"WEAR YOUR BREASTPLATE"

Sermon by Pastor John Hollis

August 27, 2005

The Scripture reading: (Ephesians 6:10-20)

"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

I have been leading a class in the study of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. We will conclude this study today following the 9:30 service. Since we have been studying this letter, and since a selection of Scripture of the lectionary is from Ephesians chapter six, I decided I would speak from this today.

The text is a familiar one: the description of the armor the Christian soldier is to wear. No doubt that some of you have either participated in a VBS study or a Sunday school study where the students would make each piece of the armor a part of this study.

This armor is designed to cover every part of the body: loins/truth; breastplate/righteousness; shoes/gospel of peace; shield/faith; helmet/salvation; sword/word; prayer/perseverance/boldness to tell the mystery of the gospel.

Paul identifies this mystery in the third chapter of this letter. He said it was "by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." (Ephesians 3:1-10). And in Romans 16:25 we read: "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of

Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past." And that mystery would be completely revealed in the time of the apostles. It was revealed to John that "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets." (Revelation 10:7). The mystery of the gospel was that the Gentiles would become fellow-heirs with the Jews and they both would be reconciled in one body. Such reconciliation would also reveal the righteousness of God.

The breastplate of righteousness would cover and protect the heart of the child of God just as the Roman soldier's breastplate covered and protected his heart.

There was a need for the child of God to wear this breastplate. Those early people of God were engaged in a battle with those who wanted to destroy Christianity. The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as the Messiah and they were doing all they could to remove all who followed Him. But the children of God - followers of Jesus Christ - could not do battle with their enemies by engaging in carnal warfare.

Paul describes the warfare the Children of God were to engage in." For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). And from our text: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Conventional armor would not protect the saints from these wicked forces.

The rulers, world forces of darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places had reference to the Jewish leaders who were trying everything in their power to destroy the word of God being proclaimed by the apostles.

As we have stated, the Jewish rulers led the persecution of the early church. This is portrayed in Revelation as war in heaven between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels. (Revelation 12:7-9). And in Revelation 6:12-13 is pictured the fall of these Jewish rulers - luminaries - as they are conquered by the "gospel of peace," as the darkening of the sun, the moon turning to blood, and the stars falling from the heavens.

The apostle Paul knew what it meant to wage this spiritual warfare. He solicited the prayers of the saints in Ephesus "that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known

with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Knowing what kind of warfare the saints would have to wage, and knowing what he had suffered in his preaching the gospel, Paul knew what kind of armor the saints would need. Time will not allow a discussion of each part of this armor, so we will concentrate our thoughts on the breastplate of righteousness.

Paul understood what righteousness was and how it related to the gospel. He wrote to the Roman saints these words: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'But the righteous one shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17). The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel "from faith to faith" - from the faith of Abraham to the faith of Christ. It was about God's plan to make both Jew and Greek righteous in Christ Jesus.

In Romans 3:21-26, Paul speaks of the righteousness of God being "reckoned" or "imputed" to Abraham as a result of his faith. He goes on to say that God's righteousness will be ours also, if we believe as did Abraham; and he concludes with these words: "He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification." Christ wasn't raised from the dead that we might be justified; he was raised because we were justified. This is the imputed righteousness of God. There is also a righteousness that is by faith, but time will not allow our making that distinction.

Paul continues in Romans 10:3-4. In speaking of his desire that he wanted his fellow-Jews to be saved, he said, "For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Paul had at one time sought righteousness by the law; but he had come to the realization that this could not be. He wanted to be found in Christ, "not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." (Philippians 3:9-10).

If we are to wear the breastplate of righteousness, it is imperative that we understand what our righteousness is. In the context of describing our calling in Christ Jesus, Paul declares that God has used the "weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God." Paul knew what it was to boast. He himself could have boasted about his keeping of the law. He declared that "as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless."

But this was not the righteousness he sought, for God had so planned things for His people that would exclude boasting: "that no man should boast before God." Then Paul concludes: "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (First Corinthians 1:26-31) This is the way Paul describes our righteousness: he is Christ Jesus; He is our righteousness. So Paul could say, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." (Romans 13:14).

Paul also emphasizes the righteousness of God in these words: "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. . . . He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (Second Corinthians 5:17-21). If all things are from God, and they are, and He has reconciled us to Himself, and He has, then we belong to Him. Belonging to Him is a result of our being made the righteousness of God through the fact that Jesus became sin on our behalf through His death on the cross.

This raises the question: Why should we wear the breastplate of righteousness? The answer to this question should be very obvious, when we take into consideration all that has been said about the righteousness of God.

It is not clear from history that different armies wore different breastplates, and that each style of breastplate would be one way of distinguishing one army from another. We know that there were different styles of breastplates; and perhaps this made it easier to identify those who wore them.

We do know for a fact that the breastplate of righteousness that was worn by those early saints was a sign of their relationship to God. We should, therefore, be eager to wear this breastplate so the world will know whose we are and to whom we belong. Remember, our warfare is not of the flesh but of the Spirit.

Recognition: How are we to be recognized? The word breastplate appears only five times in the New Testament (KJV), and only twice with reference to something the child of God is to wear. One place is in our text in Ephesians six, and secondly in First Thessalonians chapter five. The reference in Ephesians six is a quote from Isaiah 59:17.

In Ephesians 3:14-15 we find these words: "For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on

earth derives its name." Are you a part of this family? If so, what is your name? How would you identify yourself? Could your identity be stolen from you?

We turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:8 to seek an answer. Paul is writing about the evil day the saints were resisting: "but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day, we are not of night nor of darkness so then let us not sleep as other do, but let us be alert and sober . . . but since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

Paul refers in this place to the breastplate being that of faith and love. This is one of the true marks of identification that we must wear. Jesus said: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35). Jesus' message was always that of love: turn the other cheek; do good to all men; go the second mile; love your enemies. Their battles were not against flesh and blood; they were battling ideas, thoughts, doctrines, empty words, false teachings, and so forth.

As we do battle with ideas, thoughts, doctrines, empty words, false teaching, how do we face up to these things? When these things are fired at us, how will we keep them from injuring our hearts? The breastplate of "faith and love" must be worn at all times.

I ask the question again: What is our name? God promised His people a new name: What is it? Let us read from the prophet Jeremiah. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, The Lord our righteousness." (Jeremiah 23:5-6). This, no doubt, refers to the Messiah. But listen to Jeremiah 33:16: "In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she shall be called: the Lord is our righteousness." God's people would wear the same name the Messiah would wear: The Lord our righteousness. This is the "name every family in heaven and on earth" has received from the Father.

It is obvious why we should wear the breastplate of righteousness. We belong to God. He reconciled us to Himself when we were alienated from Him through our sins.

We should wear this breastplate of righteousness because God abides in us. Listen to the tender words of Jesus to His disciples: "I

will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:18-20, 23). God lives in you.

We should wear this breastplate because it protects our spiritual hearts. "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart." Peter says (1 Peter 1:22). And John encourages us: "We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him." (1 John 3:19). And Paul gives us this benediction: "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:15-16). Doesn't your privilege of wearing the breastplate of righteousness make you want to sing with thankfulness in your hearts?

Wear your breastplate with humility, and God will assure your hearts before him.

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