Rev. David Holwick F Veterans Sunday
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
November 15, 2020
Matthew 8:5-10
SOLDIER ON!
I. Veterans Day is behind us.
A. Al Roberts told me to preach on the theme - and then he did!
1) But he focused on the enemy we face, and I will focus on
the soldiers we can all be.
2) Since Veterans Day is in the middle of the week, Al and I
have split the difference.
B. I almost ended up a real soldier.
My father was a soldier, enlisting in 1946 as a private,
then going to college and taking ROTC and going back in
the Army where he rose to be a colonel.
My brother was in the Army and retired as a colonel.
My sister was in the Army, but had to get out because her
husband was also in the Army and they were going to be
sent to different countries.
My dad's highest hopes were for me, his first son.
So as a senior in high school I applied for a ROTC scholarship.
It would have paid all my tuition and books and living
expenses for four years.
Every guy in my high school wanted this scholarship.
Only two were given it - and I was one of them.
But I wasn't sure it was God's will for me.
I wasn't thrilled with the military life, moving every year.
So I went to a sergeant who ran a home Bible study.
He asked me if I thought God could give me an answer.
I said, yes, I suppose so.
We prayed for a while, then he looked at me and said, What
did God say to you?
God said no.
So I told my father.
My father, who was not a believer, was not thrilled I was
turning down a big scholarship.
But then he allowed me to go to Wheaton College, an expensive
Christian private college, and he paid my way.
I have never felt God had steered me wrong.
One little irony - in Wheaton College I was required to take
the ROTC program for one year. On my own dime!
II. We can count our blessings.
A. The military does not consume our lives.
1) The vast majority of us have never served in the military.
2) And most of those who have served have only spent a
short period in the military.
3) In the days of the Bible, it would have been a constant
interruption in life.
B. Our wars have been elsewhere.
1) Maine has never been invaded in the history of our church.
2) America itself has only been harmed superficially by
enemies (at least external ones).
3) War is something we read in a newspaper or see on TV.
4) Those who serve are volunteers, and professionals, and
represent a very small slice of our population.
III. What should we think of soldiers?
A. There have often been mixed feelings among Christians.
1) The early Church Father Tertullian taught that Christians
should not be in the military.
a) It required too much compromise with paganism.
b) And Christians are not supposed to fight the way the
world does.
2) Many modern Christians feel the same tension.
a) Last week Becky led us in a rousing rendition of
"Onward Christian Soldiers."
b) Presbyterians dropped it from their hymnal 30 years
ago because it was too "war-like."
c) Methodists had tried to omit it a few years before that
but the opposition was intense so they left it in.
B. Our world remains a dangerous place.
1) Human hearts remain hardened by sin.
a) Progressive laws and governments cannot eliminate this,
but only reduce its effects.
b) War is human conflict writ large.
c) The Bible understands earthly nations will engage in war.
2) Romans 13 says that God has established earthly governments.
a) This does not mean government is divine.
1> It means God has set up the institution of
government to protect people.
b) Governments can use force (the sword). Rom 13:3-4
1> They use it is to punish evildoers.
2> Note that government is also supposed to commend
those who do what is right.
c) Therefore most Christians see a need for governments
to conduct war.
1> It is not a blanket approval for any war a nation
wants to wage.
2> But we recognize governments must enforce their
principles.
3> As Jesus said, there will be wars up until the end.
A> Therefore, there will be soldiers, too.
IV. Soldiers can be good guys.
A. Old Testament warriors. 2 Samuel 23:8-12
1) King David was primarily a warrior.
a) He was very successful at it.
b) He shed so much blood, he was not allowed to build the
temple.
2) His best warriors were highly honored by him.
a) They were called "The Mighty Ones."
8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had:
Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.
He wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he killed at
one time.
9 And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son
of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied
the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the
men of Israel withdrew.
10 He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was
weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought
about a great victory that day, and the men returned after
him only to strip the slain.
11 And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite.
The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was
a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the
Philistines.
12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended
it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a
great victory.
b) When everyone else ran away, these men stood their
ground against impossible odds.
B. Jesus honored the soldiers he encountered.
1) Most of them are shown in a positive light.
2) They were in the Roman army, but they honored the God
of Israel.
3) In Matthew 8, he says this soldier has more faith than
anyone he had encountered in Israel.
a) That is saying a lot!
C. Paul often describes himself as a soldier of Christ.
1) And the Bible describes our struggles with Satan as
spiritual warfare.
2) This side of heaven, we will always be in conflict.
a) You are right now.
V. Christians should emulate the highest qualities of soldiers.
A. Endurance.
1) Soldiers often live in deplorable conditions.
2) Several popular emails show American soldiers sleeping
in muddy holes, or hiking in dust storms.
3) They endure because they have to, and because their
comrades are in the same boat.
4) Paul in 2 Timothy 2:3 - "Endure hardship with us like a
good soldier of Christ Jesus."
5) The Christian life is not a cake-walk. It can be very hard.
Yesterday Celeste and I watched the funeral service of
a good Christian friend, Rick Beattie.
He was my worship leader twenty years ago.
He truly loved the Lord and never sought attention for
himself.
Four-and-a-half years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer.
He did all the radiation and chemotherapy, but the cancer
kept coming back.
Through it all, they continued to praise God and serve his
people.
They were harder than their hardships.
B. Self-sacrifice.
1) Soldiers are willing to suffer so their army can achieve
victory.
2) Often they will risk their own life to save the life of
their buddies.
3) Jesus tells us that there is no greater love than laying
down your life for a friend. John 15:13
a) He should know - that's exactly what he did.
b) Some Christians have literally laid down their lives
for others, but most of us will sacrifice in less
dramatic ways.
1> Trinka Osborne died in her 40s, and it was only
after her death that I learned how much she had
done for others.
There was a widow she would visit every week and
listen to her, then Trinka cleaned her house.
Throughout the town Trinka had people she would
minister to, and never seek any credit for
herself.
2> My wife, Celeste, heard few of my sermons because
she always ended up in the nursery - often for
BOTH services.
4) Every church has people like Trinka. Are you one of them?
C. Courage.
1) Every army has medals that honor bravery.
2) Christians should be brave.
3) An example of a true Christian soldier:
In September 1940, Poland had been occupied by Nazi Germany
for one year.
A Polish army captain named Witold Pilecki began hearing
rumors of a concentration camp called Auschwitz.
The rumors were of horrible things there, but no one knew
for sure.
Pilecki was a committed Christian and Polish patriot and he
decided to find out for himself.
In his daring plan, he got a false identity card that bore a
Jewish name.
He then allowed himself to be arrested by the Nazis during a
routine street roundup in Warsaw.
He was sent to Auschwitz and given inmate number 4859.
Pilecki, who had a wife and two children, knew he was saying
goodbye to all that he knew and loved on earth.
He was very aware that he might not survive.
Inside the camp he was treated like every other prisoner --
he was beaten, harassed and threatened with death.
From inside he began to document war crimes and had couriers
smuggle out detailed reports on the atrocities he had seen.
In the spring of 1943, Pilecki overpowered a guard and escaped.
From the outside he completed his report which estimated that
some 2 million people had died in the camp.
When his eyewitness reports reached London, officials
thought he was exaggerating.
One Jewish writer summarized Pilecki's life this way: "Once he
set his mind to the good, he never wavered, never stopped.
He crossed the great human divide that separates knowing the
right thing from doing the right thing."
#65791
D. Obedience.
1) Soldiers must obey their commander.
2) Concerning the centurion, Jesus says his obedience to a
chain of command is similar to the way we must obey God.
3) Consider how you obey God.
a) Are you obeying his requirements on sexual purity?
b) Are you obeying him with your finances?
1> The Biblical standard of giving is the tithe.
2> Are you generous to people in need?
c) Are you honest and showing integrity in all you do?
d) Most people don't care what you say - they want to see
what you DO.
VI. Everyone follows a commander. Who will yours be?
A. Jesus was more than "a lamb meek and mild." Revelation 19:11
1) The Book of Revelation describes him as a conquering
general with a vast army under his command.
2) The forces of evil don't surrender to him - they are
destroyed.
B. Choose your commander today.
Dave Roever [pronounced Reever] grew up in Christian home, married
high school sweetheart, went to Bible college, and got drafted.
He decided to enlist in the Navy, took SEAL training and was
assigned to river warfare in Vietnam.
His buddies were all corrupt and took shots for social disease,
but Dave remained faithful to his wife.
So they nicknamed him "Preacher-Man."
While on a patrol one day he prepared to throw a phosphorus grenade
to clear a booby-trapped area.
It went off in his hand (a sniper may have shot his hand) and
burned up half his body.
The right side of his face was burned down to the skull, his chest
was blown off so he could see his heart beating.
He threw himself into the water only to see the phosphorus burning
intensely white even under water.
They pulled him back in the boat and medevac’d him to a hospital.
Two weeks later they opened up his chest and he caught on fire
again from concealed phosphorus.
(The doctor's report testifies to this.)
He burned all the way through the gurney and fell on the floor.
Thirteen other patients in his hospital unit were sent to intensive
care in Houston, and twelve died there.
One wife came up to her wounded soldier, was disgusted, and never
came back.
Dave's wife Brenda whispered, "I love you, Davey."
He regained sight in his right eye, had his face reconstructed,
wears a plastic ear and hairpiece, but can play the piano
dramatically.
Brenda gives this invitation:
"Everyone is going to serve a god.
You may not serve the same God I serve.
You may serve Buddha, or Allah, or the god of Mars -
he was the god of war and violence.
We act like the god we serve.
If you are a violent person, you're serving the god of Mars.
There's another god called Venus, the goddess of sex.
I want you to think about this:
When you are lying in a battlefield, legs and arms blown off,
lying there dying, Is your god big enough to pull you through?
If the god you serve cannot care for you,
I suggest you change gods now,
and serve the One who will take care of you,
who will pull you through in difficult circumstances."
#559
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Some of the points in this sermon were adapted from my previous sermon,
"Those Who Have Borne the Battle," November 8, 2009, Kerux sermon #27430.
#559 “Preacher-Man: We Act Like the God We Serve,” Reader's Digest,
November 15, 1991. Another source is Dave Roever’s “From
Tragedy to Triumph” video tape.
#65791 “The Man Who Sneaked Into Auschwitz,” by Rev. Ken Larsen, Kerux
sermon #65684. Larsen’s source is “The Man Who Snuck into
Auschwitz,” by Rob Eshman, JewishJournal.com, Dec 5, 2012,
https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/rob_eshman/110912/,
derived from the book “Captain Witold Pilecki, The Auschwitz
Volunteer,” by A. Polonica, 2012. There is also material at
NPR: “Meet the Man Who Sneaked Into Auschwitz,” NPR staff,
September 18, 2010; <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129956107>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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