Eagle Charge

Today my brother received his Eagle Scout. I was chosen to give him the Eagle Charge. I was then told I only had 10 minutes. So I cut out a lot of stuff and was left with this. This was the charge.

Q: If you had 10 minutes to offer words of advice to your younger sibling before (s)he enters college, what would you say?

Brian,

In Genesis 3, the woman is tempted by Satan, the woman misquotes scripture, the woman eats the apple, the woman disobeys God, the woman leads the man to sin, Adam and Eve were ashamed and both hid from God.

But the funny thing is this; In verse 9, it says that the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”.

Brian, it is very difficult to be a man in today’s society. As you go off to college, you will learn that there are many things that make you a man in this world. College will tell you it is how much beer you can drink, girls you can sleep with, or drugs you can smoke. Some churches will tell you it is how passive you are, polite you can be, or how much money you have.

It is difficult to be a man in today’s world. And God is screaming at us, “Where are you!”

The scouts exist to create leaders for society. The rank of Eagle says that you are just that, a leader. But before you can lead a society, you must first lead yourself. What does this mean? Be a man.

1 Timothy is a letter from Paul to a young man named Timothy. In chapter 6, Paul charges Timothy to be a man with four specific instructions. I want to charge you with the same.

Beginning with verse 11, Paul says,

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”

The first charge is to Flee. Flee what?

These things are in verse 10 above. It says,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Notice it does not say money is a root of evil, but the love of money is. Brian, a scout is thrifty. This means that instead of worshiping money, he worships with his money.

But as men, we are not only called to run away. We are called to run towards and pursue.

Brian, before you can be a leader in our society, you are called, as a man, to first lead your wife. In order to do this, you have to find one. Brian pursue these qualities (righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness) as you pursue a wife.

The next verse says that we are called to fight. Praise God! We as men love to fight. In the newest call of duty, you are attacked by dogs in some missions and, after the dog jumps on you, you can push a button and instead of shooting the dog, you grab its head and break its neck. That’s awesome! I probably got in trouble with some PETA people, but I am man, hear me roar.

Verse 12 says, “Fight the good fight of the faith.”

In 1 Corinthians 9:26, Paul says, “I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air.

Brian, know what you fight for. As a leader in college and this world, there will be moments when you have to truly fight for your values and family. Be a man and fight.

Lastly, Paul tells Timothy to, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Brian embrace the work Jesus did at the cross of reconciling filthy sinners to a Holy God.

(Call Eagles up to front)

Paul finishes Timothy’s man talk with a charge. After telling Timothy to flee, pursue, fight, and take, Paul charges Timothy with this in verse 13:

“I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time – he who is the blessed and only Soverign, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen”

Paul charges Timothy to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach. This is a difficult charge for Timothy. You see, we know that it is impossible to keep the commandments and to live above reproach.

But, ironically, two things happened at the cross. They are shown in Leviticus 16.

On the Day of Atonement, the sins of Israel were paid for, pointing to Jesus on the cross.

The first thing that happened was this: Leviticus 16:15&16

The idea is this: The wrath of God for the sins of the people was poured out on the blood of this goat. And the truth is this: the wrath of God was poured out for all people onto Jesus at the cross. This is called propitiation and 1 John 4:10 says,

“In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loves us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The second thing that happened was this: Leviticus 16:20-22.

So, what an awesome job, to be the, “man in readiness”! It’s like Aaron is saying, “Sinful, sinful, sinful, GO” And I don’t know if he had a stick or went bare hand, but then he smacks the goat and sends it off.

But this is where we get our term scapegoat from. Because the goat would figuratively carry the sins of Israel away from them.

You see, at the cross Jesus not only accepted the penalty for our sins, but He also carried our sins away from us. This is called expiation and when John the Baptist sees Jesus, he shouts, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

So Eagle scouts, we see that at the foot of the cross of Christ is the only place where we can truly live out this charge to keep the commandments and live above reproach.

1 John 1:7-10 says it like this,

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Brian, here is my charge to you, as an Eagle Scout;

I simply charge you, myself, and all other Eagles here that we would lead our lives, our families, and our communities like the men that the badge over our hearts says we are.

And this is only possible through a life spent at the foot of the cross of Christ.

Let’s pray.