The world is a strange
place these days. It’s changed an awful lot, and it’s changed really
quickly. Four months ago hardly anyone had heard of the coronavirus--now
everyone has. Four months ago the idea that schools and churches would be
closed for months, that the economy would be shutdown, that there’d be no
professional, college, or even high school sports--that would’ve been
unthinkable. People would’ve looked at you like you were crazy if you had
said that was going to happen.
And look at how much it’s changed in the last two
weeks. Two weeks ago no one had heard of George Floyd outside of his
family and friends. Now, just about everyone in the world knows who he
was and how he died. His death and the things done in its
aftermath--again, two weeks ago, who would’ve thought that all this was going
to happen?
When the world changes so much and so fast, it can leave
our heads spinning. We look for something solid to hold onto, and sometimes
it just does not seem to be there. We feel helpless. We feel like
we’re being pushed and pulled in all directions by forces we cannot see or deal
with.
So, we say, “Well, I’ll leave it in God’s hands.” And
there’s nothing wrong with that, of course. In fact, it’s a good idea to
put things in God’s hands. After all, what better hands could there
be? But sometimes, we say that with kind of a shrug of the
shoulders. We say it as a last resort. We leave it in God’s hands because
we don’t know anything else we can do.
But as Christians, we are not helpless. God has not
abandoned us to the whims of the world. God has given us all kinds of
power. We have, as the Apostle Paul puts it, “the full armor of God.”
The first thing to note about that is that Paul tells us
that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood”. The armor of God is
not aimed at other people. The struggle is “against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That’s who the armor of
God is protecting us against. We put on this armor of God, Paul says, so
that “when the day of evil comes, [we] may be able to stand our ground.”
As Christians, we need to be able to stand our ground against
the forces of evil. So, we’re going to look at what this armor of God
consists of. And the first thing it consists of, Paul tells us, is the
“belt of truth”, buckled around the waist.
Have you ever wondered why the truth is referred to as a
belt? I don’t know if I have. I just thought of it as kind of a
clever phrase.
But when
you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that the truth would be a
belt. After all, what does a belt do? It holds things together,
right? In ancient times, the belt was what held a scabbard in place, and
a scabbard is what held your sword. In other words, if you did not have a
belt, you would not have anything with which to defend yourself.
That’s
what the truth does for us. The truth holds everything together. The
truth provides us with a defense against the dark world and the spiritual
forces of evil. When we know the truth, we can defend ourselves against
those things.
The world
does not always value truth these days. In fact, quite often, we’re told
that there is no such thing as truth. Or, we’re told that there are
multiple truths, that my truth can be different from your truth. We’re
told that something that is not actually true can still “reflect the truth”,
that it can be accurate even though it’s false. We’re told that it’s okay
to make stuff up or even just outright lie about things as long as those things
are in service to some “larger truth”.
But truth
is incredibly important to God. Jesus says it over and over in the
gospels. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the
life.” Jesus said, “Whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have
done has been done in the sight of God.” Jesus said that whoever accepted
the word of Jesus “has certified that God is truthful”. Jesus said, “God
is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The Apostle Paul wrote about the importance of truth.
He wrote, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their
wickedness.” He tells us those people, “exchanged the truth of God for a
lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” By
doing so, Paul says that “although they claimed to be wise, they were fools.”
Paul has more to say about the truth. He says that
God’s judgment is based on truth. He says that Christ became a servant of
the Jews on behalf of God’s truth. He says that “by setting forth the
truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of
God.” He says that we are saved, “through the sanctifying work of the
Spirit and through belief in the truth.” He says we should do our best to
present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
So again, the truth is incredibly important to God. But
what truth? I mean, yes, truth is truth. I’m not denying
that. But two plus two equals four is truth. I am sixty-one years
old is truth. I wore a tie this morning is truth. But none of those
truths will get us into heaven. And none of those truths will defend us against the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil,
either.
So when
we talk about the importance of truth, what are we really talking about?
We’re talking about the truth of God, as given to us through the teaching of
Jesus Christ. Jesus said this: “If
you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The way we know the truth is to follow the teachings of
Jesus. Love God. Love others. Love even our enemies.
Forgive those who have wronged us. Treat others, not as they actually
treat us, but as we would like them to treat us. Put away our selfish
wants and desires. Live in a way that brings honor and glory to
God. Tell others about Jesus, so they can come to have faith and be
saved.
When we follow the teachings of Jesus, we live our lives in
truth. And when we live our lives in truth, that truth will defend us
against the forces of evil.
When evil tells us to turn away from God, our response is to
love God. When evil tries to divide us and separate us, our response is
to love everyone. When evil tries to tell us it’s us against them, our
response is to love even our enemies. When evil tells us to hold a
grudge, to get revenge, to get even with people, our response is to forgive
them. When evil tells that someone has treated us poorly and we should
respond the same way, our response is to be kind to them, because that’s how
we’d like to be treated. When evil tells us to look out for number one
and make sure we get ours, our response is to give generously and selflessly,
not just of our money but of our time and of our love. When evil tells us
that whatever we want to do is okay, our response is to live in a way that
brings glory and honor to God. When evil tells us it’s okay to believe in
any God or no God, that all roads lead to heaven, that all that matters is that
you’re a nice person, our response is to tell people about the Savior, Jesus
Christ.
That’s living in truth. That’s using the truth to
defend ourselves against the forces of evil. When we live in that truth,
the forces of evil cannot touch us.
Now, don’t misunderstand that. It is certainly true
that when we live in the truth, there will be consequences on earth. And
sometimes those consequences will not be easy. Jesus never hid that, and
we should not hide it, either. There will be times when people will take
advantage of us. There will be times when people mistake our love and our
forgiveness as weakness. There will be times when we give and, instead of
getting a thank you, we’ll get a demand for more. There will be times
when people make fun of us and criticize us for living in a way that brings
honor and glory to God. There will be times when people call us
narrow-minded and judgmental for saying that the road to heaven runs through
faith in Jesus Christ and there is no other path. Jesus never said the life
of a Christian would be easy while we’re on earth. You and I need to live
in that truth, too.
But it’s still true that when we live in the truth, the
forces of evil cannot touch us. They may be able to touch us on
earth. But they cannot touch us in eternity. When we live in the
truth, we can be confident that we will have salvation and eternal life.
No matter how powerful the forces of evil may appear, they cannot touch us
there.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your
waist.” When we have God’s truth, we can stand firm. God’s truth
holds everything together. It’s our defense against the forces of
evil. When we have God’s truth, we have the protection of God.
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