Spiritual Warfare (Ephesians 6:10-13)
Ephesians 6:10 (ESV) --- 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
First, I want to point out that we are beginning the final section of Ephesians. We have been through a lot with this book, but now we get to a final section. Notice that Paul says, "Finally." he has described our spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. He has described our calling in Christ. Then, he tells us to live worthy of the calling by living righteously. Now, we see a final command from Paul. What does Paul command us to do? Be strong.
Be Strong?
In verse 10, Paul tells the Ephesians to be strong. Don't you think they know that? Of course, they need to be strong! Think about all that Paul has told them to do.
4:1-3 - He told them to be united with humility. How hard is it to stay humble when our pride and arrogance start to puff themselves up? How hard is it when those around us fight against us for no good reason? We don't want to be humble. We want to fight against one another. It takes a lot of strength to unite with humility.
4:4-13 - He also told them to equip one another for the work of ministry. We need strength to persist in the equipping process. It's hard to keep trying to equip people who don't want to be equipped. It's hard to figure out how to equip people who are not like you. This takes strength.
4:14-16 - The Ephesians need strength to grow into the image of Christ. We are supposed to join together and work together to form the body of Christ on earth. This is not easy. We need to use every tool at our disposal to accomplish this spiritual growth into the image of Christ.
4:17-24 - Paul told them to stop walking like Gentiles full of deceitful desires and self-love. Our mission is not to fit in with the world. Our mission is to come out of the dark ways we once lived in. This takes an inner strength to let go of evil influences. We need strength and diligence to get out of the terrible habitual evil we have been involved in.
4:25-32 - We need strength to speak the truth in love and resist the urge to use speech that is corrupting or spoken in anger. We have so many temptations with our tongues. James says that the tongue is an unruly evil. It is destructive like fire. The tongue is a weakness in so many of us. We need to be strong in our control of the tongue.
5:1-2 - Chapter 5 starts with the command to be imitators of God in sacrificial love. Is that something that we need strength for? How much strength do you have to allow someone to crucify you? We need tremendous strength.
5:3-7 - We need the strength that can resist partnering with darkness. The desires inside of us will make us want to compromise and avoid suffering. But we must not become partners with darkness.
5:8-10 - Paul wants us to figure out what is light and pursue that. We need to discern what is pleasing to the Lord and do what is good all the time. That takes strength.
5:11-14 - We need to expose darkness with light. We need the strength to stay awake for Christ and stay ready for every opportunity.
5:15-20 - We need strength to walk in wisdom with thankful hearts and find our fulfillment with the Spirit instead of with the drunkenness of this world.
5:22-33 - We need strength to submit to one another in our marriages
6:1-4 - We need strength to submit to one another in our parent/child relationships
6:5-9 - We need strength to submit to one another at work.
Who is strong enough to do all of that? It seems impossible to juggle all of this righteousness and God-likeness. Many have given up on the idea of fulfilling this righteous living idea. But we have to do all of these things to live worthy of the calling we have received. We have to live righteous to glorify God and bring praise to his name. Don't get me wrong. We don't do it because we have to to be accepted. We do it because the love of Christ compels us to do it. We do it because we love him and want to show our love for him. We want to be all that we can be for Christ's glory.
Why Do We Fall Short?
As we look at this massive list of changes we need to make in our lives, we must ask ourselves the question, "Why don't we do what we know we should do?" We also ask, "Why do we do what we know we shouldn't do?" People try to blame their failures on a lot of different things.
Many say their failure is a consequence of life. Maybe it's a psychological or physiological problem. Maybe it's due to some grief or shock that you have experienced. If that's the case, maybe we need medication. But we absolutely need love and support. Some people chalk it up to the way things are and try to ignore it. That will never work. We need to join ourselves to one another and find the support we need to change.
Some say that their failure is other people's fault. It's all the church's fault. It's all my parent's fault. It's all my spouse's fault. It's all my coworker's fault. It's all my children's fault. Blaming other people does nothing to help us grow. If they are negative influences on us, we have to do something about it.
This brings us to the third place of blame, ourselves. Many of us have concluded that there is just something wrong with us. We can't be good and righteous like God wants us to. God wants obedient children, and I'm consistently falling short. Seeing our sin and guilt can make us depressed.
In some cases, we have true guilt to deal with, and we should grieve that sin. It's normal for us to do so, and we will talk about how to get out of that grief. But in other cases, it may not be true guilt. We may have created a standard that is not God's standard. The only way to be sure that what we are doing is sinful by studying our Bibles and putting our traditions on the chopping block.
All of these ideas miss out on a critical piece of the puzzle. Something is working that is beyond the everyday events in life. It's beyond the people who make themselves our enemies. It's even beyond me and the choices I'm making. We are falling short of what God wants us to be because Satan is at work in our lives. How often do we face a stressful day or a stressful situation and consider the working of Satan? In our day, people don't believe Satan exists. Some don't believe that God exists, so they don't believe that Satan exists. Some believe in Jesus but don't believe in Satan. This doesn't make sense because Jesus repeatedly points to Satan working.
The Schemes of the Devil
Ephesians 6:11--12 (ESV) --- 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.
Satan is working to aggravate us and trip us up. He gives us difficult life circumstances. We think it's just the way it is, and that life happens to us, but we don't see a way out of many problems we face. He is working in the lives of those around us so that they will want to mistreat us. We have to believe that we aren't fighting against another person. We are fighting against spiritual forces of wickedness. There is more going on than what meets the eye. We aren't wrestling against flesh and blood.
Have you ever left this building knowing what you need to do but then failing to do it? Is that because you aren't good enough? Why wouldn't we say it's because Satan is working to tear apart what we learn? He is working to prevent us from changing. From the day we decide to submit our lives to Christ, we have been engaged in a battle.
Does this scare you? It should scare us all. We are fighting against forces that are beyond our ability. But the terrifying part is that we don't recognize this battle is going on. We are being slaughtered, and we have no idea why. Can you imagine trying to move to another country and build a house but not realizing that evil forces are working to sabotage everything you do? You start to put up walls and wake up the next day to find everything has fallen apart. The discouragement is enough to make you give up. You might say, "I'm no construction worker. I should just go home." It's hard enough to be in a new country. Now we have to deal with an enemy. But, if you know the enemy is coming, at least you can do something about it.
In The Lord
How does Paul expect us to be strong enough to defeat spiritual forces of evil? The rest of verse 10 tells us, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might!" Notice what it does not say. It does not say, "Be strong in your own strength." Are we foolish enough to think we can resist the urge to speak out of anger and corruption on our own? Of course, we cannot. We are weak and sinful without the strength of our Lord working through us.
This was Paul's prayer back in Chapter 3.
Ephesians 3:14--19 (ESV) --- 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith---that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul wants us to have an inner strength to become more than we are by ourselves. He wants that inner strength to come through Christ's Spirit working on our hearts and minds. By ourselves, we will not be able to come close to what we are called to be. But with Christ, we can accomplish everything.
Ephesians 3:20--21 (ESV) --- 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Do we see the strength that God can provide? He wants to do more than we are asking or thinking. I wonder about this for myself. Sometimes I fear stepping out in faith toward an opportunity to teach someone the truth. Do I believe that Christ is strong enough to change their lives? It's not about me or my ability. It's about Christ working through me. I don't have to overpower someone with logic. It's not up to me and my ability.
How strong is Christ? Hasn't all power been laid at his feet? I don't want to be someone who doubts the power and working of Christ. Earlier in the book, Paul is praying for the Ephesians to know, "what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe." The same power that God worked in raising Christ from the dead is now at work in us to raise us to spiritual life. The same power that put all things under the feet of Jesus is working to put all things under our feet.
How?
How do we tap into the exponentially greater power and strength of Christ? It all starts with faith in the words we are reading. We have to believe that God is for us and that he wants to strengthen us against Satan. Strength comes from knowing that I am on the Lord's side in this battle. No one can stand against him. He is undefeated. He wins 100% of the time. We receive strength by knowing who God is and who Christ is. They are more powerful than we can comprehend, but God displays his power for us to feel assured.
Another critical factor in our strength is prayer. Paul sets the example for us by asking God to grant strength and understanding to his people. He wants us to ask God for help also. If we don't want to fail, we need to pray about it. Every temptation can be overcome by prayer. We should be praying for ourselves and those around us. Our brethren need our prayers as we all struggle to become what God calls us to be.
But God gives us additional resources to help us stand firm against Satan's attacks. Paul calls it the armor of God. How can we put on the armor of God? We will learn about that next week.
Conclusion
Paul enters into the final section of Ephesians with words of encouragement. He wants the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord and fight against the evil forces of the world. But he doesn't want us to do this alone. He wants us to rely on God's strength. With God on our side, who can stand against us? Next time, we will look at the armor of God in more detail. Between now and then, rely on the Lord to help you become what he has called you to be. We need to remain engaged in his battle and work toward the ultimate goal of praising his name with our lives.