Feet: Beyond Yourself

Anatomy of a Disciple: Feet: Beyond Yourself

We have highlighted our church’s mission all four weeks: Be Found, Be Changed, Be Known, Now Go! That last phrase is more than the end of a slogan. It is what happens when someone who has encountered Jesus begins to see other people as people Jesus loves and want to reach.

Series: Head: I receive the truth of Jesus. Heart: His truth changes me. Hands: His work becomes visible in what I do. Feet: I carry His truth and love beyond myself.

Where are your feet taking with you?

Most of us put on our shoes without thinking about it. We think about where we need to go: work, school, the grocery store, a neighbor’s house. But what if, before you walked out the door, you asked a different question: Lord, who might I meet there?

Before we talk about where our feet go, we need to know what they carry.

1. Our feet carry love people can experience.

1 John 3:16–18 NIV

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

John begins with Jesus laying down His life. That is our definition of love.

John then brings that love into an ordinary situation: a believer has resources, sees someone in need, and must decide how to respond.

We come to Jesus with our need. He meets us with mercy. As we receive that mercy, we begin learning how to extend it to others. - Put the shoes on

John moves from the greatness of Christ’s sacrifice to the practical question of sharing what we have.

Sometimes we imagine sacrificial love only in dramatic terms.

“Would I lay down my life for someone?” That is a serious question.

But there are ordinary questions waiting for us today:

Will I Put the shoes on and give someone an hour?

Will I Put the shoes on and share what I have?

Will I Put the shoes on and allow another person’s need to interrupt my convenience?

Ill: Imagine a family in our church going through a difficult week. Someone is recovering from surgery. Someone else is trying to care for the children. The laundry is growing, the refrigerator is getting empty, and everybody is exhausted.

Several people hear about it. One thinks, “Somebody should help them.” Another sends a message: “We’re thinking about you.” Those words may be sincere.

Then someone Puts the shoes on and asks, “Would dinner at six help? Are there any foods you need us to avoid?” Then at six, there is a meal delivered to their door. Now care has become something that the family can receive. Because we Put the shoes the on.

Remember: Prayer matters. Encouraging words matter. And when we have the opportunity and ability to help, those expressions of concern can lead us into practical action. Putting the shoes on.

Put the shoes on and ask: “What can I offer?”

Your resources may be: money, time, a skill, transportation, a meal, or a willingness to sit beside someone in grief.

Start with what you have. All God ask of us it to pour out what we have received. Put the shoes on

James 2:14 NIV

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

James writes that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Key truth: Discipleship requires more than knowing the truth. Our actions reveal the work God is doing within us.

James 2:15–16 NIV

15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

James asks the question of a person who offers kind words but leaves someone without food or clothing.

Love may begin in the Head by learning God’s truth.

For a true disciple it starts to transform our Heart and gives us the transplanted Heart like Christ.

Then it moves to the Hands to express the change on the inside to the outside.

But it doesn’t stay there. It moves to the Feet and put into action.

This is the bridge from last week’s Hands message. James is challenging a claim of faith that never acts on what it says it believes. We do not earn God’s love by serving people. Having received His love, we have reason to act.

Ill: Imagine someone standing outside in the cold without adequate clothing. I have an extra coat but instead of offering it to them:

I tell them, “I really hope you get warm.” They are still cold.

I explain how important warmth is. They are still cold.

I tell them our church cares deeply about people who are cold. They are still cold.

I tell them I will pray that they get warm. They are still cold.

At some point, the question becomes: Will I Put the shoes on go out and share the coat? That is the kind of situation James puts before us. The need is real. The opportunity is real. Our response matters.

James 2:17–18 NIV

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

This passage, asks us to examine whether what we profess on the change on the inside has begun affecting how we treat and respond to people on the outside.

Who is near enough for you to notice, but easy for you to pass by?

We must carry the love of Jesus in what we do. We must also be willing to tell people whose love they are seeing.

2. Our feet carry good news people can hear.

Romans 10:13–15 NIV

13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Paul ends his chain of questions with the picture of “the beautiful feet of those who bring good news.”

Walk through Paul’s questions in reverse:

1. Someone is sent.

2. Someone speaks the good news.

3. Someone hears.

4. Someone believes.

5. Someone calls on the Lord.

Paul’s point gives courage to ordinary disciples: the news about Jesus has to reach people. You do not have to know the answer to every question before you can tell someone what Jesus has done for you.

Ill: If a friend calls to say their phone map app is glitching and they are lost. You might first ask whether they are safe and help with what they need. You would also tell them the way home. In the same way, we can meet a practical need and, when the opportunity comes, speak clearly about Jesus.

Share your simple story of faith: Here is what my life was like. Here is how I came to trust Jesus. Here is what He is changing in me.

You can use your own words. They can listen, answer honestly, and say, “I don’t know; let’s look at that together.

The person God places in front of you is someone to love, and is not a project to complete.

You can’t make someone believe. You can make sure they have a chance to hear.

And when someone responds to Jesus, our calling is bigger than a single conversation.

3. Our Feet then help people follow Jesus.

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Emphasize Jesus’ authority: His command to “go and make disciples of all nations,” baptism, teaching obedience, and His promise to be with His followers.

Jesus sends disciples to make disciples. We share the good news because we long for people to know Him. We also walk with them as they learn to follow Him.

Develop the movement:

• Invite: Help someone encounter the good news of Jesus.

• Welcome: Give them a place to belong and ask questions.

• Walk alongside: Read Scripture together, pray together, and help them take a next step.

• Celebrate obedience: Jesus specifically names baptism and teaching people to obey His commands.

Ill: Think of how a child learns to walk. You cannot take the steps for them, but you can stay close, encourage them, and help them get up again. Discipleship calls for that kind of presence.

Connect mission: Be Found is a beginning. Be Changed describes what Jesus keeps doing. Be Known gives people relationships in which to grow. Now Go means the disciple who was welcomed begins welcoming someone else.

Encouragement: Some of you hear “make disciples” and think, I’m still learning. Good. Discipleship is not reserved for people who have finished growing.

Jesus tells His followers to go, and He promises to be with them as they do. That promise matters, because the places and people Jesus sends us to can feel intimidating at times.

4. Our Feet go where God has placed you, in the Spirit’s power.

Acts 1:8 NIV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit’s power and calls His followers to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The first word of comfort in this verse is power. Jesus does not hand His disciples a map and tell them to manage on their own. He promises the Holy Spirit.

Acts describes a witness that spreads outward. Do not shrink Jesus’ vision to only the people we already know. At the same time, the outward movement gives us a place to begin: the people and places already in our lives.

Ill: Picture the route you travel in a normal week. You know it so well that you may barely see it anymore. Who is along that route? Who do you regularly see at work, at school, in your neighborhood, or where you spend your time?

Your mission field may begin at an address you already know.

Name the fears without dismissing them:

Maybe you worry about saying the wrong thing.

Maybe you have invited someone before and they said no.

Ask the Spirit for wisdom, courage, and love for that particular person.

Faithfulness may look like one gentle conversation today and another months from now.

Response: One name, one prayer, one step

Invite people to take out Okios card or their phone. Give them quiet time to write.

1. Identify your mission field.

Write the names of people God has placed around you.

2. Choose your one.

Ask, Lord, who would You have me pray for and intentionally get to know? Circle one name.

3. Take one step this week.

Offer concrete options: begin a conversation, invite them to coffee or church, meet a need, share part of your story, or make room for a friendship to grow. Encourage people to choose a step that respects the other person and fits the relationship.

4. Live sent. “Now Go!”

Before you leave home this week, pray: Holy Spirit, help me see people as You see them. Give me the courage to love them and the wisdom to speak when the door opens.

Pause for 30 seconds of silence. Then invite anyone willing to hold that one name before God in prayer.

Closing invitation and prayer

Return to the shoes: These shoes cannot change anyone’s life. Neither can yours. Jesus can. But He calls people who have received His love to carry His good news. So when you put your shoes on tomorrow, remember: what God does within us is meant to move outside of us.

Two invitations: Someone who wants to call on Jesus today, and for a disciple ready to take one faithful step toward the person whose name they wrote down.

Closing prayer: Jesus, thank You for coming to us with grace and truth. Open our eyes to the people around us. Give us love that takes action, courage to share Your good news, and patience to help others follow You. Holy Spirit, lead us as we go. Amen.

Benediction: “Be Found. Be Changed. Be Known. Now Go!”