Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Luke 10:1-9, Romans 12:1-2

I was supposed to do Angela and Dave’s wedding this month. They met when he recruited her as a college student. As her National Guard recruiter, Dave promised Angela that there was no way she would be deployed to Iraq. Angela, the daughter of a career Air Force father, signed up with the explanation to her family that the government would help with her college expenses in exchange for a minimal commitment—only one weekend a month after she graduates. What a contrast between her dad’s decision to join the Air Force 25 years ago and her decision to join the National Guard. When her dad signed up he planned to become career Air Force. He knew he would be deployed around the world and that some of his assignments would bring separation from his family. He served two terms overseas accompanied by his wife and children. But he also served a term without his family. Ed knew what he was getting into when he went into the Air Force.

Angela his daughter, however, signed up with completely different expectations. She was signing up to receive financial aid during college. She liked the idea of getting an additional paycheck in response to a minimal commitment. It was nothing like her dad’s career.

When Angela and Dave fell in love, they contacted me about their wedding plans. Angela introduced her fiancé Dave to me when I did her sister’s wedding last year. When they began making their plans, I asked about the possibility of his being deployed to Iraq. Dave explained that there was no way he was going to Iraq. The worst that could happen would be that he might serve along with Border Patrol for a while. So they made their plans for the wedding this October.

Guess what? Last winter Dave was deployed to Iraq. When he got a two-week leave, he and Angela decided to get married before he returned to Iraq. This was definitely NOT how they planned it.

I sometimes worry if the church is telling people the same kinds of things that Angela’s National Guard recruiter (now husband) promised her. Signing up isn’t really that big a commitment. Christian recruiters can make it sound so simple. Following Jesus is like joining a paintball game on the weekend, you won’t be called into real battle. Here is the truth. Choosing to follow Jesus is a full-time life of discipline. It is a career choice. If we go into it with lowered expectations, we set ourselves up for frustration.

Recently I attended a leadership conference where I heard an amazing example of the difference between those who are prepared and battle-ready and those who are merely weekend warriors. The speaker described two groups of people sent out on a mission. It involved running a mile to a fence and then returning. The mission must be completed in less than 18 minutes. The first group was NFL football players. Run two miles on a hot humid day in less than 18 minutes? Easy! Then they learned that the trail they would be running had some alligators, snakes, and occasionally a wild boar. The second group consisted of highly trained special agents prepared for battle. What a difference! The mere sound of rustling bushes and a faint grunt sent the NFL players fleeing, while the highly trained agents automatically assumed battle positions.

When Jesus recruited the 72 to go out and carry the message of God’s kingdom, were they signing up for something more like the NFL players going on a weekend outing or special agents who are battle-ready? The Apostle Paul tells us that worship is a discipline. He goes so far as to suggest that it is a demanding discipline that requires sacrifice. Old habits must die in order for new habits of worship to grow. How does that work? Let’s continue this series of messages from Buddy Owens’ book The Way of a Worshiper.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

The knight rode inside the castle walls. His helmet battered and armor dirty. He was bleeding from one arm and listing to one side as he rode his horse into the courtyard. The king addressed the knight. “What hath befallen thee, Sir Knight?” “I have plundered and burned the villages of your enemies to the west, oh King.” The king paused and then said, “But I don’t have any enemies to the west.” The knight paused and then responded, “You do now.”

Is Christianity such a peaceful religion that no military images are appropriate to describe our roles as followers of Jesus? If we are not careful, we can tend to boil the whole gospel down to mushy love without the disciplined aspects of spiritual battle. What do we do with Jesus’ military teachings? Jesus warned his followers that they had enemies. While he taught us to love our enemies, he also condemned religious hypocrisy and told his disciples they needed to take their calling for God’s kingdom seriously. He reminded the 72 that they were like lambs among wolves. In fact, Luke 10 sounds like a general rallying the troops for battle.

In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley tells the stories of the Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. The Marine I am most intrigued with is Ira Hayes the Pima Indian from Arizona. I’ve preached a service near where the elders gathered and the church choir sang when they sent Ira off to World War II. I’m familiar with the Pima Indian memorial alongside the Arizona highway that tells about Ira Hayes.

Ira joined the Marines at age nineteen, just a few months after Pearl Harbor. He knew what he was getting into. When he returned from his first tour in the Pacific before returning to Camp Pendleton to prepare for Iwo Jima, he was welcomed back with a hero’s honors by his home church. They again gave a banquet in his honor and asked him to speak to the crowd of relatives and church members. Having experienced battle, he sounded more like a man than the boy they sent off to war. Typical of the Pima people, Ira’s words were few. He thanked the people for their support and then praised his fellow Marines for their commitment to bravery, self-sacrifice and brotherhood. He concluded that just as his Marine brotherhood would never let him down so he promised not to bring shame on his tribe. Bradley records that Ira wept as the church choir sang a final farewell. Then he returned to the war.

I picture Jesus’ speech to his 72 recruits as similar to that Pima gathering sending their own native son off to war. “Don’t take money or sandals, and do not even pause to greet people on the road. Bring a peaceful greeting when you arrive at a house and then go to work healing and announcing the kingdom of God.” Jesus was sending his troops into a spiritual battle to change the world.

Are we ready for spiritual battle? Romans 12 reads like a chapter out of a military manual. “Hate what is evil (know your enemy)… Be devoted to one another in love (teamwork) … Honor one another above yourselves (Huah!)… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Semper Fi).” The Apostle Paul begins his military manual with the call to true worship as the best way to be prepared for spiritual battles. He instructs us that real worship starts with our bodies even before our minds. “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices.”

Why must we worry about our bodies when the battles are spiritual? Most of us do not associate worship with physical fitness. What does worship have to do with our bodies? I learned the hard way that what we do with our bodies the night before has everything to do with our quality of worship the next morning. We must kill the old habits in order to grow the new healthy habits of worship.

Years ago, I confronted my tendency to waste time when I came home at the end of a twelve or fourteen hour day. I knew I needed time to wind down. But, instead of relaxing with a good book or catching up on the family news with Kate, I fell into the habit of grabbing the television remote and changing channels. (My wife hates it when I sit there with the remote and change the channel every five seconds.) Kate usually went to bed if she was not already in bed while I sat up channel surfing. While I was at it, a bowl of ice cream would surely help me relax. Pretty soon it was midnight. Then I would drag out of bed the next morning, not only feeling tired for lack of sleep, but also feeling stupid for having wasted my time the evening before. My lifestyle had become undisciplined and unhealthy, but I didn’t want to work at changing it.

Kate helped me confront this unhealthy pattern. She bought me an IPOD for my birthday a few years ago. She convinced me to relax by listening to a book on the IPOD in bed. Pretty soon I realized I was sleeping better at night and waking up earlier in the morning with new energy. In fact, I returned to a devotional life I had abandoned. Instead of wasting an hour or more on stupid channel surfing at night, I was waking up early to enjoy my quiet time with the Lord. I also returned to exercising regularly in the mornings. I went from wasting an hour at night to enjoying a positive hour in the morning.

Here is the truth: We prepare for our spiritual battles each day by what we do with our bodies! What is the undisciplined part of your life that keeps you from being spiritually fit for battle? A few months ago I heard a radio interviewer talking with American troops in Iraq. He discovered a significant contrast between the National Guard deployed there and the Marines. There was a much higher level of frustration among the National Guard. It came down to expectations.

While the Marines expected to be in battle and felt prepared, many in the National Guard troops felt betrayed since they thought they just signed up for one weekend a month. One National Guardsman patted his belly and described that he was one month short of retiring from the Guard when he was deployed to Iraq. He commented that he was carrying extra mid-life weight and was in no shape for battle. Not only was he deployed at this stage of life, but he was forced to re-enlist and remain in Iraq against his will. With the training he received, he felt unprepared to be fighting in a war.

I suspect the same is true when it comes to followers of Jesus. Those who think life should be easy can get frustrated when they discover we live on a spiritual battlefield. They may not realize worship is training us for battle. Here is what I know: Jesus recruits followers who are willing to be disciplined for spiritual battle. Jesus wants a few good men and women who are willing to offer their bodies as living sacrifices. Are you ready to join up?