The Scripture Reading for this week is Ephesians 6:10-20
The Sermon title is Suit Up!
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Early Thoughts: How we dress makes a difference. It can change how we carry ourselves, how we interact with the world, maybe even how we see ourselves.
How might we change if we saw ourselves as wearing the Full Armor of God?
It is an interesting metaphor Paul uses here. In Paul's day, and for much of the first couple of centuries of the Christian church, being a part of the military was seen as incompatible with being part of the Christian community. And yet Paul uses a very military-based image in these verses.
Armor can be seen both as offensive or as defensive. One can suit up to get ready to go out and attack. Or one can suit up to have some protection from the slings and arrows of everyday life. Which is Paul suggesting here?
I think it is a bit of both. Paul is encouraging folk to be on the offensive, to speak words of hope and faith into a world that so often works against faith and hope, that so often stands in opposition to Gospel values. We still need that encouragement. We are called not just to be people of faith but to act out of that faith to bring change to the world. And the world still often stands in direct opposition to Gospel values. The Armor of God, empowers us to share the words of faith, hope, truth, and wisdom.
At the same time the Armor is defensive. It reminds us who we are and who we are called to be. It reminds us that we are not alone. It reminds us that we are loved and cared for. So when the world strikes back, when the world fights back against the vision of the Reign of God that we share, we have some protection from those slings and arrows.
Admittedly there are days when it feels like pretty porous protection. A lot of those arrows and barbs seem to slip through. I would argue that the armor has to remain pretty porous so that we remain empathetic and caring rather than get hardened to the realities of the world around us. I suggest that sometimes we need to get wounded if we are to model the Reign of Love in a world ruled be the violence of the sword. Maybe we need a follow up about the medical supplies of God to deal with the wounds incurred once we take up the armor of God?
As I said above, what we wear helps to shape how we are and who we are in the world. Often we are not even conscious of that effect. If we saw ourselves wearing the Armor of God, marked with things like truth and faith and peace and righteousness (as in being right with God, otherwise being "righteous" has a bit of a shadow to it) might that empower us to go out and be who GOd has called, formed, created us to be?
--Gord
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