Sermon for May 5th, 2024

Ephesians 6:1-23

1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2‘Honor your father and mother’—this is the first commandment with a promise: 3‘so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ 4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; 6not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, 8knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free. 9 And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench 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.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord. 22I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are, and to encourage your hearts. 23 Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

United We Stand, Part VI

There are few bible verses more etched into my brain than Ephesians 6:12. When I was a teenager, I had a poster hanging on the wall right over my bed. It had a black background, with a medieval knight’s sword and helmet in the foreground, and an unearthly blue light radiating out from behind them. Underneath, the words: “Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness in this present age, and against the spiritual forces of evil in high places.”

I highly doubt that I really understood the meaning of the verse. I had not, at that point, read the entire book of Ephesians. I just thought the poster looked cool—it had a helmet and a sword! The heroes of my youth were King Arthur and Robin Hood; I daydreamed about fire-breathing dragons and damsels in distress; I played Dungeons and Dragons way before it was socially acceptable, and I read all of JRR Tolkien’s Books (The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion) long before they made the movies. Yes, I was that kid. I’m still that kid—now I just write about the Middle Ages for my dissertation. And I’m not going to lie…I do own a couple of swords and at least one English longbow.

But if I knew any bible verses at all, I knew Ephesians 6:12. And I was quite familiar with the verses that followed, which talked about the Helmet of Salvation, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Belt of Truth, the Sword of the Spirit and the Shield of Faith. The shoes of the gospel of peace seemed a little bit weird to me—I mean, maybe if they had at least been “boots” or something cooler…

I was not, of course, the only kid ever to be obsessed with medieval armor and weaponry; and I am certainly not the only one to misinterpret this passage from Ephesians, taking it completely out of all its various contexts. For one thing, the helmet and sword in my poster (and in my imagination, and in MOST artistic depictions of these verses) were from the high Middle Ages, the 14th century. Paul is writing this in the 1st century, probably describing Roman armor. So those gospel shoes were probably actually sandals, tied with leather thongs. Even more weird!

Last week, I talked a little about the dangers of taking Bible verses out of context, and this one is a great example. But today, having now read the ENTIRE book of Ephesians together, and having discussed its 1st century context at great length, I think we’re finally prepared to do justice to my favorite teenage Bible verse, and hopefully to Paul’s passionate letter as he, and we, come to its end.

We already talked about the first nine verses of chapter six last Sunday, and I think they really belong more with the content in chapter five, where Paul talks about leaders and followers, and the responsibilities of each toward the other.

Today, we’re going to start with verse 10, where Paul says “FINALLY,” (that’s how you know it’s the last section, right?) “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.” Teenage me would have gravitated to the words “be strong” and “strength” and “power.” But I suspect that if italics, bold font and underlines had been a thing in the 1st century (they weren’t) Paul would have intended for this passage to read, “Be strong IN THE LORD and in the strength of HIS power.”

That Lord that Paul is talking about is Jesus, who said that if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek, the one who told his disciple Peter to put away his sword, for “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” In fact, the earliest Christians were known most for their pacifism—their refusal to take up arms against their enemies, even as they were persecuted and martyred for their beliefs.

And that’s precisely the context (well, the FIRST context) in which we should read Paul’s words. Paul is saying to his congregation that you live in a war-like culture, a Roman culture, whose most recognizable symbols are the sword and shield and helmet they use to conquer and oppress other people. But YOU follow Christ, not the Roman Emperor. YOUR fight is NOT against flesh and blood like theirs, but against spiritual evil, against invisible forces where a sword and shield will NOT help you. So rely on God’s strength (your own won’t cut it). Let truth and faith and righteousness and peace be the tools you use in OUR fight to change the world, NOT things made of iron, bronze and leather.

For what it’s worth, iron, bronze and leather gave way to steel and gunpowder. Swords and shields gave way to tanks and heavy artillery, to drones, smart-bombs, and nuclear weapons. Don’t get me wrong—I am thankful for those today (in our community and in my own family) who put on high-tech armor, and use modern weaponry to defend those in need. But mounting an ever-more powerful defense against an ever-more powerful offense—while it may be necessary—is not going bring peace to our world, and it often has the opposite effect, especially when the underlying values that govern the use of force… are lacking. As in Paul’s context…and perhaps ours.

Truth, righteousness, faith, hope, love…these are the values that Jesus taught, and that Paul is preaching to the Ephesian church. I believe that they are the more powerful weapons in the long run—in fact the only ones with the power to truly change hearts and transform lives.

Now, I said a few minutes ago that this is the FIRST context in which we should read Paul’s words—the 1st century context of Christianity in the Roman Empire. But there is ANOTHER context in which we should read these words, too.

Remember that Paul wrote this letter to a church that was deeply divided against itself—Jewish Christians vs. Greek Christians, each faction fighting to be “in charge,” fighting to be “the boss” of the other faction. Over and over, Paul reminds them that you are ONE entity, a new Creation in Christ, just like…a human body. It has different body parts that do different things, but all the parts work together. And NONE of you get to be the head…that’s Jesus, the only head of the church.

You might get to be the head of something else—your family, your business, but even then, in your leadership you should follow the example of Christ, who came to serve and sacrifice, not to dominate and Lord it over those in his charge. And if you are a follower (by choice or by circumstance) be a good follower—in the same way that when your brain tells your hand to pick up that cup (so you can nourish the rest of the body) you wouldn’t expect the hand, of its own accord, to bludgeon the head or any other part of the body with the cup. That’s what we call a dysfunctional body part.

So the church is a body, with many different parts. Each part has its own function; each part contributes to the whole. And IF we’ve finally grasped that analogy…THEN I think we can finally understand why Paul uses the metaphor of BODILY ARMOR in his closing words.

When we are finally working together in unity—a healthy united church; a healthy, united family; just like a healthy united body, THEN God strengthens us for challenges we are called to face. This is important. There ARE and will always be challenges! Following in the footsteps of Jesus does not make your life a rosy walk in the park. But it does EQUIP you for the challenges you will inevitably face.

And this is important too—Paul is saying that God does NOT equip you as an INDIVIDUAL for every challenge you might face, but rather that he equips you as part of something bigger: A family, a church, a community. We need ALL our parts, and ALL of our armor in order to get through it all.

If you are called to be the waist in the body, all you’ve got is a belt. Now the belt is important, it’s the belt of truth—you are the truth-teller in the family or the church. But good luck out there all on your own, with just your belt, just your truth! You’re gonna get slaughtered (as truth tellers often do). No, you need to rely on someone else, one of the arms, whose strong faith is like a shield that protects the body from attacks on the truth.

You might be the strong, solid torso—the heart of your family or your church. Your passion, your zeal, your righteousness is like a breastplate, protecting what is most important so that the other parts can move about freely, doing their thing without fear. But if you can’t listen to the voices of truth in your community, if your belt of truth is unbuckled, your pants will fall down, you will be exposed, you will look ridiculous, and despite all your heart and all your faith, you will still be vulnerable when adversity comes your way.

All the body parts, all the functions, all the pieces of armor are indispensable. By the way, what do you think I am in this metaphor? I’m the pastor, but I’m not the head of the church. Neither are the elders or church officers. Remember, only Jesus is the head of the church. His helmet, his gift to the body is salvation, which comes from him alone. So I’m not the head of the church.

My calling, as the pastor, is to preach the gospel, to proclaim that salvation, to take the good news of God’s peace wherever it needs to be heard. So that makes me… you guessed it… a foot. With one of those weird shoes…or sandals. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? I think I need a new poster.

But if I’m a foot, a weird shoe, at least I’m in good company. I think Paul is a weird shoe as well—in verse 19 he asks the Ephesian church to pray for each other, and to “pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.”

It may seem like those chains which bind Paul to his prison cell in Rome would make it hard for him to proclaim the gospel. But then again, they are just chains, made of iron. Chains can bind flesh and blood, but they are useless against God’s spirit. And Paul is part of a larger body—one which meets adversity together, with Christ as its head. There’s another foot, too. In verse 21, Paul introduces Tychicus, who presumably carried Paul’s words from prison to the Ephesians.

Paul ends with his customary benediction, his words of blessing to the “whole community” in verse 23. And throughout his letter, he has consistently called them to be a “whole” community, a united community. In this last chapter, he has also used the word “stand” or “withstand” four times in quick, emphatic succession. It’s the Greek word ἵστημι (Histemi) which means to set up, to establish, to put something in place, and then keep it in place…to stand. Paul is quite intentional with his choice of words. He set up the Ephesian church, he established it, he put it in place. But now the rest of the body needs to stand firm, to keep it in place. And the only way they can do that is to stand… together. To stand united.

And we know that they did, because the Ephesian church is mentioned in the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, written by John of Patmos, who outlasted Paul and all of the other early church leaders. The Ephesian church, and several of the other churches Paul established, spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean, eventually to Europe, and then the rest of the world.

We have not always stood together in unity, of course. If you know churches, you know how fragmented, how divided we can sometimes be. If you know families, you know how fragmented, how divided they can be, too. But right here in Ephesians, going almost back to the very beginning, we also have a template to bring us back together: A call to be responsible leaders and diligent followers; a call to love, honor, and respect each other, and the unique functions God has given us; a call to live and proclaim God’s values, not the values of the world.

The Ephesians faithfully answered that call, and we are blessed—we are HERE—because of their faithfulness.

But now it’s our turn. May WE stand… united. And may the world be blessed when we do.