It Starts Small

When I decided more than two years ago to turn away from this world and commit my life to Christ, I realized just how trapped in religion I had been. I did not know who God was (I knew about Him), who I was, and even worse, after finding out Truth, I felt helpless. I was never taught in the religious churches about the unseen world around me, let alone how to defend myself.

I sense many of my fellow brothers and sisters are caught in the same place or that not many are seriously engaged in the warfare we are called into.

J. C. Ryle saw this in the 19^th century. He wrote,

“The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity.” He went on to say that they go through the motions of attending religious services each week. Then he added (ibid.), “But of the great spiritual warfare,–its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests,–of all this they appear to know nothing at all.”

(“Soldiers and Trumpeters,” Home Truths [Triangle Press], 1:90)

Perhaps they, like me, came to Christ under a false “sales pitch.” They were told, “Jesus will solve your problems. He will give you peace and joy. He will give you a happy family life. Come to Jesus and enjoy all of these blessings and more. He promises you abundant life.” And so they, and myself, signed up for what they thought would be a wonderful life of peace and happiness.

All of those claims are true, but they’re only half of a picture. Jesus promised to give us abundant life.

A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

John 10:10

Jesus also said that He was sending us out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:16

That picture does not fit the idea of an abundant life! Jesus promised peace, but in the same breath He said that in this world we would have tribulation.

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

John 16:33

He assured us of His love, but He went on to say that the world would hate and persecute us.

“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me.

John 15:12-13, 18-21

Paul shows us how the Spirit-filled home is a glorious picture of the loving relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:18-33). Then He continues by telling us that the Christian life is nothing less than warfare against a vile enemy.

It is vital for our survival that we realize that when we accepted and received Christ as our Savior, we were drafted into God’s army. Daily we engage in battle with an unseen spiritual enemy that seeks to destroy us. If we do not write these truths on our heart, when trials come, we will thing there is something wrong. Why did God allow this? We can not understand our situation or the reality of our situation until we realize the concept spiritual warfare.

When Paul closes his letter to the Ephesians, he closes with instructions on Christian warfare. The text falls into three sections:

The explanation for the fight (6:10-13)
The equipment for the fight (6:14-17)
The effecting of the fight (6:18-20)

Today we will only look where Paul makes the point: stand.

STANDING FIRM AGAINST THE ENEMY IS THE RESULT OF PUTTING ON GOD’S FULL ARMOR.

“Stand” is a key word in this section. He repeats it in verses 11, 13, and 14.

Also, the word “resist” (6:13) comes from a Greek compound word from the root, “to stand,” meaning literally to stand against. It’s a military term for holding on to a position that is under attack. It implies the courage to hold your ground because of your allegiance to King Jesus, even when others may be fleeing from the battle because the enemy seems so strong.

An incident about one of David’s mighty men, Shammah the son of Agee, illustrates standing firm in the battle.

¹¹ After him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled in formation where there was a field full of lentils. The troops fled from the Philistines, ¹² but Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field, defended it, and struck down the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

2 Samuel 23:11-12

Shammah, because of his allegiance to David, stood firm and he fought, but the Lord brought the victory.

When we rely on God’s strength and use His armor, we must take the initiative to put on the armor and stand firm in the battle because we love Jesus.

It’s not a matter of “letting go and letting God,” where you are passive and God does it all. Nor is it a matter of gritting your teeth and doing it yourself, with occasional assistance from God. Rather, it is a blending of His power and our striving.

I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.

Colossians 1:29

There are several thoughts where Paul got this idea of armor from. Some think it was the armor Roman soldiers wore or perhaps he was referring to scriptures in Isaiah:

Righteousness will be a belt around his hips;
faithfulness will be a belt around his waist.

Isaiah 11:5

He put on righteousness as body armor,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

Isaiah 59:17

Armor is a word picture or graphic way for Paul to say:

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

Romans 13:14

Christ Himself is our armor. He is our full armor, capable of protecting us from every onslaught of the devil.

We will break each piece down later on, but for now, as we look at standing, putting on God’s armor means that in every trial and temptation by faith you appropriate Christ’s strength in place of your weakness. By faith you cry out to Him for deliverance and strength to persevere. By faith you rely on His promises, even as Jesus defeated Satan by quoting Scripture (Luke 4:1-13).

STAND FIRM AGAINST THE ENEMY BY GROWING IN BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING.

There are three things here. First we need to understand God’s full provision. Paul wrote the first three chapters of this letter to set forth the necessary doctrinal foundation of all that God has provided for us in Christ. Strong Christians are doctrinally grounded in the truth of Scripture. Unless you know the Word well, as Jesus did when He defeated Satan, you will not stand firm in the evil day.

Second, we need to understand satan’s schemes. Schemes (in Greek) occurs only here and in Ephesians 4:14. But using a synonym, Paul states:

so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

2 Corinthians 2:11

If we are ignorant of his schemes, the devil will be able to take advantage of us. His schemes invariably use cunning and deception. He often works through secular culture, to carry us downstream with the prevailing ideas of the day.

In our day, many Christians are deceived by the ideas of postmodernism, which asserts that there are no absolute truths in the spiritual or moral realms. It’s an oxymoronic idea: the absolute that there are no absolutes.

Satan launches repeated attacks on the credibility of Scripture or by attacking the person of Christ. Satan lures us into sin by portraying it as pleasurable and by hiding its consequences. He uses discouragement, pride, selfishness, the love of money, lust, and many other traps to lure us away from the Lord. To stand firm against the enemy, we must understand his schemes.

Third, we need to understand where to stand firm and where to be tolerant of differences.

If Satan can not get us through his scheme of going along with our tolerant culture, he pushes us off the other end by making us intolerant of anyone who does not agree with us on every point of doctrine.

Standing firm against the schemes of the devil means that we stand firm on the core doctrines of the faith. We cannot budge on the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, biblical salvation, or the inspiration and authority of Scripture.

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Ephesians 4:3

Scripture also tells us to show love for one another. This verse implies that we will not always agree with one another on every point of doctrine or on every method of how to go about the Lord’s work.

Standing firm against the enemy is the result of putting on God’s full armor. We stand firm against the enemy by growing in biblical understanding. Finally,

STAND FIRM AGAINST THE ENEMY WITH BIBLICAL PRACTICE.

Put into practice what you believe. We can test our armor by gaining some victories in real life situations. We can also recognize the holes in our armor when we have lost a battle. Remember, losing is not the end, it is the beginning to winning. Paul says resist temptation. Avoid Satan’s traps. Get out of your comfort zone and do something where you have to trust God to get you through.

But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

Hebrews 5:14

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

I think the greatest confirmation of our relationship with God is when Satan brings the full embodiment of hell against us. Nothing says I am on the right path like Satan bringing it all at you. It is confidence to know that Jesus said Satan will hate you because he hates me. The world will hate you because satan hates Jesus. Those not with God are against Him and that enemy will do whatever it can to slander God, slander what God has to say about you, and slander the truth that sets you free and empowers you with the liberty to stand.

I am ready to stand! How about you? To stand firm against the enemy, you must be strong in the Lord and put on His full armor.

Ponderings as we begin this series:

How can a believer become more attune to the reality of the spiritual conflict?

How can we grow wise in understanding Satan’s schemes?

How can a Christian find the balance between using appropriate methods versus trusting in God alone?

Where is the balance between being tolerant of believers that differ from us and yet not compromising on key truths?