R U READY TO RUMBLE?
PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 6:10-17
JULY 27, 2008
John Patterson died more than a year and a half ago. John was the head of our Pastoral Care Department, a man greatly gifted of God, a friend to us, and loved by all of us. John is with Christ now and we miss him very much. John was only in his 40’s and he appeared to be very healthy and yet he had a massive heart attack. After John’s death, many folks on staff and some of you in the congregation decided to have your heart-health checked. In the aftermath of John’s death, many have gone and had treadmill tests. Some have gone and have had heart imaging performed. Many have gone and had blood screens checking for triglycerides and total cholesterol, checking HDL levels and LDL levels. Some have received VAPS, which are deeper cholesterol screenings. Some have checked their C-reactive protein and their LP(a) and everything that cardiologists tell us is so important with regard to heart-health.
People want to guard their heart, and that’s what we’re talking about this morning, guarding our heart. But of course, we’re not thinking of the physical heart. We’re thinking spiritually this morning and, in a sense, when we speak of the heart we speak of the soul because in the Bible the hardening of the heart is a soul issue. It’s a problem with the soul. So, we look at how we can guard our heart. We look today at how we can guard our soul in the midst of this struggle between light and darkness, in the midst of the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged. How can we guard the soul?
The Bible says you must put on “the breastplate of righteousness.” If you would guard the soul, if you would guard your heart, you must put on the breastplate of righteousness. This means two things and this comprises our two teachings. First of all, if you would put on the breastplate of righteousness, you must put on Christ.
You’ve all heard of Abraham. Abraham was the Patriarch. He was the Father of Nations. Even today Abraham is honored and venerated. He is honored by Arabs and by Muslims. He is honored by Jews and by Christians. He if the Father of Many Nations. Of course, the Bible tells us that Abraham grew up in Ur of the Chaldees. Just a few years ago, archeologists in Southern Iraq unearthed a giant ziggurat which they now believe was part of the ancient city of Ur where Abraham once lived. Archeologists have discovered that about 4,000 years ago, about 2,000 years before Christ, the Euphrates River changed its course and the Euphrates River moved 10 miles away from the ancient city of Ur and So, people began to leave Ur en masse. There was a mass exodus and the Bible tells us Abraham was part of that exodus.
Abraham went to Haran. It was there in Haran that Abraham received his great vision from God, that he would become the Father of Many Nations, that he would become the Father of Many Peoples and that the promised land would be given to him, the promised land awaits him and So, Abraham set forth and he came into the region that we would today call the Holy Land. He came into the South Jordan Rift and into the Vale of Sid. There were five cities there and those five cities were all very, very wealthy. Those five cities included Sodom and Gomorrah. Those five cities were ruled, each one, by a King and yet Abraham was greater than any of those five kings because God blessed him as Abraham came into the region of what became Israel. As Abraham came into the region of the Vale of Sid, God blessed him and he truly became a patriarch and he became a man of great wealth with innumerable flocks and sheep and cattle. He had many men in his employ, hundreds and hundreds. He was a man of great wealth and power, looked to by everyone.
Then the Bible tells us in Genesis, chapter 14, “There came a northern king, a king from the north and this king was named Chedorlaomer. He came from the north and he came in power. He came in an alignment with three other kings. They came into the Vale of Sid and they conquered. They conquered the five cities, including Sodom and Gomorrah. They took wealth. They took plunder from that region and from all five cities. All of this would have been little more than a curiosity to Abraham because he was removed from the five cities and his wealth was untouched but, you see, Chedorlaomer, as he came and conquered in the Vale of Sid, took captives from the five cities including Abraham’s nephew, whose was named Lot. Abraham thought, “I must rescue my nephew. I must free him from captivity” So, Abraham gathered his army. He gathered his people.
As Chedorlaomer had gone north to his homeland, Abraham followed with his armies. Abraham followed Chedorlaomer all the way up to the region of Dan to the region of what was Caesarea Philippi to Mount Herman and then north and east to the region of Damascus and finally Abraham came upon the armies of Chedorlaomer. By the hand of God Abraham won a great battle. He freed the people and he retrieved the plunder and the wealth. Then Abraham came back south towards the Vale of Sid and as Abraham came south into what we would call the Holy Land, the people had to be thinking, “Who is like Abraham? Who is greater than Abraham? He is greater than kings. He has conquered. He is wealthy. He is courageous. He is blessed of God. Who is like him?” But, you see, there was One, the Bible tells us, who was greater on the earth. The Bible says his name was Melchizedek. What a mysterious person Melchizedek was. Melchizedek is simply called “the King of Salem, or the King of Shalom, the King of Peace.”
Some historians wonder if perhaps he was the King of Jerusalem, or “Yay-rue-shalom.” Maybe Jerusalem, in the earliest times, was simply called Salem or Shalom. They don’t know. We do know that in the Bible normally we’re given genealogies. When significant people rise on the pages of scripture, we’re told their heritage. We’re told the name of their parents and their grandparents and we’re given genealogical information. We’re also given the time of their birth, the time of their death and the span of their life but with regard to Melchizedek it’s all mysterious. We’re given no such information.
In Hebrews, chapter 7, the Bible tells us with regard to Melchizedek that he has neither mother nor father nor genealogy, neither beginning of days nor end of life but continues forever. Melchizedek, how mysterious. When Abraham met Melchizedek, Abraham fell down and Melchizedek blessed him. It says in Hebrews, chapter 7, that “It is beyond dispute that the inferior are blessed by the superior” – Abraham being the inferior, Melchizedek being the superior. Melchizedek blessed him and then an amazing thing happened. Abraham gave to Melchizedek tithes of all that he had. It says in Hebrews, chapter 7, that tithes are given by men to God and here Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek, this mysterious man.
Who was Melchizedek? The name Melchizedek means, “king of righteousness” – “Mel-kay-za-deck,” King of Righteousness. In Psalms, chapter 10, and in Hebrews 7 the link is made between Melchizedek and the Messiah. There are some scholars who believe that Melchizedek was literally Christ on earth, that in the days of Abraham Jesus appeared in corporeal form, bodily, and appeared to Abraham. Possibly. Other scholars believe that Melchizedek was a kind of type of Christ, but no one denies that the true King of Righteousness, biblically, the true King of Peace, biblically, is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. He is the King of Peace, Sar Shalom as we saw last week. We shod our feet with the equipment of the Gospel of Peace. We shod our feet with Jesus. He is also the King of Righteousness. He is, as it says in Malachi, the Son of Righteousness. He is the Man of Righteousness. He is the Righteous One.
If you would put on the breastplate of righteousness, you must put on Jesus, Melchizedek. You must put on Christ. This language is wholly biblical So, you come to Romans, chapter 13, verse 14 and what does Paul say? “Put on Christ.” You come to Galatians, chapter 3, verse 27 and what does it say? “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” So, as Christians we wear Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness. When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you put Him on. When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are then clothed in His Righteousness. His righteousness is imputed to you. We’re not saved by our righteousness. We’re saved by His righteousness. If you would have the breastplate of righteousness, you must put on Christ. When you receive Him, His righteousness is given to you.
Of course, in the Old Testament era there was the High Priest and the High Priest wore the breastplate. He wore it over the Ephod. On the breastplate there were the twelve precious stones, each stone representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the breastplate there was the pocket in which was kept the Urim and the Thummim for the purpose of discerning the divine will. It was the breastplate of the High Priest but the High Priest is no more, not in Israel. But as Christians we are told that there is One High Priest and it is Jesus. Jesus is the High Priest. He is the High Priest and He represents us to the Father. He is the High Priest and He died in our behalf. We must put Him on. He is our breastplate. We put Him on and we wear His righteousness. This is what it means to put on the breastplate of righteousness. It means to put on Jesus, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness.
There is a second way that we put on the breastplate of righteousness and that is this. If we would put on the breastplate of righteousness we must hunger and thirst for righteousness. If you’re going to guard your heart, if you’re going to guard your soul, you must put on Christ. You must also hunger and thirst for righteousness.
It was Jesus who told us to do this. In the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” What is righteousness? What does it mean to be righteous? The word for righteousness is “dikaiosune.” It comes from the word “dikaios,” which means, “righteous,” which comes from a root word which means, “right.” To be righteous is to be right. God is righteous. God is right.
Most of the time when we think of righteousness we think of “right action.” Is that not true? Most of the time when you think of righteousness, you think of right behavior, right conduct, right action. Indeed, this is part of the meaning of righteousness. Righteousness includes right conduct, right behavior, and right action. We should hunger and we should thirst for right conduct and right action in our lives that we would be more righteous in the sense of our behavior. We should hunger for that. We should thirst for that but there’s a danger in that. When you view righteousness simply as right action, it can lead towards Phariseeism. The Pharisees thought they were right and that all of their actions were right. It can lead to fundamentalism. It can lead to self-righteousness. It can lead to the false understanding that you have earned something when you view righteousness as right actions.
Oftentimes in the Bible the word “dikaiosune,” the word “righteousness,” refers to right relationship. If you would hunger and thirst for righteousness that means you hunger and thirst for right relationship with God. Do you long for that? Right relationship with God and then right relationship with people. Righteousness. You can’t guard your heart and you can’t guard your soul unless you’ve put on the breastplate of righteousness. You must hunger and thirst for right relationship with God and right relationships with people.
Now, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. You know it. You’ve read it in the Bible. You’ve heard people preach and teach on that passage. You know that Jesus described the incident where He sets on the Jericho Road, the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, a dangerous road, a road that kind of winds and weaves and it goes over hills and down into valleys, a road laden with robbers and thieves. As Jesus tells the story, He tells about a Jewish man who is walking down that road and falls among robbers and thieves. They strip him and they beat him and they rob him and they leave him half-dead by the side of the road.
As Jesus tells the story, two other Jews go down the Jericho Road, two other Jews, and they come to the place where the wounded man is. These two other Jews are a priest and a Levite and yet they do not stop. Their wounded brother, their fellow Jew, is near death and they do not stop. They just continue on. What was wrong with them? What was wrong with the priest and the Levite? They were not righteous. They were religious. They were very religious but they didn’t have a right relationship with God and they didn’t have a right relationship with man. They didn’t have a right relationship with humanity and they didn’t have a right relationship with God. They were not righteousness.
The hero of the story is introduced by Jesus. Who is the hero? The hero is not even a Jew. The hero is a half-breed. The hero is a Samaritan, hated by the Jews. Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero. He’s walking down that Jericho Road and he comes to the place where this Jewish man is near death and the Samaritan, even though the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, was moved with compassion and he went to him, ministered to him and took care of him. What are we to understand? We are to understand that the Samaritan was at least in some sense righteous. He was right in his relationship with God and right in his relationship with man. Something was righteous there.
Understand that in the Bible this word “righteous,” both in the Greek and in the Hebrew, whether you’re looking at “dikaiosune” or the Hebrew word “mispat,” these words mean “justice.” The word righteous also means “justice.” If you’re righteous, you must seek social justice on the earth. You must care about the poor. You must care about the oppressed. You must care about those who are sick, ill, and hurting because righteousness has to do with right relationship with God and with mankind. So, the call of the prophets to the people of Israel was a call to righteousness. It was a call to righteousness and to reach out in compassion to the poor, the hurting and the oppressed. Righteousness is right relationships.
Of course, right relationships produce right actions. If you’re in right relationship with Jesus it’s going to change the way you live. If I’m in right relationship with Jesus, it’s going to change my actions. Right relationships are kind of the beginning of right actions. It’s all part of righteousness.
It was Jesus who said that righteousness is the only means of satisfaction. Right relationships are the key to satisfaction. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after right relationships, for they shall be satisfied.”
There’s very little satisfaction in this world. You think back to the 1960’s and that song by the Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Remember that song? I remember that song. I remember I would drive around in my car and when that song came on, I cranked the radio all the way up! The beat of the song just shook my car. I just liked that song, but I never thought much about the words. I didn’t think much about the words, but the words are in a sense true in this world. You can’t get satisfaction. We’re in the midst of spiritual warfare and there’s an enveloping darkness and the Lord of Darkness has sold this world a lie. The lie is that you can find satisfaction through money or you can find satisfaction through sex or that you can find satisfaction through power. Money, sex and power, the road to satisfaction but it’s a lie. The devil himself has no satisfaction.
You remember the story of Tantalus. Tantalus was the King of Lydia in Greek Mythology and the son of Zeus. He was judged by a council of the gods and condemned to Hades for eternity. Tantalus was placed in the River Styx in the myths of Hades and there he would remain forever and ever. He would hunger but never be satisfied. He would thirst but never be satisfied. When he would thirst, he would look down at the river and bend over, but the water would recede away from him So, that it was always away from him. When he was hungry, there was a tree overhead with great fruit, luscious fruit but when he would reach for it, it would ascend out of his reach So, that he was never satisfied. We get the word “tantalize” from the story of Tantalus.
The devil tantalizes. He tantalizes. Satisfaction is always just out of your reach. It’s always just out of his reach So, money, sex, and power are ultimately vacuous, and Jesus is telling us right relationships produce satisfaction. Righteousness.
God is speaking. God is talking. How do we find satisfaction? It’s not money, sex or power. It’s relationships, isn’t it? That’s the wisdom of God’s Word. It’s righteousness. First of all, you find satisfaction by coming home to God, coming to the foot of the cross, coming to Jesus. Then you find satisfaction in relationships in this world through Him and the mercy and the forgiveness and the grace that He calls us to. That’s what guards your heart. That’s what protects our souls. Jesus. Putting on Jesus and then hungering and thirsting for right relationship with Him and with others. If you really hunger and thirst after righteousness, you’re going to want our whole world in right relationships through the Gospel but also just through human dignity.
You look at Martin Luther King, Jr., and you think of the Lincoln Memorial. You think of August 28, 1963. You think of that great “I Have a Dream” speech. What was the dream? It was a dream of righteousness. It was a dream of right relationships. It was a dream of a nation where black and white and red, yellow, and white could sit down at a table of brotherhood. It was a dream where people would be valued not for the value of the color of their skin but for the quality of their character and heart. It was a dream of righteousness. As followers of Jesus, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. That means so much. That means that we do care about social justice. It means that we do care about the poor and the oppressed. It also means we are people of forgiveness and mercy and grace. It also means that we want right action. The right relationship that we have with the Lord should produce some growth in our actions. There’s no denying that if you hunger and thirst for righteousness there should also be a quest for holiness there. There’s no denying that.
Have you ever heard the expression, “Holy Toledo?” My guess is most of you are too young to have hear that expression. It’s an old expression. It sounds kind of like something Robin would say to Batman, doesn’t it? “Holy Toledo!” Of course, the Toledo in that expression is not in Ohio. The Toledo in that expression is in Spain—Toledo, Spain, which is not far from Madrid. In the days of the rise of Christianity and after the ascension of Constantine the Great to the throne of the Roman Empire when Christianity began to grow, one of the Holy Cities was Toledo. Forty ecclesiastical church councils took place in Toledo, Spain. That was from the 4th century to the 7th century. In the 8th century the Moors, the Muslims, came into Toledo and into Spain and they ceased the city and destroyed it. Then in 1085 AD, Alfonso VI recaptured Toledo and it once again rejoined the Christian world and cathedrals and monasteries began to be built in Toledo, So, many that it was called “Holy.”
In what sense can a city be holy? The biblical word for holy is “hagios.” It’s kind of joined to dikaios, righteousness and holiness. The word “hagios” mean, “set apart.” We’ve seen this before as a church and congregation. “Holy” means, “set apart,” “hagios.” It can mean, “apart from sin” but only God is set apart from sin because we’re all sinners in need of grace and there’s no sinless city. Las Vegas is not the only sin city. Every city in the world is sin city. There is no city set apart from sin and no one save Christ is set apart from sin.
The word “holy” has a different meaning too. “Hagios” could mean, “set apart for God.” There’s a sense in which a city can be set apart for God. Jerusalem is called “The Holy City” and it has been set apart for God and Toledo was kind of like that in Spain. It was set apart for God and the purposes of God. But in the Bible you are holy if you’ve come to Jesus, if you’ve put on Christ and you are now covered by His righteousness. You’ve been set apart for God. You need to think about that every day, I need to think about that every day, what it means to be set apart for God. I need to ask myself the question of whether I’m cultivating relationship with Him, whether I’m really longing and thirsting and hungering for right relationship with Him. Has he set me apart? I need to spend time with Him every day. I need to get on my knees every day. I need to pray. I need to find a place apart. I need to get in the Book every day. I need to hear His voice. I need to sing some songs. I need intimacy with Him. I promise you if you hunger for that, if you hunger for right relationship with Him, it will begin to produce more right actions in your life. It’s all part of righteousness and it will affect the way we relate to other people. It’s all part of covering our heart and guarding our heart and guarding our souls.
Some of you have heard of A.C. Green. A.C. Green is an African-American. He stands 6’9″. He was a power forward in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers. A.C. Green won three NBA titles. He played in the NBA from 1986 to 2001 and won the NBA championship in ’87, ’88, and in the year 2000. To this day A.C. Green still holds the record for the most consecutive games played, an incredible 1,192 consecutive games. Incomprehensible. In the NBA there are 82 games a year, and he played 1,192 games consecutively. Amazing.
A.C. Green was and is an amazing man. He loves Jesus. Throughout his career he gave his testimony. I heard him give testimony of his love for Jesus. Again and again in every venue, A.C. Green would tell folks about his love for Jesus and his longing for a right relationship with Christ and with the Father. Of course, that affected his actions. A.C. Green treated everyone with dignity and kindness. A.C. Green was a light in the midst of the darkness that exists in that subculture called the NBA.
A.C. Green vowed and he openly confessed that he would be a virgin, that he would commit his life to celibacy until he met his wife. In the NBA subculture that is pretty much unheard of. A.C. Green met his wife and fell in love in the year 2002. He married his wife and he was a virgin when he married her. They are happily married today. He has the A.C. Green Youth Foundation. He has the Christian Flower Network, which raises money for the impoverished. He has been a light to generations.
I hope you understand that in the NBA there is incredible promiscuity. I know some folks who work in the venue of the NBA. After games when most fans have left the arenas, in many parts of the NBA world the players come out of their arena late. They come with coaches and friends. There are a few fans who remain behind the ropes seeing them come out to their cars in their special parking lot. There are young women calling out, “Let me spend the night with you.” “Let me sleep with you.” It’s a tragic subculture. Men are not meant to live like that. Women are not meant to live like that. But, you see, A.C. Green had a hunger and thirst for righteousness, not simply in the sense of right action but in a sense of right relationships – right relationship with God, right relationship through Jesus, and right relationship with the woman who would be his wife. A pretty awesome story. It was in Sports Illustrated just this past week. There was an article on A.C. Green and where he is now serving Christ.
So, guard your heart. There is a spiritual war going on. We are battling not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers, the world rulers of this present darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies. Satan is a deceiver. He’s selling our culture a lie. There is no satisfaction in money, sex or power. It’s all about relationship. So, put on the breastplate of righteousness. Put on Christ. Be covered in His righteousness. Receive Him as Lord and Savior. And then hunger and thirst for right relationships, not only with Him but with people in the world in which we live. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.