Keep sharing good news without ads.
Ephesians 6:15
Good morning. The question this morning may be a strange one, unless you know where we're at in the text, and that is, what kind of shoes are you wearing? A number of years ago, it's kind of embarrassing, but a number of years ago, I was preaching at a place, and my shoes were so bad that after I got done preaching, one of the men of the church offered to buy me some shoes,.
And so he did.
I just wore those shoes out. When it comes to sports, you see all kind of advertisements on the television, all sorts of various brands out there that have you believe, if you just bought these kind of shoes, you'd be an instant success.
Another story, when I was growing up, maybe, I don't know, 12, 13, 14 years old, I remember I had some Reebok pumps. You remember those? I just thought, man, if I just pump these babies up, I can dunk a basketball.
Spoiler alert, it didn't work. Actually, there are no magic shoes that can make a man like me able to dunk a basketball. Turn in your Bibles, please, to Ephesians 6. There are no magic shoes in life, and in the Christian life, there are no magic shoes but Paul does talk about in the text this morning the shoes of the Christian armor that we are to put on.
And essentially what he's teaching us to boil it down into one long sentence is this. Embracing the gospel of peace is like shoes on our feet. These shoes lead Christians to walk a surrendered life to Christ.
They equip us for battle, for standing firm, for spiritual warfare, for holy action, for engagement in spiritual battles, for joyful submission to God, for intentional spreading of the good news. Triumphant endurance in suffering and intentional participation in the building of Christ's church.
This is what these shoes do. And so that's what we're going to flesh out a little more this morning as we consider our third week on Ephesians 6 .15. When the shoe fits. Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word.
So let's just back up to verse 14. Paul's going through the various parts of the Christian armor. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Father, help us to understand the text. Help me to be a mouthpiece of the Word today, to preach what the Word says. Lord, that we would be challenged and encouraged and strengthened and convicted. Some in this room this morning need to be drawn to Christ in saving faith.
Some need to be challenged in their complacent Christian walk. Some need to be encouraged through the trials and suffering that they are enduring. We know the Holy Spirit has a Word for every person here.
And we pray that we would listen to it through the Word of God. We pray that You would bless our church. Give us reformation and revival. We pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Have you put on the belt of truth?
Have you put on the breastplate of righteousness? Are you putting on these shoes of readiness given to us by the gospel of peace? So this is our third and final week here in verse 15. So far we've taken the opportunity to review the gospel.
What is the gospel? And then we consider why is the gospel specifically connected to peace? Why is it called here the gospel of peace? So we've looked at that already in the text. Now today we get into the practical usefulness of this armor.
And that is going to start with the word translated in the ESV here as readiness. So verse 15 says,. And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. The King James and the Legacy Standard Bible, they translate the word as preparation.
So readiness, preparation. One Greek definition of the word is a state of being ready for action. So readiness, preparation. The idea is, as one commentator put it, the readiness or preparedness for combat and for standing in the battle that is bestowed by the gospel of peace.
Okay, so just put the connection here. What is the connection? The gospel of peace gives us a readiness, a preparedness. Remember the whole context of what it is that we're supposed to be doing. So back up to verse 10.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God. So what are we doing? 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, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and His shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness or preparedness given by the gospel of peace.
So I think that what Paul is saying here is that the gospel of peace gives the believer fitting shoes, appropriate shoes for fighting the good fight of faith, for walking in the path that God would have us to walk in.
If you're going to do certain activities, you want to wear a certain kind of shoes. And it's the gospel that gives us the sufficient and right and proper footwear for the Christian life. So as we stare into the depths of the work of Christ, His being born of the Virgin Mary, His obedience to the law of God, His fulfilling all righteousness, His vicarious death for sinners, His resurrection, His reign, as we ponder and meditate and consider and discuss all of these things, as we believe them and trust them, our feet are now readied for action.
Christians need the gospel too. You don't need to hear just get out there and do it, quit being lazy, although that may be appropriate at times, but your actions need to be connected to the gospel. It's the gospel that prepares us to walk the Christian life.
The gospel produces good work in God's people. So the question that we're going to work through this morning is what does it look like when the shoe fits? When gospel shoes, if you will, are placed upon the feet of the Christian, what does that look like in life?
Well, I have a few answers to that. First, it looks like a life of surrendering. Number one, surrendering. Paul says in verse 15, As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness, preparedness given by the gospel of peace.
What does this look like? It looks like surrendering. This is not the first time in Ephesians that Paul has used the word feet. He used it back in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22. Paul says this.
Same word. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church. In other words, Christ reigns over all. All things are under his feet. So, the application here I'm trying to make is when gospel shoes are put on our feet, we gladly surrender under his feet.
I simply wish to communicate here that to embrace the gospel is to surrender to Christ as king. Our feet are ready to march according to his kingship. You can't make Christ king of your life. You can't make him king because he already is king.
But to believe the gospel is to joyfully give our lives over to his kingship. It is to be surrendered. To leave our sins, to leave our shame, to trust what he has done, to believe his righteous obedience to the law, to trust his wrath satisfying death in our place, to place our faith in his resurrection over the grave, over sin, over death, over hell.
To surrender to the king is to find our rest and solace in God. The enmity with God, the strife of God is over because we have the gospel of peace. And now I lace up my shoes for a new battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Number two, standing. Number one, surrendering. Number two, standing. Now I bring you back to verse 14, which is contextually connected here to verse 15. Stand, therefore. You ain't going to stand if you don't got good shoes.
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... Many commentators point out here the reality that a Roman soldier's feet would be shod with heavy sandals so that they could grip the ground.
Footwear that kind of like cleats that would not allow them to be easily pushed out of the way. Similarly, the gospel of peace, friends, is our foundation. It is our only sure footing, our only foundation.
Like the song we sing, on Christ the solid rock, I stand. I stand upon His promised birth. I stand upon His righteous life. I stand upon His substitutionary death. I stand upon His resurrection. When we embrace the gospel in faith, we are enabled to stand.
Hey, let hell rage. Let the world mock us. My feet are firmly planted on solid ground. When the shoe fits, I have firm feet. So this enables the church to avoid compromise. This enables the church to refuse division.
In one sense, these shoes then are defensive because they help us to stand upon and hold the ground that Christ has given us. When the shoe fits, it looks like surrendering standing. Thirdly, it's not just defensive though.
It's not just standing. It's not just holding ground, but also gaining it. So thirdly, skirmishing. Verse 15, And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. The shoes are not just defensive.
They do not merely help us stand our ground, but in Christ, they help us gain ground as well. I told you this already, but read back on some of the greatest generals in the history of mankind. You think of generals like Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or Stonewall Jackson, or Napoleon.
All of these generals, they thought of something that most of us would overlook, and that is they made sure that their army was well equipped with proper footwear.
Why?
Because they knew that proper footwear was necessary for their armies to march into battle and to gain victory. Even greater, friends, do Christians have the proper footwear to skirmish, to march, to walk, to travel this path that God has set before us?
Commentator Harold Horner shares a great point. He says, It is somewhat paradoxical that the gospel of peace is the preparation for warfare against the host of evil. You see the paradox there. It is the peace of the gospel that prepares the church for war.
It is the peace of the gospel that prepares the church to fight. It is the peace that we have with our Holy God that emboldens us to fight against the evil one, to fight against sin, to mortify the flesh, to resist the influence of the world, to push back against the darkness, to lay hold of Christ, and link arms with our brothers and sisters, and reject the devil's lies.
Oftentimes, when you think about the Christian armor, I think about our children. I think about Haddon. If I was going to ask him to draw Christian armor, he probably wouldn't draw the shoes. Those seem lame, right?
He'd probably draw the shield and draw the sword. But I want to encourage us. Verse 11 and verse 13 say this, Put on the whole armor of God. Verse 13, Therefore take up the whole armor of God. So we're taking these pieces here one at a time, but we don't need to think that one is more important than the other so much as we're to put them all on.
You can't fight a battle with a good shield and a good sword if your feet are not properly clothed. I don't know if that's the right word. Shorn? I want to say that sounds weird. Shod. Oh, there you go.
Shod.
Duly noted.
If I ever preach to Ephesians again, I'll talk about that. Your feet properly shod with gospel footwear. The better that we understand what God has done for us in Christ, the better prepared we are to slay dragons.
We are called to know and rest in and believe and trust the gospel. It is alarming to me how many professing believers cannot articulate the gospel well. Or maybe they mention the gospel in passing like 10 -15 seconds and then they say, Okay, now tell us about something that's really important.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah.
Gospel, gospel, gospel.
I want to know seven tips on raising my children, five steps to be a better wife, or five tips to be a better husband. Those things are important. Don't misunderstand me. But the gospel is the foundation for everything.
When we understand the gospel well, when we understand and rest in the gospel well, we are enabled to be better husbands, better wives, better parents, better children, better laborers in the workforce.
It's not that we don't need practical tips. The Bible actually is full of practical wisdom. The Proverbs are full of wisdom. The whole Bible is full of wisdom. Practical and wise tips for Christian living.
This is right. This is good. But many today are trying to do these things separated from the gospel. And that's like going into battle with no shoes. When I understand the righteousness of Christ credited to my account, the righteousness of Christ by faith alone apart from works of the law, that my sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ, that I have a right standing with God because of Christ and His resurrection, these things enable me to fight, to skirmish.
They keep me in the battle and engaged rightly and fighting for the victory that Christ has already won. And by the way, this is an active engagement. We have preached for far too long, I think in America especially, a passive version of Christianity.
Let me speak to the men. Men, we are to be active in our faith. We are to take charge, active charge of our homes, active charge of our habits. We are to carve out time to walk with God, to cherish our wives, to love our children.
This is active, active engagement. And we do this by understanding part of the way we do this, understanding the gospel, having our shoes shod with the proper footwear. And then we actively lay hold of these things.
We don't sit around and hymn haul around like it doesn't matter. We're to rise up and actively engage in battle. Ladies, that's you too. Take charge of your habits. Take charge of honoring your husbands.
Take charge of loving your children. I say to Christian men and women, fight like the saints you are. I'll give you an example. This week, this is silly and I don't want to get into all this. Well, actually, it's not silly.
I don't want to get into all this. I don't know all the facts. But if I understand correctly, I'll give you the way I understand it. And I'll give you the way that it should be done in Arkansas if it would ever happen here.
In Iowa, this past week, maybe you saw it on the news. Maybe you didn't get much news. I don't know. I saw it, though. They erected a statue to Satan in the Iowa capital. What do you do with that? Well, there were some Christians who responded like this.
Well, you know, we live in America and we believe in freedom of religion. So if they want to erect a statue to Satan, that's their right. But then you had one senator and all the motivation and stuff, I don't know.
I don't know.
But I will say I do agree with his actions. One senator who professes to be a Christian went and tore the head off that statue.
Good.
He should have.
And if one of our government officials wouldn't do it in Arkansas, I would go do it. Because that's foolishness. Our country is not meant, by the way, you don't have a right.
Okay.
Constitutionally, you have freedom of religion. You don't have a right to worship other gods.
You understand?
You don't have a God-given right.
It's constitutionally protected. But you don't have, Christian, we don't preach that you have a God-given right to worship whatever god you want to or to worship. You don't have a God-given right. You're called by God to worship the true God, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now, constitutionally, we say this. In our country, yes, we allow for tolerance and freedom of religion. But that doesn't allow people to erect blasphemous things in our capitals, right? We want to be peaceable.
We don't want to cause conflict or anything like that. But when it comes to it, sometimes you've got to rip the heads off of idols, right? And that's what I'm talking about in this message. We have an active faith.
We have an active skirmishing whereby we stand for the truth that God has given us, but we also go and we seek to take ground as necessary, remembering that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness.
Fight like the saint you are. Fourthly, the gospel of peace gives us shoes ready to skirmish. Surrendering, standing, skirmishing. Fourthly, submission. Now, I understand surrender and submission, they're really close, but I want to talk about something here.
And that is that when we embrace the gospel, we seek a life that seeks to obey God. That's what I'm trying to argue here. We want to obey God. Not what I think or like, maybe, but what God thinks, what God likes, what the Bible says.
It ought to be alarming to us how many claim to be surrendered to God who are not submitted to God, right? So I understand they're very closely linked, but the idea is, oh yeah, God, I love God, I love Christ, but there's no submission of their life.
When it comes to a choice between what the Bible says and what I want to do, they're always just doing what they want to do and not what the Bible says. But a Christian has surrendered to God, and because the gospel shoes are on their feet, I just want to keep using the word shod.
It's like a new toy I found this morning. Because their feet are shod with the gospel peace, the preparedness, the readiness, we want to submit to God. Remember the context of Ephesians. Go back to Ephesians 5, verse 1.
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. In one way, and this wasn't original to me, Ephesians can be divided like this. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 talk about the Christian's wealth.
All we have in Christ. And chapters 4, 5, and 6 talk about the Christian's walk. All we are to live in light of the wealth we have in Christ and what God has done. And so we walk. We walk. Gospel shoes enable us to walk God's ancient paths.
Christians are imitators of God. So a very real, personal, applicable question for you this morning. I can't answer this, but please hear me, congregation. Listen to this. Whether you're a member of this church or you're not a member of this church, you're visiting today, whatever the case may be, ask yourself this question.
Is this true of my life? Am I an imitator of God at home, at work, at the ball game? Well, preacher, nobody's perfect.
That's almost right.
Jesus is perfect. And He is where our trust rests. And those who rest in the perfect work of Christ seek now to submit their lives unto God underneath the authority of God. Well, how much, preacher? How much of my life do I want to submit under God's reign?
Well, if you're wearing the gospel shoes, it's all of it, right? My thoughts, my words, my actions, my motivations, all of it. Well, I sinned, but my heart was in the right place.
No, no, no.
I want it all.
I want to submit it all to God.
And I'm going to fail.
I'm going to fail because I'm a man. But when I fail, I run again to Christ. I repent again to Christ. I rest again in Christ. And then I get up, I lace up my shoes, and I keep going because I want to submit my entire life to Christ.
That's the desire of the believer. So how does this happen? By ruminating in the gospel. By believing what it says. By saying things like what Paul says in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Submission to God is all over that verse, but it's also laden with the gospel.
Christ's crucifixion for sinners. Christ's resurrection for sinners. God's love for sinners and giving his Son as a substitute. And because Paul says he will live for Christ, he also says Christ will live through him.
The point I'm trying to get at there is faith is necessary for sanctification too. Faith in all that Christ is and all that he has done for the church. It doesn't only justify us, but we seek to grow in sanctification by faith as well.
And as we believe upon Christ and think through these gospel realities, this readies us, this prepares us to put on our shoes and walk the life that God would have us to walk by faith in Christ. Those who embrace the gospel are ready to submit to God, to walk God's road.
They are like the six-winged seraphim. Remember from Isaiah? We sang about the seraphim this morning. A few hymns we have sometimes we sing about the seraphim. Remember the seraphim? Isaiah 6 is where we learn of them.
The idea is the burning ones. Man, it's just the idea of these magnificent creatures. But they have six wings. With two wings, they cover their face. Two wings, they cover their feet. But with two wings, they're flying.
Well, in one sense, because they're always ready to do the bidding of God. And I'm saying that is the church. When we put on gospel shoes, as it were, we're always ready to do the bidding of God. I've got on the right shoes, God.
Send me where you want me. Now, a lot of that is not as hard as what we make it out. So what I mean is sometimes there are major decisions in our life where we're like, okay, where am I supposed to go?
What am I supposed to do? And we need to bathe that with prayer. We need to fast. We need to seek the counsel of the church and labor with our pastors in prayer. Those sorts of things. There are a lot of big decisions sometimes that require that.
But there's a lot of little everyday things that simply require you to open up the book and read the book and see God's will for your life. And then we do that thing because we desire to submit ourselves to God.
Are you doing God's bidding? The Scriptures teach us what a life submitted to God looks like. I'm asking us this morning to reject what the culture says and to embrace what the Bible says. Are you trusting the Gospel today?
Surrendering, standing, skirmishing, submission, fifthly, spreading. Admittedly, it's not the best word. Proclamation, maybe. But once you get into this alliteration mode, you just can't get out of it.
So it is our curse to bear this morning. Verse 15 is connected, I think, undeniably with Isaiah 52 .7. So again, verse 15, And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
So I've called this point spreading because Isaiah 52 .7 says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns.
So let me say this. I don't think that Paul only has evangelism on his mind in Ephesians 6 .15. I think it carries more than that. However, I absolutely believe that evangelism is part of what it looks like to have shoes prepared by the gospel of peace.
There's an undeniable connection, I think, between Ephesians 6 .15 and Isaiah 52 .7. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Ready feet, prepared feet, are taking the gospel to the streets.
So, let's do this for a second. We've been looking at this passage in Luke this whole Advent season. So let's go again. Luke chapter 2. Just flip over there for a moment. We'll consider some things about these smelly shepherds.
It's okay to talk about shepherds smelling, but not sheep. If you're a pastor, let the hearer understand. Now, Luke chapter 2 verse 10. And the angel said to them, that is to the shepherds, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased.
Now, what you have here, first of all, you're going to get a sermon within a sermon. You have revelation. These shepherds would not have known the gospel unless God had revealed it to them through this messenger.
What this shows us this morning is how much it should remind us how much we need the preaching of the gospel. So listen to me, church. Being nice to people, amen. Being kind to people, that's good. Generosity is good.
But without the proclamation of the gospel, these things are damning. We send sinners to hell, but at least we paid their electric bill. At least we were nice to them. No, listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
God saves not only by sending Jesus to be our Savior, but also through the proclamation of this message to sinners. That's how God saves. The Holy Spirit uses the proclamation of the righteous life, substitutionary death, triumphant resurrection, the life and sacrifice and raising again to life of Jesus to bring dead hearts to life.
So we have the revelation of the gospel of the shepherds. Secondly, though, you have the shepherds' response. So in verse 15 it says, When the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go.
Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. So revelation, secondly, response. Those who embrace the gospel by faith never stay where they are.
This is illustrated physically by the shepherds. They move from where they are to where Christ is. So too, to embrace Christ by faith is to leave where you are. It is to leave your hope of salvation in yourself.
It is to leave your sin. It is to go to Christ. It is to embrace Christ. It is to trust Christ alone as one's only suitable and all-sufficient Savior. So you have the revelation of the gospel. Now you have the response.
They are going to leave where they are and they're going to go to Christ. Now look at verse 16. And they went with haste. They went with haste. They went in a hurry. Laziness and faith are not friends.
That is, saving faith is not a companion of slackness. Oh, I believe the good news of the gospel, preacher, but I just got some things going in my life. I got some sin that I'm really, really interested in right now.
I've got this person I'm interested in, or I've got this situation I'm interested in, or I've got these things on the internet I'm interested in. I believe what you're saying. I love the idea of Christmas.
I really do believe what you're saying about Christ. I just can't go to Him today. Maybe tomorrow.
It's not what the shepherds did.
Saving faith and slackness are not friends. They left where they are. They went where Christ was with haste. If God is convicting your heart this morning, your option, your situation is not to delay, but to go with haste to Christ.
You don't wait for the end of the service. You don't wait to come talk to me. You don't wait for anything else. You go to Christ now by faith with haste. But then notice thirdly, revelation, response, and now rejoicing.
Verse 17, so they go, they find Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And then when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. The shepherds heard the gospel.
They believed the gospel. They experienced Christ for themselves.
And then what did they do?
They went out and told others. I have a thought for you this morning. Do you know why I believe, not all, not all, not all. Do you know why I believe some Christians do not evangelize? Because they try to move from revelation to evangelism without ever experientially closing with Christ in a personal way.
The shepherds heard the gospel. They went to Christ hurriedly. And then they told others in rejoicing. Verse 20 says,. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.
For many people who say they're a Christian, evangelism is a burden. I know I'm supposed to share the gospel, but it's a burden. And for some I'm saying it's a burden because they do not have a personal experience of salvation in Christ.
They've heard the gospel. They have maybe affirmed some things in their brain, but they've never hurried like the shepherds in faith, a physical illustration of a spiritual reality. They've never ran to Jesus in faith, hurriedly closing with Christ, being forgiven of their sins, having experienced Christ not just in the mind, but in the heart, having received Christ in their life, not just merely knowing about Him, but now knowing Christ.
Because once we see Christ and once we know Christ, being forgiven of our sins, now the third step is we tell others about Christ. That's what the analogy here is with the shepherds. So how do you expect to tell others to go to the Christ you've refused to go to?
And how do you expect to find joy in telling others about the salvation that you yourself do not have? But when we embrace the gospel by faith, when we rest in all that God has done for us in Christ, when we continually consider the work of Jesus for sinners, we have prepared feet, we have ready shoes, shoes prepared to proclaim the gospel.
By the way, let me say this. It's not a big deal. It's more than just sharing Jesus, right? I don't have a problem with that. We say share Jesus, all that. But evangelism is more than just sharing Jesus.
Evangelism is a proclamation. Christ is King. He offers pardon to all who will partake of His Son by faith. But judgment is coming. It's not an option for you to be like,.
No, no, no, I'll just stay.
No, Christ is King and you're called to repent and believe the gospel. Friends, let me ask you this. Are your feet beautiful this morning? The gospel gives us souls for souls, right? Again, let the hearer understand.
Are your feet bringing good news to poor sinners? Or are your feet caked with the muck and mire of this world? Sixthly, the gospel of peace gives us two more quick points. The gospel of peace gives us feet ready for suffering.
In verse 15, all the way back in Ephesians 6, shoes for your feet, as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. But skip down a couple of verses and look at verse 18,.
Where he says,.
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 then Paul gets personal here. 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.
Understanding the gospel rightly prepares the church for suffering. I thought if I become a Christian, I'm just supposed to get all the bells and the whistles and the blessings, and my job's supposed to get better, and my family's supposed to get better, and I'm just supposed to walk through town, and everybody's going to start giving me a parking space.
I'll get free donuts and all these things. My world is just going to be better because I'm a Christian. No, sometimes when we become a Christian, your financial and physical state becomes worse. But the gospel prepares us to be like Paul, to be ambassadors, if you will, in chains to suffer.
You want to put on these ready shoes? Well, yes, you do. You must. But this is what the Christian life looks like. Part of what these prepared shoes do is prepare us for trial. And Paul in his suffering has a focus on Christ.
Charles Simeon preached it this way, if our souls be animated with faith and love, we shall count it all joy when we fall into diverse trials. Yea, we shall rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for the sake of Christ.
And the very things which were intended by our enemies for the destruction of the spiritual life, we tend rather to its furtherance and establishment. Church, are you wearing ready shoes this morning?
The gospel prepares us for suffering. Well, how important are these shoes for our armor? A victorious Christian life is not a life immune from suffering. Rather, a victorious life is a life that is prepared to meet suffering in triumph.
When trials come, we are able to count them as all joy because we know that God is sovereign. We know that God is for us in Christ. He has already taken care of our greatest need, our sins against the holy God.
And now He is working all things together for good for those who love Him, for those who have been called according to a sovereign and gracious purpose. And then finally, the gospel gives us shoes prepared for surrendering, standing, skirmishing, submission, spreading, suffering, and finally, structuring.
And it shoes for your feet having put on the readiness, the preparedness given by the gospel of peace. You know, when I get an opportunity, I'm going to mention the local church. I'm just trying to say here that we move away from this idea that the gospel is only saving individuals.
It's only about my personal walk. No, no, no, friends. The gospel is the good news of what God has done in Christ. What the law could not do, Christ has done. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a perfect righteous life before the Father in every way.
He was our representative in life, and He was our representative in death. He suffered the penalty as our representative for lawbreakers like you and like me. He tasted death for us, bearing God's wrath, and then He rose again.
And it is faith in this message that does save us individually and personally. But listen, church, this is not the fullness of what the gospel is doing in our world today. The gospel is building a people.
When we lace up our shoes with the gospel, our feet are ready to carry out the mission of the church. We are not busy bodies, but we are to have busy feet. Busy feet carrying busy hands building the church.
Why? Because Christ builds the church. Amen! Christ builds the church, but He builds the church by the work of the Holy Spirit through His people as they make disciples, as they preach the gospel, as they grow together in the faith.
The direction of our feet is toward the work of the church. Are your feet busy building? Consider, that's what it looks like to have gospel shoes. This is impossible if the church is just something you tack on to your life.
If your view of the church is this, that's a place I go to on Sundays, some Sundays. If that's your view of the church, then you miss the focus of Christianity. You have boiled down a major emphasis of Christianity to just checking a box.
In reality, our feet are to be shod with the gospel of peace in such a way that we are busy with the church. What do you say though? I'm not saying busy just for the sake of being busy. I'm saying busy about God's business.
But you say, I'm so busy with everything else. I cannot imagine adding that to my plate. And that's the point. I want you to think about that. Go back to the gospel. You need to analyze the things that you have made a priority in your life.
You need to analyze the busyness of your life in light of what God has done in Christ. Does this not compel you to rearrange your plate? Instead of saying, man, like you're at the Thanksgiving feast, my plate is so full, I don't know if I can add this other thing on it, but let me just scoop it on and try it out.
I'm not asking you to do that.
You got a full plate.
Don't just take to church and scoop it on top and try to make it all fit. I'm asking you to consider, I believe the word of God is compelling us to consider, your way of life. I think most people need to strategically rearrange and cut out some things.
I get it that we're busy.
We are busy.
The church is always dealing with this like, you know, I listen to conference messages and books sometimes and articles. What do we do with a church that's just busy, busy, busy, busy? We're so busy. We're so busy.
We're so busy. How do we handle that? Well, one of the things, I think, is that we need to tell church members and believers, there are some good things in your life that you might need to cut out because they are secondary to what God is doing in the church.
You may not be able to volunteer at every single thing in the community. We may not be able to have our children do every single activity. You may need to unsubscribe from some YouTube channels. Some good activities in your life are taking over, and I'm telling you, you need to scale back and do them in moderation.
You need to cut back. There may be things in your life that you don't only need to cut back, but you need to cut out entirely. If it's sin, it doesn't need to be cut back on. I'll just stop doing so much sin.
No, you need to cut it out completely. You need to cut down on other activities in your life that distract from the main thing.
So that your feet can be more resolute in carrying out Christ's mission in the local church, in intentionally connecting with other church members. I just don't have time to go to other church members' homes.
I just don't have time to invite other church members to my home. I just don't have time to set aside to sing with other believers, to pray with other believers, to have gospel-focused discussion with other believers, to disciple other believers, to be discipled by others.
I just don't got time to do it. I'm just so busy.
Then you're too busy. You're too busy.
I can't necessarily pinpoint this, this, this, this that's going to have to be between you and the Lord and your family, but I'm telling you, take it before the Lord, pray about it, search the Scriptures, and rearrange your life in such a way that your feet can be connected rightly with the church.
The gospel gives us ready feet to do these things. Okay, we'll close with the question that I began with this morning. Simply this. What shoes are you wearing? Are your feet shod with the preparedness given by the gospel?
Or are you just wearing the shoes of the world?
Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we pray that You would cause it to land home in our hearts and minds and our actions. We thank You for what Christ has done. We long for Him. Draw our hearts and minds to Him.
Let us respond in faith.