We are all very familiar with the various kinds of shoes that people wear. As I look into the scriptures, I see that there are some shoes that do not fit Christians and we should not be caught wearing them.
Before I talk to you about spiritual shoes that we should not wear, I want to tell you something humours about a man who went to buy some shoes.
Illus: He walked into a shoe store and asked for a pair of size 10 shoes.
• The salesman says, "But, sir, I can see from up here you're at least a size 11."
• The guy says, "Just bring me size 10 shoes like I asked."
• The salesman brings them, the guy stuffs his feet into them, ties them tight, and then he stands up, obviously in pain.
• The salesman just has to ask, "Sir, why must you wear these shoes that are to small for you?”
• He says to the salesman, "I lost my business and my house, I live with my mother-in-law, my wife is mean to me, my daughter and son is rebellious. The only pleasure I have in life is taking off these shoes."
But I want to talk to you shoes that christians should not be wearing.
But at the close of this sermon I want to talk to you about one kind of shoes that christians should wearing every day.
As I preach this sermon, you must determine if you are wearing any of these shoes the Bible talks about.
For example, in God’s church today we see where a lot of folks are wearing:
I. LOAFERS
God’s Word has something to say about LOAFERS.
In James 1:22-23 we read, “But be ye DOERS OF THE WORD, and NOT HEARERS ONLY, deceiving your own self. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a DOER, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror.”
Notice, God’s Word says we are to be a DOER OF THE WORD! There are many things the Word of God tells us we should be DOING.
Things we should be doing….
• 1. Wish Someone A Happy Birthday A birthday ...
• 2. Congratulate Someone’s New Accomplishment ...
• 3. Check-In on someone that is sick ...
• 4. Send A Surprise Thank You Card In The Mail ...
• 5. Invite a Lonely Friend Over For Coffee ...
• 6. Volunteer Your Services ...
• 7. Cook Your Family’s Favorite Meal ...
• 8. Leave An I Love You Note for Family Members ...
• 9.Invite someone to church…
• 10. Buy some lunch…
Even though God’s Word tells us we should be doing these things many are not doing them because they are wearing LOAFERS!
WHAT IS LAZINESS?
I like this definition; “Laziness is to be disinclined to activity, not willing to apply exertion, to move slow, to love of easy things. Never able to achieve an aim, goal, purpose.”
Now physically we all know what laziness is and we detest it.
But spiritually a person can be lazy they have:
• No aim in life
• No goal in life
• No purpose in life
And they accept it as a normal way of living. There is not anything normal about being lazy. God’s Word tells us we are to work 6 and rest 1.
HOW DO WE ACQUIRE LAZINESS?
Laziness is a learned behavior. I know we think that some are born lazy, but that is not true. Laziness is a learned behavior!
No one is born wearing LOAFERS.
Laziness is a LEARNED BEHAVIOR!
Some of the most talented people on the face of this earth are in the church. But those talents are never put to use because many have adopted this behavioral attitude of; “WHAT IS THE LEAST I CAN DO AND GET AWAY WITH IT?”
They have LEARNED to serve God doing the least they can do!
We need to wake up each day with the attitude of the Gazelle and the Lion in Africa.
Illus: Every day in Africa they have learned:
• The gazelle wakes up knowing that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be eaten.
• The lion wakes up and knows that it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve.
Thus, every morning when the Gazelle and lion wake up they understand this one simple truth – if you want to survive the day then you’d better hit the ground running.
Prov. 6:6-8 says it this way; “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
When we Christians wear LOAFERS, someone said that we develop “furniture disease.” That is we lay on the soafer everytime they get a chance.
Illus: One man who had acquired this disease said, “I’m being overwhelmed with “furniture disease” – my chest is falling into my drawers.”
Some are wearing LOAFERS, and others are wearing -
II. SNEAKERS
In our text, God’s Word says, “…Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
Those who wear SNEAKERS have to be watched!
They attend because they have a hidden agenda! You never know what SNEAKERS are up to doing.
Illus: A man came to Dr. Odell Belger in his church and asked him for some names of some folks because he wanted to visit for the Lord.
Dr. Belger thought that was a bit unusual because he had never shown any interest in the Lord’s work before. He could not deny such a request.
Later, he found out that this fellow would visit people as if he were interested in them spiritually, and shortly after he arrived, he would change the subject and try to get them to sell Amway for him.
Listen, folks get bombarded all week long with this stuff, and when they come to church to worship the Lord, they should not have to be concerned about such things.
These are the ones who wear SNEAKERS!
To them the house of God is not a sacred place, to them it is a place to sell Amway, Aloette, Mary Kay and chocolate candy from school.
You have to watch these SNEAKERS!!!
Illus: A young man stops by to visit his middle age sick friend who has two beautiful daughters.
• They talk for a while and then the friend says, "My feet are cold. Would you be so kind as to go upstairs and get me my sneakers please?"
• The young man happily obliges and goes upstairs. There he sees his friend's daughters, both very good looking.
Being the adventurous and quick thinking kind, he says, "Hi, ladies! Your daddy sent me here to give the both of you a kiss from him."
• They stare at him and say, "That can't be!"
• He replies, "OK, let's check!" He shouts at his friend down the stairs, "Both of them?"
• The father shouts back, "Yes, both of them!"
These are the kind of people that we have in the church that are SNEAKY! You never know what they are up to when they are around.
They will SNEAK around behind someone’s back and say things, and half of the things they say are not true!
It is bad when you have a church full of people wearing LOAFERS, but it is really bad when you have a church full of folks wearing SNEAKERS.
The only reason they are there is because they are up to something.
We have those in the church that are wearing LOAFERS, wearing SNEAKERS and wearing -
III. FLIP FLOPS
God’s Word says, “…Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
We all have talked with people who would say ONE THING ONE DAY and something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THE NEXT!
You can find this same kind of people in the church today.
WHO ARE THEY?
They are the ones who testify that they:
• Love God, then they FLIP-FLOP and they are serving the devil several hours later
• Love God’s church, then they FLIP-FLOP and walk away from it like it never existed
• Love God’s man, and then they FLIP-FLOP and they are saying bad things about him
Illus: Listen, John Kerry might have been President if he had not made so many FLIP-FLOPS in his campaigning.
He would go one place and say ONE THING and go to another place and say just the OPPOSITE! So he ends up selling KETCHUP!!!
When people do this, we say they have NO CORE VALUES!
All their decisions are based on what is POPULAR AT THE TIME!
Illus: Jay Leno said this of John Kerry during his campaig:
• "You see the pictures in the paper today of John Kerry windsurfing? Even his hobby depends on which way the wind blows."
• "The Secret Service has announced it is doubling its protection for John Kerry. You can understand why — with two positions on every issue, he has twice as many people mad at him."
But politicians are not the only ones who speak out of both sides of their mouths. So do a lot of Christians!
These are the ones who will look you in the eye and tell you something today, but in a short time they will FLIP-FLOP on everything they said.
We have today those in the church that are wearing LOAFERS, wearing SNEAKERS and wearing FLIP-FLOPS.
We need to look at one more kind of shoe, and this is the kind of shoe we all should be wearing. We all should be wearing -
IV. WORK SHOES
Illus: Listen, when a man loves his family he will willingly work for them. The law states he must provide for his family, but even if there were no law, he would still work because love will motivate him to work for them.
When a man or a woman loves the Lord they will work for Him. Some will say, “Well, I would be glad to work for Him but I do not know what to do.”
The Bible says, in Ecc. 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
It is interesting that in this verse that talks about what our hands find to do, but it also mentions the grave.
WHY IS THE GRAVE MENTIONED?
Because there is coming a time my friend when we will be in the grave and we can no longer work for the Lord.
There are some who would love to come back and be sitting where you are sitting today. And if they were here, they would have their WORK SHOES on and be working for the Lord.
None of us know how many more days we have to work for the Lord here on earth. We can’t afford to waste any more days.
Conclusion:
God told Moses to TAKE OFF HIS SHOES, BECAUSE HE WAS STANDING ON HOLY GROUND!
Listen, God has called every believer to WALK A WALK OF HOLINESS!
Some Christians are wearing -
I. LOAFERS
II. SNEAKERS
III. FLIP-FLOPS
IV. WORK SHOES
