Sermon for 21st Sunday after Trinity 2025
Prepared for Battle
Ephesians 6:10-17
What about here in the U.S. of A.? God is the giver of life, begining life in His image in the womb. Yet there are more abortions taking place now than under Roe -vs- Wade. Those who fight for the life of unborn children are labeled as haters of women. We have states passing death with dignity laws – basically, suicide has become acceptable.
Religious pluralism is running rampant. We are told to let people believe what they want to believe, and do no evangelism. We are told there is no one God who is better than any other. Instead, there are many paths to god, and someone else's choice is just as valid as yours.
As a Christian, you are told that the one law you must keep is the law of love. God is love, we are reminded, and so we are to be loving and tolerant of any and every other religious expression out there. But it is OK to be intolerant of Christianity.
From the Psalms, in our Introit we heard there is only one God who made heaven and earth, only one God is Lord over all. He has stated who He is and what is acceptable worship of Him. He has stated that there is only one way to heaven, not many. And, if there are any doubts, pick up the book in which He recorded it all for us to read.
Can you see the problem? God's Word is supposed to be the norm which guides our understandings about God, about what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable to Him. How many would rather say, “I know what I believe! Don't quote the Bible to me. If the Bible agrees with me, great – if it doesn't, I'll believe what I want to believe. I know I'm a Christian.”
Really? What organization can you join and make up your own rules? Is it acceptable for Eglton Jenkins to go onto the field and use a baseball bat to clear a running lane for Josh Jacobs
Look around you my friends. If we believe that Christ is God and that the Bible is the revelation of Him, then we are at war!
How has such a state come to be in the world? How come pure Christianity is so maligned and hated? My friends, let me quote Paul: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (vv. 11-12)
But it started in the garden with a tree, Adam and Eve, and the serpent asking, “Did God really say?”
We are at war with Satan. It is a demonic horde against which we are fighting. What happens with you? Are you prepared for the battle? Are you ready for the attacks of Satan?
All they ways that our faith seems to be attacked in our world make us put our armor away. We do not want to be seen as Christians. We would rather walk around the streets in plain peasants clothing. We do not let anybody know what we believe or what we think because we do not want to get mixed up in any type of conflict!
I don't want to sit astride a black charger in armor gleaming brightly in the sunlight – that would make me a target. Let someone else fight the fight. You don't believe that you have already packed up your armor and locked it away in the closet?
How often have you fought the good fight? How often have you tucked your tail between your legs and gone running? You don't discuss politics, and you certainly do not talk about religion. Do you bring up religious issues in the family, or keep silent because someone might get offended? Maybe you have forgotten that God’s Spirit is promised to work when God’s Word is proclaimed, and someone might be brought to repentance. It is better just to keep religion completely out of the discussion and keep the peace.
Then we excuse our inactivity by saying, isn't God love? Maybe you think it isn't so bad to be more accepting of people or ideas that are a little bit different from what I learned from God's Word.
Satan has gotten the world to preach a message of love that trumps the authority of God’s Word. And the world does it pretty loudly.
When we buy into such thinking, we are losing the battle. It is like taking off the armor and letting someone else fight. God continues His work in our consciences. He will not let us rest. He leads us to think about right and wrong and whether or not we should take a stand.
Should I write to my elected representatives in support of life issues, and of man and woman in God’s image? Will my silence harm others?
Maybe
I should not find the sick humor of that television show funny, after all, God's
Word says I am supposed to keep my thoughts clean and pure.
Satan likes to attack us when our guard is down. He likes to attack when the armor is off. You and I know that we are sinners. That is where Satan loves to attack. He loves to throw our doubts right back at us. Satan likes to creep up on us and make us feel the guilt of our sins, that they cannot be forgiven. Armed with our own conscience, he wants us to wallow in our guilt to the point of losing faith.
Satan loves to run away with our minds as we try to go to sleep. Luther used to tell of how he would go to bed, and the devil would present a whole catalog of his sins, tormenting him.
Luther described it saying, “When I go to bed the devil is always waiting for me. When he begins to plague me, I give him this answer: ‘Devil, I must sleep. That is God’s command. Work by day. Sleep by night. So go away. If that doesn't work and he brings out a catalog of sins, I say, ‘Yes, old fellow, I know all about it. And I know some more you have overlooked. Here are a few extras. Put them down as well. Now leave and let me sleep.’”
My friends, that's the way to get a good night’s sleep. Luther was prepared for battle. He wore the whole armor of God at all times.
Girded with truth around your waist, you are as aware of your sinfulness as was Luther. In sinfulness you haven’t worn the armor of God at all times. You sinfully fail to confess your faith before men at all times, that you did it to keep the peace.
The Truth is Christ! He took your sins into Himself to the cross. You are freed from them.
Your heart is guarded by the breastplate of righteousness. God's peace, which passes all understanding, guards your heart in Christ Jesus. Christ’s righteousness keeps your heart that it be not weighed down by the overwhelming guilt of your sin. Christ's righteousness, His perfect righteousness, is the armor, nothing can penetrate.
Your feet are shod with the Gospel of peace. Boldly you stride through life confident you are at peace with God. In Christ you walk through life confident that you are at peace with God through Christ Jesus. Peace comforts you, for you know life eternal, and this world is not really your home.
Armed with the shield of faith, you can endure Satan’s attacks again and again. God’s gift of faith is your shield able to withstand all attacks. God promises not to let you be tempted or tried beyond what you are able to bear, that He Himself will give you the strength to stand against every attack.
Salvation, like a helmet, guards your mind. Christ is your salvation. He died to save you for eternity. He keeps your thoughts upon Him and the eternal home Christ prepares for you.
Finally, you are given a weapon so that you are armed for battle. The Word of God is a two-edged weapon that cuts both ways, severing even to the joints. This weapon gets to the heart of the matter. Some claim it is Scripture, but all Scripture points to Christ.
This Word of God is Christ, the Word made flesh. He is a weapon against the most insidious attacks of Satan. Christ the Word cuts to the heart of the matter, declaring, “your sins are forgiven!” Guilt no longer assails you because armed with the Word, Satan is defeated. Christ, the Word has defeated Satan and so he no longer has hold on you.
Dearly beloved of God Christ is the whole armor of God which guards and keeps you 24/7. Clothed in Christ, you are prepared by God Himself for the battle that wages even now. And in that armor – in Christ – God has made you victorious. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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