Tag Archives: Following Christ

The Heart of a Soldier

Posted on by Standard 22

The Bible calls true believers “soldiers”, fighting an ongoing battle in this world of darkness. We are vying for a Kingdom, in a war to uphold the honor of our Commander and rescue as many ‘captives’ from Satan’s clutches as possible. We are mandated to “put on the amor of God” and above all and through all, “to stand”. In fact, Jesus said, “He who endures to the end will be saved.”

But, to our discredit, soldiers of worldly campaigns and wars outshine Christians with their commitment, sacrifice, zeal and diligence even though their victory lies this temporal realm. The Old Testament, replete with the battles and wars of God’s people, is foundational to the precepts of spiritual war in the New Covenant under Jesus Christ. Allegiance, sacrifice, diligence and enduring love must mark the soul of believers. Complacency and ‘lukewarmness’ are the marks of AWOL Christians whom, as Jesus threatens in Revelation 3:16, will be judged.

The Lord calls us into the battle and, in everyway, leads us and teaches us how to wrestle, fight, and win. “Praise be to the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”

However, there is still value in studying the heroes of this world, acknowledging the bravery and sacrifice. While there are great many leaders and soldiers that stand upon the pedestals of history, there is one unknown to most that I keep framed before me.

Haroutiun Sarmanian, 1894-1977.

My grandfather left Marash Turkey, in 1911 at the age of 16, to seek a better life for himself and those he left behind. He found a vibrant Armenian community in Watertown MA and began working as a barber. Soon after he was able to open his own barbershop and, with a pool room in back, worked 6am to midnight to prosper and support his family overseas.

Then the bloodshed of strategic genocide began, April 14, 1915, and soon lead to the devastation of his homeland Marash.

Few folks, even Armenians, know of the French Foreign Legion’s campaign in Armenia, 1918. Within the complicated politics of WWI, the French Army moved into Cilicia, to capture and liberate the region from Turkish occupation. Marash, a major Armenian city therein, was destroyed, its inhabitants massacred. A call was proclaimed to surviving Armenians and those abroad to join in the battle to reclaim Turkish held Cilicia. Thousands of surviving Armenians who were exiled fled back, including 20,000 from Marash. They joined the French as the French Armenian Legion.

From Watertown MA, Haroutiun Sarmanian immediately answered this call to “wrest Cilicia from the Turks”. In 1918, with 20 American gold coins, he boarded a ship back to Turkey. His treacherous journey with 1175 others, led to France and then forward to the Mediterranean, was fraught danger even as their ship struck a mine and left the survivors in the ocean for hours until rescued by French and British ships. Other fighters died of malaria. Haroutiun Sarmanian survived the journey; the French sent part of this fighting group to Adana, the other part to Marash.

However, the French occupation and Armenian fervor for justice and freedom came to a bitter end when, in January 1920, the French military received orders to immediately evacuate the region. In the dead of night, even covering the hooves of their horses with cloth, the French evacuated and left the Armenians. Those who had returned to their homeland after the genocide, to recover their land and home, were abandoned to be slaughtered. Thousands of civilians fled to churches and schools but perished as they were locked in and set aflame by the Turks.

A story of great valor, deep betrayal, and heartbreaking defeat. So why tell it? Why keep the photo in daily view?

My grandfather returned to Watertown MA and reestablished his life, worked diligently to raise a family and contribute to the community. But the photo reveals his heart and soul.

When the call came to defend his homeland, fight for the hope of repatriation and reclaim what was devastated, he left all his gain and traveled weeks by sea, to reach a land of bloodshed and anguish. Brave and selfless, sacrificial and zealous, Haroutuin Sarmanian had hope of victory in a land of utter death and destruction.

Our call to battle goes beyond this physical realm and calls for no less. We have a ‘Commander in Chief’ to Whom we must give total allegiance and honor. He will never forsake us and in that truth we’re called to bravery, “Fear not!”. As our Forerunner in triumph, he mandates us, “Pick up your cross and follow Me”. Like my grandfather, we may have to leave behind worldly gains, abandoning plans and ambitions for an uncharted course. While all are called to fight, some will face unbearable suffering and martyrdom.

Winning may look like losing in the Christian faith. But as God pronounced victory through a suffering Servant, through the death of His Son, our obedience in the battle and in suffering hold eternal value and reward. Unlike the wars of this world, the victory for us is already won. Jesus is Victor! Our call as His soldiers is to bravely obey Him in all His directives and acknowledge that “our lives are not our own”. While I may surely be one of His weakest soldiers, I pray for a willing heart to hear and obey the Lord’s call, to sacrifice and go where He leads, and fight with a living faith that will honor our Sovereign God and count for eternity.

Love Thy New York Neighbor

Posted on by Standard 18

The Lord’s famous ‘Good Samaritan’ story often stirs my heart.  Sometimes I wonder, why did He use the term ‘neighbor’ when the needy person in the story did not “live next door or near the person in question”?  Two ‘neighbor’ stories always come to mind, one near and one far….

A few years ago a Mormon couple moved into the apt next door.  They were a bit overly friendly and even baked cookies to leave at everyone’s door.  (But no one I know would eat food left at their door)  Soon after, invites to Mormon services were given and, not surprisingly, the flyers looked very ‘mainstream Christian’.   I wondered, was this ‘loving your neighbor’?

The second story is far away and long ago when my father lived in Aleppo.  As a youth he worked for an Arab in a small shop around a cluster of stores.  One day there was an Islamic uprising against the Jewish community, Jews were beaten and shops were vandalized.  When club wielding, menacing men came to the Jewish shop next to my father, the Arab dashed out and stood in front of the Jewish shop.  He spread his arms wide across the doorway and boomed, “You must kill me first to get to them.  They are my neighbors!”

Born in the rough and tumultuous Middle East, Jesus’ concept of ‘neighbor’ defies most superficial ones of today.

I try to uphold ‘neighborly love’, sometimes incidentally, carrying groceries for elderly, visiting someone sick, getting mail.  Sometimes, it is a commitment of friendship such as with ‘Hilda’ in Juanita’s Joy and Making The Last Seconds Count.  But the truth is, I was hungry for more – more love to flow in and through me.

If God “determined the times set (for men) and the exact places where they should live” it would seem that one’s ‘neighbors’ are assigned as well – whether they are near or not.   While my heart was burdened for the Kurds oppressed and under fire in Syria and I was drawn to the ministries of Kurdistan, the Lord made His will clear…

I was disappointed that my heart was so kindled but not by God.  Shortly after the Kurdistan kibosh though, God opened the door of my neighbor’s life and ushered me in.  Joanna*, a single working parent with a chronic illness, always seemed okay and self-sufficient.  But when her life unraveled through illness and loss and without family or support she was greatly needing an outpour of “oil and wine”.

When the Lord kindles the love, the ‘oil and wine’ begin to flow.   Coming alongside her with childcare, practical resources and emotional support seems supernatural in that it is not ‘taking away’ but ‘adding to’ my life…friendship, pleasures of giving and mentoring, and the joy caring for a cheerful toddler…

Moreover, Joanna spoke of a church life some time ago.  The Holy Spirit is stirring a living faith and I believe she will grasp the Gospel and find the new life promised through our Savior Jesus.

May we always have the faith to thank God when the crossing bar lowers on our path, pausing us, redirecting us or just stopping us from pursuing our own desires.  And may He order our steps and infill our hearts with the “oil and wine” ready to flow toward that “neighbor” along our path!

 

“…you despicable reprobate.”

Posted on by Standard 17

This is a partial quote from a comment I made on a social media page under a photo of a triumphant hunter gloating over a killed magnificent elephant.   Wanton animal cruelty and desecration of God’s creation provoke intense emotions (in me anyway) however, even as I wrote that comment I sensed it was my flesh arising, not the Spirit of God within.

While this was still stirring in my heart, I read today David Ettinger’s post, The Gold Standard of Christian Behavior .  His focus points to the angry and provocative political comments posted by many believers in social media.  Through scriptural reference David rightly contends that it is unbiblical and ungodly, challenging readers:

“What possible good does such behavior accomplish in sharing the love of Christ with a lost and dying world? …Does posting hateful political messages…do anything for the cause of Christ?  Would an unbeliever really want to hear what you would have to say about Jesus?”

What would I say if I passed by such a ‘hunter’?  Can I, at all, change my focus from his prideful killing and imagine his eternal fate before the Creator?  Or, more to the point, can I look at my own past sinful deeds and call myself a ‘despicable reprobate’?

There are so many reasons to justify emotional fervor but only one reason for believers to resist – the word of God calls us much higher.  Investing our heart into political, social, environmental, animal welfare causes etc will always lead us into a fleshly battle where we’re fighting those lost in darkness.  It’s no threat at all to the works of Satan and sadly, no gain at all for the Kingdom of God!

Is there any place for righteous anger?

In Living As Jesus Lived, Zac Poonen presents the divine attributes of Jesus as our only standard – His purpose, His holiness, His power, His love.  In Christ’s holiness is also “His zeal for the purity of God’s house.”     Brother Zac further expounds:

“The Bible commands us to be angry without sinning. (Eph 4:26).  When the Roman soldiers beat Jesus and whipped Him in Pilate’s hall, He patiently bore it all.  He was never once angry where it concerned His own person.  Such anger would have been sin.  But where it concerned the purity of God’s house, it was different.  There, to refrain from anger would have been sin.”  (emphasis Zac Poonen)

The  apostle Paul expressed such zeal as he founded the first churches:

“But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.  What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside.  “Expel the wicked man from among you”.”    (I Corinthians 5:11-12)

To our discredit, much of our ‘righteousness’ as believers comes from judging unbelievers – we’re not as bad as those ‘despicable reprobates’.  But our claim to follow Christ mandates aspiring to a higher, separated standard.  Judging those in the world, who live in darkness, ‘captivated by sin’ is futile and ungodly.  But upholding God’s standards within the Body of Christ is mandated – we are His ‘ambassadors’, representing a holy God before a dark world.

How can we refrain from judging ‘despicable reprobates’ in the world?  How can we have the boldness to uphold God’s standards in the church?  Only God can ignite a grief in our heart for the lost and unlovable.  And only the Lord can raise up a godly zeal and impassion us toward holiness in the Body that claims to be His in this world.

Help me Lord, to walk in your ways!

Addendum:  I’ve received some verbal comments from some who are familiar with these ‘trophy hunters’.  They rightfully assert that the acts desecrating God’s creation is ‘despicable’.   I agree.  And, I would add, we are never called to redefine or diminish sin.  But, I clarified, when we judge the sinner, there’s no room to warn him that “the wages of sin is death”.   We can preach the Gospel and call people to repent, pray that the Holy Spirit brings them to “godly sorrow that leads to repentance”, but the gavel at the end belongs to the Judge.