Battle Gear Pt 2
Last week we talked about the spiritual battle that takes place everyday.
We looked at the soldiers in this battle, the armies of Satan armed with their lies,
temptations, tricks and how they attack us at our weakest moments. How they
attack our desires, thoughts and emotions. And on the other side we have
ourselves. Now we may think of ourselves as the big tough Rambo warrior type,
but the Bible tells us that we are defenseless, helpless sheep. We are about as
prepared to go into a spiritual battle as the lions were prepared to play football
last Sunday. Let’s say it together. “I am a sheep, I have wool for armor”. We
need God’s armor, God’s strength, God’s might to fight this spiritual battle, to
fight off the attacks of Satan
Our lesson today, is the 2nd in a series on that spiritual battle that takes
place every day of our lives, and the armor of God that we need to put on in
order to survive that battle. We continue to look at our scripture from Ephesians
6:10-20 concentrating today on verses 13-15. So lets open our bibles and take a
look at the 1st 3 pieces of armor that Paul tells us we need to put on. I want you
to look at and circle these 3 words in our scripture. Truth, in verse 14,
righteousness also in verse 14, and peace in verse 15. These are the 1st 3
pieces of armor. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the boots
of peace. To help you remember, just think of the 3 B’s, belt, breastplate and
boots.
Truth is the first piece of armor, Paul compares it to a soldiers belt. Now
many of us wear a belt to keep our pants up, although as time goes by, my pants
seem to be shrinking around the waist and I don’t seem to need one as much as
I used to. Nowadays belts are decorative as well as functional. My wife is
always ready to point out “You need to wear a belt with those pants”, and
“You’re really not planning on wearing that with those pants and shoes are you?”
But in the days of the Roman soldier, the belt was a part of his armor. The belt,
which was often made of mail or leather, was wrapped around the soldiers
waist and kept his toga or cloak from flying all around during battle. The Roman
soldiers belt held everything in close, keeping him in fighting readiness. It was
also where he would keep his sword and other weapons ready for battle. The
belt tied everything together. In our spiritual battle gear, truth, our belt, wraps
itself around the believer. It is truth which ties together the believer’s armor. In
our warfare against Satan and his demons, our enemy uses deception and
deceit as one of their weapons. It is our belt of truth that illuminates our way and
enables us to be ready to fight. Truth speaks of an authentic lifestyle. This
lifestyle means telling, living and representing truth. There are many people
today who live a double lifestyle, saying one thing and doing another. Living a
truthful life today is getting harder and harder. More and more we see people
who’s conduct reveals their dishonesty. Wearing the belt of truth means that we
live honestly, in integrity, and without hypocrisy. It means applying truth to how
we live our lives. There is also the truth in the words we use. We, as a society,
have twisted our words so that they are no longer meaningful. I heard someone
describe taxes as “revenue assessment enhancements”. Truth says that they’re
taxes. Morale perversion is now called “gay” or alternate lifestyle. Don’t dare
say homosexual or sodomizer, say “gay”. Destruction of unborn life, created by
God is “freedom of choice”. There was an article in the Daily News in the Dear
Prudie section, the one that has replaced Ann Landers, where a woman wrote in
because there was no word to describe the relationship the she and the man
that she had been living with for over 2 years. She says (read article). This is
ridiculous! There is a word for this type of relationship. God calls it sinful. This is
the truth. But Satan has worked at us so much that all our words now have to be
politically correct so as not to offend anyone. When we have the belt of truth
girding us, it keeps us living in truth, it reveals the truth, it teaches us truth so
that when Satan tries to attack us with lies, his little rewording of information, we
have our whole lives tied together with the truth of God. Walking in truth,
Knowing what is right and what is wrong.
The second piece of our armor is the breastplate of righteousness. On the
Roman soldier, the breastplate covered his vital organs. The heart, lungs,
kidneys stomach, and other organs were covered by this important piece of
armor. Paul is using this symbol to tell us that it is righteousness that protects
us in those vital areas of our relationship with God so that the life of Christ within
us is not removed. Righteousness comes from God. It is not something that we
have. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” It is through Christ that
we are made righteous, not guilty, innocent of our sins. That righteousness
which is through Christ means that we are able to turn away from sin and
experience fellowship with God. We have been set free from our former manner
of life. Without this breastplate of righteousness, we will be susceptible to every
temptation from Satan. The Bible tells us that we have been set free from the
slavery of sin and death through Jesus Christ. The challenge is to live like who
we really are. Romans 6: 1-2 and 11-13 says “Well then, shall we keep on
sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and
forgiveness? Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don’t have
to?............So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin,
and instead be alive to God, alert to him though Jesus Christ our Lord. Do not
let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do
not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for
sinning; but give yourselves completely to God--every part of you--for you are
back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his
good purposes”. When Satan attacks our heart, he does it in little insignificant
ways, getting us to sin in small, seemingly insignificant ways, until the poison of
his attacks destroy and kill our heart for the Lord. When we put on the
breastplate of righteousness, we guard our heart against these attacks, we live
depending on the goodness and mercy of Christ, and walk in His holiness every
day.
The 3rd piece of armor are the shoes or boots of peace. It has been said
that the Roman soldiers boots were the secret of the Roman conquest. The boot
that a Roman soldier wore was an open toed, spiked shoe which laced up past
his ankles. It could be compared to the shoes that football players wear. Any
football fan knows the need for a player to have shoes that can grip the different
types of turf that they play on. Without the proper shoes, a football player will
slip and slide and be unable to evade or fight off a would be tackler. It was very
similar to a Roman soldiers need for firm footing. A soldier must traverse
different terrain, climb rocks and trees, walk over sharp jagged stones, wade
through ponds and swamps, and have sure footing during combat. Most battles
were hand-to-hand and a soldier could not afford to be pushed backwards or
slip. The soldiers boots helped a soldier stand his ground and advance on his
enemy.
We must put on the boots of peace. When we battle against the attacks of
Satan, we must have the gospel of peace to stand firm. There are 2 qualities of
peace that we experience as Christians. The first is the peace that we have with
God. As Christians, we are no longer fighting against God, turning our will
against His. Paul tells us in Romans 5:1 “Therefore having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Because of the
good news in Jesus, we now experience peace and harmony with God. We no
longer struggle against Him or his will for our lives. The 2nd quality is the peace
of God. Philippians 4:7 says “And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is a
peace in knowing that no matter what we go through in life, we have the peace
of God within us. The peace of God, means that we can experience His peace
even in the most difficult circumstances. It is the peace of God that is within us
that causes us to have that calm, self assurance no matter what the situation.
We’ve all heard or even told someone to “get a gripe” when life’s problems
cause them to fall apart. But how can someone “get a grip”, if they nothing to
grip onto? Knowing Jesus gives us something to hold on to, to have something
to grab when problems arise. Putting on the boots of peace enables us to stand
firm, It gives us traction in our life. It’s a way to plant our feet against Satan’s
attacks and climb and walk on uncertain ground. When we wear the boots of
peace, we can face any attack Satan may throw at us and be able to stand firm
and have a peace about everything, knowing that we have the strength and
power of Jesus within us.
These are the first 3 pieces of the armor of God that we must put on. We
must wrap ourselves in the truth that is in Christ Jesus, we must protect our
heart with the righteousness of Christ, and we must put on the peace of God to
stand firm in all of life’s situations. Satan is going to attack us. That is not in
question, it’s a guarantee. And we’re nothing but defenseless sheep. It is only
by putting on God’s armor that we can defend and defeat these attacks.
Next week we will look at the rest of our armor, the shield of faith, the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, and a secret weapon we have in
fighting our battle against Satan. Now just as a reminder, who are we in this
battle? And who’s armor must we put on?
