Soldier's duty and armor

(Message by Pastor Philip Joseph on January 10, 2010, at NLF-Vashi. Here’s hoping I haven’t missed much. Happy reading!)

If we look at 2 Tim. 2: 3, 4 we read, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier”

There are many examples and illustrations in the Bible that help us to understand our position in Christ and our relation with this world. Here in this passage, Paul urges Timothy with this illustration that we are as soldiers  called to endure hardship for Jesus Christ. Paul also addresses his co-workers as fellow soldiers in the Bible.

Think for a moment why Paul should use this illustration of ‘soldier’. There is no other explanation except that we, as Christians, are in a battle – a battle that is real. There is an enemy - an enemy that is real. Now think for a moment what life would be like as a soldier. We had an opportunity to meet an uncle recently, who had served in the army. He was not directly involved in the battle but was in the support group for the soldiers. If w go to the army quarters, we will find their life is different from those of civilians in some way. In fact, they could easily tell the civilians from the soldier. Their thinking too is quite different. There is a strict discipline that is enforced – getting up early, a daily routine of physical training, get by with little food… their mindset is all about fitness and alertness. And ‘hardship’ is not something strange to them. Paul's urgency for us is also this; that there is nothing strange for a soldier when hardship comes.

2 Tim. 2: 4 talks about the reason for this; the aim is to ‘please the commanding officer’. 2 Cor. 5:9, says, “make it our goal to please Him” – this is our desire, our ambition – please God. Verse 4 also says that a soldier does not get entangled in civilian affairs. Now that means a soldier is not distracted but focused. That is our calling to; to remain focused and to please God. It's easy to get entangled in civilian affairs for us. But imagine, what will happen if soldiers get involved and entangled in civilian affairs? (Don't we have examples of such countries in the world?)

The other aspect of the soldier is ‘alertness’. We met the head of air-force squadron recently. You see, a country may be at peace with its neighbours. But, it does not mean that the armed forces in the country are not alert. While talking on alertness, he assured us that it would take him less than 5 minutes to lift the war-planes off the ground on any emergency. This is a lesson on alertness; they are not bogged down by civilian matters. We too must not be bogged down by ‘civilian’ matters; because our battle is REAL. The book of Ephesians talks about our battle against demonic forces – ‘against principalities and powers’. There is a REAL enemy. Our battle is not against any humans; the enemy Satan has aligned himself against us. And he has sinister schemes and strategies to put us down.

If we look at 2 Corinthians 2: 10, 11, it says, “Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices”

If we put these two verses together, it is clear that every scheme of Satan is known to Christian ‘soldiers’. And that un-forgiveness is one of Satan's device to get us bogged down. This is written by Paul against the backdrop of an influential man in Corinth  who was living in immorality and who was put out of the Church. But this man really repented, came back to Christ and received forgiveness. Now it was the Church's turn to forgive him. Paul urges the Church to pursue the path of forgiveness, lest Satan take an advantage in anyone's life. It is the scheme of Satan to remind us of the past, for us to always have guilt when someone does not forgive.

Maybe we are angry and mad at some person who has hurt us. But God has called us to have a heart of forgiveness. In this battle, we must be free to forgive to experience victory over the enemy. Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry, and do not sin” do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

One of Satan’s schemes is just to have a foothold in somebody’s life. He may target just one area of a person’s life and if we give him a place, that will be our failing and falling. If we are prone to anger, and are always disgruntled with people and situations, that is an area for us to work on as it is a potential ‘foothold’ for the devil. Jesus talks about Satan in John, ‘the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me’; Satan had no foothold in the life of Jesus while on earth. For us too, there should be no area in our life that is in darkness – hidden from God. But let His light shine on every area of our life. He certainly will help us make changes according to His will; and we will be protected and Satan will not have a foothold in our life.

Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God. Many of us are familiar with this. But if we look at Eph. 5, we hear Paul talking about family relationships; relationship - between husbands and wives, between parents and children. If we put everything in perspective, this is what I understand – we ought to put family relationships in high priority in order to avoid the snares of the devil. Then we ought to put on the full armor of God. Fighting against the enemy does not mean some imaginatively grand ‘spiritual’ battles in the heavenlies; but rather mostly focused on keeping our guard on family relationships – between husbands and wives; between parents and children. It is still one of Satan’s scheme to bring dissension between family members – children against parents; brothers against brothers…So spiritual warfare calls for alertness at home and in our family relationships.

Now, Ephesians 6 talks of putting on the full armor of God. The bottom-line is – WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. This is how the soldiers went for battle in the olden days. Let us look at the weapons of our warfare: -

1. Belt of truth: We must be clear in our understanding of God and His Word. There must be no two thoughts about what is truth. It is the truth of the gospel – He is truth and His word is truth. Ephesians also exhort us to ‘speak the truth always…’ There should be no falsehood in our life. This is an important piece of armor which holds all other pieces of armor together. A soldier whose belt gives way in the midst of the battle is most pitiable - all other weapons of warfare will suddenly become most vulnerable. Take heed to stand for the truth always – about what you know of God and His Word.
2. Breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate is an armor that protects the vital organs of the body. Give no room for unrighteousness in your life – whether little or lot. Whether it be financial dealings or social behavior. The word warns us, He who is unrighteous in little is also unrighteous in much. Therefore we must be fair in our financial dealings as well – with whatever is in our custody, with whatever we have agreed upon, with whatever we have pledged.
3. Shoes of the gospel of peace: We, as soldiers in the battle, must have peace with one another. Imagine what will be the fate of an army that has in-fighting! We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Our battle is against ‘spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (Eph 6:12). It is of utmost importance that we carry ourselves as men and women of peace. Pursue peace is every relationship. Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men”. Endeavour to live in peace with all. For want of a nail, the battle should not be lost.
4. Shield of faith: We have heard of ‘saving’ faith, a ‘measure’ of faith and now here a shield of faith. This is an armor that we show up – lift up against the fiery flaming arrows of the evil one. God loves me and has called me His child. This assurance must remain in us at all times. In times of darkness around us, we can still believe and know that God is on the throne. We can confess ‘Though I don’t understand, I know yet I will praise Him’. Show up the shield of faith and it will quench all the flaming darts of doubts.
5. Helmet of Salvation: This is again a protection of another vital part of our body – our head; our mind. We cannot afford to fight this battle with just our intellect and mind. The Bible talks of the ‘hope of salvation’. We have this firm hope of future ‘eternal’. And our salvation secure in Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross (Heb. 12). There is ALWAYS hope in God. If we are prone to reasoning and logicality of things happenings and people’s behavior around us, then it is time to put on the helmet of Salvation. And look with the eyes of faith of things unseen yet certain.
6. Sword of the Spirit – the word of God: And finally a weapon of attack. Look at all the weapons above, and it is all given for defense – defending ourselves against the attack of the enemy. And now, the sword of the word of God is the weapon of attack. Just one word can slay the devil. 2 Cor. 10: 4, 5 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ …” His Spirit is working in us; reminding us of God’s word that can pull down every strongholds of the evil one. His Spirit speaking in our ears that this is the way, walk in it.
   
   All weaponry for our defense and attack are given to us. We have to put on and take up these weaponry for our own good in the battle against us. It is significant that there are no warfare weapons for our backs; that is, we have no protection for our backs – The logic is simple: THERE IS NO TURNING BACK. We have stood for the battle. We must take up the full armor.

No enemy can withstand these weapons, because God is on our side. If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:35). “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14).

We know Jesus the Commander; and Jesus the Conqueror. The enemy Satan is defeated and his head is crushed – he is badly bruised (may I say brain-dead. There will be no more new schemes of Satan). He has been made a public spectacle. As the victorious king will lead a procession into the enemy’s territory, Jesus leads us in a triumphal procession. We have put on the armor and stood for battle. Now, we are just following Him into victory. This is an overwhelming victory. And we have become as more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. Shall we pray?

Lord Jesus, we thank you for giving us a wonderful victory. We thank you for enlisting us as soldiers in your army. We pray for your word to be revealed and alive in our lives each day. We ask for your blessings upon us, that we may fight the good fight of faith and experience your victory always. In your name, Amen.