Are You Ready for Battle?
Ephesians 6:10–17
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (ESV)
Prayer: Almighty and most merciful God, whose name is a strong tower, into which the righteous runs and is safe, we humbly ask You, lift up the standard of Your Spirit against the power of the enemy coming in upon us like a flood, and clothe us with the full armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, that we may be able to fight the good fight of faith and so finish our course with joy in the great Day when Christ, the righteous Judge, shall appear, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, who has armed you with full armor of God, so that you may be able to remain standing in the evil day, dear fellow redeemed!
“You are not my enemy!”
At the beginning of a marriage retreat Elise and I attended a few years ago, the main presenter told us to turn to our spouse, look them in the eye and say, “You are not my enemy!” Every time I think of this, it makes me laugh. However, the presenter was getting at a very important point. Our enemy is not our spouse. This also extends to all our other human relationships. Our enemy is not our child, parent, co-worker, unhelpful cashier, news anchor, or angry neighbor down the street. We aren’t fighting against other human beings. Our enemy is the devil and his demons. Paul writes, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
We have been enemies of the devil since Adam and Eve fell into sin. God made his declaration of war on the devil in Genesis 3:15, when he promised to send a Savior from “the Seed of the woman” who would crush Satan’s head. As descendants of Adam and Eve, whether we like it or not, we are part of this battle—this feud with the devil.
But so often, we find ourselves fighting the wrong battle—one against other human beings. It’s easy for us to be in the wrong fight because we’re sinners with limited vision. We only see flesh and blood. We can’t see the spiritual enemies around us. When we get hurt or are sinned against, it’s normally by other sinners, and so we presume that they are our enemies. But we fight against a different enemy. In our lesson for this morning, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul gets us ready for battle by reminding who our enemy is and exhorting us to put on the full armor of God.
It’s interesting that in this section of Ephesians, Paul was writing to the Ephesians at a time of peace. There weren’t great disputes like at the Church in Corinth or the false teachers that plagued the churches in Galatia and Colossae. This gets at the very important truth that a Christian is never just an easy-going, idle person. Even when there is peace, a Christian must be aware of our real battle with Satan. A Christian is always ready for battle and is assured of victory before the battle even begins. So, after Paul has written to the Ephesians about their redemption and peace in Christ, urged them to walk in unity, and reminded them of Christ’s great love for the church, he gives them one last call to arms, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil… that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
But what is the evil day? Paul isn’t talking about the day of our death or judgement day. He is talking about the day or time in life when the forces of evil deliberately mount their attack on us. The Scriptures are filled with such examples. From Job who faced the loss of family and possessions, to King David who was betrayed by his own son, to Paul who was shipwrecked and persecuted, or even the father in our Gospel lesson who endured the hardship of having a sick child. These are examples of those evil days that Paul urges us to be ready for. We certainly thank God that he arms us for those days (II Corinthians 4:7–9).
One of the traps that the devil gets us to fall into is thinking that such challenges—whether that be financial distress, bodily suffering, or the sickness of a loved one—are not spiritual battles. But they are! These are skirmishes that the devil uses to defeat us and lead us astray. When we don’t think of them as spiritual battles, we are unprepared. We are like a person going to war in their pajamas! How foolish we look running into spiritual battles depending on ourselves, on our abilities, our wisdom, and our strength or other man-made solutions. But it’s easy for us to do. I know it is for me and maybe that’s true for you too. When we are going through things, we think—I need to try harder, do better, be stronger, and be wiser. But what kind of armor is that?
Instead, Paul urges us: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God.” We have no strength in ourselves, “Our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121). We are strong only in the Lord!
We sing in Luther’s great hymn, “Stood we alone in our own might, Our striving would be losing; For us the one true Man doth fight, The Man of God’s own choosing. Who is this chosen One? ‘Tis Jesus Christ, the Son, The Lord of hosts, ‘tis He Who wins the victory In every field of battle” (ELH 251:2). When we stand in the strength of his might, we stand securely. The devil’s goal is to get us in hell. The Bible calls Satan the accuser. He accuses us of our sins so that we despair. If we fought him on our own, we should despair. Because we can’t save ourselves from our sins—“Our striving would be losing.” But by the Father’s grace, he sent One whose striving would not be in vain. Our Lord Jesus Christ became man so that he could do battle with the devil in our place. He did battle with him throughout his whole life, by living a perfect and holy life in our place. Jesus’ battle for our souls culminated with his death on the cross where he crushed Satan’s ugly head. Jesus defeated the devil by paying for the sins of the world—yours and mine. No more can Satan accuse you—your sins are forgiven. Your salvation is assured. The battle is won. It is finished!
So, it is in our victorious Lord and Savior that Paul urges us to stand. While Christ has defeated the devil on Calvary, the devil still holds limited power in this world until Jesus returns in glory. So that we might not fall away from the schemes of the devil, we go to Jesus for protection and strength. Our Lord Jesus has given us armor for our defense.
Paul writes, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” As Paul sat in prison, he was guarded by Roman soldiers, and he uses their impressive armor to illustrate the armor of God. He starts with the belt or girdle of truth. This girdle was larger than our belts and protected the soldier’s most vulnerable parts of the body from the sword thrust, while also keeping his armor in place and supporting the sword. As Christians, we are protected and supported by God’s truth revealed in Christ and in the faithful Word of truth. Our breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness from God which is ours by faith. Every soldier needed good shoes to help their footing, but what is ours? The gospel of peace. Here lies a paradox: that the gospel of peace equips us for battle.
“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Paul has in mind here not a small round shield, but the scutum, which was four feet long and two and a half feet wide. When the soldier was in battle stance, it protected their entire body. The shield of faith is God’s gift that apprehends salvation, receives the forgiveness of sins, gives us access to God, and quenches the arrows of Satan’s accusations. Our head is adorned with the helmet of salvation. When a Christian faces the attacks of the devil and the world, the helmet of salvation protects us and helps us hold up our head with confidence and joy. All the armor so far is defensive. But how foolish is it to think of a soldier without a weapon? How ridiculous to picture the Christian without one—especially, because he has one. The sword of the Spirit is made and given by the Spirit. It is the powerful word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is the same Word that Jesus used to fight against the devil’s temptations in the wilderness, and it is our best weapon as well.
We are ready for battle when we realize that our enemy is not the person sitting next to you or the person you’ve been disputing with for years. “You are not my enemy.” All Christians have the same enemy—the devil. Yet, all Christians are called to one hope, in “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). And it is through our gracious Lord that we are armed for battle. The full armor of God is put on every Christian in Baptism, even a tiny baby. That’s why we baptize babies—we want them protected from the devil’s attacks. But we need to continue to have this armor on. God puts it on us when we hear the Gospel and he creates faith, when we hear his word preached, read the Bible and have family devotions, confess our sins and hear the absolution, and come to the Lord’s Supper. God puts the armor on us—the forgiveness of sins and faith to believe it—that overcomes the devil so that he can’t accuse us with any authority. This is how we overcome the devil.
If we try to withstand the devil’s attacks and temptations by digging deeper into ourselves, we won’t win. We stand no chance on our own. Instead, we need to look outward and onward to Jesus and his cross, where the victory was won. We need to go to the Word and Sacrament where that victory is given to us—where we receive forgiveness and strength. Our armor stands polished and ready when we live in humble repentance and put on Christ.
We don’t know when the evil day will come. So we stand ready, strengthened in our Lord’s might. We read our Bible’s today, for there may be a day when our eyes fail us. We come to church today for there may be a time when we can no longer go or are prevented from going. God is our strength and shield. Our bodies will fail us and people may forsake us, but Christ shall never leave us, so with us “remains the kingdom.” Amen.