Grace and Peace to you!
In our Sunday morning worship, we will conclude our readings from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this month. After sharing with his readers his thoughts on the essentials of God’s grace, Paul encourages Christians to live before others in the reality of that grace and to stand against the devil.
In standing against the devil, Paul writes about fighting against powers and spiritual forces. Such fighting may sound strange to 21st Century minds which lean more toward scientific and technological aspects of life. For Paul, the devil is very real, and for him there is another level of reality that we today do not keep aware of as much as we keep aware of our physical world.
Though people today might deny the reality of a personal evil, it is hard to deny the reality of evil present in the world. The concentration camps of Germany, the genocide of Rwanda, the still presence of slave trade around the globe are but a few graphic displays of the presence of evil in our world down through the ages. War, hunger, poverty, prejudice, injustice are more common examples of the results of sin and evil in action in this world yet today.
Our initial response to such evils is to either admit defeat and run, or to try to face it with our own gifts and talents. Neither approach is a wise one as Paul advises against that as Satan is bigger than we are. We cannot face evil alone, but as Christians we may feel compelled to not turn away from evil in front of us.
The good news is that we are not alone. God is bigger and more powerful than the devil. Evil in any form cannot stand against God and God will always be the victor.
Our God is faithful. God does not abandon God’s people: never has and never will. God’s promises are true, and we can be sure that one day God will establish his kingdom of peace, justice, mercy, and love once and for all.
We can know God’s presence in our lives as we hold onto the promises of God. We continue connecting with God through daily prayer. We, as Paul suggests in his letter to the Ephesians, clothe ourselves in the “armor” by which we can resist all evil. Then we can continue to work for God’s goodness in this world.
But even still, conflict between people is very much real and remains very present in this world. I think that we know that human beings can fight about a lot of things and that we also fight over a lot of things. But that’s what the world does. We, as Christians, are called to be above that; to go beyond that – to love our neighbors as ourselves.
There is truly one thing worth striving for; it is that for which Christ has already laid down his life: to establish God’s peaceable reign once and for all. We want to see God’s kingdom come! And if it is to be so, then for now we must cover ourselves with the armor of God so that we can withstand the hostilities of this world. Ultimately, we are not called to wage a war, but to strive for peace.
As we go through life with its ups and downs, we as Christians can take heart. We know that God is with us always. We know and we believe that God is greater than the troubles we may face. We live onward in the victory that is ours through Christ Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Bakker
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For 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.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (NRSV)
In our Sunday morning worship, we will conclude our readings from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this month. After sharing with his readers his thoughts on the essentials of God’s grace, Paul encourages Christians to live before others in the reality of that grace and to stand against the devil.
In standing against the devil, Paul writes about fighting against powers and spiritual forces. Such fighting may sound strange to 21st Century minds which lean more toward scientific and technological aspects of life. For Paul, the devil is very real, and for him there is another level of reality that we today do not keep aware of as much as we keep aware of our physical world.
Though people today might deny the reality of a personal evil, it is hard to deny the reality of evil present in the world. The concentration camps of Germany, the genocide of Rwanda, the still presence of slave trade around the globe are but a few graphic displays of the presence of evil in our world down through the ages. War, hunger, poverty, prejudice, injustice are more common examples of the results of sin and evil in action in this world yet today.
Our initial response to such evils is to either admit defeat and run, or to try to face it with our own gifts and talents. Neither approach is a wise one as Paul advises against that as Satan is bigger than we are. We cannot face evil alone, but as Christians we may feel compelled to not turn away from evil in front of us.
The good news is that we are not alone. God is bigger and more powerful than the devil. Evil in any form cannot stand against God and God will always be the victor.
Our God is faithful. God does not abandon God’s people: never has and never will. God’s promises are true, and we can be sure that one day God will establish his kingdom of peace, justice, mercy, and love once and for all.
We can know God’s presence in our lives as we hold onto the promises of God. We continue connecting with God through daily prayer. We, as Paul suggests in his letter to the Ephesians, clothe ourselves in the “armor” by which we can resist all evil. Then we can continue to work for God’s goodness in this world.
But even still, conflict between people is very much real and remains very present in this world. I think that we know that human beings can fight about a lot of things and that we also fight over a lot of things. But that’s what the world does. We, as Christians, are called to be above that; to go beyond that – to love our neighbors as ourselves.
There is truly one thing worth striving for; it is that for which Christ has already laid down his life: to establish God’s peaceable reign once and for all. We want to see God’s kingdom come! And if it is to be so, then for now we must cover ourselves with the armor of God so that we can withstand the hostilities of this world. Ultimately, we are not called to wage a war, but to strive for peace.
As we go through life with its ups and downs, we as Christians can take heart. We know that God is with us always. We know and we believe that God is greater than the troubles we may face. We live onward in the victory that is ours through Christ Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Bakker
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For 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.
Ephesians 6:10-12 (NRSV)
