Our Battle Shoes And Shield
Notes
Transcript
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
War
War
Think of wars from the past WW1, WW2, Vietnam or Desert Storm. When we think of these the first thing that usually comes to mind is the carnage left behind.
From destruction of towns, cities and entire countries. To destruction of families. To massive loss of life. The aftermath of war is heart wrenching.
The spiritual war followers of Christ are in is no different. We see destruction of peoples lives, families, relationships and our faith if we are not suited up with our spiritual armor.
One of the things I want us to remember about this war is that it’s a war that only God can win and at the same time a war that only we can lose.
When we think of the armor of God He is the armor and He is our protection. It’s not a war where we see us out throwing blows at Satan and his cronies. It’s not a war where we see us suited up with our olive oil and run around slaying demons. What we do see is this...
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
It’s a defensive posture.
Withstand the evil day
Having done all to stand firm
So it’s a war we can lose when we let our guard down and give satan an opportunity to exploit our sinful desires.
Therefore, it is only right that the provision would be made for us to be able to take our stand. We’ve already considered the belt of truth, foundational to the armor; the breastplate of righteousness; and now, in verse 15 this morning, we come to our footwear: “as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace and the Shield of Faith.”
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
Having proper shoes for the occasion is not just important but it makes sense to pick the proper shoes for what ever we are doing. I am not going to wear my hunting boots on the golf course and my golf shoes in the mountains. If you’re work ing in a labor intensive job steel toe boots may be required. If your working in a kitchen non slip shoes may be required. Wearing cleats in many sports helps with the performance. But even baseball, football and soccer have specialty cleats designed for each sport.
So it makes complete sense to wear sensible shoes; and therefore, it was sensible that the Roman soldier would wear shoes that he might be able to equip himself in battle. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells how part of the success of Caesar as a military general lay in the provision that he made for the footwear of his soldiers. He provided them sandals that had hobnails in the sole in order that they would be able to do two things, particularly: first of all, to stand securely, and then to be able to move quickly.
So when we think back to all the things that happens in the midst of war the one thing that does eventually happen that we didn’t mention is peace. At some point there is a cease fire and the shooting stops and there is peace once again.
But unfortunately there are a lot of people who spend a lot of time in church. Know a lot of the churchy words and do a lot of the churchy things but aren’t experiencing peace. Why? Because they are wearing the wrong shoes!
Notice the verse doesn’t say as shoes for your feet put on the readiness given by the world, or your career, or your doctor, or by anything that someone does for you or by anything that you can provide for yourself.
It says from the Gospel of Peace, the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Sometimes I wonder, do you know this? I wonder, do you believe this? You see, many men today, and women today, are searching desperately for peace within, but with no real consideration of the need for peace with God. And when you read the Bible, you discover that it is first peace with God that opens the door to the peace of God, and that peace of God is a peace which we enjoy in company with others who have experienced that same peace. And a peace that we will one day experience in the presence of God!
We read in the bible and repeat all the time share the Gospel, go out and preach the Gospel and to do that you need to know the Gospel but it’s much more that a assignment we are to do it’s our source of peace that provides a solid stance in all areas of our lives. Think of the shoe reference. It’s literally what we should be grounded in.
The Gospel is one of those churchy words that a lot of people know but we are beginning to realize that the substance of the Gospel isn’t understood. How do we know that you may wonder. Well we’ve asked and gotten some honest answers. When we see someone in a constant state of turmoil and unrest it’s because of the absence of the Gospel. When were see someone in a constant losing battle with the schemes of the evil one it’s due to the absence of the Gospel. When we see someone misled by a false gospel it’s due to a lack of understanding of the true Gospel. There is no firm stance your just pushed around like your standing in a slippery mud.
So, What is the Gospel?
I think most of you are familiar enough with this question to say it’s the good news of Jesus and you’re not wrong. Gospel literally means good news. But what is the good news? Why is it good news? Do you understand the bad news enough to appreciate the good news? I hope so, but if not and God willing you will have a better understanding by the time we leave here today.
I want us to try and remember and become more familiar with what the Gospel actually is and what it means and does for us, and I want to do it by remembering the 4 R’s.
The Ruler, The Revolt, The Rescue, and The Response. I hope this deeper dive will provide a richer context into your faith.
The Ruler
The Ruler
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
“In the beginning, God . . .” (Gen. 1:1). The Bible opens with history’s most basic statement about reality.
God created, sustains, and rules everything that exists. Contrary to cultural misconceptions, he’s not Santa in the sky, nor a cosmic vending machine, nor an irritable drill sergeant, nor a deadbeat dad. He is the King of glory and the Lord of love. He’s an eternal community of persons, a Father loving his Son in the joy of the Holy Spirit. One God forever existing in three persons—love is at the very heart of the universe.
This triune God made humanity—you and me—in his image to know and enjoy his love. We were made by God (which means he alone owns us) and for God (which means he alone satisfies us). Human beings were uniquely designed to find meaning and fulfillment and life in our Creator above all else—above success, above popularity, above recreation, above romance, above self.
Is that the story of your life from the very beginning—being totally satisfied in your Maker and treasuring him above everything? It certainly isn’t the story of mine.
So what happened?
The Revolt
The Revolt
We look for love in all the wrong places because something has gone terribly wrong in our hearts. This echoes what happened when Adam and Eve, turned their backs on God and chose to call the shots themselves, fracturing his creation and plunging his image-bearers into an ocean of sin. Instead of living for our Maker, we live for ourselves. The tentacles of sin have deformed our hearts and disordered our loves. Every one of us has rebelled, by both nature and choice, against the Lord of love.
It’s easy to think of sin as a relatively minor thing—outward naughtiness perhaps, or a kind of heavenly parking ticket. But when the Bible talks about sin, it’s talking about “cosmic treason”—an insurrection against heaven itself.
It’s important that we grasp two truths about the nature of sin.
1. Sin is more relational than behavioral.
1. Sin is more relational than behavioral.
When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, it wasn’t just a behavioral boo-boo; it was a heart-level betrayal. We’ve cheated on our Maker, which is why Israel’s sin in the Old Testament is so often cast in terms of spiritual adultery. We’ve desperately sought to build our lives around other things—anything but him. We’ve taken good gifts and turned them into stand-ins for the Giver.
2. Sin is more vertical than horizontal.
2. Sin is more vertical than horizontal.
Though its horizontal effects are devastating, sin is fundamentally a vertical problem. David, the “man after [God’s] own heart” confesses well the predicament of us all:
Psalm 51:3–4 (ESV)
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Here’s something cool I found studying for this: “sin” is the only noun in the English language that’s larger in its singular form. “Sin” is a bigger category than “sins.” At the deepest level, then, it’s rightly said that we aren’t sinners because we sin—we sin because we’re sinners.
You catch that? You aren’t a sinner because you told a lie this morning. You told a lie this morning because you are a sinner.
But it gets worse. Think about this: the result of our selfishness instantly creates a huge chasm between us and God. The prophet Isaiah put it this way “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,” , “and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear”. We’ve bucked God’s design for us, his image-bearers, and so we’re severed from the ultimate Source of life and love. And when we die, it’s time for justice:
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
S as a result of our sin, we’re justly under God’s wrath—his holy and settled opposition to evil. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul asks believers in Romans 8. But the reverse, for those outside of Christ, is also true: If God is against you, who can be for you?
In grasping the gospel, then, how good do you have to be to enter heaven? Here’s the staggering answer: as good as God. Only those whom God considers perfect can live with him forever.
This need for moral perfection, of course, is everlastingly bad news. Left to our own merit, we’re standing on the precipice of a hopeless future in hell—not just God’s absence, but the presence of his right and good justice.
Here’s how Paul explains it to the Ephesians:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Instead of the credits rolling, though, Paul continues: “But . . .”
Have you ever thought about the fact that your entire eternity hangs on this one little word? But… That brings us to...
The Rescue
The Rescue
Something happened in history to change the trajectory for those who rely on Jesus for salvation, and here’s the decisive “but”:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
After centuries of rebellion by God’s people, God’s Son—the second person of the eternal Trinity—became an embryo, a baby, a teenager, a man. We couldn’t get to God, so God came to us.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For 33 years, the carpenter from Nazareth lived a life of uninterrupted devotion and obedience to his heavenly Father. He prayed a lot of prayers but never once a prayer of confession, because he never had any sin to confess.
Jesus lived the life of moral perfection that Adam failed to live, that Israel failed to live, and that you and I have failed to live.
Israel’s long-awaited Messiah became what we never could.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The One who made the law kept it and then died for those who had broken it. The law-maker became the law-keeper and died in the place of law-breakers.
We’ve now reached the white-hot center of the Christian faith: the death of Jesus Christ. On the cross, God punished his Son, who is perfect, for the sins of those who are not.
But that’s not the only thing that occurred. If all God did was cancel our sin, that would have simply brought us back to zero.
Think about it this way: there are 82 games in an NBA regular season. No team has ever achieved a perfect season—one without any losses. “But wait,” some fan might object. “My team’s record is currently 0–0. That’s a perfect season—we haven’t lost any games!”
We’d rightly roll our eyes. “Your” team hasn’t lost because they haven’t played all their games. To have a perfect season you must never lose and always win—right through to the very last game.
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had a moral record, as it were, of 0–0. They hadn’t sinned, so they were “undefeated.” But neither had they achieved a lifetime of righteousness, so it wasn’t a “perfect season.” And when they turned from God, they became spiritually bankrupt. They plummeted to 0–82, the moral record we now inherit.
However, in the middle of history, one man amassed an unprecedented record: 82–0.
Continuing the illustration, here’s the point: if Jesus only paid for our sins, our moral record would be 0–0. But on the cross, Jesus didn’t just absorb our 82 losses; he also gave believers his 82 victories, certified by his empty tomb.
But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,
but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
So our record shifts, in an instant, from 0–82 to 82–0. In the eyes of a holy God, it’s now as if we’ve done nothing to offend him and everything to please him.
Paul puts it like this, referring to Christ: “[God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). On the cross, God treated Christ as if he had lived a believer’s sinful life so he could treat us as if we’d lived Christ’s spotless life. No wonder theologians call this “the sweet exchange.”
What does this mean practically as we grasp the gospel for ourselves and others? Well, in the words of one quote I read, “There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.” No matter who you are or what you’ve done, hear the magnificent news: there is more mercy in Jesus than sin in you.
He stooped to take our place on the cross because we scramble to take his place on the throne. I love the way John Stott explains it:
The concept of substitution may be said to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone.
Amen? And yet we must be careful, when understanding the gospel, not to leave Jesus hanging on the cross.
After his death, his brutalized corpse was placed in a “secure” tomb, never to be heard from again. Except, he was heard from again—because the power of death could not suppress the Author of life. And so, just as he’d promised, on the third day he exited the tomb.
The resurrection isn’t an “add-on” to the gospel story—because without it, there’s no gospel story. In raising Jesus from the dead, God was publicly affirming that his sacrifice on the cross had been accepted, a just and complete payment for sin. If on Good Friday redemption’s check was signed, on Easter Sunday the check cleared.
And one day, this same Jesus—who died and rose and ascended to heaven and intercedes for his people—is going to make a comeback. Those who haven’t trusted him will receive justice; those who have will receive mercy.
Our Response
Our Response
When you go through the drive thru and get food, is it a meaningful experience? Not exactly. It’s a business transaction: you pay the money; they give you the food. You do your part; they do theirs.
Becoming a Christian is not like this. It’s not a cold transaction. It’s more like getting married—an intensely personal union. You throw yourself on Jesus for mercy; he catches you and never lets go.
It’s understanding these things that provide protection for us in this battle we find ourselves in because when satan starts his schemes we know who we are and whose we are!
This leads us to verse 16
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
In this context of war we’ve seen that it’s and up close hand to hand combat type of battle to now a full on blitz attack. The flaming darts of the evil one shows him launching a full on attack against believers. If you were to picture the Roman army under attack of flaming arrows being launched at them taking cover and standing their ground would be the only option until the had a chance to advance again. So their shields are very important just as our shield of faith is important to us in our spiritual battle.
I do want to say I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence when it comes to the order that Paul lists the armor in.
He starts with the belt of truth. Knowing the truth of who God is is the foundation that everything is built on.
Next the breastplate of righteousness. That is important because if God doesn’t see us with the imputed righteousness of Christ we’re not on His side we’re still his enemies and we’re still in a spiritual war but not against satan but against God.
Third the gospel of Peace. Understanding the good news of what Jesus has done for us brings peace with God and makes us soldiers on the winning team and gives us a piece of mind to remain calm in the midst of the battle.
And now the shield of Faith. Faith in who? Jesus! But you can’t have a genuine faith in Jesus without a right understanding of the gospel. Without understanding who we are, what we deserve, what he did to reconcile us, and a realization that this is a temporary battle because we are promised eternity in Heaven in the Presence of God.
The Roman shield of the time was called a scutum. This type of shield was as large as a door and would cover the warrior entirely. Such a shield was not just defensive but could also be used to push opponents. When fighting as a group, soldiers could position their shields so as to form an enclosure around themselves, called a testudo (“tortoise”). This was especially helpful to protect against arrows launched from the walls of cities they were attacking. Shields, often made of wood and then covered in hide, when wet, could extinguish flaming arrows.
Clearly, a shield is vitally important to a soldier. It provides a blanket of protection. It is meant to be taken up in all circumstances. It is the first barrier against the enemy’s attack. Often, shields were painted with identifying marks; a Christian who takes up the shield of faith identifies himself as a foot soldier who serves the Commander of the Lord’s army.
Hebrews 11:1 says,
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Verse 6 stresses the importance of faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Satan’s attacks can sometimes cause us to doubt God. Faith prompts us to believe God. We give in to temptation when we believe what it has to offer is better than what God has promised. Faith reminds us that, though fulfillment of God’s promise may not be readily visible to us, God is true to His Word. When Satan attempts to plague us with doubt or entice us with instant gratification, faith recognizes the deceptiveness of his tactics and quickly extinguishes the arrows. When Satan accuses us, faith chooses to believe that Jesus has redeemed us and that there is no more condemnation.
Faith is one of the greatest gifts, and it is the means by which we receive grace and come into right relationship with God.
It is because we have been justified through faith that we belong to God and have peace with Him.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is the doorway to hope in God.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Because we have faith in God, our suffering need not faze us; in fact, we can persevere under it.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
The things Satan attempts to use to discourage us can actually become tools in the hands of God.
All believers have this promise:
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Faith is a protective barrier between us and the schemes of Satan. When we believe God and take Him at His word, we remain grounded in truth, the lies of the enemy lose their power, and we become overcomers.
Friends I cannot plead with you enough to immerse yourself in the the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is fundamental to us. It’s the main thing you must understand the depth of to appreciate the love God has for us and find peace in the middle of the storms.
Because there is a battle and there will be storms. So we can either sit back and take a beating while looking for protection in everything the world has to offer or stand firm in the message of hope, redemption, and love. A message that not only promises forgiveness and new life in the world but a message that also promises eternal life in the presence of God.
Amen?
Let’s Pray