Stand

Last week I wrote about how Paul got to Ephesians 6:10 and seemingly burst out with the word finally.

It is as if he had spent the previous five-plus chapters setting the stage for what he wanted to say in the verses that follow that finally. Yet before he could fully express his final thoughts, he had one more illustration to provide—and one incredibly important call to action for those of us who are actively trusting in Christ for eternal and daily salvation.

What was the illustration?

We will be unpacking that in the weeks to come.

Paul uses the individual components of a soldier’s physical armor to help us understand incredibly important spiritual truths. In time, we will look at each individual piece of that armor.

But before we start examining the armor, I think we need to feel the weight of Paul’s all-important call to action:

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…

Did you catch all of that?

Let’s simplify it:

Be strong in the Lord.

Stand.

Withstand in the evil day.

Having done all, stand.

Stand.

It seems as if the Apostle Paul may be wanting us to stand.

And perhaps that’s because standing is exactly what followers of Jesus are called to do when everything around us is telling us to sit down, give up, compromise, or run away.

Jesus Was a Stander

Jesus did not shrink back.

He did not turn aside, retreat, or abandon His mission when obedience became difficult. He resolutely continued toward the cross.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame,” and is now seated at the right hand of God. He did not shrink from the suffering and disgrace that awaited Him.

Luke 9:51 says that, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”

He knew what was waiting for Him there.

And He went anyway.

In John 12:27, Jesus said:

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.”

And then, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see just how costly this obedience would be. Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from Him if there were another way. Yet He ultimately surrendered Himself to the Father’s will:

“Yet not as I will, but as you will.” — Matthew 26:39

Jesus stood.

Not because the road was easy.

Not because He didn’t feel the weight of what was coming.

Not because He wasn’t troubled by it.

He stood because He was committed to the will of His Father and the mission for which He had come.

We Are Called to Follow Him

As followers of Christ, we are called to… follow Him.

That means that when Jesus stands, we stand.

When Jesus moves forward in obedience, we move forward in obedience.

And when the world, our circumstances, our fears, our temptations, or the enemy himself tells us to shrink back, we remember that we belong to Christ.

Quoting from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, the writer of Hebrews says:

“…the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” — Hebrews 10:38, WEB

And then comes the encouragement:

“…we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.” — Hebrews 10:39, WEB

We are not of those who shrink back.

That doesn’t mean we will never be afraid.

It doesn’t mean we will never struggle.

It doesn’t mean we will never feel weak.

In fact, Ephesians 6 has already told us that our strength doesn’t originate with us:

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”

Our calling is not to somehow manufacture enough strength within ourselves to withstand everything the enemy throws at us.

Our calling is to stand in the strength that God supplies.

And that’s an important distinction.

So… Stand.

As we move forward in the coming weeks to look more intently at the individual pieces of the armor of God, the purpose will not simply be intellectual understanding.

The purpose is personal application.

God has not given us His Word merely so that we can know more about Him. He has given us His Word so that we might know Him, trust Him, obey Him, and walk faithfully with Him.

And here in Ephesians 6, Paul makes the application remarkably clear:

Stand.

So what does that look like for you today?

Maybe standing means refusing to compromise your convictions when doing so would be easier.

Maybe it means continuing to trust God when your circumstances make that difficult.

Maybe it means standing firm against a temptation that keeps coming back.

Maybe it means choosing obedience when you don’t feel like obeying.

Maybe it means refusing to let fear dictate your next step.

Maybe it simply means getting back up after you’ve fallen and remembering that your hope is not in your ability to stand perfectly, but in the God who is strong enough to hold you.

Whatever your particular battle may be, don’t miss Paul’s point.

You are not called to run away.

You are not called to shrink back.

You are called to stand.

And the wonderful news is that God doesn’t simply give us the command to stand.

He gives us the armor with which to do it.

So before we start examining each piece of that armor, let’s begin with the command itself:

Be strong in the Lord.

Put on the whole armor of God.

And stand.