“How To Become An Effective Christian”
BE A GOOD SOLDIER!
II Timothy 2:1-13
Introduction
As his men were preparing to attack the Maeda Escarpment, a 400 foot cliff that stretched across the island of Okinawa, Lieutenant Goronto called his men together, “Fellows, come over here and gather around. Doss wants to pray for us.” Corporal Desmond Doss was a medic assigned to Company B of the 77th Division of the US Army during World War II. Doss had taken his share of ridicule from his fellow servicemen because of his religious beliefs. The army had tried to discharge him at one time because they claimed his religious beliefs made him mentally unfit to serve. Doss was resilient and faithful to the Lord as he continued to serve his country. After fierce fighting in Guam and Leyte, they found themselves in Okinawa with the daunting task of taking this 400 foot cliff that was entrenched with camouflaged enemy, tunnels, caves and enemy gun emplacements. When the order to attack had come, Doss told Lieutenant Goronto, “I believe prayer is the best life saver there is. The men should really pray before going up.” What Doss had in mind was that each soldier might want to spend some personal, private time in prayer before the attack. Nevertheless, Doss prayed for the men in his company and off they went into battle. Company A went ahead of them and reported casualties so high that they could proceed no further. So Doss and Company B were ordered to move ahead knowing that they would have to take the cliff by themselves. They engaged in fierce fighting but by the end of the day they were able to sweep across the territory and be victorious. Amazingly, not a single man from Company B was killed and only one soldier sustained wounds and they came from a falling rock hitting his hand. The next day, a follow up inquiry was made to determine how Company B had accomplished such a miraculous assault without a single casualty. No one could figure out how they had done it. Finally, with no other way to conclude the report, the official answer was filed all the way back home to the United States. The official answer was simply, “Doss prayed!”
Tertullian writes in Address to the Martyrs, “No soldier comes to the war surrounded by luxuries, nor goes into action from a comfortable bedroom, but from the makeshift and narrow tent, where every kind of hardness and severity and unpleasantness is to be found.”
John Stott writes, “Soldiers on active service do not expect a safe or easy time. They take hardship, risk, and suffering as a matter of course.”
Tonight, we continue our message series out of II Timothy on “How To Become an Effective Christian”. Tonight, we see that effectiveness as a Christian takes the dedication of a good soldier. As Christians, we have dedicated our lives to service. We have enlisted ourselves in the army of the Lord and are soldiers in a spiritual war that is ongoing all around us. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
Tonight, we look at Paul’s words to Timothy in II Timothy 2:1-13, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs- he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, eh does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
To be effective in our service, we must be a good soldier by:
I. GAINING STRENGTH FROM GRACE.
Paul tells Timothy in II Timothy 2:1, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Paul knows that Timothy is going to need a lot of strength if he is to be an effective servant for Christ. The same is true for us. I like this paraphrase of verse one that I read. It goes like this, “Never mind what other people may be thinking or saying or doing. Never mind how weak and shy you yourself may feel. As for you Timothy, be strong!”
There are times when we are encouraged to call upon some deep, hidden strength within us to make it through a tough or painful situation. This is not what Paul is instructing Timothy to do. He is not telling him to call upon his own strength for this task, but to call upon God’s strength to get him through this time.
“It is not only salvation that we are dependent on grace, but for service also.” The Message of II Timothy
It is that strength from God that we look to and ask for that enables to do things we never dreamed possible and accomplish tasks we believed we were incapable of. As soldiers, we are servants. To be a good soldier, we must gain strength from God’s grace.
Secondly, to be effective in our service, we must be a good soldier by:
II. ENTRUSTING OTHERS WITH RESPONSIBILITY.
One of the hardest things for any person to do is to let someone else take over a responsibility. There is fear involved. What if they don’t do it right? What if they don’t do it? There is pride involved. If they do a bad job, it will look bad on me. There is greed involved. If I hand this job over, I won’t get the glory anymore from doing it. Above all else, it hard to entrust others with responsibility because it always seems that it’s easier if you do it yourself. We’ve been trained that , “If you want a job done right, you do it yourself.” It’s a matter of trust. We don’t trust people with certain things. For instance, I know some of you wouldn’t trust anyone else to take care of your lawn. You love your lawn. You mow the grass a certain way. You take pride in caring for the flower gardens. You wouldn’t trust any person to care for your lawn, but would you trust a computer? New Zealand researchers have invented a lawnmower that is operated via the Internet. The robotic grass cutter is controlled through a web page which monitors the mower by a small camera on the side of the house. The electric mower is smaller and more compact than a normal mower. It motors out once during the day and then again at night with the computer watching its every move.
We don’t trust people enough to give over to them our responsibilities. But this is exactly what Paul instructs Timothy to do. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” II Timothy 2:2
A good soldier follows orders. The order from Christ is to go and make disciples. That is done by teaching and preaching the gospel message of salvation to man. The only way for each generation to hear the gospel is for it to be passed on to reliable men who will teach it. This is precisely what Paul is doing with Timothy in this letter. He is entrusting “the good deposit” as he calls the gospel, to Timothy to faithfully teach it to others.
Part of what makes us effective Christians is our ability to train and raise up new servants for Christ. It takes trust, effort and commitment to people for this to take place. The ideal would be for every person in this church to be a mentor to another Christian while being mentored themselves. The only way that the next generation is going to know about Christ is if we entrust others with the responsibility of sharing and teaching the gospel of Christ.
Thirdly, to be effective in our service, we must be a good soldier by:
III. ENDURING VARIOUS HARDSHIPS.
Paul tells Timothy, “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” II Timothy 2:3
There is probably no hardship more difficult to endure for a soldier than being a prisoner of war. Sgt. Major Abie Abraham had to endure such a hardship. Abraham was part of the 31st Regimen during World War II as they fought the Japanese in a hopeless battle on Bataan. After being totally surrounded by the Japanese they were sent by their captors on a grueling six day ninety mile march, the infamous Bataan Death March, from Mariveles to Camp O’Donnell. From April 1942 through February 1945, Abraham watched helplessly as 4100 of his fellow prisoners of war died from crushed skulls, samurai swords, bayonets, bullets and torture. All the while he suffered from malnutrition, dysentery, malaria, dengue fever, lice, bed bugs hard labor, depression, food and medicine depravation. While a prisoner, he began to keep a secret record of names, origins and messages of prisoners and this helped him endure the imprisonment. Finally, after 1,000 days as a POW, Abraham was rescued.
What we have in II Timothy is Paul has become somewhat of a prisoner of war. Paul tells Timothy, “This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” II Timothy 2:8b-9
Here we have a man that has endured many hardships, stonings, floggings, shipwrecks, being beaten to within an inch of his life; and now he is again in prison; and yet he is enduring defiantly in the face of persecution and hardship. What enables Paul to endure? Knowing that although he is chained, that God’s word is not chained.
A good soldier endures hardships and expects that they will come. To be effective in our service, we must be a good soldier by enduring hardships. Lastly, to be effective in our service, we must be a good soldier by:
IV. REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF JESUS.
We all want to be remembered in some way for the life we lived on this earth. Ed Headrick, better known as “Steady” Ed Headrick died about six weeks ago at the age of 78. Headrick was the California inventor who is known as the father of the modern “Frisbee”. To celebrate his life, Headrick’s ashes will be molded into a limited number of “memorial flying discs” and will be distributed to family and friends, and sold to help fund a future Frisbee history and memorabilia museum.
All too often the memory of a loved one fades after their death. A Chicago company says it has developed a process for turning cremated human remains into diamonds that can be worn as jewelry. These blue diamonds are the answer to people who think a tombstone or an urn of ashes is not personal enough. This way, the memory of their loved one will be right with them always.
To be effective in our service, we must be good soldiers by remembering the life of Jesus. “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” II Timothy 2:8
We must remember how he lived, as man descended from David. We can trace his ancestry. We can verify that he walked this earth. We can know what he did, how he lived and what he was like. We must remember that he died and yet was raised from the dead three days later, so that if we die with him, we will rise with him. We must remember that Jesus has been here before. He’s walked in our shoes. He knows what we’re going through. He hasn’t thrown us to the lions to fend for ourselves. He’s with us. He’s for us. He’ll help us.
Conclusion
We’re called to be good soldiers. We’re called to have the dedication and determination of soldier, serving his country, obeying his commander. Our effectiveness as a Christian lies in our performance as a soldier. We must be a good soldier by:
1. Gaining strength from grace.
2. Entrusting others with responsibility.
3. Enduring various hardships.
4. Remembering the life of Jesus.
