As
we have worked through Paul's letter to the Church in Ephesus Paul
has been worked hard to paint us a picture of Christians as one group
which works in this world together accomplishing the work and the
will of God, sharing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
bringing the good news to everyone. As we have moved through this
letter Paul has moved from metaphor to metaphor to help us understand
what it means to be united. He began by speaking about adoption. As
Christians we are adopted by God into one family becoming co-heirs
with Christ. As members of one family we are united in Christ. Paul
then goes on to explain that Christ came to break down the barriers
which stand between people, bringing together those who were once
separated because of their nationality, social status and gender. As
Paul has said elsewhere, in Christ there is Jew
or Greek, no longer slave or free, male and female. Paul then moves
continues on the idea of walls but then builds a metaphor in which we
are formed together to make the temple of God with Christ as our
cornerstone which with whom we all aligned. Finally Paul uses the
metaphor of the body, which is made up of many parts but is united in
purpose and function. We are the body of Christ carrying on the work
of Christ here on earth. Even though one body made up of many
members, different parts, although all different, with different
functions, it moves and works together. In Christ we are all
different, we are not all the same mirror images of one another, a
picture of bland uniformity. Although we make up one body, we all
have different skills, different talents and different functions but
still all come together to from the one united body of Christ which
moves and works together to accomplish the work and the will of God
in this world.
It
is as this united body, we come to the sixth and final chapter in
Ephesians. It is as this united body we are called to put on the
armor of God. For a book which has repeated reminded us that we are
one, that in Christ we have been stitched together, adopted into to
one family, where the conventional and societal barriers which
separate and divide have no bearing, cannot then end with a call to
us as individuals. Paul has worked hard to create this idea of unity
and of us all coming to form one body, the body of Christ which
remains even as Christ has gone. The One body of Christ living and
working and bringing to completion the work Christ began in his life
time. That one body, does not now separate, each one to put on their
own armor which God has given to them. NO, we remain united and
together we put on the armor of God. Together we are the body of
Christ and together God clothes us with God's armor.
As
we begin to think about the armor of God we are reminded of David.
Maybe you remember the story of David and Goliath. When David was
sent by his father to take provisions to his brothers on the front
line, he arrived and found the entire army of Israel cowering as one
giant of a Philistine came out to them taunting them, calling for
just one Israelite to come forward and to fight him. Instead of a
long drawn out battle with many casualties on both sides Goliath
wanted just one Israelite to face him in armed combat with a winner
take all outcome. It actually sounds like a pretty rational idea.
Instead of losing countless lives, only one needed to be risked. BUT
Goliath was big and strong, he was a giant of a man and not one of
the Israelites felt they were up to the task.
David
heard Goliath's taunt and immediately volunteered. So he was brought
before King Saul. I don't know what convinced them that sending this
scrap of a boy was a good idea but they decided that sending him was
better than nothing. But the first they clothed him in the armor of
the King. And when David came out of the dressing room to model in
this armor, the sight was not simply amusing, it was a joke. Nothing
fit. It was all too big. It was a young boy wearing a grown man's
armor. It was too large, it was too bulky and it weighed way too much
for the young David. The armor did not fit; it did not belong to him.
As
the people of God, as the body of Christ, God gives us God's armor.
And the armor God gives us is not too big; it is not too bulky; it is
not too heavy. It is the right armor; it is the armor we need. But it
is not armor of leather or steel like the armor of the time it is a
different kind of armor altogether.
Unlike
the armor of Saul with which David was clad, the armor with which God
clothes us was made for us, it fits the body perfectly. Saul’s
armor on David was too big, it did not fit properly, and it weighed
him down. He would never have been able stand against Goliath in
battle, but the armor God has provided for us allows us to stand, it
allows us to stand no under our own strength but in the God’s
strength with the power God holding us up and giving us the ability.
Our
world is full of people; individuals whom we encounter each and every
day. When there is a tragedy in some far off place, say Houston, the
first thing we do is to find the individuals who are affected by
these tragedies. We find the story of the family that waited the
night shivering on their roof waiting for rescue. Our reporters talk
the children who are being housed in the shelters. We see footage of
a man digging through the wreckage of what once was his house, trying
to find remnants of his life which once was. When we think about the
struggles we face on this earth as Christians, it is our temptation
to think of the stories of individuals and how those people have
perpetrated evil in this world; Emperor Nero, Hitler, the Unabomber,
people who have worked to bring about evil and destruction in this
world. We want a person we can blame, a face to which we can give the
evil. Paul wants us to know that our struggle is not against person,
against individuals, because evil is bigger than that. The battle for
which we are being armed is not against the individuals who
perpetrate evil, against the people who have done us harm, but
instead against the systems, the societies, the governing
authorities, against the forces of evil itself which are at large in
our world.
On
some levels this is hard, when evil is an individual, a person, it
seems easier to defeat, to overcome. When our battle is against a 7
foot tall giant name Goliath, whom we can see before us, we know he
is perishable. We know he CAN be defeated. He is a person and people
can die. But when about battle is with systems, and societies,
governments and authorities, against the forces of evil itself that
is a little more daunting. Give us Hitler or the Unabomber; we know
we can defeat those guys (partially because we know they have been
defeated). But Paul tells us that our battle is not with them, our
battle is with the systems that create these men, the societies who
give them strength, against the governments and authorities who
uphold them, against the very spiritual forces of evil which reside
in this world and give them their power.
There
are two reasons to know that our battle is bigger than deposing all
the Neros and Hilters, getting rid of all the people who oppose our
faith or seek to discredit or tear down God’s Church. First of all
it was important for the Ephesians to know that their fight was not
with their jailers, or with the Jews who sought to imprison them, it
was not with the people in the town square who scoffed at them, or
any number of people who were instrumental in the hardships which the
people of the church in that day faced. If you read Acts or any of
the historical accounts of the Church in its early days, it was THOSE
individuals whom the early Christians sought to bring to Christ
first. Their battle was not with their jailers; their jailers were
people who needed Christ. They needed to always remember that THOSE
people were not their enemies, those people were the people with whom
they were to seek to share Christ. They were lost, not evil.
Secondly
if we limit our understanding of what we are up against to
individuals it would be too easy to declare victory. Nero is dead.
All the Jewish leaders who opposed the early church are dead. Hitler
is dead. But the battle is not yet won. Our battle is with the
systems, the societies, and the evil at work in our world. We defeat
evil by working to right the systems, by building fair and just
societies, by bringing down evil at its roots, not tearing off its
leaves.
Our
armor it not the kind of armor with which we do battle with
individuals. We do not do battle with iron or steel, with arrows or
spears. No the weapons we use to take down people or armies is of no
use in a battle against broken systems, and societies, against
ungodly governing authorities, or the very forces of evil at work in
our world. Our armor is stronger than that; our armor is more
powerful than that. Our armor is truth, and righteousness, the very
proclamation of the gospel, and our faith, it is our own salvation
and that of those around us and the Word of God. These are the things
we have to protect ourselves.
Not
only is our armor is different but the battle field on which we fight
is different. We do not go to battle against the powers of this world
and the world beyond in a field, or on a hill. We do not seek to
surround ourselves with a walled city or a might fortress, no our
battle field is actually much more humble. Our battle field is pray.
We
stand in the full armor of God on our knees. We kneel in battle. Paul
tells us to Pray. “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer
and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in
supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I
speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the
mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray
that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.” We are to pray, to
pray, to pray on behalf of one another, to pray for our leaders (such
as Paul) for one another. We are to pray that the gospel will be
preached boldly, that it will not fall on deaf ears, or be returned
unfruitful. Pray for all those who are suffering and all those who
are doing the hard work of the gospel on the “front lines.” We
are to always persevere in pray, at other times Paul has said that we
should pray continually.
When
David showed up that day, the people of God were doing just this.
Those of us who know this story have a picture of the Israelites, the
people of God whom David found that day. They were cowering in their
tents. They were hiding from Goliath. We see them as fearful and
untrusting of God, but that is exactly what we are doing when we do
not spend time in prayer. When the people of God, the body of Christ
does not head Paul’s call in this passage to persevere in prayer,
we are the Israelites, there, ready for battle hiding in their tents,
too afraid of the enemy to even show up on the battle field.
We
win this battle we have with the forces and enemies of God in this
world, in prayer. We as the body of Christ will not be able to stand,
no matter how strong our armor, no matter how protected we are, if we
do not pray. As the body of Christ we can cloth ourselves in truth
and righteousness, we can proclaim the gospel loud and long, we can
remain faithful to our faith in and through all things, we can share
the salvation we have found in Christ with everyone we meet, and
listen to every word that comes out of the mouth of God but if we do
not show up to the battle. We are very literally all dressed up with
no place to go. It is the equivalent of dressing for your wedding and
staying in bed all day. If we are not people of prayer, we are not
even bothering to come to the battle field. And if we do not even
come to the battlefield the battle is already lost.
So
let us cloth ourselves in the armor of God and let us come together
as the body of Christ, fully clothed and ready, and pray, pray for
each other, pray for our leaders, pray for our world. Pray in every
way we know how at all times, in all things, and through all things.
Let us never be found asleep in our tents when there is prayer that
can be waged for our Lord!
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