AN OLD SOLDIER’S
PERSPECTIVE OF A BALLANCED CHURCH
ILLUSTRATION
In the summer time my wife and I love to feed hummingbirds. Our front porch faces west, which makes it an excellent place for flowers and for birds. Each year we put out 3 or 4 hummingbird feeders so that we can sit on the porch and watch the birds. This past year we had one hummingbird that spent all of his time chasing the other birds away from the feeders. My wife got angry with the little bully, but I felt sorry for him. He was so paranoid that he spent all his time in a futile effort to guard that, which could not be guarded. I never saw the little fellow eat. All he did was sit on a nail and then fly down to chase other birds away from the feeders. He would fly back up to his perch and in just a moment fly after another bird.
I sometimes think that a Christians congregation can become a little bit like that hummingbird. It seems like we are either focused on our daily struggles or we are totally enraptured by God’s blessings. In either case, we loose sight of the deity of Christ and ignore our mission as ambassadors. When this happens, we can get so focused on the spiritual battlefield that we missed the joy of God, or we can spend so much time chasing prosperity-gospel illusions that we fall prey to Satan’s deceptions. Or, God forbid, we think someone has given us a ticket to heaven so we sit down and wait for the train. This is not to say that any of these activities is totally wrong. What is wrong is to devote all of your time and energy to just one ancillary facet of Christianity: we can be guilty of straining gnats and swallowing camels. We need to balance battlefield concerns with the joys found in being a faithful Christian so that our service to Christ is not encumbered with ancillary things.
SERMON
There was an alarm going off: a soft gentle alarm that roused the old man to consciousness. Dang-it he had fallen asleep in church again, and his young grandson was using a wristwatch’s alarm to wake him up. As the old man gathered his wits about him he wished the evangelist’s sermons were not as dry as dust. He thought: ‘It is the same health, wealth and happiness sales pitch he had heard a hundred times before.’ The old man already knew how the evangelist’s sermon would end. In his mind, the old man could hear the evangelist preach: “If you become a partner in this ministry God will bless you with your hearts desires and for every dollar you give to this ministry God will give you ten in return.” The old man shook his head in disgust, thinking: ‘it is not that the evangelist is lying; it is just that he is drowning the congregation in milk!’
The old man, out of Christian dedication to his church, tried to focus on the sermon; but soon his mind was wandering through memories of his past. Before long he zeroed in on a time when, as a young soldier, he was brought awake by alarms sounding far off in the distance. As sounds in the church faded into the background, the old man settled into his new daydream where he could once again hear the alarm sounding in his ear. He remembered how hard it was to wake up. But, as sleep gave way to the unrelenting sound of the alarm, he realized that the sound, the alarm sound, was coming from a Government Issued wristwatch. The GI watch, whose sound was muffled from the rest of the world by a folded up towel, was held to his head by a green triangular swath of cloth. The towel, which most wore slung over the back of their neck, was used to wipe sweat out of eyes; when folded up it became a pillow; and in the highlands it staved off the chill of the night. The sweat and soil stained triangular cloth had originally been taken out of a first aid pouch. Now fully awake, the soldier slowly reached his left hand under the folded up towel and shut off the watch.
Lord God above he was tired. They had been running from the enemy since day before yesterday: the day when a three-man reconnaissance mission started deep within enemy territory. In the pre-mission briefing, intelligence had pointed to a light brown spot on the French map, lying on a table before them, and assured the team that this would make a suitable LZ (landing zone). Now, as the chopper they were riding in swept over the treetops and the LZ came into view the soldier realized that things were starting out bad. Intelligence’s LZ was nothing more than a rockslide, which had opened up the jungle along a steep slope. Man, just getting safely down into that rock pile was going to be a challenge. It was obvious that intelligence had not bothered to do a fly-by recon, and instead had made the assumption that the old French map was right. But, as the soldier knew from first hand experience … they almost never were.
They were on the ground; and as sounds of the chopper began to fade, the soldiers heard a new sound: one that raised the hairs on the back of their necks. The sound was that of a bamboo gong. Judas priest, intelligence had landed them right outside the front gate of their target.
They had been on the run every since that moment, and as the soldier lay there waking up from a 90 minute sleep he wondered if he could possibly go on. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain as he moved to wake up the other two member of the team. He felt awful! As his muscles slowly loosened up, his mind began running through a checklist of things to do before they left the shelter of the dense jungle thicket. At the top of the list was a weapons check, and then take care of the fact that they all needed food, water, and medication. The thicket and darkness had been their protection for the past two hours, and it would continue to shield them as they eat, drank and prepared to move out.
As the old man sat in the pew, lulled by the drone of the evangelist, he continued thinking of his past life as a soldier. Having been a combat soldier made it easy to understand why Paul used the discipline of soldiering to teach about Christian discipline. When he and his team crawled out of that jungle thicket, so long ago, they were men prepared to push themselves beyond normal human limits. They were not men born to be warriors; it was training, never ending training, and tons of discipline that welded them into a very effective fighting team. The civilian boys, who came together on the battlefield, had been transformed into warriors with superior skills and physical attributes. He was proud of his military service and what he had suffered and endured for his country.
The old man’s memories were rudely interrupted by the thought: ‘do I have reason to be proud of my Christian service?’ Fond memories of past achievements are cast aside by the realization that he had not put the same level of training and discipline into Christian service. The old man began to agonize over his less than stellar performance as one of God’s servants. He knows that the level of effort he puts into spiritual conditioning and disciple falls way short of the effort he put into his military training. As good soldiers, they had always pushed themselves in their training and they disciplined themselves to always automatically react as a team. They all knew tomorrow would bring the threat of death and that survival required each man to react faster and more lethal than the enemy. The old man subconsciously nodded his head as he thought about how the demand to know one’s self and to know the enemy had driven his team to excel in training and discipline. The old man’s head suddenly stopped nodding; a scowl swept across his face as he thought: ‘Good Lord! I am on a battlefield today without knowing the enemy; without adequate training and conditioning; without a battle plan … I am a walking dead man.’
The steady monotone sound coming from the pulpit had allowed the old man to totally engulf himself in his thoughts. But, his grandson’s tugging at his sleeve was bringing him back to the world of the living. “Why are you frowning grandpa,” the young boy asked? The old man nods in the direction of the evangelist and shakes his head. His grandson smiles with the realization that he is not suffering this sermon alone. Actually, the old man is perplexed by the fact that, even though he still faces death at every moment of his life, he just cannot seem to really fear the roaring lion who seeks to destroy him. The problem with today’s enemy is that he does not roar like a lion. So, how do you open your eyes to an enemy you cannot see? How do you explain the reality of today’s spiritual battlefield? How do you alert yourself and other people to the existence of an enemy who kills; but, you seldom see any fallen comrades? Like many Christians, the old man knows that the enemy is real, but he finds it very hard to actively view Satan as a serious threat.
The old man shudders as he comes to the realization he has ignored the presence of Satan for so long that it has become difficult to see Satan standing right beside him. Still, our unwillingness to admit that Satan is a real and active threat does not do away with the fact that Satan is out there: he brings with him the certainty of death and the reality of hell.
As the old man’s mind races with thoughts of today’s spiritual battlefield, desperation builds within him. He and all his Christian family must learn to embrace the fear of spiritual failure. They must wake to the reality that the enemy is right there beside them, seeking to destroy their walk with Christ. They must face the fact that the enemy ultimately wants to see their souls writhing in the flames of hell. Our spiritual enemy is real, and the death that he threatens us with is real. It is essential for us to know and fear the enemy. But, not with a fear that paralyzes us. It must be a fear that motivates us to discipline ourselves and to train ourselves to become strong Christian warriors. We must embrace this fear and, through the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, turn our knowledge of the roaring lion into a weapon, which we can successfully use against him.
A gentle smile brightens the old man’s face as his mind embraces thoughts of his military training. The old man remembers: ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle: Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Yes! That is the secret to being a successful Christian warrior.’ A very deep calm comes over the old man as he resolves to study the bible more and train harder for the battlefield: to know himself and to know the enemy.
The perpetual droning of the evangelist has driven the old man deep into his thoughts. His mind races to build a new battle plan. He thinks: ‘I must know who I am!’ The old man’s mind recalls reading an article where the author talked about who Christians are. The article said that it is not by our affiliation with any organization of man that we are Christians. It is not by the observance of any man made creed, nor is it by following the inventions of an intellectual’s mind, that we are Christians. We are Christians because we have heard the words of the one true living God, and we have believed His words. To this end, we proclaim that there is but: One God, One Savior, One Holy Spirit, and One Holy Bible. We are Christians because we know that Jesus Christ was, and still is, the messiah prophesied in ancient Hebrew scripture, and we now bow in humble obedience to His loving authority. We are not Christians just because we boldly proclaim these things, but because our lives manifests the belief that no spiritual authority, for eternal life and the governing of our temper and conduct, exists outside of that revealed in the Holy Bible. A frown wrinkles the old mans brow as he mulls over the article.
His frown was short lived; his grandson once again intrudes into his daydreaming. “What wrong grandpa,” the boy whispered? Again the old man nodded toward the evangelist, who was setting new records in both dryness and duration of a sermon. He mumbles to his grandson: “We are going to be the last ones to the restaurant again this Sunday.” The old man bends down to his grandson and whispers: “I think you watch me more than you do the evangelist.” The boy replies: “It is more fun watching you make faces at the evangelist than it is watching his mouth move.” The old man smiles at his grandson and leans back in the pew, thinking: ‘I wonder if the evangelist thinks I am making faces at him.’
Thanks to the evangelist, the old man is soon lost in a myriad of thoughts as he tries to define the mission of a Christian. The old man thinks: ‘Jesus commanded us to love God and to love one another. It probably covers everything but we need more detail than just love everybody. Paul told us that our spirit must bear the fruit of: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Again, this covers everything from a warm and fuzzy perspective, but there is no real Christian meat here to sink your teeth in. After all, I know a lot of people who have these attributes but they certainly are not Christians. Paul told the Corinthians that every single Christian is a new creation with a new mission. And, that all things are from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are to tell the world that, through the sacrifice of Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself: forgetting the trespasses of all who would accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Christian mission is to be an ambassador on behalf of Christ, so that God can speak to the world through us.’ The tension in the old man’s face begins to drain away as he locks onto the reality of our Christian mission.
“Grandpa … grandpa why are you smiling,” asks the grandson? “Is it because aunt Tilly is snoring,” the boy questions? The old man looks in the direction of a heavyset middle-aged woman and almost breaks out in laughter. Aunt Tilly is setting with her head tilted way back; her mouth is wide open and she is snoring straight up at the ceiling. The old man looks down at his grandson: “go wake her up but be quiet about it.” The old man directs his attention to the evangelist and wonders if Jesus Himself could stay awake listening to this guy.
With his grandson’s mission successfully accomplished, it is not long before the old man is once again lost in his thoughts. ‘I guess we really have two Christian missions. The first one is to be a Christian; we need to have a Christian personality full of the fruit of the spirit. The second is to serve God as His ambassador for Christ. Perhaps we could say that the warm and fuzzy part of being a Christian is building a Christian personality and that the tough part of being a Christian is serving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master.’ The old man straightens up as he thinks: ‘Good Lord Almighty, both of these missions have got to really rub Satan the wrong way.’
The old man’s thoughts rapidly transition from the pleasant pastures of Christian service to the realities of Satan’s hatred toward Christian. ‘I know Satan is spiritual and that he is very powerful. I also know that he has been kicked out of heaven and that he hates humans more than any other thing in this world. Paul says that he is like a roaring lion wandering about looking for humans he can destroy, and that he has a host of demons to help him. The Bible also makes it clear that Satan and his demons can physically attack our body with disease and illness. They can also attack our mind with things like: worry, anger, hate, lust, envy, arrogance, jealousy, meanness, greed and being impatient. We all suffer from these things but so very few of us are willing to admit that Satan is the one behind all of our problems. Even when someone tells you that the devil is the source of our physical and mental problems we don’t want to believe them. Even if we believe in the devil we still do not want to admit that he is right there with us all of the time. It scares us to think about our mortal enemy being near us all of the time.’ The old man chuckles within himself as he thinks: “ an ostrich with his head stuck in the sand my be protecting his head but his butt is sure exposed.”
The old man restores his composure as he continues to ponder the enemy. ‘Paul told the Ephesians that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ’ The old man’s mind takes him back to the many battlefields he has walked. ‘I was always alone or with a very small team: always deep behind enemy lines. The enemy was everywhere. Every terrain feature, natural or manmade, was a potential source of danger. And, it is the same today! Jesus warned us that the Satan is the ruler of the world and that Satan has nothing to do with Jesus. Satan is our sworn enemy and the whole world lies in his power. ’
The old man lets out a long sigh and stares at the slowly turning ceiling fan. His thoughts focus on Paul, who told the Corinthians that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The old man wonders if this does not also include Satan blinding us to the message of who we are and the battle we must fight here on earth. He subconsciously smiles as he thinks: ‘I suppose a preacher would go broke if he started telling folks that we are on a battlefield; a battlefield littered with spiritually wounded and dead people. Lets face it, a lot of people in Christendom have embraced the prosperity message and they are now chasing after warm and fuzzy ear ticklers who will tell them that everything is fine. Of course there is the other side of the coin. You also have preachers scaring the daylights out of folks with doom and gloom messages. These poor paranoid folks are huddled together in little isolated congregations all across America.” The old man sets his teeth with resolve as he thinks: ‘the prosperity gospel folks need a good dose of bible reality and the doom and gloom folks need to be told that: if you draw close to God He will draw close to you and if you resist Satan he will flee from you.’
A rustle of noise begins to invade the old man’s thoughts. Still he thinks: ‘It really does not matter if you preach warm and fuzzy messages or doom and gloom messages: you are wrong if you do not tell the rest of the story. Jesus is both savior and Lord! Being a Christian is a wonderful life, full of joy and peace. There is rock solid security in being a Christian! Being a Christian is also a life of Christian service, which demands training and discipline. And, being a Christian means that you will have to face trials and temptations: you are in constant danger from Satan’s attacks.’
Suddenly everyone in the church is standing up. The sermon is over and they are about to start the invitational hymn. The old man looks down at his grandson, who is grinning from ear to ear. ‘You that glad church is almost over,’ the old man whispers. “Yea,” exclaims the boy, “but if the sermon would have lasted much longer you would have been doing an aunt Tilly.”
