[1Ti 6:12 KJV] 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

My dear friend, you’ve been called out to fight. Are you coming?

Pippin comes out to fight

A clip from the film version of Return of the King inspired this post (1). Winning 11 Oscars at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004 (2), it’s safe to say this film transcends the fantasy genre. However, the spiritual themes I find in this film are far more important to me than any secular accolades.

In the clip that keeps nagging me for a blog post, Sauron, a fallen angel, sends his hordes of vicious, ugly, terrifying trolls, orcs, etc. to attack the city of Minas Tirith. Within the city, soldiers answer the call to arms, rushing towards the battlements. But then, we see someone else approaching the fray; not a trained soldier, but a small hobbit, a farm-boy turned courtier.

He doesn’t belong there; the angel Gandalf soon rebukes him and tells him to go back to the citadel.

And that’s when, looking at the carnage in front of him, at the hellbent invaders pouring over the walls, at column after column of approaching enemy regiments, Pippin the hobbit delivers this epic line:

“They’d called us out to fight.”

Will you fight?

We are at war…and have been, for thousands of years.

We can be grateful if we’re never required to participate in wars of bombs and bullets…but none of us escapes the ageless battle between good and evil.

Like Pippin, you’ve been given a sword, dear Christian. Are you training with it, and holding it at the ready?

Like Pippin, you are facing terrifying foes (and if you read through Revelation, you’ll soon find that Tolkien, the author of the books that inspired the films, wasn’t the only one to use large, destructive, hostile and bizarre creatures to represent the forces of evil). Will you, in the words of Gandalf, “give in to fear”, or will you stand at your post?

Like Pippin, you could easily count yourself out of the battle because you’re not big enough, or practiced enough. Will you answer God’s call to arms anyway?

Also, don’t commit suicide

If you watch more of the movie, you also find out there was a lot of dysfunction inside the city.

Eventually, Pippin and some others get fed up with the dysfunction, throw down all their weapons and armor, and wander outside the gates. Some of them figure they can just pretend the Witch King, the other Nazguls and their fell beasts don’t exist, and others figure they can confront the enemy on their own terms, Rambo-style.

Yes, I made that last paragraph up. How foolish, how suicidal they would have been to respond to the dysfunction in that way!

But wait, my dear friends…isn’t that what we’re doing when we look at the dysfunction in our local church, and the wounds we’ve suffered there, and decide to completely abandon the assembly of the saints? I’m not talking about switching churches now; I’m talking about walking away from regular, in-person church attendance entirely.

The Situation Report

“What’s the danger?” you say. “I don’t need to rub shoulders with those churchy hypocrites in order to be happy!” Alternatively, “Yeah I go to church but I’m all about peace, not war!”

I repeat the verse at the top of the post, but this time, accompanied by the prior verse:

[1Ti 6:11-12 KJV] 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

So, what is the danger in forsaking the assembly, you ask? Or what’s the danger in going to church but refusing to spiritually wrestle against “the rulers of the darkness of this world” (i.e., demons…see Ephesians 6:12)? Just invert all those wonderful qualities from verse 11.

Are you becoming more righteous, or more sinful?

Are you becoming more godly, or more enamored with your idols?

Are you becoming more believing, or more faithless?

Are you becoming more charitable, or more hateful?

Are you becoming more patient, or more impetuous?

Are you becoming more meek, or more arrogant?

So do you understand what kind of war this is, my friend?

And…are you coming?

A far green country

But I cannot end this post on a militaristic note…because that’s not how it all ends. Don’t get me wrong, dear friend….there IS peace in believing the gospel. And part of that peace comes from our expectation of a better world to come. It’s that expectation of a better world, that laying “hold on eternal life”, that helps us not go insane when the world is burning down around us. I’ll close with Gandalf’s description of it (3)…to me, the echoes of Revelation 22 are unmistakable.

“The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it.”

“What, Gandalf? See what?” Asks a beleaguered Pippin.

“White shores. And beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.”

Feel better?   🙂

1: Clip from Return of the King

2: The Return of the King on wikipedia

3: White shores

4: A testimony of victory over fear