‘The Sword of the Spirit’

‘…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’

Ephesians 6:17b

The Scripture is the touchstone of truth.  When Satan tempted Christ, Christ answered each assault with, ‘It is written.’  God has ‘magnified His Word above all His Name.’  God sets great store beside His Word.  Our text describes the word of God as ‘the sword of the Spirit.’  What we understand from that is that the Holy Spirit makes use of the word of God to advance the Kingdom of God.  He will use it in our hands both offensively and defensively.  The rest of the ‘armor’ of the Christian is oriented toward defense.  The ‘sword’ serves both offensive and defensive purposes.  Christ came to ‘destroy the works of the devil.’  He does so, in part, by what use the Holy Spirit makes of the ‘sword of the Spirit’ in the hands of the Body of Christ, the people of God.  Over the course of centuries, the word of God has transformed lives as the Holy Spirit has applied it to nations, kingdoms, and tribes.  Faith has come by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Christ is the Living Word of which the written word speaks continually.  What we know of redemption, we know from the word of God.  Therefore, we continually return to this Book, which is the ‘sword of the Spirit.’  Like David of old said of another sword, ‘There is none like it.  Give it to me.’

Our Good and Wise God,
we praise You that You have given to us Your Word
that we might understand You.
We rejoice that, day by day, the Scripture ever leads us more to Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘The Helmet of Salvation’

And take the helmet of salvation….

Ephesians 6:17a

God lays great emphasis upon our mind.  He declares, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’  He goes on to say, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’ We cannot keep our heart without keeping our mind.  To this end, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘take the helmet of salvation.’  How should we understand the value of this ‘helmet?’  What we understand about salvation will invariably influence our everyday thinking.  We will behave according to what we believe and think.  What do we understand about salvation?  The simplest statement regarding it is, ‘salvation is of the Lord.’  Salvation is, from start to finish, the work of God.  God has planned it; Christ has purchased it; the Holy Spirit applies it unto all for whom God intends it.  Within the discussion of the umbrella subject of salvation, we have the discussion of justification, adoption, and sanctification.  Our understanding of the first two will influence heavily the way we think about the last one.  This will influence our behavior.  If the Holy Spirit is renewing us in the whole person after the image of God, then Christ’s behavior becomes the great pattern for our own behavior.  We come to think His thoughts after Him.  This guards our minds and influences our behavior in every relationship.  Let us value this ‘helmet of salvation,’ and use it to its greatest advantage.

O God of our salvation,
we rejoice that Your redeeming work has become
the means whereby we may guard our minds.
We praise You that, day by day,
we come more greatly to understand the value of this ‘helmet of salvation.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘The Shield of Faith’

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Ephesians 6:16

Faith is important to God.  According to the writer of Hebrews, ‘without faith it is impossible to please him:  for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’  The passage from which that verse derives lists a host of people who demonstrated faith.  These have become ‘the great cloud of witnesses’ to which the beginning of the next chapter refers.  Because of their faith we understand where to place our faith and that brings us to look ‘unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.’  Satan hates us for our association with Christ.  Because we are the Body of which Christ is the Head, Satan will, according to today’s text, bombard us with ‘fiery darts,’ which are, assaults against us to wound, defeat, and to destroy us.  A reading of the experiences of the saints of God of ancient days will illustrate for us the size and shape of these ‘fiery darts.’  Satan has made use of lies, abuse, physical persecution, plots, conspiracies and a list of other ‘darts’ to assault believers in every age.  What defends us in those dark hours?  It is the shield of faith.  We believe.  We believe in God, Who has a Sovereign plan and an unswerving purpose.  We believe in Christ, the Only Redeemer of God’s Elect.  We believe in the Holy Spirit, Who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us.  ‘This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.’  As we are at home or abroad today, let us carry the shield of faith.

Our Gracious God and our Heavenly Father,
we rejoice that You have granted unto us the gift of faith.
We praise You that this faith becomes our shield
to stand between us and all the assaults of hell.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The Right Boots

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Ephesians 6:15

Different tasks require different boots.  In construction, the concrete worker is often in rubber wellingtons.  The ironworker wears high top leather boots with flat soles.  The soldier wears boots especially designed for the challenges of rough terrain.  The firefighter wears boots around the station that will slip off easily in order to transition into the bunker gear boots designed for firefighting.  In the occupation in which we engage as the soldiers of Christ, we have our feet ‘fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.’  Christ sent His disciples ‘into all the world’ to ‘preach the Gospel.’  He has enabled generations of the people of God to go ‘into all the world.’  We are the spiritual inheritors of that commission.  Therefore, wherever we go in all the earth, on whatever errand that takes us there, we go with our ‘feet girded with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.’  Christ is using us in our own day and generation to take the Gospel everywhere we go.  He has given us the right boots for the paths we will travel and the work in which He has prepared for us to engage.  We are here to follow King Jesus and to go where He sends us, wearing the boots which are designed to enable us to take the gospel message with us.  We have good boots for this good work.

Our Wise and Wonderful God,
we praise You that You have prepared us in every way,
to advance Your Kingdom,
according to Your Divine plan.
We rejoice, that You have granted unto us the high privilege
of preaching Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Protecting the Vitals

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.

Ephesians 6:14

Our text for today brings us to consider two parts of the armor of the Christian.  Taken together, these two pieces of armor protect the upper and lower portions of the torso.  These are the portions of the body in which reside the vital organs.  If we are to succeed in the Christian life, we must protect that which is most vital.  The only way for us to do that is with, ‘truth’ and ‘righteousness.’  Christ is the source of ‘truth,’ and ‘righteousness.’  All our understanding of ‘truth’ comes through Him.  All our understanding of ‘righteousness’ is what we see in Him.  Our ‘armor’ is inextricably connected to Christ.  If we are to ‘stand’ against all the ‘wiles of the devil’ we must stand in the ‘armor’ that Christ Himself provides.  Christ said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life….’  He is the only way we have the ‘righteousness’ of which we stand in need.  If we are to have our ‘loins girt about with truth.’ it will be the truth of Christ.  If we are to wear the ‘breastplate of righteousness’ it will be the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness.  Here is our high ground.  Here is our sure defense.  We stake our claim for time and eternity upon the truth that Christ is, and upon the righteousness that He provides, This is the substance of our armor.

High King of Heaven,
we rejoice that You have shown us Christ, the Truth.
We praise You that we are clad in His Righteousness.
In our desire to glorify You, enable us daily,
to make use of these things, for Your Glory.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning