Soldiers of Christ, Arise!

I know it bothers some folks that the Bible, a book of love about a God of love, is loaded with an abundance of military verbiage. Some of it is true action, history, while some of it is metaphor. But it is irreconcilable for many that the God who is our rock1 and our refuge2 is the same God who is a consuming fire.3 The LORD is a warrior!4

But it’s not just God who is a warrior. We are warriors as well.

The Soldier

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.
– 2 Timothy 2:3-4, ESV

Soldiers, whether spiritual or military, have assignments and responsibilities. Fellow soldiers depend on each other to fulfill those assignments and meet those responsibilities. One’s life depends on that. Not only do soldiers focus on their assigned tasks, soldiers face great dangers, and rescue others from great dangers.

Given the battlefield before us, we are charged to be men and women of confident courage, as those who do not operate from a spirit of fear5 but a spirit of power and self-control. We endure suffering as soldiers of Christ, and in many cases, share in his sufferings,6 but we do so with great confidence as those who know whom we have believed, and those who know that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to us.7

As soldiers of Christ, we endure suffering, even considering it a joy to do so,8 sometimes falsely accused,9 but we find strength through the grace that is in Christ!10 We set aside the sufferings and stay focused on our tasks, as one whose aim is to please our King11 in all things.

We view our purpose in that way because, as soldiers of King Jesus, we care little what mere man thinks of us.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
– Galatians 1:10, ESV

The World System

The worldliness of the western church, the body of Christ, is a source of constant grief for me. I see a church that is so enamored with worldliness that it attempts to compete with that world system and do so while dressing that participation in churchy language. The soldier of Christ wars against the world system rather than embrace and emulate it.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
– James 4:4, ESV

The believer who admires and befriends the world system is one who has become stained by that system,12 and the more stains that believer carries, the more like the world they appear. Eventually the stains look as though they belong, and the church becomes indistinguishable from the world. Over time, one’s friendship with and admiration of the world blossoms into a love for the world. Such love has no place in the life of a disciple of Jesus.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
– 1 John 2:15-17, ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
– Romans 12:2, ESV

The world is on a collision course with destruction, and we don’t want to be condemned along with it.13

The Battlefield

As we “fight the good fight”14 or “war the good warfare,” we need to be aware that the battlefield isn’t what’s right in front of us, whether that’s work, the store, something on television, or in the news. While it’s true that we wage war against our own flesh,15 the war against the world system is something otherworldly.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
– Ephesians 6:12, ESV

The real battle between the believers and the world system is not something that is fought on the tangible plane through politics, protests, or social media word-wars. This is a battle we fight and win on our knees. And in the end…

    He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
    and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken

– Ephesians 6:12, ESV

Blessings upon you, my friends.

Victoriously in Christ!

– damon

DamonJGray.org
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1. Psalm 18:2
2. Psalm 46:1
3. Hebrews 4:29, Deuteronomy 4:24
4. Exodus 15:3
5. 2 Timothy 1:7
6. 2 Timothy 1:8
7. 2 Timothy 1:12
8. James 1:2-4
9. 2 Timothy 2:9
10. 2 Timothy 2:1
11. 2 Timothy 24
12. James 1:27
13. 1 Corinthians 11:32
14. 1 Timothy 1:18
15. Galatians 5:17

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Damon J. Gray

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2 Comments

  1. Jane on October 21, 2024 at 8:42 AM

    I just started reading Shepherds For Sale. Have you read it?

    • Damon J. Gray on October 21, 2024 at 11:18 AM

      NO! I have not, and I understand Megan is getting a lot of heat for writing it. I suspect she anticipated that as she wrote though. I heard Allie Beth Stuckey is catching similar flak for You’re Not Enough and That’s Okay!

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