Grow With Pastor Joe

Podcasts are all the rage these days. Our culture and social media in general are inundated with podcasts galore. I too have a selection of podcasts that I keep up with, but specifically I’m drawn to podcasts who are hosted by former special operators from various military branches. I find their frankness, life experiences, and testimonies to be incredibly practical for all. These are men who have experienced battle, war, carnage, trauma, loss; yet these are men who have lived to tell the tale. Through listening to countless hours of firsthand testimony of battles that have taken place I have learned about the physiological responses that our bodies (including our minds and emotions) have to stress or danger. There are three typical responses that happen to people when faced with life-or-death scenarios, including combat. The first response is to freeze. The body and mind seem to lock up out of fear, unable to move or respond. Often times, those whose immediate response is to freeze experience panic attacks, nausea, hyperventilation, among many other symptoms. In these cases, the individual may come out of this quickly (depending upon their training or the scenario) but many are completely debilitated. The second response is flight. This is where the natural instinct to danger is to evade and escape the impending threat to life or limb. Think of a deer in the woods who blows and then runs away after smelling something that spooks them. This is an act of self-preservation that flees the danger knowing that they may not survive if they linger too long. The third respond is fight. As I mentioned above, the special operators are fighters. They refer to themselves as “door kickers,” “pipe hitters,” among other nicknames. These men are those whose instinct has been trained to override these natural physiological responses to complete a mission, rescue a hostage, save a friend, or simply survive the heat of the battle.

            Spiritually speaking, we are at war. The battle is always near, and the enemy is everywhere you least expect. In the spiritual battle, Christians respond through either freezing, fleeing, or fighting. Many Christians are frozen on the battlefield having been crippled by guilt, shame, fear, or ignorance. They believe the only way to win in the Christian life is to hide and watch. This makes for an easy target of our Enemy and puts our fellow soldiers in danger. Other Christians are fleeing from the battle altogether. Some have even joined the enemy or have fled from the world completely to become a recluse. When the battle comes, these Christians would rather run then stand and in doing so they give the enemy precious ground in their lives, families, churches, and communities. Very few Christians are fighters. Most are pessimistic pacifists who refuse to be strengthened by Christ through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the putting on the whole armor of God. What is your response to the world, the flesh, and the Devil? God has called you to be a good soldier. 2 Tim. 2:1-4 says, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.² And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.³ Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.⁴ No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” We are commanded to fight a good fight, to walk a good walk, and to war a good warfare. The way that we do this has been laid out for us throughout the book of Ephesians. Eph. 1-3 expresses the believer’s wealth in Christ showing us that the war is won in Jesus. Jesus has ultimately won the war and all who are in Christ have inherited the spoils of His victory. Eph. 4-6 exhorts the believer to walk worthy of our wealth in Christ through fighting the battle at hand. Although the war is won and our enemy is a defeated foe, he is still a determined foe who attacks each believer (and simultaneously the Church as a whole) through deception and division (Eph. 6:12).

            There is some contextual importance that we need to cover before we get into the expectations and equipment of the Christian soldier. Clearly, within the context of this passage we find that the battle happens in our mind, heart, home, church, work, and communities (Eph. 4-6:9). As Paul is beginning to bring his letter to a close and put everything together, he shows us the need to find our strength and stability for the day of battle. Every believer, and local church should be strong and stable. Paul uses the word “stand” four times to show that in Christ we have strength and stability which we must rely on in this daily battle that we are in. Many Christians today are unstable in their doctrine, unsettled in their orthodoxy (doctrine learned) and orthopraxy (doctrine lived), and others who are untested in their faith as they have yet to engage in the fight. Christians who are unstable, unsettled, and untested end up being undone by the attacks of the enemy. The Lord saved you and has equipped you for the day of battle. There is nothing outside of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that will win the day. This armor that we are about to study in today’s passage is from the Lord. It is infinite and invincible because He is infinite and invincible. We have already been commanded to put it on and keep it on. Today we can rest in this armor that God the Father has forged, Christ the Son has furnished, and the Holy Spirt fastens on us as we yield to His word and work in us. Today, we will see the expectations and equipment of the Christian soldier so that you and I will be able to walk in our wealth in Christ while the spiritual war wages in this world.

 Eph. 6:14-17 says,“¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”

            The first thing that we must see in this passage are the expectations of the believer. For this, let’s look at two verses. Eph. 6:13-14 says, “¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;” As we have seen throughout our study of Ephesians, our relationship with Christ and His Church demands responsibility to live accordingly. Our belonging to Christ demands the matching behavior that reflects our position in Him. The expectations of the Christian soldier begin with expecting a battle and accepting the fact that you aren’t just a saint bound for Heaven, but a soldier thrust into the battle. These two verses show us what God expects from us or in other words, what our responsibility is as Christian soldiers. First, we are to put on “the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.” It is expected of the Christian warrior to fight not in the strength of one’s own flesh but by faith in the strength and supply of the Lord. It is only through the divine supply of strength and security in Jesus that we can stand in and for Christ in these evil days that we live in. The armor of God has been made available by God’s grace and it is by faith that we appropriate it as our own and see it applied in the battles that we face each day. We established last week that Jesus Himself is our armor. Romans 13:11-14 says, “¹¹And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.¹³ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.¹⁴ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Christ is the source of our strength and armor that we need to stand in the battle. Christ is the very substance of our strength and armor in the battle. Jesus is your strength. Jesus is your armor. Jesus is all that you need to live the Christian life because the Christian life is the life of Christ in the life of the Christians. Without Christ as our armor we don’t have the strength of supplies needed to stand against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Just as all of life (our wealth and walk) is in Christ, so too is our warfare. Second, the believer is not only expected to put on the whole armor while drawing upon the strength of the Lord, but they are to simply stand their ground. Paul commands us in Eph. 6:14 to, “stand therefore.” We are not told to sit. We are not told to run away. We are not told to do anything but hold the ground that we are on. The word stand has the meaning to take up or hold a particular position or posture. It is an aorist imperative, meaning it is a command that comes with the urgency of immediate obedience. There is to be no delay in putting on the armor and taking a stand in and for Christ. The word stand here is in the active voice showing that there is a choice involved. It is expected of the Christian soldier that we would faithfully and lovingly obey the Captain of our soul, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord through His strength and supply that we have the want and the power to obey; but as is clear, this is an individual response that each believer must make. The way that we do this is not by our own strength or schemes. We can only stand in and for Christ in these evil days by being filled with the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. We stand on and, in His word, and work in us. As we put off the old man and put on Christ, we are renewed from the inside out so that we can stand and not lose ground in this battle. Once again, are you freezing, fleeing, or fighting?  Our orders are to hold this position, but we lose ground every time our walk in Christ doesn’t match our wealth in Christ. Don’t give any ground to the enemy for your own heart’s sake, your family’s sake, your church’s sake, your community’s sake, and for the sake of Christ.

Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.

Grow deeper.

Grow higher.

Grow wider.