Christian Ministry as Combat
by Steve Meister
Many Christians assume that the issues that engender debate are the ones you can safely ignore. But in his modern classic, Christianity & Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen suggested that we view controversies in the opposite way.
In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.[i]
Supporting Machen’s point, the New Testament uses warfare imagery to describe normative Christian ministry. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul portrays ministry as waging war. Ministers are given titles, like “fellow soldier” (Phil 2:25; Philem 2) and are exhorted, like Timothy, to “wage the good warfare” (1 Tim 1:18) and suffer as “a good soldier” (2 Tim 2:3). What can we learn by viewing ministry through this lens, as a call to combat?
1. The fight is normal. If you tried to find a period of church history where the church was not embattled, you would fail. It is not for nothing that the church on earth has traditionally been called the “Church Militant.”
We serve Christ and His Word amid a world of sinners, with the remaining presence of the flesh, and in opposition to the devil’s lies, so any idea that we can somehow avoid conflict with the right strategy, or enough nuance, is simply naive. J.I. Packer agreed:
Any idea of getting beyond conflict, outward or inward, in our pursuit of holiness in this world is an escapist dream that can only have disillusioning and demoralizing effects on us as waking experience daily disproves it. What we must realize, rather, is that any real holiness in us will be under hostile fire all the time, just as our Lord’s was.[ii]
Christians must never forget that we live and minister in enemy territory until God’s purposes fully come to pass. Taking fire and returning it is the status quo. That entails a second lesson.
2. Ministry is not for the effeminate. Christian ministry is not for the soft, delicate, easily disturbed, self-indulgent, quickly discouraged, nor for those who seek comfort at all costs. Christian ministers do not retreat as soon as they are fired upon. While persecution and slander are certainly acts of injustice and oppression against the Church, Christians do not quickly take the mantle of victim and withdraw.
We are warriors in a battle, expected to stand firm while fired upon, with the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word, and taking recourse to prayer(Eph 6:14-18). We’re called to a warrior-like tenacity, a mentality that says God’s glory and the never-dying souls of men are worth the fight. This raises the question of our confidence, which is a third lesson.
3. God fights for us. What gives us courage in the fight and the requisite character for it? The confidence that God fights for us. This is evident in Nehemiah 4, as Israel rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls under threat of attack and “each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other” (v. 17). What motivated God’s people to labor under impending assaults was being reminded that God fought for them. Nehemiah exhorted Israel:
“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes… Our God will fight for us” (Neh 4:14, 20).
This ought to have been a familiar truth, that Yahweh is “a man of war” (Exod 15:3) and “is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory” (Deut 20:4). God’s people know that the battle belongs to Him (1 Sam 17:47). Our assurance in every fight is knowing that we do not fight alone.
Later, the early church would persevere in the same confidence. When the Apostles were beaten and threatened with death, they prayed for God to be with them in their peril, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats” and to strengthen them for the fight, “and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” (Acts 4:29).
Our ability to fight, as Christians, is sustained by this confidence. The battle over the dominion of sin and lies of the evil one is the Lord’s. That is evident in the logic of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in how he is to engage the controversies before him:
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 2:24-25, NASB).
We refuse quarrelsome squabbles, endure wrongs from others, and correct our opponents with a godly gentleness, by remembering the power to win the fight and grant repentance belongs to the Lord. The battle still today belongs to Yahweh.
When Charles Spurgeon launched his monthly magazine in 1865, he drew inspiration from Nehemiah 4 and titled it The Sword and the Trowel. Spurgeon described Israel’s labors under Nehemiah as typifying what was required in his day:
We would sound the trumpet, and lead our comrades to the fight. We would ply the Trowel with untiring hand for the building up of Jerusalem’s dilapidated walls, and wield the Sword with rigor and valor against the enemies of the truth.[iii]
Later, in 1887, the Sword and the Trowel would publish Spurgeon’s now famous entry in the series on “the down-grade,” warning about the unorthodox slide of The Baptist Union in England. In it, Spurgeon rallied,
If for a while the evangelicals are doomed to go down, let them die fighting, and in the full assurance that their gospel will have a resurrection when the inventions of “modern thought” shall be burned up with fire unquenchable.[iv]
A month later, in replying to criticism that his previous article had been too severe, Spurgeon replied by assuring his critics:
With steadfast faith let us take our places; not in anger, not in the spirit of suspicion or division, but in watchfulness and resolve. Let us not pretend to a fellowship which we do not feel, nor hide convictions which are burning in our hearts. The times are perilous, and the responsibility of every individual believer is a burden which he must bear, or prove a traitor. What each man’s place and course should be the Lord will make clear unto him.[v]
Of course, the times have always been perilous and so has the burden been upon every Christian, especially Christian ministers, to engage the peril of their time with confidence in the Lord and courage by His grace. How we fight as Christians is truly a matter of serious concern, but that we fight must not be ignored for the sake of it. The call to minister for Christ is and has always been a call to combat.
Notes:
[i] Christianity & Liberalism (Eerdmans, 1923), pp. 1-2.
[ii]God’s Words (IVP, 1981), p. 195.
[iii] “A Record of Combat with Sin & Labor for the Lord,” The Sword and the Trowel (January, 1865).
[iv] “Another Word Concerning the Down-Grade,” The Sword and the Trowel (August 1887), 400.
[v] “Our Reply to Sundry Critics and Enquirers,” The Sword and the Trowel (September 1887), 465
