It’s War! Ephesians 6:10

Imagine Congress in the United States on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It's business as usual. An appropriations bill is passed to fund a new post office in Bismarck, N.D., and things just rock along per usual.

What would the point be? We would be at war, but unable to admit it and go to war.

That resembles the Christian community today. We're at war, but unable to admit it and fight back.

To be clear, we have the pre-recorded history of the ultimate victory at the day of the Lord, but a lot of battles remain, and they're important!

In John chapter 8 the Jews are accusing Jesus of being demon possessed. They tried to say God was their Father. Jesus responded in verse 44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (NIV)

We could pick out a lot of battles with the devil and his lies. One of the great battles of our time is of “gender confusion.” People are being lied to by the devil, thinking they can chose their gender by what they feel or think about themselves.

God made them male and female, and everyone born in the history of the world is either male or female. Some folks are fighting with the devil's side wanting to change that reality into the devil's deceptive lie.

Law and order is out of control based on more lies from the devil being forced on people around the nation. It's war, and we need to engage the battles along the way.

Ephesians 6:10 begins God's call to arms in the war we're engaged in, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (NIV)

We're going to ask and answer two important questions about Ephesians 6:10.

THE FRIST IMPORTANT QUESTION IS WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

Verse 10 starts with the word, “finally,” in the New International Translation. The Greek word there means “for the rest.” It's like posing the question, “what remains for you to do?”

The apostle Paul has covered a major part of Christian doctrine and has applied it to everyday life and how to live. Now, he's giving us the rest of the story. This is what remains for you to do.

He gets at the issue in verses 11 and 12 of Ephesians chapter 6, “(11) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (12) 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.” (NIV)

In a couple of future messages, we will take these two verses apart and make direct application of them to the battle we're in, but today the point needs to be made we're at war!

What remains for us today is to admit were at war in spite of the reality the war is won at the day of the Lord, but battles need to be engaged and won between now and that day, because life on this planet today matters and can impact people's eternity!

The issue is we're at war and don't act like it, or even admit it.

Some basic issues about who's in charge and the nature of our battle need to be addressed and confessed. Then we need to do something about them.

In Matthew 16:16 Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ the Son of the Living God. Then Jesus blesses Peter and makes it clear this confession came from God.

Jesus makes it clear that confession is the rock His church will be built on and changes Simon's name to Peter in honor of that confession because Peter means rock.

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus finishes His statement, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hades will not overcome it.” (NIV) Three great truths emerge that relate to the war we are in.

First, Jesus owns the church. He calls it “HIS.” The church, meaning, “assembly of people,” is the personal property of Jesus. Why? He bought it with His blood. The church belongs to Jesus.

Second, Jesus will build the church. When the ownership gets right, Jesus, the owner will use the church like He intended it to be used.

What needs to happen? Churches in American culture are run by elders, pastors, boards, synods, councils and denominations. All of those human entities need to get on their faces and turn the ownership of the church over to the owner who bought it with His blood.

I understand what I'm saying flies in the face of church tradition that transverses centuries of tradition. Regardless, Jesus owns the church, and we need to turn it back over to Him so He can use it as He pleases.

Third, when Jesus gets the ownership under His control, He will use the church to storm the gates of hades. Verse 18 says the gates of hades won't overcome it.

I have heard preaches paint a picture of the church inside the gates of an old calvary fort in the cowboy and Indian days and the devil is storming the gates, but the Lord is protecting His people.

The text says exactly the opposite. The gates of hades can't overcome the assault of the church under the leadership of Jesus. What's missing? The leadership of Jesus, except in a few cases. What needs to happen? Put Jesus in charge and let Him rule as designed and storm the gates of hell and win the battles along the way.

In the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln tried one commanding General after another. They were all failures. Finally, he got the right general in charge, U.S. Grant. When the right commander was running the show, the war was won.

The church must get the right commander in change, and He's Jesus. When He's leading the troops the gates of hades will be stormed and the battles along the way will be won.

THE SECOND IMPORTANT QUESTION IS WHERE IS THE STRENGTH?

Ephesians 6:10 again, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (NIV)

We are commanded to be strong in the Lord. The word translated ‘strong” is the word the English words “dynamite” and “dynamic,” emerge from.

What is that strength like? Ephesians 1:19-20 gives us a powerful hint, (19) and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength. (20) which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” (NIV)

First, His incomparably great power comes to those who believe. That means the power of God comes to those who have put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The power of God, his strength that is without comparison in the universe comes to those who trust Jesus. Usually, we have much more power than we imagine.

That power is like dropping the clutch of a 600 horsepower Mustang. The picture is that, of sitting at the stop light with the car in neutral. When we put Jesus in charge and move at His direction it's like putting the Mustang in gear and dropping the clutch…. The power kicks in!

Second, this power is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Satan's greatest tool was the lie that leads to death. He told Eve if she ate of the fruit in the garden she would not surely die. That was a lie. She ate and gave it to Adam, and he ate, and death entered the human race. Jesus was raised from the dead and defeated death forever. The power to whup up on Satan for good is the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That's the power the Lord gives us to enter the battle under His leadership.

Notice the place where we find that power from the Lord is “in Christ.” “In Christ” is the position of power. When you are “in” you're in the position of power.

Notice we're strong in His mighty power! He uses two words for that power. His mighty power is like saying, His power to the multiple of two! We have power for the battle multiplied!

We need to put Jesus in charge and declare war on Satan and enter the war.

The end of World War II was tough to call. Harry Truman called for an end to the war by dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He admitted it was war and the enemy had to be crushed in the battle for Japan.

What if he had not called for dropping the bombs on Japan? Some battles would have been lost along the way as we would have had to invade Japan with conventional forces. Estimates are America would have had more than one million casualties in those battles.

Truman made the hard call and won the decisive battle that ended the war.

It's time for God's people to get under the command of Jesus and go to war and win the battles of today. Put Jesus in charge and declare war! Tom West works in advanced planning with Myers Funeral Service in Porterville. He can be reached for funeral insurance, supply preaching, and performing funerals on his cell number at 602.758.1168. You can see Tom’s daily messages on his Youtube channel at Bible Messages With Pastor Tom West.