The
Armor of God (II)
Ephesians
6:10-20
Are you following the news about John Mark Karr? I am not enjoying at
all seeing media’s coverage of Mark Karr with an unexpressive face as if he is a
hero! On the other side seeing little JonBenet dancing
and singing with make up and clothes of grown ups. The murder of JonBenet Ramsey is tragic and
evil. Unwise parents put their daughter in a beauty pageant; unnecessary
publicity made their daughter appear on the front
page. Someone like Mark Karr (which we do not know if he committed the crime or
not) confesses that he loved JonBenet, but her death
was an accident.
Let me tell you why this is disturbing. This
tragic event became an entertainment in
the media. I am not sure if all this coverage about Mark Karr will help us
as society to be aware of the right ethical choices one has to make to live a
decent life in this society. In the end, I am afraid we all going to sympathize with Mark Karr, and most
likely he will turn out to be the victim of an unhealthy abusive childhood.
Please explain to me how an adult man can
rape an innocent child?
How can anyone rape someone? How much evil
exists in the world? What kind of humanity are we?
Our war is against our sinful nature and against
“the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil …” (vs. 12). Therefore, let us examine the armor
of God:
1. The
belt of Truth:
The belt is an important piece of clothing
for the fighters. It protects their back. It prepares them to have a firm stand.
I am person who cannot wear trousers without a belt. If I do not have a belt on, I feel I am not ready to go out and start
my day. Every
morning my grandfather went through the
ceremony of putting on his the belt. My grandmother helped him. It was a long
belt, and my grandfather had to turn around and around so that the belt could be
firm and not loose. Then he was ready to go out to work. In Jeremiah 13:10-11 God used the belt
imagery about his people: “These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my
words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to
serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! For as a
belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and
the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my
renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'”
Isaiah wrote about the belt describing Jesus, the coming Messiah: “Righteousness
will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist” (11:5).
God desires truth, that is, sincerity, and also truth means Jesus Christ. “I am way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
This is the strength of our “belt”; If we are not
“belted” with God’s truth through Jesus
Christ we are useless as Jeremiah is saying.
2.
Breastplate of Righteousness:
Righteousness must be our breastplate. The
breastplate secures the important parts of our body such as the heart. The righteousness of Christ protects us (breastplate)
against the arrows of evil. We read
in I Thessalonians 5:8 “putting on faith
and love as breastplate.” We could not have righteousness by being
righteous person. Only God is righteous.
According to Paul, we need faith and
love of God (agape) to experience God’s righteousness. By faith, we are united with
Christ, and by love, we are united with our fellow brothers and sister. Let me
repeat the example of the book and movie “The End of the Spear.” By faith in
God and Jesus Christ and by Love of God they could go back to the natives who
killed their husbands to share the Good News. These women were wearing the “Breastplate
of Righteousness.” They are reflecting God’s righteousness.
3. Feet
that are ready to spread the Gospel of Peace:
Shoes
are important for soldiers. Imagine
feet without shoes, roads full of sharp sticks, stones and rocks, rough roads.
Shoes protect our feet.
If belt and breastplate are offensive
weapons, “feet fitted with the readiness”, meaning feet with shoes are both offensive and defensive. They are defensive in protecting out feet from ‘rough roads”. Yet offensive when we have feet that can walk and spread the Gospel of peace from one place to another. It
is offensive in a positive way. If the Gospel of peace spreads in the world, it
is preventive and helps the community to be ready to defend their life from
evils of the world. The gospel of peace brings all
sorts of peace, peace with God, with ourselves, and
with one another. We read in Isaiah 52:7 “How
beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,…”
It is strange that
as military we spend trillion of dollars against aggression of countries. Radars,
smart bombs, aircrafts, night vision goggles, missiles, other offensive and
defensive weapons. We have police and military watching our neighborhood and
country for safety and peace. “But unfortunately we post no guards to secure
our moral life or the morals of our society. The attack is on our schools, on
our TV and music and movies and entertainment. Christians have been so unprepared they
have not even noticed they have been taken prisoner.”1
Gospel
of peace brings the Good News of God’s peace to this dark world.
4. Shield of Faith:
Let
me describe the Roman army shields: four feet tall, 2.5 feet wide, constructed
of leather over wood, reinforced with metals at the top and the bottom of the
shield. Soaked in the water so that it can easily distinguish
the torched spears. We read in the NIV commentary:
Obviously, “the shield of faith” is especially important
for Paul, given his additions before and after this expression. That faith
protects is not to suggest that humans protect themselves by their power to
believe. As shown earlier, to speak of faith is not to focus on human belief,
but on the faithfulness of God. What protects us from the arrows of the evil
one (i.e., any temptation to error or wrong)
is our relation with God.2
This
shield is helpful that it can protect us from evil. Also as an army, as group
of believers in the church it helps them to move on to spread the Good News.
5. Helmet of Salvation:
The helmet protect the most important part, the head. Without head there is no soldier. Salvation
is the core of our belief. God’s way of salvation through Jesus Christ is the
ultimate source of protection. Through salvation, our earthly and spiritual
body is being restored to God. Salvation will stop the sinful nature dominate
our body. Salvation will give hope and chance for a new nature and a new being
with God.
6. Sword of the Spirit: Word of God:
This weapon is both offensive and
defensive. Jesus is the best example how he used the sword of God in his temptation. Satan, too, used
the Word of God to convince Jesus. Therefore, we need to be careful how we use
the Word of God.
Read
carefully the verse: “take the sword of Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Holy Spirit will empower us to use the
Word of God.
Mathew
Henry’s commentary explains the sword:
“The Word of God is very
necessary, and of great use to the Christian, in order to his maintaining the
spiritual warfare and succeeding in it. It is called the sword of the
Spirit, because it is of the Spirit and he renders it effective and
powerful, and sharper than a two-edgedsword.”3
Let
us not play with the Word of God. The Word of God is a serious book. It is
inspired by God to reveal His will to us. We should read it with the Spirit of
God and not with what we want to see in it. We should read it and meditate and
find what God wants us to do.
7 Pray in the Spirit:
Paul
concludes with the best weapon of all, PRAYER.
Let
us read the verse again: “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 saints.”(18)
We note three things:
a- Our prayer must be
constant. Our tendency we pray when we need, or if there is a crisis. Many
call me to pray when we have crises. I understand but our relationship with God can not
be temporarily.
b-
Our prayer must be intense. Be alert! Pray with crying,
asking God on our knees.
c-
Our prayer must be unselfish. “Pray for the saints.” I
hear from you that some of you pray for the pastor. I know people who pray for
others who don’t know. There are groups of prayer warriors.
This is the armor of God. Now
consider this fact that the armor of God
is God Himself. Why? God is truth; he is perfect righteousness; he is
salvation; he is source of peace; we are armed by
and with
God. Therefore, we need to have a daily intimate relationship
with God so we can “be his imitators”. (5:1)
Let us go and be HIS Soldiers.
1 Snodgrass, Klyne.
“Contemporary Significance” In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament:
Ephesians. By Klyne Snodgrass, 355.
3 Henry, Matthew. "Commentary on Ephesians 6." Matthew
Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible. Blue Letter
Bible. 01 Mar 1996. 23 Aug 2006.
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Eph/Eph006.html>.