(You can watch this message on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/zxwwI6LQtzg
I heard a message some time ago, during which the pastor referred to a song written by John Lennon of the Beatles.
In
the decade of the 60s, Lennon, Ringo Star, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison
were enjoying the limelight of near-worldwide fame. On February 9, 1964, the
group made their American debut to a record breaking 73 million viewers on the
Ed Sullivan show. A year later, in 1965, Lennon wrote these lyrics of one of
the Beatle’s more popular songs:
Help! I need somebody, Help! Not
just anybody, Help! You know I need someone. Help!
When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help
in any way. But now these days are gone and I'm not so self-assured. Now I find
I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please, please help me?
Shortly before his murder
in 1980, Rolling Stone Magazine interviewed Lennon. When asked about the
background of that song, Lennon said the lyrics tell the story of what he was
going through at the time. The famous Beatle, whose name was instantly
recognizable in nearly every corner of the globe said this about the song:
“It’s just me singing
[for] ‘Help!’ and I meant it… . When
‘Help!’ came out, I was crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast
rock’n’roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time . . . But later, I knew I really was crying out for
help.”
For the past three weeks we have been looking at a text in Ephesians chapter six related to supernatural warfare. Let’s listen to it again to remind ourselves of the context for today’s message:
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one . . . .”
We have already looked at the evidence of the rapidly
burgeoning supernatural evil all around us. We also examined the ‘belt of
truth’ with which we are to gird our loins, the breastplate of righteousness,
and the shield of faith with which we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the
supernatural enemy.
Today’s message centers on our footwear in verse 15. I like the way the translators of the Christian Standard Bible render this section from the Greek. Verse 14: “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, [and now verse 15]: and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.”
The Scriptures speak of
many different types of peace – being at peace with our neighbors, enjoying
peace of heart, or peace of mind. It also talks about being at peace with God –
and it is THIS peace that I want to focus on today – being at peace with
God.
Most people probably don’t even think about being at peace
with God. Nor do they even care. They’re too busy with their lives to think
about eternity. You know people like that. I know people like that. But let me
be quick to say this about those who hardly ever think of God – and much less in
terms of being at peace with Him.
There was a time in my life when I lived for YEARS not giving
God more than a passing glance. And most of the time, not even a glance. But then
it happened, in the stillness of the night, when I was all alone and far from
home and friends and family, God was able to break through my self-imposed
isolation from Himself.
And, well, here I am today.
You and I can never know what is going on in a person’s heart
in the stillness of their night. Like was true in the case of John Lennon, when
they are all alone and far from things that comfort them and distract them, God
calls everyone to Himself.
He calls everyone to Himself because He is not wanting ANY to
perish, but for ALL to come to salvation.
As Augustine wrote in his classic book titled, Confession, “God made
us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”
I do not know if John Lennon ever recognized, even to the day
he died, his God-designed cry for help was, well, God-designed. His lyrics were
rooted in God moving in his heart to look to the ONLY one who could ever truly
help him.
Which now circles us back to St. Paul’s point about the
supernatural battle in which we are all engaged. He tells us to sandal up our
feet with readiness to present to others the gospel of peace – that being the good
news that you and I, and all the John Lennons of the world, can have peace
with God.
The good news that anyone can be reconciled with God.
We can be adopted into His own family of sons and daughters who’ve been
purchased for Himself with the precious blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus
our Savior, Jesus our Messiah.
The soles of the Roman soldier’s sandals were studded with
what would resemble cleats. Those cleats – like those on the bottom of some
athletic shoes which help the athlete maintain a firm grip in the dirt or sand
– so the Roman soldier’s sandals had cleats which helped them ‘stand firm’ on
the dirt as he did battle with an enemy.
Stability in the battle. That’s why Paul wrote to his protégé
Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God
as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of
truth.” (2 Timothy 2: 15).
When we do battle for our souls, and for the souls of others,
we don’t want to be slipping and sliding into every wave of worldly
philosophies and traditions as we fight. Spiritual truth ANCHORS us, it roots
us, it steadies us in the battle.
The good news of the
Cross is for all who, in the stillness of their night and in the emptiness of
their own isolation, for all who wonder if there is any hope for them in God. Has
He turned away from me because of the things I’ve done?
Does He even know my
name?
There will be people you
will meet every day who have asked themselves those very questions. And there
will be people you will meet who, like the woman I told you about a few weeks
ago who said to me when I asked her why she doesn’t love Jesus, she answered,
“Because He doesn’t love me.”
You will meet people
like that, people who think God doesn’t love them.
Child of God, listen!
Put on your God-given sandals of the preparation and the presentation of
the gospel of the peace we can have with God. We can have peace with Him
because He has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus.
If you haven’t yet
memorized this text in Romans 5, decide to do so: Hold it like a tight belt
around your waist. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please remember the Greek word
translated ‘justified’ means in its fullest sense to be declared by God as
being without guilt before Him. Paul continues in this fifth chapter of Romans,
verse 8:
God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having
now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life.
(Romans 5:1-10)
No wonder Paul also writes to the Christians at Corinth: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
Peace with God. The
Scriptures make the promise from one end of the Book to the other. We can have
peace with God, and God has given you and me the most awesome and awe-inspiring
privilege to proclaim to the perishing that unfathomable truth.
Many of you know these words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn:
“Rescue the perishing,
care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; weep o'er the
erring one, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.”
“Rescue
the perishing, care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.”
“Though
they are slighting Him, still He is waiting, waiting the penitent child to
receive; plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently. He will forgive if
they only believe.”
"[Oh] Rescue the perishing, duty demands it. Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide; back to the narrow way patiently win them, tell the poor wanderer a Savior has died.”
Child of God
bought with the blood of the Savior, do you think you are unqualified to rescue the perishing, the John
Lennons of the world? Don’t let Satan trick you into selling yourself so short.
If you love Jesus, if you serve Jesus to the best you are able, then God will
use YOU to rescue them.
Remember, neither you
nor I stand alone in this battle. We could simply read to someone the genealogy
of Jesus from the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel, and the Holy Spirit would
use even that list of names to draw someone to the Savior. We are not alone in
this battle.
Again, St. Paul wrote to
the Christians at Rome: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they
believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a
preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” (Romans 10:13-15)
Oh, may God help us to tell them what they need to do to
have peace with God, to be reconciled with God. It’s so simple a message, a
child can understand it:
We must tell Him of our sins. We must apologize to Him for
those sins and ask His forgiveness. We must ask Him to help us, through the
power of the Holy Spirit, to serve Jesus the Messiah for the rest of our life.
And finally, we must follow the Lord’s commandment to be baptized for the
cleansing of our sins. I do not think you can find any reference in the New
Testament outside of the gospels where salvation by faith is not always
accompanied by baptism.
Now, back to the armor. As I have said before in this
series, each piece of the Roman soldier’s armor was vital to his safety and the
safety of his comrades-in-arms. Each piece was necessary to his ability to
successfully wage battle against the enemy.
In the same way, each piece of our spiritual armor is vital
to our protection and the protection of others. And our armor is also vital to
our ability to successfully wage battle against our supernatural enemy.
Gird your loins with truth – God’s inerrant and infallible
word. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Tell it to others. Put on the breastplate
of righteousness which God credits to us through the sacrificial atonement of
Jesus the Messiah. Take up the shield of faith with which you will extinguish
the enemy’s fiery lies and doubts and temptations and confusions. And put on
your battle-designed shoes, prepared and ready to tell all the John Lennons of
this world, “God loves you. God died for you, so that you and He might be
reconciled forever.”
Next week we will continue our examination of this
supernatural armor given us by God.
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