August 23, 2009

2009 08 23

Stand Your Ground

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

Psalm 34:15-22
Ephesians 6:10-20

This past Tuesday, Jen, the kids, and I traveled to my parents' home.  We hadn't been there since the move.  With school starting, we figured that this would likely be our last chance to visit them for quite a while.  We had hoped to go on a train ride that day, but we were unable to go.  So we went with plan B.  Clearwater Park.

Clearwater Park was a local park with a pool, water slide, sand volleyball, and miniature golf.  I spent every summer there from the age of 2 until...probably 22.  So going back there brought back a lot of memories...learning to swim, playing dock tag, meeting my first girlfriend.  OK...so that last one was more like a nightmare than a memory.  Maybe that will be the topic of another sermon:  "Psychopath Girlfriends and How to Avoid Them". 

Anyway, there were a lot of memories.  One memory in particular was dunking.  You get to wrestling around with your friends, and try to push each other under the water.  Just for the record, this sermon has nothing to do with baptism! 

Anyway, I was pretty good at dunking others, and it was very rare that anyone could ever do the same to me.  I understand that the next time I am swimming somewhere, I run the risk of being viciously dunked by one of our youth, but I am going to tell you my secret.  It's really easy.  Get the other person off their feet.  That's it.  Grab a leg and push them over.  Sweep their feet from beneath them and dump them in the drink.  Now, I would have people come up to me and essentially jump on top of me with all their weight trying to push me down, and I knew I had them.  My feet were firmly planted on the ground.  I wasn't going anywhere.  On the other hand because they had left their feet, I could do with them whatever I wanted.  I suppose if comes down to this: if you're not standing, you're sinking.

In the time of Joshua, the people of Israel understood what it meant to stand in the Lord.  They had followed Moses up to the promised, covenant land of Canaan, but it would be Joshua who brought them in.  They were attacked many times.  They fought many battles.  They had seen powerful armies formed against them and massive fortifications stood before them.  However, they trusted in God to keep his promise, and he did.  Cities and peoples and kings were defeated at the hand of the Lord.  They had stood their ground against insurmountable odds and emerged victorious.

But before the people of Israel can go to their allotted lands and live in peace, The Lord once more wants to know if they will continue to stand with him.  In the midst of battle, they trusted in him, but what would they do with peaceful times that lay ahead? 

¹⁴ "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

How would the people respond?  When they set up their farms, would they worship the nature and fertility gods?  When they set up their businesses, would they take up the unscrupulous practices of the Egyptians?  Would they use God to get what they wanted, and then abandon him to worship the pagan gods of these new lands?

¹⁶ Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! ¹⁷ It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. ¹⁸ And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."

The people renewed their covenant with the Lord at Shechem that day.  They had seen his power against the nations.  They knew his love for them.  The Lord would be their god...and they would be his people.  Right here, this might be the highest point in the relationship between God and his people, the Israelites.  If they stand with the Lord, I cannot even imagine just how great their life as a nation could be.  But remember...if you're not standing, you're sinking.  And not long afterwards, the Israelites begin to sink.

The people had witnessed firsthand, the power of God, but they let it slip through their fingers.  Paul tells us what we are supposed to do in Ephesians 6:10.  ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Paul had written to the church at Ephesus.  They had faith, but they were being pulled in many directions by different groups and factions within the church there.  Paul reminds them to stay united in love, saved by grace and not works, leaving behind the old life and its pagan ways, embracing Christ and submitting to one another for his sake.  Now, Paul is giving them their marching orders.  Be strong in the Lord but also be ready for the enemy's attack. 

¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

There are people today who do not believe that the devil is real...just a made up fairy tale meant to keep children in their place.  However, the devil is real.  He is manifest in many of the rulers and authorities of our world.  Perhaps some of these were even good people, but the desire for power and authority gives the devil more than a foothold. 

¹³ 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.  Paul was talking to the Ephesians and their need the full armor of God, but I believe that we need it more now than ever before. 

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Perhaps it many seem odd, that truth is depicted here as a belt.  But it is the belt that keeps everything together.  It keeps your clothes pulled together secure, so that your enemy cannot grab a hold of you.  It also protects some of our softer fleshy areas.  God's truth protects us from the falsehoods of the world seeking to sabotage our beliefs.  His truth doesn't give out enemies a place to grab hold of us and destroy us.

The breastplate of righteousness.  It is the righteousness of God that protects our hearts, assuring us that he is with us.

The "shoes" of the gospel of peace.  God's good news of forgiveness through Jesus Christ gives us peace.  We do not have to run from the devil if we are standing in the peace of the Lord. 

The shield of faith.  Without faith, we cannot stand.  Without faith in God, we do not believe that we can survive our attacker.  Without faith in God, we surrender to the enemy and become HIS servant.  But faith can move mountains.  Faith can withstand any attack that the devil can launch against us.  The world tells us that our faith is foolish at worst and worthless at best, but we reject the claims that this world makes about God.  We believe in the Lord of our salvation.

The helmet of salvation.  We have truth, righteousness, and peace.  Our minds are where the world hopes to exploit the church, twisting our words, actions, and motives.  The world wants to change the way we think, so it can change the way we live. , But because of the knowledge of our salvation, our minds are also protected. 

Finally, there is the sword of the Spirit-the word of God.  God's word is not just some book.  It is alive.  Through the Holy Spirit, it reaches into our hearts and the hearts of others.  God's word can cut through the darkness of our lives and of our world, showing us God's will for our lives.  The world wants to discredit The Bible because it is our greatest weapon.  Hold on to that one, folks.  We need it. 

Each and every day of our lives, not only God is calling us to serve him, but he is also commanding us to stand firm.  The world, the enemy seeks to defeat us, to destroy us, to discredit us.  We are to stand firm.  We are to stand out ground. 

Have you ever noticed that the armor of God generally covers the front of us?  If we turn...if we run, we simply expose ourselves even more to the attacks of the darkness, of the world, of the devil.   That is why Paul says, 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.

Each and every day, we must put on the armor of God^, praying "in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests".  Then and only then will we be able to stand our ground.  Because, after all...if you're not standing, you're sinking.