November 10, 2013
Veterans Day 2013
2 Timothy 2:3-4
In many churches, just like ours, there stand two flags—the American Flag and the Christian Flag. These two flags represent two types of freedom. One is a freedom that allows us to go where we want to go, say what we want to say, to live where we want to live, to dream big dreams and pursue them. Someone once wrote:
It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.
Veterans over the centuries have sacrificed so much to obtain and preserve this precious freedom—which also includes the God-given right to worship our Creator anytime anywhere. That leads us to the other type of freedom, represented by the Christian Flag—a greater freedom that can only be found in Christ, who died as a ransom to set us free. This is a freedom from a life of futility, freedom from the tyranny of sin, regret, hate, and bitterness. It’s the freedom to love God and love our neighbor.
To serve either of these flags (and the freedoms they represent) faithfully and effectively, we must meet certain requirements. Before one can become a Veteran, they must first be a good soldier. So my question for you today is—what does it take to become a Veteran? Not just a military Veteran, but a spiritual Veteran?
The Apostle Paul knew a little something about that.
Having enlisted in the Lord’s army after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus and enduring countless dangers, toils, and snares as a result, Paul was a Veteran Christian if there ever was one. Toward the end of his life—while facing execution for his commitment to Christ—Paul sat in a cold Roman prison, cut off from the world, with just a quill and some parchment. Paul knew that he would soon be executed and so he wrote his final thoughts to a young pastor named Timothy, passing to him the torch of leadership, reminding him of what was truly important and encouraging him to keep the faith. In 2 Timothy 2:3-4, Paul states:
3 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. (2 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV).
In these two short verses Paul uses four e-words — enlist, endure, engage, and entangle — each representing a different aspect of what it takes to become a Veteran soldier of Christ. I actually want to start with the last e-word, which is — ENLIST ~
You can’t become a Veteran if you don’t enlist. As Paul says in another translation, “A soldier wants to please his commanding officer” (2 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV). Thankfully, our country no longer uses a draft. Recruitment officers are sent out to encourage people to volunteer, but men and women have the freedom to choose whether or not they serve in the American military today. And people make that choice for different reasons.
A lot of young people I’ve talked to enlist so that they can go college, others out of a sense of patriotic duty, some were raised in military families, and still others because they’re looking for some sense of direction or purpose for their lives. No matter what the reasons are, it’s a tough decision — life changing, to simply leave everything behind.
God does not force anyone to serve in the service of His Kingdom, either. He does send out recruitment officers, that’s you and me, to encourage people to serve in His Army, but it’s our choice to enlist. Following Jesus is a life-altering commitment that requires full devotion. When you make the decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your life must change. No longer are you able to be the commanding officer and general of your life. You’ve given that over to Christ. He is now the leader of your life.
The first step to becoming a spiritual Veteran is enlisting.
The next step is ENDURING
American soldiers in every branch of the military have a lot to endure, not the least of which is the grueling nature of basic training. If you’re not ready for it, you will be worked harder than you have ever worked. Not only does the soldier have to endure the physical aspect of the military, but there are the mental, emotional and there is the time away from their families. In order to be successful in the military you have to endure the different situations and circumstances which come your way.
In the same way, if you want to be a veteran Christ follower, you also have to endure.
As Paul told Timothy, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3 NKJV). In our country we are so thankful that we don’t experience the kind of hardships they do in other parts of the world — hardships like the ones Paul experienced. During his missionary journeys Paul was flogged, stoned, shipwrecked and more. But, I need to tell you religious persecution is not only happening in foreign lands, it’s also happening right before us, and we need to be ready for persecution. But that is another day and sermon.
We will be challenged in ways we could not imagine, we will have trials, temptations and tribulations in this life which we never thought would come our way. And it’s not the sicknesses and illnesses Paul is talking about. He’s talking about persecution for being a follower of Jesus Christ. As soldiers of Christ, we have to endure. We have to keep the faith. We have to trust God’s plan is better than our plan, even in the midst of our struggles.
So, we enlist, we endure. And next we ENGAGE ~
While I’ve never experienced war, I have great respect for those who have been engaged in war. Every soldier goes through basic training, so that when the day of battle occurs, you will be ready for the war. You go through that so you will be prepared to engage the enemy. Through training exercises and combat practice you are prepared to always be ready for battle.
As Christians we need to do the same. As Paul explains, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV).
In other words, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we have to be prepared to engage in spiritual warfare. We battle temptation. We stand opposed to false religions and worldviews that are hostile toward Christianity. We are called to defend our faith with reason and precision. We can’t be afraid to stand up for Jesus in public or in our personal relationships. God is counting on us to “takes captives,” which means surrendering our own thought and beliefs to Christ, but also leading others to do the same — with gentleness and respect. In the Lord’s Army, we don’t kill our enemies; instead our goal is to make them our allies.
And in the Lord’s Army, we aren’t fighting alone. Just as soldiers in a squad, platoon or company, depend on each other, Christ followers rely on our church family to support us and stand beside us.
In order to be a Veteran we must enlist, endure, engage, and lastly, we have one don’t, don’t get ENTANGLED ~
Paul says ~ 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life
I heard about a new recruit, shortly after joining the Navy, who asked his officer for a pass so he could attend a wedding. The officer gave him the pass, but informed the young man he would have to be back by 7 p.m. Sunday. The recruit said, “You don’t understand, sir, “I’m in the wedding.”
The officer shot back, “No, you don’t understand, you’re in the Navy!”
When you serve this (American) flag, you are expected to be completely committed to your country and to allow nothing to prevent you from performing your duties and serving faithfully.
When you serve this (Christian) flag, you are also expected to be completely committed to Christ and His Kingdom. You are expected to serve Him faithfully, not allowing anything to keep you from doing His will.
Unfortunately, countless Christians, after coming to faith in Christ, do get entangled in the affairs of this world. They let other things become more important to them than Jesus. In fact, Jesus told a story about that very thing. He talked about a farmer who scattered seed everywhere he went. Jesus said, ‘seed will fall on the path, on rocky ground, in the weeds, and in good soil. And the seeds which fall in the weeds and thorns doesn’t grow because we’re too caught up in the concerns and pleasures of the world.. (Luke 8)
We need to be careful about the things we let distract us from Jesus. As Paul has said elsewhere, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8 NLT).
So, we ENLIST, we ENDURE, we ENGAGE and we don’t get ENTANGLED.
It’s part of the puzzle piece I talked about 5 weeks ago. We are a piece of the puzzle and we need to believe that. We may start out as a simple recruit, we may start out as a lowly private, but we have a role to play in God’s kingdom. The goal in the Christian life is to become a veteran, someone others can look up to, someone people can look to and say “he or she is a great example of living the Christ-like life.” I hear people talk about how a person made a huge impact in their life, and that’s what we are called to do.
At this time I want someone to come up and talk to us for a few minutes about his walk and how he knows and trusts that he is one piece of the puzzle in God’s kingdom . . .
(A member of the church came forward and spoke about His relationship with Christ, and how it has changed his life.)
