- July 15, 2020
To my dear sisters and brothers of Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon:
Greetings to you in the majestic name of Jesus our Lord!
In the book of Ecclesiastes it says there is a time for everything including “a time for war and a time for peace,” Ecc. 3:10b. With a war on the culture raging in our nation today I think it is time that we consider this verse. What time is it? It is a time for war. Romans 8:37 refers to believers as “More than conquerors though him who loved us.” So this indicates that Christians are warriors—but we need to be warriors in the right way. The apostle Paul speaks of our warfare in Ephesians 6:10-19. Listen to what he has to say…
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 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 the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
It goes without saying that if we are going to be warriors “for the Lord,” we have to first be strong “in the Lord and in his mighty power,” vs. 10. Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing—and here Paul is underscoring this truth. A believer will accomplish nothing of eternal value apart from the Lord Jesus. Earlier in Ephesians 1:18-21 Paul reminds us in his prayer about the power we have in Christ. He says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” That is a lot of power! This is the power available to God’s people. We can be His warrior only if we are mindful to remain in Christ. The battle is always the Lord’s.
Every warrior needs their armor, and in verse 11 we are told to put it all on. Armor does us no good sitting in the closet, lying on the floor, forgotten in the time of need. All the firefighters I work with all know that they have to have their gear on before they head out to fight a fire. They put it on before they attack a burning building. We have to have the same mindset. Put your armor on! Why? Because it is designed to protect the warrior in the battle at hand and help you to stand. What do we stand against? The devil’s schemes. His schemes have been around and effective for thousands of years. The devil brings deceit, doubt, fear, division, lies and half-truths all for the purpose of opposing the things of God. Take your stand in Christ, with your armor on.
A warrior must know the enemy and in verse 12 we find that the enemy is not flesh and blood. Instead a warrior for Christ realizes the enemy is of a spiritual nature. Paul shows us who we are to struggle against. We struggle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It’s like a spiritual mafia of dark forces that is causing trouble. This is the force behind all the evil in this world—that is the source. When you stand on the beach and watch the waves roll in you might be amazed at how much power there is in the wave? But we forget that these waves gain their energy by the wind far out at sea. The wind is the power behind the waves. In the same way this spiritual mafia is the power behind the evil in our world today.
Again in verse 13 we are told to “put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground.” So this armor is very important and we neglect it to our peril and to the cause of Christ in this world. In a wishy-washy world people take note when someone stands their ground. It speaks courage and strength. It says to the bully, we aren’t buying what you are selling. It is encapsulated in time like the brave defenders of the Alamo, 187 of which who died defending the Mission in San Antonio, Texas. They were overrun by Mexican forces but they were standing their ground. A warrior fights for the cause—and we are to fight for the cause of Christ. When Jesus beckoned us to follow Him, he didn’t suggest that we would live happily ever after with everything we ever wanted. Rather He said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels,” Mark 8:34-38. In Christ we are to fight for the cause of Christ and take our stand on His firm foundation.
Then in verses 14 through 17 we have some of our armor listed for us. Since we are to be “In Christ” and Paul in chapter 4:22-24 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness,” that this armor describes the qualities of Christ. In Christ, these are our character qualities.
The first quality is the belt of truth. This belt should bind together everything we say and do. Truth is essential to our relationship with Christ and our relationship with others. Jesus said, “I am the truth,” John 14:6. In His prayer to the Father Jesus declared, “Your word is truth,” John 17:17. Jesus prayed that we might be sanctified by the truth in that same verse. Satan is the father of lies. Jesus said it was his native language.
Next comes the breastplate of righteousness. Since the Bible tells us that we have no righteousness of our own and that all our righteousness is like filthy rags, this can be none other than the righteousness of Christ. He is our righteousness. That is why Jesus told us in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.” When we try to hold up our own self-righteousness we become like the Pharisees who thought they could boast before God for all their good works. They failed to realize how they had missed the mark and come short of the glory of God. Jesus tells us that “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 5:20. We cannot stand in our own righteousness but only in Christ’s righteousness that was imputed to us by His atonement on the cross. Put it in place.
Then we see our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. This is not speaking of doing evangelism, or being able to do evangelism, but rather it carries the idea of the stability that the gospel gives us which results in peace in the midst of the battle. This surefootedness keeps us from being blown about by every wind of doctrine. (See Eph. 4:14) The gospel is true and trustworthy. We need to saturate our minds with it each day so that we don’t fall for the enemy’s falsehoods.
Next we see the shield of faith. With the shield of faith we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. These are thoughts that come to us quickly—like an arrow. These arrows are flaming—as they are designed to burn down our trust and faith in Christ. In 2 Corinthians we see a little more about this. Paul writes, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. The enemy would defeat us in our minds using these flaming arrows called thoughts. We have to take them captive by faith and make them obedient to Christ. Faith is “how” we accomplish things for Christ in our journey with Him. Don’t believe the fiery lies of the devil.
Next we find the helmet of salvation. We are told to take the helmet—this is a command. It provides protection. Since it is called the helmet OF salvation it refers to the believers safekeeping in Christ. Our assurance of salvation. We are fighting for the right cause and if we lose this battle here we have assurance that we will not lose our salvation. This is exactly how 1 Thessalonians 5:8 puts it, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Isaiah foresaw the coming Christ and he wrote of Him this way, “He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.” Isaiah 59:17. Jesus guarantees our salvation for us. He alone can truly save. Take it up!
Along with the Helmet we are to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. This is the only offensive weapon listed. The Spirit makes the Word of God effective as we speak it and receive it. The Spirit gives the Word its penetrating power and sharp edge. Jesus’ use of God’s Word in his temptation prompts our use of it against Satan (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). With the Holy Spirit within, believers have the constant reminder of God’s Word to use against Satan’s temptations. Let’s make sure that when we use the Word of God that it is being guided by the Spirit of God.
In verse 18 we are to pray in the Spirit on all occasions. We should not forget that we have an open line of communication with our Commanding Officer. God hears our prayers and He answers them. These prayers are for all kinds of requests—and we are to pray for all of the Lord’s people. We don’t want any person left behind in this work. It will not work for us to think of ourselves only—as an Army must work together! United we stand, divided we fall. Every soldier can tell you that that is true in a firefight. And we are in a spiritual fight. So pray for all kinds of things and for all our brothers and sisters. I pray for all of you at Grace regularly and I ask that you pray for me.
You can see Paul’s heart in his prayer request—a request he was making while writing from a Roman prison. He wanted the ability to fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. He wanted words to be given to him, right up to the very end. We need words given to us to do the same. Pray about how we can best communicate this good news in our day with our neighbors. Those words should come as a result of our prayers. Let’s pray for them. Paul was in chains, but we are not. Even so, we can pray for boldness so that we can fearlessly proclaim this good news as we should. That is what a warrior for Christ will do. This is also my prayer.
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle, see His banners go. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Like a mighty army moves the Church of God; Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we: One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. ” –Sabine Baring-Gould
“To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen,” Ephesians 3:20-21.
Pastor Russ Hilsinger
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR