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Sermon preached on Ephesians 6:15 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 09/13/2026 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Humans love to talk about peace, but we are not very good at obtaining it. We need peace with each other. We need peace in our own hearts. We especially need peace with God. That is what makes the gospel so wonderful. It is a message about peace. It even addresses all these dimensions of peace, vertically, horizontally, and internally. As we talk about spiritual warfare again today, we are told there are some shoes we need to put on, shoes of readiness, readiness that comes through the gospel which proclaims peace. So then, peace is the overarching topic here, but it is intimately connected with the gospel that proclaims it. Let us think today how we need to be equipped with such gospel shoes that make us ready to announce and know this peace.
As we dig into the passage today, we’ll study it in three points. First, we’ll consider how “Satan the Adversary” doesn’t want to have anything to do with this peace. Second, we’ll explain the details of this “Good News of Peace”. Third, we’ll remember how “Christ Preached Peace”.
Let us begin by considering “Satan the Adversary”. That is what Satan’s name literally means. It’s the Hebrew word for adversary. He stands opposed to God and thus to God’s people. He does not want peace with God or us. He may try to act like your friend, but he is not. We’ve been talking about being in a spiritual war with Satan and all evil spirits. War is literally the opposite of peace.
Scripture doesn’t go into all the details, but there is enough there that we see Satan and the demons rebelled against God at some point. 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 speak of these demons as fallen angels who sinned against God and were cast down in judgment. Satan’s rebellion is very clear from a human vantage point, because the first time we encounter the devil he is clearly opposed to God. He directly contradicts God in the garden and tricks us to rebel against God. Yet, in God’s mercy, God promised that one day that serpent would be crushed under our feet, which again shows that we are not at peace with Satan. The book of Job is another colorful picture of Satan’ opposition against both God and his people. Satan there contends against God’s judgment of Job and then gets permission to afflict Job, only to see God vindicated and Job redeemed. The devil’s temptations of Jesus in the wilderness also shows his adversarial character. We can also remember how the New Testament shows so many people afflicted by evil, unclean spirits. Jesus’s ministry did battle with them, casting them out. I like how James 2:19 describes the evil spirits as people who know that there is one true God, but tremble. They demons know the reality of God and his power, but they tremble in the knowledge of the enmity they have caused with God.
Now, it is true, that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. It is true, that at the cross, he secured a definitive victory against Satan. Yet, in God’s providence, the final end of Satan will not be until the return of Christ. Then, the devil and his angels will meet the eternal fire that God has prepared for them, Matthew 25:41. But after the first coming of Christ, Revelation 12 describes how Satan is now furiously making war with the saints on earth, because he knows his time is short. So, the spiritual warfare continues. Satan does not want peace but works the opposite of it.
Part of how Satan and his fallen angels wage this war is by trying to get humans to also fight against God like them. Last week we read Isaiah 59, describing how Israel had become people swift to shed innocent blood, crooked, with no justice in their paths. It said the people didn’t know the way of peace. Likewise, Scripture speaks about such people as those who killed the prophets. This describes people are opposed to God, who are not at peace with God, but are enemies of God. While those people are ultimately responsible for their actions, we should recognize the demonic influences that have sought to encourage such rebellion. Satan opposes God by trying to get all the world to oppose God.
Let us all understand how bad this is for anyone who would follow Satan in opposing God. Today’s verses talk about the good news of peace being proclaimed and heralded. Yet, if you follow Satan, you won’t hear “Peace, Peace!” proclaimed. You will hear, “Fallen, Fallen,” and “Woe, Woe”! Following Satan will end that person up in the same place that Satan will end up, in the lake of fire. There, it will be an eternal punishment with everlasting torment. And here’s the problem: Once Satan got our first parents to rebel against God, every one of us is now born in that state. We all are born into a place where we are at enmity with God and under his condemnation. That’s why Ephesians 2 said that our default condition is that we were children of wrath who followed Satan, described there as the prince of the power of the air. This is the default condition for humanity, under divine damnation. That is bad news for humanity.
This leads us then to the second point, to consider the good news which produces peace! Verse 15, “And, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” Literally, “having shod your feet in readiness.” If you have ever run around with your bare feet, you know that you aren’t going to do well in battle like that. Our feet are way too sensitive to be exposed to things like rocks and sticks, let alone if it’s a surface hot from the sun. But, with the right shoes, you can be ready to fight. In fact, soldiers’ shoes back then would often be sort of like cleats, to give you good traction. So, there is a somewhat similar idea here to when we said you start getting dressed by girding your loins. We said that was an idiom of “get ready for action”. Well, here, you need to put on some shoes if you are going to be prepared for battle.
So then, Paul says that you can put on such ready shoes by slipping on the gospel that produces peace. Let us remember that the word “gospel” is that colorful word that simply means “good news”. When Christians talk about the gospel we are talking about the good news of how we are saved. There is a message that we communicate about how we are saved. Here it is: We were children of wrath deserving God’s judgment. We deserved to die and go to hell. But God sent Jesus into this world to bear the punishment in our place. If we confess our sins and turn and put our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are forgiven. Jesus turns away God’s wrath for all who have come to him in faith. This message calls people to stop fighting God and surrender to Jesus. If you won’t, you will find that you will not escape punishment. But if you do surrender to Jesus, and receive him as your Lord and Savior, you will find mercy, grace, and complete forgiveness. But you will find something else even more wonderful. You will find peace. Peace with God and peace with all God’s people.
This is what we found back in chapter 2. While we were under God’s wrath, in Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins, so we are saved by grace. That chapter goes on to say that Jesus himself is our peace. It described how before we found this peace, we were enemies of God, that there was a dividing wall of hostility between us and God with his holy saints. Yet, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So then, in Christ who is our peace, we are reconciled to God and his people. The end result is this wonderful shalom. Christians are no longer at odds with God, no longer at odds with other Christians, and even our soul finds peace from the condemnation of sin. Yet, we realize that we do not yet have peace with those in this world who don’t know Jesus. And we certainly do not have peace with Satan and the other fallen angels.
As we are talking about this gospel of peace, we should recognize that Paul is surely referencing Isa. 52:7. That says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” Isaiah 52 is one of the many passages that prophesies that Israel would be restored after their exile which they had experienced due to God’s judgment on them for their sin. To a people chastened by God for sin, he announces good news of salvation. That salvation is not merely that their sin will be forgiven, but also the message of “Your God reigns”. The full peace we have in the gospel is nothing short than the full coming of the kingdom of God where peace in the full will endure forever and ever.
While that is where we are headed, what about the application that Paul has in mind here? Christ already brought the gospel of peace with him at his first coming. We are not yet to the point when Christ returns. What use of this gospel of peace does Paul have in mind? Well, it comes back to the word of readiness. Paul tells us to put on shoes of readiness. We are to be ready with the gospel of peace. So then, does that mean we are to ready ourselves by coming into peace by believing the gospel? Or does this have in mind that we are to ready ourselves to be messengers of this gospel of peace to others? I think the background in Isaiah 52 implies the ladder, that we are to be ready as messengers of this message. But of course, we can’t be ready as messengers of this message if we haven’t first personally come to hear, believe, and embrace the message ourselves. So then, may we all put on these shoes ready with the gospel. May we personally know this gospel peace in our own hearts. And may we look to spread this message of gospel peace to others.
But this leads us to our third point. For, I will again say that this call to action must not be merely about finding the strength and courage in yourself to tell others about the gospel. Remember, this passage is about being strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. So, when we think about sharing the gospel of peace with others, we must remember that the ultimate messenger is Christ. May Christ speak through us his gospel of peace. Let us then turn to consider “Christ Preached Peace”.
Now, I have in mind what we previously studied in Ephesians 2:17. That says of Jesus, “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” Jesus is ultimately the messenger of the gospel of peace. Jesus is the one whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, and who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Remember, that this is how Jesus began his earthly ministry. Matthew 4:23, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.” Likewise, in Luke 4, he preached to Nazareth saying, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus then taught about the coming kingdom throughout his ministry, especially with many parables of the kingdom. He also did battle against the spiritual enemies every time he cast out a demon.
Jesus not only personally preached the gospel, but he also sent out his twelve disciples to preach the gospel, as we see in Luke 9. Later in Luke 10, he sent out seventy-two in a similar mission. And of course, at the end of his ministry, he gave the Great Commission. That commission is so important, because it is clear when we bear witness to the gospel, we do it on behalf of Jesus. There, he said in that context, that he would be with us always, even unto the end of the age. That implies how we need that presence to do this gospel ministry. In a similar way, he earlier told his disciples we do not need to fear what to say for the Holy Spirit would give us the words to say. The point is that that we don’t share the gospel out of our strength, but out of the strength he richly supplies. We may be the hands and feet of Jesus, but he is ultimate messenger with the message rooted in himself.
This significance and seriousness of this gospel message is seen in Luke’s gospel where Jesus laments over Jerusalem. Luke 13:34, Jesus says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Then later in Lk. 19:42, when Jesus drew near to the city, he said, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Jesus goes on to describe the judgment they would face, because they did not receive the gospel of peace when he brought it.
When you think of the many Old Testament prophecies we’ve discussed about the coming Messiah and the peace that he brings, it is clear that they especially have spoken those words to Israelites, many who lived in Jerusalem. And yet, Jesus says, that so many would not be prepared when judgment day comes, because they did not receive the gospel of peace when it was offered. In contrast, we see especially in Ephesians how many non-Israelites have received the gospel of peace. We have been made a united people of peace, united Israelites and Gentiles in Christ who is our peace.
This all points to the reality of how the spiritual war is focused around whether someone will receive the peace held out in Christ. I remember how Jesus said something rather ironic but important in Matthew 10. He said he didn’t come to bring peace on earth, but a sword. That sounds ironic, because, clearly, Jesus did come to bring peace to the earth, in a certain real sense. But Jesus goes on to explain what he meant there. Matthew 10:35,
“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This is the double edged aspect of the gospel. To those who receive it, it brings the greatest peace. But to those who reject it, it brings the sword. Until Christ returns, there will be this conflict. Just as Jesus said that until he comes there will be wars and rumors of wars, so too, until Christ returns, we will be in this spiritual war on peace. His message of peace will yet be opposed by many. Yet, there are many lost souls who so need this gospel of peace.
So then, this is a message that needs to be heralded. The consequences are too important. But let us remember that the application is not about sharing the gospel in our own strength and spirit. It is about putting on Christ our peace and having him use us to spread his gospel to the ends of the earth.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, today we’ve had some time to think about peace. We have begun to know true peace in Jesus. Yet, the fact that there is spiritual warfare going on right now tells us that we do not yet have peace in the full. Here, I think of the chronicles of many of the Old Testament kings of Israel. They would have seasons of war, but God also gave them periods of rest. When the land had rest, it experienced a measure of God-given peace. That is an analogy of what awaits us. Right now, we endure this spiritual war. The raging of Satan and his allies is hard. It wearies God’s people. Yet, victory is at hand. And when our Lord returns with healing in his wings, then, he will usher us into the New Jerusalem, and we will have rest. Not for just forty years, or eighty years, but for eternity. Praise be to Jesus, Prince of Peace!
Amen
Copyright © 2026 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
