A Life and Death Fight to the Finish  Ephesians 6.10-20

Milford Baptist Church,  23 February 2003

Collapsing communities

You may have seen in the Herald this week a fascinating article about a Harvard professor, Robert Putnam, one of the speakers at last week's Knowledge Wave Conference. He has studied the shrivelling membership figures of voluntary organisations in the United States like Parent teacher Associations and Boy Scout clubs. And he's concluded that Americans are opting out of their communities. There is a discernible shift from "we" to "I". If you read the article you'll see that this shift has had a profoundly destructive effect in the United States. Those states with the lowest levels of membership in community organisations have the highest levels of crime, teenage pregnancy and suicide. Their children do the worst at school and their adults suffer the poorest physical health.

What do you think is causing this collapse of commitment and community? Putnam attributes it to a number of sociological factors. Sprawling city growth, residential mobility, commercial entertainment television, busyness, and increasing work pressures. But I think the roots go deeper than that. Underneath every society is a strong current of hidden, unspoken assumptions. Like the tides in the Hauraki Gulf can move a big America's Cup boat in the wrong direction, these assumptions determine the direction of our culture, and shape the way we live. Perhaps the most powerful assumption underlying our culture today is the belief that if you want to be happy, you have to look out for number one, because happiness comes from personal gain. So the basis for every decision is: What will I get out of this? Is this making me feel good? If not, we swap partners, leave communities, abandon Americas Cup syndicates... According to one Latin American theologian, the dominant character of the modern Western world is consumerism. We live in a consumer society, a me-first world. No wonder communities in America - and New Zealand - are breaking down.

A demon of astonishing proportions

But when you bring this attitude into the church, it's demonically destructive. Didn't Jesus say these words somewhere: "Those who would come after me must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for me and for the gospel will save them" (Mark 8:34-35)? In other words, Jesus said if we are to be his followers, his disciples, we have to row against the tide, we have to shift the focus of our lives away from our selves and our own gain onto Jesus and other people? But do we? When people tell me what they are looking for in a church, you know what they often say? "I want a place where my needs are met." The problem is that, with that consumer attitude, no church can meet all their needs. So they move off to the next one, and the next one. And we end up in Auckland with thousands of people swilling around between churches, with no active commitment to serving the Body of Christ. Some of them are my friends. They say, "Look, I still have my faith. I'm just not living it." They're not disciples of Christ. They're consumers.

But if we're honest, it's not just them. We've all been indoctrinated to some degree by our culture. Who of us isn't self-centred? No wonder that apart from the collapse of the North African church to the Muslim hordes many centuries ago, the current decline of the church in the West is unparalleled in history.  We are, in the words of Murray Robertson, facing "a demon of astonishing proportions."  And its name is consumerism.

Spiritual warfare (vv 10-13)

When you watch the news, and the military build up in the Gulf, do you get the spine-tingling sensation that we could be on the verge of a massive global conflict, a third world war? But the truth is that we are already engaged in a massive conflict. Like the first-century Christians to whom Paul was writing, our struggle is not against "flesh and blood," against tanks and missiles. We're fighting against "the spiritual forces of evil." We're under assault by an unseen, enormously powerful, Lord-of-the-Rings-sized, spiritual enemy. The devil himself (vv 11-12). And his "schemes" or strategies against us are that of a faceless terrorist. He doesn't attack openly but prefers to seduce us into compromise and lure us into error. How can we possibly stand our ground against such an enemy? The only way, says Paul, is to "put on the full armour of God" (vv 11-13). Can you imagine Stephen Fleming in the Cricket World Cup final going out to face a fast bowler like Brett Lee without pads, or a helmet, or a bat? He'd be killed. And so will we, unless we put on the full armour of God. How do we do that?

Live with integrity (vv 14-15)

In v 14 Paul refers to the "belt of truth" and the "breastplate of righteousness." The belt of a Roman soldier gathered his tunic together so he could move freely, just like the drawstring on a cricketer's pants enable him to run with confidence. The breastplate on a Roman soldier, like the side pad on a batsman, protected his vital organs. Paul's point is that living truthful, righteous lives gives us a freedom and confidence in our struggle against evil. But a lack of integrity will trip us up, and will trip others up too. And as Paul implies in v 15, if through a lack of integrity we are not at peace with God or with each other, we will not be ready and able to share "the gospel of peace" - the good news that God's love and forgiveness is for every single person in the world. Once a man accused Plato of certain crimes and sins. "Well then," said Plato, "we must live in such a way as to prove that his accusations are a lie."

Let me ask you straight. What are you like when no one's looking? Is there any duplicity or division in your life? What would you hate your friends to know about? Dabbling with internet pornography? If we deliberately, persistently disobey God, then we're not living as a disciple of Jesus, we're living as self-centred consumers, like everyone else. How is that going to encourage others in their faith? How is that going to draw others to Jesus? How are you going to stand your ground against the enemy? Tell someone about your problem. Become accountable. Get help. Let's live with integrity. 

Live by faith (vv 16-17)

How can we live with integrity? How can we live like Jesus and lay down our lives for one another? I find it hard enough just to get up in the middle of the night to pick up a whimpering Emma. I have often, to my shame, waited for Lorraine to get up instead. If I get up, how am I going to make it through the next day?! Do I really believe that God will somehow give me the grace that I need?

You know, one of the most dangerous weapons in ancient warfare was the flaming arrow. The tip was dipped in pitch and lit before it was shot. But Roman soldiers were issued with large, leather-covered shields designed to extinguish those arrows. Often our enemy fires flaming arrows at us: The temptation to focus on ourselves, our pleasure, our reputation. But God in his Word has promised that he loves us enough to die for us, and that we are safe in his care, "in his mighty power" (v 10). If we will trust him, if we will hold on to his word - like a soldier hangs onto his sword or a batsmen wields his bat - we can conquer that flame. We can live with integrity, and attract our friends and family to Jesus, if we will live by faith.

Live in prayer (vv 18-20)

Finally, Paul says that if we are to stand our ground and win this spiritual war against this "demon of astonishing proportions" - if we are to live with integrity, if we are to live by faith - we need to live in prayer. Four times in these last three verses, Paul urges the Ephesians to pray. And he uses the word "all" or its equivalent four times in verse 18 alone. He says "always keep on praying" on "all occasions" with "all kinds of prayers and requests" for "all the saints." That last one's interesting. Who do you pray for? I think even in prayer I'm a selfish consumer. I don't pray as much for others as I should. Do you? Paul says that we're all together engaged in this life-and-death spiritual conflict. We need to pray for our fellow soldiers persistently and faithfully. This week, why not pick a person, one of your fellow soldiers here who you don't normally pray for, and pray for that one person once a day for one minute. Better still, why not take a page from the church directory and pray for the people on that page for the rest of this year.

But what should we pray for? Paul's prayer in v 19 is that "whenever I open my mouth, words maybe given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." In other words, he says, "Pray for wisdom to know what to say and courage to say it at the right time." What a punchy little prayer. Why not pray specifically and persistently for wisdom and courage this year? And see what happens.

A salesman called Bob

That's what an insurance salesman called Bob did. He had just started following Jesus and he met up with his friend, Doug Coe, who was also Christian, and asked him excitedly, "Is it really true. Does God really answer our prayers?" Doug replied, "You bet. 'Ask whatever you will in my name - according to my expressed will - and you'll receive it.'" "Great!" said Bob. "I'm going to start praying for something. I think I'll pray for Africa." "That's kind of a broad target. Why don't you narrow it down to a specific country?" "All right. I'll pray for Kenya." Then Doug made an unusual arrangement. He challenged Bob to pray every day for six months for Kenya. If he did that and nothing extraordinary happened, Doug would pay him five hundred dollars. But if Bob didn't pray every day, the whole deal was off.

Bob began to pray. And for a long while nothing happened. Then one night he bumped into a woman who helped run an orphanage in Kenya. He pounded her relentlessly with questions about the country. Eventually, she invited Bob to visit Kenya and tour the orphanage. When Bob arrived, he was appalled by the poverty and basic health care. So upon returning home he began writing to pharmaceutical companies, describing the vast needs he had seen and reminding them that every year they throw away large amounts of unsold medical supplies. "Why not send them to Kenya?" Some of them did. The orphanage received more than a million dollars' worth of medical supplies.

At a celebration in the orphanage Bob met the president of Kenya, who offered to take him on a tour of Nairobi. In the course of the tour they saw a prison. Bob asked about a particular group of prisoners. "Who are they?" "They're political prisoners," he was told. "That's a bad idea," Bob said, "You should let them out." Back home Bob received a phone call from the State Department of the United States Government. "Is this Bob?" "Yes." "Were you recently in Kenya?" "Yes." "Did you make any statements to the president about political prisoners?" "Yes." The State Department official explained that the Department had been working for years to get the release of these prisoners, to no avail. But then the prisoners had been released, and they were told it had been largely because of ... Bob. Several months later the president of Kenya telephoned Bob and explained that he was selecting a new cabinet. Would Bob be willing to fly over and pray for him for three days while he worked on this very important task? So Bob, a very ordinary insurance salesman, flew back to Kenya, where he asked God to give wisdom for the leader of the nation as he selected his government.

What a victory. All because one ordinary man chose to live with integrity, to live by faith, to live in prayer. What's to stop us living like that? Let's put on the full armour of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes. Let's live with integrity as disciples, not consumers. Let's live by faith, trusting in God's mighty power. And let's live in prayer, praying persistently and specifically for one another.

Study Questions

1. What do you understand by the term, "consumerism"? How might it be one of "the devil's schemes" (11)?

2. A current television ad for a New Zealand bank says: "When you know want you want to get out of life, we'll help you get it." Do you think we've allowed the advertising industry to indoctrinate us? How would you explain the connection between Christians living as consumers and "the unparalleled collapse" of the church in the West?

3. How does your life lack integrity? How do you need to tighten your belt, or reposition your breastplate?

4. When you are tempted to put yourself before others, what promise in God's word can you cling to by faith?

5. Who do you mostly pray for? What steps could you take to pray more persistently and specifically for other Christians?