The armor & communications - Part 1, Eph, 6:14-18

We're nearing the completion of the Ephesians and Colossians series. Next month will be the final message on it. And just to let you know, we'll be starting the study of the book of Isaiah, proceeding approximately one chapter at a time once we get through the introductory portion of it. So just so you have some orientation as to where we're headed here. Now, into our passage. We're now looking kind of for the third week actually in this passage and looking, kind of taking a focus. We looked initially this last week at the first several verses, verses 10 through 13. And now we're going to be proceeding on into verses 14 and 15. And then we'll finish up the passage for the rest of it next week.

All right. What we'll be taking a look at here is six pieces of armor. Let me get the right number of fingers up, okay? Six pieces of armor, the first three this week, and then next week covering the next three. And just so you have it clear, we don't want Hal and Lindy to be alarmed here. Contrary to what you see in the bottom of your handout, we're not on verse 114, okay? Alright. Now, as we look at this passage here, it's important that we understand what Paul is actually saying. And that we get the concept of what he's talking about. Now, so what is Paul saying?

He spent the first several chapters, the first three chapters to be a little more precise, simply telling the believers in Ephesus about their position in Christ. That is, what was true of them eternally because they had put their trust in the Lord Jesus, and was true irregardless of the fact that there were actually believers who still had major areas of sin that they were to reckon with.

So he was not saying it's a matter of trying to work towards a position in Christ, but instead you already have this position in Christ, untouchable in the heavenlies, irreversible. in the heavenlies because of belief and not as a consequence of efforts to try to conform to some ideal. There's no place here to urge us into that position. He's not trying to urge that. One of the things we've been noticing since we got into chapter 4 is we start seeing We don't come up to a dog or a cat and say, be a dog, then be a cat, because that's what they are, okay?

For the believer, you are what God has made you in Christ. Therefore, there is no need to be a dog or a cat. There is no need to be a dog or a cat. There is no need to be a dog or a cat. There is no need to be a dog or a cat. There is no need to be a dog or a cat. There is no need to be a dog or a cat. you know, telling you, take that position, or you need to try to get that position, you have that position.

The urging is for your daily life, for your walking, for your condition. Since he's using these imperatives, he's talking about the believer's daily condition, and I'll typically, you might notice, use eternal position, daily condition to help get that straight.

The eternal position is untouchable, unchangeable, It's fixed in the heavenlies. If you're a believer here this morning, it's already a done deal. He's urging for the sake of their daily condition. That's why He's telling them, He's urging them to stand firm. He says it basically four times in this passage. Stand firm. Why the urging? You already have the position.

He can't urge you to that. But He can urge you, and He does, urge the believer to stand in the position that they have, day by day. One of the things that we've pointed out here is this idea of a logical imperative. He gives an imperative not to tell us, you better do this, or God's going to be really mad, and He's going to be really fried at you. He doesn't do that, does He? What He says is, based on your position in Christ, the sole logical conclusion that you can reach is what I'm urging you to.

That's what he's saying these musts, and do this, and those kinds of statements all about. He is urging the believer to stand and to live where the believer is already positioned in Christ. Alright. He's also urging here specifically in this passage, put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand. That's the logical, singular message that he lays out in this passage.

One of the things we pointed out last week is the war is already won, it's only the battle that's at issue. It's contrary to what we usually think of where the battle is kind of a minor thing compared to the war. This is the reverse. The war is already won, it's only the battle that's in question.

And finally, don't just do something, stand there. It is frequently urged of people, don't just Stand there, do something. And in truth, it is the inclination of human beings to want to do something. You know, tell me what to do. That is our inclination. But what Scripture calls us for is not to just start doing something, saying the first and primary thing is stand there, then you can do something.

We'll talk about that more in a minute. The last point we made is we wrestle not with flesh and blood. It is a spiritual battle and not one that's to be taken as me versus some other human being. It's a spiritual battle that he's contending with here. All right. We would add one more point here.

If you've been out and about in the world, you might have noticed there's various kinds of everything from articles, and these days there's CDs and DVDs and all sorts of things, on time management. And there's perhaps some value in it, but a lot of these things are, you know, how do you brush your teeth while you put your shoes on? A lot of them can get a little crazy. The world kind of likes the idea of packing more and more things to get done in a shorter period of time. But there's a principle that comes out here.

The only way that the believer can accomplish anything is if the believer lives out daily life from the position that they have in Christ. That's accomplishing something, not just getting more stuff done in an hour. It is accomplishing something because the believer stands and stays in their position in Christ. That's getting something done. That's the optimal time management. The way you could say it here is anything worth doing in the Christian life is rooted firmly in what God has already done in Christ Jesus.

That's where He has urged us to stand. Alright, now take a look at this passage here, we'll go at it piece by piece. Stand firm, this is basically the fourth time that he has said that. One time might be a little bit more subtle where it talks about resisting. Basically the Greek word there means to stand against. So it's really the fourth time he's said stand firm. And so as we look at this passage here, it is an imperative. Here's the last time that he says that, and he says, it is an imperative that is, as a believer, you must stand firm.

But it's not because God's sitting there ready to really nail you because you didn't. It is because that is the sole logical conclusion that you can reach based on your position in Christ, based on who you are, based on who has made you to be, standing firm as exactly what God had in mind at the outset. It is the sole logical conclusion. As a matter of fact, anything else is spiritually nuts.

That's how he's laying it out here. Now, the next thing you notice as we look at these, let's look at these verbs. We'll look at them in an overview here in a moment. Each of these verbs is in the middle voice. The middle voice has the idea of, I do an action and the result comes back on myself. And it's fitting here. because having girded your loins, you gird your own. Having put on, you put on the breastplate upon yourself. And having shod your feet. So it makes sense.

Each of these items that he's asked the believer to put on, each of these pieces of armor, if you will, is personal and intimate. See, it's possible to think of your position in Christ as something hypothetical, academic, But what he's saying is quite the opposite of that. In fact, what he's saying is, here is this piece of armor that you have as a believer in Jesus Christ. It is part of your position. He is saying, don't see it as academic and hypothetical.

He says, get it on! put it on, get it close to you, because that's where it belongs. That's what his intent is here, and using the middle voice repeatedly for each of these pieces of armor that we're looking at here this morning. Now, the first thing is, having girded your loins with truce. Let's take a look at that phrase. Now, this is part of the armor, it's the first of six pieces, and that's very intentional. I don't think that he's accidental in the sequence that he's given these, and we'll see why in a minute here. And one thing is you gird it around. It goes all the way around you.

Imagine I have the belt on here this morning. I won't demonstrate what it would be like if I had only part of a belt. It wouldn't be wise for me to do so. But you get the point. This thing goes all around you. Gluing on a few parts and pieces isn't going to work. It's the whole thing. We also need to clarify something just because dyslexic minds, like mine, can get it confused. It's not having girdled your lions, okay? It has nothing to do with that. Okay, so what would happen?

A Roman soldier would typically have a belt around him, and that belt is a baltheus. By the way, that's where we get our word belt. That's the derivation of it. He'd have this belt, it would frequently be something fairly heavy leather to offer some protection, make sure that thing didn't get sliced and dropped. They'd put some metal plates around it so there'd be some protection while still having some flexibility. They would suspend the sword in the Latin gladius from that belt, typically, and there would also be a sporon which is called a groin guard, although it's hard for me to imagine it being terribly protective, but that's what they wore. So anyway, those are kind of the basic things.

Now, a lot of them also would have some kind of connection between the belt and the breastplate, so there would be an interconnect between those as well, but that varied kind of from one soldier's arrangement to the next. So, what do you gird the loins with? Now, he leaves off the definite article here, which points, in fact, to the character of truth. He's saying that the believer is to be encircled about with the character of truth. It's the starting piece that is true of the believer there.

Truth which is of the character of the believer, and truth which is all around the believer, it's not incidental or an add-on, it's what you start with. and the very source of that truth is in the person of Jesus Christ. We oftentimes think of written or spoken statements, and from Scripture, certainly that is true. But ultimately, truth originates in the person of Jesus Christ.

We have the truth in the Word of God because Jesus Christ is the truth. He himself makes that claim. In John 1, 14 through 17, here's John, he's introducing the gospel there, and he says, And the Word, whose Jesus Christ became flesh, dwelt among us, and we saw His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And he finishes off that same passage, For the Law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. He is the source.

John 14.6, and we bring this forward from some months back here, so you may recognize it. If we were to expand the Greek text to get the full sense, it says this, Jesus said to him, I, being in fact God, because he said, he used the Greek words ego, a me, okay, I, being in fact God, in contradistinction to anyone else, no one else can claim this, I am the singular way, the singular truth, and the singular life. No one comes to the Father but that He comes through me exclusively.

Jesus made this as part of a series of I Am statements, Ego Emi statements in the book of John, and we have them tabulated here. So this is the sixth of seven statements that He has made. Each time He used that Ego Emi, which as we point out here, This is the same pair of words that when Moses said, who should I say has sent me? Here's the Lord talking to Moses through the burning bush. In the Greek Old Testament, it says, ego eimi, I am. And so Jesus makes this claim. It's a claim of deity. Alright, why does Paul write that the truth is girded about the loins?

I was thinking about that. He lists it first. It seems to me that it's important, it's critical. And so I want to kind of go back a little bit to just show you some of my thinking on it. Not that far back. Okay. Years ago, I used to play football. That's when I could move.

And anyway, one of the things that they taught there was a runner can do a head fake. You know, you see these guys running on the field, they'll do a head fake and they shift the shoulders around. But the truth is the loins point to where they're really headed. The loins are the telltale of where their body is really going. The moving around on top is just to throw you off.

Something else here, I also subsequently, boy, it's amazing I lived through these things, I took a judo class. As a matter of fact, I took it right here at the place where Nancy and I went to college. And in the judo class, they also had some things to tell us as well.

Right here, you see that footbridge? There's a footbridge there. This is amazing but true, okay? All right. See, this is the footbridge. And it was right over there that Nancy heard me say, I'm never getting married. You can't follow the Lord that way. Anyway, this is not about that.

I'm telling you about Judo. I'm telling you about Judo. In Judo, one of the things that they taught us was that this is your balance point. And as a matter of fact, if you're going to throw somebody, you're going to pivot them around that balance point as well. Very critical. So what's Paul doing?

He's showing some insight here and picking this and saying, here is the first piece of armor and it's centered in truth. It is the balance point. It's the true indication of where somebody is headed. It isn't by accident that he arrives at this particular piece of armor first here. It's subtle because it's not a place where we tend to place lots of attention, but it's a critical point. Your loins were the starting point, this balance point, this place where other things are going to be suspended from and attached to. That's the place where truth must start. That's the beginning place. And circled about with the character of truth, that's the basic starting point for the believer.

Truth. Now, in the apologetics elective here, just before, Randy was telling the people in the elective about truth. And one of the key things that the believer has that the world just frankly often doesn't even comprehend is absolute truth. Absolute truth. And we are given a truth that is not just a subjective truth, not just I think it's true or I hope it's true, but it's rooted in the person of Jesus Christ.

Alright, now the next one. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now this one, It covers the essential organs. It also covers some basic structure in the backbone and the rib connections and all that. This area has to be protected. Frequently, this is the area where the opponent is going to try to run somebody through and get something penetrating. And so what does he put there?

Righteousness. Now, this one does have a definite article, so it's THE righteousness. Just to make a distinction here, Adam and Eve, when they were placed in the garden, they were innocent but not righteous. Innocence is an absence of sin. Christ was beyond that in that while Adam and Eve had innocence, a lack of sin, until they finally did sin, Christ is fundamentally righteous. He has not just innocence, not just a temporal lack of sin, but he has positive righteousness. It is not defined as an absence, not an absence alone. It is a positive characteristic. He is intrinsically and basically righteous as a characteristic, a positive statement, not just an absence. It isn't by accident that he picks this here.

They got the breastplate design here. And one of the things we pointed out is this breastplate here would be tied together. This was the main breastplate design used from about the time of the Emperor Claudius. He was the one who instituted this segmented approach. And so this would be the type of breastplate that they would typically use, and it would give the soldiers some flexibility.

One of the things we point out, put it on, and this, interestingly enough, required another soldier to finish up the installation and the checking. And so it implies a church body interaction. All right. If you look at it from the back, this would be the way the setup would be assembled there, and obviously people couldn't tie it in the back by themselves very easily.

Righteousness isn't an incidental characteristic of the believer either. The Lord Jesus Himself is the very definition of righteousness. He is the righteous. He is our righteousness by faith in Him. It is not just innocence, but it is positive Absolute righteousness is a characteristic. It's basic to who He is.

By the very righteousness of Christ, which we have only by faith, not because we try really hard, ever been disappointed and think, oh, I'm not a good Christian? Well, you know what? Apart from the Lord's doing, none of us are, okay? The Lord is not measuring righteousness by how good we are at following through on our promises. The Lord instead measures righteousness by Jesus Christ. He is the standard. He is the measure of righteousness, being absolute righteousness.

Notice here in 2 Timothy, here's Paul's last letter to Timothy, and it's in fact the last letter that we have any possession of. Paul's and he's writing to Timothy and he says all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching and for reproof for correction for training and righteousness so that The man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. Here is training in righteousness the righteousness that we have by position is something that Paul has called the believer to live out and in their daily condition. Scripture is an aid in this respect, in training in righteousness.

We understand what that righteousness is. We understand who Jesus Christ is by Scripture. That's how it's revealed to us. What Paul is looking for is that we not walk around as hypothetical Christians, not just as academic Christians, that we know our position in Christ, Certainly we want you to do that, and Paul had that intent for the believers in Ephesus. He wanted them to know who they were in Christ.

But his urging here is that that righteousness be lived out. It says there, you're living it out. It is the very life of Christ, His righteousness, that's perfect defense. That's a perfect piece of armor. Now the last piece that we're going to look at today anyway, having shod your feet with a preparation of the gospel of peace.

The Roman soldier had an advanced set of footwear and you're thinking about it, he's out there fighting and what you would certainly not want to do is slip. So what do the Romans have? They have a piece of footwear, a set of footwear that's going to plant their feet in the ground and they're not going to be easily slipping around and shaken from their stance.

Because, as we pointed out in the past, the Romans would make these formations, specifically the testudo formation was that one where they'd all form a set of shields protective of each other. If one fell, it left not only that one believer vulnerable, but others, because now you've got an opening in the armor. So the protection was not just for the believer individually, but it was also corporately as a church body. So to make sure that the Roman soldier didn't slip, they wore shoes called calligae.

And so they would be able to stand like this. Stability really matters. So we pointed out before, if you have one of those soldiers in the middle of the formation slip, all of a sudden you've got an opening where the enemy can get in and get access. So each believer is intended to stand. Each individual stands with benefit to all. Here's what the Caligae looked like. Look at those spikes on the bottom.

The intent was, you're out there in the middle of some piece of dirt or out on some turf, and you're not going to slip. The idea is your foot stays planted. Here was another version that was used if it was snowy weather, that kind of thing, and some of them had to fight the barbarians in more snowy weather, so they'd put on something like that and wrap animal fur around the foot in order to give it a little bit more insulation.

But there's a problem with these reconstructions I just showed you. The soles were actually about three quarters of an inch thick. These were heavy. Just so you know, when they're three quarters of an inch thick with a whole bunch of metal spikes sticking out the bottom, they're not made for running. They're made for standing. They're made for staying put.

This is a little bit more authentic in that the sole shown is a little bit thicker. The only problem I would say is the carpet doesn't quite fit, but anyway. Now, he says, shod your feet. These are these feet that have thick soles, that have metal studs, going down into the ground to give a solid footing, that's the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now we've got a question.

What is the preparation of the gospel of peace? That's an important question. Does Paul mean being ready to evangelize? Does he actually mean that if we don't evangelize, we can't stand firm? Is that what he means? Is that where your shoes consist of stacks and stacks of spiky, sharp-plated gospel tracts, and you're ready to stomp the truth in deep and force the gospel on each sinful creep? And cram the truth down every throat and make them listen to what you wrote? Or could it be that peace means more than a forceful message and gospel gore? Does preparation mean more than tracks and driving our soldiers to do such acts? Enough Dr. Seuss. What is it really?

With the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, if we look at that, our feet are shot, and these are heavy shoes. They're not intended for running. The spikes would dig into the ground. There were many spikes. heavy soles, the thongs would go up if it was cold weather, they would have more leather and frequently some fur in there. These were not ideal for running, but they were very well suited for standing firm, for keeping the ground that you've got. That's how they were designed. Verse 15, you'll notice, doesn't say propagation of the gospel, it says preparation. So let's take a look at that. Just so we know, Because this is something we certainly want you to know.

You need to be in a position to present the gospel to somebody else. If somebody came up to you as you walked out of church and says, well, I'm desperate to know the gospel, what can you tell me? You could take them to this passage right here. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Is that the gospel? Yeah, that's it. It's that simple. If you can tell them those things, you'll have given them the gospel. That's what a person is required to believe to be saved.

Now, as we saw earlier in the book of Ephesians, however, we say, where did Paul write to the church at Ephesus about peace? Where he did is in chapter 2, and we skip for the sake of brevity here, and also font size, verse 12. The point being there, starting in verse 14, He Himself is our peace. Ah, He is our peace.

What did He do? He broke down the dividing wall, which is the law, which divided the Jews and the Gentiles. That, that was peace. Christ took upon Himself as He died on the cross the law. and put the law out of commission with regards to the church. He became and preached peace for you who are far away and peace to those who are near. So point one, Christ is our peace and notice associated with that is the unity between the Jews and the Gentiles.

Now, where is Paul mentioned the gospel? Ephesians 3. To cut to the chase, verse 6, to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body along with the believing Jews and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Notice that in both contexts the issue is uniting the Jew and the Gentile who were divided by the law, by putting the law out of commission. Alright, so how do we be prepared with this Gospel of peace. How do we have this preparation shod on our feet here? The Jews and the Gentiles could both count upon, and can count upon now within the church, a unity.

There is no basis for any disunity on the basis of the law. No longer dividing. We stand upon a singular eternal position in Christ. A singular eternal position in Christ. See, up until this was revealed, the Jews would say, you can come to God through us, but you'll never quite make it to the full stature of us Jews. You just don't have the right background and the right blood. Our position in Christ, which is what we share in common, means peace between us. It makes our stance against the enemy fixed and immovable and singular. One position, one place. Isn't it interesting here, in order to win the battle, what do you need? The gospel of peace. Almost ironic.

In Galatians 3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is no longer this division here. You are all one in Christ Jesus. There is this unity that we have as believers. There is this singular position that we have as believers. So it says, "...are being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." The Lord has done the preparing. This isn't something, boy, you better get ready and get your gospel tracts in line. You better have a really big backpack because you're going to really load it up. Certainly we want to be in a position to share the gospel.

But what he's focusing on here instead is our singular position in Christ. It's the preparation that he's already done. That preparation is already accomplished in Christ. We have one singular position in Christ. We have the unity such that those inside this formation are all on the same side. They're all on the same team. It's the enemy that's out there, not amongst us. Stand firmly upon your eternal position in Christ.

Now, as we look through here, we're going to be seeing the first three pieces here, the belt, the breastplate, One of the things you'll notice is this. The armor is exactly what's needed. We have the first piece, truth. Who is truth? Jesus. Righteousness. Notice how that is opposed to Satan, just like truth. Satan's a liar. What's our armor? Truth. is now working in the sons of disobedience. What is our armor? Righteousness. There is a gospel of peace, and that enables us to stand against the enemy with whom we wrestle.

Notice that what caused Satan to flee, because remember the statement we saw earlier, resist Satan and he will flee from you. What causes him to flee? The character of Jesus Christ. bad-mouthing Satan. It's not by telling him what to do. All it takes is the character of Jesus Christ walking in the position we have in Him, and Satan runs.

That's a potent power with which he cannot contend. Isn't that good news? That's a wonderful thing. It directly opposes our opponent's character. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at these things, you have given us a powerful set of armor, and that armor is not something hypothetical or academic, neither is it something that we have to work to gain. It is instead armor you provided, and it is in fact the very character of Jesus Christ. We thank you for that. We thank you for your immense love for us, and that you have armed us with a person of your son. We thank you for that in Jesus name, Amen.