Soldiers for Christ

A guest post from Scott Leary:

I was channel surfing this week when I stumbled upon the Military Channel. I have not served in the military and probably never will. But the show that was on intrigued me. It was a documentary on the Navy Seals and the training they endure called BUD/S. BUD/S (Which stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) is a 6-month SEAL training course held at the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, CA. The Navy Seal website states in reference to BUD/S, “There will be an exceptional few with burning desire who persevere when their bodies are screaming to quit, yet continue on. These men experience a tremendous sense of pride, achievement, brotherhood and a new self-awareness that, “I can do anything!!”

As I watched this show, I watched the 20 yr olds unite as brothers. They willed each other through incredible pain and hardship. It was all in preparation for battle which some, if not all of them may see for our country. This reminded me of another battle out there. The battle is for salvation of the lost. This battle is fought by those who serve Jesus and further his mission through his Church. Paul tells a young pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-4 :

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

I want to make two points for you today. One is that Paul warned Timothy of hardship and suffering in verse 3. Faithfulness to God and his truth will include hardship. It is inevitable. Paul wanted Timothy to know that. Soldiers suffer hardship as I saw from watching the Navy Seals train. Seals are faithful and train themselves for a mission just as believers in Jesus do. Jesus is our commanding officer in military terms. We ought to have a burning desire to see him glorified and worshipped even though that may mean that we suffer hardship to that end.

However Paul did not leave Timothy on that note. Lets go a little deeper. Secondly, Paul also told him in verse 3 to “Share in suffering as a soldier.” Soldiers never fight alone. They never leave their comrades behind. The Greek word in this verse means to suffer hardship with someone. The Christian faith must be lived out in community with others. We must share our very lives with other Christians and non-Christians, old, young, married, single, child, teenager, believer, unbeliever. It does not matter. Our aim is to bring others to Christ and the way we do that is through community and the sharing of God’s word.

So I hope we learn through Paul that soldiers of Jesus Christ will experience hardship but through God’s grace and the joy of being in Community, we can all endure.