The Well Armored Man

The Well Armored Man
THE WELL-ARMOURED MAN.
BY CLED E. WALLACE. The idea of armor first had reference to certain physical defensive preparations for conflict. It very early, however, was used figuratively to describe spiritual states, attitudes and mental bearing. Horace used the expression "aes trip­lex circa pectus," "breast enclosed with triple brass" as a symbol of indomitable courage. The morale of the soldier who went into battle, the armor of his soul, meant incom­parably more than the steel or brass plates which protected his body. Paul in the most exalted spiritual sense exhorts the Ephesians to "Put on the whole armor of God." He used the expression to summarize the equipment of the Christian in the most intense of all conflicts, that of the spiritual hosts of light against the "spiritual hosts of wick­edness." Robert Louis Stevenson in that delightful personal essay of his which he, following Horace, calls "Aes Trip­lex," declares that "courage and intelligence are the two qualities best worth a good man's cultivation." These two qualities according to Stevenson should remove all the terror from either life or death. "A frank and somewhat head­long carriage, not looking too anxiously before, not dallying in maudlin regret over the past, stamps the man who is well armoured for this world." This address will be largely confined to things religious. "Sons of God" is the supreme expression of well-armoured manhood. There can be no higher conception unless man would deify himself. Indeed, it means nothing less than that we are "the offspring of God," "a God in the germ," a spark struck off from the Personality of the Almighty. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are." And what, pray, can be more becoming to a son of God than intelligent faith and steadfast courage? They constitute the sine qua non of a life armoured for the world.

What an imposing thing is an abundant Christian faith! The big men who have achieved the greatest victories, who have left the largest foot-prints on the sands of time, have been men with strong convictions, of great faith. The ex­periences of a man like Paul are incredible until we see his faith. The full measure of persecution with all its harrow­ing experiences was his and he almost takes our breath away by the characteristic remark, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content." A full explanation is found in such outbursts of fervor as the following: "I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me;" "For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day." And faith is no faith that is not worth a life in sacrifice. The man who does not have convictions that he would die for or who does not endorse his faith with his life is not armoured for the world. "What things were gain to me these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be less for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse that I may gain Christ," is the testimony of the best armoured man of his time. He headed straight into the furnace of persecution with no further thought for his life than that he might accomplish his course and the ministry which he received from the Lord Jesus. With a life bleeding on the altar of faith and a heart bound with triple brass this soldier fought his way to "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." He was

"One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake."

He ran his race, like all of us can run ours, with a single mind. "But one thing I do," the overpowering influence of the ideal which his faith kept before him gave him sweet immunity from any paralysing terrors that might arise, like ghosts, out of the past. Terror is a goblin born of ignorance and unbelief. "I know him whom I have believed" is triple brass before dragons of fear.

Faith in God is the leading motif of the wonderful dra­matic stories of the Old Testament. "And it came to pass after these things that God did prove Abraham" is the way one of them begins. Years before Abraham had left his homeland at the call of God, he wandered about as a so­journer "by faith." God called him out under the stars one night and told him that his seed would be as innumerable as they. He was old and childless, his wife well past the age of bearing children, besides being naturally barren. Yet, when God promised him that he and Sarah, his wife, should be the parents of a son, Isaac, Abraham believed. The marvel of his faith is the subject of a Pauline tribute: "Yet looking unto the promise of God. he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform." In due time the child was born and became a vigorous lad, the delight of his old parents, the foundation of all their hopes. All that God had promised Abraham was to come through Isaac. "And it came to pass after these things that God did prove Abraham." In a terse command without explanation God told Abraham to take the boy and offer him as a burnt-offering upon a certain moun­tain. The old man didn't understand, the command came quick and unexpected and must have broken his heart. He asked no questions. He made no complaints. He did not tarry. He arose early in the morning, took two of his young men and the lad of dreams and promises and went to the fated mountain. He took wood and fire and a KNIFE. There is no doubt as to his purpose, although the boy was ignorant of it. Quickly and silently he erected the altar of stones, bound the boy and laid him thereon. He slipped his left arm about the boy's neck and drew him to his heart. With jaw set tight he raised the knife for a quick decisive thrust and "Abraham stop" cried an angel as he reached down out of heaven and grabbed him by the arm. "Abraham believed God." In the light of "so great a faith" we understand why "he was called the friend of God" and why God loved him so. The cause of Christ needs men today of "a like precious faith;" reverent men with holy lives and deep convictions; men "afire with God" who can fight. As I am a young man, I will be pardoned if I have young men in my mind's eye in this part of the discussion. As I view the matter the young man who walks into the pulpit today, goes in with an un­paralleled opportunity for the signal service if he goes in well-armoured with an intelligent faith and a fighting spirit. The pulpit of the Church of Christ is no place for your nice little men who are so "liberal" and "broad" that they have no convictions. That kind had better stay off the firing-line. They are liable to get hurt. God is calling big men into His work who are not afraid to tell folks what He wants done with an exclamation point after it. If you are not that kind, sail on to smoother seas. The pulpit can't use you. The man of God has a charge to keep. He knows whom he has believed and has a positive message for the world. Dogmatic he may appear to be and can afford to be when God has spoken; vacillating, never. His attitude towards his task is fully set forth in the two letters Paul wrote his spiritual son, Timothy. The father is helping the son to bind his armour on. "O, Timothy, guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away from the profane bab­blings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so-called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith." 1 Timothy 5:20-25. The son is exhorted to "preach the word," to be urgent in reproof and exhortation; to "give heed to reading to exhortation to teaching. . . .be diligent in these things take heed to thyself and thy teaching . . . .for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." 1 Timothy 4:13-16. His is a message of life and death entrusted to him by the Father for deliverance to a world sorely beset. He must deliver that message as it is given to him without any concern whatever for the "tastes, feelings and conveniences of the people." "For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please- men? if I were still pleasing men I would not be a servant of Christ." Cal. 1: 10. The preacher who keeps his ear to the. ground or plays to the galleries is con­temptible beyond any description. If this were the age of miracles he would suffer the fate of Nadab and Abihu; he is an Ananias in the 'sight of God.'

There is a lot of foolish talk in the air to the effect that the gospel and the church of today must adapt themselves to the changing demands of a new age. The man of God must contend for the "old paths." He must make men un­derstand that the church is the sanctuary of God and has the blood of Christ on it; that it is holy as the dwelling- place of God in the Spirit. It is not a place for entertain­ment, but a spiritual hospital where diseased humanity may receive treatment from the Great Physician. Those who try to make the church "attractive" by means of novel ap­peals to the sensuous are guilty of sacrilege. Neither church nor gospel of the New Testament can be improved upon. God Himself planted the seed of redemption six thousand years ago and it grew through Patriarchal and Jewish dis­pensations and matured in Christ. " It was the good pleasure of the father that in him should all fullness dwell that in all things he might have the preeminence through him to reconcile all things to himself." Colossians 1:19-20. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily. .. .In him ye are made full." Colossians 2:9. The gospel which came through Christ for the healing of the nations "is not after man" but came by revelation. Even the angels of God are not allowed to alter it. It is called the "faith once for all delivered to the saints." It is the faith of the well-armoured man. Fie must not tickle "itching ears." To consistently maintain this attitude requires courage of the most pronounced type. The man who does it must have a genuine fighting spirit. "Fight the good fight of faith," "war the good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience" were written to encourage his kind. The world is demanding to flay some sort of organic union of con­flicting sectarian bodies in lieu of the genuine unity for which Christ prayed. In the face of the strongest kind of opposition the man of God must "contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints," demanding that union, and that union only which is based on a strict observance of the Law of God. No other union is or ever will be pleasing to God.

Let us take a few Bible examples of what it means to "quit you like men, be strong." Paul meant by the ex­pression that Christians are fighters, that they have some­thing to fight for and the spirit which turns battles into victories. Jesus Christ is a perfect example of what I am pleased to call fighting spirit. His entire life was a fight­ing protest against sin and wrong. He issued a challenge that stirs the blood of every true man. "I came not to send peace but a sword" is a challenge to follow Him in the battle for right even if the price must be paid in blood. The writer of the Hebrew letter probably had the passage in mind when he chided the Hebrews in these words: "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." But Christ is the perfect example. He cast the "den of robbers" out of the temple in righteous wrath when the spirit of merchandise displaced the spirit of prayer in the house of God. No follower of His can remain passive when the worship of God is profaned. You are a fighter or you are no Christian. "Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypo­crites!" is a scathing denunciation of hypocrisy and empty display in religion. No follower of His can look on the "scribes and pharisees" of our own age and not want to fight. There is a "form of godliness" held by those who deny its power toward which every armoured man of God is sworn to eternal enmity. The great men of the Bible were all fighters. "I have fought a good fight" was Paul's victory-song. Watch him before the council when the High Priest commanded him to be smitten in the mouth contrary to all law and every principle of justice! Smarting under the blow and the in­sult, he quickly retorted: "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall." See him before the profligate Felix, spurning the opportunity to make a plea on his own behalf, choosing rather to risk his head in a passionate speech on "righteousness, self-control and judgment to come!" Hear his elo­quent appeal to Agrippa and know him as the master cham­pion of a great cause, " the noblest Roman of them all." "Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" are words fitly spoken by such a man. The axe that sent his head rolling and bleeding didn't make a scratch upon his invincible courage.

Daniel was a kindred spirit and worthy of glorious imi­tation. He is first introduced to us as a noble "youth in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understand­ing science, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palace." Young men of such attainments were always popular in corrupt oriental courts and it was not a matter for wonder when the king selected Daniel, the young foreigner, as a favorite and ordered that he be taught the "learning and tongue of the Chaldeans." The king among other things appointed for him "a daily portion of the king's dainties, and of the wine which he drank." But the youth, Daniel, unlike some of the young men of the present day who are "endued with knowledge and under­stand science" or think they do, had decided religious con­victions which he had brought into captivity with him. He was conscientiously opposed to either eating the king's dainties or drinking his wine. It was contrary to his re­ligion. Only a well-armoured man, one with faith and courage, could have withstood the extraordinary tempta­tion. "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's dainties, nor with the wine which he drank." God was with him and he carried out his purpose and kept his conscience clear. He was com- paritively alone in his convictions as the majority were all on the other side. By prudence and wisdom Daniel was promoted until he became second to none in the king­dom except the king. He had many rivals and enemies who watched vainly for some fault in his life as a weapon to discredit him. "But they could find no occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." They knew that Daniel was unyielding in his loyalty to God. So they prevailed upon the king to sign an edict forbidding the worship of any god save the king. Then they watched Daniel. "And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, (now his win­dows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem); and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." "AS HE DID AFORETIME!" What a wonderful demon­stration of manhood!! They put Daniel into the lions' den, but he came out again for "he had trusted in his God." And old Micaiah! Ah, but he was wonderful! Rugged, fearless prophet of God he was, discredited and in prison as most of God's prophets were, the few that were left, in the days of Ahab and Elijah. Ahab and Jehosaphat sat each on his royal throne. Ahab called out his four hun­dred prophets of Baal, those flattering liars of his idolatrous worship, and had them recommend the course that he wanted to pursue —to go down to Ramoth-Gilcad to battle. Jehosaphat was a nominal worshipper of Jehovah and had a little conscience left. Things didn't look orthodox and he called for a prophet of God. Ahab clouded up and sent a messenger to bring Micaiah from his prison cell. "And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them and speak thou good." How nice it would be for Micaiah to contribute to the beautiful unity prevailing among that notable assembly of kings and prophets. But Micaiah must have been "an old crank." "And Micaiah said, As Jehovah liveth, what Jehovah saith unto me, that will I speak." And into the presence of the king he walked, looked him in the eye without a tremor and delivered God's message. The king was furious but to the everlasting glory of Micaiah he didn't compromise an inch. "And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets; who through faith sub­dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens." These men come as a "great cloud of witnesses" out of the past with a supreme message for the men of the present. Without exception they testify that abiding faith in God and invincible courage in the execution of His will fill the measure of the well-armoured man