Soldiers for Christ
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2: 3-4 Date: 7 November 2010
Purpose: I believe to honor our vets we must place God first in our thoughts and relate military service to that of our service to God. We need to ask ourselves, “What is involved in serving Christ?
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In proclaiming the holiday, he said
"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."
The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that the President (Calvin Coolidge this time) issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday.
In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas shoe store owner named Alfred King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. King began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor veterans. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.
Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with Veterans, and it has been known as Veterans Day since.
All veterans need to be honored for their dedication to our country. For their hardships they have endured, for the Warfare they have battled, and for the struggles that each has battled within their lives.
Being a soldier and serving this great nation is an honor and it is one thing that I am personally very proud of within my life. But as I think of my military service, I can’t help but to think of a greater calling to a service that God has called all of us to. We are all called to be Soldiers of Christ!!
2 Timothy 2: 3-4 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
Looking at this Scripture really drives home the importance of serving in His mighty service and I believe to honor our vets we must place God first in our thoughts and relate military service to that of our service to God. We need to ask ourselves, “What is involved in serving Christ?
I.ENDURE HARDSHIP
A. In the first portion of our Scripture this morning, Paul tells us: You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I believe this has a lot of meaning to it that deserves some thought.
1. Most people would generally agree that serving as a soldier during wartime is no fun to say the least. Being a soldier during a time of war is a difficult thing to deal with.
2. Soldiers often go without water, food, sleep, medical treatment, seeing their family, not to mention other unimaginable hardships. Sacrifice is the major hardship for the soldier.
3. The hardship of being a soldier is un-comprehendible unless you’ve served yourself. For me to stand here before you this morning and try to paint the picture for you will never truly bring it to life.
4.This is a truth that many of us seem to forget or really don’t understand in the first place. Once we gave our lives to Jesus, we enlisted into His Army. By joining His Army hardships are to follow…. Sacrifices!
Illustration: I have known many recruiters in my life. Very few of them were totally honest to say the least. If you were to ask one of them if they ever lied to their potential recruits, they would tell you “of course not, I just didn’t tell them everything.” Many recruiters I knew would somehow forget to mention the hardships that comes with such a glorious high paying job.
If you were to ask the mass majority of soldiers today that are actively serving if they knew totally all the hardships that came with serving? They would probably answer “nope, not even close.”
5. Isn’t this the same for us? When we joined in His service, maybe we didn’t realize the hardships that came with giving our lives to Him? Maybe we never truly thought about what we had to deal with and do without in this world as we serve.
Illustration: A man in Iowa named Bob Ouverson, once said, “Boy this Christian thing sure is tough! It keeps getting in the way of things and it stops me from doing what I want to do!”
6.Being a Soldier for Christ isn’t easy, it demands many sacrifices but at the same time it brings much joy and peace.
7.As we serve Jesus we remove ourselves from the ways of the world and the sin that is so very tempting to each of us. Let’s be honest about it; “Sin is fun!” if sin wasn’t fun, no one would be sinning!
8.Sin is of the flesh and the flesh desires comfortibility . Each time the Holy Spirit talks to us and convicts us, our flesh cries out!
9.This is why many hate feeling convicted and many battle over changing their sinful lives. We even see people leave good churches because conviction.
10.We live in a Burger King Society, “We want it our way”! And unfortunately this is how we treat our Service to Jesus.
11.When you give yourself to Christ and His service you are automatically in a battle with conviction of the flesh but it doesn’t stop there. As a Soldier for Christ you are ………
II. ENGAGED IN WARFARE
A.The second portion of God’s Word that I want to point out and focus on this morning is found in verse 4. Paul says,
“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
1.There are two basic reasons to have soldiers. One is to prevent, or be ready in case of war, and the second is because there is a war going on. In our case, there is a war going on.
2. This war has been going on since God cast Satan and 1/3 of the angels out of heaven. Since then, they have been attacking mankind on earth.
3.Satan wanted to be God. He thought that he was better than God and he wanted to exalt himself above God. Satan was full of pride!
4.Satan was made so perfect, so beautiful, so knowledgeable that he became self-centered instead of God centered. This is when God found unrighteousness within him and cast him out of heaven. Since then, the devil has been striking out at God’s people. He must hate us because we remind him of God. God tells us in Genesis that He made us in His own image. Maybe the devil knows that he can never defeat God, so the next best thing is to destroy His creations by fighting to keep them from salvation.
5.Whichever the case, our war as Soldiers of Christ is a real one. We have a real enemy with real weapons and with a real plan. Satan knows his fate in the end because it is foretold in Revelation. His only consolation is to take as many of God’s people to Hell with him as he can. As the old saying goes, misery loves company.
B.Before you enlisted into God’s Army, Satan’s attacks more than likely absent from your life. Before your point of Salvation you were not engaged in War, at least not the war with Satan.
1.You are not an enemy of Satan until you accept Salvation.
2.We face many battles each day from Satan as we serve Jesus. We battle Pride, Anger, Selfishness, Envy, Deceit, even Little White Lies.
3.Giving your life to Jesus is like putting yourself on the front lines of a war. But this war is a spiritual war and though you may lose several battles, unlike worldly wars, we know the outcome.
4.We must remind ourselves daily of whom our enemy truly is. Our only enemy in this war is the devil and his band of demons. Every other person on this earth has a spirit that God wants saved.
III.ENTANGLES HIMSELF
A.The last point that I want to share with you this morning is quite frankly the area in which we Christians really defeat ourselves. In verse 4 we read:
“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
1.Other than serving our Lord & Savior, what else in this life matters? I fear to see a true survey of how many people actually put the glorification of Jesus as #1 on their list.
2.I want to also bring your attention what Paul tells us in the last portion of this verse. He says, in this life.
3.We claim to be Christians, but do we really act like it? The truth is that the vast majority of us are so consumed by things of this life that we forget about our service to God and our spiritual life.
4. Things like Sports, TV, Jobs, Possessions, Money, Music, Dating, Games, Entertainment, Education, Hobbies, have become our idols. These are the things of this world that we have been distracted with.
B. I also believe that our own pride has become a distraction to us that entangles us to the affairs of this life.
1.It seems that many believers today are drawn to the feel food churches. You know the churches that give you the feel good messages that keep you feeling warm inside and complacent within your Christian walk. The churches fail at feeding the soul but succeed in pleasing the flesh.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2.Church, this time is now! All over this Great Nation we have churches that are watering God’s Holy Word down and deceiving people. This is because of our own desires and not allowing the Holy Spirit to be present in our churches.
3. The days we live in are full of evil and obstacles that lure us away from God and His love. You know something is wrong with our world when people turn to false teachers to hear what their itching ears want to hear rather than hearing from God.
4.You see, I believe it may be our pride that keeps us from accepting the convicting messages that God so desperately wants us each to hear in order to grow and become the soldiers for him that we need to be.
5.Sadly, this is more than likely the major reason why people choose a certain church over another and also why people may leave a certain church to attend another.
6.We search for churches much like we search for a great vacation package. What’s in it for me? Or how will I be served?
VIDEO: “Cruise Ship vs. Battle Ship?” (Worship House Media)
7.As a soldier for Christ, how effective do you think we will be if we are more concerned about the flesh and the things of this world that so easily entangles us?
8.How do we view our church? How do we view our service to God?
Conclusion: When you serve this (Christian) flag, Christ expects you to be completely devoted (consecrated) to Him and His Kingdom.
1 Chronicles. 29:5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD?”
“I Am a Soldier”
I am a soldier, a prayer warrior, of the army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, Prayer and the Word are my weapons of warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience,
tried by adversity, and tested by fire.
I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this army at the Rapture or die in this Army;
but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out.
I am faithful, capable, and dependable.
I am committed.
I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside.
I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.
I AM A SOLDIER!
- To be a Soldier for Christ, we must be completely devoted to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.
