Waging Spiritual War in a Gospel-Preaching Community of Prayer
Introduction
The common picture in the imagination of many evangelical Christians today when they read verses 10-20 is that of a mercenary. Every morning I wake up and put on my body armor and holster up and go and fight crime, me against the world. But, as every army, every police force, every investigative agency knows, teams thrive where individuals often fail.
Our picture should rather be like that of a Roman army. In fact, the shields of a Roman soldier had a unique feature—they came with a groove around the edges that had the ability to interlock with the shields of the soldiers next to them. When they did this, it would create an impenetrable wall of shields. The Roman army would also practice what they called the “testudo.” Literally means “turtle.” They would group up very tightly while approaching an enemy wall or fortress and use their shields to create 360 degree protection, including from above. It looked like a turtle. While they did this, it made it impossible for enemy archers or slingers to hit them with rocks and arrows. In fact, the testudo was so strong that lightly armed Roman soldiers would be able to run up the testudo like a ramp, jump onto the enemy’s walls, and infiltrate their defenses in broad daylight.
An individual Roman Soldier was something to be reckoned with. But the Roman army was nearly unstoppable. Thus it is with God’s people. One Christian by themselves, equipped with all the armor of God, is a force to be reckoned with. But who can stand against the whole church?
We must remember Paul’s point throughout this whole letter—to teach us about the church in God’s program. At no point in this book has he just been talking about “you” or “me.” He has been talking about “us.” While there are many individual responsibilities that Paul enumerates, he always assumes that these will be practiced within a local church. He does not just expect individuals at Ephesus to don the armor of God and stand firm. He expects the Church at Ephesus to do so together. He desires them to take up the armor of God, lock shields, stand firm, and weather the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil together as we “withstand the evil day.”
If anything is clear about the end of this letter, it is that we are a wartime people. We have a directive: Make disciples. We have mission parameters: go, baptize, and teach. We have an enemy: 6:11, “the devil” [lit. the slanderer], 6:12, rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We have methods of warfare: to stand in the Lord’s strength, to withstand in the evil day, and to stand having done all. And we have equipment: integrity, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, and the Word. We are a wartime, gospel-preaching community of prayer.
Yet, I do not want the significance of those two words escape us: we are a wartime people. We are a gospel-preaching community of prayer. We are not spiritual mercenaries, but an army. Every command in this paragraph is plural. Notice how prayer is for “all the saints (v18), that Paul is part of that community proclaiming the mystery of the gospel, the union of Jew and Gentile in Christ (v19-20), and how there was a deep desire in Paul’s heart to be known by the Ephesians through Tychicus. In everything we do, we move as a body, an army, a nation, a people. And as we finish out this incredible little letter, I want that to be what stands out most clearly to us: we wage spiritual war in a gospel-preaching community of prayer. Let’s see that emphasis unfold through three steps in the argument. 1) spiritual warfare happens through prayer, 2) prayer empowers the preaching of the gospel, 3) prayer-empowered gospel preaching occurs in the community of the saints.
I. Spiritual Warfare Happens Through Prayer (Eph 6:18)
V18 is an artificial divide. In the original, it is not the beginning of a new sentence. In fact, it is dependent on the verb in verse 17: “take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.” Naturally, it applies not just to salvation and the word, but to the whole armor of God. But this is vitally important, because it communicates the final piece of what it means to go to spiritual war: prayer. Prayer is the marching of the hosts of the Lord. Prayer is the trumpet blast signaling the advance. Prayer is the drumroll signaling the charge. Without prayer, the spiritual war is not won.
Why? Because prayer is, at bottom, an act of dependence on God. Notice: praying…with all prayer and supplication…making supplication. We are asking God to do what we cannot do. We want to see the dead in sin raised to new life in Christ. We want to see the saints conformed to the image of God. We want to see encumbering sins shaken off, suffering sustained, faith victorious, the church built up and made healthy and strong. Who is sufficient for these things? So, the call to spiritual war is a call to prayer before it is a call to action. Action without prayer is wasted energy, for it will be human energy devoid of the Spirit’s power.
While prayer is not, properly speaking, part of the armor of God, I would say it is part of donning the armor of God. Think about what we said a couple weeks ago. Think of spiritual integrity. Can you become a whole, integrated person without prayer? Or the shoes of readiness. Can you stand ready for the assaults of the devil that will come today without prayer? Or the shield of faith. Can you adequately believe the promises of God without praying them? Or the sword of the Spirit. Can the sword of the word be sharp to cut down the sinner to repentance if it is not sharpened on the grinding wheel of prayer?
We put all these on by prayer. Prayer is the buckle on the belt of truth, the straps on the breastplate of righteousness, the laces on the shoes of readiness, the handle on the shield of faith, the chinstrap of the helmet of salvation, and the scabbard for the sword of the Spirit. You might try to put these things on, but without prayer they will not stay. You will quickly lose integrity, stumble in uprightness, be caught off-guard by sin and suffering, trust in yourself, forget the saving work of God, and fight with the twig of human philosophy.
Individually, some of us do not thrive in our faith because we do not spend time in prayer—some of us at all, and many of us far from adequately. Corporately, a church that does not pray will not stand. Think of all that Paul has taught us regarding what it means to be a church. We are called to unity. Without prayer we will be at each other’s throats. We are called to speak the truth in love. How can we strike that balance without prayer? We are commanded to experience the fullness of the influences of the Spirit which cause us to sing thankfully with submissive hearts. How can we do that without prayer? A church that does not pray will be quickly overtaken by disunity and division, distracted by the tinsel of the world, and overshadowed by the malaise of aimless business. It will be overtaken by sin and lose its witness. It will be filled with families in which wives and husbands do not reflect Christ and his church, in which parents and churches do not train children in obedience through nourishing. It will be filled with those who serve themselves rather than others. It will not stand.
So, we must be faithful in prayer. How do we do that? Paul gives us several elements of faithfully praying in verse 18:
1. In every circumstance – no matter the situation. It is easy to allow our circumstances to distract us from prayer. Illness strikes. Health deteriorates. Money drains away. Cars break down. Children disobey. Church has problems. We so quickly make the mistake of thinking that to pray is to not do something about it. But we are called to pray, literally “through all.” Through every circumstances. Prayer is like the stable platform that we stand on while the shifting scenery of our circumstances pass by. Often, the reason why we emerge stable is because we were always praying to begin with.
2. In the Spirit – praying in connection to the life and power of God in Christ. Praying in the Spirit does not mean praying in tongues or some kind of ostentatious display of showiness, but rather parallels the expression throughout Ephesians “in Christ.” The Spirit is the one who connects us to the life of God. He is Christ dwelling in the heart. Thus, to pray “in the Spirit” is to pray empowered by the Spirit, in the realm of the Spirit, surrounded and suffused by the Spirit. Thus, we pray as he directs in his word, and we pray in accord with his will, according to his power, seeking his aims and ends, according to his good timing.
3. In all types and kinds of prayer. That is, there is an endless variety of prayer. Adoration, confession, praise, consecration, dedication, intercession, thanksgiving. We groan in prayer, complain in prayer, lament in prayer, mourn in prayer, rejoice in prayer, meditate in prayer, commune with God in prayer. We are refreshed through prayer, reminded of holiness through our prayers, exhort our own souls through prayer, please through prayer. We are called to prayer in the morning, at noon, during the night. We are called to prayer in comfort and ease as well as trial and suffering. In gain and loss, life and death, peace and war, sickness and health, wealth or poverty, in sin and in righteousness, in life and in death. We are called to prayer whether husband or wife, child or parent, pastor or member, slave or master, married or unmarried, citizen or governing authority. We must pray without ceasing. As Paul says, we are called to “all prayer and supplication.”
4. Alertness – That is, watchfulness in prayer. Watchfulness is an alert posture in prayer that does three things. 1) It looks for answers. Col 4:2, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it.” 2) It is vigilant against temptation. Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 3) It anticipates the final judgment and the fulfillment of all God’s promises in Christ. Luke 21:36, “Stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
5. Perseverance – patient persistence. Are you content to ask for the same thing for a long time? Are you content, like Jacob, to strive with God until he gives you the blessing? Are you like the persistent friend who knocks on the door at midnight until his friend comes and gives him what he needs? Do you quickly lose heart in prayer because you have forgotten that God is a just God who will give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Persevere. Beat down heaven’s door in your prayers. Stand and knock. Then pace. Then call out. Then knock again. And again. Then knock louder. Then knock again. Persist. Persevere. Pray. Pray. Pray.
6. For all the saints – Perhaps we don’t pray often because we don’t see the needs around us. Or, if we do see the needs around us, we don’t pray because we think that we can solve them. Or, if we see them perhaps we think they are small, light, unimportant matters. But there are enough afflictions, cares, troubles, and needs in this room alone this morning to supply ammunition for a lifetime of unceasing prayer. There is much work to do, for we are charged not only to see to it that we persevere in faith, but that our brothers and sisters do so as well.
7. Especially for preachers
Which is the transition to the next point: Prayer empowers the preaching of the gospel.
II. Prayer Empowers the Preaching of the Gospel (Eph 6:19-20)
Not only does prayer wage spiritual warfare, but that spiritual warfare advances through the preaching of the gospel empowered by prayer. The sword is the word of God—which refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that God has given to his church to proclaim. And Paul has been given a unique role in unveiling that gospel, what he calls “the mystery of the gospel.” That is drawing on chapter 3. Remember how there he spoke about how “the mystery was made known to me by revelation,” how we could perceive his “insight into the mystery of Christ” by reading his letters, how it consisted in the fact that the Jews and Gentiles are “fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” and how this mystery was hidden for ages in God and now made manifest through the church to display God’s wisdom to heavenly rulers and authorities. And here, Paul is speaking about warring, struggling, wrestling against those very same rulers and authorities, about how he is engaged in the same conflict we are engaged in, and how therefore he needs their prayers too.
If Paul’s foundational ministry to the church required the prayers of the saints, how much more does our ministry to the church need prayer? It should be stunning that Paul asks for prayer! He says, “And also for me!” The apostle asks for prayer. There is no one in the church who occupies too high of a station to ask for prayer. That is because there is no work we do in the church that we can accomplish in our own strength.
This speaks to the humility that Paul had. He was nothing in his own eyes. Phil 3, 1 Tim 1:12-17. Paul was keen to the awareness of his own need and insufficiency, and therefore keenly aware of his need for the prayers of the saints.
Preachers need your prayers! The arrows of sermons are forged in the pastor’s study and aimed by providence, but they are drawn on the bowstrings of your prayers. I could be tireless in study and writing and prayer myself, but without your prayers, my preaching will do absolutely nothing. The success of this church hangs on how you pray more than how I preach. I need your prayers every week, especially every Sunday morning. It is a strenuous exercise to hear sermons! Prayer for unbelievers present. Prayer for your own sanctification. Prayer other members. In a famous illustration, one man asked Spurgeon how he was so successful. So, Spurgeon showed them what he called “the boiler room,” a room full of chairs dedicated for the use of prayer during the service.
That also tells us something very important about what’s happening during the service: I may be preaching, but we are all witnessing. This time is our witness, not just my witness. Preaching is a function of the whole body, not just the guy speaking. Even though I may be preaching, we are witnessing. That’s because 1) sermons only happen at churches and 2) sermons are only effective because the the prayers of those who sit under them.
Why do we need your prayers? Because preaching is fraught with temptations and dangers. Paul implies three of them in his words. First is self-sufficiency. Paul asks “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth.” He wanted to say what was given to him. He did not want to be self-sufficient in his message. Remember, from chapter 3, that he had received a revelation concerning the mystery of Christ, that Jew and Gentile were in one body and partakers of the promise together in Christ Jesus. He wanted to say that, rather than whatever he thought was interesting. Paul wanted to say what was given. There is a great temptation in preaching to talk about what you find interesting, rather than what is given to say in the text your are unfolding. I always want to say what is given. For Paul, he was given words uniquely by the Spirit as fresh and new revelation. For me, I am given words by Paul (or whoever) in the Bible to resay faithfully.
Second, is timidity. Many preachers are terrified of their congregations. “What will they think? What will they do if I say what I really thought? How will this person react if I address this sin or this difficult topic?” But Paul wanted to speak “boldly,” which was (v20) “as I ought to speak.” He was under obligation to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Boldness doesn’t mean being mean or a bully. It means “full disclosure.” Saying everything without fear. There is nothing so terrifying in the hands of God as a fearless preacher. Yet preachers are so easily intimidated into moderating their words, or blunting their convictions on controversial issues, or speaking with a half-open mouth so that there is nothing but confusion and doubt. So Paul wanted boldness. And you need to pray for boldness for your pastors—that we wouldn’t be afraid of you, and that we would say what the Lord has given us to say with full disclosure, without shrinking back or being ashamed of what the Lord has given. (Note: God answered this prayer: Acts 28:31.)
Third, is suffering. Paul was an ambassador in chains. All the apostles, except John, were martyred for what they preached. And John was exiled. Jesus was put to death for what he preached. Timothy was martyred for his faith. Tradition says that so was Nicodemous. Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Good deeds rarely got a preacher killed. Nobody hates someone who houses the homeless, heals the sick, or feeds the hungry. Jesus’ miracles made him fabulously popular. It was Jesus’s message that got him killed. And it is the message of preachers that lands them in chains like Paul. So, you need to pray for your pastors’ because what we say could mean the same for us. Pray that we would be willing to suffer for what God gives us to say, whether that is in the small way of enduring scoffing and rejection or the big way of imprisonment and death. Pray 2 Tim 2:10, “Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
III. Prayer-Empowered Gospel Preaching Occurs in the Community of the Saints (Eph 6:21-24)
Prayer wages spiritual war, and that spiritual war advances through gospel preaching. But that gospel preaching occurs within a community of saints that are intimately concerned for one another. That is the sense you get as you read the end of this amazing letter. Tychicus, who likely is writing this letter down as Paul dictates it to him, is tasked with delivering this letter, and the letter of Colossians to their respective churches. But the sense you almost always get with Paul at the end of his letters is that he knew a lot of people. He was a man of relationships. He was always surrounded by men and women dedicated to the cause of Christ with whom he fostered warm friendship.
Paul wanted to be seen and known by the Ephesians. “That you also may know how I am and what I am doing…” He did not want to be hidden from them. He wanted not only to serve the Lord, but he wanted everyone else to be encouraged by what the Lord was doing through him. So, Paul intentionally sought out ways to be known by the church. He visited them often. He sent trusted people to them. He wrote letters to them. He wanted to be known.
Are you seen and known in this way? How do you engage with the church? This gets at the fundamental reality of what the church is. Do you come to church simply to “get fed” by hearing a sermon, only to disappear, live your own life, only to magically reappear seven days later to “get fed” again? The church is not just about hearing sermons. It’s about knowing and being known. It’s about seeing and being seen. It’s about warm friendship and fellowship. It is about relationships within which we can speak the truth in love. If we are not engaging with the church in a manner that promotes that, we are not engaging with the church.
Paul also had people close enough to him that he could personally vouch for their character. He was able to say that Tychicus was a “faithful minister.” It took a lot for Paul to do this. He instructs Timothy in 1 Tim 5:22, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.” He was not quick to recommend someone for ministry. No doubt experience taught him that not every man desiring ministry is what he at first seemed. So he took his time to get to know them, see how they interacted with and served the church, observed how he led his family, all so that he could, with a clear conscience, say, “This guy is faithful.” Do you have that kind of relationship with each other? Are you close enough that you are able to vouch for the character of the other members of this church?
Paul invited those men into his own life to the degree that they would be able to tell them “everything” that Paul was up to. He took people everywhere. They were involved in whatever he was doing. Paul was no lone wolf, no individualistic mercenary-type who just went off into the wild-west without a team. He was always with a team of people. And those people could see what he was doing. That is part of the reason why he constantly was telling people, “Imitate me.” How could they do that if they did not spend some significant time with him to know how he acted and how they should imitate?
Paul desired to encourage the hearts of the people he cared for. He didn’t send Tychicus to ask for money, to berate them for their lack of enthusiasm, or guilt them into more ardent service. Rather, the wanted to “encourage your hearts.” Paul labored for the good of the church, not his own good. What an attitude to come to church with! So often we come to church with the attitude that says, “I need something,” and perhaps you do! But we should also come with the attitude that says, “How can I encourage the hearts of my brothers and sisters today?”
He also wishes peace on them—mirroring the opening words of this letter. Wholeness. Prosperity. Wellness. That means not only with God but also with one another. The community of God is marked by peace—wholeness, rest, harmony, and spiritual prosperity.
He wished love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as they had “loved all the saints” (1:15), he desires they would continue to do the same. The church is a community of love.
The church is also a community of faith. It isn’t just “love” but “love with faith.” That is a curious saying, and fascinating to think about. Loves seeks good and faith trusts God. That implies that the good we want to do toward one another is impossible without trusting in God’s help to do so. Which means that community of the church is built upon faith in God’s promises, not simple exertion of the will.
Finally, grace. Which is where this whole story began. 1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace is God’s power in action. God’s salvation in motion. What he wished at the beginning is what he sends the off with: May God continue his saving work through you.
Conclusion
These verses paint a vivid picture of a wartime, gospel preaching community of prayer. And so, at the close of our study of this little letter, I want to leave you with a number of exhortations that draw from the whole book:
1. Do not underestimate the value of the church. The church is the vehicle during the present age through which God is moving his plan forward. It is the incursion of the future world into the present order. It is the body of people that proclaims that Christ is victorious and his completed victory is coming. This is the most important thing you do every week, the thing of most spiritual significance. Even if it seems or feels insignificant, even if the role you play feels small and seems like it has no impact, it is not. It is vitally important.
2. Praise the glorious grace of God as seen through the church. God’s abundant grace is poured out like a waterfall in a desert. God has done all things to the praise of his glorious grace. He has saved us by his grace apart from any work we can do. He has united us to his Son by his grace and made us one by his grace. He has revealed the mystery of the gospel by his grace. He has taught our hearts holiness by his grace. He is reforming our homes and our church and our persons by his grace. And we are caught up into a war he is fighting against our enemies, which is grace. So, when you see the church, you should see grace, and that should cause praise to erupt in your heart.
3. Remember the invaluable work of the Spirit of God. The Spirit is what makes us a church. He has sealed us, guaranteed our inheritance, united us to Christ. He has revealed Christ to the eyes of our hearts and caused us to see our hope and riches and power. He has united us in one body, one new humanity in Christ Jesus. He strengthens us with power to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. He is intimately concerned with our holiness and is grieved when we do not pursue it. He fills us to sing and give thanks and to submit and to do all we do as a church. And he has given us his word that we may struggle against the spiritual forces of evil.
4. Live out the unity of the church purchased by the blood of Jesus. Because we have been saved by his grace, we are one in Christ Jesus. There is no Jew or Gentile here, but a new creation—something brand new. We are not divided by a wall of hostility, but we have peace with God and with one another. We both have access in one Spirit to the Father through Christ Jesus. We are all fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. There is “one body, and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is over all and through all and in all.” And the evidence of our unity is our wisdom and our heartfelt singing and our giving thanks and our submission to one another.
5. Strive for holiness. Strive for holiness personally, as you put off the old man and put on the new while God renews the spirit of your mind. Strive for corporate holiness as we walk in a manner worthy of our calling by being humble and gentle and patient and forbearing and loving and zealous to maintain our unity. Strive for the holiness of your brothers and sisters in Christ by speaking the truth in love and seeking their maturity in the Lord. Be quick to speak the truth, eager to forgive, never corrupting and always building up. Strive for holiness in the household as wives submit to husbands and husbands love their wives; as children are taught to obey their parents and as parents nourish their children toward saving faith; as we serve and receive service as those who have a common heavenly master.
6. Don’t forget you’re in a war. Wake up every day. Strap on your armor. Pray without ceasing. Preach the gospel. And come to church.