In our scripture this morning, Paul may seem like he is advocating for battle, war and subsequently violence by using military imagery. While war is inevitable in our world, Paul is not advocating for war. Instead, he is encouraging the Ephesians to trust in the power and strength of Jesus Christ. The first verse: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.” Paul uses this military imagery to point to God’s power, not ours.
According to Paul, it is only the power of God that can help us distinguish between what is of God and what isn’t. What is good and what isn’t.
That is the real battle that we have to prepare ourselves for. Paul encourages the Ephesians to arm themselves for a battle that is not of flesh and blood, but a spiritual one. This may bring to mind images of horror movies of the supernatural like The Exorcist or The Conjuring, but let’s not go there. I think it’s helpful to simplify it and say that the battle is between the powers that are not of this world that are working actively against the power of God, which is true goodness and love.
Those powers that work against God are far more terrifying than the demons you see in the movies. It’s because those powers manifest themselves in human actions. Those powers that lead people to gain power at the expense and/or oppression of others. Those powers that lead us to think others are beneath or inferior to us whether it’s due to race, class, economic status etc. Instead we see them as beneath us and not worth helping. Such people couldn’t possibly be the neighbors that God has called us to love. Such evil powers keep us from seeing others as being created in God’s image.
That’s a definition of sin in a nutshell. Those powers that lead us to sin.
Sin starts with the lie that God’s love for us isn’t enough so we have to take matters into our hands. Even if people get hurt along the way.
Those powers are not of God.
And sometimes those powers mask themselves as Christian voices.
And it’s very difficult to tell the difference. The church throughout history has fallen victim to these voices. Those who used scripture to justify slavery, or segregation, or to tell women to stay in abusive relationships. Such voices say they are of God, but their source is actually the antithesis of all who Jesus is and calls us to be.
It’s easy to mistake such voices for the voice of God and pretty soon you have people who believe they are following Jesus, but are instead following people who stand for all that Jesus opposes.
This is why Paul uses military imagery to convey the idea that we must be ready to distinguish between God’s voice and other voices. Between the power of God and the powers that actively work against God. It is a true battle that we can’t and weren’t meant to do on our own. We need help. Namely God’s help. Paul uses the image of a Roman solider to illustrate how we can always be prepared to tell the difference between God’s voice and other voices.
The analogy of the armor of a Roman solider is one that most in Paul’s day would understand. While the Roman soldier’s armor brings to mind the power and strength of the Roman Empire established by conquering other nations through violence and military might and the focus is on power of human strength, Paul flips that analogy on it’s head. He instead uses Roman armor to demonstrate the power of God instead of the power of humans.
What do we need to distinguish what voice belongs to God and which voices do not? Let’s take a look. Here is an image of a Roman soldier.
Paul mentions the Belt of Truth, which symbolizes that we accept the truth of who Jesus is. The son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who died, and rose again. Any voice that says otherwise or goes against all that Jesus taught us about loving our neighbor and caring for the poor is not the voice of God.
Next there is the Breastplate of Righteousness. Righteousness is seen in action. As we are distinguishing between the voice of God and other voices, we are to live rightly in God’s eyes. This means we are still kind, humble and gracious in serving others even though we are bombarded by powers that tell us to do otherwise.
We now have the Sandals of the Gospel of Peace. Part of living righteous lives is that we are agents of God’s peace and love, ready to do the will of God. The paradox of armor given to those committed to a Gospel of Peace is a reminder that Paul’s language is metaphorical. Remember Matt’s sermon from last week? Jesus could have had an army to take down Herod, but instead he created peace among the crowd because achieving anything by violence and force is not the way in the Kingdom of God.
Next is the Shield of Faith. This shield does not refer to our faith, but the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Biblical scholar Klyne Sondegrass writes: “the shield Paul has in mind is the large shield Roman infantry used to protect their whole bodies. Such shields were four feet tall and two and one-half feet wide and were constructed of leather stretched over wood, reinforced with metal at the top and bottom. Especially if soaked in water, they were effective in stopping burning arrows. When overlapped with the shields of soldiers on either side, they provided effective protection.”
Take the helmet of salvation: God’s salvation is the ultimate assurance of protection. Salvation has already been made possible in Jesus. Any voice that says Jesus’s death and resurrection were not enough to bring us back into a right relationship with God is not God’s voice. Then there is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. In this instance the word is not referring to the Bible, not that the Bible isn’t important, but to the good news of Jesus Christ as a whole. It’s interesting to note that this is the only offensive “weapon” that Paul lists.
The good news of Jesus is supposed to cut people to the heart because Jesus exposes all that is dark and ugly within us. But the good news of Jesus is also what restores us to light from the darkness we’ve been living under. It sets us free from sin. It sets us from the lies we’ve believed about ourselves, others and God.
God’s love in Jesus Christ exposes why we live out of darkness instead of the light of Christ. Darkness is when we act and live out of fear. Fear that we’re not good enough or not worthy of anyone’s time. Fear that we don’t deserve anything good because we don’t feel that we deserve it. Fear that those voices that say to us such things just might be right.
We’re bombarded by lies from the moment we enter this world. But the way to not fall into this trap of believing such lies is to rely on the armor of God. Do you see a pattern of where all these armor pieces receive their power? Is it from people or from God? From God. I sound like a broken record here, but we can’t make Jesus the foundation of our lives without the help of Jesus himself.
God gives us what we need for the battle for who we are. Who do we let define us? Those dark voices or the voice of God who loves us and will never leave or forsake us?
The battle is not against other people, but what plagues all people. It is a battle against sin, which is anything that tells us God’s love isn’t enough or that we’re not enough for God’s love.
While the armor that Paul lists have nothing to do with a physical battle, it’s a spiritual one in that we have to constantly be on the defense against those voices that tell us we don’t matter or that a belief in Jesus doesn’t make a difference. Such armor is to help us remain in the truth of Jesus Christ and to distinguish God’s voice from all others.
In addition, the armor Paul lists was not meant to conquer nations to be ruled by an oppressive power like the Roman army. Christianity ceases to be Christianity when it becomes about defending Christianity and not loving your neighbor.
God doesn’t need us to defend God because God is all powerful. What God wants from us is to simply accept what God has said about us in Jesus Christ. That we belong to God and are defined by the love of Jesus Christ for us all.
Earlier today during the Blessing of the Backpacks, we prayed over our students and those who work in the schools as they start a new school year. We in a sense prayed for the armor of God to protect them – to ask God to help them remain in the love of Jesus Christ. So that they would always rest in Jesus’s love for them, empowering them to love others and themselves. To be agents of God’s peace and humble examples of Christ’s loving heart.
Honestly, we need such a blessing every day and not just at the beginning of a new school year. This is because every day there are voices that aren’t of God that bombard us with lies that a faith in Jesus doesn’t matter or that we don’t deserve God’s love. We need to be ready every day to distinguish between those voices that are of Jesus and those that aren’t. We also need to be ready to test whether our words and actions reflect the love of Christ or the voices that aren’t of Christ. As with anything we can’t do this without the help of Jesus Christ himself. Let’s put on the armor Paul recommends so that we can, with certainty, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his power.
So that we are constantly becoming the people God has called us to be.
