Sermon Notes

Ephesians 6:10–20

Paul closes his letter to a church he has spent five chapters assembling — and the last thing he tells them is that what God is building will be opposed.

Where We Are

Ephesians 6:10–13 · Ephesians 2:19–22

Verse 13 is where the whole letter has been heading. All along, Paul has been telling us what God is building — and here he tells us what kind of day it is being built in: “the evil day.” Not someday. Right now, this age, the one we are standing in.

Ephesians 2 says His people are being fitted together into a dwelling for God. Present tense. Still going up.

We are not waiting. We are a construction site in the midst of an active battlefield.

Who We Are Actually Up Against

Ephesians 6:11–12 · Ephesians 4:14

God is building something, and it is being built under fire. Paul names the enemy first: “the schemes of the devil.” Then he shows the scale of it — rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

On our own, we are outmatched. This is not a fair fight.

And right in the middle of naming that enemy, Paul tells us who the enemy is not: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” It is a warning. The schemes he names are the same ones from chapter 4 — aimed at a community, at its unity and its maturity, at whether the people God assembled stay assembled.

When we lose the category for spiritual evil, we don’t stop believing in evil. We relocate it into people.

There is a real enemy. It isn’t them.

Where the Strength Comes From

Ephesians 6:10 · Ephesians 1:19–20

Before Paul tells anyone to put on anything, he says be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.

Those are the same words he used back in chapter 1 — for the power that raised Jesus from the dead. Paul is bookending his own letter with resurrection power.

Jesus has already won it. The question is whether we will stand in it.

Whose Armor It Is

Ephesians 6:14–17

If the strength isn’t ours, the equipment isn’t either.

It is easy to assume Paul is describing the Roman guard chained to him. More likely he is reaching back into the Old Testament, where every piece of this armor has a history:

• Belt of truth — worn by the coming King · Isaiah 11:5
• Breastplate of righteousness & helmet of salvation — worn by God Himself · Isaiah 59:17
• Shoes of the gospel of peace — the feet of the messenger announcing that God reigns · Isaiah 52:7
• Shield of faith — God tells Abram He Himself is his shield · Genesis 15:1
• Sword of the Spirit — the weapon of the promised Servant, Jesus · Isaiah 49:2

So this is not a spiritual to-do list, and not six virtues to manufacture on our own. It is God’s character, worn by Jesus, given to us.

The Command Is Plural

Ephesians 6:11 · 1 Peter 5:8–9

Greek has two words for “you” — one singular, one plural. English only has one, so we usually hear this passage as something we do by ourselves. Every command here is plural. Every one of them.

It’s not you. It’s y’all.

That changes the picture. This isn’t one person on a hill getting dressed for a fight. It is a line — where your shield mostly covers the person beside you, and theirs covers your open side.

Peter says the same thing from the other direction: the lion is hunting someone, singular, the one who wandered off. And then he tells the church to resist together.

Your spiritual life is not a private matter.

And Then Paul Says Pray

Ephesians 6:18–20

Prayer isn’t a seventh piece of armor. It is the air the whole thing operates in.

Prayer is the method.

Paul tells the church to pray for all the saints — everybody in the line. And then he asks them to pray for him. The apostle, in chains, writing Scripture, asking for prayer to be bold.

If Paul isn’t too mature to need the person next to him… neither are we.

Where This Lands

You cannot equip yourself — and that is not bad news. Standing stops being a performance and starts being a posture.

The fight is not to get stronger and overpower evil. We can’t. The fight is to hold on tighter to Jesus, who has already defeated it, and to trust His power, not our own.

Dependence is the win.

• Take somebody out of the enemy column.
• Stop trying to stand alone.
• Pray for somebody by name this week.

Y’all trust in Jesus, y’all take up your armor, and y’all stand together.

Small Group Questions

1. Read Ephesians 6:10–13. Paul says be strong in the Lord before he says put on anything. Why does that order matter?
2. Paul says our struggle is “not against flesh and blood.” Who have you been treating as the enemy, and what would change if you moved them out of that column?
3. Every piece of the armor has an Old Testament history — it is God’s own armor, already worn by Jesus. How does that change the way you hear “put on the full armor of God”?
4. Every command in this passage is plural. What difference does it make to read Ephesians 6 as something “y’all” do together rather than something you do alone?
5. If your shield mainly covers the person beside you, who is standing next to you right now — and who is counting on you to cover their open side?
6. Read Ephesians 6:18–20. Paul — an apostle, in chains — asks the church to pray for him. Who do you need to ask to pray for you, and who will you pray for by name this week?

Strong in the Lord — 3-Day Devotional

A Three Day Devotional Through Ephesians 6

Paul ends his letter by telling a church that what God is building will be opposed. Over the next three days we will look at who the real enemy is, whose armor we are actually wearing, and why this passage was never written to one person standing alone.

Day 1 — Know the Real Enemy

Read: Ephesians 6:10–13

Devotional

Paul does not say our struggle is mostly not against flesh and blood. He does not say it is occasionally not. He says the people you can see are not the enemy.

That is one of the most merciful sentences in the New Testament, because it takes the person you have been fighting and moves them out of the enemy column.

Here is why it matters. When we lose the category for spiritual evil, we do not stop believing in evil. We often relocate it into people. And then we have a devil with a face and a name and a seat two rows behind us.

There is something in us that wants a villain, because a villain settles things. It tells us which side we are standing on. It makes the world make sense. And if we cannot find one, we will appoint one — out of the room, out of the family, out of the church.

Your enemy is not your spouse. Your enemy is not your ex. Your enemy is not that person at work, or the family member you dread at Thanksgiving, or the person on the other side of the political thing, or the person in this church who hurt you.

There is a real enemy. It isn’t them.

Consider

• Whose name came to mind while you were reading that?
• What have you been telling yourself about that person to keep them in the enemy column?
• What has that fight cost you — and who else has it cost?
• If they are not the enemy, what are they?

Today’s Step: Take one person out of the enemy column. You are not deciding they were right. You are deciding to stop treating them as the enemy, because every hour you spend fighting them is an hour the real enemy gets for free.

Day 2 — It Was Never Your Armor

Read: Isaiah 59:15–17 and Ephesians 6:14–17

Devotional

It is easy to assume Paul was looking at the Roman guard chained to his wrist when he wrote about armor. That would make sense. But it is probably not what he is doing.

Before Paul is an apostle, he is a Rabbi. A Pharisee. A man soaked in the Old Testament since he was a boy. When Paul reaches for an image, he does not reach across the cell. He reaches back into Scripture.

Read Isaiah 59 and you find the breastplate and the helmet — and they are not on a soldier. They are on God. He looks for someone who can do something about the evil in the world, and there isn’t anybody. So He does it Himself.

The belt is in Isaiah 11, on the coming King. The feet that bring good news of peace are in Isaiah 52. The shield goes all the way back to Genesis 15, where God tells Abram that He Himself is his shield. The mouth like a sharp sword is in Isaiah 49, on the promised Servant. Every single piece. It is God’s own armor.

Which means the armor of God is not six virtues you have to manufacture on a Tuesday morning. It is not a spiritual to-do list where you work on being more truthful, then more righteous, then more faithful, until you finally feel dressed.

It is God’s character. Worn by Jesus. Given to us.

You cannot equip yourself. And the moment you know that, standing stops being a performance and starts being a posture.

Consider

• Where have you been treating the Christian life as a list of things to produce?
• What have you been trying to manufacture that only God can supply?
• Does the way you approach failure look more like despair or more like dependence?
• What would change today if the armor really is given rather than earned?

Today’s Step: Name one thing you have been trying to produce in your own strength. Tell God plainly that you cannot manufacture it, and ask Him for what only He can give.

Day 3 — Y’all Stand

Read: Ephesians 6:10–20 and 1 Peter 5:8–9

Devotional

Greek has two different words for “you.” One is singular, one is plural, and Paul is choosing between them the entire time he writes. English lost that. We have one word, and it never tells us which job it is doing.

So we come to “put on the full armor of God” and we often hear it as me. My armor. My quiet time. My Monday.

But every command in this passage is plural. Every one of them. It is not you. It’s y’all.

That changes the picture entirely. It is not one person on a hill getting dressed for a fight. It is a line. And in a line, your shield does not mainly cover you. It covers the person beside you. The one next to you protects your open side. You protect theirs. Even a tank is vulnerable when it is alone.

Peter says the same thing from the other direction. The lion is seeking some-one. Singular. He is looking for the one who wandered off, the one who is alone and isolated. And then Peter immediately reminds the church that other believers are going through the exact same thing — because the antidote to getting picked off alone is knowing that you are not.

Which means this: if you come into this week unequipped, it is not just your problem. It is ours. Your spiritual life is not a private matter. It has never been a private matter. Somebody is standing next to you.

Consider

• Who actually knows what you are carrying right now — or is it only you and God?
• Where have you drifted away from the people who would notice if you were gone?
• Whose open side are you currently responsible for?
• What would it cost you to tell one person something true this week?

Today’s Step: Do two things. Tell one person something true about where you actually are. Then pick one person in this church and pray by name that they would stand.

Final Reflection

Three things to carry out of Ephesians 6:

• The enemy is real, and it is not the person you have been fighting.
• The armor is God’s, already worn by Jesus, and handed to you.
• The command is plural. You were never meant to stand alone.

Ask yourself:

• Who am I still treating as the enemy?
• What am I still trying to manufacture that God has already given?
• Who is standing next to me — and do they know it?
• Am I in a group where someone would notice if I stopped showing up?

Y’all trust in Jesus, y’all take up your armor, and y’all stand together.