Lord of the Streets, Houston
August 25, 2024
Proper 16, B
Ephesians 6:10-20
Psalm 34:15-22
John 6:56-69
Put on the whole armor of God, Paul writes. Armor is a defensive tool, meant to keep us from harm. Armor up. Get yourselves ready, each day, for everything that’s gonna be coming at you, and let’s face it, on any given day, there’s a lot that may be coming at us. Bad news, loss, shouting and anger, physical attacks, sexual assault and rape, eviction, theft, derision, scorn.
The armor of God is meant to protect us from these attacks. More accurately, the armor of God is meant to protect our spirits from these attacks, to keep our hearts and our minds from being beaten down and broken by the assaults we face every day.
Paul writes that “our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this present darkness; against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Physical attacks are going to come. They are going to come. They’re going to hit us. They’re going to hurt us. The armor of God is meant to protect us from the spiritual attacks which come along with those physical attacks.
Look at the armor and protection that Paul writes about. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and whatever shoes will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
So, look first at the belt of truth. Among the countless lies we hear, we are often told in a thousand different ways how worthless and terrible we are. If we believe those lies, then we begin to believe that we are, in fact, worthless and terrible. We hate ourselves, we hate the world around us, we live in darkness and fear. We’re also often told that various other groups of people are worthless and terrible, and if we believe those lies, well then we begin to believe that we can treat those other groups of people as terribly as we want to. With these lies of how terrible and worthless we and others are, we can have a pretty dark view of the world and take out our wrath on everyone around us. We see this a lot.
Against such assaults, Paul tells us to wear the belt of truth. If we believe the truth that we and all people are beloved and beautiful, made in God’s image and infinitely valued by God, then those terrible and worthless lies we are told will fall away, unheard. We won’t end up attacking ourselves and one another because we believe the truth of all of our blessedness and belovedness.
Look at the breastplate of righteousness. The more harm we do to others, the more our spirits are fractured and broken. The more we figure, “my life, my world, my way,” the angrier and more resentful we get when things keep not going our way.
The breastplate of righteousness, then, allows us to give up the belief in “my life, my world, my way.” Rather, the breastplate of righteousness reminds us that the world is Gods, our lives are Gods, and the way is the way of Jesus. Living God’s life, in God’s world, following the way of Jesus, we get to give up the anger and resentment of me and mine. We get to live the harmony of letting go, of choosing to be righteous rather than getting what we think is righteously ours.
The shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. We believe in God who is good and who is for us. We believe in life lived in unity with God, and we believe that life of unity with God continues on even after our mortal bodies die. With that faith, though many assaults may happen to our bodies, we still walk in this world with God. We can let that peace rule in our hearts, and heal the bitterness and anger over the things that have been done to us.
Then there are our shoes, as we walk through this life with the armor of God, we can let people know how we can find peace amidst hurt, how we can find acceptance when things don’t go our way, how we can find worth in ourselves and love of others in a world full of people who tell us hate. As we walk through the world, we can let people know that our peace, acceptance, worth, and love come from our belief in God, walking in the ways of Jesus.
Finally, there is one last piece to the armor of God, and this is the one piece that can be used both for defense and for offense. That is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Cool. Now we have a sword. Now we get to attack people.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not what that means. Considering all the armor that has come before, suddenly getting to attack people doesn’t really make sense. What is the sword of the Spirit, and how do we use it?
The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, which doesn’t mean that it’s the Bible. Remember, the Bible as we know it didn’t exist yet when Paul wrote these words. It was centuries before Paul’s letters, the Gospels, other writings of the Christian scriptures and the writings of the Hebrew Bible were all collected together into one agreed-upon book.
Also, if we look at the Bible itself, the books of the Bible aren’t the Word of God. Jesus is. So, Jesus is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit.
As offense weapons go, Jesus doesn’t seem like the best thing in the world with which to harm others. If we’re actually using Jesus, the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, then we would be doing as Jesus did: caring for people, healing people, “loving one another, just as Jesus has loved us.” That is how we use the sword that is Jesus. Love, healing, caring, compassion and communion.
What about using Jesus to attack people in an argument, like a keen and bloody sword? Well, again, our enemies are not flesh and blood. Our enemies are not people to attack. Jesus is a sword against spiritual forces of darkness, and the way to attack spiritual forces of darkness is love, healing, caring, compassion, and communion with others.
With the whole armor of God, we won’t feel the need to lash out and attack others with the sword of the Spirit. Rather, we’ll see other’s hurt, others’ brokenness, and we’ll want the sword of the spirit to attack what’s hurting them, and that is done through healing. The sword of the Spirit only attacks the spiritual forces that are harming people. As we give compassion, love, and healing, and caring in community, the sword of the Spirit defends people.
So, armor up. Every day, we can help each other put on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and whatever shoes will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Finally, walk with Jesus, the sword of the Spirit to attack spiritual forces of darkness by defending, loving, and healing one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment