Soldiers for Christ
Veteran’s Day Sermon
November 9, 2014
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 2:3-4
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – For a long time I didn’t understand my father-in-law, Sydney Robertson. He was the quietist man I ever met; almost unnervingly so.
Having lived my teen years in Japan, I had a positive view of Japan and the Japanese people; but he had fought in World War II against the Japanese in Burma. To my naïve, young person’s mind, I just saw him as prejudiced and old-fashioned.
It wasn’t until he died that Susan’s aunt told us something we had never heard him, nor any other family member ever utter. During most of the war, he had been a prisoner of war and had suffered horribly. He had witnessed and personally experienced unspeakable cruelty, and though he eventually came to terms with his feelings about the Japanese, the harsh realities he experienced at their hands went with him throughout his life.
I share that story this morning first because this Tuesday, Americans will celebrate Veteran’s Day, a day set aside in the United States to honor all military veterans. As I preach this morning, on every point, think of Sydney Robertson, and many other brave veterans like him who served their country at great cost to themselves. That would be a fitting way to commemorate Veteran’s Day for all veterans.
But I also share that story as a segue into something else. As important and honorable as I think all of your service for your country is, I want you to know that there is a GREATER calling to a service that God has called all of us to. We are all called to be Soldiers of Christ!
Look at our text in 2 Timothy 2: 3-4 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
This Scripture teaches three important truths about how to successfully live the Christian life:
I. FIRST, BEING A SOLDIER FOR CHRIST INVOLVES ENDURING HARDSHIP. –Verse 3, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Illus. – I read the story of a newly married flight engineer with the Air Force who had planned a weekend getaway with his new bride. But on Friday, his squadron called and told him he was to leave the next afternoon for an eight-day mission.
His wife was obviously disappointed. “Don’t you get weekends off like normal people?” she asked. (Now I know what you Army guys are thinking: “Yeah, they do,” but I have a son in the Air Force, and believe me, it’s the military too!)
He gently explained that as a member of the US Air Force he was on call 24/7.
She looked longingly into his eyes and said “But, honey, couldn’t you just explain to them that we had plans?” (Reader’s Digest 9/95 p. 51)
Paul says, “…endure HARDNESS, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” I don’t think I have to tell this crowd that being a soldier during wartime is no fun. [NOTE TO READER: I PASTOR AN ALMOST ALL ARMY CHURCH IN GERMANY.] Soldiers often go without modern amenities, experience long separations from loved ones, and go through many other unimaginable hardships. Sacrifice and sweat are the common commodities of a soldier’s life. That doesn’t even include the unthinkable hardships a soldier who is wounded or mortally wounded experiences. The hardship of being a soldier is incomprehensible to the average civilian, and even spouses can never fully comprehend some things that can only be understood by experiencing them.
You know, some people join the Army because they’re in such a hard spot in their lives that the Army seems like the only way out, whether it be out of the ghetto, out of debt, out of that boring, old, suffocating hometown, or out of a dead-end career path.
So they run to the recruiter for escape and begin to have hope for the first time when he tells them of a regular paycheck without being laid off; pride wearing the uniform; the opportunities to advance in the ranks without regard for their race, gender or color; the chance to “see the world”; the educational opportunities; the benefits afforded veterans when they leave the military.
Only after they join are they confronted with the reality of a lot of hardships to bear—starting in Basic Training; a lot of hard work and training; a lot of sacrifices to make; many long separations from loves ones; and the ever-present possibility you could be wounded, maimed or killed in action.
In the same way, when we first come to Christ, we usually call out to Him out of some deep well of guilt or sorrow or pain or loss or deficiency, so we RUSH to Him for joy, peace, forgiveness, wholeness and purpose, with little knowledge or regard of what the future holds.
Then when the newness of the Christian life wears off, we began to grapple with the calling of God to suffer for Him; to stand with Him against the spirit of this age; to fight every day our own fleshly nature; to stay the course and not go AWOL when our bosses are jerks, our spouses fail us, or our children rebel; or to persevere when pain and sickness become our constant companions.
Paul says to each of us: “Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!”
• Endure the pain of rejection from those who mock Christ, for Jesus too was rejected and despised and we follow in His footsteps.
• Endure against the temptations of our flesh and this world, for they weaken us and give ground to the enemy.
• Endure an unreasonable supervisor and serve him as if he were Jesus Christ, just as Paul commands us to do in Ephesians 6.
• Endure your spouse even when he or she is at their worst, for it is in the hard work of learning to love your spouse despite his or her failings that we REALLY begin to understand what MERCY means (not giving to someone what they deserve) and what GRACE means (giving someone what they do not deserve).
• Endure sickness and pain and sorrow and all the tribulations, big and small, that attend this life, for we are not promised an exemption from the normal trials of life. – Rather, we’re promised that the Lord will be with us and teach us and help us when we go through these things.
Somebody sold you a bill of goods if you think Jesus promises an easy life.
• Tell that to Job, who lost his family, his wealth and his health—literally everything.
• Tell that to Stephen who was stoned to death.
• Tell that to Paul who said in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 – “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”
Some preachers preach a gospel of health and wealth, that somehow the Christian life is a bed of roses and you can get whatever you want from life through Christ and pretty much, He’s a genie who’s main job is to make you happy.
That’s like the recruiter who remembers to tell you all the good things about joining the Army; conveniently leaving out the part about separations; danger; conditioning; long hours; and the fact that the Army basically OWNS you!
Folks, God has one over-arching purpose in your life, and that is to make you HOLY. And listen very carefully to what I’m about to say: Jesus is more concerned about your HOLINESS than he is your HAPPINESS, and He will sacrifice your happiness to achieve your holiness if He has to. Let me say that again. [REPEAT]
So if you’re facing a tough time and you bail out, guess what—You might get temporary relief; but you’ll just have to suffer the same thing over again later. You see, God doesn’t let go of His children. He promises, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” That’s a comfort in times of trial and tribulation, but it’s also a protection in times of sin and rebellion in our lives.
People mistakenly believe the doctrine of eternal security is a free ticket to live any way they want to, a clear misunderstanding of the doctrine. The blessed doctrine of the eternal security of the believer is that if you are truly born again, no matter what you may do, God never stops seeking you; never stops working in your heart; never stops bringing pain to you if that’s what you need to bring you back or to make you holy; never stops pulling you back in to His orb; never gives up on you!
Brethren, if you go AWOL on God, I’ve got news for you: He won’t accept your resignation! His MPs will be out tracking you down to bring you in. So don’t go AWOL; stay the course; don’t jump ship; endure hardness; endure hard times; endure the rejection; endure travails. Why?—Because you’re SOLDIER of Jesus Christ.
II. SECOND, A SOLDIER OF CHRIST MUST NEVER FORGET THAT HE IS ENGAGED IN WARFARE. – In verse 4a, Paul says, “No man that warreth…”
Paul makes it clear that WE ARE IN A WAR!
Illus. – A few years ago, a woman had the opportunity to talk to her son, who was deployed to Iraq. He had called from there to say hello and she (being a good Christians woman) asked him if he had to work on Sundays. He paused for a moment and then said, “Mom, we have to work EVERY day…it’s called a WAR.” (Jeanice Shelley, Reader’s Digest 2/08 p. 50)
It comes as a surprise to many people that the Bible is saturated with imagery of the Christian life as one of warfare.
• The battles for the Promised Land in the Old Testament are pictures of the battle in our Christian lives against the world, the flesh and the devil.
• The terms the Bible uses of angels and demons are of “hosts,” a military term for great armies of soldiers with commanders and a military structure of authority.
• One of the names for God in the Old Testament is “Lord of Hosts,” found 261 times in the Old Testament, and means “God is Lord of Armies,” meaning He is the Commander In Chief of all the armies of angels in heaven.
• In Ephesians 6:10-12, Paul commands us to put on the whole armor of God, and then describes the spiritual armor God gives us to win the battle.
• He goes on to explain why we must put on this armor in verse 12: “For we wrestle [lit. “struggle” or “fight” or “battle”] not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
• 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 describes the battle with our flesh in vivid military terminology: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [that is, fleshly], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
• And at his life’s end, Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight.”
I could go on and on, but this is sufficient to prove the point that we really ARE in a war. We have A REAL ENEMY with real weapons and with a real plan. On the outside, THIS WORLD is aligned with Satan to do his bidding. On the inside, we fight with our sinful nature, which the Bible calls “the flesh.”
The war of the Christian cause is REAL! Every day, we battle against pride, anger, selfishness, envy, deceit, carnality, lust, gluttony, materialism, hypocrisy, bitterness. Never forget that you’re in a war, and always put on the whole armor of God! Never give up; never give in; never give out; never surrender. The Lord of Hosts is on our side and will win the battle if we’ll stay in the fight!
III. LAST, I WANT YOU TO SEE THAT A SOLDIER OF CHRIST WATCHES HIS ENTANGLEMENTS. – Verse 4: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Sometimes soldiers complain that they feel like the Army owns them. Sometimes they’d like to be more involved in other things, but the mission of the military is just too all-consuming. So they have to limit their entanglements WITH a lot of non-military things.
Guess what?—Our commander, Jesus Christ, DOES own us. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price….”
And Paul warns us not to get entangled in the affairs of this life. Brethren, really, other than serving Jesus Christ, what else in this life really matters? There’s nothing inherently wrong with sports, TV, movies, material things, money, games, entertainment, education, hobbies. But if we’re so entangled in them that we don’t have time for Jesus and serving Him and advancing His kingdom, they can become idols in our lives, and the first commandment is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Some of you would skip a church service for a ball game in a heartbeat; would gladly sacrifice Sunday night service because your favorite TV show is on; regularly make rest a higher priority over gathering together in a homegroup; don’t think twice about not tithing or giving to the needy so you can save more or spend more money on yourself; have no problem skipping your quiet time to play games or participate in your hobby.
No wonder people are losing the battle in their Christian lives! No wonder believers today are so anemic and defeated! There’s a war going on, and too many of us have gone AWOL!
CONCLUSION
Paul said in Romans 12:1 – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Totally committed, sacrificial, holiness-seeking service is the only acceptable service for our commander in chief. Will you become a true faithful soldier of the cross today?
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!
