Sermon Tone Analysis

The passage we have before us serves as an important reminder: We are in a war, like it or not.

Pacificism is not an option for the Christian.

You can quote Gandhi all you want, but it won’t erase that reality that this world is a battlefield, and we are all soldiers in the fight.

We are Christian soldiers, and Paul urges Timothy in this passage (as I would urge all of us) to make every effort to be a good soldier.

Charles Spurgeon describes the concept of the Christian soldier in this manner:

Spurgeon

For what is a soldier?

A soldier is a practical man, a man who has work to do, and hard, stern work.

He may sometimes when he is at his ease wear the fineries of war, but when he comes to real warfare he cares little enough for them.

Truly to serve God, really to exhibit Christian graces, fully to achieve a life work for Christ, actually to win souls—this is to bear fruit worthy of a Christian.

A soldier is a man of deeds and not of words.

He has to contend and fight.

In wartime his life knows little of luxurious ease.

In the dead of night, perhaps, the trumpet sounds to boot and saddle, just at the time when he is most weary, and he must go to the attack just when he would best prefer to take his rest in sleep.

The Christian is a soldier in an enemy’s country, always needing to stand on his watchtower, constantly to be contending, though not with flesh and blood, with far worse foes—namely, with spiritual wickedness in high places.

Main Text

In this epistle, Paul writes to Timothy as a passing of the baton of sorts.

As John MacArthur explains:

In this letter, Paul, aware the end was near, passed the non-apostolic mantle of ministry to Timothy (cf.

2:2) and exhorted him to continue faithful in his duties (1:6), hold on to sound doctrine (1:13, 14), avoid error (2:15–18), accept persecution for the gospel (2:3, 4; 3:10–12), put his confidence in the Scripture, and preach it relentlessly (3:15–4:5).

Quite the pair of shoes to fill.

Quite the set of marching orders.

The exhortations Timothy received from Paul are exhortations for us as well.

To be good soldiers of Christ Jesus, obedience, courage, and all-in devotion are requisite.

One must follow Christ even as the war intensifies, even as the enemy continues to viciously attack without relenting.

One must not surrender, for the cause is Christ and the victory is assured.

Obedience & Courage

The modifier ‘good’ in front of the word ‘soldier’ implies the existence of different qualities of soldiers.

In order to be distinguished as a ‘good’ soldier, I believe two characteristics (and I don’t intend this to be an exhaustive description of a good soldier) must be present: obedience and courage.

A good soldier must obey his commanding officer’s commands (disobedience soldiers are not good soldiers) and possess the courage necessary to face danger in its various forms (cowardly soldiers aren’t good soldiers).

For the Christian soldier, no less is true.

First, obedience.

There are blogposts and devotional books and podcasts out there about claiming the promises of God from the Bible, but they usually miss the ones about suffering and persecution.

Obviously, people aren’t keen on perusing the internet or searching Amazon for reading/listening material that will smack them in the face with a truth so hard as this one is.

I want to hear about the ‘abundant life’ (John 10:10) or God’s special plans for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).

Often the verses used for this purpose are misquoted or out of context.

This is not to say that God exclusively has gloom and doom in store for His followers, but we miss much if we fail to acknowledge that:

The soldier’s life, the ins and outs of his daily existence, it’s all centered around obedience to his commanding officer.

And many times obedience requires the soldier to put himself in harm’s way, to jump into suffering with both feet.

As good soldiers, we desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

We desire to obey Him, even if it means taking up our crosses daily to follow Him.

There was a heresy that crept into the church in its early days known as ‘antinomianism’.

In addition to being a mouthful to say, the word literally means ‘against law’, and those who held to this teaching remarkably denied the necessity of obedience to God in the Christian life (as strange as it may sound to some ears).

These antinomians swung on the pendulum way too far in their attempt to denounce the heresy of legalism, which downplays if not outright destroys the role grace plays in salvation.

As admirable as their intentions to avoid legalism might have been, it’s falling into one ditch because you’re trying your hardest to not fall into another ditch.

The result is the same: error and false teaching.

RC Sproul noted a modern-day equivalent to this ancient false teaching:

“Easy Believism is a modern form of the ancience heresy of antinomianism.

It asserts that once a person makes a decision for Christ or prays to receive Jesus as Savior, it is not necessary to embrace Him as Lord.

There are no requirements of law that bind the Christian.”

And Spurgeon, in his eloquent, wordsmith Spurgeony way:

I have known, in my short time, certain churches, in the paroxysms of delirium, meeting houses crowded, aisles filled, preachers stamping and thundering, hearers intoxicated with excitement, and persons converted by wholesale—even children converted by hundreds—they said thousands.

Well, and a month or two after, where were the congregations?

where were the converts?

Echo has answered, “Where, where?”

Why, the converts were worse sinners than they were before; or mere professors, puffed up into a superficial religion, from which they soon fell into a hopeless coldness, which has rendered it difficult ever to stir them again.

Do not be deceived: Following Christ is more than repeating a prayer and coming to church occasionally on a Sunday (bonus points if you come to midweek).

It’s more than looking in your Bible for those ‘promise verses’ you found on that blogpost to highlight when you’re feeling blue.

Following Christ is a wholesale commitment to serve Him.

Imagine this situation: A man enlists in the military and decides upon arriving at boot camp that he was not going to follow any of drill sergeant’s orders.

All the training is a bit too rigorous for his liking.

He just wants to do what he wants to do.

But this is exactly fits the so-called Christian who refuses to live in obedience to Christ; even worse is the man who thinks his disobedience is somehow virtuous.

After all, legalism is bad.

The Bible is not a rulebook.

We can’t earn salvation.

While these things are true, it is not an excuse to live in perpetual disobedience to the commands of God.

Repeat: Grace is no excuse to sin.

Paul would give the misguided soul an earful:

A soldier’s commanding officer ought to be respected.

Sometimes, if he is a good commanding officer, he is admired by those under his command.

Either way, the soldier obeys the commands he is given.

He may not like it.

His heart may be in rebellion while his body goes through the motions of obedience.

But a good soldier obeys.

Beyond mere respect, beyond even admiration, Jesus our Commanding Officer is loved above all others by His soldiers.

How much more, then, should He be obeyed?

Again, John writes:

Interesting that love for God is defined by obedience.

It’s not about a feeling we feel when singing one of those slow and powerful worship songs.

Or posting praying hands emojis when a friend mentions something about God.

Or saying Merry Christmas to the cashier who insists on wishing you a ‘happy holidays’.

Again, it’s about that commitment to follow Jesus and keep His commands.

And His commands are not a burden precisely because of our love for Him.

Sometimes obedience means enduring persecution.

The good soldier is willing to go to the frontlines for love of his Commanding Officer.

The good Christian soldier is willing to risk even death for the sake of Christ.

And, amazingly, this is not burdensome.

It does, however, require courage.

The good soldier is courageous.

How can I be courageous enough to face the persecution that is promised to come my way at some point?

Everybody loves reciting Joshua 1:9 at this point:

Notice that for Joshua, having strength and courage is a command.

Eschewing fear and discourage is likewise an order.

How is Joshua to accomplish the task set before him?

Recall the mission: Joshua was to lead God’s chosen people, after 40 years of builtup anticipation, into the promised land.

This isn’t like renting a U-Haul and moving into your dream home, unless your dream house is currently being occupied by vicious enemies who are going to fight you for it.

So, Joshua, scared yet?

Well, stop worrying and start repeating to yourself, “Be strong and courageous.

Be strong and courageous.”