Why Church? Armed For Battle-The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

Welcome and Introduction

Comment about Youth video about Ephesians taking so long. I feel like it has flown by! Don’t worry there are only 8 or 9 more messages in this series so it shouldn’t take to long!

It was a really good service last Sunday and I know I can speak for Deanna and our family when I say thank you so much for all the food, gifts, and cards of encouragement over this past month. We are truly blessed to be in ministry here at Naumburg and to be able to serve along side of Titus and Myron

Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians, Yes Ephesians! Chapter 6

As has been well documented, we have been working through the book of Ephesians over the last 21 messages

And over the last few messages we have zoomed in on the topic of spiritual warfare and the armor that we as Christians need to put on so that we not only can fight the battle well but so that we can ultimately defeat satan and his forces of darkness.

We have looked at the first 2 pieces of this armor that we are to put on

First was the belt of truth. We looked at how this piece of the armor must go on first. We begin with the truth and we build off of that.

Then we looked at the breastplate of righteousness and how if we know the truth, then righteousness is the way that we apply it and live it out.

Both of these pieces of armor are crucial and necessary to fight the battle against satan. In fact I will go so far to say that all the pieces of the armor of God are completely connected.

I dont believe that you Can have one piece of the armor of God without having them all.

And this morning as we look at the next piece we will see how it is also connected to the rest of the armor

So if you have your bible this morning, and I trust that you do, lets stand and read Ephesians 6:10-15

Ephesians 6:10–15 (ESV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Put on the shoes of the gospel of peace!

Before we dive to far into the theological part of this text it would be good to get a cultural and historical basis for what Paul is talking about here

Slide of the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

A Roman soldier would have worn a specific kind Of shoe or sandal. As the slide says fitted with nails or rocks for better traction like our modern day softball cleats, and would have tied up the leg a little ways. Above the ankle.

Slide of real roman sandal. This is photo of an actual Roman soldier sandal found in Egypt dating to the 1st century AD around the exact same time Paul would have been writing these words to the Ephesian believers.

As you would have looked at a Roman soldier in that day there would have been a few things that you would have noticed were VERY different from an average Jewish person walking the street.

One of the primary differences would have been the shoes that were worn. The average person in this day would have had very thin and very thin sandals, if they wore any at all.

A roman soldier had shoes that were BIG, STRONG, and LOUD!

The historian Josephus wrote that one of the most intimidating sounds in that day and age was the sound of the Roman’s marching. As they marched toward a city to conquer it you would have heard the clicking of the nails on the bottom of the shoes from a long ways off and you knew they were coming!

So we have a good picture of what the actual sandals or shoes would have been like. Let’s move into why this all matters.

Why do the shoes of the gospel of peace need to be put on to victoriously fight spiritual warfare?

Lets dive into the text!

Paul starts with the concept that our feet need to have something on them!

Just as a Roman wouldn’t have went into battle without his belt or breastplate, his shoes would have been extremely important to doing his job in fighting the enemy

This morning, I want to look at the 2 primary function of the actual shoe that the Roman soldier would have worn and relate it to how this fits the armor of God.

Traction

Like was stated previously, the shoe of the soldier would have had nails or rocks embedded into the sole, like a pair of cleats, for the primary reason of Being able to gain traction

This was very important because when a soldier was trying to move forward on rough or rocky terrain, he needed to be able to have sure a firm footing!

Hiking with the Sunday school class. Good shoes with good tread were a necessity to be able to hike up and down the mountain. Rainy, slippery. Cade had regular shoes and slipped a few times! Hike a high peak with flip flops? Church shoes? Slippers you wear around the house? Not gonna work! Different shoes for different jobs. Barn-Rubber boots, Construction-steel toe boots, Nurse-something comfortable your on your feet all day!

What you wear on your feet will make a big difference in how well you can do your job, because you need the proper traction!

And When it relates to us putting on the Shoes of the gospel of peace, the same thing is true.

You see, the gospel is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for us to be able have the right traction in our lives to be able to continue to move forward and stand our ground in our battle against the enemy.

Just as a soldiers shoe was made for him to get traction moving forward, it was also needed for standing firm and not getting pushed back in the fight.

WE NEED THE GOSPEL if we want to do the same In our fight

Now, how does the Gospel do this? How does this relate to our shoes that we need to put on?

When we are fighting the battle against satan, we need all the traction we can get So that we can push forward in our fight

The Gospel does this by giving us assurance!

1.Gives us Assurance

During the first part of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, no safety devices were used, and 23 men fell to their deaths. For the last part of the project, however, a large net which cost $100,000 was employed. At least 10 men fell into it and were saved. But an interesting sidelight is the fact that 25 percent more work was accomplished when the men were assured of their safety!

The men were Able to work with FREEDOM because of the assurance they had with the net in place.

The same is so very true of the Gospel. We are able to work and fight in the war we are engaged in because of the assurance we have In Christ.

This is the traction we need to keep going forward!

Now there are a lot of verses that we could look at this morning that show us that, as believers, we are SECURE in Jesus! But I want to zone in on a couple.

The first is John 10:27-29

John 10:27–29 (ESV)

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Jesus is making a very clear point here! He is continuing his point earlier where he tells the people around him that he is the good shepherd.

John 10:14–16 (ESV): 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Jesus holds us secure! He says that NO ONE will snatch us out of his hand or His Fathers! How comforting is that?!

Its not our good works or our bible reading or our church attendance and participation that keeps us secure in Christ! ITS JESUS!! Now BECAUSE he has saved us and holds us secure, we will do good works, read our bible, and attend and participate in church, but that will NOT be what keeps us saved. It is a RESULT of our salvation.

The second reference that I want to look at is

1 John 5:10-13

1 John 5:10–13 (ESV)

10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

I have a question I want us all to think about this morning. How much does your assurance of salvation depend on your feelings?

In other words, do you base your security in Jesus more on how you feel at the present time or do you base it on the solid foundation of Gods Word?

Because our heart and feelings can change, but Gods Word does not.

What we base our assurance on will greatly affect our perception

Verse 13 has 2 very key words that we need to look at. Those are Believe and Know.

The word Believe in the Greek is in the present tense, active voice.

This means that our belief as a Christian is always in an active state of being with no end date. In other words we believe, not because of how we feel at the moment, but because of the fact that we have made a prior choice to believe and that choice continues on.

The second word is Know. This word is connected in a sense to believe. It’s the result of the belief.

Because you believe you know you have eternal life. They work hand in hand. Neither of these words are in any sense put in question form. They are definitive statements.

Church we can KNOW without a shadow of doubt that we are saved and are on our way to heaven. Rest in that confidence and use it to keep moving forward.

The second way the Gospel gives us traction on our shoes is it helps us stay grounded

2.Keeps Us Grounded

Philippians 1:27-28

Philippians 1:27–28 (ESV)

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

The Gospel does not change! Galatians 1:8

Galatians 1:8 (ESV)

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Because of this fact we can dig in our cleats so to speak and hold fast to the TRUTH that God so loved the world that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

In a day and age that has added so many things to the gospel so as not to offend anyone or so it fits their current lifestyle and choices, we need to remain steadfast and grounded on the TRUE GOSPEL.

The gospel that tells us that we are ALL sinners and we are in need desperately of a savior. And PRAISE GOD! He Has come!

Church lets hold fast to this as culture and the world around us changes so rapidly.

So we looked at how the shoes of the gospel give us the traction we need to press on with assurance and keeps us grounded in an unchanging truth.

The last thing that the Roman shoe did and so do the shoes of the Gospel, is they provide Protection

Protection

This protection was from Anything that could be on the pathway or on the battlefield that could hurt or trip up the soldier.

The same is true with the shoes of the gospel.

Along life‘s pathway and on the spiritual battlefield there are going to be things that can trip us up or hurt us if we don’t have our shoes on.

The shoes of the Gospel will give us protection from pain and hurt that can come when we “step” on these things.

What are some things that can try to trip us up? worry, tragedy, bitterness, unforgiveness, false teachings and teachers, and so on.

In fact, there is a VERY famous pastor who just preached a false gospel, you may have heard of him. His name is Steven Furtick founding pastor of Elevation Church.

This past week in his sermon to tens of thousands of people he made the statement that “Following Jesus doesnt change you into something else, it reveals who youve been all along.“

2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Thats vastly different to what he said and many people, if they are not wearing the shoes of the Gospel, can be tripped up by this false teaching.

The shoes of the Gospel can and will protect us from following false teachings and teachers, it will help us to not trip over the shrapnel of worry, tragedy, bitterness, unforgiveness, and other things that satan can put in our way

The question is are we going to put the shoes on?

You see to put the shoes of the gospel on you MUST first believe the GOSPEL! You can’t put on that which you do not possess.

Paul says here in Ephesians 6 that its the gospel of peace.

If you are here today and you don’t have peace, peace with God or peace with where you will be when you die, then today is the day that you can change that.

Romans 5:1

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you want that peace I invite you to talk to me or someone else here who has that peace and we would LOVE to walk you through that process.

I want to leave you with a quote that I found. I don’t know who wrote it but I love it.

All of history is to be viewed in light of an occupied cross, an empty tomb, and an occupied throne.

The gospel has transcended time and offers hope for all who hear it and believe it.

Are you putting on the shoes of the Gospel of peace today? Pray.