Spiritual Warfare Sunday 8th November Phill Vickery
Resisting domination by our individual and collective actions as a united community as we work for change.
Ephesians 3 vs 10 and 6 vs 10-17. And Ephesians 5
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For 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. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day,
and having done everything, to stand firm.
This is the final part of our series so ‘And Finally ‘ is not I hope with a sense of relief but a gathering together of all of the bits of Ephesians that we have covered over recent weeks.
God’s Grace lavished on us
Saved us by Grace
Seated us in Heavenly places
Prepared us for actions Good works for us to walk in
Broken down divisions and hierarchies,
Equipped us with Gifts to develop us to maturity as a group
Why
To Transform this World
into
the Kingdom of God
Let’s just think about that for a moment
that is what we are about That is why we are here.
So let’s look at today’s subject
Spiritual Warfare.
If we are about changing the world then We are going to get some opposition,
Where does this come from?
From the devil, From People whose power is threatened, (Remeber in act s19 Demetrius the silver smith saw the Church in Ephesus as a threat to his livelihood making idols of the goddess Diana) People who don’t want change, sometimes from within ourselves.
People whose comfort is disturbed.
We are involved in a battle and warfare but it is not always a head on warfare with obvious targets It also involves the winning of minds and redeeming situations.
It’s not just about knocking down the Walls of Jericho but resettling the population afterwards.
.
Chapter 6 verse 12 Says, We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
What does this mean?
Imagine running down the road with a huge elastic band around your waist or trying to run through thick treacle. That is what living the Christian life in the world is like on occasions. You feel that there is a force fighting against your progress. Those are principalities and powers. They can sometimes be big things such as our materialism that prevents us from relying on God and finding out what faith really means. Or poverty that makes it impossible for many people to think about spiritual things because they are worried about their next meal. Or they can be exhibited through governments orauthorities that make decisions that are anti Christian or pro secularism. Sometimes these things seem to dominate and control us.
Theologians views about what exactly they are vary but a middle view is that they are a collective influence that inhabits institutions forming habit and bad practice within that agency along with the entity of that institution. (See Revelation 2 where each of the churches has a personality or angel.) Sometimes they act within Churches that have neglected to ensure that all they do is guided by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes what they stand for is good but maybe not the best.
They often work to divide God’s people and love divisions, barriers and boundaries but hate unity.
Sometimes they are very large and obvious and manifest themselves through Physical objects.and barriers The great wall of china, Offa’s Dyke
The Berlin Wall is a perfect example. Built to oppress but eventually defeated. This is an example of the destruction of a principality and freedom given to many people. Think of the celebrations. What led to this: Prayer, Acts of politicians, and individuals in opposition to the dominant oppression of East German Communism. Just as collectively lots of people brought down the physical wall lots of people brought down the power of the principality. Think about Apartheid in South Africa the story is similar..
How do we do the same against smaller but equally disabling powers here in where we live?
How do we counter these so we run freely?
By doing things differently we find that these powers are no longer controlling us. By walking away from the crowd you find you are soon free of them and not dragged along by them.
The start of the Civil Rights movement was by the actions of one woman, Rosa Parks, who one day said enough is enough I am not going to be ruled by this inequality.
By doing this together we are stronger and able to encourage one another..
Many of you would have heard sermons on this passage, emphasising our need to put on the armour of God. That is not my emphasis today, yes we do need to put on that armour. But not to fight as individuals. The picture that Paul has in his mind is the Roman soldier who always fought as part of a group. The shields were not designed as an individual means of protection but something that joined with the shields of other soldiers to create a collective weapon and defence
So is the shield of faith something we use together
Not only as individuals..
That is why we are encouraged to be united and ministries are given to the Church in order to develop our collective maturity (Eph Chapter 4)
But we are also responsible for our own actions within the world (chapter 5) by doing these things we are resisting the power of principalities and powers. By being Christian husbands and wives. Christian employees or employers, Christian parents and Christian children. Doing all of these things according to kingdom values of equality and freedom. That is why the walls of division were broken down (Eph 2 vs.14). But we are meant to support one another in doing this. By being accountable to one another sharing our needs and failures sharing our joys and successes.
How we as a body walk differently to this world so that we are walking contrary to the way principalities and powers and authorities are going .That way we are free and not dragged down by them.
Walking in the Grace of God in the power and authority that comes from our position in Christ in Heavenly places this will defeat them.
This power is still here today the crucifixionand resurrection of Jesus is the assurance that there is a power at work in the world to transform defeat into divine victory. Walter Wink.
This authority and actions that come from it govern how we are in our life together, the values in practice within the Church in the way we conduct our services our church meetings the way we encourage on another the way we bless one another the way we love one another. In order to fulfil Ephesians 3 Vs10.
(Eph 3:10) so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Principalities and powers work a bit like viruses they attach themselves to a community via weaknesses just as a virus connects to free carbon atoms in the chemical make up of our bodies. An anti virus medicine works by changing the shape of these landing points by altering the chemical make up of the ends so the virus cannot connect. By our actions we can alter the profile of the area and so prevent the principalities and powers from getting into the community. Through the way we live, and the things we do, by carrying out what is says about relationships in Ephesians 5 and 6, this is what theologians call Virtue ethics.
In doing this we do not just set ourselves free but also set our communities free because principalities and powers can no longer link on and infect because they cannot affect us through our weakness but their power and domination is confronted and broken the walls are broken down.
The battle is there to be won, the communities are there to be redeemed by the collective actions of us the Church. Are we ready? Let’s get on with it. Let’s learn to be the Spiritual army that God has meant us to be. The Kingdom community that will bring about transformation of this world through our Lives.