscars, if you are familiar, you're probably sick of talking about it at this point.

But if you're not familiar with what happened, comedian Chris Rock got up to present whatever award it was that he was presenting, and in typical form, he is cracking a number of jokes, and he cracked a really offensive joke at Jada Pinkett Smith, actress uh Jada Pinkett Smith's expense.

And this provoked her husband, Will Smith, to storm the stage, to slap Chris Rock across the face, and to return to his seat, cussing him out for the next couple of minutes.

Now, what's wild to me is that later that evening, Will Smith went on to win Best Actor for his role in King Richard.

And his acceptance speech, which I understand is the longest Oscar acceptance speech in the history of the show, or the award ceremony, it was an interesting combination of what he seems to have prepared for that moment, but what he felt compelled to share based on the act of violence that he perpetrated earlier that evening.

And in one particular moment, perhaps as an explanation, perhaps as a self-justification, he shared this line that was shared to him by his friend Denzel Washington.

And that line, that piece of advice, that warning is this at your highest moment, be careful.

That's when the devil comes for you.

So what do you think about that?

Is the devil out to spoil our big moments?

Those moments that mark our success?

I guess for me, I've been chewing on this, and it's been raising some bigger, maybe more fundamental questions.

How are we supposed to understand the devil?

What are his goals?

How does he operate to achieve them?

What's required for a sense of triumph over the devil?

Maybe for some it even raises questions about whether or not there is a devil.

Doesn't it seem like a superstitious thing to still believe in this nefarious supernatural character?

See, I've been chewing on Will Smith's quote and thinking about some of the bigger questions that it raises while reading and rereading this passage from Ephesians chapter 6, which is perhaps one of the most key texts for spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

So the Bible is pretty apologetic about the fact that our universe that we occupy is also occupied by invisible spiritual beings and forces.

Unlike ancient paganism or maybe a new age spirituality, the Bible understands that there is no spiritual neutral ground for human beings or for spiritual beings.

Creatures are either loyal to the triune creator God or not, and therefore allied with our ancient enemy, the devil.

So here we are, we've been journeying through the book of Ephesians, Paul's letter to this church in Ephesus, and we've been asking this question: why bother with the church?

And Paul's passage here, Paul writes one final thought, as it were, as he concludes this letter.

We are engaged in spiritual warfare.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, whether aware of it or not, we have an enemy who is intent on our harm.

And Christians are called, as it were, into battle.

And for those soldiers called into battle, there's two things in particular we ought to know if we have any hope or for a measure of success.

And those two things are this.

If we're going to march out into battle, we need to know our enemy, number one, and number two, we need to know our equipment.

I think Sun Tzu would approve of that.

He wrote The Art of War in the 5th century BC.

Know your enemy, know your equipment.

And that's what I think Paul wants us to grapple with here.

Here we find ourselves in a battle of good versus evil, a spiritual warfare.

Paul wants us to know our enemy and know our equipment.

But for us, I think there's good news in this passage here.

Because as we look at Paul's teaching, as Paul orients us to this warfare that we find ourselves in, we find ourselves equipped with God's own armor, with everything we need to march out with confidence and assurance, not just in the equipment we have, but in the one who equips us.

So what I'd like to do with our time together is I'd like to meditate on these two aspects of spiritual warfare.

I'd like us to understand our enemy and understand our equipment.

Let's understand our enemy.

Verse 11.

If you have your order of service, if you have your Bible, I encourage you to open it up to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Verse 11, Paul gives us an exhortation.

Put on the whole armor of God.

For what purpose?

That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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.

So who is our enemy?

Chiefly speaking, Paul identifies it as the devil.

And with the devil comes spiritual forces who are loyal to him in verse 12.

So if we're going to talk about the devil right off the bat, I think we have to deal with some of the, well, I just don't think we've done ourselves a lot of favors with how popular culture has conceptualized the devil.

To this day, when I think about the devil, the first thing that comes into my mind is sort of this red spandex clad figure, pitchfork in hand with a goatee, right?

You know what I'm talking about.

Often we see this kind of devil portrayed more as like a mischievous scamp, up to, you know, minor trouble that's generally easily thwarted.

And that's silly.

That's ridiculous.

And if that's how we're taught to conceptualize the devil, it's no wonder so many folks dismiss the devil as irrational or silly.

It's because that is.

And that's the kind of devil that I don't believe in either.

See, if we're going to deal with who the devil is, we need to listen to what God's own word has to teach us.

What does God's word tell us about the devil?

And the first thing, right off the bat, we don't have heaps and heaps of biblical data about Satan, about his origins, about his inner workings.

So it's important that we don't speculate beyond what God's own word has revealed to us in Scripture.

Otherwise, we get led down strange and unhelpful rabbit holes really, really quickly with speculation.

But from what biblical images we do have in passages like Isaiah chapter 14 or Ezekiel chapter 28, we can hold to a few things to be true about the devil.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention Ezekiel 28 · chapter mention

First off, the devil was not created evil.

God doesn't create evil things.

The devil was created by God as an angel to live and serve in God's holy presence.

We see this especially in Ezekiel 28.

But Satan fell from his position with a host of his loyal angels at some undetermined point in time because of his prideful rebellion against God.

To borrow one of Paul's phrases, Satan counted equality with God as something to be grasped for himself.

So the devil is not God's equally matched rival.

He's a creature.

In an eternal dualistic struggle between good and evil.

This is another way I think popular culture hasn't done us any favors with the devil.

Understanding a kind of dualism and a kind of eternal conflict between good and evil is more like the cosmology of Star Wars than it is the cosmology of Scripture.

What do I mean by that?

Well, if you're familiar with Star Wars, you'll know a couple things.

One, you'll know it's a fun story, and I am a fan of Star Wars.

I speak like that.

But Star Wars conceptualizes of two kind of equally balanced powers, right?

There's the light side of the force, used by the Jedi, who are good guys.

And they use the light side of the force for good and noble purposes, right?

And then what do you have on the other side?

You have the dark side of the force, used by the Sith, for nefarious and tyrannical purposes.

And here you have the Jedi and the Sith, the light side and the dark, locked in this eternal cosmic, dualistic struggle over interstellar worlds that'll never end because they're equally matched with one another.

So the best outcome we can hope for is what they always talk about when they talk about balance in the force.

As though good and evil will finally cancel each other out and we'll be left with this neutral universe, and we'll have some kind of semblance of peace.

That kind of dualism is foreign to Scripture.

Satan and God are not two equally matched powers locked in an eternal struggle with one another.

Satan is one of God's creatures.

He may be a powerful creature, but he is a powerful, finite creature.

And the difference between a powerful, finite creature and an infinitely omnipotent God is not a difference of degrees, it's a difference of infinity.

Satan is one of God's creatures.

But the devil has been completely opposed to God since his fall and has sought to do whatever he can, if he can, to thwart God's sovereign redemptive purposes in creation.

He is an accuser, a tempter, a deceiver.

And the devil and his loyal spiritual powers continually plot against God's people, the church.

So we can acknowledge a few things to be true of our enemy.

Paul wants us to understand, too, how our enemy operates.

He says, stand against the schemes of the devil.

The devil schemes.

He's a schemer.

What does Paul mean by that?

Well, again, when it comes to the devil schemes, I suspect popular culture hasn't done us a lot of favors.

I was, I belong to a generation that was catechized by Saturday morning cartoons.

And when Bugs Bunny faced a moral dilemma, something happened.

A companion appeared on his shoulder.

You know what I'm talking about.

That companion looked like Bugs Bunny, but was clad in a white robe and had a harp.

It was an angelic figure prompting Bugs Bunny to do the obviously right thing.

But another companion joined him, didn't he?

Again, clad in red spandex, advocating for the obviously wrong thing to do.

If this is our sense of how the devil schemes, it may represent some truth.

The devil is not above prompting us to do the obviously wrong and sinful thing.

We know from 1 John chapter 2 that he tempts us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, he can tempt us to withhold forgiveness from brothers and sisters.

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

He is not above tempting us to do the obviously wrong thing.

But if we're entering into a scriptural, biblical understanding of the enemy, I think we have to acknowledge that Satan's schemes are far craftier than whispering the obviously wrong thing to do for us.

Generally speaking, I think God's word teaches us that the devil's strategies are crafty.

Pastor John Stott agrees, he writes that we must not imagine that open persecution, that is the kind of assault to our circumstances, and open temptation to sin are the devil's only or even his commonest weapons.

What are his common weapons?

Stott writes, he prefers to seduce us into compromise and deceive us into error.

So rather than tempting us towards the obviously wrong thing, I think the devil often tempts us to rationalize away our sin, to dress up sin as piety, or error as truth, or compromise as integrity.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul describes Satan as disguising himself as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

In other words, a heavenly agent of salvation, of truth that God has withheld, who whispers words into our souls that seem pious and even feel right to us.

You ever heard that phrase?

This just feels right to me.

It's pause for discernment.

Because this is how we see the devil operate right in the garden in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Think back to our first parents.

He appears in the garden, what does he tempt our first parents with?

He tempts them with something that's a delight to the eyes, this fruit that God has commanded them not to eat.

And the devil seeks to undermine God's integrity.

Did God really say, don't eat of this fruit?

Well, God knows that when you eat of this fruit, you're going to become like him.

You're going to be able to determine what's good and evil for yourself.

You're going to be self-sufficient, just like God is.

In other words, the devil is saying, It seems to me that the God you worship, the God you trust, doesn't really have your best interest in mind.

He dresses up like an advocate for them, not against them.

And this is not a one-off either.

This is something of the same strategy that we see the devil try on our Lord Jesus Himself.

Our Lord Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan, and he's driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan for 40 days.

And over the course of that temptation, the devil is bold enough to try and twist God's written word against the living and incarnate word of God Himself.

Satan quotes Scripture to Jesus.

And we'd be foolish to think that Satan doesn't try and twist Scripture against us as well, to self-justify our corrupt motives or our sinful desires, to dress up evil like it's good.

See, it's the same word for schemes that we've seen used as of false teachers in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Often false teaching within the life of the church is not an infiltration of sin and falsehood from the outside, but a twisting of God's word that leads Christians astray from the gospel of grace from the inside.

If Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, writes Paul, it is no surprise if the devil's servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Understand your enemy.

Paul wants to be clear.

How do we battle against the devil's schemes?

Here's the exhortation in verse 10 Be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might.

Paul is not just saying be strong, which would be to say, you know, do your personal best.

Ours is a powerful enemy.

Peter writes, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Our personal best against this ancient and ruthless enemy still amounts to an easy lunch on our souls.

Reformer Martin Luther writes, Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.

In other words, we need a power far greater than ourselves to do battle against this enemy.

So Paul writes, not battling.

Be strong, but be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might.

This verb here is a present passive verb, which means our strength is not something we muster up from ourselves, but something that we receive from without.

Our strength for spiritual warfare is given to us by the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

So think back to early in our study.

Paul has prayed that the Ephesian Christians may know, not receive as if they didn't have it, but know the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe.

Chapter 1, verse 19.

In Christ, Christians are sealed by the Spirit and seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

See, the hope of the gospel is not what we do for God, even what we do for God against Satan, it's what God has done for us in Christ, even in the midst of spiritual warfare.

This is the hope of the gospel for the battle in which we're called.

So when we who belong to the Lord draw near to him, we draw near to the source of our strength.

100% of spiritual warfare is drawing from the strength of the Lord.

And I'm convinced that 99% of that spiritual warfare looks like the everyday practice of living the new and holy life.

Drawing near to God, drawing strength from Him through prayer, through meditation on God's word, through receiving God's means of grace in baptism and in communion, through participation in the life of the body of Christ to the church, and through walking in the good works that He's prepared for us.

Such are the means that God has given us His church to draw strength from Him.

This is not permission to be brazen or self-confident toward the devil in the midst of battle, but neither should we be fearful or anxious.

Like any bump in the night or any dark closet, the devil is going to snatch us up.

For we in Christ have been given the strength of his might.

So we bring forward this strength into the rest of the passage that follows.

We understand our enemy.

We need to understand our equipment.

What is our equipment?

Verse 13, 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.

Our equipment is the armor of God.

Paul is writing this letter under house arrest.

You might have noticed that from verse 20.

I suspect Paul is writing this letter with a Roman centurion, a Roman soldier standing in his living room.

And I think the Holy Spirit is speaking to him through this image.

He sees a Roman soldier fully clad in his armor.

And he knows what it means for a Roman soldier to march out and do battle.

Armor protects, it makes the difference between life and death on the battlefield.

And I think this image of a Roman soldier inspires in Paul's imagination, it brings to mind a very familiar passage from the Old Testament, which is Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

Paul knows his Old Testament.

And he remembers this passage in which the Lord is looking for a defender for his people, but he finds none.

So Isaiah 59, verse 17, he puts on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head.

Isaiah 59:17

He puts on garments of vengeance for clothing and wraps himself in zeal as a cloak.

Who is God, or pardon me, who is Paul talking about here?

Who's the he?

He's talking about God Himself.

God can't find another defender for his people, so God puts on his armor and marches out to battle on behalf of his people himself.

See, the spiritual armor that Paul is talking about is God's own armor.

Not like God's armor, but it's as though God went into his own armory and placed this armor upon us.

What greater assurance could there be than to be equipped with the armor that God Himself dons in our defense?

So we're called to take it up.

We're called to put it on, verse 11.

We're called to take up the belt of truth.

These Roman belts would hold together the armor and tunics and everything else that the sword and everything else the Roman soldier had on.

So too does truth bind together our armor as Christians.

We're called to take up the breastplate of righteousness, to stand secure in our right relationship with God in Christ, to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace, Roman shoes would bind together at the thigh, and they would have huge metal studs on the bottom, which meant that in the midst of battle there was no way they could just get knocked over by a gust of wind.

These shoes allowed them to march further than any other armies in the first century.

And Paul understands, he draws from this another image from Isaiah chapter 52, that these shoes we put on are shoes that allow us to march out and herald this good news, to not be shaken in the midst of the battle.

Isaiah 52 · chapter mention

Paul says, take up the shield of faith.

And this is not a small shield that Paul's referring to.

He's referring to a broad shield, the kind of shield that was about the size of a door, and you would put it in front of you, and you would march in formation, and all the soldiers around you would put up their shields so that when the flaming arrows of the enemy came against you from any angle, it would be defended.

That faith he's referring to might mean an individual personal trust in Jesus, but I also think there is a corporate dimension to that.

Put on the shield of the faith.

March together with fellow Christians, living out the faith together in the life of the church.

When we march together, it's as though we put our shields together in formation, and there is no flaming arrow of accusation that the devil can send against us, which will land.

Put on the helmet of salvation.

Let God's saving power be your only defense against the enemy.

And finally, Paul says, Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The author of Hebrews says that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It's by taking up God's word that we have hope of defending ourselves, of doing battle in the midst of this struggle.

Now, some have said that unless we pray through the armor of God piece by piece every single day, we haven't successfully taken it up or put it on, and we're vulnerable against the enemy's attacks and temptations.

Now, praying through the armor of God may be a helpful spiritual exercise for sure, but I'm not convinced that unless we're praying through it piece by piece every day, that we're left vulnerable.

I say that because this is the second time put on has been used.

Paul used it earlier in chapter four to say, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and in true righteousness and holiness.

Putting on the new self means we are equipped for battle as well.

Now is putting on the new self something that we do for ourselves or something that God does for us?

Probably the answer is yes.

Probably it's something that God, by His grace, enables us to cooperate in.

The armor is ours.

Living into the new life means we appropriate it for ourselves.

So we should be people who are all about truth and righteousness and the gospel and faith and salvation and immersed in the word, and when we devote ourselves to these truths of God, we're taking up our armor.

The point of the armor is not that we rely on our human resources to do spiritual battle, but we rely upon God's immeasurable strength alone.

So, dear friends, this should give us tremendous confidence, shouldn't it?

God has equipped you with far greater supply than our enemy could ever muster up.

And Paul calls us now, as those equipped with God's own armor, to pray at all times.

You catch that, verses 18 to 20.

Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

You could say, pray at all times about everything everywhere.

Even pray for myself, Paul says.

This is why I think growing a personal prayer life is so important.

Prayer is that communion with God in the soul that relies upon his strength, that acknowledges our ever-present dependence upon him.

We can't do this ourselves, so Lord, I need you to do for me what I cannot do for myself, and that is what he has done for us in Christ.

Prayer is that to Godward motion in our souls.

And this is how we practice dependence upon God with the vigilance of a soldier.

Pray at all times.

So it makes intercessory prayer, I think, so important and so life-giving for us as a parish.

So, dear friends, understand your enemy, understand your equipment.

At your highest moment, be careful, that's when the devil comes for you.

I think when we look at God's word, we see that the devil's schemes are not just to spoil our big moment, but really to devour our soul.

Not just at your highest moment, but at all times.

And the deceiver led our first parents into sinful rebellion and alienation from God.

And for a moment there in Genesis chapter 3, it almost has seemed as if the enemy had won his victory over the human race.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

But God made a promise to our first parents that a promised one will come who will deal a crushing blow to this enemy, even as he himself dies to secure victory.

And so Jesus says to his disciples in John chapter 12, Now is the judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world, the devil, be cast out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

John 12 · chapter mention

And just to make it extra clear, John the narrator says, Jesus said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Brothers and sisters, Satan is our enemy, but he is a defeated enemy.

The cross and resurrection of Jesus is our victory over him.

He may skirmish and battle against us, but the war has been decisively won, and in Christ we live in the light of this victory.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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