What is the Christian life supposed to look like? Contrary to popular belief, the Christian life is to look like a wholly devoted soldier, a rule-keeping athlete, and a hard-working farmer — in other words, all out total commitment to Christ and His kingdom!
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What Is The Christian Life Supposed To Look Like?
2 Timothy 2:3-7
What is the normal Christian life supposed to look like? In most places we would say that a Christian is a person who has made a decision for Christ. He attends church on Sunday, and tries to live a fairly moral life. He doesn’t cuss, take drugs or get drunk. If he is an especially good Christian, he may read the Bible during the week and pray a few minutes a day. But really, anything beyond that, is wishful thinking. In short, we believe that the normal Christian life is characterized by a profession of faith and a fairly clean moral life. My question this morning, though, is what does the Bible say the normal Christian life looks like?
Our text this morning tells us that the normal Christian life looks like a wholly devoted soldier, a rule-keeping athlete, and a hard working farmer. That’s 98.6. To live like a soldier, athlete, and farmer is not to live some kind of super saintly life, way above the norm. Folks, this should be the norm for every true child of God. Here at The Bridge, we expect those who know Christ to live as soldiers, athletes, and farmers to the glory of God. So, what does that mean? How can we live as soldiers, athletes, and farmers? Well Paul tells Timothy in vs. 7 to consider what he says for the Lord will give him understanding in everything. Let’s believe verse 7 this morning. Let’s believe that as we consider these pictures of the Christian life, God will give us understanding of them.
1. A Wholly Devoted Soldier 2:3-4
Now, why would Paul compare the Christian life to the life of a soldier? The answer is plain. It’s because every Christian is in a battle for his own soul and for the souls of others. Paul could say to Timothy at the end of this very letter, “I have fought the good fight.” He writes to the church at Ephesus and says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Eph. 6:12-13). Paul calls Epaphroditus and Archippus fellow-soldiers (Phil. 2:25; Philemon 1:2). Paul told the Corinthians, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses” (2 Cor. 10:3-4). So, my question to you is, do you see yourself as a soldier in a spiritual army against the forces of darkness? Do you see your job as obeying the orders of your Commander-In-Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take back the enemy’s ground, and expand the kingdom of God’s dear Son? Well, that’s exactly what God has called every Christian to do.
We Must Suffer Hardship
Well, if we take up our God given charge as soldiers of Christ, what can we expect? We can expect to suffer hardship. How many know that war is not easy? It’s not pleasant, and it’s not fun. To be a soldier in an army means you will face difficulty, suffering, hardship, pain, and loneliness. To be a soldier in Christ’s army is no different. A soldier in battle is in the smoke and the fire, and in the flood. His shield is dented, his armor is bruised, and his sword is hacked. He sees the anguish of the dying all around him, yet he hears the trumpet call, he must press forward into battle, in spite of the very real possibility that he will end up losing his own life. Several years back I read the diary of a man in the Confederate army in the Civil War. He told of how they often had meager rations, and could sometimes go days without food. He wrote of the fatigue they experienced as they endured the constant marching day and night. He faced nights without sleep. If he were to be caught sleeping on his post, he could be shot. He had to sleep in a tent or on the ground in the bitter cold with only his clothes and a blanket. Many soldiers froze to death in the winter. When he was ordered into battle, he was expected to put his life on the line without question or hesitation. If he ran in battle, he would be shot.
What would you think of the man who said, “Yes, I’ll sign up to be a soldier, as long as you give me a king-size feather bed, 3 delicious meals a day with dessert, plenty of warm clothes, and lots of free time to read novels, watch TV, and play chess?” Why, you’d say that man was crazy, and you’d be right! Because we live in an affluent society that idolizes its ease and comfort, when we are faced with hardship and suffering we think something must be wrong. We think that the Christian life is not supposed to be hard; rather it is supposed to be easy. Folks, I’ve got news for you – the Christian life is supposed to be hard! In fact, if your Christian life is easy, you’re probably not living the kind of Christian life God wants you to live. If you’re Christian life is easy, you’re not doing battle on the front lines with the enemy!
We think that our growth in godliness should come easily; the growth of the church should come easily; the work of the church should be easy. When we think like that, we’ve got it exactly backwards. You’ll never find a true soldier who has been on the front lines who said that soldiering was easy.
We Must Not Entangle Ourselves In The Affairs Of Everyday Life
When a man enlists in the Army, he’s got to say good-bye to his everyday life as he knew it. He must leave his family, his wife, his children, his friends, his job, his pleasures and hobbies. And he must completely devote himself to his calling as a soldier. Soldiers are forbidden to become entangled in anything that will divert their focus from warfare. Imagine a private going to his lieutenant and saying, “I’m sorry I have to leave, but I have to go into town tonight and see about some business. Then I’ve got a date with a local girl, so I won’t be available for the battle tonight.” A soldier with that attitude is going to find himself running laps and doing pushups until he collapses, and then thrown in the hole!
Does this verse of Scripture mean that Christians are not allowed to have anything to do with anything other than our spiritual duties? No, it can’t mean that, because we are called as Christians to work to take care of our families. We must live in the world, earn a living, take care of the daily chores around the house, go shopping, and rub shoulders with neighbors and co-workers. No, the emphasis in this verse is on the word “entangled.” As Christians we must never allow the everyday affairs of life to become our pursuit. Jesus said, “But seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mt. 6:33). Did you notice, that we are not just to seek God’s kingdom, but we are to seek it first. The pursuit of the kingdom and righteousness of God must be our priority in life. It must come first, before all other pursuits. Yes, we must do many other things, but they must be kept in the background, while our service for Christ must always be prominent. A lot of people look at their lives like a pie, and there is a slice for their family, another for their work, another for their hobbies, another for friends, and another for their service to Christ. It makes them feel good to go to Church on Sunday, and have a spiritual element in their life. However, Christ should never be one slice out of your life. The Bible says that Christ is our life! If you are just trying to fit in a little Jesus into your crowded fun-filled life, my guess is that you have never come to know Christ at all. Folks, we don’t try to fit Jesus into our already crowded life. We fit everything else in around our love and devotion to Christ.
It is so easy to become entangled in the affairs of everyday life. I remember a time years ago when I began to buy and sell stocks and options in order to provide for our retirement. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with buying and selling stock, but I had to check the stock market daily. Whereas, before, I could take that early morning time to seek God in the Word and prayer, now I was checking out how the stocks were doing, and trying to figure out if it was a good time to buy or sell. I think I became entangled. Or take the guy who buys a boat to go cruising on the lake. There’s nothing wrong with having a boat. But having spent a good chunk of money for the boat, he feels he needs to use it often in order to justify the expense he has laid out. So, at first, he’s going out on the boat on an occasional Saturday. Soon, though, he is missing church on Sundays. Or take the guy who wants to excel in business. He says that he’s just going to work real hard for a few years, and then he’ll have lots of time to serve the Lord and others. The problem is that story never ends the way we want it to. The person who idolizes success in business, forsakes service in the church, he’s no longer available for one on one discipleship, he can’t serve in Children’s Ministry or setting up the building for service, because he’s always preoccupied with his secular work. These are examples of someone who has become entangled. Now, there is one area in which we should be entangled and absorbed. In 1 Timothy 4:14-16 Paul tells Timothy, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
To Please The One Who Enlisted Him
In each one of these snapshots of the Christian life, there is a duty and a motive. Our duty is to suffer hardship and keep from becoming entangled in everyday life. The motive is that if we do so we will please Jesus Christ, our commanding officer. He is the one who enlisted us. He called us into His kingdom, gave us a uniform, and marching orders. If you want to please Him, you must pursue His kingdom and His righteousness above everything else. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” Is that your ambition? Do you really desire above everything else to live a life pleasing to Christ? That will be so only if you put His interests and glory above everything else in your life.
2. A Rule Keeping Athlete 2:5
If Anyone Competes As An Athlete
The athlete was another favorite metaphor for Paul. He often likened the Christian life to a race. In 1 Cor. 9:24 he says, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” He says of himself in Acts 20:24, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I might finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” There Paul speaks of finishing his course. He’s talking about the race course that he was running on.
He Must Compete According To The Rules
Now, what specifically must this athlete do? Our text says he must compete according to the rules. I don’t care what sport you are talking about, every one has its own rules. In baseball, you can’t go to second base before you go to first base. You’ve got to throw three strikes to strike the batter out. Two strikes is not enough. If you’re the batter, you need the pitcher to throw four balls before you can walk to first; three balls won’t do it. If a professional baseball player is found using steroids, he is suspended from the game.
So, what does this mean? What does it mean for the Christian to compete according to the rules? Well the literal Greek says, “the athlete is not crowned unless he has contended lawfully.” The word “lawfully” should give us a clue. After considering this text it seems best to under Paul to be saying that if we intend to receive the heavenly prize we must live according to the laws or rules He has set down in His Word. Now, it is absolutely true that our obedience to the Law can never save us. “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Rom.3:20). However, does that mean that we are supposed to cast off God’s Law as being entirely irrelevant to the Christian? No. God’s Law is a guide to us of that which pleases Him. Now, when I speak of the Law, I simply mean God’s revealed moral will, and the place we turn first to find out God’s revealed moral will is in the New Testament Scriptures. There we read that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. There we read that we are to love our enemy, and pray for those who persecute us. We are to keep ourselves sexually pure and chaste. We are to refrain from lying and stealing, and instead be generous and speak those things only that bring edification. We are to be zealous for good works and for the salvation of souls. These are some of the rules we find in our Bibles.
Some people approach the Christian life like this. They say, “I know this is sin, but God understands.” Then they just continue on in that sinful lifestyle. My friends, that’s not competing according to the rules. If it is sin, then you can’t continue living in it and still expect to win the prize. Folks, is there something in your life that you know is sin, but are willfully continuing in it anyway? Is God speaking to you about it, but you just ignore Him? Watch out! You’re about to be thrown out of the game or suspended! In fact, if you live a life of sin it probably means that you have never been saved at all. The quality of our lives will prove whether God has begun a good work in us. If He has, He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass (1 Thess. 5:24). But by the same token we must test ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). A true Christian strives in the games lawfully, according to God’s revealed moral will.
Win The Prize
Just as the soldier’s reward is to please his commanding officer, the athlete’s reward is the prize. So too, we strive that we might win an imperishable wreath. Paul himself says in 2 Tim. 4:8 “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” The Lord will give rewards to His faithful servants on that Final Day. He tells us this in His Word to motivate us to a life of zeal, and purity, and sacrificial service. My friend, are you living the kind of Christian life that will be awarded a great reward on that day? If not, determine by God’s grace that you will begin to strive in the games lawfully.
3. A Hard Working Farmer 2:6
The Hard-Working Farmer
There is a sense in which there is excitement and glory both for the soldier and the athlete. However, farming is not glorious. It is tedious, exacting, and exhausting. My son knows this well. He is operating a small 2-acre organic farm, and making his living from it, but he tells me there is always something that needs to be done. It might be weeding, plowing, sowing, watering, mending fences to keep the deer out, boxing the crops for sale at the farmer’s market, but there’s always something to do. Farmers typically must work from sunup to sundown during planting and harvest seasons. In fact the word Paul uses here for “hard-working” means to sweat and strain to the point of exhaustion.
So, what does it mean to be a hard-working farmer in the Christian life? Well, Jesus told us a parable in which the seed is the Word of God. In another parable Jesus says that there will be a harvest at the end of the age, in which the righteous will be separated from those who commit lawlessness. Friends, God has called us to be hard-working farmers. We are to work hard to sow gospel seed, and witness and proclaim Christ to the lost.
You know, sowing the gospel in hearts is hard work. We found that out when we went down to Old Sacramento during the Gold Rush Days. Boy, when I got home, I was tired! Then last Sunday after going to church, and then spending time afterwards with everyone at our fellowship lunch, and then going down to the light rail, I was tired and spent when I got home. Of course, there are a lot of other things my flesh would like to do, other than go down in 100 degree weather and hand out tracts, and talk to lost people about Jesus Christ. Your flesh will always resist the impulse of the Spirit. For you to be a hard-working farmer might mean that you give up one of your relaxing Saturday evenings, in order to prepare a meal and invite some neighbors over who need Jesus. It might mean giving up one of your week nights to meet with your Missional Community so that together you can reach the lost.
Did you know that the Christian life means a life of hard work? Unless you and I are busy serving Christ we aren’t living our Christian lives the way we ought. There is so much to be done, and so few people to do it, and so little time to do it in, that every Christian should be always abounding in the work of the Lord. We need to give ourselves to planting the seed of the gospel, pulling weeds by reproving and warning those who continue in sin, watering those seeds by prayer, and harvesting the crop by bringing them to Christ and then teaching them to obey whatever Jesus has commanded us.
Ought To Be The First To Receive His Share Of The Crops
Here again we are brought face to face with the reward of serving Christ faithfully. For the soldier the reward was the pleasure of Christ. For the athlete, it was the pleasure of winning the prize. For the farmer, it is the pleasure of receiving a share of the crops. I believe this has reference to the pleasure you and I will have when we get to heaven and see the people that are there because of our labor down here. I truly believe when we get to heaven, we will see people that we had forgot all about, but our lives had an influence upon in bringing them to Christ. In Luke 16:9 Jesus said, “Make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Oh, the joy of having people in heaven whom we have helped to get there by giving money, receive us into the eternal dwellings!
In all three of these metaphors, I believe our reward comes on Judgment Day. We are soldiers in a spiritual war our entire lives. We are athletes running a race our entire lives. We are hard working farmers investing the gospel in people our entire lives. Then when our life is over the reward is given. We please our commanding officer. Jesus tells us, “well done, good and faithful servant.” We receive our prize. Christ Himself awards us a crown of righteousness. We share in the crops. God shows us those people that our lives touched in a significant way who made it to heaven. A story is told of an elderly missionary couple returning home after 50 years of faithful service in Africa. On that same ship was Theodore Roosevelt who was coming home to New York after a big game safari hunting trip. When Roosevelt disembarked there were thousands to greet him, and many dignitaries flashing cameras. There was also a big brass band to welcome him home. But for the missionary couple, there was absolutely no one there to welcome them. The man turned to his wife and said, “Here we have served the Lord faithfully for 50 years and no one is here to greet us. Yet the President comes home from a hunting exhibition and there is an entire parade!” His wife quietly and wisely replied, “But honey, we’re not home yet!” And that is the truth. Our rewards are future. When we get home, there will be wonderful rewards awaiting the wholly devoted soldier, the rule keeping athlete, and the hard working farmer.
So, my challenge to you folks here at The Bridge, is live your Christian life to the full. Determine that you will seek first His kingdom. Make Christ and His cause your first priority, and then seek to serve Him with all your might. If there is an outreach, planned, get involved. If there is a prayer meeting, come and pray. If there are friends and neighbors that don’t know Christ, tell them. If you know a new believer who needs to be established in his faith, offer to begin to meet with him for the purpose of discipleship. My friends, this is normal Christianity. Nothing less than this will stand the test. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord!”
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