The WHOLE ARMOR of God: The SWORD of the SPIRIT

The Whole Armor of God: Sword of the Spirit

I. Intro. A short reminder:

1. Belt of Truth 2. Breastplate of Righteousness 3. Shoes of readiness of the Gospel of Peace

4. Shield of Faith 5. Helmet of Salvation

 

II. Sword of the Spirit – Word of God.

St. Paul warns about the danger of being deceived by empty words (Eph. 5:7)

A. Difference in words creates differences in reality

Eph. 5:7-8 St. Paul presents a new take on the Garden story (Gen. 2-3) a darkened world because of the disobedience.

Example:

	World	Bible
Love	An exceedingly good feeling toward someone or something	Sacrifice of God for the rebellious world
Jesus	Cool dude – reason for jolly Xmas and gifs	The One Who died for the sins of the rebellious world
Man	A link in the infinite chain of evolution	A responsible party to maintain the Garden – failed miserably – redeemed by Christ to beautify the world

 

The Word of God – Jesus Himself – is the light to the world (Eph. 5:12-14)

 

B. Diabolical apprehension to study and use the Word

              Bible is SO big and difficult – I don’t know where to begin and how to approach it

Two quick responses:

1.      Turn it into a plastic sword food pick – learning one or two verses (John 3:16) and turn them into slogans

2.      It’s to hard and it is too heavy like a Thor’s hammer

Example: John 6:60-69 – Hard teaching of the Lord’s Supper

The Word of God is given to us in a visible form of the Bread and the Wine (John 6:54-58)

 

III. Take away: Eph. 5:17-21

Be filled with the Spirit – take the sword firmly with YOUR hand: 

Pointer or index finger: Hear                                  Thumb: Meditate

Middle finger: (longest one) Read/Study/Memorize   

Ring finger: Apply in your life

Little finger or pinky: Share with the others

 

prayer for the grace to receive the Word (LSB, p. 308).