Our Battle Gear, Part One

When I was in high school, I worked on the grounds crew at Salem Golf Club. One of the older guys on the crew was a world war two veteran.  I remember trying over and over to get him to tell me stories about World War II, but he always refused. A few of years later I worked at a print shop for a guy named Lee Rhodes. Lee had been a tank commander in World War II. I remember asking him about the war, but he too, didn’t want to talk about it. In fact, the only thing I ever learned from him was that he didn’t like fireworks on the 4^th of July because they reminded him of the horrors of combat. Then there was the time my nephew came back from the Iraq war. He was only 20 years old at the time. I talked at length with him about his experiences.  Being part of that war had taken a toll on him. The spark of youth had vanished from his eyes. He was truly broken. I understood why he was broken. He had never been equipped to deal with the assault that war waged on his soul. And the sad reality of this assault, was that after battling PTSD for 12 to 15 years, in the summer of 2017, he took his own life.

Now, if you were with us last week, we were reminded from Ephesians 6, that even though Jesus won the war against evil the day He rose from the grave; the devil is still fighting to take down God’s people today. That means if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, you cannot escape this invisible battle. But the sad reality is that most Christians are poorly equipped to handle the assault waged against our souls.  Too often we forget we are in this battle, so that when the day of evil comes, we don’t handle adversity or spiritual opposition very well.  Too often, we don’t stand firm in the faith when our faith is attacked.

So, last week we learned that God’s given us power to stand our ground when Satan wants to take us down. He’s given us the strength of our union with Christ; and He’s given us the mighty resurrection power of Christ, so that when the day of evil comes, we can stand firm together.

But God hasn’t just given us the power of Christ to help us hold our ground.  He has also given us the armor of God, to equip us for the battle. So, if we’re going to stand firm together in His power, then we need to understand and appropriate what God has provided.  And to do that, I want to encourage you to open your Bibles to Ephesians 6:14-15, how God would have us equip ourselves to stand firm in the armor of God.

Today, we’re going to look at the first three piece of our battle gear listed in these verses.  Next week, we’ll look at the other three.  But first let me read this Scripture for us: Stand firm, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:14-15 Now, before we look at the first piece, Paul repeats the imperative given to us as God’s people. As followers of Jesus, the way we are called to hold our ground against evil is clear: We are to stand firm together. This is a command for the church to obey. We are not to ignore our adversary. We’re not to run and hide. And we are not to go and build an earthly sanctuary to shield us from evil. As individuals, we are not to try and provide for our own security, to stand in our own strength, in our own wisdom, or our own resources. No, our security is in Christ. We are to stand firm in Jesus together. He is our solid ground. Our rock. Our firm foundation. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. He will always be with you.  He will never let you go. So, we are to stand firm in Jesus! That means we are to stand firm in the riches of God’s grace to us in Jesus.  We are to stand firm with God’s people – in the church created for us by Jesus. And we are to stand firm in the Spirit, given to us by Jesus. For it is by HIs Spirit that we call on our Father in our time of need.  So, we are to hold our ground with Him and with one another.  And we are to stand firm in the armor of God.  And the first piece of this battle gear God would have us put on is this:

1.Put on the Belt of Truth: “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth” Ephesians 6:14a   Now the belt was the first piece of battle gear a soldier would put on.  It was made of leather and was foundational to all the other pieces. The belt gathered his tunic together. It also held his sword.  It ensured that he was unimpeded when marching. His belt gave him a sense of hidden strength and confidence.

This is what truth does for us!  Truth is foundational to all of Christian life. Jesus identified himself by saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  We come to faith in Jesus by “believing in the message of truth.” And Jesus himself said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32.

Without the truth we are at the mercy of the Father of Lies, of whom Jesus said, There is no truth in him.” One of his foremost strategies is to keep you away from the truth.  If he can keep you from opening your Bible, learning His Word, believing in His unwavering grace and precious promises to you… if he can keep you from the truth, he can keep you off balance; he can cripple you with doubt, fear and anxiety.  If he can keep you from sound biblical teaching, he can keep you sidetracked, confused and engaged in foolish arguments rather than the mission of Jesus.

You see, God gives us His truth, not just so we might come to know him and learn His will, but He gave us his truth to protect our minds from the assault of the evil one.

The best way to protect your mind is to KNOW the truth!  Remember what we learned last week? The powers of darkness are set on creating distortions about God and life. The devil’s supreme strategy is to convince you that God is untrustworthy, to cause you to deny His Word and to make Him out to be a liar. He is constantly tempting you to doubt God’s goodness, His love, His power, His grace and His mercy. He wants you to take your eyes off God and put them on the world so you will become anxious, despondent, and depressed by what you see in the world and then…  he would have you blame God for all the problems in the world. For if he can get you to do that, then he would have you throw off God and live as if there is no God.  That’s battle for truth that’s being fought today. Listen to how Paul describes this battle it in 2 Corinthians: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 In other words, we fight our invisible battle with God’s truth!

God has given us truth to build our faith and help us stand confidently in the face of evil. So, let me ask you: Do you have that kind of confidence today? Do you have the confidence truth gives you to hold your ground when evil comes your way? You can if you put on truth! Truth will protect your mind from the assaults of the evil one. When you put on truth you put on the mind of Christ.  And with the mind of Christ, you’ll be able to stand our ground with Jesus. So, let’s stand in the Truth! That’s the first piece of our battle gear. Now, look at the next piece we’re to put on:

2.Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness: “and having put on the breastplate of righteousness” Ephesians 6:14b No Roman soldier would go into battle without his breastplate, a tough, sleeveless piece of armor that covered his full torso. It was often made of leather or heavy linen, onto which were sewn overlapping slices of animal hooves or horns or pieces of metal. The purpose of that piece of armor was pretty clear – it was to protect the heart, lungs, intestines, and other vital organs.

Here is where the evil one launches his fiercest attacks. His tactic is to confuse our emotions and pervert our affections, morals, loyalties and commitments.  He wants to get us to laugh at sin rather than mourn over it; to rationalize our sin rather than confess it; and to become so used to sin in and around us so that it no longer bothers us… Here is where our adversary comes at us as the accuser. He is constantly looking for ways to point out how we don’t measure up, how we fall short, how we sin.  His aim is to discourage us, steal our joy, and make us feel guilty.  And if he can do that, he can take us out of the battle.

To combat this assault on our hearts, we are to put on the breastplate of righteousness.  What is this righteousness? It’s two-fold.  First, we are to put on the righteousness of Christ. This is the righteousness Jesus imparts to you when you put your trust in Him.  This is what is true about who you are in Christ.  You are a new creation in Christ.  The old you is gone and the new has come.  This is one of the most powerful “truths” of the gospel.  Before you came to faith in Jesus, the old you was unrighteous.  What made you unrighteous was your sin. Even if you only sinned once, you could never be righteous.  For the stain of even one sin, polluted your nature. And even if tried to live a righteous life by obeying the law, you could never erase that one sin. You could never change your unrighteous nature. But here’s where the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes everything. Listen to how Paul puts it: But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:21-24

This is the good news: When you believed in Jesus, God gave you the righteousness of Jesus.  Your old nature was crucified with Christ. Now, you have a new nature – Christ’s righteous nature lives in you.  This is the righteousness you are to put on.  You are to stand firm in your new righteous nature.  So then, when the Accuser comes and tries to tear you down and accuse you of being unrighteous; when he tries to get you to doubt your salvation, you can tell him. “I’m protected by Jesus.  I’m covered by His blood and now I possess His righteousness.  So, leave me alone.”  So, yes, put on the truth, that you are righteous in Christ.

But also put on the practical righteousness of a life lived in obedience to God. In other words, embrace who you are in Christ and live out your new identity in righteous living. In other words, the more you embrace the way God intended you to live, by obeying His Word, the less ammunition you give to the evil one.

This why Jesus came to live among us: to show us how to live righteous life, the way of life God intended us to live.  You see, Jesus is the truth; Jesus is the life; but Jesus is also the way. Our world wants to influence us in the way to live. The way of the world is the pretty clear. John described the way of the world this way: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world —the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  1 John 2:15-16 The way of the world is all about feeding your wants: wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important. And when all your focus is on yourself – you won’t love our neighbor as yourself.  Instead, you’ll resent them, covet what they have, and live with a continual lack of satisfaction and joy. The way of the world is a way of discontent – void of the love of God. Isn’t it time we learned the way of Jesus?

That’s what we do when we put on the breastplate of righteousness. We commit ourselves to walking in the ways of Christ. And when we walk in the ways of Christ, we stand our ground against the attacks of the evil one. That’s how living righteous helps us to stand. That’s the second piece of our battle gear.  Now the third:

3. Strap on Your Gospel Boots: “as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:15 A soldier wore special sandals or military shoes that protected his feet without slowing him down. Roman soldiers had special shoes made of soft leather with studded soles. This allowed them to march further in battle and faster as well as giving them facility of motion in battle – they could dig in and hold their ground when in hand-to-hand combat. You could say a soldier’s very way of life depended on his boots.

The same could be said of us. For without the solid footing in the truth of the gospel, we would have nothing to stand on. So, what we learn here is that: The best way to stand your ground is to stand ready with the gospel.  Let’s look a little closer at this verse.  The NIV describes our readiness this way: with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15

Where the first two pieces of battle gear are about protecting our mind and heart, the emphasis here is on our preparedness or readiness to face our adversary with the gospel of peace.  What did Paul have in mind for us when he wrote this?

Without his boots on, a soldier was not ready to march, climb, fight or do whatever his leader commanded him to do. So, it is with us. This is a call for readiness. It is a call to be alert, to be available, to be equipped with the gospel of peace. One of the schemes of the devil is to lull us into a sense of complacency.  He wants us to forget we are in a battle for the souls of men.  He wants us to kick back, kick off our gospel shoes and relax. He wants you to believe that you are not essential to the battle.  He wants you to say, “I’ve been there, done that.  I’m no longer needed in the war.”  But the truth is that God calls each and every one of us “to be ready to give the reason for the hope you have” 1 Peter 3:15.

I wonder how often our lack of readiness or preparation costs us opportunities to share the good news with those around us. Listen, I’m a pastor and I am keenly aware that I’ve blown opportunities simply because I wasn’t ready to share the good news. Part of my lack of readiness is often the result of not believing that people are willing to listen. This again is one of the schemes of the evil one at work today.  He wants us to believe that people don’t want to hear the good news. He’s got us believing that people have already heard the good news and that if we share it, they will reject us.  Somehow, we’ve got to turn this around.  We cannot make this assumption that people have heard the good news.  In fact, truth be told, there are many people our age who have never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.  They’ve never heard the good news that Jesus has made a way for them to experience peace with God.

They’ve never heard that God has made a way for their sins to be removed so they can come home to God and enjoy peace with their Creator.  They’ve never heard the good news found in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  They’ve never heard that Jesus made a way for them to be made right with God, by taking their place on the cross and shedding His blood for their sins. And they’ve never heard that Jesus defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. And that now they can be completely forgiven and enjoy a new life with God if they just put their faith in Jesus.

The good news of the gospel of peace found in Jesus is that you don’t have to try and earn your salvation. You no longer have to carry the guilt and shame of sin. You no longer have to live in fear of judgment.  Jesus took all your guilt, all your shame and all your judgment, when He gave His life for you. That’s the good news. And God calls us to be ready to share this good news and see our feet in a new light.  As Isaiah once wrote: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” Isaiah 52:7

This is how we are to take our stand!  Because when we stand ready with the good news of Jesus, we don’t just stand our ground, we take ground back from the evil one. As John Stott says: The devil fears and hates the gospel, because it is God’s power to rescue people from his tyranny, both for us who have received it and those with whom we share it. So, we need to keep our gospel boots strapped on.

You see God wants us to be equipped for the battle.  He wants us to stand firm in His truth. He wants us stand strong in Christ’s righteousness, and to stand ready with the Gospel of peace.

So where is God calling you to take your stand today?

Is He calling you to put on the truth of Jesus?  Is He moving you to pick up your Bible and study His Word so you can grow in your confidence and courage in a world of uncertainty and fear?

Is He calling you to put on the righteousness of Christ?  To really learn who you are in Christ, and then stand strong in the righteousness He’s given you. And then learn to walk in the ways of Jesus.

Is He calling you to stand ready with the Gospel of peace? If so, are you learning to share your story? Are you learning the content of the gospel of peace?  And if so, are you preparing yourself to take the opportunities to share the good news with those around you?

My guess is, if you’re like me, you want to do all three.  And if that’s what you want to do, then let me ask you to stand with me in prayer and ask God to help us take our stand together.  Would you stand with me?