This morning’s text provides an interesting take on the themes of armor and battle.  It’s not often that we get specific references to “the devil” or “cosmic powers” in a sermon text.  Let alone, as verse 16 says, the “flaming arrows of the evil one.”  Ephesians, and its sister text, Colossians, come from the pens of some of Paul’s first interpreters.  These authors attempt to use their intimate knowledge of Paul’s theology, his language and themes to address the specific needs of their local communities.  In this last paragraph of Ephesians, the writer attempts to balance the hopeful, heavenly language that has dominated the earlier chapters of the text with some rather ominous language about the difficult daily work of faith.  In these verses, Ephesians takes the spiritual battle themes found in Romans and Corinthians and turns up the intensity to rally the troops, as it were. 

 

Devils, powers and principalities and spiritual warfare, don’t enter into the modern Presbyterian liturgy too often.  It’s language that we aren’t necessarily comfortable with.  But, as Roman Centurions bullied the early Christians, and as monarchs and popes and the woes of daily life have battered the faithful over the generations, language that placed the blame on institutional and supra-terrestrial enemies has helped to sustain believers in the darkest of days.  Turning the language of armor against their oppressors, Ephesians girds its audience for the daily battles they faced.

 

In May of last year, I spent 3 weeks in Paris working on an arbitration hearing before a World Bank tribunal.  That sounds exciting, and it was, and the food was absolutely incredible.  But, of course, I wasn’t there for the food, or the sights—which I didn’t really see.  I was there for work, to assist in the presentation of our client’s case.  In the basement of our hotel, we had a conference room-our ‘War Room’-about the size of room 113, downstairs.  It was our temporary office, where we stored our files, research and exhibits and where four attorneys, one secretary, myself and an ever evolving set of our client’s representatives, worked day and night revising and strategizing.

 

My boss, Stephen, a partner in the firm and the lead attorney on the project worked non-stop in the months prior to our departure for Paris and while we were there.  From Blackberry buzzes at midnight, 3 and 4 AM, to being the first to arrive in the War Room every day, usually before 6 AM, he was the definition of dedication.  One particular morning, I had risen at 5:30, gotten ready—suit, tie, Blackberry, Passport, World Bank ID, etc.—had breakfast and was in the War Room by 6:30, only to find Stephen in his rugby shirt and jeans, hard at work on some new tactic or line of questions that had likely come to him late in the night.  He greeted me with a hearty, “nice of you to join us this afternoon, Mr. Frank” in his baritone British accent.  We worked for a half hour or more, and then he got up to leave.  He walked to the door and turned around to me and said, with relish, “now we don our armor and ready ourselves for battle.”  [This was the manner in which he regularly spoke—with bravado and determination.] He turned and was gone.  He returned an hour later, having had breakfast and dressed for court.  We gathered our materials and were off to the World Bank Offices for the day.

 

The armor we wore in Paris—suits, ties, wingtips—was suited to our work.  Each day we all put on the armor appropriate to our daily tasks.  I remember when I first came to CPC and I arrived at a Sunday evening event in a suit and tie, only to find everyone in jeans and sweaters.  After some friendly ribbing from Pastor Mike and a few members, I took my jacket and tie off and made my way through the room greeting people—that moment was a pop-quiz in knowing what gear to pull from the armory.  For each of us, having the right armor for the setting we find ourselves in is important. 

 

You’ve heard me repeat the quote from Philo before, “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”  Whether it be in a legal or business setting, in a federal agency office, on a construction site, a restaurant kitchen, or even the daily challenges in retirement, we all face great battles in our lives.  But the clothes we put on don’t determine our success or our proficiency, though steel toe boots and a tool belt help on a construction site.  The clothes, the uniforms, the armor we wear are at best, only as an outward presentation of the skills that we will attempt to display when the time comes.  We need a certain internal meddle to give that outward armor its strength.

 

The armor described in Ephesians provides us with just that.  Beyond the superficial, the armor Ephesians hands us is for moral, ideological and spiritual battle.  Verse 12 tells us that the battle is not one of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities and the cosmic and spiritual forces amassed against the faithful.  Huh?  To put it in terms for our modern ears, in our modern battles we can both, “stick it to the man” as the saying goes, and spiritually kill off Freddy Krueger, the paparazzi, Sauron or any other evil force that modern movie magic and tabloid culture have brought us, with the armor of faith that we are given by God.

 

Ephesians reminds us of the many defenses that God has provided us with—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Spirit, the Word, prayer and supplication, and perseverance.  These qualities are metaphorically fused to the physical armor common in ancient Jerusalem. Theologian Ralph Martin notes that Isaiah 11 possesses a similar concept; a chant is said as the sword of God is wielded.  For fans of Arthurian legends and science fiction fantasy books, you can probably imagine blacksmiths and wizards imbuing armor and weapons with special powers thanks to certain incantations.  If only metaphorically, we can begin to see the strength we gain when we suit up, with our Godly armor.   

 

But, what good does this armor do us, if we don’t wear it?  In a pericope that is so filled with unique language, verse 13 is relatively low key in terminology.  Yet, in it we find an important kernel of wisdom.  It reads, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may withstand evil, and having done everything, stand firm.”  That is, if we wear our helmet of salvation to work, but leave our breastplate of righteousness in the trunk, we’re vulnerable to any number of wiles in the world.  We have to seek to have a well rounded set of armor and wear it.  This armor is offered to us freely out of God’s grace, but it is up to us to develop the strength and personal mettle to be proficient in the use of each of these defenses.

 

Getting to Paris for the arbitration hearing was the result of nearly three years of work.  We sifted through documents, had numerous pieces translated, summarized and tabulated mountains of information and spent countless hours preparing and submitting briefs, memoranda and reports to the tribunal.  It’s been 15 months since I returned from Paris and only last month was the final hearing held in the dispute.  Throughout the 4-plus years since the project began, it has been a relentless pursuit of the client’s case and a dedication to detail, which has yielded many wins and some losses in skirmishes and battles along the way.  As you can tell, I’m proud to have worked on that case, but that pride isn’t simply because of the excitement of the work, but because of what it taught me about dedication and commitment.  This is the importance of our Ephesians text.  Whether the opponent is supra-natural, corporate, institutional or even an internal personal struggle, there are tools, defenses available to us as people of faith.   Those tools are prayer, faith, friends, God’s Spirit, the word of the Bible and so many others.  Each tool, each piece of armor, is necessary and useful for every one of us.  And we have to take the time to learn to properly use them.

 

In every moment of our lives, from youth to old age and strength to infirmity, in joy and sorrow, in determination and desperation this armor is ours for the wearing.  We each face trials and battles; for these struggles, we need God’s mercy, but we also need the proper armor to face those challenges.  In scripture, in prayer and in community, may we find that armor for our daily battles.