Protected from head to foot

August 18, 2021 Year B 13th Sunday After Pentecost Ephesians 6:10-20 Protected from head to foot Opening Song Welcome INVOCATION In this house of prayer, O God, we invoke your name. There is no one like you who keeps covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart. Not only have you lived on earth in Christ, but by the Spirit live in our hearts. Regard our prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen. Stewardship Moment The scripture reading from Ephesians 6 gives us a whole new picture of “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes! Do you remember having Sunday clothes, saved from all other occasions in order to offer God our best when we came into the sanctuary? I’ve often imagined what we could have worn if Ephesians 6 described our Sunday “best”, instead of lace socks and Mary Jane polished shoes! We would show up in the whole armor of God: a belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes for proclaiming the gospel of peace, a shield of faith, a helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (the word of God). Gratefully, we’re not now so concerned about Sunday clothes, but what is the BEST we can offer to God today? Ephesians helps us hear we need resources to struggle against the powers which threaten to destroy the growing reality of God’s Realm in our midst. Our offering this morning is one means for you to participate in building up God’s Realm – with gifts which provide_____________________________. (name what your congregation is doing to live in love: food pantry? Providing space for AA, NA or other helping groups? Inter-faith conversations? Habitat for Humanity build?) What you give matters! Our offering today helps provide ways for each of us to stand FIRM, facing off against the powers and standing against the lethargy, ennui and fear which threaten to undo God’s desire for this world. So let’s offer our Sunday best as we pass the offering trays! Prayer of Thanksgiving Great Architect of the Cosmos, Thank you for the ways you’ve designed life to be rich and full and good. Thank you for each one who has participated in this offering, and for these resources, given so we (as believers) and this congregation might stand firmly on your side of the confrontation between good and evil. Receive these gifts and accept our desire to stand with you, even as we seek to walk in the Way of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN Song Standing in the Need of Prayer UMH 352 Scripture Ephesians 6:10-20 Put on the armor of God 10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. 11 Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. 12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. 13 Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand. 14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, 15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace. 16 Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. 18 Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers. 19 As for me, pray that when I open my mouth, I’ll get a message that confidently makes this secret plan[a] of the gospel known. 20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say. Sermon – Protected from head to foot As I was preparing for this week’s sermon, I looked back on other sermons on the armor of God. I found it interesting that I preached about this in 2018 – but also in 2012. But the same headlines that I used back then, are the exact headlines of today. First I talked about the American Casualties in Afghanistan and number of people who had been killed over the weekend in Chicago. All situations that are still very relevant today. Haiti would have been recovering from an earthquake in 2010 – and once again another earthquake in Haiti, another recovery. The more things change, the more things stay the same. In life, we deal with the same issues over and over again. That is why the words of the bible never go out of style – they are always important to us and to our situation. The book of Ephesians offers words of encouragement in what can many times be a very painful world, with painful circumstances. Be strong in the Lord and his powerful circumstances. As we read these verses, we are encouraged to stand four times. The history of the world seems to be the history of violence. So we are encouraged to prepare like a soldier in order to fight the forces of life. Scholars are not sure that Paul actually wrote the book of Ephesians, it was probably a disciple writing in his voice. But the Roman soldiers would have had a big influence on life at the time. The story behind the book is the Paul aledgely wrote this letter while he was in prison. He was in jail for encouraging a young girl to stop working for her enslaver. He was still a citizen, but being held until the trial. For some reason the authorities felt that it was necessary to chain him by hand to a Roman Soldier. If I remember correctly, they may have become good friends, since they spent a lot of time together. He started to teach the soldier. I want to say that the soldier became a Christian, but I could just be making that up. Paul would have been very familiar with his uniform. So he uses it as an example of how we are supposed to live as Christians. The armor of god The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the helmut of salvation. You will notice that there is nothing given to us to hurt other people. That is all protective armor, designed to defend ourselves against an attack. And if we are not careful it is a daily attack. Sometimes the enemies uses other people to hurt us, often times it uses ourselves, our own spirit, our own heart. If we are not steeped in the word of god everyday- we don’t know what the consequences are. We are given one weapon against the devil in our armor. The sword of the spirit – the word of God. Today we are not a fan of the images of war, and don’t want to associate the Christian life with fighting. But Paul or the writer, are taking these images and repurposing them. He specifically says that our fight is not about other people – our fight is about things that we cannot see. We are not fighting the Taliban, or the gangbangers or even the earthquake. Life is deeper than than. I don’t know about you, but I feel that I fight things that I can’t see every day. And everyday it is a battle. The underlying theme of this passage is power. Power over our lives. When we face life it is easy to thing that we are powerless over a lot of things – other people, our circumstances, the government, the list goes on. This verse talks about three forms of powers over our lives. In greek they are dunamis, kratos, and ischus. We get out modern word dynamite from dunamis – which means strength to get things done. Our form of government – democracy comes from kratos – which means governmental authority and ischus which is much harder to relate to, but it is what Christ calls the church to be – an influential personality that has the power to change things. So basically when the writer says be strong in the Lord – he is saying have physical strength, use the power of authority and have a personality that influences the world around you. Interestingly when the writer speaks of the forces that come to destroy us – he uses these same three words – we are not fighting humans - but rulers, authorities and forces of cosmic darkness. Schindler’s List was one of my favorite movies of all time. It is the story of a ammunition manufacturer who used his factory to hire and rescue the jews who were being persecuted by the germans. He made sure that all of his bullets used were defective, and his employees were jews, so that they could not be taken to concentration camps. All this was under the watchful eye of the German army. One general enjoyed using jews as target practice just for fun. One day the owner of the factory convinced him that anyone could point a gun and kill, but that the real power lay in our reactions to others. Instead of getting revengeful every time he saw a jewish person, why not get in touch with his anger and learn to forgive and give grace. This power hungry general bought into it for awhile – but eventually he returned to being controlled by his own emotions. That is the thing about power – most of the things that we think have power over us are things that are outside of us. things that we are convinced that we have no power over. We are powerless in the face of these things – strength, authoritie, and evil or distractive personalities. Dumanis, kratos, and ischus. But what we need to know is that in greek there are actually 4 words for power. Only three are used in this passage, but the 4th one is so powerful that it is implied in the text. The fourth word for power is energiea – we are familiar with it in the word energy. Electricity was not even invented back when these words were written. Energy is that stuff running through the power lines, but energy also runs through us, energy is what holds us together are a congregation, as a people, as a church as a nation. Energy connects us, energy heals us, energy guides us, energy motivates us, energy keeps us alive. Each of us have a physical body, but we also have an energetic body. It is that energetic body that keeps everything working together. Dumanis, kratos, and ischus are all found outside of ourselves, but the most powerful form of power – energy is only found within. Energia – is God’s power. The writer encourages us to put on the whole armor of God in order to deal with those other forms of power. – truth, justice, faith and salvation – after spending a week in vacation bible school I should know these by heart. But he also encourages us to do one more thing – offer prayers in the spirit all of the time. Finally, Paul comes to the greatest weapon of all—and that is prayer. We note three things that he says about prayer. (a) It must be constant. Our tendency is so often to pray only in the great crises of life; but it is from daily prayer that the Christian will find daily strength. (b) It must be intense. Limp prayer never got a man anywhere. Prayer demands the concentration of every faculty upon God. (c) It must be unselfish. The Jews had a saying, “Let a man unite himself with the community in his prayers.” We are instructed to put on the whole armor of God. everything from head to foot has a purpose. Even our shoes. Footprints No doubt you have heard the story Footprints: One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him, and the other belonging to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." It's refreshing to be reminded God is with us at all times. I ran across an update which is called "A Variation on Footprints": Now imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily and consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your prints are disorganized, a stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this. But gradually, your footprints come more in line with the Lord's soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends. This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens. Your footprints that were etched in the sand next to the Master's are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints is the small "sand-print," safely enclosed. You and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many miles. But you notice another change. The footprint inside the larger footprint seems to grow larger. Eventually, it disappears altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one. Again, this goes on for a long time. But then something awful happens. The second set of footprints is back. And this time, it seems even worse. Zigzags all over the place. They stop. They start. Deep gashes in the sand. A veritable mess of prints. You're amazed and shocked. But this is the end of your dream. Now you speak: "Lord, I understand the first scene with the zigzags and fits and starts and so on. I was a new Christian, just learning. But you walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with you." "That is correct." "Yes, and when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps. I followed You very closely." "Very good. You understand everything so far." "Then the smaller footprints grew and eventually filled in with Yours. I suppose that I was actually growing so much that I was becoming like You in every way." "Precisely." "But this is my question. Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints went back to two, and this time it was worse than the first." The Lord smiles, then laughs. He says, "You didn't know? That was when we danced!" That's what happens when you're equipped. Robert R. Kopp, Golf in the Real Kingdom, CSS Publishing Company Leonard Sweet says it best…… God’s Armor There is a big difference between striving just not to die, and doing all you can to live a life of purpose and meaning. There are freeways, and factories, and families full of people who are just trying not to die. These people keep going to work, keep going on. But they don’t know why. Weekends and vacations become blurry, frantic “festivals” — parties devoted to trying to celebrate something other than the mere survival of another week, another season, another year. For Christians who feel the (enlightening) protective weight of “God’s armor,” there is a different goal: to “stand firm” and to “keep alert.” Christians recognize there are evil forces and genuine enemies. But Christians know that there is a protective layer of divine love that always offers the safety net of salvation. God’s armor does not so much keep us from dying as God’s armor keeps us alive — alive in Christ, alive to love, alive to hope, alive to peace. Leonard Sweet Amen….. Prayer Heavenly Father, I ask You to help me to be strong in You today and in the power of Your might. Today I need Your Armor that You have prepared for me so that I can stand against all that the devil will throw my way. I pray that I will stand with your truth gird around my waist; I put on the breastplate of righteousness for Your name sake. I pray that my feet will be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and I take the shield of faith so that all the fiery darts of the wicked one will be quenched. I take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is Your Word. May I learn how to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. May utterance be given to me so that I might open my mouth boldly to make know the mystery of the gospel. May our own peace of mind and trust in your providence be an example for those who are confused, depressed, or anxious. Great Physician, heal our illnesses and disease of body, mind, and spirit. Amen Special Music Announcements Closing Prayer (for Facebook) “Lord, I thank you for the spiritual weapons You have given me. I thank You that I don’t have to live in defeat but can stand in victory, not in my own strength but in your power. I recognize that people are not my problem but that I have a real enemy that I cannot see, but one who is seen by You. Right now, I assemble the armor You have given me. I will not be led by my emotions but by Your word which is truth. I submit, therefore, my emotional life to You and Your truth. I submit my heart to the righteousness of Jesus Christ and refuse to trust in myself for righteousness. All righteousness comes from You. Amen Community Time Benediction Let us go now, to share God's strength. We will do so by embracing the weakness of others. Let us go now, to be as alert as Jesus. We will do so by noticing the brokenness all around us. Let us go now, to share the life of the Spirit. We will do so by receiving the bread of life from the poor. Children’s Sermon Additional Illustrations I Step Out on the Word of God Poet Maya Angelou recalls the struggles of her grandmother living through the great depression. She remembers a lot of things about her grandmother: her wisdom, her stature. But it was her grandmother's faith that Maya remembers most. Clasping her hands behind her back her grandmother would look up into the distant sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God." The great depression was a difficult time for everyone, but "especially so for a single black woman in the South tending her crippled son and two grandchildren." But when faced with mountainous burdens, Maya's grandmother would face the sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God." "She would look up as if she could will herself into the heavens," Maya writes. And because of her grandmother, Maya Angelou grew up knowing that the word of God had power. And now, today, whenever she experiences the injustices of this world, Maya remembers the great faith of her grandmother. God gives us spiritual armor to protect us from the evil we face daily: He gives us truth, righteousness, the willingness to speak up for Christ, and, most importantly, faith. King Duncan, www.Sermons.com Robert Louis Stevenson once said: “You know the Caledonian Railway Station in Edinburgh? One cold, east windy morning, I met Satan there.” We do not know what actually befell Stevenson but we recognize the experience; we have all felt the force of that evil influence which seeks to make us sin. Being a Christian "survivor" — yes, there is a contest going on, not against Rich and Kelly and Rudy and Sue, but, as Paul says, "Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil ..." against everything that would make life less than the Lord intended for all creation, even you and me. Our "tribe has spoken." We must survive. We can survive. And, we will survive. George MacDonald, in one of his great children's fantasies, told about a girl who grew up in a messy home, where everyone was always angry and mean and selfish. Her hair never got brushed, so they called her Tangle. And her clothes never were cleaned, even though they were of the typical fashions in her world. One day Tangle was sent away from home. And she was left alone and hungry in the great forest. She would have died, if she hadn't been led by a kind bird to a house in the middle of the forest. There she met a kind woman. And the kind woman took her in. She gave Tangle a delicious meal. And she washed Tangle's clothes. And she gave Tangle a place to sleep. And when Tangle woke up the next morning, she sent Tangle on a grand journey, with many strange experiences. And her new clothes helped her along the way. Till she finally came to a palace so beautiful, that she stayed there forever. But George MacDonald's story is really not just about a little girl at all. He is writing about you and me. He is talking about the homes we have in this world, not just our homes, but the home of this world itself, which is often mean, and ugly, and unkind. It can make us feel dirty and alone and helpless. But there's a kind lady in this world. She's the Church! The Church of Jesus Christ! And the Church bathes us in the waters of baptism. And the Church feeds us with the Word of God and sacrament. And the Church helps us to put on these clothes that Paul talks about. And the Church sends us on many adventures. Till one day we find ourselves led into the very palaces of God! It's a wonderful story! And it's happening to you and to me right now! But here's the thing: we're still traveling with Tangle. We haven't yet arrived at the palace. And what we need to help us along is the clothing that the church can give. The belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. The shoes of the Gospel of Peace and the shield of faith. When Queen Victoria ruled in England, she had several daughters. And her daughters were just like girls are today. They went to school, and saw the latest fashions, and they wanted to wear their dresses just like the girls down the street. And so they'd come shouting to their mom, who just happened to be the queen of the British Empire. And they'd tell her they wanted to wear their clothes like this and their hair like that. And she stopped them short one day. She said to them: "You are the daughters of the Queen, And the Queen's daughters do not follow fads. They establish fashion!" And that's a good word for us. We are to live in society but not to be of society. We are to be trend-setters and difference-makers until that day comes when this world becomes the kingdom of our God ” a kingdom of peace, justice, individual dignity under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Have you got your armor? Then, forward, march! One of my favorite stories, that God uses whenever my head start to swell because everybody keeps telling me I'm such a good preacher is about the preacher who died and went to heaven. This preacher was known as one of the best preachers around. Thousands of people had come to Christ because of his sermons. And he knew it. St. Peter was showing him around and they passed through this huge section of humongous homes. These things were so big, they were nearly Castles, not mansions. Either outside or looking out the window of each of them was a little widow lady or widower or a teenager or a child. And they all looked somewhat overwhelmed by the size of their mansion. The preacher was getting excited, if these people, just you're ordinary every day kind of Christians got those kind of mansions. Imagine what he was going to get. As they ended their trek through the neighborhood, they came upon a large Texas style ranch house. It was gorgeous but wasn't huge. It had everything you could imagine but it was nowhere near what he was expecting. So he asked why? St. Peter sort of grinned and said: "Oh, we appreciate everything you did. You're a great preacher and thousands upon thousands came to Christ because of you. But truthfully, you were just the distraction. The real work, the tough work was done on the knees of every one of those people we passed. They were our prayer warriors. And that's where the real battle was fought." Prayer brings us into the very presence of God. Through prayer we are brought to the throne of grace and we are enabled to stand before God. Not presumptuously but in all humility and because we've been invited there. And once there, God wants to know everything on our hearts and minds about everyone we know and love. And even those we don't love. You and I have been called to Dress For Faithfulness, not Success. We're called to live a life that is pleasing to God in all that we do. Jesus didn't die on the cross so you could be successful by worldly standards. Jesus died on the cross because of our sin, because we couldn't be faithful. God doesn't want us to pursue worldly success. God wants us to pursue faithfulness, even in the midst of the confusion of life. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn