Good day
In Part 3 we looked at girding our waist with truth. In today's message we'll be covering the breastplate of righteousness.
Ephesians 6:14-17
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
In battle the breastplate was used as protective equipment to guard against blows to the chest (heart). This area is vitally important to the human body as any severe blow could lead to death. Therefore for the believer, and in the context of the passage, it implies that guarding/protecting our heart is important.
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 that we are to guard our heart above all else, for it determines the course of our life. Jesus said in Luke 6:45 that a good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (What we say flows out from what is in our heart, and what we produce stems from the condition of our heart, whether that be good of evil). In Mark 4:14-20 Jesus also refers to the parable of the sower and the different types of soils and how in each category, the word was sown, however it was the condition of the soil (heart) that determined the success of the harvest. In other words, the condition of our heart determines whether God's word can produce any fruit in our lives or not.
The condition of the heart therefore is very important because we produce after what we believe in our heart, and we are told to protect our heart by putting on the breastplate of righteousness. I define this as, "our heart is protected by our understanding/revelation of what righteousness means to us (the revelation of who we are in Christ and what His life, death and resurrection means for us)"
An example of this could be the following:
Someone could have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour, started attending church, reading their Bible, etc. but due to various reasons, they have a low self-image of themselves, struggle with feeling insecure, depressed, helpless and alone. They believe in their heart that they'll never amount to anything, that they're not worthy, that no one could ever love them, etc. so they battle to reach a point where they believe, or become fully convinced in their heart, that God loves them, that He is merciful, patient, faithful, kind, generous, etc. They may know that about Him in their head (possessing this as information), but they don't believe it in their heart (which is revelation), so evitably they struggle to receive all of God's promises. For this person, righteousness becomes something that they believe they always have to strive to earn, they always measure themselves by their performance or comparing themselves to the performance of others, they understand that prayer works and that God can answer prayer, but they don't believe He can answer theirs. They know that God can provide healing, restoration, deliverance, provision, wisdom, direction, purpose, fulfillment, etc...but carry doubts that He can do it in their lives. What's happened here is that the condition of their heart has determined the level of fruit that God's word can accomplish in their lives (as we saw in the 3 scriptures above)
Righteousness on the other hand teaches us that we're loved, forgiven, accepted, valued, cared for, redeemed and in covenant with our Heavenly Father. It reveals what He's made available to us as His children and who we are in Christ. Righteousness says that I am who God says I am, that I can do what God says I can do and that I can have what God says is available to me - not because of what I have done or deserve, but based on what Christ has done for me (For more on the subject of righteousness, please see the following series:
https://unlessjesusbuilds.blogspot.com/search/label/Understanding%20Righteousness)
The person who carries the revelation in their heart that they've been made the righteousness of Christ, positions themselves to believe and receive the rest of God's promises and commandments. They are likely to produce more spiritual fruit and see God's word at work in their lives, all the while bringing Him glory.
One of the great things about this is that there's hope for that person referred to in the above example because they can develop in their understanding and revelation on what righteous means. We see this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where it says that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This means that just because that person may have started out that way, doesn't mean they have to stay that way! That as they continue to spend time reading, learning, meditating on God's word, that that word will no longer just be information (head knowledge) but it will become revelation, where they now start to see themselves as God sees them, believing His word and choosing to believe more in what He says about them rather than what their past experiences, or other people, may have been influencing them to believe about themselves. There's a knowing, a trust, a confidence in their heart that becomes unshakable, that no one can take away, and where whatever the devil may try to bring against them, they know that God's got them - again, not because of who they are in the natural, not because of their job title, the amount of money in their bank account, not because of how many possessions they have or how influential their friends or family may be - but because of a confidence, trust and hope in what Christ has done for them! That they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So Stand therefore, guarding your heart by putting on the breastplate of righteousness!
Amen
The person who carries the revelation in their heart that they've been made the righteousness of Christ, positions themselves to believe and receive the rest of God's promises and commandments. They are likely to produce more spiritual fruit and see God's word at work in their lives, all the while bringing Him glory.
One of the great things about this is that there's hope for that person referred to in the above example because they can develop in their understanding and revelation on what righteous means. We see this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where it says that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This means that just because that person may have started out that way, doesn't mean they have to stay that way! That as they continue to spend time reading, learning, meditating on God's word, that that word will no longer just be information (head knowledge) but it will become revelation, where they now start to see themselves as God sees them, believing His word and choosing to believe more in what He says about them rather than what their past experiences, or other people, may have been influencing them to believe about themselves. There's a knowing, a trust, a confidence in their heart that becomes unshakable, that no one can take away, and where whatever the devil may try to bring against them, they know that God's got them - again, not because of who they are in the natural, not because of their job title, the amount of money in their bank account, not because of how many possessions they have or how influential their friends or family may be - but because of a confidence, trust and hope in what Christ has done for them! That they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So Stand therefore, guarding your heart by putting on the breastplate of righteousness!
Amen