Battle Drill #37:

Train with a Battle Buddy!

Proverbs 27:17 (NAS95)

This month, I am finishing our 2022 sermon series, “Train to Live on Mission Today: The Battle Drills of a Christian Soldier.” After laying a firm foundation from 2 Timothy 2:1-4 so we can properly understand how the Bible uses the soldier imagery as a metaphor for the Christian life, we have then taken a year-long journey through the book of Proverbs. We will cover the final five chapters of God’s book of wisdom this 5-Sunday month, starting with chapter 27.

Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Train with a Battle Buddy!” We are going to learn the importance of spiritual friendships. I define a spiritual friend as someone you believe is important to the strengthening of your own spiritual vitality. Like every athlete needs a training partner and every soldier needs a battle buddy, every Christian needs a spiritual friend who is closer to them than a brother (Proverbs 18:24b). This is one of the foundational disciplines of a faithful Christian life.

In the military, we call the person we are assigned to train with our battle buddy. We have each other’s six, and we carry one another’s burdens. I never would have graduated the US Army Ranger School in 1997, if it wasn’t for my ranger buddy. I remember how, on a long night patrol through the swamps of Florida, he locked arms with me when I was losing consciousness; my battle buddy kept me going in the right direction until I found the necessary next gear deep down! Apart from him, I would have failed at that moment because in that unforgiving environment, there was no grace apart from what your battle buddy could give you. Wherever we were and whatever we were doing, we carried each other’s burdens. It was mutual!

Learning to train with a battle buddy is a fulfillment of Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” A battle buddy is a person we have learned we can depend upon to help us carry the burdens of God’s purposes for our lives. Let’s turn to the Field Manual and take the first step of a soldier’s training regimen.

Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.

Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.

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.

Let’s discuss the value of spiritual friendships based on today’s battle drill from Proverbs 27:17. This famous scripture, often used in accountability relationships, can be explained in a simple way, “Close friends provide constructive criticism and accountability. Just as sharpening an iron blade makes it more effective, close friends sharpen one another’s character.”^[2] Because both parties are made from iron, their words are not intended to hurt one another, they are intended to aide. Paul explained to his protégé in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 what we are to use to sharpen one another in our spiritual friendships, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” We are to use the Field Manuel!

But the Word is sharp which is why Proverbs 27:5-6 teaches, “Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” In other words, your battle buddy will love you by telling you the truth, and even if their gentleness wounds you, it will be done for the sake of love. Paul admonishes us of this 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.”

This is the hard work of our battle drill today, found in Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” We must not turn away from one another because one party has acted towards the other with a sincere love that was sharp. We need to be made of iron! As Paul says in Ephesians 4:15, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” That brings us to the third action step of a good soldier of Jesus.

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

There is no greater desire in my life than to hear Jesus’ words as I enter His presence for eternity, “Well done, good and faithful slave” (Matthew 25:21). I know that I can’t do it alone so I want people in my life who will walk with me to this destination. I know that this goal is only possible in Christ, but I also need my brothers and sisters. The following are some biblical precedents for why I feel that I can’t accomplish God’s purposes for my life as a lone ranger; thereby, demonstrating each of our needs for a battle buddy as a foundational spiritual discipline:

We are refreshed by one another to carry on with the mission of God. A beautiful example of this is from 2 Timothy 1:16-17 and how Paul was refreshed by his battle buddies in the mission of God, “The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me.” Another example from Paul’s testimony is found in 1 Corinthians 16:17-18, “I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.” Paul did not try to conceal his need for others; rather, he openly named names, of those whose ministries refreshed his own. Not to show favoritism, but to demonstrate God’s design.

I believe that you, like Paul, want to be faithful to God and please your commander, Jesus Christ. I know you want to run the race in such a way as to not be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), but that is exactly why you need a training partner, a battle buddy, a spiritual friend. As Proverbs 13:20 teaches us, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Never forget that when Proverbs speaks of wisdom, it is talking about the fear of the Lord – a faithful life that aligns with His commandments and fulfills His purposes.

I don’t think any of us can complete the mission, CM through difficult times, apart from the assistance of the Holy Spirit working through our battle buddies. Just like there came a time when I could not keep myself going during that long patrol in the swamps after months of fatigue and stress wore me out to the point of being like the walking dead, there will come a time where you need someone to take your arm and keep you on path, putting one foot in front of the other, helping you CM! Why wait to hit you the wall of your own pride and self-sufficiency? You can start today. This leads us to the final action step of our soldier’s training regimen.

Action Step #4) Live on mission.

The Commander I serve now has a higher purpose in His mind for my life and yours, one that is eternal. It is found in Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” In other words, God enlisted you to be all you can be – an image bearer of God, the reflection of His Son Jesus Christ for all the world to see! Why is this important to our Commander, why does He even care about your being the truest form of you? Because God is glorified when you bear His image through your faithful fulfillment of all that God intends for you to do as an image bearer of His Son, just as Ephesians 2:10 declares of your salvation, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (cf. Philippians 2:13).

Just as I have been teaching you every step of this way in this sermon series – your salvation was an enlistment into the mission of God, so that you can fulfill the Commander’s intent for your life as a member of the body of Christ – the church, the hope of the nations! Your job is to submit yourself to His rule over your life so that you can become what He always intended you to be. Today’s battle drill teaches you that you can’t become that alone – you need to train with a battle buddy. I am going to conclude by reading an excerpt from the Mentor Commentaries:

A blade is fashioned, honed to an edge and polished to a fine finish by the use of other metal – the one working over against the other. The process, though for a different purpose, is described in Isaiah 44:12: “The man shapes iron into a cutting tool, and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers, and working it with his strong arm.” In a similar fashion, “one man sharpens another.” The verb translated “sharpens” in both lines describes making something sharp or keen. … We are better for our social interactions, even the ones we least appreciate. We are a debtor to every man whose path we have crossed, for no social contact need be a waste if we will but learn from it. How much more valuable, then, those friendships in which our companion has our highest good in mind! “Two are better than one” (Eccles. 4:9a). “He who walks with wise men will be wise” (Prov. 13:20a). Indeed, as we have just discovered, “a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend” (v. 9b). Think of Jonathan’s benefit to David, for he “arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God” (1 Sam. 23:16). Little wonder we are exhorted, “let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together” (Heb. 10:24–25a). No man can be his best or reach the heights God intends for him without those blessed friends who comfort, provoke, challenge, rebuke, chide, affirm, stimulate and encourage until his thinking is clear, his wisdom mature, his purpose refined, and his faculties sharp.^[3]

Athletic coaches and championships athletes know that every athlete needs a training partner to bring out their best and win the championship as a team. Military officers and veteran soldiers know that every soldier needs a battle buddy to be all they can be and ensure mission success. God knows you need a spiritual friend to be the best version of you, transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, to His glory and the accomplishment of His purposes through your life. The question is: do you know your own need for a spiritual friend?

Don’t know where to start? Start by being a spiritual friend! Make training with a battle buddy one of your top priorities of your life this year. We all need to be in the easy yoke of Jesus to find rest for our souls from the heavy burdens of living in this fallen world, then we each of us must learn to “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Pr 27:17.

[2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Pr 27:17.

[3] John A. Kitchen, Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary, Mentor Commentaries (Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor, 2006), 615-616.