15th Sunday after Pentecost (9/17/06) 
Sir, we would see JESUS! 

Emmanuel, Asheville, NC, Rev. Frederick Stiemke
Ephesians 6: 10-17
In the Name of JESUS!

To Battle! To Battle Fully Armed!


Beloved, will you pray with me? 

O eternal merciful God and Father, You chose us in Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be Your redeemed children. How helpless we would be if You, O Lord, deserted us! But Your Son has graciously promised to be with us always. In Jesus?? name and for His sake, we humbly pray that You would fill us with Your Spirit, so that we might be fully armed to fight against Satan, our fallen world and our sinful flesh until You grant us eternal peace and joy in heaven. Hear us for Christ??s sake. Amen.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, dear people of God:

I??m fairly sure that most of you know the old nursery rhyme, 
HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL. 
HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL. 
ALL THE KING??S HORSES AND ALL THE KING??S MEN 
COULDN??T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.

While written centuries ago, this is a very accurate picture of fallen mankind today. To bring it closer to home: It??s even true of you and me ?± if left to ourselves.

But it??s my joy as the called servant of Christ to remind you all today that there??s hope for all us ?¨Humpty-Dumpty people.?Æ We know the KING, who picks up the myriad pieces and puts us back together again. We know and trust Jesus, the Lord, who has already given us new and ever-lasting life. Because of Christ??s saving death and resurrection for us, we can now sing the familiar Christmas carol refrain ?± ?¨GOD AND SINNERS RECONCILED!?Æ As those who have been baptized into the name of our Triune God, our Lord cries out to us, ?¨TO BATTLE! TO BATTLE! TAKE UP THE KING??S ARMOR GIVEN TO YOU AND STAND!?Æ

Indeed, as Christian soldiers we have a real fight on our hands. As St. Paul wrote: ?¨?ñ our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, ?ñ authorities, ?ñ powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.?Æ [Eph. 6;12] Our fight is against Satan and all the powers of hell, our fallen world, and even our own corrupt sinful nature. That??s easy to see today. And how have we fared to date in the fray? 
You know that all too often we have become halfhearted and careless in our spiritual battles. At times we have been led astray by the devil??s 5th column within us. Why, if we are honest, we have to admit that in our self-righteousness we have sometimes fought as if we could get along without our Commander-in-Chief and the armor which our Lord Jesus has issued to us. Frequently as a result we have been wounded in the conflict and sinned. We??ve gone AWOL many times. It??s bad enough that if we don??t take the battle seriously, we could end up on the losing side. But an even worse tragedy is this: Again and again we have let down our loving Savior, who gave His very life for us. What amazing grace our Father in heaven has that He hasn??t cast us aside as unfit for combat! When we look to Jesus as our Savior, our heavenly Father doesn??t even remember our past sins and failures. Our Lord even continues to give us a place of importance in His marching army.

As we receive our orders each day, we find that we are being led into battle by our Victorious Commander, Jesus Christ. Because our Savior leads the way, we can launch forth into the coming battles with a song in our hearts, ?¨But for us fights the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, ?´Who is this??? JESUS CHRIST IT IS, Of Sabaoth Lord, And there??s none other God. He holds the field forever.?Æ [From Dr. Martin Luther??s hymn, ?¨A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.?Æ] We go forth with our ascended Savior??s unfailing promise, ?¨And surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.?Æ [Matthew 28:20] 

And look at the trusty armor and weapon our Lord Commander has issued to us! To keep everything in place, God supplies us the belt of God??s truth. [vs. 14a] The Lord, who does not lie, has given us His Gospel, ?¨which is the power of the God for salvation of everyone who believes.?Æ [Rom. 1: 16] That Gospel is the good news that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and that He has done everything necessary that we might have God??s forgiveness and eternal deliverance. With all of God??s Word as our guide, we will not be tossed about in battle by every wind of doctrine.

As the armor for our chest the Lord gives us the breastplate of righteousness. [vs. 14b] Note well, Scripture reveals this is not our righteousness. If it were, we would be lost forever, for our own righteousness would prove to be nothing but tattered tinfoil easily pierced by the enemy??s arrows. No, the breastplate of righteousness God issues His army is the perfection and holiness of Jesus that safely protects and covers our heart. Incidentally, as the Lord provides armor for us, He does not assign any for our backs, as He doesn??t see us retreating. 

God provides as our footwear for battle the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace. [vs. 15a] Our feet do not slip in those sturdy boots, because the Gospel of peace is the good news that nothing in all creation can separate from God??s love in Christ Jesus. [Rom. 8: 38] Furthermore, Scripture comes with the glad tidings that the peace treaty between God and all people who trust in Christ Jesus as their Savior has been signed, sealed and delivered with the blood of Son of God. [Ephesians 2: 13-14 et al]

In addition, we are well protected from the fiery arrows of the evil one because the Spirit has given us the shield of faith. [vs. 16] No secret weapon of our enemies can pierce that shield, for through faith given by the Spirit Jesus Himself keeps us safe.

God guards our heads and minds with the helmet of salvation. [vs. 17a ] As we enter the fight, ever running through our minds is the sure promise of our Savior to those who trust Him that He will say to us on the Last Day, ?¨Come home, My child. Come to where there is eternal peace and life at My side in heaven.?Æ [Cf. Matthew 25:34] And we can respond, ?¨Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.?Æ [Ps. 23; 6] 

As our offensive weapon, our Commander has placed into our hand the sword of Spirit, which is the Word of God. [vs. 17b] As the Son of God overcame the temptations of Satan, even when that scoundrel quoted Scripture out of context to our Savior, we too can overcome temptation with the Spirit??s help by citing words from the Bible. For as Christ has promised, ?¨Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.?Æ [Matt. 245: 35] Genesis 1 begins with an account of how our Lord created and now preserves our universe through the Word of His power. We also carry fresh in our minds the memory of how Jesus with His strong word cast out devils, stilled the raging storm, even restored the dead to life again. God??s Word will not fail us! But, beloved, to do that, we need to know our Bible well.

Now, knowing you are so well equipped for battle, what will your response be today? How seriously do you take being spiritually armed for battle? Those of you who are parents, are you also taking time to prepare your children for the onslaught, or have you simply left that all up to the church to do? 

One way a person could respond to Christ??s battle cry is to act like a museum curator. An individual could look at the armor and be so proud of it that it??s then hung on a museum wall for all to see. But let me ask you this. Where would we be today in the United States of America if citizens on the night of British invasion of Massachusetts had taken their rifles down from the wall, cleaned them thoroughly, checked the workings, oiled them well, and even double checked to see that all gunpowder was dry. Then after admiring how well prepared for battle they were, they had hung the equipment on display for all to see. We might not be in a free nation today! Believe me, as far as our spiritual armor goes, we will be doomed ?± forever lost ?± if that??s what happens to our armor, for without faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior only hell lies before us.

The God-pleasing response is to seek the Spirit??s aid so that by the Lord??s grace and power we put on and ask the Lord to secure the armor on us described in today??s Epistle. Then we are to take our position in the front ranks of the victorious army of the Lord to battle the evil in our world and within us. Remember that long ago Jesus of His own free will entered the battle for us. He stood His ground on the hill of Calvary in the face of the fiercest of all battles ever waged. He didn??t balk at walking into the valley of the shadow of death so that you might be eternally safe in His loving care. After death before His resurrection, Jesus descended into hell itself to proclaim His victory, telling that mean old devil and all his army, ?¨You lose! I win! And my people win with Me!?Æ And then He rose from the dead, showing Himself alive and the eternal Winner over evil. Jesus has already won the war! We??re just in a mopping up operation, but without God??s armor we would be lost.

It is this same Lord Christ who stands before us today, waving us on with His nail-pierced hands in encouragement, and who cries out to each of us, ?¨TO BATTLE! TO BATTLE! BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT! PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, AND TAKE YOUR STAND AGAINST SATAN AND ALL HIS WILES!?Æ And wonder of wonders, if we falter or fall, the hands of our forgiving Savior will reach out to steady us on our feet and give us renewed strength and courage to carry on. Finally our merciful Commander, our loving Redeemer, will say, ?¨The battle is over. See, I have indeed won victory for you! Come home, my child, to everlasting rest and peace.|?Æ And then there will never again be war or tears or pain or sin! To GOD alone be all glory! Amen. 

© The Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke, DD, Vacancy Pastor
Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Asheville, NC