Shoes of Readiness

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:15

As Paul is teaching the Ephesian believers about how God has equipped them for spiritual battle, he comes to the third piece of armour – the shoes. The shoes symbolise our readiness that comes from the gospel. In particular there is a focus on evangelism. Part of overcoming the enemy is to spread the good news about what God has done, and how this can cause us to have peace with one another.

The Gospel..: At the heart of spiritual battle is the gospel. Through his death on the cross, Jesus triumphed over the forces and disarmed them (see Colossians 2:15). There is now no charge or accusation that can stand against God’s people. In the book of Revelation we are told that Satan was defeated ‘by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony’. Through what Jesus has done, and through his people spreading the good news of this to all around, the devil is thwarted and victory is won. By his resurrection and ascension, Jesus is seated on the throne of heaven with all authority, and no power or force can rival him. Just as the shoes a soldier wears give him firm footing for the battle, so the gospel gives us a firm place to stand to resist the evil one.

…Of Peace: As Paul brings up the gospel here, he specifically highlights the peace that comes by the gospel. The work of the devil is to separate people from God and to divide people from one another. By contrast, the gospel brings peace between people and God (see Romans 5:1) and also between people and people (Eph 2:14). Our peace with God is illustrated by the curtain in the temple being torn as Jesus died on the cross. The curtain was a symbol of the barrier that existed between people and God because of our sin and his holiness. It spoke of the way people have been blocked from his presence ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the garden of Eden in Genesis 3:23. The tearing of the curtain shows the the issue has been dealt with and the barrier removed, and so there is reconciliation between people and God. Moreover, the gospel also reconciles people with one another. This theme is developed in detail in Ephesians 2, where we see that in Christ the walls that had previously divided people are torn down and now in Christ we are one new humanity. Our peace with one another through the gospel has profound effects, including no longer viewing humans as enemies and seeking retaliation, and not discriminating against any, however different to ourselves they may be.

Readiness: The shoes particularly speak of readiness. The gospel is good news, but it is not good news to be kept to ourselves. There are many who are yet to trust in Jesus and are still living alienated from God and others. As we are equipped for the fight, we have the news that they need to hear in order to be saved and reconciled, and we have been commissioned by Jesus to take this news to the ends of the earth (see Acts 1:8). Additionally, he has not left us alone in the task but has given the Spirit to empower us for the mission. We should be thinking about how we can share the good news of the gospel with those around us, and to this end we may want to pray for opportunities, consider how we would answer tricky questions, think about what events we might invite people to, and prepare how we might share the gospel message when we get the chance.

Potential Applications:

• Invite people to tell those around them a couple of people they would like to share the gospel with and pray for each other for opportunities to do so.
• Offer the chance for those in the room to respond to the gospel and find peace with God.
• Perhaps some people have relational conflict with others. You could offer to pray for reconciliation for them and that they would know the peace of the gospel in those relationships.