Have you ever thought about how a slogan like, “good help is hard to find,” ever got started? It must have started because, in fact, good help is hard to find! And, why is good help hard to find? Because people are basically self-centered and self-serving. They usually don’t put the interests of their employer first, unless it somehow benefits them. And so employers everywhere complain that good help is hard to find.

It works the other way, too. Good jobs are hard to find. Why? Because employers are basically self-centered and self-serving. They do not often put their employees’ interests first. And so it is rare to find a job where the employer genuinely cares about your welfare.

The apostle Paul wrote our text to show how Christian workers and bosses should treat each other. Granted, it is addressed to slaves and masters, not to employees and employers. Slavery was an accepted institution in the Roman world, where it has been estimated that between one-third and one-half of the population were slaves. Critics of the Bible attack Paul because he did not condemn slavery directly. But if he had done so, it would have led to armed revolt and the Christian faith would have been stamped out as an anti-slavery movement.

Instead, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, did something else: he addressed both slaves and masters directly and showed how their faith should radically change the way that they related to one another. As Charles Hodge observes (Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians [Eerdmans, p. 370), as both sides treated one another in this Christian manner, “first the evils of slavery, and then slavery itself, would pass away as naturally and as healthfully as children cease to be minors.”

But although our text was written to slaves and masters, it applies directly to employees and employers. It shows practically how those filled with the Holy Spirit, who subject themselves to one another in the fear of Christ (5:18, 21), should relate to one another in the workplace. Paul is saying,

Your relationship to Christ and the fact that you live primarily for heaven should transform your relationships at work.

There are two foundational principles in the passage that provide the base for the third principle:

1. Your relationship with Christ is the primary thing in life.

Paul drives home through repetition the centrality of our relationship to Jesus Christ as Lord. Note: (6:5), “as to Christ”; (6:6), “as slaves of Christ,” “doing the will of God from the heart”; (6:7), “as to the Lord”; (6:8), “receive back from the Lord”; (6:9), “their Master and yours is in heaven….”

You can’t miss it: as a believer, your relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord is the primary, governing fact of life. Paul is expounding here on what he said (5:21), that we are to submit to one another “in the fear of Christ.” Nothing that we do should be done apart from that consideration. Every believer should live every day with the focus,  “I fear Christ. I am no longer my own. I belong to Christ as my Lord. I must do His will. I must live to please Him. Someday I will stand before Him to receive the reward for my faithful obedience.” Christ must be at the center of all that we think and do.

This is the emphasis of the entire Bible. The first and greatest commandment is (Matt. 22:37), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The second greatest commandment is that we love one another. But the Lord does not put that command first. It is deliberately second, because the primary thing in life, the foundation for everything else, is that you love the Lord God, who has manifested Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Relationship with Christ is primary!

Is it primary for you? Did your schedule last week reflect that fact? Did you meet alone with God in His Word to learn more about Him and how He wants you to live? Did you submit every thought, every decision, every word that you spoke, and every deed to the test, “Does this please my Lord Jesus Christ?” Did you take your needs to Him in prayer? You can’t begin to have the right perspective towards your job or your boss or your employees until you first get right with Jesus Christ. As Paul makes clear, you work primarily for Him. As he puts it in the parallel (Col. 3:24), “It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

2. Your relationship with Christ should put your focus primarily on heaven, not on this world.

Slaves in the Roman world often were treated terribly. They could be whipped, branded, mutilated, or killed. As punishment a slave could be sold so that he was forever separated from his family. Augustus crucified a slave who accidentally killed his pet quail. Juvenal wrote of a slave owner whose greatest pleasure was “listening to the sweet song of his slaves being flogged” (William Barclay, cited by John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Ephesians [Moody Press], p. 323).

So when Paul tells slaves, in effect, “be good slaves and you will be rewarded in heaven,” critics viciously attack him: “That’s just ‘pie in the sky when you die.’ That’s cruel disregard for the hardships that these poor victims are suffering right now! How dare you promise them reward in heaven when they die! We need to organize a slave protest! Slaves of the world, unite! Stand up for your rights!”

But you’ve got to decide at this point, do you go with the world’s way or with God’s way? The two could not be much more opposed to each other than they are here. The world says, “Fight for your rights! Don’t take this abuse!” God says (6:5, 8), “Slaves, be obedient to your masters according to the flesh” [emphasizing the temporality of the situation] … “knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord….” The world’s focus is on the here and now. God’s focus is on rewards in eternity.

An old song goes, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through; my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckoned me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” I wonder how many believers today could sing that song truthfully?

Paul repeats a phrase twice (6:8, 9) that reveals something that he had taught these believers: “knowing that….” The slave asks, “Why should I toil day after day in a difficult job that has no financial rewards for me?” Paul says (6:8), “knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.” The master asks, “Why should I treat my slaves decently and not threaten these no good, lazy bums when they don’t work hard?” Paul answers (6:9), “knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” Both verses point to eternity. Because of their relationship with Christ, both slave and master should have their focus on laying up rewards in heaven, not on rewards in this life.

This is a neglected doctrine in our day. I wonder how many of you did something this past week because you were consciously motivated by the thought that the Lord would reward you for it in heaven? If you’re not living to lay up treasures in heaven, your focus is wrong. In Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, the emphasis is on the fact that these great men and women of faith died without receiving the promised reward. They were seeking “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16). Moses left the riches and power of Pharaoh’s court and endured ill treatment with the people of God, “for he was looking to the reward” (Heb. 11:26).

There is a story about an old missionary couple who had spent their lives working in Africa. They were returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension, their health was broken, and they were discouraged and afraid. When they went down to the wharf to board the ship, they discovered that they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunt.

When they boarded the ship, no one paid any attention to them. Then they watched the fanfare as the President arrived, with the band playing and people waiving and straining for a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, “Dear, something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these years, and yet no one cares about us? Here this man comes back from a big game hunt, and everybody makes much over him.” His wife replied, “Dear, you shouldn’t feel that way. Try not to be bitter about it.” But he said, “I just can’t help it. It doesn’t seem right.”

As the boat neared America, he became more depressed. When the ship docked, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor of New York plus a bunch of national leaders were there. The papers carried the story on the front page. But no one noticed the missionaries, as they slipped off the boat and went to find a cheap flat and to look for work.

That night the man’s spirit broke. He felt that God had abandoned them. It just wasn’t fair. “We don’t have anyone to help us and no where to go,” he told his wife. “Why doesn’t God meet our need?” His wife replied, “Why don’t you go into the bedroom and talk to the Lord about the whole thing?”

A short time later he came out of the bedroom, but now his face was happy. His wife asked what happened. He said, “I told the Lord the whole thing. I told Him that it’s not fair. I told Him how I was bitter because the President received this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us when we returned home. And you know, as I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and said simply, “But, you’re not home yet.” (There are several versions of this story. This one is from Ray Stedman, Jesus Teaches on Prayer [Word], pp. 30-31.)

Do you have a boring job? Maybe it’s even oppressive. Do you look on each day with dread, thinking, “What a hassle” as you grind through work? Paul says, “Get the eternal perspective! Put your focus on heaven. Even if your earthly boss doesn’t reward you, your heavenly Master will.” This doesn’t mean that you should not look for a better job or try to better your circumstances. But it does mean that your relationship with Christ should put your focus primarily on heaven, not on this earth.

So we have two foundational principles for approaching the third principle that deals specifically with work. First, your relationship with Christ is primary. Second, because of that, your focus should primarily be on heaven, not on this world.

3. Your relationship with Christ should make you the best employee or employer on the job.

A. Your relationship with Christ should make you the best employee on the job.

The key concept is, you do not work primarily for your employer. You work primarily for Jesus Christ, who sees your every motive and action, even when your earthly boss is not there. Paul gives five qualities that should characterize every Christian worker:

(1). A Christian employee should be obedient.

Don’t ignore your boss. Don’t say yes and then not do what he asks you to do. Don’t roll your eyes and then piddle around because you think that what he asked is stupid. Rather, obey “with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ” (6:5). In the Greek text, Paul says to obey from the heart (6:5), from the soul (6:6, NASB, “heart”), and from the mind (6:7, NASB, “good will”). In other words, it is to be a total person thing, not half-hearted obedience.

There are times when a Christian employee must refuse to obey an employer. If he asks you to lie for him or juggle the books or take advantage of a customer, you must tactfully refuse. But hopefully these situations will be rare. Your normal mode of operation should be to obey your boss.

(2). A Christian employee should be conscientious before the Lord.

Paul says to obey “with fear and trembling” (6:5). This does not mean cowering in fear before your boss. Paul uses this expression frequently with the idea of fearing that you will misrepresent the Lord and the gospel. It refers to fearing God in light of the final judgment (Peter O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 449-450). It means doing your job well so that your boss will not think poorly of your Lord. If you would not do shoddy work for Christ, then don’t do shoddy work for your boss.

(3). A Christian employee should be focused in purpose.

Paul says to be obedient “in the sincerity of your heart” (6:5). Sincerity is often used to refer to generosity in Christian giving (Rom. 12:8; 2 Cor. 8:2; 9:11, 13). It has the nuance of singleness of focus, along with liberality. It means that you give it your all, with undivided attention and effort. You don’t waste time on the job. You don’t share your faith with other employees on company time, unless your boss has given you permission to do so. Rather, you are focused on the task that you have been assigned.

(4). A Christian employee should be genuine, not hypocritical.

Paul says (6:6), “not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers.” In other words, you don’t just work hard when your boss is looking, in order to get his approval, and then slack off when he’s not around. A man-pleaser worries about what people think, but he’s not concerned with what God thinks. He tries to make a good impression, so that he can get a raise or promotion, but his heart is not in the work. He is manipulative for his own gain, but not sincerely concerned about pleasing his boss as a testimony for Christ.

(5). A Christian employee should enthusiastically serve Christ from the heart on the job.

As I said, in the Greek text, Paul says to obey from the heart (6:5), from the soul (6:6, NASB, “heart”), and from the mind (6:7, NASB, “good will”). This implies having an enthusiastic, positive, cheerful spirit on the job. It’s easy to fall in with other employees that complain about the boss or the low pay or the poor working conditions or the lousy benefits. The list goes on and on!

But remember, the slaves to whom Paul was writing didn’t have any rights, any benefits, any time off, or any pay beyond board and room! If they goofed up, they could be beaten or worse! If they did well, there were no raises or promotions. And yet Paul tells them to be obedient in the sincerity of their hearts, doing the will of God from the soul, and rendering service with good will, which has the nuance of zeal, eagerness, and wholeheartedness (O’Brien, p. 452). Why? Because they were doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ, not for their earthly masters. Christians should be the best employees on the job!

B. Your relationship with Christ should make you the best employer on the job.

Paul lists two things for the Christian master or employer:

(1). A Christian employer should treat his employees as he would wish to be treated.

Paul’s word to Christian masters would have been shocking in those times, when the laws and the culture were slanted completely towards the masters, even to the point of brutality and death for the slaves (O’Brien, p. 454). When Paul says, “do the same things,” he does not mean that the masters were to serve their slaves. Rather, as Charles Hodge explains (Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians [Eerdmans], p. 368), “Masters are to act towards their slaves with the same regard to the will of God, with the same recognition of the authority of Christ, with the same sincerity and good feeling which had been enjoined on the slaves themselves.”

In other words, Christian employers should treat their employees as the employer would want to be treated if he were an employee. He should be fair, reasonable, and understanding. He should not play favorites, because his Master in heaven does not show partiality (6:9).

(2). A Christian employer should give up threatening.

This also would have been a shocking command in that day! Paul is not saying that a master could not give a proper warning to a disobedient or lazy slave. Rather, he means that he is to treat him with respect, not demeaning him or threatening him with terrifying punishment. During the same time that Paul wrote Ephesians from prison, he had met and led to Christ a runaway slave named Onesimus. Runaway slaves were usually executed or at least punished so severely that it served as a lesson to other slaves not to try the same thing. But Paul wrote to Philemon, the Christian slave owner, telling him that he should now treat Onesimus as a beloved brother in Christ. This was radical stuff that went against the culture of the day! But that’s how Christian employers should treat their employees, knowing that they both have the same Lord in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him (6:9).

Conclusion

On February 22, 1899, Elbert Hubbard, an editor of a small magazine, needed some filler for the next issue. He sat down after dinner and in an hour banged out an article that was run without a title. He didn’t think much more about it. But a few weeks later, requests began to come in for that issue of the magazine: a dozen, fifty, a hundred, and then a thousand copies were requested. The editor was puzzled over the interest. He asked a helper, who told him it was the title-less article.

Then an order came for 100,000 copies from the president of a large railroad company. The editor replied that it would take him at least two years to fill that order. The railroad president asked for and received permission to print it himself. He distributed at least a million and a half copies. Then a Russian railroad executive touring the U.S. saw it. When he got home he had it translated into Russian and gave a copy to every railroad employee in Russia.

It spread into Germany, France, Spain, Turkey, India, and China. During the war between Russia and Japan, every Russian soldier was given a copy of this article. The Japanese, finding the booklets in possession of the Russian prisoners, concluded it must be a good thing, and translated it into Japanese. A copy was given to every man working for the Japanese Government. In all, it was translated into 37 languages and sold over 40 million copies, becoming one of the best selling items ever printed.

Why was there such a demand for this article? It later gained the title, “A Message to Garcia.” It was about an incident in the Spanish-American War. President McKinley wanted a message delivered personally to General Garcia in the interior of Cuba. An American officer, Lieutenant Rowan, had simply received his orders, taken the message, and without complaint, without procrastination, and without fanfare, in spite of great difficulty and danger, delivered the message to Garcia. The article extolled the faithfulness of this man who simply took the initiative and did his job well. The demand for the article stemmed from the fact that there is such a lack of diligent, faithful employees who do what they are supposed to do—who take the message to Garcia. Good help really is hard to find!

That’s where your opportunity as a Christian employee or employer comes in. Your relationship to Christ and the fact that you live primarily for heaven should transform your relationships and performance at work. You should be the best employee or employer on the job. While you reserve verbal witness for breaks or after work, your attitude and performance testify to your Savior. Your attitudes and work ethic may be the only Bible that your fellow workers ever read. Let it point them to the Savior! Even if you are never rewarded in this life, your Master in heaven will reward you throughout eternity.

Application Questions

1. Why must your relationship with Christ be the primary foundation for how you relate at work? Give practical examples of how this works.
2. Where is the biblical balance between having your focus on heaven and yet providing for necessities on earth? Do savings accounts, investments, etc. violate the heavenly focus?
3. When is it right and when is it wrong to seek to better yourself financially through a job change? Give biblical support.
4. To what extent should rewards in heaven motivate us? Is this motivation selfish? Why/why not?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2008, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

In January, 1975, three days after Marla and I moved into our new apartment in Dallas where I was attending seminary, we were walking from our carport to the door of our apartment when I heard a voice and felt a hand from behind come around my forehead. I spun around to see something right in front of my eyes. I instinctively grabbed it and pushed it away from my face. As I did I realized that I was holding the barrel of a revolver.

It’s amazing how many thoughts flash through your mind in a situation like that. I wondered what I would do if the second man standing there grabbed Marla. I thought about where the bullet would ricochet if the gunman pulled the trigger. I wondered if the barrel would be too hot to hold if he fired the gun. After a brief struggle, he yanked the gun from my hand and the two men ran off into the night, leaving me with a wound from the gun-sight that required four stitches to repair.

That incident affected the way that we lived for the next two years that we were there. Not once after that did I drive into that carport without looking around very carefully to make sure that no strange men were standing around. I never stood outside after dark to chat with anyone. There were single women who would stand out by the laundry room after dark, talking. I would not let Marla go down there alone. Those women were oblivious to any potential danger, but we knew what could happen. Even now, over 30 years later, I always look around for suspicious looking characters when I’m out after dark.

Many Christians go through life like those women by the laundry room, unaware that there is an evil enemy on the prowl, waiting to engage them in hand-to-hand combat. Because they are not thinking about being attacked, they don’t bother to put on God’s armor. They are not ready for combat. They dally with sin as if it were harmless. They’re friendly with the world and its many temptations. As a result, they are caught off guard, fall into serious sin, and their testimony for Jesus Christ is destroyed.

Let’s be honest: most of us don’t like to fight. Our inclination is to run from conflict rather than to fight. We all like peace. But the Bible is very clear that the Christian life, both individually and corporately, is a life of mortal combat with the spiritual forces of wickedness. Because this enemy never quits his attacks, Christians must learn to be fighters. To be unprepared against such an evil enemy or to run from the fight is to insure defeat. In our text, Paul explains why Christians must be fighters:

Christians must be fighters because we struggle against the evil spiritual forces of darkness.

1. Satan and his forces are real, evil, and powerful (6:12).

In military strategy, it is fatal to underestimate the strength of the enemy. To shrug off an enemy as a pushover when he is armed, organized, experienced, and dangerous, is to invite defeat. As I said, I have seen believers that disregard the reality and power of the enemy. We dare not do that!

But I’ve also seen some that give Satan too much credit. They view him as being almost as strong as God is. It’s as if God is desperately trying to get the upper hand, but He hasn’t quite succeeded. And they blame Satan for everything, from car problems to anger problems. So they’re always casting out the demon of this or that. When they yield to their own sinful desires, they blame it on the devil. We need to avoid this error as well.

William Gurnall (The Christian in Complete Armour [Banner of Truth], 1:112) observes that there is a great difference between how God and Satan deal with their followers. God reveals to His followers the strength of the enemy, but Satan does not dare to reveal to his followers the strength of God, or they would mutiny. So we need to look at what God tells us about the strength of the enemy.

A. These spiritual forces of wickedness are real.

Nothing delights Satan more than when people do not believe in him or take him seriously. Years ago the liberal theologian Rudolf Bultmann dogmatically stated, “it is impossible to use electric light and the wireless, and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of demons and spirits” (cited by John Stott, The Cross of Christ [IVP], p. 23). In 1980, a Christianity Today poll showed that only 52 percent of Baptists, 24 percent of Methodists, and 34 percent of Lutherans believed that the devil is a personal being. Among the clergy, 18 percent of the Methodists denied the existence of the devil altogether, while an additional 36 percent regarded him as an impersonal force. Only 34 percent of the general public believed in a personal devil (Christianity Today, April 18, 1980, p. 31). Such views make Satan’s work easy for him!

But Satan and the demons are not just an impersonal force of evil in the world. The devil is not just a figure of speech or the figment of the primitive, minds of the biblical authors. Rather, he is a real spirit-being. He is a created angelic being who rebelled against God and led a number of angelic hosts in his rebellion. Jesus referred to him as the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30). Paul called him “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air, … the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).

When Paul states (Eph. 6:12) that these evil forces are not “flesh and blood” and that they dwell “in heavenly places,” he means that they are not earthly creatures with physical bodies, but rather spirit-beings that are invisible to us. We do not know whether they can temporarily take on a human form of their own, as the righteous angels do, but it would seem reasonable to assume that they can. Some argue that demons in human form cohabited with women prior to the flood (Gen. 6:1-4), but I find that view to be unconvincing. Demons can take possession of human personalities and bodies, creating disease and bizarre behavior, as many instances in the Gospels and the Book of Acts show. Their normal mode of operation is to work through unbelievers and through human religions, governments, cultures, media, and philosophies to further Satan’s opposition to God. But the main point here is that they are real spirit-beings, not just an impersonal evil influence.

B. These spiritual forces of wickedness are terribly evil.

The name Satan means adversary. Devil means accuser or slanderer. He is also called Abaddon and Apollyon, which mean “Destroyer” in Hebrew and Greek (Rev. 9:11). The name Beelzebul (Matt. 12:24) may mean “lord of the flies,” or “lord of the idol sacrifice,” where the Hebrew word for “idol sacrifice” is similar to their word for “dung” (H. Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology [Zondervan], ed. by Colin Brown, 3:469). Satan appears as the serpent that tempted Eve and caused the fall of the human race into sin (Gen. 3:1-7). Jesus said that Satan is a murderer, a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He deceives the whole world, accuses believers before God’s throne, and persecutes them relentlessly (Rev. 12:9-10, 13).

In short, Satan and the fallen angels are evil to the core. Contrary to some TV programs where nice witches have supernatural power to do good, all satanic and demonic activity is wicked. Christians should never dabble in anything satanic or occult, including Ouija boards, seances, fortune telling, or astrology.

C. These spiritual forces of wickedness are powerful.

Satan and the demons are very powerful, although God limits their power. Contrary to what many think, the devil is neither omnipresent nor omniscient. He can only be in one place at a time and he does not know everything about us. But he has a large force of evil spirits to carry out his strategies worldwide and they are very experienced and intelligent. We should not trifle with Satan or think that in ourselves we are any match for him. Our text reveals at least five ways that Satan and his forces are powerful:

(1). They are spiritual forces, not physical beings.

We’ve already seen this in identifying the reality of these forces, but here the point is that we are fighting an enemy that we cannot see with our eyes. There is a sense in which we do wrestle against flesh and blood, in that sinful people can tempt us and oppose us. Even professing Christians can tempt us to sin or lead us into false teaching. And we all struggle against our own flesh, which dwells in this body of sin (Rom. 7:14-25). But our ultimate enemy, the one behind the scenes, is invisible to human sight and therefore all the more dangerous and powerful.

(2). They are scheming and deceptive.

Jesus called the devil a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Paul says that he disguises himself as an angel of light and that his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15). One of the main ways that he works is through false teaching that appeals to the flesh and to human pride (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 2:18-27; 4:1-6; cf. 2 Tim. 4:3-4). Pride was probably Satan’s original sin (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:17). God hates pride, because it takes away from His glory (Prov. 6:16-17; 1 Pet. 5:5).

Every false religion and cult promotes a way of salvation that allows sinful people to take some or all of the credit, thus feeding human pride. A test of sound doctrine is, does it teach salvation by grace alone through Christ alone by faith alone, so that all the glory goes to God? If it adds works to faith or teaches that faith comes from man, not from God, it feeds pride. Satan is the deceiving force behind all of these false ways of salvation.

Satan also uses deception when he tempts us to sin. He always portrays sin as attractive and fulfilling. He convinces us that a particular sin will meet needs that God has not met. Are you single and desiring a mate? Have you prayed, but God has not answered? Satan comes along and says, “Here is an attractive young man [or woman] for you!” You ask, “Is he [she] a committed believer in Jesus Christ?” “No, but look at how nice he is. He treats you well! You know supposedly Christian men that abuse their wives, so being a Christian is no guarantee of getting a loving mate. Besides, you aren’t committing to marry him. Just go out with him and see how it goes.” And so the unsuspecting get lured into premarital sex and marriage to a nice unbeliever!

Satan uses the same deceptive tactics to lure married believers into adultery. You’re having problems in your marriage. Along comes the most understanding, sympathetic, and attractive person! Whereas your husband never listens to you, this man always listens. Whereas your wife never responds to you sexually, this gorgeous woman is ready and willing! Be forewarned! The devil is powerful because he is a deceptive schemer.

(3). They are strong.

Paul emphasizes the spiritual authority of these foes. He calls them “rulers,” “powers,” “world forces of this darkness,” and “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” His repetition of the word “against” in each case underscores the complete incompatibility and the entrenched opposition between these evil powers and God’s people.

The spiritual authority of these demonic powers is indicated in an incident in the life of the prophet Daniel. He had been praying and fasting for three weeks when an angel appeared to him. He describes him (Dan. 10:5-6) as a man “dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.” When Daniel saw him, all his strength left him and his complexion took on a deathly pallor. He could not stop trembling. The angel went on to explain that he had come in response to Daniel’s prayer. He would have arrived sooner, but “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” had withstood him for three weeks. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, had come to his aid (Dan. 10:7-13).

This story gives us a brief glimpse into the unseen world of the angelic conflict. Apparently certain demons have authority over entire nations or kingdoms. They are so powerful that even this impressive angel could not break through until he received help from Michael, the archangel (Jude 9)! There is no warrant here for praying against territorial spirits, as some charismatic brethren encourage us to do. But it does show us that these demons have impressive power.

The story of Job also shows that Satan has the power to instigate murderous terrorist attacks (Job 1:13-15, 17); to send lightning to hit specific targets (Job 1:16); to send a tornado force wind on a particular house (Job 1:18-19); and, to strike a man with painful boils all over his body (Job 2:7). He could have killed Job if God had so permitted (Job 2:6). You don’t want to mess with this powerful enemy or underestimate his strength!

Why would God give such authority and strength to such a hideous enemy? We cannot know more than Scripture reveals, but we can know that Satan cannot do anything that is outside of God’s eternal purpose in Christ (Eph. 1:11). God will be more glorified in the ultimate overthrow of Satan and the demons than if He had never allowed them to rebel in the first place.

The Bible clearly shows that God uses satanic forces to accomplish His holy and sovereign purposes, and yet He is not tainted by their evil ways and He will ultimately judge both the demons and sinful people for their sinful choices (1 Kings 22:19-23; 2 Sam. 12:11-12; see John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 18 for many more examples). The most evil deed in history, the crucifixion of the sinless Son of God, was carried out through Satan’s influence on evil men, and yet it accomplished the predetermined purpose of God (John 13:27; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28)! God even uses Satan at times to chasten God’s servants (Luke 22:31-32; 2 Cor. 12:7). So, Satan is strong, but God is stronger!

(4). They are systematized.

The terms used in verse 12 cannot be arranged in any definite rank or order, but they do seem to indicate an organized spiritual hierarchy of some sort. We know that Satan is the prince of the power of the air and that certain demons have jurisdiction over specific earthly kingdoms (Dan. 10:13). A disorganized army is not a strong army. So Satan and his forces are organized against the Lord and His church. They are a force to be reckoned with!

(5). They are often successful.

True, Satan was defeated once and for all at the cross (Col. 2:15). Satan is no match for God (1 John 4:4). In Christ, we have God’s mighty power at work in us, power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in the heavens, far above all spiritual authorities (Eph. 1:19-23).

And yet, Satan does have temporary successes in the battle. Pastors and missionaries fall into serious sin that disqualifies them from the ministry. Churches split into factions over minor doctrinal or personal controversies. Christian marriages end in divorce. Christian young people get seduced by the world, the flesh, and the devil, leading them astray from the truth. False teachers lure professing Christians into all sorts of errors. The list goes on!

So while Satan is a defeated foe, he is not a weak foe! The application is, Don’t trifle with Satan! Don’t play around with sin and think that you will come away unscathed. Don’t see how much like the world you can be without compromising your testimony. Distance yourself from the adversary. Respect his frightening power. You cannot defeat him if you flirt with evil. The only way you can defeat him is through sustained conflict.

2. Fight by taking up the full armor of God, so that you can resist and stand firm in the evil day (6:13).

Verse 13 repeats much of verses 10 & 11 to drive the point home: “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” As I pointed out last week, it is God’s armor and God’s strength, but we are commanded actively to take it up and put it on. Two observations:

A. Evil days will come to us all.

By “the evil day,” Paul is not just referring to the fact that we live in an evil world that will go on being evil until Jesus returns. That is true, but Paul is referring to the fact that both corporately and individually we will face times of spiritual attack that are unusually intense. The word “struggle” (6:12) refers to a wrestling match, or a one-on-one contest of strength and endurance. Sometimes the entire church comes into an evil day, such as the current persecution against Christians in India or the attacks on believers in Muslim countries or under Communist regimes.

But also, as individual Christians we face times of unusual attack. Perhaps your marriage is going through a difficult time and suddenly a very attractive and seductive coworker comes on the scene. It’s not a coincidence! It’s an attack of the enemy! Or, your family is in financial need when an opportunity to make some illegal easy money is dropped in your lap. Or, you’re struggling with depression when one of your friends tells you that he has some illegal drugs that will make you forget your troubles. This is “the evil day,” or what John Owen (in his great treatise on “Sin and Temptation”) referred to as “entering into temptation.”

By including himself (“our struggle”), Paul shows that he was not exempt from these battles. True, his struggles may have been different than ours, but the most godly saints face these encounters with the forces of darkness. You must know your own weaknesses and propensity toward sin so that you will be on guard when the enemy engages you in battle. If you think that you’re immune, you are especially vulnerable (1 Cor. 10:12)!

B. Adequate preparation is a major part of victory.

Proverbs 24:10 states, “If you are slack in the day of distress, your strength is limited.” In Proverbs 1:20-33, wisdom mocks the guy who waited until calamity hit to seek her. Here, Paul tells us to take up God’s full armor so that we will be able to resist when the evil day hits, as surely it will. Then, being prepared, you will be able to stand firm.

You do not need to learn any formulas or complicated steps to victory over the devil (as some books promote). The Bible is quite simple (James 4:7): “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Or (1 Pet. 5:8-9a): “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith….” By the way, we’re commanded to flee from sin, but to resist the devil (1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22).

As Jesus showed us when He was tempted by Satan, one of the most effective ways to resist is to know and recite Scripture. And so one way to prepare yourself for battle in the evil day is to saturate your mind with God’s Word, reading it over and over and memorizing key verses to equip you for victory.

Conclusion

When the apostle Paul got to the end of his life, in spite of all of his achievements, he summed it up by saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). He fought, he prevailed, and he stood firm to the end.

Fighting in hand-to-hand combat against these hideous forces of darkness may not be your idea of a good time! But it is an inescapable part of the Christian life. Because this powerful, wicked enemy seeks to destroy us, we must fight by taking up God’s full armor so that we can resist and stand firm in the evil day.

Application Questions

1. How can we know whether an attack stems from Satan or from our sinful flesh? Does it make any practical difference?
2. Should Christians fear the devil? How, or how not?
3. How would you counsel a believer who was in “an evil day”? What steps should he take?
4. What practical things (positive and negative) can a believer do to be prepared for the “evil day”?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2008, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Last week, Marla and I hiked the beautiful West Fork trail down in Oak Creek Canyon. It is spectacular with the fall red, orange, and yellow maple trees. When you get about three miles in, the trail comes to a place where there are cliffs on both sides of the creek. You can’t go any farther unless you wade in the stream. I had left my sandals in the car, so I tried taking off my hiking boots and walking barefoot in the stream. The combination of the freezing water and the rocks on the bottom prevented me from going more than a few excruciatingly painful steps. Marla had brought her sandals and would have been able to go much farther.

Proper footwear can make a huge difference, whether you’re hiking or playing a sport or fighting in a war. In Paul’s day, soldiers did not have land mines. Instead, they put sharpened spikes just beneath the surface of the ground, camouflaged with leaves or soft dirt around them. An advancing soldier needed sturdy boots to stop the spikes from penetrating or he would suffer a debilitating injury. He could be outfitted in the most invincible armor from his head down to his ankles, but it wouldn’t do him a bit of good if he couldn’t walk. When your feet hurt badly, you can’t even stand up, much less fight or march. So it was essential for soldiers to wear rugged boots designed for battle.

Roman soldiers wore boots that had small nails protruding from the bottom to give them firm footing in combat. In the context here, Paul is emphasizing standing firm against the attacks of the enemy (6:11, 13, 14). Some commentators argue that the preparation to which Paul refers is the readiness to proclaim the gospel to the lost. They argue that Paul is referring to Isaiah 52:7, which refers to the feet of one preaching good news of peace.

While there is no question that every believer should be always ready to share the gospel (1 Pet. 3:15; Col. 4:5-6), the context in Ephesians 6:15 is about standing firm and defending the faith against the attacks of the enemy. The Greek word translated “preparation” can also refer to a prepared foundation or base (it is used this way in Ps. 89:14 [88:14 in the LXX]). Paul’s emphasis contextually is not evangelizing the lost, but defending the church and oneself against the attacks of Satan. He is saying,

To stand firm against the enemy, be prepared by putting on the boots of the gospel of peace.

There is deliberate irony, in that the gospel of peace enables us to wage war successfully. The gospel of peace is our firm footing in the battle against Satan. Let’s see how that applies to us.

1. To be prepared with the boots of the gospel of peace, we must clearly understand the gospel so that we can defend it against attack.

There is one sense in which the gospel is easy to understand. Little children can grasp it. Illiterate primitive people can get it. In fact (as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31), it is often those who are wise in this world that scoff at the gospel, whereas God reveals it to the simple, so that no one may boast before Him.

The good news (that’s what gospel means) is that although we all have sinned against God and deserve His eternal judgment, because of His great love and mercy He sent His own Son to bear the penalty that we deserve. We receive God’s gift of salvation by faith alone, apart from any merit or good works on our part. John 3:16 is one of the simplest and most beloved verses explaining the gospel: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Or, as Paul said to the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:31), “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved….”

So, we’re ready to move on to the next point, right? Well, not so fast! For one thing, while the gospel is simple on one level, on another level, it is deep and profound. It is like the ocean, where a toddler can play on its shore, but great whales cannot plumb its depths. Over the years, I have come to appreciate that preaching the gospel well is not a simple matter! Neither Jesus nor the apostles ever used a simple, formulaic method. They never used the same approach twice. And so there are ever-deepening levels for us to come to in our understanding of the gospel.

Also, Satan hates the gospel and is always attacking it from various angles. We see this repeatedly within the pages of the New Testament, where false teachers quickly perverted the essentials of the gospel. Paul wrote Galatians to defend the gospel against those that claimed to believe it, but they added the Jewish rite of circumcision to faith as necessary for salvation. Paul rails against them in the strongest possible language (Gal. 1:6-9). Even Peter and Barnabas for a short while had compromised the gospel by currying the favor of these false teachers, until Paul confronted them (Gal. 2:11-14). The apostle John wrote much of his first epistle to warn his readers against those who were trying to deceive them (1 John 2:26). So to defend the gospel message against attack, we must be crystal clear in our understanding of it.

As you may know, John MacArthur is often viewed among evangelicals as something of a controversialist. But I have a hunch that the apostle Paul would also be viewed in that way if he were alive today. I have heard John say that he does not enjoy controversy, but he is committed to defending the truth of the gospel. I also have heard him say that at the beginning of his ministry over 40 years ago, he never expected that he would spend so much time defending the gospel from attacks by professing Christians. Yet that is what he has done. Let me share four errors that MacArthur has defended the gospel against, so that you can see how it is constantly under attack.

A. The gospel is under attack from the radical non-lordship salvation heresy.

One of MacArthur’s earliest polemic books was The Gospel According to Jesus [Zondervan, 1988]. He wrote it to counter the serious errors of one of my seminary professors, Zane Hodges (whose book is deceptively titled, The Gospel Under Siege [Redencion Viva, 1981]). Hodges also wrote, Absolutely Free [Zondervan, 1989]. MacArthur countered that book with, Faith Works [Word, 1993].

At the heart of the controversy is the nature of saving faith. Is it possible to believe in Jesus for salvation without at the same time submitting to Him as Lord? Hodges argues that if you say that a person must submit to Jesus as Lord, you are adding works to faith, thus perverting the gospel. But MacArthur correctly points out that Jesus warned of many who would claim to believe in Him, but they are not genuinely saved (Matt. 7:21-23). As James and First John clearly emphasize, saving faith necessarily leads to a life of obedience to Christ. Those who claim to believe in Jesus but do not obey Him are deceived (1 John 3:4-10).

B. The gospel is under attack from “Christian” psychology, which denies the sufficiency of Christ and the gospel.

MacArthur wrote Our Sufficiency in Christ [Word, 1991] to counter the error of “Christian” psychology and some other errors that undermine the gospel. This popular movement that has flooded into the church claims that while you must believe in Christ for salvation, in order to deal with your psychological and relational problems, you need the insights of psychology. So the gospel is nice “spiritual truth,” that is fine for your devotional life, but it doesn’t really have much to say to the real life problems that you face. To deal with these problems, you need more than Christ, more than the Holy Spirit, and more than the Bible. You need a professional therapist.

But that view assaults the transforming power of the gospel. It subtly, but surely, attacks the person and work of Christ. Did His substitutionary death and bodily resurrection end the tyranny of sin in the lives of believers or not? Is the gospel promise of new life in Christ just a nice, but useless, platitude or does it really give us a new heart, new desires, and the power to overcome sin? Does the indwelling Holy Spirit produce His fruit in us, or do we need psychotherapy to help Him out?

C. The gospel is under attack from the “seeker church” movement.

MacArthur wrote Ashamed of the Gospel [Crossway Books, 1993] to show how the seeker church movement has softened the offense of the cross to make the gospel more palatable and user-friendly. The seeker movement has applied American marketing principles to the church. They have asked potential “customers,” “What would it take to get you to come to church?” The customers answered, “We’d like an upbeat, short service that relates to our felt needs. Tell us how to succeed in our families and at work. Tell us how to cope with our problems. Give us contemporary music that makes us feel good (keep it light on content!). Throw in some entertaining drama to keep the program moving. Keep the sermon short and humorous. By all means, get rid of that hellfire and damnation stuff! That’s depressing!”

So, the church marketing folks went back to the drawing board and designed a church around these felt needs. Throw in a Starbucks Coffee bar, a workout room to keep those bodies in shape, some great multi-media effects, and you’ve got a program that the seekers will flock to. But in the process, the gospel gets changed into some variation of, “Try Jesus, He’ll help you with your problems.” But that’s not the gospel! It’s really another form of idolatry, where you “use” your “Jesus idol” to get what you want out of life.

D. The gospel is under attack from the postmodern views of the emerging church.

MacArthur wrote The Truth War [Thomas Nelson, 2007] to counter the postmodern attack on the gospel that has come in through the emerging church movement (in it, he also hits many of the previously mentioned errors). Buying into the view that truth is relative and ultimately unknowable in any certain way, the emerging church has also attacked the atonement of Christ. It proclaims a tolerant, all-inclusive universalism that does not confront sinners with their need to repent and believe the gospel.

If I had time, I could deal with other modern attacks on the gospel. The “new perspective on Paul” undermines justification by faith alone, which is at the heart of the gospel. “Open theism” attacks God’s sovereignty and omniscience. Some in the charismatic movement preach a false gospel that promises health and wealth to everyone. The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church lure frustrated evangelicals through a message of salvation by ritualism and good works. The cults all have a works-based offer of salvation. Native religion and eastern religions promise salvation through mysticism and works. The list goes on and on!

The point is, if we are going to be prepared for battle by being shod with the gospel of peace, we need to understand the gospel clearly so that we can spot Satan’s relentless, but often subtle attacks and defend the gospel against these soul-destroying errors.

2. To be prepared with the boots of the gospel of peace, we must have appropriated that message personally.

F. F. Bruce (The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians [Eerdmans], p. 408) wrote, “Those who must at all costs stand their ground need to have a secure footing; in the spiritual conflict, this is supplied by the gospel, appropriated and proclaimed.” Note three things about appropriating the gospel:

A. Appropriating the gospel personally begins with repentance from sin and faith in Christ alone for salvation.

In order to appropriate the good news about Jesus Christ, you must also accept the bad news about your sin. The Bible confronts and indicts us all with the plain truth (Rom. 3:23), “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Further (Rom. 6:23a), “For the wages of sin is death….” If you take sin and judgment out of the gospel in order to make the message more acceptable to modern thinking, you just took away the need for a Savior. Christ did not die to save us from poor self-esteem! He does not save us from a bad marriage to a good marriage! He does not save us from financial failure to success. Christ died to save us from sin and God’s eternal judgment, which we deserve because we have sinned.

To appropriate the gospel, we must repent of sin and believe in Jesus Christ. Mark (1:15) summarizes Jesus’ preaching of the gospel, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The message is about God’s being the King, the Lord over all. The required response is, “Repent!” Turn from your sins to God. Rather than running your own life, submit to the King. And, “believe the gospel.” The good news is (as the angels summarize it in the announcement of Jesus’ birth, Luke 2:11), “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” God sent a Savior to rescue you from sin and judgment. You must believe in this Savior and submit to Him because He is the Lord.

So the crucial question is, “Have you repented of your sins and believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Have you trusted in His death as the payment for your sins? Have you submitted to Him as the Lord of your life?” If not, your god is the god of this world, Satan. You can’t put on the boots of the gospel of peace until you’ve appropriated the gospel personally.

B. Appropriating the gospel personally continues with preaching the gospel often to your own soul.

Someone recently gave me a helpful little booklet by Pastor Milton Vincent, “A Gospel Primer” (self-published). He credits Jerry Bridges’ book, The Discipline of Grace [NavPress, 1994] with challenging him to preach the gospel to himself every day. Vincent writes (p. 7), “God did not give us His gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. Actually, He offers it to us every day as a gift that keeps on giving to us everything we need for life and godliness.” He adds (p. 8), “Over the course of time, preaching the gospel to myself every day has made more of a difference in my life than any other discipline I have ever practiced.” I can’t give you all of the benefits that he lists, but here are three:

(1). Preaching the gospel to your own soul increases your love for God, for others, and for the lost.

These three loves represent the two greatest commandments and the Great Commission. The gospel focuses us on God’s great love for us and of the infinite price that He paid to redeem us from our sins. Paul exults (Eph. 2:4-5), “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Meditating often on what God did for us in the gospel will fill our hearts with love for Him.

The gospel also increases our love for others. Many verses could be cited, but note Ephesians 5:1-2, “Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us….”

And, the gospel increases our love for those who need to know Christ. After Paul goes through the gospel in Romans 3-8, reaching the crescendo of God’s unfailing love that enables us to endure all trials (Rom. 8:35-39), Paul’s next words tell of his great sorrow and unceasing grief because his fellow Jews are not, for the most part, saved (Rom. 9:1-3). Rehearsing the gospel to your own soul burdens you with the condition of those who need to hear about Jesus Christ.

(2). Preaching the gospel to your own soul humbles your pride.

Pride is at the root of every sin. Pride leads me to think that I know better than God does what is good for me. Pride leads me to be selfish and disregard the feelings of others. Pastor Vincent writes (p. 32), “Nothing suffocates my pride more than daily reminders regarding the glory of my God, the gravity of my sins, and the crucifixion of God’s own Son in my place.” That is Paul’s point after explaining that the gospel is totally from God, who chose us in spite of our foolishness and weakness (in 1 Cor. 1:26-28), “so that no man may boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:29).

(3). Preaching the gospel to your own soul causes you to glorify God in all things, including your trials.

As we saw in Ephesians 1, the fact that God chose us before the foundation of the world and saved us through Christ’s blood is all “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:6; see also, 1:12, 1:14). Also, as Paul shows repeatedly, reveling in the gospel of God’s grace towards us while we were yet sinners causes us to rejoice even in our trials, knowing that He is using them to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom. 5:1-8; 8:28-39).

Far more could be said, but the point is: appropriate the gospel personally by preaching it to your own soul often.

C. Appropriating the gospel personally brings the peace of Christ practically into your daily life.

Paul tells us to stand firm by putting on the boots of “the gospel of peace.” We saw in Ephesians 2 the two-fold peace which the gospel brings to us.

First, it brings us peace with God. Formerly, we were alienated from God because of our sins, separate from Christ, “having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12). But as Paul goes on to say, the cross of Christ preached peace to us and reconciled us to God, so that now we have access to Him. You cannot fight the evil one unless you have God’s peace in your heart because you are reconciled to Him through the blood of Christ.

Second, the gospel brings us peace with one another. As Ephesians 2 shows, Christ Himself is our peace (2:14). He brought together into one the formerly hostile Jews and Gentiles, reconciling “them both in one body to God through the cross” (2:16). The battle against Satan is not just individual; it also is corporate. He is trying to destroy the church and one way he does it is by creating division and strife over personality clashes or over non-essential doctrinal fights.

Be alert to Satan’s schemes here! He often gets a church fighting over non-essentials. Then some in the church react to the sinful fighting by saying, “We shouldn’t fight at all!” So the church ends up tolerating those who promote destructive heresies regarding the gospel. Paul has emphasized the need for tolerance with one another on the non-essentials (4:1-3). But he also has warned about the dangers of destructive false doctrines (4:13-16). We should be at peace with all that love the true gospel. We are at war with those that pervert the gospel.

Conclusion

C. H. Spurgeon wrote (The New Park Street Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 5:41),

The Church of Christ is continually presented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel. Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this? It is in the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

Do you have your boots on? Without them you are not prepared to stand firm against the enemy of the gospel. Be prepared with the boots of the gospel of peace by understanding the gospel message so that you can defend it against error. Appropriate the gospel of peace personally and preach it often to your own soul, as well as to those who are lost. In so doing, you will enjoy God’s peace in your soul.

Application Questions

1. How can we know when an error is serious enough to fight against or when just to ignore it?
2. Which of the errors on the gospel have you most frequently encountered? How should you respond to people espousing these errors?
3. If someone claims that to insist on submitting to Jesus as Lord is “works salvation,” how would you refute this?
4. Is it wrong to use felt needs as the appeal to come to Christ? For example, “He will give you a happy marriage.” Cite biblical examples.

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2008, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

I don’t remember where it was, but I was about to go down a stairway that had a low entrance. Above it was a sign that read, “Mind Thy Head!” It meant, “Look out or you will hit your head!”

As I ride my bike around town and notice other bike riders, I’m amazed at how many people ride bicycles in city traffic, but they’re not wearing helmets to protect their heads. I once read an article about a medical doctor who went for a short bike ride around her neighborhood, without a helmet. I don’t remember whether a car hit her or she hit a curb or what, but she was thrown from her bike and suffered a serious head injury. She had to give up her medical practice because of that injury, which could have been prevented if she had been wearing a helmet. Mind thy head!

I’m also amazed at how many Christians do not mind their heads. They swim in the currents of worldly ideas and entertainment without developing a Christian mind. They’re oblivious to the godless philosophic assumptions that underlie worldly thinking. They buy into the postmodern idea that there is no such thing as knowable, absolute truth in the spiritual or moral realms. These careless Christians ignore, or sometimes even ridicule, the need for sound doctrine. They want experience, not doctrine. They want good feelings, not careful thinking. Because they do not mind their heads, they are not transformed by the renewing of their minds. Rather, they are conformed to this evil world (Rom. 12:1-2). God gives us the helmet of salvation so that we will mind our heads:

To stand firm against the enemy, take the helmet of salvation.

Just before going into battle, the Roman soldier would put on a helmet, either made of bronze or of leather with pieces of metal covering it. It also had cheek pieces to protect part of his face. Paul here draws on Isaiah 59:17, where it says of the Lord as the righteous Judge and Warrior, “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.” Isaiah was picturing God going forth into battle to bring deliverance to His people by judging their enemies. But in Ephesians, Paul pictures believers putting on the helmet of salvation to protect themselves in the conflict with the enemy. The genitive is one of apposition, meaning, “the helmet, which is salvation.”

1. The helmet protects your head from the enemy’s attacks.

Your head is a very important part of your body, because it contains your brain, which controls everything.

A. Your head determines how you think about all of life.

How you think in large part determines how you feel and how you act. As Jonathan Edwards said, “The ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern them” (source unknown). For example, if you’re an angry person, it is (to put it bluntly) because you are thinking selfishly. You think, “I have my rights! I’m not going to let that person treat me that way! I want my way!” Angry people think that the world owes them something. How they think determines how they feel about life and how they act. In the worst cases, they injure or kill others to get what they want. But it all stems from their thinking (Mark 7:21).

How you think determines your worldview, which also affects how you feel and act. A person with a postmodern worldview does not believe in moral absolutes. They do not think anything is absolutely evil. They do not believe in judging the behavior of others as wrong. Maybe homosexuality is not their thing, but who are they to say that it is wrong? That would be intolerant and judgmental, which are the only absolutely wrong attitudes for a postmodernist! As I mentioned when I dealt with the belt of truth, many young people are even hesitant to say that the Holocaust was morally evil. They don’t like it, but they won’t come out and say that it was evil for Hitler to kill six million Jews!

Ideas create worldviews and worldviews shape the world. Marla and I just watched the movie, “Expelled,” which shows how the idea of Darwinian evolution (an untouchable dogma of the current educational establishment) was at the root of Hitler’s extermination of the Jews. It is also at the root of Planned Parenthood’s killing unwanted babies. The point is, your head determines how you think about all of life. To put on the helmet of salvation requires that you learn to think biblically about the predominant worldviews. You must develop a Christian mind, a saved mind.

B. Your head determines how you function in all of life.

If your brain is not working properly, it affects how other parts of your body work. A brain injury can affect motor skills or the ability to speak or think clearly. If a soldier got knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, he was probably doomed. He had to guard his head by having his helmet securely in place.

Spiritually, salvation determines how we live in this sinful world. We live as pilgrims who have been rescued from this present evil kingdom of Satan. We live in subjection to Jesus Christ as Lord and King. We view everything—values, money, entertainment, the arts, or politics—from the perspective of being saved people. Understanding the doctrine of salvation equips us to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Salvation is the foundational doctrine to understand cognitively and to know experientially. Putting on the helmet of salvation protects everything in your life.

C. Your head determines how you relate to others.

Once you put on the helmet of salvation, you realize that all people are in one of two (and only two) camps: either they are saved and going to heaven; or, they are lost and going to hell. If a person is not saved, then he cannot understand the things of God. They are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 1:18; 2:14). He is blind to much of his own sin. He is living for himself and his own futile goals. He has false views about death and eternity, thinking that if there is a heaven, he’s probably good enough to go there. But even if he is a relatively good person by worldly standards, in God’s sight he has a depraved mind (Rom. 1:28).

But because you have put on the helmet of salvation, you relate to people differently than you did before. You now love the people of God, whom you avoided before. You now view lost people with compassion and understanding, yearning that they would come to know God through Jesus Christ. You do not view lost people as the enemy, but as victims of the enemy. While you can no longer join with them in their course of sinful behavior (1 Pet. 4:3-4), you pray for their salvation and look for opportunities to talk with them about the Savior. Putting on the helmet of salvation means that you relate differently to the world.

So when Paul tells us to take the helmet of salvation, he is saying, “Don’t go into the world with your head unprotected. Mind thy head!” It determines how you think, how you function in all of life, and how you relate to people. As someone said, “Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny” (Frank Outlaw, in Readers’ Digest [date unknown]). The helmet protects your head. But, we need to think more about why it is called “the helmet of salvation.”

2. Salvation means that God has rescued you from the penalty of sin; He is rescuing you from the power of sin; and He will rescue you from the presence of sin.

Many commentators (including William Gurnall in his classic, The Christian in Complete Armor [Banner of Truth] and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier [Baker]), interpret our text in light of 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where Paul says to put on “as a helmet the hope of salvation.” They say that the emphasis in Ephesians 6:17 is on the future aspect of salvation, namely, our hope. But, it seems to me that if Paul wanted to emphasize that aspect here, he easily could have put in the word “hope,” as he does in 1 Thessalonians. Therefore, I think that he is emphasizing the entirety of salvation, past, present, and future, as taught throughout Scripture. Putting on the helmet of salvation means that you are to think about all of life from the perspective of God’s full salvation.

A. Salvation means that God has rescued you from the penalty of sin through faith in Christ’s death on the cross.

There are four things to note here:

(1). To understand salvation properly you must take the doctrine of the fall seriously.

Salvation is a radical word. It’s so commonplace today that we don’t think about what it really means. To be saved, you must be helplessly, hopelessly lost. To be saved means that God rescued you from a condition where you could do nothing to rescue yourself. You were dead in your transgressions (Eph. 2:1). Before God began to work in your life, you didn’t know that you were lost and you didn’t desire to be saved. You were not seeking God.

But when God began to work in your life, the Holy Spirit began to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He opened your eyes to see your true guilt before God. He showed you the impossible standard of perfect righteousness that God demands. He showed you that you were headed for judgment and sure condemnation before the holy Sovereign of the universe. In other words, you began to see your need for salvation.

I have used this illustration before, but it may help you to see what I’m talking about. Suppose you’re standing in line at the bank when I rush in, grab you by the arm, yank you out of line, and drag you out of the bank. You would probably be quite upset with me. You’d say, “What do you think you’re doing? You just made me lose my place in line. You tore my shirt. You hurt my arm. And you made me look stupid in front of all those people!”

But what if the bank had just been taken over by terrorists who threatened to kill one hostage every ten minutes if their demands were not met? Just when you felt desperate as you saw that you were doomed, with no way of escape, suddenly I rushed in, grabbed you, and saved you from those terrorists. You’d say, “Thank you so much for what you just did! I’ll be forever grateful for your kindness!”

To appreciate the helmet of salvation that God provides in Christ, you must take your fallen condition seriously. You must recognize that you are guilty and condemned, with no human way out of your sentence of execution.

(2). Receiving the helmet of s(alvation implies that salvation is God’s gift, not something we earn or merit.

The word take is literally, receive, accept, or welcome. It implies what we saw earlier in Ephesians, that salvation is God’s gift. Paul stated (2:5), “even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Grace means that salvation is an undeserved favor or gift. To make sure that we understand this vital truth, Paul repeats (2:8-9), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I want to make sure that you understand this vital truth, because it is probably the most commonly misunderstood aspect of salvation. If you are from a Roman Catholic background, you may not understand this truth, because the Catholic Church teaches that you must add your good works to God’s grace in order to merit salvation. Catholics go to mass and pray the rosary and do penance and other good deeds in the hope that someday they will have enough merit to get them into heaven. But they can never be sure that they have enough merit stored up. Tragically, they miss out on God’s salvation, which requires that you simply receive by faith the gift of what Christ did for you on the cross. But to receive it, you must let go of your good works as the basis for your acceptance with God and trust in Christ alone.

(3). To understand salvation properly, you must understand the reason for Christ’s death.

Some wonder, “Why did Jesus Christ have to die on the cross for my sins? When someone wrongs me, I just forgive him. Why couldn’t God just forgive me?”

The answer is, because God is perfectly holy and just, but you are not. God would compromise His perfect holiness and justice if He forgave sinners apart from the payment of the penalty His justice demands: “The wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23). If that penalty is not paid, God would be an unjust judge, letting the guilty go free without justice being met. Because of His great love, God sent His own Son to pay the penalty that you deserve. Christ’s shed blood satisfied God’s holy justice on behalf of all that receive the gift of salvation by faith alone. If you believe in Jesus Christ and His shed blood as the payment for your sins, you will not perish, but have eternal life. But there is one other implication of the fact that salvation is God’s rescuing you from the penalty of sin:

(4). The helmet of salvation implies that the Christian mind is a regenerated mind.

When God saves us, He makes us new creatures in Christ. We saw this in Ephesians 4:17-24, where Paul contrasts unbelievers with believers. Unbelievers “walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (4:17-18). But we have laid aside that old self (lit., man), and are being “renewed in the spirit of [our] mind” and have “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (4:23, 24). Salvation dramatically changes the way that we live, how we think, the values that we hold, and the motives behind our actions. Putting on the helmet of salvation involves reminding yourself daily of the dramatic changes that God brought about in your life when He rescued you from the penalty of sin through faith in Christ.

B. Salvation means that God is rescuing you from the power of sin through the resurrection life of Christ in you.

Paul explains this in Romans 5, 6, & 7, where he shows that believers are identified with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. Now that we are raised to newness of life in Him, sin no longer has dominion over us (Rom. 6:1-14). He writes (Rom. 6:11), “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The resurrection life of Christ, through His indwelling Holy Spirit, enables us to walk in newness of life, free from the power of sin. There are two implications of this:

(1). You should be growing in holiness and experiencing consistent victory over sin.

While this is a lifelong process and there will be frequent failures and setbacks, the overall curve should be one of growing obedience and victory over sin. One of the most helpful things I have learned about this process is to judge and put to death my sin on the thought level (Matt. 5:27-30; Mark 7:20-23). If you’re constantly disobeying God and yielding to temptation, you need to find a spiritual mentor who can help you devise a strategy for victory. No Christian needs to live in constant bondage to sin. In fact, if you continue happily in sin, with no fight to overcome it, you should question whether you truly are saved. Salvation in the present tense is salvation from the dominion of sin in your daily life.

(2). You should be growing in assurance of salvation.

As you grow in obedience to God, you should be growing in assurance that He has truly saved you. Most modern evangelistic training instructs us to give immediate assurance of salvation right after a person prays to receive Christ as Savior. But our Puritan brothers may have been wiser than we are. They viewed assurance as a blessing that we grow into as we grow in faith and obedience.

The first line of assurance is, “Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior and Lord?” If you answer “yes,” the next question is, “since it is possible to be deceived about believing in Christ (Matt. 7:21-23), how can you know that your faith is genuine?” The Book of First John is devoted to answering that question (1 John 5:13). The apostle goes through three lines of evidence to test your faith. Do you confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God in human flesh (2:18-28; 4:1-6; 5:5-12)? Do you love the brethren (2:7-11; 3:11-20; 4:7-21)? And, do you obey Christ’s commandments (2:3-6; 3:4-10)?

Putting on the helmet of salvation means daily affirming your faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, loving your fellow Christians, and obeying Christ’s commandments. This will give you growing assurance that you are saved. It is a strong defense against the attacks of the enemy, who tries to get you to doubt your salvation.

So the past aspect of the helmet of salvation is that God has rescued you from the penalty of sin through faith in Christ. The present aspect of salvation is that God is rescuing you from the power of sin, which gives you assurance of salvation. But there’s also a future aspect:

C. Salvation means that God will rescue you from the presence of sin through the second coming of Jesus Christ.

John writes (1 John 3:2-3), “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” One commentator puts it, salvation is “a present deliverance from sin to be consummated in eternity by complete deliverance from every kind of evil” (J. Agar Beet, cited by A Skevington Wood, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 11:88). What a glorious joy it will be to be forever in heaven with Christ, free from even the temptation to sin, dwelling with the saints and angels in a sin-free place!

Conclusion

Someone has said, “What you think means more than anything else in your life. More than what you earn, more than where you live, more than your social position, and more than what anyone else may think about you” (George Adams, in “Bits & Pieces” [11/84], p. 15).

God commands you to receive the helmet of salvation to protect how you think about the many worldly ideas that bombard you daily. Thinking that is protected by the helmet of salvation will enable you to live rightly before God and rightly in relation to others. Salvation means that God has rescued you in the past from the penalty of sin through your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is rescuing you in the present from the power of sin through the resurrection life of Christ in you. He will rescue you in the future from the presence of sin when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory.

So, mind thy head! Don’t go out into the battlefront of the world without your helmet on! Stand firm against the enemy by taking the helmet of salvation!

Application Questions

1. Practically, how can Christians learn to be discerning biblical thinkers? What steps would you recommend?
2. Salvation is not by good works, but it is unto good works (Eph. 2:8-10). Why is this distinction crucial to maintain?
3. Why must we take the fall seriously in order to understand salvation properly? What errors ensue if we don’t (see Luke 7:47).
4. How would you counsel a Christian who is constantly defeated by sin? To turn things around, where should he begin?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2008, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation