Chapter Two
It was eleven o’clock at night. I was 21 years old and an infantry second lieutenant. I had been in Vietnam about two weeks at the Army reception station outside of Saigon. Finally, my orders came in. I was assigned to a front-line infantry battalion of the Ninth Division, and I had to report immediately
because my new battalion was shipping out the next day in support of a division that was in a major battle in the central highlands. When I was dropped off at battalion headquarters, I was nervous. The first task was reporting to the battalion commander, a Lieutenant Colonel. I was told that he and all the
officers were gathered in the officers’ “club”, a large tent with a makeshift bar. So that’s where I went. I thought they were probably preparing for the coming operation.
But when I entered, what was this? The battalion commander was standing in front of his officers, and he was seriously drunk. I mean wasted. All of them were deep in their cups. This was not a good sign. Tomorrow, we could be in combat. I walked up to the man, came to attention, saluted and said,
“Lieutenant Luck reporting, sir.” He nodded and said, “Get a beer and sit down.” I replied, “Thank you, sir, I’ll just have a coke.” There was a moment of silence, then he turned and glared at me and said, “No, you’ll have a BEER.” I froze. All the officers in the battalion, men I was going to work with for the next year, were staring at me.
What should I do? For a specific reason, I didn’t drink. Politely, I said again, “Thank you, sir, I’ll just have a coke.” Glaring at me even harder, he rasped, “NO, YOU’LL HAVE A BEER.” Something snapped inside me. I don’t like bullies. Once more, I gave him the same answer. That started him on a rant that seemed
to last an hour. He attacked me because I didn’t drink, I was a second lieutenant, and I was married. (He saw the ring on my finger.) I just stood at attention and took it. Finally, he wore out and gave up. That was the introduction to my combat unit. The next morning, we flew into the central highlands. Thankfully, we didn’t meet the enemy. That Lt. Colonel was in command for several more months, then, thankfully, he was reassigned. After the first night, I had no more trouble with him.
What had gone on in that strange meeting? What was my motivation for taking that stand? Was it because I was a Christian and Christians don’t drink? Was I standing up for what I believed? No. I did it for one simple reason. I refused to become a gibbering idiot like him. I had seen a lot of drunks in the army, and they were pathetic. In one barracks, I was sleeping on the bottom bunk. The guy on the top came in late one weekend night and proceeded to piss on the floor two feet from my head. How wouldvyou like to wake up to the smell of splashing urine?
A couple of weeks after the confrontation, the chaplain came up to me and said he admired the stand I took. Well, yes, of course. It was worthy of admiration. I have courage. I am a warrior. My pride about being a warrior who stands against bullies entered deep into my life. I knew how to confront evil abuse.
And all of that must be a gift from God, right? I had a lot to learn. Walking the way of the servant warrior uncovers all the hidden trash in your life. That night in Vietnam, yes, I was a warrior, but the exact opposite of a servant warrior for Jesus Christ, the King.
Did you take the challenge I gave at the end of chapter one? Have you begun to meet the real Jesus? One way you can tell is that you start to see the things in your life that are killing you? Which brings you to the first decision necessary to become a servant warrior. No matter what it costs, you start being honest with God. No more comfortable lies about your life. The disease that is killing you is sin. Some of those precious sins you really enjoy, but they always leave you empty. It’s time to ask Jesus to forgive you and set you free. It’s time place your faith in Him as the Son of God who loves you so much that he took all your sin into His own body and died the death that you should have died. It’s time to give your life to Him and He will give you His life which will go on forever. Have you done that? If so, excellent.
Now the battle really begins.
There are so many things that I wish Jesus had never said. One of them is found in the Gospel of Luke 18:18-23: A wealthy young ruler came to Him and questioned Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” He replied, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
So, a young man who considered himself an exceptional dude came to Jesus because he felt there wassomething missing, something that he needed to do to cap off his amazing goodness, something that would guarantee Heaven. Why does Jesus respond to him the way He does? Wasn’t that kind of a waste? If Jesus had been a modern TV preacher He would have said, “You’re doing great, son. Come on board. Give me at least ten percent of everything and we are going to have a wonderful time together. Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven.” Let’s be clear, Jesus isn’t saying that it’s automatically evil to have money. Money isn’t the root of all evil. It is the LOVE of money that destroys everything whether you have it or you don’t.
The way He dealt with that young man is the way He deals with each of us who say we want to follow Him. In spite of all the guy’s outward goodness, a false god was ruling his life. He worshipped his power and reputation, and money was the key to all of it. To give that up would be to give up his well-polished self-image. Without the pride of that, who would he be at all? So that demands a question. What is your self-image and where does it come from?
The way of the servant warrior always begins when you tell Jesus that you want to follow Him. Eventually, He will ask a question that cuts to the core of who you are. What fake god is secretly in control of your life and are you willing to give it up? Instantly, in front of you appear two roads and you have to make a choice. Take one and, like the rich young ruler, you can hang onto your little god. That
young man saw Jesus as the amazing healer rising national in popularity. He was going to make Israel great again and who wouldn’t want to get on board that bandwagon? But Jesus was heading up a very different road straight into darkness and death. I’m afraid 99 percent of the people who claim to be
Christians don’t want to go on that walk with Him. They want comfort and prosperity and like the rich young ruler believe that if they obey a set of rules God owes it to them.
In Matt 7:13-14 Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
So what is your little idol? Do you worship success in some area? That’s a popular deity. How about patriotism? What a powerful god that is. You will follow anyone who promises to make your country Christian again. Still others worship financial security and place their faith in money. Or they worship the
security of marriage and home. Many bow down before beauty and physical strength. I worked in Hollywood for many years. Untold thousands have gone there for generations because they worshipped the god of stardom. Or maybe your idol is even bloodier. Could you be worshiping the false god of self-
pity, of hurt and rage because of what others have done to you? Whole temples are built around that one.
When you are worshipping a false god there is always one proof. At the heart of that god is fear. Your false god is revealed by how much fear controls your life. You may try to cover it up and excuse it but it’s there. Jesus guides you to trace that fear back to its source. There you will find what you are really worshipping. The tragedy is that many who consider themselves good Christians, try to plaster the face of Jesus on their idol. That is the road to destruction.
Discovering and casting out your idol is the first real battle of a servant warrior. And you may fight it for years because it doesn’t like being rejected. This is entering through the narrow gate and up the path that Jesus invites you to walk with Him. Why are most people unwilling to go through that gate? Because that walk is difficult. You will live out in small ways what Jesus experienced in earth-shattering ways. You will be given a cross to carry and there is a different one for each of us. You may experience periods of success which are followed by loss and rejection even by people close to you. There will be suffering and you will know great sadness. But beyond all of that you will discover God’s gift of eternal
love and joy. And in your heart there will be peace.
The way of the servant warrior begins when you ask Jesus to show you the false god you have been worshipping. Probably its claws are deep within you, but you will be given power to defeat it, along with a purpose that you have never had before. And at the end of your life, which will come much sooner than you think, this is what you will find.
It is described in 1 Peter 1:3-9 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls.”
That night in Vietnam facing that drunk Lt. Colonel while he mocked me, I knew I was a Christian. I believed all the right things. But that night and in all the nights that followed, did I pray once for that poor enslaved man? I did not. Neither did I pray for the other drunk soldiers I faced. I didn’t care about them. I was proud that I wasn’t like they were. So I stood against the bully. One of the great traps in life is to do the right thing for the wrong reason. It does nothing but bloat your pride. The true servant warrior for Jesus, the King, stands for what is right with a broken heart because the greatest weapon in his hand is love.
When your precious little idol is gone, the love of Jesus Himself replaces it. Suddenly, you would give your life to set an enslaved person free. The servant warrior knows that he or she has been just as enslaved and a terrible price was paid for their freedom. This is the Way of the Cross, through the narrow gate, up the jagged, blood drenched road that leads to glory. The days are growing dark, and time is fading away, my friend. So which gate for you? And which god? That is your challenge.
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