THOSE SAME OLD SHOES - LPNI

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THOSE SAME OLD SHOES

Bible Study

LUTHERAN PARISH NURSE INTERNATIONAL

BIBLE STUDY—SUMMER, 2023

Dr. Daniel Paavola

THOSE SAME OLD SHOES

STUDY #1

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Romans 12:2

Do you have uncomfortable shoes in your closet? Do you have to force your feet into them, hoping that somehow they have magically gotten better? They haven’t, have they? No shoemaker’s elves have come overnight to stretch them into shape. No, they are still as stiff as ever. The ones I’m thinking of in my closet were stiff as a board on day one and nothing has turned them into welcoming friends. No, they are still more like two small alligators, each one just waiting to sharpen his bite on my foot.

Let’s admit we have shoes like these. Which are your most uncomfortable shoes?

Given that they are so painful, why do you still have them?

Of course, we could get rid of these miserable shoes and buy new ones. But these shoes are nowhere near being worn out. In fact, given how little I wear them, they’ll never wear out. Besides, they cost something. So, no, I’m going to stay with them, hoping they get better.

READ OUR TEXT, ROMANS 12:1-3

When I think of these shoes, what I’m waiting for is the sort of transformation that our text talks about. Paul says we should be transformed because of our union with Jesus. Once we were the distant and angry objects of God’s wrath, Ephesians 2:3, but God has chosen us despite that. Now, being forgiven by his mercy, we are transformed. The Holy Spirit, more powerful and active than any imaginary shoemaker elf, has been at work on us.

Let’s consider three possible changes God is making in us as he conforms us to his will. First, God is making us more flexible. It would be wonderful if these stiff shoes were suddenly soft like a well-worn glove. But sleeping in the dark of the closet is not going to make that change. Only wearing these shoes has a chance of making them flexible.

Do we sometimes want God to make an overnight change in us so that we wake up, eager to take on a challenge we have been stiffly resisting? Imagine the amazing patience of God who walks with us even as we drag our feet, resisting moving forward. Picture God saying to us each day, “Come on, now. Let’s go. One more day. Just focus on today and we’ll do it together.”

When has God had that conversation with you, moving you forward for just one day? How did he show himself to be faithfully present with you even that day?

The second change that God makes to enabling us to take on the long journey of faith without complaining. You are probably a quiet sufferer and no one knows that your shoes are killing you. I however will let you know that my feet are dying.

Imagine how often God hears this complaint as he shapes our stubborn stiffness into conforming with his will. “This hurts!” And, “How much farther do we have to go?” But again, the patience of God takes us step by step farther each day. We don’t become marathon runners in one day or week. It’s a slow process and so God is training us in his will. He lives within us through the Spirit and thereby gives us the strength to go farther today than before.

How have you seen God at work in extending your ‘range’ or making you more accepting of the length of the journey of faith?

The final change that God works is when he is shaping us so that we remain in the will of God and not seek to shake it off as soon as possible. When you get to the end of the day with those stiff shoes, don’t you kick them off as you walk in the door? I’m not even walking from the door to the bedroom closet wearing these things. Imagine how often God sees us wanting to do the same. We live within the will of God stiffly until we get home or alone. Then we want to slip out and be free again.

But the will of God is meant to be our new normal, even our new comfort. The will of God for us is not a punishment, but is the plan for which we were made. It is the balance of hearing the Word of God, knowing that we haven’t done that we should have done. We confess and we then hear his full, wonderful forgiveness. This daily balance is God’s will and it shapes us so that we fit into this balance.

How have you seen yourself grown to appreciate the balance of confession and forgiveness, knowing both our failure and God’s wonderful mercy?

I’ll keep wearing these stiff shoes and will probably give up hoping that they will get any better. After all, the more I wear them, the sooner they’ll wear out.

Isn’t it good news that God remains with us, but not to wear us out? He continues to shape us to fit into his will and his plans. We are not an uncomfortable burden to him, but we are his handiwork by which he shows all that he can change and transform.

Lord, shape us to fit more perfectly into your will and plans. Remain with us even when we are a less-than-perfect fit. Amen.

STUDY #2

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Do you have shoes that still look new? Maybe they are still in the box and so they hibernate for weeks and even months between coming out. Maybe you have them to wear with just that one outfit to which they are a perfect match. The pair I have, still in the box, are my wedding and funeral shoes. They fit fine, they look good, but for whatever reason, they rarely come out unless there’s an ‘occasion.’ At this rate, they are going to last a long, long time.

What are your still-new, still-in-the-box shoes? When, if ever, do you wear them?

Forever new. What a great idea not only for special shoes, but also for us. In the view of God, we are a new creation. As our text says, God has determined to see us as his new workmanship each day. Old stains and tears are daily gone and daily we are made new.

We could do this with shoes only if we never wore them. Leave them in the box and, sure, they’ll look new. But we are hardly new anymore and we certainly don’t spend each day hidden in safety. We are the everyday shoes that have to face every storm every day.

What are your secret treatments for making an old shoe look new—or at least newer?

Yet, God sees us as thoroughly new. This is not something that we have done or earned. Our lives haven’t been polished up so to look brand-new. Also, God does more than give us a superficial polishing. Let’s consider how he has presented us to himself without stain or wrinkle but holy and blameless, Ephesians 5:27. First of all, this is his determined choice. He has chosen to see us in the light and life of Jesus. He sees us as a mother sees the Mother’s Day bouquet that her five-year old has brought in. It’s mostly dandelions but she sees it as beautiful because this is her daughter. So, God has chosen to see us as his children and so we are new, beautiful in his sight.

Then God has also chosen to cleanse us through the work of Jesus. 1 John 1:7 reminds us that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. He has cleaned us of our past and sins which we thought would leave a lasting mark. But we are restored by the shaping, caring hand of God who knows exactly what we have had to face. Though we have often gotten off track and stained ourselves, He has reclaimed us and restored our souls. By his work, we are new.

How do we need and appreciate the double work of God—he chooses to see us as clean and new and he also actually cleanses us by the blood of Jesus?

My wedding and funeral shoes are still sleeping today in the box. Your special shoes weren’t called into action today either and so they still look perfect. When you see those like-new shoes, remember that so also God presents us just that perfect each day.

Heavenly Father, thank you for presenting us as new every day in your sight. Walk with us each day and renew us in body and soul. Amen.

STUDY #3

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering near to hear him.” Luke 15:1

We’ve been talking about shoes in this study. We’ve done the uncomfortable shoes that we still wear and the special occasion shoes that mostly sleep in the closet. Now there’s one more.

My mother used to say this phrase, “That’s as common as a mud shoe.” I’ve never heard anyone else use that phrase: common as a mud shoe. I don’t know if Mom made it up or heard it somewhere. I Googled it and got only a series of ads for running shoes that are good in mud. That’s not what Mom had in mind.

For Mom, a mud shoe was that pair of shoes that lived by the door since you took them off as soon as you came into the house. You would never wear mud shoes into the house. They were the old shoes too worn out to wear in public. But on the farm, in the shop or in the garden, no one noticed or cared. So, we wore the oldest shoes in the worst places and they were the mud shoes.

Have you ever heard or used the phrase, “common as a mud shoe?” What do your ‘mud shoes’ look like? Where do you wear them?

Jesus associated with the people who were the most common, the most worn-out and the most despised by the Pharisees and others. Think of the ‘mud shoe’ people that Jesus was seen with:

Tax collectors were famous for over-charging and they were hated as they worked for the oppressive Romans.

Lepers were to be avoided at all costs. They lived on the fringe of society and had to announce their approach by cries of being unclean.

In John 8, Jesus stood with the woman caught in adultery, causing all the accusers to leave since they also were sinners.

Despite the many categories of sinners, Jesus was seen with all of these. He touched lepers and welcomed Matthew the tax collector to be one of his disciples. Jesus did not avoid these people but was glad to be counted among them himself. That is why he told the three parables in Luke 15 of seeking the lost and then celebrating when they are found.

Jesus chose to be associated with these people immediately, not after they had gone through treatment or change. How could he be associated with these sinners and not become stained by their sin?

What does his walking with sinners say about his power and his personal holiness?

Consider the three parables in Luke 15: the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. What do these three lost ones—sheep, coin, son—say about the value God chooses to find in each lost person?

My mud shoes are standing there by the door, just inside the garage. They are old friends that I wear only around the yard. But how different with Jesus who was glad to be seen with the most common, the most ordinary of people and be known as one with them.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have been stood with the most common of us all, even when we are nothing in the sight of the world. Amen.