True Bravery.
I. Many a hero in ancient and modern times is glorified, and many a conquered man is despised, when the so-called hero trusted to his strength of mind or body, and felt confident of escape or victory. This is not bravery. To feel sure that for you there is little or no danger, is not heroic. This was not St. Paul's bravery, when he was a day and a night in the deep, or though no sailor, thrice shipwrecked, and ready to face it all over and over again. He has told us nothing more of it than these words, "a day and a night in the deep." What a proof that is of bravery; it did not dwell in his mind enough to speak of.
II. Again, many will dare really dangerous things when numbers look on, and great praise and shouting thousands cheer them on to their work. This was not St. Paul's kind of bravery. For the sake of Christ he could take pleasure in infirmities, in weakness, in shame, and go from city to city, though beaten here, stoned there, imprisoned, attacked.
III. Christ's army has no room for cowards. Numbers do not hide them, they cannot hide undiscovered in the general wars. In Christ's army Christ requires every one to be brave, whilst He has declared, speaking from heaven, that "the fearful shall have their place in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." It seems a fatally unexpected sentence at the first sight. But the servants of the Almighty King of Life ought to have some of the life strength of His almightiness in them. True bravery is of the Spirit; it is the life of Christ within the heart; and fears nothing within, or without, so long as the good cause is not betrayed, so long as truth is upheld. It is perfect self-mastery, unselfishly following Christ.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons,vol. i., p. 173.
Christian Battles.
I. If you look at the text you will notice that the Apostle is putting before us a plain exhortation to conduct, based upon a distinct statement of position. The position he states to be this, "as a soldier" the conduct, "endure hardness"; and when we come to examine into the necessity of such conduct, based upon the exigencies of such a position, we are thrown back upon the old thought of the enemy, with whom we have to contend; we have in fact to fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh. When we speak of fighting with Satan there is this always to be remembered, that the war has to be waged with one possessed of all the three chief faculties which go to make any malignant power oppressive to a struggling heart; for Satan is undoubtedly, possessed, first of all, of natural capacity; secondly, of a wide-reaching science; and thirdly, of a large experience. I would remind you further that Satan, in his fight against us, is seconded by that power within us, which from its intimate connection with our animal organism, and the grovelling direction of all its tendencies, can best be epitomised in its character as "the flesh." If the flesh is a traitor who makes a concordat with Satan, "the world" is an enemy equally fierce and infinitely more subtle. "The world," in a word, we know, means this: the accumulated force of certain principles sinborn, and sin-strengthened, which tend to undermine the spiritual life.
II. The character of the enemy is marked by three features. (1) Craft or unworthy cunning. (2) Patient persistence in recurrent and well-timed attack. (3) A seductiveness in order to overcome suspicion or fear of evil. To disguise from ourselves the reality, or to minimise the strength of the forces opposed to us, lest we become careless and are confident of victory; or, what is equally dangerous, to lose sight of the certainty of recurrent assistance, and so yield to the seductions of evil from a craven fear of ultimate defeat is the utmost folly.
III. How are we to meet an enemy of so formidable a kind? St. Paul says, "Asa soldier." How are we to act as soldiers?
(1) By a life of faith. The illuminative power of faith, and also faith as a dominant faculty must rule. Faith inspires courage.
(2) To act with simplicity. To be one's simple better self; and simplicity is part of the character of God. (3) With patience. Patience is love exerting itself to resistance. You must eventually win your way simply by standing your ground.
IV. If such be some of the features of the soldier's character, what does it all amount to? It amounts, I submit, in practice to precisely what the Apostle said, "enduring hardness"; not that you should be callous, but that such virtues should be exercised by you with unbending resolution, and that you should keep constantly before you the ever-recurring need of determinedly crushing pride and passion. God has Himself entered the arena, and we have also the encouragement of the brotherhood of Christians.
W. J. Knox Little, Characteristics and Motives of the Christian Life,p. 70.
Christianity: a Warfare.
If we are true Christians we are every one of us soldiers. If we really belong to Christ we are every one of us carrying on a daily warfare. The enemy is never out of our sight; the contest is a lifelong contest; the battle ground is our soul; the enemy whom we have to beat down is sin in its ten thousand varying forms; the struggle is often invisible to all but ourselves: alone we have to fight, alone we have to conquer, seen only, aided only, guided only (it may be) by our unseen Chieftain, our great and glorious Leader, who, seated high above the din and turmoil of the contest, watches all the efforts, and controls all the movements of His mighty host.
II. Our text gives us some very necessary, very useful advice on this topic. It bids us remember that it is not an easy thing to be a Christian: it bids us remember that to be a soldier of the Cross requires effort and self-denial and constant endurance. Thou therefore endure hardness," or, as it might be paraphrased, "Thou therefore take thy share of suffering, take thy portion of hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
III. Our army has its great tradition. Through the exertions of the early warriors it is that we are possessed, as we are today, of all the blessings of the Gospel. To their courage, their zeal, and their love for souls, we owe the peace and the happiness which Christianity has brought to us. Let us thank God that He raised up these mighty warriors; let us thank God that they went forth as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and conquered ignorance, conquered superstition, conquered sin. One last word. Do not let us forget that we belong to a victorious army. We are on the conquering side: those of us who love and serve Christ must prevail at last.
E. V. Hall, The Waiting Saviour,p. 37.
Fortitude.
There are many obvious reasons for cultivating a more robust and manly earnestness in our religion.
I. It is due to the character of the great Master whom we serve. "No man that warreth." It cannot be doubted that, in the vivid language of the Word of God, every Christian, without exception man, woman, or child is called to be a soldier, any more than it can be doubted that conflict, with all its ideas of danger and watchfulness and struggle, enters into the actual personal experience of us all. We look up to the Captain of our salvation, and every imaginable motive which can nerve the human heart combines to inspire us with dauntless courage and unflinching fortitude.
II. A robust earnestness is due to the necessities of the work. God takes every possible precaution in His Word that we should count the cost before we enlist under our Captain's banner. We must conquer or be conquered for there is no other alternative live or die. And this endurance of hardship is the more necessary because, not only are habits of personal self-denial and self-restraint, watchful devotion and earnest effort, the conditions of victory, but they are actual parts of the victory themselves.
III. Manly vigour is due to the abundance of the reward. This motive is addressed to the Christian, not to the man of the world; to the converted, not to the unconverted. Salvation itself is not of reward, it is all of grace. It is free sovereign grace, out of the spontaneous love of God, that calls the soul. It is all of grace, not of works. But once let the soul find Christ, let it be accepted within the family circle, let it fairly take service beneath the banner of Christ as the faithful soldier and servant of a crucified Master, and then God deals with it by rewards.
E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life,p. 149.
Fearfulness under a Curse.
These are the words of St. Paul; they express his view of a good man's life and character. The Christian man is a soldier of Christ, and must be brave and enduring. The brave alone enter heaven; the fearful are cast into hell. Bravery, endurance, and victory, are not accidental or wonderful, not matters of chance, to be or not to be, but sober necessities of common life; and fearfulness is not a pardonable weakness, but a deadly sin; and like any other sin must be steadily fought against and overcome. Bravery is Christian, fearfulness is devilish. The good soldier of Christ, man or woman, is brave, and the temper of the Christian is bravery.
II. St. Paul was brave. When he saw the brethren, we are told he thanked God and took courage. The very words "took courage" show how lonely-hearted he must have felt before, as well he might feel; how in his spirit he longed for some human consolation, as he was about at last to see the city of palaces, the stronghold of earthly power, the fairest, grandest sight that eye could see of man's work, the foulest and most poisonous that sin triumphant had ever dwelt in. St. Paul coming up the long straight road, mile after mile, drawing nearer to so vast, so pitiless, so splendid a place, had his human feelings we may be sure; for, when he saw the brethren who had come out to meet him, he took courage. Well he knew the meaning of his own words to his young and faithful friend: "Do thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." A brave man's words they were, and a brave man's heart experiences the freshness of his free spirit, that knew nothing on the wide earth which could make him step back one foot when Christ had work to be done. The brave are of Christ, the doom of hell fire is on the fearful.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons,vol. i., p. 167.
Enduring Hardness.
I. In the large social life of which we are all members these words come to us as a call to more service. The Church of Christ exists to serve. We do not exist for ourselves; we exist for others. We do not unite to get; we unite to give. We do not come together even for spiritual fellowship: we come together for practical work. Now the Church of Christ can never choose her work: her work is always given her in the providence of God. Each new age brings to her a new task, and surely never was the task more clear to the Church of Christ than it is today. The task of the Church is to restore the inspiration of the Christian faith, and to revive the beauty of Christian love.
II. In our outward public life these words come to us as a call to more sacrifice. If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, somewhere in our life the note must be telling of definite sacrifice. Christ's view of life is not an easy view; it is on the whole a severe view. It does not meanwhile admit of a full-orbed culture; it demands sacrifice. Fear not to make some sacrifice for Christ; pant not so eagerly to have your own ideas of life realised. Have faith in eternity, and meanwhile take bravely your share of the hardness.
III. These words come to us as a call to more strictness. We shrink from the hardship of watching strictly and sternly our inward personal life. When the inner life is not cared for, outward work even God's work may be done faithfully, but it has no effectiveness, no glow. Where the inner life is watched strictly and severely there comes over even the simplest life of outward work the spell that attracts, the beauty that wins.
R. S. Simpson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 358.
Enduring Hardness as a Soldier.
The fact that we are Christian soldiers suggests three corresponding duties.
I. The will of the soldier should be wholly absorbed in that of his commander.
II. A soldier must possess true courage.
III. A soldier must be ready to endure hardness.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths,p. 411.
References: 2 Timothy 2:3. A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xi., p. 198; Ibid.,vol. xiv., p. 364; J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth,p. 183; C. Garrett, Loving Counsels,p. 206; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvi., No. 938; Church of England Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 72; Ibid.,vol. viii., p. 163; S. Pearson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xx., p. 307; H. P. Liddon, Ibid.,vol. xxxv., p. 273. 2 Timothy 2:3-6. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 256. 2 Timothy 2:4-10. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 80. 2 Timothy 2:5. W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 395. 2 Timothy 2:8. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxviii., No. 1653; Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 67; Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 376.