Happy Veteran's Day

by Dr. Craig Brandick

Today is the day that we honor those who have served in our military. And with Veteran’s Day in mind I would like to share with you the lesson that I gave to the Master’s Club children on Wednesday night. As we show how the Bible sometimes describes Christians as soldiers serving Christ.

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among  many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Second Timothy 2:1-4

Sometimes God’s Word describes Christians as soldiers in the service of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at how the Bible does this. First we see that:

A good soldier endures hardness.

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (vs. 3)

We have a picture there of a group of soldiers in a foxhole. And look at all the mud. One thing I know about mud is that it is wet, and cold, and sticky, and heavy, and it is usually raining a cold wet heavy rain and your clothes get all wet and heavy. And it just tires you out. Sometimes soldiers can go days on end living like this.

• Sometimes God calls us to hard places. I have friends who are missionaries in some pretty bad parts of the world. There are places where there is mud like this, there are places that have snakes and wild animals that could hurt you. Some of the places are very cold all the time, some of the places are very hot all the time.

• Sometimes God calls us to hard people. In a lot of those places, people just do not want to hear about Jesus. In fact some of them will even put you in jail for mentioning his name. But even here in America you may know friends or family members who treat you differently or even badly because you are a Christian. God told us that this might happen.

• Sometimes God calls us to hard problems. As a Christian you may face temptations and trouble yourself. Or maybe God will put someone in your path that is having a hard time. One of the great joys that you may have is to help people with their problems by pointing them to Jesus and telling them what they need to do from the Bible.

So, what does a good soldier do? A good soldier endures hardness.

The Bible also tells us that:

A good soldier is focused on his duty.

“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life…” (vs. 4a)

Here is a picture of a British Guard at Buckingham Palace. His job is to protect the Queen of England. Now these guys are very focused. In fact, they stand at attention very straight, and very still, so much so that you wonder if they are even alive, or if they are statues. When Mrs. Brandick was a little girl, she went over to England and saw these soldiers. And she—like a lot of people—made faces at them, tried to get them to laugh, or to smile, or to say something. Sometimes people will tease them to get them to look away. But they can never get them to do anything. They just stand there and do their duty. Because a good soldier is focused on his duty. Now what is that? Well, when I was in the service one of the main duties that we were taught was to receive, obey and pass on to others the orders that we received.

• A soldier’s duty is to obey and pass the orders he received to others. And that was what Paul was telling Timothy.

• Paul told Timothy that he should take the things that he had learned from Paul and pass them on to others as well. He told Timothy, don’t lose your focus or get distracted. Don’t get so busy in other things that you forget what you are supposed to do. Sometimes we get busy in other things as well. Maybe it is with the internet, or video games, or books, or playing with friends. Maybe it is with others trying to get your attention. Timothy was to make sure that he did not get so busy in other things that he forgot to share with others the things he had learned about Jesus.

So, A good soldier—does what?-- A good soldier endures hardness. And a good soldier is focused on his duty. Now why does he do that?

A good soldier wants to please his leader.

“…that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (vs. 4b)

• A leader teaches others to be just like him. When you are a soldier, your commanding officer teaches you how to think like a soldier, and act like a soldier, to do what a soldier does, and to go where soldiers go. And that is the very same thing that the leader does. So he teaches soldiers to be just like him.

• As good soldiers for Christ, our goal in life should be to please God.

• We please God by being like his Son Jesus. God wants us to be just like Jesus in everything that we do. When we are at school, when we are at home, when we are with our friends, when we are alone. We are to think like Jesus, act like Jesus, do what Jesus would do, and go where Jesus would go. And when we do this we please God.

So what do good soldiers do? A good soldier endures hardness. A good soldier is focused on his duty, and a good soldier wants to please his Leader.