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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

01 Paul and the Ephesians

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

04 How God Rescues Us

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

07 The Unified Body of Christ

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

09 Living Wisely

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

12 “The Call to Stand”

13 Waging Peace

14 Ephesians in the Heart

Well, we're coming to the end of the book of Ephesians. We just have this week and next week to conclude. It's been a really exciting book, an inspiring book, a book that has penetrated to the deepest recesses of our spiritual lives. Our lesson today, lesson 13, is called Waging Peace. The memory text outlines the theme of the lesson found in Ephesians, chapter six, verse 16 and 17. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. In Ephesians chapter six, Paul pictures not only the Christian, but the Christian church as an army that is marching out to battle the enemy. Our lesson opens with a quote from John Bunyan's devotional classic Pilgrim's Progress, and it talks about Pilgrim entering into an armory and there being clothed with armor to go out to the battle. And he's told that he has everything he needs to face the enemy. Well, I'm sure that when Bunyan wrote this in 1678, that he was thinking back of Ephesians and Paul's counsel that the Christian be clothed with the armor of God. On Sunday's lesson, we look at the fact that the church is a unified army. To remind us of the lesson today, we've read Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 last week. But I want to pick up a portion of it for again this week. And we're going to start with Ephesians 6, verse 14. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So here you have this idea of clothing being clothed with spiritual armor. Now, it's very interesting. If you look at this passage, it talks about the idea of the unity of the people of God in this battle. So Paul's not simply talking about an individual Christian, but he's talking about the entire church entering into the armory of God. The entire church being clothed with truth and with having the word of God in their hand and having the helmet of salvation, a church that is Bible based, Christ centered, a church that is filled with the power of the living Christ, the resurrected Christ that goes out and confronts the world and does battle and sees men and women, boys and girls, one to Christ. Now, we shouldn't think of battle in the sense of going out angry with our weapons. You know, the Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual, not carnal. So we don't go out in anger to try to beat somebody. We go out with kindness, gentleness and love. I love the way Paul puts it here when he says, if you're looking at your quarterly, and I hope you do have a pen, your Bible, your quarterly out. You know, Paul puts it this way when he says in the third paragraph down on Monday, on Sunday's lesson, he says, thus, Ephesians 6, 10 to 20 does not portray a solitary lone warrior confronting evil. Instead, Paul, as a general, addresses the church as an army. He calls us to take up our full armor and as a unified army, vigorously and unitedly pressed to the battle. Paul chooses to conclude his thoroughgoing emphasis on the church, which is included. And you can see all the descriptions of the church Paul has used. He's used the church as the body of Christ. The church is the temple of God. The church is the bride of Christ. And he's used those metaphors. But now we use the metaphor of an army. Paul particularly is depicting in Ephesians 6, a spiritual battle with which the church battles against evil foes together corporately. Now, let's look at these individual symbols of the church, the belt, the breastplate, the shoes, the shield, the helmet, the sword, and what all that means. And we'll conclude with the practicing the battlefield of prayer. What does it mean when Paul says in Ephesians 6, verse 14, stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness? What is girding your waist with truth all about? Now, notice it says put on God's truth. I think the Monday's lesson brings out a key point that it's not so much that we generate truth, but we put on truth. So truth is a gift that God gives to us. It's not so much that we possess truth, but truth possesses us. We come to Christ. We open the word of God and his truth fills our hearts. It possesses us. It changes us. It transforms us. I love the way the author puts it. It says they are to put on God's truth to experience and use this divine gift. They do not so much possess God's truth as truth possesses and protects them. The truth, what is that we put on truth? It is that we fill our minds with the word of God. We fill our minds with Scripture. We fill our minds with the Old and New Testament. And Christ shines through his word. And that becomes a protection against the enemy. Then it talks about the breastplate. What is the breastplate all about? Paul associates this breastplate. You see what he says here, the breastplate of righteousness. Well, what is righteousness? Righteousness is holiness, goodness and truth. So we go out to fight the battle with indeed the belt of truth. The belt supports us. The belt protects us. It's the belt of truth. And we go out with the breastplate of righteousness. That is, through the word of God, we live holy lives sanctified by his Holy Spirit through the word. And we go out filled with goodness to share his love and grace with others. And Tuesday's lesson talks about shoes. And, you know, it's really if you look at it, it says verse 15, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, shod your feet. Paul explains this military footwear with language from Isaiah 52, verse seven. So let's go back to Isaiah 52. And we're going to notice Isaiah 52, verse seven. And the apostle Paul is talking here in Isaiah 52, verse seven about the gospel of peace. And we get some real insight of how Paul uses that. You know, Paul is a student of the Old Testament. He his heart and mind was filled with the Old Testament. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings God tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. Your watchmen shall lift up their voices. Voice eight with their voices, they shall sing together. So we go with the gospel of peace and we go with the good news that through Jesus, our sins can be forgiven, through Jesus we can be justified, through Jesus we can be sanctified, through Jesus we can be transformed. The gospel is the source of peace. It brings peace between us and God and it brings peace between us and others. I love the way the author puts it under Tuesday's lesson. Last sentence in the last paragraph on the page one oh seven in your quarterly. The church is to wage peace by employing the gospel arsenal of Christian virtues, humility, patience, forgiveness and practices, prayer and worship. Such acts are strategic, pointing toward God's grand plan to unify all things in Christ. So through the gospel, human beings are unified. We're brought together. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians to the middle wall petition is broken down. We come Jew and Gentile believers and unbelievers. We come together in Christ. And we are through the gospel, we're brought to one with God. So our oneness is a vertical oneness and it's a horizontal oneness. It's oneness with God and it's oneness with one another. Then we come to the Wednesday's lesson, the shield, the helmet, the sword. What do all these things represent? Where? The belt represents truth and the breastplate represents righteousness and the shoes represent our journey to communicate God's loving message of peace. What about the shield, the helmet, the sword? We read about them in Ephesians six, verse 16 and 17, above all, taking the shield of faith, which you'll be able to quench all with the fiery darts of the wicked one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, I learned something new in this lesson. I learned that when the Greek soldiers would have their shields made, the shields were made from wood, they would cover them with leather, they would dip them in water. I didn't know that before I read this lesson and studied it. And so when the fiery darts came with the fiery arrows, they would not hurt them because the tip of the arrow would be buried in the wood, which is soaked a little bit in water. It would put out the fire. And so here Paul takes the illusion from the Roman soldiers. What does the shield represent? Psalm three, verse three, and again, Paul is borrowing from an illusion in the Old Testament. Psalm three. Verse three. Here we go with what does the shield represent? In this third Psalm, it states it very, very, very succinct to it. Psalm three, verse three. But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. So the shield represents the protecting power of God as we go out to fight the enemy. The shield represents that God is our refuge. God is our strength. God is our protector. What about the helmet? In Roman battle, the helmet was made of iron or bronze and it was placed upon the head and it had actually a siding on it to protect your ears on both sides, and it had a back flap to protect the back of your neck so that if the arrow was shot, you'd be protected by it. It talks about the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation. I'm reading from the lesson symbolizes the present salvation believers experience in solidarity with the resurrected, ascended and exalted Christ to put on the helmet of salvation means to reject the fear of spiritual powers so common in the time and instead to trust in the supreme power of Christ. So my mind, the helmet of salvation has to do with my mind focused upon Christ. My mind, one with the mind of Christ. And then it talks about the sword. Well, what is the sword? It talks it defines that actually it says, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Paul steps forward as general issues, a call to arms, and he speaks of the word of God and the promises of hope. What do we find in the word of God? We find the promise that our sins can be forgiven. We find the promise that we can have victory in Christ. We find the promise that one day we'll have victory over the principalities and powers of hell and live in heaven forever. Shield the protecting power of Christ, the helmet, the salvation that comes only in Jesus, the word of God, the promises of hope of a new world. And then as Roman or Greek armies went out to battle, they often called out to their gods in prayer. And Paul is saying here, pray as you go into the battle between good and evil, pray as you enter into this controversy between Christ and Satan. And we look at many texts on prayer. In our lesson, Luke 18 says men ought always to pray. In other words, make prayer common in your life. Philippians four, verse six says, don't worry about anything, but make your requests known to God. In other words, don't be filled with anxiety. Come to God in prayer and cautions for two. He says, continue in praying earnestly to God. And in First Thessalonians five, he says, pray always. In other words, as you go into the battle, you're going to go into this battle between good and evil as a church, as a unified army, you go out with the belt of truth, with the breastplate of righteousness, you'll go out with the shoes of the gospel of peace to bring peace through the gospel to the world. You go out with the shield of God's protection, the helmet of salvation, with a mind totally committed to Christ. You'll go out with the word of God, but you must, must go out with prayer. Why are believers so urged to participate? Last paragraph in the earnest, persevering prayer. Paul's military metaphor suggests two answers. The threat of spiritual battle against an array of supernatural enemies is dire and real. The battle between good and evil is real. This is what Paul means when he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, his powers against powers of darkness and evil forces in high places. So this is a real battle. It's not a make believe battle. There are evil angels that are warring for your soul. There are wicked forces that are trying to do everything they can to take you from God. So the battle is real. One to God's promises of spiritual strength and victory are illustrated through Paul's military imagery. In other words. Open your heart in mind to receive the spiritual strength that only God can give next, earnest, persevering prayer provides an opportunity for us to listen carefully to these promises, to celebrate them and thank God for the resources of his grace as we face the enemy every day and spend time each morning seeking God in prayer, we prepare for the temptations that Satan has already planned for us that day and through God's grace and by his power, we open our hearts to God and we say, God, today that the belt of truth sustain me. May the helmet of salvation of a mind focused only on Christ support me. May I go out with the shoes of peace to bring peace to others. May, as I go, my prayer. Reach the throne of God so I can be strengthened for the battle between good and evil, let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that in the battle, Jesus has never lost a battle with Satan yet. We thank you that in this battle between good and evil, Jesus is our Lord and Savior, that he will clothe us with the belt of salvation, with the belt of truth, with the breastplate of righteousness, with the helmet of salvation, with the shield of faith, with the shoes of the gospel of peace, and that we will saturate all that with prayer to you and go out to the battle confident that you'll give us victory in Christ, in Jesus name. Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about AudioVerse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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Series

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

13 Waging Peace

Parent Series

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Other Teachings in Series

01 Paul and the Ephesians

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

04 How God Rescues Us

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

07 The Unified Body of Christ

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

09 Living Wisely

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

12 “The Call to Stand”

13 Waging Peace

14 Ephesians in the Heart

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