In Jesus Christ, We Are Strong

Ephesians 6:10: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

A male deer was drinking at a pool, admiring his stately antlers but feeling ashamed of his long, tall, and thin legs. Suddenly he sensed an approaching mountain lion. Those long, tall, and thin legs propelled him into the safety of the forest, but his antlers became caught in the underbrush and soon he was killed. In life, our weaknesses are our secret strengths while our pride is our downfall.

Paul admonished the Ephesian believers to be strong in Jesus Christ through the power of His might. Paul, at the present age, is preaching the same spiritual principle to the present-day believers.

Paul preached a series of spiritual principles and practical Christianity to the Ephesian believers (Ephesians 5:18-33; Ephesians 6:9).

1. Believers are not drunk with wine (Ephesians 5:18).

2. Believers speak in hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19).

3. Believers give thanks always (Ephesians 5:20).

4. Believers submit themselves one to another (Ephesians 5:21).

5. Believers obey their parents in the Lord (Ephesians 6:1).

6. Believers honor their parents (Ephesians 6:2).

7. Believers nurture their children in the admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

8. Believers obey their earthly masters (Ephesians 6:5).

9. Believers respect those who serve them (Ephesians 6:9).

In this series of teachings, Paul capped these teachings with this reminder: “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”.

There are two important lessons that we can learn from this Scripture.

#1 There is power in the might of Jesus Christ.

The power in Jesus is enduring, indissoluble, imperishable, and lasting. It is unchanging, immutable, and eternal. Jesus Christ Himself rebuked the Pharisees about their question on resurrection when he told them that they err in their perception of spiritual truths because they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. Scriptures describe Jesus Christ as the expressed image of God, by whom the worlds were made and who upheld all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:1-3; Romans 1:20). They all proclaim the power and might of God, through His Son Jesus Christ.

#2 Our circumstances, our successes, our human capabilities, even our failures and our mistakes, do not make Jesus Christ less of the God that He is. Jesus Christ is Almighty, whether we believe it or not. He is Almighty, whether we trust in Him or not. So as humans, frail and weak as we are, we are in a position of choice. We can remain weak in our own powerlessness, or we can be strong in the mighty power of Jesus Christ.

Choosing to be strong in the Lord may not be easy. Yet Paul teaches us through his letter to the Ephesian believers how to be strong in the Lord, how to live the victorious life amid challenges, and how to overcome the compelling trials of life. For there is a spiritual battle that believers are engaged in, whether they like it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, or whether they experience it or not.

Ephesians 6:12-13 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”.  

To be strong in the Lord, according to Paul, believers need to stand against the wiles of the Devil, of the Enemy, by putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11).

The traditional armory of ancient times served the soldiers both in defense and offense. The armor served to defend the soldier while the weapon served the soldiers for attack. Notice that Paul described in Ephesians 6 both the believers’ armors and weapon for spiritual battle. God did the battle for His people at many different times and occasions. Although God is on the offense (2 Chronicles 20:15) and we have our defense (1 Corinthians 10:13), God wants us to be prepared for this spiritual battle. God, who does the spiritual battle for us, also gives us a way out, gives us the strength to fight, and gives us victory.

Ancient Greek and Roman armory basically consists of armors and weapons. The weaponry consists basically of the sword and the spear. The armory on the other hand, consists of two pieces, the body shield and the body armor.

The body shield is heavy and thick and protects the whole of the soldier. The soldier also uses this shield to lunge at the enemy and to knock the enemy over. The soldier also kneels behind the shield and fights from behind it. Interestingly, the size of the soldier’s shield is regulatory, as a soldier can be reprimanded when his shield is too big for him.

Body armors are provided to soldiers according to ranks or position in the line of battle. Some soldiers belong to heavy infantry and some belong to the cavalry; some are front-line soldiers, some are considered veteran soldiers, and some are lightly armed soldiers. Body armors consist of the square breastplate (heart guard) and the greave (shin guard), and in some soldiers, the helmet.

The heart guard protects the pectoral portion of the body where the heart and lungs are situated.

The shin guard protects the left leg that is always exposed during the battle.

The helmet that is worn by soldiers in the heavy infantry and the front-line protects the head.

Other variations of the body armors are for mobility and ease, as in riding a horse for cavalry men.

The basic weapons of warfare are the swords and spears. The sword is shorter yet more powerful than the longer spear in terms of control of the soldiers. The sword is indispensable in close combat while the spear is vital in long range battle.

Paul identifies the spiritual armors and weapons of the believers. Ephesians 6:14-18 describe these armors and weapons: “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

#1 The breastplate of believers is truth and righteousness (Ephesians 6:14).

The breastplate protects the heart and the lungs. The heart and lungs are vital organs as they provide the bloodline and the supply of air circulation. Truth and righteousness are the breastplate of believers. They protect the believers’ spiritual heritage, their spiritual position and their spiritual destiny. The believers’ spiritual life depends on the certainty of God’s plan and the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Romans 5:17).

#2 The shin guard of believers is the preparation of the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15). The shin guard covers the leg that is exposed during the battle. When the leg is exposed and severed, the mobility of the soldier is affected. Some parts of the believers’ spiritual lives may be exposed to the world and they may fall or falter. They may be exposed to criticisms or wrongdoing by their brothers or sisters in church, yet there is the gospel of peace that guards the heart. There is the gospel of peace that guides them to forgiveness. There is the gospel of peace that leads them to reconciliation. The gospel of peace is the believers’ shin guard so that they continue to walk in spiritual victory and provide the world with solid witness (1 Peter 3:15).

#3 The shield of the believers is faith (Ephesians 6:16). The shield is the main armor of warfare. Faith is the believers’ shield for spiritual warfare. Faith covers the whole body, the sentiments, the capacity, the training, the disciplines, the characters of believers. Faith covers the whole being. The wickedness of the world throws its darts and spears against the believers. The world even tells the believers that we are worthless, wicked, good for nothing, barren, insignificant, not important, and useless. This is where faith comes in as armor. Whenever the world throws its spears and darts of doubts and judgement, misconceptions, falsehood, deception, deceit at the believers, they can go back to the foundation of their spiritual being (Hebrews 12:2). Faith is the believer’s shield in spiritual battle.

#4 The helmet of believers is salvation (Ephesians 6:17a). The helmet is made of bronze and has a ring of feathers. The metal is a basic protection for the head, which holds the brain for decision making and wisdom. The ring of feathers is not for decorative purpose, but for the illusion that the soldier could look twice his height. The helmet therefore, does not only protect the head but also makes the soldier look taller.  In spiritual battle, salvation protects the believers’ decisions and perception of themselves. In spiritual battle, salvation lifts the believers’ status from a lowly and sorry state to a new glorified, redeemed and valued state as a child of God. So, whenever the enemy disturbs your mind with the thought that you do not belong, then you go back to God’s plan of salvation. Believers are redeemed from the curse of the law, freed from judgement, and saved by the blood of no other than the Son of God (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 1:12). Whenever the enemy tells you that you are lowly, caste down, inferior, condemned, and bound for condemnation, then fix your crown and stand up as sons and daughters of the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Galatians 3:26; Revelations 19:16)!

#5 The sword of the believer is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17b). As the sword is the main weapon of a soldier, the Word of God, the sword of the Holy Spirit, is the main weapon of believers. The Holy Spirit works with the believers during spiritual battles to remind them of the Word of God. When the Enemy sows doubts in the heart of the believers, they fight with the God’s Word in the Scripture (John 14:26; John 16:13). As a believer, you can remind yourself of the Word. You can pray to the Holy Spirit to send you the Word. The Word could come in remembrance of the specific scripture that you have studied and meditated upon in the past. Or the Word could be sent through a friend or a brother. It is therefore important that you study the Word and correctly apply the Word in your life and the lives of others, especially during a spiritual battle.

As believers, your strength and power come from Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection have provided you the armors and weapons to fight the battle in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 6:12-13). Whenever you are in spiritual battle, you have Jesus Christ as our living hope. He fights for you. He provides you with the armor and the weapons to fight the battle. He provides you the strength and the victory.

Are you in a spiritual battle right now?

Are you experiencing troubles, loss of family members, loss of job, loss of self-esteem, even trials right now? Remember that even Job, an upright and faithful man, experienced an onslaught of trials and losses in life (Job 1:8-12).

Are you experiencing attacks of physical danger, or illness, or life-threatening situations? Remember the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

Are you constantly being tempted and increasingly lured towards sin or wrong choices? Remember that even Jesus Christ was tempted and lured into the materials power and possessions of the world (Matthew 4:1-11).

Are you overwhelmingly bombarded with despair, darkness, or fear?  Remember David had his bouts of despair and fear (Psalm 7). Remember that Elijah wanted God to take his life out of darkness and despair. (1 Kings 19:4).

Are you suffering from confusion, or do you experience the feeling of condemnation and guilt, or your spiritual awareness is being shrouded, dulled, and numbed at the moment? Remember that our God is not the author of confusion but the source of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). Remember God’s assurance that there is no more condemnation to those who belong to Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1).

Spiritual battles are real. But strength and the victory in Jesus Christ are the realities that believers experience while knowing and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers, we all are strong in the Lord. We all are victorious in His mighty power.

The Virtues that God Sees

1 Thessalonians 1:3

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father (AKJV);

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (NIV).

            A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated he was going to prove there was no God. Addressing the ceiling he shouted:  "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you 15 minutes!" The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall. Ten minutes went by. Again, he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God.  I'm still waiting." His countdown got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine - just released from active duty and newly registered in the class - walked up to the professor, hit him full force, and sent him tumbling from his lofty platform. The professor was out cold! At first, the students were shocked and babbled on in confusion. The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silent. The class fell silent...waiting. Eventually, the professor came to, shaken. He looked at the young Marine in the front row. When the professor regained his senses and could speak he asked: "What's the matter with you? Why did you knock me down?" The young student answered, "God was busy… that is why He sent me."

Paul was writing to the Thessalonian believers to speak about Jesus Christ’s work of redemption (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11). Paul was also giving us all a historical summary of God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ, from the Old Testament, through the birth and life of Jesus Christ, to His second coming, and until the end of human history.

Now that we are convinced that we have received the redemptive power of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul urges us with this message of exercising the virtues that we appreciate from each other and the same virtues that God beholds.

There are three virtues that we can appreciate from each other (1 Thessalonians 1:3), i.e., “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”. Clearly, this is the 3-fold combination of faith, hope, and love in many other epistles of Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Colossians 1:4-5). This is Paul’s three abiding principles of spiritual life, meaning to say, these three always go together.

Paul and his co-authors recognized that these virtues are not only worth remembering and mentioning, but these also do not escape “the sight of God and our Father”.   

The work of faith

The NIV translation described this as work produced by faith. The Latin Vulgate, the Arabic, and the Ethiopic versions rendered it as “the work of your faith”. This work of faith simply means faithful activity. It is one’s work that is characterized by faith and prompted by faith. It is one’s work that faith alone could have enabled one to accomplish.

On the general sense, the work or works of faith can be measured in two ways:

1. Loving service to the brethren and fellow men (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:13). Loving the brethren and fellowmen, loving the unlovable, and caring for the undeserving is a measure of one’s faith. It is in fact, through faith that believers are capable of loving other people. Without faith, people can never love people other than ourselves.

2. Fearless testimony for Christ before the world (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 3:2-4). Works of faith is simple as this: a faith that had its outward effect on our lives. When believers are weak, does faith show their strength? When God calls believers to walk into the unknown, does faith compel them to follow and obey without a shadow of doubt? When a brother asks for forgiveness, does one’s faith command a believer to forgive just as Jesus Christ also forgives? Faith is always coupled with works or acts or love, kindness, and obedience (James 2:17; Galatians 5:6).

It is always easy for believers to see the reverse of work and faith. Which then comes first, faith or works? Is it faith, then works? Or works, then faith?

Galatians 2:16 reminds us that “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”.

Our faith should work. As our faith is founded in Jesus Christ, our works are as established as the source of our faith. Here is one illustration: Suppose that a friend of mine is trying to cross from one cliff to another one which is a hundred feet away. It is five thousand feet down to the rocks below. He has, however, a one-inch thick piece of rope that can hold several tons. There is a difficulty though, for he has only 60 feet of rope. Then I tell my friend not worry since I have 60 feet of thread. I suggested that we can tie my thread to his rope and then tie them to the trees on either cliff for him to go across. He declines my offer and I asked him if he does not trust his rope at all. Of course, he would say that he trusts the rope but does not trust the thread. The rope obviously represents what Christ has done for our salvation, and the thread represents what we have done. We must trust in Christ alone. As Charles Spurgeon put it, "If we have to put one stitch into the garment of our salvation, we shall ruin the whole thing."

The labor of love

The NIV translation described this as labor prompted by love. Biblically, labor is different from works. Works point to something that was already done, hence, work of faith, because we act on what was already accomplished by Jesus Christ.

Paul mentioned about labor of love. Labor here means an act accompanied with pain. Labor is an act that requires exertion of effort (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8).

Here we see that work may be easy and delightful, but labor is toilsome. No selfish person will endure labor for another person’s good. Hence labor is the test of love. How will a mother toil and weary herself for her child! With Paul, who has his many infirmities in life, his work must often have been a heavy task. Paul teaches commends the believers of their labor of love because he himself knew how difficult it is to show labor because of love. So, whenever it is too difficult to love, then it a call for a labor prompted by love. Most definitely, we cannot reach out and touch a life if we are not prompted to do so in love.

There was a young couple who went to see their pastor to try and get him to approve their divorce, because, as they put it, “there’s no feeling left.” The pastor told the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The husband said, “I can’t do that.” The pastor asked him to love her as he would love himself. Again, the said that ‘I can’t do that’. So, the pastor said, “The Bible says to love your enemies. Try starting there.”

The patience of hope

The NIV translation described this as endurance inspired by hope. This endurance means to continue patiently in doing good (Romans 2:7). It is the inspiration of hope that compels believers continue to do good.

This endurance was set forth as an example by Jesus Christ Himself (Hebrews 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:4). We should therefore, imitator of Jesus Christ.

The work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope are virtues that can be appreciated among believers. In our lives, we show our work of faith, our labor of love, and our patience of hope. These virtues do not escape God’s eyes. When God sees these virtues among believers, He sees them not as man sees for God cannot be deceived and cannot be imposed upon (Galatians 6:7).

As often as we exercise our work of faith, our labor of love, and our patience of hope, we appear before God’s presence, as if we lift up our hands, and our hearts unto prayers. God remembers our faith in operation, our laborious love, and our patient hope in Jesus Christ.

Lois Cheney, in the book “God is no Fool” shared this story. Once upon a time a person was touched by God, and God gave him a priceless gift. This gift was the capacity for love. He was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried it like a jewel and he walked tall and with purpose. From time to time he would show this gift to others, and they would smile and stroke his jewel. But it seemed that they'd also dirty it up a little. Now, this was no way to treat such a precious thing, so the person built a box to protect his jewel. And he decided to show it only to those who would treat it with respect and meet it with reverent love of their own. Even that didn't work, for some tried to break into the box. So, he built a bigger, stronger box--one that no one could get into--and the man felt good. At last he was protecting the jewel as it should be. Upon occasion, when he decided that someone had earned the right to see it, he'd show it proudly. But they sometimes refused, or kind of smudged it, or just glanced at it disinterestedly. Much time went by, and then only occasionally would one pass by the man, the aging man; he would pat his box and say, "I have the loveliest of jewels in here." Once or twice he opened the box and offered it saying, "Look and see. I want you to." And the passerby would look and look and look. And then he would back away from the old man, shaking his head.

The man died, and he went to God, and he said, "You gave me a precious gift many years ago, and I've kept it safe, and it is as lovely as the day you gave it to me." And he opened the box and held it out to God. He glanced in it, and in it was a lizard—an ugly, laughing lizard. And God walked away from him.

The capacity to work through faith, to labor because of love, and endure through hope are all precious jewels that God gave to all of us. We should share these jewels to other, so they will be recipients of work through faith, through labor because of love, and endurance through hope. If we do not, we simply allow these jewels to turn into an ugly possession.