God does not call us to be expats, but as soldiers

A. Introduction/Background

I want to start by asking you to think back to the time when you first came to Switzerland... or when you first decided to come to Basel… or when you realized that you would probably be staying in Basel for a long time.

I want you to reflect a bit on the reasons for coming to Switzerland, the reasons you decided to stay.

Were you brought here against your will? Were you no longer able to live or to make a living in the country you were in? Were you perhaps convinced that God was sending you here to further his Kingdom. Did you have the explicit urge to come here, because you care for God’s sheep, either those already saved, or those not yet.

Or did you come here for other reasons? Maybe to further your career, or because the opportunity was too good to let it pass by?

Whatever your reasons, I want you to now take them and compare them with the overall message in the New Testament. More specifically, compare them with the great commission. Compare them with God’s plan with the world, with Christ’s words

I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.[1]

If it makes you uneasy, then there is good reason. There may in fact be a very serious conflict between what you want for your life and what God wants for you.

The title of the sermon is “God does not call us to be expats, but as soldiers” and my purpose is not to simply make people feel uneasy, but to have all our hearts persuaded and converted to the purposes of God.

B. Exegetical comments

To achieve that, I want us to first take a step by step look at the text so that we have a firm grip on what the Spirit through the apostle Paul was saying to Timothy so that we can also understand what He is saying to us this morning.

1. Verse 3 – Suffer along

LEB: Suffer together with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

NIV: Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

As a good soldier, not like a good soldier: There is quite a difference here, I believe Paul is not using simile with his statement, but that he literally thinks of Timothy as a soldier of Christ. It is in the capacity of a soldier that Timothy was to suffer alongside with Paul and all the saints.

Paul often uses warfare language to make it clear that the Christian is literally in a war. In 2 Cor 10, he says that our warfare is different from what we recognize in the world because our struggle is against powers and principalities. This is not meant metaphorically, but literally. In 1 Tim 1:18 he says to Timothy should wage the good warfare.

Furthermore, saying that Timothy should be like a soldier of Christ, does not make much sense – if Paul was comparing Timothy simply to a soldier as in verse 4, then we could understand the verse as simile, but to compare Timothy with a soldier of Christ, Timothy would have to be acquainted with soldiers of Christ to understand what Paul meant.

No, the only soldiers of Christ are all those whom Christ have called to himself, to literally be part of his kingdom. Paul was telling Timothy to suffer as a soldier of Christ - as a good soldier.

A good soldier: The opposite of a good soldier is a deserting soldier, someone who betrays the code under which he swore allegiance and subservience. The good soldier does not only take part in a skirmish here and there but has his eyes fixed on victory in war.

Paul had firsthand experience of bad soldiers that deserted and abandoned him, but I think he probably had Demas foremost in his mind when thinking of a deserting soldier. Demas had deserted Paul, not from fear of persecution, but from his love of this present world. And so he left Paul for Thessalonica to serve his flesh. Why stand with Paul in defense, while the world was offering its love, peace and safety now. To Demas, suffering for the gospel made little sense in comparison to the life on offer to him in this life.

A good soldier of Christ stands his ground, remains loyal to the end and endures whatever difficult circumstances is presented to him. Mercenaries will always exist to fight battles, but a good soldier has his desires set on a war being won.

Suffer along: - Paul does not explicitly identify those whom Timothy is to suffer along with, but for sure it includes Paul himself, as he has explicitly mentioned his own suffering 2 Tim 1:8:

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,” (2 Timothy 1:8, ESV)

Yet, just in the next chapter, verse 12, Paul states the universal truth that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. I believe Paul is saying that because suffering is an unavoidable element in this spiritual war, it is necessary that Timothy line up together in the trenches and suffer alongside with all the saints, including Paul.

2. Verses 4-6 – examples to understand how a good soldier endures

As we look to verses 4-6, we see that Paul now draws attention to three examples from the world to build out what it means to endure as a good soldier of Christ. 4) A good soldier is loyal to Christ, 5) he does not disqualify himself and 6) his suffering is not in vain.

3. Verse 4 - Soldier focus (Jesus enlists us - You come follow me)

LEB: No one who serves as a soldier is entangled in the activities of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him.

NIV: No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.

The first of three examples speaks specifically about a soldier in active service – The NIV is accurate to translate it as “No one serving as a soldier”. Any good soldier on active duty would know that survival depends on being resolutely focused on his job, rather than being distracted by the otherwise ‘legitimate’ concerns of everyday life. Farmers and parents enlisted to active duty are expected to free themselves up from their usual responsibilities, because having any sideline business going on puts himself and those around him in danger.

An enlisted soldier cannot serve two masters, he is free from worldly entanglements so that he can devote himself fully to the authority of his human commander. In the same way, Timothy’s desires were to be unbendable with respect to pleasing and following the one who called him – The Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Verse 5 – Rules of engagement

LEB: And also if anyone competes he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

NIV: Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules

The second example draws upon the integrity of an athlete that competes for a crown. The rules can either refer to the rules during the competition, or the rigorous training that mandatory in participation for the games. In either case, Paul is emphasizing this one aspect in the metaphor – that the threat of missing the crown is from within the athlete, not from outside. His point here does not include technical disqualification or coming second in a race, but neglecting to follow the explicit rules of the game.

I believe it is also correct to recognise meaning for what the crowning in the metaphor may point to. I do this, because Paul himself does indirectly comes back to this metaphor in 2 Tim 4:8 as he talks again about the crown that awaits him. He says from verse 7

I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, the crown of righteousness is reserved for me, that 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 crown that the good soldier of Christ will receive is the crown of righteousness. Having fought the good fight, having completed the race and having remained faithful, there is but the glorious crowning by the Lord Himself that awaits.

The crown of righteousness represents having clung to Christ’s righteousness for salvation. There is an honor and recognition that awaits the children of God which reflects their utter dependency and union with Christ’s righteousness to the end. There is a necessary connection between receiving the crown and what the crown represents. The receipt of the crown is the joyful expression of all that it stands for.

And so, contradicting or denying our utter dependency on Christ’s righteousness is a disqualifying factor for the Christian. Now remember that the context from verse 3 is that we suffer along as good soldiers of Christ. If we somehow scheme to sidestep this, we also deliberately choose against what the crown stands for.

This is even more clear from verse 12 – the well-known words among the faithful – “If we deny Him, he will also deny us.” Awaiting his execution, Paul must have recalled these word of the Lord in Mat 10:32-33:

“..everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32–33, ESV)

Sidestepping or avoid suffering as a Christian was a disqualifying factor, because in most cases it amounted to a treacherous denial of Christ.

5. Verse 6 – Toil that is not for nothing

LEB: The farmer who works hard must be the first to receive a share of the crops.

NIV: The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops

The examples of the hard-working farmer elsewhere in Paul refer to a worker that deserves his wages, but here the emphasis is different. Rather, Paul is assuring Timothy that just as it is obvious for a hard-working farmer to be first in line for the fruit of his hands, so the suffering of a good soldier is not for nothing. Indeed, suffering lead to endurance, character and hope, or as Paul says in 1 Tim 4:8-10 suffering and hard work produces godliness that is profitable in the present life and the life to come. Timothy should not consider suffering a futile curse in life, but gain confidence by it as he hopes in the living God, who is His savior.

6. Verse 7 – Give serious consideration to this

LEB: Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will grant you understanding in all these things.

NIV: Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

Paul is not adding this instruction because what he says is hard to understand, but instead because these three examples from ordinary life is to be extrapolated to the Spiritual life that is so much more significant for those who profess to follow Jesus.

We should ponder the implications for us from these three examples and ensure that what they point to are applicable to us as followers of Christ.

C. Exposition

1. What is an expat?

Now, let’s get back to the title of my sermon.

As was mentioned already, the main point of my sermon is ‘God does not call us to be expats, but as soldiers’ - to be good soldiers. Now when I say expat, I of course have a narrow meaning in mind, not simply someone who lives outside his fatherland.

The type of expat I am talking about is the type that leaves his fatherland not out of necessity, but to pursue a dream, or rather many dreams – a fleeting kingdom of experiences and opportunities. This type of expat dreams of access to exotic places, or ‘quality of life’, or that juicy package, or that step up the ladder. To put it frankly, the expat I am talking about really is a sophisticated type of hedonist that has a ‘my best life now’ agenda.

Each one of us has this temptation within us, to slowly retreat from Christ’s purpose in this world and quietly settle for the things that this present world is offering us.

2. We are soldiers, not expats

I want to emphasize four things for you that I see in the text to preserve our faithfulness to the Lord who called us and restore again our resolution to pick up our crosses and follow after him like good soldiers.

1. A good soldier suffers - especially the soldier of Christ

Suffering is the last thing the sophisticated hedonist is hoping for when he puts his signature on that new contract. Suffering is the most characteristic byproduct of war, not of living in the safest country in the world.

Suffering is not the aim in war, but it is the deep waters that a soldier must go through for the sake of victory. In war, suffering cannot be avoided. The good soldier makes sure that he is utterly familiar with suffering, lest it overwhelms and with despair and disillusionment so that he surrenders his pursuit.

The soldier may often suffer physically, but probably the most significant source of suffering is from within. The soldier lives with violence, with loss, with the constant threat of attack. The good soldier suffers testing of his loyalty, his resolutions and the temptation of his flesh. He suffers for those in need of liberation, he suffers when brothers-in-arms go AWOL or when they desert him altogether. He suffers for those that love him and for those whom he loves.

Even more so does the good soldier of Christ suffer the pain of his Lord. He suffers not only the pain of personal rejection, but also grieves for those who reject God’s salvation.

“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem! you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. – Mat 23:37

The good soldier is also not spared from suffering confusion, loneliness and desperation. Like David and even the Lord he may be led to the very point of crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”.

To the hedonist, suffering is the enemy, to the good soldier it becomes a companion and a window into the heart of our Lord. Shall we persist in our avoidance of suffering and our aversion to discomfort, always navigating to the path of least resistance? Or shall we be transformed to be like Paul and long for fellowship (κοινωνία) with Christ in his sufferings? (Php 3:10)

"We are heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Rom 8:17)”

2. A good soldier has a loyal-love for the Lord

For the Christian expat living in Switzerland it may be a relatively easy thing to be thankful for all that we have and also credit all our blessings to God who sustains us. Yet, it may very well be that our loyalties lie very securely somewhere other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It may very well be that paying tribute to God is not matched by a desire to first and foremost seek God’s Kingdom. Thankfulness does not necessarily equate to loyalty.

The good soldier truly seeks to please the Lord and be happy in Him. As the apostle Paul says in Eph 5:10, as children of God, we must spend our time seeking to learn what is well-pleasing to the Lord.

There is a loyalty required in the love that we have for the Lord. Having an ulterior motive behind our love for the Lord is treachery. Demas had once endeavored to serve the Lord with such an ulterior motive in his heart and he did not get far. In the end he betrayed the Kingdom just as Judas had betrayed the Lord when things became too hot for him.

There must be a conversion in our hearts, minds and souls to a covenant love for God. Like God Himself, we too must be jealous for our relationship with Him. There is no place for the world in this relationship. It does not matter how virtuous our cause may be.

The good soldier knows that the race, or the war is won with intentionality and part of that intentionality is having all his life’s pursuits in step with his confession that ‘to reign with Christ is more precious than all the treasures in this life’. The good soldier brings every area of his life into the pursuit of the Kingdom of God. Nothing is left to the unintentional and casual.

If we are to be good soldiers, and not mere hedonists who prefer two masters to serve our wants and needs, we are to scrutinize everything in our lives that we deem important. We are to leave no stone unturned and purge every hidden idol. We are to examine how we think about school, about family, about work and retirement. We must be entirely persuaded that this life is the battleground for the good soldier, not the playground for our adultery against God.

We cannot leave our love simply to be an unevaluated experience or feeling of loyalty to Jesus. “Examine yourselves”, says Paul in 2 Cor 13:5, “to see whether you are truly in the faith”. We must examine ourselves, rather than rely on some past confession of loyalty. We must examine our commitments under the microscope of the Holy Spirit. We must turn to the Lord with all our efforts in the most radical of ways and we must do it as often as is needed. How else will we know that our confession of loyalty is worth anything if we do not even test it?

We must test our hearts in the presence of God’s Word. The Word is our only reliable source of knowing God well so that we are not led into blasphemy by the deceptions of Satan.

And as we discover treacherous ambitions, disloyalty and mere lip-service, we do what the Lord requires of us in His Word, we renounce it along with everything else in this world to follow Him:

““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26–27)

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

3. A good soldier despises cowardice and shame

If disqualification means shame for an athlete, how much more serious must we take the conditions for receiving the imperishable crown of righteousness. The name of the game for the good soldier of Christ is to endure suffering and shame as he confesses Christ and proclaims the glory of God in gospel.

It is the easiest thing as an expat to simply slot into the status quo of conversations devoid of the glory of Christ. Yet, in the kingdom of God there is no such thing as an undercover worshiper or a follower of Christ in name only.

A good soldier is one that does not succumb to cowardice in any way, but one that overcomes, one who conquers. A good soldier of Christ is constantly and prayerfully on the lookout for the Lord to lead him into situations where he would glorify Christ, while he conquers and rules over his cowardice and shame. The conqueror and the coward are worlds apart.

This is what the Lord promises in Revelation 21: 7-8:

“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”” (Revelation 21:7–8, ESV)

Our world may be full of people who flip-flop their confession every day, but serious Christians have always known that cowardice is a serious disqualification from the fight. When you read church history, especially from the first 300 years you will quickly see that being a faithful witness in a hostile culture was one of the most prominent characteristics of the church. If you have never read any accounts of the early church, I would strongly advise you to take up Eusebius’ History of the Church.

To give you a sense, I would like to read to you some parts from a letter sent by the congregation in Smyrna to the church in Philomelium in around 155AD. It gives an account of the martyrdom of their 86-year-old bishop Polycarp. I start with where he was caught and brought into the arena to be interrogated by the Pro-Consul.

Polycarp's martyrdom

And next he (Polycarp) was brought forward, and there was a great uproar of those who heard that Polycarp had been arrested. Therefore when he was brought forward the Pro-Consul asked him if he were Polycarp, and when he admitted it the Pro-Consul tried to persuade him to deny, saying: "Respect your age!" and so forth, "Swear by the genius of Caesar, repent, say: ‘Away with the Atheists!’.

But Polycarp, with a stern countenance looked at all the crowd of lawless heathen in the arena, and waving his hand at them, he groaned and while looking up to heaven he said: "Away with the Atheists!" 3 But when the Pro-Consul pressed him and said: "Take the oath and I will let you go, revile Christ,". But, Polycarp said: "For 86 years have I been his servant, and he has done me no wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

But when the Pro-Consul persisted again and said: "Swear by the genius of Caesar," he answered him: "If you vainly suppose that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and pretend that you are ignorant of who I am, then listen plainly: I am a Christian.

And the Pro-Consul said: "I have wild beasts. I will deliver you to them unless you repent." And he said: "Call for them, for repentance from better to worse is not allowed us; but it is good to change from evil to righteousness." And the Pro-Consul said again to him: "I will cause you to be consumed by fire if you despise the beasts, unless you repent." But Polycarp said: "You threaten with the fire that burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting punishment. But why are you waiting? Come, do what you will."

...

Now when he (Polycarp) had uttered his Amen and finished his prayer, the men in charge of the fire lit it, and a great flame blazed up and we, to whom it was given to see, saw a marvel. And we have been preserved to report to others what happened. For the fire made the likeness of a room, like the sail of a vessel filled with wind, and surrounded the body of the martyr like a wall, and he was within it not as burning flesh, but as bread that is being baked, or as gold and silver being refined in a furnace. And we perceived such a fragrant smell as the scent of incense or other costly spices.

...

At length the lawless men, seeing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, commanded an executioner to go up and stab him with a dagger, and when he did this, a dove and a great quantity of blood came forth so that the fire was quenched, and all the crowd marveled that there was such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect. And of the elect was he indeed one, the wonderful martyr, Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Church in Smyrna.

Shall we not return to such a profound expectation of future glory with the Lord? Shall we not also despise any cowardice within us. Shall we not also, like our Lord and these saints despise the shame threatened for publicly loving because we have a sure and joyful reward laid out for us?

4. A good soldier suffers, but not for nothing

The apostle Paul was once an expat from Tarsus to Jerusalem with everything going for him. He was one of the most promising students under the best professor, had training in the two cultures that really mattered at the time, he was driven by ambition, a zealous fixer of real-life problems and trusted by his employers. And then one day the Lord sent him a message through a stranger

“Go to him, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”[2]

Paul had ‘everything’ going for him, yet he ended up counting it all rubbish, having but one thing behind his name – his suffering. Like Moses, he gained an eternal perspective so that he could joyfully consider the reproach of Christ greater wealth than any treasure in this world. He saw the reward. (Rom 8:18; Heb 11:25).

Now if we sit here today and conclude “What a waste!”, then I do not really know what else to tell you.

But if you sit here, frustrated with your own blindness. You believe, and you want to see what Paul saw in giving up all for the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ – then I have a prayer I would like to pray together with you that Paul also prayed for the saints in Ephesus

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him (the eyes of our hearts having been enlightened), so that we may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength which he has worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places, above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this age but also in the coming one[3] Amen.

[1] Mt 16:18.

[2] Ac 9:15–16.

[3] Eph 1:15–21.