Behind Enemy Lines
By Grant Gaines
From 1907 when the helicopter first took flight until the mid-1950’s, the helicopter figuratively hovered just above the line of mediocrity and insignificance. There were so many other forms of transportation that were cheaper, safer, and more convenient that the production of the helicopter was essentially grounded. It wasn’t until the United States entered Vietnam in 1955 that these steel birds finally “took off”.
What made the helicopter so vital to the American troops during the US’s stent in Vietnam was their superior maneuverability. Unlike airplanes that required a long, smooth runway to takeoff from and land on, helicopters needed only a small patch of opening in the brush, which perfectly suited Vietnam’s extreme terrain. It was this attribute that thrust helicopters to the forefront of military galore in Vietnam, and it was this same attribute that thrust helicopters into a countless number of missions behind enemy lines.
Much like these helicopters, the Lord wants you to go “behind enemy lines”.
Going behind enemy lines does not necessarily mean you have to go to a foreign country, though it could. Going behind enemy lines is simply taking the message of freedom from sin and the promise of an eternity spent with the Everlasting God to a lost and dying world. But just like the helicopters in Vietnam, this lifelong mission trip is not promised to always be smooth sailing because John 12:31 tells us that Satan is the ruler of this world. In every sense of the phrase, we are called to go behind enemy lines.
But if you’ve taken a look around the Church lately, there are a lot more Christians who are eager to stay on the home front than to go behind enemy lines. There are a lot more Christ followers who prefer the comfort of their Christian community than the perceived uneasiness that comes from sharing the Gospel. There are a lot more Christians who view this life as a cruise ship than a battle ship.
A cruise ship is all about the customer’s comfort. A battle ship is all about the captain’s commands. Knowing the context of the Bible, which ship do you think better describes the life God has called His people to live? If you’re honest with yourself, you would have a hard time coming up with too many verses that would lead you to believe that the Jealous God (Exodus 34:14) is more concerned with your comfort and convenience than His glory and Gospel.
And yet, so many Christ followers prefer to “play it safe” than to go behind enemy lines. AW Tozer, one of the most brilliant Christian minds of the 20th century, knew a thing or two about going behind enemy lines with the Gospel. In one of his sermons, when reflecting on the hardships that come with the expansion of the Gospel, Tozer said the following:
“I have never given more time and more pain and more prayer to any other series of sermons in my ministry. Because of their importance, I have literally felt Satan attempting to thwart the purpose of God. I have felt I was in raw contact with hell.
….I would rather have it this way than to have to admit—as some will have to admit—to having spent a lifetime preaching the Word of God and yet never having met the devil once in open combat!
In my preparation, there have been struggles and combat, moans and pains. I think this is the conflict of Jesus being re-lived in His people.…But, I will tell you something—it is a delightful thing when you know that you are close enough to the adversary that you can hear him roar! Too many Christians never get into ‘lion country’ at all!”
Are you willing to go behind enemy lines into “lion country” as AW Tozer described it? Paul was.
There are obviously a lot of stories we could look to that would highlight Paul’s resilience as we did in an earlier blog “Insanity” , but today I want to focus on a short story in Acts 14.
As verse eight opens, we learn that Paul and Barnabas enter the gentile towns of Lystra and Derbe. After performing several miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, the locals began to worship Paul and Barabbas, thinking they were gods. But then in one of the strangest turn of events in the entire Bible we read in Acts 14:18-19 (NLT) that, “… Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them. Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.”
Did I miss something? Did I forget to put a verse in there? The crowds were about to offer sacrifices to Paul because they viewed him as a god and then they did what to him only one verse later?
As shocking as it may seem, no words, letters, or punctuation points were left out of those two verses. One minute Paul was preaching the Gospel and then next thing he knows, stones the size of bowling balls are making contact with his head. And apparently the townspeople were so won over by whatever the Jews from Antioch and Iconium had told them that they did stop stoning Paul until they thought he was dead. One stone after another rained down on his limp body until finally the crowd dragged Paul outside the city to be taken care of by scavengers.
“But as the believers gathered around him, [Paul] got up…” (Acts 4:20, NLT). “
“Whew! Close call, Paul! Let’s get you out of here ASAP and get you some medical attention,” is the only reasonable thought that the believers who had gathered around Paul could have been thinking at this time. But Paul, well, let’s just say he had “different plans”.
“But as the believers gathered around him, [Paul] got up and went back into the town…” (Acts 4:20, NLT, bold mine). Wait, what town? Certainly Paul wasn’t crazy enough to venture back into Lystra and Derbe where he had just been stoned to death, was he?
What some call crazy, God calls committed.
So Paul got back up on his marred feet, limped into the hostile town—behind enemy lines—and preached the Gospel, again.
Does your life exude this boldness for the Good News? Time and time again the helicopters in Vietnam bravely ventured behind enemy lines to deliver essential supplies and rescue injured soldiers. Time and time again, saints from the Old and New Testament—men and women just like you and me—took the Message of Hope behind enemy lines to a dark and dying world. And time and time again, God lays before us the decision—the opportunity—to venture behind enemy lines to reach a quickly fading world with the only cure—the Gospel. Will you join Him as He calls you, “Behind Enemy Lines”?
“Some want to live within the sound
Of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop,
Within a yard of hell.”
― C.T. Studd
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
