“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968).  “The Exorcist” (1973).  “The Shining” (1980).  Dated, but still- popular horror movies.  Evil powers, however, aren’t limited to the silver screen.  They exist in the real world.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places . . . “ (Ephesians 6:12).

But, according to the Scriptures, God exalted Christ to reign over them.  “That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church . . . ” (Ephesians 1:19b-22).  His triumph is “already”, so we believers need not live in fear of them.  But it’s “not yet” finalized; so we must be equipped by Christ and the Spirit to hold our ground against them.

To do that Paul urges us to, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).  In 6:14-17 Paul names the parts of the“full armor”.

“the belt of truth”

The Roman soldier’s “belt” was really a leather apron that protected his lower body.

The Christian’s “belt of truth” is the truth that Jesus revealed in himself and in his word.  Paul wants us to stand against Satan’s lies about God and our identity in Christ with “the truth that is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21).

“the breastplate of righteousness”

The soldier’s “breastplate” reached from the base of his neck to his upper thighs, covering his body’s trunk.

Paul wants us to stand against the evil one’s temptation by doing what is right in God’s sight.

“feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace”

The soldier’s military sandal was studded with hobnails underneath for stability.

Evil powers seek to undermine our peace with God and sow division between believers.  Paul wants us ready to speak the gospel that promises reconciliation with God and with one another.

 “the shield of faith”

Roman soldiers carried a wooden shield about 4 feet by 2 feet.  It was covered with linen, then hide, and bound on top with iron.  They used it to defend against arrows dipped in pitch, then set on fire and shot.

Paul urges us to block the evil one’s most incendiary attacks by trusting in the truth of God’s word and in the trustworthiness of God himself.

“the helmet of salvation”

The soldier’s helmet was iron or bronze lined inside with a sponge.

Evil powers attack our minds, especially to cause us to doubt our salvation.  Paul urges us to stand our ground with the assurance of God’s saving work in Christ.  Romans 8:31-38 will help in the fight.

“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

Roman military carried a 12-14 inches straight sword for close combat.

Paul exhorts us to the offensive (all the other armor parts being defensive).  In the power of the Spirit we are to pierce this fallen world’s darkness by proclaiming the light of the gospel.  Paul usually uses the Greek word logos (the content of the word); but here he uses rayma (speaking the word).  “For the word of God is living 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” (Hebrews 4:12).

* * *

Okay, I know, we shouldn’t give evil powers undue prominence.  But we have to recognize they’re real, though restrained by Christ.  Even so, we’re urged to “put on the whole armor of God.”  That armor, however, is not some extremist costume.  It’s speaking the truth Jesus revealed.  Doing right before God in a fallen world.  Talking the gospel that brings peace.  Believing God’s promises and trustworthiness.  Filling our minds with the assurance of God’s salvation in Christ.  Openly speaking the word of God in this evil-dark world.

Sounds easy.

But it seems to me we don’t take “the spiritual forces of evil” as seriously as we ought.  We don’t really live as if we’re caught up in a spiritual war.

I see a TV commercial with a couple walking the beach on ocean’s edge.  How I’d love it to be Lois and me!  I have a long list of those “how I’d love it to be’s”.   They nag at me.  My wheelchair depresses me. Unanswered prayers plague me.  I’m tempted to believe God has  sovereignly chosen a hated path for me.  What good is praying?

Paul reminds me that somewhere in my despondency evil powers lurk.  My choice to believe or disbelieve is not just my battle.  It’s  part of spiritual war in the heavenlies fought on earth.  It’s not just about me. Choose unbelief and Satan wins the battle.  Choose faith and God is glorified.

This hymn may sound archaic; but that just reminds us that the battle’s been raging for thousands of years.  Time to get dressed, get in the fight and sing it again . . .

The charismatic movement was sweeping through North Jersey when we planted a church there.  Talk of demons erupted everywhere.  Fascination with “casting them out”  made me uncomfortable.  I believed that “spiritual forces of evil” were real, but held no relevance in my life.   Paul’s final remarks in Ephesians reprove me.

“Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”. . . (6:10).

Paul is reaching the end of his letter from imprisonment in Rome to the Ephesus church.  “Finally”,   he writes. Because his words about evil spirits come last they’re not unimportant.  In fact they may signal our greatest danger.

Paul piles up power words–“be empowered. . . in the strength of his might“.  Again and again, Scripture points us to God’s might for us . . .

• “He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s”” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
• “I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Psalm 18:1).
• “For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect” (Psalm 18:31,32).
• “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.  O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God” (Psalm 59:16,17).
• “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,  which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,  far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.  And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Ephesians 1:18-22).

Elsewhere Paul refers to God as his enabler . . .

• “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).
• “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service” (1 Timothy 1:12).
• “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth” (2 Tim 4:17).

Here he urges us to be “strong in the Lord”,  Why? So we can “take [our] stand against the devil’s schemes” (6:11b).   As Christians, we’re caught up in a “struggle”.  How can we be strong in the Lord?  Pray devotedly.  “Train” in the Scriptures daily.  Participate in the life of the church.  Engage in Holy Spirit-present worship.  And . . .

 “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).

This we have to do.  God doesn’t.  We have to put on the armor.  And so we are “strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might”.

Paul may have taken his armor-idea from his guards.  I can see him eyeing the soldier’s armor.  “Put on the full armor of God . . .” Paul urges us.
With ” . . . so that”, Paul introduces the purpose for putting on God’s armor  The devil “schemes” against us!  The Greek word is methodeia—“craftiness, cunning attacks, deception”.  With multiple attacks, he tempts us, accuses us, fosters division in the church, stalks us to undermine our faith, and more.

We must ” . . . take [our] stand” against the devil’s schemes.  Greek histayme–“hold one’s ground”.  Andrew Lincoln, British New Testatment scholar, comments . . .

“The decisive victory has already been won by God in Christ, and the task of believers is not to win but to stand, that is, to preserve and maintain what has been won. It is because this victory has been won that believers are involved in the battle at all. They are in a decisively new situation in contrast to their previous condition described in 2:2,3, where there could be no battle or resistance because they were in total bondage to the enemy. So the call to the readers to stand against the powers is also a reminder of their liberation from the tyranny of these powers. The major victory has been achieved, but the eschatological tension with its indicative and imperative characteristic of Paul’s thought remains. Believers must appropriate what has already been gained for them and do so against continuing assaults, and this is not automatic. Indeed there may be minor defeats along the way; hence the urgency of the imperatives. [Paul’s] focus, however, is not on the possibility of such minor defeats but on the ability of his readers to make the assured outcome of the overall battle their own by standing and maintaining the ground that has been won”.

“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 armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:12,13).

Paul explains why we must put on God’s full armor:  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.  ” . . . struggle” is the NIV’s translation of the Greek palay–literally, “wrestling”.

Wrestling was popular in the Ephesian athletic games.  Like  “flesh and blood” wrestling, we believers in Christ “wrestle” against spiritual powers.

This was certainly true in Ephesus.  The city was famous for magical arts, especially the so-called “Ephesian Letters” (Ephesiagrammata). These six magical terms (askion, kataskion, lix, tetrax, damnameneus, and aisia) were said to possess power to ward off evil spirits.

One story told of an Ephesian wrestler who was unbeatable in the Olympic because he wore the “Ephesian Letters” on his ankle.  Officials discovered and removed it.  The wrestler then lost three consecutive matches.

Paul says our struggle “is not against flesh and blood”.  He means behind human opponents work “rulers . . . authorities, powers of this dark world . . . spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.  Paul does two things here.  First, he piles up terms to show us the overwhelming nature of these spiritual powers.  Second, he implies that the present world order is organized in rebellion and under the dominion of these powers.  Christ’s appearance on earth caused an outbreak of activity by them.  But his coming, as they feared, sealed their doom.  In fact, he triumphed over them, so they’re already beaten . . .

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

By putting on God’s armor in faith,we can make his victory ours.

” . . . the evil day” is this present evil age which may contain certain “hot” days of evil.  Paul explains our fight in the evil day  is to “stand [our] ground.”   Paul wants us unshaken and steadfast when the enemy attacks.  As Lincoln explained above, “The decisive victory has already been won by God in Christ, and the task of believers is not to win but to stand . . . ”

* * *

Looking for demons everywhere is extreme.  But so is presuming they have no relevance in my life.  If I doubt God’s promise that even in my old-age-illnesses he’s working for good, Satan lurks, urging me on in my self-pity and unbelief.  I can sit up straight in my wheelchair, put on the full armor of God and resist his lies.

In this evil day I can stand.

Archaic.  Smells of male superiority, female inferiority.  Opens the door to wife abuse.  Maybe okay 2000 years ago, but not now in the 21st century when women are well educated and proven leaders.

Here’s the text this is all  about . . .

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her  to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church– for we are members of his body.  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery– but I am talking about Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:22-32),

Hold on!  This is a bone-rattling ride.  CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE IMAGES CHRIST’S “MARRIAGE” TO HIS CHURCH.

Twice the church is referred to as the “bride” and “wife” of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7; 21:9) . . .

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready . . . One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.'”

Paul describes that relationship this way . .

• Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
• To make her holy
• Cleansing her
• To present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless
• Christ feeds and cares for the church

Now Paul draws  comparisons between Christ’s relationship to his “bride” and Christian marriage . . .

• Wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord.
• For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church—its Savior.
• Wives submit to their husbands in everything as the church submits to Christ.
• Husbands love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy . . . and to present her to himself as a radiant church.
• Husbands love their wives as their own bodies . . . no one ever hated his own body but . . . feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.

In other words, Christian wife and husband, ponder Christ’s “marriage” to his church and relate to your wife/husband like that.  This is Christian marriage.  This is holy marriage.  This is staggering.

Human marriage is messy.  Routine days.  Moments of passionate romance and foolish, “little-things” wars.  Dish-washing, laundry doing, house buying, children raising, illness enduring.  And in the midst of all that, as the husband loves his wife as Christ loves the church and the wife submits to her husband as the church submits to Christ, their marriage images Christ’s marriage to his church.

This marriage, writes Paul, is “a profound mystery”.  Why “mystery”?  Marriage’s deepest meaning has been partly hidden but is now being revealed: marriage images the relationship between Christ and his church. “If you want to understand God’s meaning for marriage,” says John Piper (founder and teacher of desiringgod.org), “you have to grasp that we are dealing with a copy and an original . . . ”  The original is Christ’s “marriage” to his church; the copy is a Christian man and woman united in marriage.

But how do we love like Christ and submit like the church?  How can we carry out Paul’s admonitions?  Do we draw up specifications, rules?  I (the husband) make all major decisions.  You (wife) decide where to grocery shop.  Or, you (wife) get a decision every three weeks.  Or, if we disagree, I (husband) win, no matter your (wife) input.

Well, this text often comes down to decision-making.  But, of course, Paul’s teaching is broader than just decisions and deeper than rules.

Here’s how Lois and I did it.  We heard Ephesians 5 preached.  Periodically read it.  Understood I was to love selflessly like Christ.  She was to submit respectfully like the church.  We trusted the Holy Spirit to work in us the love and submission he wanted.  Then, we just did it.  Oh no, not perfectly.  In fact, in the first few years I was pretty immature, not the model self-giving lover.  Still, Lois submitted.  Fifty-five years later, we’re still at it–still loving, still learning.

Still leaning (harder; we’re older) on Jesus.

Leaning, because every day I fall short of loving like him.  Yet, by his grace, he causes our marriage to (somewhat) image his to his church.  That’s not only holy.  It’s a wonder.

https://youtu.be/t4_sfgjRcfI

Six of us sit around the table.  Three are on cell phones.  It’s innocent.  Texts probably.   Helpful.  But it’s also a living parable of how invasive the world has become.  Cell phones certainly aren’t sinful.  They are wonderful, useful tools. But like “social media” they can be subtle carriers of what Paul calls “evil days”.

So can blogs.  I read one this morning that glamorized actor Robert DiNiro shouting, “F. . . you, Trump!” at the Tony Awards in New York City.  Enough crude language in the ear eventually escapes the mouth.

Paul’s concern in today’s text (Ephesians 5:7-17) is that we “wake up” to the sin around us and not let it shape our actions, rather expose it as the sin it is.

“Therefore do not be partners with them” (Ephesians 5:7).

Paul warns his readers (and us) not to partake “with them”.  “[T]hem? The people he’s just referred to in 5:5,6—the “immoral, impure or greedy”. Don’t “throw in your lot” (NJB) with them.  Why?  First, “because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient”.  Second, . . .

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)  and find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10).

Once you were “darkness”—without moral and spiritual renewal, under the dominion of the devil and demons.  But now you are “light in the Lord”—have been morally and spiritually renewed, under the dominion of the Lord.

So Paul urges us to put into practice what we have become in Christ.  Live what we are now in the Lord.   That means producing a willingness to give and share (“goodness”).  It means doing justice, doing what God requires (“righteousness”).  It means loving truth, loving reality as opposed to pretense (“truth”).  “ . . . find out what pleases the Lord”.  Our lives are to have a new goal:  to find out what pleases the Lord.  This comes from studying his Word.  And from Spirit-led discernment in the “thick” of living.

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Ephesians 5:11-14).

The Greek welegcho (translated “expose”) means to call what someone’s done a sin and urge him to stop and ask God’s forgiveness.  Paul says it’s not enough not to participate in “fruitless deeds of darkness”; we should “expose” them.

This takes grace.

Twenty-two-year-old Joe was zealous for the Lord.  I think he fancied himself a prophet, quick to point out others’ sins.  He did it, I’m sure, for good, so that Christ would shine on the Christian who was sinning.  But he came across as judgmental, as harsh and legalistic.  Most people whose sin Joe “exposed”, instead of repenting, reacted against Joe.  “Who does he think he is telling me what to do?”

“Be very careful, then, how you live– not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

Christians in Ephesus (and surrounding west Asia Minor cities where Paul’s letter will circulate) are a small outpost among an overwhelming population of pagans.  It’s no time for careless living.  Live carefully, live wisely in Christ-pleasing ways and you will be “making the most of every opportunity” to show that there’s an alternative lifestyle to “evil days”.  Don’t live senselessly.  Gain insight into what the Lord wills for you living among pagans in evil days.

* * *

Sexual intercourse before marriage has become common–at least if we believe the movies.  In fact, movies promote it.  And sure enough, we yield to our natural sex drive and do it.

Because I watch the news most evenings, I hear politicians spout half-truths–or no-truths.  We’ve come to expect it.  Now we can hear half-truth-telling on many lips.

Wake up, sleeping Christian!  Call sin sin.  Don’t let it sneak up on you.  And Christ will shine on you.

I decided to buy an imitation leather Bible.  Not the quality of genuine leather, but considerably cheaper. That’s what I think of when I hear ” imitation.”  But Paul doesn’t hesitate to use the verb form here . . .

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children  and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1,2).

” . . . therefore” points us to what preceded (Ephesians 5:17-32), especially ” [be] forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (5:32b).  But “therefore” also points forward.  ” . . . ” [be] forgiving one another as dearly loved children . . . as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us . . . “.  Reasons fueling Paul’s imperative.  For these reasons “Be imitators of God”.  Gaze deeply into who God is and what God’s done and imitate him.

“Imitators”.  I think it a strange word.  A pretend word.  God’s the “real thing”.  We’re to be play-actors mimicking him.  But, no, not a strange word at all.  God is our Father through Jesus Christ.  We are dearly loved children.  As such, we must try to walk as our Father walks, love as our Father loves.

That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it–God the Father as our model.  But he’s revealed himself in Christ.  And in him we have more than imagination; we have the written Word that reveals him.  And imitating God means to “live a life of love”.  There can be no vagueness about that love.  It’s self-giving for others.  It’s sacrificial to God.

That last point must not be missed.  “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.  Christ gave himself up for us, but “as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.  It was Christ’s worshipful obedience to the Father.  It was Christ’s wrath-satisfying-sacrifice to the Holy One.

Now we who believe, we who are like dearly loved children:  “live a life of love”.  Primarily, love one another in the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-6).  But Scripture stretches love to include neighbors.  And yet more–enemies.  It’s easier to say, “Live a life of love to everyone”.  Thus, having been loved by God in Christ, we are to imitate God in Christ.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:3,4).

 While love must permeate the church, vices must not.  ” . . . there must not be even a hint” .  “Hint” is the NIV’s translation of the Greek onomazo–“be known, be named”.  “Hint” captures well what Paul warns against.  Pornaya must be absent from the Body of Christ.

• ” . . . pornaya” (sexual immorality”) refers to any kind of extramarital or unnatural sexual intercourse.  Paul placed it first in his warning perhaps because unbelievers worshiped the goddess Artemis in her magnificent temple through prostitution.  The so-called oldest profession was a most-honored and lucrative profession in Ephesus.
• “. . . akatharsia” —moral uncleanness, indecency
• ” . . . pleonexia”–covetousness, avarice, a disposition to have more than one’s share
• ” . . . aioxrotays”–obsenity, dirty talk
• ” . . . morologia”–foolish, silly, or useless talk
• ” . . . eupareleea”–coarse joking, vulgar talk

These vices are anayko–not fitting, not proper “for God’s holy people”; that is, for people God has set apart to himself through Christ.

“Obscenity , foolish talk and coarse joking” about sexual things are also “out of place”.  Instead, God’s holy people should give him thanks for sexual gifts.

I suspect Paul’s warning against sexual immorality after just calling for love is this:  we confuse love with lust.  In the first century A.D. sexual immorality was accepted.  A man should have a mistress.  And we know that the great temples were staffed by hundreds of sacred prostitutes.  It was argued that young men should have the love of a prostitute.

But Paul forbids it–explains why we must treat his warnings with the utmost seriousness . . .

“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person– such a man is an idolater– has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 5:5,6)..

Paul’s explanation is blunt.  “For of this you can be sure”.  Paul piles two Greek words on top of each other, both meaning “to know”–oida and ginosko.  This you can know with certainty.  No one who practices immorality, impurity or greediness “has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God”.

And Paul’s warning is clear:  “Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him” (The Message Bible).

* * *

Our model for living is God.  God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ.  Christ who “loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.  So, our model calls, “live a life of love”.  This is how we imitate God.

Are we presumptuous to even think we can imitate God?  No.  We know imitations have less “quality”.  We know that we can love selflessly, but not to the extent of Jesus’ sacrifice.  But to not give ourselves to imitate God, to not give ourselves to love like Christ–even though we fall short–is to not live in a manner worthy of our calling (4:1).

Imitations are less.  In this case far less than the Original.  But churches of God-imitators show the world a bit of what God is like and of what Christ has done.  And they are “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.