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There was a very rich man who was having a party and as he was standing next to the lake on his property, he said that if
anyone would swim across the lake he would give that person his choice of three things. He would either give them his great
mansion, or the car of his choice, or he would give that person all the money he could spend in ten years. Now there is one
thing that you might want to know before you go jumping in the lake. The lake is infested with alligators. Well, no sooner
than this millionaire made the challenge, a waiter hit the water. Screaming and yelling all the way, he made it across and
climbed out of the lake. The rich man ran over and said, I’m true to my word. What is it that you want? The mansion?
The waiter replied no. Ok, take your choice of cars. Again the waiter replied no. The rich millionaire said, “I know
what you want. You want all the money you could spend in ten years”. Again the waiter replied no. “Well, what
is it that you want”, asked the millionaire. “I just want the name of the guy who pushed me in the water.”
Like the alligator infested water in that story, the world that we live in is also infested with alligators. And everyday
we are battling against the alligators. Have you ever heard the term “How goes the war?” Now you might think
that’s a strange term to be using but we are in a war. In fact it’s a war that has been going on since man was
first created. We are in a war against an invisible enemy but an enemy, which produces very visible casualties. It’s
a war that’s going on right now in our community all around us. It’s the ongoing spiritual battle between the
Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.
Now in the military when a soldier prepares to go off into battle, he prepares himself. He trains, he checks his weapons
and he knows who his enemies are. A soldier can never be too prepared. When I was in the army, I was constantly in some
type of training. We were constantly preparing. And just like a soldier, we also cannot be too prepared when it comes to
spiritual warfare. If training is a necessity for a solder to be prepared to go into battle, then how much more is it necessary
to be prepared to be ready in the battle against the kingdom of darkness?
If we are going to successfully fight this spiritual war that we are in, then we must understand the tactics of our enemy
and know how to equip ourselves and use the weapons that God has supplied us with. We find in the letter that Paul wrote
to the Ephesians, a debriefing if you will, concerning our enemy and the weapons available to us.
If you will turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6 we will begin reading at verse 10. Here’s just a tidbit of
information for you. What does the word Bible mean? Each letter stands for a word. B-I-B-L-E, Basic Instructions Before
Leaving Earth. In military terms, this book is our technical manual, our field manual. It’s our instruction book.
So if you will turn in your technical manuals to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 and here we read these words: “Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of god so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes. 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. Stand
firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your
feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind,
be alert and always keep on praying for all saints."
In this verse we can see that Paul has identified who our enemy is and what our weapons are. The first things listed are
the belt of truth, then the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. So far all these
that have been listed are for defense. But we do have two offensive weapons. That’s the sword of the Spirit, the Word
of God. The Bible and we have prayer.
You might be asking yourself why Paul would be using this type of terminology. This type of armor would be familiar to the
people that he was writing to. These things comprised the military armor that was worn by the soldiers of that time when
he was preparing to go to war. Before a soldier went into war, he would check his armor. He would sharpen his sword and
check his armor for chinks.
Ok, I know, what’s a chink? A chink is places in the armor that have become damaged due to repeated attacks in previous
battles and if the chinks are not repaired the armor might not hold up during the next battle. If a soldier’s armor
fails, it would leave him vulnerable and unguarded. But why does Paul use this military terminology for the Ephesians and
us? Because we are in a war, a spiritual war which allows for no chinks in armor.
You’ve heard the saying; “The best defense is a good offense”. The offensive weapons that have been given
to us by God are His Word and prayer. When Jesus was in the desert after His baptism Satan came to Him and tempted Him three
times and each time Jesus uses the Word of God to stop Satan in his tracks. After each temptation Jesus responded, “It
is written”. David writes in Psalms, “I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You”.
God’s Word when accompanied by prayer will give us the wisdom and offense that we need to successfully fight our enemy.
But like the warriors that Paul is referring to we also need a good defense. We need strong armor and because we have been
in this battle for a while, we need to constantly check our armor for chinks. If there ever was a person who is a master
at exploiting the weaknesses of his enemy, it’s Satan. He does not comply with the rules of war as set forth by the
Geneva Convention. Satan will do anything that he can to take us down, he is the ultimate cheap shot artist. He is looking
for even the smallest chink in our armor and then hits and hits at it trying to defeat us. Unless we understand our enemy
and how to use our armor we don’t stand a chance.
I’m sure that we all know of someone who has become a casualty in this war and they became a casualty not because they
just jumped ship but they became casualties due to neglect. They neglected God’s Word. Their swords became dull and
there hearts became hard and due to the repeated attacks of Satan again and again, their armor became weak and eventually
lost its ability to deflect the attacks. Today these people are not free but are prisoners of Satan. From them we should
learn the lesson about how important it is to keep our swords sharp and the importance of checking for chinks in our armor.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we are not to be unaware of the schemes of the devil and we have read in our passage
that we are to put on the full armor of God so that we can be aware of the devil’s schemes. But what are the schemes
of Satan? His schemes are his war tactics, his designs and plans for destroying us. Satan’s ultimate goal is to separate
us from the love of God. Satan knows that he was defeated at the cross and he’s like a rabid wolf with his back against
a wall. He’s biting, snarling and snapping to take as many with him as he can. We have to remember that one of his
main weapons are his title, he is the father of lies. He loves to lie to us and twist the truth and keep us off balance enough
to keep us from serving God. Those lies of his are constantly hitting our armor again and again constantly questioning God’s
truth. If we listen too long to his lies and we do not keep our swords sharp through the internalizing of God’s Word,
his lies can start to sound logical and rational and before long we have a chink in our armor. His rational has become our
license to sin. In Jude you read about how people change the grace of God into a license for immorality.
The love of God has set us free from the lies of Satan but we should not be using that freedom unwisely. In Galatians 5:13
we read, “You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature, rather,
serve one another in love”.
We know what is a chink in our armor is but what are the chinks that could be in our lives that are easily exploited by Satan?
And one of the chinks in our armor is in the area of trying to find and maintain the balance between liberty and legalism.
There are some who that the liberty that we have in Christ to the extreme. This is called unbridled liberty or you might
want to term it greasy grace. What this amounts to is that we try to serve God on our terms and not His. For the most part
it’s grace without boundaries. An opposite reaction to rigid legalism, which we will get to in a minute
Unbridled liberty might be easier to understand this way. Some people think this way: God is more concerned about who I
am and who I am becoming instead of what I am doing. It’s ok to sin a little here and there, all I have to do is go
and ask for forgiveness and He will forgive me. Well, the more and more we think this way the more and more Satan takes advantage
of us. Our freedom in Christ does not give us the license to sin.
Now I do believe that God is concerned with who I am becoming but it must be on His terms and not ours. If what I am doing
is not in line with what God’s will in my life then I have a heart problem. Because out of my heart comes my actions
so to dismiss my actions as unimportant to God is to miss an opportunity to see what is really in me and allow God to change
me.
Many people today live that unbridled life. On the outside, for the world to see, they may seem to be in line with God’s
will in their lives but inwardly they have a heart problem. So the first chink that we need to be checking for is the liberty
we have with our freedom in Christ. We’ve been liberated to serve God with a clear conscious and to misuse this liberty
brings us under condemnation and guilt and none of us can serve God long-term with those kinds of chinks in our armor.
Now let’s look at the other extreme in this area – rigid legalism. This can be a huge chink, especially for
new Christians. In Galatians 3 we hear Paul saying, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very
eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the
Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you hear? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you
now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”
Paul’s words are for all those who feel that what they initially received as a result of God’s grace must now
be maintained by doing certain good works. But if we are working for our salvation then it is NOT a gift or a result of God’s
grace. It’s easy to recognize those who are caught up in legalism, as they are the self appointed moral police. They
are quick to judge, slow to forgive and they pride themselves on calling it like it is. They usually come across with the
finesse and grace of a bull in a china shop.
A Bible college professor once gave this advice, “I keep a tight reign on myself and a loose reign on everyone else”.
This is great advice especially when we realize that we will be judged according to how we have judged others.
So legalism is another chink in our armor. Legalism allows us to be susceptible to the attacks of the enemy. We place ourselves
in the judgement seat and push God out of it. That’s God’s seat, not ours. He is the true judge. When we pass
judgement it cause bitterness. This chink allows the enemy to sow the seeds of discord and disillusionment not only in our
lives but also in the lives of other well meaning Christians.
Another chink that we need to be aware of has to deal with our walk. Here’s another saying that you might have heard.
“You can talk the walk but can you walk the walk?” Are we doing things that contradict our convictions? When
you are with people who know that you are a Christian you act one way and when you’re with others you act a different
way? Satan loves to this.
Paul said, Why do I do the things I don’t want to do but the things I want to do, these things I do not do”.
Paul is describing hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is where a person professes to be a Christian but live lives, which contradict their
stated faith.
If I believe that sin is contrary to God’s will in my life and yet I sin anyway, the distance between my convictions
and my practice is called hypocrisy. So let’s face the facts. To some degree, because we all sin, we are all hypocrites.
Now if we knowing continue in hypocrisy and don’t seek God’s help in narrowing the discrepancy between our convictions
and our actions, then we have another chink in our armor. In other words, we are allowing Satan to place a wedge between
God and us. That wedge is our focus on whatever it is that is not allowing us to have that close walk with the Lord that
He intended.
So we have looked at three chinks so far. Extreme liberalism, extreme legalism and our walk so now lets look at the last
chink; our expectations. Do you remember how you felt when you accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, that emotional high
where you wanted to tell everyone that you met about your experience? What an experience that was.
Now here’s the rub, are you going to Church to worship and serve God, or are you going to receive another emotional
high, a spiritual fix if you will. Some people’s relationship with God is based on what they receive from God. They
serve to get their next spiritual fix. Are we serving God or are we expecting Him to serve us? Does my commitment to God
depend on His display of power or is it based in the truth of His Word. Now don’t get me wrong, I love being in a worship
service where you can feel the presence of the Spirit of God in the music, word, prayer and worship. I come away filled spiritually
and my walk with the Lord has gotten closer. But I’ve also been in churches where it was more of a choreographed dance
than an outpouring of God’s Spirit. We don’t have to help God by choreographing displays of empty worship. Worship
is just that. It’s what we bring to God and not what God brings to us. When our expectation of the worship of God
is a spiritual gas station we have a serious chink in our armor. We need to examine our expectations.
Now how do we check for chinks in our armor and repair them? By daily reading and internalizing His Word, by being in constant
communication with God through prayer, and have another Christian brother or sister with who we can be accountable.
We need to constantly examine our beliefs to maintain a balance between extreme liberalism and extreme legalism. We need
to keep our focus, our walk with the Lord, centered on Him. And finally we need to examine our expectations and remind ourselves
that our call is to serve God and not for Him to serve us.
Pray with me. Most merciful God, thank You for the armor that you have provided to keep us safe in the Spiritual war that
we are in. Help us to find and repair the chinks in that armor. Watch over us and accept the worship and prayers that we
bring to You. You are truly the Creator God who set time into motion and loved us enough to let your Son Jesus give His life
that we may have life with You. Thank You for the Word that You have given that we can come to know You more fully. Help
us to meditate daily on Your Word and internalize it so we can be more effective workers for You. In the name of You Son
Jesus I pray. Amen.
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