Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity, November 5th, 2017

Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity, November 5th, 2017

"Put on the whole armour of God"  (Ephesians 6:10 ff)

In this Sixth Chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, we hear St. Paul finishing up his epistle (or his letter) to the church at Ephesus.  St. Paul is doing his best to encourage the young church to face the world and all the dangers the world offers.  Certainly, we in our own day and age need this encouragement as well.   If anything, the devil is working overtime to do what he can to try to secure his "kingdom" here on the earth.  He does that very simply by taking our attention away from God.   How can we focus on God and doing God's will when we are so busy focusing on the many diversions placed along our path:  riches . . .  money . . .  power . . . possessions (whether they be clothing, or expensive shoes, or electronics, or cars, etc.  . . . . . television . . . movies . . .  the internet . . . .  drugs . . . . alcohol . . .  The list of distractions that Satan places in our path seems to grow generation by generation.   He does everything he can to divert our attention away from God.  As a result, just as St. Paul was reminding the Ephesians, so too is he reminding us:  "Put on the whole armour of God!"

St. Paul is using the image of a soldier and as such he is describing everything the soldier either wears or possesses in order to help keep him safe.  St. Paul writes that we should put on this "armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the devices of the devil."  Satan is certainly crafty, if nothing else.  Give credit where credit is due.  The devil has made his "devices" that keep us away from God to be so appealing, to be so enticing, we can not but run to them . . . to want them . . . to desire them.  And as such it becomes that much more difficult to resist them.  All the more reason, St. Paul writes, to put on the whole armour of God:  " . . .  take the armour of God that you may be able to stand against them in the evil day . . . ."  Soldiers wear what they wear to help protect them in battle.  Soldiers use weapons in battle to secure the upper hand, so to speak.   So, too, we are in a battle.  Make no mistake about it.  St. Paul used this imagery to remind the Ephesians just as we need to be reminded:  we are in a battle . . . . a spiritual battle.  And, as such, we need to be protected just as any soldier is in battle.  We need to "put on the whole armour of God" to help protect us as well as we fight Satan and his minions here on earth.

"Stand with truth as a belt about your waist."  Jesus Christ is the Truth!  Jesus came to earth to remind us of Our Heavenly Father and how He loves us.  Everything else is fading but God's love will never fade.  Never forget the truth that you possess!  "Put on righteousness as a breastplate."  So many of us in the world today leave ourselves "wide open" to attack by forgetting who we are first and foremost.  We go into the world on a daily basis forgetting that we are "Children of the Most High" and not acting as such.  We are more interested in "fitting in" with every one else by what we wear  . . . and how we talk . . . and how we act  . . .  and what we do.   We ought to be more interested in whether or not we are living by God's standards and not the world's standards.  "Have your feet shod with the readiness to preach the gospel of peace."  We should always be ready to preach.  Preaching the Glory of God not only with our mouth but preaching by the way we live our life.   Just as any preacher or teacher needs to know what he or she is going to say, so too we need to be ready to preach by being prepared.  This preparation requires study of God's Word and a knowledge of Him and what He wants for us in our life.  "Put on the helmet of Salvation."  Always be thankful for the many gifts that God has given you:  the gift of life . . . . the gift of health . . . the gift of having a roof over your head and food on your table.  God gives us many gifts throughout our lifetime.  But the one gift that God gives us that is greater than all of the others combined in the gift of Salvation!  God offers us a gift that is so great it can never be measured.  Always remember this gift.  Always treasure it.  And never take it for granted.

As we go into the world, there are many snares and traps waiting for us.  Let us always be stand ready.  Let us always be prepared.  Let us always use the "armour" that God has seen fit to supply us with.  Let us never go into battle unprepared for what faces us.

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM to gather together as God's family so that we worship God in a traditional liturgy.  We use the King Jame Version of the Bible.  We also use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  We listen to what God is saying to us and open our hearts to hear His Word.  And then we receive His Most Precious Body and Blood at Communion time.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.