Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)
We have been studying the armor of God.
Ephesians 6:10--13 (ESV) --- 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
The spiritual battle is not over after baptism. It is just beginning. Once we are baptized and added into the body of Christ, Satan begins to throw every dart he can muster. At times he makes us think that we are fighting against one another or against the people who live around us. His goal is to deceive us into getting angry and lashing out. He wants us to hold grudges, retaliate, or do absolutely nothing to help anyone. If he can make us comfortable with being like the world, he wins the war of our souls. That's all that he is after.
We are called to be different. We are called to be children of God. Jesus died on the cross to transfer us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light. He saved us from death and made us alive with him. He provided the Holy Spirit to help us understand exactly who Jesus is and how we can become more like him. Jesus is the human image of our divine creator. We are meant to be transformed into that same image.
The Breastplate of Righteousness
Ephesians 6:14 (ESV) --- 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
A few weeks ago, we studied the belt of truth. We need truth to give us agility as we defend ourselves and attack our spiritual foe. Truth is what keeps us from tripping and helps us to remain flexible when opinions are being discussed. We want to know the difference between what is true and false because believing something false makes other armor pieces ineffective. I hope we give the appropriate amount of importance to the belt of truth. I hope we are studying to know the truth and equip others for their spiritual battle.
Today, we will study the breastplate of righteousness. When we think of a breastplate, we think of an essential piece of armor. This is the piece that protects our vital organs. One of our enemy's arrows will likely kill us if we go out into battle without a breastplate. We can survive a blow to the arm or leg, but not to the gut or the heart. The primary circulatory system is weak and vulnerable without the breastplate. Breastplates are often large and cumbersome pieces of armor, but they are worth every ounce.
What Is This About?
Paul says that the Christian's breastplate is a breastplate of righteousness. He wants Christians to put on righteousness to protect themselves against the spiritual forces of evil. This could refer to one of two things. There is a sense in which a Christian puts on Christ and receives the righteousness that Christ's blood offers.
Philippians 3:8--9 (ESV) --- 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith---
Romans 4:5 (ESV) --- 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Christ is our righteousness, and we must put him on for us to be found righteous and justified on judgment day. But is that what a Christian puts on to protect himself against spiritual forces of evil? We already have righteousness before God because of what Christ has done for us. Why would we need to put it on?
Aside from the righteousness that Christ provides, there is righteous living. We are all called to live righteous and holy lives. This makes more sense because holy and righteous living is something we must continually be working toward putting on. Consider the importance of righteous living.
Righteous Living
When we think about living righteous lives, we might cringe because we know that being perfectly righteous is impossible. Many people today teach that any attempt to be righteous will result in sin. Self-righteousness, pride, and self-glorification are common problems among Christians who try to be holy, but our need for humility and compassion shouldn't hinder our pursuit of righteousness. It should increase our diligence. As God's children, we have tremendous grace available to us, but we also have an enormous responsibility. We wear the name of God. We represent him to outsiders and those in the church.
Don't be afraid of those who think that you are "holier than thou" because you want to do what is right when no one else does. Holy living is not something that hurts us. It is something that protects us from deadly blows by Satan. When we give in to sin, Satan is deceiving us so that he can steal our joy. We think that sinning will increase our joy, but it only opens us to shame, dishonor, and accusation. Then, we start to spiral as we justify our sin. One sin turns into two, then three, then four. Before we know it, we are sinning willfully and are in danger of losing the sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:26 (ESV) --- 26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
1 John 3:2--6 (ESV) --- 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
We all sin, as John tells us that back in 1:8, but he also tells us to confess our sins and seek restoration. The sin spiral only stops when we reset and re-evaluate ourselves. Remember what happens with David? We must conclude that true joy won't be found by covering up our sin or multiplying it. True joy is found in being restored and developing a clean heart (Psalm 51). Satan wants us to give up, but God wants us to be restored.
As sin tends to compound, righteousness does the same. When we say "No," to sin, it becomes easier to say "No," to sin. When we say "Yes," to do the right thing, we become stronger, and the fears are lessened. We need to see that putting on greater righteousness gives us strength to fight in more difficult battles. It allows us to help the weak and shine a light for all to see God's glory through us.
How Do We Put On Righteousness?
1. Through The Word
We cannot be righteous by listening to the standards of the world around us. They change the definition of righteousness so that their sin is covered up. Our standard for righteousness is Jesus, and we only learn about him through his word.
2 Timothy 3:16--17 (ESV) --- 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We need to increase our understanding and knowledge of scripture. It must be on our hearts and in our minds as we are faced with temptations or opportunities. The word of God can train us in righteousness. It's able to help us overcome our fears and able to motivate great works of faith. We need to be constantly studying to know the truth of God's word.
2. Through Discipline
I know that pursuing righteousness seems like a daunting task, but I think we make it more difficult than it has to be. One thing that we often do is make up rules that God hasn't created. Being righteous is not about having a complete set of rules to live by. It's about living self-controlled and disciplined lives. It's about a genuine commitment and attitude of relentless devotion. It's about loving God so much that we hate the thought of sinning, and we love the idea of doing something that pleases him.
Paul tells us that our goal is much like the goal of an olympian to win a gold medal.
1 Corinthians 9:24--27 (ESV) --- 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
It may seem impossible for us to win a gold medal at the Olympics. We don't have the right genetics. We don't have the right resources or opportunities. But how many gold medalists start that way? They make it by hard work and determination. They make it by developing good habits and cutting out the bad ones. Paul wants all of us to have the same level of determination. He wants us to pursue a self-sacrificing life that resembles Christ as though it means everything to us.
The fruit of righteousness is produced by living a disciplined life and being trained to make good decisions and avoid bad ones.
3. Through Believing In Your Identity
A third way we can become more righteous is by ingraining our identity. That's what the book of Ephesians is about. Everything we do should reinforce our identity as a child of God. We don't go to certain places or do certain things because that's not what Christ would do. That's not the way children of God act.
On the other hand, we go to certain places and do certain things because that's what Christ did and how he acted. Christ spent time with sinners, but he was the influencer. Christ showed love and compassion toward those who were weak and hurting. He wanted to teach people about God and true righteousness to have a relationship with God. That's who we are called to be. I don't oversleep and show up late to work because that's not the type of thing a righteous child of God would do. I don't neglect God's word. I don't forget to pray. That's not who I am. We need to do things that match up with that identity. We need to think of thoughts that match up with that identity. It should become ingrained in our everyday life.
Habit Building
I read through a book called Atomic Habits in preparation for this lesson. It is full of tips and tricks for developing good habits and getting rid of bad ones. The book's point is that we are lazy people who need to give ourselves every opportunity to build the proper habits.
We want good habits to be evident and bad habits to be hidden. Take your Bibles off the shelf and set them on your dining room table (or on your coffee table if you eat there). Put reminders to pray in your bathroom or at your desk. Also, put away the TV remote, computer, phone, or any other device that tempts you. Stop talking to friends that are bad influences on you. Remove their name from your contacts. Bad habits need to be hidden from sight, and good habits need to be pushed to the forefront.
We want to make good habits attractive and bad habits unattractive. Buy a new Bible and some great highlighters. Go all out on your prayer closet and make it a comfortable place to be. Remember that doing the right thing will help you develop the right friends and make you the most trusted and respected person in the office. On the other hand, tell yourself the truth about your bad habits. They make you repulsive to great people. They prevent you from accomplishing your overall goal. It doesn't really feel good to make people feel bad and retaliate. It just makes life more difficult. Bad habits need to repulse us, and good habits need to entice us.
We want to make good habits easy and bad habits difficult. Let's be honest. The reason why we go for junk food is that it's so easy to eat. Usually, we think about the whole task of making something healthy, and we feel overwhelmed. All bad habits seem easy, and all good habits seem hard. What if we made the bad habits hard and the good habits easy? Take coming to services, for example. For some of us, if we don't go to services on Sunday night or Wednesday night, it's because it's easier to stay home. If we go, we have to rush to eat dinner, get cleaned up, get the kids ready, drive to the church building, and we might not make it home till late. What if we found a way to make it easy? What if we automate or outsource our work? We can train our four year old to put on their clothes. We can let someone else make dinner.
Another thing we can do is think differently about the overwhelming tasks by breaking them up into small chunks. What if we just got ready to go to church? That's it. Once we get ready, we might as well go---no sense in wasting effort. Instead of seeing righteousness as complicated, we need to make it easy by breaking it into edible chunks. The hardest part of doing something is to get it started. Once you get that ball rolling, it rolls itself. To prepare for Bible class, just open your lesson book and read the chapter before watching TV. For evangelism, just ask a simple spiritually focused question like, "Where do you worship God, in Saraland?"
Finally, we want to make good habits satisfying and bad habits painful. Our goal is to remove the rewards that are found in our bad habits. Good habits must not be painful at first, or else we will never do them again. Something simple like keeping up with your Bible reading on a calendar can be very satisfying. Another thing we can do is discuss our studies with someone else. It's always fun to share something you found or to find out something new that you missed. We want sin to be as painful as possible. If you are struggling to overcome sin, confess it. Determine in yourself to confess it every time you do it. It will eventually be so embarrassing that you will loath that sin.
Another thing you could do is come up with a punishment for yourself. If we commit that sin again, we will give up something we love. Pay someone $300, take away your TV time, take away your sweets, or go to the gym more often. But make sure you tell someone else about this so that you will be held accountable.
Conclusion
To prepare for the spiritual warfare that we face every day, we must believe in our identity. We are indeed God's children. We have been renewed and are being transformed to resemble God's image through righteous and holy living. Our time on earth is not supposed to be spent giving in to every whim and passion of our flesh. We are supposed to choose to follow Christ. When we give in to a temptation, it becomes easier to give in to another and another. Eventually, we can slip away from having a strong love for God. When we make the right decisions, we protect ourselves against future attacks. We align with our identity in Christ and become stronger than ever.
Righteous living is the path to greater joy. If we refuse to put on righteousness as a breastplate, our hearts will desire things full of emptiness, guilt, and shame. We will be tempted to lose heart and give up. Remember that God is on our side. He wants us to keep going and keep fighting to live righteous, transformed lives. He wants us to shine as a light for the world to see. He wants us to withstand Satan.