AARON'S APPAREL SHOP

Sermon Summary from Aug 9th, “Aaron’s Apparel Shop” (Ephesians 6:12-18) 

We last left Paul in Corinth.  He had written his letter to the Romans and now headed north through Macedonia to collect offerings from his churches for the Mother Church in Jerusalem.  He then boarded a ship and arrived on the coast close to Ephesus where he had spent three years.  He asked the leaders to meet him on the beach to say good bye, both parties knowing they would not see one another again.  Paul’s friends warned him that if he went to Jerusalem he would be held and maybe even killed.  Paul received the same warning from friends in Caesarea, but Paul went on.  It was Paul’s nature to run toward danger.

Paul is captured, beaten (almost killed) in Jerusalem before the Roman guards rescued him and then confined him in Caesarea.  You can read Paul’s evangelism to his captures in Acts 22-26.  Paul appealed to Rome once again running toward danger knowing that if the Gospel could be told in Rome that it would go out to the ends of the world!  Paul arrives in Rome in about 60 ad following storm and shipwreck (See Acts 26-28).  From there Paul witnesses and writes letters to his churches including the “Queen of Letters” to the Ephesians.  Wonderful stuff.

At one point, Paul says, “be kind to one another.” (4:32)  But we miss the aural pun in English.  Kind in Greek is chres-stoi and Christ is Christos.  “Be chres-stoi to one another—be Christ to one another.”  CS Lewis tells us, “Putting on the Christ is not one of the many jobs a Christian has to do.  It is the whole of Christianity.”  That is the lesson.

How is it that we put on the Christ, put on his apparel, dress for danger?  Well, we visit Aaron’s Apparel Shop (6:12-18)  We need to remember our struggle is not just against enemies of flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of this present darkness.  We must put on the whole armor of God.  Aaron’s has what we need: The belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; the shoes that make us proclaim the gospel of peace; the shield of faith (the evil one wants most of all to attack our faith); the helmet of salvation (it’s been paid for); and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  It is a two edged sword that changes us and transforms all that it encounters.  Evil cannot stand against it.

Aaron can box the whole armor of God up for you, or you can wear it with you.  But you must wear it.  You have no choice.  Amen.