We are continuing to look at what the Apostle Paul called the whole armor of God. In his letter to the Ephesian Church, chapter 6, he talked about our world as a battle field. And he wasn't picturing the kind of battle like that occurred when we began our attack on Iraq, where our forces could sit safely on a ship a hundred miles from the action and safely lob missiles at people they couldn’t even see, or stealth bombers drop bombs from above the clouds. This battle is more like the mess in Baghdad today, where you often don’t know if that person walking down the street is going to try to sell you some trinket or blow you up with bombs strapped under their clothing. The devil attacks close and dirty. He’s even sneakier than the lowest suicide bomber because he has often infiltrated our very thoughts without us even knowing it. The battleground is your very heart. Sometimes it has been going on for so long that we can't even imagine a life without it.
But Paul assures us that God provides the weapons we need, not just to survive, but to stand firm, to hold our ground, to stay at our assigned post, to stand close to God, no matter what this world throws our way.
Our text for this morning is, again, Ephesians 6:10-17.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 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. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Today we look at the second piece of armor, the breastplate of righteousness. Last week we looked at the belt of truth, which represents how we think and feel towards God. The breastplate of righteousness symbolizes something of how we think and feel about ourselves.
And we live in an age that is very sensitive to how we feel about ourselves. Issues of self esteem are everything for us. Most advertisers have given up on telling us the actual merits of a product. Instead they project a feeling about ourselves that they want us to connect with their product. Maybe you’ve seen the commercial where kids are climbing the slide in a playground. One little girl pushes in ahead of her turn. When the other mother protests, the pushy little girl’s mother refuses to correct the situation. So the mother whose child got bullied feels insecure and vulnerable for a moment. But what does she do to fix it? She goes out and buys a Hummer. And what feeling is she supposed to get from driving a Hummer? Power and control. Who knows if she can afford to buy it, let alone feed it? But by driving a monster car she can feel big and strong. But is her life really any different? Only that she is out about $50,000, and she will be spending an awful lot of time and money at the gas station. Are there better ways to feel good about ourselves?
The Bible tells us that we feel good about ourselves as we do right and as we are in right relationship with God.
Righteousness is like a piece of armor that protects our very heart. God offers us the privilege of wearing the breastplate of righteousness. It’s not a sham effort to pretend we are good when we aren't. The breastplate of righteousness is transparent. It won't cover up anything. It only fits over a clean heart.
I don’t think the Bible ever gives us a really clear portrait of the devil. But one of the names it gives for the devil is ‘the accuser’. We see the devil as the accuser right at the beginning of the Bible, when he works through the snake to suggest that God is holding out on Adam and Eve, keeping important knowledge from them. And then, when Eve says that God told them they would die if they eat the forbidden fruit, Satan as much as calls God a liar by saying it isn’t true.
The devil accuses Job of being weaker than God thought. Just let me work him over a bit, God, and you’ll see that Job will fall.
I bet we have all been morally paralyzed at times by voices in our heads accusing us. "Why go to church, you'd just be a hypocrite after the things you've done." "You're not good enough to serve on a church committee." "It's a waste of time for you to read your Bible; you're not that kind of person." "God knows too much about you, he can't love you anymore. You blew it."
I’m not preaching this sermon just to give you an hour of warm fuzzy feelings. Watch your thoughts this week and deal with the ones that undermine your faith. You can do it. You can be changed.
When the devil has any grounds to use at all to attack us and paralyze us, he will do anything to keep us from coming back to God. He wants us to give up. I told you at the beginning that the battle is fought in our hearts and our enemy fights dirty.
God calls us to live a life that will be above accusation, a righteous life, where we just plain refuse to do the things that will shame us, where we can look at the things we have done and feel good about them because they are good, not just because we want to have good feelings. The world calls us to take shortcuts, to feel good without doing good. But it doesn't work that way. It would be like having a big crack in the wall in your living room. Sure, you could wallpaper over it and pretend it's repaired. But you know the wallpaper won't hide it for long. The truth will come out.
As long as we harbor sin in our hearts the devil has a target to accuse us. He will neutralize us. He will manipulate us. He will tear us down. He'll have that to hold between us and our God.
So God calls us to a hatred of sin, of everything that pulls us away from God, anything that is unworthy of the holy God who created us, anything that would cause us to hide from him or one another, anything that would keep us from freely celebrating that we are children of God. The breastplate of righteousness only fits over a clean heart.
What was the first message that we know Jesus preached? “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” We can be changed. That’s good news.
But in our passage for today, the Apostle Paul is talking about sometime further. Paul takes personal holiness very seriously. But he isn't telling us to make our own armor. I'd like to tell you that I've never sinned in my life, but I can't, because it isn't true. I don't have any more right to wear the breastplate of righteousness than anyone else on the basis of what I have earned. And I’d like to tell you that you don’t need worry about your sin, you’re all good enough. But I can’t do that either and be faithful to the Bible. In our text Paul is talking about a very special armor which God gives.
God has made provision for a different kind of righteousness for folks like us. On the cross, Jesus Christ took the punishment due to us for our sins. There is no longer any need for punishment. When he rose from the tomb he demonstrated that the power of the sin of the world had been defeated, that forgiveness is now available. And the offer now stands that our sins can be forgiven if we will confess them out to God, without legal rationalizations, without excuses. If we will be genuinely sorry for our sins, if we'll dare to trust that God will forgive us, he will. And again and again he gives us a fresh start.
And that's not at all to say, "Oh, God just forgives everyone," as if sins don't matter. And it's not to say that God doesn't care about sin, because he cares very deeply. If we don't recognize the destructiveness of sin we aren't even beginning to understand the way to forgiveness.
But when we confess our sins and repent from our heart, he will forgive us. We can know in our hearts that we are forgiven, that no charges remain against us. We have nothing to hide, nothing to fear. We can be open about what we have done in the past because we know it is in the past. Let the devil throw his accusations at us. If you are wearing God’s breastplate of righteousness, the accusation will just bounce off.
Now, some of us are working hard to really do the right thing. And we really are trying to trust God to forgive us where we fall short. But that doesn’t always settle it because the devil doesn’t play fair. He’ll try accusing us even when he has no right. And some of us may carry wounds from the past, things our parents or others said to us, that leave us vulnerable to his false accusations.
We all need to know the difference between God’s helpful conviction of our sins and the devil’s destructive condemnation. There are three things to watch for.
First the devil loves broad accusations. “You always do… such and such.” “You never are good enough at …..” He tries to bury us in this cloud that is so big and so fuzzy that you just can’t get a hold on it to do anything about it.
God’s conviction is specific. “Remember what you said to so and so this morning? That really hurt them.” And because it is specific, you can go and make it right and move on.
When you feel weighed down by some indefinable feeling of failure, say, “I reject such useless generalities. God, show me something specific and I’ll deal with it.”
Second, the devil is hopeless. “You’ve failed again. You always blow it. You’ll never do any better. You’d might as well admit it.” Has anyone here ever heard that one?
God’s conviction comes with hope, if we can hear it. “Go back to that person and just make it right. Then things will be OK with you and taking that step will make you stronger so it won’t happen again.”
When you feel hopeless about change, say, “I reject this hopelessness. Lord, you are powerful and good. Help me straighten this out and move ahead.” God loves to hear that prayer.
And thirdly, the devil’s condemnation is driving, pushing, crushing.
God’s conviction is drawing. God never pushes his way. He always leaves room for us to say ‘no.’ But his invitations to do better are always out there.
When you feel driven, pushed, say, “I refuse to be panicked over this. Lord, help me hear your still, small voice. I want to find your way ahead.”
The devil’s condemnation is general, hopeless and driving. God’s conviction is specific, hopeful and drawing. We need to be able to discern the thoughts in our heads.
And we need to be careful when we correct our children or grandchildren so that we don’t join forces with the devil by speaking in a tone that is general, hopeless and driving. Let’s correct our children with specifics, hope and patient gentleness.
I love something I once read about Martin Luther. Even the great reformer was very aware of his sins and often felt like the devil was accusing him and trying to drag him down. Maybe he was attacked more, precisely because he was such an important leader for the church. And there were some very real issues from his childhood when his distant and demanding father wanted him to be a lawyer but he chose the priesthood instead. And do you know what he would say back to the devil when those accusing thoughts came into his mind? He'd say, "That's right, I was guilty of that, and that, too. And here are three more sins you didn't think of, write them down. But God has forgiven me of all of them." And the load of guilt was off of him and he was free to get on with serving God with his whole heart, with nothing to fear.
And if that didn’t work, he would take a step of faith that God had forgiven him and so he didn’t need to fight that battle. He would go to a party.
And if that didn’t work and the devil still filled his mind with accusations, he would take the ultimate step of faith. He’d go out in the fields and shovel manure. God had given him the breastplate of righteousness. He was free to move on.
Some of us may need to stop right now and get some things right with God, to make every effort to deal with anything that isn’t right in your heart or in your life. Jesus said that if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And, of course our hands don’t initiate anything. They just follow orders. But that is the attitude we should have in dealing with our own sin.
Others of us may need to take a step of faith, to trust in God’s gift of the breastplate of righteousness, and dare to step out and move our life in God forward. Don’t let the devil paralyze you.
The breastplate of righteousness. Ultimately it's a gift from God, nothing we can manufacture for ourselves. It enables us to feel good about ourselves because God really has made us good. It's another of God's gifts to enable us to stand up strong in this world, to be useful for God. AMEN
