EPHESIANS 6:10-20

10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

11  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

13  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

14  Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

15  As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

16  With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18  Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

19  Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

20  for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

When you look at everything Jesus said and did, one thing is absolutely clear. If you follow Jesus you’re not supposed to fight.  You’re not supposed to hit, punch, slam, smack, belittle, berate or otherwise inflict pain on another person for any reason whatsoever.  Of course, there is a big difference between fighting and having a little fight in you.  Right? Having a little fight in you is when you face a challenge and you refuse to give in or give up.

Parents know what I’m talking about here.  In fact if you’re a parent you know what  I’m talking about when I remind you that you only have 10 more days to go.   Just 10 more days and the kids will be back in school.  When that happens you might feel like doing your best Martin Luther King Jr. impersonation. “Free at last free at last.  Thank God almighty free at last.”

Do you remember the song “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas?”   If you do then you’ll also remember there’s a line in that song that says that “Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.”  Well if that’s the way parents feel after a two week Christmas vacation imagine how they must feel after a two month summer vacation.

Yes, sometimes it’s good to have a little fight in you. 

It’s good to have a little fight in you when you’re battling a serious illness.

It’s good to have a little fight in you when you’re struggling to make a dream come true.

It’s good to have a little fight in you when you see an injustice that’s just plain wrong.

The Apostle Paul will tell you that you also need a little fight in you if you’re going to be a Christian.

He makes that very clear in his Letter to the Ephesians. Listen again to his words.  Paul writes, “..our struggle is…against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” 

Paul wrote those words because he knew that they were living in a world that wasn’t very friendly to their Christian faith.  By the way, Paul knew what he was talking about when he wrote those words.  That because when he wrote those words he was a prisoner because of his faith. He was, as he said, “an ambassador in chains.”

The Ephesians were living in a world that wasn’t very friendly to the wisdom and ways of God’s only begotten Son which is why Paul told them to put on the armor of God, the whole armor of God. 

Put on, he said, the belt of truth.              Put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Put on the helmet of salvation.              Put on the sword of the Spirit.

His words are just as important for us today. Now I will admit that I haven’t seen any Christians being thrown to the lions lately but the world we live in is just as unfriendly to the wisdom and ways of God’s only begotten Son.  In some ways the situation is even worse.  That because faith today is being undermining in a way that is very seductive. It’s been happening slowly for many years and in a way that you don’t even realize it’s happening.

Consider, if you will, this little bit of trivia.  Now if you attend either of the weekly Bible Study classes you’re not allowed to answer the question.  For everyone else though the question is simple.  What television show was the first to show a husband and wife in bed together?  Over the years I’ve asked that question and gotten all kinds of answers.  People usually say, “I Love Lucy” or “All In The Family” or “The Brady Bunch.”  The answer are all wrong though.  Are you ready for this? The first television show to show a husband and wife in bed together was “The Flintstones.”  Surprised?  It actually makes sense when you think about it.  The power that be out in Hollywood were worried that people might be offended.  So, they decided to test the waters with a cartoon show.  That way if people howled they could always say that they were overreacting. After all it was only a cartoon and the Flintstones weren’t real people.   My how times have changed.  Do you remember when Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and they wouldn’t let the camera show him swiveling his hips?  Or how about the controversy over Barbara Eden’s navel on the television show “I Dream Of Jeannie?”

Now fast forward the clock and tell me what do you see on television today?  What you see is an endless litany of sex, drugs, profanity and violence and that’s just the commercials.  Sad, to say but a lot of the movies the, the famous interviewer, knew what he was talking about when he said that, “Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn’t have in your home.”   It’s also why it’s been said that, “All television corrupts and commercial television corrupts absolutely.”

The Apostle Paul was right.  We live in a society that isn’t very friendly when it comes to the wisdom and ways of God’s only begotten Son. Just look at the debate that we go through every year over whether it okay to say “Merry Christmas.” Or how about the problem of sports on Sunday morning or the attitude that says “I can worship God on the golf course.”  What I’ve never understood about that one though is whether the greens fees count as part of your pledge? 

Here’s one more for you.  How about the stores that are open now now on Sunday morning.  If you’re old enough to remember when the Blue Laws were first repealed you’ll also remember that the law was very clear.   Stores could open but they couldn’t open before noon on Sunday.   Ah, but that was only the beginning of the slippery slope.   The forces of greed kept pushing the envelope and as the old expression goes “Once the nose of the camel is in the tent the rest of him is sure to follow.”

So what’s a good Christian to do?  What does the mother do who’s trying to teach her children right from wrong?  What about the guy who works for a company where it’s all about the bottom line and climbing the ladder of success?  What does he do?  What about the teenager who lives in a world full of drug, bullying and violent video games?

Well, you could rant and rave a little and blame it all on the Flintstones.  Or you could renounce the pleasures and the pitfalls of the world and do the same thing that an Amish community did many years ago.  In his book Future Shock, which was published back in 1971 Alvin Toffler tells the story about this community of Amish people who packed  up all their belonging and moved from their quaint little town in the mid-west to the mountains of Peru.  When the Amish were asked why they did that, one of them replied, “We got tired of having to move our wagons to the side of the road to let the cars go by.”

So, you can blame it on the Flintstones.  Or you can go and live in a commune somewhere in India or you can put on the whole armor of God. 

Put on the belt of truth.                          Put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Put on the helmet of salvation.              Put on the sword of the Spirit.

One day a minster and his son were walking on the beach.  While they were walking the son ask his father a question.  “Dad,” he said, “I don’t understand how Christ can live in me and I can live in him at the same time.”  The father thought about it as they continued to walk.  After a while they came to an empty bottle with a cork in it.  The father picked the bottle up and put some water in it.  Then he put the cork back in and tossed the bottle out into the ocean.  The two of them then stood there and watched the bottle bobbing up and down in the ocean.  “Son,” the father said, “the sea is now in that bottle and the bottle is in the sea.  That’s the way it works when you follow Christ.  You give yourself to him and he lives in you.”

Now I wonder.  Do you think that’s something a person can learn on the golf course next Sunday morning?  Do you think it’s something you can learn by going to the movies and watching the latest box office hit? Do you think it’s something you can learn in the supermarket while buying that box of Rice Krispies?  Okay.  Maybe you can blame it on the Flintstone but you also need to listen to Paul’s advice and put on the whole armor of God.    Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

August 26, 2012