Be Strong in the Lord

The family will gather Friday. We are all excited.

They all thought the painting of Savior of the World was a replica, not the original by Leonardo Da Vinci. It sold for less than $100 dollars in 1958 and made its way to Louisiana in 2005 where it sold for $10k to a NY art collector, Robert Simon.

The piece was thick with overpaints, Simon said, and he thought it was just another copy of the famed painting. A professor at NY University set about restoring it. Dianne Modestini chipped away at the varnish and extra layers of paint that obscured the original. She was startled to see that the curls in the hair of Jesus in the painting looked like true Da Vinci.

A key piece of evidence was found by X-ray. There was a trace of another painting beneath the visible one. The right thumb of Jesus had been repositioned. Leonardo Da Vinci moved the right thumb himself, the experts know. No copyist would do this. The painting was a true Da Vinci. And it sold at auction for $450 million, the most ever for a piece of art.

The Savior of the World holds the world in his hands. And that includes you. Now how do you thank Him?

Thank God for His Strength:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." — Ephesians 6:10

You’ve got all of these relationships in your life in which you are called to "Do the will of God from the heart." How could we ever do this without God’s power?

• We have the church in which we submit to one another.
• We have marriage where submission in love is the core.
• We have the parenting challenges that go with trying to “bring up” our children rather than putting them down.
• And we have the challenge of the work force where we have bosses who are sometimes arrogant and threatening and employees who are sometimes dishonest and unmotivated.

You are fighting spiritual battles personally.

• You are not wrestling flesh and blood. This is one of our great misconceptions. We think that the forces arrayed against us are fate or luck or human wisdom and strength. But this is simply not true.
• Your true opposition is found in the realm of spiritual forces: 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 (Eph. 6:12).
• You know this when you think about what tempts you personally and gets you off track. You have inner desires that war against the Spirit. Your thought life and your attitudes are often the real battleground of your faith and behavior.

Christians are in conflict with the ways and the values of this world. You are fighting spiritual battles in three ways: The world, the flesh, and the devil.

• Your flesh is the first battle ground. The flesh does not want you sticking out your neck for people who have no voice. The flesh does not want you compromising your promotions and positions by fighting injustice at work or in school.
• The world is fundamentally flawed and turned away from God. Many Christian people enter public office or begin to teach in our schools or work in the nonprofit world hoping to make a difference. Many of them become discouraged after two or three years of fighting the systems that remain entrenched in every city and every social order. Power corrupts, the saying goes, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This hunger for power poisons all human systems. Proud and sinful human beings serve themselves instead of serving others.
• The Devil goes about like a roaring lion. He is active. He is on the offensive. He wants you down, out. He wants you dead.

Your strength in such a battle is the Lord himself. You must be strong in Him and in the power of His might.

• You haven’t got a chance on your own. You need his strength to win. It is your only hope.

Thank God for His Armor:

"Therefore put on the full armor of God," —  Ephesians 6:13

God has not left us without spiritual defenses. In fact, he has fully equipped us for the spiritual battles that we face daily. We need to be grateful for and take full advantage of these spirit assets that are ours to use whenever we enter spiritual combat.

Put on the full armor of God. You are not completely prepared or protected unless and until you have taken up every piece of armor mentioned here. If you leave off even one of these, you have a gap in your defenses.

• Thank God for the belt of truth: the belt of truth buckled around your waist. The Roman soldier has significant armor to bear, as you can see. His garments are robes. That belt keeps it all together. If the belt comes loose, everything comes loose. The Apostle has already challenged us to speak the truth to one another. We are honest, or we are undone. The truth of Jesus as Lord holds everything together. He sustains all things.
• Thank God for the Breastplate of Righteousness: the breastplate of righteousness in place. The breastplate protects all of the vital organs of the soldier. This is first the righteousness of Christ that we wear as a garment. But it includes the right-living that must follow. If our walk does not align with our talk, then we dishonest again and not people of integrity. This would leave a gaping hole in our armor.
• Thank God for the Sandals of Witness: with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Witnesses have beautiful feet. The prophet said, “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isaiah 52:7). The best pair of boots I have are Army issue. You must take care of the warrior’s feet. He is a foot soldier. Our witness is both good for those who hear and good for us as well.
• Thank God for the Shield of Faith: take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We will not win the battle without faith. We cannot please God without faith. If we lose our faith, we lose the linchpin of our defense. We cannot protect ourselves spiritually without faith. And it is not generic faith. It is faith in Christ which is our great defense. The fiery darts are coming at us. We can only extinguish them through faith. This may seem strange. But think about it—the verbal attacks on you are truly quenched through the evidence and activity of your faith.
• Thank God for the Helmet of Salvation: Take the helmet of salvation. The helmet protects the command center of the body. The soldier has security and confidence in battle because of this great defense. Hold your salvation tight and sure!
• Thank God for the Sword of the Spirit: and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Here is a weapon that is both defensive and offensive. It is the ever-living, always powerful Word of God. Use it always in battle. Rely upon it. It will never fail you. You are fully armed with this sword.

Thank God for the Final Stand:

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." — Ephesians 6:11

"…when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." — Ephesians 6:14

"…you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." — Ephesians 6:16

We all fall down.

• We all sin. We all fail morally. We all fail in other ways as well.
• We all have to get up again. That’s part of life.

God wants you back on your feet.

• Take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
• You may be able to stand your ground.
• After you have done everything, to stand

Winning this battle is about persistence and perseverance, not about perfection.

• God knows our frailty, and he chooses to use us anyway.
• Every person in this room can be standing at the end spiritually. No one has to be an ultimate failure. Every person can finally be successful in taking their stand.

The athletes we truly admire are the ones who just keep going even when the odds are against them, even when they are hurting or even injured. We celebrate persistence and perseverance in athletics because we know these are the qualities that help people win in every area of life.

And we know God wins in the end.

• If we persist in walking in faith and trusting God, if we can get up when we fall down, we know that we will stand with the winner of the universe one day.
• We place our hope in Christ because "he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17)

It’s time for grace to recover. We all fall down. It’s time to get up again, to put on the armor.