Unless you have family or close friends deployed with our military, it's easy to forget there's a war going on. Sure, the news has reports of soldier deaths or some action we're fighting in Afghanistan or somewhere else but it is still easy to be so wrapped up in what's going on here at home that we don't really pay attention to what's going on over there and far away. And if it's so easy to pay so little attention to a war that is brought into our living rooms on TV, how much more so a war we cannot see! I'm talking about the spiritual warfare of which we are a part. St. Paul reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's against the evil powers in the heavenly places, that is, against Satan and his angels who seek to tear us away from Christ and bring us down to hell. Pay attention, brothers and sisters! This battle is real. And it involves you and those you love and those around you. For the Devil seeks to destroy you any way he can!
Yes, the Evil One is alive and well and has your destruction as his goal. He, along with your sinful flesh and the world around you, work hard to rob you of your faith in Jesus Christ, of salvation and eternal life. They seek to bring you into prideful self-righteousness that no longer needs a Savior or else dark despair in which you think the Savior couldn't possibly save you. The powers of darkness work in any way they can upon you. Perhaps its the temptation to some particular sin: a constant worry after money, a vicious and hurtful temper, lusts that are inflamed by looking at filth when no one else is around. The powers of evil can combine to assault you with sickness, disease, trouble and sadness. Most of all, the devil seeks to stir up in you a complete indifference to your sin, so that you have no need of repentance. Or else such a terror over your sin that you cannot imagine your Savior could take it away. Physically and mentally and spiritually, the evil powers of darkness are working to destroy you and bring you down into eternal death and the judgment of God under which they exist. What we so often attribute to others is really just the devil using others to stir us up to sin!St. Paul is not joking around when he tells us that these are the real source of our battles in this life.
So how do we fight? How do we survive against such enemies. St. Paul tells us: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” We don't fight with OUR strength and OUR might. We stand in Christ and in His power. And that is the power of the Son of God who has defeated sin, death and the devil. Jesus came and fought the devil and defeated him for us. He was tempted in every way yet without sin. He battled the devil in the wilderness with no weapons other than His Word. On the cross, Jesus knew the despair and forsakenness that comes from the judgment of the Father against sins and He endured it for you. By shedding His blood for your sins, Christ has robbed Satan of his ability to accuse you. By His defeat of the evil one, the Lord has accomplished a victory in which you stand, having power over the evil one. By His triumph over death, Christ has made even the end result of sin a weak and powerless thing. When Paul says to stand in the strength of Christ, this is what he means: all that Christ has done for you to defeat sin, death and devil is yours. It is your strength in Christ.
So put on the armor of God! The armor that He supplies is all the gifts of Christ. Clothed with Christ in Baptism, you have the armor of God on. The Gospel, salvation, righteousness, faith—all of these gifts Christ gives you to defend you against the evil one. When the devil assaults you and tries to tell you that you have no salvation, that your sins aren't forgiven, that you are not a Christian, you have the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, Christ's righteousness that say otherwise. Your Baptism and Christ's Body and Blood and the Absolution deny the devil his lies. When sickness and death and trouble are sent to harm you, the shield of faith extinguishes those flaming arrows as we trust in Christ and in our heavenly Father. Whatever the devil can throw at us, it cannot truly harm us because we are shielded and protected by Christ's gifts.
But there is offense too. And for that we wield the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The Roman sword, which St. Paul probably had in mind, was the gladius, a short sword used by the Roman soldiers for up close and personal fighting, using it to deadliest effect by thrusting it up under the enemy's ribcage! Sounds violent! But then so is our battle against the forces of evil in the heavenly places! But the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. To speak God's Word is to drive the devil away. In times of temptation, sickness, trouble and even death, the Word of God not only defends us, it sends the devil and his angels running. “I am Baptized! My sins are forgiven! Christ's Body and Blood is in me!” The Word of God that is preached, that declares your sins forgiven and that has washed and fed you—that Word is what you use to fight off and beat back the attacks of the evil one. Whether they are of the physical type or mental or spiritual, the Word of God drives Satan back and prevents him from truly hurting you, no matter what you suffer. Satan can throw everything he has at you and still you can block and parry and fight back with God's Word, driving him away. God's Word drives off the devil. That is the power of Christ who is the Word made flesh. The Sword of the Spirit is Christ Himself who, through His Word, once again battles and defeats Satan and wins for you.
Our fight is not against the things of this world. The things of this life that we think are the enemy are just the tools and agents of the evil one who wants to overthrow God's kingdom and destroy you. But he has no power. It's been taken from Him by our Lord Jesus Christ. But he thinks we don't know that and so he comes after us, trying to trick us into thinking we are weak and powerless against him. But stand! Stand in the Lord and the power of His might. Stand in blood of the cross. In the empty tomb. In the water of your Baptism. In the words of Absolution. In the Body and Blood of Jesus. In the Holy Scriptures. Stand in those things and you cannot be toppled because the devil cannot topple Christ. And He cannot topple you who are in Christ. Christ's victory is your victory now and forever. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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