#28[1]
Bring Enough Gun[2] The Sword which Is the Word
This is fifth in a series that began months ago as Paul’s letter to the folks at Ephesus gave me heartburn about my own stumble[3]. The challenge is taking apart this passage to see how to use it daily. Work and the dire needs of the people in my life appear so much larger than what I can handle on my own, I am out-gunned, as they say, so Paul seems to be writing to me….
Ephesians Chapter 6
10-12 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
13-18 Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
19-20 And don't forget to pray for me. Pray that I'll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out. Ephesians 6:10-20 The Message translation
These literary exercises are my home-work projects to get my head around the lessons that are immediate and important in my life so they are sent out to this audience in the hopes that one soul will get some help with their ‘home-work’.
Before we get too far along we should wrap up a couple ideas about Peace and Faith from prior volumes and tie them into this series. So, con su permiso[4], in #14 Peace was presented not as the absence of conflict but the Presence of God just as he promised…
John 14 25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Many translations of Ephesians say, “with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” so let’s chew on that phrase for a minute. The Gospel of Peace would literally mean the Good News of his Presence if we equate Peace with his Presence. That’s Great news when it comes to facing an enemy. We don’t have to do it alone because he was here once before, he is here with us right now and he promises to be here with us in the future. Having my ‘feet fitted with the readiness’ must mean that because he is here we can be ready and, dare I say, eager to meet the enemy on the battlefield. Whoa, ‘gotta confess not ‘putting on’ this weapon very much. Too many times I felt like I was walking out to face my opponent all alone. Even though I wrote about Peace I failed to make this connection and application as a weapon of readiness.
Now back to Faith, covered in #19 and #21, is pictured by the translators in this way in Ephesians…
take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one
Perseverance, another word for what faith looks like in the flesh, is depicted as lifting your shield and holding it up to stop the assault of your foe. Whether flaming arrows, slashing swords, thrusting spears or hammer blows the shield absorbs these attacks so you can Stand Firm as Paul exhorts us. That’s a solid segue to the first passages that helps me think about “the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” as most translations say. The first companion verse that comes to mind is Hebrews 4:
V12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The author amplifies this picture of the word as a living, dangerously adept weapon when wielded in our hands and applied upon our hearts.
Try this demonstration with me. Picture yourself in front a mirror having strapped on the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Helmet of Salvation, feet fitted with Readiness because The Christ stands right beside you and lifting the shield of Faith you are ready to take up the Sword, which is God’s Word. Until just now you have not signaled the enemy that you intend to fight back. Everything you have done so far is largely defensive, protective, but now you declare your intentions to engage him offensively. That’s a bit fearsome to me because I know what my enemy is capable of and intends to do[5] so when I raise the sword I better be ready.
Let us go to Mark 1, Luke 4, and Matthew 4 for the accounts of the Christ’s first temptation; the first written account of our Savior lifting up the sword when challenged by Satan. Forty days he fasted and in his weakened state Satan tried his last ditch assault by tempting with scriptures. We don’t know how much Satan harassed him before this in those forty days but we know that Jesus did not presume to parry and thrust[6] with his own words but went right to the scripture as well. For those of you seminary graduates in my small audience, the Gospel of John declares that Jesus is that very Word/sword.
John 1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it
I am not smart enough to explain all that but I can see that Jesus showed his humility and his humanity in his response as described in Philippians:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Phillippians 2
We are told that Christ was tempted just like us:
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16
Okay, let me try to summarize. Pause for effect…If God, in the flesh of Christ, The Word, did not presume to reply to Satan on his own when he faced dire trials and temptations but thrust back and blocked thrusts with the written word, I better not try anything but The Word when I parry and thrust with the enemy in the trials and struggles of my life.
If we go back in history a bit further another battle comes to mind to teach us a similar lesson. In 1 Samuel 17 the Philistines and a nearly ten foot tall giant named Goliath [and his four brothers[7]] were on one hill and the Israelites were on another with a valley in between. Everyone was in their belts, breastplates, helmet and shields but nobody had raised a sword yet as they were in that timeless stage of male conflict known as trash talking. Forty days of trash talking[8] later [it doesn’t sound like anyone really wanted to fight-maybe no Readiness was the problem], five-foot-nothing, David comes to visit his brothers and hears the curses of Goliath. David declares to King Saul:
“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Sam 17:36
Big, tall, dark and handsome King Saul is only too happy to let someone else fight his battles so he gives David his armor-which doesn’t fit [may be a lesson in there about how each of us has armor that only fits us!]-so David discards Saul’s armor, picks up five smooth stones for his sling, the weapon God had perfected in him, and while running towards his formidable foe, shouts:
45 “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Sam 17:45-47
Indulge me for a moment. David selected five stones and there were five giants. This chapter of Samuel and the one in the footnote below leaves little doubt that David’s Faith and his “feet being fitted with the Readiness”-he ran toward the giant-shows that David was ready to kill all five giants that day and not that he thought he might need five shots at Goliath to bring him down.
As a Baptist minister once said at the end of a very long sermon, “And in conclusion…”, both David and Christ came against, struck back, thrust, in the “Name of the Lord Almighty” and with the Words of the Lord Almighty when faced with the greatest battle they had faced up until that point. In both cases, David and Christ were very familiar, practiced, proficient and adept with their chosen weapons-their ‘swords’. Like soldiers that do well in battle because they have practiced doing well in battle; Even if I have put on the belt, breastplate, helmet and shield and have Christ at my side, I must become a master with “the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” because, “This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.”
Well, I still have to work on Prayer, ‘Keeping our Eyes open’ and ‘No one left behind’ before I am through with this portion of this chapter but for now-
On Guard!
[1] This is part of a numbered series of writings that began with the financial meltdown in October 2008. I call them Tomes [rhymes with comb for you people with hair on your head] or a volume forming a part of a larger work because some day I may pull them together into a collection. If you wish to receive the entire series or no longer wish to be copied, contact Timothy Bailey @ chiefcredit@tcfbank.com
[2] http://www.springfield-armory.com/armory.php?model=18 this marketing campaign around its SOCOM rifle is the genesis of this series.
[3] Lots of people have a ”walk” with God. My journey involves face-plants, bruised shins and trips to the emergency room so I call it my stumble.
[4] With your permission. One of my readers is in Bolivia so I try to through him a bone once in a while.
[6] Parry and Thrust are the terms used in fencing. Thrust with the sword, deflect with a parry (circular motion of the sword).
[7] 2 Samuel 21:15-22 15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels[b] and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” 18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. 19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair[c] the Bethlehemite killed the brother of[d] Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. 20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. 22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.
[8] Forty Days of Trash talking appears to be a reoccurring theme!
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