Enduring Hardship as a Good Soldier: A Meditation on 2nd Timothy 2, for the 18th Sunday in Pentecost

 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.

And if a man also strive for masteries,

yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

 

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David

was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds;

but the word of God is not bound.

 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 is a faithful saying:

For if we be dead with him,

we shall also live with him:

 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:

 if we deny him, he also will deny us:

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful:

he cannot deny himself.

 

There are plenty of ways to misunderstand the militant imagery of the Old and New Testaments, but that doesn’t mean it should be discarded or avoided altogether.  Jesus is described as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah which is an image of His omnipotent strength as the defender of His people, and the Triune God is often referred to as the Lord of Hosts, reflecting His kingly command of the armies of heaven.  Yet the kind of war which Jesus wages against sin, death, hell, and the devil are accomplished not with swords and siege engines, but with His personal sacrifice on behalf of all mankind, coupled with the proclamation of His saving Gospel by Word and Spirit.  As St. Paul would write elsewhere in his letter to the church at Ephesus, the Christian struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against dark powers that manipulate the world and enslave whomever they deceive into evil and death.  Since the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of grace, love, hope, and faith, it cannot be compelled by force of arms, but is rather a battlefield of the mind and soul.  The militancy of the New Testament is one of steadfast endurance in the Word of Christ; the preaching and living of the Gospel, even as the forces of darkness try with all their might to undermine, suppress, corrupt, or persecute those who do so.  This is the admonition of Paul to Timothy, even as Paul reflected on his own suffering for the Gospel which he called Timothy—and all successive Christians, especially pastors—to emulate.

 

While enduring as a good soldier might not seem like an intuitive concept to those who have not served in the armed forces, military veterans might connect with this idea readily.  Enduring hardship for a soldier usually begins with basic training, where for several weeks or months, the soft patterns of civilian life are harshly replaced with a more spartan and utilitarian lifestyle.  Before graduating from basic training, a soldier has learned to function under stress, in foul weather, with mediocre food and little rest, so they can perform their duties as part of a unit that will accomplish their piece of a larger strategy when called upon.  After basic training, they will continue to discipline their bodies and minds for action, with increasing levels of physical and mental ardor—specialized training, fitness standards, deployments, combat exercises, and perhaps actual combat operations.  Throughout their time as soldiers, they will suffer hardship not only so they may accomplish of their respective missions and particular duties, but also to train their bodies and minds to perform under even the worst conditions.  Since the enemy rarely attacks us at our best, every soldier must be prepared to wage war under the worst of circumstances, so they train accordingly.  Endurance of hardship is part of the training which every good soldier must suffer, so that when training transitions to war, a good soldier can do great things in defense of his nation and of his brothers in arms.  It was true of the Roman legions in Paul’s day, and it is true of American warriors today.

 

I think it is worth noting that while Jesus never commanded His disciples to draw arms against enemies of flesh and blood, He certainly didn’t commend them to sloth of body or mind.  To the contrary, Jesus called His disciples to the narrow and difficult but lifegiving path of faith and repentance which few people would find, rather than the wide and easy path of self-indulgence and pride which so many others follow to their doom.  St. Paul captured this clearly in his letters to St. Timothy, where he called for a rigorous and tough-minded approach to living the Christian life.  Paul’s own experience was instructive, having suffered in missionary journeys from robbers and assassins, apostate religious leaders and demonic devotees, from storm and tempest, shipwreck and trials under false pretenses, from heat and cold, whippings and imprisonments, and ultimately an unjust death under a Roman sword.  In all this, his duty was to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the salvation of the world, and to live by grace through faith in Christ alone as his own Savior.  Paul was a good and faithful soldier of Jesus, pressed into service as a steward of the mysteries of God and teacher of His Divine Word, whether in season or out of season, in easy times and hard.  This was not a short-term hitch, or only a few years’ enlistment, either—but a life long devotion to the service of God, His Word, and His people.  This demanded everything of St. Paul, including the suffering of endurance under hardship, for the sake of the God who called, saved, and sent him.

 

We would be well reminded of this calling to Christians in our own day.  The evil one is no less ferocious, no less devious, and no less dangerous in our time and place than he was when confronting St. Paul.  Fallen human nature is no less under the sway of the evil one now, than it was in the governments, industries, academics, and ecclesiastical circles in Paul’s time.  Our enemies are the same, regardless of their contemporary or cultural trappings, and their goal is always the suppression of the Word of God and the destruction, desecration, and condemnation of human life.  Where our enemy attacks civilization and churches in vengeful hatred of God—and hatred of His image written into the very existence of man—Christians are called to endure and persevere as witnesses to Jesus and His saving Word.  To be sure, this battleground is no place for the weak of mind and the lazy of body, for those with divided loyalties and a fundamental love of only themselves, because the enemy will make short work of such poor soldiers.  Thankfully, the source of our strength to both prepare and to stand as good soldiers of Christ, is Christ Jesus Himself.  It is His Word and Spirit that train and transform us into His disciples, teaching us to love, trust, and honor Him above all things, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Our drill sergeant is also our Captain, our General, and our King of Glory, who calls us into His heavenly host, then shapes us for duty in the good works He has ordained for us from before the foundation of the world.  He is the one who raises up good soldiers of the Gospel by grace through faith in Him alone, and by Him alone do His armies across all times and places win eternal victory over every force of darkness.

 

Hear the Word of the Lord calling to you today, that His Holy Spirit might strengthen your weak knees, embolden your fainting heart, sharpen your divided mind, and quicken your wavering spirit.  In Christ alone is found the power to endure all hardship as a good soldier of His Kingdom, where glory and honor and might abide without measure.  There in Jesus and by His Word, you will be raised up to fight the good fight of faith, to bear witness in word and deed to the Gospel which saves you, to every soul you encounter.  And be of good cheer, for our Lord has promised that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the forward march of His Church, composed of His saints and martyrs, apostles and prophets, holy angels and sinners made holy by the Blood of the Lamb—soldiers all in the heavenly host, victorious today and unto ages of ages without end.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.