Our Unseen Battle; The Boots of the Gospel of Peace

Well, friends, we continue in our series

on the armor of God from [snorts]

Ephesians 6 as we talk about this unseen

battle we're in.

As you know by now here, Paul in

Ephesians 6, he likens uh spiritual

armor that we are to wrap around us,

that we are to wear into battle uh to

that of a Roman soldiers.

And just as a soldier

needs to be armed and ready for what

they might face, we too need to be

ready, prepared

for all the spiritual darts that the

enemy might throw at us.

It's not woo woo or wacky to believe in

dark forces at work in this world, to

believe in evil.

It's wisdom, friends,

and it's reality.

Now, we began the series by talking

about our real enemy and trying to

unmask evil. And then last week, we

talked about the belt of truth and the

breastplate of righteousness. And today,

we are going to come to our next piece

of armor, shoes.

But before we do, let me remind you,

like Kayn did, that shoes tend to serve

a purpose depending on how they're

designed. She stole my thunder this

morning in her children's sermon, to be

honest.

Sometimes she does that and I'm like,

"You know what? You're just going to

preach then." [laughter]

Uh, but I have some pictures for you.

Let's see if you guys can keep up with

the kids because they nailed it. What

are these for? [sighs]

Yes, the sports. All the sports. Uh,

what about these?

Ah, comfort. I live in these when I'm

not here. Um, and they're the exact

opposite of what these are for.

Oh, any ballerinas with the bloody toes

in the room?

[snorts] Uh, what about these?

If you're in Utah and you don't have one

of these, you guys are in real trouble.

Yes, hiking, climbing. Uh, what about

these?

mixed reaction, I think, because I think

I think they're for riding horses and

tending farms, but in my life, they're

for line dancing exclusively.

Exclusively,

certain outfits, actually. Um, and what

about these? Oh, those are for torturing

women.

Didn't you know?

Uh, finally, these. What are those for?

Nothing. Exactly. God only knows. I

think they're for giving up on life.

And I I mean, I say that and all three

of the boys in our family have a pair.

Um, but we're not sure what those are

for, guys. Come on. I do not understand

the Crocs. God help you guys if you've

got some. Must be something though.

People love them. Now, we all know it's

like one thing to go barefoot at the

beach, but to walk through a

construction zone or a battlefield

without shoes on would make even the

toughest of us uh suddenly overpowered,

weak, pathetic, right? I mean, I don't

know about you, but if you've ever

stepped on a Lego in the middle of the

night, on your way to the bathroom, oh

Lord Jesus,

there are some situations we just need

to have shoes and the right shoes. And

spiritually speaking, standing firm

against evil is one of those situations,

friends. It's why Paul tells us to strap

on these boots, to have our feet fitted

with the readiness that comes from the

gospel of peace. Boots that will root us

in gospel peace and then help us spread

that gospel peace wherever we go. And we

need those boots this morning, don't we?

And so, let's jump in this morning. I

just want you to hear the word of the

Lord again from Ephesians 6:10-18.

Ephesians 6:10–18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in

his mighty power. Put on the full armor

of God so that you can take your stand

against the devil's schemes. For our

struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers, against the

authorities, against the powers of this

dark world, and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God,

so that when the day of evil comes, you

may be able to stand your ground. And

after you have done everything to stand,

stand firm then with the belt of truth

buckled around your waist, with the

breastplate of righteousness in place,

and with your feet fitted with the

readiness that comes from the gospel of

peace. And in addition to all of this,

take up the shield of faith, with which

you can extinguish all the flaming

arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet

of salvation and the sword of the spirit

which is the word of God. And pray in

the spirit on all occasions with all

kinds of prayers and requests. And with

this in mind, be alert and always keep

on praying for all the Lord's people.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be

to God.

I was in a webinar training on Zoom this

week. Um, another one, preparing clergy,

how to handle potential confrontations

with ICE agents. I've had to attend a

number of these this last year. [snorts]

Um, and this is to ensure that our

immigrant and refugee populations within

our congregations would be safe

as we move into this season of

unprecedented

just trauma.

Uh it's unfortunate because the rule of

laws that used to keep our immigration

policies humane

regardless of how we feel about them. Um

they're just not being followed. And so

there's been a lot of trainings

especially for those in hospitals and

schools and churches, places that used

to be sanctuary safe spaces. And I'm

thankful for them. They've been helpful,

full of all sorts of information, much

of it unsettling.

I I have learned the right questions to

ask to make sure that agents are

following due process if we can get them

to and the advice that I'm to pull out

my cell phone and we are too to film

anything that we might see happening.

We're supposed to write down license

plate numbers and store copies of

immigration paperwork for anyone in our

congregation that wants to use us as an

emergency contact should something

horrible happen to them.

Um, I've been trained on what to do and

say if masked agents show up here on a

Sunday morning, which spaces they're

technically legally allowed to be in,

and which ones they're not.

It's all been to show us how we can

prepare to love our people well and also

follow the rule of law.

But I want to share with you the advice

that has been most striking in all of

these trainings and was again this week

actually.

Advice that's been given in like the

most serious of terms

like pay attention everybody. If you

hear nothing they said this week if you

hear nothing else you hear this.

This is what they've said. You must stay

calm.

You must breathe.

You must hold on to peace

so that you can keep the peace.

Because as clergy, as church leaders,

people are looking to you to see how you

will respond. And if you lose it, they

lose it.

You must be unflapable.

The church is not to use violence or

force. So stay calm.

[clears throat] This advice had me

thinking immediately about flight

attendants,

right?

When horrific, terrifying turbulence

hits the plane. I mean, it's now what

they call rough air. Have you noticed

that? It's insane. Like, that helps. But

when the turbulence hits, I mean, it is

really normal for us as passengers to

immediately look up and see what those

flight attendants are doing, isn't it?

Because if they're still passing out

coffee and pretzels,

then I get to take a deep breath and

everything's going to be okay.

All is well. It must not be that bad.

But if their hands are ringing and

they're running for their seats, well

then I better start praying and buckle

my seat belt, right?

It's true.

This is why airlines don't hire anxious

flyers like me to be flight attendants.

>> [gasps]

>> Uh it's why they trained them

extensively just like for months and

months how to remain calm, how to revert

to their training

and how to trust the pilot even when

they're afraid.

Folks who can calm other people down and

who can stay unflapable under pressure

because they know that when people are

afraid, we need someone to look to to

gauge our anxiety and our panic. It's

human to do that. And friends, I think

that is what Paul is talking about here.

This is precisely

what Paul means when he says, "Strap the

peace of the gospel around your feet.

If you're going to march into anything,

if you're up against evil, put peace on

right away."

As followers of Jesus, we're to be these

people of gospel peace, of confident

calm in the midst of chaos, people that

others can look to in the middle of

battle or awful turbulence for assurance

and for courage,

somewhere to gauge their panic. We're

supposed to just keep passing out Diet

Coke and Biscoff cookies.

And And why can we do that?

Because we trust the pilot.

We can revert to our training.

And friends, if we're not holding on to

peace ourselves, if we have not taken in

the peace of Christ as a regular

practice, well, when life gets bumping,

oh man, it's going to be really easy for

the enemy, really easy for us to be

rendered useless. Really easy for us to

just jump in and start participating

with evil.

Now, I don't want to talk about fear any

more than I have to this morning. We

spent all of Advent talking about fear.

You can go back and watch those sermons.

But we did that series for the exact

same reason that Paul tells us we need

the boots of peace on our feet. Because

when we start running scared,

we're barefoot.

We're barefoot.

We're running into battle with panic,

unarmed.

And when we give into that panic, we're

going to find ourselves in some real

trouble. I I want to talk about what

this might look like practically in our

lives. I think that

this can look like when we get so overly

preoccupied about something happening at

work that it's like all that consumes

us. the worry about the project or our

co-worker or the promotion or whatever

it is,

it absorbs all our attention.

Or we're so anxious about a relationship

in our life or a conflict that we're

rehearsing our revenge script at night.

It's all we can think about.

Or we live in fear. We start to practice

our lives like our daily disciplines and

habits around fear of not having enough

money or our kids being okay. I know a

lot of parents that live like that. A

preoccupation with physical health, an

obsession with safety or future

planning.

Well, when we're when we're living like

that, doom scrolling news, refresh,

refresh, refresh.

Well, then we're completely distracted

from the truth of God's kingdom. We

can't think about that.

Not when we're panicked, not when we're

afraid, not when we're anxious. And then

our spiritual enemy has us right where

evil always wants us.

Distracted,

distraught,

disembodied

and disarmed for the battle.

Distracted, distraught, disembodied and

disarmed.

We forget that the victory has already

been won in Christ and that our pilot

will not crash the plane.

And so we hold on to peace. We grab it.

We need it.

I I do really appreciate that scripture

tells us the truth. And what I mean by

that is nowhere does Jesus promise that

holding on to peace is going to be easy.

In fact, he says it's going to be quite

tricky because the world is an awful

place a lot of the time. Evil is in its

final death throws and we are going to

have trouble remaining at peace.

And he says to his disciples, "My peace

I leave with you. My peace I give to

you. I do not give to you as the world

gives. Do not let your hearts be

troubled and do not be afraid.

This is what Paul is telling us when he

says to lace up our boots.

They're not our boots. Actually, that's

the only reason they're helpful to us.

It's not our peace we have to depend on,

friends.

They're Jesus's boots.

My peace I give to you. I left my boots

for you.

put them on.

It's God's very peace that's going to

help us stay steady and remain calm and

try and be unflapable in these moments.

And where does that come from? What's

the heartbeat of that peace? What's the

the song in your mind that reminds you

that the plane will not crash? It is the

gospel. It is the promise that through

the death and resurrection of Jesus

Christ, death has been defeated. You're

forgiven. It's who you really are. You

don't have to live in shame and fear

anymore. You don't have to fight back.

Why? Because your God fights for you.

You don't have to be cruel and mean and

wield the same weapons of the folks that

come against you.

Because God has got you.

And only then will we be able to hold

fast

to stand firm in the face of evil.

to have the courage to step in the way

and say, "You don't get to treat people

that way."

We had a great conversation last week

when we were talking about evil in the

Q&A after uh church and I said

something. I'm going to repeat it here

just a little loud for everybody at the

back, too.

Evil is big and scary and conceptual.

That's why Paul calls it the powers, the

dark forces at work in our world. But

but it is very true that evil often has

a name and a face. And what I mean by

that

is that it's essential we remember that

there are times when we will encounter

evil. And our job as people deeply

rooted in the peace of the gospel are to

stand and say that is not how we treat

one another.

No, I will not sign on to that lie.

Now, those people with the name in the

face, they're not evil.

They are wounded.

They are sick.

I said it to the class and I want you to

hear it. You have actually never met an

evil person.

Not once, not ever. You have not met an

evil person. You've never seen one on

the news. There's not one in the White

House.

You have met sick,

wounded, traumatized people. And when

people are in positions of power, when

they are sick and wounded and

traumatized,

they spill that trauma and illness

everywhere else. I don't care if that's

your stepdad or the neighbor down the

street or your coworker.

They're not evil.

They are wounded and captive to evil.

Which means we don't get to demonize the

human being in front of us. No matter

how much you might want to,

it does mean that when evil has a name

in a face,

as people of faith, it is appropriate to

stand up and say, "Not here, not me.

Not my church, not my community, not my

neighbor.

You will only have the ability to stand

firm and to be unflapable

if you are rooted in the peace of Christ

that defines you and names you and is

the foundation upon which you stand.

And you'll know really quick if you can

hold on to it because do you believe the

gospel is good news just for you? Or do

you believe it's good news for the whole

world, even the sickest among us?

Because it is the only hope we've got,

friends,

that people would come to recognize

their belovedness and get well

and repent and make amends for the

trauma that they have caused in this

world. But us adding to the trauma.

No.

As your flight attendant today, let me

tell you something right now. There is

so much to be worried about in this

world.

So much concerning things happening. So

much to grieve about and scream about

and shake your fists about. I've been

yelling at God all weekend.

A lot to pray for, a lot to stand firm

against. But what I was reminded of this

week as I was studying for this sermon

and deeply convicted by what it is Jesus

calls us to do,

we actually don't have anything to worry

about.

If we believe what we come in here and

sing about and pray about, if we believe

in the gospel, then we actually are

naming to a world that God has won.

That love will conquer over evil every

single time. That death can take

everything from us. But it doesn't take

our soul.

Earlier in Ephesians, Paul wrote that

Jesus is our peace.

He's the one who tore down the dividing

wall of hostility and rage and anger and

racism and stick in whatever you would

like there. He tore it all down to make

us one. He came and proclaimed the good

news of peace to all who were the

furthest away. And even the folks who

were up close, everybody gets that

proclamation.

And so, friends, tie up your bootstraps.

step into peace.

You might have to, and Halen modeled

this for our kids in the children's

sermon, you might have to do it over and

over and over all day long. Every time

you realize you're in vengeance, you be

like, "Took the dang boots off,

swirling around,

despair." Nope.

The gospel is what is true about me and

everybody else.

Laying in bed,

I don't know how you jump up in bed, but

shift your body

as many times as you have to

because we are people that clothe

ourselves in Christ. We are people that

strap armor, armor [snorts] like peace

to our bodies

so that we can be peace in God's world.

Isaiah says it well. How beautiful in

the mountains are the feet of the one

who brings good news. The feet of the

one who proclaims peace, who brings good

news, who proclaims salvation, who says

to the world, "Your God reigns.

Blessed are the peacemakers." Jesus

said, "They will be called the children

of God."

And so, friends, I want you as you go

out into the world this week, I want you

to do this on your social media

platforms. I want you to do it at work

and among your family and in front of

your neighbors. I want you to be holy

flight attendants.

I want you to trust that your pilot will

not crash this plane.

We are okay. Revert to your sacred

training.

Go back to what is true and right and

good. And you know,

don't get sucked in.

May we be calm assurance.

May we be unflapable in the face of

evil. Standing firm in the peace of our

God. Not your peace, Christ's peace.

And so I'm going to invite you to take a

couple deep breaths. You can close your

eyes if you want. I'm going to read over

you my favorite prayer when I am angry

and afraid.

I'm going to read three times.

Let nothing disturb you.

Let nothing frighten you.

All things pass.

God never changes.

Patience obtains all it seeks.

Those who have God lack nothing.

God alone suffices.

Big deep breaths.

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing

frighten you. All things pass.

God never changes.

Patience obtains all it seeks.

Those who have God lack nothing. God

alone suffices.

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing

frighten you. All things pass. God never

changes.

Patience obtains all it seeks.

Those who have God lack nothing.

God alone suffices.

Amen.