Our struggle is not against flesh and blood

Galatians 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; ⁶ not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. ⁷ With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ⁸ knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

⁹ And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, ¹⁹ and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

²¹ But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. ²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.

²³ Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.

Today’s text says:  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.  And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.   Notice that in Paul’s instruction, he focusses not on the rights of each group, but rather on the responsibilities. In our culture and society, we have strayed from this approach in relationships and focus on individual rights. We focus on what we should expect; what we should receive; what we are owed, rather than on how we should act toward others. Our society scoffs at the idea that obedience is owed to those in authority. Many parents today do not provoke their children to anger, but neither do the bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Throughout our society then, because the focus is on individual rights rather than personal accountability and responsibility, we see dysfunction, discontent and disunity. We see struggles and strife. The pursuit of happiness and contentment comes up short because it cannot be found in self.  In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus says:  “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  In John 14:15 He says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  Everything that we do is established in that we love God and if we love Him, we will be obedient to Him. Upon that foundation we love others as ourselves, focusing on our responsibilities, not our rights.

Our society has become so polarized and divided, because again we focus on our own desires and opinions. We are easily provoked to dissension and wrath by the forces that seek to divide us because we disregard community; the common unity that we should have in that each one would first and foremost love the Lord God with all their heart, soul and mind.    In today’s text it says:  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  We have been deceived into believing that our struggle is against each other. We are divided because we listen to the powers and forces that seek to divide us. We listen to the news media, which no longer reports what happened, but rather tells us how we should feel. We listen to those who incite fear and division, focusing on the value and the rights of one group over another. The text says:  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  If we want to resist evil, we need first to put on truth, not truth as our culture has determined. Truth is not relative or subjective, it does not change with our whims. Each person does not have their own truth. In John 14:6 Jesus says:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life…”  Truth is the unchanging person of Christ. To overcome division, we need to put on righteousness. When we walk in the darkness, we cannot see clearly, so we stumble and fall. We must walk in peace, but not the peace that the world offers, not a peace based in compromise and individual rights. In John 14:27 Jesus says:  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. Like truth, peace is found only in Christ. To stand against the evil in the day, it is vital that we put on the helmet of salvation; that we cover our minds with the truth of God’s salvation in Christ. Then we can say, like the psalmist in Psalm 118:6:  The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?  When we are established in the truth that we have eternal life in Christ, there is nothing left to fear from the world. In all things, as we stand against the forces that would divide us, we proclaim the truth of the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says:  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The text says:   With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints …  Peace be 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 with incorruptible love.   Amen. Jesus says:  “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.  ‘Give us this day our daily bread.  ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.  Amen.