Shield of Faith

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: All right, good morning, everybody. Good to see all of you. Spring breakers in the house today. A lot of God's children are out of town. I'm glad you're in town. So if you're watching us from the ocean or from the mountains or out on a lake or in a cabin somewhere, let us know. Say hi and we'll give you a little star out beside your name. Credit you for being a part of the services this morning, but I'm glad you guys are here. I hope your week has been wonderful and it's great to see all of you this morning. We're in a series, as you know, where we're talking about probably one of the least discussed topics in the church, but probably one of the most important topics that any church should address, and that is the reality of spiritual warfare. The fact that you and I are living in a combat zone. The Bible describes it in Ephesians 6. Our war is not against flesh and blood. And boy, I wish I could get that over to people, that our fight is not against one another. Someone said the church is the only army that tends to shoot its wounded. We're not to fight each other. But. But Paul said our fight is against spiritual wickedness in high places. The fight is against principalities, against powers, against an evil presence that is in our world. And the evil presence often does work through people. I do understand that. But I'm saying primarily this enemy is real. This enemy is a decided fact. In Scripture. He's called the devil. He's called Satan. He is a real presence in our world today. He is a defeated foe. One day, God will cast him into eternity forever. But until that time, you and I have to deal with the reality of this devil. And so it is important that we are aware and that we are armed for that battle. And that's exactly what Paul had in mind when he wrote here in Ephesians 6. Now, Paul was writing, and oftentimes when Paul would write most of that New Testament, he was in prison of some sort of. He was in prison in Ephesus. He was in prison in Caiaphas. He was in Or Caesarea, rather, he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul was often in prison, not for anything that he had done that was wrong, but he was in prison because he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rome, the government, the controlling power of that day, said that we do not want anyone swearing an allegiance to anyone above Caesar. The law of the land was, Caesar is Lord, and if you have an allegiance to anyone above Caesar, you're guilty of treason. In a few weeks, we'll be celebrating Easter, and we'll be talking about the cross and the significance of Jesus death on the cross. And the reason that Jesus was crucified is because they accused him of being a king. A king. That's why the inscription over the cross said, here is Jesus, King of the Jews? Well, no one could be king except Caesar. And so Rome put Jesus to death, legally put him to death because of treason against Caesar. He didn't refute the fact that he was king and he is the king, king of kings and Lord of lords. And Paul was preaching that message, just as I'm telling that to you this morning. And for that, Rome said, he's guilty of treason. So oftentimes he would be in prison most of his ministry. He was chained to some Roman guard somewhere, navigating through the difficulty of that experience. And so Paul, in that experience, and he was very, very familiar with the guards that had guarded him, had looked at how their uniforms were composed, and he noticed the helmet, and he noticed the breastplate, and he noticed the belt that went around their waist, and he noticed the sword, and he noticed the shield, and he noticed the shoes. And Paul did this correlation, as most pastors do. When we see something that's interesting, we say, that's a good illustration. I'll have to use that Sunday, Paul looked that over and said, you know what? That's kind of like armor that Christians ought to be wearing each and every day. And so what he begins to do in Ephesians 6, which is the text, he begins to describe the armor that you and I have available to us each and every day as we go out and fight against a real factor, a real enemy, and we deal with spiritual warfare each and every day. Look with me in Ephesians 6 and I'll pick it up with what I was talking to you about here. In verse 13, he says, Therefore. Now remember, when you see the word therefore in the Bible, look and see what it's there for. He connects what he's just about to say with what he has just said. He said, I've just told you there's a real devil. I've just told you the fight is not against flesh and blood. I've just told you that he deals with spiritual powers and that he is a real factor and he's a dynamic force. So, because that is true, therefore, here's what Paul says. Take up the whole armor of God. Now, notice that is optional. Take it up. He's saying, look, I wanna challenge you to do something that you actually don't have to do. This isn't a commandment. This is a strong suggestion. You need to take up this armor. You're going out into a world that is hostile to your values. You're going out into a world that does not embrace or believe in your faith. So you need to be prepared. You need to take this armor up, go into the armory and prepare yourself for the battle that you're going to face. Take up the armor of God, and here's the payoff that you may be able to withstand and mark that in the evil day and having done all to stand, withstand to stand. Here is the value of wearing the armor each and every day. Withstand means to move forward successfully. Withstand means to take the fight to the enemy. To stand means I'm strong, I'm firm, I'm resolved, I'm resolute, and nothing is going to move me. I will endure anything that I'm going through. I'm strong, that is, to stand, to withstand means I'm moving the battle forward. And I'm going to not only endure, but I'm going to thrive in the midst of the conflict. He's saying that if you are armed for the battle, you'll be able to withstand and you'll be able to stand notice. Verse 14. So stand, therefore, remember, therefore. He's connecting what he just said with what he's about to say. Having girded your waist with truth, put on the belt of truth. Remember we said the truth is the truth that we find in God's word. It's not your truth, my truth. Everybody's got a truth. We talked about standards that we all agree on. I use the weights and measurements as an illustration. That weekend in the grocery store, when you weigh a pound of vegetables, you want a pound of vegetables. When you buy a gallon of gas, you want a gallon of gas. You don't want somebody arguing with you, saying, well, that's. That gallon is not a gallon to me, that's a gallon to you. Everybody has an idea of what a gallon is. No, we have a standard. You go to the bank, you give them $100. You don't say that's $80. My truth says that's 80 bucks. You want to. No, no, no. There's not your truth. And my truth, $100 is $100 based upon this standard. And so the standard of truth for a Christ follower is God's word. So that's the belt that pulls everything together. It's not what I say or what you say. We all have opinions, God love them. But what matters most is what does God have to say? The belt of truth. And then he goes on to say, not just the belt of truth, but having your having put on the breastplate of righteousness. We talked about that two weeks ago. The breastplate protects those vital organs. The breastplate protects primarily your heart. Your heart. Remember, your heart is your mind, Your heart is your intellect. Your heart is your emotion. Your heart is your will. And a breastplate of righteousness means right living. It means making good decisions. It means making the right call. Right decisions will protect your heart. If you want to protect your heart, do the right thing. Make the right call. I've told you before, the big issue is not your five year plan. The big issue is your five minute plan. You make good calls in the next five minutes of your life. The next five years tend to take care of themselves. Somebody said, buy the yard. Life's hard by the inch, life's a cinch. I don't know I'm buying all that, but I'm just simply saying take it step at a time, day at a time, and make good decisions in the next moment. So he says, this breastplate of righteousness will protect your heart. Last weekend, Scott dealt with having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. It's so important for a soldier to be able to stand. If you can't stand, it's going to be hard to fight. Fight. And peace is what allows you to be able to stand. And he talked about the peace that we can have with God. And he talks about the peace that we have of God. He talks about peace within our own hearts and within our own selves. And peace is so important. You can have peace in the midst of the storm. Jesus said, peace, be still. And the waters calmed and the seas quick raging. And God has the ability to bring peace. At Christmas time, we celebrate him as the Prince of peace. And so peace is what allows us to stand. So every morning you put on those shoes and you say, I'm going to have peace in my life. I'm going to work toward Peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. The Bible says so. The feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And then this morning, we're going to deal with the next verse, verse 16. And above all, above all, he's saying, this is important. Not that the rest was not important, but. But you put all these pieces together and you forget this one, then nothing else is going to matter. This is above all, you need to do this. This is essential. Taking the shield of faith, the shield of faith which is able to quench all the fiery darts or the fiery arrows of the wicked one. So he's saying, put your uniform on. You're about to go into battle. You're about to go out onto the field. When I played football in high school, we were lined up for the kickoff and we were a man short. So our coach turned to the bench and he grabbed a buddy of mine and said, get in there. We're one man short. And he ran out on the field without his helmet. And so we didn't have to call a timeout. But if you had known, my friend, you would have known why he forgot his helmet. He was doing that sort of thing all the time. He was known for that sort of thing. And that's kind of what. It's kind of what Paul's driving at. He's saying, you never know at what point God is going to say, I need you in the fight. And so you need to have the helmet, you need to have the mouthpiece in, you need to have your pads on. You need your uniform to be pulled together. Cause you're going to be in a fight. And so you need to be ready to go into the fight. And so here this is. He's talking about this essential piece of equipment, and he's talking about it being the shield of faith. And the shield of faith helps you handle and deal with incoming arrows of the enemy. And the enemy is going to be shooting at you. He's going to be shooting at me. Have you ever noticed, have you ever stopped to think about how much of life is just difficult and how much of life is just a fight? I mean, I don't know about you, but every now and then I just get tired of the conflict and tired of dealing with all of the hassles that just normal life brings about. In fact, Jesus said on one occasion, he said, it is not possible to live your life without offense. Think about that. This is Jesus. You can't live your life without offense. Somebody's gonna offend you. You're gonna get Offend? You're gonna offend somebody, you won't be able to leave this parking lot. I promise you. I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet. I'm just saying. I'm gonna say you won't be able to leave this property without somebody offending somebody else in this room. Look at that. He didn't wait on me. Pulled right out in front of me, Went right through that stop sign. Wouldn't yield, wouldn't let me in. They let me in, but then they break check me. I mean, you're just gonna be offended. When I would go into stores with Cindy that had very breakable items in there. She used to tell me, bill, keep your hands in your pockets and don't touch anything. Cause you're big and you break stuff. Well, and I could. I could walk into a thing with my helmet, and I got a wing spread here that's pretty big. And I could just walk in and knock stuff off the shelves. And if you've ever bought a piece of yard drill that you've knocked off the shelf, you know that's an expensive mistake. So she'd say, honey, keep your hands in your pockets and don't be swinging those arms around. Cause you break stuff and it's expensive. What's my point? My point is sometimes we offend people. We don't even mean to. We offend people. We're not trying. We need to start. Nobody starts their day out going, who can I hack off today? I hope I can make a lot of people mad. You know, that's not how it works. But Jesus said himself, get ready. Because you can't go through life without offending someone or someone being offended. I'm back to my point. My point is, life is hard. Life is a fight. If you're gonna be healthy, it's a fight. I mean, you constantly gotta fight yourself. If you're gonna have a good relationship, it's a fight to have a good relationship. If you're gonna raise healthy kids, it's a fight. If you're gonna be a good grandparent, it's a fight. If you're gonna build a business, it's a fight. If you're gonna have relationships and friendships in your life, you gotta fight for that. It's not easy, I guess is my point. It's not easy to have right things and do right things. Because all hell comes against anyone when they decide to do the right thing. It's just simply going to be a fight. And so Paul here is just warning us, you need to be geared up, you need to have the armor. Cause life is tough. And you're going to face opposition. And you ready? You're gonna face oppression. Think about it this way. Every morning in Africa, Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up and knows that if it cannot outrun the fastest lion, it'll die. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up and knows if it can't outrun the slowest gazelle, it will die, it'll starve to death. But at either rate, the gazelle and the lion better wake up running. And all I'm saying to you gazelles and lions, this morning, you better wake up running. Paul is saying, life is a fight. It's a difficult experience. Anything you're going to have in life, you're going to have to put effort into it. Fight to get it, fight to keep it. And so if you're going to be successful in it, if you're going to survive, which is to stand and thrive, which is to withstand, you need the armor. You need the armor. And he's talking about a significant piece of the armor here when he speaks of the shield of faith. Now, what does that mean? Sometimes, you know, when you study the Bible, you say, okay, I know it is God's word. It's the belt of truth. I get it, but how does that work, practically speaking? How do I make that work in my personal life? Well, I wanna make it very practical for you. Here's the shield of faith. You ready? The shield of faith, first of all involves our consciousness of God's presence. Our consciousness of God's presence, that's a shield. When I go out every day to do my. My life, I have to be conscious of the presence of God that is in me and is with me. He's promised me never, in Hebrews 13, never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you. I will not remove my presence from you, and I will not emotionally disconnect with you. And listen to be conscious of the fact that God is with you as a shield. Now, here's why it's important. Because one of the fiery arrows that the devil will fire your way, and my way is, he will not fill our hearts with hatred of God as much as he fills our hearts with forgetfulness of God. Just forget about him. You don't realize that he's with me, that he's in me. The spirit of God is walking with me. I forget about it. And so all of a sudden I'm forgetting about it. And so I'm living my life now, as though God doesn't exist. That's why he said in 1st John 2:16, Love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. If anyone love the world, the love of the Father is not in them. What does that mean? I talked about this a few weeks ago when. When he speaks of the world, there's at least three Greek words for the word world. One of it is created world. He's not saying you're not to love the created world because he created all things richly for us to enjoy. We're to enjoy the rocks and the hills and the rivers and the valleys and the mountains and the oceans. Yeah, enjoy the world. That's not what he's talking about. He's not talking about the world of people. John 3:16. For God. So love the world. He's talking about people. So what does he mean when he says love not the world? He's not talking about created things, and he's not talking about people. Here's what he's talking about. He's talking about a system. A system. The cosmos, a system. We get the word cosmetic from that. It's an orderly way in which a lady might apply makeup. A cosmic a system. Cosmos. It's a system. And when he's talking about a system, he's talking about a system that you and I would describe today as secularism. Secularism, by a modern definition, would be a system that does not include God in its thinking. When a person is secular and they say, I believe we're in a secular country and I'm a secular, they're just simply saying, I don't have a place for faith in my life. And I go through life as though God doesn't exist. It's a secular system. And so he's saying, don't. Don't buy into that system. You're still in the world, even though you're not of the world, but you're still in the world. So don't let the world that you're in be in you any longer. Come out and be separate. Sanctification is to be set apart, to be separate, to live different, to be different. And so he's suggesting to us, and not just suggesting us, he's telling us the way to live in victory is to recognize the fact that we're not to live as a Christ follower, forgetful of the presence of God that is within us. He's in us, and he never leaves us and he never forsakes us. That's the promise. And it's a shield, man. When you go out into life and you know, I'm not in this by myself. I'm not in this alone. One of the most difficult things you can think about if you go through a hard time is to think that you're going through this alone. Nobody is there for you, and nobody will walk with you. Did you know one of the most effective means of punishing a prisoner is solitary confinement? Because they put a person in solitary confinement free from any outside influences, and all they're left with is their own thoughts. They're alone. And I'm saying one of the most torturous things in the mortal. One of the most torturous ways to go through life is to go through life thinking nobody gets me, nobody understands me. I'm in this all by myself, and there's no one out there to help me. That leads to despair. And that's why I'm saying it's a shield that the enemy. If you go through life thinking that way, you're going to be susceptible to the arrows of the enemy as he tries to kill, steal and destroy. Because you're forgetting I've got a shield. I've got a defense against this enemy. And it's when it's my consciousness, daily consciousness of God's presence. Cause we all tend to forget. We're just forgetful by nature. Oh, man, I forget things. Don't you forget things? Forget where your key card fob is, your keys are. You forget where the dog leash is. You forget. You know, you forget things. The remote control, don't you hate when you forget where you put it? And there's nothing more, especially for a man, there's nothing more frustrating guys, than not know where the remote control is. And God forbid, should the woman get ahold of that remote control, should that little wife get ahold of that, you're like, oh, my gosh, she's gonna take this thing to Hallmark Channel or Lifetime or put it on a craft show. I mean, hey, I was married 42 years. I know how that works. And, man, there's nothing more empowering for a man to remember where you put the remote control and hold it in your hand. It's your scepter. It's an amazing thing. We tend to forget things. We forget people from time to time. Have you ever forgot a birthday? You see it on Facebook. You see it all the time. Happy belated birthday. I mean, you didn't mean to, but, oops, forgot it. Lord forbid, should you forget an anniversary. You hadn't done that, have you, guys? Don't do that. I'm telling you that that's free advice, like the rest of it. But I'm just saying don't forget that. Write that down somewhere, I'm saying, but we tend to forget. And here's the worst thing, we tend to forget God. In fact, in Deuteronomy, listen to this verse. Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 9. Take care. In other words, write this down. Put a reminder in your phone. Take care and keep your soul diligently lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and they depart from your heart. Be careful, he said, or you'll forget the Lord, your God. Remind yourself you're one of the greatest defenses as you go forward is to remember the God of today is the same God of yesterday. Sometimes it's good to remember when you're going through a difficult time, it's good to remind yourself of what God did for you in the past. It's incredible encouragement for what you're going through in the present. Here's my point. The God that never failed you yesterday will not fail you today. Think about it this way. Never fail doubt in the dark what God told you to do in the light. I mean, when you have peace, and you know, this is what I'm supposed to do, when the storm clouds come, and they will come when the difficulty hits, and it will hit when the opposition hits you and the oppression comes. Don't forget in the dark what God told you in the light. Remind yourself of his presence. Just simply say, God, you are the God not only of my yesterday, you are the God of my today. Some of the best homework I could give to some of you guys is. Before you go to sleep tonight, take a walk, go by yourself, take a hike, ride your bike somewhere and remind yourself of the things you've been through and how faithful God was to you. In the middle of all that, just remind yourself, man, here's where we were a few years ago, and here's what we were going through. And gosh, that was horrible then. But, you know, we got through that. I'm still standing. I'm still okay. God didn't fail me then. He's not gonna fail you now. I mean, there's an anthropomorphic term in the Bible, and there are many of them, those terms where God is using our human experience to explain how he works. And he says to us, you're in my hand. All that the Father has given me, Jesus said, are in my hand, and no one can pluck them from my hand. But think about this if you and I are in the hand of God, if we're in the hand of God, nothing can get to us unless it goes through Him. That means before something can hit my life or your life, God either has to allow it or he has to cause it. Now, everything that happens in your life, he doesn't cause. But there are things that happen in your life that he allows. He allows some good things and some bad things. Sometimes some happy and some sad things. Sometimes he allows things into my life to strengthen me. I said a moment ago, you and I don't know how strong we are till we're tested. We're in a controlled environment in here. This is a kind of big old holy huddle. And I don't know how strong my faith is. So I get out of here and I go out into the real world and I face some adversity and I face some opposition, and I deal with some oppression. Now my faith is getting tested. God allows that. In fact, the idea of standing that word, endurance, is so significant because sometimes God does not remove the burden that a child carries. Sometimes he just strengthens the child to carry the burden. Sometimes God chooses to heal. Sometimes he chooses not to heal. Sometimes God will bring reconciliation. And sometimes God does not bring about the reconciliation. Sometimes God answers the prayers in the way that we prayed when we pray that he would. And sometimes he doesn't answer the prayers that we prayed in the way that we thought he would. The faith gets tested. And instead of removing the burden from the shoulder, he just gives us the strength to carry it. That's where you get the word endurance. That's why the Bible says tribulation brings about patience. That's why you hear me say all the time, do not pray for patience. Don't you do it. I'm telling you because tribulation brings about patience. You might as well pray for trouble. Cause the only way you're gonna get patience is to go through trouble. And God sometimes allows the trouble to strengthen his kids. Probably the oldest book of the Bible is the Book of Job. And in the Book of Job, chapter 14, in verse one, you read these words, man who is born of woman. That's pretty much all of us. Man who's born of woman is a few days. Life is short, and those few days are full of trouble. I've said this many times. You are either in trouble this morning, you're getting out of trouble this morning, or you're about to get back in trouble this morning. It's a cycle. In every season and in every Cycle of life. If you'll remind yourself that I'm in the presence of God and nothing can hit me without him knowing it and without him having a purpose in it. It is a shield to protect your heart against incoming that's gonna tell you there's no point and there's no purpose. And why do you keep trying? And why do you keep trusting? A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. The shield of faith. Here's the second one, and I've got to hurry. Not just our consciousness of God's presence. Here's the shield. Remember, it's our confidence in God's protection. God's got me. He's got this. He will not fail. When the Romans were in combat, they would form in a way called the testudo formation. And the shield that they would carry was significant. There were two shields. One shield was about the size of a trash can lid. That's not the shield that is mentioned in the Greek in this instance. The second type was a shield that's the size of a door. It's a huge shield. And you've seen that. When I describe the testudo formation, you've seen that in history books and you've seen it in movies. It's where these massive shields, the size of a door, but they're made where they're lightweight and they're possible to carry them easily. That shield goes before the soldier to protect them. That's the Greek word for shield, of the large shield. In the testudo formation, one soldier stands next to another soldier, and they form a wall, and then around this side a wall, and around the back a wall, and around the other side a wall. And then the soldiers in the middle would take the shields and hold them up and form a top, almost like a cube. And they would be ready to stand for the incoming arrows or to withstand, because they could move as an army in that formation, and they were unstoppable. I read an interesting story during the siege of Daracus, during that siege, when Rome moved in power, and they were the most powerful force in the world. Dyrrhachium, I think, is the siege of Dyrrhachium. And during that, there was a soldier by the name of Cassius Scaeva. And Cassius Sceva served in the sixth legion of the Roman army. And most all of his troops were killed around him. And he immediately stepped into the role of leader of what was left of that band of fighting men. And they said when the battle of Dyrrachium when the battle was ended, that Sceva, with all of the wounds that he sustained, had. Get this. 220 arrows stuck in his shield. 220 arrows stuck in his shield. I'm just suggesting to you that there is a God who is protecting us oftentimes from things that we're not even aware of. Sometimes you step back and go, man, I'm glad that didn't happen. Remember that great old hymn, thank God for unanswered prayer? Sometimes it's good just to stop and thank God for the things he didn't give you. Sometimes it's good to thank God for the things that didn't happen in your life. Those were arrows that hit the shield that might have harmed you. So what is the shield? It's consciousness of God's presence. What is the shield? And it is a confidence in God's protection. Here's the last word. What is the shield? It is a courage through God's provision. God, you're gonna give me what I need to get through my day. You're gonna give me what I need to face the challenges that I'm facing. And I believe anything. Listen, please hear this as I close. Anything God has called you to do, he will equip you, he will enable you, and he will empower you to do it. He doesn't frustrate his kids. Anything he's called you to do, he equips you, enables you, and empowers you to do it. And when you go through life that way, that's a shield. It's confidence. That's faith. God, you got me. You got this. You're gonna provide for me. I don't know where it's coming from or how it'll get here, but you said, I will supply all of your needs through my riches and glory by Christ Jesus. He has a way of meeting every. There's not a problem he can't solve. There's not a burden he can't lift. There's not a sin he cannot forgive. Grab the shield. When you go out of this room, take the shield of faith with you. Keep the waist girded with truth. Stand close to his word. Guard your heart. Make good calls. Keep your feet. Make sure you have peace in your life. Guard your peace with all that you have. And keep and hold that shield of your faith. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for the joy it is to study it and to hear it. Thank you for the worship and the baptisms that we've experienced. Father, we celebrate that thank you for the friends and family who are here to see these precious folks as they've taken that huge step of faith and gone public and said, I'm not ashamed to declare I know Jesus. I pray finally, Lord, for my friends here in the room and those watching online who may never have trusted you as their personal savior. This might be the moment, Lord, when they just pray a simple prayer like this and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, and I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. [00:30:34] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.