Battle Drill #15:

Search and Rescue!

Proverbs 8:1-36 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Search and Rescue!” I wrote a fictional story called, “The Rescue Mission,” a modern-day parable, about a rescue mission on Lake Michigan.

The Founders came to Christ while serving together in the US Navy in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. After experiencing tragedies, like the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, when these sailors came back to the states, they decided to build a light house and rescue people from a watery grave in Lake Michigan. The Founders worked regular jobs while setting up the rescue mission, bought land, built houses to live close to the rescue mission, married women who had a kindred spirit for the mission, and raised their children together. The second generation was raised on the mission, and they kept it going, making improvements in honor of their parents’ commitments to the vision. They believed in the mission, but they also saw the sacrifices of their parents and remembered not having a normal childhood, so they wanted to give their kids more of a “normal” life. For the grandkids of the Founders, the ever-expanding compound started to be upgraded. A pool was installed, recreational boats were put in next to the rescue boats. These kids played every day, went to school in the local community telling their friends all about how much fun their rescue mission was, invited them over for birthday parties, so as the third generation grew up, they knew there was a rescue mission, but now they just called the place they lived “The Rescue Mission.” Now the fourth generation was being raised on a place that looks more like a resort area than a rescue mission. You should see the renovated Light House. You can even walk up it and look out over the Lake and witness the expansion of the Rescue Mission with the RV park, water play area, miniature golf course, and more. It truly is beautiful. A great place to bring your kids for a family vacation.

Remember the original vision of the rescue mission on Lake Michigan. Did I tell you that after the Korean War, in the 50s, the Founders mortgaged their homes to buy a helicopter to help them with their rescue efforts? And then after Vietnam, as they got older and their kids were coming back from their war, they did the same thing with their homes to buy a Vietnam-era Huey. The crazy thing is by the time the third generation was taking over the rescue mission, they stopped using those helicopters for rescue efforts and started selling rides to families on vacation to the Lake. You should have seen how much money came in during the 90s and the improvements that were made around the place. Wow! What a sight They even built a museum to honor their grandparents’ mission and to remember all the rescued people, saved from certain death. The mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, and even the governor came by for the grand re-opening. The sad thing is, on that very day, six people died less than a mile out from “The Rescue Mission”; no one was on duty when the distress call came in.[1]

I pray the Holy Spirit will use this story to show us our need and help us learn how we need to train today’s battle drill so we, God’s Rescue Mission on earth, can live on mission today.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 8:17, 32-36:

I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me. … Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself; all those who hate me love death.

To better understand how I am applying this Scripture, you need to hear these verses in their context, as a part of the whole of Proverbs 8:1-36. Read from the Bible.

This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself; all those who hate me love death.

Responding to people and situations according to the heart of God requires a life of discipleship with Jesus Christ, the study of God’s Word, and the learning to listen to the Holy Spirit. The Church of Jesus Christ exists for the Mission of God on earth, but we cannot lose the heart of the mission because we have gone into maintenance mode on the upkeep of the infrastructure of the Rescue Mission itself.[2] That is why our greatest priority is to know God and to become like Him.

We must emphasize as our primary imperative, the building of a personal relationship with the mission’s Founder and His vision! If we emphasize who God is and His vision for His creation, then we cannot avoid becoming a missional people, for the mission is the heart of God and the very reason Jesus invites us to follow Him. Listen to Jesus’ invitation in Mark 1:17, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” In our commitment to follow Jesus faithfully, the Spirit of God transforms us into His likeness, with His heart, which is the life of search and rescue! This is the purpose of Christian discipleship – to transform us through the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2). It is not the end game in and of itself – there is a vision!

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

Jesus’ parables, found in Luke 15, reinforce this purpose for God’s people:

All three parables end with celebration because that which was being searched for – the sheep, the coin, and the younger son – were found and returned safely. Success! Now, with that said, there is a necessary nuance to the last parable that we, as God’s people, need to hear, once again: The older son was also lost though he never left home. He didn’t share the heart of his father in the joy of his younger brother’s rescue. He lived on the “Rescue Mission,” but he wasn’t a part of the rescue effort; he made it all about him. We, as sons and daughters of God, need to hear this part of the story as it was intended – as a rebuke and as a warning; watch the exchange between the older son and his father in Luke 15:25-32:

Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.” But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” And he said to him, “Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”

While most of us do rejoice in being the younger son who was rescued, we must heed Jesus’ scathing rebuke of the Pharisees of His day and the Spirit’s warning to the Church today to not become like them in our spiritual pride and lack of concern for those who are lost, separated from God by their sin. We are to follow the example of Jesus Christ and go into the world, not to judge people, but to conduct search and rescue missions – to show them Jesus. And, furthermore, we are not to view the church community as one that keeps us “safe” from the world. In other words, we should not expect the church to be devoid of “messy” people who need Jesus. We must not only be willing to receive these people into our community, but we should be actively pursuing those whose lives indicate their own need for Jesus.[3]

This is the Great Commission of the Church of Jesus Christ, to join with Him in His great search and rescue mission, as commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We are to train ourselves to live on mission today! That brings us to our closing point and response time.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

[Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Are there areas of your life where you need to respond to Jesus’ invitation upon your life? Jesus sees you and He is calling out to you personally – to save you and to bring you into His Rescue Mission, simultaneously. He calls us to be saved so that we can be part of the rescue mission for others. Today is the day to respond to Him and to live on mission with Him. He rescued you and now He is calling you to be a member of His search and rescue mission team. There are people drowning out there, are you hearing their distress call?

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] I cannot remember where the idea first came for my story, The Rescue Mission © 2022. If it shares elements of other stories or grabs at bits of history from my tours of light houses and visits to Lake Michigan, then I am happy to give credit where credit is due, whether for the idea and for any specific details that overlap.

Battle Drill #14:

Plan Your Route!

Proverbs 7:1-27 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Plan Your Route!” I have some stories to help illustrate today’s lesson:

1) Learning land navigation in the military is a significant investment of time, energy, and resources for infantry soldiers. We spent a lot of time working on the skills necessary to do this during the day and in the night. My body has the marks to show how hard it can be, especially at night, just like our souls bear the scars of how hard it can be to plan our routes properly in life, especially in the valleys of the shadow.

2) Ranger school taught me the need to know my location when on mission. At any time, you may need to pivot in place due to attack or unexpected changes. You need to learn to know where you are on the map by looking at the terrain around you (providence).

3) On a road trip you can’t blindly trust your GPS, or you may end up a dead end or in a place you never intended. You need to know how to use a map to double check your route.

Let’s learn how we can train this battle drill so that you can live on mission today.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 7:1-3:

My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

To better understand how I am applying this Scripture to learning how to plan your route, you need to hear the rest of this passage so I will continue reading from Proverbs 7 with verses 4-27:

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your intimate friend; that they may keep you from an adulteress, from the foreigner who flatters with her words. For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice, and I saw among the naive, and discerned among the youths A young man lacking sense, passing through the street near her corner; and he takes the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. And behold, a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious, her feet do not remain at home; she is now in the streets, now in the squares, and lurks by every corner. So she seizes him and kisses him and with a brazen face she says to him: “I was due to offer peace offerings; today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, with colored linens of Egypt. I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with caresses. For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, at the full moon he will come home.” With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, until an arrow pierces through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths. For many are the victims she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

1) Reading a map, to include plotting points and use terrain association skills along the route.

2) Using a compass to include setting an azimuth (the direction of travel between two points).

3) Learning your pace count (the ability to track distance traveled in a specific direction).

Here is how the two connect so that we can see how we are training them together as the church:

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

There is an expression that I used earlier and that I now want to explain to you so that you can learn how to seek God’s approval in your life before all else and in doing so plan your route: “Jesus is our true north.” Allow me to explain this to you by sharing from a research article:

The expression true north is based on a fact that navigators and surveyors must deal with every day: a magnetic compass is not a terribly reliable instrument. A magnetic compass points toward the magnetic north pole, which is not the same as true north, or the geographic (or geodetic) north pole. The difference between magnetic north and true north is currently a matter of several hundred miles—but it changes, due to the fact that the magnetic north pole drifts several miles a year. The earth produces a magnetic field. The places where the lines of magnetic induction converge are called the magnetic poles. The location of the magnetic north pole changes over time. In contrast, true north is a fixed spot on the globe: the true north pole is found at the conjunction of the lines of longitude, the point at which the earth’s axis exits the globe. Magnetic north varies position from year to year; true north is unchanging. Because the needle of a magnetic compass points toward the magnetic north pole, not the geographic north pole, it is not entirely accurate. It may give a general idea of where north is, especially in the middle latitudes, but it can be wildly unreliable in the regions closer to the poles, varying by 20 to 60 degrees. The difference between magnetic north and true north is called declination, and it varies according to where one is located on the globe. To compensate for declination and find true north, we must perform some mathematical calculations using an up-to-date chart or calibrate our compasses. Adding to the confusion is magnetic deviation, caused when nearby metallic objects or electrical equipment influence the compass needle. Deviation is especially a problem inside ships and airplanes and in areas containing a lot of metal ore. Like declination, deviation must be overcome, usually by means of auxiliary magnets, in order to find true north.[1]

Therefore, when you hear it said that “Jesus is our truth north” you know now that means that Jesus is the constant, unchanging source of truth and life. As Hebrews 13:8-9a states, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings…” Jesus concludes His sermon on the mount with these critical words of how we are to apply His teachings to our lives and in how we are to plan our routes, from Matthew 7:24-27:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

Action Step #4) Live on mission by keeping Jesus Christ as the true north of your life.

Is your life off course? Do you feel lost? Do you need a course correction or an altogether new route for your life? “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life… “ (John 14:6)!

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-true-north.html (accessed May 13, 2022).

Iron Sharpens Iron: Biblical Friendship

Today is a cool day for a lot of reasons- it was 20 years ago, in May 2002, that I accepted the job as the youth pastor here at FBC, moved to NC, and started out as a young person in her first full-time ministry role. Also it was 18 years ago today, May 8 2004 that I married Daniel who I met at this church. I’m really thankful for the way FBC has been supporting Daniel and me in ministry for years, and I’m so grateful to be able to live out God’s calling on my life in ministry while still being firmly rooted here in our local church- that’s a blessing! Thank you for supporting and encouraging us to keep following God’s leading.

Today I am not going to talk about motherhood or Mother’s Day, but I do want to say a couple things about Mother’s Day before I get started. First off, I will say that being a mom is incredibly rewarding even when it’s also really hard. To the moms in the room, I know what you had to do to get your people and all their stuff together just to arrive here today, and you younger moms who are pretty tired from this week, but you still got your kids up and going today and probably took care of the gifts for your own mom and mother-in-laws, way to go, you are absolute champs. To all of you in the room that are moms, I want to say thank you for all the work you do and have done to keep the humans in your house alive- you’ve done a great job. To the moms, stepmoms and grandmothers, spiritual moms, single moms, all of you in this room who are helping to raise or who have raised kids, thank you for what you do- you are amazing and you make the world keep running. I also want to acknowledge that Mother’s Day is a painful day for some of us in this room, and if that’s true for you, I want you to know that you are seen and you belong today just as much as those who are celebrating. Mother’s Day can be hard for

those of us who miss our moms, or whose moms hurt us. It also might be a hard day for those of us who have lost a child, or whose kids have caused us heartache and motherhood has not been like we wish it was. And I know some of us have desperately wanted to be moms and it just hasn’t happened. You are seen and you belong in this room and we honor you as well.  Scripture says that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  And so if you’re celebrating today, then happy Mother’s Day- your mom life is something to be proud of! And if you’re hurting today, we love you and we care about you. However you showed up today, you belong here and we are in this together. So I’d like to pray in that spirit.

I want to invite you to get out your bible and expect to open it and actually read it today. If you don’t have one, use your phone and I would suggest you look it up in the New Living Translation because that’s what I read and then my words will match what you’re looking at.

Today we are going to talk about friendship, biblical friendship. We have been going through the book of Proverbs, and today I picked Proverbs 27:17 as our key verse. And since it is only 10 words long, we’re going to look at several other passages and see what the Bible has to say about being a good friend and having good friends, the way Jesus intended for those who follow him. So let’s look at Proverbs 27:17 as our jumping off point today- it’s so short it’ll take way longer for you to find it than to read it but I still think it’s a good practice to actually read the words for yourself so please turn there with me.

PROVERBS 27:17  

TURN to a person near you and share, what do you think that means? in your own words, what does this proverb talking about?

When I was a senior in college, just a few months before I graduated and moved here actually, that spring my grandpa died. It was my first grandparent to pass away, and really the first person close to me at all to die. I went to school in Anderson, and I drove home from school to be here for a few days. The hardest part for sure was seeing my own dad grieve- and it just rocked my world a little, like it does when you lose a grandparent. I missed a couple days of classes, and was here in town for a few days, and I remember very distinctly something that happened the day of the calling. My senior year, I lived in a house with 6 other girls that had been close friends all through college. And I hadn’t been there all week of course, and I was really looking forward to seeing my friends because it had been a hard week. And that night, at the calling for my grandpa, not a single one of my roommates showed up. Thankfully, my closest friend from childhood and high school actually came, and I remember how thankful I was when Tiffany walked in the door. It meant even more to me because others hadn’t come. That same friend was the first person to arrive at the hospital the day my son Caleb’s heart stopped and she was the first person to come to the hospital the day he finally got word that he was going to receive a new heart. When a friend shows up for you and loves you like that, you never forget. But not only do you not forget it, it impacts you deeply. Being loved by a true friend shapes who we are as people. Being loved like that increases our own capacity to love and care for others- love produces more love. A good friend produces more good friends.

Having true friends and being a true friend is possibly the most important part of our human lives and yet it’s something that so many of us struggle with. We want to have great friendships and we want to be terrific friends but so often that’s not how it goes. And the thing is, God actually cares a whole lot about the quality of our friendships. In fact, our relationships with each other are so incredibly important that the Bible is full of instruction on how we are to treat each other- In John 17, Jesus went so far as to say that for Christians, the way we love and treat each other will show the world what God is like. So friendship is a big deal and its an area of our lives that we need to be intentional about.

1. I want to look back at the early church and see how the first Christians did friendship and community.
2. I want to address how different friendship and community are in our own current culture. and
3. I want to see how we can actually obey God’s design for us and have the kind of friendships He intended for his people to have.

Temple together, then ate meals in each others’ homes. They shared their needs and helped each other. They prayed and worshiped together. They experienced amazing fellowship with each other and had sincere unity.

Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:32-36, Acts 5:12-16

The Church grew and grew and grew until there were thousands of Christians. But their mountaintop experience didn’t last forever. In Acts 8, we see that persecution began, and Christians were being arrested and even killed, so they fled Jerusalem and were scattered all throughout the region. But God was at work in this! Acts 8:4 says “the believers who were scattered preached the Good news about Jesus wherever they went”. Christianity spread and new, smaller Churches were popping up. We read letters Paul wrote to these believers, and the Churches that were eventually formed because of their scattering, and one of the most common themes was Paul urging the Christians to stick together and continue to help and love each other well.  You can’t read the NT without seeing the overwhelming message that Christians are supposed to function as one unit, just as Jerry preaches each week! We train together, we learn together, we obey Jesus TOGETHER. This is a team sport, guys!

When we read the first few chapters of Acts, it’s not hard to see how the church has changed. And I’m not talking about the logistics of how worship services were conducted- I’m talking about how the early Christians oriented their life around the life of their community, their church. They didn’t have church buildings, that’s not what they were about- they were about each other. They were together and they went through life together as a family.

• we treat church as a once a week activity that is mostly about what happens on the stage, while we sit and view the program.
• people like to be anonymous, or now more than ever “watch” church online. That’s like going to the fieldhouse and watching a basketball game and saying you played basketball! Let’s be honest- we want church to be like this because it costs us so little. It’s low-energy, low-time, low-investment of ourselves.
• we are individualistic to our core. Life is about me and what’s best for me and what I prefer and what makes me happy.
• we are proud and independent- I don’t want to need people. I depend on myself and that way I won’t be let down. And heaven forbid I let people see what needs I really have in my life, that would be humiliating.
• we are BUSY and disconnected

So how can we obey Jesus and have the kind of friendships he intended his people to have?

• HEBREWS 10:24-25   — Be here and make it a priority: we have to be present, in the life of the church and in each other’s personal lives. Be there! Be here!
• MARK 5:24-34 Ñ> Take a risk and allow yourself to be known: we have to be vulnerable
• Make an effort to connect with people: we have to initiate
• Evaluate yourself and your life and see your stumbling blocks: we have to be honest with ourselves.  Are you afraid and trying to be self-protective?  Are you too busy and really need to re-think your commitments and how you spend your time?  Are you spending time with the wrong people?  Are you convinced that you’re introverted or a homebody and you just don’t need much from other people?

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Battle Drill #12:

Trust your Training!

Proverbs 6:20-35 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the twelfth battle drill – Trust your Training! I have three military stories to help illustrate this battle drill of “trust your training.”

1) Night operations and the 200’ cliff rappel.

2) Air Assault operations and stepping out on the skid to rappel out of a Huey.

3) Airborne operations and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane (day or night).

Regardless of your level of training, if you don’t trust your training at the moment that it matters then you will not live on mission. You will allow the circumstances, your feelings, or your nervous system to determine your response instead of trusting your training. Let’s learn how we can train this battle drill so that you can live on mission today.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; and reproofs for discipline are the way of life …

The verse ended in mid-sentence. To better understand how I am applying this text to learning how to trust your training as your battle drill for this week, you need to hear the rest of this passage from the Field Manual so I will continue reading from Proverbs 6 with verses 24-35:

… to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, and an adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; but when he is found, he must repay sevenfold; he must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find, and his reproach will not be blotted out. For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

If anyone tells you that at any point in your Christian life you won’t struggle with your humanity and the effects of living in this tent (2 Corinthians 5:1), then they are placing a burden on you that Christ has not. Holiness is Christ in you, not your ability to live a perfect life based on a list of vices and virtues. The righteousness you have is imputed upon you through Christ’s victory, not one earned by a life of perfect thought life, perfect emotional stability, and perfect mastery of your body. The life we live is a life surrendered to the finished work of Jesus Christ, just as Paul commented about himself in Galatians 2:19-21:

For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.

Apart from Christ you can do nothing, as Jesus taught us in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Additionally, as fellow members of His body, we need one another to walk in God’s will. Paul emphasized this in the body imagery of the church in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

We need one another, more than we know! We need to walk in the way of Jesus Christ with one another and carry one another’s burdens. Just as Paul teaches in Galatians 6:1-2, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”

A significant reality of learning to trust your training is to train as part of the body of Christ, and not alone, because if we are to do what Jesus, the head of the church, commands us, and please Him, then we must do it in concert with His will for our lives, collectively as the individual members of the one body of Christ. As Paul said in Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” That takes us to the third action item.

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; and reproofs for discipline are the way of life …

Some of my favorite imagery in the Bible about our relationship with God is the familial language – we are sons and daughters of the King! I’ve already utilized the agricultural imagery of the Vine and branches, and the anatomical imagery of Jesus being the head and us being the members of His body, but now I want to emphasize, based on Proverbs 6:20-23, the familial imagery of God being our parent. Family relationships are commanded in Ephesians 6:1-4:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Parents, before you apply this to your children, you must first apply it to your relationship with God as your Father, where you are the child and He is the Father. His will for your life is that you mature in the discipline and the instruction of His Word for His glory! Therefore, you must learn to observe all His commandments, just as you expect your kids to know your expectations of them, not forsaking the Word, but memorize them and meditate upon them and apply them to your everyday life. As Psalm 119:105-106 teaches us as the children of God, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep Your righteous ordinances.” Are you reaping at home what you are sowing with your heavenly father?

This is the tried-and-true way of God’s people, generation to generation, generation after generation, as instructed through the Shema and its instruction, as found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Why does the author of Proverbs 6 command his children to trust their training in the faith?  Because their only chance at life and blessing is to live according to it! And their faithfulness to God will be tested in the hardest of life’s circumstances, in the most challenging of human emotions, in the greatest allure of spiritual idolatry, and in the seductions of human adultery.

That is why today’s passage was intentionally evocative and persuasive on purpose, because the battle is not won on islands of serenity with peace-time conditions, but on the beaches of Normandy where the distress and tribulation of spiritual warfare manifests at every level of human experience! We live in a war-torn creation; therefore, we must train to live on mission today! You must train yourself according to this battle drill to trust your training in righteousness just as Paul taught his protégé in 2 Timothy 2:1-5:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

Building upon this imagery, Paul said to his protégé in 1 Timothy 4:7-8:

But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

Pray, then, in this way: “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Again, why does the author of Proverbs 6 command his children to trust their training? Because children represent their parents – you are image bearers of God! We are commanded to train ourselves to live on mission for God and the only way to do that is to put ourselves willingly and wholeheartedly under the instruction and discipline of the Lord, just as children are commanded to put themselves under the authority of their parents. We are to bind ourselves to Jesus and His commandments if we hope to live on mission. We are to “bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck” as Proverbs 6:21 commands. Jesus invited us to take on His yoke and live for Him, becoming like Him, and we will find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-30). This is the way!

Allow me to finish by praying over you a powerful passage from 1 Peter 2:1-12:

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

This is who you are, and this is the way of your life in Christ! As you learn to trust your training in God’s Word, you bring glory to God and you will lead others to know Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and they, too, will bring glory to God until the Day of His return. This is the promise of the Father, the provision of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in and through you.

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Battle Drill for Easter:

Walk with the Living Hope!

Romans 8:18-25 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the battle drill for Easter – “Walk with the Living Hope!” As one of my friends said to me on Thursday as we were sharing about our walks with Jesus, “Put your hope in the Living Hope – the Hope above all hopes; the Hope over all other hopes.” Today, we are going to learn that Jesus Christ is the Living Hope! We are going to train ourselves to walk with Jesus as our Hope above all, before all, and over all other hopes so that we are not hijacked by lesser things.

The following are some real-life examples of lesser things to guide us along this journey, remembering that “lesser things” doesn’t mean unimportant or not urgent things, just not things that we can’t reliably put our hope in if we want to live out the Easter miracle in our daily lives:

None of these things can guarantee you that which you hope they are promising you. It is easy to put our hope in any of these things to complete us, to help us feel better about ourselves, to make life worth living, but none of these can be our first and foremost priorities for which we live or build upon as our hope for the future. Because hope is not wishful thinking! Hope is the certainty of our faith in God for the future He promised. We must realize that there is only One who can keep and fulfill His promises. That is what the promise of Easter is all about, as Jesus said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Do you believe this and are you learning to take Jesus at His word in your everyday life? That is the question for today and the thrust of your ability to live out this battle drill – to live with Hope is to believe that Jesus is who He said He is and can do that which He promises – “the resurrection and the life.” In what or in whom are you putting your hope? This is an important question because you will devote yourself and be shaped by that which you put your hope in!

Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” It is because of Jesus’ atonement of sin on the Cross of Calvary and His victory over death through His resurrection that Jesus is the Living Hope. This is why we remember to open up the Field Manual and tell the story of Easter. This is why we celebrate!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Because Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, we who put our faith in Him, can walk in the power of His resurrection through the “first fruits of the Spirit.” John taught us in 1 John 4:4 to Spirit-walk in a creation that groans with pain and suffering: “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” On that first Easter, Jesus defeated sin, Satan, and death, so that, as Jesus proclaimed in John 16:33, we may walk in His victory: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Persevere in this hope – the Living Hope! Don’t let the score at half-time prevent you from experiencing Christ’s victory. Persevere with the Living Hope and you will overcome as you learn to walk with Him, through the resurrection power in you. That takes us to action step #2.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. “But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

You were never meant to walk alone! Walk with a traveling companion and you will experience the promise of Jesus Christ from Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” This is a powerful promise of Jesus walking with us as we walk with one another. Hebrews 10:23-25 commands all believers of the importance of doing life together, not just on Sundays and high holy days such as Christmas and Easter, but as a rhythm of our lives:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

We walk together to encourage one another so that our lives bring glory to God through our love and good deeds, shining brightly of Jesus’ resurrection power in us through the first fruits of His Spirit. That takes us to our third action step.

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

You will have tribulations and hardships in your life. Walking with the Living Hope doesn’t change the reality of your sojourn through this fallen world, where you will experience the distress of various trials, as Peter said. When you walk with Jesus, then your perspective of your circumstances is not bound up in the momentary sufferings, but rather is captivated by the Living Hope and His eternal weight of glory secured for you through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This is what Paul intended through his encouragement given in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

As we move to our last action step of training ourselves according to the battle drill of Easter, remember that your greatest witness is how you walk through the testing of fire that is the circumstances of your life, whether that be through painful times of hardship and suffering, or through dangerous times of ease and success. Either way, whether in seasons of richer or poorer, sickness or health, we are to CM – Continue the Mission!

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Does Jesus have first place in everything? We finish where we started, “Put your hope in the Living Hope – the Hope above all hopes; the Hope over all other hopes.” This is the battle drill so guard your heart from allowing any lesser hope from captivating your devotion. You were created, by God, to live a life of devotion for His glory, so train yourself to live on mission by prioritizing your walk with the Living Hope through every circumstance of your life.

It is for your peace with God through the forgiveness of your sin that Jesus Christ died on the Cross. It is for your peace of mind and heart that He gave you the first fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Until you are at peace with God and at peace with yourself, you cannot fulfill God’s mission in your life to be His living embodiment of the resurrection, a signpost of Heaven, an image bearer of His glory. It was for this purpose Christ came and until He returns you are chosen and called by God to bring the hope of resurrection to all people by walking with the Living Hope.

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Battle Drill for the Festivals: Listen and Ask Questions

Pilgrimage Feasts – Passover – Luke 2:41–52

Palm Sunday, Battle Drill #10

Luke 2:41-52 (NLT)

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual.

After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he meant.

Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

Intro

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn a different kind of battle drill – a battle drill for the festivals.

Pastor Jerry has invited me to share three times this year about the three Pilgrimage Feasts or festivals that gave structure to the Jewish calendar year. I have a passion for studying these three festivals because they foreshadow the three biggest events in the life of the Church.

Another reason I love to study these three feasts is because I believe they are the best proof we have that the bible is God’s word; that God’s Word is inspired and accurate in its original autographs; and that Christ is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God the Father, and the Head of the Church.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual

Not only did Jesus and his family know the field manual, but they also rehearsed it repeatedly, over and over. It was built into their routine daily (their prayers, Shema, waking up, before meals, etc.), weekly (Shabbat), and annually (feasts and festivals).

Every day, most Jews would recite the Shema (and many still do). Shema is the first Hebrew word in the prayer. It’s usually translated as “Hear” (O Israel) or “Listen.” But Shema means more than that. It means to “listen and obey”; to “hear and put it into action.”

Here’s my translation of the Shema:

Listen and obey, Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is unique, one of a kind! You must love Yahweh your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. (Dt 6:4–5 NET – Modified)

This is the basic prayer, but the full prayer is much longer. What would happen if, every day – after we woke up in the morning, and before we went to sleep at night – we recited this passage?

Jews observed Sabbath on the seventh day of every week. Saturday was a Holy Day, or holiday, and was a day where you didn’t have to work. A day when you trusted God to take care of your business while you rest in him. Saturday is still the Holy Day that Jews observe instead of Sunday.

And every year, the Jews celebrated three extended feasts that commemorated three events: God’s delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, God transforming Israel into a nation, and God providing for them while they wandered in the desert between Mt. Sinai and the Promised Land.

The passage Nora read describes one of those yearly Passover celebrations.

Luke 2:41 ESV

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

Passover was a Memorial Day.

Exodus 12:14 (ESV) says,

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

And the evening of Passover was a night of watching.

Exodus 12:42 (ESV) says,

It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Just as God watched over Israel that night in order to bring them out of slavery, the children of Israel would spend the night of Passover as a watch night – remembering what God did on that first Passover night. We did some of that last year.

Last year on Palm Sunday, we talked about the events that led up to the Passover. We talked about how Moses ran away from Egypt after his anger and his sense of justice flared up prompting him to kill an Egyptian. How Yahweh God called Moses from the flaming bush that never burnt up. How God sent Moses back to Egypt where he had been a wanted man.

We talked about the signs and wonders God performed through Moses, and how each of the ten plagues was a direct attack on one of the gods of Egypt. These ten plagues revealed that the power of the Egyptian gods was nothing compared to the strength of Yahweh.

And we talked about how, on the night before God led them out of Egypt, he established an annual time of remembrance – a Memorial Day.

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (and the others celebrating Passover) remembered that a lamb had to be sacrificed – slaughtered for their freedom. They remembered the blood from the lamb that they smeared on the doorframes of their homes. They remembered the flat unleavened bread that they ate. They remembered how they were to eat the Passover meal with their travel clothes on. And they remembered the wailing and crying throughout Egypt at every home that was not covered by the blood of the lamb. In each of these homes the firstborn in those households died because they were not protected by the blood of the lamb.

They remembered that their ancestors left Egypt with a new identity. What they had known for 400 years, a lifetime of slavery for a family that had grown into an ethnic group, was over. They would eventually become a nation with a God who was completely devoted to them. But the morning after Passover they were in an in-between time – they weren’t slaves anymore, but they weren’t a nation yet either. The Passover celebration was about remembering that in-between time. Are you in an in-between time?

For Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the rest of the remnant of Jews in Palestine, they were in a different kind of in-between time. The Northern Kingdom (composed of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel) had been taken into exile by the Assyrians and forcibly relocated into the surrounding nations. These ten tribes were dissolved, gone, and never came back.

The Southern Kingdom (composed of the other two tribes) had been taken into exile by the Babylonians, who destroyed the Temple that Solomon built – the place where they met with God – the place where God had placed his name. Over time, a few survivors from the two tribes had returned to the Promised Land. The Temple was rebuilt by a Gentile, but the Jews were still being ruled by foreign powers.

As the mass of pilgrims swarmed into Jerusalem, they were longing for the Promised Messiah to restore the Kingdom. So, they studied Torah, they retold the story, they listened, and they asked questions.

This is what Jesus, and his parents were doing by going to Jerusalem for Passover. They were remembering the deliverance story. They were asking questions of the rabbis and seeking answers from the Torah. They were looking to a future where a promised Messiah would one day write a new deliverance story.

Are you looking for a new deliverance story to be written in your life? When was the last time you asked questions about scripture? When was the last time you TOOK time to remember all of things God has done for you? Thanksgiving Bible Study.

This year, Jesus was 12 years old. He was still considered a child and Luke makes that point very clear in this passage – multiple times. Next year he would be 13, he would be considered a man, but this year Jesus was a 12-year-old.

In this passage, Luke says that Jesus was still learning. This shouldn’t surprise us.

Paul quotes from an early Christian hymn in his letter to the Philippian church that Christ Jesus, “who was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Php 2:5–7 ESV) And like every man and woman, boy and girl, he had to learn.

This might stretch your theology about Jesus, but in the passage that Nora read today, in verses 40 and 52, Luke writes very clearly that Jesus was growing – in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and his friends, family, and neighbors. Jesus was learning. And Luke highlights that again in the center of this story in verses 46 & 47.

Luke 2:46–47 (ESV)

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

During Passover, we know that some of the Jewish teachers would go to the temple courts to teach anyone who wanted to learn, and to let them ask questions.[i]

It’s possible that Jesus was asking questions of the founders of the two schools of thought in Judaism – Hillel and Shammai. Maybe you’ve been watching the series The Chosen (and I strongly encourage you to do so) where these two rabbis were mentioned in the second season. Hillel was a humble, loving teacher, but Shammai was known for his violent temper and rigid interpretation of the Law.[ii]

I’m sure Jesus focused on listening and asking questions about the sacrifice of the Lamb. In twenty-one short years, another lamb would be making that journey to Jerusalem. But this lamb would be the Lamb of Lambs, as well as the King of Kings.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

The Jewish Pilgrimage Feasts were designed by God to be celebrated in community, not individually. At Passover (as well as at Pentecost and Sukkot) Jewish communities trained together as one unit.

Luke 2:41–42 ESV

Now [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

When Jesus was a boy, they didn’t load the family up in the minivan and drive to Jerusalem. Typically, people traveled to the feasts in caravans; the women and children would be up front, and the men, young and old, would follow behind. Entire villages and extended family units would frequently travel together for protection and company.[iii]

In America, we do fewer and fewer things in groups. We pride ourselves on individualism. Everything is personalized. Less than a generation ago, there was maybe two or three radio stations that had a signal strong enough to listen to. One or two of them might be a music station. Eventually, our selection grew to five or six styles of music stations. Now you create your own mix on Apple Music, or Spotify. You usually don’t go to the movies anymore; you stream it to your family room or watch it by yourself on your phone. Almost nobody has a group experience anymore. We each have it “my way” … by our lonesome.

We need corporate experiences. We need to worship together – in the same room. We need to worship with multiple generations – in the same room. We need to worship with new Christians and witness their passion and joy. We need to worship with those who have walked with God for decades and can testify to God’s faithfulness. That’s what happened at every Passover. They worshipped and remembered together. They retold the story of deliverance. They asked questions and they listened.

Come to the Passover Seder meal. It’s a time where you listen and ask questions. It even features a time where the kids ask questions. If you can’t come Thursday night, I understand. Life is busy.

But you need to intentionally meet with other Christians on a regular basis. What have you done together? Meet for prayer on Wednesday night. Meet for Sunday School on Sunday morning. Meet for bible study during the week. Serve your community in groups of other believers.

Hebrews 10:24-25 is about more than just Sunday mornings.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

We’re not told exactly how it happened, but when the days of Passover were complete Jesus got separated from his parents.

And Luke 2:44–45 (ESV) reads that,

“Supposing [Jesus] to be in the group [Mary and Joseph] went a day’s journey [away from Jerusalem], but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.”

And what was Jesus doing when Mary and Joseph found him at the Temple? He was seeking the Commander’s approval. Spending time in the Temple would please his Father. Listening and asking questions about God’s Word would please his Father.

Luke 2:49 ESV

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

In other words, pre-teen Jesus said, “Where else would I be? I’m here in my Father’s house. I’m learning the field manual. We’re training together as one unit. I’m seeking my Father’s approval.”

By the way, I remember the anxiety I felt when we lost one of our daughters at Walmart, or the mall. It didn’t happen often, but when it did … the PANIC was real! You turn your head one minute and their gone! I can imagine a little bit how Mary felt! It’s like, “Mary, you had one job! How hard can it be to keep track of the Son of God!” … Maybe that’s a question we should ask of ourselves?

But Jesus was listening and asking questions. Jesus was learning that, to seek the Commander’s approval would require great sacrifice.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

Luke 2:48 ESV

And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”

If you use your imagination (and you don’t need a big one to imagine this) I think Mary ran to Jesus and gave him one of those smothering, squeeze-the-air-out-of-you, hugs that only moms can give. Then maybe she grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him to arm’s length so she could stare at him eye to eye.

“Son, why have you done this to us? Your dad and I have been frantic! We searched for you everywhere!”

Actually, Mary didn’t call him “son”. She used another word. The word Mary used meant “little one” or “child.” Mary still saw Jesus as a child … everyone did!

What happens when you call a 12-year-old “little one?”

I remember that age. I remember when I wasn’t a child anymore, but no one saw me as a man. That in-between stage is frustrating! I didn’t want adults to consider me a child, I was adult-ish. Do you remember a time when you weren’t what you used to be, but you weren’t quite what you wanted to be? Transitions are hard. Anthropologists call that place a liminal space – an in-between place.

Jesus was in a liminal space – an in-between place. He wasn’t really a child anymore, but he wasn’t what society considered an adult. Jesus was in a place where he was listening and asking questions and he was transitioning between being a child and an adult.

Jesus explained to his parents what he was doing. He was seeking the Commander’s approval.

But Luke 2:50 (ESV) reads,

They did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.

Sometimes others will not understand what God has called you to do. But you still need to Charlie Mike – Continue the Mission.

God has asked me to do some odd things at times. Several years ago, when we were just friends, God told me to ask Cheryl a question. He said, “Cheryl has a deal with me. Ask her what her deal with me is.”

I’m thinking, “What if she doesn’t have a deal with God? I would look stupid, or weird, or both!” I felt silly, but I asked her anyway. She told me that she asked God to tell her when the “right man” came along – the one she would marry. Let me tell you, I’m glad I Charlie Miked!

Sometimes others will not understand what God has called you to do. But you still need to Charlie Mike – Continue the Mission.

Jesus was in a liminal space – an “in-between” place. The Jews of his day were in an “in-between” place. Maybe you are in an “in-between” place – a liminal space. Continue the mission; Charlie Mike. Jesus stayed on mission, but he did it the right way. He sought the Commander’s approval by talking with God frequently. He trained together by living in community. He asked questions and listened. And He learned the field manual by obeying the Torah – especially the part about honoring his father and mother.

Luke 2:51-52 ESV

[But Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

I wonder what the setting was the first time Jesus told his parents that he would be the Passover Lamb? Mary was told just days after Jesus’ birth that “a sword would pierce her heart too.” Did she fully understand what that prophecy would mean? Did she understand that her son would one day assume the role of the new Passover Lamb – the Lamb of God? I think Mary was living in an “in-between” place for most of her life.

In her book “Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters,” Carmen Imes shared about the importance of not rushing through these dislocated places – the in-between” places – the liminal spaces.

“God has lessons to teach us that can only be learned in a state of dislocation. Lessons about who we are. About who he is. And how he’s calling us to be in the world. Wrapped in liminality are gifts such as perseverance, perspective, rest, creativity, empathy, gratitude, and most of all, faithfulness. Rushing on to the next thing may prevent us from becoming who he wants us to be when we get there. In this place of upheaval and instability, we must let him shape us. We serve a God whose primary purpose is not to make us comfortable or successful in the eyes of the world, but to transform us. Liminality—that unsettled and unsettling place that reveals our deepest fears and longings—is his workshop.”[1]

As her pastor said, “Jesus finished all the work God gave him to do, but he did not finish all the work.” Just as [Jesus] was sent to do the Father’s will, so he sends his disciples into the world. They are commissioned to carry out his mission.[2]

You and I … WE are commissioned to carry out his mission.

Make this battle drill of listening and asking questions a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Carmen Joy Imes and Christopher J. H. Wright, Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Logos (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2019), 159–60.

[2] Imes and Wright, 155.

[i] Freeman and Chadvick, The New Manners and Customs of the Bible p.502-503

2:46 Jesus Questioning the Teachers After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. There were several places within the Temple area where teachers of the law met their disciples. One of these places was in the cloisters described in Matthew 24:1 Herod’s Temple. Another was in the synagogue that was in the Temple enclosure. After services, the teachers admitted any who wished to converse with them on matters pertaining to the law. There is no reason to suppose that Jesus’ conversation with the teachers was in any way controversial. He simply followed the custom of the time, which allowed anyone who chose to question the teachers on any points they desired. Although our text-verse is often twisted by some to say that the child Jesus was teaching these learned men, that is not what the verse says. He was asking them questions and learning from them. They were, however, amazed at His understanding and answers to questions that they asked Him—asking questions of students was a rabbinical method of teaching.

Wenham et al., The New Bible Commentary p.985

The age of twelve was normal for instructing a boy for entry to the religious community of Judaism, and therefore for a meaningful visit to Jerusalem. Jewish men were required by the law to keep the three annual festivals in Jerusalem, but only the Passover was strictly observed. Whole families would go up to Jerusalem, with an estimated 60,000–100,000 visitors packing themselves into a town whose normal population may have been no more than 25,000. People travelled in large groups for companionship and security on the way, and it is not surprising that Mary and Joseph did not worry unduly about Jesus on the first day’s journey home. After a day spent in returning to Jerusalem they found him in the temple, which was a set of courtyards and buildings used not only for offering sacrifices but also for religious teaching and discussions (cf. Acts 5:25). His intelligent discussion with the teachers was an indication of the wisdom that he would show later. The story does not mean that Jesus was trying to instruct them, but rather that they were impressed by his unusual promise as a pupil.

[ii] Keener, IVPBBCNT New Testament (Second Edition) p.187

Some Jewish teachers in this period reportedly conducted their classes in the temple courts; the famous *Hillel and *Shammai may have been two such teachers. Asking questions was used both in teaching and in learning, but it was important for learners to ask intelligent questions, as Jesus does. Teachers could answer questions with questions, and Jesus’ answers are also intelligent. Students might begin advanced training in their mid-teens; the teachers recognize Jesus as a prodigy.

Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth p.28

Rabbi Hillel (70 B.C.?–A.D. 10?) was a prominent leader among the Jews of Palestine. He was born in Babylonia and established a school, which was named for him, in Jerusalem. He was known for his humility and love. He arranged under six topics the many rules p 29 that had developed among the Jews pertaining to the 613 commands in the Mosaic Law.

Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth p.29

Shammai, a contemporary of Hillel, differed from Hillel in both personality and hermeneutics. A man with a violent temper, he interpreted the Law rigidly. The teachings of these two rabbis often directly conflicted with each other. After the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 the School of Hillel became prominent, and the School of Shammai receded in significance and influence.

[iii] Wiersbe, THE BIBLE EXPOSITION COMMENTARY An Exposition of the New Testament Comprising the Entire “BE” Series p.179 – People traveled to the feasts in caravans, the women and children leading the way and setting the pace, and the men and young men following behind. Relatives and whole villages often traveled together and kept an eye on each other’s children. At the age of twelve, Jesus could easily have gone from one group to another and not been missed. Joseph would think Jesus was with Mary and the other children, while Mary would suppose He was with Joseph and the men, or perhaps with one of their relatives.

Battle Drill #9: Escape and Evade!

Proverbs 6:1-19 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the ninth battle drill – Escape and Evade!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 6:1-3:

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.

To importune means to beg or beseech, persistently for something or for someone to do something. It means to entreat or implore, to urge or solicit. The Hebrew word RHB, translated “importune” in today’s battle drill, carries an intensity to it that is almost military – to act stormily, boisterously, and angrily. Psalm 138:3 translates RHB, “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.” God emboldened him with strength in Psalm 138:3, just as God gives you the wisdom in Proverb 6 to know how to escape and evade whatever has ensnared you to your neighbor, whether a financial misstep or your words.

The purpose of the US military’s SERE training is to equip military personnel for the worst scenario – when a mission goes terribly wrong, then they must be able to survive, escape, resist, and escape (SERE) from enemy territory, or even enemy restraint, so that they can return home with honor. In fact, that is the motto of the school, “Return with Honor.”

To understand how I am applying this text to learning how to escape and evade as your battle drill for this week, you need to hear these verses in their context from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 6:1-19:

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids; deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, o sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest” – your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man. A worthless person, a wicked man, is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers; who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing. There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

The end of Proverb 6:3 gives us a threefold answer, “Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.” The Hebrew word translated “go” is hālakh, which we learned all about in my sermon, “Battle Drill #4: Walk in the Way!” based on Proverbs 2:20: “So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.” That is our primary strategy, but what happens when you wander out of the way and need to escape and evade from enemy territory and/or enemy restraint, to get back on the paths of the righteous?

The Bible invites us to hālakh in the ancient paths of God (Jeremiah 6:16), in the way of good men (Proverbs 2:20), and in the light of the Lord (Isaiah 2:5). We are to walk in or take on the habitual lifestyle and the customs of God’s commands as our own way of life. As the Mandalorian says when he acts according to the customs of his own people, as peculiar as not taking off his helmet in front of other people and as honorable as putting himself in harm’s way because it’s the right thing to do: “This is the way!”

As one unit, the church of Jesus Christ, we, too, must learn to prioritize this battle drill so that we can escape and evade effectively. The time to walk in the way is this moment just as the day of salvation is today. Proverbs 6:4-19 lays out three key skills to successfully escape and evade:

1) To escape and evade you must act decisively, time is critical (4-5). You may not get another chance to act, so you must seize the moment and not squander the time entrusted to you. Make sure you act wisely and not hastily. Paul teaches us in Ephesians 5:15-21:

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Paul further teaches in Colossians 4:5-6: “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

2) To escape and evade you must work hard work, effort is required (6-11). One of my favorite passages about this is found in Ephesians 4:28, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” Paul says that you if you find yourself out of the way because you are stealing, then get back in the way by working hard, and not just to provide for your own needs, but to share with the one who has in need. It is not enough to simply get right with God, you are asked to labor for the sake of others and get right with those that you have stolen from.

3) To return with honor, convictions must be kept (12-19). There are personal convictions you must keep when you are escaping and evading; otherwise, it would be easy for the ends to justify the means. Paul explained this in Ephesians 4:29-32:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

That is the first part, “Go,” of Proverb 6:3’s threefold answer, “Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.”

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.

It wasn’t until after David returned to the way of God and humbled himself that he was in a place to teach transgressors God’s ways in hopes of seeing sinners converted to God. We cannot do for others what God has not first done for us. The same was true for Peter before he could become the rock of the church. Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31-34:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

Humility puts us in a place where God can use us to impact others because we will not approach our neighbor’s proudly, but humbly, ready to extend to them the same grace, mercy, and compassionate comfort God first gave to us (2 Corinthians 1:4).

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Then, in John 13:34-35, at the time of Seder Meal, of which you will learn more about next week, Jesus’ gave a new commandment: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” While the command to love was not new, the quality of our love was made new by the sacrifice of the One who commanded us to love as He loved us. We are to love in like-kind with Jesus, not in like-kind with the person we are dealing with.

Love, ultimately, is how we will escape and evade! To treat others as we want to be treated ourselves (Luke 6:31). As Peter commends to us in 1 Peter 4:7-11:

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

Battle Drill #8: Watch for Ambushes!

Proverbs 5:1-23 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the eighth battle drill – Watch for Ambushes!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual. The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 5:21-23, “For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.”

To understand how I am applying this text to learning how to watch for ambushes as your battle drill for this week, you need to hear these verses in their context from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 5:1-23:

My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house, or you will give your vigor to others and your years to the cruel one; and strangers will be filled with your strength and your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien; and you groan at your final end, when your flesh and your body are consumed; and you say, “How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors! I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation.” Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.

We know what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit. Watching for an ambush is a significant reality in combat missions. An ambush, by definition, is a surprise attack from a concealed position. The primary way to avoid a surprise attack is through a well-chosen route, in other words by learning how to “walk in the way,” but, at times, when you have not avoided an ambush through route selection, you must then learn to look for signs of the enemy by knowing that you have an enemy who is actively scheming against you. As Jesus said of the devil in John 10:10a, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”

The devil is actively seeking any opportunity to defeat you when you are walking in the way of God and one of his primary schemes is to get you out of the way of God, even for just a night, so that he can ambush you to destroy your testimony, rob you of your joy and love, or kill your faith or hope. Listen to passages from God’s Word teaching us this reality of our enemy:

Pay attention to these situations and the circumstances of your life that could cause you to make decisions that you would be ashamed of, decisions that take you off the path and could potentially destroy your witness, rob you of joy, and kill your faith and hope. Apply Paul’s teaching to his protégé in 2 Timothy 2:15-17a, 22-26:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth [this is the AWANA theme verse]. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. … Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Ambushes often occur at night or in the places of our lives where we are not allowing the light of God to shine. Therefore, apply Psalm 119:105 to your daily life, which states, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Invest time with God daily so that the Spirit of God may utilize the Word of God to illuminate every step you take so that you can avoid potential ambush locations by bringing light to darkness. Much of watching for and avoiding enemy ambushes is proper route selection – cry out for discernment and walk in the way, trust God and choose to do good, guard your heart for from it flows life and godliness!

But sometimes ambushes are unavoidable, when the enemy is tenacious to destroy you, and has put you and your ministry in the bullseye, just as he did last weekend to one of our staff members who has been so effectively impacting our church and community through her testimony. I am going to close today’s sermon with a prayer for this staff member and with an admonition that as a faith community we need to watch out for one another, while each of us watch that we don’t find ourselves alone on the way. We are not intended to walk the way alone because when you are alone you are easy prey. Satan is a predator seeking his next prey! We must pray against Him and watch one another’s back while standing firm against him and his schemes together. I conclude with Paul’s words from Galatians 6:1-2, which expresses our need to be in community, especially when it comes to avoiding ambushes:

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch the message by clicking HERE.

Battle Drill #7: Guard Your Heart!

Proverbs 4:1-27 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the seventh battle drill – Guard Your Heart!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 4:23, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Today, I am prescribing for you a battle drill that requires a lifestyle change, “Watch over your heart with all diligence!” Sorry, there are no pills to take that allow you to simply carry on with life as you want to live it and have a healthy heart anyways. So that you don’t think you are at your annual cardiologist appointment, being told yet again that you need to lose some weight, exercise, and watch what you eat (oh by the way, do those things!), I want to explain the Bible’s use of the word, “heart.” While it can mean the physical organ in your body, in the Bible, “heart” [leb in Hebrew and kardia in Greek] often speaks to the “seat of physical, spiritual and mental life… As [the] center and source of the whole inner life, w. its thinking, feeling, and volition… of [your] disposition.”[1] The Bible’s usage of the word “heart” has a range of meanings, but for our passage it is the locus of a person’s thoughts (mind, intellect), volition (will), emotions (the affections), and knowledge of right from wrong (conscience). It is the control center of your life.

Today’s battle drill flows logically from last week’s teaching by Pastor Ken from Proverbs 3, “choose to do good.” Ken taught us that we need to train “good sense and sound judgement in practical matters.” Building upon last week’s teaching, today, we are going to learn the importance of protecting the core center of our ability to choose God’s will and do good! Let’s listen to this battle drill from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 4:1-27:

Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding, for I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live; acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding. Prize her, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.” Hear, my son, and accept my sayings and the years of your life will be many. I have directed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; and if you run, you will not stumble. Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; and they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

There is so much to learn from the Field Manual, let us now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as a good soldier of Jesus in God’s army.

As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, approach the application of this teaching from a military perspective. When I was in the infantry, during foot movements toward an objective we would establish patrol bases to plan, prepare, and rest. There were priorities of work that had to be done in a patrol base, but one thing that always happened was security – there was a watch! We would set up a perimeter and then the squad leaders would put the soldiers in pairs, or battle buddies, so that, when one was planning, preparing, or resting, the other was watching outwards in their sector of fire. The sectors of fire of each position were interlocking, they intersected with the position to their left and right, all the way around the perimeter, so that together the unit covered every potential enemy angle of attack. There was never a time that the unit was not being watched over, or guarded, or kept safe, or preserved for the mission. Most of the time we would do 50% security meaning one out of two soldiers was planning, preparing, and resting while the others were watching, but there were times, especially in what is called “stand-to,” at dawn and dusk, where every soldier was on the line, watching, because these were the times when there is most likely going to be an enemy attack.  For most of us, the “stand-to” equivalent is H.A.L.T. – when we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. That’s when we need to guard our hearts and have interlocking arms as one unit. The church needs to be on alert against the schemes of the devil.

I teach you this because this is the imagery behind Paul’s promise of peace, found in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul is using military language based upon Jesus’ promise in John 14:27, when Jesus teaches us that the source of protection is found in the promise of the Holy Spirit being sent to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

Don’t let the central control room of your life be overrun by the enemy! This protection is from the indwelling presence of God in you and in us! We need to have intersecting lives because there should never be a time that the unit is not being watched over, or guarded, or kept safe, or preserved for the mission. This is a work of God in us and through us – both-and!

God is the one watching the perimeter of your life, and that must begin at the central control room – your heart. God’s presence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the way to peace and His peace guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Jesus desires to superintend our attitudes and actions, to transform our entire personhood through the Holy Spirit’s work.

This is what Paul teaches us in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Simply stated, invite Jesus onto the throne of your heart and He will guard you heart and mind, causing you to become like Him, an image bearer of God where the Spirit is at work in and through you for the glory of God! That brings us to action step #3.

You are invited to live your life for the approval of the One who enlisted you and called you to Himself. This happens in the custom-made yoke of Jesus where we learn to become like God, as Jesus described Himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:28-30). The righteousness of Christ (godliness, holiness) must flow from the source of the One who is righteous, not from our efforts because the only thing we can produce of our flesh is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We are to apply diligence to the battle drill of guarding our hearts, for from it come our ability to choose to do good and walk in the way and cry out to God for discernment.

My heart is Christ’s home![2] It’s exclusively God’s and does not belong to any other, including me! I have given Him the right of ownership; the deed belongs to Him alone.

A common biblical image of this concept is an agricultural one, from a fruit-bearing tree. God’s eternal fruit (John 15:1-8) and predestined good works you were meant to walk in (Ephesians 2:10) only happen in your life as a disciple of Jesus when it flows through the root system of a tree planted by streams of living water. Psalm 1:1-3 poetically states of this truth,

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers” (cf. Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; Zechariah 14:8; John 4:10-14; 7:37-38; Revelation 7:17).

The nature of the fruit is determined by the nature of the root. A person can only produce fruit in like-kind to what is in his or her heart. Listen to Jesus teach this in Matthew 7:15-23:

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

How then shall we live on mission? That takes us to our final action step in training to live on mission as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

We are invited to live by faith, which is a life of daily surrendering to Jesus to be at the center of all that we think, say, and do. With that said, there is a common image the Bible uses for a preservative, and that is salt. When you combine these concepts, maybe Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:13-16 will make more sense and be more applicable as an action item of your life:

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

You are a preservative of God’s will in the world that He so loved that He sent His one and only Son to save the world and to show them His great love and the way they are to live. As your heart is preserved with the living presence of God, then you become, more and more, the preservative of the way, the truth, and the life of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Allow me to close with an everyday image from your home. Your heart is like the water softener of your house. It ensures the water is fit for consumption and won’t do damage to the household. The water softener requires routine maintenance, as well as diligent effort to put 40-pound bags of salt into the tank. In the same way, your heart, the control center of your life, requires the routine maintenance of prayer and confession, community and worship, as well as the diligent effort of Bible study, service, and outreach. We must apply all diligence to the preserving of our hearts because it is out of our hearts that our words and actions flow, and unless we want to do damage to the household of God, we must ensure that what flows out of heart is pure. Jesus taught about the urgency of this in Matthew 15:13-20, and I close with Jesus’ words as a call to apply all diligence to this battle drill in your life:

“Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man…”

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 508-509. This work is commonly referred to as BDAG.

[2] I encourage you to read Robert Boyd Hunger’s 1951 classic, “My Heart Christ’s Home” at https://www.usna.edu/Navigators/_files/documents/MHCH.pdf.

Battle Drill #6: Choose to Do Good

Proverbs 3:21-35

My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.” Don’t plot harm against your neighbor, for those who live nearby trust you. Don’t pick a fight without reason, when no one has done you harm. Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways. Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly.

The Lord curses the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright. The Lord mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble. The wise inherit honor, but fools are put to shame!

Last week, we were reminded by Pastor Jerry that according to Proverbs 3:5-6. We are told to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Since trust is to fully and truly rely on God, you would think it would only be common sense for us to do that which He tells us to do, and not take matters into our own hands and do what we want to do instead. To take that course of action just does not seem like common sense. But we have found that in many areas of our lives. That which we thought was common sense has not been taught. A couple of examples that come immediately to mind are: Covering a cough or a sneeze (tissue or sleeve); or who has the right of way when two or more cars approach a four way stop sign (the name should give it away).

Common sense for Christians has to be taught as well, especially since man is by nature a sinner. Common sense is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “Good sense and sound judgment in practical manners.” So, for us to understand this portion of the scriptures today, Solomon is reminding us not lose sight of those things that we were taught, which is why we need to first and foremost…

I. Know the field manual by keeping focused on the Word.

Proverbs 3:21-23

Refreshes your soul

Visibly evident like shiny jewelry

Provide protection in your daily walk.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” (emphasis added by me!)

Matthew 7:12

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Golden Rule)

What about the ‘Golden Results? It is a direct corollary to the Golden Rule: “Other people will usually treat you the way you treat them.”

“Blame others and they blame you; admit you were wrong, and often they will do the same; listen patiently and openly to others and hold off making premature judgments, and others will be inclined to do the same for you, which will open the way for understanding and increase the likelihood of agreement.” (article: NCBaptist.org, Jan.7, ’21 See reference at end.)

II. Importance of Training Together Brings Familiarity.

Romans 12:8-10

“ If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.”

We all have different gifts and abilities, but that is what makes it so that not just one person is carrying out the tasks given to us by Command Central!

We cannot expect one person to have ALL of these abilities/gifts

Romans 12:12-13

“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.”

The Blood of Jesus paid the same price for each and every one of us so that we become joint heirs with Jesus…Children of God!

III. Seek the Commander’s Approval in all things!

Ephesians 6:7-8

“Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.”

It’s all in the attitude! Who are you doing it for…You or Jesus?

Illustration: Paul Hollywood handshake “Great British Bake Off”

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

“See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

Always doing good (each other and all people)

Always joyful

Always praying

Always thankful in all circumstances

IV. How do we Live on Mission?

A. Never grow tired of doing good

Galatians 6:9-10

“So, let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”

This does not mean that we are to be doormat Christians and allow people to abuse our love and service.

1 Timothy 6:11-12

“But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 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.”

We live on mission when we…

Pursue righteousness

Pursue a godly life

Pursue faith

Pursue love

Pursue perseverance

Pursue gentleness

As we stay in God’s Word every day, and come together for discipleship times of training, and strive to please God in all that we do while we share the message of Hope to a world in need, we discover that we have to make the right decisions and choices. These are the choices that we make every day: We choose to be Bitter or be Better; to be Hopeless or be Hopeful; to Love less or Love More. So I need to ask you…Do you believe that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength? You have heard His commands, straight from the Bible. Now you are responsible for what you are going to do with this information. I pray that you choose to truly trust God and do good!

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Reference:

Battle Drill #5:  Trust the Commander!

Proverbs 3:1-20 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the fifth battle drill – Trust the Commander!

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

The fifth battle drill is to trust God, the Commander who enlisted you to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Today’s battle drill comes from a very famous Scripture that many have memorized already. Let’s listen to it from the Field Manual in its entirety, Proverbs 3:1-20:

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up and the skies drip with dew.

A significant part of this battle drill is trusting that God is good and that all He does is good! Listen to additional Scriptures that teaches us this foundational truth about God:

When you know God’s nature, remembering that the fear (respect, reverence, awe) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then you can trust Him in every circumstance of your life. We must train this truth into our lives so that it is instinctive, reflexive, and habitual. As way of example from my own life, 11 years ago, right after Alana was born, Kimberly called me to come back to the hospital because Alana’s heart rate had dropped dangerously, and the doctors rushed her away from Kimberly. Needless to say, I made it to Henry County Hospital in record time and I want you to hear a summary of my prayer as I drove down SR-3:

God, I really want to keep this baby and see her grow up. I love her so very much and I love my wife and we come to You asking You to save her, heal her, and allow us the privilege of raising her. Lord, if that is not Your will, then I trust you and no matter what happens we are going to serve you wholeheartedly. No deals, I’m just asking you to heal her, please Lord. I love you and I trust you no matter what. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

That prayer was my reflexive and instinctive because my habitual prayer life is that of absolute trust in the goodness of God; therefore, even in the worst scenarios I trust Him as the Commander of my soul. Your prayer life is critical to training this battle drill into your bones.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

It is when the battle is at its fiercest and survival is the most precarious, that today’s battle drill is the most critical. If it’s not trained to be reflexive, instinctive, and habitual through a significant investment of time and energy in training, then at the very moment it matters the most, when the momentum of the battle is at stake, the soldier may not trust the Commander in action, no matter how much he or she says they do. For example, many people love to declare the popular promise of God found in Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” This promise encourages each of us that God is good and has good intent for our lives, but I want you to hear it in its context, Jeremiah 29:4-13:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, “Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.” For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Within this promise is the essential truth of training yourself to trust the Commander! The Commander has the strategic victory in mind, even if, especially when, it feels like a tactical defeat! This promise reminds us that God’s people would have to endure 70 years of captivity yet set their whole heart to thriving while doing so! God’s people wouldn’t return home for 70 years, so until then they were to raise their families so that their grandchildren would trust God and be ready to return and experience His promised blessing. Let me be clear about this promise so that we can be very clear about today’s battle drill, as if you were hearing this prayer from Jeremiah himself for you in that day: You are commanded to be faithful even unto death, even if you never get to experience the strategic victory that God has for His people – live in such a way that your children and grandchildren trust God habitually, reflexively, and instinctively!

This is the life of faith, just as Hebrews 11:13-16 said about the heroes of faith:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

There is only way to please God – wholehearted trust in Him! Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

Trusting the Commander requires faith, which, according to Hebrews 11:1, is, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” That is why our battle drill from Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” It is God who brings all things together according to His will. The Apostle Paul teaches us this in Romans 8:26-28:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Praying and living according to the will of God requires a wholehearted trust in His goodness and grace in your life. This level of trust must be trained into us throughout our lives, just as Hebrews 12:10b-14 teaches us of the Father’s purposes for His discipline:

[God] disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

Every soldier has had discipline trained into their very DNA! The life of faith, the life of pleasing the One who enlisted you, is a holistic lifestyle. It is not a part-time national guardsman commitment; it is an active-duty commitment that encompasses every arena and aspect of your life. It is wholehearted! Jesus taught this in Matthew 22:37-38, in what is known as the Greatest Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.” This is not a foreign concept to anyone who has served in the active-duty military. The life of a soldier is a lifestyle, not a job. A lifestyle that is fully submitted to training for and accomplishing the mission.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

Like we learned from Jesus’ praise of the Centurion (Matthew 8:5-13), the key to being a good soldier is submission to authority and that requires humility. This is why Jesus calls us to learn from Him and to become like Him: “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). That means we commit ourselves to the life of training “godliness” or becoming like Jesus (1 Timothy 4:7-8)! This is God’s will for your life and when we are wholeheartedly committed to this then God works in and through us for His good pleasure! Humility does not happen by accident, it requires you to trust God and focus on Him, to receive everything, including your faith, from God and for God, as Paul reminds us in Romans 12:3, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

In conclusion, allow me to admonish you with and pray over you the magnificence of Jesus Christ and His will for your life as taught by Paul in Philippians 2:1-16:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

I was an infantryman in the US Army and our motto is “Follow me!” Jesus asks you to trust Him and to follow Him! Jesus will never ask you to do anything that He Himself has not already done for you. Will you trust Him and train to live on mission today? Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! When you trust the Commander, His word will accomplish that which He sent it forth to accomplish in and through you (Isaiah 55:11-13). Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God.

You can listen to the message here:

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Battle Drill #4: Walk in the Way!

Proverbs 2:10-22 (NAS95)

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the fourth battle drill – to walk in the way of a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 2:20: “So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.”

The fourth battle drill is to walk in the way! You may have heard it stated by the Mandalorian, “This is the way,” but Jesus’ authoritatively says to you in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Most tellingly, Paul first called the following of Jesus, the earliest Christianity, as “the Way,” in Acts 24:14-16:

But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.

Having some fun with this dual meaning of “the way,” Darrell Bock described Saul’s conversion to being a Christ follower on the road to Damascus in the following way (Bock, Theology, 307; see Acts 9:17, 27): “Saul traveled on the way against the Way, yet he was stopped on the way to join the Way.”^[1]

To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ you must know the way of Jesus and walk in it! As I stated last week, WWJD – What Would Jesus Do – is a helpful reminder when making important life decisions, but it is incomplete. We first need to ask which path (or situation) Jesus would or would not walk down, or enter, in the first place. A close companion to crying out for discernment in the moment of need, is choosing to walk down the right path in the first place – this is the Way! Here are a few examples from everyday life:

The list can go on and be as accurate and relevant as you need it to be. We make choices every day that open or close pathways for either good or evil. Proverbs 2:10-22 demonstrates this truth in timely and relevant ways, to avoid those pathways that will seduce us into compromise:

For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things; from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who delight in doing evil and rejoice in the perversity of evil; Whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways; to deliver you from the strange woman, from the adulteress who flatters with her words; that leaves the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her tracks lead to the dead; none who go to her return again, nor do they reach the paths of life. So you will walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

Today’s battle drill flows directly from last week’s “cry out for discernment,” based on the first half of Proverbs 2. Prioritize crying out to God as a habit in your life to help you make right choices so that you abide with Him in the pathway of God’s blessings, described as “the way of good men,” and “the paths of the righteous.” As contrasted in Proverbs 2 with “the ways of darkness,” “whose paths are crooked,” and, again, “her tracks lead to the dead; none who go to her return again, nor do they reach the paths of life.” [read verses 12-15 again]

I ended last week’s sermon with 1 John 2:5-6, “Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” John explained that the good fruit of a life of crying out for discernment is found by walking in the way of Jesus Christ. Today’s battle drill is learning how to walk in the way.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

It is in the “easy” yoke of Jesus that we can all walk in the way of Jesus Christ without losing our individuality or unique pathways of life. The Greek word translated “easy” does not mean easy, like one plus one equals 2, that’s easy math. The Greek word chrēstos has a range of meaning from “good” and “kind,” to “useful” and “suitable.” Listen to William Barclay insightfully explain chrēstos to us:

The word easy is in Greek chrēstos, which can mean well-fitting. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood; the ox was brought, and the measurements were taken. The yoke was then roughed out, and the ox was brought back to have the yoke tried on. The yoke was carefully adjusted, so that it would fit well, and not chafe the neck of the patient animal. The yoke was tailor-made to fit the ox. There is a legend that Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all Galilee, and that from all over the country people came to him to buy the best yokes that skill could make. In those days, as now, shops had their signs above the door; and it has been suggested that the sign above the door of the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth may well have been: “My yokes fit well.” It may well be that Jesus is here using a picture from the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth where he had worked throughout the silent years. Jesus says: “My yoke fits well.” What he means is: “The life I give you is not a burden to cause you pain; your task is made to measure to fit you.” Whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly.^[2]

When Christ invited His weary and burdened audience to an “easy” yoke, it was understood that Jesus was inviting people to a well-suited, custom-made yoke – a personal relationship that would lead to covenant-faithful living in their own life and situation. Your relationship with God is designed just for you. In fact, that is why Jesus’ “burden is light,” because it’s in direct contrast to the religious expectations of His day, which were not personalized at all, but were like “heavy burdens.” Just as Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:4 because “they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

Jesus calls you unto Himself, and through Him, to become the best version of you to the glory of God! In his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard explains how people learn to live as Jesus’ disciples, by learning how to walk in the way of Jesus’ whole lifestyle:

The secret of the easy yoke, then, is to learn from Christ how to live our total lives, how to invest all our time and our energies of mind and body as he did. We must learn how to follow his preparations, the disciplines for life in God’s rule that enabled him to receive his Father’s constant and effective support while doing his will. We have to discover how to enter into his disciplines from where we stand today—and no doubt, how to extend and amplify them to suit our needy cases. This attitude, this action is our necessary preparation for taking the yoke of Christ. The secret of the easy yoke is simple, actually. It is the intelligent, informed, yielding resolve to live as Jesus lived in all aspects of his life, not just in the moment of specific choice or action.[3]

If we are living in this way all the time, then our responses in the moment will be internalized and reflexive – entrained like battle drills – a habit of grace!

As we transition to action step #3, it is important to realize that the authentic life of Jesus was lived in community – Jesus did life with His disciples; therefore, learning how to walk in the way of Jesus must be learned in community. Training to walk in the way requires community because it’s only through the Spirit working in and through other people that any of us can become like Jesus.

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

Very interestingly, the Greek word δεῦτε that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint (LXX), from which Matthew took his Old Testament quotes, is a translation of the important Hebrew word הלך (hālakh). This is very important as Douglas Mandum explains its rich Old Testament usage: “It has a common metaphorical sense that pertains to one’s manner of living. To walk (hālak) in a certain lifestyle or custom is to habitually practice [italics added] it (e.g., 1 Kgs 16:19; Isa 33:15; Pss 1:1; 81:13).”^[4]

For example, Isaiah used hālakh twice in Isaiah 2:5, “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” It is translated both, “Come” and “walk.” Now, listen to Jeremiah 6:16, the very passage that Jesus was quoting in Matthew 11:29 when He promised, “rest for your souls”: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’’” It is used twice again, both times as “walk in it” with the it being the way!

Jeremiah 6:16 concludes with a devastating, heart-breaking choice by God’s people, “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” This word choice directly informs why Jesus used the “yoke” imagery – to experience rest for one’s soul, once again a quote from Jeremiah 6:16, a person must get in the yoke of Jesus and learn from Him how to walk in the way of covenant faithfulness – the good way, the ancient paths!

Leaving no room for misunderstanding, Jesus focused “the ancient paths” and “the good way” of God from Jeremiah 6:16 on Himself – we are to walk with Him – hālakh with Him – take His habitual lifestyle on ourselves, covenant with Him by taking on His easy yoke! In coming to Jesus, a person was graciously invited to walk in the ancient paths of covenant faithfulness and avoid the wrath of God that is upon all who do not walk in the ancient paths, as Jesus proclaimed over the apostate Jewish cities in Matthew 11:20-24, the context of His gracious invitation of the easy yoke:

Then [Jesus] began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. “Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Jesus declared in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus declared in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Repeatedly, Jesus invited people to Himself so that we could walk in the way because Jesus is the One who enlists us, and it is only in seeking to please Him that we can fulfill the mission because becoming like Him to the glory of the Father is His mission. When you learn to walk in the way you are becoming like Jesus, which is the best version of you to the glory of God!

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

This is the battle drill that I am inviting you to train yourself according to every day of the week, you are invited to trust the Holy Spirit, who will direct your steps as you learn how to live in Jesus’ easy yoke. The Spirit will direct your steps along the Way, the ancient paths of God – the life of the Spirit, the New Covenant of God! Paul explained this in Galatians 5:16-25:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Entrust your life to God and take on Jesus’ easy yoke so that the Holy Spirit can direct your way into the fullness of life already prepared for you. Allow the Spirit to set your agenda and prioritize your resources by taking on Jesus’ easy yoke and learning from Him how to become like Him, as He described Himself to be, “gentle and humble in heart,” which means to be submissive to the Father’s will in every aspect of your life – thy will be done! This is the mission – to become like Him and entrust to others who can faithfully pass on to others that which you have become – a yokefellow of Jesus, a Spirit-filled born-again believer who walks in the Way!

I conclude with these words from a 20^th century martyr of the church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who famously wrote in The Cost of Discipleship,

Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his burdens easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light. Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it. His commandment never seeks to destroy life, but to foster, strengthen and heal it.[5]

You can listen to the message here:

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Tomas Bokedal, “Way, the,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

[2] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Third Ed., The New Daily Study Bible (Edinburgh, Scotland: Saint Andrew Press, 2001), 20.

[3] Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1988), 9-10.

[4] Joshua Hebert, “Travel,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

[5] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1959), 37-38.

Battle Drill #3:

Cry Out for Discernment!

Proverbs 2:1-9 (NAS95)

Over the last three weeks, we have learned that the overarching battle drill of a good soldier of Jesus Christ is to submit to God. When we are on mission for God, submitted to our Commander, and we come under enemy attack, which we will, we are to resist the enemy by heeding God’s wisdom. If you want to live on mission, then you must remain focused; therefore, you must learn how to recognize the schemes of the devil and resist the enemy who seeks to take you off God’s mission. Often, the best defense is a proactive offense! That brings us to today’s battle drill and how we wisely discern God’s strategy for our lives.

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine, which we learned from our study of 2 Timothy 2:1-4, to learn how to apply God’s wisdom to our daily lives and train to live on mission today.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 2:3: “For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding.”

This verb carries an urgency of action that requires you to make a choice in how you are going to proceed forward with your life. There appears to be a life-or-death intensity when this word is translated, “to cry out.” Here are four examples of this from the Psalms:

This is the logic loop of God’s Word and just like in computer code, a conditional statement determines pathways. For example, if you take a left out of church this morning you head towards Stacks and if you take a right you are going towards Park Restaurant. If you do this action, then this result will happen. If you don’t do this, then this result will not happen. But unlike computers, you have free will – the responsibility to make wise choices and deal with the consequences.  If you stop at a red light, then… If you look both ways before you cross the road, then… There is a rationality to an IF-THEN statement that you can train into your life.

This battle drill must become instinctive, reflexive, and habitual. You must make crying out to God a habit in your life to help you make right choices so that you abide with Him in the pathway of God’s blessings. Every promise of God comes with this choice – choose obedience, which leads to life, or choose disobedience, which leads to death! These were Moses’ parting words to God’s people before they entered the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 30:19-20:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

Discernment, according to the Bible, is the capacity for rational thought and the ability to make wise decisions, to understand what is right and true and to act upon it. In other words, the discernment that we are to cry out for is not that God should make the decision for us, but that He would give us the capacity to know what is right, to understand truth, and to act upon that information to make good decisions that glorify Him and manifest the good fruit of His Spirit.

I often say to people, who ask me about the will of God, that discernment is more about how you make the decision, than about what decision you end up making. While I do believe what we do matters (of course it does!), I believe discernment is the why and how of the what! If you learn how to discern God’s will, then you will more times than not choose life and blessing. This is the exact opposite mindset of the Magic 8 Ball, which is the complete absence of rational thought; rather, discernment is the ability to apply the wisdom of God to real life decisions!

It is my desire to train you to be able to understand/discern God’s will accurately in a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual way, no matter the pressure of the situation or the stress you’re under. Like I’ve shared with you before, it is for this reason that I went through the rigors of the US Army Ranger School, to learn how to apply the military decision-making process (MDMP) under duress and in extreme situations. While I learned MDMP in a classroom environment first, like we are today, it had to be trained into me so that it was habitual. I needed to be able to lead my unit in ways that defeated the enemy and accomplished the mission, just like we need to be trained to heed God’s wisdom and make wise decisions based upon it.

Biblically, that process of knowing and proving God’s will for your life begins with the same step for every member of the body of Christ, as Paul explained in Romans 12:1-2:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

We must first decide to gather around the Commander, Jesus Christ, and set our ambition on becoming like Him, gentle and humble in heart, before we can do or decide anything else – this is your spiritual service of worship, being transformed into His image through the renewal of your mind (think of Proverbs 2:1-9 IF-THEN statement)! What differentiates the church from every other team or community is that we gather around Jesus and not around a goal or task, no matter how biblical or spiritual that goal may sound, if it is not around the person of Jesus Christ and becoming like Him, that task can take you off God’s mission and into your own ambition. While the church is a missional organization, our primary purpose is to become like the One who has enlisted us to Himself. Becoming like Jesus is our greatest calling, and it is only through the spiritual transformation process that the church can ever make wise decisions or live on mission or even offer right worship to Him. To put doing before being is the fundamental error of the American church. As Ruth Haley Barton stated in her book Pursuing God’s Will Together:

We are unified by our commitment to be transformed in Christ’s presence through the work of the Holy Spirit so we can discern and do the will of God as we are guided by the Spirit. We participate in Jesus’ prayer “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done” in our own small corner of the world.[1]

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

That is why we must prioritize our spiritual formation and seek the transformation through the renewal of the mind that only comes by prioritizing seeking the approval of Jesus Christ, the One who enlisted you to be His good soldier. We must be the ones who receive God’s words (1), treasure His commandments in our person (1), make our ear attentive (2), incline our heart to understanding (2), cry out for discernment (3), lift our voice for understanding (3), seek God’s wisdom as silver (4), and search for His wisdom as hidden treasure (4). When we do this, then we will be able to discern the fear of the LORD (5), discover the knowledge of God (5), and discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course (9).

Just as Psalm 119:9 simply states, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” We train discernment by abiding in God, hiding His Word in our hearts, and prioritizing our lives around His mission! The more we invest daily time into the meditation upon and memorization of God’s Word, the more instinctive, reflexive, and habitual it will be to remain on the path of God’s “good and acceptable and perfect” will (Romans 12:2).

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

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FOOTNOTE:

[1] Ruth Haley Barton, Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 77.

Battle Drill #2:

Heed God’s Wisdom! (Obey Orders!)

Proverbs 1:20-33 (NAS95)

Over the last two weeks, we have learned that the overarching battle drill is to submit to God. When we are on mission for God, submitted to our Commander, and we come under enemy attack we are to resist the enemy. That was last week’s battle drill based on Proverbs 1:8-19. James 4:7 succinctly teaches us of this essential fundamental of training to live on mission for God: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” If you want to live on mission, then you must remain focused; therefore, you must learn how to recognize the schemes of the devil, and resist the enemy who seeks to take you off God’s mission!

Let us continue in our study of the book of Proverbs with the second battle drill. Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn how to apply God’s wisdom to our daily lives and train to live on mission today.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is Proverbs 1:33: “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Every good soldier of Jesus Christ must learn that if you want to train to live on mission today, then you must listen to and obey God’s wisdom when He brings knowledge. Heed His reproof when He warns you or disciplines you. The book of Proverbs gives us the primary way to discern whether you are a wise person; it is by how you respond to the wisdom of God. Accordingly, King Solomon teaches us that there are only three categories of people: 1) the wise, 2) fools, and 3) mockers (“scoffers”). Fools and mockers hate God’s wisdom and do not heed God’s warnings through it; rather, they turn away from it and hate God’s messengers who bring it. Heed (listen to and obey) God’s wisdom from Proverbs 1:20-33:

Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

This passage captures one of the major themes of the book of Proverbs – be wise by listening to and obeying God’s wisdom; don’t be like the fools and mockers who do not heed God’s wisdom. Accordingly, fools and mockers will get what they get for not heeding God’s Word because being naive is no excuse for not submitting to the Commander’s Field Manual. Let me make this as simple as possible: Good soldiers of Jesus Christ obey the Commander’s orders!

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

Here are a few fun illustrations from my military days. At West Point, the annual Army vs. Navy football game comes with a lot of tradition and pageantry, which includes an over-abundance of rivalry and trash talking (“Sink Navy,” “Beat Navy,” etc.). But, when it is time to fight together to accomplish the mission, that rivalry must be left on the football field so that we can work together as one military. Furthermore, when I was in the 82^nd Airborne Division, I boxed in the “Division Boxing Smoker,” which is where the battalions battle each other in the ring. We fought against each other for the pride of our battalions, but when it is time to deploy, you fight as one task force, regardless of who won in the boxing ring.

Listen to how Paul explained this with this very familiar body imagery, found in Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11-16:

Heeding God’s wisdom allows us, the Church, to continue the mission as one unit. Obeying orders and working together is not the mission itself, but you must train these battle drills into your mind and heart so that they are reflexive, instinctive, and habitual!

Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.

In praising the centurion, Jesus was not praising Rome nor affirming the military occupation of Israel. Jesus was not rubber-stamping might makes right, political coercion, nor the subjugation of a people. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was praising the centurion, a Roman military officer, for understanding authority and submission to authority, in a way that military people uniquely understand – good soldiers reflexively, instinctively, and habitually follow orders!

Jesus was responding to the centurion’s faith. Let us especially note how this Roman centurion called Jesus, kyrios, the Greek word for “Lord,” which was a term reserved for Caesar in recognition of his ultimate authority as divine, as practiced in the Emperor’s (Imperial) Cult – the religious practice of Rome to see their Caesar as a god within their pantheon of gods. In the same way, Paul used the soldier imagery for the same reason in 2 Timothy 2:3-4 – to teach us how to be under authority and focused on the mission of God for the glory of the King of Kings.

There are many illustrations of this found in God’s Word. One of the most famous is found in the rejection of King Saul for his disobedience to God’s commands. Listen to the conclusion of this story from 1 Samuel 15:13-23, which should be a warning from God to every one of us about the urgency of today’s battle drill:

Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!” Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”

Heed God’s wisdom! Do not be a fool or a mocker! It’s not whether you can afford to obey God’s wisdom, you can’t afford not to obey God’s wisdom! Choose today, that no matter the apparent cost you will have to pay, train to live on mission today by training obedience to God’s Word as the habit of grace in your life. Train yourself to respond to every situation just as Joshua led his family and commanded all the families of God’s people, from Joshua 24:14-15:

Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

Listen to these two missional verses. First, from one of our theme verses for this sermon series, 2 Timothy 2:2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Second, Paul based that on Jesus’ Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We are to pass on to others and teach others to observe (obey) all that Jesus commanded, so that the gospel of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed generation after generation, and nation to nation, until we come to the end of this age. We see that Paul, in Romans 12:4-21, utilized the body imagery to give specific instructions of what it looks like to heed God’s wisdom as a good soldier of Jesus Christ living on mission as a member of one unit:

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Listen and obey God’s wisdom – train these things into your everyday life! As a good soldier of Christ Jesus, you will be asked to obey orders that you may not completely understand, but don’t be a fool or a mocker; be wise and heed God’s wisdom! Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Persevere unto the end and you will receive the reward from the One who enlisted you for this very purpose.

Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

Battle Drill #1:

Resist the Enemy!

Proverbs 1:8-19 (NAS95)

The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is Proverbs 1:15: “My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.”

The first battle drill is to resist the enemy! The context of today’s battle drill comes from Proverb 1:8-19:

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching; indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, as those who go down to the pit; we will find all kinds of precious wealth, we will fill our houses with spoil; throw in your lot with us, we shall all have one purse,” my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood. Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net in the sight of any bird; but they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors.

Every good soldier of Jesus Christ must learn that if you want to maintain your life, then you must follow this first battle drill! Just as we see in Proverbs 1:8-19, there are forces of evil who seek to entice you away from the wisdom of God and His ways for your life. As Proverbs 1:10 directs, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” It’s that simple!

There are thieves who seek to rob you of your life by getting you to throw in your lot with them and believe their counterfeit promises about how to have a happier and more fulfilling life, seducing you with the promise of pleasures to walk away from the fundamentals of your faith and God’s reward for your faithfulness. That is the warning of Proverbs 1:19, “So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors.” Jesus Christ affirmed this by teaching His followers in John 10:10-12:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

Just like sheep cannot be left alone because they are dumb animals that will follow their animal instincts to their own destruction, God, the Good Shepherd, gathers us, together, as His one people under His rightful rule, so that we can train to live on mission today.

As a cadet, in both Cadet Basic Training (CBT) and Cadet Field Training (CFT) at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, NY, I was taught the fundamentals of being a soldier, what we call battle drills. As a brand-new Second Lieutenant, attending the US Army’s Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) at Fort Benning, GA, I was taught how to train soldiers to work as a unit and execute the fundamentals without a deliberate decision-making process. Both the soldier skills and leadership training were further drilled into me through the arduous training regimen of the US Army’s Ranger School. The goal is to make the training instinctual, habitual, and reflexive, regardless of personal or situational stress. Today, we are going to look at one of the most basic battle drills every soldier must learn, and every unit must master as one collective body; it is how to “react to contact.”

The soldiers of Jesus Christ have an enemy – the devil! The battle drill we are to learn, and master is simple, but not easy. Army doctrine teaches us that when a soldier reacts to contact, she is to immediately take cover and return fire in the direction of enemy contact. Not surprisingly, the following New Testament Scriptures make the point clear of what we are to do when we come under enemy attack:

1) James 4:7. “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

2) 1 Peter 5:8-9. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”

3) Ephesians 6:11-12. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 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.”

Good soldiers of Christ Jesus don’t just remain hunkered down returning fire, they are to seek the Commander’s approval by carrying on with the mission. It’s great to not be taken out of the battle, but staying alive is not the mission, pleasing the Father and doing His will is the point! Just like in the 82^nd Airborne Division, jumping out of airplanes was how we got to work, so we needed to train how to execute a variety of airborne operations, under different circumstances, so that we could get to work safely and do the job we were delivered to execute. Our job was to arrive safely to fulfill the Commander’s plan for sending us behind enemy lines in the first place. The same is true with surviving an enemy attack! Resisting the enemy allows you to continue the mission, it’s not the mission itself, but you must train this into your mind and heart so that it is reflexive, instinctual, and habitual! That takes us to action step #3.

An interesting detail about the wisdom literature is that a bulk of it was written by a father and son team – King David wrote much of the Psalms and King Solomon, his son, wrote much of the rest, to include Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.[1] With that understanding, both David and Solomon, began their works, Psalms and Proverbs, respectively, with a similar understanding of wisdom. Just as Proverbs 1:15, today’s battle drill, stresses the fear of the Lord as a fidelity to God’s commands as contrasted with the ways of the wicked, “my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,” so Psalm 1 makes a similar comparison:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

When each individual soldier responds to the enemy’s attacks in this way – reflexively, instinctually, and habitually submitting to God and His ways when under stress to live life differently, then we can have the courageous confidence to carry on the mission of God, as a unit. That takes us to action step #4.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We learn this from the example of Jesus Christ in how He conducted today’s battle drill against the temptations of the devil in His forty days in the wilderness from Matthew 4:1-11:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you’; and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

As we conclude today’s message, I want you to learn two things from how Jesus reacted to enemy contact:

1) Jesus took cover in the will of His Father for his forty days in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit led Him there to be tempted by the devil, according to Scripture, so Jesus faced the will of God through forty days and nights of fasting in preparation for God’s will to be done. In His ministry, Jesus never evaded the will of His Father, even unto death on the Cross. That’s because Jesus’ purpose of coming was His Father’s glory – His good pleasure!

2) Jesus not only took cover in His Father’s will, but He returned fire on the enemy’s attack against Him. Three times Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy to thwart the enemy. When Jesus came under direct attack, He was ready to return fire with the Word of God.

This is the battle drill, and this is how you “react to contact” – the battle drill of resist the enemy! Jesus conducted the battle drill so that He could carry on the mission of God. Jesus submitted Himself to His Father’s will through His baptism in Matthew 3:13-17, then He resisted the enemy in Matthew 4:1-11, then He lived on mission Matthew 4:12 – 28:20!

In the same way, you are commanded to demonstrate your allegiance to the Commander by being baptized in the name of the One who enlisted you – the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As a good soldier of Christ Jesus, you will come under attack, do not be naïve that there is an enemy seeking to destroy you, but train your battle drill – resist the enemy! Make this a reflexive, instinctual, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Persevere unto the end and you will receive the reward from the One who enlisted you for this very purpose. Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTE:

The Battle Drills of a Christian Soldier!

2 Timothy 2:1-4 & Proverbs 1:1-7 (NAS95)

The Scripture lesson for today and the theme verse for the 2022 sermon series is found in 2 Timothy 2:1-4:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

In the first three weeks, I covered the first three verses of this passage to learn how we are called to grow strong in the grace of God, live with a missional focus, and commit ourselves to the training routine of a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Today, I finish the framework for our study of the book of Proverbs by examining the fourth and final verse of our theme passage: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” Let’s look at the first half of this verse.

“NO SOLDIER IN ACTIVE SERVICE ENTANGLES HIMSELF IN THE AFFAIRS OF EVERYDAY LIFE”

As we learned from out study of 2 Timothy 2:3, the soldier imagery was a favorite of the Apostle Paul. Here are three other usages of it from Paul’s writings in the New Testament:

1) 1 Corinthians 9:7. “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?”

2) Philippians 2:25. “But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need.”

3) Philemon 1b-2. “To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.”

As a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not a part-time employee; rather, you are an active-duty soldier. You are not a National Guard soldier, who works a civilian job during the week and trains as a soldier one weekend per month and two weeks out of the year just in case you are called up to serve in a time of need. You are on “active service” to Jesus Christ, meaning, this is your priority, and nothing can be allowed to compete against it as your top priority. Therefore, I am called to train you as a member of an elite rapid-deployment unit who must be ready in season and out of season to go on mission for God. This is exactly what Paul had in mind as you hear his exhortation to his protégé in 2 Timothy 4:1-8:

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Those days have arrived, the return of the Lord is imminent. Are you trained and ready to be deployed as a good soldier of Christ Jesus to fulfill your ministry, or are you entangled in the affairs of everyday life, distracted, and discouraged by the circumstances of these last days? God has enlisted you to be His hope-bearer in the despair, His light in the darkness, and His peace in times of division! This is the mission of God for His Church, for such a time as this!

A good soldier of Christ Jesus does not allow himself to get entangled with anything that would distract him from pleasing the Commander, the One who enlisted him, and the accomplishment of the mission. Hebrews 12:1-3 is a clarion call to such a focused life:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The way to remain unencumbered and disentangled from that which would distract you from your active service as a soldier, is to remain focused on your allegiance to the commander. Let us now look at the second half of 2 Timothy 2:4.

“SO THAT HE MAY PLEASE THE ONE WHO ENLISTED HIM AS A SOLDIER.”

Jesus modeled the life of a good soldier of God by submitting His life, and His death, to His Father’s will. Jesus came from Heaven to Earth to show us the way of a life of full submission and complete allegiance to God! As Paul’s Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11 proclaims:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

From Matthew 26:38-42, we see that Jesus knew what it meant to be a good soldier, which is why we highlight and exemplify His faithful prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night Jesus sweat blood as He knowingly anticipated the plan of His Father to be the propitiation of sin, which required of Him to follow the prescribed path of suffering – His betrayal leading unto death, even death on a cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:

Then [Jesus] said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

Do you have this same attitude of Christ Jesus? Are you motivated to glorify God with every area of your life? Are you confident that you will be able to say that you have accomplished the good works that God enlisted you to walk in with your life? How are you actively and intentionally training yourself to live on mission today to the glory of God?

We must train this same attitude of Christ Jesus into our own lives! To do this training routine effectively and to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, we must know what it is we are to put into practice. I am calling these the battle drills of a Christian soldier. Last week, I taught you that Army doctrine defines battle drills as “the ‘fundamentals’ that must be constantly rehearsed until they are second nature for all Soldiers. … [They are] a collective action executed by a platoon or smaller element without the application of a deliberate decision-making process.”[1] In other words, the action of both the individual soldier, and his or her fellow soldiers, must be vigorously trained into every soldier as a collective unit until the unit functions as one mature body; it’s reflexive, instinctual, and habitual behavior for this one purpose – God’s glory! Every soldier in the unity must commit to these four action steps of the training routine:

1) Know the manual – the Bible.

2) Train together as one unit – the Church.

3) Seek the Commander’s approval – Jesus Christ, the head of the His Church.

4) Live on mission – the Great Commission.

Hence, next week we embark upon our year-long study of the book of Proverbs. We will learn how to apply God’s wisdom as the battle drills of a good soldier of Christ Jesus, according to these four action steps of the training routine. Listen to Proverbs 1:1-7 as King Solomon gives us the purpose of Proverbs as God’s book of wisdom, and, in doing so, gives us the overarching motive of every soldier’s training routine and mission success:

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice and equity; to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The overarching motive of a good soldier is the fear of God! Apart from this respect, reverence, and awe of God as the Sovereign King, the Ruler of all creation, the Supreme Commander of Heaven’s armies, then there can be no training of wisdom, or instruction in righteousness, for us as the good soldiers of Christ Jesus. We must know who it is we are seeking to please with our lives; therefore, we must train into our minds and hearts a complete submission to the one who saved us, called us to be His, and chose us to be a part of His plans.

Being a soldier in active service means that everything you do is submitted to the Commander – “the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:24). It is Christ you seek to please, not a job description, or a volunteer’s expectations, or prescribed hours, or a designated amount of money. Those are misleading goals and heavy burdens, but in your wholehearted allegiance to Jesus, you learn how to seize the moment for God by living out what Paul prescribed as a right response to the gospel of Jesus Christ in Romans 12:1-5:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

For example, in my pastoral ministry, the day after my dear sister Carole Hiatt passed away, Beorn, my fifteen-year-old son, and I spent all day, from breakfast straight through to dinner, moving all her possessions out of the local senior living facility to over an hour away in Ohio. As we were driving, my son asked me if this was considered a workday for me. I told him that everything I did was part of my calling and that while technically this day of service was not a “workday,” as defined by our culture, it was an integral part of my calling. Together, Beorn and I were learning how to live and love like Jesus modeled for us and commands us to train to live on mission today, it just so happened to look like us being “Two Men and a Truck” on that day.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] “The Importance of Battle Drills” by Risk Management Magazine on January 25, 2019. https://www.army.mil/article/216557/the_importance_of_battle_drills (accessed December 16, 2021).

The Training Routine of a Christian Soldier!

2 Timothy 2:1-4 (NAS95)

The Scripture lesson for today and the theme verse for the 2022 sermon series is found in 2 Timothy 2:1-4:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

In the first two weeks, I covered the first two verses of this passage to learn how we are called to grow strong in the grace of God and how we are to live with a missional focus as good soldiers of Christ Jesus. These are the first two of four messages that lay a firm foundation for our study of the book of Proverbs. Today, I continue by examining the third verse of our theme passage: “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

We are invited to learn how to train ourselves, according to God’s wisdom, to grow strong in God’s grace so that we can live on mission for God and not be distracted by that which is not God’s priority for our lives. While every book of the Bible can be used in a soldier’s training routine, I have chosen to focus upon the Old Testament book of Proverbs because of its direct approach to laying out the wisdom of God. Proverbs, like an Army field manual, unapologetically seeks to command you to align your thoughts and actions with the Commander’s (God’s) directives. Sid Buzzell explains this overall purpose of Proverbs in The Bible Knowledge Commentary:

Of the several words for wisdom and related synonyms used in Proverbs, the primary and most frequent one is ḥokmâḥ. It occurs 45 times in Proverbs. In the Old Testament ḥokmâh is used of the skill of craftsmen, sailors, singers, mourners, administrators, and counselors. These workers and others, being knowledgeable, experienced, and efficient in their areas of expertise, were considered skillful; they were therefore “wise.” Similarly in the spiritual realm a person who possesses ḥokmâh in reference to God is one who is both knowledgeable and experienced in following God’s way. So in the Bible’s Wisdom literature being wise means being skilled in godly living. Having God’s wisdom means having the ability to cope with life in a God-honoring way. … To be wise in the biblical sense one must begin with a proper relationship to God. To fear the Lord means to respect Him for who He is and to respond to Him in trust, worship, obedience, and service. If God is not honored and His Word not followed, then wisdom, as the Hebrew sages defined it, can never be attained. The purpose of the Book of Proverbs then, is to develop in others, especially the young, a wise, skillful approach to living, which begins with being properly related to the Lord.^[1]

Just like with athletes who must learn the team playbook, soldiers must commit themselves to learning their field manuals. For example, as an infantryman, we had to learn FM 7-8, which covers all the basic doctrine around how to make decisive actions as a member of an infantry squad and platoon. It teaches you what are called battle drills. Army doctrine teaches that battle drills “are the ‘fundamentals’ that must be constantly rehearsed until they are second nature for all Soldiers.”[2]

What are the fundamentals of living a godly life that must be constantly rehearsed so that they are second nature and will be thought and lived decisively regardless of the stress or circumstance? That is the emphasis of our 2022 study of Proverbs – to learn God’s battle drills and train these fundamentals of the faith into our lives so that living on mission is second nature to us as good soldiers of Christ Jesus.

Furthermore, Army doctrine teaches that a “battle drill is a collective action executed by a platoon or smaller element without the application of a deliberate decision-making process.”[3] In other words, the action of both the individual soldier and his or her fellow soldiers must be vigorously trained into every soldier as a collective unit until they know it in their bones. Therefore, both the unit and each soldier must commit to the following training routine:

1) Know the manual.

2) Train together as one unit.

3) Seek the commander’s approval.

4) Live on mission.

Soldiers must participate in a strenuous battle drill training routine so that this all happens without a deliberate decision-making process – it must be trained so that it is a habit of grace! In other words, there are some things that just don’t require a committee meeting or congregational vote: We do these things because the Bible, our manual, commands us and we train them into our lives, our family’s lives, and into our church’s life so that we do what we know we are supposed to do, as individuals and as a unit, every time, regardless of the circumstances. We don’t need to second-guess the manual; we are to live according to the wisdom of God!

“SUFFER HARDSHIP WITH ME”

Just as Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:3, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” As every athlete and soldier has learned, to win the victory and accomplish the mission you must be willing to suffer hardship. Training godliness, as we learned in last year’s sermon series, which capitalized on Paul’s athletic imagery, requires a level of suffering that is commonplace in the life of an athlete, just as it is in the life of a soldier. Paul knew this and that is one of the reasons he leveraged this imagery for being a follower of Jesus. The daily reality of the training routine of both an athlete and a soldier are found in 1 Timothy 4:6-10:

In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

We not only see this in the athletic and military imagery of the Bible, but it is also in the familial imagery that is used so often. Listen to how the author of Hebrews teaches us to submit ourselves to the Father’s discipline in Hebrews 12:7-15a:

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.

The training routine of a good soldier of Christ Jesus, just like the training regimen of an athlete on a championship team, or a child to a parent to be an effective and fruitful adult, requires suffering alongside of those who partake of the training with you. The form of the Greek word used by Paul in 2 Timothy 2:3 is only used in one other location, 2 Timothy 1:8. It means to partake in suffering together with another person. This is essential to realize as we develop the training routine of a good soldier, because Paul was not Rambo or the Lone Ranger, both of which are American icons that mislead adults in our culture from understanding the biblical view of maturity, which requires a cooperative view of life.[4] Learning to train on mission today means doing so with the other members of the unit. Paul explained this to his protégé in 2 Timothy 1:7-14:

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Suffering hardship is about living according to a set pattern of life, established by God, and entrusted to His people, to be passed on to others who will then pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2). It is living according to the mission of God, which is focused on training others to live on mission as God has established for His people of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). The example of Moses is leveraged to make this point in Hebrews 11:24-26:

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

The reward for faithful living can only be given by God (the Commander); therefore, every soldier must fix their eyes on that one reward: the Commander’s words, “Well done, good and faithful [soldier]” (Matthew 25:23). It is for this reason you have been enlisted. As the leading lexicon of the Greek New Testament, commonly called BDAG, explains about Paul’s usage of the Greek word for “soldier” in 2 Timothy 2:3, “[it is being used figuratively, but with] the major component of allegiance to a commander in the central [meaning] of ‘soldier’ as [its] defining aspect στ. Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ a soldier of Christ Jesus.”^[5]

“AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST JESUS.”

It has become clear from our study of this scripture that both the Church of Jesus Christ and the individual members of the body of Christ, like good soldiers of Christ Jesus, must train to live on mission today according to the same training routine of any good soldier:

1) Know the manual – the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

2) Train together as one unit – we are members of the one body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5).

3) Seek the Commander’s (God’s) approval – Jesus is the Head of His Church (Colossians 1:18-20).

4) Live on mission – the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

It is clear from Paul’s words in Philippians 2:19-22 that Timothy successfully committed himself to this training routine, under Paul’s supervision, to the point that Paul could send Timothy out on mission with full confidence:

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

It is important that we commit ourselves to this same task as Paul and Timothy did, and Paul commanded Timothy to carry on, and through that same command, we are instructed to carry on until the Lord returns or we go Home to Him. The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:2-3 exhorts us to do live the mission today:

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Allow me to finish by praying over you Peter’s words from 1 Peter 5:6-11:

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Sid S. Buzzell, “Proverbs,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 902.

[2] “The Importance of Battle Drills” by Risk Management Magazine on January 25, 2019. https://www.army.mil/article/216557/the_importance_of_battle_drills (accessed December 16, 2021).

[3] Ibid.

[4] These cultural icons have also fueled a misunderstanding of masculinity in our culture that has led to a discussion on toxic masculinity and misogynist leadership the American church. This is a popular topic of public discourse, especially with the viral success of Christianity Today’s “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” podcasts (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/).

[5] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 948.

The Missional Focus of a Christian Soldier!

 2 Timothy 2:1-4 (NAS95)

Allow me to give you a real-life example of this sermon from my life over the last two weeks. Since Christmas, our congregation has experienced six deaths in either our membership or a very close family member to one of our members. I have prayed for and had direct ministry contact with each of these families and have conducted three of the five services with the sixth not yet scheduled. Our congregation has been amazing, providing meals, expressions of sympathy, words of compassion, emotional support, and practical care. I am proud of you, and I am praying for you as I know how heavy this time is on all of us, including me. All of that while remaining mission-focused on my everyday responsibilities, congregational care of a variety of other needs including surgeries and practical helps, as well as conducting our public services.

In this difficult time, I had to make a decision that would shape the next season of my relationship to our community. I was invited to help New Castle High School with the girls and boys track and field teams as the new throws coach. It seems that after the long-time throws coach retired, someone from our congregation shared my athletic story and an invitation was sent to me. Please understand that I get a variety of invitations, but this one was different. Through my time here, I have had to become very good at saying “no” to anything that distracts me from my top three priorities: 1) spiritual formation as a Jesus follower, 2) the proper care of my family, and 3) pastoral ministry to our church. I have been very selective of what I commit myself to in the name of the “mission of God” because I have learned it is too easy for me to park nearly anything in that category and get overrun by too many commitments. But this one was different because after initially stonewalling the request, as has become my standard response to anything that doesn’t align with those first three priorities, Kimberly and I discussed and prayed, and I experienced the directive of God to say “yes.” In fact, one night, I couldn’t sleep until after I sent the email saying I would do it. As soon as I did, I fell asleep. We discerned that this invitation is on mission to my calling to this community and in alignment with how God has shaped me for ministry. I am excited and I think I can make a difference.

It is my desire that you, too, will learn how to discern God’s will for your life and know to what you are to say “yes” and “no” so that you can maintain the missional focus of a Christian soldier that aligns with God’s priorities for your life and how He has uniquely shaped you for good works, remembering that you were enlisted for this reason (Ephesians 2:10). Do you know God’s priorities for your life? Do you know how God has uniquely shaped you for ministry? I believe that you can know the answers to these questions and train to live on mission today.

The Scripture lesson for today and the theme verses for the 2022 sermon series are found in 2 Timothy 2:1-4:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Last week, I covered the first verse of this passage in a message called, “Grow Strong in the Grace of God!” That message was the first of four messages that lay a firm foundation for our study of the book of Proverbs. We are going to train ourselves, according to God’s wisdom, how to grow strong in God’s grace so that we can live on mission for God.

Today, we are going to learn the missional focus of a Christian soldier. The purpose of the biblical imagery of being a soldier has less to do with our modern understanding of warfare and violence and everything to do with being under authority. Like a good soldier, you are to submit to authority to accomplish the mission of God, as given to you by the Commander, to further the work of the Kingdom for the glory of God. A great way to help you see how the soldier imagery connects to the ministry of Jesus, and a great biblical example of today’s message is Jesus’ praise of the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:5-13:

And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.

In praising the centurion, Jesus was not praising Rome nor affirming the military occupation of Israel. Jesus was not rubber-stamping might makes right, political coercion, nor the subjugation of a people. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was praising the centurion, a Roman military officer, for understanding authority and submission to authority, in a way that military people uniquely understand.

Jesus was responding to the centurion’s faith. Let us especially note how this Roman centurion called Jesus, kyrios, the Greek word for “Lord,” which was a term reserved for Caesar in recognition of his ultimate authority as divine, as practiced in the Emperor’s (Imperial) Cult – the religious practice of Rome to see their Caesar as a god within their pantheon of gods. In the same way, Paul is using the soldier imagery for the same reason – to teach us how to be under authority and focused on the mission of God for the glory of Jesus, the King of Kings.

In the same way that we cannot throw out Jesus’ praise of the centurion because we don’t like something about the Roman Empire, we can’t throw out Paul’s soldier imagery because we don’t like something about the military. The Bible uses these metaphors on purpose, and it is our job as Bible students and faithful followers of Jesus to understand them and not reject them because they may make us uncomfortable or are coopted for ungodly purposes. Now, let’s walk through 2 Timothy 2:2 and learn about the missional focus of a Christian soldier. We examined verse 1 last week and in the coming weeks we will examine verses 3-4.

“THE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE HEARD FROM ME IN THE PRESENCE OF MANY WITNESSES,”

Just as Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:3, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” It is from this verse that we will learn the training routine of a Christian soldier so that we can grow strong in God’s grace and live with the missional focus of a Christian soldier. Just as every athlete and soldier has learned, to live like a champion or to live on mission, you must be willing to suffer hardship in your training routine, as well as in accomplishment of the mission. We will discuss this more next week, but it is obvious that a marathon runner must exert herself to run 26.2 miles, just as a shot putter must strain his body to throw far.

There can be no confusion from Paul’s words, Timothy learned directly from Paul on the mission field. He learned not only through words, but through actions. Timothy was more than an eyewitness; he was a participant in the mission. Timothy not only partook of Paul’s words and deeds, but also in Paul’s unwavering missional focus through demanding circumstances, which included suffering and persecution. Here are three passages that demonstrate how Paul and Timothy became yoked together on mission for God:

1) Acts 19:21-22. Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

2) 1 Corinthians 4:15-17. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

3) 1 Thessalonians 3:1-3. Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.

The missional focus of a Christian soldier is caught, but it also must be taught! The training regimen requires you to study the Bible, but it also requires you to get yourself involved in hands-on missional work alongside of your fellow soldiers. We are in this together as the one body of Christ – an army of the One – under submission to His headship (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:15-16; Colossians 1:18).

“ENTRUST THESE TO FAITHFUL MEN”

First, please know that the Greek word translated “men” is anthropos, which means people, humanity, mankind. It is not a gender-specific term. God is actively enlisting men and women to be “good soldiers of Christ Jesus.” And the goal of all Christian soldiers is to hear the One who enlisted them say, “Well done, good and faithful [soldier]” (Matthew 25:23).

As a cadet at West Point and as an officer in the US Army, I remember how good it made me feel to receive a word of praise, be given a coveted coin, or have an award pinned on my uniform by superior officers. If an award from a person can make me feel that good, I can only imagine what it is going to be like to hear Jesus’ praise one day. That is my greatest ambition!

Furthermore, Jesus taught this in Matthew 6:1-4:

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Listen to other places where Paul used this imagery of fighting the good fight:

1) 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

2) 1 Timothy 6:12-16. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

3) 2 Timothy 4:5-8. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

To entrust to others what you were first given and to train them to be faithful as you are being faithful, then you must always Charlie Mike! Charlie Mike is the military’s phonetic alphabet for C and M, and it means, “Continue Mission”! When a soldier says Charlie Mike, she is saying to her fellow soldiers, “Never give in![1] Never quit! Push through the adversity no matter the difficulties until we have completed the mission!” For twelve years, I have said it to you this way, “Don’t bail before the blessing!” and “Never stop starting!”

As Paul exhorts in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58; Hebrews 12:3; James 5:7-8). Church, my brethren, until Jesus returns, Charlie Mike!

“WHO WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO.”

This final clause is essential and can’t be overlooked. Paul expressed that the mission of God is to be passed on to those who will be able to teach others also. There must be a multiplication of laborers for the harvest (Matthew 9:37-38). Does that mean that only classroom teachers, preachers up front, or famous influencers on social media are the ones called to carry on the mission of God? Absolutely not! You are called by God, and it is His grace which qualifies the called. It is the Spirit at work in you. Listen to Paul teach the church this in 2 Corinthians 3:2-6:

You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Jesus Christ calls every believer to live on mission for Him in Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission:  

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Once again, the emphasis is on teaching (passing on to) others about what you first received yourself! Just like with Paul and Timothy, this is a call to a discipleship relationship between a teacher and a student, a master and an apprentice, a sergeant and a private. It is about putting your life in submission to the One who enlisted you for the completion of His mission and learning from your fellow soldiers how to live this life while sharing in the mission of God together.

Living on mission involves teaching others – entering relationship with other believers to learn and to teach, to share life while living on mission. To yoke together! We each have our own spiritual “family tree.” As Paul considered Timothy his true son in the faith, we can likely draw a tree with our spiritual ancestors and our spiritual descendants. This is why mentorship relationships are important. It’s necessary to have those who are more mature in the faith leading and teaching those who are younger in the faith, entrusting them with the wisdom gained through experience of life on mission. This is what it looks like to entrust your life of faith into another who will also live his or her life on mission, with you and then beyond you to another. This has been one of the richest parts of my spiritual journey and I’m thankful for each of my Timothies.

That was not Paul’s novel idea, but rather the example of Jesus Christ who invites us to do the same with Him in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.

FOOTNOTES:

Grow Strong in the Grace of God!

2 Timothy 2:1-4 (NAS95)

The Scripture lesson for today and the theme verses for the 2022 sermon series are found in 2 Timothy 2:1-4:

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

This passage is the foundation for a year-long journey of learning how to live on mission for God as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is verses 3-4 which will provide the theme for this sermon series: “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” From this truth, I am going to train you to live on mission for Jesus Christ and to see every moment of your life as a providential opportunity to fulfill the mission of God. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, you have been enlisted to train to live on mission today!

I know what this life looks like because once upon a time I was on the tip of the spear in our nation’s security, serving in a rapid deployment unit as an Infantry platoon leader in the 2^nd Battalion of the 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 82^nd Airborne Division, stationed out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1997-98. After graduating West Point, I was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the US Army. Having graduated from the US Army’s Infantry Officer Basic Course, as well as the Airborne, Air Assault, and Ranger Schools, I was prepared to live the life of a paratrooper and train America’s finest to complete the mission, at any time and in any place that we were called to go. It was our mission to be delivered behind enemy lines through airborne operations to successfully secure key objectives for follow-on combat missions. As a rapid deployment unit, we had to be ready to be wheels up within 18 hours of notification! As a leader in such a unit, it was my responsibility to ensure my platoon was trained, our equipment was maintained, and we were ready to deploy so that we could respond without hesitation. Our motto was “H-minus,” which represented our readiness prior to the start of the operation. H-hour was too late to train—it was mission time!

In the same way, you need to be trained to respond to your Lord’s calling without hesitation. When the opportunity presents itself or the enemy comes against you, you need to already know what to do and to execute the mission with confidence! Each Sunday of January, we are going to lay a solid foundation for our year-long training routine, so that by the end of this year, you will be ready at any time to accomplish the mission of God anywhere you are called to go.

Let’s start by walking through 2 Timothy 2:1-4. Today, we will focus on what what it means to grow strong in God’s grace and next week we will learn what it means to have a mission-focus, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You have been enlisted! Are you ready?

“YOU THEREFORE, MY SON,”

Paul calls Timothy his son, even though he is not a biological father to him. In 1 Timothy 1:2, Paul calls him “my true child in the faith.” He is speaking to Timothy, just as he did to Titus in Titus 1:4, “my true child in a common faith,” as a spiritual father who sees in him the potential not only to be a follower of Jesus, but to carry on his apostolic mission to spread the gospel. Paul relates to both Timothy and Titus as his protégés (his apprentices or disciples). This is the intent of verse 2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” We will learn more about this next Sunday (1/16) when I will teach you to have a mission-focus, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

It is enough for today to explain that Paul’s familial reference (son) to Timothy is mission-focused; it’s not sentimentality or emotionalism. While there is genuine love, it is a love born of shared suffering for their “common faith.” I equate this kind of relationship to that which we see between veterans who shared combat together or who can relate to one another because of similar experiences. There is a powerful camaraderie amongst soldiers that is unique to them.

We can share in Paul’s charge to Timothy because we are the “sons of God,” as Paul taught of all Spirit-filled Christians in Romans 8:14-17:

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

This is God’s promise of adoption, as we learn from Galatians 4:4-7:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

This is the grace of God in your life—you are no longer a slave to sin! You are alive in Christ and are commanded by the One who enlisted you to grow strong in your identity as a child of God and your new power source as a good soldier of Jesus Christ—the grace of God! It is because of God’s amazing grace, which saved a wretch like me (and you), that we can share a unique camaraderie with one another. It is only through the victory of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary that a blind man like me can now see. That is our common faith, and this is the war that has been won for us! His victory yokes us to one another and we are called to the mission of God by the One who saved us! We are the sons of God—co-heirs of God’s grace!

“BE STRONG”

There are seven usages of this Greek word in the New Testament, many of which will be familiar to you. First, and most alike in usage to today’s passage, is Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:10-20:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 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. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak [italics added].

Listen to the other verses with the Greek word italicized for emphasis:

It will be the emphasis of this year’s sermon series to learn how to grow strong in God’s grace, increase in strength, and be strengthened by God. I will be teaching you more about the very intentional training routine of a good soldier of Jesus Christ in 2 weeks (1/23).

“IN THE GRACE THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS”

Furthermore, Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that God’s grace is not just our entrance into the Kingdom, it is also the empowerment of the Christian life, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”

Grace is what enables us to successfully live the Christian life and accomplish the mission! Paul expressed to his protégé in Titus 2:11-15:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

The promise of grace teaches us in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God’s grace is our sufficiency for every task God calls us to accomplish: “And [Jesus] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” In other words, there is nothing you can’t do in God’s grace, but apart from God’s grace, there is nothing you can do! Jesus taught us this with the agricultural imagery of John 15:1-5:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

This is the beautiful partnership we are called to have with God through the grace of Jesus Christ! His grace flows into our lives as we abide in Him! Listen to 2 Peter 1:2-11 explain this through the imagery of fellowship with God:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

To accomplish the mission of God, every good soldier must be trained to grow strong in God’s grace, which has been abundantly supplied to you!

Grace is the key to the Christian life! We must grow strong in our identity as children of God, enlisted into the mission of God as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Next week, we will learn that we are commanded to remain focused on the mission of God and not get ensnared or entangled on that which would distract us from growing strong in the grace of God. As Hebrews 12:1-3 commands us,

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:

You can watch the video by clicking HERE.