In America, this is Memorial Day Weekend. If you are serving or have served our country in the military, thank you for your service! Tomorrow, Americans celebrate those who have given their last, fullest measure of devotion to secure and protect our freedom. The honor we give to such countrymen and women for their devotion to their mission reminds me of some of Paul’s words as he neared the end of his mission. He wrote:
As for me, I feel that the last drops of my life are being poured out for God. The glorious fight that God gave me I have fought. The course that I was set I have finished, and I have kept the faith. The future for me holds the crown of righteousness which God, the true judge, will give to those who have loved what they have seen of him (2 Tim 4:6-8 J.B. Phillips)
Everyone reading this blog wants to be able to look back upon his life and say, The glorious fight that God gave me I have fought. I have not been AWOL (absent without leave). I have not been a deserter. I have not been so busy with civilian life that I forgot to report for duty. I went into battle and I fought the spiritual enemies of my loved ones and my Lord on the battlefield that was assigned to me. This episode looks at WHY Paul was able to say that about his own life.
Though summer doesn’t technically come until June 21, for most of us, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer. Transitional times are always a great time to ask, “Do I need to make some adjustments to my life this new season? Do I need to renew my commitment to stay focused on the mission Christ has called me to?” This episode looks at the code Paul lived by and points to in 2 Tim 2:4, No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. We want to ask, “How can we better understand what Paul is saying in this verse so that we can put it into practice?” We want understanding how to not get tangled up in the distracting pursuits so we can look back on this summer and say, ‘Ya know, I think I did actually stay focused on pleasing Christ a little more than I have before.’” So, let’s look closely at the strategy Paul gives us. Let’s focus on 3 parts to this verse:
A. Paul’s use of the term soldier indicates that he viewed the Christian life as warfare. One commentator observes, The picture of man as a soldier and life as a campaign is one, which the Greeks and Romans knew well. Paul took this picture and applied it to all Christians…He urges Timothy to fight a fine campaign (1Tim 1:18). He calls Archippus, in whose house a church met, “our fellow soldier” (Philemon 2). He calls Epaphroditus, the messenger of the Philippian Church, “my fellow soldier” (Phil 2:25) (Barclay).
Christians must fight a three-front war 1) against our sinful nature, which seeks to overpower us, 2) against the world, whose idols seek to capture our heart affections, 3) against Satan and his demonic host, who relentlessly tempt us. To become a Christ-follower means not only trusting his death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, but also JOINING CHRIST IN HIS MISSION. Notice that in this verse from 2 Timothy 4, Paul refers to Christians as those who have enlisted. Christ-followers, by definition, join Christ’s cause, i.e. his mission to overthrow the tyrants, Satan, sin, and death who have been ruling Adam’s kingdom, earth. Through the power of Christ, the Second Adam, we fight Satan and sin, to establish the kingdom of righteousness and wholeness on earth. Like it or not, life as a follower of Christ is being a soldier. Every day we have the opportunity to fight for the kingdom of righteousness to prevail in our own hearts and spheres of our lives, or to passively be run over by Christ’s enemies, Satan, sin, and death (yes, even death because sin rots our souls, always causing damage and erosion to our hearts.) In Paul’s description of the spiritual realities behind the visible world, he urges Christians three times in three verses to stand and fight! (Eph 6: 11-13). The Christian life is warfare.
B. Back in 2 Tim 2:4, what we are not to get entangled in CIVILIAN PURSUITS (ESV). The first, word, translated civilian, is the Greek word, BIOS, from which we get biology. It refers to physical life and our mandate to cultivate the earth. The second word is PRAGMATIA, from which we get pragmatic. It means, purposeful deeds. Unfortunately, some believers mistakenly think that this verse elevates spiritual activities over secular activities. It does not. As the ESV footnotes point out, This verse has at times been misinterpreted as a call away from “secular” civilian pursuits. The Bible, however, does not allow Christians to separate life into distinct realms, “spiritual” and “secular.” All of life is to be lived spiritually, in obedience to the Spirit according to the Word of God. Adam and Eve’s creation calling is to develop the resources and culture on planet earth. In 2 Tim 2:4 Paul is not talking about divided, sacred/secular WORLDS but about divided LOYALTIES.
C. 2 Tim 2:4. tells us that no soldier gets ENTANGLED in civilian pursuits. Paul is not forbidding engagement in the physical, secular world. That would be to abrogate God’s command to Adam and Eve to exercise dominion over the earth. Besides, soldiers are off duty much of their 24-hour day, I hope enjoying God’s glorious creation. God’s command to us through Paul is not to be entangled. The Greek word means to weave into. Think of the way an individual reed is woven into a basket. Because the reed is woven together with other reeds, it is constrained, entangled, held in place, in a sense held captive by the other reeds. It is NOT FREE. There are patterns of operating in this glorious, created, everyday world that constrain us, that hold us back from focusing on pleasing our commanding officer. In no way does Paul imply that these civilian pursuits are sinful. Rather, he teaches that these good things have the capacity to entangle, preventing a believer from aiming to please the one who enlisted him. Let’s look at some of these entanglements, these behavior patterns that are not necessarily wrong in themselves but which tie us up and keep us from focusing on the mission Christ has for us.
1. Weaving together a pattern of life that is so preoccupied with the visible world of activity, (what Paul calls civilian pursuits), that the inner private world where we discover how to please the one who enlisted us, is not even on the radar. Gordon MacDonald, in his book, Ordering Your Private World, observes:
Our public worlds are filled with a seeming infinity of demands upon our time, our loyalties, our money, and our energies. And because these public worlds of ours are so visible, so real, we have to struggle to ignore all their seductions and demands. They scream for our attention and action The result is that our private world is often cheated, neglected because it does not shout quite so loudly.
Jesus warns us about a life preoccupied with the physical, material world at the expense of the inner, spiritual world.
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and IS NOT RICH TOWARDS GOD” (Luke 12:16-21).
2. The second way we are hindered from fighting the good fight is weaving together a calendar of time commitments that consume so much time on the outer world of activity, that the inner world of our walk with Christ gets the left-overs. The word, disciple, means, one who patterns his life after the life of his master. Jesus never let his outward world of activity prevent him from time away alone with the Father. We read in Luke 5:15-16. But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. (Jesus was a rock star). But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. The Greek verb tense indicates a continual practice and could be translated, “was regularly withdrawing and praying.” When I read this I think, “Jesus was perfect, yet he needed to be alone with God a lot. How much more do I need to be alone with the Lord, since spiritual fruit can only come by abiding in Christ?"
I believe it was easy for Jesus to want to retreat to the presence of The Father because he knew how much The Father loved him. So often, we don’t get that. We really don’t realize how thoroughly we are loved by the Father. I think that is why Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus, I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ—and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension (Eph 3:18-19a). We need to push our understanding of God’s grace down deep into our soul and understand that no matter how dirty we feel, the arms of God The Father are always open, always welcoming, always delighting in us. We really are his bride, beautiful in his eyes because we are clothed in the righteousness of his Son. Here are some practical ideas about stealing some time alone with God this summer.
- Get outside if you can. Jesus retreated to desolate outdoor places. The creation makes us feel close to God for a reason; it is a mirror of his glory.
- Never be afraid to tell God what you are feeling at the moment you come into his presence. Real love is based on truth, being known. God can handle our anger, doubts, hurt feelings, and frustration with him!
- Be spontaneous. If you get to an appointment early, stay in the car and grab some extra prayer time. Use the time to thank God, praise him by telling him why you love him. Intercede for loved ones, Father, I pray right now that whatever battles Tyler might be fighting, you would strengthen him to be “strong in you and in the strength of your might” (Eph 6:10.)
Let’s return to the entanglements that tie us up and keep us from focusing on Christ’s mission for us. We’ve seen that we can 1) weave together the strands of a life almost totally preoccupied with the visual, physical, outer world of activity, 2) weave together a calendar of activities that consumes so much time on the outer world of activity, that the inner world of our walk with Christ gets the left- overs.
3. The third way our everyday way of life can hinder our focus on Christ’s mission for us is by weaving together a life that is haphazard, disordered, and unfocused, rather than weaving a pattern shaped by Christ’s mission for us. I suspect that everyone reading this blog has learned the same, invaluable life lesson. In almost every endeavor, if you fail to plan, you should plan to fail. Whether it is thinking through how to answer an essay question on an exam before you start to write or deciding how your star left-hander is going to pitch a 385-hitting batter, you need a plan. However, when it comes to pleasing Christ with our lives, for some reason, we men fly by the seat of our pants. A “plan” doesn’t have to be an elaborate road map for your spiritual life. But it is an intentional direction, a target to focus upon.
In this podcast/blog, we have tried to help men put such a target on the wall. After an exhaustive search of Scripture, we believe that Christ’s mission for us can be summarized in three parts. We are called TO Christ, (to enjoy a love relationship with him), called TO BE LIKE Christ (to Christ-like character), and called to EXERCISE DOMINION FOR CHRIST (implement Christ’s agenda in every sphere of our lives.) But to stay focused on this mission still requires a practical plan and a commitment to implement the plan. How?
We often challenge men: “God gives you 168 hours a week. What would you think of giving just one back to him to sit down with him, your Commander-In-Chief looking over your shoulder and discussing your mission for the upcoming week?" Some men find that the best time to do that is Sunday evening, but there is no “right time.” The necessity of setting aside some regular time to review our mission makes sense to men. We realize that the only thing dumber than Andy Reed having no game plan for the Superbowl would be Andy Redd having a game plan and never looking at it during the game. Men, your life is a lot more important than a Superbowl!
4. The final way we can get entangled with civilian pursuits is weaving together a life that is so full of God’s blessings and other’s expectations that we forget that our Commander-In-Chief has called us to spiritual battle. Paul commanded Timothy, Fight the good fight of the faith (1 Tim 6:12). He issued a clear battle cry to the Ephesian Christians using the word, against, six times in just two verses to describe our battle against the forces of darkness. Peter commands, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). If our life is so absorbed in the wonderful blessings of God’s creation that we give no attention to our inner, spiritual world, we will never be able to be sober-minded and watchful.
As summer 2020 begins and our nation opens up, I hope you immensely enjoy the playground God designed for us—his creation. But as wonderful as the public, outer physical world is, we must realize that we can easily be weaving patterns that all but ignore the inner, private, spiritual world, where we hear the voice of our master and find out how to please him.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
1. Spend 4-5 minutes identifying the obstacle in your life to spending more time alone with God.
2. Pray specifically that by spending more time with the Lord, you will better know how much he enjoys you and that you would grow more and more to enjoy him..
