Clothed in Spiritual Armor. Ephesians 6.

"Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Ephesians 6:10,11 NET)

This is one of the classic passages in the New Testament, frequently quoted, prayed through, used and sometimes even abused. Paul likes the clothing metaphor, and if you remember just a couple of weeks ago we read in Romans about clothing ourselves in Christ. Treat this metaphor the same way in your understanding of what it means to "put on" clothes.

I want to make just a couple of points about this passage and encourage you to do the heavy thinking. The first point is to acknowledge the source of inspiration for Paul's thinking here. In part it comes from imagery of the Old Testament. The helmet of salvation, for example, is from Isaiah 59:17. But Paul's primary inspiration was the Roman soldier he was chained to during his confinement. No doubt Paul had ample opportunity to reflect on those articles of armor the soldier relied on.

The second point, is to notice that four times Paul talks about standing in the full passage: Ephesians 6:10-20. Standing firm against something is not the same as marching off and attacking. (In verse 13, Paul's meaning is something like stand up and stand your ground, so that you'll remain standing.) In fact, all the pieces of armor listed are for defense and protection, with the possible exception of the sword. Even there, this sword was for close-in, hand-to-hand combat, and there was a longer sword, and the lance to be used when attacking. When considering the spiritual forces that are allied against us, it's important to understand that we're called to resist them, not go out looking for them.

A third point is that prayer and alertness are equally valuable in this warfare as the rest of the armor. And that this prayer should be continuous and be for all the saints, including Paul. The armor of a Roman soldier had one weakness -- the back was somewhat unprotected. Protection for the back came from all the other soldiers one fought with. "I've got your back," was something these soldiers would understand. Paul points out that we need to be that protection for one another, through prayer and watching out.

Here's a final point from which you can consider the rest of the passage. Think about the role and function of each piece of armor when looking at the spiritual capability Paul compares it to. What is a shield for, and how is faith like a shield?

If you aren't already, get dressed!

Faith walk. Ephesians 5. (Updated below.)

In this letter to the saints in Ephesus, Paul uses the Greek word, peripateo, seven times, including three times in this chapter alone. The most literal translation of that word is "to walk". On your introduction sheet for the letter, walk is listed as one of the key words. If you're using the NIV or NLT translation, in which verses do you see it in this chapter? Oops, not there. So, what's up?

Many modern translations have chosen to take the imagery of walking Paul uses, and translate the imagery into what was likely Paul's primary meaning - "live a life". There's nothing wrong with that translation, but we do lose something when the imagery of walking disappears.

Take a look at the map of Paul's third missionary journey -- the one in which he spent the most time in Ephesus. He began this journey in Antioch, and must have traveled by foot, a distance that looks like 700-800 miles. Paul knew what it meant to walk.

Once in Ephesus, of course, transportation was also by foot. The street to the right is what remains of the Agora, the commercial marketplace. Paul must have walked this street often, and it is speculated that this is where Demetrius and the other silversmiths started the riot described in Acts 19:23-28. Paul walked these streets and preached the gospel, the Way of Christ.

The metaphor of walking in faith is certainly one we use as Christians. You may hear friends say "my walk", or "the Christian walk". You may use that language yourself. For the original followers of Jesus, when He said "Come, follow Me," they did -- literally, walking with Him and learning from Him. In John, we'll read about a teaching of Jesus' that was so hard for His followers to accept that many left Him. John describes that action as "withdrawing and not walking with Him any longer." Paul uses this word almost 30 times in all his letters. So let's explore this idea of walking just a little more, and think about its significance to us.

The first thought I have about walking is that it's not as integral part of our lives as it was in Jesus' and Paul's day. My guess is that that's the reason the NIV translators chose to translate peripateo into the phrase "live a life" or the single word "live". In the American suburbs, at least, walking isn't usually a primary form of transportation. In fact, it's often a recreational activity for us. And while our own faith walk may be pleasant at times, it would be very misleading to think of it as some kind of fun, optional part of our lives.

A related thought is that these kinds of recreational walks have a start and an end. Not so, with our faith walk. Well, let me clarify that. There is a start and an end, but they're of lifetime duration -- beginning when we answer the call of Jesus to "Come and follow Me", and ending as an earthly activity when we die. A word that describes such an extensive walk is journey. But the word journey carries with it baggage that shades Paul's meaning. But journey is a good word in its own right, and worth thinking about another time.

A third thought that comes to my mind as I think about walking is the degree to which I'm plunged into the environment around me, especially compared to other forms of transportation. The tree a half mile ahead takes a some time to reach, walk past, and then recede into the distance. There is time to experience it fully. Or even to simply have it in my conscious vision while other thoughts might occupy my mind. The tree isn't insubstantial, nor is the time it takes to pass it by.

How does Paul use the word walk in this chapter?

• "... walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." (v.5:2 NASB)
• "... for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light ..." (v.5:8 NASB)
  
• "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." (v.5:15,16 NASB)

Simply put, Paul says the Ephesians (we too) should walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. Our walk in love has the highest standard -- the love Christ demonstrated by His sacrifice for us. Our walk in light is in contrast with how we formerly walked -- in darkness. And our walk in wisdom requires care and maximizes the time we have available to us.

Go back for a second and look at the two pictures in this post. Paul walked several hundred miles to return to Ephesus, preach the gospel, and build the church up there. What occupied his mind? What conversations took place along the way? Whom did they meet and what words were exchanged? As Paul traveled did he recognize that the steps he took were taken in love, for love, and out of love for the Christ and for others? Did he think about his other walks, perhaps the one to Damascus, when he moved out of the darkness and into the light? Was he careful to take the most direct route to Ephesus? Or did he with intention, take all the time he needed along the way to share the gospel with other travelers, and with residents of the places he passed through?

And every day in Ephesus, as Paul walked to and through the marketplace, how shaped was he by the law of Christ? When he wrote to the Ephesians, did he remember the streets they walked together? Was he asking them to remember how they walked, not just physically, but yes, physically too. Remember the road to the temple of Artemis? Do you remember that you once walked that road as worshipers of a man-made god, children of the darkness? And how everything changed when you entered the light of Christ's love? Continue to walk that way, then. Live your life in love, light, and wisdom.

I don't know if Paul picked the word peripateo, simply because it's the word that conveys one's everyday life in Greek, separated from its original meaning to walk, or if the imagery captured in that particular word had deep significance for Paul. I do know it has significance for me. Walking. My coming and going. Walking with Jesus. In His footsteps as best I can. Close to Him as best I can. Over long distances. To the everyday events and places of life.

Where is your faith walk taking you today?

UPDATE.
D'oh. Context, context, context. It hit me today as I was thinking about walking... where is Paul when he's writing this letter? Under house arrest if we understand it correctly. Chained to a Roman soldier. Walking? What wouldn't he have given for the chance to be walking down the road again?

Counter-cultural. Ephesians 4.

On Sunday, we talked about Paul's greeting in chapter 1 -- "... to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 1:1b NET) Our understanding of who the saints are is colored by the history of the church, where this word came to take on a particular meaning. Today, many of us think of saints as only those who have led exemplary lives, like Mother Teresa, who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. But Paul meant all the believers -- those who were "holy" or set apart for God's work. As believers, our holiness stems from the work of Christ on the cross.

It's this idea of set apartness I want to look at today. In chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul describes a number of behaviors or characteristics that the saints should have, and some that they shouldn't. For example, he says in verse 29 that as saints, we shouldn't let any unwholesome talk out of our mouths, and instead speak words that build up others. Many, if not all, of these behaviors and characteristics ran counter to the culture of Paul's day -- and do to ours as well. Christians are to be counter-cultural!

In chapter 12 of Romans, we just read that we are to no longer conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed. Again, we are to be counter-cultural. It's not so much that we are defined by opposition to the culture, rather it's that we are called to be set apart from the culture -- because our priorities, our tasks, and our very being are rooted in the One we follow, Jesus. Not in the culture.

In Paul's day, and in the Gentile world, there were very distinct occasions where what the culture required ran counter to what a faith in Jesus required. The most obvious example is that the Caesar was to be considered a god, or a son of god. If you were a Christian, you couldn't consider that to be true. Likewise, there were gods all over the place -- in the market, in education, in the civic arena -- and sacrifices were to be made to one or more of these gods. Whoa, can't do that as a Christian, either. And much like today, the Christ was perfectly welcomed in the culture as yet another god, yet another truth if you will. That idea too was and is antithetical to what it means to worship the One God in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Aside from these obvious places where a faith in Jesus bumps into the practice of the culture, there is a whole set of values that run counter to the values of the culture. We've talked about many of them over the course of the year: to be first one must be last, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, the peacemakers. In this chapter we see some of those values reiterated by Paul, and some of those values extended by Paul. In verse 2, for example, Paul says to live "... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." While gentleness was considered a virtue in the Greek world, humility, or meekness, was not. Unless you were someone who supposed to be servile because of your position in life.

The climax of Paul's instruction on living in holiness, comes in verses 17-24, with further instruction as to what "set apart" living looks like in the verses that follow. As he says, don't be like the others around you, living dark lives given to the fulfillment of appetites of indecency, and hardened to God's truths. Instead live as new creations in God's image, with righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth. Counter-cultural.

While the idea of the canonization of individuals as saints because of their exemplary lives and the inspiration they provide to others is a change from Paul's meaning, it's an understandable one. If we live as Christians in the culture, meeting the standards that Christ calls us to, the standards Paul reminds us of, then we might well look like saints -- extremely virtuous people -- to the rest of the culture. And it truly does set us apart.

For this reason. Ephesians 3.

At the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul praised God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for accomplishing His purposes and blessings through Christ. And after praising God, Paul was moved to pray. "For this reason..." marks the start of this prayer, and connects his prayer to what he's just written.

Chapter 3 begins with that same phrase, "For this reason...", but then Paul doesn't pray immediately. What happened? Let's take a look at chapter two, to see the reason Paul was ready to pray again. Chapter two is about reconciliation. First, there is the reconciliation of people (sinners) to God, expressed in verses 2:5&6 -- "But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved!" In this great reconciliation of all people, God has also reconciled Jew and Gentile to each other. The hostility has ended and the groups are to become one body. Together we are being formed into a holy temple for God.

This is a stunning result of the work of Christ on the cross. It still happens today -- Jews and Arabs who become Christians are a part of the church together. And Paul has been a messenger of that work. For this reason he's ready to pray for a stronger understanding of Christ's love for them. One can almost imagine Paul moving to a position of prayer, and in that movement disturbing his chains, reminding him of his position in prison. And so he stops for a moment, and explains the situation and how it's his privilege to have delivered the gospel message to the Gentiles. Don't lose heart, it's all worth any price.

And then, having written those words of encouragement, Paul finishes his movement, kneels and prays for them, "for this reason...", and asks his scribe to record the words of his prayer.

And for this reason, it's my privilege to write these words each day, in the hope they will encourage you to think about your reading for the day.

A Meditation. Ephesians 2.

This letter of Paul's contains so many rich individual verses and paragraphs that in a read through like ours, there's a certain tension between focusing on the big picture, and sampling those individual verses. This morning I'm going to do the latter, and then I may have a second post later today that addresses the bigger picture.

This is the verse that really captured my attention this morning: "For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them." (Ephesians 2:10 NET).

First of all, I sense a verbal "riff" going on by Paul -- "not by works" (v.9), "we are his workmanship", "do good works". I love that, because my mind works that way too.

Mainly, though, this expression of purpose for us, God's purpose, hit me profoundly today. There are many ways we can describe our purpose in life, like we've been created to worship God, or we're to go and make disciples. This is one more way of God describes His purpose for us. God had an idea in mind for us, and Christ's saving act on the cross allows us to accomplish it.

I really don't want to carry that thought any further here. This is the verse out as one that I will meditate on today. Maybe it's one you can meditate on too. You can read more about how to meditate, here.

Did something else speak to you today?

Worship. Ephesians 1.

As I finished my third reading this morning of Ephesians 1, I thought to myself, "Why is this chapter so mushy in my brain? I can't seem to follow Paul's thinking, and I have no idea what to write about, let alone what to take away from God's Word for my day." What to do?

Aha! Bad preparation. Go back and seek God's help.

It turned out, that especially in the first 14 verses of Ephesians 1, I was failing to see the full extent of Paul's expression of worship as the start of his letter. Once I saw that, everything seemed to fall into place. Our expressions of worship should be extravagant, broad reaching, imaginative in considering Who God is, and what He's done. Paul is doing that here.

If you've been in a group prayer setting, where the start of the session is centered directly on God - "our Father in heaven", you might recognize what I mean. Even when the expressions of praise are limited to one and two-word phrases of recognition, the magnificence of God, the glory of God, the awesomeness of His nature come through: creator of the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, loving Father, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, El Shaddai, Adonai, mighty one, redeemer, counselor, just, kind, righteous... what starts as as a trickle, continues building into a floodwater of understanding and response to the One Who made us, loves us, and has rescued us.

Three times Paul uses this phrase: "to the praise of His glory". Each use signifies Paul's response in worship to one person of the triune God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be the name of the Lord! I got it. Time to live it.