The Armory
A sermon series designed to prepare us for what’s to come (hopefully a season of intense disciple-making!).
Ephesians 6:16 describes the shield of faith, which we need desperately.
So Abstract!
Why can’t we have a tangible, magical shield? What is faith anyway?
Faith is confidence in god (read Hebrews 11:1 to double check me). It’s confidence that the unseen God is working in unseen ways on our behalf as Christians. How can we grow in faith in these unseen spiritual realities? The same way we grow in faith in unseen physical realities, like testing the integrity of a handmade chair by slowly putting weight on it. The more weight we successfully put on it, the more we trust it.
Some of us have no faith because we’ve never put weight on God. In other words, we’ve never really tried trusting him with real, practical, tangible aspects of our lives.
A Test
Are you safe behind the shield of faith, or are you exposed to Satan’s arrows?
1. What are you leaning on for peace? What do you turn to when things get stressful and uncertainty reigns? Is it something you can see, like your spouse or your kids or your pills? Or is it the unseen God who said this to his people:
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -Isaiah 41:10
2. What are you leaning on for self-worth and confidence? What makes you feel valuable and sure-footed? Is it something you can see, like your good-looking face in the mirror or cash in your wallet or people applauding you? Or is it the unseen God who planned your days before you were conceived, carefully wove you in your mom’s womb, made you in his image, and loves you so much he sent Jesus to die for you?
3. What are you leaning on for contentment? What is it that you still before you can be content? (Note, I don’t mean satisfied, I mean content.) Is it something you can see, like your target weight on the scale or a home renovation to complete or closet full of fashionable clothes? Or is it the unseen God who said:
I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. -John 6:35
4. What are you leaning on for victory over temptation? What is your source of strength when you’re tempted to procrastinate in laziness, neglect your spouse, take what isn’t yours, etc.? It is something you can see like yourself or your plan? Or is it the unseen God who said:
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. -1 Corinthians 10:13
5. What are you leaning on for joy and life? Is it something you can see, like your health or family or career? Or is it the unseen God who we are commanded repeatedly to rejoice?
Beware, our enemy wants us to put our weight on the things we can see and be perpetually anxious, self-consumed, discontent, enslaved to sin, and joyless. Faith in the unseen God is our only shield from his arrows.
