Gordon Cook

Lightly edited sermon transcript:

Today we’ll focus on one more image: the image of the army of God. Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, let me pick up the reading at verse 13, “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked His disciples saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Well, let’s look to The Lord.

Father, we are thankful that we come with confidence to that throne of grace because of Your Son Jesus, and His perfect righteousness. We come believing we are accepted in Him. We come, believing that Your ear is open to the cry of Your children. You even listen to the cries of ravens, but how much more will You listen to the cries of Your children? We come, and we ask Lord that You grace us with Your presence. Give help to all of us as we seek to know Your mind and Your will, and seek to live it out in our lives. Help us to be conformed to the holy Scriptures, write it deeper upon our hearts and our minds. Help us, Lord, to go from this place all the more determined to live for Your glory, and to be faithful pastors, to be able to commit these things to faithful men. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

There are some concepts or words that are pregnant with meaning and significance. For example: the word “mother,” if you are asked to describe your mother, and give one picture word or description of your mother, I’m sure all different kinds of things would come to mind. Think for a few moments about a mother, and how best to describe her. What pictures would you use? Well, you might use the picture of a nurse or a doctor. Who takes better care of you, or took better care of you when you were sick than your mother? What about a picture of a chef or a cook, who does better cooking than a mother? Sometimes mothers function like referees, a defense, or a prosecuting attorney. It’s often a mother who brings peace and harmony to a home when brothers and sisters are fighting like cats and dogs. Sometimes moms are like psychologists, who listens better than a mother? Who can better understand their children, and sort out some of the feelings and emotions of a child better than a mother? What a servant a mother is! She’s always giving of herself, making lunches, helping with schoolwork, taking children to swimming lessons, music lessons, etc. etc., and we can go on, couldn’t we? We can go on using all kinds of pictures and images to capture something of all that a mother does, and by the time you’re finished you can come up with quite a photo album, just trying to capture the multi-functions, tasks, and labors of a Godly mother. When you think of all that a mother does, you realize that one picture simply doesn’t capture everything, even to suggest so would be an insult to the high calling of motherhood; the same could be said of the church.

Some people approach the church in a very simplistic sort of way. If you ask them, “What is a church?” Or, “What does a church do?” They would say, “Well, that’s simply where the Bible is preached, it’s maybe a place where Christians gather.” They might liken it to a social club or a faith-based organization just like any other, but that’s not true, is it? Just like a busy act of a mother who is constantly multi-tasking, wearing many hats, the church of Jesus Christ has a multiplicity of functions and tasks. One hardly knows where to begin when one thinks of the church and all that it does, but, thankfully, the Bible gives us pictures of the church. I’ve said this before: there are, probably, close to 100 pictures of the church in the Bible. The Bible is like a photo album, full of pictures of the church. Why so many pictures? Well, again, it’s because the church has so many functions and purposes. One picture simply wouldn’t capture everything of the church, and of we were to examine the individual pictures, we would see just how diverse, how wonderfully complex the church is. Again, just as a warning or a caution, we need to be careful that we don’t lose sight of the composite of pictures. We need to appreciate the whole mosaic, not just one picture, but the photo album as a whole. We simply cannot take one picture, not even two or three, and say that is all that the church is. No, we have to preach the broad range, the bewildering array of metaphors, to understand the church.

We have considered three pictures thus far, three dominant pictures of the church. We started with that metaphor of marriage; the church is likened to a bride, a wife, the bride of Christ. What does that tell us about the church? Well, it tells us how special the church is, how loved the church is by Jesus Himself. The church is not likened to a broken vase, or to a worn-out rocking chair, no the church is this special, this near and dear, to The Lord Jesus Christ. Next to God Himself, there’s no one that Jesus loves more than the church. We also saw from the Bible that the church is likened to the body of Jesus. What does that tell us about the church? Again, something unique, something wonderfully different and special. It tells us the church is diverse as your body, with its many members, is diverse. You have hands, you have feet, you have ears and eyes, they all work together, each member contributing in a unique but important way.

The third image, or dominant metaphor that we considered was the church as the flock of God. Acts chapter 20, 1 Peter 5, and several other Old Testament passages speak of this. This graphic picture points us to God, ultimately He’s The Shepherd, Christ The Chief Shepherd. It also reminds us that the church is put under the oversight of under shepherds. The church is a place of protection, the sheep are protected by the under shepherds. Paul warns of wolves, of dangers from without and dangers from within. Sheep are very vulnerable creatures, dependant creatures, and they need to be protected. It, also, reminds us that image that sheep need to be fed. Pastors, shepherds, are responsible to feeding the sheep. Now, if we stood back and looked at those three pictures -the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the flock of God- we should realize this: the church is important, the church is a wonderful place, and there’s no institution like it. The government can’t compare, marriage in the family can’t really compare, the family can’t be substituted for the church. The church has a place of preeminence in the heart and mind of God, and it should, also, in our own hearts and minds. Every one of those images reminds us of how important the church is to Christian life, to Christian growth, and to Christian service.

Now, I want us to consider one more graphic image, this might be the most controversial image. It might have some people look at us, perhaps, a little bit perplexed, and think that we might be looking at the church rather negatively. The church of Jesus Christ is likened to an army, a military metaphor that needs to be appreciated. I want us to proceed by considering this metaphor, or graphic image, with simply one major head: the church graphically pictured as the army of God, and we’re going to use three major proof texts or soldier texts. We’re going to look at three Biblical soldier texts that we’re going to march in front of you, and consider, but first of all what we want to consider is the church graphically pictured as the army of God. A general by the name of General Sherman, who fought in the Civil War, according to historians was a brilliant strategist, and one of the most tenacious of soldiers, but he was best known for that famous clip: “War is hell.” There’s nothing glamorous about war, you and I, as Christians, know that. We know about the fight, we know about the struggle. You can understand why some people might be taken back a little bit, perplexed, maybe even shocked that we would think of the church of Jesus Christ under a military figure. “I thought we worshipped a gentle Jesus, I thought Jesus said, ‘Turn the other cheek.’ Jesus never picked up a sword, did He?” So, when we talk about the church going to war, likened to an army, it doesn’t seem to fit with everything we know about Jesus. However, Jesus did talk about a sword, didn’t He? Jesus did say He came not to bring peace, but a sword. Jesus knew that we were going to be engaged in conflict and tension because of the Gospel, because of the truth. You can’t read your Bible, and not come face-to-face with this concept of war, it really does dominate the Bible. J.C. Ryle says, “The history of Christ’s true church has always been one of conflict and war.” “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war,” says the hymn.

This military metaphor is probably not very popular, at least not in our day, it doesn’t fit all that well with the prevailing mindset, or the current intellectual climate. We are being told more and more that Christians must dialogue with people of differing faiths, there must be more of a given take, that we really shouldn’t engage or say anything about the polemical nature. We are told that Christians should meet opposing worldviews with friendly conversation, and not conflict. Before we get into how, exactly, we need to interact with people who differ from us, I do think it’s important to establish from the Bible that this military metaphor is quite substantial, in fact, we could almost go anywhere in our Bible. Think of the Old Testament; think of how much of the historical narrative is punctuated with war, or the very concept of war. In the book of Exodus you have that word “war” five times; in the book of Numbers twenty-one times, Deuteronomy ten times, the book of Joshua seventeen times, the book of Judges ten times, 1 Samuel eight times, 2 Samuel nine times, the book of Psalms -which is a book of worship- mentions war eight times, and we shouldn’t forget that David, who wrote most of the the Psalms, was a man of war. Now, this might surprise some people too, but God places Himself under the war image. He’s called “The Lord of Hosts” or “The Lord of Army” 278 times! Now, I can hear someone say, “Well, that’s Old Testament, we are New Testament believers,” well, you’re right, we are New Testament believers, but even when you pick up the New Testament you hear swords clashing, you see soldiers marching. The warfare terminology doesn’t disappear once we turn to the New Testament.

Now, true, Jesus rarely employs military imagery, and there might be a very simple reason for that. Remember how militaristic the Jews were? They were expecting a political Messiah, a military Messiah, a Messiah who would come with a sword. They wanted a Messiah who would wipe out the Romans and set up a political kingdom like David. They wanted a man of war. Remember they even tried on one occasion to take Jesus by force to make Him king, but Jesus wanted nothing to do with that war. He wasn’t that kind of a Savior, He never picked up a physical sword. He never shed one drop of blood, except His own, but Jesus did engage in war. He was constantly engaged in controversy with the Pharisees and the scribes over a number of different issues. We could say that Jesus was constantly fighting over the truth, and, really, what Jesus was fighting over, more than anything else, was the gospel. That’s exactly why He engaged the Pharisees so much, they had a different religion. They had a false religion that was based upon a massive system of work-righteousness. He exposed their self-righteousness, their hypocrisy, and their false doctrine. Jesus proclaimed the gospel that offered forgiveness and instant justification to everyone who believed on Him, and the Pharisees hated that! They called Him all sorts of names. They called Him Blasphemer, they even said on more than one occasion, “You are in cahoots with the devil!” They called Him “Beelzebub,” that was “The Lord of the Flies” or “The Lord of Dung,” and it was because Jesus preached the gospel, because of the truth, they killed Him. He exposed sins. So, yes, there is a war to be waged, there are enemies. Jesus said to His disciples, “The world will hate you, because its hated me,” and Jesus very much wanted the church -yes, the church- to be engaged in war.

The first major text -I said there’s going to be three soldier-texts- is Matthew chapter 16. If you haven’t already turned there, notice Jesus does employ a military image here. The very first time the word ecclesia, meaning church, appears, it’s used by Jesus, and it’s used here in Matthew 16, verse 18, Jesus says, “I will build My church.” Now, “That doesn’t sound like a military image, it sounds like a building analogy,” you might say, well it is, but notice what He says immediately after that: “And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.” That is the church. The church. Now, how are we to understand what is pictured here? I would say up to maybe five years ago, I always understood this in a different way. I always understood it as the church being in a defensive posture, but it wasn’t until a Pastors Conference where Pastor Ted Donelli -some of you would know him, I think- he opened up Matthew 16, and said, “That’s not the picture here, the church isn’t on the defensive here. The church is on the offense, the church is aggressively attacking!” “The gates of Hades, or the gates of Hell, shall not prevail,” says the Bible. Gates are not an offensive weapon, gates are defensive in design. You hide behind gates, gates are to protect you, they surrounded the city. You see, the picture here is the devil and his army bunkered down, hiding behind gates. The devil and his minions are on the run, they are in a defensive mode, somebody’s attacking them. Who? The church. The devil and his army are hiding behind the gates, and the church, with its gospel-battering rams, is attacking the gate! The church is on the offensive, the church is the aggressor!

Now, remember, the church is, also, likened to the flock of God. When you think of sheep, you don’t think of aggressors, right? Sheep need protection, sheep are defenseless, sheep are helpless. The picture of the church as the flock of God would seem to teach that we’re not able to fight at all, we are on the defense, on the run, hiding, running from the wolves, and there is truth in that figure. Sometimes Christians do need to run, and hide, you see that even in the Bible. Moses, on one occasion, ran; David, on one occasion, ran; even Paul the Apostle on a couple of occasions ran. Christians have been scattered because of persecution, but that’s only one side of the story, that’s one picture of the church. Moses, on another occasion, is standing before Pharaoh, and saying, “Let my people go,” on behalf of God. Peter, who was once locked in a jail cell do to persecution, is the same Peter standing, preaching the gospel boldly and fearlessly on the Day of Pentecost, doesn’t look like a sheep there. Sometimes the church does look like sheep; sometimes the church looks like an army, two different pictures! As I said earlier, we can’t take one picture of the church and lose sight of the other pictures, because we become imbalanced, lopsided in how we live the Christian life. Here, in Matthew 16 the church is not bunkering down, hiding behind walls, afraid to do anything that might endanger its existence. No, the church is on the attack, the church is very much the aggressor here, and this isn’t an isolated text, is it? Think of all the military imagery that the Apostle Paul uses to describe the Christian life, he employs a lot of military imagery when writing to young Timothy, seeking to get Timothy ready for pastoral ministry, he uses warfare terminology. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 18, he says, “Timothy, pick up your sword. Timothy, wage war,” he describes it as a good warfare. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3, he says, “Timothy, you must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” The Apostle Paul knew that the church needs good soldiers, men who are not afraid to step on the battlefield.

The second major text -again, we’re using three major soldier-texts to give illustration, and to show this assertion that the church is put under this metaphor of an army- second major text is 2 Corinthians chapter 10. You can turn there, please, and see for yourself that 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through 5 takes us to the battlefield. The first thing Paul tells us here, is that the warfare that the Christian is involved in is very different from the typical warfare of the world. Again, we’re talking about a different kind of war. In a sense, it’s far more dangerous, isn’t it? The weapons are greater, more potent than grenades, or cruise missiles, or nuclear bombs. The enemy is far more powerful, in the words of Martin Luther, “He possesses craft and power upon earth, there is no equal.” The Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are engaged in a war. In verse four he tells us, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for putting down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Again, the picture here is not one of passivity. He pictures the army of God as being very active, aggressive, even confrontational, and we’re not attacking people’s character, we’re not attacking someone’s personality. No, look carefully, “Putting down strongholds, casting down arguments,” this is a battle of ideas, we could say. “Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Paul says, “We have the power, by God’s grace, to demolish strongholds.” The Apostle is using symbolism that was drawn from classic warfare in that day. A prosperous city would not only have a stone wall for security, but somewhere inside that wall, there was a stronghold, well-fortified. It would be defended by the soldiers, but what would happen? Once the walls of the city were breached, the defending forces would retreat to the stronghold. This is where they would hide for the last major battle. It was their final defense, but here, again, we are the aggressors.

Isn’t it true we are often intimidated by the world? We wonder how we can survive an antagonistic culture, we sometimes think we have to retreat, maybe surrender, or at least wave a white flag of neutrality, and keep silent. We could sometimes be cowered into silence, can’t we? How can we stand against a culture that is becoming more and more aggressive, intolerant of Christians? Well, Paul gives the church marching orders here. We are to stand for the truth, tear down strongholds of lies and deceits that the non-believer hides behind. Whether it’s the stronghold of religious pluralism, which says that there are many ways to God and it really doesn’t matter which way you chose, or the stronghold of autonomous or crass individualism which makes man this highest, moral authority, saying that man is his own authority. Maybe it’s the stronghold of hedonism, which makes personal pleasure of everything, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Maybe it’s the stronghold of post-modernism or moral relativism that believes there are no absolutes, that everything is based upon subjective experience, so what is wrong for you might not be wrong for me. Maybe it’s the stronghold of materialism. That’s where a lot of Americans hide, somehow thinking their wealth will protect them, but it won’t. The Bible teaches us that one of the most elusive things in the world is money. Remember how Jesus tore down that stronghold in Luke chapter 12? There was a rich man, and Jesus showed us, by that parable, that rich man’s mortality. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you can’t stop death. Steve Jobs -a founder of Apple computer- think of the money he had, yet he couldn’t stop death. Jesus reminds us, in that parable of the rich man, how unpredictable life is. You don’t know what a day may bring forth. “You fool, tonight your soul is required of you.” We tear down the strongholds that sinners hide behind, we need to remind them that there is a future day of reckoning, what the Bible calls “The Judgement Day.” Romans chapter one says even unbelievers know that! “Knowing the righteous judgement of God,” Romans one, thirty-two, “And those who practice such things are deserving of death.” The unregenerate man knows that he’s going to stand before God, and be accounted for the life he’s lived.

The graphic imaging, brethren, of Matthew 16 and 2 Corinthians 10, those first two soldier-texts tell us, that the church is the army of God, the church is to be aggressive, confrontational at times. Now, that doesn’t mean we become belligerent, obnoxious. It’s interesting how Paul begins this whole matter of spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10. Notice how he starts off this whole section in verse one, “Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” You see those two words, “meekness and gentleness”? That should really shape how we bring the message to the unconverted, yeah? It should shape How we take the message to the world: with meekness and gentleness. Didn’t Jesus describe Himself under that word “meek”? “I am meek and lowly.” Isn’t that a word that Jesus used in one of those Beatitudes? “This is what my kingdom citizens look like, this is how they live, they are the meek.” What’s that word “meek” mean? I like the way Doctor John Macarthur describes it in his little book on The Sermon on the Mount, “Meekness is power under control; meekness is the opposite of violence and vengeance.” It never worries about ones own injuries, it never bears grudges. We are to engage in spiritual warfare, putting down strongholds, casting down arguments, but we don’t do it in a condescending sort of way, we don’t do it in a mean-spirited, arrogant way, that will never convince anyone! We live in a very unkind world, and have you noticed it’s getting ruder and ruder, meaner and meaner? The world laughs and sneers, vilifies Christians. They call Christians ignorant, intolerant, bigoted. Well, the answer isn’t to respond unkindly. Peter could say in 1 Peter 3:15, “Give a reason of the hope within, with all meekness and respect, meekness and fear,” and it could be he’s saying not only the fear of God, but we are to have a respect before our fellow men. They are image-bearers, no matter how depraved they are, they are image-bearers. We are to give an answer of the “reason of the hope within, with meekness and fear.”

You see, Christianity is different, radically different from the world, even how it responds to the world! The world is dominated by hatred, anger, slander, malice, and prejudice. If the world listens to us, and if we approach them in the same way they approach us, then we’re not going to win them. If they scream at us and we simply scream back, if they threaten us and we threaten them, we’re never going to win. No, the church is to be distinguished by those Beatitudes, it’s to be distinguished by gentleness, and meekness, and how it treats people. We are to love our enemies! We are to be bold, courageous, kind, and gracious. At the same time we are not called upon to retreat, or surrender, or cower in silence, but neither do we resort to retaliatory action, gossip, slander, threatening or abusive speech. Doctor J. Adams, in a book titled How to Overcome Evil, says the Bible teaches violence, not passive, when overthrowing the enemy. “He must be smashed to smithereens, demolished, utterly devastated.” No quarter may be given to this power! The Christian physician is the most violent and aggressive one of all, but we overcome evil with good, hate with love, unkindness with kindness, harshness with gentleness. We have different weapons, we have grace weapons. Our weapons are more powerful than bullets, more powerful than grenades, or terrorist bombs. We have the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God. It can change hearts, it can change lives!

Now, there’s one final passage, as I said, we’re looking at three major passages to argue and to prove that the church is the army of God. We’ve looked at Matthew 16, we’ve looked at 2 Corinthians 10, but there’s one final passage I want us to consider: it’s Ephesians chapter 6, a picture of the church which hardly needs explanation. It’s a full portrait of a Christian soldier head-to-toe. The Apostle Paul looks for an image or a description here for the Christian. He doesn’t dress him up in a business suit, he doesn’t use casual dress -a pair of sandals, a nice pair of jeans, and a golf shirt- no, he’s a soldier. He has a sword, a shield, and a helmet. Everything about him has a sense of urgency, and sobriety. It’s a picture of a soldier, not a picture of a clown. There’s nothing trite here, nothing that would make you think that when it comes to living the Christian life we need to lighten up and not take anything so seriously. This isn’t a time to make the world laugh. No, we’re in business that’s dead serious. Remember that we’re dealing with never-dying souls! They’ve been blinded by the devil, and while every true Christian is a soldier, I don’t really think that when we read Ephesians 6, that we are to understand it as an individual soldier. Are you familiar with Rambo? Remember Rambo? Lone Ranger? Tonto? This isn’t a Rambo soldier. We need to be careful when we read our Bibles. We have a tendency to read our Bibles through -and I’m speaking here of Americans and Canadians- we can read it through the lens of Western individualism. We’re more conformed to our world than we think we are, and we can read our Bibles that way. We can read our Bibles that way, because we’ve been influenced by our own culture.

I remind you that most of the New Testament letters were written to churches, not to individuals! Most of them were written to churches. The letter to the Ephesians is a church letter from start to finish! I would remind you that in the book of Ephesians, writing to the church of Ephesus, the church is described as a body. He uses figures in Ephesians; he describes the church as a building, a temple, a bride, a family, great emphasis upon the church. In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us that the church is at the center of God’s purpose. Ephesians one is a witness to the universe, and in Ephesians three he mentions, “The glory of God will be manifest in the church.” This is a church letter, and when he comes to the end of Ephesians he hasn’t forgotten the church, he’s still thinking about the church, and he wants us to look into the face of the church here in Ephesians chapter six. Notice how verse 10 begins, “Finally, my brethren,” brethren! He’s talking to the church, that’s a family term, that’s a collective noun, it’s a church term. Verse 12 says, “We,” there are plural, personal pronouns throughout this passage. He’s talking to the church. We’re fighting together, we’re not in isolation! The idea of a solitary, Roman soldier going out to fight was ludicrous, they didn’t do it that way, that’s not how they fought. The Romans fought in teams, the Romans had legions, right? There were legions, 100 soldiers or plus. What made the Romans so effective as soldiers was that they had developed a military art to perfection, the military art of a corporate maneuver, where they would hold these huge, oblong shields side by side. The Romans fought together, they stood together, they would form a great wall so their opponents weren’t able to break the wall. This is a corporate picture, this is a picture of an army, this is a picture of the church!

There’s something else I want you to note here: the Apostle Paul leaves this picture till the end, this is the back-end of Ephesians. Why? Someone might say, “This is kind of a downer, how depressing!” Do you remember how he begins the book? On a high note, a praise when you had that long, continuous sentence there in Ephesians one, right? 200 plus words! I mean, he’s reveling on all the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. “Blessed,” he says, “are we who are in Christ Jesus,” and he uses that little phrase, “In Christ, in Christ, in Christ.” So wonderfully blessed in Christ! What a way to begin the epistle, why didn’t he end like that? “Why end on this negative note? Why talk about war? War’s ugly.” Well, yes it is, but we can’t escape reality, can’t we? We are in a war, and when it comes to fighting a war, what’s the greatest fear? It’s that you’re going to lose, right? It’s the fear that we’re not going to win. We can become afraid, intimidated by the forces of evil. He reminds us here, doesn’t he, that the forces of evil are quite substantial. “We stand against the walls of the devil,” verse 11, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in a Heavenly place.” Paul, why are you telling us about our enemies?! This is scary! This is going to intimidate people! Don’t we get weary when it comes to battle? Aren’t we tempted to give up, especially if we think that we’re fighting alone? Remember Elijah? What happened to Elijah? He goes into a sinkhole of fear and discouragement. He stood up on top of that mountain, Mount Carmel, and he was quite a heroic soldier there, wasn’t he? I mean, he slayed, how many? Thousands of hundreds of false prophets. When you look at Elijah with that sword you say, “What a soldier!” Then he goes for a crash, an emotional crash, and he wanders off into the wilderness. How does God get Elijah back to the battlefield? “Elijah, you’re not fighting alone, there are seven thousand, we haven’t bowed our knee to Baal. Elijah, you’re part of an army! Get back on the battlefield!” Paul reminds us here, you see, that we’re part of an army. This is a great way to end the book. This is a great way to close off Ephesians. It’s a climax, everything, we could say, is building to the end, assuring us of victory, not to have us think we’re going to be defeated, brethren! No, this is about victory, this is about conquest.

We are overcomers, and something we need to think of, as well, brethren, when we think of the army, is we’ve got to remember who the Commander in Chief is. It’s possible that Paul is thinking of the Roman soldier. It’s also possible that Paul is drawing from the Old Testament picture of a Warrior: The Messiah Himself. This could be a picture of Jesus, The Messiah, The Warrior. Isaiah chapter 11 and 52, where God is pictured or depicted as the Lord of Hosts, a Warrior dressed for battle to go forth to vindicate His people; the very armor that we’re putting on is the very armor that Jesus Christ wore. When He went to battle, what did He do? Well, He went to battle against the devil. He went to battle against His enemies on the cross, and Jesus left the battlefield a conquering warrior, didn’t He? He could say, “It is finished!” Jesus didn’t lose, Jesus won, and that’s the picture, that very well could be the picture that Paul wants us to see here: the picture of Jesus Christ, the greatest Warrior. Look at the provision, we have the whole armor of God! This is the best weaponry in the world: prayer! Is there anything more affective than prayer? Preaching with the Sword, the Word of God? One thing you should know about every image we have of the Word of God in the Bible: every one of them points to efficacy. The sword, the hammer, fire, even a seed that’s cast is likened to the Word of God. Efficacy, it produces something, doesn’t it? We have the sword of The Spirit, and God’s Word will always accomplish, because God said it would, God said it would not return void. The Word of God is like a sword, in Hebrews chapter 4 it’s likened to something sharper than a two-edged sword.

We have all the equipment we need, we have the full armor of God. We have a Savior who was victorious on the cross; we have a Savior who conquered the grave. Don’t be afraid, you’re not going to lose! We should remember when we think of fighting, brethren, that we are commanded to take the gospel to the world, aggressive Evangelism, right? There’s what you would call an attractional Evangelism. Peter could say, you know, people are going to see in you something different, and they’re going to ask you for the reason of the hope within. You see, we’re shining as light, and that attracts people, they come to us and say, “Hey, I’ve noticed you’re different, the way you talk about your wife, or the way you interact with people at work, I see something different. You’re a different kind of person. What makes you tick?” Peter says when they come to you and they are attracted by your life, you give them a reason of the hope within. There’s an attractional Evangelism, but there’s also an aggressive Evangelism, isn’t there? Go. Go. Go. We need to take the gospel to the world. The apostles, in the book of Acts, what are they doing? Proclaiming the gospel, going from city to city, but when they get chased out of one town they go to the next town, they don’t quit. It didn’t matter how dangerous, it didn’t matter how many threats against their lives, they didn’t stop proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church has the responsibility to bring the gospel to the world. We are the army of God. We are engaged in a war. There’s a war that we will not lose. There’s an image of the church, this military image should stir us up, brethren. We can so easily become apathetic, indifferent. We can even become intimidated, and cower in silence. There’s a hymn that we sing in our church, it’s titled “O Church Arise, Put On the Armor.” If you haven’t read the words to that hymn, it’s a beautiful hymn. I think it’s one of those hymns that will stand the test of time, but here’s how it goes, “O church arise, put your armor on; hear the call of Christ, our Captain; for now the weak can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given. With shield of faith, and belt of truth we will stand against the devil’s lies; an army bold, whose battle cry is, “Love!” Reaching out to those in darkness.”

We are the church of God, we are the army of God. What a privilege to fight for King Jesus! We’re fighting against the world that hates God. We’re fighting against our own sin. We’re fighting against the devil. We’re fighting for the souls of men. May God help us, brethren, to fight the good fight of faith. I encourage you, dear pastor, friends: put on the whole armor of God, be courageous, fight the good fight. Remember the battle has been won. Jesus won the decisive battle on Calvary, Calvary was the day. God wants us to invade enemy territory with the light of the gospel, carrying the sword of the spirit, and the shield of faith. Be fighting! Be fighting quite the good fight, and rejoice in the triumphs of His grace. All the while looking to that day when we will stand in glory with Jesus, the Conquering King, and there will be no question, will there? Who won? Jesus won, and His army was victorious, the church overcame. How could it not? As Luther said, “We had the right man on our side, you ask who that might be? Christ Jesus, it is He!” Let’s Pray.

Father in Heaven, we, again, thank You for the church of Christ. Thank You for the privilege that we have to serve Your people, as pastors. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to better understand what the church is, how the church should function in society. We pray that our churches would more and more reflect these Biblical images, and that our churches would grow stronger and become healthier. May they would become more aggressive in reaching out to this lost world. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

This is a lightly edited transcript of a sermon. All rights reserved.

This is a lightly edited transcript of a sermon. All rights reserved.