Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome to the Bible study podcast. We are in Ephesians, chapter six. So if you take out your bible right now, go right there to the book of Ephesians, and go to the very end. We're in a summary section of Ephesians. And please don't do that if you're driving. If you're driving, just listen to us. But we really do want you to open up the Bible here on the Bible study, where we try to explain how do you exegete what is hermeneutics? How you do. Do you get the original meaning of the passage? Dena.
Curt Harlow [00:00:31]:
And we are joined by. I got two frontal loes. I always say dena's the frontal lobe of th college, but you might be the frontal lobe of all of Davis. Yeah, that's Sansom. That's a lot of frontal loes in Davis.
Wesley Towne [00:00:44]:
They're pretty smart.
Curt Harlow [00:00:45]:
How you doing?
Wesley Towne [00:00:46]:
I'm doing great. So good to be with you guys.
Curt Harlow [00:00:48]:
You two are amazing, and we are expecting you to have at least 90 minutes worth of content. And then Dena and I will make a comment.
Wesley Towne [00:00:57]:
Whatever you want. I'm good.
Curt Harlow [00:00:58]:
Okay, here we go. All right, context. Let's get the context here. Starting in verse 10, the very famous passage. This is, of course, the spiritual warfare passage, the put on the full armor of God passage. And I like to think of it as more than those two things. I like to think it as the summary statement over this incredible book called Ephesians. To understand the context, I think you have to go Back to Acts 20, where Paul is leaving the city of Ephesus.
Curt Harlow [00:01:28]:
They've had an incredibly hard time there. The most violent response to the gospel probably in the book of Acts. And to point where the Ephesian leaders, actually, they meet outside of town with Paul. They're not meeting in Ephesus. And there's this very tender passage there in Acts 20 where they. They just weep. They just. God has knit their heart in that foxhole.
Curt Harlow [00:01:52]:
And. And I say that because when we read these words, we want to keep in mind that Paul loved these people. Maybe this was the church he loved the most. And it's just a very emotional thing. He's in a Roman sale. It's a. It's actually a. He's being held in a house.
Curt Harlow [00:02:10]:
And each and every day, a Roman guard taking shifts, I imagine, comes, and he's in prison in a house with a Roman guard. And so he's writing this very impassioned letter to the Ephesians, and he wants them to endure he wants them to stand. And he looks at this Roman guard and all of his armor, and he goes, that's it. I got my. I got my sermon illustration here. And that's how we get the passage. Dena, what did I miss on the context there? And then go ahead and read the passage for us.
Dena Davidson [00:02:43]:
That's beautiful. The very broad context for this passage, we a little bit more dug into the immediate context, which was all of these battles that Paul was telling us not to fight. Right. Don't fight your husband. Don't fight your children. Slaves, don't fight your masters. Masters, don't fight your slaves. Like all of these societal temptations, we have to fight flesh and blood.
Dena Davidson [00:03:05]:
And then he finally gets to the final and he says, finally, all of those. You're supposed to submit, but here you are supposed to fight.
Curt Harlow [00:03:13]:
This is where we do not mutually submit.
Dena Davidson [00:03:15]:
This is where we do not mutually submit. Exactly.
Curt Harlow [00:03:17]:
All right, go ahead, read the passage.
Dena Davidson [00:03:18]:
For us, starting in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Dena Davidson [00:04:10]:
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Curt Harlow [00:04:16]:
Very, very famous.
Wesley Towne [00:04:17]:
Amazing.
Curt Harlow [00:04:17]:
I remember pretty.
Dena Davidson [00:04:19]:
Pretty good passage.
Wesley Towne [00:04:20]:
Pretty good.
Curt Harlow [00:04:21]:
Yeah, it's a pretty good passage. I remember one time I was in a Bible bookstore. It's a thing we used to have where you could go buy books back in the day. Back in the day. Now we have the Internet. And there was a. There was a fall festival section where they. They gave not Halloween costumes, but they had costumes for Christians in the fall festival.
Curt Harlow [00:04:41]:
And. And the most popular costume, the armor of God.
Wesley Towne [00:04:46]:
Let's go.
Dena Davidson [00:04:46]:
So you can see my little Judah in it.
Curt Harlow [00:04:48]:
So 100. 100. Yeah. Don't give him that sword, though. He will use it.
Dena Davidson [00:04:53]:
Well. We have many swords, and I have been hit many A time and stabbed. Yeah, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:04:57]:
Okay. I. Here's the problem with this passage. I want to make sure that instead of just focusing on a technical lesson on all of the different weapons available to Roman soldiers, that we actually really do a good job of exegesis and hermeneutics. So, Wes, you're in your house. You're not preaching this passage. You're just studying here for yourself. You're Wes, the West.
Curt Harlow [00:05:23]:
I know that handles the word of truth really good. Teach us. How would you approach this particular passage?
Wesley Towne [00:05:29]:
Amazing. What a question.
Curt Harlow [00:05:31]:
All right.
Wesley Towne [00:05:32]:
It's all on me. Okay. So I think the first thing that I would do is I would see that there is a flow to this passage. Verses 10 through 13 talks about the reality of spiritual warfare. I think sometimes we come to Jesus and all of a sudden we're hit with these churches. Challenges, struggles.
Curt Harlow [00:05:53]:
Yeah, yeah.
Wesley Towne [00:05:53]:
Difficulties of life. And we forget we live our life on a human plane, and we forget that there is a whole different realm out there that we can't tangibly see and touch. And Paul draws us into that. It's interesting that there is a relational context. Previously, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Flesh and blood being a Semitic word referring to human beings. Paul's saying there's a different realm, you know, as you're struggling in relationships with one another, as you're dealing with tensions with one another. And even if you go back to chapter four, at the end of chapter four, he talks about anger being a foothold with the Devil, like, the Devil can get a foothold in our life.
Wesley Towne [00:06:41]:
The Devil can't possess a Christian, but the devil can oppress a Christian. And unforgiveness in relationships is a way that we can be oppressed and influenced by Satan. So I think the first three or four verses, he talks about the reality of this spiritual battle that we have. And the main command he gives us is, be strong in the Lord. What a great command. Some of us read that command, and we're like, oh, you know, I got to get up every morning. I got to just be a strong Christian, and I got to fight my battles. That actually is not the idea there.
Wesley Towne [00:07:17]:
The idea there is. It's a present passive imperative, verb passive, meaning we don't have the strength. God gives us the strength. So our position is to be in the presence of God, where we can find that strength every day. It's not, I got this. I'm going to win all my spiritual battles. It's more like, I don't got this, and I need the Lord. Today.
Wesley Towne [00:07:41]:
So I'm going to wake up and I'm going to pray and I'm going to read the scripture and I'm going to seek God.
Curt Harlow [00:07:45]:
God.
Wesley Towne [00:07:45]:
And I'm going to submit, submit my heart to the spirit of God, empowering me to live out the day at hand. Then I think in verse 11, he says some really important things. He says that you may take your stand against the devil. Schemes. You guys like sports? You like sports? No. No.
Dena Davidson [00:08:03]:
Thank you for thinking. No, part of me likes sports.
Curt Harlow [00:08:06]:
Seattle Seahawks, Gonzaga. Gonzaga won a big game last night against Crichton. So, yeah, I love sports.
Wesley Towne [00:08:13]:
Okay, so he's your audience when you. When you're on a sports team. I played sports through college. You have offensive schemes and defensive schemes, and it's quite technical. It takes a long time to learn all the plays and all the different defensive schemes. And we think sometimes we're just going through life and like, yeah, there's the reality of Satan and there's spiritual battles. No, Satan is really good at what he does. Like, he.
Wesley Towne [00:08:36]:
He's been planning his schemes, and his schemes have worked on billions of people for a long time. We won't talk about how old the earth is. That's a whole nother question. But I think that he has schemes. And our duty is to take your stand. The idea there is not that we fight to win victory, it's that we stand in the position we already have because we have the victory in Jesus. So we keep our victory that Jesus has already given us. And we continue to stand by being in the presence of the Lord and receiving his power every day in order to win these spiritual battles.
Wesley Towne [00:09:16]:
And then one more thing I want to bring up is he talks about the armor of God, but he talks about it in the sense of we have these life tensions, we're struggling against flesh and blood, but that's not really our struggle. It's against rulers, against authorities, against powers of this dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Now these, all of these terms should not be thought of as distinct things. These terms. New Testament authors often pile up nouns or synonyms in order to make a point of emphasis. And in the original language, Paul is making a point of emphasis that rulers, authorities, powers, spiritual forces, this is real stuff. Like there are fallen angels called demons, and there is Satan at work against us every day in order to deceive us, discourage us, try to defeat us spiritually. And.
Wesley Towne [00:10:16]:
And it's not the people, it's not us wrestling against each other. And if we're in relational battles, per the previous few paragraphs. We need to recognize that those are spiritual battles, and it's not the person that we should be divided or fighting against or at enmity with. It's a whole nother realm at work against us, trying to divide us. And I love that. So then he says, put on the full armor of God. It's like you're a soldier. These are your final preparations before you go into battle.
Wesley Towne [00:10:47]:
And now we can get into this. Verses 14 through 17, the weapons for spiritual warfare. How do we equip ourselves? What do we put on?
Curt Harlow [00:10:55]:
So what you just did there is really what I encourage every single person that's first approaching the Bible. So when we. We first kind of get passionate about the Bible, a lot of times what will happen is we'll read, finally, be strong. Strong. Okay. What's the Greek word for strong? And we'll just go myopic on strong. And there's a. There's some good in that.
Curt Harlow [00:11:16]:
Of course. Word studies are great. Of course. This is a translation of canoa Greek from the first century. All that's good. But first, before you do that, get the flow.
Wesley Towne [00:11:27]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:11:28]:
He mentioned spiritual warfare in chapter four. Bring that in. What you said, Dena, he's talking about human relationships. Then he pivots. If you get that flow, then you can go into the deeper things, and that stuff will. That stuff will bloom, and you will not misplace that stuff. Especially like what you said about strong in the Lord. So in our culture, we hear strong.
Curt Harlow [00:11:50]:
Anytime we hear strong, we hear it italicized and bold. Be strong in the Lord. Yes, but this should read in context. Be strong in the Lord, not be strong in the Lord. And. And so just that big flow. That's such a great Bible study skill. Okay, Dan, I'm going to do this.
Curt Harlow [00:12:08]:
And I didn't tell you before I was going to ask you this question. Here, here. I'll throw you on the spot because it's my favorite thing to do to you. Boom. Whenever I read a passage, whatever doesn't make sense to me. That's where I like to. I definitely don't ignore that. What is the day of evil? And I have a feeling.
Curt Harlow [00:12:25]:
Is it tax day, April 15th?
Dena Davidson [00:12:28]:
I don't know. Because my husband does my taxes, because you don't want me doing.
Curt Harlow [00:12:32]:
What is the day of evil? All joking. A second.
Dena Davidson [00:12:35]:
So this is what we Christians try to do is like the day of evil. Oh, my gosh. I know when it is on the calendar, which is a wacky way of reading this, because that means every other Christian that would not, that verse somehow would not have applied to. Right. So the day of evil just means a truly evil day. The day in which you will encounter the broken, fallen nature of this world and that evil has like come to a special point in your life. So it's just referring to a day in which you experience the fullness of the brokenness of this world.
Curt Harlow [00:13:10]:
What you're saying is do not overthink these sort of phrases and attach too much apocalyptic. Because here's what I imagine when I read that phrase. Dena. There was a day Paul went out to the city courts of the marketplace of Ephesus and he just wanted to preach the gospel and he expected people to come to Christ and a horrible riot, a demonic riot that day happened.
Dena Davidson [00:13:39]:
To Paul in Ephesus.
Curt Harlow [00:13:41]:
In Ephesus. When he writes this, I think he's thinking that day will happen to him again. Yes, that there'll be another day like that. And he wants them literally prepared for that day.
Dena Davidson [00:13:52]:
I think when they're reading this, you know, this isn't in the text. This is Dena saying what I think is probably going through the first century Christians minds. They're thinking about the day that they're going to have to stand and make the decision whether they're going to recant their faith or die for their faith. Like that's probably what's in their mind, not some weird wacky way that we interpret day.
Curt Harlow [00:14:12]:
Yeah, I think you're exactly right about that. I. The way I imagine this whole passage, this whole book actually is these Jewish folks have accepted Christ as the Messiah. So oftentimes we say they converted to Christianity, but it's more accurate to say they saw the fulfillment of their Jewish faith in Christ. And then not so shockingly, but a little shockingly to them back then, the God fearing Greeks and Romans started becoming Christians. So these are people that are familiar with the Old Testament, trying to follow the Old Testament. Then here's the shocker. And Ephesus really is the city where this really happens on a more dramatic scale.
Curt Harlow [00:14:54]:
Pagan, polytheistic, Greek and Roman God, pagans come to Christ and now this church is made of this group. So Paul's looking going, that's, that's already a miracle. And that's pretty fragile. Like the image in my mind is when my kids first did that shaky stand to their feet. And they stood to their feet and they, they looked at you like, am I doing it? And you're like, yeah. And then they fall down and they're like, did I, did I just mortally injure myself? And like, no, you just fell on your patootie. It happens. And, and then they stand back up.
Curt Harlow [00:15:31]:
Paul's trying to go in this whole letter, can I take you from this infant church with some wobbly legs and prepare you for the moment when you're going to have to be a fully grown, fully formed soldier. And so you could see him going, like, in my mind, here's what's going on. Paul's going, oh, I'll see him again because I'm leaving this jail cell and I'm going to Spain and, and I'm going to evangelize Spain, from Rome to Spain. And there's another really smart part of Paul, that faith site. I'm going to Spain. Their discernment saying, this might be the last things I get to say to my dear friends. So when I tell you to stand at the end of this passage, whatever you believe about what a belt means or a sword means, if you don't hear Paul saying, by the power of the Holy Spirit, stand, you probably have not got the 50,000 foot understanding of what his real heart is and what the Holy Spirit's really inspiring here.
Wesley Towne [00:16:38]:
Can I add a little historical note? It's interesting at this time, because I think you paid such a good picture at this time, if you were a Christian in the Roman Empire, you had two dual oppositions against you. There was at this point in first century history, there was local opposition because Christianity wasn't a legal religion in the Roman Empire, but there was not widespread Roman opposition against Christianity. So whatever location you are, were in that geographical location, you could have some that were very open to Christianity and then you could have some that were against Christianity. And you had two players at work in almost every city that were against the Christian message. One, you had Jewish people who did not believe in Jesus as Messiah. So they were persecuting the church. And then in some locations you had Gentiles, non Jews, who also did not like what was happening in their culture in their city because of Christianity. So in Ephesus likely there were two different groups persecuting or opposing the Christian.
Curt Harlow [00:17:52]:
These two groups hated each other.
Wesley Towne [00:17:54]:
Yes. But they were united.
Curt Harlow [00:17:56]:
We brought them together.
Wesley Towne [00:17:57]:
Christianity.
Curt Harlow [00:17:57]:
Yeah, Ephesus, the particular from the pagan point of view, the, the criticism of Christianity was they were undermining the Artemis. Yeah, they were undermining the, the idol making business. So it was a, it was an economic thing, it was a marketplace thing. You guys are coming in here ruining this city's industry. So, okay, so let's, let's, let's. Now that we've given you all that context in the 50,000 foot, let's go do the fun thing that everyone likes to do, because there is a lot of fun and a lot of great truth to this. Wes, I'm just going to go down and you give me your first blush understanding of both the practical and spiritual side of each one of these things, and then Dean and I will just jump in with comments as we see fit. So the first one, the Belt of.
Wesley Towne [00:18:50]:
Truth, Truth, I think, you know, you need the contrast between these two realities at play. Truth and deception. Satan is the father of lies, so he wants to deceive us, which moves us away from the truth. And God wants us to have the truth internalized in our heart so that we live it out and believe it when we face those spiritual temptations.
Dena Davidson [00:19:13]:
Yeah, I love what you said about Genesis. Can you talk about the original way that Satan communicated to humanity and how we're still seeing it?
Curt Harlow [00:19:21]:
She's referring to our sermon prep meeting that happened earlier, which all this stuff comes out of that meeting.
Wesley Towne [00:19:25]:
Yeah. In Genesis, chapter three, Satan does something really interesting. First, he quotes scripture or what God said, but he misquotes what God said.
Dena Davidson [00:19:35]:
It's not like, hey, Eve, how are you doing today? It's, did God really say. It's like his first words?
Wesley Towne [00:19:40]:
Yeah. Second, he undermines God's nature and God's word. And I think that's what he does in our life. He. He twists scripture and he undermines the nature and words of God. So we need to know the truth.
Curt Harlow [00:19:55]:
Amen. Truth is very important. Here's my word picture. When I teach the belt of truth. Back in my old rural days in OMAC Washington, Eastern Washington state, you'd always find some old apple orchard and they would be wearing their Levi's jeans beat up, and they'd have a big, huge leather belt around the Levi's jeans, but they would also be wearing, at the very same time, big old suspenders. And it never made sense to me. I'm like, why are you wearing a belt and suspenders? And the idea is, I got so much to hold on here. I need.
Curt Harlow [00:20:31]:
I need all the support I can get. Double support, double support. And this is this. So the belt of in. In the Roman sense here is not just simply a nice belt for your jeans to stay up. It really, it holds your sword. It puts your whole uniform together. When you cinched up your belt, that meant you were ready for warfare.
Curt Harlow [00:20:52]:
When your belt was uncinched, that meant you were off duty. And so the belt is the foundation. The truth is the foundation. Without it, my. I got no place for my shield, my sword, my tunic. All of that stuff is not organized and put together. I start with. With the truth.
Dena Davidson [00:21:07]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:21:08]:
What am I missing there, Dena? You got any thoughts on this one?
Dena Davidson [00:21:10]:
I just. This is not in the Bible, but when I was thinking about it, I. I thought about, like, how we don't really wear belts these days. Like, they're coming back into fashion.
Wesley Towne [00:21:18]:
I have one on right now.
Dena Davidson [00:21:20]:
Excellent. Okay, this. This not. But, I mean, there was a season where it's like yoga pants for days, right? Like, just yoga pants and joggers and skinny jeans. All of these. You probably didn't need a belt for those because they were.
Curt Harlow [00:21:31]:
So they wear a belt in and of themselves.
Dena Davidson [00:21:34]:
Yes. But if you've been wearing pants for a while that don't require a belt, and then you put on normal pants that require a belt, you're like, this is so uncomfortable. Right. So this is more in the practical realm. If you've been living outside of truth, at first, when you wrap yourself in truth, it feels a little uncomfortable. And I think that's just a word that we need to hear, is that if we've been living outside, the truth is going to feel a little bit uncomfortable to begin with, but it is something that we get used to.
Curt Harlow [00:22:01]:
That's probably true with all of these principles. I, I, as former football player, the first week that you put on all the pads, the helmet's uncomfortable, the shoulder, the. It's all uncomfortable.
Dena Davidson [00:22:12]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:22:13]:
By the end of the season, it's second skin.
Dena Davidson [00:22:15]:
That's good.
Curt Harlow [00:22:16]:
And so I think this, that could apply to all these. All right, let's keep going. I'll start with Dena. This time. We've got the belt of truth, and we got. This is the long one feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel Breastplate of peace. Oh, we got. We missed the breastplate.
Curt Harlow [00:22:31]:
Okay, I. I'm looking at my notes wrong. The breastplate of righteousness. You'll be ready with defeat, Aaron.
Dena Davidson [00:22:36]:
Teacher, with the readiness, you'll be ready.
Wesley Towne [00:22:38]:
Yes. My Nikes.
Dena Davidson [00:22:39]:
Okay, your Nikes. The breastplate of righteousness. I love this because I don't think we spend enough time thinking about what it means that we have a good God, meaning that God has never sinned. He's never had an evil thought. He is righteous in his very being, and so we are to be clothed in his righteousness. I myself Dena, I am not righteous. I am. I am being transformed into someone who is righteous.
Dena Davidson [00:23:04]:
But at this moment, I have to take the righteousness of Christ and put it on me, and it's something I'm growing into, But I'm taking Christ's righteousness, and I'm saying, this is really what protects me. Being like Christ in this realm and having his righteousness on me, this is what keeps me from straying into places that I'm not meant to go that will ultimately damage my heart and my wholeness. So I love that picture.
Curt Harlow [00:23:29]:
Very good. What would you add to that, Wes?
Wesley Towne [00:23:31]:
I think the breastplate protects our heart, and our heart is a very sensitive and fragile part of our soul. So I think that we have to protect our heart, and I think we protect our heart first and foremost by what Dena said. The. The righteousness which Jesus imparts to us in salvation, we need to recognize, because sometimes in spiritual warfare, you don't feel righteous. No. Like, you fall, you trip up, you don't always stand. So we have to remind ourselves that our righteousness is not based on our spiritual effort. It's based on the supernatural, gracious doctrine of imputation, where we give Jesus our sin and he gives us his righteousness, and we don't have to do anything but believe in him.
Wesley Towne [00:24:18]:
And then as he imparts his righteousness to us, we begin to be changed and transformed and live a righteous life, which also protects our heart.
Curt Harlow [00:24:27]:
Very good. Yeah. I. I say our mind needs to be on the righteousness of Christ. Just what you said, Dena. And so I would say this is instantaneous sanctification. I am justified, just as I never sinned because of Christ's work. And therefore, that's.
Curt Harlow [00:24:47]:
That's where my mind is. I'm protected by Christ's work, not my action. But as that grace teaches me, is that idea that I'm instantly sanctified, that I'm instantly made eligible for heaven as that grace works on me? Wow. Who am I that I was given this? Then I become more righteous, which. Acting and walking in actionable righteousness. That's ongoing sanctification. Like you said, that also protects me. Yeah, but it starts.
Curt Harlow [00:25:18]:
I think you're absolutely right. It has to start with the work that Christ has done in righteousness, not with our willpower righteousness. All right, Wes, the feet fitted with the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace. Paul is brief on every one of these, except for this one. This is a. This could be its own book.
Wesley Towne [00:25:38]:
These are your Nike gospel shoes.
Curt Harlow [00:25:41]:
Here we go.
Wesley Towne [00:25:41]:
I'm from Oregon. I love Nikes.
Dena Davidson [00:25:43]:
So much. Sports in the this episode.
Wesley Towne [00:25:45]:
Let's go. Great state of. Okay.
Curt Harlow [00:25:46]:
When you said that in sermon prep, I didn't even put together that you were talking about Nike, the corporation. I was like. I was like, nike, the pagan God. I was like. And I was like, oh, he really means that. We can jam.
Wesley Towne [00:26:02]:
No. Oh, my Nike Gospel shoes for Jesus. Two things here. One win. We are dealing with these battles. We are constantly reminding ourselves that it is the gospel of peace that brings us peace with God. And I think that's so important. We need to equip our feet recognizing that we have peace with God through the gospel of peace.
Wesley Towne [00:26:29]:
But secondly, we're also ambassadors. We're messengers of the gospel of peace. This is where I believe that some of these are both defense and offense. We're not just sitting around doing nothing, immobilized as Christians. Standing. Standing is not a metaphor. That means there's no movement, that there's no advancement. Jesus said, you are the light of the world.
Wesley Towne [00:26:50]:
A city set on a hill. The church, the people of Jesus. Remember what everything that he is saying here is in the plural. He's not telling this to an individual Christian. He is telling this the entire, entire church at Ephesus. These are plural commands and plural verbs. And most of the New Testament is, we'd like to think of everything in the singular. He is telling the church, you guys are in a city full of darkness and spiritual opposition, and part of you standing is advancing the gospel in the city through the gospel of peace.
Wesley Towne [00:27:24]:
That God wants you to be at peace with him, and he wants you to be at peace with one another.
Curt Harlow [00:27:29]:
And.
Wesley Towne [00:27:30]:
And it only happens through Jesus.
Dena Davidson [00:27:32]:
I think it's crazy that the word peace shows up in a giant metaphor about battle. Like, that's just the most Christian thing in this passage, like battle. But still at the heart of the gospel is this image of peace. Peace between God and man and between man and the world and between each other. That's crazy.
Wesley Towne [00:27:51]:
Jesus is the prince of peace.
Dena Davidson [00:27:52]:
Yes. Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:27:53]:
I love the word readiness in here. I. So, like, let's say you have every single bit of your football uniform to go back to that metaphor on, but no shoes. Yeah, you're gonna go out there and play football. No, your shoes. You're gonna get stepped on by cleats. It's gonna be the worst. If your feet don't work, none of you works.
Curt Harlow [00:28:16]:
And so what he's saying is, keep your shoes on. Keep the gospel on. And in particular, I Think Christians in. In terms of doing spiritual warfare, they need to be ready to share the gospel. I think. I think just practically the way this works in my life is if I go out into the day, out into battle, if you will, and I am thinking about me and what's wrong with me and what I want different, and did that meeting go my way. I have one type of spiritual battle effectiveness. And if I go out my day and say, today's a day where I have the chance to represent the good news of Jesus Christ further his kingdom, and I'm going to be ready, I'm going to look for that person that God needs me to stand with them with the gospel of peace.
Curt Harlow [00:29:09]:
And I do believe the peace here leads to emotional peace. But he's talking about peace between you and God because our sin separates us from God. So I just want to. I. I just encourage Christians, like, there's the lost art of evangelism, because we think we have to be evangelists. Not everyone's evangelists. We're witnesses. And the lost art of being a witness happens because we see people that are.
Curt Harlow [00:29:36]:
That represent Jesus in really socially awkward ways or really aggressive ways. And so then we make a bigger mistake than being awkward or a bigger mistake than being aggressive. We do nothing. And we miss this wonderful, powerful thing. When God uses us. Our eyes are closed to that person in our office, in our classroom that someone has been desperately praying for that lives multiple states away. And it's like, would you put a Christian in their life, God? And the opposite is also true. When you become the answer to that person's prayer, powerful, wonderful things happen to you.
Curt Harlow [00:30:17]:
You. You learn the grace of God afresh and new. You learn the love of God afresh anew. When you allow God to use the broken, sinful bread and loaves, bread and fish that. That is Curt Harlow. So I love the readiness part of that. All right, Dena. Shield of faith.
Dena Davidson [00:30:34]:
And so this image is forever burned into my brain from my youth. Pastor Jeremy burned into my brain. So he was preaching on this, and he's like, okay, well, how big is your faith? And then he grabbed this tiny little, like, shield that was this big. It was just a little pin. He's like, if you got this size shield, then what are you going to be doing? Like, ping, ping, ping, ping. And he's just like, you're going to. It's not going to work. And he said, you need a shield that is big.
Dena Davidson [00:30:59]:
Big enough to really ward off the attacks of the enemy. I have had that in my brain since I was 13 years. And I think what he's saying here is we need faith in the bigness of our God to defeat the arrows that are going to continually be coming after us. So the goal here is not to be so amazing at, like, defeating the enemy, but to have such great faith in the God that is capable and already has defeated the enemy. So is your faith small or is your faith big?
Curt Harlow [00:31:30]:
So, Wes, he says, fiery darts of the enemy. Is there any. What is to the. What is the fiery darts? Are we to read into that? Anything?
Wesley Towne [00:31:37]:
I mean, it was literal in 1st century Roman battle, they would set arrows on fire and lob them over the battlefield and set on fire, whatever, you know, their enemies or their enemies, you know, wherever they were stationed in the battle. Yeah. I think faith here can be our faith in God. It also can be the faithfulness of God. And sometimes we need to remember that. If you read through the Psalms, how much of the psalms is full of, I'm in a hard situation. I'm in a spiritual battle. I'm going through a trial.
Wesley Towne [00:32:15]:
But God is faithful, and God will be faithful. And I think that's a beautiful thing to remind ourselves of as well.
Curt Harlow [00:32:23]:
Fits right in with the next one. The helmet of salvation. Wes, what in the world is he talking about here?
Wesley Towne [00:32:28]:
We need to protect our minds. How much of the battle that we face in our everyday life as followers of Jesus is a battle in the mind. A thought pops up in your head and you're like, where did that come from? And then you feel really guilty all day because some random thought popped into your head that is not good or healthy or right or Jesus. Y. Like, we get discouraged. We feel defeated. We feel condemned. We begin to think negative thoughts about ourself or our life or our purpose or a value or future.
Wesley Towne [00:32:59]:
So much of spiritual warfare and spiritual battles takes place in the mind. And so God says, I want you to put on the helmet of salvation, which is the assurance that God has saved us, we are saved, that God is saving us, and that God will save us. This is the past, present, and future of salvation. God has saved us. Justification, imputation. We've been made right with God permanently. God is saving us. That.
Wesley Towne [00:33:26]:
That is sanctification. We are being changed by God. He's transforming us. It's not a perfect process. Right? It is a lifelong process. There's not a point in time.
Curt Harlow [00:33:34]:
Speak for yourself, man.
Wesley Towne [00:33:35]:
We're Curt or Wesley wakes up, maybe you where we're like, oh, it's complete. Like, I'm done. I'M perfect. I never stumble, I never fall, I never sin. Like, I never do any of the negative things in Scripture. And then God, this is the point that I think is so valuable. God will completely and ultimately deliver us glorification. We will be with him someday.
Wesley Towne [00:34:01]:
No more sin, no more unrighteousness, no more spiritual warfare. It is going to be a time of perfect righteousness and peace. And I can't wait for that day. Come on, Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:34:10]:
That's awesome, Wesley. Past tense, current tense, future tense. I like to think of it as holy inclusion. So I am included by grace. I belong. I was saved. I was here. And now God said, I'll do a work so you can be included.
Curt Harlow [00:34:29]:
I used to call you. I now call you friends. Jesus says, you're included. I go to prepare a place for you. You're included. All right. The sword of the Spirit, Dena, which.
Dena Davidson [00:34:41]:
Is the word of God. I love that because the. The Holy Spirit is inside of every believer and he is to remind us of what Jesus said. And he stands in between us and our accuser, reminding us of who God is and what he has said. So I think when it says that we are to use the sword of the Spirit, one of the things we're offensively attacking, I think, but also we are allowing the Spirit to sift us and to attack what is evil inside of us and to make sure that. That everything that is not in accordance with God is being separated from us.
Curt Harlow [00:35:19]:
So I like to think, I like, I like to go back to the 50,000 foot here when I get down to the sword of the Spirit. And so Cameron said. Let me share this thought first. Cameron said in sermon prep today, I thought it was so good. He goes, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. The way that works is you get everything on and then someone else has to hand you those two things.
Wesley Towne [00:35:41]:
And.
Curt Harlow [00:35:41]:
And it's exactly what happens in salvation. We do not grasp it. We get. God saves us. He hands it to us. And the same thing with the sword of the Spirit. The gospel message. Here, here I go back to the 50th foot level.
Curt Harlow [00:35:56]:
What causes to stand in the end when the evil day comes? What causes to stand? Well, the belt of truth. That's referring to the gospel message. The gospel message is the truth, the breastplate of righteousness. That can only happen by the effectiveness of the gospel fitted with the feet of the readiness of what? The gospel of peace, the shield of faith. Faith in what? The Gospel. The helmet of salvation. What has causes salvation? The gospel. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Curt Harlow [00:36:29]:
Now, in first century, we didn't have the written New Testament yet, so the word of God was the gospel. So what makes us stand? It's knowing, it's living, it's meditating on, it's praising God for this message. There is a God. We have sinned against that God. God's response to our sin was to send his one and only begotten son to teach us, love us, walk with us, become us in every, every way but sin, die for us and conquer death for us.
Dena Davidson [00:37:06]:
That's good.
Curt Harlow [00:37:07]:
And because of that, because of that message, I am now included in the family of God. How do we stand? It's the gospel.
Dena Davidson [00:37:16]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:37:17]:
You know, we could get all myopic on all these little things. I buckled my belt and all like that. In the end, the star of this has to be God's Messiah and the gospel that he affected in our life. And when we stand on the gospel, or the way I like to say it, when we work the gospel, the gospel works in every opposition. Okay, we've gone a few minutes over, not too many, but, you know, we got Wesley Town in the room, so let's do some applications here. Dena, tell us, give us some practical insight. How would you apply this?
Dena Davidson [00:37:55]:
I was convicted in sermon prep today that I have thought more about the armor of God as the pieces of armor instead of what those pieces of armor represent. I thought that was a really good word. So I would invite you to go to God and say, which of these. Which of these things is it truth? Is it righteousness? Is it the readiness from the gospel of peace? Is it faith? Is it salvation? Is it the word of God? Which one of these things am I truly lacking in right now that you want to see me do a better job every single day of putting on so that I'm prepared to stand?
Curt Harlow [00:38:34]:
It's very good, Wes. I'll let you have the last word. Here's what I. Here's the practical application for me is, first of all, do I understand? Have I mastered the messages, the message and the teachings of the book of Ephesians? Because I think this metaphor at the end where he says, full armor. Full armor. Twice he says, full armor. The rhetorical style here is I'm going to have a very long sentence, which what I repeat in that sentence is what I want you to do. And what I say is the last thing, which is to stand is the most important thing.
Curt Harlow [00:39:11]:
So he tells us, full armor. So I would go. Go back, listen to these Podcasts read the book of Ephesians in one setting. Have I mastered the major themes of the book of Ephesians? You can know all of these Roman shields and weapons and everything and not have any power in spiritual warfare. But if you live the immeasurable love of God, that's the first three chapters and you absolutely let that rise you to the highest calling of Christianity. That's chapter four. And that causes you to behave in a different way. No lying anymore, no bitterness, no anger.
Curt Harlow [00:39:50]:
And, and then it causes you to have great healthy relationships. You mutually submitted deferring to one another. If you let the immeasurable love of God lead you to those sort of relationships, you're going to stand. So I would just say go back and review your what he's saying in Ephesus. That's where the power is, all of that truth.
Dena Davidson [00:40:12]:
Amen.
Wesley Towne [00:40:13]:
Amazing. Last word.
Curt Harlow [00:40:14]:
Last word, baby.
Wesley Towne [00:40:15]:
When Jesus was in the garden. Not in the garden, pardon me, Jesus was not in the garden. When Jesus was in the desert. In Matthew 4, prior to his ministry starting, he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And the Bible says that Satan came to tempt him. And when Satan came to tempt him, every time that that Satan had a temptation, Jesus responded by quoting God's word. It is written and a lot of us think that knowing and quoting God's word is the way to defeat Satan in a time of temptation. And the beautiful thing is that Satan left him.
Wesley Towne [00:40:55]:
Like we're not always in that situation and not every hardship in life we can attribute to Satan. I think that's a really good important qualification. Sometimes it's we're tempted in our flesh, sometimes we're tempted by the world and culture and sometimes Satan is a part of that. But ultimately evil is a part of all things that are the antithesis of God. What Jesus did was he knew God's word, he quoted God's word and he applied it in that moment. And I think that's what we need to recognize as Paul ends this section, the sword of the Spirit and all of this. There is something so important in our cultural moment that we as Christians know God's Word. That we can quote God's word at least loosely, as they would do sometimes in biblical days, and that we apply it.
Wesley Towne [00:41:46]:
It's the application that really causes us to stand against the devil schemes. It's saying, okay, God, in this moment I'm going to trust you. In this moment I'm going to lean on your righteous plan for my life. In this moment I believe peace is better than division amongst human relationships. So I just think that's a really important encouragement for everybody listening that we know God's word, that we can quote God's word, even if it's loose, the truths, the nature, but really that we live it out in those moments of spiritual battle.
Curt Harlow [00:42:24]:
Well, you are talking to the folks that like to do that, because these are the people that listen to the Bible study podcast where we try to become very, very, very good at handling the word of God better. By the way, thanks for getting to the end of this. That's really amazing. You're doing exactly what Wesley wants you to do. And by the way, you should help someone else do that. So help us spread the word. Honestly, there's so many podcasts out there. It's not about, you know, we're never going to be with the Joe Rogans of the world, but someone needs to hear how to study the Bible better.
Curt Harlow [00:43:01]:
Verse by verse, chapter by chapter, idea by idea, doctrine by doctrine. So help us spread the word about the Bible study. And all the Thrive Network podcasts are all spectacular. And as always, thanks for giving us some of your time. We'll see you next week. Bri. Bri, who do we got next week?
Dena Davidson [00:43:17]:
Andrew McCourt.
Curt Harlow [00:43:17]:
Andrew McCort. The Andrew McCourt next week. I almost missed it. So Andrew, he's been down in Southern California. He's back up here. And so we got him for the first time on this version of the podcast. He actually started this podcast with me in the first version. So don't miss next week with Andrew.
Wesley Towne [00:43:35]:
McCart, an absolute legend.
Curt Harlow [00:43:36]:
A legend. All right, thanks for listening.