Notes

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Helmet of Salvation

Introductory Notes 1. Invite People in from overflow 2. Missions Fruit 3. Newcomers Raise your hand if you are new within the last 3 months. Fill out flyer Invite them to newcomers dessert

Sermon Introduction Well we have just a couple messages left in the book here, but in my thinking this is not a hurry up and get done.** This for me is very much a sad moment. I have loved this book so much. It has become so beloved in my soul. So with great fondness, we get ready to finish this great letter to the Ephesians.

Well, today we come to this last piece of armor, the Sword of the Spirit.

Now if you were to summarize this section, Paul's saying that our average daily battles are more than they seem. They are intensely spiritual battles...in light of that,

Now if your paying close attention here, you might be wondering if Paul is being a little redundant. He starts the list of armor by talking about the belt of truth which clearly has something to do with the word of God and then ends with talking about the sword of the Spirit, which he explicitly says is the word of God. He begins with truth and ends with truth. But of course this isn't meaningless redundancy. This bookending serves two purposes. The first purpose is to explain the nature of the pieces of armor that lie between those bookends. Paul is actually trying to tell us, in a sense, that everything we’ve actually been doing in putting on the armor is a matter of taking biblical truth and

applying it and working it out, digesting it, reflecting on it, applying it, analyzing it, reasoning it out, praying it in.

Where do we learn about the righteousness of Christ? In the Word of God! Where do we learn about salvation? In the Word of God! Where do we learn about what faith is and how to wield it? In the Word of God! In fact you can't find it anywhere else. The Bible is the book. And so putting on that armor is a matter of getting out that Bible, opening it up, thinking, praying, meditating, kneading that truth into your heart and mind. But these two bookends are more than even that. He's even in the two very different analogies giving us a way to think about the correct usage of truth, the correct usage of doctrine. What in the world does a belt have to do with a sword! What in the world could they possibly have in common? And yet somehow they both represent truth. Let's think about these two analogies. We talked about a belt being used not as a weapon but as a means of preparation.

Warriors would take their flowing garments and bundle them up and tuck them into the belt. That's where we get that phrase, "gird up your loins." So a belt is for readiness; it's an attitude. A readiness to take up the truth and apply it to yourself. A readiness to take the truth down deep into the core. So often we are unwilling to really allow the word of God to speak into our lives. If we are to successfully withstand the attacks of the evil one we are going to have to have a mental posture that says, "Lord whatever you have to say about my loves. Whatever you have to say about my motives, I am ready to listen." A ready attitude to Forgive others. Absorb injustice. Love unconditionally. To laugh. To smile a lot. To be that pleasant aroma of Christ.

So that was the belt of truth. The attitude of instinctive readiness to take the word of God to heart. And then today we come to this very different word picture which is supposed to describe the same thing. Truth is pictured as a sword which of course is a WEAPON that is used for attacking. Truth in the Scripture is often times pictured as an instrument that cuts. Sometimes the word to describe the blade is a word for like a surgeon's scalpel (i.e Hebrews 4:12). Other times

it's this serious weapon intended to kill and destroy. Rev 2 talks about making war against his enemies by the sword of his mouth and later in Rev 19 he strikes down entire nations with the sword that comes out of his mouth. A sword is a very offensive instrument of war. It's covered in blood after the end of a battle. It's designed for one thing and on thing only - cutting into people and injuring them. So if we combine both word pictures, the correct usage of truth is both adopting a posture of readiness to apply the truth to ourselves and a posture of attacking with the truth. Now I hope nobody thinks to themselves, well that sounds easy and obvious enough. This is not easy. This is the most difficult thing in the world. Why? Because normally as a personality we error on one side or the other. Either we are ready to apply the truth to ourselves but unwilling to wound others with it or we are more than willing to wound others but unwilling to apply it to ourselves. Either we are inward focused and paralyzed at the thought of judging our brothers. Or we love that seat of judgment but we are terrified at the prospect of applying that same rigid eye to the closets of our own hearts. Now our format for today is very simple. We are going to look at both errors and then look at the razor edge balance that

God intends. Let's start with the error of unwillingness to gird up the belt of truth. The unwillingness to apply the truth to yourself.

Unwillingness to Cinch Down the Belt and Apply to Ourselves It is very easy, especially for certain personality types, or for people who are in a certain stage of their Christian growth, to love the Scriptures as it applies to others. When we first come to Christ it is so exciting to see how the truth of the Word of God is truly the answer to all the evil and all the problems in the world. You finally have an answer that makes sense. The problems of the world will not be solved by social reform or political activism or new EPA standards, or a return to the constitution.

The problems of the world are solved when men and women repent of their sins and turn to Christ.

And so it is very easy to get amped up and say, "Common people, don't you see that the answer is confession of your sin. Repentance. Humbling of yourself. If you just did that, everything would be great." And that is true. But it's always easiest to see in others, isn't it. What isn't so obvious, is that all the problems in our own lives is ALSO a result of the exact same thing. We are not nearly as willing to apply the Scriptures to our own marriages, our own jobs, our selfish attitudes, our driving, our eating and drinking habits, our mental habits, our lack of love for other people.

A lot of people hear the word picture "sword of Word of God" think that the application of it is to go attack the error or Arminiansm or Gnosticism or the problem of abortion or the moral evil of ISIS or the Gay rights movement, but they are forgetting what the context of Ephesians 6 is. Context is so important here. We are coming off the heels of what? Husbands loving wives and wives submitting to husbands We are coming off the heels of being patient fathers. We are coming off the heels of being obedient children.

Where is the sword wanting to cut? What error is the sword of the word of God wanting to correct. What is Satan trying to do in these relationships where the sword of the Word of God needs to take offensive action?

Well Arminiansm isn't anywhere to be seen. Gay rights are not even on the map. It's your selfish attitude he's concerned about. It's your smug attitude of "I'll change if you show your sorry."" It's the attitude of well, she got her turn last week, now it's my turn. I did the dishes and fulfilled my agreement, why isn't she doing the laundry. I'm gonna make you pay."

There's blindness to the application to us and hyper-vigilance to the application of others. We think of the application of Scripture strictly in terms of wounding other people. Of course I am applying the Scriptures. I'm wounding people. The Bible is a sword. Of course?! What do you do with a sword? You attack. Duh! We think of application of Scripture strictly and exclusively in terms of correcting error. But the truth is not just a sword. It's a belt. We will often say things like, "The most loving thing in the world is to tell someone the truth." And you can hear in the

tone almost a joy in listening to the Bible correct the sins of others. "Yeah Jesus, stick it to them! Yeah, they had that coming! And of course everything we have said true (that's always how Satan works, in half-truths): Is it loving to tell people the truth. Yes. Who is the most loving person in the world? God. And he tells us some of the hardest truths we could possibly stomach. Does ISIS and Abortion clinics need the truth? Of course. Are we to be precise in our doctrinal formations? Of course.

The problem is the selective application of truth. Not a balanced application of truth to self and others. If you work up some courage and tell a person who loves hacking only other people with a sword, , "I don't think you are being very loving in your presentation of truth" They will likely respond, "My failure to be well received has nothing to do with lack of love. It has everything to do with the fact that he can't handle the truth. Even a perfect presentation is often rebuffed. People don't like to hear the truth." Well that is true, but that is also evasion. You want to know where the error lies here? The problem with this reasoning is that the focus is on the response and not on the command to apply and love.

We weren't talking about response. We were talking about love. The question is not have you loved them enough so that they respond. The question is have you loved them regardless of their response.

Here's a question for you, "If you knew from the very beginning that a person would never respond, would never turn to Jesus, would always for the rest of his life reject your message of truth would you love them?" Or would you feel the right to ignore, to be cold to them. That is not love. You never loved them to begin with. It's loving yourself. If I can't get them to convert, which is what I want, then I will move on. If I get nothing out of the relationship and they get only gain out of the relationship, then I want nothing to do with it. Consider the way Jesus treated Judus. He did know that he would never respond and yet he loved him to the end. So that's the error of unwillingness to cinch down the belt and apply the truth to ourselves. There is a countererror.

Unwilling to Unsheath the Sword. Once we know how guilty we are of the things we are condemning in others, once we see how unloving we have been, once we see how painful it is to truly allow the sword of the word of God to cut into our souls and divide between soul and spirit, bone and marrow, and let the Sword of the Word discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, we are VERY slow to speak, and sometimes TOO SLOW. I often times replay the words of truth I brandished so carelessly in my youthfulness and I just cringe. Man, I cannot believe I actually said that! Man, what an idiot. And if you are like me, You think, "What ignorant careless word might I be speaking now?" We are very careful knowing just how powerful of a weapon we wield and how

much damage can be done if wielded carelessly. There are some of you who have been so wounded by truth tellers, you have vowed in your hearts to never be "one of those guys" and vow at all costs to love and never say the truth, never challenge, never exhort, never rebuke. And in your attempt to be only loving you never actually love. When you read the Bible and you come to hard words, you skip over it. I know that's true but I'll let someone else speak that message. I don't want to be labeled as arrogant. So you soften. You don't let it just sit there and speak with it's full force. You correct Jesus' words by omission and being selective. You've never actually even said the word "hell" much less use it in any real meaningful context. You never criticize, because after all, who am I? I have done all that and more. Or perhaps you are hesitant to speak truth because you so badly hate conflict. you don't like that feeling of people being upset with you. You can't stand the thought of putting something out there and the person not actually liking it. You put it out there and you are okay just letting truth sit there and germinate which may mean a series of really uncomfortable conversations. And listen, unless you are an uncaring brute, we all struggle with this to some degree. Everyone wants to be liked.

Everyone want to be loved. Nobody likes hurting friends.

Now of course balance here is the goal. Love without the Sword is a bandaid on cancer that's growing in your hand. "At all costs I don't want to hurt you. I'd rather have you die so we don't have to inflict any pain on you." That makes no sense. On the other hand, the Sword without Love is cutting off the arm to remove cancer in the the hand. "I got rid of the cancer...what are you crying about, you baby." But to do both, to apply the truth to yourself (which always results in love) and to apply the truth to others is a powerful weapon. People are so confused by this. It is very natural to

interpret sword thrusts as coming from an enemy. We are well conditioned in this regard. But when sword thrusts come from a friend, the most loving friend you ever had, then you can daringly conclude, "You know what, even though it doesn't feel like it, I think this person is trying to help me." That' why the proverbs talk about the faithful wounds of a friend. Those are such bizarre word combinations. That's like saying the loving fork in the eye. Yes it's counterintuitive but love pushes out all other possible interpretations. If we apply the Scriptures to ourselves, the whole tone and presentation of our application to others changes. If you cut into yourselves before you cut into others there will be a tenderness. That wound is fresh. And you come in love. You come as a brother familiar with weakness. If you let the Scriptures wound you, you will realize how badly it hurts and you will be gentle as you wound others. The guy who just finished running back to back to back 400m races realizes how hard it is and doesn't carelessly make comments about how, "If he just trained a little harder he might have won." That might be true; but boy does the tone change when the sweat is rolling off your face and you feel like you are going to puke up your guts. Their is an acknowledgment of the suffering. There is an awareness of the pain and annoyance and grief and discomfort and hurt associated with receiving those words and taking them down into the center where you take them seriously.

If we allow the Scriptures to wound us then not only will be changed, we will be careful as we wound others. It will temper. It will change our thrusts from wreckless wounds of a madman to precise thrust of a spanish swordsman, injuring only where needed. Listen, don't listen to this message as some kind of a message against confrontation and correcting error. This is the central message of Christianity. To bring the truth into the world. We are heralds of truth. We are messengers. We are ambassadors. What is the scheme of the devil here? The scheme of the devil is to twist the truth. Distort. Dilute. Pollute. Replace. Truth is one of the main pillars of the Christian worldview. We have truth here in this Bible. That's the whole point. We of course are very humbled by that. But we don't need to apologize for it. In our culture it's okay to search for the truth. It's just not okay to find it. Well we didn't find truth. Truth found us and our mission as Christians is to be PVC pipe so that God can find other people with his truth. But without love, we are clanging gongs and crashing cymbals. We are worthless. More than worthless, we turn people off. We repel. We gross people out. Why is one of the qualifications of elders that he have a good

reputation among unbelievers. Because it is a test of this principle? Even if unbelievers don't agree with him, they know he is loving. Listen, we see this principle of balance even in the analogy of the Sword itself. Even if we didn't have the analogy of the belt as the other bookend, the sermon could still be preached, "Why isn't it called the Sword of the Word?" Why does he call it the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Why is there the emphasis on the Spirit? Actually that's too weak; it's more than just emphasis. Grammatically, what is the Sword? The SWORD is the SPIRIT. And the Spirit is further defined as the word of God. So that should tell us that the Spirit of God which is a living a dynamic person is the applicator of truth. A scalpel is just a tool. A scalpel could kill you or heal you depending on how it's used. The difference is totally and entirely in the skill of the surgeon and the way he applies that scalpel. Well in our analogy whose the surgeon? It's the Holy Spirit. And the instrument he uses is the Word of God. The Spirit is the mind applying the Truth of the Bible in skillful ways. And our job of course is to just be submissive to whatever he says. When he says, "take a delicate slice here, we don't raise the sword and cut off a limb." He knows what each man needs. He knows it. And so our job as PVC pipe is to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for

direction in how to apply that truth. Lord, you know when this person is able to receive this truth. I can see that a wrong application of truth here might be catastrophic and that makes me really scared. Help me! Let me see what you see. How much of the truth can they handle in this conversation. How can I preserve the relationship so that I can have another conversation in the future? So we've talked about two errors, the error of not applying the truth to yourself and hacking others with the Sword. We talked about a the error of applying the truth exclusively to self and never unsheathing the sword against others. But before we move on, a third option comes to mind. It's possible to do neither. Perhaps your old enough in your Christian faith to realize this balance should characterize your manner. This concept today is nothing new for you. In your youth you used to speak out in arrogance and you realize now that you are not supposed to do that. So what has happened over time is that you have shut up, but the attitude is still there. You are saying all those things in your head. What an idiot. What a liberal. And this is the worst of all because you are neither loving or truthful. You just stew in judgment. Be careful of this one! Now I want to think about the perfect embodiment of this.

The Person of Jesus.

Again, let's back up and get the big picture. I'm going to set this up very quickly here so please pay close attention. We are in a Spiritual battle according to Ephesians chapter 6. We are battling against forces unseen and so we need spiritual weapons that help us stand firm in our identity in Christ. There are incredible temptations in the world to find your identity in your performance, identity in your job, in your career, in your financial status, in your ministry status, in your family, in your health condition (good or bad), in your academic excellence or failure. And here's where the sword of the Spirit helps us. The sword is truth. So often times we deceive ourselves. Oh I don't find my identity in that. I'm totally cool. God take away my house and I'll be the same. Reduce me to a beggar and I'll be the same. I'm free of all that. We are seriously overconfident.

And the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God is cutting in to tell you the truth about that. It's slicing into the center. No you do find your identity in that. Now I want you to look at how Jesus wields this sword. He's so confusing. He's so bewildering. He is this perfect blend of grace and truth. And he's so effective.

I think something really unfortunate has occurred in Christianity and I'm not sure how or why it happened, although I have theories. That unfortunate thing is the partitioning of grace and truth. Let's call this act either an act of grace or an act of truth. Let's pit them one against the other. A person is either a gracious person or a truthful person. That is not helpful. It's not grace unless its delivered in truth. And it's the incomplete truth if it's not packaged in grace.

It is in fact the marrying of these two concepts in the same person and in the same event that creates the power. This is Jesus. Perfect embodiment. John 1 says Jesus was full of grace and truth. Now I want to look at one example here. And to me this example is just chilling in it's power. I mean really, I can't think of a better example in all the Bible of this principle. The setting is the night of Jesus' crucifixion. And you can image for Jesus this is pretty heavy. Really heavy! Jesus predicts that by the end of the night, all the disciples will have abandoned him. And Peter puffs out his chest and says, "Never Lord!" Now poor Peter is a magnet for preachers. His reputation attracts adjectives like flypaper: Brash, bold, impetuous, headstrong, stubborn, reckless. He drives through live a

hundred miles an hour with quick impulsive movements and stiff overcorrections. Remember this scene Thursday evening (this is John chapter 13) the disciples are in the upper room celebrating the Passover meal. Judas leaves to go betray Jesus. Jesus informs his disciples that he is going somewhere that they cannot go. Peter asks (and you can almost hear the concern in his voice),

Now Peter needs some truth packaged and delivered to him. And he's going to do it so skillfully. Look the way Jesus wielded the sword. He asks this gracious question. "Will you lay down your life for me?" He doesn't accuse him. He doesn't just brandish the sword in an unloving hack. He asks a question. He plants the truth and waits for it to germinate.

And of course Peter doesn't like the truth. Peter was obstinately confident, just like every one of us in this room is obstinately confident in our own flesh. We think we can be useful for the Lord’s service. Lord I got this; I don't need you right now but thanks for offering. Peter had a pretty high opinion of himself and through failure is made to come face his frailty head on. But it's not failure alone that helps him come to face to face with his frailty. It's Jesus' words of truth combined with the failure

Jesus doesn't respond to that. He concludes. Peter can't handle any more truth right now. He doesn't argue. He doesn't push it further. He just allows it to sit.

Peter was so sure he would not deny the Lord. He was so convinced of his own loyalty. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he was lionhearted. So brave. So loyal. He cut off the ear of Malchus the high priest. He was resolved to love his Lord to the end. Not an hour later a slave girl would drop him to his knees. And of course, the Lord’s prediction came true. Peter did deny the Lord 3 times. And the last communication between Peter and Jesus was a bitter memory for Peter. With the smoke stinging his eyes, the firelight flickering in his panic filled expression, he was screaming out curses against the Lord and with those words tumbling out of his mouth he looked up and caught the eye of the bound and bloodied Jesus. That must have been terrible. What he thought was said in private now echoes through the courtyard like a megaphone and materializes upon the pages of Scripture for all to read. And now Peter’s Lord is dead. He died a criminal’s death and we do not read of Peter even visiting the Lord upon the cross. And can you blame him? Shame. Such deep shame. Such terrible shame and embarrassment and mortification. How he must have replayed those words over and over in his mind. That scene etched into his brain with a diamond stylus. I imagine him laying on his bed, tears streaming down his face, and him punching his fist into his pillow wishing he could change what he had done. Disturbed, stomach churning, sick, and disgusted with himself and hopeless.

Such shame. Now Peter returns to fishing. And Jesus comes to visit him. Now I want you to image you are Jesus. You are now approaching this weak, frail, crushed, shamed human being. You have all the advantage. In every way you could drive guilt into him and make him pay by pointing out the truth of his betrayal, rub in the fact that he betrayed him in the moment he needed him most. Remind him of how badly it hurt. But that would be unloving. On the other hand you could see how much it pained Peter and not wanting to reopen a festering wound, you wipe it completely under the carpet and never mention it again but that would be unloving because Peter needs to deal with the source of the problem. What does the complete embodiment of GRACE and TRUTH do here? Peter is overjoyed to see Jesus and swims to him to give him a sloppy wet hug. They eat breakfast and the text says,

Almost everybody agrees that Jesus’ reference to “these” in verse 15 is a reference to the other disciples. In other words, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?” Peter is probably slightly perplexed by this question. Why would you ask this Lord, you know I love you? “Of course. Of course I love you.” But the question probably did not sit well. Why would Jesus try and compare my love for Him to the love of the other disciples love for Him?

So I think at this, Peter probably said to himself, you bet Lord, I will feed your lambs. But it kind of rang hollow in his own soul, based on his recent betrayal. And the Lord knew his heart. His answer was not satisfactory. He was still too selfconfident. The lesson was not complete. The text does not say how much time went by between these statements, maybe a minute or two. Then….

This was not usual. A second question, exactly the same. There are only two reasons I can think of for asking the exact same question twice. Either you didn’t hear the person, or the answer wasn’t satisfactory. Peter’s answer wasn’t satisfactory. The words he used were absolutely correct. But, there was something messed up in his thinking. His confidence was still misplaced. His confidence was in himself. Had he not already affirmed his love once and failed? Lord, if everyone else abandons you, I will die for you. Now we usually focus on how much asking this question a third time would have been painful for Peter. But I want you to think about how painful this was for Jesus. He could see the liquid pain in Peter's eyes. He knew this line of questioning was killing him. And yet he asks a third time. He

knew Peter needed it.

I picture at this moment the smoke from the fire shifting and now blow into the eyes of Peter. His eyes tear up, but not from the smoke. He remembers the fire from a few nights ago. Oh, how confidently he had boasted in his love and loyalty to the Lord and he denied him three times. Three times he had denied the Lord and now three times, the Lord asks him if he loves him. The lesson was painfully burrowing its way into his soul. The wound had to be reopened in order to be cleaned. The Lord was lovingly holding up a mirror and letting Peter see his frailty. Peter, you are only powerful when you are weak. You are only able to serve me when you beg for grace at my feet.

Such a good answer. Such a beautiful answer. This is where the Lord wanted him. Broken. Unsure of his ability. Distrusting self. Doubting his motives. Weak. Vulnerable. Powerless. Tired of failure. But truly loving his savior. This is where the Lord wanted him, but it took reopening the wound to get him there. Peter needed to hear the words of Jesus. They were truthful words that up until this point in his life he could not bear to hear. It hurt too badly. He had probably been told these words his entire life. His parents had tried to tell him was overconfident and headstrong. Never penetrated. Did you know that 99 percent of hurtful things people have ever said to you are true to some extent. In fact the reason it hurts is because it is true. If someone says to me, your so

short. Well that just bounces off because I know it's not true. It doesn't hurt at all. But if someone says, "You are so arrogant. That stings. There's truth in that." All hurtful sayings contain truth. you are so unloving you are so selfish you don't care you are lazy you are so inconsiderate

Do you deny it? This is why the Proverbs say that the wise man is able to filter out the truth even if the delivery is unloving. Amazing. Most people can't do that. Most people need the love to help them receive the truth. What did it take for these true words of Jesus to penetrate the stubborn PETER? Love and Truth combined! Could Peter deny that Jesus loved him? Look at the manner. There were tears in his eyes. Look at the grace. Listen to all the things he didn't say. He was so concerned about him and not about the personal injury. He just died for him. He went to the cross and suffered death. He could see the love in his eyes even as the truth came out of his mouth. The words of truth sunk deep because the love enabled him to hear it.

We spend our entire lives learning that sword thrusts are intended to hurt us and the more difficult the truth, the more love needs to support it. Jesus is able to love with incredible, infinite, unconditional love and just blow your mind with his love and then thrust his sword of truth deep in your chest for your good. And the result is the anesthetic that makes the thrust endurable and work together for our good.