I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to Ephesians
6:10-13
Ephesians
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full
armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full
armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
-- for the past couple of weeks,
we’ve been watching the third season of the Netflix show, “Stranger Things” --
I am not a fan of scary movies -- I don’t like horror films, and I tend to
avoid supernatural shows, especially ones that portray supernatural evil events
-- so, I was a little leery of this show when it first came out in 2016 -- but when
I learned that the original concept was to create a show reminiscent of the
supernatural movies and shows from the 1980s that I grew up with -- shows like
Poltergeist, Ghostbusters, and The Goonies -- I decided to give it a chance
-- if you haven’t seen it, the show
is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s -- Hawkins is a
small town, and everything in the show is just so familiar to those of us who
grew up in the 80s -- they captured the pop culture and the feel of the 1980s
perfectly in this show -- watching it, I’m reminded of what it was like to be
young in that time
-- the series revolves around a
group of young friends whose lives get affected by paranormal experiments being
conducted secretly in their town by the U.S. Government
-- not to give too much of the plot
away, but in the show, the Government unintentionally discovers a portal to
another dimension, called “the upside-down” -- it’s a place that looks just
like Hawkins, where these kids live -- the same buildings -- the same trees --
the same environment -- it’s recognizable, but it’s different
-- the upside-down is dark and scary
and just feels wrong -- instead of being inhabited by people, it’s inhabited by
evil forces, whose hatred of the people of Hawkins is just palpable
-- as the show progresses and the
characters begin to realize the existence of this unseen dimension in their
midst, they move back and forth between the two worlds to battle the evil that
is threatening their community and their friends
-- the reason I’m telling you all of
this is not to get you to go watch the show -- but I’m bringing this up because
as I was watching the show this week, it struck me how the “upside-down” they
portray in this story is a perfect illustration of a spiritual reality that we
should all be aware of and keep in our minds as we seek to follow Christ in our
day-to day
-- a couple of weeks ago, we looked
at this passage from Ephesians 6 where Paul talks about putting on the armor of
God -- our focus in that message was on the need for prayer in our lives and
how this was one of the two weapons that Paul talks about as being part of the
Christian’s armor -- the second weapon being the sword of the Spirit -- the
word of God
-- this morning, I wanted to call
your attention to the opening of this passage where Paul talks about the reason
why we should put on the armor of God in the first place, because this is where
the spiritual reality I was just talking about is realized
-- we read here that we are to put
on the full armor of God and to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power
so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes -- the image that
Paul is giving us in this whole passage is one of a battlefield -- of a warrior
standing against a foe who is seeking to defeat him -- and that’s a powerful
image we need to get firmly fixed in our minds
-- we have an enemy -- the Bible is
clear that we have a spiritual enemy who seeks to kill and steal and destroy --
who hates us with all his being -- -- in 1 Peter 5:8, we read that our enemy is
the devil and that he prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to
devour -- the devil is our enemy and he wants
nothing more than to bring harm to the kingdom of God by hurting us or by
keeping us from being and doing what God wants us to do
-- that enemy is real, and that is why Paul
counsels us here in Ephesians to stand in the power of God with the full armor
of God protecting us from the schemes of the devil -- from the plans of the
devil to harm us
-- Paul goes on to tell us here that,
therefore, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers
-- against the authorities -- against the powers of this dark world and the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms -- and that’s the spiritual
reality I want you to get firmly fixed in your mind this morning
-- there is an unseen dimension that
is affecting our lives in this world today, much like the upside-down in the
Stranger Things series affected the people living in Hawkins, Indiana
-- this unseen dimension is there
and it’s real -- the Bible tells us that -- but because we can’t readily see
it, we tend to forget about it, and focus all our time and energy only on what
we can see with our worldly eyes -- so, even for us as Christians, we see reality
as being only found in the earthly realm we live in
-- that’s why when we see evil in
this world, we blame it on the source that we can see -- when you hear about
violence and crime on the nightly news, you blame it solely on the people who
did it -- when we see atrocities or injustice imposed on citizens of a foreign
land, we blame it solely on their leaders or their government or their way of
life
-- and because we are only focusing
on what we can see with our worldly eyes, when we look for answers to these
problems, we only focus on what we can see and touch and feel and do in this
world
-- that’s why this passage from
Ephesians is so important -- it is a reminder to us that the battles we face in
life -- the true source of all of this evil and injustice and wrong-doing in
our world -- is not the flesh and blood we see
-- it’s part of a larger spiritual
battle coming from the devil’s schemes against us and put into place by the
rulers and authorities and powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms
-- that’s the reality I am wanting
you to see today -- that’s the reality I was reminded of while I was watching
Stranger Things -- the people in Hawkins were being faced with an evil that was
coming against them, but they didn’t know it -- they didn’t see it -- they
could only see what was on the surface -- and, so, they couldn’t do anything
about it
-- it was only the group of kids and
a couple of adults in the show who became aware of the upside-down -- this
unseen dimension and the forces within it -- who were able to stand against the
evil in their midst
-- in order to take our stand
against the devil’s schemes, we must learn to see this unseen spiritual
dimension around us with spiritual eyes of faith -- and we must learn to rely
on the Lord and His mighty power
-- if you would, turn over to 2
Kings 6:8-17 and let’s look at another aspect of this unseen spiritual
dimension
-- while you’re finding your place
in 2 Kings, let me give you the context and background of this passage -- this passage
takes place during the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah -- as you remember,
following the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into two, with
the nation of Israel taking ten of the twelve tribes and taking over the
northern part of Solomon’s kingdom and the nation of Judah taking two of the
twelve tribes and residing in the southern part of Solomon’s kingdom
-- Elisha has now taken the mantel
as God’s prophet to the nation of Israel -- Elisha was Elijah’s protégé -- and
when Elijah was caught up to heaven in the chariot of fire, Elisha took up his
mantel and his responsibilities to speak God’s word to the nation of Israel
-- as this passage opens, Israel is
at war with the nation of Aram -- but God helps the Israelites in their struggle
by revealing to Elisha the schemes of the enemy
-- look at 2 Kings 6:8
2
Kings 6:8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with
his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”
9
The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place,
because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on
the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king,
so that he was on his guard in such places.
11
This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them,
“Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
12
“None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the
prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in
your bedroom.”
13
“Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture
him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and
chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
-- so every time the Arameans set up
an ambush for the king of Israel and his men, God warned Elisha and the
Israelites avoided the trap -- this didn’t set well with the king of Aram, so
he decided to capture Elisha -- he found out that Elisha and his servant were
in the city of Dothan -- so he sent horses and chariots and a large army to
Dothan at night and they surrounded the whole city while Elisha and his servant
slept -- the trap was set, and Elisha was about to get caught
-- verse 15
2
Kings 6:15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the
next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no,
my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
-- early the next morning, Elisha’s
servant gets up, rubs the sleep from eyes, and looks out to see that the city
is completely surrounded by their enemies
-- a vast army is arrayed there to
capture Elisha -- men with swords and bows -- chariots and horses -- there was
no way for them to escape -- and the servant cries out to Elisha, "what
shall we do?"
-- verse 16
2
Kings 6:16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are
more than those who are with them.”
17
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord
opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all around Elisha.
-- Elisha tells his servant to not
be afraid -- there are more with them than there were against them -- he prays
and asks God to open the eyes of the servant so that he might see the truth of
the situation
-- you see, just like us, the
servant was only looking at things on the surface -- he was only looking at the
situation with worldly eyes -- he was completely unaware of the spiritual
dimension that surrounded them
-- so, God opened his eyes, and the
servant saw the Lord’s army surrounding them -- the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all around Elisha, protecting them from the enemy
-- this is the other side of the
story in regards to the unseen spiritual dimension that we live in -- not only
is this spiritual dimension like the upside-down from Stranger Things -- filled
with evil beings who seek to harm us -- but this spiritual dimension is also
filled with God’s angels, who are sent to minister to us in God’s name -- to
protect us -- to speak God’s word to us -- to stand along with us in our
struggle against the devil’s schemes
-- the spiritual dimension that
surrounds us encompasses all of the heavenly realms -- it includes both the
rulers and authorities and the powers of this dark world, as well as God’s
angels
-- Frank Peretti pointed this out in
his fiction book, “This Present Darkness” -- in this book, Peretti showed the
unseen battles that occur between the spiritual forces of good and the
spiritual forces of evil in this unseen spiritual dimension, and how this
battle affects our lives in the world today
-- now don’t get me wrong -- I am
not telling you to find your theology or your doctrines from either Stranger
Things or Peretti’s novels -- I’m not doing that -- but I am telling you that
both of these entertainments portray a deeper spiritual truth that we see in
the Bible -- namely, that there is an unseen spiritual dimension around us --
and that spiritual forces of good and of evil are all around us, even though we
usually can’t see them
-- also, I’m not telling you that
every evil in our world today is the result of the devil’s schemes -- we have a
part to play in that, too -- we bring evil and sin into our lives every day on
our own when we give into our desires and seek to meet these desires in ungodly
ways -- when we give into temptation and disobey God’s word -- our flesh is
just as much an enemy as the devil
-- but I do want you to be aware of
the reality of our spiritual enemy -- I do want you to keep in mind that we
have an enemy who actively schemes against us and who works in this world to
bring harm to people and to God’s creation -- that there is an unseen spiritual
dimension that surrounds us and that we need to be aware of so that we can take
our stand against the devil’s schemes
-- that’s the take home message for
today -- that’s why Paul counsels us to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty
power and to put on the full armor of God -- we need to remember that and stop
trying to do this Christian life in our strength and in our own power
-- when we realize the reality of
this spiritual dimension around us, it will give power to our prayers and
strength in our desire to walk with God daily
-- let us pray
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