Soldiers, Hardened and Free! Capt. Kelly Durant
2 Tim 2:1-4
2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 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.
Let’s learn about Soldiers, and it is from these verses in Timothy that we get all the symbolisms of the Salvation Army.
How many of you have ever lived through a Military Coup? I have about 3 times in Bolivia! We had to stay inside for a week and eat what we had stored and listen to the news of the next dictator all day! The neighbors would tell you about the ones killed. I have had machine guns pointed at me and been frisked down several times in my life. It was frightening but I felt God’s spirit close!
But I want to tell you that in this country, and in yours, there has already been an evil military coup which happened thousands of years ago! Satan has taken over all the land and corrupted it, and he has filled it with violence & gangs, perversion and porn, poverty and oppression, and disease and death! There are only two armies, God’s and Satan’s!
Eph 6:12-13
12 For we wrestle 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.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
And soldiers, when you have a hard time standing for your Commanding Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, remember, when you can’t stand, then kneel! Remember also you are not in this war alone! I sincerely believe and hope all of you are praying for each other during the week! If you take one thin stick, you can break it easily, but many sticks bunched together cannot break!
This earth was created to be under the authority of God, but currently it is not! Jesus gave us the command to extend the Kingdom of God and that means giving your friends and family the truth even if they hate you, laugh at you, and persecute you! In verse 3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”, is commanding us to be strong when others are against you, and it is sad that there are too many weak Soldiers!
Remember if Satan cannot stop you from being a Christian, he tries to make you a worthless, weak compromised Christian!
We have the command (see verse 4) to not be involved in the world as others, we are to make war on evil by doing good, by doing all that Jesus commanded!
Also, each of us has the responsibility to be overseeing what the other does so we prevent good Soldiers from falling into the enemy’s traps! Soldiers know death is a reality and they should stick together!
The Christian Soldiers of all churches are only a minority group but they have the status of a Soldier because they are willing to march out there in their neighborhoods, as Jesus did to love the unlovely, to heal the wounded, and to preach the truth of the gospel!
It will only be after our final battle with Satan in the end of the world in Armagedon that God will hit with the last Coup to regain what was His from the beginning! All of the souls of men that chose to be on his side! We are God’s soldiers and the only way to fight this war is to be disciplined resisting temptation, and standing for the right cause, the winning cause telling as many as you can about Jesus!
In the Salvation Army in the early years in London in the 1870’s and 80’s there were several dozen Soldiers of the Salvation Army that died due to rocks thrown at them in the streets. At that time there was prostitution of girls age 12, drunkenness by the majority, child labor exploitation, and horrible days.
William Booth, our founder, decided to use the pen instead of the gun to fight his battles and he wrote a book that became a best seller in His day; It was called, “In Darkest England, and the Way Out”. Everyone wanted some relief from the crime and horrible conditions and His solution was to take Jesus to the streets, preaching and helping serve the poor, and that method still works as we do today! If there was ever a church that seemed like an army going out to battle in history, it was the Salvation Army!
We often admire the martyrs for giving up their lives and dying for Christ, but unless we are willing to take orders from His Word and be obedient to Our Lord right now everyday as a Soldier, then we are not going to be ready to die for Him if that time comes!
Did you know there are a lot of Christian Soldiers in this world that have gone AWOL! That means that they were supposed to be on a duty, on an assignment, but they decided they would rather go somewhere else and have fun with the temporary pleasures of this world. Or they tried to run away from God.
Who knows what happens to people who do that? Jonah tried that, God gave him a mission, and he learned the hard way you cannot run from God! If you are called, God will not let you sleep until you run to sign up to join the fight for the right!
The problem is, our enemy wants us to think it is better and easier to go down the easy road, but the easy road is not easy at all, it is painful to reap the sin we sew! Only the Lord’s road is easy and His burden is light. Serving God may not always be easy, it wasn’t for Jesus, it is not easy for any on us, but in the end Jesus and all of us gain an eternal glory that shines forever!
So what is the essence of 2 Tim 2:4?
The Lord wants absolute love, dedication, and loyalty even if you have to suffer to prove it! In the armies of the world the men suffer a lot of cruel treatment of their bodies and minds, and if they do it, how much more should we do it for Jesus who is worthy of our love?
The very first commandment is to Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind! But if you give your loyalty to men on this earth, they will always let you down! But now we are all blessed to have Jesus as our General!
You have a Commander that is all loving, all forgiving, all-powerful, and he knows where you will best serve Him but you must obey His call! If we do not choose to be governed by God, then we will end up being governed by some other tyrant!
Just think how many people are stuck on this earth all of their lives as slaves to men and not to God! We must fight with the truth to free them! And so many lower classes are being abused and abused and we as brothers must fight to help them!
When people ask you what does the SS stand for, tell them Service & Salvation. The Army has always been famous for their shelters for the homeless. Before the slogan was SSS which is soup, soap, and salvation! The truth is in most countries there are very few institutions that care for the sick, homeless, and orphans, and the ones that do are almost always Christian!
It is up to us, as God’s soldiers and followers to bring the good news to everyone! Jesus started his ministry with these verses from Isa. And they were His mission and they are to be ours too! Listen to how Jesus expects us to fight as Soldiers..
Isa 61:1-3
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
You do not have to have a uniform to be a soldier of Jesus! A Uniform is only an outward sign of an inward dedication, like a baptism, but it is God who knows our hearts! I am here and you tare here because we are convinced we have a wonderful ministry with many good works which prove our love & dedication to the Lord!
Any organization is only as good as their people, and I am very proud and happy with what I see in each person here today! You are the chosen ones to represent your Lord, so march forward to the prize of the high calling of God! Prayer…
