Series: Searching for a Better Life Week 4: Be Strong
INTRO: Aren’t we all looking for a better life?
Resilient: To stand when winds come against you. Resilience is most people’s missing ingredient to a better life. Paul would tell us that resilience is the pathway to a better life. God wants you to be strong in Him because you are in a spiritual battle against the powerful forces of darkness.
The Gospel is the power of God in your life—the way God reverses the corruption of sin & repels the power of Satan from you. It’s the antidote that keeps death from eroding your life & the shield that keeps Satan from manipulating it. Paul is urging the Ephesians to take the things he taught them about God and cover every part of them with it … The way we keep the corrupting influence of the enemy out of our lives is by establishing every part of our life—our hopes, dreams, failures, worries, fears, relationships, disappointments—on the Gospel. The flip side is that whatever part of you is not established in the Gospel—whatever part is not saturated in the Gospel is subject to manipulation of the enemy against you.
So, Paul says, saturate yourself with the Gospel. It will be the armor of God against Satan! To be saturated with the Gospel (mind of Christ) is to be filled with the Spirit and thus resistant to the attacks of Satan.
Ephesians 6:10-14a—Be prepared for something, and be prepared to do something—Be STRONG in the Lord—to engage in life’s battles from a position of strength. What the Gospel teaches you is counter-intuitive—it teaches you not to be strong in yourself, but to be strong in the Lord… to let Him be your strength and power and security in every area. You cannot be strong in yourself and strong in God. It is only where you sense your weakness that you will be strong in God.
(1) We should Expect a Skirmish. (6:10)
- The devil is real. Satan is not after your recognition but your destruction.
- The devil is relentless.
(2) We should Expect Schemes. We must stand strong (6: 11b). Ephesians 4:14.
(3) We should Expect to Struggle. (6:12a) Effort is required of us. The Greek terms translated “put on” (6:11 & 13) are in an imperative mood.
(4) We should Expect Strength. (6:11). The exhortation assumes God’s sovereignty. It assumes God’s initiative. It assumes God’s involvement. This exhortation is God’s invitation to stand, to persevere, to remain faithful to Christ and to His gospel.
(5) We Should Expect to Stand. The ultimate appeal in this passage is that the believers in Ephesus will “stand” (6:11, 13, 14).
(6) We should Expect the Savior. The command is to “put on the full armor of God” (6:13a). To put on the armor of God is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 13:11–14.
(7) We should Expect to Succeed. (6:13b-14) We must prepare our minds for the battle. A promise of victory is involved in the exhortation that you might be able.
This is a Command to be taken seriously. This is a Caution. This is a Comfort that Christ is here for you: His strength is available to you.
BE STRONG