Pastor’s Corner: “Get into the Fight!”
2 Timothy 2:3-4 (AMP) – 3 Take with me your share of hardship [passing through the difficulties which you are called to endure], like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service gets entangled in the [ordinary business] affairs of civilian life; [he avoids them] so that he may please the one who enlisted him to serve.
We are called to be in the world but not of the world. As followers and disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to stand out. Why? Because there is a battle being fought in heaven and on earth with eternal implications and consequences. The military term “soldier” implies that we are in this battle. This is the assignment and mission! There is no other assignment. We are engaged in this battle one way or another and we cannot ignorantly pretend that it does not involve us.
There are thousands of men and women who go to churches every Sunday and call themselves Christians. They make a “profession” of faith in Christ. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are recognized as Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They anticipate to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any “fight” in their faith walk! When it comes to spiritual strife, exertion, conflict, self–denial and watching and warring they know literally nothing at all. This kind of Christian faith may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be looked at judgmental and unloving; but it is certainly not the Christianity of the Bible. True Christianity is “a fight.” 1 Timothy 6:12 (NLT) – 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.
People enlist in the armed service of the United States every day. When they do, they sign up and make a commitment to serve. They’re provided with new clothes. Their old identity as nerd, athlete, or dodgeball hero is all gone. They just become a soldier. Then they go into basic training where they endure physical challenges that get their bodies in shape and their minds in line with the rules of the service. In exchange for all this, the government feeds, clothes and houses them during this time and pays their way.
Did you know that as a Christian, you have been enlisted as a soldier representing the Kingdom of God? You no longer represent yourself. Your old identity and value are no longer based in the worthless things of the world which will pass away. In God’s Kingdom, He will clothe you, feed you and provide for you. He also will train you through the Word of God. We are not meant to live a life of religious ease, idleness and security in the world while the battle is fought all around us. We must never imagine for a moment that we can sleep and doze along the way to heaven.
Unlike the battles of the world, the Christian fights in a realm that does not depend upon physical strength, a quick eye or physical dexterity. Conventional weaponry does not come into play. Rather, its weapons are spiritual, and FAITH is the axis upon which the battle turns.
A soldier knows hardship. Yet this hardship is not without companions. Soldiers fight for and with their brothers and sisters in arms. The same is true in the Christian life. It is impossible to be a lone ranger Christian. We are responsible for one another.
Paul calls Timothy to join him in the common sufferings that go with being a Christian of that day. If you think of Paul’s life, you would hesitate to join him in his sufferings. Yet the cause for which he lived drew many to join him. A soldier joins others in the common sufferings of military life because of the cause. A soldier knows what Paul is talking about here. They do not take lightly the call to join in the everyday life of suffering as a soldier because they know what that means. Many people make commitments without fully understanding the implications. When they are in the middle of the suffering, they quit. A good soldier commits without the option of quitting.
The true Gospel doesn’t offer easy options – it calls for dedication to the Commanding Officer and a commitment not to get entangled in those things that distract from wholehearted surrender to the cause of the One who enlisted him. Remember, God has an army and that army is the church, and you’re part of it!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton