EPHESIANS - CHAPTER 6 - THE FAMILY - THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD (2024)
EPHESIANS CHAPTER 6
THE FAMILY – THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
August 27, 2024
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Ephesians chapter 6 is Christianity 101. In a Christian home with Godly parents, the Words of this chapter will become a lifestyle. However, often there is a strictness of the Word without love. The opposite is total lack of discipline to the Word to compensate for being overly strict. By such misinterpretation, we have produced many dysfunctional homes in the church as well as the world. When a husband and wife live in the unity of the love of Christ, they will raise a family, who in spite of life’s hardships, will be able to face life with love, character, harmony, peace, goodwill, hope, and good works.
Eph. 6: -1-3: Children obey your parents in the LORD for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.
Children who are taught to respect and submit their parents at home will respect authority and graduate to God’s rule over them. The “old adage” of being your child’s best friend is not God’s plan for the family.
To honor our fathers and mothers is one of those promises in the bible that we reap the blessing of a long life. It is absolute with the only condition being that we honor our parents. I understood this to mean not just my parents, but also my husband’s parents.
6: 4: And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the LORD.
This one verse deserves a book. I unknowingly and certainly unintentionally provoked my children to wrath because of my high standards and high expectations. I was not tolerant of the culture of their generation hoping to shelter them from the demons of that generation. The demons we feared for our children, at least my fears, was the infestation of deadly drugs. Neither did I want them to drink alcohol. We never had problems with drugs, but both experimented with alcohol.
Young girls who have a good relationship with their fathers usually do not become boy-crazy. These who are treated like ladies by their father will set a high standard for themselves with the other sex. Whatever standard the father sets toward his daughters, they will expect that same respect and honor from men. Also, the way the father treats the mother will also set the expectation of respect.
Now Paul proceeds with relationships in the work place.
6: 5-9: Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the LORD and not to men, knowing that whatever good any one does he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
I was blessed to grow up under this work-ethic as well as the Bank of Kennett where I worked for six years. Work was always done as unto the Lord, making him my paymaster plus just the satisfaction of a job well done. I realize now my training in that institution prepared me for serving the LORD as a minister. “knowing with a certainty that whatever good I do or have done is unto the Lord, and He is the one I look to for my reward. I thank the Lord when he uses people to bless me, and I even had to lay down my pride to learn to receive; but that, too, is part of the journey.
THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD:
6:10-12: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Volumes have been written on this one passage. It has only been in the past 40 years that the church has begun to admit, recognize and accept that we are dealing with a Satanic kingdom which operates in the first and second heaven. This is a supernatural realm and is clearly displayed on our movie screens by those whose imaginations have connected with Satan’s kingdom. We are at war with an unseen empire of highly organized satanic beings. There are principalities over regions, there are demonic powers, and the rulers of darkness of this age are more evil than any other time in my lifetime. They no longer hide in the darkness in shame and disgrace, but flaunt their evil acts.
Out of this onslaught of wickedness, the church has become stronger and we no longer ignore their existence, but call them out, resist them, and speak the Word of God to overcome their evil. In the 70’s the Lord strengthened the deliverance ministry and ministers in the church. During that time, I began to see in the spirit and was give Holy Spirit instruction about dealing with demons and the ministry of deliverance.
There are still those who believe a Christian can’t be possessed with a demon. I have seen demons in Christians. I know they were saved and seeking deliverance--- but I also saw the tormenting demons. Sometimes now I will see them, but mostly I just know the name of the demonic power.
Please note the reference to the darkness of this age. Every generation has to overcome the demons of their generation. When we are free from Satan’s power over us, we are free from pain.
6: 13: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
In our lifetime on earth, there will be many evil days. We are in a time of evil days now. The evil on the earth appears darker than the light of the church, but the church is becoming stronger. There will never be a time when once we have put our shoulder to the plow that we can sit back in a rocking chair and rock into heaven. We must not only withstand Satan and his evil minions, but we must always be able to stand against evil.
6: 14-17: Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darks of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
When I am in a battle whether attacks against the Church, the nation, my family or personal, this is my prayer strategy:
1. I seek the LORD for His will in the situation. What outcome does He desire? How can I come alongside Him?
2. Am I dealing with the situation in truth? Do I have any deception in me that is giving Satan a foothold. Am I submitted to His truth? Not my understanding… Am I willing to submit to His truth regardless of any pre-conceived ideas I may have.
3. I submit to the LORD totally to His will and purpose and pray for the grace of His righteousness and do not plead my own righteousness.
4. What is the authority of the Word of God (sword of the Spirit)? I decree His Word over the situation as a weapon against the source of the demonic attack. I well know I am fighting a demonic spirit, power, or principality not a person.
5. I know I am in Christ Jesus and He is in me. I can boldly move forward in Faith with the absolute assurance that the outcome will be according to His purpose even though I may or may not see the victory right away.
6. I can stand in what the LORD has shown me knowing that He will perform it. I can move forward praying, trusting, and thanking Him for His outcome which will be the very best outcome which will be better than anything I could hope or think.
Eph. 6:18-20: Praying always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints… and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
There are always evil forces at work behind the scenes to hinder the gospel.
Notice that Paul says He also prays for himself. I am not so unselfish that I don’t pray for myself or so prideful that I don’t ask for prayer. There are many times when the Holy Spirit is praying inside of me non-stop.
6: 21: But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you
Tychicus was a close friend and valued helper of the
Apostle Paul. He was an Asiatic Christian who accompanied Paul on his journey from Macedonia to Jerusalem. He is believed to have been a Christian for many years before he started his ministry as a letter carrier for Paul’s epistles. He carried the epistle to the Colossians, Ephesians, and the first to Timothy. Tychicus was sent to Ephesus, probably for the purpose of building up and encouraging the church there.
6: 22-24: (Tychicus) whom I have sent to you for this purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Paul dictated his epistles, but always wrote the benediction by his own hand. His final thoughts are for the Body of Christ. He pictures them as loving each other and behaving preciously toward each other. He began his salutation with Grace and Peace be to you and ended it with Peace, and love with faith.
It is around the year A.D. 62. Paul is in prison in Rome awaiting Caesar’s decision. So unspeakable noble are the words and ideas which Paul reveals in this beautiful epistle that the English language hardly captures it.
“That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Eph. 3:19: And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with the fullness of God.
3:19: and to know by experience and exploration the love of Christ, which is something that can never be known by mere intellectual acquaintance.
3:20: Now to Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
“Heavenly” “in the heavenlies” occurs here five times in the epistle. Paul has been caught up to the Third Heaven and is given permission to unveil God’s hidden mystery.
3:9: And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.”
If the sea were filled with empty containers, the containers would be filled with the fullness of the sea. That God should have such an incredible purpose for man calls for a doxology indeed. In it Paul stresses again the limitless power at work in the saints to achieve this goal, which is infinitely more than man could ask for himself or even imagine. There will then be endless glory for God through the Church, inasmuch as it will be a vehicle for the display of all the glories of Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, Tx.