Stand Firm (Ephesians 6:1-10)
This is the first recording in a series of eight recordings that I'm going to do about the armour of God in Ephesians 6. This is the famous passage describing the different pieces of armour, the equipment the Lord gives us to fight against the enemy. And we'll introduce that passage here today, because the introduction Paul gives us is really important. So this series is going to be looking at the armour of God.
Today we’re looking at Ephesians 6:10-13. Whether you’re reading or listening to this, I think it is worthwhile to get your Bible out and look at the passage yourself, unless you’re driving of course. Here Paul gives us a little bit of an introduction before he goes into the actual armour itself. Today we look at the introduction and in the following recordings we’ll look at the individual pieces of armour.
Here's what God says through the apostle Paul, Ephesians 6 beginning v.10. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
The first thing I want to talk about is that Paul assumes that we're in the midst of a spiritual battle and tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Notice that the strength doesn’t come from us. It comes from being united with Christ. For Paul, when he says the words in the Lord, that's code language for being a Christian. That's the same as being in Christ. In is as close as you can get. That’s what happens when we trust in Jesus. God gives us his Holy Spirit. And so, there's life within you! You are now strong in the Lord.
And Paul assumes this, but he says that you've got to do something about it. Think of it this way. It's like a person who's been a slave all his or her life, and the good news comes to them that she is now no longer a slave. He is a freed man. At first they might get really really excited, rejoice and celebrate but then maybe they go on with their life and they forget that they are now no longer a slave but a freed person.
And it takes a little while for them to actually embrace that mentality to remember and to live not like a slave but like a free person. And this is what Paul is saying to us. He's saying that we were once slaves of the evil one. We were once okay with everything wrong in the world. We indulged ourselves in the ways of the world. And uh and he says now we are freed. We are freed to live for God. And he says don't think with the mentality of a slave. Think with the mentality of a free person, of a true Christian and he says capitalize on this. Remind yourself. Talk to yourself. I am no longer a slave. I am now called to be strong in the Lord. And so he says start living like that. This is the first exhortation. Be strong in Jesus and in the strength of his might.
Then he says, "Put on the whole armour of God, not just some of them." He's going to go on to list them. He says, "Take all of the armour of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." And this passage focuses on external enemies. We have many enemies as Christians. We have Satan, we have sin, and we have the old self. But here Paul seems focused on the devil. He's focused on Satan, on the external enemies. And he wants to remind us that our enemy isn't, you know, the neighbor beside us. It isn't our kids. It isn't our employer or whoever it is that, you know, the flesh and blood. He says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We used to think that our enemy is the person who's standing in the way of our happiness or the thing that's bothering us and making us angry.
But he says, "No, no, no. When we become a Christian, we realize that our real battle is spiritual. It's not physical. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against unseen forces. So when he talks here in verse 12 about the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, he is describing what he says there at the end of verse 12, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Now, this is a real fight. It’s a royal fight. There was once an old Christian writer who used to say that it takes more princely loyalty, honor, and courage to fight against spiritual forces than to command a battalion of soldiers. It takes more self-control, more strength, and more courage and bravery, spiritually speaking, than to command a whole battalion. And I think this is true.
Let me encourage you as a Christian: you are now royalty. You are now called to nobility. You are called to a kind of bravery that outdoes even the best commanders of human battalions and armies. And so, this is a noble calling for us as Christians—to be strong in the Lord, to fight this fight, and to stand against the powers of darkness.
And this is exactly what Paul says here at the end of verse 13. He says, “Take up the whole armour of God.” Why? So that you can stand firm. In other words, don’t get walked all over. You are now in Christ, and don’t let life defeat you—or circumstances, or having a bad day, or the many challenges of life. Life is hard, and Paul says don’t just take it lying down. He says stand up. Take on the whole armour of God—not just bits of it, but all of it. And that’s what we’re going to be looking at in the next few recordings.
Take all of the armour of God—the whole armour of God—that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. It’s a life-and-death thing. This is serious. And Paul says, “Having done all, to stand firm.”
And this is the last thing I want to say: we are called to stand firm. As we go through these different pieces of the armour, remember that we have a tendency to look at them and detach them from Jesus and detach them from the gospel.
So, this is the last word I want to leave with you as we think about this over the next few times: these individual pieces of armour are God’s armour. He gives them to us. That’s the source—they are God’s armour. But they are especially the gospel benefits and privileges that come from being in Jesus. What do I mean by that? Don’t look at just the shield, or just the belt, or just the shoes, or just the sword as random bits of armour. Each one is connected to the gospel benefits and privileges that come from being a Christian.
In other words, we’re going to see that the belt is the belt of gospel truth. It’s the truth of God’s Word that he gives you to stand on. The breastplate is the breastplate of righteousness—of doing what is right. The shoes are about your readiness to live in peace through the gospel of peace, and so on and so forth.
We’re going to look at those individual pieces, but don’t forget that they are each connected to Jesus. Each one of them represents what Jesus gives to you: the peace that he gives to you, the righteousness that he gives to you, the spiritual protection that he gives to you, the life of prayer that he gives to you, the perseverance that he gives to you, and so on and so forth.
I’m encouraged by this myself, just talking about it. And the reason we can take hope in this battle is that Jesus has done everything we need in order to stand. He has done for us everything necessary for us to survive this battle. In fact, there would be no battle at all—the battle would already be lost—if it were not for Jesus. He stood up for us. He went to the cross and took our place. And it’s by his victory on the cross and in the resurrection that you and I have even the slightest chance of standing against the enemy.
And because of Christ, we can do that today with courage, bravery, and faith.
