here is a link to an audio recording of this sermon Preached at HopeWhangarei October 19th 2025. the first 1.40minutes is the audio of the below video
That scene comes from the 1995 movie BraveHeart, depicting the battle of Sterling in the first war of Scottish independence, where William Wallace and the Scots defeated a much larger and stronger English force. Actually defeating the English heavy cavalry with infantry. While it apparently bears little resemblance to the historical battle, it does provide us with a wonderful illustration of the portion we had read to us today from the book of Ephesians. Maybe in a way that resonates with our Scottish Presbyterian hearts “Hold, Hold, Hold” is a great paraphrase of Paul’s exhortation for his readers to be strong in the Lord. Put on the full armor of God and take your stand. Stand firm, stand your ground, as we face the ongoing struggle to live out the victory that Christ has won for us in our every day life. A spiritual battle against spiritual forces that Paul tells us God has given us spiritual resources to fight. The armor of God.
Over the next six weeks we are going to finish off our
journey through the book of Ephesians with a sort of mini series looking at the
Armor of God and how this Armor: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace,
faith, salvation, the word of God and Prayer can help us in that battle. As
Author Christopher Kennedy puts it ‘the armor
of God for everyday strugglers’. This message today acts as an introduction to
that series. Putting the armor of God into context.
Paul starts his exhortation to stand strong in God’s armour,
with the word finally. This is not that what Paul is about to say is an add on
at the end. Rather Paul here acts like a sports coach giving his team one last
inspirational talk as they go out to play the game. You need to go out now and
live out what I have been telling you in the playfield of everyday life,
against a strong opponent. Finally also points back to what he has been saying
all along. He had started by talking of all that God had achieved for us in
Christ. By God’s mighty power. He has saved us, raised us up, chosen us before
the beginning of the world, adopted us into his family, our inheritance sealed
by God’s Holy Spirit being within us . In Christ we have been saved once we
were dead in our sins, but now are alive.
We were not a people but now are God’s new people, a new creation from
across the divides of society. ‘every spiritual Blessing in Christ’. That is
why Paul can say ‘Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. It is God, the God who raised Jesus from the
dead, who has done these thing. It is God and his power that we can stand
strong in. It is dependence of God not independent personal strength.
Because of what God has done in Christ, we are called to
live a different life, to walk in a new way. To live up to calling we have in Christ,
to walk in Unity, not to live as the gentile do, but to walk in the way of
love, to walk in wisdom and be filled with the Holy Spirit, allowing it to fill
us with joy and permeate all our relationships. To live the new life in Christ. That is what
God’s power has done in us… new life in Christ. Paul now says trusting God stand in this new
place you find yourselves. Don’t give up ground, don’t give it back. Don’t give
in, Don’t give up.
We often think of stand strong, as a defensive posture.
There is an element of that here, but the idea of standing firm is holding the
ground that has already been won by Christ. I am into military history, and one
battle that fascinates me in the battle of the bulge. In Belgium and France in
December 1944. The allies had stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6th,
they has slogged through the hedgerow country, then broken out and driven the
forces of Nazi Germany back across France and Holland and Belgium, to the
borders of the Reich. Hitler released a last ditch desperate counter attack to
reverse inevitable defeat, striking through the Arden in the middle of
winter…where the allies were least prepared. It was a counter attack that was
stalled and defeated largely by the 101 airborne divisions stubborn defiance,
standing their ground at the important crossroad town of Bastogne. When asked to surrender their commanding
officer Gen. MacAulffie gave one of the most succinct and inspirational
replies…’nuts’. I’m not sure I could see Paul saying once your put on the full armor
of God say Nuts to the devil. But Satan was defeated at the Cross, not the
crossroads, and what we face is the desperate counter attack of an already
defeated enemy. Strong? yes, Wiley? yes,
cunning? yes… determined? Yes… but defeated.
Paul then defines who our enemy is. He says that we are not
fighting against “blood and flesh but rather against the rulers, against the
authorities, against powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces
in the heavenly realms.” It is easy in
our age of social media and such polarization in society to demonize people who
we disagree with, that we find on the other side from us. But Jesus said we
were to love our enemies, pray for them bless them… not demonize them. Rather
Paul says we are fighting spiritual forces. Later in verse 16 he will
identify the evil one or devil or Satan
as chief of those spiritual enemies. The one who is the deceiver and scripture
calls the father of all lies.
When it comes to thinking about evil spiritual forces or
demons Christians can fall into two camps. Two opposite extremes. We can adopt
our western materialist worldview and deny the existence of these demonic
forces. We can see all difficulties and challenges having natural causes. Some
Biblical commentators see Paul as a first century man using the idea of these
evil forces in the heavenlies as personifications of all the isms we face in
the world today in terms of political and economic and social issues… racism,
militarism, materialism, nationalism and these various -isms do exert power in
our world today. But as Mark Roberts says this fails to do justice to Paul or
to the millions of Christians whose worldview is not shaped by Western
philosophical thought. If you listened to the interview I did with a missionary about her work in Mozambique, she talked about some of her students
being delivered from demonic oppression bought about by being dedicated to
spirits by witch doctors when they were young.
The other extreme is that we can over emphasis the power of
the demonic. We can see a demon behind every bush every problem or setback in
our lives. Which results in living in fear. Some people develop complex and
far-reaching hierarchies of demonology. There focus in on that more that on
what Christ has done for us
C S LEWIS in his introduction to ‘the screwtape letters’
puts it like this
“There are two
equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is
to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an
excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased
by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Perhaps the right balance comes from Ephesians itself. In Ephesians
2:1-10 Paul talks of the human condition of being dead in our transgressions
and describes that as following the spirit of the age; the prevailing human
philosophies and culture, following the spirits of the air, the way that the
Greeks spoke of the spirit world, and following the desires of our flesh and
senses, our own sinful desires as we are fallen human being. In the second half
of Ephesians Paul addresses each of those talking of not living as the gentiles
do. Speaking of walking in love and not having anything to do with the vices
that reflect our own sinful desires. Then here in this final section turning to
speak of the evil forces in the heavenlies. Remember Paul is writing to the
city where in response to his ministry they had gathered up a fortunes worth of
books on witchcraft and burned them, a city ripe with idol worship. It takes real discernment and prayer to see
where the enemy is at work and where we are dealing with these other
challenges. Often the enemy will use the other two as points of attack into our
lives.
Paul then goes on to talk of the spiritual Armor that God
has given us in this fight.
I’m not going to delve that much into it today as it will be
the focus for the following five weeks. Except to say. Paul had as his model
the roman soldier and describes the Armor the soldier that would have been
guarding him would have worn. In his imprisonment he would have probably
watched these guards put their Armor on. But more than that Paul was inspired
by the Old Testament where in passages like we had read to us today from Isaiah
59 God is seen as a warrior donning his Armor and going to battle on behalf of
his people. As we are in a spiritual battle God gives us spiritual Armor and
weapons to fight it, and his is the victory.
Some people see putting on the Armor of God as a prayer as
they prepare for the day or prayer ministry. That’s cool. It is a good way of
praying for God’s protection in our lives. I also think we need to see it as
more looking and seeing what God has done for us and applying it to our lives. Robert Marks talks of the Armor of god in
his prayer life and says he finds himself using it like a check list about how
he is living out his faith… Is he committed to the truth of the gospel? Is he
acting righteously, is he seeking peace? Putting his faith in the Lord,
remembering God’s salvation? And wisely believing, speaking, and living the
word of God?’ he asks God to show him where he is letting his Armor slip and
lowering his shield. In the other sermons in this series the preachers are
going to be looking at how these pieces of armor really defend our lives from Satan’s
schemes. It may not come across as very ‘OOKie Spooky’ stuff it might sound
like real practical spiritual advice to everyday challenges.
Lastly, I want to focus on what Paul tells us to do when we
have put our armor on. In most bible translations there is a paragraph split
between Paul talking of the word of God as the sword of the spirit and Paul
talking of Prayer. We may think that Paul is staring a last final point. But
its important to see Prayer as one of the Spiritual weapons that God has given
us. In fact when you are all dressed up in your armor you might ask how then
do we fight? How do we enter into this battle. Paul’s answer is Prayer. It is
God battle our first and most important port of call is Prayer. It is where we
enter into the heavenly battle it is how we stay in contact with our commander
in chief the one who has won the victory. It is calling out to God that we see
God answer and move. Some people might think of prayer in spiritual warfare as
praying against demonic powers and presence. Speaking to them and rebuking
them. But here Paul actually gives us a wider and more wholistic view.
As you read the last part of this scripture the word ‘all’
comes through again and again… Pray in the spirit in all circumstances. With
all kinds of Prayers and requests… keep on praying for all God’s people. Pray
in the Spirit in some circumstances is associated with praying in tongues, and
I use this gift of the holy spirit on a regular basis, Listening to Geoff New’s
message a couple of weeks back we were reminded that the Spirit prays and intercedes for us in groans
too deep for words… as we find ourselves wrestling and struggling with the
difficulties of life… Paul’s focus here is as we are in a spiritual Battle we
need to depend on the Spirit (of God) to lead us and guide us in our Prayer.
All occasions means not just difficult times but in good times as well. If we
are using military terminology, we hear Paul say be alert… like a solider or a
watchman manning their post. This praying is also a communal activity, we are
not called to be this battle alone, we are called to be in it together. Roman
soldier fought in a phalanx their shields were interlocked to protect each
other. They were able to stand strong because they relied on the man on their
left and right. Brothers in arms has been used to denote the close bond between
soldiers who have faced combat together since the 1400’s it is also used to
denote close connections between people in the civilian world who share a
common challenge or purpose. We are so much more than that we are brothers and
sisters in Christ and so we need to be battling for one another in this
spiritual conflict we find ourselves in… not battling each other.
We’ve looked at the battle of Stirling and Bastogne as
illustrations in this message but in Paul’s closing plea for prayer… pray also
for me’ we get a wonderful example of what it means to stand firm with the Armor
of God on. Paul is in prison, an ambassador for the gospel in chains. His
prayer is not centered
on asking the people in the churches he has founded to
pray for his release or freedom. Paul knew that this was part of god’s plan for
him and by being a prisoner he would be able to preach the gospel at the very
heart of the roman Empire. In fact in his letter to the church at Philippi he
says because of his captivity the gospel was spreading. Even through the elite
roman army unit the Pretorian guard. Paul was a captive, but the soldiers were
a captive audience as they had to guard Paul… they would have heard his
prayers, seen his interactions with believers who came to seek Paul and they would
have listened to his explaining the Gospel.
Paul’s prayer request is that that when ever he speaks,
words maybe given to him so he will fearlessly make known the mystery of the
gospel. In the situation that he is in he would do what God has called him to
do be an ambassador for Christ. Yes in other places he prays for his own needs.
In 2 Corinthians 12;1 Paul talks of paying for relief from a thorn in his
flesh. But here we see that standing firm for Paul is that he desires to speak
God’s word when the time comes and do it in a way that it will explain the
Gospel to his hearers. We’ve been doing the ripple effect evangelism course on ‘difficult questions’
and we looked at Paul’s speech to the Athenians in Acts 17 and how he was able
to taylor the gospel to speak to that situation. It is a great example of what
Paul is wanting. In Spiritual battle frontline prayer is about the extension of
the kingdom of God, the effective sharing of the Gospel so peoples lives are
transformed, about us being able in all the situations we find ourselves being
ambassadors of Christ. It is the gospel
of Jesus Christ through the power of the spirit that brings life and light and
change into the darkness of this world.
Paul’s exhortation to be strong in the Lord, to put on the armor of God and stand firm are all in the present tense in Greek. It gives it the emphasis of an ongoing action the continuing outworking of what Paul has been speaking about in his letter. We are in a spiritual battle, however daily we can depend on God who has provided us with the Armor we need to fight this battle and to fight it God’s way. It’s a spiritual battle we have spiritual resources to fight spiritually… just as Paul’s talk on this spiritual battle and the Armor of God comes at the end of his teaching about who we are in Christ, new creation because of Jesus life dead and resurrection, a new people, living a new way… in the way of love filled with the spirit. That standing firm in the armor of God manifests itself in the way we live and love in a Christ honoring way. In how we express the Kingdom of God. People… Hold Hold Hold.