Mission Critical

“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2Tim 2:3-4).

One of the iconic scenes from movies comes near the end of “Saving Private Ryan.” (I’m NOT wasting my time with a “spoiler alert!” This flick came out in 1998. If you haven’t seen Spielberg’s classic by now, this one’s on you. I’m sure it’s on a cable channel near you this weekend.)

The flick takes place in the days following the Normandy Invasion. Tom Hanks’ character Captain John Miller leads a unit with a singular mission. They must rescue Private James Ryan, played by Matt Damon, whose three brothers all died on D-Day. Once they find Ryan, Miller’s boys are in the fight of their lives in the French village of Ramelle when enemy tanks roll into town. 

In the climactic scene, Miller has taken a Nazi bullet and is dying on a bridge in a small French town. Having rescued Ryan, he musters every ounce of strength to whisper in his ear, “Earn this.” The captain desperately wants to pass along one final command to this grunt before he dies.

(Before we go any further, I have to say too many pastors and writers have totally abused and misused this scene to manipulate people into committing their lives to Jesus or simply signing up to volunteer in the parking lot. WRONG! This is absolutely NOT Christ’s message from the cross. We CANNOT earn this! The Lord did for us what we could NEVER do for ourselves. Instead of buying us a ticket for a massive guilt trip, our Savior frees us from our sin and rebellion to live a life of freedom and worship. Whew. Glad I got that off my chest.)

But there is a comparison to Miller’s final words to Ryan and Paul’s instructions to Timothy here in 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Like the captain, the apostle is at death’s door (2Tim 4:6-7). Not so much in the battlefield but a Roman prison (2Tim 1:8, 16). In essence, Paul’s a POW. He pleads with Tim to come see him before it’s too late (2Tim 9, 21). Just in case the young pastor can’t get there in time, he receives orders from his CO on how to proceed in the war. 

Stay focused on the mission because the mission is critical.

Here in the second chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul paints the first of three pictures for his friend. Analogy number one is a soldier (v3-4). Number two is an athlete (2Tim 2:5). Last but not least is a hard-working farmer (2Tim 2:6). Each illustration gives us a better understanding of what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus. In the battlefield. In the playing field. In the farm field.  

The apostle reminds us that as a disciples we don’t fight alone. We’re to “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (v3). We’re not Rambo. We’re not some rogue Delta Force commando who’s gone reckless and disregards orders. We’re supernaturally connected to others, especially when it comes to affliction. The apostle uses a Greek term that means to undergo affliction along with someone else:  sugkakopatheo. Doesn’t exactly roll right off your tongue, does it? 

When you pull it apart, it’s actually a compound word. “Together (sug-) harmed (-kako-) by suffering (-patheo).” Try as you might, you’ll only find this word twice in the entire Bible. And both of them are right here in Paul’s last letter. Earlier, he told Tim that there’s absolutely no reason to be embarrassed about being associated with either the message of Jesus or his mentor’s time behind bars. Instead “share in the suffering (Gr. sugkakopatheo) for the Gospel by the power of God” (2Tim 1:8).

What Paul wants Tim and anybody else who reads this letter to know is that we’re not alone when it comes to pain. We’re going to experience the same type of suffering as others do. We don’t have to suffer alone. Like soldiers fighting together in a squad, when one is wounded, everyone is wounded. We’ve always got each other’s backs…ESPECIALLY when a member of our unit takes a bullet on the battlefield. 

I gotta be honest. I’m not all that excited about the idea of any kind of suffering. Neither is Paul or Tim. But it’s great to know we never hurt alone. The apostle tells the folks in Rome that we should never let fellow believers cry alone (Rom 12:15). When one member of our church suffers, we all suffer (1Cor 12:26). And when God gives us the strength to stand in the baddest storms, He then puts us in the position of walking with others when pain makes landfall in their lives (2Cor 1:4).

There’s more to it than that. A LOT more! We also share in the suffering of our Savior. In a letter to his friends in Philippi, he comes clean about how he made a mess of his own life by trying to pile up credentials for his religious resume in order to impress God (Phil 3:4-6). Once he came face-to-face with his resurrected Savior, Paul realized that knowing Jesus personally and intimately was the only thing that matters. He made it a top priority to get to know Him, understand the power of His resurrection, and in some way “share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Phil 3:10). 

But because Jesus took the full brunt of God’s fury for our sin, we don’t have to. There’s a word folks at seminaries throw around for that. Propitiation. It means to satisfy or soothe. On that Roman cross, Christ was on the receiving end of every ounce of His Father’s wrath. As a matter of fact, His Dad put His Son “forward as a propitiation by His blood” for you and me (Rom 3:25). Jesus played the role of both priest and sacrifice “to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17). “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1Jn 2:2). 

That’s the picture of Captain Miller and his unit putting their lives on the line so that Ryan could survive. That’s what Jesus did for us. Think of a fellow G.I. diving on a grenade so his buddies could live. Better yet, throwing Himself on a multimegaton nuke to save us all.

As his commanding officer, Paul orders Timothy that this is what he’s to do “as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (v3). The apostle uses military lingo at this point. Let’s face it, folks in the service have an entirely different lingo. It’s shall we say, “colorful.” Here we see the word “soldier,” or in the original language stratiotes. This term describes foot soldier, or member of the infantry. 

We’re not talking about brass here. No bird colonels. You won’t find Tim as at the officer’s club. This is a grunt. An enlisted soldier. We don’t have to worry about who’s giving the orders. We’re not under some brutal and abusive drill sergeant. We’re all under the authority of the Ultimate Commander-in-Chief Christ Jesus. Our General has not only been through the battle for us, He goes into battle with us. Hoohah!

A lot of folks get all worked up by this whole “Onward Christian Soldiers” deal. I get it. Plenty of goofballs have taken it WAY too far. But it’s a go-to metaphor in God’s Word for our war against the evil in the world, the sin in our heart, and Satan himself. Here in his two letters to Tim, Paul encourages the young preacher to “wage the good warfare” (1Tim 1:18).The apostle looks back on the battlefield with satisfaction. He has “fought the good fight” (2Tim 4:7) and wants his friend to do the same (1Tim 6:12).

We see military talk in both letters to the Corinthians (1Cor 9:7; 2Cor 10:3-5). Paul refers to his buddy Epaphroditus a “fellow soldier” (Phil 2:25). In a quick note to Philemon, the apostle describes their mutual friend Archippus the very same way (Phm 2). God gives each one of us His spiritual body armor to put on each day (Eph 6:10-20). Here’s the deal. War is terrible. We should ALL hate it. But we are in a fight with the ultimate evil. And I’m NOT talking about ISIS.

Paul tells Timothy to stay focused. “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits” (v4). The apostle uses a word here (Gr. emplekomai) that means to be mixed up in something, or to be involved to the point where you experience severe restrictions as to what you can do. It literally means to weave together, braid, or intertwine. In other words, we must not get too tangled up in stuff that doesn’t matter that it distracts us from our goal. 

Stay focused on the mission because the mission is critical. 

Just as a soldier can’t get hung up in the weeds of civilian life, we need to be careful as well. My career is important and certainly a gift from God but have I made it an idol? Am I shining God’s light in the workplace or is it drawing me further from Him? How about my kids? Youth sports and other activities are wonderful. But are we so over-scheduled that we spend every evening and weekend running to baseball tournaments, swim meets, and cheerleading competitions? Am I worshiping my kids rather than the One who gave His life for me? 

As some have said, anytime we take a good thing and make it a god thing it’s a bad thing. That’s idolatry in the 21st Century. That’s becoming “entangled in civilian pursuits” (v4). Don’t think that yours truly doesn’t have his issues here. And that’s just a sample of the stuff that can snarl us these days. Do I need to go on? Didn’t think so. I love how the writer of Hebrews restates this idea like a coach. Run life like a race and keep your eyes on “Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:1-2).

Stay focused on the mission because the mission is critical.

We must avoid the trap of distraction by remembering Who’s in command. Paul reminds Pastor Tim how for each soldier “his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (v4). Just in case you didn’t know who that is, we’re talking about Jesus. This is where we could go into a long and involved discussion of whether you were drafted into the service (predestined) or enlisted (free will). Instead let’s just assume you’re a follower of Christ. In other words, you’re in His service. It doesn’t matter at this point how you got it. 

Our goal is to please our Commanding Officer. Our aim is to put a mile on the General’s face. First of all, you’re NOT trying to make God like you more or love you more deeply. He already does. That’s a done deal. What Paul is talking about here is making the most of moments we have here in this life. Our mission is to love God and love others. We worship Him by serving and sacrificing for others. Nothing makes our Leader happier than when we give of ourselves just as He gave for us (Jn 13:34-35).

Flash back to that conversation in “Saving Private Ryan.” Captain Miller has one final command for the young soldier. Paul does the same for Timothy. Keep this forefront no matter what you do. Stay focused on the mission because the mission is critical.