Together, Christian Soldiers

Posted On June 5, 2022

“Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.”

John 17:11 NLT

“The Scriptures show God not only welcomes human participation; he solicits it. . . .
Providence invites humans to invest their freedom in the purpose of God. As for God’s role in history, the biblical witness insists God is ultimately in control . . .
But human beings matter strategically in this plan, because God works through them for the accomplishing of the divine purpose.”

J. Ellsworth Kalas, Christian Believer

In last week’s post Onward, Christian Soldiers we discussed our role as Christians in the world: God has created each one of us to do His work and He empowers us to do it. God is all-powerful and He can intervene in history in miraculous ways, but most of the time He chooses to work through us. Why? I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because it helps us grow spiritually or maybe because it gives us an opportunity to be an example for others. But I believe mainly it’s just because He likes us! He enjoys our company. I think He delights in working with us and seeing us work with each other. As we fulfill our individual roles and join the fight to overcome evil, Christ reminds us that we need to work as a cohesive unit or we won’t get very far. That’s why it’s so important to be a part of His Church. We are much stronger together!

Be United in Christ

“I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

John 17:23 NLT

Jesus prayed for us just before He was arrested. He prayed “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21 NIV). Right before He knew He would be taken and tortured and crucified, His thoughts were focused on His disciples and “also for those who will believe in me through their message” (John 17:20 NIV). That’s us. He was about to die a horrible death, but His prayer was for us, that we may be one. Christian unity is that important to Him, so it should be to us as well.

Jesus’ reason for this request was “so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21 NIV). Living in unity with each other is hard and goes against our self-serving human nature. In fact, it’s impossible apart from Christ. By choosing to be in union with Him, we also gain the power, through the Holy Spirit, to be in union with each other. As we work together and serve each other, we display Christlike love to the world. We display something divine.

“There are many people who belong to Christ. And yet, we are one body which is Christ’s. We are all different but we depend on each other. We all have different gifts that God has given to us by His loving-favor. We are to use them.”

Romans 12:5-6 NLV

Another reason we need to work together is that we were all created with different strengths. Just as each part of the human body has a different function, each member of Christ’s body, the Church, has a different role to fulfill. No one person can accomplish everything. Each one of us has specific Spiritual gifts we are given and called to use in service of the Church. We also have different skills, individual talents, and unique ways of understanding God. As we serve together, we complement each other and discover our purpose.

We weren’t designed to function alone. We need each other. And as we stay connected to Christ, each of us receiving our instructions from Him, we become a part of something greater than ourselves. We take our place among all Christians — past, present, and future — working together to bring about God’s Kingdom on earth.

“A called-out people! Stretching over several millennia, one of them a nation by ethnic right and the other a new community by virtue of its tie to a common Lord, they have held fitfully to a divine assignment. They have a purpose . . . They are to be a blessing to the nations of humankind.”

J. Ellsworth Kalas, Christian Believer

Overcome Evil with Good

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:21 NIV

This world is full of evil. We all know this. We see it, hear it, and live with it every day. Although we don’t like to admit it, we’ve also done our fair share of contributing to it. We are all sinful creatures and we live in a broken world. And yet, there is hope. Jesus came to fulfill God’s plan to redeem this place and to redeem us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, sin and death were conquered. Now, we’re just waiting for His return to enter a new world, one full of goodness and light. But do we really have to wait to see God’s Kingdom? The answer is no!

“The Good News — the word we translate ‘gospel’ — is that this fallen world as we know it is not the whole story. There is another realm. . . . The good news is especially that this world — the kingdom of God — is closer than you think. . . . It is available to you. You can live in it — now.”

John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

We can access God’s Kingdom right here and now through His Spirit living in us. When we commune with Him, spirit to Spirit, we are breaking through to His realm. It’s like we are touching heaven! When Moses came down the mountain after speaking with the Lord, his race was radiant (Exodus 34:29). It glowed from being so near to God’s glory. The same thing can happen to us.

Maybe our faces won’t actually glow, but the more we draw near to the Lord, the more radiant our spirit will be. We will begin to develop and display the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This has the power to draw others to Christ. And that’s the whole point. One reason God doesn’t just lift us up directly into heaven the second we become Christians is that He needs us here. He needs us to spread His message of love, forgiveness, and salvation to others so that they may be saved, too. He wants us to let the world know that there is hope. Good has triumphed over evil!

“The story of the human race is not just one of universal disappointment,
but one of inextinguishable hope.”

John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

But to accomplish God’s plans we must be willing to let go of our own. The only way we will be effective in overcoming evil with good in the world is by overcoming evil with good in ourselves. And this is not something we can accomplish on our own. It requires giving God complete control of everything in our lives, not just our money, time, talents, and gifts, but also our thoughts, desires, emotions, plans, and dreams. We have to be willing to give up anything He asks us to give up, do anything He asks us to do, and think anything He asks us to think. This takes discipline, dedication, and practice. And it requires us to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We’ve got to be all in. This is the only way we can accomplish our mission to spread His message and do His work.

Christ has ultimately defeated evil, but right now it still exists in this world, which means we are prone to being tempted by it. Satan would like nothing more than to stop us from fulfilling God’s plan to save as many souls as possible before Jesus returns. And Satan is a lot smarter and stronger than we are. That’s why we cannot fight against him on our own. We need Someone infinitely smarter and stronger, with no hint of evil in Him, to fight for us. When we give God complete control of our lives, Satan has no power over us. We can overcome his evil with God’s goodness, first in ourselves, and then in the world.

“To fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your agenda and accept God’s agenda for your life. You can’t just ‘tack it on’ to all the other things you’d like to do with your life. You must say, like Jesus, ‘Father, . . . I want your will, not mine.’ You yield your rights, expectations, dreams, plans, and ambitions to him.”

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

God’s love has the power to conquer evil in this world and in ourselves, and displaying His love to others is how we show them who we are. This week’s Scripture passages remind us to seek God’s Kingdom above everything else, to yield our will to His, and to work together in love as disciples of Christ. When we do, evil doesn’t stand a chance against us!

“We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.
He keeps us in step with each other.
His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us
so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”

Ephesians 4:15-16 MSG

References:

• Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Study Manual. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Ortberg, John. The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People. Zondervan, 2002.
• “‘They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love’ | Tommy Walker (from Generation Hymns 3).” YouTube, uploaded by Tommy Walker Ministries, 31 March 2022, https://youtu.be/6qSRAliF5Sk.
• Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Zondervan, 2002.

Images:

• Heart Hands featured image by Ankita Gkd from Pixabay
• Group Prayer image by Matthew de Livera on Unsplash
• Clasped Hands image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay
• Hands Holding Light image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Hearts and People image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay (edited)