Sermon Transcript — May 1, 2004
Paris, the tenth of March, 1831. Louis Philippe, King of the French, to all present and to come, greetings. According to the law of the ninth of March, 1831, on the report of our minister, the Secretary of State to the War Department, we have ordained, and do ordain, that which follows: "There shall be formed a legion composed of foreigners. This legion shall take the name of "the Foreign Legion."
In signing this proclamation, King Louis Philippe of France brought into being a unit unique in the history of the French Army. I think everyone here has heard of the French Foreign Legion. It's well known, not only in France, but around the world often in a rather romantic light. Perhaps you've read the book, Beau Geste or seen the old movie. It's part of the mystique of France. Even recently, a movie called The Mummy that my daughters really enjoyed with Brendan Fraser; he starts out as a legionnaire in the sands of the Sahara, so it comes back over and over again.
But the history of the French Foreign Legion has taken it to all corners of the world. And I don't know if you knew this or not, but the French Foreign Legion actually still exists. It's headquarters now is in Obanya, the city in the south of France, and for a number of years that was part of my pastorate, so at one point, Marjolaine and I went and visited the headquarters of the foreign legion, and we visited their museum, and it was quite an interesting thing to learn about.
I've been struck by some interesting parallels with the French Foreign Legion and the Church of God, especially in the light of our theme for the General Conference of Elders meeting this year—The Twenty—first Century Church Rising to the Challenge—and we do have challenges ahead of us in this twenty—first century.
I'm sure we all know that the Bible uses many different kinds of analogies to describe the Church of God and to describe individual Christians who compose it. The church is compared, among other things, to a chaste bride, to a body, to a temple. Individual Christians are compared to parts of a body, to individual stones that make up a temple, to pillars, to athletes, or as we heard in the first message, to farmers, and so on. Each analogy illustrates different principles concerning what we're about as Christians and members of the body of Christ.
And one other analogy that's used in God's word is military. We are compared to soldiers. You all remember the hymn, it was one of my favorites as a young man or a child growing up in the church, "Onward Christian Soldiers," we sang that many, many times. That analogy is quite well known, and it comes from the Bible. The New Testament does, at times, compare us to soldiers.
Let's remind ourselves of that in Ephesians 6. One occasion among a number in the New Testament that uses this analogy. Ephesians 6:10. We'll start reading in verse 10.
Ephesians 6:10 — Paul says to the church at Ephesus: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Verse 11 — "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Verse 12 — "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.
Verse 13 — "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Verse 14 — "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Verse 15 — "and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Verse 16 — "above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Verse 17 — "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;" So we are compared to soldiers and the analogy, of course, talks about courage and perseverance, as we heard about again in the first message, all qualities necessary to fight in a war, all qualities that we need to have in our spiritual warfare.
There are other passages in the New Testament that compare us to soldiers. In II Timothy 2:3, Paul told Timothy:
II Timothy 2:3 — "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." So we are soldiers of Jesus Christ. Paul, I believe, had that analogy very much to mind because it is interspersed in his writings. In Philippians 2:25 Paul called his fellow worker, Epaphroditus, "my fellow soldier." And in Philemon 2, Paul called Archippus, another coworker of his, "our fellow soldier." Paul obviously saw himself in this light. There are other martial references in Paul's writings as well. So for the sake of analogy, it is no stretch to consider ourselves a sort of army, or we might say, legion, a legion of God. Not engaged in physical warfare, the Bible doesn't allow us to do that; we don't want to become involved in physical warfare. But we are involved in a spiritual warfare, and we are, in that sense, our Father's Legion.
When it comes to the French Foreign Legion, men from over one hundred twenty—five different countries and territories have, through the history of the foreign legion, served under its banner. Men have come from countries that no longer even exist, the way the world has evolved over that time, but there have men from Abyssinia; there have been Argentines, Americans, Armenians, Australians, Brazilians, Canadians, Chinese, Danish, Egyptians, English, French, Gabonese, Germans, Japanese, Mexicans, Peruvians, Russians, Spanish, Swiss, Turks, and about a hundred more nations. Wherever they came from, they left their countries in order to serve France. Now they didn't always do this for good reasons, in fact, many of them didn't especially in the beginning. They left because they were just one step ahead of the law, or some other unpleasant situation. Some were in exile when their governments had fallen, and they had no place else to go. Some just wanted to disappear and start over. But for whatever reason they did that, for the time of their service, which is usually a five—year term, they gave their allegiance to France.
When one signs on to the foreign legion, the legionnaire must actually hand over his passport. He arrives in France with a passport from whatever nation is his origin, and when he signs the papers, he hands his passport to the man across the desk. And he has no right to take that passport back until his term of duty ends. And once that happens, when he no longer has that passport, he's no longer German, or Mexican, or Chinese, or Russian. He is a French soldier, and those men live and sometimes they die for France. They commit to absolute faithfulness, to the absolute obedience required of soldiers.
In a similar way throughout history, and indeed still today, members of the body of Christ, Christians soldiers, have come from many different countries and territories around the world. Quite a few are represented in this hall today. Many others will hear the messages that are given today on tape all around the world, and in a sense, you could say, when we entered this legion we were just one step ahead of the law as well. We had just learned that we needed to be forgiven or the law was going to fall upon us, but of course, that was a good escape, wasn't it. We're all happy we got out from under that.
And as converted members of the Church of God, we also vow to remain faithful to a new and different government. We vow to remain faithful to the kingdom of God above all else. Turn with me to Philippians 3 if you will, Philippians 3:20. You may know that Philippi was a Roman colony in the province of Macedonia, what is today northeastern Greece, and as far away as they were from Rome, the citizens of Philippi were Roman citizens. They lived under Roman law. They had a Roman appointed military leader in their town, so they were well—acquainted with the idea of having citizenship, and having citizenship from a city that was far away, and that is perhaps why Paul chose to use this analogy with them in Philippians 3:20 He told them:
Philippians 3:20 — ". . .Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Verse 21 — "who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." Our citizenship, Paul said, is in heaven. Paul's readers in Philippi understood very well what it meant to have a valued citizenship in some place far away. To be citizens of a supreme government yet not live in the city where that government ruled and reigned. Of course, Roman citizenship was highly prized at the time. It gave certain rights and privileges to the citizens, and Paul made use of that at certain times, claiming his Roman citizenship. It was a great aid to him, and the citizens of Philippi appreciated their Roman citizenship. But Paul told them, "You have an even better one. You have one that affords even greater rights and protections and privileges." And so it is with us. We have an allegiance higher than that to our physical nations. Love them, though we may, and probably do, we have a higher allegiance than that.
Let's look also at Hebrews 11:9. This is talking about the example of our Father in the faith, Abraham, and what he was willing to do, what he was called to do, when God began working with him.
Hebrews 11:9 — "By faith," talking of Abraham, "he(sojourned) (dwelt) in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
Verse 10 — "for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He was looking for another homeland. He was looking for another place to live, some place that was yet to come. And if we drop down to Verse 13, we can read of the examples that have gone before Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the others:
Verse 13 — "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers. . ." That is foreigners; that is the meaning of that term. ". . .and pilgrims on the earth.
Verse 14 — "For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
Verse 15 — "And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
Verse 16 — "But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." God has prepared a city for us as well.
Abraham accepted to live as a stranger, as a traveler, as a pilgrim during this life. We could say Abraham was part of God's Foreign Legion; he even lived physically as a foreigner throughout most of his life. Now most of us don't have to do that, never have as part of our service, though quite a number of us in this hall have, at one time or another, become even physically foreigners, in order to enable us to advance the work of God. That's not always an easy thing as those of you have done that know, and I believe that it's to your honor that you've accepted those kinds of assignments.
But whether we've had that chance or not, we must all consider ourselves foreigners in a spiritual sense. We are strangers; we are pilgrims; we're just passing through, and so we can't put down spiritual roots in this world.
Turn with me also please to I Peter 2. I Peter 2 also underscores this analogy of the church as a foreign legion. I Peter 2:11. Peter apparently had this analogy in mind also, at least at times, because he said:
I Peter 2:11 — "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners. . ." That's travelers, people who are just there for a while. ". . .as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." There are things, spiritual things, fighting against you, so be careful, during the time of your passage through here, be careful of the warfare in which you're involved; don't let it get you down. Don't allow yourselves to become a casualty. We are like foreigners, fighting in God's Legion in hostile terrain, and we'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment.
In II Timothy 2:3—4, I'll just quote this to you, Paul said:
II Timothy 2:3 — "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Again, we heard that in the first message. And then he said:
Verse 4 — "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." We have enlisted in God's Foreign Legion, and we can't allow ourselves to become entangled in the things of this life to the detriment of the service we owe our Father in heaven.
So, in a sense, brethren, if you'll allow me this analogy, spiritually we must learn to turn in our passports. Now physically, of course, we're still French, Belgium, Swiss, Cameroonian, Beninian, Toganese, Rwandan, American, British, Italian, and so on, and you don't need to turn in your physical passport; please don't. But we do need to turn in our spiritual passport because we must always remember that our highest allegiance is to the kingdom of God.
Now why do I belabor this point a little bit right now? Because I believe that this will be one of the challenges that we must rise to in the twenty—first century, not allowing contentions among the nations of this world or contentions among factions within our various nations to create contention among fellow legionnaires in our Father's Foreign Legion.
I'm sure you have been breath—taken, as I have, to see the shocking polarization in the world, especially concerning the United States, just over the last year or two. It's been centered against the United States and against the current U.S. administration. I wonder if those of you who are American here realize how strongly world opinion is against the United States at this time. Even the European democracies who have values very similar to our own, they value capitalism to a certain point, and they value democracy. They have a very different world view than does the United States, and that's even putting aside the differences between Democratic or Republic administrations. Even our friends look askance at us at this time, and even some governments who have supported us in the war on terror, the United States, have public opinions that are against. There are solid public opinions against the actions of the United States at this time.
Somebody once said that the United States is a bit like a big friendly dog with a long wagging tail in a small room full of delicate things. It may be friendly, and it may not be trying to do any harm, but just by it's very nature it's going to get in people's way once in a while; it's going to bother them. And that's how our friends see us. Much of the world would have a more negative and harsh view of the U.S.
If you don't believe me, ask any of us who travel outside the United States for the church, or any of us who travel with business, and ask them what kind of attitudes do they meet commonly in other countries? And they will tell you that people will be cordial and friendly, but if attitudes toward the United States are discussed, they tend to be overwhelmingly negative. Now you'll find some who aren't that way, but you'll find many more who are.
Our understanding of prophecy shows that the descendants of Joseph, the United States and Britain and related peoples are going to be hated even more strongly in the future than they are today. They're going to be attacked; they're going to be conquered. There are even references to them being enslaved by other nations, and this may seem baffling to the United States, to Americans. They ask, why do they hate us so much? We mean good. We've done a lot to help. We don't mean to do any harm, and most people don't think that we do. In fact, the time may come, brethren, where the United States used to helping others, the time may come when Americans will need the help of their brethren in other parts of the world, because the tables are going to be turned at some point in the future.
Why do they hate us so much? The question is often asked, even in the news. Yale law school professor, Amy Chua, came out with a book just very recently; it's been published in the last few months, and it's entitled, World On Fire. And what she discusses in this book, in fact, I have a copy of it here, I really recommend it; I don't agree with everything that she has in it, but there are some very interesting ideas that she presents.
The theme of her book discusses what she calls market dominant minorities. Market dominant minorities, and what those are are minority groups, small groups of people, usually ethnic groups, of outsiders in particular countries, or at least who are viewed as outsiders, who manage by hard work, or luck, or dishonesty in some cases, to garner large percentages of a nation's wealth.
She mentions, for example, the Chinese ethnic minority in the Philippines, and in many other Asian countries. Perhaps you don't know that virtually in every Asian country you go to, it's a Chinese minority that dominates the economy. They're just very strong at that. Sometimes it's tribal minorities in varies African countries. She mentions the Tutsis in Rwanda, one of the reasons that there was the genocide in 1994 was that the Hutus that were a majority, eighty—five percent of the population, saw the majority of the wealth of the nation in the hands of a slightly different tribe that only made up about ten percent of the population, and eventually they wanted "their share."
We could talk about the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, the Bamileke in Cameroon. We could talk about the light—skinned minorities in southern American countries, and there are many other examples into which she goes in great detail. But she documents how, in virtually every case, when that situation exists, there is at some point, and usually a number of times, violent backlashes against the minority group, especially when democracy through the power of the ballot allows the majority group to take power. Then unscrupulous demagogues will come to power on the promise to make that minority pay for its unfair practices for the fact that it cheated and got all the money while the majority was left in poverty. And why do I explain that to you? Because in one of the last chapters in the book, Professor Chua likens the United States to a market dominant minority in the world. Now, it's an imperfect analogy, but I believe that there are some things to consider there.
Other countries view us in the U. S. as infringing on them, and that's why we're seeing the kind of backlash that we have seen just recently, and the distrust is likely to grow in the future. This is due to resentment and fear at the overwhelming domination of the United States in so many spheres on the world stage today.
There is of course economic domination. When I travel through Africa; when I travel through the Caribbean, when I travel through Europe, usually the first thing on the economic report in any of those countries is what happened on Wall Street that day. They need to know because their stock markets are probably going to follow. What happens in New York effects the economy all over the world, and if we have an unscrupulous businessman who drags the company down in the U. S. that could sink companies in other countries by the domino effect.
The market goes down, their price goes down, and they're out of business and they have more unemployment. We don't mean to do that. It's just the way the structure is in the world right now. But I think you could see how a backlash would be possible.
There is cultural domination on the part of the United States. Not complete, but in large part. Now someone once told me that American culture is a bit of an oxymoron; you can't put those terms together. It's like Senate intelligence, or a few others that you could think of. But there really is an American culture with its good points and its bad points, and it's to be found every place you go in the world, even among the enemies of the United States.
I don't know if you noticed, I was very saddened and shocked to see after the nine—eleven attacks, Palestinians dancing in the streets and cheering. The U. S. finally got what was coming. But did you notice that many of them were wearing American tee shirts and ball caps and tennis shoes? Our culture is to be found, even there. It's all over the world. And then probably what strikes fear into many, many of them is the military domination in the United States, or of the United States in the world. The gap between the U. S. military and others in the world as far as technology and fire power is concerned is greater that it's probably ever been in the past, and it continues to grow, and that's frightening to many countries. Why do they need so many weapons? Why do they need so much when nobody else can even come close to them? That's the question they ask. And I would just add the comment that although we have so much in such a crushing superiority in some ways, we still don't end up getting what we want, do we? Interesting to think about.
Let me just read a little bit out of Amy Chua's book; I think I have a moment to do that to you. Just read a couple of quotes on page 235, and then I'll tell you why I think this is interesting for us to know.
She says, "As with resentment against other market—dominant minorities, anti—Americanism is often a perverse blend of admiration, awe and envy on one hand and seething hatred, disgust and contempt on the other. Thus for millions, perhaps billions around the world, America is arrogant, hegemonic and vapidly materialistic, but also where they would go if they only could."
A little bit farther down: "Along with many other market—dominant minorities around the world, Americans are also often accused of being greedy, selfish and ungenerous." And that's the opposite of the impression Americans have of themselves, but that's what you hear outside the country, ". . .especially given our spectacular wealth. European governments frequently point out that the American foreign aid budget is a much smaller percentage of gross national product than that of other economically developed countries." And that's true. They don't look at the absolute amount; if you take the absolute amount of how much foreign aid the U. S. gives, it's more than anybody else. But if you look at the percentage of our gross national product, it's less than a lot of European countries, percentage—wise, and of course, that's what they want to highlight.
Now, as I said, probably the first thing that came to your mind as I gave you some of those foreign perceptions was, "But we're not doing that on purpose. We have good intentions; it's not our fault; it's just the way the world is." That's true, but that's not the perception outside the United States. And the press outside the U. S. is overwhelmingly negative toward this nation. I think all of us who live in the United States are often disgusted by the biased reporting that we see on the news; I know I certainly am, the mainstream press, at least. But it's far less strident than what you would hear or read in many other places in the world. And our brethren in other countries get their news from the press in their countries; that's how they get their news of the world; that's their window on the world. They read a press that is highly biased against the United States.
Now although we don't get involved in politics, and we shouldn't, we probably do have preferences about who we'd like to see in the White House. Am I safe there in saying that? I think we probably are, and we have those opinions based on a number of issues. We think about things like homeland security, who's going to make us feel the most safe; who's going to do the best for the economy; who's going to bring our unemployment down. We think about moral issues, perhaps, like abortion or "homosexual rights," and the choice may seem rather clear to most members of the church in the United States. Most would probably prefer, probably, perhaps your opinion differs, but most would probably prefer a conservative candidate.
You might be surprised to know that your brethren outside the United States, almost unanimously, would prefer a candidate from the left because they're looking at a whole different set of issues. They're not concerned about our homeland security, or our job situation. They're concerned about the job situation for them. They're concerned about immigration, how easy is it for me to emigrate to the United States? That's a comment I heard in Africa recently. "Boy, I sure hope Mr. ‘You know Who' wins because man, it's hard to get a visa to get into the United States right now."
They think about the war and how it effects their lives and their countries. They think about economic policy, which might favor them, rather than favoring the United States. They think about the strength of the dollar. They think about how much international aid is coming out. Those are the things they think about, and they come to a different conclusion that we do, because what happens in this country effects them. And the negative press reporting that they get in their countries complicates all of this.
Now, you may be wondering what has this have to do with the price of putty? Well there are some questions that all this should lead us, I believe, to consider, and that's why I submit it to you for your reflection. How are we going to react as a church when these tensions become exacerbated as I believe they will in the not too distant future? What is that going to mean for us in the Church of God, and in the more narrow sense, in the United Church of God? How will our American brethren react when this hatred of the U. S. grows stronger? Will they be tempted to sort of circle the wagons, withdraw from the rest of the world, "Well, if that's the way they're going to look at us, they can take care of themselves. We'll just worry about us?"
How will our brethren in other countries, some of you may be listening to this tape in another nation, how will you in your country react when the United States is increasingly vilified and hated in those nations? Will the resentment felt in other nations begin to color your feelings about your American, or British, or Australian, or Canadian brethren? What might this mean for our cohesion as one international association, or as the body of Christ, in a fuller sense?
Matthew 24, please. Matthew 24:9. You remember here in the context, the disciples came to Jesus and said, "How are we going to know when the end is coming?" He told them in Verse 4:
Matthew 24:4 — ". . . (Take heed) (Be careful) that no one deceives you." So He's talking to His disciples here. He's talking about them, those who would be following Him. Then He says, when we drop down to Verse 9:
Matthew 24:9 — "Then. . ." . . .After the beginning sorrows when we start getting closer to the time of the end, ". . .they will deliver you up to tribulation and (will) kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Verse 10 — "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, (and) will hate one another.
Verse 11 — "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Verse 12 — "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will (grow) (wax) cold." There will be betrayal; there will be hatred; there will be love growing cold, and it seems to be talking about disciples of Jesus Christ, perhaps not limited to that, but He said, "you," and He was talking to His disciples.
This is a challenge, brethren, I believe we're going to have to face in the twenty—first century in the years ahead. And I believe probably the question we ask ourselves is, "How could it come to a point where Christians would hate one another, where fellow Christians would betray one another? What could make a Christian do something like that? What could be a motivation strong enough to bring something like that about? Could it be fear? Could it be distrust? Could it be anger? Could it be frustrations that things are not turning out the way we thought they were going to, or the way we think they should? Could it be the feeling that we've been misused, that we've been hurt or betrayed by someone else, and so we respond in kind?
I believe it could be any of those things. It's possible; it's happened before. But to give a short answer what would bring us to that point would be allowing our gaze to drift from the shining central truth that our citizenship is in heaven. It's not here on the earth. That's why I believe, brethren, it's vitally important for us to keep that perspective, to keep our Father's overview on the situation. We cannot allow our field of vision to shrink to the point where we only see our country, where we only see our church area, or even our congregation. I believe we must keep our eyes on the big picture.
In United's short history, coming up on ten years now, we've already faced some stresses and strains from dealing with this very issue. Some among us have handled it very well, when it's come up. Some who were among us have not handled it very well, and as Christian soldiers we must be on our guard to make sure always that our complete loyalty lies with our Father in heaven and with His way of life. We cannot let any other allegiance get in the way of that.
Jesus said in Luke 14:26; I'll quote it for you.
Luke 14:26 — "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life (also), he cannot be My disciple." God, His way of life, the kingdom of God must be our number one priority. So, again, I'll repeat what I said before, I believe it will be crucial for us to remember in this twenty—first century that we have turned in our passports, not physically, but spiritually in our minds, we turned in our passports. Our allegiance is to a higher authority, not our physical nation, love it, though we do;
Americans are very patriotic, more so than many other countries in the world, not an allegiance to our language group, not an allegiance to our physical culture, or as I said, even to our congregations. Our allegiance is to the kingdom of God and to the King of that kingdom. Our sense of unity, our esprit de corps, if I can use a French expression which means a proper pride in one's identity as a group; that will be very important. Because the next issue I would like to discuss with you here is that our Father's Legion is going to operate on increasingly difficult terrain, the farther we move into the future. Our Father's Legion is going to operate on increasingly difficult and dangerous terrain.
The French Foreign Legion has served in the burning sands of the Sahara, in the steamy jungles of South America, in the rugged mountains and jungles of Asia, and sometimes the terrain was murderous, more murderous even than the battles they had to fight.
In 1895, for example, the foreign legion was called to build a road through the jungle of Madagascar, and they had to fight their way along as they went. And the final report after the action after the road was completed read like this: "Killed in combat, 5; died of wounds, 13; died of diverse causes, 5,736." What were those diverse causes? Malaria, disease, accidents. The terrain, the surroundings dragged down a lot more men and killed many more than the five who were killed in combat, and the thirteen who died of wounds. That is hostile terrain, and the Bible shows us that we're operating in hostile terrain also, and this world, which is not God's world, is Satan's world, is going to get more hostile as time goes on.
Let's consider what Jesus said in John 15:18. Jesus said here:
John 15:18 — "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
Verse 19 — "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Verse 20 — "Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will (also) persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
Verse 21 — "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me." We're not "of " this world; we're in it, but we're not "of" it. And because of that, hatred will be directed against the Church of God increasingly as time goes on. The terrain is going to be hostile.
There's a parable that discusses that in a slightly different way. Turn with me to Mark 4. It also talks about hostile terrain, not in a military sense, this time in a farming sense, but I think we can learn a few things from it as we look at this subject through the lenses of our military analogy today.
Mark 4:3 — "Listen!" Jesus said. "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
Verse 4 — "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
Verse 5 — "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
Verse 6 — "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.
Verse 7 — "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
Verse 8 — "But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, (and) some a hundred." And if we go down to Verse 14, we'll get the explanation of what this means in this parable.
Verse 14 — "The sower sows the word.
Verse 15 — "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. . . when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts." Satan's out there. He deals in attitudes, as we know, from Ephesians and a few other passages: "The prince of the power of the air." He puts thoughts and attitudes in people.
Verse 16 — "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
Verse 17 — "and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble." So persecution, opposition from people in the world, that also is an enemy that's a trap or a weapon that might be used against us.
Verse 18 — "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
Verse 19 — "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Verse 20 — And then there ". . .are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: (some) thirtyfold, (some) sixty, and some a hundred." There are many spiritual traps, booby traps we could call them, or to update our terminology, perhaps as we hear what's going on in Iraq now, there are roadside bombs out there. There are land mines. There are hit and run attacks. And some Christians have been, and others no doubt will be wounded or crippled by facing the world's opposition, by the cares of this world, by the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things. These things war against the soul.
What could we consider to be the cares of this world today? One commentary that I checked said this: "An anxious, unrelenting attention to the business of this present life. Anxious, unrelenting attention to the business of this present life." And I think probably most of us could say that has happened to us at times. It just seems like life pushes us in that direction. I read a study recently that says that people in the western world, the U. S. in particular, are sleeping less per night than they ever have since the time they've been keeping records, we're working less, were having more free time, but we're sleeping less, because we're so busy. We've got too much to do. Always something else that we can do, the cares of this world. That's something that could harm us.
The deceitfulness of riches—riches—material things—they always promise to satisfy us, but they never keep their promise, do they? And advertisements are constantly bombarding us with the message—"You don't have enough "stuff" yet. You need more. You need more stuff. You shouldn't be happy until you get whatever we have here for you." And the desires for other things. We're always desiring something else, aren't we? Something that fascinates us; something that dazzles us; something that entertains us, and we are entertaining ourselves to death these days. And sadly, brethren, and I'm sure you know that. You see it and are sickened by it as well. What entertains us in our modern societies is becoming more and more disgusting all the time. And yet people have the television on almost twenty—fours a day watching the latest smut that's coming out.
All of these things cause the word of God to become unfruitful; it chokes it. Another translation says it "smothers" the word. It draws off so much of our attention, absorbs so much of our interest; it uses up so much of our time that only the dregs of our attention, interest and time, only the dregs remain for spiritual pursuits. That's the kind of terrain in which we're operating, and it's going to get worse. We live in the most materialistic time the world has ever known. We have more "stuff" than our great grandparents could even imagine, and that also is going to grow worse as time goes on.
Revelation tells us that the coming power of the revived Roman empire will be an economic and commercial juggernaut, and when it finally goes down, the merchants of the world are going to be crying because, "Wow! Is business good!" under that system.
Revelation 18:13 even indicates that slavery is going to be returned because it says it will traffic in the ". . .bodies and souls of men." Anything will be for sale. Nothing will be sacred anymore. The world is going that way, and materialism is an insidious enemy. We're probably all affected by it more than we realize. I tell you, it is really a reality check for me to go to Africa and sit in dirt—floored huts with brethren who have the same goals as we do. They're aiming for the kingdom of God the same as we are, but they have maybe one set or two sets of used clothes, old sandals, if they have any. Their children may not have clothes at all, but they're Christians just like me, and every time I get back home, I go, "Wheeww! It's good to be back," because we're more materialistic than we think. We get used to a certain lifestyle, and that's our frame of reference.
Now, I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty. I don't feel guilty when I come home either, well, sometimes I do feel a little guilty. But that's just the way the world is, and we have the wonderful blessings of the blessings that God gave to Abraham, and we should be very thankful for it. But we also need to recognize that materialism is a really insidious enemy. I read a quote the other day that made me smile, and it's been kind of running through my head every since. I think it's very apropos. It was, "The fly lands on the flypaper and says, ‘My paper.' The flypaper says, ‘My fly.' " Materialism is really like that. We get too focused on this physical life; it's like that, too. It sucks us in, and it's hard to get back out again. That's why Paul said in:
Romans 12:2 — ". . .Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Don't be conformed to the world. Don't land on the flypaper.
So we must be alert and watch out for these spiritual land mines, and roadside bombs, and that's only a partial list. The Bible gives us many more things that we need to be alert to, and aware of, and I believe it will be important for us to stay alert about these things, to study those things in God's word. What are the spiritual traps that are out there, because this world, brethren, is not going to get better until Jesus Christ returns to establish the government of God.
We're operating on hostile ground, and we must stay alert to the fact and not begin taking things as they are around us for granted, "Well, that's just the way they are. It must be okay." Like the old analogy of the frog in the steadily heating water until it finally boils. In a world of sinking moral values, for us to remain spiritually clean and true to our Christian principles will be an ongoing challenge, and it will probably be more and more challenging with each year that goes by.
However, some good news now. We've looked at the dark side of the picture; let's look at the bright side. As we move through challenging times, some of the things that we've been talking about, we can take comfort from the examples of our predecessors in the faith, our fellow legionnaires, who have set stirring examples for us that have been preserved in God's word.
If we talk about the French Foreign Legion since it's inception in 1831, there have been many stirring examples of heroism of those soldiers. For example, at the battle of Ischeriden during the conquest of Algeria in the early eighteen hundreds, or mid eighteen hundreds, there was an army of four to five thousand North Africans resisting the French advance, and they just couldn't dislodge them. They were too well dug in. So they called the general of the Foreign Legion and told him it was his assignment. So he formed his regiment; he told them to assume parade formation with their weapons horizontal, the bayonets out in front. And he told them to march toward the enemy without firing, and without making a sound. And so they did. In closed ranks, as if on parade, they marched toward the entrenchments of the enemy who kept up a withering fire the whole time. Many, many legionnaires fell, but they kept their discipline, and they kept advancing. And the show of discipline and courage terrified the Algerians, and they ran. The battle was won.
Probably the most famous battle in legion history is the battle of Camerone, Mexico, 1840. The 30 th of April that year, a patrol of sixty—five legionnaires was surprised by two thousand Mexican soldiers. They took refuge in an abandoned farm, and the battle became very hot. The French commander, Captain Danjou was mortally wounded, but before he died, he asked his men to promise that they would not surrender. And the sixty—five held out for ten hours against two thousand.
After ten hours, they were out of ammunition, and only three of them had not either been killed or severely wounded, and they prepared to make a bayonet charge and get it over with. Just as they were about to start, the Mexican Colonel asked them to surrender, yelled in at them to surrender. And one of them replied, "Only on the condition that you treat our wounded, and that you leave us our arms."
And the Mexican commander, a Colonel, replied, "One can refuse nothing to men such as you." And so he accepted their terms. And to this day, April 30 th is the great festival of the French Foreign Legion. Captain Danjou had lost an arm in an earlier battle; he had a wooden arm, and the legionnaires bring it out only once a year, and kind of parade it around the courtyard on the thirtieth of April, because, in a sense, those men worshipped courage. That's what they're all about; that's what they want, and only people in the legion are allowed to see the arm, as far as I know. I don't think outsiders can do it.
But those unit histories, they're told to the legionnaires when they join the legion, because their officers want them to know about those who have been before them, who set the kind of examples of courage and fortitude that they expect of modern legionnaires. And it seems to work.
In a similar way, brethren, we have some very stirring examples of courage behind us, and the Bible encourages us to think about them, and to take courage from them, and to let them inspire us. Turn with me to Hebrews 12. I'll show you what I mean.
Hebrews 12:1 — "Therefore we also," it says, "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Verse 2 — "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." What does it mean — ". . .since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses?" Well, it's unfortunate the chapter break comes there between chapter 11 and chapter 12, because it's a reference to the list of people that was given in chapter 11, the role call of faith, we sometimes call it, the examples of our forefathers in the faith, our predecessors among those that God has called and with whom He has worked down through history.
In other words, of course, we realize they're not actually watching us; they're in the grave waiting, but symbolically we're supposed to imagine that there's a cloud of witnesses watching us as we go through our physical life. It's as if we're down in a big stadium and the stands are full of all the Christians who have gone before us, and they're watching us as we go through the work of our lives, as we fight our spiritual battles, and some of what they went through when you read it in chapter 11 is pretty amazing. We could look at a few examples, starting in Hebrews 11:34. This is the cloud of witnesses that's watching us.
Hebrews 11:34 — Some "quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Verse 35 — "Women received their dead raised to life again. (And) others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Verse 36 — "Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
Verse 37 — "They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented —
Verse 38 — "Of whom the world was not worthy." In God's eyes, the world wasn't worthy that those fine examples should be there among us, but He allowed it. "They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
Verse 39 — "And all these, having obtained a good testimony. . ." They did well; their examples are good; they're inspiring and positive. ". . .through faith," That was what allowed them to do it. They . . . did not receive the promise,
Verse 40 — "God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." So as we go through the daily work of our lives, slogging it out in the spiritual battle that we're in, we should imagine that all of those folks that we just read about are kind of looking over our shoulders and cheering us on. "Come on, you can do it! Come on, you can do it! Go a little bit farther; hang in there; persevere," like we heard about in the first message today.
Symbolically they're cheering us on, and one day, not just symbolically, but in reality, we'll have the chance to get together with them and compare notes, and ask them, "How did you do that?"
And they'll ask us, "How did you do that in that twenty—first century?" And we'll compare war stories. We'll relive our spiritual battles to each other. Hebrews 2, if you'll go back just a little bit. There's another interesting term that's used here which can be a military term also.
Hebrews 2:10 — "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." The captain of their salvation, the Greek word is — archelaos. Perhaps you have another word that is translated differently, in different versions, it can be translated as — prince, or captain, or chief leader, or author. That's also a possibility. But I like the translation — captain. "The captain of our salvation." It is talking about a primary leader, and He is our leader, Jesus Christ. He always has been, and He still is today the leader of the spiritual foreign legion, the body of Christ, the Christian Army. He is the one we follow.
There is a long and distinguished history behind us, and following our Captain will bring us the same kind of help that those we read about in Hebrews 11 received that enabled them to successfully go through the trials that they had to go through. So, we should move forward, not in fear, but in confidence, not in fear, but in faith, because if they can go through what they went through, if we follow the same Captain they followed, we will be able to surmount every obstacle that comes up in front of us as well. And as I said, one day we will be able to compare notes with them, stories; we'll share with each other how God helped us to surmount and get over each and every trial, each and every spiritual battle that we fought, and that He brought us finally to the kingdom that we're all seeking.
There is one other key point that will help us be faithful to our service, service that we owe to our Father's Foreign Legion. You may know, in fact if you have a mental image of the Foreign Legion in your mind, then you know they had a special kind of hat that they wore. That's not actually only used by the French Foreign Legion. It's called a kepi, and it's used even by the French Police and other military units as well. That's kind of a typical French headgear, and it is the standard headgear of the French Foreign Legion.
Originally when they started using it, it was a khaki—colored; it was kind of brown because they were operating out in the Sahara Desert, and brown was good camouflage. But the more time they spent out in the Sahara, the more the hats got bleached, and they got bright white after a while, which made for nifty targets for those people who were outside the walls of their castles. And so for a while the legionnaires, in the morning, they would pour their coffee through their kepis so that it would stain them brown again so they didn't stand out quite so much. But little by little, the white kepi turned out to become the image, or what represented the French Foreign Legion, and since 1939, the white kepi has been the distinguishing sign of the French Foreign Legion, and I happen to have one here.
This is an authentic French Foreign Legion kepi; this is still what they wear even to this day. For those of you who are listening and can't see this, it's a kind of a cylindrical hat with a bill on the front, and it's flat on the top. You probably have a mental image of what a foreign legion, or what a kepi looks like. This is a French Foreign Legion kepi. And as you can see, even if you're at the back of the hall, you can see this very clearly. If you're wearing one of these, you stand out in the crowd. A French Foreign Legionnaire does not pass unrecognized when he's wearing a kepi like that. They take care of their kepis. They're proud of them. It's an identifying sign that shows what they are. It's serious business for them. Men are not allowed to wear the white kepi of the legion until they finish their training, and they've been formally inducted into its ranks.
Where am I going with that? Well, as Christians, we have a spiritual white kepi as well. We have a sign that identifies us, and it should be visible a long ways off. Let's look at what Jesus said about that in John 13:34.
John 13:34 — "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Verse 35 — "By this will all men know that you are My disciples," Here's the identifying sign; here's what stands out in a crowd; here's how they can know who you are. ". . . if you have love for one another." That's the white kepi that we need to be wearing, my brethren, love. It is a visible sign. It's seen by others. If others couldn't see it, then they wouldn't know what it meant. It must be something that they can see; that they can see between us; that they can see amongst us; that they can see that we have for each other. It is the sign of our Father's Foreign Legion, having consideration for one another, having patience for one another. Whatever may develop internationally, or nationally, whatever sacrifices may be required of us at different times as we go through this life for the good of the work or the good of the Church of God, to have love, one for another.
Jesus doesn't ask to do anything that He's not willing, and wasn't willing, to do Himself. If you'll turn a page forward or perhaps two to John 15, we'll see something that Jesus said about the kind of love we're supposed to have for one another.
John 15:12 — "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Verse 13 — "Greater love has no (one) (man) than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
Verse 14 — "You are my friends if you do(whatever) (whatsoever) I command you." That's the example that Christ left for us. He did, in fact, lay down His life for His friends, for us. And as Christians, we must be willing and ready also to give our lives for one another. Not necessarily by dying; hopefully not many of us will called upon to do that, even in the future, but by living, first of all; that's something we can do day by day; to give our lives for one another. Our lives are composed of seconds and minutes and hours and days. And those are things that we can give to support one another, to help one another.
How do we spend our lives? How do we spend our time? Do we devote time to helping and serving, to expressing visibly the kind of love that we have for one another? It's supposed to be a visible sign of disciples of Jesus Christ.
French Foreign Legion soldiers are not fully uniformed without their kepis, and as I said, they don't pass unnoticed when they're wearing one. So it should be with us. We need to nurture our Christian love. It is serious business for us, brethren. We're not fully dressed without it, and we shouldn't go unnoticed as a result of it being there. It should be visible. So, just make it a point, if you would. Never leave your home in the morning without your kepi. Don't go out without your hat.
Thankfully there's an important difference between the French Foreign Legion and our Father's Foreign Legion. You know, the French Foreign Legion fought, sometimes they lost, but even if they won, there were only transitory victories at best. In 1883, the French Foreign Legion fought to protect Vietnamese tribes against Chinese tribes. In 1953, they fought to defend those they were fighting the first time against those they were defending the first time. And men died both times. Rather pointless, rather fruitless, wasn't it? And the valor shown by Captain Danjou and the legionnaires at Camerone didn't really accomplish much in the larger sense, because two years later France pulled out of Mexico, and it was all for nothing.
That's not true in our legion, in our Father's Foreign Legion. No effort is vain or useless. In the ultimate victory, we'll be eternal as long as we continue to follow our Captain.
Daniel 7:18 — The last scripture. ". . .the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, (even) (and) forever and ever." There's a lot of "evers" in there. Forever means forever. This is the ultimate destiny of our Father's Foreign Legion, the victory that will be final and will be eternal. It is a privilege; it is a blessing for us to be a part of it.
So, let's remember, brethren; we've turned in our passports. We're citizens of the kingdom of God, and our allegiance and our attention must stay focused there. Remember that we're operating on hostile terrain. We can't let ourselves feel at home here, spiritually. We must be on our guard against the spiritual booby—traps of the world, against which the Bible warns us; we're forewarned. We can be encouraged by the examples of those who have gone before us and who have succeeded. They've finished the race, and we have the same Captain that they did. So the same help that was available to them, the same strength is also available to us.
We need courage and confidence; we need faithfulness, and we need a certain esprit de corps, proper pride in our group identity, and we need to keep our kepis clean and bright and white, the love of God, visible and shiny, amongst us and between us. And finally we need to remember, brethren, that the victory is complete, and ultimate, and certain, and eternal as long as we continue to follow the Captain of our salvation in our Father's Foreign Legion.