Pentecost 15 9/17/06 Text: Ephesians 6:10-20 Title: Dressed for Success
Pentecost 15
9/20/2006
Text: Ephesians 6:10-20
Title: Dressed for Success
Let us Pray. O God, light of our lives and life of our souls, we humbly come before you this morning asking that you calm our minds, so that we can more fully understand your words of comfort and peace. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen
As I prepared for this sermon on the armor of God, I thought of a book I once read called, Dressed for Success. It was, as the title suggests, about how a person is to dress if they want to be successful in the business world. I wondered how many books and articles there must be on the topic of dressing for success, so I googled the words, “dressed for success” and found out that there are 5,466 web pages that in one way or the other had “dressed for success’ as their topic.
Now that is pretty impressive, but it really did not surprise me, for most people know that to be successful you have to have the proper attire, for what ever it is you are doing. .
Schools have found that when that when their students wear uniforms, that they too are, “dressed for success”.
In those schools where uniforms are mandated, discipline problems drop, attendance goes up, and learning drastically improves. Many of the social tensions that exist between those whose parents have money and those whose parents do not, disappear. Learning and success in school became the prime motivator, instead of seeing who is wearing the coolest and most expensive clothing.
On the face of it, today's epistle is a directive to get all dressed up with the garb of a Roman soldier. That might not sound like it would apply to us today, but it does. It might be distasteful to some, because it deals with warfare, but we are in a war, a war against Satan. It might even sound like that army slogan I have never understood, “An army of one.” In this battle we are not alone.
Surely, there is more than putting on the whole armor of God when one is a Christian. Of course, there is more than that, but it is certainly not less than that. God is telling us through the writer of the Ephesians, that we are not to do battle with the satanic powers if we are not wearing God’s armor.
Now, I admit that the putting on of the whole armor of God is a rather abstract thought, but putting on the whole armor of God is not any different than putting on the proper clothing when you play a sport. You certainly would not think of playing football without a helmet, or soccer without the right shoes, or baseball without the right glove. So why then do we think we can go into battle against the powers of evil, without the armor of God?
I think the reason we do not take God’s command very seriously is that we think we can withstand the onslaught of Satan alone. We think that, and so we fail miserably. Time and time again we fall under the attack of Satan.
We do not have to fall under his attack, for God tells us that we are, “Therefore to 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.” In Greek, the word “may” does not mean “maybe”, as our English suggests, but that it will take place,
Notice God’s armor is not meant to be used offensively. It is designed to protect, to allow one to survive the day after day battles, as Satan throws his fiery arrows of lies, and false accusations. Yes, Satan can only lie and falsely accuse. He did that in the Garden of Eden and his tactic has not changed. That is who he is, one big lie and false accusation.
If you think that Satan will only attack you directly, boy are you sadly mistaken. Satan knows that to attack a Christian head on seldom if ever works. No, he knows that he has to be sneaky as he lies and falsely accuses.
That is why we need the armor of God, the armor he has given to us through his inspired and Holy Word. God knows that armed with our own ability, we will soon fall. Just look at how many times, just like I have, that you have failed to withstand the arrows of Satan’s temptations as he lied to you about how good you were going to feel, after you do what you want to do. Or that you should go ahead and do what feels good, for no one will be hurt. Or, here is a good one. It is quite successful. What you are wanting to do is not a sin. God surely did not mean it, or that only applied to then. Or the biggest lie of all, that God surely could not forgive you for what you have done.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in a spiritual battle just as our inspired text tells us in verse 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.”
God is not talking about earthly governments and he is not telling us that Satan and his evil ones have free reign in heaven. He is telling us that there are forces of evil, and that they are everywhere.
God has given us all the armor we need. All we have to do is put it on, and the victory is ours, for with God’s armor we cannot be killed. Jesus in his death and resurrection has guaranteed us that. We are his and he has promised us in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now that is good news, for where God’s love is Satan cannot be.
Look at what he has given us. Truth, not just any old truth that might change, but the truth of God’s Word as it is found in the Bible. This truth has stood the test of time. There is no other book on this earth that has been attacked as much as God’s Holy Word has, and no one has ever found a flaw in its doctrines.
I will be the first to admit that there are things in the Bible that I do not understand. That there are things that are confusing. But just because we we don’t understand something in the Bible, or find a particular section of the Bible confusing, or disagree with something in God’s Holy Word does not make it untrue. It just means that our sinful minds are not capable of completely understanding the Word of God. God’s inspired Word is one book that you can bet your life on. You better be able to, for your very life depends on it.
God has given us his breastplate of righteousness. Thank goodness we do not have to rely on our righteousness, for in ourselves, as much as we might like to think that there is something that God must credit us with, there is nothing. Our righteousness is like wearing a piece of armor made out of cardboard painted to look like steel. One blow from Satan, and our righteousness is shown for what it is, a sham. Thank goodness that it God has given us the righteousness of Jesus to protect our souls.
He gives us his Gospel to shod our feet so we will not stumble when we are under attack. Thank goodness the Gospel message gives us a firm base to stand on as Satan attacks us.
He gives us the helmet of salvation so that can confidently go into battle against Satan and his warriors, knowing that since we are saved by the grace of God that our salvation will withstand the blows showered on us by our enemies.
That leaves the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit. Now at first thought you would think of the shield as just protecting the person holding it. But that is not true, for the Roman soldiers would interlock their shields so that they formed one large shield, that protected everyone. You see, they had learned that they had to work together to protect each other in battle.
As a follower of Christ, you can learn much from their tactic, for when you have taken up the shield of faith that God has given you, you are not to use it alone. You are to use it with your fellow Christians to from a powerful shield that will not only protect you, but protect your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from the lies and accusations of Satan.
That is the reason God has given us ,what we call, our congregation. For it is only in the church, the local congregation, that we can effectively shield ourselves from Satan.
It is too bad that so many people who consider themselves to be Christians, see no advantage in interlocking their shield of faith with the shields of other Christians in the congregation. They wrongly think that they can do battle with Satan alone, and because of that false thinking they will at some time fall in battle, mortally wounded.
We need each other, so that when any of us get tired and lets our shield of faith drop, others are there to help them pick it up, interlock it, and carry it into battle.
You might have noticed that I have not talked about the last piece of the armor that God gives us to use, the sword. The sword, even though I have left it to last, is no less important in the fight with Satan and his cohorts than any other piece of God’s armor.
The sword that God gives us is the Word of God. This sword of God is not just any ordinary sword, but a double edged sword. It cuts and destroys sin and evil on one side, while the other side rightly divides the Law and Gospel. Without the sword, without the other pieces of God’s armor that he has given you, you cannot stand up to Satan’s onslaught.
So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “dress for success” as you put on the full armor of God. Lock your shields of faith together. Lace up your shoes, that have been soled with impregnable Gospel, as together we fight against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Stand together, for when we stand together, wearing the armor of truth, and righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit of God’s Word that God has given us, we will not be overcome. Together we will repel the attacks of Satan until we have all reach the Promised Land. Amen
9/20/2006
Text: Ephesians 6:10-20
Title: Dressed for Success
Let us Pray. O God, light of our lives and life of our souls, we humbly come before you this morning asking that you calm our minds, so that we can more fully understand your words of comfort and peace. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen
As I prepared for this sermon on the armor of God, I thought of a book I once read called, Dressed for Success. It was, as the title suggests, about how a person is to dress if they want to be successful in the business world. I wondered how many books and articles there must be on the topic of dressing for success, so I googled the words, “dressed for success” and found out that there are 5,466 web pages that in one way or the other had “dressed for success’ as their topic.
Now that is pretty impressive, but it really did not surprise me, for most people know that to be successful you have to have the proper attire, for what ever it is you are doing. .
Schools have found that when that when their students wear uniforms, that they too are, “dressed for success”.
In those schools where uniforms are mandated, discipline problems drop, attendance goes up, and learning drastically improves. Many of the social tensions that exist between those whose parents have money and those whose parents do not, disappear. Learning and success in school became the prime motivator, instead of seeing who is wearing the coolest and most expensive clothing.
On the face of it, today's epistle is a directive to get all dressed up with the garb of a Roman soldier. That might not sound like it would apply to us today, but it does. It might be distasteful to some, because it deals with warfare, but we are in a war, a war against Satan. It might even sound like that army slogan I have never understood, “An army of one.” In this battle we are not alone.
Surely, there is more than putting on the whole armor of God when one is a Christian. Of course, there is more than that, but it is certainly not less than that. God is telling us through the writer of the Ephesians, that we are not to do battle with the satanic powers if we are not wearing God’s armor.
Now, I admit that the putting on of the whole armor of God is a rather abstract thought, but putting on the whole armor of God is not any different than putting on the proper clothing when you play a sport. You certainly would not think of playing football without a helmet, or soccer without the right shoes, or baseball without the right glove. So why then do we think we can go into battle against the powers of evil, without the armor of God?
I think the reason we do not take God’s command very seriously is that we think we can withstand the onslaught of Satan alone. We think that, and so we fail miserably. Time and time again we fall under the attack of Satan.
We do not have to fall under his attack, for God tells us that we are, “Therefore to 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.” In Greek, the word “may” does not mean “maybe”, as our English suggests, but that it will take place,
Notice God’s armor is not meant to be used offensively. It is designed to protect, to allow one to survive the day after day battles, as Satan throws his fiery arrows of lies, and false accusations. Yes, Satan can only lie and falsely accuse. He did that in the Garden of Eden and his tactic has not changed. That is who he is, one big lie and false accusation.
If you think that Satan will only attack you directly, boy are you sadly mistaken. Satan knows that to attack a Christian head on seldom if ever works. No, he knows that he has to be sneaky as he lies and falsely accuses.
That is why we need the armor of God, the armor he has given to us through his inspired and Holy Word. God knows that armed with our own ability, we will soon fall. Just look at how many times, just like I have, that you have failed to withstand the arrows of Satan’s temptations as he lied to you about how good you were going to feel, after you do what you want to do. Or that you should go ahead and do what feels good, for no one will be hurt. Or, here is a good one. It is quite successful. What you are wanting to do is not a sin. God surely did not mean it, or that only applied to then. Or the biggest lie of all, that God surely could not forgive you for what you have done.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in a spiritual battle just as our inspired text tells us in verse 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.”
God is not talking about earthly governments and he is not telling us that Satan and his evil ones have free reign in heaven. He is telling us that there are forces of evil, and that they are everywhere.
God has given us all the armor we need. All we have to do is put it on, and the victory is ours, for with God’s armor we cannot be killed. Jesus in his death and resurrection has guaranteed us that. We are his and he has promised us in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now that is good news, for where God’s love is Satan cannot be.
Look at what he has given us. Truth, not just any old truth that might change, but the truth of God’s Word as it is found in the Bible. This truth has stood the test of time. There is no other book on this earth that has been attacked as much as God’s Holy Word has, and no one has ever found a flaw in its doctrines.
I will be the first to admit that there are things in the Bible that I do not understand. That there are things that are confusing. But just because we we don’t understand something in the Bible, or find a particular section of the Bible confusing, or disagree with something in God’s Holy Word does not make it untrue. It just means that our sinful minds are not capable of completely understanding the Word of God. God’s inspired Word is one book that you can bet your life on. You better be able to, for your very life depends on it.
God has given us his breastplate of righteousness. Thank goodness we do not have to rely on our righteousness, for in ourselves, as much as we might like to think that there is something that God must credit us with, there is nothing. Our righteousness is like wearing a piece of armor made out of cardboard painted to look like steel. One blow from Satan, and our righteousness is shown for what it is, a sham. Thank goodness that it God has given us the righteousness of Jesus to protect our souls.
He gives us his Gospel to shod our feet so we will not stumble when we are under attack. Thank goodness the Gospel message gives us a firm base to stand on as Satan attacks us.
He gives us the helmet of salvation so that can confidently go into battle against Satan and his warriors, knowing that since we are saved by the grace of God that our salvation will withstand the blows showered on us by our enemies.
That leaves the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit. Now at first thought you would think of the shield as just protecting the person holding it. But that is not true, for the Roman soldiers would interlock their shields so that they formed one large shield, that protected everyone. You see, they had learned that they had to work together to protect each other in battle.
As a follower of Christ, you can learn much from their tactic, for when you have taken up the shield of faith that God has given you, you are not to use it alone. You are to use it with your fellow Christians to from a powerful shield that will not only protect you, but protect your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from the lies and accusations of Satan.
That is the reason God has given us ,what we call, our congregation. For it is only in the church, the local congregation, that we can effectively shield ourselves from Satan.
It is too bad that so many people who consider themselves to be Christians, see no advantage in interlocking their shield of faith with the shields of other Christians in the congregation. They wrongly think that they can do battle with Satan alone, and because of that false thinking they will at some time fall in battle, mortally wounded.
We need each other, so that when any of us get tired and lets our shield of faith drop, others are there to help them pick it up, interlock it, and carry it into battle.
You might have noticed that I have not talked about the last piece of the armor that God gives us to use, the sword. The sword, even though I have left it to last, is no less important in the fight with Satan and his cohorts than any other piece of God’s armor.
The sword that God gives us is the Word of God. This sword of God is not just any ordinary sword, but a double edged sword. It cuts and destroys sin and evil on one side, while the other side rightly divides the Law and Gospel. Without the sword, without the other pieces of God’s armor that he has given you, you cannot stand up to Satan’s onslaught.
So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “dress for success” as you put on the full armor of God. Lock your shields of faith together. Lace up your shoes, that have been soled with impregnable Gospel, as together we fight against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Stand together, for when we stand together, wearing the armor of truth, and righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit of God’s Word that God has given us, we will not be overcome. Together we will repel the attacks of Satan until we have all reach the Promised Land. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 6:38 PM
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