Spiritual Warfare: The Armor of God: Helmet of Salvation Ephesians 6:10-17
After last
week’s illustration featuring the well-known Marvel characters from Avengers,
particularly Captain America and his shield in our discussion the Shield of
Faith, I figure for the Helmet of Salvation, I would offer fair treatment in
the comic world and turn to DC comics, and one of their oldest but lesser known
figures…
Dr. Fate and the
Helmet of Nabu. The helmet is both a
blessing and a curse. Among other
powers, it gives its wearer the power of flight, super-strength, invulnerability,
telekinesis, and control of lightning.
However, in putting on the helmet to confront and battle evil, the
wearer also surrenders their personality to the spirit within the helmet.
Cap and his
shield, Fate and his Helmet, equipping themselves for battle against the evil
of their fictional worlds. We have been
spending weeks talking about equipping ourselves for the battle with evil
within our world…a battle that is not with flesh and blood requiring weapons of
this world, but a battle fought in ways seen and unseen. The enemy pulls out hatred, bigotry, deceit,
and violence. We, though, as followers
of Christ, are not to employ those weapons.
We are called to reject those weapons and instead put on the Armor of
God to fight these battles.
We wrap the Belt
of Truth about us—ensuring that we are surrounded by –that Jesus is about what
we are doing, what we are saying, and what we are thinking. When we are searching for the truth about
which decision and which action is best for us, with the Belt of Truth, we let
what Jesus would do or say direct what we would do or say—for Jesus is the Way,
the Truth, and the Life. In putting on
the Belt of Truth, we declare that Jesus is not only the Truth, but His way is
our way, and that in Him we find true life.
As we don the
Breastplate of Righteousness, we declare that our righteousness is completely
dependent upon God—that first, through the blood of Christ, we are declared as
righteous, based not on our work, but on the work of Christ on the cross; then,
through the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, we are moved from simply being seen
as righteous, to being made righteous, as God remakes us into His Image once
more. In wearing the Breastplate, we
declare to the world that we have come on behalf of our King, the King of
Kings, and about His work of reclaiming, redeeming, and restoring Creation to
its original state of being “good.”
The footwear we
shod our feet with differs from one of us to the other, but all for the sole
purpose of declaring the Gospel of Peace.
Whether we proclaim it through spoken word, singing, dancing, teaching,
acts of mercy, or simply the ministry of presence as we sit alongside someone
in their storm—we declare that Jesus has brought us peace with God, peace with
one another, peace in the midst of the storms of life, and called to be
peacemakers on behalf of the Prince of Peace.
We take up the
Shield of Faith with which we are able to quench all the flaming arrow that
satan sends our way. It is the faith
that noting in all of creation can separate us from the love of God found in
Christ Jesus our Lord. It is the faith
that God’s design for our future is not one of darkness and doom, but of hope
and wellbeing. It is the faith that we
are not condemned but have found grace and forgiveness through Jesus. It is the faith that God will strengthen us
to help us overcome any challenges we face.
It is the faith that God will always be with us and we will never be
left alone. It is the faith that every
promise of God is true. It is the faith
with which we connect with and support one another.
This morning we
hear Paul’s call once more to put on the full armor of God…and that’s important
to remember, it is the full Armor of God that we are supposed to be putting on. Not just one or two pieces, but all of it…the
belt, the breastplate, the shoes, the shield of faith, and the piece we
consider today. Today, we hear Paul’s
invitation to take up, or better yet, receive the Helmet of Salvation. This Armor, is not something we just go out
and build or forge ourselves. It all is
laid out before us as a gift from God.
If there was any doubt, it is settled today as we are told to receive
the Helmet of Salvation from God. We
could not, cannot, nor ever will be able to, save ourselves. Our salvation is completely dependent upon
the work of Jesus through the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb. Through His birth, life, death, and
resurrection, Jesus has brought salvation to all who will humbly receive the
gift He offers.
Thus, though
each piece of the Armor of God is important, this piece is the most
critical. On the battlefield, especially
in Jesus’ day, but I would say it would be true on any physical battlefield
today, a harsh blow to the feet, to the legs, to the hands, to the arms, or
even, sometimes, to the torso could be endured and survived. However, a blow to the head, whether from a
sword, a spear, or some other weapon, would often prove fatal if there was no
helmet to protect the soldier. Likewise,
without the life-saving grace of God, the Salvation found in Christ Jesus, in
our lives; without the Helmet of Salvation covering our heads; we are at risk
of receiving a fatal blow that would leave us forever separated from God.
The significance
of receiving this helmet from God and putting it on is threefold.
First, as I have
already suggested, this helmet is a gift.
Our salvation is a gift. There is
absolutely nothing that we can do to earn the gift that is our salvation. The work of salvation was completely accomplished
by Christ—no action on our part, not even our offering of a “salvation” prayer
can earn us salvation. Many of you
already know that I frown upon some of the traditional language with regards to
being saved. There are many who use the
language, “I got saved on August 14th of 2016 when I took Jesus as
my savior.” Others might say, “I was
saved on August 14th of 2016 when I accepted Jesus into my
heart.” Some may cry “semantics,” but I
suggest that both of these traditional and well-loved sayings put our salvation
back into being based on our actions—on our taking Jesus or our accepting Jesus
and not on the work of Jesus.
I still remember
the night when a young girl, about seven or eight years old, came and talked
with me after an Awanas meeting. She was
extremely upset. She said, “when I go
back next week I have to tell them when and where I got saved, and I don’t
know.” I know those leaders wanted the
time and place that she prayed “the sinner’s prayer,” and gave her life to
Jesus, however, I looked at her and said, “Go back next week, and when they ask
you, tell them that you were saved two-thousand years ago on a hill called
Golgotha.” Our salvation is a gift—it is
not a result of taking Jesus as our Savior (because He is already our Savior),
it is not a matter of accepting Jesus into our hearts (because our hearts only
beat because of Him), and it is not because of giving our lives to Jesus (for
they already belong to Him), it is about throwing up a white flag and
surrendering our lives to the fact that there is nothing that we can do to earn
salvation—Jesus completed the work and offers it to us as a gift.
The second and
third aspects of the Helmet of Salvation are tied to the fact that it is a
helmet…it is worn over the head.
The second
reason being that we have to come to understand (a function of our brain) that
our salvation is tied to God’s love for us—the fact that God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but
might have everlasting life. God loves
us and saves us, and saves those around us, not because they, or we, have
gotten our lives straight or right with Him, but simply because He has chosen
to love us and save us. The helmet of
salvation is intended to protect us from and drive any doubts of God’s love and
acceptance of us.[i] Evil is all about psychological warfare. It will try to make us doubt that God could
ever love us. It will try to make us
question whether our sins are really forgiven.
At times where we may feel like we are the closest to God, it is going
to through back in our face memories of the worst sins we have ever committed. The helmet of salvation is there to protect
us from those heavy blows reminding us that while all of our past may be true,
salvation came as a gift, and God has proved His love for us in this way, that
Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners…Jesus brought us the helmet of
salvation while we were still wearing that comfortable sin-labeled ball cap.
Finally, and the
whole reason I was drawn to Dr. Fate as an illustration. It was not because he was a superhero of
faith, but it was because of what happens when someone puts on the helmet, for
different individuals have worn that helmet over the course of DC comics
history. When anyone puts on that
helmet, who they were is no longer of significance, they become Dr. Fate—who
they were fades away.
Likewise, when
we put on the helmet of Salvation, we are called to let who we were and who we
are, fade away. Paul says to the Romans,
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and
acceptable and perfect.”[ii] Paul makes it clear what this looks like as
he tells the Philippians:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human
form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death
on a cross.[iii]
Putting on the
helmet of salvation, receiving the gift of salvation from God, and using it
means that not only do we accept that God has offered us the gift of salvation
at no price, and accepted us as we are, but that as we receive that salvation,
we are called to surrender ourselves to God, body and mind.[iv]
As we place this
helmet of salvation on our head, God, through the Spirit, cleanses us of all
that we were before, removing that sin from us, and begins transforming us into
the image of our Savior, until every aspect of our lives is a reflection of the
One who brought us the gift of salvation.
It is not an instantaneous thing; it is walking the path of redemption
alongside Jesus. It is allowing God to
transform our lives. It is spending time
daily with Him, walking daily with Him, living each and every moment with
Him—so that eventually we won’t ever have to stop and ask the well-worn
question, “What would Jesus do?” because doing what Jesus does has become part
of who we are.
My brothers and
sisters, this transformation may be as painful for us as it appeared to be for Kent
Nelson to put on Dr. Fate’s helmet. The
transformation may call us to change our network of friends. It is not that we are not called to be
friends with those outside of the faith—that is who Jesus often went to. However, if, rather than us leading our
friends closer to Christ, they are leading us away from Him, we are called to
find a new circle of support. It may be
that this transformation calls us to change our employment. We may find ourselves in a career that, as
salvation transforms us, we discover is incompatible with our faith—whether it
is because we are asked to be dishonest or whether our employment is endorses
or provides immoral behavior—and we are have to walk away from what may be a
steady and certain income. The
transformation will call us to change what we do with our money, our time, and
even ourselves—for whereas before we might have focused them all on our own
personal enjoyment, our transformation leads us to giving them away, even to
the point of sacrifice. As we grow into
our salvation, we will find that God is radically changing our lives, not to
strip us of ourselves, but to transform us into our true selves—who we were
created to be—those created in the Image of the Living God.
Yet as much as
it may change about our lives, we do not have to worry about our fate, our
destiny, what the future may hold for us.
For when we put on the Helmet of Salvation, as we find God transforming
us, we find that our future is a redeemed and forgiven future. It is a future not filled with fear of what
might come, but the certainty that when all is said and done we will find
ourselves standing victorious in the blessed presence of God.
In the Name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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