For Christ and for the Nation

(God’s Magnificent Work Through Christ)

Eph 6:10-19

Every year in the month of February we start organizing the commemoration of Vartanants Day. As Armenian Christians, this event is more than a national holidays; it is a step of faith facing a world that is not in favor of Christ and his followers. It is not just a date for Armenians. It is an event for all humanity demonstrating how faithful soldiers and a whole nation stood firm in their faith. We do not commemorate Vartanants just for historical reasons. No, we commemorate this event to renew our commitment to God through Jesus Christ.

Last week we started a sermon series on the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Today I thought it will be appropriate to jump to chapter 6 where we will find important truths about the armor of God. The passage relates closely to what Vartan and his friends did to defend their faith.

Vartanants derives its name from the hero of the war Vartan Mamigonian who was the general of the Armenian army facing the Persian Empire in 451 AD. On May 26, 451 AD, 66,000 Armenian soldiers fought the battle of Avarayr, in defense of their Christian faith, for freedom of conscience and the freedom of Armenia. The battle was very challenging because the Armenians were facing the unproportially huge army of the Persian Empire. Although we lost the battle as well as General Mamigonian, but we won the war. The Persian Empire could not take our faith away from us. In fact, a few years later in 484 AD, we were granted religious freedom through the Treaty of Nvarsag.

Paul was facing a similar situation. Study Paul’s life. He was beaten, he was imprisoned, he was chained, he was persecuted. In fact, he writes this letter from the prison. He was in Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire, and he knew what “power” meant. He knew the power the Caesar owned. Yet he saw that there was a power greater than the Caesar’s. For Paul, the battle was not a simple one. “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.”(vs 12)

We often forget this. We often fight the wrong fights that exhaust us. In fact, the devil likes that and wants Christians to fight the wrong fights. How often do churched split? How often do we focus on little things and forget the main battle?

The same happened during the days of Vartan and his friends. Vasag Suni tried to create a split in the army. He thought he could win the war by giving up the Christian faith. He did not realize that the war was not just against the “flesh and blood” (the Persians in this case). If Vartan had ever followed Vasag’s leadership, Armenia would most probably have been another pagan nation worshipping pagan gods, and thinking they WON THE WAR. What Vartan and his friends did was that they lost the battle against “flesh and blood,” but they did not lose the war “against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” You see we lost the battle but we did not lose the war. Why? Because we fought against the evil by standing firm in our Christian belief. We cannot negotiate with “evil”.

So what is the first thing Paul teaches us about the battle we all face?

STAND FIRM: “…take your stand against the devil's schemes” (vs 11) “…you may be able to stand your ground” (vs 13) “…and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then” (vs 14). Four times in the same passage Paul asks us to STAND. Do not escape, stand firm, How?

“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God.”

Do not hide on Sundays by attending the worship service without allowing God to transform you. Do not fall in the trap of being proud Armenian Christians. Do not fall in the trap of being nominal Christians where “rituals” are more important than faith in Christ.

This battle is going on everyday against all of us, Armenians or not. All nations, all Churches are facing the spiritual battle, which is a serious one and we cannot ignore it.

Paul gives practical advice about how to be armed for this battle. Six steps in preparation.

We will continue in English