The mission of Jesus' Incarnation:I John 3:8: (to destroy the works of the devil). The expressed statement of every sworn infantryman is "to close with and destroy the enemy." Jesus came to set us free [forever]. The Bible is relevant to real life. The Bible accounts for all the painful realities in this broken world. The people in the Bible are engaged in very real struggles. Abraham "mustered" (see Gen. 14:14) an entire light battalion consisting of 318 of his "trained men" and ran a daring long-range night operation to rescue family members. Jesus was not some kind of space cadet, or gentle-Jesus-"meek-and-mild example as a model for a shampoo advertisement. Calvary is sacred battlespace for every believer. Each paratrooper has a thirty-eight pound parachute on his back, a fifteen-pound reserve chute on his stomach, a sixty-t-eighty-pound rucksack hanging around his knees, and an M4 rifle attached to his left hip. Sometimes it is four hundred feet below to 900 below them that they land. Inside their rucksack they carry a radio, and spare batteries, two mortar rounds, and a basic load of ammunition. What Constitutes a Battle? When your integrity is threatened. Facing a harmful path that looks enticing; tempted to cave under the pressure. What do you do? All kinds of things represent conflict-a personal crisis. When the ones you value most lie bleeding and wounded. They look to you for leadership, but you don't know what to do. Security slips through your fingers. You try to be a good provider. Your foundation feels unsettled. Your future feels vulnerable to attack. Maybe you long for greater purpose. Your days are filled with activity, but to what end? A sense of meaning is missing. You want to do something lasting. Significant. True. You may not realize this, but someone fights in front of you and beside you-humanity's greatest warrior-and He is calling you to join Him in fulfilling history's greatest mission. The good news is that you were made for this fight. You were designed for the front lines. You are right where you are supposed to be. And you are not alone in the battle. You can win your battles when you follow the Warrior Christ no matter what fight you face today. Army guys walk into the Army career center, slam their fist on the desk, glare at the recruiter, and growl, "Give me the hardest thing you've got!" ****Here's the tension: it's hard for tough guys to follow Jesus. *****How could our nation's fighting men possibly relate to a slack-jawed pretty boy such as Jesus is represented? A tender shepherd, meek-and-mild-the long-haired boyfriend, the one we're all supposed to sing love songs to, the bearded therapist who wishes we'd all become nice guys. It's not just soldiers who are put off by the image of a wimpy Jesus. Lots of others have the same reaction. Jesus is not a bad role model. Real men can't relate to this feminized Christ. And they shouldn't have to. The Sunday-School Jesus gives us no understanding of why we're here on earth, what we're up against, and what we're supposed to do. we need something more. We have to demonstrate a different kind of Jesus. We need to help others reclaim who Christ really is, the Christ of the Bible. Jesus is wilder and tougher than you could even imagine. Help others find their own life-defining mission. Use a military analogy to accomplish that. A soldier executes daring missions to rescue humanity at the cost of his own life. That's exactly what Jesus does for us. This is no daytime-talk-show Jesus. This Medal-of-Honor-worthy Jesus-someone that men would want to honor and emulate>See Him as He really is-a battle-scarred combatant who stared death in the face... and won. This world is enemy-occupied territory. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say-landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage-C.S.Lewis-Mere Christianity I agree. We are trapped in hostile territory and our Rescuer has come to save us. Jesus came as the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6) and He told us to turn the other cheek (Lk. 6:29). Jesus was not a bloodthirsty warmonger. But, He wasn't a nonconfrontational wimp, either. Against great odds, He defied an empire and changed history. Men and women called Him Master. They took His message around the world. They stayed true to Him even when it cost them their lives. Jesus was like an elite, divinely commissioned soldier. He was strong. He was on an important mission. And He courageously squared off against the Enemy of our souls. We need a fresh view of Jesus. Jesus was strong. He was on an important mission. We need to recover this neglected aspect of His identity so that we can restore a balanced understanding of His Person and work. The Garden of Eden was nothing short of a military coup. Satan, a chief angel, usurped God's rightful rule as King and placed humanity in slavery (2 Pet. 2:19; I Jn. 5:19). Not willing to surrender, God dispatched His greatest Warrior to defeat the Enemy and rescue His people. (Gen. 3:15; Mt. 1:21). About this great victory, Jesus said, "Take heart, because I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33). The Apostle Paul added that Christ "descended to our lowly world" and then "led a crowd of captives" away to high ground (Eph. 4:8-9, from Psalm 68:18). In other words, He came to earth to defeat our great captor and take us to be with Him. I believe that as Western Society has grown more domesticated and protected from hard realities, we have rejected (Christus victor) in lieu of more palatable doctrines. Now, many view was as inherently evil and peace as supremely virtuous. To suit our sensibilities, we have sensitized the person and story of Jesus, removing any mention of conflict and battle. This strips from Christ anything heroic or noble. The resulting religion is spineless, spiritless, lifeless like our new deity. No wonder Christians feel as if they are going through the motions in this life. We have lost the man on a mission intensity that drove Jesus to the cross. A boy-band Jesus will never change the brokenness in our world. And if you and I follow that kind of Jesus, nether will we. We need to shove aside the pretty-boy image of Christ. We need to meet and follow-Christ the conqueror. ******Most men I've talked to, whether civilian or military, are just not compelled to give their lives to a lesser lord. Why should they be? Why should you be? Jesus is our Heaven-sent Rescuer, and our directive is to follow Him wholeheartedly-His passion, His purpose, His purpose, and His heroic sacrifice. The meek Messianic is far too timid to confront the pressing realities of evil that I, my family, and my fighting men face everyday. He's much too tolerant to stand up for what's right and true and noble and good. If we follow the wrong Jesus, then we will become like flavorless salt or a hidden candle-completely useless. (Matt.5:13, 15). Many Christians today have a bunker mentality, content to wait in the relative calm of their churches while enemy shelling wreaks havoc on families and individuals outside. In the military, we give such soldiers the worst possible epithet-cowards. No self-respecting Ranger wants to sit on the sidelines while others do the fighting. Only a Warrior Christ can set people free from despair, darkness, and purposelessness in our marriages, families, churches, and communities, and we will be used by God to set others free. Jesus was a badass. True warriors trade all that this life offers for the privilege to take up arms and charge the field beside Him in defiance of our great Enemy. Jesus referred to this aggressive and determined spirit: The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Matt.11:12). Christ overthrows the status quo, makes all things new, and calls you to be part of the mission. Since the beginning, God has been at work to bring back his captive sons and daughters from behind enemy lines. Tough guys in particular don't like the idea that somebody needs to save them. We may not see any guards or feel any chains. We see people enslaved all of the time. These men are in the enemy's trap-sometimes they know it, sometimes they don't. From the beginning, God saw our desperate need and set in motion a daring rescue. The Great Raid was underway.
How This Mission Originated-The Planning Phase In the early days of this operation, God gave only subtle hints about His rescue plan. In Eden, after Adam and Eve has rebelled, God told the serpent who tempted Eve-I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. (Gen. 3:15). And so the Enemy was put on notice of God's intent. Satan might have landed the first blow, but the fight was far from over. Centuries later, God chose Abraham's family to be His chosen vehicle for infiltration into enemy territory. Gen. 12:23. God was promising that the divine Rescuer would come through Abraham's descendants. A number of years later God narrowed the field to Abraham's great-grandson, Judah, from whose line would come both a sacred Rescuer and Sovereign Ruler. Here's how God put it: Gen. 41:10-
Five centuries later, God chose Judah's descendant David to head a royal dynasty. King David was a great man, but God's intent did not stop with him. He had a still greater King in mind. To David, God said-2 Sam. 7:12-13. This would be the forever King, the great Rescuer who would accomplish the raid that God had in mind. As the planning phase continued, God sent prophets to deliver advance warning of the rain. Isa. 7:14. The Great Raid would not happen without casualties. Isa. 52:14; 53:7-8, 12. The Divine Rescuer possessed the intestinal fortitude to trade His life for the world, gruesomely.
Key Elements of the Great Raid-Why did God spend all this time planning His Great Raid? ******That's what an effective combat leader does. God displayed at least two of the necessary elements of any great raid:tactical patience and surprise, when the timing was right and God sent His Son to earth on a mission to rescue us. Military operational planners talk about "setting the conditions" for an attack. That means that commanders must wait for circumstances to become favorable for success. General Eisenhower demonstrated this during the Allied Invasion of Normandy. Initially, the assault across the English Channel was scheduled for the fifth of June, but high winds and royal seas forced Eisenhower to delay the invasion twenty-four hours, long enough for long break in the weather. God, too, waited for the right conditions before deploying His rescuer. The Apostle Paul, who enlisted in this rescue mission, wrote of God's tactical patience-Gal. 4:4-5. What could Paul have meant by "the right time"? How were conditions set for the Great Raid to be executed? 3 circumstances greatly aided in humanity's rescue:
1) Unified language 2) Transportation network of passable roads 3) Unified govt. provided favorable conditions for the coming raid and the Great Commission. Tactical patience provided the surprise.
How God Used {the element of surprise] to bring His Rescuer into the world. Lk. 1:34; Mt. 1:19. In the conservative Jewish community where they lived, certainly neighbors whispered about their seemingly shameful secret. Noone would have expected for God to work through such sexual controversy. A consummate tactician, God surprised everyone by the way that He chose to infiltrate His Rescuer into planet Earth. Also, God didn't choose a well-
connected religious or political family in the capital to raise His Rescuer. He picked a common laborer and a humble maid from an insignificant village in the rural region of Galilee> Jn. 7:52. Years later, a religious leader would reveal the common antirural bias, saying...Again, God broke from the people's norms and expectations. Rather than take the predictable path, He intentionally did the unexpected and used the unlikely to accomplish His divine purposes. A consummate tactician, God surprised everyone by the way that He chose to infiltrate His Rescuer into planet Earth.
*****Incarnation-The Infiltration Strategy
For God to enter earth as a human, He needed to limit every aspect of His personhood. Incarnate Deity-The Airborne Analogy-
The concept of an Airborne operation is to rain down highly skilled and lethally armed paratroopers on an enemy. And so some units have adopted the motto-Death from Above. But when the Warrior Christ stepped down from His throne and descended to earth, His mission was to destroy sin and death and to liberate humanity-Our Divine Rescuer brought life from above. Jesus-means-"God rescues."The name choice has even more significance than just its meaning. The name Jesus also points to an Old Testament hero: the Warrior Joshua. As a young man, Joshua was a scout on a 40-day long-range reconnaissance patrol of Canaan, (Num. 13:16-25). Later, he was the general who led Israel to conquer the Promised Land. (Joshua 6,8,10). Of all the heroes to whom God could have linked His Son, He chose perhaps the nations' greatest military leader. By giving Him the name Jesus, God ensured that every time someone spoke His name, they declared His purpose: to rescue humanity.
Adjacent Unit Coordinator-
God made known the Rescuer's arrival to Jesus' contemporaries. By God announcing the Rescuers' long-awaited arrival to such opposite groups, it shows that He would not be a King for the elite alone, nor a Savior for only the poor. And though He was a Jew, He would not benefit just one ethnic group. He came willingly to rescue all people-everywhere-no exceptions.
Jesus' Vertical Envelopment-
The Incarnation-Jesus descended from above-"verical". God's dwelling place-His tactical operations center-(TOC)-is described as higher than earth. Deut. 4:39; Jn. 8:23. Jesus identified the purpose of His Airborne assault. Jn. 6:38; Lk. 12:51; Mt. 10:34. Just as D-Day initiated the Third Reich's demise, so Jesus arrival marked the beginning of the end for Satan. Mt. 8:29; Mk. 1:24; Mt. 16:18. The Incarnation-God's Airborne assault-had put the enemy on the run. The infant boy in Bethlehem is now viewed as a stealth fighter arriving at His drop zone. What do Jesus' tactics have to teach you about infiltrating the world? Every invasion has 2 basic elements-
leaving a place of comfort and engaging the enemy on his own turf. Jesus did exactly that. God is calling you to invade enemy territory. Jesus obeyed His Commander-God. He passed the test. We have a leader worth following.
Jesus' strategy for success-He studied, internalized, and executed under pressure the tasks. Jesus did not pull rank or shrink back to avoid difficulties. We're on guard about God's protection, His provision, His preeminence, His Word for one another. Ask if a fellow Christian will fight by your side-that you are ready to invade enemy territory. Eccl. 4:12. The training is over. Jesus is humanity's honor grad. Now He pulls out the operations order from His Commander and prepares to execute the Great Raid.
Commission-Passing on authority
God's operations order-OPORD-Isa. 61:1-2. His OPORD consisted of: 1) good news for the poor 2) freedom for the captives 3) sight for the blind 4) freedom for the oppressed. Lk. 4:21. He read and fulfilled the mission. We are officially charged with solemn duties and sacred responsibilities to execute the Great Raid. We pursue the same mission. "Nested intent"-means that whatever I am doing must support what my higher headquarters is doing.
Reputation-Facing Attacks in the Line of Duty-
Jesus was more focused on the mission than what people thought of Him. "Friend of sinners" was His identity. Mt. 11:19; Lk. 7:34. Jesus had 2 distinct reputations: Some saw Him as a holy prophet. Others thought that He was demon-possessed. The Disciples were Jesus' 12-man squad. Jesus: lived on the edge, broke social norms and made enemies. Jesus was wild-at-heart with calluses and dirt on Himself. He was a man's man. Don't think of churches as fortresses, built to protect the holy occupants from evil beyond the walls. We need to see churches a (forward operating bases)-FOBs-temporary havens in a hostile place where recruits can train and veterans can heal, always with the intent of going back outside the wire! Mk. 1:38. OPORD-to bring the good news to the poor. (Lk. 4:18). Jesus' reputation as a country boy, w/regional accent, made Him popular. Jesus is the kind of guy you sit next to on a bus and, before you know it, you've told Him your whole life story-an everyday Joe-not a slick big-city politician or a polished megachurch preacher. Jesus was attacked for His hometown, his behavior, His friends. He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. Rescuing these people were His mission all day long! Jesus was never embarrassed about His upbringing. He didn't concern Himself w/reputation.
A Call to Arms-
The battle lines have been drawn. This Divine Rescuer isn't about to back down from a fight. Jesus' modus operandi-Confrontation-standing up for what is right-
Jn. 15:18. Jesus faced off against evil and stood His ground. 3 Rules of Target Engagement:
1)acquires a potential target
2)identifies the target as hostile or friendly
3)engages -employs a weapon system to destroy a hostile target. Jesus didn't bow to His enemies. He confronted them. Jesus kept focused-stayed on mission. No distractions were allowed. He showed incredible strength-no fear. Jesus avoided a skirmish...to prepare for war. Jesus fought for the right reason. Jesus did reconnaissance. Mk. 11:11. What did He find? Jn. 2:14. Jesus addressed their dishonest abuse of power. Jn. 2:15-16; Mt. 21:13; Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11. He used righteous anger-not selfish anger. Jesus countered with wisdom and truth. Mt. 22:15,17,21, 34-28, 29, 30-32, 36; 37-40; Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18. Jesus seized the initiative and went on the offensive. Mt. 22:42-45; Psalm 110:1; Mt. 22:46; Mt. 23:2-3, 5. Jesus was a bold revolutionary as seen in : 1) his strength toward the lynch mob. 2) His violence towards the money changers. 3) His boldness towards the fraudulent teachers. He faced enemies-spoke His mind-didn't apologize for offending; didn't sugarcoat. His approach was direct and His message divisive. He was a true warrior-Mt. 10:34. He was like an invading general-Lk. 12:49. These are not the words of a pacifist. Jesus was the bellicose Ranger from God who came first and foremost to [set things right], fully knowing the strife that His mission would require. For this, Jesus was relatable. Using the three rules of target engagement, He acquired a potential threat-(religious leaders), identified the threat as hostile-(thieves and hypocrites), and engaged the threat-(flipped tables and verbally berated). Jesus moved swiftly towards conflict and turned the tide of the battle. (He didn't turn a blind eye towards injustice.). Jesus was on the offensive-chose the battle and fought on His terms. So, He had the advantage. Fighting on the offensive always guarantees an advantage this way. There are no sidelines to this battle. You have been dropped into enemy territory for a mission. Jesus threw down the gauntlet.
Dedication-"line of departure"-challenge. Identify and cross your own line of departure. The cross was the final assault on the Enemy-the culmination of the Great Raid. The line of departure for Jesus was His entrance into Jerusalem on Sunday morning, five days before His death. Once through the city gates, there would be no turning back. Lk. 9:51; 13:22. A warning order is (WARNO)-a formal "heads up". In the months leading up to the LD-(line of departure), Jesus had been telling His men details of the mission ahead. His recruits needed to be mentally prepared. Mt. 16:21, 22, 23; 20:17-19. The Triumphal Entry was Jesus' last covered and concealed position. From here on, He was exposed and subjected to the Enemy's firepower. This Triumphal Entry was the "last covered and concealed position" before the assault. Jesus' followers' LD still lay ahead-Mt. 9:36; 26:31. The Last Supper-He gave last-minute instructions. It was 3 final messages to His troops: 1) a memorial event 2) a leadership lesson -Mt. 20:25-28 3) a promotion ceremony Jn. 15:12-15. Disciples-like recruits-became full-fledged Rangers. There was no turning back. Jesus' life objective was the Cross.
Crucifixion-
Like an excerpt from a Medal of Honor citation, Jesus displayed "utter disregard for His own safety" and showed "the utmost concern for the welfare of His men". Jesus willingly dove on the judicial hand grenade and offered His own life to spare His Rangers. Jesus' men didn't stand idly by and let Him get captured. Like good Rangers, they stepped up to fight. Lk. 22:49; Jn. 18:10-11. Instead of a public arrest that might have incited a riot, these spineless bureaucrats opted for a night ambush, knowing that envy, not justice, motivated this attack. Jn. 18:12; Lk. 22:63-65. Jesus was now a POW> (prisoner of war). His Rangers, meanwhile, had all deserted Him and fled. Mt. 26:56. For His part, like a Ranger POW, Jesus kept quiet and provided no useful intelligence to His enemies. Isa. 53:8. When Jesus said-"It is finished!"-it is-"Mission Accomplished". the most critical aspect of any mission: actions on the objective. Jn. 12:27. Love initiates; is costly and meets the needs of others. Jesus sprinted through the finish line of His life, only to find glory and honor on the other side. We are part of a victorious army! Not only could Jesus tell His Ranger story-He shows His scars-that He did what He said that He did. The impact of Jesus: ransom and redeem-(release) and (buy back). Jesus received 3 honors at His heavenly Combat Awards Ceremony-1)His powerful location-Acts 2:33; Hebrews 12:2; 2)His mighty name-Phil. 2:9-11; 3)His triumphant songs. Jesus was the 1st and greatest Airborne Ranger.
