Fitted to Win

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6: 10 - 20 (NIV)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore put on the full 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. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18And 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 Lord’s people. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Message: “Fitted to Win”
Imagination of Good and Evil
Today is the end of a journey we had for a few weeks through the letter of Paul to the Ephesians
At the end of this letter Paul wants to encourage the believers of Ephesus to live their lives as free people despite challenges that might come their way
The passage we read, was meant to be a reality check, but also an encouragement
And Paul uses the imagination with a powerful metaphor to encourage them
But before we delve into this metaphor, let’s just pause to think about the question of battle between good and evil
The battle between good and evil has grabbed the imagination in our storytelling
From the battle between the dark side and the force in Star Wars to Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf…
In fact, the basic theory of storytelling will also illustrate something of this imagination - in every good story there’s a protagonist and an antagonist, there’s a problem that needs to be overcome by the protagonist while the antagonist makes it difficult and in most stories you’ll also find a guide, the character that brings a solution to the problem that would eventually help the protagonist obtain victory over the antagonist
Now, I’m not saying the battle between Good and Evil is a fairytale
I am just alluding to the fact that Paul is using some skillful storytelling technique with a powerful metaphor to encourage the Ephesians
Battle with the Evil one = Battle with lies
Throughout the Bible, the Evil one, Devil, Satan, or just Evil is described to us
In Genesis we find the story of the serpent and Adam and Eve…
We get to know the devil as father of the lie
In some way we can define the battle between Good and Evil as a battle between Truth and Lie
Evil is always out to establish a lie that is difficult to identify
Today, for me, the clearest way to define the Battle between Good and Evil is to define it as a Battle between Truth and Lies
Out battle with lies is all around us…
When I’m hurt, in my subconscious I easily start believing that I am abandoned
When I feel insulted, my struggle with believing that I am worthy is exposed
When I worry, I start believing the lie that God is far away and that He does not care for my challenges
When I am tempted, I start believing the lie that what I am about to do, is not all that bad
In the Battle between Good and Evil, our challenge to find the Truth and to overcome the Lie
Theology of Fear
Reading these words of Paul, it is easy to feel some sense of fear for evil, isn’t it?
This passage, used in conjunction with others, is often used to instil fear for the evil in attempt to activate believers - we call it the theology of fear
In theory it is about scaring people with the devil enough so that they will turn to God
But unfortunately fear is not what the Gospel is about, the Gospel is about God’s great love and a life of victory
Have you ever wondered why the evangelicals and Donald Trump get along so well?
It is because politics of fear and theology of fear easily go together
Fear is dangerous - We have seen with the pandemic what fear can do to us…
Theology of fear is alive and well in our area too - public schools
We should be careful with the stories we tell in response the hospital closure
The art of this not to let concerns become fears
Because so easily fears turn into lies
God gives you what you need to succeed - Armour
Paul is telling a story of victory and a God that gives us what we need to be victorious in the battle between Good and Evil
God gives us “armour” to win our battle with evil:
Truth - we do not have fall for the lies because Truth is not an idea, but a Person
Righteousness - the charge of the devil that we are doomed is a lie - in Christ we are free
Readiness - God equips us to serve… it is a lie that we are not good enough to make a difference in God’s kingdom… and believing that we can make a difference is a very powerful thing
Faith - What would we be without our faith? Through faith we overcome the lies of doubt that creep into our lives
Salvation - we are not destined for hell so the fear of hell has no power over us anymore
Word of God - God gave us his Word and in his Word we find our way to victory
Prayer - the devil starts running when Christians pray… let us pray when we feel challenged by evil!
This is called the armour of God - we are fitted to win in life!
Adopt a lifestyle of a winner (spiritually)
Do not read Paul’s ending of his letter to the Ephesians with fear
Do not fall for the theology of fear that we hear so often
Instead, know that you have been given what you need to live a victorious life
The victory has been achieved
Dress yourself with truth, righteousness, readiness to serve, faith, salvation, the Word of God and prayer
God has given you what you need to succeed in life!
No need to fear anymore
You are fitted to win!
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