As a cyclist I find the discipline of putting that helmet on tedious, but so also do I at times find my daily prayer time and the discipline of putting on the armour of God commended in Ephesians 6. Being a Christian is a matter of both assurance – knowing you’re on the Lord’s side and he on yours – and discipline – it doesn’t happen automatically! The military images of Ephesians are unfashionably confrontational but they are a good reminder of the need to keep a rule of life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
There’s a call to chose sides and take up arms in today’s scripture. Joshua’s call for the tribes to choose the Lord over against other gods is paralleled by Peter’s pledge of allegiance to Jesus in John 6. Both passages are about the need for decisiveness in the face of the revelation of God, the Old Covenant revelation through Moses and Joshua and that provided in his flesh by Jesus. In the Old Testament reading there is a decided unanimity. ‘As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’ says Joshua and the people say: ‘far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods’. In the New Testament Gospel reading there isn’t unanimity but division. We read ‘many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him’ so that ‘Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life’.
In the Ephesians passage the Christian is described as a soldier putting on armour to ‘stand against the wiles of the devil’. Here the division is more acute as St Paul launches into a reminder of the resources granted to believers in spiritual conflict. I want to pay particular attention to this passage because it contains some very helpful teaching for us as Christian disciples.
First though a word about the devil. It’s part of orthodox Christian faith to believe in the devil but he’s never highlighted in the formal creeds. Historically the Church has been reserved about the devil and at times forgetful of him. C.S.Lewis wrote of two opposed errors, forgetting him and overplaying him. The devil is the father of lies. His only power is that of denying what is true and luring us with his wiles to forget what’s true to mistakenly serve ourselves. Perhaps the best way to see what’s at stake in Christian spiritual warfare is to go directly into our second reading and look at the armour of God.
‘10 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness’.
Truth and righteousness – our belt and breastplate. You could say truth and integrity, what God is and what we are becoming. If we are in a war with the devil it is a war that has passed its decisive point. It is a mopping up operation. God who made us free and saw evil powers threaten our freedom came himself to break those powers by the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Facing up to the power of sin, he provides forgiveness. Facing up to the power of sickness, he provides healing. Facing up to the power of bondage, he provides deliverance.This means that the truth that is his – our belt – becomes ours – the breastplate of righteousness and integrity. As Christians we stand against anything that says ‘you’re on your own’, anything that exaggerates the powers of evil.
‘15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace’.
Do you put your shoes on day by day with the thought that you’ve got some good news of peace to carry to someone? I don’t always, but it’s a good thought, faithful to scripture.
The good news of God’s love brings peace and where people are chronically anxious and agitated they have slipped from the truth by the devil’s wiles so to speak. The scriptures today talk overall of a call to conflict but most times the warfare of Christians is against wrong conflict isn’t it? Pouring oil on troubled waters. Amicable disagreement – there’s not enough of that in the world but, with all its inadequacies, the Church of England is a good model being both catholic and reformed, though, as the same sex blessing debate shows, we could do better.
‘16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.’ Faith is trusting in God’s word, that he will provide for our needs and protect us from the evil one. In our human frailty we often find it difficult to fully trust and believe God but, as it says in Hebrews 12:2 that God is the author, “perfecter” and finisher of our faith so we can and should ask him for the completion of our faith. Putting on the armour of God daily in our prayer time is one way of doing this. It’s like the prayer of the man in Mark 9:24: ‘Lord I believe, banish my unbelief!’
I don’t know if you were a Star Trek fan, but think of the analogy of a starship’s electromagnetic shield and our faith. When the starship’s shields were at 100%, the enemy torpedoes were unable to damage the ship. If the ship lost power, the shields failed and the torpedoes were free to wreak havoc on the disabled ship. When we start believing lies, our faith shield’s power source is damaged, allowing the enemy’s fiery darts to hit us. We lose this power by believing in unforgiveness or holding to lustful images we see in passing – so many of those around – or swallowing the subtle arguments for letting the needy find their own resources. The devil is a great source of convenient thinking!
‘17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’.
The helmet is our assurance with the whole church that God has called us and saved us. As a cyclist I find the discipline of putting that helmet on tedious, but so also do I at times find my daily prayer time and the discipline of putting on the armour of God. Being a Christian is a matter of both assurance – knowing you’re on the Lord’s side and he on yours – and discipline – it doesn’t happen automatically! The military images we’re using today are unfashionable but they are a good reminder of the need to keep a rule of life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Sword is the word of God, as I hope I am demonstrating – we need to be nourished at two tables, that of the Sacrament and that of the Bible. The Eucharist has these two tables in effect – but one of them we can go back to day by day through bible reading.
Lastly ‘18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.’
To recap we are called to speak out our Christian faith to ourselves day by day by putting on the armour of God. This armour is the belt of truth, the breastplate of integrity, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of the assurance of salvation and the sword of our equipping from the bible. All of these help us as we pray and receive the sacraments.
Let’s reflect now for a moment on how much we’re dressed for battle today and ask the Lord to further equip us for the struggles of life through the power of this Eucharistic meal of word and sacrament.
