John 15:7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Do you receive a sense of peace when you read the Bible? Why not do it more then?
God has given you the belt of truth. Will you put it on today?
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
The Invisible Battle
It’s hard enough fighting an enemy that we can see, but to fight one that’s invisible (Eph. 6:12), that’s humanly impossible, isn’t it? In Ephesians chapter six, Paul is trying to equip believers to fight a spiritual battle, but they need to armor up. They also need the supernatural help of God. God’s supernatural power is within these pieces of equipment. We are no match for Satan and his minions, so we need all the help we can get from God. The good news is that He has already provided us with all that we’ll need to turn away the enemy. One thing we will need for sure is the belt of truth.The Belt of Truth
In Ephesians 6:14, Paul tells believers that they need to fasten on the belt of truth. Something very critical in this verse is the fact that it’s on us–we must fasten on the belt because God won’t do it for us. So what is the belt of truth? Jesus always spoke the truth (John 1:14, 8:40; Luke 4:25). Jesus Himself says that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The belt of truth is the Word of God, and Jesus is described as the Word (John 1:1, 14). God’s very Word is called truth, and we are sanctified by His truth (John 17:17). As long as you abide in His Word (John 15:4, 7), He will abide in You. Daily Bible reading, memorizing the Word of Truth, meditating on the Word, believing the truth of God’s Word, and, when the enemy attacks, using the truth that is found only in the Word is the most effective weapon you have or will ever need (Eph. 6:17).Amor Up
One thing about the spiritual equipment that we’ll need to fight an invisible enemy is that we must put on the breastplate, we must fasten the belt, we must put on the shoes, we must take up the whole armor, and we must pick up the sword. Nowhere in these verses does it say that God will put these on for us. It is up to us. To think otherwise would be like expecting God to read His Word to us without our ever having to pick up a Bible. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? God tells us through Paul to fasten on the belt of truth. The Roman soldier that didn’t fasten up his belt was surely not ready for battle and more susceptible to defeat. How will wearing the belt of truth change your daily life? It will keep the truth securely fastened in your life. It will be available to you when you need it, and all believers will need it.A Closing Prayer
Amen
God has given you the armor to fight spiritual attacks. Will you wear it?
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Putting on the Armor Daily
How can wearing the breastplate of righteousness every day help change our lives? Which ways would you suggest it can change our lives? The armor of God is useless unless we put it on. It’s like a police officer going out to patrol for crime but leaving his bulletproof vest at home. He can still do his job, but he’s considerably more vulnerable to the enemy. Unless we take the time to put on the armor of God, it can’t do a thing for us. Paul writes Christians in Ephesus and tells them, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place” (Eph. 6:14). It’s hard to stand firm if you know you’re vulnerable to attack. Notice that we must put it on because God doesn’t force Himself on us. He won’t put it on for us; that is something we must do ourselves. If you put it on daily, you’ll be like the police officer who can leave home and do his job with considerably more safety. But what is the “breastplate of righteousness”?The Breastplate of His Righteousness
We have no righteousness of our own (Rom. 3:10-12; 1 John 1:8, 10), so you must understand Who the source of righteousness is–it is Jesus Christ. He became sin for us so that now when God sees us, He sees Jesus’ righteousness in us, not us as sinful creatures (2 Cor. 5:21). Part of changing your daily life is believing the Word of God, that we become the righteousness of Christ by repenting and trusting in Him. If you abide in the Word on a daily basis, the Word will change you on a daily basis. Scriptures such as 2 Corinthians 5:21 can give you a clear understanding of who you are in Christ and how you now have His righteousness. That knowledge should shape your day much differently than leading a daily life of ups and downs and sin and shame. The slate is cleaned by Jesus’ blood. We can confess our sins daily, and He promises to forgive us (1 John 1:9).The Breastplate’s Purpose
The breastplate put on by the Roman soldiers was essential to going into war and living through it. Today, Christians are in a war against the devil (Eph. 6:11), the flesh, and their own carnal nature. Since we are fighting an invisible enemy (2 Cor. 10:4), we must protect ourselves as best we can. We must put on Christ and His righteousness to keep the fiery darts of the enemy from penetrating our vital organs. The breastplate of righteousness protects our hearts and gives us peace of mind so that no weapon formed by the enemy will prosper against us (Isaiah 54:17). Knowing that we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1) and that we’re no longer condemned (Rom. 8:1), we have the great privilege of putting on that breastplate of His righteousness.A Closing Prayer
Amen
God has given us the the weapons to protect us from evil. Will you use them?
Ephesians 6:16
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
In All Circumstances
I loved the fact that Paul made sure to say “in all circumstances” we’re to take up the shield of faith. Like the rest of the armor of God, we are the ones who need to put it on, and in the case of the shield, we are the ones who need to pick it up because God won’t force our hands open to make us take it. Can you imagine a Roman general picking up the shields for all of his soldiers and then handing them to them? That’s inconceivable, isn’t it? The shield to the Roman soldier was used in preventing the fiery darts of the enemy from hurting or killing them. Paul loved to use the examples of the Roman soldier because he was with them often, so he knew what each piece of equipment was and why each one was critical. When foreign armies attacked the Roman soldiers, they would be attacked with arrows that had pitch on them, which was highly flammable. If one of these arrows struck the solider, the soldier could be quickly engulfed in flames. The enemy that Paul is referring to is a lot more cunning than human enemies and a lot stronger than we are, so we need the shield of faith to put out these fiery darts. But what is the shield of faith?Saved by Faith
The fact that we are saved by faith is not a New Testament doctrine at all because even Abraham believed or trusted God. That trust or faith was accounted to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6), and this came hundreds of years before Christ came to die for us. Paul essentially quoted Genesis 15:6 when he wrote to the church at Rome that our faith in Christ is accounted to us as righteousness (Rom. 4:3). We should rejoice that we don’t have to depend on our working out our own salvation to be saved because it’s an absolutely free gift (Eph. 2:8-9). That type of faith is the faith that can shield you every day of your life as you leave your home and go out into the territory of the enemy. A shield of faith can immediately quench or put out those flaming arrows that Satan and his demons will surely be aiming and firing at us today and every day.Strengthening the Shield
Let me stress again that you need to pick up that shield of faith because the darts or flaming arrows are coming directly from Satan (Eph. 6:16). So you’ll need all the protection you can get. How can you pick up the shield of faith every day? By picking up the Word of God every day because faith comes by the hearing of the Word and by reading it, too (Rom. 10:17). You can pick up the shied by picking up your Bible. If you are inconsistent in reading the Word of God, your walk with God will be inconsistent. The more Word that gets into you, the stronger that shield is; therefore, change your daily life by abiding in the Word daily.A Closing Prayer
Amen
Do you strive to please other people more than Me?
Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Bond Servants of Christ
Clearly we were once bondservants or slaves of sin before we were redeemed by Christ’s own blood (Rom. 6:20), and since we were bought with the price of the precious blood of Christ, we should not be bondservants or slaves of men but of God (1 Cor. 7:23). If we seek to please men, then we are bondservants of men, and if we are only wanting to please men, then we can’t be servants of Christ (Gal. 1:10). Paul was not interested in pleasing men but only in pleasing God, and he paid a heavy price for it. Are we also willing to pay such a price?Earthly Masters
Paul was not telling us that since we are servants of Christ we shouldn’t serve one another or be a good servant to our employer. On the contrary, Paul would have us work for our employers as working for God because our labor is truly for the Lord and not really for man. This is God’s will, so we should give it all we’ve got because it is essentially the Lord we are serving and not our employer (Eph. 6:5-8). The point is that we are working to please God and not please men or women because if we are only trying to please mankind, then that’s to whom we’re really a bondservant, only a people-pleaser and not seeking to please God.Friends of Whom?
Just as we can’t serve money and God (Luke 16:13), neither can we strive to please people more than God. We are not friends of the world because if we were, we’d be enemies of God (James 4:4). Jesus calls us friends because He has told us what He has learned from the Father (John 15:15), and God says that He won’t do anything without first revealing it to His servants (Amos 3:7). Who among us has ever known the mind of the Lord but by the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)? Let us strive to seek Him and His righteousness first and foremost because He promises to supply all that we will need (Matt. 6:33). To seek His righteousness is to seek to please Him, and that makes us His servants and not servants of men or women. I want to make sure that I am the bondservant of the right person, and that is Jesus Christ alone. That will surely not please people, but who cares?A Closing Prayer
Amen
Why are you afraid to admit where your life falls short of scripture?
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Paul’s Transparency
I love how humble Paul was, and his transparency is revealed for all the world to see in Romans chapter 7. He admits that what he wants to do is not always what he does do, and what he hates do is the very thing he ends up doing (Rom. 7:15). Is that like you? It is very much like me. I know what the right thing to do is, but, like Paul, I end up not doing it and instead end up doing what I know to be wrong (Rom. 7:19). The good news about this is that we are at least in the battle. To be battling our own sinful nature shows that the Spirit of God is convicting us of sin because if there is no battle, there must not be the Spirit of God working in us. The reason we don’t always do the right thing is because there is the old man still fighting the new creature in Christ (Rom. 7:20). Yes, we are a new creation in Christ (1 Cor. 5:17), but the old nature doesn’t die very easily (Rom. 7:23). So what do we do? The same thing that Paul did knowing his sinful state (Rom. 7:24): He cried out for deliverance. That comes from the Deliverer, and that is why he gives thanks to God in Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:25a).The Witness of Our Inadequacy
When I witness to people about Christ, I bluntly tell them that, as Martin Luther said, we are both sinner and saint at the same time. We will never fully escape the pulls of the flesh in this life. That complete freedom from the sinful nature will have to wait until Jesus’ return when we have new bodies and completely new natures. Until then, I admit to those who are not yet saved that I still have a sinful nature in being a slave to sin but have now become a slave to God in striving for obedience to God’s holy law (Rom. 7:25b). To admit that we are still weak and battle sin every day is to give others hope that they don’t have to be perfect before coming to Christ because none of us can. The good news is that when we trust in Christ, we have Jesus’ own righteousness imputed to us, and then God sees us as He sees His own Son, having His own righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).No Works Are Enough
It actually takes a heavy weight off our shoulders when we admit that we can’t ever do enough works to be saved. If it took works, I would be hopelessly lost, but there is true joy knowing that it doesn’t take works to save us but only the free gift of grace (Eph. 2:8-9). The very best of my very best works would be so repulsive to God that He would seem them as filthy rags that are untouchable (Isaiah 64:6). That’s because there isn’t any person today, nor has there ever been, who’s ever been good–not even one (Rom. 3:10). That’s why Jesus’ sinless life and perfect sacrifice were necessary, because we couldn’t ever save ourselves. Our new birth in Christ is fully a work of God; therefore, God receives all the glory. I hope you won’t ever be afraid to admit your inadequacies to save yourself and admit to everyone, the lost included, where your life falls short of what Scriptures teach, just like me!A Closing Prayer
Amen
Do you take a stand for your faith when pressured?
Mark 8:38
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
The Fear of Denial
I have read so many Scriptures like Matthew 10:33, Luke 12:9, and Mark 8:38 that I am more afraid of denying Christ before others than I am admitting to others that I am a follower of Christ. Don’t these Scriptures give you a little fear when reading them? I know they do me, but they used to make me more fearful that I’d deny my faith when I was a newer Christian than they do today. That’s because the older I get, the less I care about what others think about me. The only real thing that matters to me now is what God knows about me. I understand that if I disown God in front of others when asked about Him, He will disown me before His holy angels, and that’s the last thing I’d ever do. More and more, I am up front with people about who I am in Christ and that I’m a new creation in Him (2 Cor. 5:17). In this way, I remove all doubt before others about Whom I believe in and Whom I strive to obey, and denying Him would be the last thing I believe I’d do.What Is Denial?
Denial and the many times it’s used in the New Testament is from the Greek word “arneomai,” and it means to “not accept, to reject, to refuse.” Does denial sound more serious now? Sometimes the word deny” is “ashamed” and basically means the same thing. If I am ashamed of my faith in front of others, I will be silent about my faith, and that silence is a sin of omission, one of rejection and refusal to confess Him in front of others. In Paul’s last letter before he was martyred, he told Timothy that if we keep enduring in our faith, we can rule with Christ, but in disowning Him, He will disown us (2 Tim. 2:12). If you were denied a loan at the bank, you’d likely be ashamed to tell anyone about it. Denial is to be ashamed of something or someone. When pressured, do you feel a lot of pressure or a little pressure to deny Him or refuse to acknowledge Him before others? Today it’s getting harder and harder for believers to confess their faith before nonbelievers because the world is getting more and more sinful and Christians are being ostracized more and more. But I believe the older you get and the more experienced of a Christian you are, the less you will care about what others think of your faith in Christ.Standing for Justice
What do you do when you see something that’s done wrong or some civil injustice? Doesn’t that make you a bit angry? Isn’t it an attribute of God to want to seek justice? What would you do if you saw someone shoplifting, hitting a child, stealing from someone’s car, political corruption, or any other criminal act? Wouldn’t you feel like speaking up about that or turning them in? What about when someone uses God’s name in vain? I have a real hard time with that, especially when children are present. I don’t like it. Now, imagine how God must feel? Will you stand up and speak up for social justice issues like fighting to overturn abortion? What other social evil do you see that the world accepts as normal but the Bible clearly calls sin? Will you stand up for your faith and your beliefs when pressured by this world to cave into sin?A Closing Prayer
Amen
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