A Soldier For Christ
Today is remembrance day. It is on this day every year that we pause to remember the thousands of Canadian soldiers who laid down their life in the past century to ensure that the Western World remained free. Certainly some were their by compulsion, drafted into a war they wanted nothing to do with, others were young and naïve with visions of glory and battle honour, yet still others were men of stature and maturity, fully recognizing the horror of war, but also seeing the need to fight and even die to ensure that their children were free from tyrants.
In one of his most intimate and personal letters the apostle Paul writes what is likely the last letter of his life to his dear young friend Timothy. In II Timothy 2:3-4 he points to the soldier as a picture of how the Christian should conduct himself in the service of his Lord. This passage in II Timothy behooves us to better understand the parallels between Christian service and the life of the soldier that we might apply them to our own lives.
An examination of the life of the soldier will reveal the nature of Christian service. II Timothy 2:3-4 – Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.
I. Endure Hardships
By all reports, throughout the history of humanity there appears to be more difficult place to live than on the battlefield. In the field of battle conditions are less than ideal, at the mercy of the weather, whether it be snow, rain, sleet or scorching sun. The little sleep a soldier receives in battle is not in a warm bed, but in a few blankets on the hardened ground. Many jokes have been made about using rations in the place of ammunition, yet we can be assured throughout history that the food eaten by soldiers in battle is sparse and of poor quality.
Perhaps the most difficult battlefield of all time was the battlefield of Western Europe during the Great War, the war we now refer to as the 1st World War. In that battle men of all nations gathered to do battle. The trenches were dug for hundreds of miles through France, Belgium, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. In these battlefields thousands of soldiers endured drizzling rain and constant shelling that reduced vast tracts of land into a sea of mud. In fact millions of causalities during the first world war occurred because of the hardships of the battlefield and not actual fighting. But those who would ultimately win the day were those who were willing to endure the hardships.
In II Timothy 3:12 the apostle Paul warns his young friend Timothy that anyone who wishes to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will fact persecution. Paul knew this too well. For as he wrote this final letter to his dear young friend he was chained as a criminal to a Roman guard. As the messenger carried this message to Timothy in Ephesus the blade of the executioner was sharpened, and perhaps as Timothy read these words of exhortation Paul may have already departed this earthly life. How many of the early Christians lost their lives for their faith, even today the United Nations tell us that 16 million Christians lose their lives annually.
When I took the job here in Creston I knew nothing about what it would take to be a Youth Pastor. My schooling had never dealt with practical ministry and I had only been exposed to a couple of pastors in my entire life, so I felt a little inadequate in facing the tasks ahead. I decided in the two weeks we had to pack and depart from Ontario to gather as much info as possible. I began phoning all the pastors I knew in the area and offering to buy them coffee if they would take half an hour to speak to me. The question I asked each of them was if they could give me one jewel of wisdom from their own personal experience what would it be. Each of their answers I recorded in my day planner and each has proven itself over the past 3 and a half years. I was told to make prayer central and never to neglect it in my ministry, I was told to take a day away to focus on my family and to rest, I was told to be aware that not everyone would support me, I was told to have a tender heart and tough skin, but the piece of advice that has stood out most to me came from a Free Methodist Pastor who told me that when I came to Creston or to any other position I should together with my wife commit myself to the Lord for a certain period of time and no matter what happens to hold to that commitment. As Michelle and I traveled from Simcoe to Creston in our U-Haul we discussed what sort of commitment we should make and finally decided that at least 5 years would be required to begin to see effective ministry and so we decided to commit five years, not to the people of the church, not to the elders or the pastor, but to the Lord; with the provision that the Lord would have to firmly close the door on Creston before we would release our commitment. At the time I never realized how many ways that commitment would be tested and tried. Whether from spiritual battle, discouragement, feelings of inadequacy, and even temptations from other churches to go elsewhere. But based on the grace God gives we have been able to endure the hardships.
Perhaps you too have felt like you are in a great battle, and that there are certain spiritual objectives that you have not yet reached. Let me encourage you to commit your way to the Lord and to prepare yourself to endure hardship like any good soldier of Jesus Christ. For it is only when we are willing to endure that the victory is obtained.
II. Avoid Entanglement
Early in 1940 the war hardened veterans of the Nazi armies poured into Paris. The iron columns of armour and the regiments of Teutonic manhood goose stepped their way through the streets of Paris in all the glory of a conquering army. The average age of the soldiers was 21 and they were the most powerful fighting force in the world on that day. But four years later on the sixth of June 1944 as the allied armies stormed the beaches of Normandy the armies of Germans they found in those first few days was not the same. The average age now being 25 the majority of these soldiers had enjoyed four years of French wine and food and many had girlfriends, mistresses and wives among the French population. They were an army softened by lack of purpose and too much indulgence in civilian affairs and for most of them the attack that morning took them by surprise.
Any good soldier knows that he has no place in civilian affairs when he is at war. The good soldier knows that he must focus on his purpose and his goal, or risk being caught off guard when the enemy attacks.
Throughout scripture the apostle Paul warns the believer of the dangers of worldliness, telling us to separate ourselves from the world and to recognize that we have been called out of the world. For Paul the reminders of the draw of worldliness were fresh in his memory as all of his so called friends had abandoned him at his hearing in Rome and he writes of one called Demas in II Timothy 4:10 telling Timothy that it was the love of the world that caused him to leave.
In Hebrews 12:1-3 we our encouraged to shake off the weight and sin which so easily beset us and run with patience the race that stretches out for us, looking to Jesus who has gone on before. Do not be complacent, but be diligent, for the attack of the enemy comes when it is least expected.
When I was in Bible College we had a guest speaker come to one of our chapel services. This speaker had lived in an African Country where outright persecution of Christians was common place. But as he shared his story he shocked us when he told us that the people of his African church spent time praying for North Americans because for them the temptation of worldliness is so much greater and so much more insipid. For the persecuted church the choice is clear and cut, it is the choice to live for Christ and die to all, or to abandon Christ to embrace the temporal things this world has and save their lives. But for us it is so much more difficult to avoid worldliness. Can worldliness be summed up in what we wear, how we speak, where we go, what we watch? Can we draw some sort of distinction between godliness and worldliness in a culture which tells us that everything is acceptable; that encourages us to be Christians who behave in every way like the others around us.
Have we avoided entanglement with the world? Are we solid soldiers of the cross focused on the tasks our Lord has given us of sharing the gospel, of living in obedience to his teachings? Is there anything in our life that would cause the people you live with, work with, go to school with, or hang around with to believe that we are Christians, or do we blend to well into the background.
III. Service With Distinction
Perhaps the greatest military disaster for Canadians was the failed operation on the beaches of Dieppe on 19 August 1942. The majority of men who landed on the beach were killed or captured in eight hours of fighting. Captain Foote, a chaplain with the Canadian army spent the time coolly and calmly walking about collecting the wounded, saving many lives by his gallant efforts and inspiring those around him by his example. At the end of this grueling time he climbed from the landing craft that was to have taken him to safety and deliberately walked into the German position in order to be taken prisoner so that he could be a help to those men who would be in captivity until the end of the war. For his gallantry he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award given to soldiers in the British Commonwealth. Today he serves to demonstrate what it means to serve with distinction. A soldier who serves with distinction will be rewarded and will avoid painful discipline and reprimand.
Paul tells Timothy that it should be his desire to serve with distinction so as to please his commanding officer, Jesus Christ. At the end of his letter Paul returns to a military theme as he states, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous judge shall award to me, and not only to me, but to all those who love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:6-8) Paul identifies the fact that God will reward those who serve well.
Brothers and sisters let me tell you that honour and valour are always rare traits, that is why we value them so highly when we find them. That is why the governments of our world give honour to those who distinguish themselves in this way. That is why it is right for us to take time each year to remember and to honour those who fought to keep our nation free. Acts of bravery and valour are rarely the result of mistakes… when the bullets start flying it is so much easier to simply keep our heads down like everyone else; in a similar way service to God is rarely the result of an accident. When we act with distinction it is usually because we have made a conscious decision to do so, and Paul here encourages young Timothy to intentionally commit himself to serving the Lord, no matter what consequences might come from such a decision.
When I think of those who distinguished themselves in the service of the Lord I am reminded of D.L. Moody. At a young age Moody heard a preacher whose challenge was, ‘The world has yet to see what God can do with a young man who is fully yielded to him.’ As D.L. Moody heard those words he made the commitment to the Lord that he would be that man. In his lifetime Moody built a Sunday School of over 1000 children in Chicago; saw the construction of a Bible College right at the core of the city; and saw thousands of people come to the Lord through his faithful preaching. Yes, but that was Moody, you reply; and I say to you that by all reports he was a man who did not preach with eloquent words, he was almost devoid of education, but he was determined to serve with distinction.
Where are you today? Are you content to continue plodding along, never doing too little, but never so much as to distinguish yourself. Or are you striving to avoid the entanglements of the world, enduring the hardships that the Christian life will bring and seeking to serve with distinction, not for the rewards offered but simply out of love, gratitude and the sense of duty that should belong to everyone who Christ has redeemed by his blood.
I trust that everyone of you can look back to the day that you turned your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ and were drafted into the service of the Eternal King. I trust that each one of you will make sure your calling as a soldier of Jesus Christ. But let me remind you with the words of Paul that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickedness in High Places. As soldiers of the cross engaged in a continuing battle let us prepare to endure hardship like good soldiers, recognizing that not all of the Christian life is leisure and pleasure. Let us avoid the entanglement of the world remembering the example set by our Lord who surrendered his own life to win for us an eternal victory. Be encouraged in the fact that the final battle is already one and that in victory our King waits for us and someday soon we will be with him.
So as we remember today soldiers fallen in earthly conflict and commemorate their brave sacrifice, let us also remember Jesus Christ, the victor of the cross, who has given to us his victory and called us to be soldiers of the cross; to that end, let us serve with purpose and distinction.
