Fighting with the Full Armor of God: The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace (Part 2)

{Ephesians 6:10-15}

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, 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, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

How does the Gospel of peace ready us to stand and fight.

Have you ever gotten into a fight? If you have, you know that traction is important. It is important to have good footing. For the Romans, as we mentioned last week, the soldiers wore shoes with spikes on the bottom, like cleats.

The Gospel of Peace gives us the Eagerness to stand and fight.

The gospel gets sweeter as we hear more of it. As we learn more about ourselves, we see how undeserving we are... but we also learn how immensely loved we are.

Ever since Adam & Eve, the human heart has rebelled from God. All of our hearts are bent away from God because of sin. (Romans 8:7-8) To put it simply, the human heart is at war with God.

Jesus died for us while we were still rebelling. while we were still going where we wanted. (Isaiah 53:5-6) Not only do we have peace with God through Jesus. We have also been reconciled with God. It is like we had a strained relationship... and now there is love and restoration of our relationship with God. (Romans 8:31-39) For those in Christ, the God of the universe is always for you. This knowledge will give us a cheerful eagerness to fight.

We stand with an Eagerness of Love.

For a christian, we see our sin & His love. What keeps us from sin and keeps us fighting? We remember God's love for us & try to please God. We will resist sin because we know God's love for us is so great. Our God has been so good to us, we wish to honor Him.

We stand with an Eagerness of Sure Victory & Glory.

We gladly enter warfare. If God is for us, we will gladly & eagerly enter battle. We are promised victory in the war. We may get beat up and scraped, but we will be victorious. Why? Because the God of the universe is for us. We will not ultimately fail. We may lose some battles, but the war is already won by God.