Sunday Sermons

Soldiers of Christ - Part 2

Mark Dunagan
05/29/05 - Sunday Evening

Soldiers of Christ

Part 2

Refusing to believe we are at war

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). It is easy to live in denial, especially when times are prosperous. We know that the devil is roaming about seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8), yet we often live like he does not even exist when we say to ourselves, “nothing dangerous is happening here”. When Peter says to resist the devil (1 Peter 5:9), it means that we are under spiritual attack. As C.S. Lewis observed in The Screwtape Letters, the devil is not insulted when people no longer believe in him, rather he prefers to fight a covert operation, where people are convinced that everything they are struggling with is simply a natural or physical occurrence in this world, and that they can handle problems without any help from God the life that surrounds them.

The attack upon our lines of communication

“Before an effective military strike can be made, you must take out the opposing army’s line of communication. The Evil One does this all the time---especially between couples. Marriage is a stunning picture of what God offers His people. Scripture tells us it is a living metaphor (Ephesians 5:22ff), a walking parable, a Rembrandt painting of the gospel. The Enemy knows this, and he hates it with every ounce of his malicious heart. He has no intention of just letting that beautiful portrait be lived out before the world with such deep appeal that no one can resist God’s offer. So just like in the Garden, Satan comes in to divide and conquer” (Wild at Heart, John Eldredge p. 160). Jesus cautioned, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matthew 12:25). As couples, we need to realize that Satan will seek to disrupt the lines of communication between our mates and us. How many couples have had days that resemble what happened to Adam and Eve? They wake up in the morning in love and by the end of the day they are accusing each other? It is not that the devil is necessarily behind every miscommunication but it is the fact that the devil seeks to exploit such things, he tries to throw gasoline on our little campfire problems. Remember Ananias and Sapphira, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3). As I noted, the devil is not causing all our squabbles but neither can we attribute all our disagreements to a difference between personalities. There is an outside force that is trying to break you up!

The accuser of our brethren

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). In the book of Job we see an example of this, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (1:9); “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face” (1:11); “Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life” (2:5). In like manner, the devil seeks to spread the lie that God doesn’t love us; that all men betray God and all men lose heart. In addition we can avoid being used by the devil by refusing to accuse brethren of unfounded accusations.

Cutting a deal

“What man begins his journey wishing, ‘I think one day, after twenty years of service, I’ll torpedo the whole thing with an affair?’ In his case it was a long and subtle assignment to wear his defenses down not so much through battle as through boredom. Notice this---when did King David fall? What were the circumstances of his affair with Bathsheba? ‘In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army’ (2 Samuel 11:1). David was no longer a warrior; he sent others to do his fighting for him. Bored, stated, and fat, he strolls around on the roof of his palace looking for something to amuse him. The Evil One points out Bathsheba and the rest is history. William Gurnall warns us, ‘Persisting to the end will be the burr under your saddle---when the road ahead seems endless and your soul begs an early discharge. It weighs down every other difficulty of your calling. We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and like being a soldier for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down (The Christian in Full Armor)’ (pp. 170-171).

“The armor of God”

Notice the humility and absolute dependence upon God that is needed, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). “Do not attack in anger, do not swagger forth in pride” (p. 174). Too many young Christians fight bravely, but they die quickly. “One more thing: Don’t even think about going into battle alone. As David Smith points out “‘One serious problem is the friendless condition of the average American male’” (The Friendless American Male p. 174). As one reads the New Testament, not only will one find Christians working together (Acts 2:42), but one will often find Christian men working together as a band of brothers (Acts 16:25; 15:39-40; Colossians 4:10-11).

“To live is Christ, to die is gain”

“The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die; few ever really live. Sure, you can create a safe life for yourself---and end your days dwelling on some forgotten misfortune. I’d rather go down swinging. Besides, the less we are trying to ‘save ourselves’, the more effective a warrior we will be. Listen to G.K. Chesterton on courage: ‘Courage is almost a contradiction of terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. ‘He that will lose his life, the same shall save it’, is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it” (p. 169).

The Great Invasion

The above title might make one think of the events in Genesis the third chapter where sin enters the world, yet even Christians can forget that there is another invasion described in Scripture. Most know the story of Jesus’ birth as described in Matthew 2,yet there is another picture of these events that the religious world has never put on a Christmas card or in a Nativity scene: “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child” (Revelation 12:1-4). The woman here is not specifically Israel nor the church, nor Mary, but rather God’s faithful remnant. This woman will produce the Messiah (12:5), and will also exist after Jesus ascends to heaven (12:6). She wears two heavenly bodies, indicating that she brings light into a dark world (Genesis 1:16-17; Matthew 5:13-16). She cannot simply be Old Testament believers, for we read of her persecution by the Dragon after she has brought forth the Messiah. Her offspring “keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (12:17), that is, they are Christians. Nor yet can we hold her to be simply Christians because she is given existence prior to the birth of the Messiah. Therefore, she simply stands for God’s people.

Satan’s attempts to stop the invasion

Recall the times in the history when the future of God’s people and thus the spiritual fate of all future generations hung by a thread.

Only one faithful family left (Genesis 6:5-10)

The aged Abraham and Sarah with no offspring (Genesis 17)

The vulnerable baby Moses in a basket (Exodus 1)

The bondage that seems inescapable (Exodus 1)

The nation in complete apostasy (Exodus 32; Judges 2:9)

David before Goliath (1 Samuel 17)

David hunted by Saul (1 Samuel 18ff)

Athaliah’s attempt to destroy the Messianic line (2 Kings 11:1ff)

Haman’s attempt to destroy all the Jews (Esther)

Herod’s attempt to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2)

In the crunch

As we read the Bible we often find that God allows circumstances to get to the point that the odds of victory or survival seem overwhelming before He acts. “There’s the one where the children of Israel are pinned against the Red Sea, no way out, with Pharaoh and his army barreling down on them in murderous fury. Then God shows up. There’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who get rescued only after they’re thrown into the fiery furnace. Then God shows up. He lets the mob kill Jesus, bury Him---then He shows up. Most of the time, He actually lets the odds stack up against Him (and His people). Against Goliath, a seasoned soldier and a trained killer, He sends a little shepherd kid with a slingshot. Most commanders going into battle want as many infantry as they can get. God cuts Gideon’’s army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred. Then He equips the ragtag little band that’s left with torches and watering pots” (pp. 31-32). The same is true in the New Testament. God needs to get the gospel message out to the human race, so He selects a few fishermen, a tax collector—then He passes the ball to us!

Remember your wife

She is your “help-meet” (Genesis 2:18). “Every woman wants an adventure to share. To be cherished, pursued, fought for—yes. But also, I she wants to be strong and part of the adventure. So many men make the mistake of thinking that the woman is the adventure. But that is where the relationship immediately goes downhill. A woman does not want to be the adventure; she wants to be caught up into something greater than herself” (p. 16).