Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
A SOLDIER’S ENDURANCE
2 Timothy 2:1-7, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 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. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 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. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things."
How many of you have thought of the fact that you are a soldier in the Lord’s army? We hear the song that little children sing that says, “I’m in the Lord’s Army, I may never ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery or march in the infantry, but I’m in the lord’s army. In recent days it seems that God is constantly remind us that we are in a spiritual warfare and it is a war that will never end until we go to be with Jesus in the air.
Meanwhile, in this terrestrial life that we life, we are faced with the reality that waging war against the Devil is sometimes hard and that requires us to endure hardship as a soldier of Christ.
I don’t know how many of you can relate to what I am about to say in some ways but I know that you will all recognize the points that I will attempt to bring out in this message. I believe that God has inspired Paul to pen those words that say so very much, “…Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Having spent time at Fort Polk, Louisiana in Tiger Land, the US Army Infantry School for Vietnam, and training to be an infantry grunt, I can understand, perhaps better than someone who has never been in the military, just what is meant by those words of Paul to Timothy. I know that others in this church may have had similar experiences so you can probably attest to what I am going to say and give me an AMEN once and a while.
I think that it may help us to gain some insight into the conditions and circumstances that surround this Spiritual Warfare if we could only realize what enduring hardship as a good soldier really means.
The very first experience I had as a new trainee in the Army was the Reception Center at Fort Polk. If I have ever experienced loneliness and a sense of dread or a feeling of being totally alone, that was the time. I can remember the first night, or should I say morning, since we didn’t get to sleep until around 2 AM or so, the quietness of the night after the hectic day of the physical exam and the bus ride to the fort. In the quietness of the night, I could hear the sniffling of grown young men who felt just like I did. I can’t say that I shed a tear that night but something got into my eye and it seemed to make my eyes water a lot.
I often think about those who accept the Lord as their Savior and then answer the call of God to go to a foreign land to minister the gospel, or even to a strange city that is far from their hometown. I can’t help but feel that they feel those same feelings in many cases. Most of us can handle anything in the daytime when there is much activity and so much to do but when the night comes and the world grows quiet, that’s when our heart begins to speak to us.
In the life of a soldier of the cross, there are those times when we feel so alone as though God were a million miles away. Just last Sunday evening in the message that came forth, it was said that sometimes the heavens are as brass and our prayers fall to the ground without ever reaching the ears of God. Let me tell you that those are some of the hard times for the soldier of the Lord. Those are times that we must endure.
Its easy being a brave, macho Christian when everything is going our way – but let me see that same Christian in the depths of a great trial and then we will see just how macho they really are!
Its at times like this that we must remember the words of Paul also when he says to Timothy, …”Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 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…”
I tell you, when it seems that your whole world has crumbled around you and you see no way to be set free, and the future looks dim and full of danger – that’s when I am so glad that the Grace of Jesus is real. Even in those bad times, the grace of God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind and God will speak peace to your heart so that you can “endure as a good soldier the hardships of the work of the Lord.”
New born, baby Christians are Satan’s favorite target. If he can get them to feel as though their salvation isn’t real; if he can them to doubt their experience with the Lord; if he can get them to look foolish in the eyes of their friends; if he can convince them that they are just being emotional; or any one of a thousand other tricks, then he can drive them running back to their old familiar life and friends. That’s the “Reception Center” for our new recruits into the Lord’s Army. Thank God that Jesus gives them the grace to hold onto the faith for it is impossible for them to hold out on their own.
At that Reception Center we were tested again and again to see if we would make the grade. Very few were failed because the army needed us to badly, but some did fail and were sent home. I can remember almost wanting to fail and yet I knew that I had a duty to do.
New Christians, get ready for the tests and trial that will soon come. They are meant to build your faith in God and to help you to learn to put your trust in Him as soon as possible. God already knows your limitations. He already knows that you can and will make the grade, as long as you don’t give up. God is already beginning your training so that you will be able to endure the hardships of the soldier that lie ahead.
From that Reception Center we were transported to one of the most bleak, desolate and demanding places that I have ever been. That place was called “Basic Training”. There has never been a tougher time in my life physically, spiritually, mentally or emotionally.
I know that many new Christians face great changes in their lifestyle when they begin this walk with the Lord. They enter into the “basic training” stage of their life as a soldier of the cross. They begin to change and the change that happens is not always easy.
As a side note let me say that we are considering doing a “basic training” type of Youth Camp next year to prepare those youth who are serious about getting ready to be a minister or a soldier for Christ. I think that too many Christians are too satisfied with the life of ease. Let me tell you that the life of a real soldier is not a life of ease but a life that is filled with hardship that must be endured if the battle is to be won.
I hear a lot of young ministers, not just at this church from time to time, but also from every church, as they talk about the “long hours and hard work of the ministry”. Let me tell you that if you don’t have long hours and hard work then you aren’t much of a minister at all. Winning this spiritual warfare is not going to be accomplished by living a life of ease or only performing your duties as a soldier of the cross when it is convenient. A good soldier endures the hardship of losing a lot of sleep. A good soldier goes the distance and then is ready for more. A good soldier prepares himself in every way to do things that the ordinary person will never do so that he can experience the victories that the ordinary person never will.
It was in that time of “basic training” that we first began to learn how to fight hand-to-hand and to use the basic weapons of our warfare that lay ahead. We received a lot of bumps and bruises and endured a lot of pain but it was necessary to prepare us for what lay ahead.
Christians, get out your weapon right now! If you don’t have your sword, “the Bible”, with you right now, you are at the mercy of your enemy the devil. I know that you might have it “hidden in your heart” but when we were in basic training, we couldn’t tell our Drill Sergeant that our weapon was “in the locker”. It had to be with us at all times.
I certainly appreciated that lesson when the time for facing the real enemy came in Vietnam. I was stationed in a fairly secure area but even there it would have been utter stupidity to not have my weapons ready, clean, loaded and within easy reach at all times whether it was sleeping, marching, sitting around or whatever, that rifle and ammo was always within a few inches from by hands.
Yet I see so many Christians who not only do not read their Bible, they don’t even have one and, if they do, they leave it just anywhere and then they wonder why the devil defeats them with every trial and temptation that he throws their direction. You can’t fight without a weapon. Your strength and ability is no match for the fiery darts of Satan.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) 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; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
Another thing that was hard to endure in Basic Training was the destruction of self-desires and the restructuring of our entire thought process to transform us from being individuals to being a small part of a large team with no personal identity except a number. We had to be jelled into a well-oiled fighting machine that would move at a single command without question. The punishment for not obeying those who were in command of us was harsh and strict and quick to come.
That part of our training was really tough but it was absolutely necessary for our survival. I certainly didn’t want to find myself out in the boonies of Vietnam just “doing my own thing”. I wanted as many other people in my unit around me as much as possible. I didn’t care what color they were, how old they were, what they liked or disliked, or whether they even agreed with every one of my philosophies of life or not. I just needed their support for there is safety in numbers. The enemy wouldn’t attack large concentrations of soldiers but he didn’t mind attacking small groups and especially individuals who were dumb enough to try to go it alone.
Friend, I hear people all the time that tell me that they don’t need to attend church to be saved and all I can say is that they sure set themselves up as an easy target for the devil. He loves to shoot at those who are alone because their strength is weak and they are much easier to defeat. In fact, in the military, those who went alone were known as “snipers” and they carried a price on their heads. Too many of those who refuse to come to church are “snipers”. They shoot down anything and anybody who gets in their way. They don’t want to go to church with hypocrites. They don’t want to be around gossipers. They don’t want to be around the “holier than thou” bunch. They don’t like this or that or the other. They just go around shooting and that’s all. I believe that Satan has a price on their head and that price is their eternal soul. We need each other for strength and encourage.
One old saying goes like this, “No man is an Island.” It simply means that none of us can make it only on our own. We need one another and we need other people both in the natural realm and in the church.
We not only need one another but we need leaders who are called and appointed by God and who are listening for the commands from the Throne of Heaven. God is our commander in chief but He has placed other leaders over us as He sees fit and, just as David would not usurp the authority of Saul even when Saul was backslidden, we must obey those who God has placed over us. We all must be accountable to someone.
What kind of military do you think that we would have without the Generals, Colonels, Captains, etc., who have the training and experience and the authority to command and lead the army into battle. We wouldn’t survive long. Not all of them are good. Not all know what is the best to do in every situation. All of them make mistakes. But, thank God for them all.
So it is with the church. We must all fall under the authority and leadership of those who God has placed over us. They are the watchmen for our souls and they are the ones that God has placed there, not man, and I don’t believe that God makes mistakes. Even when a leader in the church fails the scripture is still true that says, “touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm.”
After Basic Training comes the Advanced Training when many soldier finally begin to learn the occupational specialty that they are to perform for the army.
God must bring us all through His basic training in order to prepare us to be able to perform our necessary tasks for His kingdom. That’s when we begin to learn to react and work and to accomplish our tasks under fire and under very stressful and dangerous conditions.
This is the time in the Christian life when God begins to bring us through the fire time and again so that we can be useful to His kingdom. God trains us to be cool under the attack of the devil. God teaches us to react calmly in many situations and circumstances where others would fall to pieces. God’s power rests within us and gives us the peace and sound mind that is needed to endure the hardships of battle with the devil.
God shows us how to track down the move of the Holy Spirit in every situation. God’s Word lights our path so that we do not stray into the minefields and booby traps of Satan. God speaks to us and leads into the paths of righteousness. He delivers us from evil. He prepares a table before us to supply our every need. All this happens in the advanced stages of our training. This training really never ends.
At some point in this training, we are graduated into the role of a soldier that is ready for battle. God’s army never stops learning but is always growing. He has promised that all the powers of Hell will never “prevail against His church.”
What a promise! It would have been so much easier in the military, when the rockets were coming in and the bullets were flying to know that you could not be killed or defeated!
In the natural realm we have no such promise, but in the army of the Lord there is no defeat.
The only real problem we have in the Lord’s army is that, instead of caring and evacuating and trying to save our wounded, we usually just shoot them and dump them somewhere. We do that because we either don’t want to be bothered by someone else’s problems or we just don’t care. It’s easier to get rid of the problem than to face it and get it right with God.
In Vietnam, the front line infantry soldiers had a phrase that seems so morbid. Under the conditions in which they fought they were never sure of who the enemy was or where he was so they would say, “kill them all and let God sort them out.”
Massacres occurred on both sides in that war. Some of them, like Lt. Calley, were charged with war crimes against humanity like he was for the Massacre at Mi Lai. Even man, in his unrighteous state, knows that this is not the right way to wage war against any enemy. So, why don’t we, as the army of the Lord, see that we cannot just go around killing any of our own who falter, fail or get wounded by Satan’s darts?
A good soldier cannot be overly concerned with matters of his civilian life lest he loses focus and becomes a casualty. That’s the same for a soldier in God’s army. God must be first place if we are to be a true soldier. We must learn to endure the hardship of being lonely at times or not being able to be around our loved ones at times. God never expects us to ignore or allow our families to suffer but they cannot take precedence over what we are assigned to do for God.
If we put God first, then He will see to it that our every need is taken care of. He will protect our loved ones. He will supply the necessities of life.
Finally, there came a time that I was discharged from military service and what a happy day that was for me. I never had any intention of making a career of serving in the army.
But that’s what is different about the Lord’s army. The only discharge you will get is when the Lord calls you home to be with Him. Until that day we must continue to serve and endure the hardships of a soldier of the Cross. Jesus says that His grace is sufficient and that He will stay with us to the end. If you are in the Lord’s army today, there is no surrender, there is no turning back, and there is no quitting. Desertion means death, eternal death.
That’s why it is important to remain a faithful soldier of the cross, enduring the hardships of the Spiritual warfare that we face! So what are you going to do with the call of God to be a part of His great army?
Are you going to surrender? Are you going to go on sick call? Are you going to hide from the enemy? Are you going to win? (That’s the only choice)
