Standing Behind the Shield Wall

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

August 25, 2024

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Ephesians 6:10–20 (ESV)

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

This week I spent time in study as usual. I did my usually workflow as I prepare to write. I read the scripture. I prayed with the scripture. I let the words soak into my mind and heart. And then I began to look deeper.

I do not know if my methodology is good or not but it seems to work for me. I find it interesting in how often as I pray with the scripture I am usually lead toward the aspect of the passage that I need to speak on. That is why I mention this method today.

I love this passage of scripture. I grew up with this, as many of us did. In Sunday School my teachers would have us form the various parts in paper and we would march around the room clothed in the armor. I have many fond memories surrounding this passage. But as I reflected on it this week, I found that much of my understanding of this passage has been skewed.

The reason I developed a skewed understanding is not because my teachers were telling things wrong, but because so often we look at scripture out of context. We take passages and try to make them stand on their own and because of this we risk placing an emphasis on a minor aspect of the passage instead of the over all theme.

Today’s passage begins, “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” As I prayed I wanted to jump forward to the meat of the passage but for some reason I was drawn to this first verse. I sat in reflection as I could not move forward and was prompted to reflect on the previous lessons found within this letter that Paul wrote.

Paul has spent five chapters building up to this point. And in those chapters he says that we should put off our old self, its idolatry, and falsehood. And as we shed that and toss it into the rubbish bin we are to become something new. Something that is true.

Paul then encourages us to walk in love, submitting one to another in reverence to the sacrifice Christ made for us. And he then give examples as to how this submission should look. Wives submit to your husbands, and husband approach your wife with the same love as Christ has for the church. Children honor and obey your parents as Christ was obedient to his father. Honor your parents as you would honor Christ. And fathers do not provoke your children to anger but discipline and instruct them in the Lord.

Then Paul concludes his examples of submission with slaves or servants obey your masters, serve them as if you were serving Christ and masters do the same toward your servants, treat the people under your care as if you were serving Christ himself.

I am giving you a paraphrase of these things of course, but I want us to just consider these submission statements before we move forward. Notice what Paul is speaking of. He is not speaking of nations, or states, or even the church community. He focuses these submission statements on the things everyone will recognize, the home. We all live in community and that community begins in the family. That is where we begin to learn how to interact with other people.

These commandments of putting off falsehood and submission come before everything else Paul says in this passage. And I want us to just think about your relationships before we move forwards. Parents how often this week have you angered your children? Children how often have you disobeyed and dishonored your parents? Husbands how many times this week have you given your life for your wife, and wives are you submitting to your husbands as if you were submitting to Christ? Do not all speak at once. Now lets consider the second tier.

We can argue if scripture in this case is condoning slavery or not, but I think that argument is distracting us from the truth of the passage. It speaks of work. We all work or go to places where service is given to us. Are we working as if we are working for Jesus when we punch our time card. Are we treating the wait staff at the restaurant or sales associate while we are shopping with the respect we would give Jesus if he were standing before us? If you are a manager are you willing to give of yourself for your employees as Jesus gave himself for you?

We need to come to terms with these things before we can fully move forward. I will be honest. I provoke my children to anger often, and I could do better at teaching them the ways of the Lord. I fail. I fail so often.

And this is where Paul begins, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” To be strong in this sense does not mean that we need to go work out and push harder to achieve greatness as an Olympic athlete, but it speaks of being strengthened, to be enabled, or become rendered more capable. This is not speaking about what we can do but we are to be strong in the Lord. The Lord, the Spirit of God is enabling us, giving us the strength to do the things we have already proven to ourselves we are incapable of doing.

Be strong Paul says and put on the whole armor of God. This goes back a few chapters, “Put off falsehood.” Paul said earlier in this letter. We are supposed to shed and rip off falsehood like the gross and dirty clothes we wore while cutting the grass. I grew up on a farm and when we were out working our clothes were often nasty when we got home. In our house, in my grandparent’s house, and in my great grandparent’s house we would always go in the door next to the laundry. We came in that way and often the shower was right there next to the door. My grandfather would go directly into the shower, his clothes went directly into the wash and before he came into the home he was clean. This was often how my dad and I also approach things as well. We did not want to bring that grim into the house, we shed it, put it off before we entered.

This is the image I want us to consider when Paul says put on the armor of God. The first thing we have to do is take off everything else. And we put on this armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

I stopped again at this point as I was praying with the scripture. My mind did not stay in Ephesus but instead I was transported to the deserts of Judea, where Jesus was tempted, in every manner that we are temped, by the devil. Jesus faced the same trials that we face every single day and yet he did not sin. Temptations are not sin. Temptations are the schemes the devil uses to distract us from the truth. I sat thinking about this. How was Jesus tempted and how did he overcome these temptations?

Everything the devil used to tempt Jesus were good things. Make bread because you are hungry. Take the risk because scripture says that no harm will come to the anointed of God. You can have all the power and authority on earth. All of these things are things we want and need. We need food, we want protection, we would like power. But Jesus looked at his adversary and quoted scripture. The devil quoted scripture right back to him. Which should tell us something profound, we need to go deep in the word, we need the word and wisdom of God to course through our veins so we can see the full process and the wider teaching of God’s whole story, because even scripture can be twisted to tempt and distract us from the truth.

“Put on the whole armor,” Paul tells us, but what is he really telling us? Be strong in the Lord, means that we are enabled by the very spirit of God, to put on the armor is that we put on the life and lifestyle of Christ. We cannot face the schemes of the devil alone, we will and so often do succumb to temptation. We fall, and we fall in the places it should be easiest to succeed, with the ones we love the most.

“Put on the armor,” Paul encourages us, “for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

We wrestle. I think this is probably one of the greatest word pictures given in the pages of scripture. We wrestle. We have wrestlers here in our Meeting and they could tell us more about this sport and art. Wrestling the act of engaging in close hand to hand combat, it a struggle face to face against a foe. They are grabbing hold of us attempting to pin us down, and we contort our bodies to squirm out of their grasp as we attempt to get the upper hand. This is often the image of life because life is a struggle.

But we are not struggling against flesh and blood. We do not struggle against each other, we do not struggle against humanity or even nature. That person you are having the most trouble with at work is not the problem. They are not the one you are wrestling with, even though so often they are the one that struggle is focused on. This is a distraction. No we do not struggle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities and the cosmic powers.

Again I stopped. If we are not struggling against flesh and blood, who exactly are the people of Ukraine and Russia fighting against? Who are the various nations within Africa at war with? Who or what is causing me so much trouble when I get the phone call from angry customers or employees?

This is why we need to look deeper and study scripture. We need to look at the whole picture as well as the nuances of words and grammar. We are all reading a translation, and translations often cannot always fully capture the nuances of the original words. Rulers. In English our minds often go to the elected officials are about to vote for in a few weeks, but this is not what Paul is speaking about. The word used here means the initiator or one who influences. Rulers is a good translation, but there is a nuance that we miss, the ruler is supernatural. The rulers that Paul is referring too are the practitioners of magic and the ones that use divination. More accurately he is speaking not of the people but from where this power comes from.

Authorities is similar to rulers. Authority is power or those with the right to exert power over others. Again you might think that authority is of flesh and blood as well. But where does this power come from? The protest that sparked the reformation of the church looked at this power. The civil war within England out of which the religious Society of Friends emerged, examined this power. Our own revolution that gave our nation independence challenged this power. Authority, the divine right to rule. Which plays in to cosmic powers, or world ruler.

All of this seems to point to human agents, and yet Paul tells us that it is not against flesh and blood that we are wrestling. It is not our government or the government of another nations we are fighting. We are wrestling against spiritual forces.

I want us, to again, consider the fall of our first parents. They were at peace in the garden but the serpent came in and spoke to the mother of the living and convinced her along with the mud man Adam into believing that God was withholding something from them. The serpent convinced us that we could be more, we could be equal to God. He convinced us that we could have knowledge and power, that we could have authority if we would only take it for ourselves.

I want to ask a simple question, what did that gain? They already had power and authority. They were already image bearers of the creator. They bore the image, they already possessed the very thing they desired, but they wanted it on their own terms not God’s.

Three times in Genesis we are given a similar story. A story that repeats throughout history. We want power, we want authority, we want influence over others. These are the very temptations that Jesus faced in that desert. They are already ours except we have clothed ourselves in falsehood instead of the truth. We have believed lies instead of listening to the wisdom of God.

It is already ours, yet we struggle. We wrestle against the falsehood of the cosmic powers. We wrestle with the great adversary and father of lies. We want authority and power. We want it and what are we willing to do to obtain it? Who are we willing to hurt? What are we willing to steal? What lies will we tell to gain control? This quest for power is the original sin. It is the desire to be equal to God. It is the desire to rule on our terms instead of submitting one to another. We want to be god.

“Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Take up, Paul says, this is the polar opposite of put off. We are to take up or put on God as our protection and fortress. I am thankful that Vicky began worship this morning with “A Mighty Fortress” because that is what the armor of God is. It is not what we do but it is God himself working in and through us.

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth.”

The armor begins with truth. Paul told us to put off falsehood and we are to begin this transformation by putting on truth. The belt is the core of armor. The Israelite were told to gird up their loins in preparation of the Exodus out of Egypt. This is what the belt of truth references. To gird oneself means that they pull their robe forward through their legs and secure it within their belt. This secures their clothing and removes the hindrance so they can move freely. Gird yourself in truth.

“Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate is probably the most important part of armor because it protects your vital organs. It guards your heart the core of who you are. Protect your heart, or guard your heart scripture says. So often we take this as meaning the heart is full of wickedness and yes unfortunately it is if we believe falsehood, but the heart is essentially you. It is your hopes, and dreams. It is your passions. It is where you reside. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Or let the righteousness of God become who you are.

Place the shoes of readiness to proclaim the gospel of peace on your feet. This is interesting, Be ready. Or as Peter tells us in his epistle always be ready to give an answer to the hope that you have. We should be ready to move forward in Christ. Ready to go where the Lord leads and be ready to speak of the hope we have. But the shoes are the gospel of peace. We are putting on armor but ready to make peace.

Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts. It is by faith we are saved is the mantra we often hear within our churches. But do we know faith? Faith is trust, it is entrusting our lives to God. It is believing that through all our struggles God will guide us through. Paul says our shield is faith. The shield is the piece of armor we get behind. It is the first line of defense. And men of arms trusts that their shield will withstand the arrows. But let us go a step deeper. Roman warfare revolved around the shield, they would interlock their shields and move forward as one. They would entrust their lives to the men beside them as they moved forward into battle. The shield of faith is not only for us, but it is trusting those around us and walking together as one.

“And take the helmet of salvation.” The helmet protects our head. And the head protects our brain, our minds, our wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the the beginning of wisdom the teacher says in the books of wisdom. It is in our minds, in our heads, where we first believe falsehood and truth. And it is salvation that protects our heads. Salvation here is the means. It is how. Our salvation does not come from ourselves, but it is through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that the means of grace are provided. Christ is our head and he is our helmet.

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplication. Through out my life, I have been taught that there is only one offensive item in this list, and that is the sword. This week I sat in prayers and in study looking at this passage and I began to see something, the Spirit is the sword. God is the sword.

Jesus told us that the spirit blows where it wants, we know not where it comes or where it goes. The Irish monks likened this to chasing the wild goose and in St. Patrick’s church in Chicago you will see it decorated with images of geese. We do not control the Spirit. To say we can wield the Spirit is saying that we can control God and that is the very falsehood that our first parents entered. We do not control God, because we would have to be greater than God to do that.

As I contemplated that I began to realize, there is no offensive weapon in this kit. And this caused me to pause. I had been taught my entire life that I needed to sharpen my sword, that I needed to memorize and get into scripture so that I could battle Satan. I want us to again consider the temptation of Christ. Satan used the words of scripture as much as Jesus did. We can use and misuse scripture. We can twist the very words inspired by God to justify terrible things. This is why it is a sword. It can cut, it can both protect the innocent and cause harm. The sword is part of our kit but it is not ours to hold, because the sword is the Spirit of God.

What then do we have? What can we do as we wrestle with the rulers, authorities and the cosmic powers? Pray.

You see the armor is not ours. The armor is God. It is Christ before us, beneath us, beside us, and over us. It is Christ that takes our struggles for us. And we are called to not stand and fight, but to submit and rest behind the shield wall of faith. And as we stand in faith we are to pray in the Spirit, and allow the Spirit, allow God to fight the battle. As the Spirit moves forward, our shoes are on ready to administer the gospel of peace.

What is left behind the advancing shield wall? Broken and hurting people. People that once believed the lies and falsehood that they could have power and authority over themselves and others. Children broken by their parents, wives battered by their husbands, people that were beaten down by a system of justice that did not provide justice. These are the things of human quests for power. The rulers and authorities and cosmic powers of darkness. In our best attempts of wielding power we cause destruction, because we are not meant to have it. We were created to bear the image of God, we were created to be God’s ambassadors. Ambassadors are instruments of peace not war.

Put away falsehood, and put on God’s armor. Put on truth. Our sword is prayer, and our mission is peace. We are to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and bring hope to the hopeless. Our position in the cosmic battle is not the frontline. God is our armor, our place is in the rear, ready to speak the gospel of peace and to pray.

There is so much more that can be said. We want power and we believe we could use it for good. We want authority because we would influence for good. We want. But we cannot have it because it is not ours to take. We are called to submit one to another in reverence to the sacrifice Christ made for us. He in the fullness of God and man fights the battle we were not created to fight, and in him we have salvation.

Previous Messages:

Living Stones

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…

by jwquaker May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

Endure

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…

by jwquaker April 26, 2026April 26, 2026

Ransomed to Love

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…

by jwquaker April 19, 2026April 18, 2026

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