“The Divine Arsenal”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Homewood, AL
August 23, 2009
Text: Ephesians 6:10-20
As some of you are aware I am preparing for my second bicycle
adventure of the year. The first was a week-long foray into the
north woods of Wisconsin. The second begins in mid-September, a
three-week, 1,100-mile ride following the route of the storied Santa
Fe Trail. Getting ready for this trip I have been reading
extensively about the history of the Southwest. Among the colorful
characters who have captured my attention is a Methodist,
“circuit-riding,” lay preacher by the name of John Milton Chivington.
Methodists do things differently than Presbyterians. Case in point,
as episode out in Colorado back in 1860. The Rev. Mr. Chivington
rode into a small frontier town and found a saloon operating out of
what looked to him like a church. Not trained in the concept of
doing things “decently and in order,” Chivington grabbed a club
started bursting bottles and splintering barrels. Someone demanded,
“By whose authority?” Chivington shouted, "By the authority of
almighty God!" Turns out the saloon was operating quite legally, and
the building that looked like a church was not a church.
As you might expect, the town folk were incensed at the loss of
their libations. They determined to “tar and feather” the
presumptuous preacher. Must have been a few Presbyterians in the
bunch because they took some time to get organized. Probably had a
committee discussing how much tar, how many feathers, and so forth.
Meanwhile, Sunday morning dawns and Chivington takes to the pulpit
brandishing two pistols. He laid them beside his open King James
Bible, and then declared, "By the grace of God and these two
revolvers, I'm going to preach here today!"1
Seems to me Rev. Chivington would have been right at home in our epistle lesson today. “Put on the whole armor of God,” Ephesians urges us. “Take up the whole armor.” “The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness. “Take the shield of faith. . . .(and) the “helmet of salvation.”
Chivington might be comfortable with these metaphors but others would find them out of place in the pacifist tradition of our faith. In his teachings and by his example, Jesus rejects the use of force to establish the rule of God. At his arrest Jesus tells his disciples, “for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword (Matt. 26:31). He teaches instead, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt 5:9). His divine gift, he says, is reconciliation in the place of hostility: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27).
Thus, the Presbyterian Church teaches, in the Confession of 1967: “God’s reconciliation in Jesus Christ is the ground of peace, justice, and freedom among nations which all powers of government are called to serve and defend.” The implications are startling! The divinely-ordained search for peace, says Confession of ‘67, “requires that the nations pursue fresh and responsible relations across every line of conflict, even at risk to national security . . . .” (9.45). Even at risk to our own national security, we are to seek peace.
So then, what are we to do with the martial language of today’s excerpt from Ephesians? Dig deeper, answers the Reformed tradition, let “scripture interpret scripture.” Today’s text comes at the end of an extended section of “ethical exhortation,” a long piece on how we are to live, in the world, as Christians. The opening salvo today is, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of God’s power.” The popular church might say, “Muscle up for Jesus,” as if this were something you and I could do on our own. Close scrutiny of the original Greek reveals that literal translation of “be strong” puts the shoe on God’s foot, and not our own. Forgive the grammar lesson, but Greek scholars say the correct tense here is passive imperative, as in “being made strong” or “being empowered.” The implication here is that “strength in the Lord,” like faith itself, is a divine gift and not a human achievement. In the life of faith, there are no self-made men or women! Our strength- and our faith--come from God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being “made strong” in the Lord.2
With this as background, we read on. We are being made strong, Ephesians contends, because of the reality of evil in the world: “the wiles of the devil.” The reality of evil demands that the faithful have protection. Elsewhere, Paul writes, “But the Lord is faithful; (God) will strengthen you and (God will) guard you from the evil one”(2 Thess. 3.3.).
Notice our text des not speculate on the origins of evil; it simply acknowledges that depravity, disease, and disaster are real. Real, but not necessarily, “blood and flesh.” The big-time enemies the writer here is concerned about are not just today’s villains but larger adversaries: “the cosmic powers of this present darkness;” the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The implication is this: “Evil is God’s enemy, as well as our own.”3
What protection then does God have in mind for us against such powerful forces? What protection? What weapons? What armor? Listen up! “The divine arsenal”--the whole military storehouse of God--“consists of truth, righteousness or doing right, peace, faith, salvation in the Spirit, and the word of God.”
‘Whoa Nelly,’ don’t tell me God is going to send the Church out into the world against organized crime, terrorism, and drug cartels armed only with truth, righteousness and peace? Would God have us confront life-threatening diseases armed only with faith and the promise of salvation? Would God have us ride out ‘perfect storms’ equipped only with God’s Word?
I don’t think so. First, we are not left totally defenseless against the forces of evil. The “armor of believers,” according to Ephesians, includes breastplate and belt, shoes and shield and helmet. With the exception of the “sword of the Spirit,” all of the armor listed here is defensive--not offensive. I interpret this to mean we are encouraged to practice good preventive medicine. Eat right, exercise regularly, participate faithful in church. Keep your insurance current; use the dead-bolts on your doors; drive defensively; read before you sign; support your local police and the men and women of the armed forces.
Second, the purpose of this armor--the “armor of believers”--is to “withstand” our opponents--not annihilate them. It is to “quench all the flaming arrows”--not to kill all the bad guys. The language here, according to Professor Charlie Cousar, whose work on this passage I have followed very closely today. . . . “The language suggest that (while) the task of believers is to defend themselves-- and their faith--against the enemies of God; the battle itself is left to God.”4
We do not have to win the battle against evil--this is God’s battle. We need only defend ourselves, and our faith. As the scriptures say, we need only have courage, hold onto what is good; return no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak and help the suffering; honor all people; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing--not in our power--but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Putting our trust in Holy God’s power instead of our own can save a person, a group of folks, even a nation from making huge mistakes. Case in point, once again, the Rev. Mr. Chivington. When the Civil War erupted, he was offered a commission as a chaplain. Chivington refused it, as he wanted to fight. He was made a major in the 1st Colorado Volunteers. He won commendation for his key role in the Union victory at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in 1862.
But two years later, Chivington, now a colonel, was responsible for one of the most heinous crimes ever committed by the U.S. military. It is called the Sand Creek Massacre. Victims were a band of Southern Cheyenne Indians, led by Chief Black Kettle, a well-known advocate for peace among Indians and the white settlers who were flooding into the West. Just days earlier the Chief and other tribal elders had gone to Ft. Lyon, Colorado, following the instructions of the territorial governor. There these peaceful Cheyenne Indians would be under the protection of the US Army while arrangements were being made for their relocation to a reservation. But Col. Chivington had other ideas. Fully aware but fully ignoring the peaceful intentions of Black Kettle and his band, the “fighting parson” led a detachment of soldiers out of Fort Lyon and into an assault on Black Kettle’s defenseless camp at Sand Creek. As the troopers formed up in line of battle, Chief Black Kettle raised the American flag he had been told would protect him and his people from Army attack. Ignoring that American flag and a white flag that was run up shortly after the attack began, Chivington's soldiers killed between 150 and 200 Indians, nearly all of them women and children, their bodies brutally mutilated. Chivington was later court marshaled for the assault but escaped punishment in the general amnesty granted at the end of the Civil War. However, an Army judge publicly stated that Sand Creek was "a cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation."5
In 1996, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church expressed regret for the Sand Creek massacre and issued an apology for the "actions of a prominent Methodist,” one whom the Church wishes had relied on that fateful day on the “the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation.” May we, may our community, and our nation claim this “divine arsenal” that we might live faithfully in our time and in our place.
Now to the One who by the power
at work within us is able to do far
more abundantly than all we ask or imagine,
to God be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20, 21
1 Sides, Hampton, BLOOD AND THUNDER, An Epic of the
American West.
2 Cousar, Charlie, TEXTS FOR PREACHING, Year B, pp.
479-481.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Hatch, Thom, BLACK KETTLE, The Cheyenne Chief Who
Sought Peace but Found War, Hoboken, NJ: 2004, pp. 147-156