Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
The Gospel Shoes: Armour of God Part IV, Spiritual Foundation
Step into a world where faith meets readiness as we delve into the powerful metaphor of “the shoes of peace” in this engaging episode IV Armour of God. Drawing from Ephesians 6:15, we unveil the deep significance of being spiritually grounded and prepared to face life's challenges. Our discussion takes you back to the historical context of the Roman Empire, illustrating how soldiers relied on sturdy footwear for stability and protection during battle. Just as these soldiers needed to stand firm, Christians today need to be equipped with the gospel to navigate the complexities of life.
Join us as we walk through the implications of wearing the shoes of peace—equipping ourselves to face life’s spiritual battles, ensuring we stand firm while spreading the good news of Jesus.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Back again with the armour of God. So we're still in Ephesians 6, 6.15. Talk about the shoes of the gospel of peace. This is part four of the armour. See, paul wrote about having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of God. Well, this piece of armour is a mouthful, in English, the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. Sometimes we shorten it to the shoes of peace or the shoes of the gospel of peace. Sometimes we shorten it to the shoes of peace or the shoes of the gospel. But the whole phrase is important. Before we can unpack exactly what the preparation of the gospel of peace means, let's take a closer look at the shoes themselves. Now, if you see, what I'm doing is I'm making a comparison between the parts of the armor of God from a natural perspective and also from a spiritual perspective. Now we spiritually put on the full armor of God. But to really understand what that means, you've got to see what these parts of the body of Christ actually mean in the natural. So you can see, you get this. I suppose you can say you get this vision in your head of being able to have a greater understanding of how this would work for you spiritually.
Speaker 1:So during the time of the Apostle Paul, the shoes worn by the soldiers of the Roman Empire were called caligae. They weren't especially designed to keep soldiers' feet healthy during a rigorous or a long force march. They were very different from the sandals worn by most of the population, and I'll explain why. The shoes were constructed from three layers of leather which were pulled up and laced around the ankle. The calagie helped protect against blisters and foot disease. In addition, small spikes or iron hobnails were often driven into the sole of the shoe in order to give them firm footing on uneven terrain. So the shoes of peace is all about providing a firm foundation. A soldier's shoes form the foundation of an armament. In those days, the foot soldiers of the empire relied on walking as their primary means of transportation, so the ability to move easily and comfortably was a necessity for them. In addition to that, they needed to be able to step about in battle without thinking about where they placed their feet. They needed solid footing in order to concentrate on the battle at hand, and the hobnails in their shoes made it easier to hold their ground or to navigate through difficult terrain. So just going on that a little bit more well, if you look at the modern soldier like now, okay, we have a thing called a GP or what they call a jump boot, and the thing is, yes, the sole is reinforced for comfort and durability, but also what actually comes up over the ankle is to give additional structural strength. So when you are needed to move for long distances or for long periods of time or uneven territory, you have a strong foundation to start with.
Speaker 1:So the word preparation used in Paul in the Ephesians 6-15, comes from the Greek word hitomaseia. Thing comes from the greek word hito messiah. And well, the vines complete expository dictionary of the testament says it. It's about what hito messiah, in its own goss, its own content, means. The gospel itself is to be a firm footing. So basically, see, so what they're doing is is, if you look at the things in the, in the greek or in the hebrew, you see that the way that they structure the words, it relates to part of its function, as well as being a different terminology for the feet or firm footing.
Speaker 1:The gospel itself is to be a firm footing of the believer he or she walked, being worthy of it and therefore a testimony in regards to it. So if you're looking at this and you go back to say the meaning of firm foundation is what this actually means in the Greek In Psalm 89.14,. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before your face, just as righteousness and justice underpin the throne of God. So the gospel message provides a solid footing for a Christian and it must be set in a solid foundation. The gospel of peace provides us with the preparation or the foundation we need to face life's spiritual battles, in other words, with our Christian journey. We need to make sure that we have a solid foundation. The world or we can't go into society not being prepared to be able to defend or to clarify our faith. So, if we put it in another perspective, what does the gospel of peace that Jesus brought mean? Which is what our foundation is for.
Speaker 1:The gospel message that Jesus brought was about a coming government of God on earth, and what we should be doing is preparing for it. For it. The word gospel translated from the Greek word eugeolian, and it means good news or good tidings, or it could even go to another extent, where you expand that a little bit more, and it means like a eulogy, it's like a summary or stating of something that is going on, but with Paul during his ministry on earth, he had to have his foundation set before him and in order to do that, he had to have something to relate that to, and so that's Jesus Christ. So Jesus made multiple references to the gospel message. An example can be found in Matthew 4.23.
Speaker 1:And Jesus went on all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel to the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. So Jesus came to tell people the good news, the gospel of the coming kingdom of God. It was a message that included a call to action. Now, after John was put in prison, jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. That's Mark 1, 14-15. Now you see where we're going to straight away.
Speaker 1:Now, if you listen to what Jesus says and you listen about how he phrased things that he spoke about, you can clearly see that this is setting a foundation for us to be able to walk in Now. So you're hearing all the right words foundation, walking gospel good news. All of these things are all about what Jesus brought. So he set the benchmark, or the foundation is another way of putting it. So the gospel message that Jesus brought was about a coming, a government of God on earth and what we should be doing to prepare for it. See, jesus only did part of the job, and so as you read through the gospel, you actually see very clearly that Jesus brought a directive to his disciples, whose feet were to be firmly planted in the gospel. The good news, so what actually happens here, is that it was set up in such a way that the good news of his coming kingdom was to be shared and spread throughout the nations.
Speaker 1:So if we look at it from another perspective, another aspect, the notice he gave was for the 12 original disciples. See, he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure disease. He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. That is in Luke 9, 1 and 2. The disciples carried out his commands. So they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere Luke 9, 6.
Speaker 1:So his final command to his disciples, sometimes called the Great Commission. It actually contains the same instructions. And he said to them go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mark 15 and 16.
Speaker 1:In fact, the feet of those disciples who were delivering the message of peace are figuratively described as beautiful. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? And how are they going to write about it? And how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who brings glad tidings to good things? That's in Romans 10.15. So if we understand what the shoes of the gospel of peace really are, then obviously there will be people out there saying, okay, well, look at the world the way it is at the moment. What is peace In our world? We have come to think of peace as a time when there are no active wars being waged. But the Bible shows us that peace is more than just the absence of conflict. Peace comes from the unity and closeness with God.
Speaker 1:There are many prophecies in the Bible about the world that will exist when the kingdom of God has been established, and the peace is the operative word to describe the world that is pictured. Notice in the passages. We go back to the Old Testament. In Isaiah 2, 2-4, it says this Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and shall come and say Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of a God of Jacob. He will teach us his way and we shall walk in his path, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord, from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people that shall bear their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. The word that will exist when the kingdom of God has been established will be a world where the instruments of war will be destroyed and the real peace will exist.
Speaker 1:Man, what a better way to bring the news than to actually look at that, if you understand the complexity of that and I mean I could do this another time if people want that but to be able to break down what Isaiah the prophet is saying here about the coming Messiah and also the coming kingdom that he is talking about. It really shows the importance of us having the shoes of peace, because they offer protection, not only protection for us as those that are spreading the good news, but also those that are hearing it. You know, a solid belief and a grounding in the gospel of peace brings hope to a Christian's life. See, I've actually found this that many, many years when I was working through community services and seeing so many people come in there, the one thing they needed more than anything else and I know this sounds a little bit how would you say, it's not hypocritical, it's basically it contradicts itself, so to speak. That's the word I'm looking for. And then they come in.
Speaker 1:Part of our role as boarding in spiritual believers is to help lead people to christ and so that they can share in what we share in what we share in. But it doesn't necessarily start there. Some people think that whatever's going wrong in someone's life, all they need is to have a relationship with God. Now, that is true in one sense, but if you look at it from another perspective, they need hope more than anything else. They need hope more than anything else, see, if they haven't got hope. If they haven't got hope, then there's nowhere to start, there's nowhere you can actually be able to have a foundation to start with. It's not there. The hope of the gospel, see, is, but they've got to have hope before the gospel comes, because if they're in a hopeless situation, right then you never know how you're going to get through them. So I'll give you another example. Let's go to Colossians 1, 21 to 23. That might help you a little bit better. All right, all right, here we go, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, paul, became a minister. That's not the whole bit, but I mean that will clarify that a little better.
Speaker 1:The enemies of the Roman Empire would sometimes place sharp, spiked objects on the ground in front of them before a battle. Any attacking soldier not wearing shoes substantial enough for the attack would soon find themselves crippled or killed. Though the shoes were not by any means the most well-known part of a soldier's armor, they would be vital. And it's the same with I'll give you another example One of the things that used to happen in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict is that the enemy, the Viet Cong, would use what they call punji sticks, and they're bamboo, sharpened and put into little pits and they're dipped sharpened, you know, and put into little pits and they're dipped in yucky stuff so you can get an infection from it. And so it was designed to go straight through the sole of a soldier's, gp or AB engager's boot. So what they did is they decided to build them and they put a small sleeve of steel in between the tread of the boot and the sole itself, which was some protection against these punji sticks.
Speaker 1:So the adage is that if you injure someone, they can't fight, but it takes more than one person out because you need two people to care for the injured. If you're dead, you're dead, so to speak. I'm getting off track here, all right. The same is true about the armour of God. It's concerning our enemy, satan, the devil Balazabah, call him what you like. He will use every opportunity to litter our path with destruction and traps, and the only shoes God gives us as part of his armour can give us the protection we need to keep moving safely across the battlefield. Putting all three elements of the shoes of peace together.
Speaker 1:At the beginning of this article, we notice that the preparation of the gospel of the peace is something of a mouthful, but none of those words are fluff. Each of them tells us something about the importance of the shoes. At the core of all of this, we have the gospel, the good news, the proclamation and the promise of the kingdom of God, that it is real. The gospel is real. It also tells you that it exists and that it is coming. So there's three parts. So there's three parts. There is the fact that the kingdom of God is real, the fact that it actually does exist and that it is coming. The gospel message is at its core, a message of the peace that will envelop the entire world when God establishes his kingdom on earth. And when we wear the gospel of peace like shoes on our feet, it provides us with the preparedness, a firm foundation that allows us to keep sure footing in life's more difficult moments.
Speaker 1:So you've got a few worldly sayings, and some of you find that when people actually have these, they make these random statements. A lot of people don't realize the origin of what they're saying. I mean, I'll give you a classic example. Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Now, whoever come up with that and what they said, they've got it backwards, though. Words are very powerful. Words can do more harm to you than someone hitting you with a stick or throwing a stone at you. Words can do more harm to you than someone hitting you with a stick or throwing a stone at you. So be careful which of these colloquial terminologies that you use, because I mean sometimes they are relevant and sometimes they give you a greater understanding of things Like.
Speaker 1:Here's another one. I don't know where the origin of this comes from, but it says if you're going to talk the talk, you also have to walk the walk. So, basically, you can talk about something, but unless you're ready to actually put that into action, your words really don't mean much. They have got no clarity. The other thing you said is that you know my dad used to say this all the time because I used to get hand-me-downs. I was the fourth child and all the ones above me were my brothers. There was no sisters there, and the sisters were born after me, so I always got hand-me-downs, and so my shoes look worn out before I even got them. Sometimes they had holes in the bases and dad would just put some cardboard or something in there. So if I stepped on something, it's not's not going to go through my foot as easy and I'm not going to wear holes in my socks. I'm getting off track here. But basically it says I complained I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet. So you've got to always try and put things in the right perspective when you're commenting on something or trying to make a point.
Speaker 1:In saying that, how then are you going to prepare yourself when you put on the armour of God? How are you going to decide how you put your best foot forward? See, jesus was saying go out into all the world and preach the gospel, heal the brokenhearted, set those that are in captivity free Luke 4, 18 and 19, because we're declaring the year of the Lord. So it's an exciting thing to be able to be sharing the gospel. But it's that you know. And the disciples asked us. So what happens if they don't want to hear it? He says kick the dust from your feet and go to the next town. See, not everybody will be one. They'll either be ready to hear the gospel or two. They will want to hear it, and it may be because they've experienced something that is traumatic in their past and they're not ready to move on from that.
Speaker 1:But that's not your job. You're not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. You are just a human being that is filled with the Holy Spirit. You have the Word of God dwelling in your heart, and that's why the more time you spend in the word, the better understanding you have of the word, and so, therefore, the greater chance there is that you can pass that on. There's nothing worse and I've said this before there's nothing worse than someone you know you feel led by the Holy Spirit, to speak to someone about the gospel of. You know Jesus Christ, right, and the first thing they do is they ask you a question. You go oh, don't know the answer to that, and you go why don't you know the answer to that? Aren't you a Christian? Don't you know the answer to that? Aren't you a Christian? Don't you know the Word of God? Well, very, very few people know every single Word of God, except Jesus himself, right. But the more time you spend in the Word, the more you read the Word, the more of it you retain, and also the Holy Spirit will sometimes drop Scripture into your heart, and so you can actually use that.
Speaker 1:Don't rely on head knowledge. See, I had someone ask me, when I was asking them a question, about their faith, and I quoted a Scripture. You know, an easy one John 3.16,. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I'm saying who do you know that will give their life to save your life? And he goes oh yeah, but that's just one scripture. What about this? And like to be quite honest, I cannot even remember what the question was. But he asked. But he ended with nobody's read the bible from cover to cover. And at that point in my life I fell into that category. And so I said to myself straight away I did not want to find myself in that position again. So I made a point of reading the Bible cover to cover. Now, if you are going to take that on board yourself and decide that that's what you need to do and I'm not bragging, but I'm on my fourth time of reading through the Bible I'm doing one with Nicky and Pippa Gimbel they're the founders of Alpha, but it's yeah, read the Bible in 365 days.
Speaker 1:But also you've got to be aware that you can't read it like a novel. You can't start at Genesis and just keep going until you hit Revelation. It is very challenging, especially when you're going through Exodus, numbers and Deuteronomy. So what you've got to do is you've got to break it up. You read parts of the Old Testament and then you go in and you read parts of the New Testament and you're sort of like refreshing the body every time so you can get further along.
Speaker 1:But the point I'm trying to make, I mean J John was joking once when he got there and he goes just imagine if you died and you went to heaven and you're walking around heaven and everybody else walks up to you and this guy walks up to you and says oh hi, my name's Obadiah. He says have you read my book? And you go what book? You wrote a book, oh. And then you walk on a little bit further and you see Zephaniah and he says hey, long time, no see. He says have you read my book? And he goes have you read a book too? You wrote a book too. It sounds funnier when he says it too. It sounds funny when he says it.
Speaker 1:The point that I'm making is how are your feet prepared for the walk?
Speaker 1:A Christian wearing the armour of God will have his or her feet prepared and shod in the gospel of peace, and that's what you need to do.
Speaker 1:Have yourself full of the word in the gospel of peace, and that's what you need to do.
Speaker 1:Have yourself full of the word, not to be full of the word. The optimum message here is if you are prepared to share the gospel with other people, you can only do that if you understand the word itself, and that is by listening to people like me and other pastors and leaders that do podcasts, attending a local church and doing training and courses and things like that, and doing training and courses and things like that. If you are new to Christianity, or even if you've just been one of those Christians around for a very, very long time and all you are doing is warming the pews, it's time for you to get in there and to realize what the Lord has tasked you to do. So, if you can understand that, go through the Gospels and learn more and more about Jesus and what he did and the walk that he took and the sharing of the Gospel. So bye for now, and we'll talk to you next week as we continue on our journey with the armour of God. God bless for now.
