2016.02.07 Ephesians 6: 8-12
The Armor of God Part1
Good morning everyone…. It´s great to see all of you… I
am glad that you are here….. I have Good
News for you…. His name is Jesus… As
most of you know… Here at Calvary Chapel
Wiesbaden we teach through the Bible
verse by verse… Because we want to see
the Big picture…. We want to know and understand our great God and Savior…. The
Lord Jesus Christ…. We are studying Paul´s letter to the Ephesians this morning… This morning we
will pick up chapter 6… We have been looking at the passages about submission
and authority…. In the home and in the church and in the work environment… look at Eph 5… v21…
Ephesians
5: 21 NLT Neues Leben
21
And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
21 Ordnet euch aus Achtung vor dem Herrn bereitwillig
einander unter.
v21…
submit to one another out of reverence for Christ… The NKJV says…. Submitting
to one another in the fear of God… The motive for all submission is love and respect for
the Lord Jesus Christ... It has to do with our relationship with the
Lord Jesus…. We need to have an attitude of mutual submission in the church and
in our families… We need the Holy Spirit´s help to love and care for our each other and our
families… We also need the Holy Spirit´s help as we live and work in this
world…. We want to be good and godly examples in our workplaces… How we live
and work is a very important part of our witness to the world… We should be the
most helpful and diligent workers in the company….
In theory our co-workers know that we are Christians…
They are watching us… They need to see helpful and humble servants…. People who
are looking for the good of the business…. And not for personal advantage… Because
I blasted through my notes on these verses last week… let´s review Eph 6…v5-9…
Ephesians
6: 5- 9 NLT Neues Leben
5
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely
as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when
they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your
heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather
than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the
good we do, whether we are slaves or free.9 Masters, treat your slaves in the
same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in
heaven, and he has no favorites.
5 Ihr Sklaven sollt euren irdischen Herren gehorchen.
Achtet und ehrt sie und dient ihnen mit aufrichtigen Herzen, wie ihr Christus
dient.
6 Arbeitet hart, aber nicht nur, um euren Herren zu
gefallen, wenn sie euch dabei sehen. Versteht euch vielmehr als Sklaven, die
Christus gehören und die von Herzen den Willen Gottes erfüllen.
7 Arbeitet so bereitwillig, als würdet ihr Gott dienen
und nicht Menschen.
8 Denkt daran, dass der Herr jeden von uns für das Gute
belohnen wird, das wir tun, ob wir nun Sklaven sind oder frei.
9 Und genauso sollt auch ihr Herren eure Sklaven
behandeln. Droht ihnen nicht, sondern denkt immer daran, dass ihr beide
denselben Herrn im Himmel habt, der keinen Menschen bevorzugt.
v5…
Slaves, obey your earthly masters… Serve
them sincerely as you would serve Christ… Do you see the
pattern in Paul´s exhortations to us…? We
are learning about all forms of
submission in life… For Christians
all submission… Is rooted in our
submission to the Lord Jesus Christ… He is our example... He became obedient even
unto death… Death on the cross… Phil 2:8 and Hebrews 5:8…
He
is not only our example…. He is the reason that we submit to
each other… and to the authority that He
Himself has placed in the home and in the church…. It´s all because of Jesus…
We trust Him…. We love and serve and obey the Lord Jesus… He is the one we
are following… As we submit to the Lord…
We submit to the authorities that
the Lord has put in our lives… The
Lord has given us parents and husbands and bosses and pastors… And because we
are genuine believers… we follow them… Unless what we are told to do something
that is illegal or sinful… Something that violates the Word of God… No one can
command you to disobey the Word of God…
The truth that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ changes
our whole perspective as workers and as bosses… It reminds us that our work
should be done as if we were working for the Lord… There were many many slaves
in the days when the early church was formed…. Slavery was an accepted form of
oppression… People were used and abused in those days… That is not the way
genuine believers are to be…. It does not matter if we are bosses or workers…..
We are in Christ…. We belong to the Lord Jesus…. We are to be the best bosses
and the best workers on the planet…
While the Gospel
in one respect left slavery alone… it doomed it in another… Because the Good News of the Gospel combats
all forms of oppression… The Glorious
Light of the Gospel Burst into the Greco-Roman world with great power… The Gospel brings the message of mutual
submission and redeeming love… To a world dominated by power and
wickedness…
v8…
Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do… Paul
reminds us that God will bless and reward us for our hard work…
v9…
Masters… Don’t threaten them… remember, you both have the same Master in heaven…
We are commanded to be kind and not harsh… This applies
to our families and our employees and of course… It applies to the way we treat
each other here in the church… Again we
see Jesus as our example… let´s look
at the next section… Eph 6… v10…
Ephesians
6: 10,11 NLT Neues Leben
10 A
final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of
God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of
the devil.
10 Noch ein Wort zum Schluss: Werdet stark durch den
Herrn und durch die mächtige Kraft seiner Stärke!
11 Legt die komplette Waffenrüstung Gottes an, damit ihr
allen hinterhältigen Angriffen des Teufels widerstehen könnt.
Ephesians
6: 12,13 NLT Neues Leben
12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil
rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark
world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.13 Therefore, put on
every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time
of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
12 Denn wir kämpfen nicht gegen Menschen aus Fleisch und
Blut, sondern gegen die bösen Mächte und Gewalten der unsichtbaren Welt, gegen
jene Mächte der Finsternis, die diese Welt beherrschen, und gegen die bösen
Geister in der Himmelswelt.13 Bedient euch der ganzen Waffenrüstung Gottes.
Wenn es dann so weit ist, werdet ihr dem Bösen widerstehen können und noch
aufrecht stehen, wenn ihr den Kampf gewonnen habt.
v10a…
A final word: Be strong in the Lord… This comes at the end of the
letter… In this letter Paul has carefully established our place in Jesus… He
has taught solid doctrinal proof… And
then He applied these truths to our Christian walk… This is his last section
dealing with that walk… Literally speaking… Paul wrote… strengthen yourselves in the Lord… He probably took the idea from 1 Samuel 30:6… In that passage we see
that … David strengthened himself in the LORD
his God…
There are 2 two
essential components to this final exhortation… First, you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might...
Then, you must put on the whole armor of
God... Both of these components are essential…
Equipping ourselves for Christian combat must begin with the
Lord Jesus… Be strong in the Lord and….
v10b...
And in the power of His might… This shows how to get the
strength that we need for the spiritual battle that we find ourselves in…
Might is a
clearly seen proof of power or force…
God has vast reservoirs of might that can be realized as
power in our Christian life… His might
works in us and through us…
The key for us is to by faith… rely on His might… And
then do the work…. We Proclaim and defend the Gospel with His power and His wisdom…
And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10… v3…5…
2
Corinthians 10: 3-5
NLT Neues Leben
3 We
are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons,
not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to
destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people
from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey
Christ.
3 Wir sind zwar Menschen, doch wir kämpfen nicht mit
menschlichen Mitteln. 4 Wir setzen die mächtigen Waffen Gottes und keine
weltlichen Waffen ein, um menschliche Gedankengebäude zu zerstören. 5 Mit
diesen Waffen zerschlagen wir all die hochtrabenden Argumente, die die Menschen
davon abhalten, Gott zu erkennen. Mit diesen Waffen bezwingen wir ihre
widerstrebenden Gedanken und lehren sie, Christus zu gehorchen.
v3… we
don’t wage war as humans do… We are fighting a war that
is not simply physical… The battle
against the enemy can come through human beings… But behind the outward stuff…
We see that hidden wicked powers are at work… The goal is to defeat and destroy
our usefulness for the Lord…. Satan wants us laying around licking our wounds…
instead of standing firm on the front lines… He wants us to shut our mouths… So
that we will be unwilling to Proclaim the Good News… He wants us to
shy away from confronting the sin and rebellion all around us… but… v4…
4…
We use God’s mighty weapons… to knock
down the strongholds of human reasoning…
We use grace and truth…. We are the light of the world
now… We Proclaim the Good News of the
Gospel to this lost and dying world…
Paul says… Be
strong and put on your Armor… The first thing that we see is that we need to be prepared… We are in a
Battle… So preparation comes first and
this is Paul’s word in verse 10… “Finally” “be strong in the lord and in the
power of his might.”
Notice that he uses 2 different greek words… 1 translated
strength and the other might… God´s
strength and God´s might! They are ours
to use… Because we are in Christ… We are
one with him… Because His life is our
life… His power is our power… His truth is our truth… It is this great truth that we are in Christ…
that his might becomes our might…
And by the way no matter how strong our enemy is… Jesus´ strength
is superior… I think of the church at Philadelphia
in Revelation chapter 3… The text describes this church as a good church… In fact it’s one of the two out of the seven
churches to which no condemnation was given… This was a righteous community of
faith… and our Lord Jesus says to them “you
will have an open door before you…”
This church was reaching out… They were blessed by God… In
verse 8 it says “And you have a little
strength” That´s awesome… Jesus says you have a little strength… You see even a little strength preserves the
church… God is so much more powerful than Satan… That even a little of his
strength is enough to overcome all of the enemies… Greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world… The smallest amount of
divine power… Is Infinitely greater is than our enemy… God´s
power easily overcomes the power of death and hell… The enemy has no
chance… In Philippians 4:13 Paul says “I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…
At the cross Jesus Christ gave the death blow to Satan… look
with me at Hebrews 2..v14…
Hebrews
2: 14,15 NLT Neues Leben
14
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also
became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by
dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15
Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to
the fear of dying.
14 Da Gottes Kinder Menschen aus Fleisch und Blut sind,
wurde auch Jesus als Mensch geboren. Denn nur so konnte er durch seinen Tod die
Macht des Teufels brechen, der Macht über den Tod hatte.15 Nur so konnte er die
befreien, die ihr Leben lang Sklaven ihrer Angst vor dem Tod waren.
Christ defeated Satan at the cross… Once for all time….
And as Paul spent 3 chapters of Ephesians telling us… We are in Christ…
Although the Devil is a conquered enemy... He accuses us…He wants us in his camp… But he can lay no just claim to a believer…
The point is this…
Yes… We are in a war… but there
is no reason to be afraid... We cannot loose… Jesus has already won it…
It is His war…. It was and is… His
victory… It truly is Finished… The
Divine resources to help and protect us… belong to us because of Jesus…
Aber… Here in the real world we do in fact struggle… Truth… Paul did tell us to stop lying to each other… Paul was
careful to exhort and encourage all of the people the Lord put in his life… Remember
Timothy…? Paul was his pastor… But at times even Timothy struggled… Let´s look
at what Paul wrote to him… 2 Timothy 1…v 6,7…
2
Timothy 1: 6,7
NLT Neues Leben
6
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you
when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and
timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
6 Deshalb ermutige ich dich dazu, die geistliche Gabe
wirken zu lassen, die Gott dir schenkte, als ich dir die Hände auflegte.
7 Denn Gott hat uns nicht einen Geist der Furcht gegeben,
sondern einen Geist der Kraft, der Liebe und der Besonnenheit.
Fan the flames of
faith in your Heart… Don´t be afraid… We cannot loose… In v 9,10 of this
passage…Paul reminds Timothy… God is the
one who saved us…. He is the one who poured grace into our lives….. He broke to
power of sin and death once for all in the Lord Jesus Christ´s death and
resurrection… This is the Good News… look at 2Timothy 2: 1-3....
2
Timothy 2: 1-3
NLT Neues Leben
1 Timothy,
my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2
You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable
witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able
to pass them on to others. 3 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier
of Christ Jesus.
1 Timotheus, mein lieber Sohn, werde stark durch die
Gnade, die Gott dir in Christus Jesus schenkt.2 Was du von mir gehört hast, das
sollst du auch weitergeben an Menschen, die vertrauenswürdig und fähig sind,
andere zu lehren.3 Sei bereit, als ein treuer Kämpfer für Christus Jesus zu
leiden.
Don´t be defeated or discouraged… Be strong in Grace and
teach others…
Now the fact is we can win our daily battles with sin and
temptation… After all… We know we’re going to win the war in the end… because Jesus
Christ has won the victory for us...
There is no reason for us to be losing battles along the way… But there
are some things we have to know… First we have to have our strength in the Lord
Jesus… and secondly we have to have the armor on.
We hear a lot about demons today… There
is some “Christian exorcism” popular in certain…. Circles… That is totally Unbiblical… In fact there is not one incident in all of
the Scripture where demons are ever cast out of a believer… It is impossible
for a Christian to be possessed… God has given all of us the freedom and power
to resist the Devil… Paul is giving us practical applications of the great truths
that He taught us at the beginning of this letter… look
with me at Ephesians Chapter 1, in verse
19…
Ephesians
1: 19- 23 NLT Neues Leben
19 I
also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for
us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from
the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the
heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or
leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.
22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head
over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body;
it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with
himself.
19 Ich bete, dass ihr erkennen könnt, wie übermächtig
groß seine Kraft ist, mit der er in uns, die wir an ihn glauben, wirkt. Es ist
dieselbe gewaltige Kraft, 20 die auch Christus von den Toten auferweckt und ihm
den Ehrenplatz an Gottes rechter Seite im Himmel gegeben hat. 21 Jetzt ist er
als Herrscher eingesetzt über jede weltliche Regierung, Gewalt, Macht und jede
Herrschaft und über alles andere, in dieser wie in der zukünftigen Welt. 22
Gott hat alles der Herrschaft von Christus unterstellt und hat Christus als
Herrn über die Gemeinde eingesetzt. 23 Die Gemeinde aber ist sein Leib, und sie
ist erfüllt von Christus, der alles ganz mit seiner Gegenwart erfüllt.
v19… Look at the greatness of
God´s power toward us who believe...
v20,21… The
same Mighty Power that raised Christ
from the dead... And seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in
the heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or
leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come…
What kind of power do we have? The power that conquered death on the cross… The power is His… Because we are in Christ…
The resources are here for us to use… That’s the power we have…
In 1 Corinthians ch10…I want you to what Paul said…
V12,13… In this text…
Paul issues a warning…. And he points all of us to the root problems…
1
Corinthians 10: 12,13 NLT
Neues Leben
12
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The
temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God
is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.
When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
12 Wer sich für standhaft hält, soll aufpassen, dass er
nicht auf die gleiche Weise sündige.
13 Vergesst nicht, dass die Prüfungen, die ihr erlebt,
die gleichen sind, vor denen alle Menschen stehen. Doch Gott ist treu. Er wird
die Prüfung nicht so stark werden lassen, dass ihr nicht mehr widerstehen
könnt. Wenn ihr auf die Probe gestellt werdet, wird er euch eine Möglichkeit
zeigen, trotzdem standzuhalten.
v12… the
root problems…? We struggle with #1 our
pride and #2 the temptation to do the sins that we still love to commit… You say not me… Paul says…You think that you are safe? Be careful…
You know when you’re vulnerable to the devils lies? When you think you’re not… When you think man
now have got this Christian life down… We need to rely on the Lord and His
strength at all times…
v13…
God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand….
Notice
this whole thing is dependent on the character of God… Not just his power… but also His faithfulness
to make that power available for us… God
will never allow Satan any foothold in the life of a believer that is more than
that believer can deal with… That means there will never be a time in this
warfare when you need to lose… There
will never be a time when you cannot overcome in Christ… As long as we rely on
him… Even when we are felling very weak… In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul says “When
I am weak then I am strong. His strength
is made perfect in my weakness.” As
long as you think you can handle it you can’t…
When you know you can’t… And decide to depend on him… He can and will
give you a way out…
The
battle is the Lord’s… Let him fight it… We
hold on to Him… He knows what he’s doing…
Let him be the one who fights the battle… There’s no reason for feeling defeated… There’s no reason to think that a believer is
so inundated by Satan that he can’t get out of it… There’s no bondage so great that there’s not
a way to escape if we take advantage of the resources available… They are… #1 confidence in the power of God… and
then as we’ll see next week… #2… putting
on the armor of God… that brings us back
to Eph 6… v11...
Ephesians
6: 11 NLT Neues Leben
11
Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all
strategies of the devil.
11 Legt die komplette Waffenrüstung Gottes an, damit ihr
allen hinterhältigen Angriffen des Teufels widerstehen könnt.
v11a…
Put on all of God’s armor… God gives the believer a full set of
equipment… and He sends us out into battle with everything we need…
This is the armor is of God… It is from Him… It is His
actual armor… In the Old Testament, it is the LORD JESUS…. Our Redeemer… The
Messiah who wears the armor as he fights for us… Isaiah 59:17…
Paul says that He now shares that armor with us… No
wonder Paul writes that we are more than
conquerors!.. Romans 8:37… look at the next phrase…
v11b…
That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil… We need the Lord´s power and armor to do battle with our enemies… If we try to
resist the devil on our own… We
are toast… But we are not alone in
this battle…. Far from it…. It fact our victory is certain….. Jesus has already
defeated Satan…. The cross was the end of the devils power to destroy the
people of God…
Satan's
schemes against us will fail… When we
stand against them in the power of God… We will experience victory
in our daily lives too… We will win this
war because of Jesus…
Our battles are not to take over this world…. It is not
to stop wickedness directly…
Our battle is for
the hearts and lives of rebellious sinners… People like us…
The battle is
for the redemption of wicked and sinful
mankind… One heart at a time… The Salvation of souls become our
rewards… And the power to transform
hearts and minds is always the Lord´s… The power of the cross is why we can be
strong in the battle… back to Ephesians
6… v12…
Ephesians
6: 12 NLT Neues
Leben
12
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil
rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark
world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
12 Denn wir kämpfen nicht gegen Menschen aus Fleisch und
Blut, sondern gegen die bösen Mächte und Gewalten der unsichtbaren Welt, gegen
jene Mächte der Finsternis, die diese Welt beherrschen, und gegen die bösen
Geister in der Himmelswelt.
v12…This
verse describes the power of evil and darkness… When we look at modern culture…
We often see the idea of a great battle between two equals…. Close
Good
vs. Evil…. Darkness vs. Light… I think this idea of cosmic
conflict between good and evil is very attractive to our culture… It is the
reason for the appeal and success of many books and films… Films that display
this cosmic conflict are very successful these days… Most of us love to see the final victory of good over evil…. The
idea is that the outcome is in doubt until the very last battle… That makes a
great film… But this idea of almost equally matched enemies does not reflect
the truth… The Word of God clearly shows us that there is no real contest…
Satan has already been defeated at the cross… That is Good News…
This
good News is part of the Gospel… Look with me at Colossians
2…v13…
Colossians
2: 13-15 NLT Neues Leben
13
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet
cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14
He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it
to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.
He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
13 Denn vorher wart ihr tot aufgrund eurer Schuld und
weil euer altes Ich euch bestimmt hat2. Doch Gott hat euch mit Christus
lebendig gemacht. Er hat uns alle unsere Schuld vergeben. 14 Er hat die Liste
der Anklagen gegen uns gelöscht; er hat die Anklageschrift genommen und
vernichtet, indem er sie ans Kreuz genagelt hat. 15 Auf diese Weise hat Gott
die Herrscher und Mächte dieser Welt entwaffnet. Er hat sie öffentlich
bloßgestellt, indem er durch Christus am Kreuz über sie triumphiert hat.
V15…
Our victory is certain… Our victory is rooted in what Jesus did…
It is not dependent on what we do… It isn't that there is no doing on our part…
but our doing is the acceptance and application of what Jesus did in our own
lives… and in our homes and in the church… We need to stop for today… I wish I
had a light saber this morning… We need to grab the Sword of the Spirit and fight the good fight of faith… That is
where we will pick up the text next time…We will look at the Armor of God Let´s pray…
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