Protecting
Oneself With the Full Armor of God
[Ephesians
chapter 6]
Today
we will be finishing up the book of Ephesians by studying chapter
six, the final chapter in this particular letter from the apostle
Paul. When we left off last week, Paul wrote of the loving
relationship between husband and wife, detailing what a Christian
marriage looks like when it is a Godly marriage, and compared it to
the relationship between Christ and mankind. Each is a personalized
1-on-1 relationship, one with Jesus Christ and the other with the
respective spouses. We have a duty, not just as Christians but as
human beings to treat each other as well as we can in order to
emulate Christ, who died for us and who has achieved eternal life for
all who believe. We are to be obeying the commands of Christ, one of
which was to, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, or to care for
one another as we would care for ourselves. As we open today's study,
we find Paul taking up where he left off, and we will do the same
beginning at verse 1.
“Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father
and mother' – which is the first commandment with a promise –
'that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the
earth'. Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them
up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your
earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of the
heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their
favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the
will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were
serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward
everyone for whatever good he does whether he is slave or free. And
masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them,
since you know that he who is both their master and yours is in
heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” (Ephesians 6, verses
1-9, NIV)
Honoring our parents is something that is usually
taught to us in childhood (excluding a few spoiled brats I've seen in
the grocery store), and it's good advice even for those who were
abused as kids like I was. While respect is earned and in a way
subjective or relative, honor is a commandment, and there is a
considerable difference between the two because of this. Even if we
are estranged from our parents for whatever reason, we should honor
their memory anyway because we wouldn't be here without them. If you
grew up without a parent, or if anyone aged out of the foster care
system like I once did, just remember that you are never alone
because we all have a daddy who is God our Father who lives in
heaven, and who watches over us every day whether we realize it or
not. Ditto for those who had bad childhoods for one reason or
another. Your heavenly Father loves you and is right there with you
each and every day. Best of all, he's not interested in your past,
but only your future.
“Fathers,
do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the
training and instruction of the Lord.”
People love to quote the Old Testament with regard to raising
children, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. But, with the
first quote above we see a new covenant law that clarifies the old.
“Spare the rod and spoil the child” most definitely does not give
cause for abuse. Let's not be overbearing parents either, driving and
coaching our kids to ever greater “achievement” for all the wrong
reasons, which happens too frequently. For a way of parenting as
Christ would have us do, “bring them up in the training and
instruction of the Lord.” If any parent is not sure how to go about
doing this, the answers you are seeking are right there in your
Bibles. So for more enlightenment and coaching by the Lord, read your
Bibles more often.
In
the part where the apostle Paul wrote about slaves and masters, that
can be directly applied to employer-employee relationships in the
21st
century. Although we were taught in school as kids that slavery in
America ended over 150 years ago, the ugly reality is that it's still
here, only in a different form. Slavery isn't the exclusive scourge
of people of color like it used to be, either. Today as I write this
there are more economic slaves throughout the world than ever before
in human history. Although the idea of slave ownership has become
antiquated and criminalized, economic slavery is at epidemic
proportions. Who is a slave these days, you ask? It is domestic
assistants who are often smuggled into the US to work in the private
homes of top 1%'ers for well below the minimum wage, if they get paid
at all. It is the Chinese assembly worker who works double shifts 6
or 7 days a week for the equivalent of about $2.00 a day USD. It is
child laborers in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, China and India,
among other places around the globe, many of whom make even less than
that! And, it is defined among American workers who haven't gotten a
real pay raise since the 1970's, and whose paychecks are not
sufficient for purchasing any more than bare-bones essentials,
oftentimes because they find themselves forced into low-paying
service jobs that leave them poverty-stricken. That, dear readers, is
a social injustice of the highest magnitude, and I stand against
social injustice 24/7 because that is what God has called me to do!
Human equality is Scriptural (see Acts 2: 42-47, Acts 4: 32-37 and 2
Cor. 8: 13-15), not merely political. Everybody has the right to a
living wage. I see no exceptions whatsoever. Having said all that,
let's move on and finish this final lesson from Ephesians.
“Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor
of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of
evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand. Stand firm, then, with the buckle of truth
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of
faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the
evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions
with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert
and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that
whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will
fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I
should. Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord,
will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what
I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you
may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. Peace to the
brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying
love.” (Ephesians 6, verses 10-24, NIV)
“Be
strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”
Don't try to go through your daily living all by yourself. Life
wasn't intended to be that way. Instead of being superman or wonder
woman all the time – which nobody can really do anyway – rely on
the Lord and use his indwelling of the Holy Spirit for your strength.
Things become so much easier that way. Our struggle as Christian
believers is not against any earthly powers (Christians enduring
persecution overseas being one important exception), it's against
spiritual powers of evil who hate goodness and despise all those who
practice it. Paul's well-known example of “putting on the armor of
God” is obviously written from a 1st
century AD standpoint. To bring this up to date, I think I'll make a
little change in the vernacular. All right? So let every Christisn
put on the Kevlar of God, load our shotguns of righteousness, having
the magazines of truth on our belts, the Bazooka of faith with which
to blast away at Satan's strongholds, and let's holster the sidearm
of the Spirit so we can shoot down all the lies we hear directed at
ourselves and others. Now there is some real armament I can relate
to! But isn't this too militant, some may ask, for Christianity? On
the contrary! The battlefield starts and ends in our minds and
hearts. Lucifer and his armies of demons are pulling out all the
stops in an effort to try one more time to stop us all in our tracks.
That's why we should be doing just the same to Satan and the forces
of evil.
“Be
alert and always keep on praying”.
Be alert because we are most definitely living in the Last Days that
has been prophesied about for at least the last 3,000 years. That
means Christ could return at any time, and very soon. “Watch
and pray”,
Jesus said, “because
the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him”.
Pray every chance you get. Contrary to what some believe, our prayers
do not have to be formal affairs. Oftentimes when I pray, I do so in
a conversational style as if Christ and I were driving down the road
somewhere or on the subway together. Prayers can even be a single
sentence. And let's be sure and pray for others before ourselves,
putting them first as God would have us do. As you can see, Paul's
remaining comments have to do with church business of the day, but
his closing comment, “Peace
to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ”,
is one I leave you with as well. Next week we'll begin the book of
Galatians. Until then, live for Jesus Christ and no one else.
No comments:
Post a Comment