Feet Of Peace Series

The Feet of Peace

Ephesians 6:10-17

Chenoa Baptist Church

Pastor Jefferson M. Willams

05-05–2024

Caitlin’s Shoes

I’m going to show you a few examples of shoes and ask that you tell me what they are for:

Bowling Shoe

Ballet Shoe

Cowboy Boot

Golf Shoe

Moonstar shoes - 20 million dollars

Ruby slippers.

Flip Flops

Basketball shoe

A pair of 1998 Air Jordan 13s, worn in game two of the NBA finals by MJ, sold at auction for 2.2 million dollars.

When Imelda Marcos and her husband fled the Philippines, investigators found over 3,000 shoes in her closet.

Caitlin Clark recently went number one in the WNBA draft. She signed a deal with Nike for 28 million dollars for her very own signature shoe.

Shoes are important. Have you seen the show “Naked and Afraid?” Neither have I. But I read about it. What’s the very first thing that contestants do when they are dropped off? They make some sort of coverings for their feet because, without that, they will not be able to survive the time in the wilderness.

Review

We are learning that we are all in a spiritual battle that we cannot see. The Christian life is not a playground but a battlefield.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13)

Paul is finishing his letter to the Ephesian church and wants to warn them to be armed and ready for attacks of the evil one. He was probably chained to a Roman guard and started staring at his armor and thought, “That would make a perfect word picture for what I’m trying to communicate!”

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:14-17)

We’ve studied the belt of truth and learned that truth is the foundation of our Christian journey. We’ve studied the breastplate of righteousness and learned that God calls us to live our faith with a hunger for holiness shining the light of Jesus into a dark and dying world.

If you weren’t here last week, you can always listen to or watch the sermon on our YouTube page, website, FaceBook, or Twitter.

Turn to Ephesians 6.

Prayer

Shoes of Peace

Paul then describes the third piece of armor:

?“…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

At that time, most people didn’t own shoes and went barefoot. The only people who had shoes were the wealthy and soldiers.

A Roman soldier would wear sandals called“half-boots.” It was made of leather, left the toes open, heavily studded soles, with spikes on the bottom, much like athletic cleats, to give them sure footing as they fought.

It was designed to give the soldier stability while on long marches and in battle.

Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon were obsessed with their army having good shoes because it could mean the difference between defeat and victory, as the Confederacy learned in 1864.

What is Paul trying to say here? I believe he is giving us two word pictures. Both have to do with peace.

Adrian Rogers reminds us that “peace is not the absence of problems but the addition of God’s power amid the problems.”

?This Greek word is “Irene,” which was Maxine’s middle name when I married her.

First, as Christians, we have peace with God (Rom 5:1), the peace of God (Phil 4:7), which leads to peace with others (Rom 12:18).

It is just more than the absence of conflict or trouble. It is the presence of wholeness and everything necessary for the good of a person. It is a serenity of the soul.

In this context, this means the peace that comes from knowing that our sins have been forgiven and that we are no longer under the bondage of that sin. Our debt has been paid by Christ on the cross.

We need this peace, a fruit of the Spirit individually and corporately.

Peace with God

Billy Graham wrote in his classic book, “Peace with God,”