Put on the Whole Armor

Ephesians 6:11-20

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


Here's the simple lesson, if we are going to be able to stand, we must put on the full armor of God.

Often when we look at these various pieces of the Roman soldiers' armor, we try to understand what each piece means for us.

1. The belt of truth, a "girdle", was apparently designed to hold, and keep every part of the armor in its place, and to strengthen the soldier on every side. Perhaps it's called "truth" because by this we come to know where our strength lies. We must understand the truth in order to guard ourselves against all false religion, and those doctrines by which cunning men and insidious devils try to deceive us. Or, "truth" may have to so with sincerity, knowing the truth about ourselves as well as the truth about God. We know that we are but sinners, and we make no false pretences, which alone can give us the confidence we need in the battle.

2. The breastplate of righteousness protects the heart, and signifies the principle as well as the practice of righteousness. Jesus demands the highest level of holiness ("your righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees"), but He also gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to live the life pleasing to Him, the righteous life. As the breastplate defends the vital organs such as the heart and lungs, so righteousness defends every thing on which the man's spiritual existence depends.

3. The feet are fitted with shoes of preparation to preach the gospel. As the Israelites were commanded to eat the Passover with their feet shod, to show that they were ready for their journey, so our Lord commands us to be ready to go and publish the Gospel.

4. The shield of faith has great importance, as seen in the expression, "above all". We have not been called upon to destroy the enemy, rather, the power of the enemy is made impotent by the deflecting, or quenching of the fiery darts. But we also note that the word used here for "shield" alludes to the great oblong shield, which was designed to cover the whole body.

5. The helmet of salvation, we have said before, is that which protects our minds, enabling us to think God's thoughts, and be free from depending on human wisdom which always falls short.

6. The last item of armor mentioned is the sword of the Spirit, which is identified as the Word of God. No one will dispute that weak Christians are those who forsake the reading and studying the Word of God.

7. But at the end of the list is another item in the Christian's arsenal which doesn't have an article of Roman armor to symbolize it. The soldier must, as Jesus said to the disciples in the Garden, "watch and pray" - be alert and continue praying. And please note that Paul asks that we pray "for all the saints", and He also requests prayer for himself.

But beyond understanding how each piece of armor helps the Christian soldier, there is one important word which must not be overlooked, the word "full", or "whole" armor of God. The Greek word here is "panoplia" (pan-op-lee'-ah), which is from two words, "pan", meaning "all" (as in Pan-American Games), and "hoplon", which means "instrument" or "weapon".

Let's remember the goal is to "stand." But if we are going to be able to do this, we must have "all" the armor. If there is some defect of character; some want of integrity; some point that is unguarded, that will be sure to be the point of attack by the foe, and cause us to fall in the heat of the battle.

There's a very old story, told by the ancient author Homer in his book, the "Iliad". The story is part of the larger account of what is called the "Trojan Wars", the struggle between Greece and Troy. According to this story, the best fighter of the Greeks was a warrior named Achilles (a-KILL-eez). At one point, the General, Agamemnon and Achilles had a huge, but silly argument. It seems that the General had to return a slave girl, and wanted the services of Achilles' slave girl, Briseis. At first, Achilles was unwilling, but finally gave in to the General's demand, but angrily proclaimed that he would no longer fight with the Greek army, noting that they could not possibly win without him.

Finally, Patroclus, a friend of Achilles, convinced him to allow him to borrow his armor so he could disguise himself as Achilles. This ploy worked for a short time, but soon the Trojans realized that this was not the feared warrior, Achilles, and the son of the Trojan king, Hector, fought and killed Patroclus. Achilles then took revenge for his friend, killed Hector, tied his body to his chariot and paraded around the walls of Troy. Patroclus' father, King Priam, begged for his son's body to give it a proper burial, which was done, but the war went. Eventually Achilles also died in battle, in Troy. He was shot by another of Priam's sons, Paris, assisted by the god Apollo who guided the arrow so that it struck the only vulnerable part of Achilles' body, his heel.

Why was his heel vulnerable? Well, so goes the myth, Achilles was the son of Thetis, goddess of the sea who dipped her baby son Achilles into the waters of the river Styx in order to make his body invulnerable - she wanted her son to be immortal. The infernal waters indeed rendered Achilles' skin impervious to the likes of any mere Trojan arrow. But Thetis forgot that she was holding him by the heel during the dipping process, so that part was unprotected, and her son was denied the immortality she so craved.

Of course this story is but a myth, but it carries the same point that we are attempting to make - protection is available to those who are fully armed.

If we were to ask the question, "What is your spiritual 'Achilles Heel', or what is the 'Achilles Heel' of the church?" what would be your answer? What part of the armor is lacking, where is your weak part? Let's present ourselves before our commander for weapons inspection.

    The Belt: Is sincerity lacking; that is, are you living with some form of hypocrisy or pretense?

    The Breastplate: Is there holiness; or are you harboring some secret, unconfessed sin?

    The Shoes: Is there a readiness to witness?

    The Shield: Is there faith in God that no matter what happens, you know that you cannot be dislodged from your relationship with Him?

    The Helmet: Is there security in salvation?

    The Sword: Is there a growing understanding and application of the Word of God?

    Is prayer a part of your daily life?

For the church we must ask similar questions. It's so easy to give in to the temptation of our first parents, and try to place the blame elsewhere. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the Devil. We tend to do the same thing, either blaming other people, or the Devil. And the latter is easy to do because, after all, isn't Satan the "enemy"? But let's not forget, even Satan has no power to destroy us if we are fully armed.

So we must ask the same questions concerning the church as we ask of ourselves. Are we a Body known for sincerity, holiness, Evangelism, and trust in God for our needs to be met? Are we collectively eager to learn God's Word and assemble ourselves for prayer? Or has our armor weakened so that we are not able to stand?

Again, here's the simple lesson, if we are going to be able to stand, we must put on the full armor of God.

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