New Shoes

Year B - 2020-2021  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  29:45
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Do you have a favorite pair of shoes? I do, they are my favorite because they are comfortable. They are broke in and they fit just right. They may not be the best looking shoes, but I like them.
I know of people who collect shoes. We often think of women that collect shoes but men are just as bad. I can think of two guys I know that collect sneakers that the probably never wear and are to them a way of saving for the future. They each have thousands of dollars invested in their sneaker collection.
They collect these famous brands of sneakers in hopes that some day they will be able to sell them to make a lot of money off of them.
I really don’t understand that. I have a few things that I like to collect. I would never think of collecting things that are meant to be used and not use them. The shoes are kept in their boxes. They might take them out once in a while but for the most part they stay in their shoe boxes.
Why? I don’t get it. Maybe I’m not suppose to.
Paul has been introducing us to several articles of clothing or armor that we as Christians are to be putting on.
We put on the belt of truth. The truth is Jesus, when we come to faith in Christ we literally put on Jesus.
Paul then tells us to make sure the breastplate is in place. He is telling us to put on holiness. This is not our holiness, it is God’s holiness as we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
An now he comes to our feet.
Ephesians 6:15 CEB
15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace.
I remember as a kid hearing my mom or dad telling us to put our shoes on. We often were not told why, just get your shoes on. I knew that we were either going outside to work or we were going someplace.
My dad liked to go for Sunday rides. Those rides might just be the back roads or to visit a relative. Those rides almost always included a picnic somewhere along the way.
Sometimes those rides were to some Tasty Freeze to get ice cream.
Most of the time as a kid I ran around without shoes in the summer. Why did you need shoes, they were just going to get dirty.
It didn’t matter if you got your feet dirty, you just went to the creek and wash them off and all was good.
Shoes though are important, they protect your feet especially if you are walking across a rough surface.
If you were a soldier you wouldn’t even consider going out on a mission without getting your boots on.
Paul uses the word Stand 4 times in this section. When we hear that word we think generally of what I am doing. I’m standing up.
That is not the way that Paul has been using this word. The Oxford Dictionary has about 17 different definitions. The one that closely matches what Paul is saying is this:
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Stand)
A determined effort to hold one’s ground or resist something.
Paul has told us to
Stand against the tricks of the devil
Stand your ground
After you have done everything possible to still stand
Stand wit the belt of truth
This a reminder that we are in the midst of a battle and we must be prepared. The first two pieces are about what God has done and is doing in our lives.
There is a spiritual war going on all around us. The enemy wants to defeat you. How are you going to withstand the onslaught of evil?
It is by taking a stand and putting on God’s armor. That armor begins with the belt of truth.
The verb form of that word stand is to
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Stand)
Withstand without being damaged.
We have to have the truth living within us in order to withstand any damage from the attack of the evil forces.
The second piece of the armor is the breastplate. God referred to this breastplate as the breastpiece of decision.
It was a reminder that we are making a decision to put God’s will before our will. It was a memorial, it was remembering all that God had done for them. When we put on that breastplate we are reminding ourselves of all that God has done for us. When we put on this clothing that God has provided us we are reminding ourselves about all that God has done.
Putting on the full armor of God is not just covering ourselves, it is about a radical transformation of our lives. That is why Paul could write in his letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 2:20 (CEB)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Paul is saying that he died but he is alive in Christ.
An now Paul moves on and tells us
Ephesians 6:15 CEB
15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace.
Now we are ready for action. As I said earlier, when you get your shoes on you are going to be doing something.
The word feet is used 404 times in the Bible. Most of that usage is with measurements but there are a number of times it is actually talking about a person’s feet.
One of the first significant passages is in 1 Samuel chapter 2. This chapter contains a song that Hannah sang when you dedicated her son Samuel to God and left him with the priest Eli.
What I found significant was how she recognized that God was in control of all things. Listen to a few verses from her song
1 Samuel 2:7–9 (CEB)
7 The Lord! He makes poor, gives wealth, brings low, but also lifts up high!
8 God raises the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the garbage pile. God sits them with officials, gives them the seat of honor! The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord; he set the world on top of them!
9 God guards the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked die in darkness because no one succeeds by strength alone.
God is in control. Even when it feels like he isn’t, he is.
We are putting on God’s armor and Hannah sang that God guards the feet of his faithful ones.
I thought of walking across an icy driveway or sidewalk in the winter time. You walk carefully so you don’t fall. Some of us do that shuffle, kinda sliding our feet to try and maintain our footing. Some step gingerly in the hopes of maintaining their footing.
The Bible says that God guards the feet of of his faithful ones. Paul is calling us to action, he is telling us to put on our shoes so that we are ready to spread the good news of peace.
Is everyone going to want to hear what we have to say? No, but that doesn’t me that we keep our mouths shut.
I want to stretch this point just a little bit. Hannah said that God guards the feet of his faithful ones. Who are the faithful ones? They are the ones that are being obedient to God. Remember Hannah’s promise? She wanted a child so badly. She made the following promise to God if God would give her a son:
1 Samuel 1:11 (CEB)
Lord of heavenly forces, just look at your servant’s pain and remember me! Don’t forget your servant! Give her a boy! Then I’ll give him to the Lord for his entire life. No razor will ever touch his head.
She wanted a son so badly that if God would give her one that she would give the child to the Lord’s service. Let that sink in just for a moment.
She wanted a child so badly that she was willing to give up that boy to God’s service. That seems like such a contradiction. How could she want something so badly that she would give it away.
Folks that is being committed to God, that is the willingness to do whatever you can to please God. God will bless you when you are walking in obedience to Him.
Look at what happens when a person is not faithful to God.
1 Samuel 2:9 (CEB)
but the wicked die in darkness because no one succeeds by strength alone.
No one succeeds by strength alone.
Paul tells us to put on our shoes so that we are ready to spread the good news of peace. We will never ever be successful if we try to do that by our own strength.
We will never ever be successful if we try to do God’s will by our own strength.
The psalmist wrote
Psalm 17:5 CEB
5 My steps are set firmly on your paths; my feet haven’t slipped.
We need our shoes on, prepared, ready to walk in God’s path.
The psalmist also wrote
Psalm 119:105 CEB
105 Your word is a lamp before my feet and a light for my journey.
Now we don’t generally think of feet as something that we like to look at or see. We don’t think of feet being able to see, there are no eyeballs on our toes. But the psalmist says that God’s word is a lamp before my feet.
What is he really saying there?
He is saying that God’s word lights our path, our journey. It provides the guidance that we need to follow God everyday. God’s word provides us what we need to be able to be obedient to him.
We have a mission. Do you remember the mission that Jesus gave us?
Matthew 28:18–20 CEB
18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 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 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”
That is our mission, to Go, it is not to sit here and wait, but it is to go. I think sometimes we get that mistaken. We are to Go and make disciples.
That going is our everyday lives. It is when you go to the gas station. It is when you go to Walmart. It is when you go to EatnPark.
This going is where ever you are at you are making disciples. You are showing them Jesus by how you live your life.
Paul said that we are putting those shoes on our feet so that we are ready to spread the good news of peace.
What is that all about?
We know what the good news is, that is Jesus, but what is the good news of peace?
Let’s go back to Isaiah. Most commentary writers believe that Paul is referencing back to a passage from Isaiah’s prophetic writing.
Isaiah 52:7 CEB
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of a messenger who proclaims peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God rules!”
Paul actually quotes this in his letter to the Romans where he wrote:
Romans 10:13–15 CEB
13 All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved. 14 So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news.
Pay attention to what he has to say there. All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.
That is awesome. That is exciting to think about. But, and there is that incredibly theological word, but. Well, Paul didn’t write it that way, he wrote So.
So how can they call?
How can they be saved? They have to hear the message. In this battle against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil people are hearing competing messages.
Do you want your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren saved? Do you want your friends to be saved? Do you want coworkers to be saved?
They have to hear the message, they have to see the message lived out everyday.
To stand firm in this cosmic battle means that we have to live out our faith daily.
Picture it, you’ve gotten dressed, you’ve put on Christ with the belt of truth. You’ve put on Christ and put on the breastplate. You are living a holy life.
Now you put on your shoes. You are ready to head out the door. You put your shoes on.
The shoes are on your feet so now you are ready, you are ready to spread the good news of peace.
What is this peace?
John recorded words the words of Jesus while he was talking about leaving and that was causing a lot of stress with the disciples.
Jesus said to them in chapter 16 these words:
John 16:33 CEB
33 I’ve said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.”
Peace means

A pervasive concept in the Bible that most commonly relates to a relationship of love and loyalty with God and one another.

Peace means completeness or wholeness.
The good news of peace is that people can have a right relationship with God and others. It is the good news that they can have complete or whole life.
The enemy has come to steal, to kill and to destroy people. The enemy does not have our best interests at heart for us.
The enemy steals wholeness from us. I was talking to a high school student this past week. His story broke my heart as I sat and talked with him.
Do you know what he told me? He told me that he has lost 10 friends in the past 7 months. 2 of them were killed in tragic accidents. 8 were friends who had taken their own lives. He said that he was a dead man.
The enemy has come to steal, to kill and destroy. This young mans life has been severely damaged by the enemy. I asked him if he believed in God or a higher power. He said he had given up.
Jesus said
John 10:10 (CEB)
10 The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy.
Let those words sink in for just a moment.
Do you know someone who’s life has been stolen from them? Do you know someone who has had their dreams killed? Do you know someone who’s life has been destroyed?
Jesus offers hope. Jesus gives us the motive to go on. Jesus offers us the message to share. It prepares our feet to go, to proclaim the good news to those who do no know the good news.
That is the weapon of the Enemy. He is a liar.
Ephesians: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition 1. Putting on the Full Armor of God 6:10–17

This, then, is the Enemy’s weapon against us. In his deception, he convinces humankind that there is no hope, no reason for rejoicing, no future to live for. But we do battle armed with the gospel. We share good news in the face of the world’s despair.

Listen to the rest of the words of Jesus in that verse. He talked about the thief or the enemy.
Jesus said:
John 10:10 (CEB)
I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.
The Passion Translation translation put it this way
John 10:10 (TPT)
But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!
In this battle that we are in, we are all called to get dressed in the full armor of God. We are called to put it on so that we can stand against the tricks of the devil.
We have to stand our ground with our brand new shoes on, ready to spread the good news of peace. We have to be ready to carry the good news anywhere and everywhere we go.
Who needs to hear this good news? Are you ready to share it with them?
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