The faith part of the whole armor of God

Sermon for Trinity 21

Ephesians 6:10-17  +  John 4:46-54

In today’s Epistle, St. Paul gave us that beautiful analogy of the Christian as a battle soldier, fighting, not against our fellow man, but fighting a spiritual battle against the devil and his demons and against their influence in the world; as a battle soldier, equipped, not with firearms or physical weapons, but equipped with the spiritual body armor that God provides, and with a spiritual weapon. The battlefield is your every-day life in this world that’s destined for destruction. It’s not for nothing that we call the Church on earth the “Church Militant.”

Among the spiritual pieces of body armor that God provides is the shield, and that shield is said to be faith, faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Since today’s Gospel focuses specifically on the faith of the nobleman who came to Jesus, we’re going to have a look at the faith part of the whole armor of God, which is essential for standing and withstanding in the battle that is raging all around us and in which God has made us all battle soldiers.

Jesus had performed a single miracle up in Galilee so far, His first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Then He had gone down to Judea and had performed many miracles there. And many of the Jews from up in Galilee had seen those miracles, because they had also gone down to Judea to attend the feast of Passover. Now Jesus is back in Galilee, back in Cana. And a nobleman from the town of Capernaum—about 16 miles away from Cana—has heard that Jesus is back from Judea. He either heard of Jesus’ miracles there or he himself had been there to see them. Either way, he believed that Jesus could help his dying son. He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

There’s faith there. A little faith, at least. Faith in Jesus’ power and willingness to cure an earthly disease. It isn’t necessarily saving faith—faith in Jesus as his Savior and Redeemer from sin—but at least the nobleman believes Jesus can help. He also assumes, apparently, that Jesus has to come with him, has to be there in the room with his son to perform the healing.

Jesus’ first response is a warning, and an expression of righteous frustration on God’s part. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. Believe what? That Jesus can do miracles? Well, they already believed that, after seeing all the miracles He had performed in Judea and after hearing about changing water into wine right there in Cana. But this is important. Jesus is just beginning His ministry, and He has done several miracles. But those miracles were not the purpose of His coming. They were to be signs confirming His teaching. They were to be signs confirming that He had been sent by God, that He was the promised Christ, and that He was to be their Savior from the enemies of sin, eternal death, and the devil. That’s what the people were supposed to believe, and not primarily because of the miracles, but by the power of Jesus’ teaching, that is, by the power of His Word, both the Word written in the Old Testament and the Word that He and John the Baptist had spoken. In summary, they were supposed to believe Jesus’ words and promises.

But hardly anyone believed in His words and promises. Their faith was limited to what He could do for them to improve their earthly lives. And even that faith was built on the foundation of what they could see with their eyes.

The nobleman was still in that category. But he was desperate, and he did believe Jesus could help his son. Lord, come down before my little boy dies!

Jesus was willing to help, but not to come down with the man to his house, not to give the man an outward proof to hang his faith on or to cling to. No, Jesus simply said, Go! Your son lives. Nothing to look at, nothing to see. Just a word and a promise to cling to, a word to believe.

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went. Just the word and promise of Jesus. And the nobleman believed it. And because he believed it, he acted on it. He stopped begging for Jesus to come with him or to help. He left, believing that Jesus had helped him, even though he couldn’t see it yet. He left, expecting to get back and find his son healed. It may not have been a perfect faith; there may have been shadows of doubt in his heart. But Jesus’ word had given him faith, and had given his faith something to cling to.

He started walking those 16 miles back to Capernaum, had to spend the night somewhere along the way, because the miracle took place in early afternoon, and he could only walk so far before sunset. But he got up the next morning, still hopeful, and continued his journey. Then his servants met him along the way and told him his son had been healed the day before, at the same time Jesus had spoken that almighty word. Then we’re told that he himself and his whole house believed. Believed what? That Jesus had healed his son? That was no longer a matter of faith, but of sight. No, the man and his household now believed in Jesus Himself, that His word was powerful, that His word was true, that He had come from God, that He was the promised Christ, that their lives and their very souls were safe in His hands.

With that kind of faith, the nobleman was prepared for what was to come, both for himself and for Jesus. Regardless of the miracles Jesus would do over the next few years, most of his countrymen would never believe in Him. Many would follow Him for a time, but then turn back when He didn’t perform signs on demand, like they wanted. But the nobleman and his family had been brought to a faith that was stronger than that, faith in the word and promise of Jesus that didn’t require sight anymore.

That’s the kind of faith we all need. That’s the kind of faith God is looking for in each of us. That is to say, it’s the kind of faith God is working to create and to build up in each of us. God isn’t looking to create faith in you by showing you any other signs but the ones He has already given. He isn’t looking to bring you to faith or to strengthen your faith with bright lights or shiny visions or spectacular miracles, and certainly not with the testimonials that other people might give of such things. He gives you His Word, recorded in Scripture, preached by a pastor in His name. And He expects that to be enough.

He gives you His word that the water of Baptism saves. You can’t see it washing away sin. You can’t see it giving new birth or sealing the new birth of faith. You can’t see the Holy Spirit working in it. But Jesus speaks the word that Baptism is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and He expects you to believe it. He expects His word to be enough.

He gives you His word that “this is His body” and “this is His blood” in the Sacrament. You can’t see anything but bread and wine. You can’t see or taste the body that was sacrificed on the cross or the blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. But Jesus speaks the word about His holy Supper, and He expects that to be enough.

Of course, it isn’t enough for our sinful flesh, for our fallen human reason. We demand to see a sign of God’s love and faithfulness, to see a sign that tells us, “God is truly on our side!” Or, “This is the right church and not that one.” Or if we don’t demand it, we simply refuse to be comforted by God’s promises, we go on living in despair, as if the world is as out of control as it seems, although, according to God’s word, Christ still reigns at the right hand of God and is still working all things together for good to those who love Him.

No, you need to repent of your reliance on human reason and what your eyes can see. You need to repent of the despair and the hopelessness that your experience tells you is all too reasonable. And you need to listen to Jesus again, just to Jesus, just to His Word, and cling to it for dear life, whether it’s His Word about Baptism or the Lord’s Supper, or about the final victory of His Holy Christian Church, or about the raging spiritual battle in which you have been made a battle soldier.

With the shield of faith, He says, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are those flaming arrows? They’re attacks on your soul—spiritual attacks. They come in the form of temptations, for example. Temptations to sin against any of the Ten Commandments. Temptations to go along with the world in order to avoid persecution, to be silent when you know you should speak, to ridicule when God calls on you to show mercy, to hate when God calls on you to love. Temptations to despair, or to disbelieve God, or to forfeit the peace and joy that God offers in His Word. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows.

Those arrows also come in the form of persecution itself, and the many forms of injustice and mistreatment by others that threaten to make you bitter and angry and sorrowful. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows, too.

Those arrows also come in the form of lies, lies from false teachers and false prophets about who God is and what God’s will is, lies from government officials, lies from “scientific experts” to support demonic agendas, lies from your own neighbors and from your own culture about what is right and wrong anymore. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows. That doesn’t mean the lies go away, or the persecution goes away, or the temptations go away. It means they won’t be able to harm you. They won’t be able to get to your heart or to your soul to destroy you.

Faith is powerful protection in this battle—not the only protection, as Paul mentions other pieces of armor—but still powerful. Keep your faith focused on the word of God alone. Believe what He says, no matter what things look like. And don’t waste your time looking for signs. You have the word of God. And that is enough. Amen.