Ephesians 6:10-20, August 21-27, Year B:

I will be back in my pulpit on August 27; but I thought I'd go ahead and write some comments about this passage now.  That way, you'll have them for reflection ahead of time.  In addition, I won't be rushed during the two or three days between the time I get back from vacation and the time I have to preach this sermon.

 

I'm actually using this passage and the first ten verses of Psalm 84, which is the lectionary psalm for that Sunday.  My sermon title will be:  "Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition."  Psalm 84 definitely reminds us that the church is a place of sanctuary, a place to praise the Lord.  But Ephesians 6:10-20 reminds us that we also need the proper ammunition to be disciples of Christ in this world.  There is a battle to be fought and won.  There is a proper dress code, a uniform that must be worn if we are to fight that battle successfully. 

 

First though, we have to know the enemy.  Now, I know that in this politically correct and tolerant society, it's fashionable to say that our enemies are things like hatred, bigotry, prejudice, greed, and all those fashionable evils the church likes to trot out in its denominational statements and literature.  All of those things are evil; but they are not the ultimate evil.  They are not really the enemy.  They are only tools of the enemy.  If a person is right with God, if a person is really an adherent of the Christian faith, these other things cannot live.  I'm not just talking about those who profess faith, or those who simply go to church.  I'm talking about the true disciples, the people who really believe the Christian message and who desire to be conformed to the image of Christ.  Such vices cannot long habitually live in such a person.  And the characteristics mentioned above, such as hatred, greed, bigotry, and prejudice were not the enemies of which Paul was speaking.

 

Paul was talking about those who were enemies of Christ and the faith.  Paul was talking about those who would deceive and persecute the Christians.  Paul was describing those who might claim to be faithful followers of Christ and then turn out to be antagonists.  While we rightly condemn the intolerance of some who call themselves Christians today, we dare not put in its place a kind of tolerance that doesn't even know what Christianity is.  Let's realize who the true enemies of the church are.

 

Our enemies are not those who next to us in church and disagree with us on what color the carpet should be in the church.  Our enemies are not those who disagree with us about the length of the sermon or the frequency of covered-dish dinners.

 

The enemies are those who would gladly kill us just because we are Christians.  There are people who hate us just because we live in a country where freedom of religion is not only practiced, but revered.  There are people who would kill us just because we do not adhere to their kind of Islamic fascism.  Some of those people live right here in America; but they are scattered thought the world.

 

Other enemies would undermine everything we believe about the identity of the family, every biblical imperative about morality and the relationships among people.   Activists are now seeking to legitimize all sorts of domestic arrangements and partnerships that Christians who would be true to their faith cannot acknowledge.  The family is under attack by anti-Christian and anti-biblical forces today in this country as never before.  This is not a liberal-conservative issue, or even a political issue.  It is an issue of faith and biblical morality.

 

Certain Christians from all across the political spectrum sometimes make the mistake of believing that we can defeat the inhumane forces around us simply by electing the right people to political office.  Paul tells us in this passage, however, that we are not fighting forces of flesh and blood, but the powers and principalities.  The only way to defeat materialism that puts the corporation ahead of the welfare of individuals, or fanaticism that would kill innocent people by the use of a suicide bomb, or perversity that would destroy and corrupt all natural family relationships, is by the weapons of the spiritual warfare listed here.  We need the Word of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the message of salvation which is available only through Jesus Christ.  We need not only to put on these weapons, but to take them up and use them prayerfully and effectively.  When used properly, consistently, and wisely, these weapons will banish the darkness of fear, hatred, bigotry, greed, and exploitation.

 

There is a time for Christians to be politically involved, just as there are times when the military must take up the weapons of actual combat.  But to win the spiritual conflict that is at the root of our social problems, it is necessary to learn the proper use of spiritual weapons--and then use them prayerfully, consistently, confidently, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, with the love of God the Father Almighty.