Reading a biography of Amy Carmichael today (entitled Amy Carmichael: Let the Little Children Come), I came across these words, written by Amy herself:
Onward Christian soldiers,
Sitting on the mats;
Nice and warm and cozy
Like little pussycats.
Onward Christian soldiers,
Oh, how brave are we,
Don’t we do our fighting
Very comfortably?
The words burn my soul. I am so often guilty of comfortable Christianity. I can offer my solutions to any problem, but lose sleep to seek God’s solution? Never. I can say I offer service to God unrewarded; but when man’s praise is not forthcoming, I complain. When my purse is overflowing with abundance, I most willingly
give it; but when I have little to offer, I offer nothing. When it is convenient, comfortable, easy for me to die to myself, I do. But as soon as dying means pain–I take the easier road.
But how can one be a soldier if he never enters training? How can he be a soldier if he does not participate in war? A soldier who throws off his colors at the first sight of war is not a soldier but a deserter–a man devoid of all honor and dignity.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer told the truth when he said, “When Christ calls a man, He calls him come and die.” The words of Christ are replete with calls to death. When Jesus sent out the twelve in Matthew 10, He gave them this warning: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt
10:37-39) He repeats Himself in Matthew 16: “If anyone desire to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) Mark 8 parallels this passage: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35) Again, Luke 9 repeats: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) The same sentiment is repeated in Luke 14:33, “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” In John 12, this same thought is repeated with allusions to Christ’s death, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.” (John 12:24-26) It is not an accident that this same injunction to follow Christ in dying to self is repeated in all four gospels. Death is integral to the Christian life. It is impossible to follow Christ without dying.
In the same way, sacrifice of time, talents, honour, and rights is the call of the disciple. A would-be disciple offered brave words to Christ, “Teacher” said he, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus’ response to him was stern with warning: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His
head.” (Matt 8:19-20) Translation? To follow Christ is to be in exile. Another disciple offered: “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus’ answer was blunt: “Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matt 8:21-22) Translation? To follow Christ is to deny our earthly inheritance. When a rich ruler came to Christ
seeking eternal life, Jesus commanded him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor–then, Jesus said, this man would have treasure in heaven and would be welcome to follow Christ. (Matt 19:16-26) Jesus renounced the Pharisees for their pride in seeking the approval of men and commands His followers to seek His glory alone. (Matt 23 and elsewhere) Mark 10 admonishes: “No one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands,
for My sake and the gospel’s…shall not receive…eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30) When Jesus observed the offering in the temple, he commended not those who gave much, but those who gave sacrificially: “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:43-44) And it is this kind of
service that the Lord demands of His disciples. “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Indeed the kingdom of God allows nothing less than the complete sacrifice of all former rights and privileges.
Not only does the Christian life require death to self and sacrifice of all rights–the call to discipleship also includes the call to lay down our pride and instead serve the lowest. Matthew 18:3-4 reads, “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore
whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” When a mother of two of the
disciples requested that her sons sit at Jesus side in His kingdom, Jesus responded: “You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them…Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him
be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” (Matt 20:25-27) Giving the disciples
instructions, Jesus said: “do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:10-12) When Jesus told a story of the judgment, He describes Himself as saying “Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did to one of the least of these My brethren (the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick,
and the imprisoned), you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40) The call to be a disciple of Christ is a call to become a servant of all.
The last qualification for discipleship is not so much a command but a promise: You will be persecuted. Jesus promises His disciples: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you…If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:18-20) A little later (John 15:33) Jesus says, “In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” When Jesus sent the twelve out into the world, He warned them: “Beware of men, for they will deliver you up in the councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles…Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” (Matthew 10:17-22) This is the promise and test of discipleship. If you love Him and are His disciple, you will be hated and persecuted for Him.
What is Christ calling you to die to today? What right or privilege is He calling you to give up? What service does He wish you to offer? Is Christ calling you to lay down your pride and to forgive your brother? Is He calling you to lay aside your greed and offer your time or money for His mission? Is He calling you to offer your service, unasked for and unacknowledged, to the weak, the poor, the child, the helpless? When Christ calls His disciples today, will you be among
those who take the challenge to die, to sacrifice, to serve, and to be reviled? Or will you cast down your colors like the deserter, denying your captain in the day of testing?
Onward Christian soldiers,
Sitting on the mats;
Nice and warm and cozy
Like little pussycats.
Onward Christian soldiers,
Oh, how brave are we,
Don’t we do our fighting
Very comfortably?