The Spiritual Battle For God-Glorifying Marriages Pt. 3 | Ephesians 6:10-24

Scripture

• Ephesians 6:10–24

About this sermon

Introduction: We must never forget that we live in a world that includes more than one kind of reality. IN FACT, WE ARE NOT JUST LIVING IN A WORLD THAT INCLUDES MORE THAN ONE KIND OF REALITY, WE ARE ENCOUNTERING MORE THAN ONE KIND OF REALITY. AND WE MUST UNDERSCORE IN OUR MINDS THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT REALITIES. Not some sort of mysticism. Not some ancient and ignorant attempt to explain what troubles humanity. Not something that is the product of our imaginations. THESE VERSES DESCRIBE REALITIES THAT HAVE BEEN REVEALED TO US BY GOD. We are told that we meet with realities — SEEN and UNSEEN. We are told of physical realities and spiritual realities. We are told that we are in conflict NOT JUST WITH flesh and blood — NOT EVEN PRIMARILY with flesh and blood. NAS Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. That verse tells us that these enemies are not just spiritual, they are powerful enemies, expansive enemies (WORLD FORCES), organized enemies, evil enemies (darkness, wickedness). IT IS A FIGHT THAT INCLUDES ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE (our struggle). We can’t opt out of it. BUT WHAT IS MOST EMPHASIZED (perhaps) IS THAT THESE ARE THAT CAN EASILY BE FORGOTTEN — AND TO FORGET IT IS DANGEROUS. The very reason for the reminder of the nature of the battle that believers face is that we can so easily FORGET this aspect of our struggle. IT IS EASY FOR US TO GET OUR EYES FIXED ON ONLY ONE REALM of reality, when the Bible tells us that our greatest warfare exists in another realm of reality — THE ONE WE TEND TO FORGET. This section is introduced by the word “finally.” It stands at the end of the entire letter that Paul has written. It is the final word, as it were. And it functions like the final piece of a work of construction. He has explained THE WONDERS of the grace of God and the Christian life in chapters 1-3, and then the RESPONSIBILITIES of this life in chapters 4-6. And as he has written about the LIVING OUT of the Christian life, HE HAS MAPPED OUT WHAT THIS MEANS FOR A WHOLE HOST OF RELATIONSHIPS AND THE PRACTICAL RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDED IN THOSE RELATIONSHIPS. Responsibilities that include MARRIAGE. And he wraps up all that instruction with the REMINDER that we are living our lives on a spiritual battlefield. He says, in effect, “I have told you all these things about the glorious Christian life, but there is one more piece of vital information that I have yet to teach you.” “Never forget that this life must be lived in a truly hostile environment.” You will have to live this life out with very real struggles, very real battles, on a very real battlefield, with a very real enemy. A BATTLEFIELD that requires readiness, but a battlefield that you can be ready for because God has supplied everything you need to be ready. We are RIGHT, then, to relate this final section to the subject of marriage. If spiritual armor is necessary for everything in the Christian life, and if spiritual warfare belongs to everything else in the Christian, we must know that this is true with marriage as well. James Montgomery Boice — “…the very fact that Paul follows his beautiful and uplifting portrait of peaceful Christian homes and happy Christian relations (in Ephesians 5:22–6:9) with this stark description of warfare indicates that even these things will not be achieved without conflict. Clearly the victories of the Christian life are to be achieved by a relentless and lifelong struggle against evil. And even then they are realized only to the extent that we avail ourselves of God’s armor.” Today I want us to think about the SPIRITUAL BATTLE FOR GOD-GLORIFYING MARRIAGES. Or we could also describe it as, THE SPIRITUAL READINESS NECESSARY FOR GOD-GLORIFYING MARRIAGES. Are you preparing yourselves SPIRITUALLY to honor God in marriage, KNOWING that your marriage is the focus of spiritual resistance? SO, HOW DOES PAUL ORGANIZE ALL OF THIS? HOW DOES GOD LAY IT OUT FOR US? WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM IT?

Topics

• Worship