(Part 9)
“Take the helmet of salvation and the Sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.”-Ephesians 6:17.
The sword
carried by the Roman soldier was the one piece of armor designed to be an
offensive weapon: a double-edged sword designed to penetrate and slice causing
both external and internal damage.
To understand
the application of the Sword of the Spirit we first need to distinguish it from
the Belt of Truth. Both articles of the armor are heavily associated with the word
of God.
The Belt of
Truth deals with our understanding of God’s Word. It is an intimate knowledge
of the entirety of scripture that our whole value system is built upon. The
Word of God is described for us in the Bible two ways: as the logos and the
rhema. Logos is the entirety of God’s written word. Rhema is the spoken word of
God, which is living and active. Both of these are seen in action in Matthew
4:5-7:
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and
had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, he
said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels
concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not
strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do
not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Notice how
Satan takes scripture and uses it out of context in an attempt to entice Jesus
off the path of obedience. In each instance, Jesus recognized that Satan was
mishandling God’s Word and maligning the truth because he had an intimate
knowledge of God’s Word in its entirety-the belt of truth. Upon recognizing
that the Word of God was being misused; Jesus utilizes the Sword of the Spirit
when he responds to each attack by speaking “It is written” and proclaiming the
Rhema-spoken Word of God into that situation. Rhema, as the word of God, is not
that which is simply believed; but that which is spoken. In fact, Rhema is a
Greek word that describes something that is spoken. Therefore for the word of
God to accomplish the will of God it has to be released:
“As the rain and the snow come down
from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it
bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but
will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent
it.”-Isaiah 55:10-11.
It is when
we speak the word of God that we begin to wield the Sword of the Spirit. We can
believe what His word declares; but it takes faith to begin to speak out what
we have accepted as truth.
It is
important to remember however that the spoken word must be rooted and birthed
from a consistent diet of the logos (written entirety of scripture). 2 Timothy
2:15 tells us that we must study to show ourselves approved; rightly dividing
the word of truth. Doing so prepares us to address wickedness without attacking
people.
Notice when
Jesus confronted Satan; he matched him with the word of God. He did not attack
his character or reduce himself to name calling. When you have rightly divided
truth you can speak it with authority and power without being demeaning or
abusive. In this way we employ the word of God most effectively.
Pastor
Scott Burr
Lead
Pastor
Dayspring
Community Church
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