GEARING UP FOR WAR - New Shoes
September 25, 2022
Ephesians 6:10-15
Introduction:
Every August when I was growing up my mom would take me downtown to a store called Wolffe Wiles (This is pre-mall invasion). The purpose of this excursion was to purchase me new shoes for the start of school…
And for me there was only one choice of new sneakers…Chuck Taylor All-stars. They were the shoes Kentucky basketball players wore…They were the shoes my older brother and his friends wore…And I always chose black high-tops…I wore them out of the store with my old ones in the box.
I loved getting those new shoes…Its one of those childhood memories that makes my heart smile when I think about it…
With those new Chuck’s on I was ready for all kinds of new adventures. I wore some today just to recapture that childlike excitement in my soul.
As we Gear Up for War, and put on the full armor God has provided us with…new shoes are essential as we prepare for battle…taking a stand against the Devil’s schemes, when the day of evil comes, and standing firm and standing our ground will only work if we’ve laced up the gospel of peace…they prepare us for all kinds of new adventures.
First of all those shoes go on
I. FEET THAT ARE READY FOR ACTION
Paul talks about “feet that are fitted with readiness…”
[My beautiful daughter Cyndi ran track in High School. Her best event was the 100 meter hurdles…and even though I had to take her to the ER a couple of times when she didn’t clear them…she was really good at it and really quick.
Just before she got ready for her race she put on some special spikes we bought her…these weren’t your everyday walkin’ around shoes (unless you wanted her to aerate your yard). These shoes had a specific purpose…and that purpose was to help her run. She’d lace them on…loosen up, take her initial stance in the blocks, and then the starter would say, “On your mark…get ready.” (She’d drop down, tense up in anticipation.) She was waiting for the gun to go off…It’s that moment before the gun goes off that describes “readiness.” She was ready to spring into action… “Let’s go…” She wanted to run to win.
When God calls us to this race we call “Christianity,” and when we accept that Holy Spirit’s calling…saved by he precious blood of His Son…He expects us to put on new shoes…and these new shoes are described as “The Gospel of Peace.”
Like Cyndi’s spikes, these shoes are designed with a very specific purpose and we have been made ready for this purpose through the sacrifice of Jesus and the sanctifying work of God’s Spirit.
The Purpose…“Run with the Gospel of Peace into a lost world.”
God’s Word says that this world is at war with God and hostile to Him.
Paul writes to the Colossians and reminds them…“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior.” (Col. 1:21)
He also reminded the church at Rome…“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so…Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8)
The decision of where our feet go is always determined by our minds. And before we are redeemed by the blood of Christ and filled with His Spirit our minds view God as a weigher of scales…good on one side…bad on the other…If we consider Him at all, we want to do what we want…when we want…our sinful rebellion simply thinks…“I don’t want anyone to tell me what to do…I hope I do enough good to tip the scale.” But with some hostility we simply live how we want. God has no desire to be our enemy…but in our minds we think of Him as someone who is the punisher of bad and the rewarder of good…and maybe we’ve had some tough issues in our life and we think…“If God really loved me He wouldn’t have let that happen.” So we keep Him at a distance…we might tip our hat at Him…but its only out of fear…fear leads to alienation and hostility…so we put worldly shoes on our feet and walk in our own will…we live in the flesh…but those who live in this realm can never please God…ever!!! By the way…all of us have worn these shoes…or are wearing them now.
Only the Holy Spirit can stop us in our walking away from God.
Jesus told a group of people who had this same alienation and hostility to God these words: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44)
How does God draw us? How does God introduce Himself to an alienated and hostile enemy?
Jesus says He does it through the Holy Spirit…Listen to the gift He promises to be sent after His death, burial and resurrection and ascension back to heaven.
JOHN 16:8-15
The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin…To cut deeply into a calloused heart…and then point us to the answer…He points us to Jesus. He combats the lies of the Evil One by revealing this eternal truth…
When this occurs we have one of two choices…we believe it…we accept it…or we continue to reject it…The first action of those who really accepts this truth is repentance.
At its root the word for repentance means “a change of direction…to turn around.”
As if you were walking in one direction…and something or someone makes you stop…and you decide to turn around and head in the other direction…It’s a change of heart and mind.
When the Holy Spirit convicts us to repent…He’s asking for a very real decision. It’s a decision that requires our past sins…and future life be dealt with at the cross…Through a union with His death, burial and resurrection. Not only will we put on new shoes…but He’ll give us beautiful new feet.
In the book of Acts…right after sharing the reason Christ came and why he died and rose again…Peter tells his audience:
ACTS 2:36-41
The cutting of our hearts through the Holy Spirit is the catalyst for repentance…and baptism is the action that unites us with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the only way we can rise to “walk in the newness of life.”
The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans in the sixth chapter about this truth.
ROMANS 6:3-11
We are now at peace with God through Christ…we are made new and now ready to put on shoes that carry the Gospel…
II. THOSE SHOES ARE PUT ON BEAUTIFUL FEET
[I have to be honest, I think I have really ugly feet…they’re skinny and boney and my little toes hide under the toes next to them.]
But our feet don’t become beautiful in Christ because of how they look…They become beautiful when they bring good news to people.
[Someone once said, “The most amazing feet are those who have been through hell and turn around with buckets of water to rescue those still caught there.”]
Peter in his sermon at Pentecost quotes from the prophet Joel and says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The Apostle Paul uses this same quote in Romans Chapter 10…“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But he then says:
“How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they’ve not heard? Because faith comes through hearing the message…the message of Christ.” (Romans 10:16-17)
After we’ve put on the Belt of Truth and covered our breast with righteousness of Christ…our feet are made ready to do what God has saved us to do…take the Gospel of Peace to our world.
We are to be ready…fitted with readiness…because the God who made us ready is creating some divine encounters.
[Becky Pippert in her book “Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World,” writes “Jesus wants us to be very aware that the neighbor next door or the person sitting next to us on the plane or the student next to us in our classroom are not interruptions to our schedule. They are there by divine appointment. Jesus has called us to see their needs, their longings, and their loneliness not as interruptions but as opportunities to share the gospel of peace…the same gospel someone shared with us.]
Romans 10:15 says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”
[If you were trapped in a war zone, there’s no peace, only enemy fire and death all around you and someone ran to your rescue and said “I’ll lead you out…I’ve got a map to safety and security”…How beautiful would that person’s feet be?
God is calling, preparing, us to be that person!
Right now I want to pray for each of us to be ready to have beautiful feet this week…as we leave this building with the truth of God’s Word and the Righteousness of Christ…May we be the rescuers of those caught in the war zone.
