We’ve been looking at the Apostle Paul’s teaching about the struggles that all of us face in life - the spiritual battle that’s taking place around us - and this illustration of Paul’s - the Armor of God - where Paul is explaining in a very practical way how we can live - in the midst of all that’s going in us and around us - how we can live in the strength of our Lord.

This morning we’ve come to 6:15 - where Paul - describing the armor of God - Paul tells us to “shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” - put on the shoes which are the Gospel of Peace.

Mrs. Monroe of Darlington, Maryland is mother of eight children. One afternoon she came home from the grocery store and walked into her home. Everything looked pretty much the same, though it was a bit quieter than usual. She looked into the middle of the living room and five of her darlings were sitting in a circle - exceedingly quiet - doing something in the middle of the circle. She put down the sacks of groceries and walked over closely and saw that they were playing with five of the cutest skunks you can imagine.

She was instantly terrified and yelled, “Run, children, run!” Each child grabbed a skunk and ran in five different directions. Mrs. Monroe was beside herself and screamed louder. It so scared the children that each one squeezed his skunk - producing the obvious results. (1)

What usually robs us of peace - causes anxiety and stress - fear - in our lives is usually a lot more crucial than skunks in the living room. The day-to-day things of life we all struggle with - the lack of time - schedules - wondering what happens if we can’t keep up. Kids - grandkids - can rob us of peace. The “c” word - cancer. Or some other debilitating illness. We fear growing older - loosing our minds - loosing control over our bodies and lives. Many fear the unknown of death. Where we live. What’s happening in the world around us.

We could go on with this. What is that robs us of peace? Stand for 5 minutes on Main Street - or some other busy place - the Merced Mall - and just watch people - faces tense with worry - anxiety - the fears of our day.

For these fears people spend fortunes on tummy tucks and lotions - psychiatrists - seminars. We buy ourselves toys and cars and houses and things to cover our emptiness inside. But ultimately it doesn’t help. With all of man’s searching for peace where it counts - deep within - by ourselves - we have none.

Paul writes, “shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” That peace - that strength - we need in our lives. There are many around us who need that peace.

The shoes that Paul writes about were the shoes of the average Roman foot soldier. Imagine a foot soldier wearing armor from head to foot - but no shoes. The ground - the battle - would tear his feet to shreds. Pretty much all of his armor becomes worthless because he’d be unable to keep fighting. These shoes are crucial. So is the Gospel of Peace - if we’re not prepared with it - equipped with it - then what’s out there in our lives will tear us to pieces. If not physically - then certainly emotionally and spiritually.

There are two ways that these shoes helped the Roman soldier that I’d like have us focus on today. To consider how these relate to us. What they tell us about peace in our lives - the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

The first help had to do with the foundation these shoes gave the soldier. The genius of the shoes was in their design. They were a kind of 1/2 boot with open toes. On the soles of the shoes were these spikes - cleats - that gave the soldier a solid stance - that prevented his foot from slipping in battle. The soldier would just dig in - with such confidence - that he could trust his sure footing - that he could face any enemy. Stability in the midst of the battle.

THE GOSPEL OF PEACE IS OUR FOUNDATION. Say this with me, “The Gospel of peace is our foundation.”

In John 14:27 - Jesus is speaking to His disciples and He says this: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you - My peace is different that the temporary empty peace you find in the world - Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

In September of 2000 - there was a severe outbreak of the Ebola virus in Uganda. Ebola is a terrible way to die - a type of viral hemorrhaging - bleeding. Its very contagious - very lethal. Hardest hit in the outbreak was the town of Gulu. Over 400 people contracted the disease. Over 170 people died.

In the town of Gulu, when the Ebola virus struck, one of the first to recognize the disease and to begin treating cases was Dr. Matthew Lokwiya. After weeks of treating patients - often taking the worst cases and risking infection - after weeks of spearheading the fight against the disease and being credited for keeping the death toll remarkably low - on November 30, 2000, Dr. Lokwiya himself became a patient. On December 5th - Dr. Lokwiya died. (2)

When I read about Dr. Lokwiya - I thought, how much that illustrates what Jesus has done for us.

The Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” As Jesus came and lives with us - the love of God is revealed to us. God is not just all-powerful - but also all-loving.

Jesus was born without the disease of sin. Born into humanity that faces certain death as a result of our sin. And yet Jesus took on our sin - bore it on the cross - died in our place.

In 1 Corinthians 15 - the Apostle Paul writes: “The sting of death is sin - when we sin - we’re stung - the poison is injected - we die - But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56a,57)

When a bee stings the stinger is left in the victim. After a bee has stung someone a child can play with the bee and never be afraid of the stinger.

The Apostle Paul says that death has stung Jesus Christ. The worst of our fears has already stung Jesus on the cross. Nothing will come against us that hasn’t already come against Jesus on the cross. And yet, Jesus lives! In Him we have the certain victory of the forgiveness of our sins - God’s presence in our lives today - and the hope eternal life with God. Trusting Jesus, we always have hope. We always have confidence in life.

How many of you are thinking to yourselves, “I’ve heard this before.” You don’t need to raise your hands.

Its like giving Sunday School answers to the hard questions of life. If you want to cheat in Sunday School - most questions that get asked in Sunday School can be answered with pretty much the same answers: God, Jesus, its in the Bible, prayer, He died on the cross for our sins. After a while we get so numb to the reality of what we’re dealing with.

With the death of my dad - especially in the last couple weeks - one verse of Scripture has been going through my mind over and over and over again. Isaiah 26:3. Do you know this verse? If you know it, say it with me.

“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.” (Isaiah 26:3 RSV)

In those times when I’m ready to loose it - the way forward has been to focus on the promises of God - Jesus death and resurrection - our hope of eternal life - to meditate on Scripture - to fill my mind and heart with God’s music and the things of God - to listen to the counsel and voices of those who walk with God.

The more I’ve been focusing on God - guess what I’ve discovered? His peace. His promise is true.

This is where faith meets reality. The rubber meets the road. All that talk about our faith - listening to sermon after sermon about Bible study and prayer and life in Jesus - all that isn’t some trite Sunday School answer. This is real and concrete.

Jesus said, “My peace I give to you. Fear not.” Peace that comes as we place our lives and our fears into the hands of Jesus who has come for each one of us - triumphed over the worst of our fears. In times when we can become overwhelmed - anxious - fearful - we need to remember who we are - what we are - whom we have - who’s we are - who is with us always. The sure footing of the Gospel. The Gospel of peace is our foundation.

Second help: THE GOSPEL OF PEACE IS OUR FOCUS. Say this with me, “The Gospel of peace is our focus.”

The Roman shoes were tied on with straps - laces - that wound up from the shoe - up the leg of the soldier. What that meant for the soldier was that the shoes were extremely flexible. They allowed the soldier to move quickly with great ease. One of the great accomplishments of the Roman military was its ability to move large armies over vast distances very quickly.

An enemy would be setting up camp - digging in - preparing for battle - thinking that they had days or weeks before the Roman army could possible arrive. And then here came the Romans marching swiftly along - catching their enemies unprepared - and quickly overwhelming and defeating them.

Our focus is our calling - the forward march of the church into the world.

In Matthew 9, Jesus is going through the cities and town of Galilee - teaching in the synagogues - healing diseases. As He sees the people - their distress - their anxiety - their hopeless situation - beaten down weary people - Jesus is moved with compassion for the people. He turns to His disciples and says to them - Matthew 9:37 - “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

The illustration is familiar - familiar to them - familiar to us. We know harvests in Merced. At the least our allergies know about harvests. There are at least 3 things I think Jesus was trying to get across to His disciples - to sharpen their focus as His disciples.

First - Urgency: When it’s harvest time - you harvest. When the grain is ripe - mature - when it has the right moisture content - when it’s ready to be harvested - you get one shot at it. If we wait we loose the harvest.

Second - Compassion: You’re the harvesters. There’s the field. Care enough about the people to go harvest. Why are you praying for people to harvest crops when we’re standing around looking at the fields? It’s our calling as Christians. We’re here to reach others with the Gospel.

Third - Unity: There’s a bond that develops between people working to bring in the harvest. They move with singular purpose - encouraging - supporting each other in the task at hand. Years later they look back with fond memories - even pride - at what they were a part of.

That’s true of soldiers too. Thinking about Paul’s armor illustration. Some of you know this from first hand experience. There’s a camaraderie - a unity - a powerful strengthening bond and an inner strength that comes as soldiers serve together in war - dodged bullets together - stared together into the face of their common enemy.

Isn’t this a great picture of what the church should be? Our focus together? Looking around at the city of Merced - what Satan - our enemy - deceives people with - binds them as they try to cover the struggles within - the drugs - the gangs - the violence - lives spent on worthless endeavors - families struggling. People in desperate need of the Gospel of peace. There’s the harvest. The urgency is there. Praise God for the opportunities He gives us - for every time someone here - or as church - we stop looking at the harvest and move into the fields. Praise God for the strength we gain as we learn to stand firm together in Jesus’ victory - comrades against our common enemy.

How many of you have read "Moby Dick"? When I was in high school we had to read Moby Dick - a great classic of American literature. I think Melville got paid by the word. The plot - we know - is that this insane Captain Ahab goes on a quest to kill the great white whale - Moby Dick - and everyone dies - a cheery thought - everyone dies except Ishmael - who lives to write the book.

There's one scene - when the crew of the Pequod - Captain Ahab's ship - when the crew is chasing down a group of whales. The crew is in small boats - out on the open ocean.

There are these huge whales - any one of them could have wiped out these small little boats. The crew is rowing for all they're worth. The freezing water is churning. The boats are filling with water. Its a fearful life and death struggle. All around them is the chaos and confusion of the chase - whales - white water - and these small boats.

In the front of one boat is Queequeg - the harpooner. Amid all the commotion - he stands sure footed - harpoon in hand - focused on the whale. He's the one who must get it right the first time - he must harpoon the whale - or everyone is lost.

Here we are - in our society - a spiritual life and death struggle - amid a society of confusion - deceived - moving farther from God. We must focus on the right thing - if we're to get it right - to make a real difference - be strong together in the battle.

The prophet Isaiah writes - Isaiah 52:7: “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

Isaiah 52:7 is quoted elsewhere in Scripture. It’s a verse that speaks of deliverance - an announcement of a great victory - the coming of peace. In the New Testament these words are applied to Jesus and those who announce His Gospel. (Romans 10:11-17)

We are those messengers. We who know Jesus’ peace. Our lovely feet - shod with shoes of the Gospel of peace. Tell that to someone next to you, “You have lovely feet.” Don't be taking your shoes off.

Not everyone will accept the message. Stand up and speak of Jesus’ peace in this confused world and we find out real quick that Satan is our enemy. He’ll throw everything he has against you. We’ll find out how deeply we need our Lord’s strength and His peace in our lives together.

But to those who are searching for peace - who are willing to acknowledge their need - your feet are lovely. These words of Jesus’ triumph over the worst that life can throw at us - His Gospel brings peace to our hearts.

Two questions. Think about these and where you are this morning.

Number one: To what - or to whom - are you looking to for peace?

Number two: If you know His peace - who will you share His Gospel of peace with?

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1. John Haggai, How To Win Over Worry - quoted in Charles Swindol, Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes
2. San Francisco Chronicle, 12.06.00