Life Group 08/06/2014 Spiritual Warfare The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace Ephesians 6:14-17 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; It s not about us It s all about Him. The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace: From Dr. David Jeremiah s study on Spiritual Warfare Overview: Who can imagine a soldier, whether in Roman times or Vietnam or Afghanistan, going into a serious battle barefooted? A soldier well-equipped in every other area would be sorely deficient without footwear of some sort. However powerful your chest may be, however wonderful your loins, if you get wounded in your feet, if you slip and fall in the battle, you will be easy prey for the antagonist. Roman soldiers wore thick-soled, leather sandals with hobnailed soles that provided stability and traction. They were a far cry from the boots worn by modern soldiers, but were adequate for the day. Since Paul is using a typical Roman soldier s armor as the model for the armor of God in Ephesians 6, what kind of shoes is Paul designating for the Christian going into spiritual warfare? He talks about having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (verse 15). It may seem odd that shoes of peace are given out to Christian soldiers preparing to go into war. What is the purpose of peace in spiritual warfare? Since shoes are the foundation on which the soldier stands, peace must have something to do with the steadfastness and firm foundation on which the believer stands in the face of Satan s lies and accusations. It is the role of the peace of God in spiritual warfare the peace that comes from the good news of the Gospel that is the subject of this lesson. From what we have learned already, we can immediately see a connection: The last thing Satan brings is peace. He comes to steal and to kill and to destroy (John 10:10a) and to divide and deceive. Therefore, if you and I can maintain a perspective of peace in our lives regardless of our circumstances, we will establish a strong defense against the enemy s attacks. 1 P age
The Relationship of the Shoes to Armor. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, so when we put on the truth, we put on Christ. When we learned about the Breastplate of Righteousness, we learned that the righteousness that protects us is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been imparted to us. And in Jesus Christ, we have peace. We have peace in Christ. Ephesians 2:14 says; For He Himself is our peace, The relationship of the shoes to the rest of the armor is a very logical one. Think about this; We start with the truth, which brings us to righteousness, which results in peace. Because we have become righteous in Christ, we are now at peace with God. Romans 5:1 puts it this way: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Our hearts are at peace says Paul. And since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. When you have peace with God, it changes your whole morale; it change the way you think. It goes from uncertainty to very high, you are ready for anything; No ground is too rough for you; You have Christ, therefore you have good morale. Now here is the thing: We are not in a battle against people, although it may seem that way at times. We are in a battle in the realm of thoughts and attitudes, so it is important that we be equipped with peace in the inward man. Jesus Christ is our peace. He comes to us in the midst of our struggle, when the battle is almost unbearable and the circumstances look impossible, and the Bible says He speaks peace to us and gives us the encouragement that we need so that our morale is lifted and we can go back into that battle (whatever that battle may be) and be victorious! Jesus said These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33. And the Apostle Paul says: and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 So the relationship of our shoes to the rest of the armor is simply this: We start with truth. The truth of God. The truthfulness in us. We move from truth to righteousness. The righteousness of Christ and our own practical righteousness. And from righteousness, we move to peace. The Requirement of the Shoes for the Armor Jesus said in Luke 21:26 men s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, Here we are, the people of God. We are ready for armor and God has given us a foundation of peace and we walk into this ambivalent world, filled with all the concern and challenges and we become the reflection of the peace of God to the rest of the world around us. 2
Yet, men s hearts are failing them for fear. Anxiety is at an all-time high, so basically what we need is peace. We need a sense of inner security. A sense that with everything going on around us, it doesn t affect the center of who we are. That is what the shoes are for to give us the foundation of peace so that as we go into the war and fight the battle so that we do not wonder where we stand, we know where we stand. We stand in the presence of the peace of God, which He has given to us. The Reasons for the Shoes as Armor: If you had to go to one passage in the Bible that talks about anxiety, and worry it s the 6 th chapter of Matthew. We are given the prescription for worry. Here we are reminded as we look at this, that is the reasons we need peace are evident to us. Without Shoes, You are Ungrateful. In Matthew 6:25, it says: Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? This last question is rhetorical in this verse. In essence, Jesus is saying, don t be ungrateful for the provision that you have. You cannot be fighting for the Lord while not trusting Him for the very basic things that He has promised. Don t be ungrateful in the provision that you have, but be confident in what God has done for you. If you don t have the peace from trusting God for the very provisions of your life, you will be unable to fight in the war. So if you don t trust God, you don t have that inner peace and then you become ungrateful. Without Shoes, You are Unreasonable. Look at Matthew 6:26; Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? It is not reasonable to think that if God would take care of the birds but He would not take care of us. So it is illogical. If the God of the universe cares for the birds and the lilies, then doesn t He care for you? And if He does, you can rest assured in that truth. When you have peace with God, it s this comfort and you are not fretting about the daily things that the rest of the world worries about, because you have come to understand this confidence in God. Without Shoes, You Are Unproductive. Matthew 6:27: Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? You can worry all you want to, but you cannot change anything! Most things we worry about, never happen. Worry is always about future things that we do not have any control over. So, if you are constantly worrying, how are you going to do battle with the enemy? The Bible says you have to put on the Shoes of Peace; you have to get past all the things that everyone else worries about. What good does it do to worry? That is the whole point Not having your Shoes on, is unproductive! To think that you can go through your life thinking you can take care of all the circumstances in your life by yourself; trying to fight the war without the peace of God is not going to work! You have to be able to trust the one who has called you into battle. Without Shoes, You are Un-Christian 3
Scripture does not say that a person who worries is not a Christian, nor do I. That is not the point of Jesus words in Matthew verse 32: For after all these things [food and clothing] the Gentiles [pagans] seek. But He is saying that we act like a person who doesn t know God when we live a worry-filled life. Gentiles in the Bible is used to refer to pagans people who don t know God. A person who doesn t know God has every reason to be anxious about the future. And when we, who claim to know God, act like those who don t, we violate what we profess to believe: God is good and will provide for those who belong to Him. We need to take to heart Joshua s question to the Israelites: We need to decide whose side we are on God s or the world s (Joshua 24:14). If we say we are on God s side, then we need to live like it which means living in peace. That is Jesus recommendation, of course. It is what separates us from the world: peace that also protects us from Satan. Without Shoes, You are Unprepared Finally, without peace we are unprepared. In Matthew 6:33-34 Jesus reminds us that sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Every day of our life brings new and unexpected challenges plenty for any person to deal with. We do not need to add to that daily menu of concerns or matters that lie in the future, about which we can do little. That doesn t mean we shouldn t be wise and plan for the future (Proverbs 6:6-11). But it does mean we shouldn t worry about the future, especially with regard to things God has promised to provide. If our feet are not shod with the peace of God, we will take onto our daily plate things we have no business worrying about. In Psalms 55:22 David wrote, Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. And the apostle Peter quoted the same verse in his first epistle (5:7-8) as a prelude to his word about Satan, our enemy: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. So Peter makes a connection between the peace of God and attacks from the enemy a connection we would also do well to make. Those are five good reasons to make sure that our feet are shod with the peace of God that comes from receiving the gospel of peace. To receive Christ s gospel is to receive Christ. And to receive Him is to go into battle clothed with His divine protection. The Requisitioning of the Shoes for the Battle We know how to find and purchase the shoes we need for daily life, but what about spiritual shoes? How do we get the peace of God that will protect us from the attacks of Satan? Let me suggest five ways: meeting the Prince of Peace, meditation upon the Prince of Peace, manifesting the Spirit of peace, memorizing the Word of peace, and measuring our life by the rule of peace. Meet the Author of Peace We meet the Author of peace when we meet Christ, the One who established peace between God and man by His substitutionary sacrifice on Calvary s cross. Once we know the Author of peace, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Many other Scriptures testify to God being the Author of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:16; Hebrews 13:20). 4
The important question for you to ask and answer is this: Have I met the Author of Peace? There can be no peace without that meeting taking place. Meditate Upon the Prince of Peace As with all relationships, it takes time and communication for them to grow as they should. Once we meet the Author of peace we must grow in our relationship with Him in order to walk in His peace as Isaiah 26:3 says: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You. Meeting and meditating upon Christ through prayer and the study of His Word is crucial to keeping our mind stayed on Him and knowing His peace. Manifest the Spirit of Peace in Your Life The third way to acquire and keep peace is by being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Peace is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), the fruit of the Spirit being the manifestation of Christ in us (Galatians 2:20). When we allow the Holy Spirit to control our thoughts and actions, then peace will be part of the result. Just as Christ was filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit (John 3:34) and manifested victory over anxiety and worry in His own life, we can do the same. Memorize the Word of Peace Unfortunately, the older most Christians get, the less they seem interested in Scripture memory maybe because memory becomes more of a challenge the older we get! But remember how Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)? It was by quoting Scripture to correct the lying temptations Satan was shooting at Him like fiery darts. It is the Word of God against which Satan has no power, no rebuttal. And if we are to resist him, we will do it only on the basis of the authoritative Word of God. So please regardless of your age continue to meditate on and to memorize the Word of God. Measure Your Life by the Rule of Peace Finally, let the peace of God rule in your [heart] (Colossians 3:15). In other words, let peace guide your decisions and choices in life. Remember that peace is the fruit of the Spirit. If you don t have peace about something you re considering, it may not be from God. He is perfectly capable of communicating His peace to you if you will wait upon Him for it. If you need His peace today, follow the reasons and requisites outlined in this lesson and you will have it. 5
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