R U READY TO RUMBLE?
PUT ON THE SHIELD OF FAITH
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 6:16
AUGUST 10, 2008
What is the official motto of the United States of America? What is our national motto? Some might think, “Bigger is better.” That kind of sounds American and fits the fast-food industry for which we’re famous – bigger is better. Some might think, “R U Ready to Rumble?” That sounds kind of American, doesn’t it? Of course, it’s already taken by the NFL and by the World Wrestling Federation. A better guess for our national motto would be E Pluribus Unum, which is found on the great seal of the United States and it is a motto of the United States but it’s not THE National Motto. The National Motto of the United States if of course, “In God We Trust.” This motto was adopted by the United States Congress on July 30, 1956. The Motto is derived, it is believed, from the 4th stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but of course, nobody has ever sung the 4th stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key.
It was Salmon Chase who was Secretary of the Treasury who, in 1864, requested that this motto be placed on all of our currency. Then in 1908 during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, the Congress made it mandatory that this phrase, “In God We Trust” be placed on all of our currency from the penny to the $10,000 bill. And so, there it is, “In God We Trust.” But is it true? Is it true that the United States of America trusts in God? Is it true that you trust in God. Is it true that I trust in God?
The Bible tells us with regard to spiritual warfare we ought to put on the full armor of God if we’re going to indeed survive in the midst of the darkness, if we’re going to survive in the battle for the souls of men, women and children, if we’re going to survive against all the fiery darts of the enemy, we need to put on the full armor of God which includes The Shield of Faith.
The word for “faith” in the Greek is “pistis.” It doesn’t sound very good but that’s a transliteration of the Greek word into English. Its primary meaning is “to trust.” You might think of faith in many ways. You might even think of faith in terms of the content of what you believe but that would be a secondary or tertiary meaning of the Greek. The primary meaning of the Greek is “trust.” To put on the Shield of Faith is to trust and to make your trust in Christ your shield.
I want to begin by just asking the question, “In what do you trust?” What is your shield? Of course, I think for many people if they’re honest, perhaps for many of us if we’re honest, we’ve trusted in money and we’ve kind of made money our shield. There are many folks in our country who are trying to set money aside and there’s wisdom in that. They’re trying to plan for retirement, trying to build their portfolio, trying to diversify their portfolio in order to protect themselves. Having a little bit of gold is part of their portfolio to hedge against maybe the fall of the stock market, people checking the DOW, the NASDEQ, the S&P every day. Money has kind of become the shield and of course, it’s a scary shield and doesn’t always work so well. In fact, the Bible tells us not to make money our shield and not to trust in money.
Many of you have heard of Black Thursday. I’m sure more of you have heard of Black Friday. There was a Black Friday in 1869 and another Black Friday in 1873. Both of these Black Fridays included economic catastrophes, but far more devastating for the United States and for the world was Black Thursday. Black Thursday was October 24, 1929. On Black Thursday, on that October 24, 1929, the Stock Market crashed. It crashed and then it crashed again the following Monday. This was in a series of things that led to the Great Depression. We think of the Great Depression as an American phenomenon, but the truth is that the Great Depression and the economic collapse of that decade was global. It was during the economic chaos of that time that the Nazi Party and Adolph Hitler were able to rise in power in Germany. It was because of that economic collapse globally that Japan wound up attacking China.
Of course, here in the United States during the I 930’s, during the Great Depression in the aftermath of Black Thursday, people lost their jobs. They lost their jobs and lost their homes. They no longer had the ability to put food on the table. People were dependent on government and community subsidies and handouts, and the lines were long just hoping to get a bowl of soup.
In the Bible, in the 6th chapter of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His people not to trust in money. In fact, the 6th chapter on the Sermon on the Mount is almost entirely about money. That’s why the Sermon on the Mount has been called, “The Sermon on the Amount,” because Jesus had a lot to say about money. Jesus tells us to give in secret. He tells us to give in secret and our Father who sees in secret will reward us. He tells us in that same chapter not to lay up treasure on earth where rust and moths consume and thieves break in and steal but to lay up treasures in heaven. He tells us that we cannot serve both God and mammon. Mammon is simply a word meaning money or wealth. You cannot serve God and money. Jesus tells us we need to have a single eye for God. We cannot have a divided eye. We cannot be focused on money. At the end of chapter 6, He tells the beautiful parable of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. It’s really about money and what you trust in. Don’t trust in money. Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and everything else will be given to you. Trust Christ but let Christ be your Shield.
Of course, there are other people who have made health their shield. They place their trust in their health or in medicine. Thank God for medicine, but it cannot be your shield.
Our son is a medical doctor. We’re proud of him. He went through four years of college. He did a pre-med major amongst three majors and then went to med school for four years. After med school and getting his M.D., he began a 4-year residency in ophthalmology. He’s in his fourth year now and he’s Chief Resident at the CU Resident Program in Ophthalmology. After this next year, he’s going to do a 2-year fellowship in retina surgery. That will be 14 years of preparation and it’s a gauntlet. During that 14 years, you’re pretty much fodder for the established medical community, minions for those doctors who already have a practice. It’s just part of the rite of passage that it takes to be a doctor. That rite of passage is respected and it deserves respect. It’s hard work to become a doctor, hard work to become a surgeon. Thank God for everyone who wants to serve humanity in that way.
This last week our daughter Heather had surgery. She had a craniectomy at Littleton Hospital. She had a tumor. It wasn’t a craniotomy. A craniotomy is when they go inside the skull. In a craniectomy they dig into the skull because she had a skull tumor that had to be removed and it was benign. All surgery is really significant to the person having it. We were there with Heather. She spent a couple of days at the hospital. Of course, the neurosurgeon was a Christian guy and a great guy. Some of the other doctors there who came in to visit us go to our church here are wonderful, wonderful people and some of the nurses go to this church and love Christ. Thank God for them all. Thank God for doctors even if they’re not Christians. Thank God for those who are trying to help people. Thank God for medicine and thank God for health but you can’t make it your shield. Someday your health will fail you. It’s inevitable. The death rate is 100%. It just can’t be your shield. You can’t put your trust there.
Some people think, “Well, maybe love is what I should put my trust in. If I just find the right person, if I just find the right partner for life, life will be fulfilling.” Of course, love is so important and Jesus tells us this.
I thank God for October 18, 1970. That was one of the biggest days in my life. It was on October 18, 1970, when a friend of mine named Bruce, who was also a student at Fuller Theological Seminary with me, came up to me that day—October 18, 1970—and he said, “Dixon, we’ve got to find some girls. We’ve got to find somebody to date.” He said, “Do you know anybody?” I said, “A couple of gals I knew at Westmont college live here in South Pasadena, Donna and Wendy. I called them about a month ago and found out where they live but I haven’t gone over there. Why don’t we just drop by tonight?”
So Bruce and I did. We stopped by to see Donna and Wendy in South Pasadena at their apartment. It turned out they had a roommate and the roommate was named Barb. It was Barb’s birthday and a whole bunch of people were at their place. It was Barb’s birthday and we just dropped by at a birthday party. They were nice enough to let us in, so Bruce and I went in. I met Barb for the first time out on the patio of their apartment. When I looked into her face and into her eyes, this thought really did come to me: “I’m going to marry her.” That thought never occurred to Barb about me, but it did occur to me. “I’m going to marry her.”
I can’t tell you what a gift Barb is from Christ and also my best friend in this world, but she can’t be my shield and I can’t be her shield. It wasn’t meant to be that way. I’m not worthy of being her shield and she’s not worthy of being my shield. We love each other but Christ is our shield. This really brings us to the message of the morning and the message of the morning is to make Christ your shield. Make Jesus your shield.
You might be thinking, “Well, you know, when we look at the armor of God it seems like it’s all about Jesus.” We shod our feet with the equipment of the Gospel of Peace, and we said that the Gospel is Jesus and it’s His peace. He’s Sar Shalom so we shod our feet and we stand in His Gospel and in His Peace and we take Him to the nations. We talked about the Breastplate of Righteousness and it’s Jesus. He’s the Righteous One. He’s the Holy One. When we come to Him, receive Him, His righteousness is given to us, imputed to us, invested upon us. We saw that Jesus is Truth. Jesus said, “Ego Emi he Alethea.” He’s the Belt of Truth and we put Him on and we walk into the world with boldness, not ashamed of Him.
Yes, when we speak of the Shield of Faith there’s a sense in which He’s the Shield and our trust and our faith is vested entirely in Him. It’s all about Jesus so it should be kind of an “ah ha” moment. As you think about the Armor of God, it’s all about Jesus. All of it is and what it means to put on Jesus and what it means to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what He offers you, what He gives you in this struggle called life and in the midst of this spiritual warfare so make Christ your shield.
I know all of you have heard the word relic. The word relic comes from the word “reliquary,” or “relique.” These are words which mean “remains.” In the ecclesiastical context, in the context of the Church Universal, a relic refers to the remains of a saint. So, a relic has to do with the remains of a saint or it can refer to an object that was once possessed or owned by a saint or an object that’s come in touch with a saint. Of course, in the ecclesiastical world, particularly in the world of the Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic world, the most sacred relics are those relics that came in contact with Jesus, that came in contact with Christ. What are those relics?
What are some of the relics that came in contact with Christ and were venerated by the church? The Cup of Christ, the cup of communion which throughout history was called “The Holy Grail.” It was believed for centuries superstitiously that if they could find this relic, if they could find the Cup of Christ and drink of it, they would receive the life of Christ which is eternal life. This was what King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and the Legend of the Holy Grail was all about, finding the Cup of Christ and drinking His life into yourself.
Another relic related to Christ was the spear, the spear that was thrust into His side at His crucifixion on Calvary. That spear has been called “The Spear of Longinus because of early tradition the Roman soldier was named Longinus who thrust that spear into the side of Christ. Today the Spear of Longinus may be seen in the Hofburg Museum in Austria. Whether it’s the real spear that went into Christ is certainly doubtful but God only knows. Of course, it is said that if you touch that spear, if you own that spear, you get the power of Christ. So, from the cup you get the life of Christ and from the spear you get the power of Christ. It was said that the Spear of Longinus once belonged to Constantine the Great, then Charlemagne the Great, and then Frederick Barbarossa and they all conquered nations by the power of Christ, by the Spear of Longinus.
Adolph Hitler sought the Spear of Longinus. He was not a Christian. In fact, Hitler hated Christianity and viewed Christians as weak but he was an occultist and as an occultist Adolph Hitler believed in talismans of power and he thought the Spear of Longinus was a talisman of power. In 1938 – it’s a fact of history – when Hitler and the Nazis annexed Austria, Hitler commanded immediately that the Spear of Longinus be brought from the Hofburg Museum to a special vault that he had built in Nuremberg Castle and that it be placed there and possessed by him that he might have power over the nations. Of course, Hitler fell, World War II ended and the Spear of Longinus returned to the Hofburg Museum, where it remains today.
Then there was the Robe. If life came through the Cup, power came through the Spear, peace came through the Robe of Christ. Of course, it’s the robe that Christ wore at the Last Supper, the Robe that Lloyd Douglas, in his famous book called “The Robe” spoke of. Hollywood made it into a movie with Victor Mature and Richard Burton. Richard Burton was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor in the movie, “The Robe.” The whole superstition was that if you could die in that robe, you would have the peace of Christ. How bogus is all this? How bogus is the whole concept of a relic? If you want the peace of Christ, if you want the power of Christ, if you want the life of Christ, come to Christ. Come to Jesus. He’s the real source of all of these blessings. Let Him by your Shield. Put your trust in Him.
Jesus makes many promises in scripture. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13, we have this promise that, “No temptation has overtaken us but such as is common to man.” God is faithful and He “will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength but with every temptation will always provide a means of escape that we may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13. You can trust the promises of God. You can trust the promises of Christ.
In the Greek language, the word temptation is the word “periosmos” which also means, “test” or “testing” and so you can render 1 Corinthians 13 as, “There is no test that has overtaken you but such is common to man. The Lord is faithful. He’ll not allow you to be tested beyond your strength but with every test will always provide a means of escape that you may be able to endure it.” This is just one of the great promises that come from the Lord.
I’m sure most of you have heard of the Plimsoll Mark, from Samuel Plimsoll. It came from the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 established by law that a mark had to be placed on every ship. Whether it was a cargo ship or a cruise ship, a mark had to be placed on the bow. It was the maximum load mark, called the “Plimsoll Mark.” You’ve probably seen the Plimsoll Mark on the bow of many ships. Of course, if it’s below water then that ship can’t leave port. If it’s below water that ship can’t go out to sea because it’s bearing too much weight. The line has gone below the water, and you’ve exceeded the maximum load line of the ship. Jesus knows you. Jesus knows me. He knows my maximum load line. He knows I’m a wuss. He has mercy. I live by trust, by faith in Him, and His promises are rich. He promises, as you know, to work for good in our lives and to use everything for good. In everything He works for good so that I don’t have any meaningless pain. I have pain that sometimes feels meaningless, but by faith and by trust I know He is my shield and that He’s always working for good. He’s promised to never fail me or forsake me and to always be with me. His presence is an amazing promise.
He’s promised to provide because He’s Jehovah-Jireh. He’s the Lord who Provides. One day He will provide, even in death, and bring me home. That’s true of all of us who know Him and love Him and have taken Him as your shield and have placed your faith and your trust in Him.
I love some of the stories that have been told about George Muller. Pastors in churches all over the world have told Muller stories and I’ve told a few. He was born in 1805. George Muller died in 1898, so he lived 93 years, all within the 19th century. Undoubtedly, undeniably, George Muller was one of the greatest ever to take the name of Christ, one of the greatest Christians in the history of the world.
George Muller began as a pastor. He was the pastor of a congregation and he was the first one to abolish pew rent. Maybe you didn’t know that in much of church history pews were rented and in early America and Colonial America, in Williamsburg and in Boston and in all those churches, there were pews that were rented. This was true in Europe as well. You had a family pew that you rented if you had enough money and most of the pew rentals were in the front of the church. In the very back of the church or in the balcony there were free pews where visitors or poor people could go, kind of like our late section up there in the balcony. There were pew rents. You can go and look in Williamsburg or in Boston at those early American churches and you can see the names of famous Americans and founders of our country who were also rich and many of them had boxes they rented, pew boxes in their churches. When their family died out or when they moved to another city, that box or that pew was available for rent again. By this, churches were able to sustain themselves and ministers were able to draw down a salary. Pew rents.
George Muller said, “No more pew rents.” Many clergy got mad at him. Of course, he also refused a salary. Though he knew biblically that pastors had the right to draw a salary from the people they served, he said he would take no salary because he had made a vow to Christ and he felt prophetically by word of knowledge that Christ had made a promise to him, that Christ would always provide for him and so, he took no salary.
George Muller began the orphanage movement near Bristol in Ashley Down. George Muller built five great houses for orphans. He claimed the 68th Psalm where God said that He would be a Father to the fatherless. He made room for 2,000 orphans in those five great houses. Over the years and the decades, he ministered to countless kids and loved them with the love of Christ. He never had a budget. He never drew a salary. He never did development work. He didn’t even go out and fund raise. He just got on his knees as he promised God he would, three hours a day every day of his life, and God said, “I’ll provide.”
There are all of those amazing stories about how milk trucks just broke down in front of his orphanages and they had to give the milk away, how bakers would call and say, “We couldn’t sleep all night. It was like the Lord was saying, ‘We’ve got to bake for George,'” and they would give hundreds of loaves of free bread. And so it went.
One of my favorite stories was in the latter years of George Muller’s life. As I had said before, he lived to 93 but he traveled even in his 80’s to minister in the gospel. On one such occasion he was traveling to Canada. He had made a commitment. He had felt called of God to preach to a conference in Canada but the ship he was on in his transatlantic voyage was not making headway because there was a horrible storm. They were making no progress and it was clear they were not going to get there in time.
George Muller went to the captain of the ship and he said, “You’ve got to do better. God’s called me to be in Canada to preach at this conference. It’s His will so you’d better make this ship move faster or we’re not going to make it in time.” The captain said, “Mr. Muller, this isn’t my fault. It’s a storm. This is God’s fault.” George Muller thought about it for a moment and he said, “You do have a point.” He said, “Let’s go below deck and pray” so George Muller and the captain went below deck to pray. The captain was only a nominal Christian. George Muller prayed and he said, “Lord Jesus, you’ve called me to Canada. You’ve called me to preach Your Word, to bring Your love, to bring the Gospel and I know You’ve called me. I know You want me there so I ask you, Lord, stop the storm, calm the waves, bring us on time.” When he was finished praying the captain said, “Mr. Muller, do you want me to pray too?” George Muller said, “Well, no, not really … and for two reasons. One, you really don’t believe God’s going to do it, and two, I believe He already has.” They went up on deck and there was a great calm and the waves abated and the winds ceased. They made it to the conference on time.
One of the things I love about the story is George Muller never told it. It was told by the captain of the ship and he told it everywhere he went. George Muller was not theologically naive. He knew that Christ is sovereign. He knew that he had no power to command Christ, but he believed. He believed that Christ had called him to do something and that when Christ calls, Christ enables the call.
And so, we believe around here. Today after the service, we want to pray for you if you are sick. Our elders are ready. As it says in the Book of James, “Call for the elders of the church” and our elders will be here after the service today to pray for you if you’re sick or if you’re ill or if you’re afraid. We’ II anoint you with oil and we’ll pray for you in the name of Jesus. Jesus is sovereign but He also loves people and honors His call. And He’s called us to do this.
As we conclude the message, before we take communion, there’s one other story which I also love. It’s a story that really concerns Paderewski,.Ignacy Jan Paderewski was president of the Nation of Poland and could have been famous simply for that but of course. Paderewski is known to history and famous all over the world for another reason, and that’s because he was one of the greatest pianists in world history. He was a savant. In every generation only one such as him appears globally.
He was born in 1860 and died in 1941 at the age of 81. From 1910 to 1920, during World War I, Poland was starving and desperate. Paderewski then went all over the world performing concerts trying to raise money to feed and clothe Polish people. He came here to America and he performed in New York City at one of our great concert halls. One night it was a black-tie event and the rich and the famous of New York came. They came in their tuxedos and their evening dresses. What a night. Paderewski was going to play. Inside the concert hall up on the stage a piano was prepared, an Ebony Grand Steinway Concert Piano with a leather tufted bench. Paderewski would come out in a few moments.
Inside the concert hall was a woman, a mom, and she had her 9-year-old boy. Her son was probably the only kid in the concert hall that night. Like I said, it was a black-tie affair and everybody was in tuxedos and evening dresses. The mom wanted her son to come because she had given him piano lessons and he had rebelled and didn’t want to play the piano. She thought, “If he could just hear Paderewski, it will change my boy’s life.” Everybody was talking and waiting for the master pianist to come out. There was conversation in the great concert hall and suddenly this mom noticed her 9-year-old had disappeared. Where was he? With shock, she saw her 9-year-old boy going up onto the stage toward the piano. Her 9-year-old went right up to the piano, sat down and started playing Chopsticks. Everybody in that New York concert hall suddenly became silent as they heard the music on the piano and they were stunned to see this kid play Chopsticks. People began to shout, “Get him out of there. Get him out of there. Doesn’t he have any parents? Somebody get him out of there!”
Paderewski was backstage and he heard the noise. He looked out and he smiled, and he came out onto the stage. He came up behind the boy who was playing Chopsticks. As he came up behind him the crowd just became completely silent. Paderewski came from behind this 9-year-old boy, right up behind him, and he bent down and said, “Don’t stop. Keep playing. Don’t stop. Keep playing.” Paderewski then reached around each side and began to play the keys, just beautiful, beautiful harmony and he turned Chopsticks into a masterpiece as this kid played and Paderewski joined him. The crowd just gave it thunderous applause.
Now it’s been said that the world’s a stage and if there’s any sense in which that’s true, then I think it’s also true that most of us are playing Chopsticks. I know that’s what I’m doing. I’m playing Chopsticks. I know every Sunday morning when I get up here, I know when I preach, I’m playing Chopsticks. But I also know that there’s a Great Master and the Great Master is Jesus. When He comes beside you, anything is possible.
Maybe as a parent you’re worried about your kids and you know as a parent you’re just playing Chopsticks but when Jesus comes alongside of you the music is beautiful. Good things happen. Maybe you’re at work and maybe you don’t feel like you’re doing that good at the job where you work. Maybe you just feel like you’re playing Chopsticks but Jesus can go to work with you and anything is possible.
I don’t know what health problems might be in this room. Some of you have cancer, but Jesus comes up behind you and He says, “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Keep going.” Who knows what wondrous things He might produce with you so it’s trust. That’s how we live life in this world. There’s no other shield but Christ. As we live for Christ in the darkness, we trust in Him. We remember that as we come to this table and we partake of the bread and the cup. Let’s have a word of prayer.