Veteran Christianity
CCCAG November 12th, 2017
Scripture- Matt 8:5-13
In 1988, I was in the Military Processing command in Milwaukee Wisconsin to get my physical and fill out paperwork to enlist in the US Army. There were many reasons that I had chosen this route in life, among them was because I had to prove something to myself- that I could handle being a soldier.
So in large part, I was in it for me and what the Army could offer a short skinny kid from Kenosha.
Little did I know how much being a soldier would change me, mature me, and affect me even to this day.
Learning virtues like discipline, honor, character, and courage.
Life lessons like Teamwork, leadership, sacrifice, AND Obedience.
I grew up in a home where very little of any of those virtues existed.
Many of you grew up in rural areas were those values were part of the air you breath. City life by itself doesn’t have to instill that in you like living a rural community does, but the Army broke through all of that and laid a different foundation than one I had grown up with.
Anyone who is a veteran who has even a slight bit of self-awareness can agree with me on this point- you are a better person because you served.
Jesus has an encounter with a veteran centurion in Matthew chapter 8 that I want to look into this morning. In the first century, a centurion was a veteran Roman military officer that was in charge of 1-200 men.
In today’s American Military, he would be somewhat analogous to a captain, or if you were Navy, a 1st Lieutenant or even a lieutenant commander. Throughout this man’s long military career, he had learned some important lessons, and I want you to see if you can begin to spot them as we read our scripture for this morning.
Matthew 8:5-13
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
Prayer
Big idea- Yesterday was veteran’s day, and this is veteran’s day weekend.
Being a Veteran has taught me a number of things that are beneficial to my walk with God. I listed a few of them in the introduction, but I want to take a few of these attributes that people who have served in the military learn, and really emphasis how they can help us with our relationship with God, and help us fulfill the mission HE has given us to spread the Kingdom throughout our area and our world.
One of the first things the military teaches you is respect for-
I. Authority
It’s been said that the difference between a veteran and everyone else is this-
A Veteran, at some point in their lives, they wrote a blank check to their nation and it’s citizens that said, “I will give everything, up to and including my life to defend you and our country”
Most Veterans remember where they were, and how they felt as they raise their right hands and said the following words.
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
I remember the weight of what I just promised falling upon me. It was July 17th, 1988. I was 18 years, 8 months, and 14 days old, and had just sworn to give my life to defend my country.
If you summarize the oath of enlistment, it’s Defend the constitution, and obey lawful orders.
In other words, submit yourself to the authority placed over you.
If only the rest of our nation really believed the words our military and our veterans have sworn their lives to obey.
In my opinion, the thing that cripples the American version of Christianity is the American ideal of being a rebel.
Some of you remember the iconic picture of James Dean on a motorcycle, cigarette hanging from his lips, leather jacket with the collar pulled up- the quintessential rebel against the oppression of “the man”.
People more my age grew up singing Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and wanting to throw off what seems like the oppressive morality of our parents and grandparents and live life how we wanted to live.
More recently, hip-hop, rap, and even some country music continues to support the idea of rebellion against all authority. Artists like Eminem call for open rebellion against our government and it’s leaders, while movements like Antifa do violence in the name of “progress”.
So, what is the ideal American? What does the quintessential American look like?
If you asked a person from overseas- The Marlboro man- a cowboy sitting on his horse or driving his pickup truck- being self-reliant and wanting to answer to nobody.
That’s somewhat accurate as we started our country in rebellion against a king. Much of the southern half of our nation still holds onto the title of rebel from the civil war. We celebrate those who go against the grain in our culture.
Sometimes standing against that which is wrong is a good thing (Civil Rights movement is an excellent example), but often that initial stand against a wrong morphs itself into a general resistance to any authority in our lives, and we see that in our nation today.
In America, we celebrate the idea of democracy as a political system.
That hinders our walk with God, because God’s Kingdom is not a democracy. It is a Kingdom, and a kingdom by definition is a dictatorship- God speaks, and we say “Yes LORD, and amen”.
If only it were that easy in the church…or even in our lives.
Consider with me for a moment-
Every single problem in our world, or in our nation, or in our lives comes back to a question of authority.
It’s the answer to the question-
Who’s in charge around here?
Think back in your own life for a moment- pick a situation that caused you pain- spiritual, emotional, physical, or financial. Now ask yourself this question- was it because you or someone else failed to acknowledge the authority of God or His word in your life?
I can’t think of a single situation like that in my own life or even through human history where that is not the case. Either me or someone around me failing to recognize the authority or sovereignty of God cause major problems to happen.
I ask you again, Who is in charge in your life?
For the veteran, it’s easy- whoever has more stripes on their sleeves, more silver on their collar, or more political power- those people are in charge. They give a lawful order, I snap my heels together, salute, and obey.
For the rest of society, the question of authority is a bit more complicated isn’t it?
A couple questions to test our hearts-
What is the number one thing people complain about their job?
The boss
What’s the number one thing people complain about the government?
The people we elected.
What’s the number one thing kids, particularly teenagers, complain about?
Their parents?
The number one complaint in life all boils down to authority and how much we hate it in our lives.
There is a little bit of rebel in each one of us- some more than others.
But God’s way is different. He isn’t an egomaniac in HIS desire to see us follow HIM and HIS ways. He wants us safe, secure, and happy.
Most military people know and have read Psalm 91- the chaplains give you a copy when you are getting ready to deploy overseas.
Ps 91 contains several promises for people who come under the authority of God-
• You will dwell in the shelter of the most high
• He will cover you with His feathers- using the metaphor of a mother bird sheltering her young from the sun, wind, and other things that can harm hatchlings
One of my favorites is verses
5You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
These promises are near and dear to those heading into active war zones, but they come with a catch-
You have to choose to reside under the shadow of the almighty- in other words, be under the authority of God.
Part of learning to respect authority lies in our ability to follow the second things veterans have to learn which is to-
II. Listen
It was a cool December morning in Columbia, South Carolina. I group of kids from 17 y/o to 19 y/o got into a bus at the airport that would take them up to the reception station at Ft. Jackson SC. For the last couple of hours, they have been boisterous, bragging about what they did in high school or the sports they played. WE even had a few guys from the inner city talking about the gangs they belonged to, and how the army isn’t going to be all that hard compared to how they grew up. Many of the guys showed pictures of girls back home they had waiting for them.
The volume and loud talking continued until we got to the main gate of the base, when an MP stopped us at the gate, got on the bus and loudly and profanely told us to shut up- we were now on an United States military installation as United States Soldiers and we will now act accordingly.
Instantly, the big tough guys in the back were cowed into silence as the MP stepped back off the bus and waved us through.
The bus pulled into the reception station, and we saw a line of large men and a few women standing in line at parade rest- every one of them wearing the Smokey the Bear hat- the brown round as it is called- they were the drill sergeants. Before the bus even came to a stop, they suddenly ran to the busses, jumping in the front door and the back door, yelling and screaming commands at all of us. We all piled out into the street as they kept screaming in our ears- one telling us to move to the right, while another one yelled to move to the left. Finally we managed to get into a very sloppy formation and then the drill sergeants suddenly fell silent as a man in full dress uniform walked out of the door of the reception station.
He was a medium sized African American man, his face was one large scar- we later learned it was from shrapnel and burns from his time in Vietnam. His chest was filled with medals, including the coveted CIB- a badge my grandfather had in his collection of medals- Combat Infantryman’s badge meaning he had seen combat as a member of the infantry. The rank stripes on his arm showed command sergeant major, above them the Ranger and special forces tab, and the ones on his right forearm showed 8 stripes indicating 4 years of direct combat experience, while on his left arm he had 9 strips indicating over 27 years of service in the Army.
He slowly walked in front of us, and you just felt like everything that made you feel like a man shriveled up next to CSM Weber.
HE stopped in front of us and slowly walked back and forth looking all of us in the eye, and with a large booming voice said, “Congratulations on becoming recruit privates in the US Army. The drill sergeants you see in front of you will turn you into soldiers. All you have to do is listen to what they say, and in 14 weeks you will march across the field behind you to become full-fledged US Army soldiers.
But first, you have to get through basic training, which begins right now!”
A lot of the next few weeks was a blur, but the thing I remember the most was hours upon hours upon hours of marching in formation.
In standing-
Attention, parade rest, at ease, Left Face, right face, about face
In march in formation- Column Left, Column right Counter Column
Forward, rear, quicktime, routestep march.
Then we graduated to carrying dummy rifles while marching-
Carrying a rifle- Sling arms, Left shoulder, Right shoulder, port, present arms.
Commands repeatedly shouted at us as we learned one of the most important lessons about soldiering-
How to listen, and how to obey.
Any of us who are parents are thinking- how do I sign my kids up to learn those two lessons?
Ironically, God in heaven is thinking the same thing.
The same lessons that Christians today struggle with are the same things a veteran had to learn in the military. If you went left when they said right, you would disrupt the other 49 guys trying to get it right and maybe your entire platoon fell to their faces for some upper body conditioning called push-ups.
In fact, I think I single handedly pushed South Carolina a foot closer to Georgia as many times as I had to hit my face and pump out 20.
I remember during these long hours of marching wondering why we were spending so much time on things that really don’t matter.
When do we get to finally shoot some guns and blow stuff up?
At the end of basic training, the drill instructors become slightly more human and approachable, and they invite you to ask questions, and my first question was “Why spend 4 weeks on how to march and go through the manual of arms? Why is that so important? It seemed like a huge waste of time for something that has no bearing on how we fight.”
“Well Private Oscar, give me 20 pushups and I’ll tell you”
And no, I’m not going to demonstrate. I don’t know if anyone here besides me knows CPR…
Drill Sergeant Monk explained that we had to learn to listen and obey no matter how much stress we were under, how tired we were, how hot or cold we might have been we needed to be ready to change direction at a moment’s notice, because those moments are the difference between life and death for a soldier.
How does that apply to us?
My friends, we need to learn to heed the voice of God, because sometimes it’s the difference between life and death for us, or for those we love or lead.
A mistake we make in our walk with God is how we approach our prayer life. Prayer isn’t so much about giving God a list of need as it is about listening for and heeding HIS voice.
After we learn to hear our Father, we need to choose the last point that Veterans understand more than most and that is to-
III. Obey, even when I don’t want to
Back to Jesus and the centurion.
The centurion asks Jesus for a miracle. Jesus offers to come and lay hands on the centurion’s servant and heal him.
The Centurion says no, that is not necessary- all you have to do is command, and he will be healed.
To paraphrase the centurions answer a little-
“For I am a man under authority, and I have men under my authority. I give an order, someone snaps to attention, salutes, barks yes sir and carries out my order without hesitation.
Jesus, you are the Son of God- How much more so should an illness listen to the king of the universe to go at His command?”
Jesus is amazed at the faith of this man- because he understands authority more than the Pharisee’s with the Ph.D.’s in theology that are constantly badgering him.
Can I share my heart for a moment?
I want to be a person who amazes God with my faith. I thank God that I am a veteran. I thank God he had me serve in my country’s military, so I could learn respect for authority, how to listen, and how to obey orders, even if I didn’t want to obey at that point.
God used my experience in the Army to teach me the idea of mission- and how the Mission of the Kingdom is more important than my personal goals.
All Stand/musicians
I want all of us to become a people that amaze Jesus- what higher calling can any of us aspire to in life?
Salavation call- Jesus is the ultimate veteran who fought the ultimate battle, and has the scars to prove it.
Conclusion
Altar Call
