Sermon - Grappling with the Armour of God

Anatoly Zverev, Don Quixote (1971)

A homily given at Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 29th October 2023 based on readings from Ephesians 6.10-20 and Matthew 14.13-33.

How might we respond to that reading from Ephesians - with its talk of spiritual battles against dark unseen forces?  

We could place it at the forefront of our lives - as we profess to do each time we renew our baptismal vows.

Like the Pentecostal missionaries to Africa for whom Ephesians 6 became a clarion call at the turn of the last century. Its summons to put on the armour of God and engage in spiritual warfare was interpreted literally by those who believed Christ’s return to be imminent. A need made more urgent by what they saw as the growing ‘threat’ of Islam in Africa. Armed with the gospel – what Ephesians describes as the sword of the Spirit – the Pentecostal missionaries went into battle. 

Pentecostalism spread quickly because anyone who possessed the power of the spirit could baptise, preach and heal. Its followers soon encountered African traditional religion and faith healers, who drew on the power of the ancestors to give instruction and advice, interpret dreams and heal illnesses. 

The Pentecostal missionaries interpreted such practices as the “spiritual wickedness” described in Ephesians. New converts would be expected to attend burning parties, at which talismans, charms and other ritual objects were dramatically cast into huge bonfires. 

But as Pentecostalism grew exponentially, the influence of what the movement saw as the “dark power” of tribal religion also began to spread. The intense, dramatic and fervent attacks they made against it had seemingly made such practices even more real - enhancing their status and power in the public consciousness. The unintended reverse psychology arising from this binary interpretation of the text has meant belief in traditional religion and medicine is more widespread now than when the Pentecostal missionaries arrived.

Whilst an obsessive interest in forces of darkness seem to increase their scope and power, adopting the opposite approach – ignoring or denying the existence of such forces - can do the same. 

C.S.Lewis’s classic novel “The Screwtape Letters” seeks to prove that point. A record of correspondence from a senior Demon to his trainee. Screwtape offers practical advice to his junior, Wormwood, on how to corrupt humanity. Much of which involves capitalising on the chinks of division caused by small and seemingly petty everyday disputes. Writing amidst the rise of fascism and the horrors of the Holocaust, Lewis shows how the most destructive, horrific sins start as small ones. “The safest road to hell [he wrote] is a gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings….milestones….[or] signposts.” By ignoring the unseen but powerful forces of fear, envy, greed, jealousy, pride and anger, we are sleepwalking to hell.

Making light of this spiritual battle is also a risky strategy; in doing so we are likely to denude or deny the salvation we proclaim. 

In Cervantes epic novel Don Quixote, the eponymous hero travels around La Mancha bedecked in his own self-styled armour, fighting battles on his quest to rid the world of the dark forces of evil; famously attacking windmills he believes to be giants about to destroy a nearby town.

Whilst acknowledging Don Quixote is the epitome of a comic figure, the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard suggested that the ideal Christian today might be seen in the same way: "…..someone [that] literally renounces this life in earnest; that…. endures all sorts of earthly hardships……[and] then submits to being mistreated for having done so....[Kierkegaard wrote] … would seem absolutely comical to everything in our age. [They would be] a Don Quixote.”

Kierkegaard remarked wryly that if Christ and the apostles were to enter modern day Christendom they would appear just as idealistic and unworldly to many so-called believers as Don Quixote. 

The danger of laughing off - of dismissing the notion of the spiritual battle against dark forces is that we start to erode the reality of the good.  We risk denying our salvation in Christ. 

Kierkegaard described true ‘Knights of Faith’ as those who placed complete faith in God and in themselves, through God’s faith in them. Those who act without certainty – as Peter begins to do when he starts to follow Jesus by walking on water. True knights of faith are those people who challenge the doubt of their rational minds by embracing belief for-and-of-itself. This is the key to winning the spiritual battle. 

We meet such a knight in the text of our final hymn. Taken from John Bunyan’s seventeenth century novel ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress’, a book which was translated and distributed by the nineteenth century missionaries in Africa nearly as much as the bible and the Prayer Book. A remarkable fact considering its author was once imprisoned for preaching without a licence and was a staunch opponent of fixed, common prayers. 

The hymn references a character in the novel – Mr Valiant for Truth. A young man we meet in the road carrying a sword, covered in blood after fighting the enemy – the biggest of which, he explains, came from within himself.  

The hymn inspires us to emulate the courage of Mr Valiant for Truth. It’s a call to arms. To fight the multi-headed giant that is our tendency to unbelief, our tendency towards obsessive binary thinking about good and evil, our tendency to laugh off or deny the unseen forces forces of fear, envy, greed, jealousy, pride and anger that cause such damage in our everyday lives and in the world around us.

May we follow the example of the true Knight of Faith as we seek to recognise and respond to the spiritual battles we face.

No foes shall stay his might, though he with giants fight; he will make good his right to be a pilgrim. 

Image: Anatoly Zverev, Don Quixote (1971)
Link: A longer version of this sermon was preached at Holy Communion and can be read at this link.