The grainy images we see of those soldiers emerging from the smoke after a savage battle on the front line reminds me of our Christian journey here. It can easily be drawn into a spiritual context. Ian recently preached a sermon using Rab C. Nesbitt as an example. How Rab referred to his conversion and Christian journey as being like "on the road to Damascus". Rab was obviously referring to the time when Saul of Tarsus was converted to Christianity by Jesus while he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church. In this sermon, I want to develop this "theme" and take it a step further.

I'd like to look at what happens to some Christians on this spiritual journey here. Just like those grainy black and white images from the World War II, there are different types of "spiritual casualties" we can see on our Christian journeys. As we travel together on this road to salvation, we often witness Christians either growing in Christ or not developing, and sometimes they stagnate and fall away. I want to use the example of the World War II soldiers retreating from the battle lines.

The Fatally Wounded - Fatalities

²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

So why is it that some soldiers are fatally wounded in battle, yet others escape unscathed or unhurt? There are various reasons why some soldiers are fatally wounded and some are not. When a soldier is killed in battle, some might say it was just bad luck. Meaning that the dead soldier found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another reason could be that some soldiers take stupid risks. Or perhaps their armour or uniforms did not protect them well enough to stop a bullet getting through. Or perhaps they did not heed the warnings of their Commanding Officer to take cover behind solid defences. Then again they could be the type of soldier who acted with bravado, with arrogant pride, thinking that they wouldn't be hurt or injured. Perhaps they did not take enough care. An example of this is when soldiers cross a minefield. One careless move, one misplaced step and the mine explodes, either maiming that soldier for life or actually killing him. All of these types of reasons can be brought into focus in the Christian battle we wage. All of these can occur on our spiritual Christian journeys here too.

Taking stupid risks

Some disillusioned ex-Christians tell the woeful tale of the times they "played with sin". They thought they could dabble with sin and not be caught out. They thought they were strong enough not be trapped by sin. However, eventually the sin ensnares them and takes them captive. They then find it too difficult to "get out of the clutches of that sin", so that it eventually drags them down so much that they are "spiritually lost". The sin takes over their lives so completely, that they never escape from its clutches again.

Not heeding the warnings

There are numerous warnings throughout God's Word to not try to make it on your own. Some Christians stupidly think they can stand on their own against the devil. The absolute fact is that we are just not strong enough to make it on our own. The devil will use this stupidity to deviously "draw us out on our own", so he can attack us and destroy our faith in Jesus. If you ever watched those nature programs of how lionesses hunt their prey in the wild, this is what they do. The lioness will lay in wait, in ambush, hiding in tall grass out of line of sight of a herd of animals. She carefully watches the herd and looks for any signs of weakness. Her eyes continually scour the herd, moving from animal to animal, looking for a suitable prey. The lioness looks for a likely target, an animal that will put up the least resistance to her attack. She can easily detect a young or weaker animal, and then hone in on that one animal. If the younger animal wanders off and gets separated from its mother or the herd, the lionesses will focus on this animal. They will then panic the herd, and hope that the younger animal will get separated from the protection of its mother or the herd. Then the lioness and her pack will go in for the kill. Those lionesses will exploit any weakness, any illness or any separation from protection, and chase down that animal and kill it for food.

Likewise God's Word tells us this is how the devil operates. This is the way he picks off and destroys weaker or vulnerable Christian disciples. When they step away from the sure refuge of God's protection, he is lying in wait to attack. He is waiting to ambush unsuspecting Christian disciples, who think they are strong enough to resist him on their own. Just like that lioness, the devil will detect any signs of weakness, and will go in for the kill.

⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

We are warned that we need God's strength and protection from the evil forces all around us. We constantly need God's Holy Spirit to help us in our times of trial or temptation. Notice what our Lord prayed for when He called upon our Father to protect us.

⁶"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. ¹³"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

"Protect them by the power of your name".

The Walking Wounded

We looked at how Christian fatalities happened, now let us look at "the walking wounded". I am going to startle you with this claim. All of us can be considered "The Walking Wounded" through most of our Christian lives here on earth. The Apostle Paul explains this wonderfully in 2 Corinthians, when he wrote his letter to the Christians meeting in Corinth.

¹Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

The Apostle Paul confirms this categorical statement to those Christians meeting in Corinth so long ago, and he also confirms this to us living in this time and age:

If we could see our individual shields of faith, you would see there are several extinguished arrows stuck in it. These arrows were shot at us as flaming arrows by the devil in his attempt to divert us from the path of truth. In the well-known "Armour of God" passage in Ephesians 6, we see Paul telling the Ephesian church about these arrows.

¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

If we could see our "spiritual bodies", you will see:

·         We have several bruises and battle scars where we fought off evil forces trying to wrestle us to the ground. "Struck down … but not destroyed".

·         Our spiritual knees are scuffed from the many times we stumbled and fell to the ground, but they've healed every time we got back onto our feet and kept on walking

·         Our spiritual clothes have become ripped as we pulled ourselves free from "the sin that so easily entangles"

But we are still walking. Some of us are limping, some of us are heavily bandaged, but we are still walking. Some of us bear fresh wounds from a recent attack of evil and sin, but they will heal. We are still standing for Christ in this evil world. We are still walking and actively engaged in this righteous battle. We are still pressing onto the goal, the reward of eternal life from our Lord Jesus Christ. He has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us at the end of this earthly journey. All we need to do is to trust and stay within God's protection.

The Survivors

We've looked at "the spiritual fatalities" and "the walking wounded" in this Christian war, but what about "the survivors"? In most wars or battles, you will see some fortunate soldiers who seem completely unscathed. They don't seem to have any battle injuries at all. Some of these soldiers are veterans of several wars. They've survived countless battles and seem to survive all of them unhurt. However, if you peel back the covers, you will probably find countless battle scars, but these veterans' wounds have all healed and made them stronger. They are seasoned veterans of war. Many full time soldiers or mercenaries fit this bill. They make a living out of going to war. So what is the key difference between these "veterans" and other soldiers? These veterans survive because they have learned how to either protect themselves in battle or when to advance or when to retreat. They've become "battle-hardened". They've learnt the necessary skills to know when to shoot, when to run, when to walk, when to dive to cover, and when to advance. Their life experiences have prepared them for the battle. They've developed patience. They've developed perseverance. They've developed endurance. They know when to wait, and when to act. In a Christian context, we too have our "veterans". We have those Christians among us whom we can clearly identify as "mature veterans". These men and women are seasoned Christian disciples. They survive the various attacks from the devil because they've learnt to protect themselves with God's strength and power. But they haven't always been veterans. They all started out as young Christians, babes in Christ. They've become veterans by going through various experiences in their lives. They've grown stronger in their faith over the years due to the trials and temptations they faced and overcame. They can face new spiritual challenges with confidence and overcome them. They have learnt the necessary skills to become mature in Christ, not lacking anything. They recognise the true value of facing trials and overcoming them. Look at what God's Word teaches about this process:

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

They've learnt to use their "weapons" of war well. They are experts in their fields, knowing how to use this or that weapon to best advantage. In a spiritual context, Christian veterans know how to use the Armour of God very well.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

So then, in conclusion, into which category of Christian discipleship do you fall? Are you "a fatality", or "a walking wounded" or "a veteran survivor"? How do you go from "a walking wounded" to a "veteran survivor" and mature veteran in Christ? It simple really! Trust in God completely and obey his Word. Put on your full armour of God, so you can stand against the devil's schemes. Learn from your experiences. Develop perseverance. Grow from your encounters with temptation and strengthen yourself with the strength that God supplies. When you fall, pick yourself up and keep on going. Refuse to be defeated! And finally … "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."