The Character of a Soldier of Christ - Bible Study
The Character of a Soldier of Christ
2 Timothy 2
When Paul was writing these words to Timothy, there is a certainty that his exposure to Roman soldiers and centurions brought on this analogy of a being a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A centurion was one of the greatest fighting men that served the Caesar.
His promotion only came after sixteen years of combat service. He knew what combat was like and had shown valor at that point of the spear. He was able to carry ninety-pounds of equipment and walk twenty-miles a day with it. He knew what it was to survive under harsh conditions of weather and battle. He was required to equip himself at his own expense. He had to pay for his food, clothing, bedding, arms, and armor also paying dues to a burial club. He wasn’t just a fighting man but was a skilled engineer and builder. He had a company of one-hundred men that were totally dependent on his leadership. He would serve for twenty-five years and then receive a cash payment and a small piece of land for his service.
He was literally a “soldier’s soldier.” Death was the penalty for fleeing during the battle or faking an illness to get out of one.
The level of a centurion as considered the highest honor that a Roman soldier could attain to. In fact, his whole life represented a sense of strength, honor and virtue. It was a choice that he made to embody all of these qualities.
Paul was writing to Timothy and he was instructing him emphatically that he had to embody these same traits. He was not implying that it would be an easy thing to do but it was understood that it would be a necessary thing for him to do!
It is important to add that this is a place that no one is born into. . . it is developed with rigorous training. It is developed through the bumps and bruises of life. It is developed only when we are willing to let God pour His Spirit into us as He pours our own whims out.
Not easy but it is necessary! I ask the hard question to you. . . “If you were to die right now, what kind of legacy would you leave behind?”
You may ask the question, “How do I get to that place?” Paul left the instructions for Timothy as to how this was to take place. Endure Hardness . . . Don’t Get Entangled . . . Please the Commander.
Endure Hardness
His words to Timothy were that he would be required to suffer with trouble and afflictions. It was not going to be an easy path for him just to waltz his way to Heaven. There were going to be spirits to battle with, people who wanted to oppose him and tear him down, and churches that wanted to eat him alive.
In other places, Paul hinted at this:
2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2 Timothy 3:11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
2 Timothy 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
2 Corinthians 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
Paul knew that by enduring hardness that the discipline involved in going through was to be highly valued after he made it on the other side of the trouble. Paul was certain that God wanted to develop qualities in Timothy that would be helpful to him. Sufficient grace from God adds things to you in affliction and difficulty:
ü Endurance
ü Discipline
ü Self-Sacrifice
ü Vigilance
ü Obedience
ü Cooperation with others
ü Sympathy
ü Loyalty
Our foe is just as disciplined, just as vigilant, and just as unrelenting as he can be. . . therefore there must be that same tenacity in your own spiritual life. The reason that some people never can seem to get up in their battle is because they expect God to do it all for them! His Spirit empower us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
Phil 2:12 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
We must fight on through the affliction. . .
Don’t fight like Joash and strike the ground three times when he could have wiped out the enemy. Don’t fight like Israel did and allow the enemies to linger around in the land that God had given to them.
Fight like Joseph who said, “how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Fight like Paul who labored to bring his body under subjection. Fight like Jesus told His disciples fight. . . cut off the hand or pull out the eye that hinder your walk. Fight like Jesus when He told the devil, “Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve!”
Don’t Get Entangled
To be a soldier of the Cross, we have to endure hardness but the second thing that Paul noted was that Timothy did not need to get entangled.
The Greek word for entangled is EMPLEKO which literally means to weave. Paul is not speaking of things that are necessarily sinful but things that are distracting from the very purpose of our calling!
You are a soldier! An ordinary citizen can do what he desires to do. He can make his own decisions. He can use his time as he desires to do so. He can get involved in sports, education, business, or politics. He can eat when he wants to and what he wants to.
But we are soldiers and we are not meant to just go about in life. There must be a purpose about what we are doing and we cannot afford to get entangled or entrapped by the distractions of this world.
2 Timothy 4:10; Luke 8:14; 1 Corinthians 9:25-27; 1 Timothy 6:9-12; 2 Peter 2:20
Timothy was to stay away from all the entanglements even though some of them may have been good and beneficial causes. Nowhere did Paul encourage him to organize marches, register voters, get involved in demonstrations, or get the homeless situated. If enough people are saved from their sins, social reforms generally take care of themselves!
If you look back at the history of England the eighteenth century had horrible social conditions. In fact, if you read any of the stories the Charles Dickens wrote, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities.
Everywhere there was corruption and crime, sinful vices and violence penetrated every level of society. The church had gotten so materialistic and spiritually dead that no one even took it seriously. It was the butt of jokes because it was devoid of any spiritual power and authority.
The politicians and the rich ran over the common man to such a degree that it began to push toward revolution. France became so stirred up that their revolution produced the guillotine and the Reign of Terror. England also had great stirrings but instead of revolution they had a revival.
It started with two brothers named Wesley, John and Charles. One wrote sermons and the other wrote hymns. The Methodist awakening shook England to the extent that social reform took place without the first protest or demonstration.
The same thing can happen in our days, if, and only if, we do not become entangled with the benign and curious entanglements of this world.
Some reasons that revival do not come to many churches:
1. Because evangelism is highly commercialized. . . we pay preachers to do the work of evangelism, and it has not longer personal evangelism.
2. Because the Gospel has been cheapened. . . Just “accept” Jesus. . . “Such a sinning, repenting ‘easy-believism’ dishonors the blood and prostitutes the altar.
3. Because of carelessness. . . Altars are no longer lingering places where eternal business is done.
4. Because of fear. . . Preachers have gotten ‘tight-lipped’ about preaching against sin and other false religions.
5. Because of a lack of urgency in prayer. . . there is a ‘wrestling’ that is required in prayer.
6. Because the glory of God has been stolen from Him. . . Everything but God gets the glory, the preacher, the church, the music program, the youth outings, etc.
All the health, wealth, and prosperity folks should hear this:
Preachers who have homes and cottages by the lake, a boat on that lake, and a big bank balance still beg for more. With such extortionists and unjust men, can God entrust Holy Ghost revival? These dear, doll-like preacher boys no longer change their suits once a day, but two or three times a day. They preach the Jesus of the stable, but themselves live in swank hotels. For their own lusts they bleed the audience financially in the name of the One who had to borrow a penny to illustrate His sermon. They were expensive Hollywood suits in honor of one who fasted alone in the desert. Today an evangelist is not only worthy of his hire (so he thinks), but of compound interest. How fearful will all this be in the judgment morning!
This kind of stuff will jolt you into thinking about the entanglements of this world. We must have continuous, perpetual, and a soul-consuming passion for revival and spiritual breakthrough!
Please the Commander
We have to endure hardness, we cannot get entangled, and lastly, we have to please the commander.
ü Amplified — His aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him.
ü The Message — He concentrates on carrying out orders.
ü New English Bible — He must be wholly at his commanding officer’s disposal.
Paul noted in 2 Timothy 2:4, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. That was the way that Paul had lived out his life and now was instructing Timothy to do the same. In another place, he said it like this. . .
1 Thessalonians 2:4 4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
This is the secret of our strength in our spiritual life, to please the Lord. You can live to please yourself, live to please others or you can live to please God and you will end up taking care of the first two.
2 Timothy 2:9-10 9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
It looked like a certain defeat! “I suffer trouble as a criminal.” Although he had not suffered the loss of his life, yet he had gone to the length of being bound with chains. He was now in the company of Jesus Christ and would be numbered with Him. It looked like a certain defeat!
But there was a promise of victory! “But the Word of God is not bound.” His conviction was strong that the Word of God could not be bound by Caesar. In fact, there was much liberty that came to Paul because he was preaching despite the presence of a chain.
He was victorious! “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” This salvation that we have is going to transform us either at death or at the Rapture. One way or another, faithfulness is required. Paul was victorious!
Ø Lock me up. . . but I am going to please God!
Ø Flog me with Jewish lashes. . . I am going to bless His Name!
Ø Put my feet in stocks. . . I will sing at midnight!
Ø Leave me for dead. . . I will preach another day!
Ø Destroy my good name. . . I will please Him who sent me!
Ø Let Roman rods rain down on me. . . I will worship Him!
Ø Immersed in the ocean after a shipwreck. . . My faith won’t let me down!
Ø When I have big rivers to cross. . . I will please Him who sent me!
Ø When I am fighting off robbers. . . I won’t complain, I will praise Him!
Ø When I have to battle with foes. . . I will serve the Lord with gladness!
Ø When I get stuck with drudgery and hard labor. . . I will look to the Lord!
Ø When can’t sleep because of fear and worry. . . I will still do my best to please God!
The Message Bible:
2 Corinthians 11:28-30 28 And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. 29 When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. 30 If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus.
Pleasing Jesus is what it is about!