“For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day…” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Spiritual warfare is an interesting topic. It’s one that attracts a lot of interest, but about which no one seems to have very much knowledge. This is because we don’t have any reliable source of information outside the Scriptures, and those don’t seem nearly as exciting as whatever popular culture has to offer about it. This week I’m away at camp and the theme of the week happens to be spiritual warfare. Since it’s fresh and active, I’m going to take this week to offer some reflections on our theme verse, Ephesians 6:13. Let’s start here.
This week we are continuing our new teaching series on the story of the early church in Acts. This incredible story helps us grasp more fully where we came from so that we better understand where we are going. After the church fairly well exploded into existence after the coming of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, a happy end to the story if we were writing it would be for the church to sail on forward to accomplish its mission without anything getting in its way. That is not, however, how life works. Challenges started coming the church’s way left and right; inside and out. How did the church navigate her way through all of these? That’s what we’re talking about today. Keep reading to find out.
Just as a heads up: I’ll be traveling some this week. Posts will still go up, but they may not be as long or as early as usual.
A Bold Movement
Do you remember the first time you got burned? I don’t necessarily mean physically burned. I mean, do you remember the first time something happened to really shake your confidence? When I was six my parents took me on a mild roller coaster ride at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO, called Fire in the Hole. The idea was that you were on a mine train that keeps nearly crashing into a burning building. At each such junction the train makes a quick drop and turn. It was all inside and didn’t really have any high hills or crazy turns. But I was always kind of a cautious kid, and as we were waiting in line I began to lose my nerve. At this point, my parents were presented with a choice: have one of them take me on the chicken exit while the other enjoyed the ride with my sister who was much braver at three than I was at six, or take me on the ride over my increasingly insistent protests in hopes that I would see that it wasn’t nearly so bad as I was thinking. They didn’t know it—and indeed no parent recognizes this in the moment—but this was one of those parental judgment points where there’s really not a right answer, but whatever you decide is probably going to have lasting implications. They decided to go with the latter option on that list. When the terror-ride finally ended I was traumatized. As I bawled my eyes out I swore to myself that I would never again ride a roller-coaster or anything even remotely like that. I got burned and I wasn’t about to reach my hand back out there again. My nerve was shot.
“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
When thinking or talking about religion, it is easy to just lump everything into one category. For the sake of convenience we divide the world into the religious and the non-religious, the sacred and the secular. In doing this, however, we can fall into the trap of thinking that all religions are basically the same. After all, they are all religions. How different can the really be from one another? The short answer is incredibly different. And the most different of all is Christianity. It is so very different because at its core it is not about keeping a bunch of rules. It is about following a person. I had a great chance to share this remarkable idea with a bunch of fantastic kids this past week. Let me share with you what we talked about.
“‘Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.’ But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, ‘If they Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?’ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them commands concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Doubt is scary stuff. It’s especially scary when it comes to the journey of faith. We’re not really sure what to do with doubt when thinking about faith. The two seem like opposites to us. Occasionally we treat them like they are oil and water and in ways that can actually be pretty harmful to people striving for one yet experiencing the other. Moses’ journey was in many ways a study in doubt and faith. We see it twice in this chapter alone. Let’s reflect together on it here and what it may have to do with our own stories.
“‘Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever been presented with a golden opportunity that you passed up because you just didn’t have the energy to take it? There are occasionally times in life when something comes along that looks incredible, but we don’t jump on it for one reason or another. Sometimes those reasons are good and understandable. Sometimes the people around us think we are certifiably insane for passing up on whatever it was. God, through Moses, was making some pretty incredible promises to the people of Israel here. Yet because Pharaoh had so broken their spirits, they wouldn’t believe any of it was really true. Let’s dig in a bit to what is going on here, and talk about staying encouraged when things seem bleak.
The Nexus 