• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Christ and Creation
Unit
3:
The
Fruits
of
New Life
(Lessons
10-14)
NEW
ARMOR
FOR
BATILE
----mmmJr-------
INTRODUCTION
A.
DRESSING
FOR
BATTLE
One
ofthe
most popular spectator sports
ofthetwenty-first
century
is
American-style
football.
Although it
is
somewhat obscure outside
the
United
States
and Canada, this
is
one
of
the highest revenue-generating sports on theplanet.
High
school
footballteams
have
rabid
fans.
The
fans
of
footballteamsof
major universities
are
no
less
passionate.
The
"identity" of a
large
city
canbe tied
to
its
professional
football franchise.
At
its core,football
is
a
type
of mock
warfare.
Points
are
scored
by
pushingthe battle
line
into
the
opponent's end
zone. Brutal,
hand-to-hand combatoccurs
in
the trenches,
thelineof scrimmage.The
key player,
the
quarterback,
is
often referred
to as
the
field
general
who directs
his
troops.
Players
with
ex
perience
are
veterans.
A
long
pass
is
called
a
bomb.
As
the
game
offootballhas
developed, there
have
been many
improve
ments in equipment. A
fully
dressed
football player wears
many items
to
protect himself
from
the physical pounding of
the
game.
All
playerswear
helmets with
face
masks. Each player wears
a custom mouth guard
to
protect
his
teeth.
Very
prominent
are
the pads that
allow
players
to
use
their shoul
ders
like
battering
rams. Some players
wear
flak
jackets
to
protect their
ribs.Football
pants
are
equipped with hip pads,
thigh
pads, and knee pads
to
guard those body parts.
Some
players
even
use
shoes with steel
toes
to
protect their
feet.
While there
are
many
injuries
in
football,
this system of
body
armor
is
amazingly
effective,
given
the
speed
of
the
game
and
the
intensity of
the hits.
We
can imagine how
quickly
a person wearing only a soccer player's
gear
would be injured
on the full-contactfootball
field.
When
we
look
at
a depiction
of
a
Roman
soldier of Paul's
day,
the
soldier
may
appear
to
us
to
have
used strange equipment.
But
he
was
armed and
ar
mored using the
finest
equipment
available
at
the
time.
If
his
armor kept him
from
becoming a
casualty,
he
could
fight
the
ne.xt
battle
too.
The
apostle
Paul
never
served in
the
Roman
army.
But
he
had seen
Roman
soldiers up
close
on more than one
occasion.
Paul
knew that there
was
a
far
more
consequential
war
being
waged
outside
the realm of
earthly
armies.Paul
understood and taught that
all
believers
would
be called
upon
to
engage
in
warfare
against spiritual
powers
that would seek
to
destroy their
faith.
Their commander
was
not sending them into battle unannored, though.
God
has provided spiritual armor
for
each believer
B.
LESSON
BACKGROUND
In
writing Ephesians,
Paul
revealed
a special concern
for
spiritual
reali
ties.
Hewas
acutely
aware
that there
is
a spiritual
realm,
unseen
to
us,
whereimportant things
take
place
that
affect
us.
Paul
referred
to
thisplace
as
the
DEVOTIONAL READING:
LUKE
11:
14-23
BACKGROUND SCRIPTURE:
EPHESIANS
6:10-18
PRINTED TEXT:
EPHESIANS
6:10-18
LESSON
AIMS
After
participating
in
this
lesson, each
student
will beable
to:
1.
List
the
elements
of
the
armor
of
God.
2.
Explainthe
need
for
each piece
of
"annor"
in
more
literalterminology.
3.
Identify
one
element
of
the
annor
of
God
that
heor
she
needs
to
don
and make
a
plan
to
do
so.
KEY
VERSE
Put
on
the
full armor
of
God,
so
thatwhen
the day
of
evil
comes,
you
may
be able
to
stand
your
ground,
andafter
you
have
done
ev-
erything,
to
stand.
·-Ephesians
6:
13
..
 
MAY
31,
].J)J)_9 _
3 ~ i 4
 
_
_
NEW
ARMQREOR
BAJTLE
LESSON
14
NOTES
DAILY
BIBLE READINGS
Monday,
May
25-Truth
(Psalm
25:
1-5)
Tuesday,
May
26-Righ
teousness
(Proverbs
11:
1-1
0)
Wednesday,May
27-
The Good News
of
Peace
(Isaiah
52:
7-12)
Thursday,
May
28-
Faith
(Hebrews
10:35-11:3)
Friday,
May
29-
Salvation
(Isaiah
12:
1-6)
Saturday,
May
3D-The
Word
of
God (Psalm 119:
105-112)
Sunday,
May
31-
The
Full
Annor of
God
(Ephesians
6:
10-18)
"heavenly
realms."
This
realm
is
the
source of our spiritual blessings
(Ephe
sians
1:3).
Yet
this
realm
is
also
the
habitation of "rulers and authorities,"meaning
the
evil
spiritual
forces
that seek
to
enslave
humanity (Ephesians
3:
1
0).
The New
Testament
teaches that
all
spiritual powers eventually
will
be
brought
to
submission
(l
Corinthians 15:24; Philippians 2:10; 1
Peter
3:22),but that
time
has not
yet come(Hebrews
2:8).There
aretwo
extremes
to
be avoided
when considering the nature of
the
spiritual
realm
or
the
spirit
world.
Animism,
on
the
one hand,
is
the
beliefthat almost everything
in
nature has a spirit associated with
it.
There
is
a
river god,
a
treegod,
a monkey
god,
a mountain
god,
a storm
god,
etc.
In
this
worldview,
life is
a matter of tiptoeing through
the
spheres
of
these little
gods,
pleasing and appeasing each
as
necessary.
On
the
other end
of the
spectrum,
secular
materialism
is
based on
the idea
that there
are
no
spiritual
realities
at
all.
In
this
worldview,
gods
and
angels
are no
different
from elves
and leprechauns.
At
the
end of
the
day,
if
there
is
no
tooth
fairy,
then there
are
no
gods,
either.
There
are
no
hidden spiritual
powers,
good or bad, and humans
are
called
to
make
their
way
boldly
in
a
godless world.
Paul
taught neither
the
chaotic and
fearful
world of
the
animists nor
the
lonely and
even
scarier world of
the
materialists.
He
personally had
experi
enced
the
spiritual world in dramatic, convincing
ways
(see
2 Corinthians
12:
1-4).
Yet
he
understood that
this
realm
was
not a playground
for
compet-
ing
deities
of
varying powers.
Paul
knew
that there
is
one
God.
The
spiritual
world
is
delineated between those
forces
aligned
with
God
and those
forces
:
in
rebellion against
God.
We
do
not understand
why
the
all-powerful
God
continues
to
allow
these
evil
spiritual
forces to
exist
(nor
did
Paul).
However,
for
as
long
as
the spiri
tual realm
is
populated with these rebellious
powers, they
will
seek
to
bring
men
and woman under their
thrall
as
co-rebels
against
God.
This,
then,
is
cosmic warfare
of
the
most
deadly
type.Paul
knew that. Christians must constantly
be
on
guard against spiritual attacks,
for
theirhearts and minds
are
the
battleground.
Paul also
knew
that
God
had not
left
believers
\-vithout
defenses.
Such
is
the focus
of
this
week's lesson.
1.
THE
PERIL
OF
BELIEVERS (EPHESIANS 6:10-13)
A.
SPIRITUAL RESOURCES
(v.
10)
10.
Finally,
be
strong
in
the Lord
and
in
his
mighty
power.
Paul
begins
the
final
section of the letter by urging his readers
to
be
strong.
This has
the
sense of empowerment, of the unleashing of latent, strength.
The
source of this strength
is
nothing physical,
however.
It
is
not a mat-
ter of
weight training or nutritional supplements.
It
does
not
come
froman
injection of steroids. Instead, spiritual strength
comes
from
our relationshipwith
God,
from
being
in
the
Lord.
Paul
uses
an
unusual phrase
to
describe
God's strength:
his
mighty
power.
This
is
similar
to
a common
Bible
description
of
God
as
the
Almighty.
There
are
no
holes
in
God's
power.
He
is
strong
everywhere.
A repeated mistake
for
most Christians
is to
fall
into the trap of trustingin their own inner strength in times
oftrial.
If
we
spurn the spiritual
as
sistance and power
of God,
we will
become casualties in life's battles.
As
 
LESSO
, N , , ~ 1 , - - 4 , - - - - - _
 
_
365
__
Paul
explains it elsewhere, when
we
understand our weakness and
rely onGod,
then
we
are
truly strong
(2
Corinthians 12:10).
B.
SPIRITUAL WRESTLING
CW.
11,
12)
11.
Put
on
the
full armor
of
God
so
that
you
can
take
your
stand
against
the
devil's
schemes.
Paul
admonishes
us
to
dress
ourselvesin
the protective
annor
provided by
God.
The
emphasis
is
on using
all
the
gear,
for
none of it
is
optional. Paul'spurpose
for
this
is
clear:
to
allow us
to
withstand
the devil's
attacks. Onecommentator noted that the most dangerous thing about Satan
is
his
incon
sistency.
Satan
will
attack
any
weakness when least expected.
(Ironically,we
maysay
that he
is
very
consistent
in
this
regard!)
His
craftiness and trickery
are
a constant threat.
We
can
neither predict nor anticipate these assaults,and thus
we
must be
fully
protected and on guard
in
order
to
resist
him.
12.
For
our
struggle
is
not against
flesh
and
blood,
but against
the
mIers,against
the
authorities, against
the powers
of
this dark
world
and against
the
spiritual
forces
of
evil
in
the
heavenly
realms.
The
nature of our spiritual
stmggle
against
evil is
presented
as
a
cosmic
wrestling match.
The
object
of
a wrestling competition
in
the athletic
gamesof the
ancient world
is
to toss
one's opponent
to
the ground and hold him
down. Satan seeks
to
trip
us
up and
to
keep
us
from
recovering.
We
sometimes
are
prone
to
think that the
fight
for
righteousness,
good-ness,
and holiness
is
a test
of
human
wills
and different philosophies.
It
is
true that our
fallen
world produces some unimaginably
evil
and depravedhuman
beings. But
Paul
knows
that this
is
but an outcome produced
by
thespiritual
warfare
that
is
constantly being
waged.Men
and women
(flesh
and
blood)
are
not our ultimate
enemies.
They
are
the
fallen
children of
God.
Our true
adversaries
are
thepowers
of
this
darh
world
and
spiritual
forces
of
evil
in
the
heavenly
realms.
This
is
not a cryptic
ref-
erence
to
world governments or conspiracy theories.
It
is
a description
of
veryreal
evil
spiritual
beings
who
are
in league
with
Satan.
SPIRITUAL
WARFARE
Various doctrinal points of view divide today's Christians.
One
such divideconcerns Christian pacifists and what might be called Christian militarists.Some \vith a pacifist bent believe we need to get rid of the war imagery whenwe talk about the faith. For example, the words of Sabine Baring-Gould's
1864
hymn are deeply troubling to some: "Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as
to
war
...
forward into battle
...
like a mighty
anny
moves the church of God,"etc. After all,
isn'tJesus
the Prince
of
Peace? Didn't he
command
us
to
"tum
the other cheek"? Then
how
can we use the imagery
of
warfare when praisinghim?Other Christians see ail of
life
as
a continuous, "every incident" cosmic and!or physical battle against the forces
of
evil. Armies from supposedly Christiannations
went
on
religious "crusades"
in
centuries past.
Not
many
propose areturn
to
that line of thinking.
Yet
some Christians see demons behind each andevery incident that seems
to
be even the slightest bit troubling.
To
the fonner group we may ask, have you ever read Ephesians
6?
To
the lattergroup we can say that implements of war are
not
the only images Scripture uses
to
describe the Christian
life.
With study and prayer we can find between thesetwo perspectives the biblical view
of
the nature of our struggles.
-c.
R.
B.
MAY
31,
2009
WHAT
Do
You
THINK?
When
we
realize
that
the
tme
c0Y!fiict
is
with
evil
sphitual
forces,how
will
this
change
our
dealings
with
nonbelievers?
How well
are
you
doing
in
thisregard?
[Use
Matthew
5:44
andRomans
12:
14,
17,
20,
21
to
set
the tone
foryour
answer:]
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...