Soldier of Christ
2 Timothy 2:1-13
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text for this morning comes from St Paul's Second letter to Timothy. He refers to Timothy as his child. He also refers to Timothy as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. This section closes with St Paul reminding Timothy, if we deny him, he also will deny us.
But I want to start with asking what does a good soldier do? I remember from the end of A Few Good Men that a good soldier is supposed to look out for those who can not look out for themselves. Forest Gump and Saving Private Ryan seem to teach us that a good soldier follows orders.
Soldiers follow orders or people die. Thus, St Paul says, "No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." The duty of every good soldier is to serve the one who enlisted him, or his commander. In this case, St Timothy has been enlisted by Paul, and more importantly Jesus Christ.
Thus, it is not Timothy's duty to purse civil advancement or civil status. It is Timothy's duty to serve Jesus Christ and proclaim his message of salvation. This is what it means to be a good soldier. You have been commanded to take up your cross and follow him. You have been commanded to speak what he tells you to speak. You have been enlisted not to deny him but to endure with him. You have not been called to be faithless, but faithful.
When you fall short of the glory of God, God remains faithful. When you suffer, God will raise you, just as we die with Christ and rise to new life. We are then enlisted into the service of our King. Jesus Christ has enlisted you into service, he makes you into his soldier.
So what kind of soldier are you going to be? Are you going to be a soldier who follow orders? Are you going to be a soldier who does enough just to get by? Are you going to be a soldier that the other soldiers have to look out for?
Most Christians are Sunday morning Soldiers. They show up to Church on Sunday morning in order to do their duty to God. The rest of the week they carry their own opinions with them. They do whatever is right in their own eyes. You might think these are the soldiers that are doing just enough to get by, but they are really the soldiers weigh us down.
There is another set of people out there, that say they belong to a church. They tell people they believe in Jesus. There name may even be on the rolls here or somewhere else. Yet they do not even show up to church. They live week after week thinking they are doing enough, by not denying Jesus with their lips, while their hearts are far from him. These soldiers have deserted the unit.
So what does it take to do enough just to get by? These are the ones that say their prayers everyday. They come to Church on Sunday morning. They even participate in activities to be a part of the church. But when it comes time to speak up at work they sit down. When it comes time to stand out in the crowd, they do not speak what their commander has told them. They go along with crowd in order to get along.
Sometimes these people may speak up about something that is bothering them. But it is not because God said so. There is some other reason.
Finally, we get to the good soldiers. Good Soldiers follow orders and people die. That is right! Good Soldiers follow orders and people die. God tells us what sin really is. He explains how the people who follow what is right in their own eyes, have sinned. When you determine truth, it is no truth. Jesus is truth. He defines what is right and wrong.
So we are called to teach, what he has taught us. This does not come by simply quoting random bible passages. This does not happen by simply showing up to church. This does not even happen, when you confront someone for swearing, lying, cheating, stealing, sexual immorality, murder, hatred, or disobedience.
A Good soldier needs to come to church. A good soldier needs to pray everyday. A good soldier needs to be in bible study. A good soldier should read his bible everyday. A good soldier needs to know what Jesus did and said. But a good soldier also needs to live among people of the world. He needs to confront the world when it says or does something Jesus did not command or commanded against. A good soldier follows in the way of Jesus Christ.
St Paul was a soldier of Jesus Christ. He suffered imprisonment. He suffered with a thorn in his flesh. He even was killed because he proclaimed Jesus Christ. St Timothy was a soldier of Jesus Christ. He taught what Jesus said. He learned from Paul how to suffer. I am not sure exactly how he died.
But this is a trustworthy saying: If we have died with Christ, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself.
You are not a good soldier. You are a sinner. You can work really hard, but eventually you will fail. You will become faithless. You may even decide to abandon the unit all together. But even when we are faithless, God is faithful. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
When a Roman soldier abandoned his post, failed in his duty, or even became a burden to the unit, they would kill him. Thanks be to God that we have died with Christ our King, and we rise again with him. God knows you are not a good or perfect soldier. But he still wants you to be his soldier.
Don't get entangled with civil pursuits, or the corruption of the world. Run the race. Work hard and spreading the word of God. Be witnesses to others that they may know the truth of Christ Jesus. They may know the rules and the gift.
We may be bound by our physical place in life. We may even find ourselves bound in chains. We may just simply find ourselves bound in suffering. But the Word of God is not bound. Endure everything for the sake of your fellow soldiers who need to hear. God has enlisted an army. But some of that army don't know they have a gift of salvation already won for them.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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