Battle Ready: Stand Strong in Battle Ephesians 6:10-13 Pastor Daniel Reese

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We have your Bibles will be in Ephesians chapter 6 this morning.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We began our journey through Ephesians more than a year and a half ago, believe it or

not.

We are on our last leg of our journey together and for the next three weeks we will see why

we called this series battle ready.

For the first three chapters, if you remember if you were here, Paul explained to us who

God is.

All these amazing attributes about God built on the foundation of what this book is.

That God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him.

His will is perfect and right because of who He is and because of what He's done for us.

We get to obtain an inheritance because of our faith in Jesus.

Then on top of that, that faith that we have in Jesus isn't even our own.

It was given to us.

He gave it to us.

We have learned that there is nothing that we can do to obtain our salvation.

We will never be good enough.

It is only because of God's sovereignty and love towards us that we are able to be called

His children.

He chose us.

We didn't choose Him.

He chose us.

Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, when all hope was lost, God being rich

in mercy made us alive in Christ.

Then we got to chapter four.

From then on, it has been what is our response and what our response should be in light of

all these awesome attributes about who God is.

He started off, we should strive for unity as God's people.

Unity has to be fought for.

That happens when we walk in submission to one another.

The rest of the world, I don't know if you know this or not, is dysfunctional.

We have two political parties that can't seem to agree on anything.

Divorce rates are high constantly.

And even currently, we have Jews versus Palestinians.

And it seems like if we can find a reason to disagree about whatever it is, we're going

to do it.

But we as believers are called to walk in unity and not function in the same way as the rest

of the world.

We are called to walk in love even when it is hard.

Husbands are supposed to love their wives in the same way that Christ loves us.

In response to that, wives are to submit to their husbands and recognize that he is the

head of the household.

Children are to obey and honor their parents.

As employees and employers, we are to work as if we are working for the Lord.

We are to work and lead in a way that honors Christ.

So Paul has spent over five chapters telling us all these things, and now he's going to

tell us what is going to keep us from reaching that goal.

Because we need to understand.

We have to know in our hearts that there are powerful things that will keep us from walking

in unity.

There are powerful things that will divide us.

There are powerful things that make you believe that you don't have to submit to your husbands,

that you don't have to love your wives.

There's this thing in us that will tell us as children that we don't need to obey our

parents or work hard or submit to one another.

So let's look at how we can be strong in battle.

I'm going to invite up the recently graduated from Iowa, Maddie Trotter, to read our passage

this morning.

Okay, so this is Ephesians 6, 10-13.

Stand up.

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.

Amen.

Let me pray.

Father, thank you for Maddie.

Thank you for just what you're doing in her life.

And God, as we look at this passage this morning, I pray that you will protect us.

I pray, God, that you will help us understand it.

I pray, God, that you will wake us up to the reality that we are in a war.

And I pray, God, that you will equip us today to fight it off.

It's your name you pray.

Amen.

Thank you, Maddie.

The attacks that occurred in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 were a wake-up

call for our country.

As the 9-11 Commission and others observed about after the fact, one of the main reasons

that we were attacked is that as a country, we didn't even recognize that these Islamic

extremists were at war with us.

And since we didn't realize that we were in a war, we had made adequate preparations

to prevent such an attack.

Now, unfortunately, especially in this country, our Christianity has become so comfortable

that I'm afraid that many of us have either failed to recognize that we are in a war or

we've long forgotten that over the years.

Somehow we get into our air-conditioned cars and drive to an air-conditioned building where

we enter in, we sing joyful songs of praise, we listen to a 30-minute message, and we sing

another couple songs, we put an offering in the offering box, and somehow that just doesn't

seem like we are at war.

It doesn't feel like we're at war.

One of the most important aspects of this war is that God doesn't expect us to fight

alone.

He has brought us all together in one body, the church, so that we can stand shoulder

to shoulder and help encourage each other as we fight.

That is the overriding principle all throughout this letter.

And I think one of the mistakes that people have made over the years is that they approach

this section on spiritual warfare as merely an individual battle, that this is how I respond

to the enemy.

But I would suggest to you that Paul has a much more corporate approach in mind.

So the first thing we need to understand that as a church is we need to be strengthened

by God.

He says be strong in the Lord, the strength of his mind.

Most of us at least have some familiarity with the whole concept of the Christian armor.

But I'm convinced that the reason that armor is often not as effective as it should be

is because of this crucial first step.

Before a soldier is ever trained in handling weapons, he must first go through a great

deal of physical training in order to build up his strength.

It wouldn't do much to equip that soldier with all the latest weapons, with all the

greatest gadgets if he isn't strong enough to even use them.

The same thing is true for our spiritual armor.

If we are not first strengthened enough to use it properly, it won't be much used to

us thereafter.

Most of our English translations don't reflect it very well, but the command Paul gives here

in verse 10 is in the passive mode.

It literally means be strengthened in the Lord.

In other words, I can't strengthen myself.

You can't strengthen yourself.

Someone else has to do that for us.

And that's evident throughout this whole book so far, right?

We don't get to do anything.

He gives it to us.

We also see clearly that it's God's mighty power and not our own that is necessary.

A good soldier is constantly training for battle, even though he does not know when he's going

to be deployed.

He has to continually participate in physical conditioning and practice with his weapons

so that he will be ready to go into battle whenever he is called up.

Far too many Christians, far too many Christians have been deceived into the practice of preying

on the armor each day.

As if some kind of magical shield of protection, but they have failed to yield the control

of their lives to Jesus consistently and constantly so that he can empower them with his resurrection

power.

And then they are surprised to find that the armor they thought was protecting them isn't

effective at all because there's no power behind it.

The second thing we need to understand is our enemy.

We need to understand our enemy that you will 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.

In order to be successful in battle, it is essential that one has the accurate understanding

of our enemy.

During Desert Storm back in the 90s, the United States and its allies were able to defeat

Iraq, even though Iraq had a substantial advantage in troop strength and conventional weapons.

That was because the military leaders who planned the operations understood that the

Iraqi military and equipment, they understood their strategy so well that they were able

to plan their operations to take advantage of the enemy's weaknesses.

If we hope to be successful in our spiritual battle, it is essential that we have the proper

understanding of our enemy.

Even though the enemy is not flesh and blood, he is real.

He's real.

Unfortunately, even many who claim to be followers of Jesus have ideas about him that are far

too close about what we think about unicorns.

That he's just some mystical thing.

A survey conducted by the Barna Group found that 57% of the people surveyed believe that

the devil is only a symbol of evil and not a living being.

What's even more frightening is that nearly half, 46% of those who identify themselves

as born-again Christians deny the existence of Satan.

Even though our enemy is not flesh and blood, that does not mean that he is not real.

Adam and Eve found out he was real.

Job certainly would testify that Satan is real.

Jesus certainly believed that he was real when he met him face to face in the wilderness,

and Paul makes it clear in this passage, even though we cannot see him, he is certainly

real.

I'm convinced that the biggest difficulty that we face in our spiritual battle that we're

in is that so many Christians don't even realize they're in a battle.

You just go day to day to day thinking this is normal life, and even amongst those who

realize that they are in a battle, they relegate it to some mystical battle between the concepts

of good and evil.

It's that cartoon picture, right?

Like there's an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, and they're whispering

in our ears.

It's more than that.

It's a real battle against a real enemy.

We also need to understand that the devil is a powerful enemy.

The spiritual battle that we engage in is not fought with long range missiles and smart

bombs, but it is face to face combat with a powerful enemy.

Peter described our enemy like this in 1 Peter 5.

He says, be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

He's looking for you.

In any way he can, he's trying to devour you.

The second mistake we make in evaluating our enemy is that we underestimate his power.

When I was growing up in El Paso, we had a minor league baseball team that fed into the

San Diego Padres.

The baseball team was called the El Paso Diablos, devils for those of you that aren't fluent

in Spanish.

Their logo was a pitchfork.

Their mascot was not an intimidating being, but a smiling baseball head that had flames

on his jersey.

Kids wanted to take their picture with him.

But the reality is that the Bible portrays him as a powerful enemy.

And as we'll see more clearly in a moment, if we try to take on the enemy in our own

power, he will defeat us.

He's powerful.

We also need to understand his weapons.

The devil's main weapon is deceit.

Although it is dangerous to underestimate our enemy, we can also be guilty of overestimating

his power and therefore responding inappropriately as well.

We don't have time to navigate or investigate this in detail this morning, but the Bible

is very clear that Satan and his demons clearly have limits to their power.

They are not some, as some people imagine, little gods or bad gods.

That's not who he is.

Unlike God, they are not omnipresent.

They can only be in one place at one time.

Unlike God, they are not omniscient.

Like humans, they can only know what God has revealed to them.

And unlike God, they are not omnipotent.

They only have power to do what God allows them to do in the life of a believer.

I mean, that's quite clear in the book of Job.

And so the devil and his demons have to resort to deceit.

Notice that Paul writes that we need to be ready and we need to stand firm against the

devil's schemes.

There is a word there that conveys cleverness, crafty.

He's cunning.

He's deception.

He has deception.

And that is exactly the tactic that Satan used in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

And it's still the tactic that he employs on us today.

In most cases, Satan's deceitful schemes today are not quite as personal or as easily discerned

as the direct assault on Adam and Eve.

Instead, Satan, whom Paul described in chapter 2 as the ruler of the kingdom of the air,

uses the world system that he rules over in order to carry out these deceitful schemes.

Now although Paul references to rulers and authorities, powers of this dark world and

spiritual forces in the heavenly realms may very well describe a hierarchy for structure

of Satan's demons.

Paul also seems to be right about how Satan uses these structures of this world system

to exert evil influence against the followers of Jesus.

We can easily observe this in our culture today where the media, those people that are

in places of prominence and even our own government, right, can promote that which is an opposition

to the standards that God has established in His world.

In His word.

Think about Nazi Germany.

What about what's going on with North Korea or the Middle East?

People are led to believe one reality and therefore becomes harmful to us as a society

as a whole.

So this battle we're in is primarily a battle of our minds and that's why as we'll see

in more detail in the weeks to come that the armor of God is primarily designed to protect

our minds from the schemes of the devil.

First thing is we need to put on the full armor of God.

Since our battle is spiritual and not physical, we need to make sure that we use the right

weapons.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul writes, for though we live in the world, we do not wage

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Now unfortunately, even as followers of Jesus, we are often tempted to use what Paul refers

to as weapons of this world.

We think that we can use our intellect.

We can use our logic.

We can use our willpower to defeat the evil one.

But the Bible makes it clear that those weapons that we think that we have are totally ineffective

against the schemes of the devil.

In fact, it is so crucial that we use the right weapons that Paul commands us twice

in this passage to put on the full armor of God.

Those two commands are actually two different Greek verbs that have slightly different meanings.

Both are imperative and they are a command to put the armor on right now.

Put it on right now.

There's a sense of urgency to these commands.

Both commands also mean to put on the armor once and keep it on.

This is not like putting on your uniform, going to go play the game, and then coming

home and putting it in the wash and then putting it on next time.

That's why I have such a problem with the very practice taught in many Christian circles

that we need to get up each and every day and pray on our armor before we get out there

to face the day.

The fact of the matter is that the battle that we are engaged in is an ongoing never-ending

and we need to put on our armor of God and we need to keep it on so we'll be prepared

whenever the enemy chooses to attack us.

One of the great lies of Satan is that we just have a battle here and a battle there

so we don't really need the armor at all times.

But the moment we take it off, that's when he is sure to attack.

Let's consider first what he means by the full armor.

As we'll see in more detail in the weeks to come, the armor includes both offensive and

defensive weapons.

And the point that Paul is making here is that we don't just get a pick and choose the

various pieces of armor that we deem necessary based on our situation.

We need to make sure that we have all the armor on at all times.

And finally, Paul tells us to stand my ground.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil

day and having done all to stand firm.

I'll come back to this principle of standing here in just a moment.

Let me first address the phrase, when the day of evil comes.

There are several different takes on what Paul is referring to here.

But given the context, day seems to refer to this present age in which evil reigns in

the world because Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

But Paul also may be referencing those times when the enemy comes against us like a flood.

From the few biblical accounts that gives us some insight into the tactics of the devil,

it appears that his attacks seem to come in waves.

We clearly see that in the life of Job.

We see that in the life of Jesus.

And I think for most of us, that has been our experience as well.

But whenever the evil one attacks us, our response is always to be the same.

We are to stand firm.

The word stand, which is used three times in this passage, does not mean just casual

standing around.

It's not just leaning up against the wall.

It's not just sitting around talking with your friends.

But it conveys this idea of digging in.

Roman soldiers wore spiked shoes called caligay so they could dig in and hold their ground

and not be knocked off course.

It also denotes standing firm against the onslaught that's initiated by another as

opposed to initiating the action on our own.

So we're to stand firm, ready for fighting.

We are never commanded.

Never commanded in the scriptures to attack the devil.

We are commanded to stand our ground.

James 4.7 says, submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

First Peter chapter 5 says, be self-controlled and alert.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the

world are undergoing the same kinds of sufferings.

In both of those passages, the word resist is the exact same word that Paul uses in Ephesians

that he writes that we are to stand against the evil one.

We've already seen that the enemy is a powerful enemy, more powerful and more wise than any

one of us in this room.

So we're never called to try to attack him.

Instead, we're called to report to the commander, put on the armor and stand firm.

I can't possibly overemphasize to you this morning the fact that we are engaged in a

battle.

We could do this every single week and I still don't think we would get it.

We are in a battle and when we fail to enter into the war as God has commanded us, the

consequences are going to be most serious.

David is described as a man after God's own heart.

I would love to be described that way.

A man after God's own heart, but the two greatest sins in the life of David occurred when he

failed to go to war.

It was his duty as the king to go to war.

Two times a read that David stayed in Jerusalem at the time when kings go to war.

The first and most familiar to most of us is recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 11.

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

Instead of going to war, as he should have, David was idle and he was hanging around at

the palace where he observed a young woman bathing.

We all know how that turned out.

With David committing adultery, eventually David committing murder and the consequences

of failing to engage the battle were serious and far reaching.

As a result, David's son died and his family became a total mess.

The second occurrence is memorialized in 1 Chronicles chapters 20 and 21.

1 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

At that time, because David was engaged in battle, was not engaged in battle as he should

have been, Satan incited David to take a census of Israel.

Clear violation of God's will.

As a result, God sent a plague on Israel and 70,000 men of Israel died.

For us, for all of us, if you are a believer in Jesus, it is also time for us to go to

war.

So let's leave our comfort zone.

Let's complete our basic training.

Let's put on the full armor of God so that we will be ready for battle.

We are in a battle right now.

And you need to understand that his main weapon against us is deceit.

One of the best pieces of marriage advice that I got before we got married was that

I needed to trust the Holy Spirit in Sina.

Meaning, she's not deliberately trying to hurt me.

She's not trying to cause harm in the situation.

And when I start to believe those things, that's a lie that I'm buying into that Satan

is trying to deceive me into thinking worst case scenario.

I fully trust that the Holy Spirit is living and active in Sina.

And so when she might be in the wrong, which happens.

Not very often, but it does happen.

I trust that the Holy Spirit is going to continue to work on her.

I need to trust that.

And there are moments where that is hard.

So here's how I want to challenge you this morning.

I want you to ask yourself some questions if you have any sort of conflict in your life.

Does anybody have any sort of conflict in their life?

If you have any sort of bad feelings towards someone.

If there is anything in you that wants to control how they act or how they respond.

I want you to ask yourself these questions.

Does this person have evidence of fruit from the Holy Spirit?

Notice I didn't say is this person saved?

Is this person a Christian?

Does this person have evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in them?

Are they bearing fruit?

Are they sharing the gospel?

Are they loving people well?

Are they showing patience in difficult situations?

Does this person that I have conflict with have evidence that the Holy Spirit is in them?

If he answers yes to that question.

My challenge to you is trust the Holy Spirit that's in them.

The second question is, is their behavior sinful?

The reason I have conflict is because their behavior is sinful or is it because it's

just going against what my preferences are?

Now we handle that two different ways, right?

If their behavior is sinful and they have evidence of the Holy Spirit as a believer

in Jesus as their fellow brother or sister in Christ, we follow Matthew 18.

We confront them on their sin.

If their behavior is sinful, we want to call out their blind spots, right?

But if their behavior isn't sinful, it's just going against our preferences.

It's just going against what we think should happen or how we think it should proceed.

Then we need to check our own hearts.

Is there evidence in the Holy Spirit in their life and are they just going against my preferences?

We need to figure that out.

And then finally, a question we all need to ask is, am I reflecting Christ in my response

to them?

So if there's evidence of the Holy Spirit, they're just going against my preferences.

Am I reflecting Christ in my response?

What I mean by that is, are you taking it before the Lord or are you taking it to man?

Are you sitting around gossiping about it?

Are you sitting around scheming about it?

Or are you taking your concerns before the Lord?

Ask yourself those questions each and every time you have conflict, because the truth of

the matter is, if we all have our armor of God on, our full armor of God on, Satan has

no power in this place.

There's no dysfunction.

And we're moving forward together.

We have to fight for it.

I hear it all the time.

Where does Satan attack?

When does Satan attack?

When things are going well.

When we're making an impact in the kingdom.

That's when Satan seems to attack.

When something big is about to happen, that's when Satan attacks.

Because he's going to do everything he can in my life and yours to prevent that from happening.

We are in a massive battle.

And he's going for your mind.

He's going to make you think things about somebody else in this room that aren't true.

He's going to create animosity between you and somebody else that has no basis for anything

whatsoever, because that's how he functions.

That's how he works.

So if you are a believer in Jesus, we have to remind ourselves, our enemy is not each

other.

Our enemy is not each other.

Our enemy is not flesh and blood.

Our enemy is safe and he's powerful.

We've got to stand firm, put on the full armor of God in order to resist him.

So the next few weeks we're going to kind of go over the armor and what we should be

putting on each and every day.

What we should put on once and never, ever, ever take off so that Christ will empower us

with the same power that raised him from the dead.

Let's pray for us.

Father, I pray right now that you will help us recognize and understand the battle that

we are in.

That you will help us understand that the battle that we have is not with each other.

It's with an enemy that's trying to prevent us from stowing the gates of hell.

And so Father, I pray that you open our eyes and open our hearts to see the evidence of

the Holy Spirit.

I pray Father that you soften our hearts towards each other.

I pray Father that you will protect our minds.

As we pray almost every night in my home, I pray Father that you will surround this place

with an army of angels to protect us.

Protect our minds, protect the mission, protect the vision.

And help us honor you with everything that we do.

Let nothing stop us from making disciples who make disciples.

Help us understand that the power that you have, that you use to raise Jesus from the

dead is available to us.

It's more powerful than any scheme the enemy can throw at us.

And so Father, I pray that you remove any conflict in this place.

Help our eyes be open to the lives that have been told to us.

And Father, I pray that we will stand shoulder to shoulder as a church and storm the gates

of hell together, fully equipped with the army that you've given us to overcome the

evil in each.

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förweder eyes or blood to苦 to go so the teaching to the souls is deep.