But one of the things you learn when you're fighting with swords is that you are holding in your hand the tool both for your attack and for your defense. Although you are in a kevlar vest, and have a sieve on your head, you're holding your tool for both attack and defense.
I bring this up because of the prevalence of swords in the scriptures. No, not those swords, not the ones used in the conqest of the holy land that made bodies pile up. I mean the sword of the spirit that was the word of God. The sword of the spirit that is the word of God, as we are counseled to use in Ephesians. Now, lest we forget that the scriptures don't just mention the sword of the spirit as the word of God once. They mention it several times, including in our Old testament reading from Sunday. The Old Testament reading is from the book of Isaiah, which tells us that the messenger of God's mouth is like a sharp sword. And right there, even in the Old Testament, we see the presence of the word of God being a sharp sword. This is a theme that is going to run right the way through the scriptures, you understand, and it is really worth us remembering that the sword that we are issued as christian people isn't one that is there to kill, maim, or mutilate.
We have a very strange interaction with the sword we are given, the sharp two edged sword seen in Isaiah, in Hebrews, in Revelation, in Ephesians, in that we are expected to use this sword as our only tool to attack with. This is in keeping with Christ our Lord, who only used his words (and a whip one time)as a weapon. When he encountered people, when he ran up against opposition, when he ran into the devil himself, he used his words, the word of God. And that's us as well. We as Christians aren't supposed to be pushovers, we aren't supposed to be quitters, and we aren't supposed to give up. Christ told us that if we don't have a sword, we are supposed to sell our cloaks and go and buy one. Is it a real physical sword? I'll wager that Christ's priorities are the same as they always have been, that we are supposed to engage with the devil, with the world, with words, and with His word.
The reason for this should be clear, in that the vision of Christ that appears at the end of the New Testament, the vision of Christ in the midst of the lampstands, he has a sharp two edged sword coming out of his mouth. This is the word of God that still gets stuff done, that is still powerful and effective. It didn't stop doing what it was supposed to do, it didn't become less effective, but it stopped being used by us, and then we became surprised when those changes that we wanted to see stopped happening.
There's an old handyman joke out there that has a puzzled carpenter holding a hammer in one hand , and not having the best time of it. And he says, scratching his head 'I must be using the wrong kind of hammer for this screw.' Laughter and applause follow. but that's the case with most of our problem solving, most of our evangelism, most of our programs, most of our family problems and we're trying to solve them by attacking the problem with anything but what is shown to have worked. I know I know, when the only tool you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail, but hold on a tic here, because the word of God is lively and active, as Hebrews says, sharper than any two edged sword, able to cut between joints and marrow, and so on. We know that the word of God is lively and active, and yet we are less and less likely to use it.
If you're going to have a fire extinguisher in your house to protect against an unexpected and unwanted blaze, you'd better know where it is and how to use it. If you're going to have a life jacket in your canoe in case it tips, you'd better be wearing it before the eventuality happens. The thing that people forget is that the scriptures aren't just a one size fits all, though they are only one book. In this book are words of law, and of Gospel, of anger and of comfort. In the books of the Bible you will find advice, guidance, history, poetry, love stories, comfort, agony and everything in between. Essentially, in the scriptures, you have a philips head, a robertson head, a slot head, a torx, a tamper-proof, all the screwdrivers. Without the scriptures, all you have is a hammer. All you have is blunt force. Will it work? Maybe. But using the right tool for the job will get you there a lot faster.
We have been given that tool. We have been given the word of God, and there's a good chance that you have a Bible within line of sight to you right now. When was the last time you consulted it when you had a problem that needed to be solved, or when you had something you wanted to accomplish. When was the last time that you looked into the scriptures to see if they had what you needed for what you were trying to do? We forget very quickly that it was the word of Christ that accomplished what he wanted, not force of arms. When he spoke, things happened. Follow me, Come out, be opened, be still, your sins are forgiven. When Christ speaks, things happen, and they get done.
And when he spoke from the cross, he said 'It is finished.' And when he did so, the curtain in the temple was torn in half, and the dead were raised. The earth shook, and the rocks broke open. And at that moment, at those words, sin was beaten, death was trumped, and the kingdom of Heaven was opened. Those are some powerful words. And lucky for you, they're still accessible to you.
These are the words, the tools you've been given. This is the sword that you have to go out into the world with. But unlike a physical sword, this one isn't designed to kill. It's not designed to make a pile of bodies. That would be possible with a physical blade, but this one is better. Properly wielded, it doesn't change your enemy into a corpse, it changes your enemy into a friend. Properly used, it doesn't change your adversary into a body, but your adversary into a fellow-combattant, a brother in arms. That's why Jesus gave you this sword to use.
It's because we, as Christians have the strangest situation of all. We want our enemies to live. And we want them to live forever.
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