15th Sunday after Pentecost 15 “Strength From The Lord”
September 1, 2024 Ephesians 6:10–20
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” That’s how Paul begins to tell us about the ‘armor of God’ in Ephesians 6. It’s pretty plain that our true strength comes from the Lord. So, let’s think about why we need God’s strength, and against what?
I’m sure I’ve referenced Paul Harvey before; not for his theology, but because of his communications skills. If you don’t know, Paul Harvey was a radio broadcaster from 1951 to 2008, and was one of the most well-known & beloved storytellers. People especially remember his daily series called, The Rest of the Story, where he would tell a short story of some famous American people or events – along with some amazing & little known information thrown in.
He also wrote & commented on other things, including some serious observations about the state of American culture. Way back in 1965, he wrote an essay titled ‘If I Were the Devil.’ It was his warning to America against the moral decay that he observed. For example, in that essay, he wrote: If I were the devil, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’ To the young, I would whisper, ‘the Bible is a myth.’ To the old, I would teach them to pray = ‘our father, which art in Washington.’ I would evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, then from the Houses of Congress. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep doing what I’m doing.” We understand Paul Harvey’s lament, even if it was 60 years ago.
We might look back & think: compared to today, I wish we were back in the 1960s when things were more simple. We think back: yes, churches were full of families & baby-boom children, and the space program put men on the moon, and baseball & football were wholesome entertainment. Even so, things were not all ‘rosey.’ There was war & protests, hippies & Woodstock; racial tensions & riots; sex, drugs, & rock & roll.
I think Paul Harvey was seeing & concerned with the same things that we see & are concerned about. We might use different terms today for the temptations of the devil, and the wickedness of man, but the struggle with the immoral culture is still the same.
The amount of depravity, & the open flaunting of immorality & rebellion against God may be worse today; but =whether 1964 or 2024= the struggle is the same for those who aim to ‘fear, love & trust in God above all things.’
On the other hand, who has much time to be concerned over the wider culture? We have enough problems right in our own household. Inflation eats up our monthly income; health insurance doesn’t cover as much as it used to; families break apart based on who is or isn’t the president; our confirmed kids go off to college & come back as agnostics, Jew-haters, & socialists. And then even more personal: we worry about our ailments, & struggle with age-related limitations; we wrestle with our personal bad habits, and with the guilt of past sins. Our culture struggles; we struggle; daily life is a struggle for all people in this fallen world.
As great as those struggles are in our lives, or in the culture of 1964 or 2024, the Greek & Roman cultures of Jesus’ day were just as wicked, depraved & immoral. Which means that there is a bigger problem at work here, a far deeper issue, and a timeless struggle. At its core, this sinful culture is not caused or solved by government, politics, sociology, or phycology, or by the strength, reason, or wisdom of man.
There IS a greater struggle that we face that isn’t against other people, but against the Devil himself. The truth is: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
There really IS a great cosmic struggle between good and evil. You know, people say ‘there’s a war between God and Satan.’ But I say – that that statement is too simple to be the full truth. That gives the impression that there are two equal opposing sides, good & evil, light & darkness, battling it out; one day Satan advances & takes some ground, and then God fights back & reclaims that ground. But, there are not two equal opposing forces. The truth is, there is a battle that Satan has been waging against God. A created angel-being has picked a fight with the Almighty Creator. That’s not equal.
This IS a great spiritual struggle of evil against good, and it has engulfed all of creation; and it especially affects MAN =male & female= who are created in God’s image to rule over creation. Satan only looks powerful when opposing & battling man. So, let me summarize: there IS a battle; but little Satan can never defeat Almighty God. The battle involves US, and it IS deadly to us; but our Creator has picked our side, and fights for us. And it’s that truth about this cosmic struggle that is both our worry, and our hope.
So, in Eph.6, Paul is not describing a war between God and Satan; he describes the struggles WE Christians face with our evil opponent. Paul says we are the ones who need the strength & armor of God for our wrestling match against evil. And Paul is warning us that this is no fake drama of the pro-wrestling ‘WWE smackdown.’ Our enemy is sly & devious; he quietly & viciously attacked our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And when they sinned, they brought destruction & condemnation to all of God’s good creation; including to you & me. Satan is God’s arch-enemy; but WE are the ones caught in the middle, & whose eternal life is threatened.
In this war, our enemy is the master of deception & lies. This evil foe is the power behind the sin that has broken our relationships, and depressed our hearts & minds with his unholy temptations & traps. Satan has been after man for 6,000 yrs; he & his followers are well-practiced in our common weaknesses & failures. His army-forces are the most skilled invisible con-men, who take advantage of human flaws; & they target everyone = young & old. This enemy is focused on the end-game; Satan doesn’t care about outward recognition, as long as he can finally lead another soul to eternal destruction. As Martin Luther wrote in his great hymn: ‘On earth is not his equal.’
Peter pictures this old evil foe as a roaring lion, always seeking someone to devour. Jesus describes Satan as the ‘father of all lies,’ which often means half-truths = which are much harder to detect. In Eph.6, Paul understands that we have many struggles in this fallen world when we face health issues, family fights, or we can’t pay the bills = which can all be terrible. But he warns us that there is still something worse: the end-game threat of a fierce enemy which means eternal death. How can we possibly stand against Satan & the dark forces of evil?
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The first step of standing against Satan & his forces is hearing God tell us that we don’t have the strength within us. Even when our ‘spirit’ is willing, our ‘flesh’ is weak.
So sometimes our Christian mind tells us that to say something or do something ‘is a bad idea.’ But then our old nature is willing to take a chance; or our dark culture suggests to us a good excuse to do it anyway. Left to our ourselves, we cannot stand; we do not have enough insight or experience to resist the devil’s lies & deceit. Our enemy & his evil forces in this
world, will test us, & see our thresholds for selfishness, greed, desire; and then they will push us to the point where we will give up, & give in.
As the offspring of our fallen parents, we were not born equipped to win the battle against the ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.’ BUT that does not mean we are defeated & without hope. As God himself tells us that we don’t have the strength within us, so He also tells us about how He is strong for us, and He fights our enemy on our behalf. Paul says, ‘be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.’ It is in Christ, in His Word & in His work, that we are strengthened for our wrestle with the forces of evil.
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To show that He came for us, Jesus came as one of us. He arrived in flesh & blood, and showed himself to be our kind of humility & weakness; and yet, all the fulness of God dwelt in Him, in bodily form. Satan tested His thresholds and failed, because the Son of God has the strength of The Almighty. Jesus was begotten of the Father, sent as the Second & better Adam. He withstood the temptations of Satan, & the world, and stood against all the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against all the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
And so Jesus is the Promised One, who kept the whole Law without stumbling, and was worthy to be The One to save us. He then gave himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, & for the sins of the whole world. By His own blood, this one Man came to crush Satan’s ‘head,’ or power, to restore man’s broken relationship with God, and to open the way back into the Paradise that was lost in sin. It is Jesus, in whom the Father is well-pleased, that the threat of death over us is defeated by His cross. And it is Jesus who raised himself from the dead, so that our grave now holds no threat over us.
Jesus himself & His work has become the whole armor of God for us; to be strengthened for every evil day, so that we will be able to stand firm. Even in a world where it seems that things have gotten progressively worse since 1964, we can stand firm in the Lord. Yes, back then – there were proponents of ‘free love’, who gathered for a music festival in a farm field near Woodstock, NY, and gorged themselves in all manner of depravity. And in our day, that depravity is openly displayed in ‘pride parades’ on the streets of our cities, and it demands acceptance ‘or else.’ So, it does seem worse; but it’s the same forces of evil.
Years ago, our culture did expect abortion to be rare = to preserve the mother’s life, because it was no small thing to end a pregnancy by killing the baby. And now our governor has declared our state to be a place for all to come to MN, to kill their baby for any reason, even up to the day of birth, and he calls it ‘reproductive freedom.’
This evil is called ‘good’, and those who oppose it are called ‘evil.’ Sin’s deception & forced acceptance probably is worse in our day; but it’s the same forces of evil behind it, and they will not go away until the Lord returns.
Therefore, those who fear, love & trust in God must stand firm until that day against
the devil & his schemes. To do this, we have put on the new man, Christ Jesus, by the waters of Holy Baptism; and this is God’s work in us. As Paul describes the full armor of God, /the belt, /breastplate, /shoes, /shield, /helmet, /& sword, he is reminding you that all these pieces were given to you in the one garment you received in Holy Baptism. In that Baptism, we are each clothed in Christ & His strength so that we are able to stand against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers & the spiritual forces of evil.
With that armor, put on daily, as the Holy Spirit works to strengthen us in the Word of the Lord, we can stand firm. In those times when our spiritual knees may be wobbly, and when we are afraid that we might be the only one who recognizes sin & its danger, it is that Word & Spirit who works in us to strengthen our holy will, to discern truth from error, and to stand firm in that truth alongside our Savior, who stood firm for us.
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To that end, says Paul, ‘keep alert, with all perseverance.’ And make supplication for all the saints, he says == that means be praying to the Lord for those -like us- who need this strength each day to remain in & walk in this saving faith – when surrounded by the dark forces of evil.
Pray that the Lord’s Church will continue to boldly proclaim the full Word of the Lord in both its Law and its Gospel; to identify & warn against all sin. Pray that our own congregation will value & use the sword of the Spirit, and to call all people to hear, to repent, and to receive the Lord’s forgiveness, to learn His teachings for life, and to walk in His holy ways. And Pray for your own faith, that you will be a good example to others, an ambassador for Christ; to show what it means to take up the armor of God, and to stand firm.
Amen.