There have been many wars throughout history; many battles fought, many lives lost. But the single greatest war-front, at least when it comes to the eternal destination of humanity, is the battle for the soul. In the last chapter of the book of Ephesians, Paul exhorts the believers to put on the full armour of God. But really the main thrust of his teaching in the final section of Chapter 6 is that Christians should stand for something, more accurately we should “stand against” (6:11) the schemes of the devil, we should “withstand” the day of evil (6:13), we should do all we can to “stand firm” (6:13) and lastly we should “stand” (6:14) in truth and righteousness.
Paul clearly uses battle language. Christ here, through the words of Paul, is calling soldiers into his army; soldiers who will fight a spiritual fight. It is easy to get this wrong; Christ is not asking us to fight the sin in others lives, he is asking us to be soldiers against the sin primarily in our own. How are we doing as soldiers fighting back the schemes of Satan in our personal life? The gates of Hell are arrayed against you, but you can have victory- there is already victory in Christ! This is truly what it means to stand for Christ, to stand in and for His victory over sin. As Billy Sunday famously said:
“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist, I’ve butt it as long as I’ve got a head, and I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old, fistless, footless, and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to glory”.
So stand for being a good employee, stand for loving your children, stand for obeying your parents, stand for loving your wife, stand for submitting to your husband, stand for unity in the church and stand for the oneness we have in Christ through the Gospel. As it says in Isaiah 7:9, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”