Fun Fest Outdoor Worship

Sermon Text

Dear fellow redeemed, elect of God.

I remember the first time I went to a Renaissance Fair. We were lucky enough that day to see the joust. You know the joust, where two men on horses ride toward each other with lances and try to knock the other person off of their horse. When I first saw it I thought it would be fake, orchestrated for the show. It didn't take long for me to realize that these men were really hitting each other! Both men wore suits of armor and it was the armor that protected them from the blows of the lance. I am sure it still hurt, but not as bad as if they weren't wearing any armor at all. The Roman world in which Paul lived was familiar with soldiers in armor. Though the armor was different from medieval Europe, its purpose was still the same: to protect the wearer from injury and especially death. What if I told you that every day you face the flaming arrows of the devil and all his legions of demons? I think that like the man in the joust you would want a suit of armor to protect you. Well, the Lord gives us one and Paul tells us how the Lord strengthens his saints.

Unlike the jouster who can see his opponent coming at him with lance aimed for his chest, it isn't easy to see the flaming arrows of the devil. The joust is an earthly battle fought between opponents of flesh and blood. The battle that Paul is talking about is a cosmic one. Though we are flesh and blood our enemy is a spirit so Paul calls them the spiritual forces of evil.

Don't underestimate the devil and his organized army. Revelation 12 says that John saw a third of the stars swept out of the sky and flung to the earth. Scripture often refers to angels as stars and so when the devil rebelled against God a large number of angels rebelled with him and were cast away from God. The devil and his gang of demons are powerful spiritual beings. They possess powers superior to our human abilities. The Bible tells us that they can do counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders. They are very well organized. Paul describes their organization when he speaks of the rulers, authorities, and the powers of this dark world. What is even scarier to think about is that their only goal is to defeat the purposes of God and to take as many believers away from God as they possibly can.

As powerful as the devil and his demons are, their method of attack is trickery and deceit. Think of how the devil tempted Adam and Eve with twisting and seductive words. The devil will try to get people to move away from sound Bible doctrine by tricking people to believe that such teachings are old and outdated. If he can't do that he will try to get us to relax our moral standards such as our views toward marriage and sexuality or the idea that some sins are too small to be deadly. If he can't do that he will try to get us to compromise or to allow just a little bit of false teaching because it helps people get along. He will get us to downplay the importance of doctrinal differences between religious groups. If he can't tempt people into all out sin, then he will try to get them to think that their efforts to be a good Christian means that God owes them something. The point is he will never quit trying to deceive and trick people away from God.

Paul urges believers to be strong in the Lord and his mighty power because these attacks against us by the devil will be strong. He also warns that believers need to be strong in the Lord now because the day of evil will come. Some people take this to be the time near the end when the devil will be released and things will get terrible. Paul, however, is speaking about all the times of trouble and pain that come into the lives of believers. Think of the terrible things that Job faced, the loss of family, the loss of possessions, and the loss of his health. That was certainly a time of evil for Job. Think about when Joseph was sold into slavery. Every believer will face times of evil in their lives and Paul wants believers to be strong now so they can withstand when the day of evil comes for them.

Sometimes that time of evil will be physical. Sin has cast many physical problems into the world that believers have to suffer with. There is cancer, broken hips and bones, failing eyesight, heart attacks and strokes, lupus and other terrible diseases and the list can go on and on. Job's time of evil included great physical pain. Paul himself faced beatings and shipwrecks and imprisonment.

No matter whether the day of evil contains physical problems or not it will always contain spiritual attacks. The devil tries to trick believers with those things. He uses them to convince believers that God doesn't really love them, if he did how could he send such a thing? He uses them to cause despair, that a person committed some horrible sin and angered God to the point where he has turned his back on him. He might use another person to attack the truth of Scripture and try to get believers to set aside sound doctrine for teachings that please everyone. The devil can try to get believers to fall into some terrible sin and then convince them that God could not forgive such a sin.

Don't underestimate the danger! Paul sounds this warning because the danger is real and we face it every day. If we go about our day thinking that we are powerful enough to avoid any temptation or any trickery of the devil, then we have already lost the battle. We may be strong enough to fight against another human being. We may be smart enough to see through the tricks that another person tries on us, but we are not battling against flesh and blood. In this fight we are out of our league. As believers by God's grace we have been released from the spiritual forces of evil to live lives of faith and do the good works which God has prepared for us to do. Paul reminds us that although we are free from them, the devil's forces are still there and waiting for the next battle to reclaim us. They will bait and badger us unceasingly the whole time trying to tear us away from faith, hope, and love and drive us into unbelief, despair, doctrinal indifference or atheism.

So you can see that the danger is great and we are powerless to defend ourselves. Where does our help come from? It is the Lord who strengthens his saints. Paul urges believers to be strong in the Lord and put on the full armor of God. He explained why this was so important, now he tells us how.

The Roman soldier was covered head to toe with armor and defensive weapons. The pieces that Paul lists cover the entire body and what the armor doesn't cover the soldier's shield covers the rest. Paul uses this metaphor to emphasize what the Lord provides for his saints so that they can take their stand against the spiritual forces of evil.

We could detail every piece of armor but we would miss the greater point. Each of those pieces of armor represent a blessing that comes from the Word of God. Paul lists truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the Holy Spirit. All of these things are blessings that believers have through the Word. Remember that it is through the Word and through the Word alone that the Holy Spirit comes and creates faith. When he creates faith he gives believers the blessings of truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation.

With these tools the devil's schemes cannot succeed. When he tries to get us to believe false doctrine, the truth of Scripture beats him back. When he tries to get us to despair, the truth of the salvation that we have in Christ beats him back. When he tries to get us to become too proud of ourselves, the truth of sin and the righteousness that Christ gives us beats him back. When we put on the full armor of God, we are immersing ourselves in the Word of God. It is there that our trust in Christ is strengthened. It is through the Word that the power of God is unleashed. It is through the Word that we can take our stand. The power is God's and it is all there for us. When attacked, look to God's Word and Christ's work as your defense.

We have the full armor of God in his Word to defend us against the flaming arrows of the devil. So why is it that Christians have such a hard time making good use of it? Martin Luther, in his preface to the Large Catechism said this about the Christians failure to use the Word: "O what mad, senseless fools we are! We must ever live and dwell in the midst of such mighty enemies as the devils, and yet we despise our weapons and armor, too lazy to give them a thought!"

This is a great time of year to talk about our own time in the Word. Usually in the fall things start up again. The kids will go back to school and we pray that your kids are in our school wearing the armor of God every day in their study of God's Word. Catechism classes begin again for 7th and 8th graders. There we teach them the doctrines of the Bible and how to use them against the devil and his flaming arrows. But studious time in the Word is not just for kids. For you adults, your times of evil will come and if you are going to stand, you need to be in the Word.

Obviously adult Bible class is one place to start. The attendance at our classes has been dwindling. Renew your commitment to get in the Word through this class. We received excellent input about this class in the survey we took last Spring and we will hold an open forum on the topic in September.

Another way to continue to wear that armor is through tools such as the Meditations book. Each day you can read a short devotion and have a prayer. These are a great way to begin or end the day or have a devotion during lunch.

How about using a Bible reading plan with the goal of reading through the entire Bible in a year? You can find plans on the WELS website or other places online. Another option is purchasing CDs to listen to the Bible. If you find yourself stuck in traffic everyday these can be a great way to listen to the Bible.

There are many other ways to put on the full armor of God. The need for this kind of help is desperate because the enemies that we face are powerful and they are persistent. The Lord strengthens his saints, through his Word, he will strengthen you. Amen.