The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-02-26
Good Soldiers
Lesson for February %, 1860

the peace and joy of the Chris
tan life. Peace and joy there
are, to be sure; but hearing
about nothing else may give in
terested persons the notion that
being Christian is just like
floating on your back in a sunlit
swimming pool. half asleep. On
the contrary, the Christian life
is more like a swim across the
English channel, fighting cur
rent, waves, cold and hunger. If
you're not prepared to swim
against the tide, you'll never
make it. Saint Paul more than
once used language about the
Christian life that make it sound
like fight. He compares it to
a race 2 Tim. AID, to a boxing
match same verse;. to wrest-
ling match tEph. SID, to a war
(Eph. 6:l0f), to a battle with
wild beasts q Cor. 1922. He
urges his young friend Timothy
who was bit Of a mothers
to take his share of suffering
like a good soldier of Jesus.
Where the Fight Starts
If this world were the kind of
place that would give no trouble
at all to real Christian, it would
not be the world that needed to
be saved" 1t is precisely be-
cause the world does not well
come 100 per cent Christians that
it did not welcome Jesus; it is
definitely the hostility Of the
world that brought Christ here
to endure the Cross.
Jesus did not 60 around pick
ing on the world, and the Chris
tan has no business picking on
it. either. The way to be a good
soldier of Jesus is not, usually.
to Start firing at will. There is
enough fighting to be done with
out picking fights.
Consider the story of Paul's
arrest at Jerusalem. It WASH t
exactly arrest, it was being
taken into protective custody to
keep from being beaten to death
by a lynching-bent mob. What
caused the uproar? SANDER
caused it, for one thing: Paul
was accused of sacrilege, defil-
ing the Holy Place. which he had
not done at all. Prejudice caused
1t, including race prejudice: Paul
was accused, truthfully enough,
of being friendly with Gentiles.
There were other factors, but al
ready we can see the kind of
cause that can always be found
back of opposition to Christians:
Accusations of which Paul was
innocent. and hatred of the very
thing he did that was good. The
Christian will at times be mis-
understood. but even when he is
fully understood he still may be
a target for broken bottles.
Enduring
There is one very important
difference b W G e n Christian
warfare and literal war as
carried On in the modern world
The CT or other soldier at the
front carries a deadly weapon.
He goes after the enemy by
bringing him pain and catastro-
phe. he destroys him if he can.
The Christian soldier carries on
his war by turning the enemy
tof Cod into a friend. He fights
not by inflicting suffering but by
enduring it. Paul being beaten by
that insane mob was not fighting
back. He would not have done it
if he could. He wrote to friends
that he carried the marks of the
Lord Jesus about with him,
and he meant literal scars. Read
what he says about his trials in
2 Cor. 1l:23-23.
Witnessing
The other way the Christian
soldier fights is by simply wit
Messing. 1t is an impressive sight.
Paul with his clothes torn, HIM
self bleeding and in fact half
dead, looking more like an Egyp-
tan bandit than a Roman citizen.
quoting the crowd with a ges-
ture. and then in their own langu-
age telling the story of how he
became a Christian. That took
courage. 1t was really his being
a Christian that started the
trouble. But this is what he will
not tone down or deny. The
Christian warfare is by witness
ing. Let no one say this is all
talk. that talk is cheap and easy
that nobody is going to lynch you
for being a Christian in America
today. Isn't it true, diSgracefnlly
true. that many Christians keep
quiet about it? Stones are not
thrown today; but laughter is.
Don't Christians dread ridicule
almost as if it were gunfire?
Based on outlines copyrighted
by the Division OF Christian Edu-
cation. National Council Of the
Churches Of Christ in the U. S. A.