Belonging to the army.
2 Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (NIV)
In recent years I have attended many conferences on growing churches and have been instructed by great teachers on how to hold people in the church.
Success in the church these days is measured often by how many people that you can get into the Church Sunday by Sunday on a regular basis.
This church or that church is regarded as doing quite well because they are running against the climate of decline that marks the church in the Western world.
Meanwhile the Church in countries that have faced massive persecution in what was communist Russia up until the miraculous crumbling of Communism and more latterly in China – the Moslem World and India and elsewhere, this church has been marked by Christians who are more like soldiers of Christ than battery fed hens.
The normal pattern is to inspire young people until about their mid thirties and then when their passion abates to provide them with a comfortable spiritual home until they go to be with the Lord. But what would happen if we were part of a Christian counterculture that instead of hitting the wall of indifference and the spirit of the age pressed on to become an army of people impassioned for life to share the good news that Jesus bought with a broken world?
This cvomes into focus as we move towards easter and the moment in history when Jesus hung on a wooden cross for the sin of the world – battered by vicious weapons of punishment with a crown of thorns on his head with his last gasp he cried out it is finished and bowed his head and died.
Three days later he had risen and charged his followers to go and tell all the world not just what he had done but how to live the life of a disciple of Jesus which was made possible by his great sacrifice of love.
His followers then went out all over the world sharing the good news with any who would listen and follow. Like soldiers they fought great spiritual battles and loved with an intense love that the world has never been able to express without Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
But right there we have a conflict of lifestyles and interest.
It raises the question – How can I live the life of a Christian like a soldier in the busy world I live in, with the demands made on my life and How can I live that life when really I don’t want to go that far? Also the people I have seen attempt to live lives like that are religious fruitcakes!!!
This morning I would like to explore the scripture that calls us to be like soldiers of Christ and to ask the Question what does a soldier of Christ look like?
2 Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (NIV)
The old hymn – Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war – inspired an earlier generation – General Booth
The Salvation Army began in 1865 when William Booth, a London minister, gave up the comfort of his pulpit and decided to take his message into the streets where it would reach the poor, the homeless, the hungry and the destitute.
His original aim was to send converts to established churches of the day, but soon he realized that the poor did not feel comfortable or welcome in the pews of most of the churches and chapels of Victorian England. Regular churchgoers were appalled when these shabbily dressed, unwashed people came to join them in worship.
Booth decided to found a church especially for them — the East London Christian Mission. The mission grew slowly, but Booth’s faith in God remained undiminished.
In May of 1878, Booth summoned his son, Bramwell, and his good friend George Railton to read a proof of the Christian Mission’s annual report. At the top it read: THE CHRISTIAN MISSION is A VOLUNTEER ARMY. Bramwell strongly objected to this wording. He was not a volunteer: he was compelled to do God’s work. So, in a flash of inspiration, Booth crossed out "Volunteer" and wrote "Salvation". The Salvation Army was born.
By the 1900s, the Army had spread around the world. The Salvation Army soon had officers and soldiers in 36 countries.
I think Bramwell Booth is correct – you are not a volunteer like you are doing God a favour – We are compelled because of the cross.
In order to be a soldier of Christ the cross has had to transform us Spiritually – mentally and physically – there needs to be a total transformation of our lives that redirects us. Mostly we need a deep love and affection for Jesus. Many times in this church we hear of how God has turned lives around – Last week Lyn Wilson shared how God spoke to her very clearly about following her so that she was compelled to follow Jesus.
Listen to this testimony.
One day, Billy Graham the evangelist boarded an airplane at the same time as a fat, boisterous drunk who cursed up a storm and even pinched a stewardess. The crew finally wrestled the man to his seat — right in front of Graham. Another passenger leaned over and said he ought to behave. Didn’t he know who was behind him?
“You don’t say,” the man said. Then he turned and loudly said, “Are you Billy Graham? … Put her there! Your sermons have sure helped me!”
Cash knew his role as a missionary to the backsliders.
The man in black was a country kid who embraced his mother’s faith, then flung it away, the hell raiser who got saved, and saved and then saved some more. Cash sang about the hope of heaven and the siren songs of hell. Time magazine put it this way: “Here was a man who knew the Commandments because he had broken so many of them.”
The gritty details filled 1,500 songs and a lifetime of work in television, movies, books and nights on the road. For years, Cash prowled the stage on amphetamines and wept as he sang “The Old Rugged Cross” — often in the same show.
Things got better after he married June Carter in 1968, a meeting of souls made in heaven, but worked out in the flesh under the parental gaze of Ezra and Maybelle Carter. These country-music pioneers not only prayed at Cash’s bedside while he kicked drugs, but hung on through years of front-porch Bible study as he walked the line toward redemption.
Cash was in a spiritual war and he knew it. Thus, he constantly quoted Romans 8:13 as his favorite verse: “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live….”
The superstar also knew that millions of people were watching and waiting for him to fall. He lived in that hot spotlight until the day he died.
“I have been a professional entertainer,” said Cash, at a 1989 Graham crusade in his home state of Arkansas. “My personal life and problems have been widely publicized. There have been things said about me that made people ask, ‘Is Johnny Cash really a Christian?’
“Well, I take great comfort in the words of the apostle Paul who said, ‘What I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do.’ And he said, ‘It is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. But who,’ he asks, ‘will deliver me from this body of death?’ And he answers for himself and for me, ‘Through Jesus Christ the Lord.’ “
This language he used in his Graham crusade testimonies was loftier than his style on stage. But the words hit home because Cash knew that his listeners knew he was there flaws and all. So he talked about his struggles with drugs — past, present and future. He talked about the flaws in his family life. Cash named his idols and his demons and urged others to do the same.
The man in black was on the same Gospel road throughout his life, even when he detoured into the gutter -
This testimony brings home the stark struggle that many face – the struggle between the pull of the world and the flesh and the pull of Jesus on our hearts. But Cash quotes Paul – with good reason – Paul had the same struggle – But here is the point!
It didn’t stop him from being a soldier for Christ and it didn’t stop him encouraging others to as well.
2 Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (NIV)
Here is the first point – We are to be soldiers of Christ because we are compelled to be.
Jesus commands us to – His love is in our hearts – and God has a call on our lives.
The second point is there is no command for you to do it alone – you are part of an army.
Last week I preached on the body of Christ – The church faulted broken stressed and troubled is nonetheless our home.
Paul says – 2 Timothy 2 verse 3 – Endure hardship with us.
The normal place for the Christian is in the body of Christ God’s army.
Paul rarely travelled alone - In the old Testament even the Prophets like Elijah and Elisha travelled in the schools of the Prophets.
Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
This was an army of God standing up in a difficult time over and against the society that they lived in. they found strength and encouragement from each other and the power of the Spirit is evident there and many other times in Elisha’s ministry.
But before Elisha’s time Elijah had gone through an incredible time of suffering.
1 Kings 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The LORD Appears to Elijah
And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
The Call of Elisha
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
When his fellow Prophets had been taken from him and he was on his own separated from the rest of God’s army of the day – it was there in the enforced separation that Elijah had been disillusioned – You see separation from the body of Christ is not a good thing – it produces disillusionment and back sliding.
But Elijah’s separation is different – it is a separation caused by faithfulness and God meets him with other divisions of his army – The angel of the lord – divine signs and then a personal visitation from god himself.
You are not normally meant to fight alone.
In Matthew’s gospel we read -
<< Matthew 18:20 >>
New International Version
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
To be a Christian soldier is to be a part of an army.
Charles Upham New Zealands most famous soldier who won two Victoria Crosses for his efforts in Crete and Egypt refused to take credit for the medals himself instead attributing his success to his men.
Because no individual can win a war on their own – Upham was courageous – and inspirational but always in the context of the army.
Listen to these words from his citation and note his connection with his men in battle:- Just before dawn the reserve battalion was ordered forward, but when it had almost reached its objective, very heavy fire was encountered from a strongly defended enemy locality consisting of four machine-gun posts and a number of tanks. Captain Upham, without hesitation, at once led his company in a determined attack on the two nearest strong-points on the left flank of the section. His voice could be heard above the din of battle cheering on his men, and with heavy casualties on both sides, the objective was captured. Captain Upham, during the engagements, himself destroyed a German tank and several guns and vehicles with grenades and, although he was shot through the elbow by a machine-gun bullet and had his arm broken, he went on again to a forward position and brought back some of his men who had become isolated. He continued to dominate the situation until his men had beaten off a violent enemy counter-attack and consolidated the vital position which they had won under his inspiring leadership. Exhausted by pain from his wound and weak from loss of blood, Captain Upham was then removed to the Regimental Aid Post, but immediately his wound had been dressed he returned to his men, remaining with them all day long under heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire until he was again severely wounded, and being now unable to move, fell into the hands of the enemy when, his gallant company having been reduced to only six survivors, his position was finally over-run by superior enemy forces, in spite of the outstanding gallantry and magnificent leadership shown by Captain Upham."
The Christian church faces a formidable spiritual foe in the world and when we understand the ferocity of the forces aligned against Christ and his church we press in to one another in order to fight – We are part of the Lord’s army.
Thirdly – We need to understand that we are called to be an extraordinary soldier for Jesus Crack troops.
2 Tim. 2:3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (NIV)
The Telegraph 29 March 2011-03-29
Army training instructors guilty of mistreatment at Catterick Garrison
Two Army training instructors have been found guilty of ill-treating young recruits at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.
Catterick Garrison: Three soldiers told a court martial at Catterick that they were attacked by Pagett and Jakeman for making mistakes Photo: PA
3:22PM BST 08 Jul 2009
Ex-Corporal Stuart Pagett and Corporal Christopher Jakeman were fined after they were convicted of mistreating soldiers during training between October 2007 and January 2008.
Three soldiers told a court martial at Catterick that they were attacked by Pagett and Jakeman for making mistakes during their training.
A military board found Pagett guilty of two charges of ill-treatment and Jakeman guilty of one ill-treatment charge after the six-day trial.
The pair were cleared of five further counts between them.
Pagett, 25, was fined £1,200 after he was convicted of attacking Rifleman Derek Antwi-Boasiako in a toilet after the young soldier tapped him on the shoulder, mistakenly believing him to be a fellow recruit.
The former corporal, who has since left the Army and is now self-employed in the security industry, was also found guilty of kicking ex-Rifleman Thomas Pearson, who has also since left the Army, in the ribs and head for falling behind in a steeplechase exercise.
Jakeman, 28, of 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was fined £600 after he was convicted of pushing Mr Pearson’s head against a door frame.
Assistant Judge Advocate General Paul Camp said he was satisfied the incidents were not "systematic bullying".
Sentencing the pair, Judge Camp said they had abused their positions as instructors, who he said are seen as "gods" to young soldiers.
The judge described Pagett’s attack on Rifleman Antwi-Boasiako as "particularly serious" but told him: "You weren’t victimising or bullying the recruits and we regard you as of good character."
The truth is years ago such treatment was normal in the army in order to make soldiers battle ready
It brings out two important points for me.
We need to prepare ourselves for serv ice in the Kingdom of God.
In Ephesians chapter 6 we are told to put on the full armour of God.
In Isaiah god himself puts on aromour
ISA 59:15 Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
ISA 59:16 He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm worked salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
ISA 59:17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
I believe it was Lincoln that said one time, "In the time of peace, prepare for war." Or it might not have been he, but it sounds like, seems to me, rather, it was he that made that statement. "In time of peace, prepare for war."
We need to learn how to put God’s armour on properly if we are to fight the war God’s way – there are too many homemade weapons out there that are useless for battle.
I found this true story by william Branham
E-5 While I was in Africa I kind of fell in love with Roy Weatherby’s rifles. So a friend of mine came. And I had another rifle there that a man gave Billy Paul. And he run the Weatherby Company in Indiana. And he said, "Let me have it bored out for you, and make a Weatherby rifle out of it." Well, happened to be, he never bored it right, and I put the shell in to fire. About six tons of explosion right in my face, and about as high as those curtains, just red fire. The barrel went on the fifty-yard line, the stock went this way, and the gun melted in my hands. And I couldn’t see and hear nothing for a few moments.
E-6 And when I could pull my hands open like this, to get my eyes open, this eye on this side, I could see blood shooting out like that. And I held my hand up like this, and this tooth was knocked off here where a piece of shrapnel went in--sewed a big ring around my face. And fifteen pieces just made a half-moon right under my eye and went all the way to the back of the eyeball, but never touched the sight.
And so when the doctor examined me, when he took me over there, he said, "Only thing I know, the good Lord must’ve been setting there with His servant or you wouldn’t even have a head and shoulders on, for all that explosion."
So I never lost my sight, nor my hearing. I got a whistle tied down out here somewheres yet. And this right eye has got astigmatism in it. I suppose that’s the way you pronounce it, it’s nervous, shakes. But it’ll be all right; it’ll be just fine. So everything will be just fine and dandy. And I know it was for some purpose
A lot of us have not got the armour on properly – we need some teaching on that – But you know what the key to the armour is – it is a right relationship with Jesus. Pout of that we become equipped for the battle – because the battle is the Lord’s
As I read many governments gloat that they haveput a man in space – but christians have had a man in the heavens for two thousand years.
His name is Jesus Christ and he is the General of our army our leader and model.
When we model ourselves on him we are equipped for the battles that we face.
In revisint this message – To be an effective member of god’s army we:-
Here is the first point – Join up!! We are to be soldiers of Christ because we are compelled to be.
Jesus commands us to – His love is in our hearts – and God has a call on our lives.
The second point is there is no command for you to do it alone – you are one part of a vast army with Christ as it’s head!!!.
Thirdly – We need to understand that we are called to be an extraordinary soldier for Jesus - Crack troops.
Endurance is needed.
