Scene Setup: As the war for independence rages on, eldest brother, Gabriel, sends a letter home illuminating the struggles of a soldier in battle. His siblings sit on their front porch and read his report with eyes wide open and pride for his participation.
Overveiw: War can sound romantic when it is far away, but when a warrior is on the battlefront there is little but the reality of suffering and death. It is much easier to read a letter and attribute heroism to the one who is on the front line than it is to join the battle ourselves. We are all the recipients of letters written on the battle front. The Apostle Paul writes to us of being chased, harassed, beaten, stoned, imprisoned, and eventually martyred for the cause of Jesus. We sit on our clean verandas in our fancy clothes and smile as we read the letters outloud to one another. Even when Paul's battles are within his Christian communities, we remain disconnected from our responsibility to enter in. Paul, the letter writing apostle, writes to his friends all over the Middle East and addresses pride, church splits, jealousy, control issues in relationships, backsliding, backbiting, gossip, and so much more and we chuckle at his ability to chart a course through such unclean behavior. Yet when it pops its head up in our midst we want our professional clergy to deal with it. If we happen to be the perpetrator of any of these spiritual offenses we want everyone to ignore our sin and assume our best intentions caused it. In a spiritual revolution launched by some of the greatest heroes of all time we have become like well dressed little children reading letters from far away that sound so brave and romantic. Our own world is filled with spiritual attrocities. Christians are being killed by people of other religions all over the world every single day. Do we pray? Are we moved by the martyrs in our worldwide Christian family who suffer because of their faith? Do we sacrifice and send money? Do we enter into the pain and suffering in any way? People who track this kind of thing report that there are more Christian martyrs in this century than in any other century. Perhaps the title of this clip is the best place to start. As our Christian brothers and sisters pray with their blood, perhaps it's time for us to "Pray For The Cause" and then as God leads, begin to follow His lead into a bigger role.
Main Idea: The Horror Of The Front Line Can Seem Romantic On The Porch
The Cause:
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (New King James Version) 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Causalities
o Matthew 5:10-12 (New King James Version) 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Adamant
o Ephesians 6:18 (New King James Version) 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--
Useful
o David made himself useful
§ To his father (1 Sam. 17)
17One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. 18And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing 19—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”
20David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. 22David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. 23While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.
Sincere
o His Efforts were sincere (1 Sam. 17)
32“Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.” 33Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.” 34David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35I’d go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. 36Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. 37God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.” Saul said, “Go. And God help you!” 38Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. 39David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off. 40Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.
Effort
o He put forth the effort when no one else would (1 Sam 17)
11When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.
Final Thought: Our Bible is a record of real men fighting real battles against dangerous foes who took their lives. Our King has now called us into the battle. And even if we are stationed at our home base, we can still engage the enemy and support those at the front lines.
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