Sermon for August 6

The reading 

Ephesians 6:10-20

6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

The message

Growing up in New York City, my family and I would go to all of the different museums, historical sites and landmarks every year or two.  One of my favorites was the Met.  This art museum had all sorts of different famous paintings by artists like Van Gogh and Picasso, whose names I knew. They also had artifacts from all over the world, ancient places like Egypt, Rome and Babylon as well as more modern history.   As soon as we got near the museum, my brother and I would always say, “we have to go to see the armor first”.   There is a section in the museum where they have medieval armor, whole suits of large, thick metal protective wear meant for knights and soldiers.  There is a display in the middle with models of 8 or 10 knights and horses fully covered in armor. Even in the safety of a museum, there was something intimidating and overwhelming about standing in front of this display.  You could imagine being on the wrong side of this frightening and powerful group of knights.    

Of course, things changed over the centuries.  Today, soldiers have a range of armor, bulletproof vests, armored vehicles and protective gear for gas or chemical attacks but nothing like those suits in the museum.  A long time ago, enemies slowly began to develop crossbows and other weapons that would cut right through this armor.  It also made the knights incredibly slow, which caused them to fall to lighter, faster attacks. Then, as gunpowder was introduced and guns improved, this armor became virtually useless.  It was developed to protect knights from the impact of large, heavy weapons in close combat, things like swords and axes.  It was no good against very tiny projectiles easily able to go through it and shot from a great distance.       

Today, Paul ends this letter to the Ephesians with talk about armor and advice on living in and fighting in the battle between good and evil.  The early churches were places of confusion, anxiety, legal insecurity and religious conflict. To this Paul adds a cosmic battle between good and evil. In fact, all of those other issues seem to stem from those evil forces, intent on destroying the church and hiding the saving work of God. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  This is not the only time Paul talks about the armor of God, this idea is also found in his letter to the Romans and in places like Thessalonians 5:8: But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Paul is not the first person to talk about the armor of God.  The prophet Isaiah writes:

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.
 He saw that there was no one,
    and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory,
    and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.

The writer of Proverbs  reassures people every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

Paul’s appeal to unity that we have focused on over the past few weeks, the demand for us to see all people as children of God, saved by the same, undeserved grace, is a large part of this armor. That is how we can show the power of God to conquer all things and that is how we can experience the power of God to conquer all things.   Paul was a smart guy, well aware that these evil forces would do anything to draw people away from God. Like bacteria evolving resistance and finding ways to survive old antibiotics, evil changes. That means the armor of God has to change too. It will not go the way of medieval armor, something cool to see in a museum but of no real use anymore. The armor of God needed to be invincible but flexible, able to protect us from whatever those evil forces could throw at us, to distract us from God’s grace.   Today, those forces of evil could mean school kids facing bullying, drug epidemics in the suburbs or poor cities suffering with the loss of work, gangs welcoming people with nothing else going on, corporations too greedy to develop new antibiotics (since it will only save lives and avoid a devastating health crisis but not lead to big profits), misused technology, a value system where not everyone is a child of God, (or that some children are more important), a constant stream of ads telling us we need stuff, or even messages that pretend to be wrapped in biblical teachings.         

We still have this armor of God and while it sounds like wishful thinking in light of what’s happening around us, that is enough to change things.  The armor is God is not meant to sit in a museum. Even today, I find myself stopping to pray in places I am not supposed to, in the medieval collections of religious art and artifacts.  We are asked to admire the craft, the beauty and historical value and virtually forget they are taken out of context, it is an object meant to be in a community, to teach and express faith, point people to God.   The armor of God is meant to be worn, to be used. This armor's power can be understood by 3 verbs or action words, to sit, walk and stand (this idea comes from Andrew Lincoln’s survey of the commentaries on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians).  In this morning’s bible study class with the Fujianese church, I looked at bible stories to illustrate each one.    

To sit:  We looked at Luke 10:38-42. The story of Mary and Martha. As Mary sits with Jesus, listening to his teachings, Martha is running around fulfilling the obligations of a hosts. Martha complains and Jesus remind her (and us) to sit with what is most important. We are invited to sit with the comfort and peace of God’s promises  

To walk: we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke.  Here, we are reminded to forget divisions or rules and see each other as a child of God, to stop for those in need because it’s what God does for us.   It meant knowing God’s complete care and sharing that grace.

To stand:  We looked at Jesus chasing the money lenders out of the temple in Matthew 21, an act that ultimately leads to his death. Here we are reminded to speak out about injustice, to confront the causes of suffering and stand up to the forces of evil, confident that we have the armor of God.