Prayer is Our Weapon / Based on Ephesians 6:10-20 / Delivered
on August 26, 2018 to CCH
Hymns: Onward Christian Soldiers, My Hope Is Built on Nothing
Less, Jesus Loves Me
Ephesians 6:10-20
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
his power.
6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil.
6:12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and
flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly places.
6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you
may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand
firm.
6:14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around
your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.
6:15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you
ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
6:16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which
you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6:17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.
6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and
supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all
the saints.
6:19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be
given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may
declare it boldly, as I must speak.
Happy Sunday to you! I
am Darci Strutt McQuiston, a Lay Servant of the United Methodist Church up on
the hill from here. It is my joy to be
with you all today.
The scripture for today could lend itself to a children’s
skit with all of its armor metaphor. I
can envision a child with armor too big struggling to stand firm. It is an image that can bring a smile, yet
the truth of this scripture is much more serious.
The three ideas I’m pulling from the reading today are:
We are in a battle
We can’t face it without God
Prayer is our weapon
We are in a battle
Of course, the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers” came to mind
when I read this scripture. I envision a
physical battle from the hymn with the cross at the head of the line and
banners flying. Yet this passage reminds
us that we are not fighting a human foe.
6:12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and
flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly places.
We are fighting a nonphysical unseen force. In scripture God is described as light. This battle is against a present darkness, which
is the absence of God. Evil is fighting
against what is good. The battle ground is
within our heads and within our hearts.
It may be nonphysical, but it is a battle to be taken
seriously. Some may not believe in the supernatural
nature of spiritual forces named here.
Maybe it would help to see it as those other nonhuman things that we
need to battle against; addiction, prejudges, depression, apathy. Those things that keep us in unloving
darkness. I see casualties as young lives are cut short because their life isn’t
recognized as precious by another, or as depression gives way to believing a
person’s own life is not worth living.
The battle may be mental, but the results are quite physical.
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the
US with nearly 45 thousand dying each year.
For each suicide there are another 25 that attempt it. It is the 2nd leading cause of
death in Wisconsin for people between ages of 15 and 34. Losing a fight against addiction will
ultimately kill. Drug overdose killed 72
thousand in 2017, and 88 thousand died in alcohol related causes. Murder is fewer with around 15.5 thousand
reported in 2016, which is the most recent data I could find. This is the cost of not valuing life. The battle within our heads and hearts is
deadly.
I see a battle ground as friends and family fight over
beliefs that are leaving love cast aside as both struggle with what they feel
is “right”. Life may not be lost in this case, but Jesus’
call to love one another feels like it is falling on deaf ears. How can we fight this unseen foe?
We can’t face it without God
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
his power.
6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil.
6:14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around
your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.
6:15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you
ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
6:16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which
you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6:17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.
We don’t battle by killing.
We walk through the battle field proclaiming the gospel of peace. When we feel hopeless we keep faith that God
loves us. That is our shield. We remember this present time is just a
passing moment because we have been given adoption through Christ into God’s
salvation. The “you” in this passage is
in plural form. We are to stand together
in this world as we depend on God’s grace.
God’s truth, not our belief of truth, is the belt that holds
the scabbard with the sword of the Spirit.
The Spirit’s responsibility is to remind us of what Jesus taught as the
truth of God.
Prayer is our weapon
Most of this armor is for defense. The only weapon described is a sword, the
sword of the Spirit. The method of
attack described was prayer.
6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and
supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all
the saints.
6:19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be
given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may
declare it boldly, as I must speak.
The sword of the Spirit was called the word of God. The form of “word” used indicated the spoken
word. Prayer for those sharing the good
news Jesus taught was the way Paul told the Ephesians they could fight these
unseen evils. People needed to hear this
good news. They need to know they are
loved and their life is precious in the sight of God. We need to see each other as God’s creation,
God’s loved children, and revere all life as sacred. People aren’t born knowing this. They need to be taught.
We are not all gifted or called to be evangelists, but this
scripture is a call to arms to support those that are gifted and called, with
your prayers.
I don’t like to think about war or battles. I don’t like to think about fighting at
all. It brings up images of planes
hitting the twin towers of New York and many recent attacks for the sake of
religion. Christianity has a dark
history of killing for the sake of the Gospel.
This is not the request of this passage.
God seeks reconciliation with His children, not their death. Our love of God is demonstrated through our love
shown to others.
The truth of the inner fight hit me as I worked on this
message. I felt myself sinking into a sadness
as I thought about family and friends that are part of those statistics. I have lost people to suicide. I have lost people both from drug overdose
and alcohol overdose. I don’t like to
think about war or battles but looking at the numbers of people who die after
losing their private inner battles is a reminder that to love my neighbor means
I need to recognize the strength of those inner forces. My sadness reminded me this passage is
instruction for me.
Armor is effective only if it is put on before entering the
battlefield. Our relationship with God
must be strong in advance of the negative pull within our head or heart. We who are gathered here today have heard the
good news. That needs to permeate our
being. We are God’s children. We are loved.
We are not going through this life alone. Our life is sacred. The life of the people around us is sacred.
To make a difference in the lives of those who have not yet
heard this good news, we need to pray for the people that will bring the word
of life to them. Some of you may already
pray for those of us who volunteer to lead worship here. If you don’t, I humbly ask you to begin that
practice. Pray for me. Pray for the person coming next week and the
week after. Pray for the church leaders
of Hudson who bring the message of God’s love each week to their congregation. Pray for this message to reach those that are
fighting with feeling hopeless and unlovable.
The final hymn we’ll be singing today is one of simple love, “Jesus
Loves Me”. Jesus loves you. God is love.
God will never leave you or forsake you.
When it is time to sing, sing it as one who knows this is the truth. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves you. Life is precious because it is a gift from
God. I pray your shield may be strengthened.
Amen
