Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Epistle, which was read earlier.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, Christianity is no picnic. It is not for the faint of heart. It does not guarantee a life of riches and success—of peace and tranquility. In fact, here Paul is preparing the Baptized of God for quite the opposite. Every day we face a battle with an unholy trinity: the devil, who loves nothing more than to wrest us away from our loving Father; the world, that wants company in its misery and separation from God to justify itself with numbers and to avoid seeing its own guilt; and our own sinful flesh, that wants what it wants when it wants it, no matter the harm it may do to others or even itself. If you are going into battle, you need to make sure that you are properly armed or else you will find that you quickly become a casualty of war.
Our text can be summed up in two words today: “Be strong.” The Christian life will always be a struggle. Attacks on the faith will take the form of temptations and moral lapses. There will be temptations to yield on points of doctrine. There will be temptations to judge those who do not meet your holy standards. The list could go on and on, but the point is clear: we need to be strong against temptations. However, this is something that children of God cannot do by themselves. They need help, God’s help. That is why Paul writes, “Put on the whole armor of God.” Notice who is the one who is providing the armor and strength. It’s not you and me. It can’t be you and me because we don’t have the means to clothe ourselves in righteousness.
This is an epic battle that we are engaged in as Christians. Just who are we fighting in the war? Paul says, “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 are battling spiritual forces bent on doing us harm, forces that seek death for the Christian.
William Tecumseh Sherman, in his address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy in 1879 was quoted saying, “War is hell.” Anyone who has fought in battle would most likely agree with Sherman’s statement. However, this war is truly hell, as it is the battle between heaven and hell, good and evil, life and death, God and Satan.
We are at war with none other than Satan himself, and truth be told, Satan likes the way that the war is going. When Satan started the war back in the Garden of Eden, it was the shot heard around the cosmos because at that very moment, Satan started and ended a war with a single piece of fruit. He rejoiced in his victory because he forever separated man from God. As far as Satan was concerned, this was a well-fought war; however, God was ready to begin His own war to regain His creation.
While the war has ultimately ended with Satan being defeated by Jesus’ death and resurrection, the battles still rage on today in all of our lives. That is why Paul tells us to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” We continue to be assaulted by Satan and his evil ways every day. It can be very easy to surrender in our daily battle, but this is why Paul tells us why we need the full armor of God and not just bits and pieces of it.
God instructs us to put on the armor of God that He has provided. What is this armor? First there is the belt of truth. No matter how bad the situation gets, we remain grounded in the truth of who Jesus Christ is, our Lord, our Savior, the true divine person of God come down to earth in the body of a man to offer Himself up for our salvation. Together as true God and true man Jesus reigns today from heaven over His church.
The next piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. The key to this is that it is not our righteousness. If it were our righteousness, then we could never stand against Satan because our righteousness, our works, the best we can do, is nothing but filthy rags. We cannot rely upon ourselves, but that is what we hear from the world. We hear how we are capable of achieving or earning our own salvation through our own works or other merits. The truth is we cannot rely upon ourselves; we must rely solely upon Christ. Christ’s death upon the cross and His laying down His life and His ultimate resurrection gives us that protection from whatever Satan can throw at us because we are no longer children of Satan but we have been made children of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
For our feet, we have nothing short than the gospel of peace. God is at peace with us, and we are at peace with one another. Our sins are forgiven, so we know that whatever rocks and sharp things underfoot we encounter in the battle, God is not against us, nor are things out of control and hopeless, but we are at peace with God and He with us.
We next arm ourselves with “the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the faming darts of the evil one.” These flaming darts are constantly around us. They are in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. The shield of faith is God’s gift which gives to us salvation, effects the forgiveness of sins, grants access to God, and assures eternal life by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Again, this is not our shield, but the shield that is given to us by God. No shield that we bring to the battlefield can defend us. It is trust in God and in His promises that can extinguish all the flaming arrows of doubt, of guilt and of fear that the devil can send against us. We can shout, in faith, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The helmet of salvation that we wear is salvation that has been won for us. In the ultimate battle of the cross and the grave, Jesus defeated the devil and broke Satan’s power over God’s creation. Satan fired all his fiery arrows and spent all his weapons and has nothing left. Christ has given us the victory of His death and resurrection.
Our armor against Satan is complete, minus one thing: a weapon, the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Only the Word of God, which is Jesus Christ made flesh, could defeat Satan. It was He would come into this world, not at our asking, but of the Father’s will. It was Jesus Christ who lived a life without sin for all of us who are sinful. It was Jesus Christ who died a death that no one else could die on our behalf. It was Jesus Christ, by His resurrection from the grave that defeated Satan, not us.
God has given us the armor, and He has given us the power, and He has given us the weapon for the battle. We must also remember that He also has given us the ultimate victory as well, in Jesus Christ, so we have no need for fear. If we belong to Christ, we will not be able to avoid the battle, for the enemy will bring it to us. But the victory is ours if we stand with Christ and stand ready. So, be prepared: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.