More than Conquerors Recently I came across a sermon given by Spurgeon called “The Battle of Life.” QUOTE
A Sermon(No. 3511) Published on Thursday, May 11th, 1916. Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.http://www.spurgeon.org/index/rindex.htm
As I read the text I took note of the “basic ideas” given by Spurgeon concerning our struggle as Christians in this life and the various points he touched on which he deemed important considerations for the “Christian Soldier” in this battle.In the body of the text I came across a few ideas, that I will paste here as quotes, that spurned another avenue of thought in me and I would like to expound as I am made able by the Holy Spirit. The first of these quotes is this; QUOTE
“I like my text all the better, because it implies a hostile engagement, and speaks of warfare. For me the battlefield has no charms. With host encountering host, and carnage left behind, I have no sympathy, but spiritually my soul seems enamored of the idea; I buckle on my armor at the very thought that life is to be a conflict and a strife, in which it behaves me to get the mastery.”
By my own experience of battlefields I can attest to the validity of the statement “the battlefield holds no charms,” indeed it is a place of violence, death and dying. However, before my own enlistment I believed Warfare to be a picture of “sacrificial romance” and that idea feed my desire to be a part of that elite group who would shed their blood for the sake of many. I do not wish to waste too much time expounding on the stark realization of that error-full thought. If you will take note of the underlined portion of the quote above you will see the very heart of the message I would like to share. In particular; “behaves me to get the Mastery.” It is evident in today’s secular culture that the mentality of just “getting by” is becoming the only standard people feel motivated to achieve. Truly some pursue wealth with great fervor but will take any shortcut or moral compromise to gain it sooner. However this leads to great falls for those who don’t rightly earn what they have crookedly achieved, take for instance the once great leaders in our economy.In the mean time you have those who don’t have great hopes for wealth and achievement simply resigning themselves to whatever they think that fate has designed for them and lack motivation, competitiveness, and no desire to master any office. They are barely willing to put forth just enough effort to get by. All are quite content to blame outside influences for the lack of opportunity in their lives and careers, so they just labor to exist.If we consider the modern Christians motivations we can see a similar frame of mind in that we obtain our “fire insurance” and do the least bit of necessary work to clear the Pearly Gates by the “skin of our teeth.” Too often do we frame our Faith by the idea we Christians should be more deficient than unbelievers even in the light of the abundant promises to us in scripture. Certainly we know to abstain from the secular pursuit of wealth and false platforms of social achievement; however, we fall far short through the idea of “gratuitous self-debasement” and deny even the smallest of our inheritance given by our Heavenly Father. Somewhere along the lines we have chosen to adopt secular definitions of what God has ordained “fruits of the Spirit.” Take for example “meekness,” by any definition of mortal man we understand this to be a characteristic exhibited by “prey.” But in light of the truth we see that when we resolve to put off our fleshly aggression and humble ourselves Gods character stands in its place. In our “weakness he is made strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. James 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.Paul says “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” That, in my opinion is a good, exchange. But Paul was not empowered to just make it through by the skin of his teeth, but to be “More than a conqueror;” Romans 8:37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.All through the Scriptures we see phrases like “abundant life,” “to him who overcomes” and “more than conquerors,” this leads me to believe we are to master our offices in the Body of Christ, not just maintain. At one point Paul even reveals that he labored harder than those he was addressing, and we should grasp that idea to excel. Not to the effect we would be “holier than thou” Christians but by producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and allowing the power of Christ to work in us and through us, to the mastery of our faith. In apathy we cling tightly to the least of what our responsibility is to our faith. We see it as a great burden of rules and regulations, do this, don’t do that, as if it were to rob us of the material simplicities we already possess. But it truth in obedience is gives us greater freedom and a much more rich reward. What we do here has eternal implications for us and others, so would we resign ourselves to the smallest measure of obedience, and miss a greater reward? Would we miss what is given to us by God in this life as well as eternity?In the military a soldier is trained not only to survive but to excel, to be better. Not only must he survive but also be trained as an effective tool to subdue the enemy. We don’t fight only to survive but to win. By our mastery we are effective in survival and in our brother’s survival as well, and to the accomplishment of total victory and not a stalemate. And to those who excel are given more responsibility as leaders and authorities in such matters. An apathetic approach to warfare is a detrimental influence to your survival and others in the same fight. We must be aggressive in Spiritual warfare and rise to the fight with the intention of a total victory, and not just for the sake of self preservation. QUOTE
“Unless we deny ourselves and lay violent hands upon the impulses of our nature, are shall never come to the place where the crowns are distributed to the conquerors.”
We are soldiers and that by its very definition rules out any passive posture against the enemy.
A Sermon(No. 3511) Published on Thursday, May 11th, 1916. Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.http://www.spurgeon.org/index/rindex.htm
As I read the text I took note of the “basic ideas” given by Spurgeon concerning our struggle as Christians in this life and the various points he touched on which he deemed important considerations for the “Christian Soldier” in this battle.In the body of the text I came across a few ideas, that I will paste here as quotes, that spurned another avenue of thought in me and I would like to expound as I am made able by the Holy Spirit. The first of these quotes is this; QUOTE
“I like my text all the better, because it implies a hostile engagement, and speaks of warfare. For me the battlefield has no charms. With host encountering host, and carnage left behind, I have no sympathy, but spiritually my soul seems enamored of the idea; I buckle on my armor at the very thought that life is to be a conflict and a strife, in which it behaves me to get the mastery.”
By my own experience of battlefields I can attest to the validity of the statement “the battlefield holds no charms,” indeed it is a place of violence, death and dying. However, before my own enlistment I believed Warfare to be a picture of “sacrificial romance” and that idea feed my desire to be a part of that elite group who would shed their blood for the sake of many. I do not wish to waste too much time expounding on the stark realization of that error-full thought. If you will take note of the underlined portion of the quote above you will see the very heart of the message I would like to share. In particular; “behaves me to get the Mastery.” It is evident in today’s secular culture that the mentality of just “getting by” is becoming the only standard people feel motivated to achieve. Truly some pursue wealth with great fervor but will take any shortcut or moral compromise to gain it sooner. However this leads to great falls for those who don’t rightly earn what they have crookedly achieved, take for instance the once great leaders in our economy.In the mean time you have those who don’t have great hopes for wealth and achievement simply resigning themselves to whatever they think that fate has designed for them and lack motivation, competitiveness, and no desire to master any office. They are barely willing to put forth just enough effort to get by. All are quite content to blame outside influences for the lack of opportunity in their lives and careers, so they just labor to exist.If we consider the modern Christians motivations we can see a similar frame of mind in that we obtain our “fire insurance” and do the least bit of necessary work to clear the Pearly Gates by the “skin of our teeth.” Too often do we frame our Faith by the idea we Christians should be more deficient than unbelievers even in the light of the abundant promises to us in scripture. Certainly we know to abstain from the secular pursuit of wealth and false platforms of social achievement; however, we fall far short through the idea of “gratuitous self-debasement” and deny even the smallest of our inheritance given by our Heavenly Father. Somewhere along the lines we have chosen to adopt secular definitions of what God has ordained “fruits of the Spirit.” Take for example “meekness,” by any definition of mortal man we understand this to be a characteristic exhibited by “prey.” But in light of the truth we see that when we resolve to put off our fleshly aggression and humble ourselves Gods character stands in its place. In our “weakness he is made strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. James 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.Paul says “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” That, in my opinion is a good, exchange. But Paul was not empowered to just make it through by the skin of his teeth, but to be “More than a conqueror;” Romans 8:37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.All through the Scriptures we see phrases like “abundant life,” “to him who overcomes” and “more than conquerors,” this leads me to believe we are to master our offices in the Body of Christ, not just maintain. At one point Paul even reveals that he labored harder than those he was addressing, and we should grasp that idea to excel. Not to the effect we would be “holier than thou” Christians but by producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and allowing the power of Christ to work in us and through us, to the mastery of our faith. In apathy we cling tightly to the least of what our responsibility is to our faith. We see it as a great burden of rules and regulations, do this, don’t do that, as if it were to rob us of the material simplicities we already possess. But it truth in obedience is gives us greater freedom and a much more rich reward. What we do here has eternal implications for us and others, so would we resign ourselves to the smallest measure of obedience, and miss a greater reward? Would we miss what is given to us by God in this life as well as eternity?In the military a soldier is trained not only to survive but to excel, to be better. Not only must he survive but also be trained as an effective tool to subdue the enemy. We don’t fight only to survive but to win. By our mastery we are effective in survival and in our brother’s survival as well, and to the accomplishment of total victory and not a stalemate. And to those who excel are given more responsibility as leaders and authorities in such matters. An apathetic approach to warfare is a detrimental influence to your survival and others in the same fight. We must be aggressive in Spiritual warfare and rise to the fight with the intention of a total victory, and not just for the sake of self preservation. QUOTE
“Unless we deny ourselves and lay violent hands upon the impulses of our nature, are shall never come to the place where the crowns are distributed to the conquerors.”
We are soldiers and that by its very definition rules out any passive posture against the enemy.