Spiritual Warfare? A sermon on Ephesians 6, 10-20

I watched Liverpool play their opening game of the season against West Brom the other week on MOTD, both of my sons having an interest in the fortunes of the team in red. There was this moment when the central defender had the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and as he looked at it intently and drew back his leg to pass it to a team mate a forward nipped round him unseen to try and poach the ball causing the defender to kick him accidentally in the leg and so concede a penalty. His pass might have looked good on the training pitch, but clearly he was playing as if there wasn’t an opposition nearby.

One of the mistakes that it is easy to make as Christians is to forget that by becoming Christians we enter into a spiritual battle.
First thing- we are in a battle. It can be confusing – we know that through Jesus’ death and resurrection the victory has been won, so it seems strange then to say that there is still an ongoing spiritual battle happening around us. This is because we live in the now and the not yet. Let me explain.
This is a bit like the time between D-day and VE-day in the Second World War. D-day in 1944 marked the turning point in World War II. From that point on, it was clear that the Allies had won the victory. However, it was almost another year until the Germans finally acknowledged their defeat and surrendered. Or like when the statue of Saddam was toppled, yet fighting continued in small pockets for a while afterwards.
We know that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the enemy has been defeated. Jesus has claimed the victory. But until Jesus comes back to claim this victory once and for all, the enemy still attempts to cling on – and thus we are still in the midst of a spiritual battle.

Now you may not be totally comfortable talking about the devil and demons, but interestingly Jesus was, as was the writer Paul as we have just heard, but it’s also pretty clear that they didn’t spend their whole lives analysing whether or not something is a spiritual attack, so I guess we shouldn’t either. We know that the world is far from perfect and that we do not only see God’s will being done. We see illness and injustice, greed and lust. It would be a bit much to describe all of that as ‘spiritual attack’, but it is important to know there is a battle so that we understand the importance of the armour that Paul talks about. In particular we need to know that Satan’s biggest gripe is with the church, and so we must be especially careful that we play our part and don’t let him get a foot in.

Second thing-God gives as a means of defence. Note here that Paul’s language is one of defence. We don’t fight, but nor do we submit. We stand.
If you read what Paul wrote just before today’s passage, he says that the walk of the wise is characterized, in part, by the filling or control of the Holy Spirit (5:18), which, in turn is evident in our mutual submission one to another (5:21–6:9). So Paul focusses on the subject of our spiritual warfare immediately following his instructions on submission and obedience because this area is one in which Satan’s attacks can be expected. Submission is the giving up of our rights and the pursuit of our self-interest. The spiritual war is about not giving way, but standing fast. How often we tend to reverse these two. We are all too inclined to give up or to give in in matters where we should stand fast, and too eager to stand fast where we should give ground. We need to learn to stand where we are commanded to stand, and to submit where we are instructed to submit.

Remember, we aren’t the ones who fight the devil, because we are living in the light of a victory already won, but we have a part to play so in this passage, Paul uses very practical language – he does not say that by being a Christian we are automatically clothed in this armour. He says that we need to actively put it on.
To do that it can be helpful to recognise when we might be at our most susceptible to the enemy’s schemes. When we are more aware we are both more able to avoid these times, and be on our guard when we are particularly vulnerable to the enemy. For example the word STOP can be used as an acronym for: Stressed, Tired, Out of it (drink or drugs), Pained (reacting from a personal grievance or perceived injury). We need to learn to stop and think, ‘Am I in a particular vulnerable position at the moment? Am I hungry, or tired, or over-reacting because of my own issues?
Note that it was when Jesus was in the wilderness with no food that Satan tried to tempt him. I find that when I am doing something challenging or important in church that often I develop a migraine shortly afterwards, but only relatively recently did I learn, after Ali pointed it out, that I have what is called a ‘prodrome’, a bit just before, when I become emotionally distant, a bit stroppy, and sometimes a bit unaware of the specific boundaries around certain social settings. Which means I am in great danger of misunderstanding where people are coming from and so putting my foot in my mouth, or saying something hurtful. Which can threaten the success of whatever I am doing in church.

When a soldier goes into battle, he will make sure that every single part of his armour is pristine condition, certain that it will do its job. So our task today is to try to identify what part(s) of our armour are not in pristine condition:

• Do you struggle to accept the full truth of God’s promises and so need to tighten up the belt of truth? 
• Are there issues in your relationships that need to be addressed, so you need to spend time polishing the breastplate of righteousness? 
• Do you find yourself embroiled in conflict, fighting where no fight is needed, without feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace? 
• Are you plagued by doubts, unable to carry the shield of faith? 
• Perhaps you struggle to believe that you are saved, or more commonly that you are worthy to be saved, and so leave home without the helmet of salvation. 
• Or you are not confident in either your knowledge of what is written in the Bible nor in the guidance of God here with us in the present, and so leave the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, sitting in its scabbard?

Having identified this/these area(s), ask God to bring fresh revelation of this piece of armour and to clothe you afresh in it.

Last thing-claim the victory of God And then finally, when appropriately attired, claim God’s power over the enemy and pray for each other: We often totally underestimate the power that we have in Christ when we pray in the Spirit and when we call on his name. I have had quite some involvement in both deliverance and healing ministry, and have seen and experienced things that I cannot properly understand and have seen the most amazing things happen when, in faith, the name of Jesus is used. We literally have to call on the name of Jesus and open ourselves to letting God’s Spirit guide our prayers.. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Susan is given a horn with which she is to blow in desperate need and help with then come. Susan first used it when she was attacked by Maugrim the wolf as the Battle of Aslan's Camp was about to break out. Peter heard it and saved her life.
When we call on the name of Jesus, we draw on the authority of Christ over the enemy and in doing so defeat the schemes of the enemy, and given how much the church gets up his nose, we need to be praying for each other.
We need to ask for God’s protection over our fellow Christians, particularly those in our own congregation. Part of my role is to pray for you lot, as well as for the people from this district who are not here, and part of your role is to pray for me and for all who minister to you in Christ’s name. It makes a difference.
If I am to be your pastor, your shepherd, then I am called to walk out in front, so I need your prayers to keep me from being attacked or distracted, so we don’t end up failing to get where God is calling us to.
I believe that God has great plans to grow his kingdom here, which means that we will be challenged. Are we ready to go into that battle, unified like the Roman foot-soldiers used to be when they made themselves into a tortoise with their shields? Will we stand against any attempt to derail us or divide us?

So in summary, we are in a spiritual battle, and the church is especially vulnerable to attack, so we are all called to take a stand by identifying the weak spots in our armour and strengthening them before putting them on and then praying for each other. Then we can claim the good news of the victory won for us.