“Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand
on that evil day,
and having done everything,
to stand firm.”

The Whole Armor of God.
When I hear that phrase, I often find myself thinking of a soldier
a medieval knight, if you will
with helment, shield, metel breastplate
A sword and a javlin
A Knight of the Roud Table,
Read to go out and slay the dragons
and rescue the madeins.
It’s an image that bares much examination
if we’re going to understand,
truly,
what St. Paul means in this passage.
Was the Apostle speaking of a warrior,
going out to do battle
like the Knights of old?
Was the Apostle truly meaning that we are called to
go out and do physical battle against the un-believers
the heritics
the infadels?
In the middle ages, this is exactly how many interpreted it.
They took this passage to mean that all non-christians were to be
slaughtered.
The Crusades, to liberate the Holy Land from the grip of the Muslems,
were predicated upon this very belief.
But, my friends,
it’s an inaccurate reading of the scripture.
It’s inaccurate because it ignores EXACTLY what the Apostle says
about our foe.
“For our stuggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh,
but against the rulers,
against the authroities
against the cosmic powers of this present darkenss
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

And The Whole Armor of God?
What is that?
My friends, The Whole Armor of God is nothing less
than his Divine Presence.

Would you pray with me?

[Centering Prayer]

While serving as Associate Pastor for a short time At Rehobeth UMC
in Western North Carolina
I met a man who few bombers in the European Theater during World War II.
Frank Vanderstraaten was a wonderful man to be around.
He had a weird sense of humor
and a silly dispoition,
So, of course, he and I got alonge real well.
With one major exception.
You see, Frank -- while in retirement -- worked for the US Postal Service.
He delivered mail to the many homes along the shores of Lake Norman.
And, you know what, he didn’t use a postal jeep to get to the homes.
You guessed it -- he used a boat.
Now, you know how i loath boats.
Or, rather, how I loath WATER.
But, for Frank, his favorites hours of the day during the summer
were those hours he spent going from boat dock to boat dock,
delivering the mail.
And, dummy me,
I agreed to go with him one day.

Well,
as long as we were moving -- I was ok.
It was the stopping at the dock,
and the 15 minutes of chatting with the residents
while the boat rocked to and fro
that made me sick.
Eventually, I started geting off the boat at each stop when it appeared we would
spend a few minutes talking, just so that I wouldn’t get sick.
It worked -- kinda.
Frank, however, thought it was real funny.

The Next day, he dropped by the Church office at around 6 pm
and took me out to eat.
While eating, we talked about his experiences,
running bombing missions over Germany.
He talked about the importance of the ground crews,
and the work they did to keep the bombers in good working order.
He talked about the importance of the gunners,
as they struggled to keep the enemy planes away from the bomber.
And, he talked about the importance of good armor plating.
“When the flack got so thick you could walk on it,
Frank said,
The only thing that made a difference between your making it home
or going into the drink
Was the thickness of the armor plating on your hull.”

He smiled a moment, then reached into his jacket pocket to take out a metel backed
little book as he added,
“And, of course, when the armor fails, this is all you’ve got left.”
It was a military-issue, armored Bible.
The Armored Word of God.
You see, Frank’s last flight back from Germany didn’t make it all the way
across the English channel.
They had taken a lot of flack,
the B-17 was running on one engine, and slowly loosing altitude.
They had radioed ahead that they were not going to make it,
and Frand had ordered the crews to bail out once they were within swimming range of the English coast.
He, however, would have to belly-land the bomber in the channel.
For the last five minutes of his appraoch, he gripped onto that bible until
his nuckles had gone raw.
His planes armor had failed him,
and now, he said, he was afraid that the Armor of God would as well.
The odds of surviving a water landing, and getting out of the plane before it sank,
were not good.
And, on top of that,
Frank was afraid of water.
But he made it down without breaking up on the waves,
and -- with his bible clutched tightly in his hand
he made it out of the aircraft
and into the water
and away before the bomber sank.
For nearly 3 hours he struggled toward the coast,
sick to his stomac
terrified of the water
But he clutched to his bible
to His Armored Bible
And he made it to shore.

“When the armor of this life fails you,
it’s the Whole Armor of God that will see you through.”

But What, my friends, is the whole Armor of God?

Belt of Truth -- Jesus said, “My word is truth”

Breastplate of righteousness -- Christ is our Righteousness,
apart from him we have no righteousness

Shoes -- whatever will make it possible for you to proclaim the gospel of peace.
--> The personal aspect.
There is no cookie-cutter pattern for a Christian.
We are all different, and some of the specifics of
our armor may look different.

--> For some, it’s gospel music
--> For others, it’s the importance of the word incarnate in the Bible
--> For some it’s the community of faith, which supports and guides, and loves.
--> For others, it’s the power of God incarnate in the Sacraments.

The shoes -- that which makes it possible for you to proclaim the
Gospel of Peace.
It is your personal contribution to the armor.

Shield of Faith -- Believing in Christ Jesus, and acting upon that belief,
will quench all the firey darts of the evil one.

Helmet of Salvation -- What greater defense can we have than the Mind of Christ
shielding our fallable, sinfull minds?

Sword of the Spirit -- The word of God.
--> The Presence of Christ.

Without Christ, we have no truth.
Without Christ, we have no righteousness
Without Christ, we have no personal contribution to the armor
Without Chirst, we have not faith
Without Christ, we have no salvation
Without Christ, we have no sword of the spirit

Without Christ, there is no Armor.

The Whole Armor of God, my friends,
is truly the Abiding Presence of Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.
Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil.”

Put on the Whole Armor of God, my sisters and brothers.
Put on Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
--Amen