Sermon: "Spiritual Armor-All"

First in the "The Full Armor of God" series.
Delivered July 1, 2007 by Rev. George Antonakos.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

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Good morning again or good afternoon at this point. I would love to call your attention in the April edition of US News and World Report; it says on the front "Speed Freaks" and it's got a guy looking over a cup of coffee with real big eyes and it look likes the coffee cup is shaking. It's subtitled "From triple shot Lattes to Red Bull to Ritalin Americans are more wired than ever. Here is why it may be harmful to your health." and inside the cover story follows a high school senior.

Limley Hawk starts the day at 5:30 a.m. by downing her first cup of coffee. (I didn't know seniors got up at 5:30 a.m.) She then stops at Starbucks for a grand vanilla skim latte on the way to Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland where she is a senior. At 3 p.m. it is time for a jumbo iced tea to power her through hip-hop dance rehearsals and yearbook meeting. Homework, which often keeps her up past 1 a.m., requires more coffee. "I've got so much to do" she says, "I've got to have the caffeine." The java-fired schedule has paid off says Hawk. She has been accepted by 15 of her 16 college choices including her first pick Wake Forest. Hawk may sound like an anomaly, but she isn't. Overworked and sleep deprived Americans young and old crave a buzz these days that even alcoholic drinks come loaded with caffeine and doctors are getting worried. The past three years alone the number of 18-24 year-olds who drink coffee daily has doubled from 16 to 31% and some do other kind of drugs like Adderol or Ritalin for late night study sessions. Energy drinks like Red Bull and Cocaine; there's a name of a drink for you, with several times the buzz of a can of Coke have mushroomed in to a 3.5 billion dollar a year industry... and so goes the article.

Now I know that if I start preaching on the evils of caffeine in a world of 13,000 Starbucks and that's just Starbucks, I will have crossed that line from preaching to meddling. In fact, you can have a cup of coffee right here when you come in or not necessarily when you leave. But my intent is not to preach about the evils of caffeine; my intent is to pose a simple question; from whence cometh your energy? Where do you derive your strength and how are you managing life? If there were two signs today one that said "feeling weak" and one that said "feeling strong" and I asked everybody here to line up in front of one, I wonder what our lines would look like. And it would be no shame if you lined up by the one that says "feeling weak," because life is really difficult, at certain times especially. Life is difficult period. Once we accept that's it's difficult, it becomes less difficult, but there are some times that it is really difficult and the writers of the Bible knew it.

So I invite you to turn to Ephesians, Chapter 6. It's on page 830 of your pew Bible or you can follow on the screen. As we begin a new sermon series here in July called "The Full Armor of God" or put in other words, how to manage those days when you know you are standing in the "feeling weak" line or even if you are standing in the "feeling strong" line; it is still a good idea to listen to this text. So let's pray and we will read the verses, even though I will be reading 10 to 20, I am only going to focus on the first four today, but I want you to get the full context. So let's pray.

Lord, as we open your word again we know that apart from your aid and your leadership and guidance, we will be blind and deaf and it will not sink in. So we pray that you would help us, that you would enlighten us and illumine us so that in your light we might see light and be strong in the strength of your love and might. In Jesus name, Amen.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

"For which I am an ambassador in chains." I point that out that Paul was in prison because when we look at Verse 10 and he says, "Be strong in the strength of the Lord and in his mighty power, no one can say, "Well look at his circumstances: how rosy everything was. No wonder he can say that. He doesn't know what real life or real troubles are about." I just wanted you to keep that in mind as we look at this text. Actually, if you worked your way back through Ephesians, just back to Chapter 5, I mean all the way back to Chapter 1 would be great, but just in 5 he is talking about real life practicalities. If you look at Chapter 5 he covers in that chapter how to avoid addictions, how to have a healthy marriage, how to raise children, how to view work in positive ways and how to treat people like your employees. And at the end of this list he makes it quite clear that living in all this wisdom and with this understanding is not easy. There is a word that shows up six times in this text: the word "against." He is trying to alert us again that as we go through our every day lives that we come up against that which is not mere coincidence, it's not bad luck, it is not fate, it's about being in a spiritual battle and that battle is for your strength. That is what the enemy is trying to take care of. He is trying to drain your strength.

John Eldredge, author of "Wild at Heart" puts it this way in speaking to men about sexual temptation and struggles that go along with it. He says that we get so hung up by the addictive quality of it, by the sinfulness of it and miss the fact that when we fall to temptation in that area that it's a battle for our strength. It's like getting a haircut from Delilah. It drains us. It distracts us. It takes away our strength. No wonder Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart for out of it flow the wellspring of life." See, the enemy tries to dry up the wellspring of our life in Jesus Christ and he does so by pulling us to the things that we think will give us life, but they zap our strength and drain us.

So Paul says, "Finally," after talking about all of these every day life realities, "be strong in the Lord." Actually it means "be strengthened in the Lord." You see, if I say to you "Be strong, buck up, stiff upper lip" it doesn't always encourage, but if I say "Be strengthened in the Lord; allow yourself to be strengthened" there is a process that you can follow, then it brings hope. He says, "Be strengthened in the Lord and in his mighty power." We could spend a whole sermon talking about his mighty power: the power with which Jesus was raised from the dead. How much power did that take? And this is in the present imperative; it's a command. That simply means it is a command. Strengthen yourself. Command. And do it continuously. It is something that you don't just do once. You do it every day. How often did Jesus pray and strengthen himself in his heavenly father? Continuously. And Jesus is called the Son of David. He is not just called the Son of David because of the lineage of David; he is called the Son of David because better than David, but in a similar kind of sense, he was always seeking God, always seeking the father. "I can do nothing of my own initiative" he said; "Only what I see the father doing".

It harkens back to a passage in May that I was sharing with you when I was talking about spiritual gifts about an evil day that happened in David's life. He came back to his city. Do you remember this? To Ziklag and his women. The women and children were taken captive and it was a crisis day. It was a terrible day. It was a day of loss. It was a day of tears. It says the people wept until they couldn't weep anymore. There was a day of criticism and danger and mutiny was in the air. He was going to be stoned by his own people and in the midst of all of that it says, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord." David experienced strength for that present crisis moment and for the battles, which were about to take place. And that is what Paul has in mind when is writing to the Ephesians. He is saying, "Look, I know that life can knock you down. It's hard." I mean he is sitting there in chains, but it doesn't have to knock you out when you are in Jesus Christ. And so, the first thing: we are going to look at a 'what' and a 'how' and a 'why' and even a 'when.'

The 'what' is this. When you go through life and you are struggling, what do you need to do? Strengthen yourself in God. How do you do it? That is what the third and fourth weeks of this series will be. We are going to look at the full armor of God. How to put on that armor in a sense and what it means to strengthen yourself, but today I want to look at the 'why.' Why are we called to do this? "So that you can take your stand," he says in Verse 11, "against the devil's schemes." Ah, now we are starting to get the picture. He reminds us who the real enemy in life is. It's not our spouse. It's not our boss. It's not our co-workers. It's not our neighbors. It's not our child or a parent. The real enemy does not consist of flesh and blood he says.

Now I know that in some quarters it is unsophisticated to talk about the personification of evil. You don't really believe there is a devil, do you? But if we are guided by scripture, and we are, then it's hard to deny, because if you look in Genesis, the first chapters of the book, and you look in the last chapters in the book, you see the same thing. The serpent symbolizing the enemy: the devil, trying to undo the people of God from the very beginning to the very end. From Genesis to Revelation we see the encounters with the accuser. The word devil, diablos, means accuser and that is where the word is derived from. It is one of his favorite activities; just like he accused Job before God, so he will accuse your loyalty towards God. "You are just fickle. You have all kinds of reasons why you are doing it. You are not really true to God. It is only because things are going okay for you." And then he will do that same thing to us. It says, not only the devil, but it says "the devil's schemes: that you might be able to stand firm against the devils schemes." The word 'schemes' is where we get our word 'methods' from. Crafty methods and he's got a ton of them. He will try to keep us from listening to the word. If the word gets put out here today, Jesus said that it will be scattered like seed and some of it will fall on a hard path and like a bird that sees the seed on the hard path the enemy will come and try to snatch it away from you.

I was talking to somebody after the 10 o'clock service. They said, "I had to read through this three times because I kept getting distracted from the whole thing." In 1st Corinthians it says that the devil blinds the minds of the unbelieving. In Genesis 3 he creates doubt about God's love for us and doubt about God's word. "Has God really said?" "Oh God might have said that, but he really didn't mean it that way," and he tries to twist the word of God. Jesus encountered this himself when he was in the wilderness with Satan and Satan challenged his identity as the Son of God. "If you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, you're not a child of God" that is what he says. "You are not a child of God." "God doesn't really love you. You are not doing well enough for him to love you." That is the kind of stuff that comes at us.

And how did Jesus encounter it? With the word of God he stood toe to toe. He didn't run. Once when Peter was being used as a pawn of Satan, he said right square in the face, "I am sorry this hurts your feelings Peter, but Satan get thee behind me." He knew he was being used as a pawn in that moment. Another time as he got closer to the cross, when his identity was being challenged. Satan means adversary and the adversary is opposed to God, opposed to Christ, opposed to the church and every individual believer. In John 10, he is called a thief who came to kill, to steal and to destroy. In John 8, he is called a liar and the father of lies.

How else do we explain what we seen in the news every day, what we see in our world every day? Just because of bad upbringing? Just because of misunderstandings? Just because of poverty? How do you explain Chris Benoit in the last week: professional wrestler, very wealthy person? He kills his own wife, kills his own 7-year-old son, which is beyond horrific and then sits in his house a day before he takes his own life. That was a lot of steroids, that was testosterone. Plenty of people take that stuff and don't do that. There are forces in this world that try to come against us.

What about Darfur? What about Rwanda? Bishop John Rucyahanna was here a few months ago. Remember, if you were at this presentation he said what the people would say after they came to their senses: the devil had his way with us. We allowed that to happen in our lives. These are Christians. What happens when ministry partners in the mission field or elsewhere are going along swimmingly and then all of a sudden there is a doubt about the motives of another person. Where do you think that comes from? What about the church when it was in its height of spirituality and two people walked through the doors of the church, a couple named Ananias and Sapphira and they put this nice gift down and everyone said, "Wow, look at them" and what did Peter say to them? He remembered when Jesus was talking to him. He says, "How could you let the devil take control of your heart and lie to the Holy Spirit like that?" He knew where the enemy was. He knew what was causing this disunity and disruption.

What happens when a spat in a marriage turns in to a war? You know how it goes. You are getting in to it. One person says one thing and one person says the other thing and there is a thought in your head that the good side of you is saying "I better not say this. I better not say this" and then someone else is saying "Yeah, go ahead and say it. It's okay." And all of a sudden you are off to the races and somebody is sleeping on the couch before long. Now I hear some of you saying, "Now are you blaming everything on the devil?" I am not, but I am also saying that not every thought that comes in to our head is just us. I believe that it's all about lies and deceit and distraction that tries to come our way and slow us down and drain our strength and destroy us, whether its insecurity, whether its inadequacy, all the lies that the devil can throw at us; that's intended to drain our strength, stop us in our tracks, throw in the towel, don't keep going for Jesus; all of that.

Have you ever had a fly pester you? Sometimes when I study there is a fly and he's flying around you and you just can't get it, right? Well, you can be sitting here today and by the way the devil according to Jesus was called Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, the Lord of Distraction, right? You can be sitting here today listening to the sermon, having the Bible in front of you and there is this thought in your head about somebody who made a remark to you and you can't get it out of your head. Or you are thinking about somebody who you are on the outs with and you don't know how to approach it, you know and it's distracting; it is just keeping you from focusing. Well I want to tell you that it happens to all of us. I mean it's like on a given Sunday, like when I preach on a Sunday, it's a battle royal in my head before and after preaching. "That didn't work." "That was no good." "Why don't you hang it up" kind of thing. That is what goes on and I am so thankful that the task of preaching is not just to be eloquent; it's to point people to Jesus Christ as the center of life, no matter how well or poorly it is done. If we are pointing to Jesus, we are doing the right thing. Thankfully too we have a word made visible today; so even when the preacher can't get it right, the word made visible can show us what it is all about. It's about his strength in us. If we don't eat or drink we are dead. If we don't take and eat of his flesh and his blood, we are no good. We will never be able to stand in the battle.

So today I want to give you a fly swatter for the Beelzebub. It's right here at the end of the pew. It looks like a card, but it's a fly swatter, okay? It's a prayer of the believer and this prayer just so you know, is based on Ephesians, Chapter 2 in Verse 6 and I want you to turn back if you would to Ephesians, Chapter 2 in Verse 6 and listen to what Paul is saying as he describes our salvation. He is not just talking about how we experience God's mercy and we are delivered from our transgressions, but in Verse 6 he goes beyond that and he says,

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus."

Did you know that if you are a Christian, you are sitting in two places today? I don't know how it works. It's a mystery. If you are sitting here, but spiritually united with Jesus Christ you are seated at the right hand of God, the place of all authority and power in Christ. That is why we don't need to be intimidated by the enemy. And so, that's why this card, this prayer. I have prayed this prayer many times. Like when I have those mental gymnastics, those mental battles going on, starting to think negative things about someone I love, ready to say something that I don't want to say, self doubt about my performance or whatever I am trying to do. And after a while it's like, "wait a minute, that is coming from somewhere else." So look at this prayer. Why don't you read it with me?

"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his blood that was shed for me, I command you Satan, powers of evil, to cease the activity you are having in my mind as a co-crucified, co-resurrected, co-ascended, co-seated believer at the right hand of God."

The parentheses you can use anything you want. To whom it may concern in the Kingdom of Darkness; it doesn't matter. The point is that you are addressing and rebuking that which stands against Jesus Christ and against everyone who names his name. All authority in heaven and earth is given to him. Spiritual forces may overcome us, but they don't overcome him and by his blood and by his power we are safe from harm.

There is a passage in Acts where the seven sons of Sceva try to speak in the name of Jesus, but they are unconnected to Jesus and do you remember what one of the demons says? "Hey Jesus I know and Paul I know, but you guys I don't know" and wham just knocks them out. It's not about our spirituality. It's about Jesus flowing through us and being united and connected to us. So even in an evil day, Christ's power can help us stand. If you look over to Revelation Chapter 12 you will get the true Christmas story. Revelation, Chapter 12 is the true Christmas story. Don't be fooled by all those Christmas cards with snow falling down and light on the baby Jesus and everything. That's all good, but this is the true Christmas story in Revelation Chapter 12, okay? It's about this warfare that is going on in heaven and this is 12:10:

"Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now have come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God".

Some interpreters say this is speaking of the incarnation; not speaking of the end times. It is speaking about when God interrupted human history to undo the works of the devil. That is what it preaches in the Book of Acts; that Jesus came to undo and destroy the works of the devil. And so, you have now come to salvation, the power and the kingdom of our God, the incarnation and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down and they overcome him. How? How did they overcome him? By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of his testimony. See, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his blood that was shed for me, I command you as a co-crucifier, co-resurrected, co-ascended, co-seated believer to stop the activity you are having in my mind right now. It's a battle, but I am telling you that it works. It works when you name the thing and don't just chalk it off to poor upbringing or something else.

Four times in this text Paul says in Ephesians, "Stand." "Stand in his strength" So here is the word of God today; when you feel like the pressures of living are threatening to knock you out, stand. When you feel like you are alone and you can't make it, stand in Jesus Christ. When you feel like everything you have tried is still not working and you keep going, you stand in Jesus Christ. He is the armor. Don't get hung up with all these pieces of armor. He is the armor. Clothe yourself in him. Come to him. Believe in him. Put your trust in him again. That is why 1st John 5:18 says,

"We know that anyone born of God does not continue in sin. The one who was born of God keeps him safe and the evil one cannot harm him."

Don't be fooled that there is not a battle, but don't be intimidated that there is a battle. Come now to this table and be strengthened for that battle. You know, when we come around this table many times we come and we speak about many aspects of what this sacrament is about and certainly, certainly one of the major aspects of this sign; this sign is always pointing to something greater than it signifies and it points to our forgiveness of sin. It points to a second chance in our life, but I want to emphasize today that this aspect of the communion table. It's like the donning of spiritual armor for strength in life's battles. So I want to invite everyone who trusts in the grace of Jesus Christ to once again come and receive that strength in him. When you come forward today or go to the back, wherever you are seated, and you come, come with an awareness that your sins are forgiven and rejoice in that fact, but also come as though someone is pinning a medal of honor on you, that you are known and you are signified as a Christian and when people see that medal of honor they say, "Oh you are in Jesus. You are connected to him and he will give you the strength that you need." So come and receive all that you need today.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we know that if left to ourselves we will always fall, we will always stumble even when we are walking and trying our best, we still stumble in many ways, but we thank you that we are not left to our own self. That even though you created the world and everything in it and called it good and even though we strayed from you and we tried to seek our strength in other things, you sent a strong one, the strong man in to this world, our Lord Jesus Christ. And through his humility and through his power and reliance on you, he brought us back to you by dying on a cross. But death couldn't hold him and he was raised the third day and then ascended, and now seated with you and we are seated in him. So as we partake of these elements let them be to us by the Holy Spirit, nothing other or less than the body and blood of Jesus his very strength in our souls, so that we might walk in a manner worthy of our calling. For we ask it in Jesus name who taught us to pray saying, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not in to temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

© 2007, Rev. George Antonakos
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org