Citizen ATX
Citizen ATX
Armor of God: Shoes of the Gospel
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There is no more important objective of the Church or the Dual Citizen, than to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, to gain our footing in this objective we must first invest in the right footwear. Join Matt, Jonathan, and Stephen as they discuss the importance of spreading the Gospel.
Hello there and welcome to the Citizen ATX podcast. My name is Matt Gillum, and I'm glad you're joining us as we are jumping on in to the Armor of God series again. The last couple of weeks we talked about the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. And this week we're gonna keep up the party by going to footwear. All right, we're gonna talk this week about uh the God's Air Jordans, right? When we uh we need to figure out how that applies in this text, right? Uh so here in the studio with me are Jonathan Spencer. Hello, Jonathan. Hello, Matthew. And also Stephen Vaughn. Hello, Stephen.
SPEAKER_00Hey Matt, shake and bake.
SPEAKER_01Shake and bake. Yes, indeed. Um which one of us would be shake and which one would be bake?
SPEAKER_00I think I'm probably bake.
SPEAKER_01Well, so in this, uh we're we're gonna we're moving in the through the uh book of Ephesians, chapter six, as Paul is talking about the armor of God, that those parts of the Christian character that enable us to be able to withstand in the battle of life. And and so this week we're gonna be starting into verse 15, which says, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. All right, so throughout this, he's uh Paul's been talking about putting on the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and now having as shoes for your feet the readiness given by the gospel of peace. So, Jonathan, why shoes? I mean, I don't when I'm thinking about uh a suit of armor or King Arthur or Camelot or whatever that kind of stuff, I very rarely think about their their their uh footwear apparel, right? Right.
SPEAKER_02Why why is it that this is something that is that that uh Paul considers through the metaphor, I mean, with the armor, shoes would obviously play a critical role for a soldier. You can't really go anywhere, you can't march, you can't fight if you don't have good footing. And so uh the idea being that they're an integral piece of the armor. They may not get all the glamour of the sword or the helmet or some of those other things, but if you're barefoot and you're not prepared, you don't have the right feet on uh uh right shoes on as a soldier, you're not gonna be able to march, and you're also not gonna be able to fight. You're not gonna be able to have your footing on the battlefield. And so uh I think that's the implication that you see is the the gospel, and when he uses that word, the gospel of peace, uh, as those shoes on our feet, uh, that it's it's what we take with us, but it's also what we need. It's what gives us a firm footing in the battle. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And one of the things I think that's helpful for the picture is understanding in a Roman suit of armor uh uh with Roman armor, it wouldn't just be like sandals. Like you see Jesus wearing sandals and stuff like that. It's like, okay, so he's talking about wearing flip-flops in the battle. I don't I don't know that that that makes sense. Um, but uh with Roman with the way Roman uh soldier shoes went, number one, they laced up pretty high for better stability, but also they had cleats on the bottom of them because it was a recognition that when you're on a battlefield, generally you're gonna be dealing with the elements, so it could be wet, it could be muddy, it could be icy, no matter I mean all sorts of things. But also there's the grim reality that sometimes you gotta climb over a pile of corpses to go where you need to go. And uh if you don't have cleats on, uh it's not you're not gonna you're gonna have a real problem uh doing that. Now, while that's kind of a macabre picture, I mean it is kind of a realistic picture, right? That they're that the got that these these shoes that the the Romans would would put on were not just um generally okay with their environment and weren't really designed for comfort, but they were designed for advance. Right. And um I think that there's I think there's uh quite a bit of um depth of meaning there. Um and so why then does he does he attach because again with each we talked about this each of these weeks that the armor of God probably could have been assigned to any number of Christian virtues, but in this one it makes this statement of a readiness given by the gospel of peace. So why does Paul connect the got the readiness of the gospel of peace to shoes and toward cleats?
SPEAKER_02Well, we take the gospel with us everywhere we go, and we always need to be ready, Peter tells us to give a defense for the for the faith that we have. But the idea with the gospel, Jesus says, go with it. We're supposed to go and make disciples, and then he told Peter that he'll build his church upon that rock, upon the confession of his faith, the gospel. But he says uh the gates of hell will not prevail against this confession. So the idea is that the gospel, the confession of faith, is supposed to, like you said, advance and to go against the principalities in air, as you see in this image, that there's an enemy that doesn't want people to know Christ, doesn't want to receive salvation, but the gospel is supposed to advance forward in in battle against these principalities of darkness. And so I think that's the idea is that for all of us, as as you know, in that metaphor, we're all soldiers of Christ, soldiers for Christ, and we are advancing the kingdom with his gospel. And the gospel has the power, we're told, to break down those spiritual walls uh because the gates of hell won't prevail against it. So I think the implication is that we're supposed to be marching, you know, we're supposed to be going somewhere with it and being ready all the time to share that faith. Uh, and then you see the power of it too, that that it we are we do have firm footing with the gospel and that that we can uh see spiritual walls fall down because of the power through it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's interesting that um the when the gospel or the um agent of advance in this passage is not like metal, is not is not uh money, not power, but it's but it's the gospel itself, right? And then you know, when you any place that you see the gospel happening in scripture, it's almost it does not appear to really ever be in a mode of um what I would say like Bible study discipleship, you know, like this idea of increasing one's knowledge and things like that. But rather it's it I mean like in the book of Acts, there's nothing but the breaking down of barriers. Um I think it's also notable that when you consider what a what cleats do when you when you wear them and you're you're using them on a field, by using them at all, you make an impact on the on the the environment. Right. Right. Um I don't know if have y'all ever tried to play uh like gone out on a football field but had like just flats on it. It doesn't go well. It doesn't go well. You slip, you fall, you can't move as fast as you need to. You really are not gonna if you have to push push against something uh which is the expectation in a battle or certainly in a football game, um you're not gonna go, you're not gonna go anywhere. But by its nature, cleats, when they dig in, they change the world around it. Uh and I do wonder how often, because of the way that we we compartmentalize the gospel and evangelism, how much do we think about the gospel just kind of being a thing, right? Like it it almost it almost devolves into like a hobby or a club. I mean, I I've seen this happen with a lot of spiritual gift inventories and stuff like that. You know, being a youth minister, you would we would we would uh every so often do a spiritual gift test and have the kids do some exploration. And it's amazing how few people actually are gifted to share their faith. Lots of lots of people love hospitality or and a lot of people like teaching, but I'm great at greeting. Yeah. I'm great at wearing it.
SPEAKER_02I'm gifted in high fives.
SPEAKER_01I'm great at uh eating all you can eat at a pizza buffet, but you know that's my gift. Yeah. But I mean, but you know, the it's it's amazing how uh we because people are afraid of sharing the gospel, we put it into a well well, this is kind of a special category. Yeah. I mean, the reality of this is that it seems like Paul is saying that every believer in order to be successful in their Christian walk has to be fitted with a gospel of readiness, uh readiness in the gospel. Um which to me, because like you know, growing up in church, you know, you have evangelism programs, you have what the the four spiritual laws and you have the five fingers of faith and the Roman road and all and all these other different methodologies and things like that. And it just when I read this, it seems almost and even when I read throughout scripture, it seems a lot simpler than that. That that ultimately it's Christ came Christ came to save those who are lost. And I mean the reality of that of the readiness of that is less about I need to get all the information right and more, I just need to go where God's calling me to go, right? Um why do you think it's hard for people to to embrace that?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think for one thing, there's a lot of people know that like it's hard to to do to share your faith or to share anything, any opinions with people, even because people can reject it and there's a scariness there. Um and so there's a sense of worry about pain and stuff like that. What I would say to that is you know, there there may be some uncomfortableness in it, and there may even be some pain, like if there's somebody you really care about who rejects it really really bad and there it causes you some pain there. The more you do it, the more you kind of are able to respond to that. It's kind of like I think of my soccer cleats when I was in soccer. They would give me blisters at the beginning of the season. Yeah, yeah. By the end of the season, I had developed calluses and I developed, you know, kind of a nature of being able to wear those things and they formed around my feet. Right. And I felt comfortable in it. Yeah. And the more you share your the gospel, the more comfortable you feel sharing it with people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, comfort only comfort and peace only come with use. I mean, that's just kind of seems to be kind of the case.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think people there's territory people don't want to go onto, you know, and I think that's that's the hard part. Um like I think about you know, those Roman soldiers, they marched where they were commanded. They were they went there and they didn't really feel like they had a choice because they didn't. It was like you're you're gonna you're gonna go and you're gonna fight in this place or you'll just be killed. And so, but with us, we're given this great commission. We're told to go and march, but sometimes we just choose to sit and and and we have that, you know, essentially a freedom, if you will, a capacity uh to to make choices every single day. And some just sit, you know, with those cleats and don't ever actually use them the way they're supposed to. And and because of that, they their their faith just gets really stagnant. I will say if if you don't ever share Christ and you're not intentional with it, your faith's gonna just get stale. It'll get dry. You lose the adventure, the bet because there's a battlefield out there that you're supposed to be on and you're just not, you're just sitting out. But I think people also, in some sense, I think over spiritualize the effort. Because when it says you're going with the gospel of peace, it doesn't mean every person you meet, you have to say, hey, if you died today, would you go to heaven or hell? It doesn't you don't have to charge the gate to hell that hard. Like there's there's also it's just the relational part. I think we compartmentalize the gospel of peace where we think, well, that's like a card I'll pull out, I'll put on those cleats when I have the right moment, the right time. The implication is those cleats are always on and you're always ready and you're and you're looking for those opportunities, those on-ramps as you engage people and you charge into new territory, you build the relationship and you look for the opportunity to point them towards the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I think I think sometimes people don't do it though, Matt. I guess they don't march because we we overcomplicate it in our minds. We think, well, that means every person I meet, I have to, to your point, have a three-point strategy and get to there and seal the deal. It's like, or you could just first learn their name and and then remember their name and then go try to get together with them and just build that relationship and be ready, you know, in that moment to to share that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it and you look at the history of warfare, it's about moving your lines and it's about moving forward. And I think probably because I think you're absolutely right that we have specialized it to such an extent that it's something that we don't that if we're not ready to do, then we're not gonna do it. And if we're and even even if we make it into that kind of a way, it's not really an organic loving the person, really more checking off a righteousness playlist in a in our minds. Um but I think one of the biggest problems that tends to happen, and it has happened in the US at least since and this is probably it's less so now than it would have been in the eighties and the nineties, but it was a misconception that we're not in a battle. And that we're not we're that you know there's not a war going on, there's not a spiritual war going on. Because if you're if you are not in a war, then why move forward? Why why make the effort? If everybody's just like me and everybody thinks exactly the same way that I do, and everybody's saved, well, who cares? I don't have to share the gospel. Right. And there was this misapprehension of that, and then as a result, you see a whole generation that has mostly become unchurched because they're because the generation before it got very self-satisfied with the lines where they had gotten to. Or they that they were they were leaning on a champion in their lines to be the only one that's actually sharing the gospel, and they were just gonna hang back.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think what's also happened culturally, I feel like, in the last say 20 years, uh kind of as a reaction to cultural Christianity in that era, people put on different shoes, I would say Christians do. They're not the the shoes of the gospel of peace, um, they're the shoes of the social gospel, uh, they're the shoes of the progressive gospel, they're the shoes of the reformed gospel. You know, there's different categories where I I I get so frustrated because I do feel like I see advancement, in other words, of quote, good news, but it's not the good news. And if you put anything before the word gospel, it's no longer the gospel, right? But but I do see that because I think the proselytizing, if you will, that the marching that happens in 2024 is usually different gospels. Um, even going down those lists of the social gospel where it's become a huge thing in the last 20 years to meet the physical needs and never address the spiritual. And we'll march with that, but we'll never talk about Jesus or the progressive gospel. You look at the liberalization of many churches, they're marching. They are marching hard and they are proclaiming and they're shouting their good news, which is not true, but but they're preaching that, and it's a progressive gospel, or even using that example of a reformed gospel, and this gets more into the the tribalism of the church. Like there's a lot of proselytizing for secondary and tertiary theological issues, and very little proselytizing for the primary issue, which is the eternal damnation of people apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. And but I think about so many friends and smart Christian friends who spend so many hours arguing over petty things that honestly don't matter in the big picture, and so little time talking about Jesus with people that have no idea who he is. Um, but it's sad. I guess that's my point. I think that's that has been, I think, the cultural reaction to some of this in the last 20 years. Is my observation is people still march, it's just the wrong gospel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think part of that is because the one the the ones who would actually preach the truth and actually do with like uh hold an orthodox view of the gospel aren't marching.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01And they know, hey, I'm designed to move, I'm designed to grow. That's what life is. Life is movement, life is is pressing forward, and death is stagnation. Um I think we I mean to your point about the proselytizing of people who are, you know, secondary, tertiary. I mean, I I I once lived in a town uh where there was a there was a chaplain there, and he he told me one time, Matt, you know, one of the biggest issues that our town faces is that 80% of the churches are going for 20% of the people. They don't really care about the ones who really have the need. Exactly right. Um what they really are doing is just trying to uh shift around the income so that they can raise their their offerings. And realistically, I think that's where the social gospel finds its roots, where it's a it's a re it's such a pushback against that methodology to the extent where they abandon the truth. And you can't do that. I mean it it is uh the gospel's a both end kind of thing. It's both the truth and it and it redeems the lost and the suffering. Right. Um and churches have to be careful that they don't tune everything that they do to try and only reach the 20% of the people that are the easy gains. I agree. Um that you know one of the things that I get most excited about in churches when we have somebody come in who who finds Christ who is far from him, man, that changes changes the world around us. I mean, that's that's we and and granted, we should uh one of the there there's again that other pushback of it of well, I mean, does that mean that as uh if a saved person wants to come to your church, you shouldn't let him? No, I mean that's that's just part of the thing. But it but it's about the motivation of your heart. Right.
SPEAKER_02And I think also if you just look through the church growth over the years, the ones that have exploded that people remember when they start putting smiles on their face of back in the day, yeah, those churches were leading people to Christ. Like, I mean, at the end of the day, and I think a lot of church growth strategy now is it has been emphasized on things that do matter, you know, ministries and even and even preaching, the exegesis of the of the word and the rightful application of it and dynamic worship and all these things. All this stuff matters, but to your point, Matt, if your church isn't actually reaching people, all you're gonna do is shuffle sheep. Uh nothing's really gonna change. And and the churches that actually explode, it's not because of the pastor's preaching ability, even though that's a part of it. It's not it. It's because the church is on fire to reach their community, and that's what does it. Um, and there's no substitute for that. Even if you go after those 20% that you're alluding to, you'll never explode as a church. You'll never and you'll never have that excitement and that life change you want to experience as a church until you get serious about this.
SPEAKER_01And that's the the same concept that that's true corporately is also true personally, individually. Because I mean you might be listening to this and say, Yeah, go get them. And then the reality is, well, okay, so are do are you are you Marxists? This is how we get them. It's like, are you part of the solution or are you part of the problem? And and and for this, you know, the people want to be a part of life. They want to be part of advance, they want to be, and the question that we have to ask ourselves is are we prepared to push forward ourselves? Are we prepared to take that sacrifice, that pressure that's gonna that's gonna be caused when we're obedient to what our general is telling us to do? Right. Um, you know, I think about there's there are some ironic or I guess paradoxical things in this. I think about like a uh a bicycle, right? If you've if you've ever learned how to ride a bicycle, does anybody ever learn how to ride a bicycle by just sitting up there balancing without moving? I mean, I guess some people do, like circus clowns. But nope, no, no, and that that's not the case. People learn how to balance, learn how to stay upright by moving forward. Right. Um I think about I think about my uh my boy, uh he he's still learning how to walk. You know, his best stability is when he's actually making that trust uh in trust trying to step forward and reach forward rather than just standing in one spot. Right. And and Christian, if you if you are listening to this and you have been feeling wobbly in your faith and feeling that ongoing press of doubt and lack of purpose, the question you have to ask is have you fit yourself with the readiness of the gospel? Like how are you impacting the world around you for Christ? Are are you just expecting somebody else to do it for you? Are you expecting that that there's always gonna be somebody else that's gonna share the gospel? Or are you gonna are you loving actively loving the people around you, the people that Christ loves and desires for himself, trusting that that it that if if if it's his desire that they should come to belief, that they'll come to belief. Right. Um because I know there is there's always that fear, well, I don't want to mess it up and I don't want to hurt somebody else, but we are actively hurting people by not living the gospel with them and and having that readiness.
SPEAKER_02When I think people psych themselves out, like using your own illustration of the bicycle, learning to ride a bike, you don't really know you can ride a bike until you've ridden the bike. Um like and it's a perfect example. Like no one's no kid is ever technically ready. Like they they you put them on the bike and you kind of walk with them a little bit, and usually they fall down once or twice, and then eventually they start going. But the kid does not know they can do it until they try. And then after they've done it, if you've ever taught a kid to ride a bike, they're so proud of themselves afterwards, and then they can't stop doing it because they're like they're like, This is unbelievable. I didn't know I could do this. And I think it's so true in our lives, like as far as within when it comes to sharing Christ and being truly being ministers and ambassadors, most of us don't think we can, but it's because we've never gotten on the bike. And then if you actually got on the bike and you did it and you stumbled a little bit, you probably would be shocked like how effective you could be. Yeah, because the Bible says you will be. I mean, the Bible says that all of us have a mission field and that God wants to use us to advance his gospel and he's gonna help you. He's gonna help you ride that bike.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, it's even what it what what Jesus says is don't worry about what you're gonna say in the moment, but the spirit will supply what needs to be said. And um, you know, um it it it we we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the ones that are doing the saving, and we're not. We're we are a part of the army, uh, and there's never any one soldier that wins a battle. It's everybody working together and stepping forward together. Um I mean, even in the extent of the gospel, like I think that there is an important thing of the community moving together, that it's not just me that's that's sharing the gospel and living out the gospel, it's also the people that are going alongside me, opening up their homes or spending time with with other people that they know. I mean, it if you're relying on your pastor to be the beginning and the end of the sharing of the gospel in your church, your church is gonna die.
SPEAKER_02Well, and the Bible also never intended for the pastor to be the beginning and the end. And it goes into that that Ephesians 4 context where Paul says that there are gifts given to the church, spiritual gifts, but also people who are gifts. He says apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists. He said they're given to the church, Ephesians 4 11, to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. So God's vision for the church is actually not for guys like me to be the end-all be-all evangelists. It's really to equip everyone else to become evangelists and multiply the impact. Because if you think about it pragmatically, too, guys like me don't have the exposure that guys like whoever's listening right now, guys or gals, like you do, because this this is what I'm called to is preaching and leading a church, and I do spend time with lost people, but not like you. I literally work in a church building most days of the week. And so the God's vision is to actually use ministers and pastors to equip the saints to go become the evangelists. But I will tell you, even for myself, I was I was thinking about this, Matt, as you were talking. I still have to train myself to be ready and do it because what I just said, because I can be in a building and work with saints all day and feel pretty good. About myself because I did a pretty good job. I can tell myself I've done and fulfilled my calling, but my calling's also to evangelize. And I and I'll even give a quick example because I wasn't even thinking about doing this, but I today it's on my mind. So today I went to lunch at a restaurant. There's a few restaurants, I only go to a few for lunch, and I meet with people all the time. So I've actually done a little bit of what I've been talking about in this podcast, learning names of waiters and building relationships. Well, now twice, this is today. I I was talking with a guy, I know him, he knows me. We've we've sat in there and I've sat in there many times, and we started talking afterwards, and I just was straight to the point. He knows who I am and what I do because we've talked enough, and I just said, Hey, I would love to sit down with you some and and hear more of your story and even tell you a little bit more about my own. And and and and he agreed to it. We exchanged numbers, and now we've got a mandate coming up here soon where we're gonna sit down and we're gonna go have lunch, and I'm gonna share Christ with that guy. And I honestly did the same thing last week with another young adult from another restaurant. And and my point is those things, those opportunities are there, but if you're not ready, like you're not thinking that way, then you'll never see it. And it's right under your nose. So, like you have to train that. Where now the guy I sat with last week, I'm praying for him. I'm gonna follow up with him again, shared Christ last week and gave him a Bible. Now to this coming week, this is gonna happen, and I'm gonna start praying for him, and I'm gonna be expectant that one day he's gonna receive Christ. But my point is for those who are listening, it's not because I have a superpower. Um, in that one moment or two moments, God actually made me ready. And I would argue those who are listening to my voice right now, you probably have more opportunities than I'll ever see because of the calling you've been given to get into the world and to work, to be a part of a community, whatever it is you do all day long. Yeah, there's people all around you. You just got to be ready.
SPEAKER_01Well, and that's why I think what should be encouraging the people is that the call of God here is not to win the day with your shoes. It's it's to go. And that and that really is where where we where we fall short is we just don't go. We we stay around people that we know, we stay around people that we like, we stay around people who think exactly the same way we do. And is it any wonder that the Christian life isn't an adventure for a lot of people? Because it's not. They've they've they've I I thought about when we were talking about the bike analogy also that if a person only ever ne only ever learns how to ride a bike with training wheels, and then they become an adult and they're riding a bike with training wheels, th that that that they look stupid and foolish. And a lot and a lot of Christians are are are Christian are supposed to be mature Christians, but they're riding around with training wheels. And if we wonder why is the church not advancing, it's because we we have been become satisfied with being a an a bunch of immature Christians. Yeah. And maturity in Christianity is not looking down on other people. Maturity in Christianity is going. I mean that that that's that's where what what the real measure is. If I see a person who is uh who is uh not comfortable but uh peaceful about just sharing their faith and not not having this fear, this not even fear, but this this cowardice of hiding it or or hiding back from it, I mean I see that person that is a mature believer. That is somebody who understands that it's about the advance, not about the strength. Um and so I think I think that that's a great example because you going in a restaurant and sharing with people your heart is not the same thing as going out in public and targeting somebody with a cold call sales pitch. Yes. Because that I mean, if we're being honest, that's what that's what I feel like most of the time when I do these these evangelism programs. And yet the just caring about somebody opens so much wider of a door. And yeah, you have to speak that truth of what the gospel is in there, but it's not it's not a sales pitch. It's just it's just revealing what's what this is what's changed my heart, and I would hope that it would I think it could change yours too. Um and so I hope this is an encouragement to you, listener. I mean, I generally when we talk about gospel stuff, it becomes kind of a well, shame on you for not doing the right thing. I mean, friend, just if you're if you're wondering how to start, just start. Start. It's the best way. Make mistakes. Yeah, work, I mean, learn from those mistakes, do it in community, talk with others about the different kinds of things that you're taking on. I mean, readiness happens when you go. Yeah, and I think you'll find a whole other level and a whole other spark in what your Christian life is when you embrace that. So All right. Well, I think we're about out of time today. Uh Jonathan, anything else you have, Steven?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, thank you for hanging with us through our Air Jordans talk about the uh I never had Air Jordans. I was more of a uh new balance kind of guy, you know, dad choes, right? Oh my god. I think that's a guy. I think that's what it's translating Greek as those Velcro straps across the You were a 40-year-old child. I can't believe that. Hey, now when I had my um, oh gosh, what were those called? The ones, the ones that were light up.
SPEAKER_02Uh oh, like the box? LA Lights. LA Lights, yeah. I rocked a pair of those.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I was a cool kid. Cool project. All right. Well, hey, friends, take care. We look forward to seeing you next time on the Armor of God series and on the Citizen ATX podcast. Take care.