Armor Up: Ephesians 6:11

The first day of football practice we got our equipment, which consisted of a helmet, shoulder pads, rib pads, hip pads, thigh pads, knee pads and we had to supply our own cleats.

All this was so we could go to war in the controlled violence of high school football! We armored up for football.

The apostle Paul wrote a letter while under guard by a Roman soldier. It's easy to imagine him looking at this Roman soldier who was guarding him and using the trooper's armor as an illustration for writing verses 10 through 20 of Ephesians chapter 6.

That soldier would have been armored up with a belt, used to keep his stomach from overexpanding in exertion and used to hang some of the other armor on. This trooper would have had a breastplate for protecting his heart and lungs.

This soldier would have had his feet fitted with cleated shoes to keep him from falling. He would be carrying a shield to protect him from arrows shot at him. Our trooper friend would have been equipped with a helmet to protect his head and would have had a sword to assault the enemy.

Ephesians 6:11 tells us what to do with armor and why to do it. Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” (NIV)

FIRST, WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE ARMOR?

The answer is you put on the full armor of God. You armor up by putting on the armor so you can go into battle. Just like we put on our football uniforms so we could go into battle. So, we armor up with the full armor of God so we can go into battle.

What battle do we go into? We call it life, that's the Christian life, which will always be opposed by Satan. Armor up or suit up so you can go to war with Satan!

Romans 13:12 puts it like this, “The night is almost over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (NIV)

This verse is functionally like what used to go on in the football locker room. We took off our street clothes and put on all the football equipment so we could do battle as football players.

We took off the normal clothes and armored up for football.

Notice he says the night is almost over, and the day is almost here. What's he talking about? The last days are close to an end and the day of the Lord is closing in on us. Under that reality, put off the deeds of darkness, meaning live for God and under the power of the Holy Spirit taking off sinful behavior and put on the deeds of light.

Take off the dirty clothes of the sinful nature and put on the deeds of light. What are the deeds of light? Who's the light of the world? Jesus is the light of the world. Take off sin and put on righteousness under the power of the holy.

Ultimately, we put on Christ in a relationship with Him by faith and begin living like He lives. Ask and answer that famous question, “what would Jesus do?”

Once we strip off the old clothing of sin and put Christ on, along with His righteousness we're ready to armor up with the full armor of God.

Did you know way back in the Old Testament we're told God had armor? Isaiah 59:17; He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in

zeal as in a cloak.”

(NIV)

As we go through the armor we're going to put on to armor up we will see it's the armor of God, and we're to be equipped to use it and our kings armor fits us and works for us.

Remember David going out to do battle with Goliath when Saul was King of Israel. The Philistines were drawn up in battle array against Saul's army. The Philistines were on one hill and the Jewish army was on another hill with a valley between.

Goliath was the Philistine champion and would come out and challenge the Israelite army each day. He would tell them to send someone against him and if their guy defeated him, they won, but if he defeated their guy the Philistines won.

David was the youngest of his brothers who were all in Saul's army. His dad told him to take a break from tending his father's sheep and take some food to his brothers.

When David got to the battle, Goliath had been challenging the Israelite army for 40 days in a row. David overheard some of the soldiers saying Saul would give his daughter as wife to the guy who beat Goliath and he would give him great wealth.

How did David respond? He said, “I can take that big boy down!” Some soldiers overheard him say that and told Saul. Saul called for David, and pointed out the Goliath was huge and a seasoned warrior, while David was an inexperienced teen.

How did David respond, “The Lord used me to take out the bear and the lion to protect the sheep and He will use me to take down the Philistine.”

Saul told David to go and that he wished the Lord would be with him. Then Saul put all his personal armor on David. He put his helmet on him, his coat of armor, his tunic and fastened his sword on his side. But David said he could not move in Saul's armor.

It just didn't work for him, so he took his sling shot and rocks and took Goliath out.

Here's a news flash! While Saul's armor didn't work for David, our King's armor will work for us! It will give us the victory; we just need to put that armor on.

THAT BRINGS US TO WHY WE PUT ON THE ARMOR. TO TAKE OUR STAND AGAINST THE DEVIL'S SCHEMES

To take your stand was a military term for taking your stand in battle. The Roman soldier was equipped with cleated shoes to keep from slipping, falling and making himself vulnerable to certain death at the hand of the enemy. Standing was essential for survival in battle and essential for victory. To fall spelled certain death!

Notice the phrase in Ephesians 6:11, “so that you can take your stand.” The word “DYNASTHE,” is the Greek word involved there. The English words dynamic and dynamite come from that word, and it means we need to be empowered by God's power to take our stand.

We're empowered as we have the Holy Spirit inside to grant us that power.

He tells us who the enemy is. The Devil, or Greek DIABOLOU, which means the slanderer or schemer, is the enemy. The Devil slanders and schemes against us and does so through our feelings. The word translated “schemes” is the Greek word “methodias” which is the word the English word method comes from.

But this Greek word includes the notion of being devious! Satan is devious and uses deception to toss people on the ground and kill them in the battle for their souls.

He will do anything he can do to lie to people and deceive them to wreck their lives. This is why girls think they're boys and why boys think they're girls today.

The greatest scheme or battle tactic the Devil has is the make people think if they think or feel something it has to be true. When armored up we can stand our ground and defeat the devil's lies totally and send him down in flames.

Here's the impact of the devil's lies and tactics. A beautiful 11-yearold girl gets convinced she's a boy in a girl's body. She gets medical treatment with puberty blockers and then has her breasts removed and even has some surgery on her genitals.

In her teens she's transitioning to a male from a female. At the age of 18 she figures out she was deceived by her feelings and thoughts and she's a woman and wants to be a woman and have children and a family. It's too late! This is tragic!

If she had put on the armor of God and been able to stand against the devil, she could have stood her ground and not been deceived and had her life ruined.

We must armor up with God's armor and stand against the devil's schemes.

The devil is our main adversary. Back in high school football, our main adversary was Prescott High School. Prescott was the only other town large enough to take on Flagstaff where I lived.

We put on our armor on and armored up to go to war in a football game against Prescott. When the night was done, the score was Flagstaff 62, Prescott 0. We armored up and gave Prescott a whipping.

When the Christ-follower puts on the full armor of God and goes to war against the devil he will be whipped like we whipped Prescott, nearly 60 years ago.

Armor up with the full armor of God and beat up on the Devil.

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.