Onward, Christian soldiers, marching
as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the
royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle see his banners
go! Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross
of Jesus going on before. Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924
I hope I am not the only one old
enough to remember singing this song in Sunday School as a child, but a part of
me acknowledges the possibility.
Although I thoroughly enjoy worship music in churches today, there are
times when not only do I miss the hymns of my youth, but notice that the songs
of the past had a different focus, as it were, than those of today. As I have watched with dismay the direction of
this country in the past few months, as well as events around the world, it is
hard not to look at the situation the Church finds itself in today and not
recall the tenor and message of the hymns of the past.
Woe to
those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20
NKJV
“Woe to
those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have
prescribed Isaiah 10:1 NKJV
Somehow
I don’t believe I am alone in feeling surprised that at this time, especially
in this country, believers are beginning to come under attack for their faith
and be vilified and persecuted for choosing to acknowledge God’s laws as the
standard for our beliefs and actions.
Never in my memory can I recall such a time as we as believers face
right now, where the world considers us to be an intolerant, prejudiced
people. Yet now more than ever do the
songs of the past, and the message they convey, seem so much more
applicable. Over the past few weeks I
have lost count of the number of commentaries I have read from Christian leaders in this
country imploring believers to stand and fight for our faith. Fortunately for us, this is a subject God had
much to say about.
Watch,
stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do
be done with love. 1 Corinthians
16:13-14 NKJV
With
a background in coaching football, it is hard not to use the game as an
illustration of what Christ would have us to do. For those who follow the game,
there is an ongoing debate that never gets resolved and that is the question
"do great teams win with offense or defense"? I'm sure most would say
both, but it is a question that many fans enjoy arguing about, simply because there
are those who love watching a great offense at work, and others who would
rather watch a great defense. In the fight against Satan which all Christians
participate in, we really don't have the option to choose because God tells us
exactly how we can win, and that is with a good defense.
Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness
in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV
One
of the most important points Paul makes here is in verse 11 where he tells us
that what is expected of us as believers is simply to "stand". He
repeats this in verse 13 where he tells us that after doing "everything",
we stand firm. In his way, God is telling us through Paul that all He expects
from us is to play defense, not to play offense. We next see in verse
14 that we are told we can stand firm if we remember those parts of God's armor we
have already put on when we made the decision to follow Christ. Those parts were
reminding us of the truth of Christ in which we believe, remembering our
position before God thanks to the righteousness of Christ, and resting in the
peace that is ours from the knowledge of the first two which was promised to us
in the gospel of Christ.
Stand
therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate
of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the
gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Ephesians 6:14-17 NKJV
So
where do we go from here? Well, in verse 16 Paul introduces us to the most
practical piece of our armor, the one that we will need to use the most, and
that is the shield of faith. Now personally I like this picture because to me,
it realistically illustrates what Satan is trying to do to us as believers, and
the way he tries to attack. First of all, an arrow is not all that large, and
if one is coming straight at you I expect it is pretty hard to see. Second, I
have watched people shoot arrows with the compound bows used today and I can
tell you for a fact that those arrows fly at an extremely fast speed. Third,
they are pretty quiet. You can look at an arrow as the first of the stealth
weapons, because the first time you hear them is when they hit you, and
obviously by then it's too late to do anything about it. Fourth, and even more
important is the kind of arrow Satan uses. It's not your everyday arrow, but a
flaming arrow which not only wounds you, but starts a fire that will continue
to burn until put out.
As
a result, God tells us that we need to take up the shield of faith. Have you
had the opportunity to watch a movie that illustrates the use of a shield to
defend against an attack by arrows? I
know I have seen a few that have done a great job showing what it must have
been like to be in a battle like that. You have an army marching forward,
carrying their shields which are almost as big as they are tall, and the
opposing army launching their arrows. As soon as they fire, the opponent kneels
down and hides behind their shields as thousands of arrows fall from the sky.
As the attacking army continues to fire their arrows, the defending army simply
waits behind their shields until the advancing army is out of arrows, and then
they begin their attack. God tells us something in verse 16 that I think is
very critical for us to remember. He says that if we take up the shield of
faith we WILL be able to "extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil
one." Not some, ALL. This is what most of us would consider to be a
winning defense!
Since
we know we can win with God's help, it is also important to understand what
these arrows will look like so we can recognize the "stealth" attack
by Satan. I think the clue is in how God describes them when He says they are
"flaming". Obviously a flaming arrow will start a fire, which then
burns until put out. How does Satan "burn" us inside? I think these
arrows will have two characteristics no matter what form they may come in.
Remember they are coming from Satan, and we already know his method of attack.
Satan wants us to doubt the truth from God in which we have believed, so first
of all these flaming arrows will come out of our own thoughts. It's a sneak
attack that seems to come from nowhere when we begin to doubt what we believe
in. Secondly, they will attack our position in Christ, the faith in Him that we
have, which has already been described in the first pieces of armor we put on.
You see, the key to overcoming a good defense is to first create doubt in the
mind of your opponent that he is capable of defending himself. That works in
any sport you can think of, as well as our fight against Satan.
Running
only makes you a better target!
Most
important to us, though, is to understand the difference between what we
believe, and the shield of "faith" which we are instructed to take
up. What is faith? The best answer I can give you is faith is
"acting" on your belief. You see, belief is one thing, but making
decisions, taking action, making the decision to stand fast, all demonstrate your
faith. Faith is always action. The fact
that you may have doubts proves that you have faith. So apply your belief to
everything, every situation you find yourself in, and you will be demonstrating
faith and defeating Satan and his arrows. We need to be "active"
believers, Christians DOING not just believing, and we can best do this by
standing firm in our belief in God and His commands.
Most
of what I have read in the past few weeks agrees with the idea that this fight
is only going to get worse. I truly
believe God is orchestrating the events we see as the world fast approaches His
return for His Church. The question for
us all is will we stand and fight?
Onward Christian Soldiers.
Keep
watching.
