23rd August 2009 (Trinity 11)
Ephesians 6:10-20
The Bible is very clear that there is a spiritual dimension to the evil in the world. There are spirit beings active in this world, both good and bad – God and his agents (angels), and Satan (the devil) and his agents.
Satan is not equal and opposite to God. He is a creature, God is Creator. However, Satan is opposed to God and seeks to undermine God’s work in every way possible. Jesus called him ‘the Prince of this world’, which implies he has considerable power and authority. One of the main purposes of Jesus coming was to destroy the work of Satan (1 John 3:8).
Paul tells the Ephesians that we are in a war against evil. But that war is not against people, not even evil people. The war is a spiritual one, against the spiritual forces that inspire and empower the evil that people do. This is such an important truth to realise. People who do evil things are inspired and empowered by spiritual forces which want to spoil God’s good work. The people themselves can be rescued and brought into the kingdom of God; so while we must hate the evil they do, we must not hate them.
In the struggle against evil we need to be fully equipped. God has provided spiritual armour for us, just as Paul’s guards were provided with Roman armour. We need to put on:
1) Truth. Satan’s main weapon is the lie. We need to keep learning the truth about God and about ourselves, and to live accordingly – to be people of integrity.
2) Righteousness. The name Satan means ‘Accuser’. Through Jesus we are forgiven, and counted righteous by God. We need of course to try to do the right thing always; but our trust is not in our own righteousness, but in that which Jesus gives us.
3) Readiness. The good news of peace with God makes us ready to serve him – we’re now on his side. Through our service we spread the good news, and bring God’s peace to more and more.
4) Faith. Unexpected things happen or thoughts occur, which can knock us backwards; on those occasions we need to decide to keep trusting God, even if we don’t understand.
5) Salvation. We have been saved from the power of the devil, by the death of Jesus; we now belong to God, and have a place in his eternal kingdom. We need to know where we’re going!
6) The word of God. Jesus quoted Scripture at the devil when tempted; we too need to get to know our Bibles, and to live in obedience to God’s word.
7) Prayer – not so much a piece of armour, but nevertheless vital in our spiritual warfare. We are to keep praying for one another, both for defence from evil and for attack: Jesus has conquered evil, and we are now called to take over enemy territory through our prayers.
Questions:
1) How can we fight evil better?
2) Why are each of these ‘pieces of armour’ necessary?