Marcus Mecum - Honor Your Faith Shields
Ephesians 6 let's look at verse 13. "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, have girded your waist with truth, having put on the breast plate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all," everybody say, "Above all". So all that we just read is vital, it's important, it's critical. There's nothing about the armor that's mentioned that we should underestimate but yet in verse 16, Paul the apostle is making an announcement, this would be one of his prison epistles he wrote 14 letters in the New Testament and many of those would be called 'prison epistles' cause they were written in prison.
And so chained or close by a Roman guard, he's looking at the armor that the armored guard is wearing and he's connecting the armor of that guard with the armor that we're going to need concerning the battles that we face. And, so he says, "Above all take the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one". I want to dig into that idea of above all, make sure that you take the shield of faith and with that I wanna talk to you for a few minutes on honoring your faith shield, honoring your faith shield. When Paul wanted to give us a picture of what faith looks like, he made a decision to look at that Roman soldier and say, "If you wanna know what your faith is like, your faith is like a shield".
The qualities and the characteristics of faith can be connected to a shield. These characteristics are those that defend us, they guard us, they protect us, they hide us in many ways. The shield is not you, but yet it cannot work without you. Your faith is not you but yet it cannot have any good cannot provide what God's gift for it is to you without you taking up that shield. The shield acknowledges that there are dangers that there are threats, that there are enemies all around and that there are battles in front of you.
The Bible says, "God has given each one of us a measure of faith". So faith is a gift from God, that shield, that protection is a gift from God. You and I are saved by grace through faith, so faith is a critical component of even experiencing salvation. Jesus said, "Your faith has made you whole". With Peter, we see that Jesus would announce to him, "I pray for you that your faith will not fail". So faith can fail. Jesus looked at one group of people and he said, "O ye of little faith". So faith can fail, faith can be little, faith can be small, he said, "Like a mustard seed". James 1:3 says, "Faith is tested". We see in another place that Jesus said, "I've not seen such great faith in all of Israel".
So faith can be great and faith can be seen. And what does it look like? Paul said, "I want you to imagine a shield". That's what faith looks like, that's how faith works it protects you and we all need protection, is what Paul was announcing that at some point every one of us are going to face a battle. Every one of us are going to face an enemy and at that moment you can choose to believe whatever lie or you can just choose to say, "I'm gonna take up the shield of faith and trust that God is going to protect me no matter what is coming against me". I love those old war movies, one of my favorites is 300, I might watch it today as a matter of fact.
And in that movie they have this quote, "If the enemy blots out the sun with their arrows, we'll fight in the shade under the shadow of our shield". Isn't that good? In other words, all you have to do sometimes is the enemy is shooting all those fiery darts at you, you just get up under that shield of faith and say, "I'm just gonna wait for all of these arrows to pass by and I'm just gonna enjoy the shade of my faith, trusting that at some point those arrows are gonna stop and I can get back into the fight of life". David would conquer 22,000 Philistines.
And the Bible said he would command that they would retrieve the shields from this 22,000 men, "Go retrieve their shields". They would retrieve the shields when they would defeat an enemy and then they would build a monument out of those shields from the enemy that they had defeated and they would call that monument a troph that's where we get the word trophy from. And the point is simply this David is saying, "Whenever you go through a battle in life, don't leave that battle without going and getting the shields of the enemy".
Go back and look, they launched the attack, they targeted you, the enemy did something to try to destroy your life. And now you've got the enemy's shield and now you're going into a new battle, and now you are facing a new enemy and now you're up against a new struggle but you've got the shields from past battles and you've got the shields that declared a God that gave you victory in the past and God helped you overcome that battle in the past and God enabled you in some way to be a conqueror in the past. And you can gather strength from the shields that you've gathered from past victories for the current battle you're facing. Spartans are known as natives of Sparta Greece. They were some of the most powerful warriors in history.
In most cities in those days they would surround the cities with fortified walls and towers and gates, but around Sparta there was no such wall. And they would ask, "Why don't you have walls around your city"? And they would say, because "Our men are our walls". God give us that kind of a spirit as the men of God in the body of Christ. That when people would look around we're not afraid, we're not cowering in fear. Come on, God has put something on the inside of us and we know how to protect and fight for that which matters. They were a fierce people, they were fearless and skilled warriors. They were known to, at age seven, every single male would then be sent to battle, I'm sorry, be sent to military training school. They would go there for 13 years and they would train.
For 13 years they would be taught to endure pain. For 13 years they would be taught survival skills. They would be taught to honor and fight for what was right, they would be taught self defense and other warfare tactics. For 13 years they would go through this vigorous training until they would reach manhood. At age 20 a spartan would become a soldier, that spartan soldier will spend all of his time with fellow soldiers, with fellow comrades they would move as a unit, they would go everywhere as a group. They would go to eat as a group, they would sleep as a group. Everywhere they went they went as a unit. At age 20 they would take what was called an oath of loyalty, it went like this, I shall not disgrace my sacred weapons nor shall I desert my comrades by my side.
Whenever I stand and rank I shall stand and fight till death for sacred things. You see they understood warfare was their heritage, warfare was what they were born for. They understood that, that was who they were and they were to bear it with great honor. There were other cities like Athens, Greece and the Athenians weren't like that. There culture was a culture of luxury and politics, a culture of entertainment but not so in Sparta. It was a culture of warfare, a legacy of fighting and battling. Generation after generation they would pass it down and teach "This is who we are". We're to fight and we are to be warriors because it's who we are it is our heritage.
From seven to sixty, if you were a male spartan you would serve in the military. At age 60 you could take your shield home with honor but even at that point if war broke out you knew even after age 60 you would have to go back and fight because it was a lifetime commitment. On the first day that a spartan soldier would go and face his first battle, his first enemy before he would go into battle his mother would present to him a shield. And she would whisper something in this young man's ear, still her baby though now a vicious soldier, she would whisper in his ear knowing he's about to go into a battle, knowing that the possibility exists for him to lose his life but she would say these words, "Either bring this shield back or be brought back on this shield. Whatever you do, do not leave the shield behind. Defend it, honor it, preserve it. You're never to come back without your shield. Either bring the shield back or be brought back on your shield".
And so that's what they would do, if a man were to fall in battle they would find his shield and they would carry him home on his shield. If a man were to be wounded and unable to carry himself they would put that man on his shield and they would carry their wounded back. And they were saying that this is exactly what we were trained to do, to never disgrace the shield. If I die, I die holding my shield. I don't cut and run, I don't give up, I don't quit, I don't leave it and drop it, I don't get distracted, I don't get easily overwhelmed. I made a decision that I'm going to come back with my shield and if they decided to not come back with their shield for some reason, they could lose their sword in battle and come back and be given another sword.
They could lose their helmet in battle and come back and be given another helmet but if they were to come back without their shield they would never be named again in honor amongst the fighting men, if you come back without your shield it was a complete and total disgrace. And the point was this isn't a toy, this isn't a game, this isn't something you play around with this is a serious, serious thing that you are to bring it back or you are to come back laying on your shield and then the mom would kiss her son as he would go into battle saying I'm kissing your forehead but I want you to keep the shield, I want you to honor the shield, don't disgrace the shield, fight with everything that you've got to keep the shield. If it cost you your life then so be it, but do not lose the shield.
Many times the mom will also, not just be giving any shield to her son but she would be giving the father's shield, that boy's father who had fallen in battle, she would be giving him the shield of his dad. The shield would many times be soaked with the blood of his father, sometimes even multiple generations, a grandfather. And the father and the mom would present to her son that shield and say to her son, this is your father's shield whatever you do, do not do anything to lose sight of this shield, defend this shield, carry this shield and never let it go no matter how many arrows are hitting you, make sure you preserve and protect the shield.
So when the Bible says, in our battle, we're to above all take up the shield of faith. I'm trying to help you get an idea of an ancient time, the importance of what Paul was saying. That attacks are going to come, that the battles is going to be tough but in the middle of all that above all don't lose your faith, don't let go of your faith, don't throw down your faith even if on the inside, we all get there. I'm just gonna talk about me. I get to the point where I'm like, I can't take it no more, I'm not gonna do this no more, I wanna quit and give up and find something easier but I learned along the way that my job is to simply break the arrows out and announce to hell, announce to the devil you've hit me with all you've got but I still believe.
I still believe God is good, I still believe God is a healer, I still believe God is a redeemer, I still believe God is a restorer. I chosen to believe that God is good and even in the battle where it looks the opposite of that I do not let go of the shield of faith. You honor the shield. I might die believing that he's my healer and you might have to carry me back on the shield but nonetheless I'm not going to drop my shield in the battle. The mom would announce, "You either preserve it or you perish on it". Isn't that good, "Either you preserve it or you perish on it. You carry your father's shield with honor".
We're to carry our father's shield. He gave us the gift. Polish it, defend it, care for it. You're either a hero or a coward according to what you do with your shield. In Hebrews 11, it lays out the heroes of faith. And has it goes down the list of all the heroes of faith it would list those like Moses who parted the Red Sea. It would list those like Samson. It would list the great heroes of the faith that saw miraculous things happen. Against insurmountable odds God came through and God was faithful and God showed himself to be strong on their behalf. But then in that same chapter it says and there were others, who God did not shut the mouth of lions. God did not in some way protect them and they would die for their faith.
But whether you were the one that would come back in victory holding that shield announcing that God protected me and God saw me through or you were the one that were carried back on your shield the prerequisite to be a hero of the faith was it you never for any reason, no matter what you were you against, life or death, you never let go of your shield. You preserve it or you perish on it. Our future, as the body of Christ depends on us learning to protect and maintain and honor the shield. Don't leave it on the battle field, keep it close, keep a grip on it. The more fierce the battle gets the stronger your grip of faith should become.
If the enemy blackens out the sun with his arrows we're to fight in the shade underneath our shield for the glory of God and announce that, "I am under the shadow of the Almighty and no matter what the battle looks like I still believe". I like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who would make the announcement has they're about to go into the fiery furnace, "Our God is able to deliver us. But if not he is still able". We might come through the fiery furnace with our shield or we might be carried out of the fiery furnace on your shield either way bring me back dead but whatever happens I'm not going to let go of my shield. I think about how careful we have to be to not turn our eyes away from the faith of our father and our forefathers.
Every one in here will face an attack against your home at some point, I am not exempt. Every one of you will face an attack in some way, shape or form. An attack that is great enough and maybe many attacks that are great enough maybe it will be an attack on your health, maybe it'll be an attack on your mind. But the attack is going to come and you have to be reminded that you've got the shield of faith and I want to give my children not just anything. I hope I leave 'em an inheritance financially, I hope I can do that. I hope I can leave 'em a good reputation, I hope I can do that. I hope I can leave 'em a good family name, that would matter to me. I hope I can leave 'em the fact I was honorable in many ways but the most important thing that I can leave my children is the shield of faith.
That no matter what happened in life and the ups and the downs, in the battles in the struggles, in the good times in the bad, I never, for any reason, no matter what shook me, I never let go of my faith. The greatest thing you can your family is a shield of faith. Honor the shield of faith. And not only do I think it's important that I talk to parents about this but I wanna talk to our young people, our college students about honoring the shield as you go back to school. That this year you'll have to chose once again between friends and faith. You'll have to chose between popularity and faith. You'll have to choose between being a part of the clique or the club and be a part of temporary things.
And many times you'll have to push away the temporary fun in life so you can maintain honoring your shield. My goal as a pastor is I want to be a spartan pastor. I want to have something about me that no matter what happens we understand we stand for something, we have convictions about certain things. That the shield represents something more than just me, and what I want, and how I feel. That I have to maintain the honor which means I have to live different, I have to lead different. I have to maintain the honor of the shield that has been given to me, it's not my shield it's my father's shield and it's been a gift to me and I must honor the shield.
My prayer is when I'm done and my time is over that I'll be carried into this place on a shield, come bearing that shield. Let that shield bear you if necessary, but do not let go of the shield. Several years ago Sarah and I had the privilege to go to Rome and we went to the Roman Colosseum. As they were taking us through on a tour they talked to us about the 5,000 Christians a day that were tortured. How they would feed them to lions, crucify 'em, causing to go out and be tortured in various ways for entertainment. They died and they were carried home on their shield. I wonder if we still really have an understanding in 2023 of the price that has to be paid, to honor the shield of our forefathers.
The apostle Paul had his head cut off, he was carried home on his shield. They said to him, "Deny Jesus Christ and you can get out of this". And he would say, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all those who believe. I'm either gonna go home with my shield or I'm going to be carried home on my shield". And they cut his head off, he was carried home on the shield of faith. They took the apostle Simon Peter and they crucified him. In the process he said, "I don't want to die like my Savior did because I'm not worthy".
And so they turned the cross upside down and his blood was draining from his body, he was being carried home on his shield. Honor the faith, honor integrity, honor character, honor what our faith teaches us in the scriptures and make a decision I'll either go home with my shield or I'll be carried home on my shield. When a Christian dies, it is a another spartan going home on his shield. I wanna be a spartan like that, I want this to be a church full of people that when we're done the thing people remember the most is we fought our fight, we stood our ground, we did what we had to do to pass on our faith to who was next, in Jesus' name.