EVANGELISM (Part 2).

 To begin our series I want us to focus on Ephesians 6:15 . "Having shod your feet with the READINESS OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE."

"The Gospel of Peace"

Before we focus on the word "readiness" and its place in the armor of God, I want to say just a word about the gospel of peace. The gospel that we have for the world—for our lost dad or sister or neighbor or classmate of colleague or unreached people group—the gospel that we have is the good news that God purchased peace by the death of his Son and offers it to sinners who believe in Jesus.

We have the good news that God's omnipotent wrath against sinners has been taken away through the death of Jesus for sin. And everyone who believes is reconciled to him freely by grace. And in the place of enmity comes peace. And there is nothing sweeter in all the world than to be at peace with God.

Strange to Find "Peace" in Ephesians 6?

Sometimes commentators point out how strange it is that Paul should mention a gospel of peace right in the middle of a passage dealing with spiritual warfare and conflict and armor. But it isn't strange is it? The aim of our warfare is that people would accept the terms of peace that God holds out, namely, faith in Jesus. And the only reason there is any conflict at all is because the power of sin and the powers of Satan are dead set against making peace with God.

Look at Ephesians 2:13 to see Paul develop the gospel of peace for us.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. 14) For he is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility .16) and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. 17) And he came and preached peace to you who were far off [Gentiles!] and peace to those who were near [Jews!]; 18) for through him we have access in one Spirit to the Father.

The good news of peace is that when Christ died and shed his blood for sin, two kinds of enmity were overcome. The enmity between God and repentant sinners was brought to an end. And the enmity between races and factions in Christ was brought to an end. So Christ became our peace. That is the gospel of peace.

Putting on the Whole Armor of God

We have heard it by the grace of God. We have believed it by the grace of God. And we have been saved through it by the grace of God. And now Paul says in Ephesians 6:15 that the readiness of this gospel of peace is to be put on like shoes as part of our spiritual armor. " . . . and having shod your feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace."

So let's think for a few minutes about this readiness as part of the whole armor of God. Verses 11–12 say, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Four things that we learn from those two verses:

1. All Life Is War

From the cradle to the grave, life is war. Your soul, your mind, your body, your family, your career are fields of conflict. Until Satan is finally thrown into the lake of fire, our peace with God will have to be a vigilant peace. Because Satan will certainly give us no peace if we are at peace with God.

2. The War Is Against Supernatural Evil Powers

The war we are in is not a war with flesh and blood but with supernatural evil powers. What amazes me about Paul's words here is not what he affirms but what he denies. I'm not surprised to hear him say that we wrestle with evil angelic, demonic, supernatural powers. What surprises me is that he says (in v. 12) we do NOT wrestle with flesh and blood.

I want to say to Paul, "You've been stoned and beaten and imprisoned and run out of town and shipwrecked. Your flesh has been torn and your blood has been spilt and that has hindered your ministry again and again. The flesh of others has torn your flesh and the blood of others has boiled against your blood. What do you mean you don't wrestle against flesh and blood? It's people with their hands and their stones and rods and chains that have cost you dearly and tested your faith almost to the limit."

I think Paul would answer. "You're right. Flesh and blood is real and it can be very evil. But what I mean is this. Whenever someone's flesh attacks me, or someone's blood boils against me, or my way is hindered by man, something else is also going on, something deeper, bigger, more terrible, more sinister, more destructive than meets the eye. I don't mean that flesh and blood can't hurt or hinder the cause of Christ. I mean that the prince of the power of the air is more dangerous than any of his subjects and that he must be overcome in every instance of conflict, or the battle is lost."

Consider Ephesians 2:1–2 . "And you he made alive when you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience."

Sure, the sons of disobedience (in their flesh and blood reality) can oppose us in our spiritual warfare; but it's more decisive to defeat the spirit that works in them and the prince of the power of the air that they follow, than simply to wrestle as though all you are dealing with is human nature.

So the first thing we see in verses 11–12 is that life is war, and the second thing we see is that the conflict, if it is going to be successful, will be fought with supernatural, demonic forces. If they are not engaged, the victory is superficial.

3. There Is Danger of Falling in This Battle

The third thing we see is that there is danger of falling in this battle. Three times Paul tells us to take pains to stand, that is, not to fall. We've just spent several weeks on this issue of

perseverance in the book of Hebrews so we need not dwell on it here.

4. God Has Made Provision for Us to Stand

The fourth thing we see in these verses is that God has made provision for us so that we can stand and not fall. And that provision is armor. God is able to keep us from falling, Jude says, and the way he keeps us from falling is by fitting us for successful spiritual combat. So if your aim is to persevere in the Christian life and not be defeated by the wiles of the devil, then you must put on the armor described in these verses. This is how God means to keep us safe unto the day of salvation.

That's the context in which we read about having our feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace (verse 15). Notice that we are not shod with the gospel. The gospel is the word of God and the word of God is our sword according to verse 17. We are not shod with the gospel. What we are shod with is the READINESS of the gospel. Now what does that mean?

'DecencyWrites'.