A Man And His Devotion

Today, as you might have guessed, we’re going to be talking about the Bible – more specifically, about getting into our Bibles, and our Bibles getting into us. As we discuss what it takes to be God’s man, the discipline of daily devotional time in the Word of God is not an afterthought – it is not optional behavior for the believer – it is absolutely necessary, and ladies, as I have said before, the principles we are learning in these discussions are for all of us – even though our focus right now is on men.

Bill was a young man who at age 21 decided he was going to read his Bible on a regular basis. So he set himself a goal of reading the Old Testament through once, and the New Testament four times each year. He did so - Ever Year - For the rest of his life. By the time his 90-year-old eyes could no longer read the Bible, he had read the Old Testament over 70 times and the New Testament nearly 300 times. His life was deeply impacted by this total immersion of his mind in the Word of God. It affected his attitude, his decision-making, and his outlook on difficult people and difficult circumstances.

When we hear that someone has made that type of commitment, we immediately think, “Yeah right! If I were a monk in some monastery somewhere I could spend my days reading the Bible like that too! I’d like to see ‘Bill’ do that and tackle the schedule I have to live with!” Well, let me tell you a little about Bill’s life.

Lt. General William K Harrison was the most decorated soldier in the 30^th Infantry Division of the United States Army, which was rated by General Dwight Eisenhower as the number one infantry division in World War II. Harrison was the first American to enter Belgium (ahead of his own troops). He received every decoration for valor except the Medal of Honor – the Distinguished Silver Cross, the Silver Star, The Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He not only served with honor in World War II, but also in the Korean War, and was instrumental in the negotiations that ended that war.

He was a man’s man. A guy that even the legendary George Patton respected and honored. And yet one of the most well-known character traits of this man was his godliness and his wisdom. He was at West Point, when he began his Bible reading discipline, and through his college years, and his career in the military and beyond he maintained that discipline. When he found himself in the thick of battle, and unable to read on a given day, he would always catch up when there was a break in the action. He did it every year until he was over 90 years old and his eyes would no longer allow it.[i]

We are continuing our series of discussions entitled, “Have You Got What It Takes To Be God’s Man?” Our church and our Nation are desperate for men of character, integrity and godliness. Men who will not just attend church once a week and live a “good life.” We need men who will take their calling as a Christian seriously, who will strive to live their lives according to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, and who will recognize the danger of doing anything less! We do not have to look hard or long to see that our culture is under attack. Morality, ethics and values are being challenged and abandoned – and the results are splashed across our television screens daily.

Men, your Nation, your home and your family are under attack! In the days following Pearl Harbor and again after September 11, 2001, the people of America were incensed by the attack of their enemies upon their homeland, and they responded with resolve to turn back the aggressor. Yet in the face of a far more dangerous attack on the hearts and minds of our children, spouses and friends we seem content to allow the enemy to walk right into our homes and take our wives and our children captive while we sit on the sofa and watch TV. While our attention is captivated by shows like Crime Scene Investigator or LOST, our living rooms are the scenes of perhaps the greatest crime of our generation – the negligent absence of real men, and the subsequent loss of our culture.

This week I was reading a book that stated the great spiritual battle of the 21^st century “will be between Marxism, Islam and Third World Christianity. Western Christianity is considered too weak and ineffective to contribute anything significant to this universal struggle.” Do you hear that? What that writer is saying is that the church in America and Europe is no longer even in the fight! The future of the Christian church now rests with the believers in Africa, South America and Asia – because European and North American believers are no longer relevant or effective! That statement makes me bristle – but deep inside, I know it’s true – it is true and it will stay that way unless we wake up to the reality of our situation!

When Winston Churchill called the people of Britain to fight alone against the Nazi Germany war machine that had marched across all of Europe in an undefeated chain of victories, he said, “If we fail, then the world will slip into a new dark age.” Men, unless we wake up – and rise to the challenge before us, then this Nation will further slip into a post-Christian, godless abyss, and our children will be casualties of our neglect. We dare not sit back and blithely allow that to happen.

Last week Roy talked about being careful with our minds – thinking on the proper things - as outlined in Philippians chapter 4. We are challenged in Philippians 4:8 to think on those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. We are called to fill our minds with the things of God – and that is done by spending time in the Word of God – immersing ourselves in it – surrounding ourselves with its truth and light.

Today we are going to continue that train of thought by focusing on “a man and his devotion” – the daily disciplines that are necessary minimum standards for a follower of Jesus Christ. In the military, there is a three-fold framework for the soldier: Be, Know and Do. In the first four weeks of these talks, we focused on the “Be” – our character. We talked about being men of integrity, diligence and perseverance, controlling our tongue and committed to hard work. We can only lead from who we are. Anything less and we are hypocrites.

Last week, in his discussion of “A Man and His Mind,” Roy introduced the second portion of our framework – KNOW. Imagine an army where the soldiers are trained to be good people - honest, courageous and to hard working. They have excellent character. They live by high moral and ethical codes. But they are never required to study. There’s no requirement that they learn the rules of conduct, the general orders, or the details of their equipment.

Yes it is vital that we be men of character – but that character alone will not sustain us in the challenge that is ahead of us. A soldier on the field of battle may have the most courage of any of his comrades, he may be diligent to work hard from dawn to dusk, and beyond – he may have the reputation of being a person of great trust and honesty – but if he doesn’t KNOW – If he can’t clean a weapon, if he can’t accurately fire the weapon, if he has never learned how to defend himself, then he will be a dead man of character. There is no substitute for knowledge.

When Tom Cummings came home from 13 weeks of Marine Corps Basic Training, he shared with me the books that each Marine was responsible to know as a result of their training. [Show books.] During those weeks of training, each recruit is relentlessly drilled over this information. They have to know amazing amounts of information – from the seemingly frivolous, like the proper procedure for getting into a car (by inverse order of rank), to the absolutely essential, like how to clean and fire an M16. When there is an inspection, the emphasis is not only on how the marine looks, but what the Marine knows. The same is true in each branch of the military. There are men and women here who can attest to that – right? I’ll bet some of you could still recite your general orders, rank structure, code of conduct or rules of engagement. Some of you might even be able to break down and reassemble a weapon – blindfolded!

It should come as no surprise to any of us that as followers of Christ, we are called to be soldiers. I know that in a politically correct world, such words are seen as extreme, erroneous or even dangerous. Many churches refuse to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers,” not because it is antiquated, but because it is politically incorrect! The church is not described in the Bible as a passive, milquetoast organization to be tossed about by the whims of a pagan world. The church is a militant, aggressive army, marching against the enemy, fighting for the souls of lost, blinded people. The Bible often uses parables and metaphors to describe the Christian’s earthly life. But in this matter or warfare, the Bible does not use a metaphor or parable – it says what it means and means what it says. The Christian life is not compared to a war – it is a war![ii]

In II Timothy 2:3&4 Paul says, “You, therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” He further states in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole amour of God that you may be able to stand against the attacks of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” In that same chapter, as the armor of God is listed – it is not done in terms of metaphor – it is done in terms of absolutes. Faith is not “like” a shield. it is a shield! Salvation isn’t “like” a helmet – it is our helmet!

And the Word of God is not “like” a sword – it is our Sword of the Spirit – our only offensive weapon in this battle. In this war, every person who is a follower of Christ is a combatant, and as a combatant there are some things we need to know, and the only way to know them is to do the work of studying.

As a part of the body of Christ, there is no substitute for a life of devotion. We must have a working knowledge of the Word of God. It is not optional to being a Christian – this is a requirement of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. We simply must spend time in the Bible. We must read it, we must study it, we must meditate on it, and we must memorize it.

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.[iii]

This passage really speaks to all three legs of our Christian lives: BE, KNOW, DO. We are to BE people of great character – living a life of integrity – free from the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the path of the sinner, and seated with the cynical. What he DOES is “bring forth fruit in its season.” The Christian man is one who is faithful to his mission – he completes his assigned task. We have been given orders from our commander in two great passages of Scripture – The Great Commandment, and The Great Commission. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as youself.” That is our Commandment – and our Mission is, “Go therefore and teach all nations everything that I have commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That is what we are to DO. But at the heart of this passage is what we are to KNOW – it is found in verse 2. “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night…”

There is no BEING a Godly man, there can be no DOING of Godly work, without KNOWING the Word of God!

Last summer, Andrew, John, Terry Carr, Larry Lowrie and I had a chance to go to Volk Field, an Air National Guard Base, to provide food service for a group of Civil Air Patrol Recruits. They were young people from ages 15-19, going through a one-week “Basic Training.” It was remarkable to see. In addition to being pushed to their physical limits, they were also drilled mentally. When they stood in line for their meals, they stood with a book of basic knowledge in front of their faces, when they finished eating, they would sit with the book in front of them until dismissed - committing the vital information that they needed to succeed to their memory. Yeah, it’s kind of like a junior “weekend warrior” training – and it would be easy for them to shrug it off as too extreme – to difficult – not worth the pain, the screaming and the discipline – but I watched those young kids rise to the occasion because they had decided that this was something they were going to make a priority – and they did!

This week, John got himself a new Paintball gun [show gun]. It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? I don’t know how many of you have been paintballing, but it is an intense time. A bunch of people running around – some in jeans and t-shirts, some in full military-style camo – hiding in weeds, behind trees, or inside bunkers – shooting plastic balls filled with paint at each other at 300 feet per second. When you get hit, the ball splatters, leaving a colored stain on your clothes. Occasionally a ball will hit you and not break, which allows you to stay in the game, which is good, but it means that your body absorbs all the energy of the ball, and it can leave a pretty nasty bruise, or even break the skin. It is intense, it is exhausting, it can be great team building – but it is pretend! I have often times sat behind a tree, with paint balls splattering all around me, trying to figure out how to keep from being hit, and thought about the men and women who have sat behind trees on real battlefields – trying to keep themselves from being wounded or killed.

Folks, far too many of us have made the mistake of thinking that our Bibles are a pretend weapon, and that we are not in a real battle. But let me tell you the stark, cold truth. When your son, or your daughter comes under the attack of the enemy – it’s not going to just leave a stain, or maybe a bruise – he is out to utterly obliterate them! He hates them, he hates you, and his goal is to destroy you, your children, your marriage, your church and your nation.

This gun would be of little good in the hands of even the most brave and well-trained soldier or marine in Iraq right now. It is a toy.

This Bible is not a toy. It is the only offensive weapon we have in our arsenal by which we can wage battle against our enemy. But if we don’t know it – if we can’t use it – we will be over run by our enemy – plain and simple. Men, today I am calling you to stop playing with toys – and get into the fight – get into this Word!

In particular, I am looking for a few men who will take this thing seriously enough to make a commitment – who will meet with me after the service, and enlist in a serious effort to train for battle. Who will be willing to make the sacrifice, and do the work, to engage the enemy. This group of men will be laying the groundwork for an effort in this church to raise up men, young and old – who will be effective, faithful dedicated followers of their Commander, Jesus.

Men who will walk ”not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”

If you would like to be that man, see me after the service, and let’s get to work.