Episode 12: Ephesians 6:10-24: Are you ready for the spiritual battle?
What does it look like, not only to know the truth and walk in it, but to stand firm in it? As we'll see in the final few verses of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, God gives us all we need!
-
How are both our weakness, and God's strength shown in this final part of the letter?
Why do we need to be aware of the scale of the spiritual warfare at play?
How does this final part of the letter encourage you to stand firm in the Lord?
-
This episode is sponsored by Crossway.
Crossway publish gospel-centered, Bible-based content that honours our Savior and serves his church. They seek to help people understand the massive implications of the gospel and the truth of God’s Word, for all of life, for all eternity, and for the glory of God.
Check out their website for all their up-to-date resources.
-
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: You're listening to the Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book and drive it to our hearts. This season, we're in Ephesians. We're hitting our last episode today. And whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we're so pleased you're here.
Felicity: This season has been sponsored by Crossway all the way through and having studied this passage that we're in today, I'm really looking forward to enjoying this book, Strong and the Lord, a 30-day devotional on the armour of God. It's a compilation of devotions by different authors, all of whom I respect, and is a great tool to help us consider, dwell on, and put on the armour of God. When we feel weak, when we feel insufficient, when we wonder how we can keep standing in these verses is what we need and this book helps us put on that armour. Grab your copy at Crossway.
Sarah: Welcome to the final episode of Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea in our Ephesians season. My name is Sarah, I'm in the UK, I'm with my sister Felicity in the USA, and we're getting into the final little chunk, really, of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. We're going from chapter six, verse 10, all the way to the end of the letter. Felicity, how are you feeling as we reach this point in the season?
Felicity: I mean, I actually just don't know how I haven't noticed this before, but in this very last episode, I just heard you say, Ephesians and season together, and it rhymes.
Sarah: Hey, you should have made more of that.
Felicity: We should have done. I feel, I mean, I feel built up. I really feel built up through having been in this letter, talking about it. As we said at the very start of the season, we've both been really familiar with this letter for quite a long time, but the gift of actually sharing that together, talking about that, encouraging one another in that, hearing your thoughts and my thoughts and like what that all means for one another has just been, yeah, I feel I guess what the letter is intended to do, I really feel like I am more likely to stand as a result. I'm grateful, I'm grateful for that. What about you?
Sarah: Yes, I think the call to walk in light of the knowledge, in light of the knowing Christ and growing to know him more, the call to walk is wholly more attractive because I know more of his promises, of his blessings, of his provision of the cross. We've been entrenched in the realities of the gospel, haven't we? And so I want to walk in this way more and more. And as you say, I want to stand firm and I feel more equipped to do that. And I think that's just been really heartening. And I think what's been cool to see about that is just that, as you say, this isn't a new book for us. We have been steeped in this for years and yet we have just got so much out of these conversations. And I'm going to get so much out of these conversations with others as I carry on talking about it over the years. And this is not a full stop on Ephesians. This is, you know, it's just such a foundational book for us to keep on sitting in and dwelling in. And I'm just really grateful for the reminder of that. This has really affirmed me in how much I've, yeah, spent time in it and how much it's been worth to do doing that now and will continue to be as years go on. So hooray from Ephesians. I hope others have enjoyed it. I hope others have been enjoying it as we've been enjoying it. We're gonna get into the final part of this. Felicity, would you read for us from verse 10 to the end?
Felicity: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.Pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will be fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage you. Peace to the brothers and sisters and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Wow.
Sarah: Thank you so much. I love the fact that here it says finally and since some of his letters it's not finally is it? Like there's a lot more going on but here it is finally we're at the end of the letter but what he's saying is wrapping up a lot of what the letter has been about. This isn't like a whole new topic and I think that Armour of God is one of those topics that we can kind of launch into in isolation without seeing it in the context of the whole letter but what we're doing now having read the whole of Ephesians is we're coming with eyes that are so kind of primed to see all just all that we've seen already in the letter and I think that's just really helpful as we come to a passage like this.
Felicity: Yeah, I totally agree, totally agree. But also, I was, I've been enjoying reading John Stott's A Cometary on Ephesians and he just made a really like, one of those throw away one liners from someone clever where you're like, just in that one line. But finally, also could be said, henceforth. So in kind of like, this is not a finally as in, we're just gonna wrap it and then we're gonna leave the armour of God behind and that. But actually, this is an ongoing battle. Henceforth, from this point on, stand through having this armour of God on you. And so there's a kind of like a, well literally he talks about girding you his loins, doesn't he? Like that is then how we are to keep walking as Christians between now and the end of time or when Jesus returns. And so that was a helpful thing as I was getting into these verses again.
Sarah: No, that's that. Yeah, that is really helpful. I love the like the emphasis here though in this verse 10, be strong in the Lord in his mighty power, put on the full armour of God. Just just that kind of reiteration of everything that you have is in Christ. Everything that you need is in him. Your strength comes from being in the Lord and in his mighty power that we've already seen through the letter, the same power that raised Christ from the dead. It’s God's armour that you're putting on so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes and it's really sobering just to kind of dwell for a moment on verses 11 and 12 isn't it, just the reality and the scale of the spiritual battle that we cannot see. So we've been saying all the way through these kind of the heavenly realms and the reality of these blessings and all that we have it's invisible, we can't see it, but that doesn't mean it's not true. And that's the same for the scale of the spiritual battle here.
Felicity: Yeah, yeah. And it's real, isn't it? Not in the sense of the gist that we can't see it when it's happening, but it's real, like this is acute. The struggle is not against fresh blood, but against the rulers, the powers of the dark world. And we've had mention of the devil throughout the letter just two or three times, very evidently that that's been a playing part in what's been going on. And here it's just kind of emphasizing the devil is at play and this is dangerous. This is truly a battle, a wrestle even. even that, the very fact that it's a battle, wrestle, active kind of thing that's happening means that we need to be proactively engaged with it. And if we're not, I think the implication here is if we're not, well then we're in danger. If you remember back in chapter four, we had the the threat through deceitful schemes of being knocked off balance, of waves tossing us to and fro. And we know that truth is how we stand, the gospel is how we stand. And those deceitful schemes, that is just the devil telling lies, really, which potentially then could shipwreck us. And so the reality of this battle is, you know, let's be in it. Let's be really actively engaged in it because it is happening. We can't sidestep it. And that's kind of what's being talked about here.
Sarah: Yes. But let's be in it together. And I think for me, kind of this time round being in Ephesians, seeing the corporate nature to all this application that been seeing all the way through, that's no different for the armour of God here. This isn't me individually putting on my armour every day. Like whilst that is true, actually this is calling us to envision the body of Christ standing together in battle, the body of Christ being clothed in this complete weaponry that we're given because we're given everything that we need to stand and it's together we stand in battle and that's a heartening reality and assurance isn't it that again we're not lone rangers in this we're not on our own that we do this together and I love this quote from Powlison. He says, Ephesians is about union and communion with Christ and union and communion with each other in Christ. So spiritual warfare is against the forces that would divide and break our fellowship with Christ and with one another. And seeing the reality that actually we've had so much emphasis on unity, haven't we? And of course, the devil scheming is to kind of disunite and to break up that unity and so part of this is standing together in this armour. But let's just go on to the armour shall we and just kind of have a look at what we've been given. Felicity, give us a flavour of what we see here.
Felicity: Well, is it worth just saying first, we're not gonna go back to the Old Testament loads in this, but just recognising that in Isaiah 59, we have this armour of God being talked about. This is not the first time that we've heard this and all throughout Isaiah, all, like wherever it's mentioned in Isaiah, we have this just emphatic reassurance that the strong right hand of the Lord is saving and that there's an active kind of armoured in battle kind of thing going on that saves his people and as Paul brings in the armour here we can't help but just think of what is being said in Isaiah as well and that in fact is massively reassuring because this is the way that God has always been at work he has been saving his people powerfully and he is more powerful than the devil he is more able he is purposefully bringing about all that he has planned as he puts on the armour. And as we then are called to put on the armour, we are putting on the armour of God as referenced back in Isaiah. I'd encourage listeners to just pursue that, explore that a bit more for themselves in their own time.
Sarah: Yeah, no, that's really, really helpful to go back there. that armour that's talked about in Isaiah is the armour of the Messiah, isn't it? That's promised, so what we're putting on is battle weaponry, battle armour that Christ has worn. Christ is wearing, Christ has the victory already. And so we, isn't something new. This is something that he's not, he's not a kind of, I've described it, someone else described it as he's not sitting as an armchair general kind of directing the battle from a far, he's gone, he's gone and he's waged war, he's gone into the battle and now he calls us to go in the strength that he has gone and with the armour that he has already worn. And so we have what we have here, we have the belt of truth back around our waist, we've been seeing and hearing and knowing more of this truth all the way through the letter, the breastplate of righteousness in place, we have Christ's righteousness, we have, we are kind of shielded by him. We have feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. We've seen the cross and all that was accomplished there in terms of peace and reconciliation with God and also with others and able to proclaim that peace. We've, yeah, in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith and God is described through the Bible as a shield. He is our shield. Yeah, take it on, Felicity. What else do we see?
Felicity: Take then the helmet of salvation and the protection in that, certainty in that, that we are saved. Salvation in the sense that we have the gospel, we are saved and that is a certain thing for our future. That's a very big kind of Ephesians thing, isn't it? We heard it right back at the start. Through salvation we have all those blessings that are talked about at the very start and so we can be sure of that but then the active element the kind of the actual the only kind of what's the I don't know the battle term is the kind of advancing piece of this armour is the sword of the spirit which is the word of god so the means of attack is the sword of the spirit that the Word of God the truth the revelation that we have been given this is the means by which the kingdom is advancing and we've been hearing that all the way through, haven't we? That as we speak truth and love to one another, as we hear the gospel that Paul proclaims and we run with that and we trust that we heard and we believed and we are gathered together, increasingly gathered as God's people. And so we wield through the word, wow, something massively powerful. And I think from the stance of the rest of the armour and then holding that word of truth we then, well, we're actually perfectly equipped. This is how we will not just stand, but walk as well. That's been the two kind of verbs all the way through, hasn't it?
Sarah: Yes and as we do that we're then called to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers, always keep on praying for all the Lord's people, there's nothing excluded from that list is there? Like pray, pray, pray, pray because you can only be strong in the Lord. Actually by ourselves we are weak, we cannot do it, we cannot stand without the Lord enabling us and so as we've seen Paul pray two massive big powerful prayers in the letter and so he's calling us not to pray just the kind of big, big prayers, but to pray for everything on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Always keep on praying for all the Lord's people, aware of that battle and aware of what can be accomplished by the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. And I love that actually as he finishes here, he's praying that as he speaks his words, as he declares, he would declare fearlessly because he's strengthened in the battle and it's that kind of emphasis on words again isn't it that all the way through we've been seeing this word of grace come through right now at the at the last part of his letter saying keep praying keep praying as I continue to declare this boldly and fearlessly as I should because he's emboldened to as as people pray as the saints pray.
Felicity: And all of this then makes it so clear that even though Paul is literally imprisoned, you know, he's chained ironically to a soldier. I wonder whether that might have then played into all the illustration that he's using here. He's chained to a Roman soldier, but he is still going about the very purpose that God has given him as he declares that the word, the revelation is not just so big, isn't it? That it really is not contained by circumstance, like the Lord is bringing about his purposes as the gospel is proclaimed. And it's just massively encouraging that. And I think that reality, all that we've been hearing and being persuaded of throughout the letter, causes me to want to pray to this comprehensive level. And that's not true of me. Like, that's really challenging, isn't it? That little short paragraph on prayer, because I'm more of a like sometimes pray, rather than, yeah. Yeah, and so actually, as I'm more persuaded of what God is doing and how it's happening, the more I want to be more consistent and more comprehensive in my prayer life.
Sarah: And I think the more we're persuaded of the spiritual battle, that the warfare is real, and the more that we have our minds fixed on the heavenly realms and the truth that we are raised with Christ, but also there's this battle going on and also we need to pray and we can't work out all the mysteries of all everything that's involved there, but that's okay because we're just called to walk in the light and to follow as God says here. And he says pray, and he says that he is immeasurably, immeasurably powerful in to answer prayers and we trust that. Yeah, there's so much more that could be said here, isn't it? But I think just this, encouragement and the assurance of the complete equipping that he gives his people is a good note to end on, isn't it? Just that we can be confident that he is with us in this and that is God's promise all the way through Scripture that he is with us, he will never forsake us and we see here as he equips his people that is never more true as we stand today.
Felicity: Absolutely, Sarah, why don't you pray for us as we rest in these verses.
Sarah: Love to. Heavenly Father you call us to pray in the spirit and all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Lord we just thank you for the reminder to be prayerful, to be praying, to be aware and alert to the struggle that's not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world. Lord, we just thank you so much. the midst of that, you clothe us with your armour that has been battle worn by the Messiah himself, by Christ. We thank you that you call us to stand as a body in battle, clothed in your armour, equipped to keep going because you have given us everything to do so and because the victory is ultimately yours. The victory has been won in Christ. And so we pray please Lord, would you help us to have confidence in the truth and the knowledge of Christ and all that we've been learning in Ephesians and Lord, would that help us to walk in the light and to stand firm in your love and whatever the situation may be for us, we pray. Please Lord, help us to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, Lord that we may stand and stand firm till the end. And we pray this to the praise of your glory and for our good. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. Well, can't believe it, that's a wrap, but also it's kind of not a wrap because a bonus episode will be coming your way with all of your questions about Ephesians, so do look out for that on the near horizon, but rather than let you wait until after the summer. As we close out this season, Sarah, let's reveal what our next book of the Bible will be. It is...
Sarah: Leviticus! Isn't that exciting? I'm excited! I have! So bring it on, come with us as we explore... explore an adventure through a book that most of us feel like we don't know what's going on, I think, for quite a lot of it. So that's our aim. Come with us, come back in September time. We are going to be exploring Leviticus together. I'm excited already. And thank you so much for listening to this season. Yeah, we will see you after summer.
Felicity: Yeah. See you then. Bye bye. This season has been sponsored by Crossway.
We’d love to connect with you!
Find links to our social media below. Or sign up to our mail list to stay in the loop.
