On Being Strong in the Lord  

Ephesians 6:10-12 

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason - Sunday, April 25, 2004

      10A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. 11Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
   
    In this section of his letter the Apostle Paul now has a final word for us…He says, “finally, brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might….” He is connecting what he has to say here with all that has gone before in his letter.
    His letter has touched on all of the major theological doctrines of Christianity in his letter to the Ephesians and other believers among the seven churches of Asia Minor. Remember our basic theme of chapters 1-3? In these chapters, Paul lets us know who and what we are in Christ; how we have become what we now are in Christ. He gives us an exalted picture of the Christian life…what Christians should be. He is also very clear as to what the privileges are that we enjoy as believers in Christ Jesus.
    Having clearly established this doctrinally, Paul then proceeds to make it clear that we as believers in Jesus Christ are required to live our lives in a manner worthy of the calling we have received. “…walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…” Paul says.
    Then he challenges us to be filled with the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit and to live our lives in the power of the Spirit so that every relationship we might possibly have is energized or empowered by the Holy Spirit.
    And then he says, “Finally…” The sense of this is this:  “Now in light of all that I have told you, let me make this clear:  Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength (manifested power) of His might (inherent strength).”
   
    Look at what Paul writes to us in this way: 
* In verses 10-13 we have a general exhortation or what we might describe as a “Call to Battle”.
* Get ready for the Battle…by putting on the whole armor of God. Verses 11, 13
* Why you are called to Battle, Verse 12
Why are we called to Battle?  Paul makes it clear that it is because “…we wrestle, or struggle not only against flesh and blood (real people) but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (heavenly) places.”
This is our motivation…We are engaged in a spiritual battle. Our real enemy is spiritual in nature.
We know that we have to deal with our old nature…our old sinful nature. Even though we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and we have a new nature…the old one is still there and can cause us serious trouble. We will have to deal with the old nature until we go home to be with Jesus.
But…Paul says…there is more that you need to understand about the enemy you face. There is the devil and all his demonic host. These are who Paul talks about when he speaks of principalities and powers and so on. These are demonic spiritual beings who have great influence over this world and the people in it.
The Christian life then from Paul’s perspective is a struggle, a warfare.  We wrestle; we are in a spiritual struggle against powerful spiritual forces.
This is a struggle, warfare that you and I have to wage. We are personally involved in this struggle. And because we are, Paul exhorts us to “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
You and I never get discharged from this war.  There is no rotation out of the theater of combat, or off the battlefield after a year. We don’t retire and head off to Florida, passing the torch to others. So long as we are alive in this world, we are engaged in this battle. The devil and all his demonic host will be here until Jesus casts the devil into the bottomless pit…and then after the 1000 years will be let out to do his work one more time and then the end of it all will come. But until then we will have to fight him until we are on our deathbed and even then.

The challenge for us is to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
How can we do that?
How can we be strong in the Lord?
Think about a marathon runner. Wouldn’t you agree that it takes a certain kind of strength to run a marathon?  When  someone wants to run a marathon, what do they do? Do they go out and run the full marathon on their first day of training? I don’t think so. No, what they do is to begin running and over time work up to the point at which they can run that far and then they work on it and practice running that distance until they are ready for the race. It takes time and hard work.
What does a weight lifter do? Does he go out and bench press 350 pounds the first day? I don’t think so! He starts with small weights on the bar. And then he adds more. Each time he lifts he works on his technique for lifting the weights and slowly adds weights to the bar until he can lift the 350 pounds. It takes time and hard work.
I think you see my point. If we are going to be strong in the Lord it will probably take some time and effort to get to the place where we are ready to exercise that kind of strength or power.
Moses was recruited by God to go to set God’s people free from their bondage in Egypt. Moses wasn’t willing to go…remember, he had tried to set his people free after he killed the Egyptian and the Israelites would not follow him. He had to run for his life. Moses told God he couldn’t do it. God gave Moses Aaron to speak for him, and the staff as a symbol of the power of God that was at his disposal when he confronted Pharoah in Egypt and demanded that he let Israel go free. We know about all the miracles Moses performed before Pharoah and the Egyptians and how the staff was central to it…Remember it had been turned into a serpent, and was used to turn the water into blood. The power of God was manifested before Pharoah and the Egyptians and he let Israel go free.
While the Israelites were led by Moses toward the Red Sea, Pharoah changed his mind and gathered his army and marched after the Israelites. Moses and the children of Israel were backed up to the Red Sea and Pharoah’s army was almost upon them. The people were crabbing against Moses and how good they had had it in Egypt. Moses is standing there by the Red Sea when God speaks to him. God rebukes Moses and asks, “What are you standing here for?” God is saying to Moses…”do something!” Moses is at a loss to know what to do. God expects him to act and he does not do so. God then tells Moses to take the staff and to part the Red Sea so that the people can cross over to the other side on dry land.
Moses does and the people cross over and the waters come crashing down on the Egyptians who followed them into the space where the waters had been.
The point for our consideration…Moses had the power to act. God expected him to act. But why didn’t he do it?  He had never seen any one part the water like that. And because of that he had no expectation that God would or could do it for them right then when they needed it the most.

Next we want to consider Elijah and Elisha. Elijah, the prophet of God is nearing the end of his time on earth. He has been victorious over the prophets of Baal on the mountain and he is on his way to his rendezvous with the chariot of fire to be taken out of this world. Elisha is going to be his replacement and is with him. When they come to the Jordan River and want to cross to the other side, Elijah takes off his cloak, strikes the water and it parts and they cross to the other side on dry land. Elijah is then taken away and his cloak falls to the earth. Elisha picks it up and goes back to the Jordan River to return by the way they had come. He takes the cloak, and asks, “Where is the God of Elijah?” and strikes the water and it parts and he crosses over to the other side on dry land. One wonders about the difference between Elijah and Elisha and Moses. They knew what to do in the situation they were in and acted with the power of God.

And then we have Peter and John. They are on their way to the Temple to pray. The Books of Acts tells us that they met a lame man on the way. He asked them for money. Their response to the lame man was “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee; in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And the man was instantly healed. The power of God was manifest and the man was healed. They had seen Jesus act and they followed what they had seen Jesus do.
Now, lets apply this to us and to our lives today. Paul tells us that we are to be strong in the Lord.
How can we know if we really are strong in the Lord or not?
Think about your Christian life. Are you victorious when you do battle and end up with your foot on the devil’s neck or does he usually have you on the ground with his foot on your neck. Are you victorious or defeated? Are you defeated and depressed? Or Victorious and elated with what has happened?
Paul says be strong in the Lord. 
* What he says indicates to us that we can be strong. But for this to be reality in our lives,
* we have to believe it.
* We have to step out in faith and exercise the strength.
* We have to put our neck out and step out and believe that God will be there for us.
* The power or strength that Paul is talking about is delegated power, or authority that Christ gives to us. It is His power and authority that is available to us through the Holy Spirit. He simply expects us to exercise it.
How can I make sure that this power is available to me? 
Make sure that I am filled with the Holy Spirit.
Believe this power is available to me…just as God has told us it is.
Begin accepting the fact that it is available and stepping out in faith to exercise the power in the situations of my life.
This involves surrender of myself to the Holy Spirit and allowing him to control my life.

I need to begin taking those first steps of exercising the power of God.
Trust God and develop your spiritual muscles.

--Dennis Gleason