Galatians 6:9 ESV  And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Casualties of War. The worst thing about fighting a war is the huge loss sustained in terms of the killed and wounded warriors. I trust that leaders want to do everything in their power to protect from loss of life, but it is inevitable that such losses will occur. It is an inseparable part of war.

It is no different in the Christian army. As a pastor, I have observed the casualties of war: broken homes, lost faith, scarred lives, disabled disciples, tattered trust, maimed testimonies. The enemies I wrote about in a previous post–the world, the flesh, and the devil–are ruthless in their attack and seek to inflict as much damage as possible. They invoke stealth tactics and blindside their victims. They deceive and manipulate and torture. They don’t play fair and their prisoners are in for brutal and ruthless treatment. If help is not sent, if relief is not provided, permanent damage and spiritual death may result. Just because we are engaged in spiritual warfare, we must not assume that the damage is an illusion, an imaginary problem. The battlefield may remain unseen, but the results are very visible and very real.

Some have been wounded by “friendly fire.” They have been the target of misguided Christians who have taken pot shots instead of offering correction, counsel, comfort and healing. Others are simply exhausted by battle fatigue. They have stood in the heat of battle and have taken hits from both sides, friends and enemies alike, and feel that they are just too weary to bear up under the burden of battle.

Some of us will react in disgust and shame when seeing these wounded and seek to maintain a safe distance, repulsed at the sight. If we don’t acknowledge the carnage, maybe it will go away. We seek to avoid the problem altogether. Others take a more confrontational approach: blame them, shame them, maim them. They think that by adding pain, they will discourage them from further wounds. Maybe this time, when they return to the battlefield, they will be more careful and will avoid getting shot. The compassionate will seek to step in and give aid. However, sometimes the well-intentioned helper will fail to help, lacking the knowledge and skills to do so. The best that most of us can do is to simply offer comfort, a safe place to heal and recoup.

In Galatians, the Apostle Paul is writing to defend the gospel from the Judaizers, whose mixture of grace and law were confusing, deceiving and deterring people from accepting or continuing to embrace the gospel message. The apostle mounts a rigorous defense of the gospel and launches a frontal assault on its detractors and enemies. But as he ends his letter to the Galatians, he offers words of instruction and encouragement that provide hope for the war-worn, weary warriors who are struggling to maintain their position in the heated battlefield.

Galatians 6:1 ESV  Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Christians ought to be committed to the cry, “Leave no fallen warrior behind.” The wounded, whether their fault or not, deserve the respect, concern, and care of the healthy to carry them to safety. “You don’t kick a man when he’s down!,” my father used to say. Where is our compassion for the spiritually wounded? Where is the basic concern we should have, not only for the wounded, but also for the family and friends affected by the fall of the warrior. Someone “caught in any transgression” is a wounded soldier. The person is “overtaken,” ambushed, overrun by the enemy. Now, I am not saying that sinful behavior is accidental or unintended. A person willfully chooses to disobey. A person walks into the line of fire. That soldier may have been lured out of safety into the ambush by the enemies listed above, but is ultimately responsible for the careless and callous behavior. However, we who are spiritual, who have the knowledge, strength, and spiritual maturity to see what is happening and respond, have the responsibility to step in and render assistance. We fail our brothers and sisters when we ignore the danger of their situation, when we ignore carnage in their lives, when we refuse to listen to their cries for help. The idea that what they are facing is personal and that we must refuse to involve ourselves in their personal lives or personal matters is neither wise nor biblical. It is worldly wisdom, it is political correctness, it is comfortable deceit, it is a lie of Satan. Restoring means to “completely and thoroughly mend or adjust.” It can refer to the setting of broken bones precisely so that they may mend together properly. It may seem a trite phrase, but it really is full of import for today’s church, the church should function as a hospital for sinners, not as a museum hall for saints.

(Galatians 6:2) Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

What a blessed sight…watching soldiers leaning on each other, holding each other up, some carrying another off the field. We are inspired by the courage, sacrifice, and care those pictures convey. I have witnessed the wonder and glory of saints huddled around a weeping sinner, some tear-stained themselves, as they seek to offer consolation and encouragement. I have seen fellow Christians helping to carry, emotionally and spiritually, a fallen saint before the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help. We sometimes feel that this kind of support is an unintentional condoning of sin, an encouragement to take sin lightly and dismiss it too easily. I’m not in favor of ignoring true repentance. But I am seeking to encourage compassion. We must stay alert because we realize we, too, are vulnerable and susceptible to temptation. As fellow soldiers, who have been wounded ourselves and face the danger of being wounded again, we ought to offer compassion to others. Now, we are to help carry the loads (burdens) that are too heavy for one person to bear. But we must not try to take away the responsibility of each warrior to carry his own load (“Each person must carry their own weight,” is a common saying).

(Galatians 6:6) The one who is taught the message must share all his good things with the teacher.

Leaders especially carry a heavy load. James advises his followers that they should not rush to be teachers, because teachers will fall under stricter judgment, because of their greater responsibility for others. They also are under more severe attack, because a fallen leader inflicts greater damage on the faith and on the followers. What a blessing a leader experiences when followers care for their leader as he cares for them.

(Galatians 6:7-8) Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Wounded warrior must acknowledge the principle of cause and effect. We must acknowledge that insanity is doing same things expecting different results. We must learn new and more effective ways to fight the battle. We must remember why we are fighting and what we are fighting for. Just as soldiers answer to their superiors, we will answer to our Superior. So, how we fight, what weapons we use, our tactics, strategy, and strength, will affect the outcome of the battle. As the farmer sows with the view of reaping and will inevitably reap what he sows, so the soldier sows with a view to victory, and will inevitably reap what he sows, whether victory or defeat.

We must refuse to give up during the heat of battle. We might need to retreat to recoup, but we are not giving up on winning the war, even if we have to concede the loss of the battle. Don’t grow weary in well-doing.

The testimony of a wounded vet. I will share a little of my testimony, not to illicit sympathy or consolation. I want you to know that I know what it means to be in the battle and experience the fatigue and weariness that may lead to retreat, though not complete surrender. I had spent 20 years in post-secondary education (college-level) and, at the same time, pastored churches half of those years and sought to be a husband and father. I had travelled extensively across the southeast, representing my school, and led it through three rounds of accreditation. The last round I ended up serving as the editor of the Self-study, literally reading, authoring and editing more than a thousand pages of documentation. The resulting self-study was crammed into a 4″ notebook and supporting documentation filled other smaller notebooks. Near the end of my tenure, I knew that I was functioning less and less effectively and sought from my board and friends support to pursue a course of renewal, but, possibly due to my failure to be completely candid about the my situation or their failure to perceive my wounds, the support was not forthcoming. I left that position to take a position in administration and finance for my denomination.

From the frying pan into the fire, they say. I found, three months into my new position and checks bouncing like a basketball, that the situation that had been reported and recorded was sadly and grossly inaccurate. We were supposed to have over half a million dollars in assets, but I had the misfortune of discovering and reporting that we were actually $250,000 in the red. Due primarily to the dis-unified way of recording the finances, in several different programs with different formats and disconnected, the true picture of our financial situation had become hopelessly confused. I, a pastor with a layman’s understanding of fund-accounting, had to find a way to immediately take control of financial recording and reporting while spending a couple of months rebuilding the financial records and recordkeeping from the ground up. The auditors finally gave up finding a direct connection with past records and we established a starting point to move forward. My superior and myself took up the challenge to find a way for the organization to continue to function financially while repaying the massive debt. Before I left office two years later, most of that debt had been repaid and the organization was still functioning effectively.

After two years of doing a job for which I had no training or preparation and whose job description had to be altered significantly, I choose to leave the position and become a pastor of a church and the principal of its Christian school. Because of that decision, I was accused of being a quitter, of being unstable, of being undependable. Those were just the accusations spoken to my face. I’m not sure what was being said behind my back :-). This church I consented to pastor had recently narrowly voted to remain in our denomination and I had been assigned to help the church while still serving in administration and finance. The problems and challenges of this work were demanding enough, but I was still reeling from the exhaustion of the work at the college and the stress dealing with  denomination finances. The sensitive and stressful situation of this new pastorate offered no relief from the years of stress and weariness I had labored under.

Then in a span of less than a year I lost my best-friend’s daughter, my best friend, my father, and my mother to death. This loss was more influential than I would have ever thought or admitted. Pastors are always surrounded by death, it seems, but these deaths left me feeling more alone and lonely than I had felt before. Despite a loving wife, family and friends, I was hurting and wounded, functioning on a basic level, but not an effective one. I needed a fresh start.

Almost seven years ago, my wife and I left our 25-year residence as citizens of South Carolina to journey to Nashville, TN. It was a challenging move because we had become settled and had accumulated so much stuff. But we stepped out in faith, leaving family and friends, and started a new leg in our journey of faith. What a blessing it has been. I can honestly say that I have, under the care of a loving Father and a loving congregation, fully recovered from my wounds. I do have the scars to remind me of the journey, but I also have the renewed strength to face the challenges of the future.

I confess during those trying days that I experienced the doubt and discouragement that I know many of you face. I was tempted by anger and bitterness. I wanted to give up, surrender, quit. I wanted to throw frequent pity parties, seeking to feel sorry for myself and my lot in life. I wanted to, and often did, withdraw to a safe corner, not wanting to be around others, to be confronted with problems or need, to be challenged by the battle. I kept functioning, but often only did what was necessary, not willing to go out of my way to serve. I often found myself asking “Why?”. Sometimes, I contemplated leaving the ministry for some other work, any other work, on a daily basis! I would have jumped at any opportunity to leave and never return. Those days are gone! But the memory motivates me to move forward. I did find a couple of ministers who reached out to me in those times of battle fatigue, but sadly, most just let me go on my weary way. Maybe it’s because many of them are among the walking wounded, too. I only know that there are many wounded walking in our midst and we may be totally unaware of them or their need.

So, what is the morale of this story? Well, I trust that it highlights the need for the church to function as a hospital for the hurting, a way station for the weary, a facility for the fallen, and a safe haven for retreating soldiers. Even wounded leaders need its comfort and care. More than ever, we need to reach out to the wounded and hurting around us. There is a huge need for our service.