The Whole Armor of God: Shield of Faith
I. Intro. A short reminder:
Belt of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness
Shoes of
readiness of the Gospel of Peace
Now a
“special” piece of armor. Why special? Because St. Paul preceded with a caution
or a warning, then provided with a description of purpose. Eph. 6:16: In all
circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all
the flaming darts of the evil one.
II.A. Warning
– the most important warning before sending his brothers into the battle.
Example: Lt. Dan instructing Forrest Gump
and Bubba. What did he tell them?
II.B. The
Shield of Faith – Eph. 4:4-6
Trinitarian
faith – basis for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3)
|
Spirit –
builds up the Body (the Church) – one hope, one call. Lord/Son –
faith, comes in one baptism. Jesus discusses the basics with the crowd after the
feeding of 5000. John 6:28-29:
they: what shall we do? Jesus:
believe! Have faith! In Him whom He (Father) has sent. God and Father – over all, through all, and in all. See Small Catechism, part II |
III. Take away:
Three types of darts/arrows of the evil one:
a.
I’m not good enough
b.
They are not good
enough
c.
God is not good
enough
Shield of
Baptismal faith [in God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit], nurtured by the
Word and Sacraments, extinguishes ALL these arrows!
No comments:
Post a Comment