Take Your Stand | Spiritual Warfare – 2 | Ephesians 6:10-20

December 12, 2012

Ephesians 6:10-20

Note: This sermon is a second sermon in the series called spiritual warfare, you may go back and look at last Sunday’s sermon if you have missed the sermon: Spiritual Warfare 1.

Now come to Ephesians 6:10-17. In fact, this is a summary of the entire letter. This is about the climax of the letter.

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

This passages starts with the word ‘finally,’ signifying that Paul is now wrapping this letter up. This a strong summation to catch everything he has said to this stage. Paul says finally I want you to understand a few things.

Paul is building up the context of Spiritual Warfare based on what he has already written in this letter.

Chapter 1 is like a thesis statement for this letter:

Ephesians 1:10

..to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

God’s plan is to unite all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
The battle has been won by Jesus on the cross.
Now it is for us, the church, to exercise the victory.
It cannot be done by lazy or passive believers.

If we are passive believers this victory may be accomplished through others, but we may lose our role in the plan of God. This is God’s grand plan. To bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ at his coming. To accomplish that you are significant in the plan of God.

Who are these people, the church?

1:3 – Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
1:4 – Chosen them before the creation of the world.
2:6-7 – Seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.
3:10 – The healing agents in the world (His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.) They are transformed people.
4:1 – They are living a life worthy of the call.
5:2 – They are walking in the way of love

After Paul has set the stage to say this: You are blessed, you are seated, you are chosen, you are the healing agents, you are living a life worthy, you are walking in love; now you stand in Ephesians 6. You have to stand against the devil’s schemes.

If you don’t stand, how can the church proclaim the conquest of the cross?

APPLICATION

Most of the believers are not even aware that they are in a battle. Most of the people think, “I have accepted Christ, I have taken water baptism, I take the Lord’s Supper, I gave my offerings and wait for the second coming.” Hardly we realize that we have a battle that we find ourselves in, right from the day we had the experience of salvation. The battle just began.

We don’t realize that after believing in Jesus sometimes things can go from bad to worse; in our family, in the work place or at business. Many have told me, “Pastor, I thought that once we take baptism things will be alright. We thought God is for us. After baptism all of a sudden I am going through a difficult circumstance. I am facing a problem in my family. Business was going well, now I face challenges.” We have also seen people who have deserted their faith after they have encountered with challenges and problems.

Preparation for Spiritual Warfare:

Every Battle Need Preparation.

ILLUSTRATION

Michael Phelps has a record 23 Olympic gold medals. Phelps would train almost six hours a day, 365 days, stick to this diet. He hit the gym at least 3 times per week. Overall, he trained for 5 to 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. In peak training phases, Phelps swims minimum 80 km a week. You see him in the Olympic field excelling, but there is painstaking hard work behind the scene.

Question:

How have you prepared yourself for a spiritual battle?
Are you ready for that battle?
Are you prepared to battle on a daily basis?

Observation:

Metaphors Of Church Portrayed In Ephesians:

Church is the body of Christ:

Ephesians 1:22-23

²²And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Church is the body, Jesus is the head. God wants to express himself through the church.

Church is the building where God dwells.

Ephesians 2:21-22 ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Church is the bride

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..

Body, building, bride. Often we stop there. We have a vague understanding about Ephesians 6:10 onwards. Sometimes it is on one exteme; sometimes it is on another extreme. Sometimes we blame the devil for everything by quoting this passage, some other people do not read it because for them this passage is not applicable. I know God is for me, Christ has won the victory it does not make sense. That is the other extreme.

But I want you to think this: There is another metaphor for the church alongside the body, building and bride metaphor.

Church is in a battlefield.

We are in a battle at a higher level.

APPLICATION

I want to tell you that ours is the victory because Christ has already won the victory the for us on the cross. Christ has done his work on the cross. Powers and principalities are under his feet. Now it is the duty of the church to proclaim it, show the world it is still under the feet of the church.

3 Observations:

1. There Is No Choice, You Are In A Battle.

Ephesians 5:12 For our struggle

Who is writing this letter? Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul is in a battle. Believers are in a battle. Our struggle..

Paul can say, “I have come to Ephesus. I have pioneered churches. I have reached a level of spirituality. I know what it is to be a Christian. It is your battle. I have won my battle.” Paul did not say that. Paul says, “Our struggle.”

Where is Paul as he is writing this letter? Paul is in a Roman prison. He is a prisoner of the Lord. Paul visited Ephesus at least twice first during his second missionary journey for a short stay and secondly during his third missionary journey for founded this church in Acts 18 and in Acts 19 during this 3^rd Missionary journey Paul stay there for 3 years and taught, preached and founded this church. Now Paul is in prison. People are telling, “Paul you have preached so well, now you are in a prison. There is something wrong with you.”

Paul is in a battle for the sake of the gospel. Battle from within, battled from the Pharisees, battle from the Romans. Paul is surrounded in a spiritual battle.

2. Nature Of The Battle Is Spiritual.

Ephesians 6:12

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.

APPLICATION

Most of the time it seems to be that our battle is against flesh and blood, against people. The problem that you have in your family, the cause of that problem is not a member of your family. It is not your spouse, or relative or your children. Here is a spiritual warfare. These spiritual forces will exercise their power and authority through the structures of everyday life. The spiritual forces can work through children, through our neighbour or through a member in the family. It may appear in the work place that your boss or that employee is your enemy; but make sure that our enemy is not people.

Now this is in context of what Paul is saying in Ephesians 5:21 onwards. The battlefield or the battleground is in three different places:

Battlefield in the Context of Ephesians

Husband & Wife.
Children & Parents.
Slave & Masters.

This is the context but you should know that when you look at the struggle in these places, don’t treat people as your enemy, it may manifest in the context of the family, workplace or the church but it is a spiritual enemy.

We can never win a spiritual battle by carnal weapons. You just got to stand.

3. Take Your Stand.

See the number of times stand is mentioned in this passage.

Ephesians 6:10-20

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For 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. ¹³Therefore 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. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And 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 Lord’s people. ¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

V10 – take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
V13 – stand your ground.
V13b – after you have done everything, to stand.
V14 – stand firm

4 times Paul says ‘stand’ in this passage.

When to stand?

V13 – When the day of evil comes.

Stand now in order that you may stand on the evil day when it comes.

APPLICATION

When evil comes with all its attack on you. When you feel that everything in your life is going from bad to worse, all of a sudden there are problems coming; you better stand now itself so that you can stand well on that day.

After you know that you are in an inevitable battle because you have to proclaim the good news. After you know that you have to proclaim the unity of all things in heaven and earth by the work of Jesus through your life. You have to put on some things to stand firm.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore put on the full armor of God

Ephesians 6:14-16

¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We are to put on the full armor of God. In the context of Ephesians, ‘put on’ is not a new concept. We have seen this ‘put on’ usage in chapter 4.

Ephesians 4:24 …and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

There is a link between 4:24 and 6:10-20. Ephesians 4:24 says. “to put in the new self.” You have to put on Christ himself. We need to put on the nature of Christ or the attributes of Christ to win the spiritual battle.

Spiritual battle is won when you put on the new self.
Spiritual battle is won when you clothe yourself with the character of God, attributes of God.

When you look at the armour of God descriptions carefully, that reveals the character of God.

We will look at it in the following weeks.

CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATION ON BATTLE:

God has called us to be partners in his triumph and victory that he achieved on the cross. We are included in the plan of God where Christ is going to unite all things in heaven and earth under Him. So we continue that battle today. Dear friends, we are in a real battle. The devil and his spiritual forces are battling against us. We need to be prepared for the battle, so that when the day of evil comes we can take our stand. We are called to put on the nature and attributes of Christ. Our fight is not against flesh and blood but aginst the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The only way we can win this battle is by putting on the nature of Christ and standing firm. Can you commit your battles into the Lord’s hands today. Christ has already won the victory, he will fight our battles, we need to grow and mature to be like Christ. We are going to pray for you. Amen.

City Harvest AG Church

Take Your Stand | Spiritual Warfare – 2 | Ephesians 6:10-20