We spend thousands of hours of our lives working and looking at the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima can give us some useful biblical principles pertaining to work life. Two key aspects of this battle can teach fathers how to train their sons about work life: The doctrine of the division of labor and the importance of engaging in massive deployments. These lessons will help them have meaningful and effective work.

Let me commend to you the battle for Iwo Jima as containing particular biblical principles for work life. We spend thousands of hours of our lives working. And the battle for Iwo Jima connects us with biblical principles for work life. And there are two aspects of it. And the first aspect is the doctrine of division of labor and the importance of engaging in massive deployments.

And I believe that every father should say to his son, son pull your weight, do your own part in the work. It's the Bible that teaches us in order to have a productive work life a boy must understand the doctrine of division of labor for he must learn to play God's ordained part for his life. Well one thing is certain the battle for Iwo Jima was a grand theater where division of labor was put on display. For example, I was shocked to find out that my father never fired a shot on Iwo Jima. It wasn't his job because he was there on that island for a completely different purpose than the United States Marine Corps or the Navy or the Seabees.

He was not supposed to kill Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima. And he was actually ordered to stay away from the fight and to keep himself focused on flying airplanes. That's what he was ordered to do. His goal on Iwo Jima was to bring Japan to her knees through an air war. He had his focus, while the other men had their focus.

But they weren't disconnected from one another in their labors, for their unique perspectives, their professional specialties, and their collaborative counsel was needed in order to engage the battle. It was a unified effort and I would like to suggest that boys need the same instruction that was given to our boys on Iwo Jima regarding division of labor. Every man had a job on Iwo Jima. The Navy brought the men and supplies to the beach and shuttled the wounded in and out of the surf line to the hospital ships. The US Marine Corps secured the island through hand-to-hand combat.

In contrast, the Seabees were there to build airfields and roads and command posts and put up communications equipment. In contrast, the Army Air Corps protected the island from aerial attack and they launched fighter strikes and protected B-29s and their bombing raids on the mainland of Japan. Their job was to bring Japan to a final surrender. It was an epic team effort. All were needed.

If any one of the teams were pulled out of the mix, then the whole operation would have fallen apart. This division of labor produced a stunning victory. We destroyed 65 major Japanese cities before we dropped the atomic bombs that finally ended the war. By the time we dropped those bombs, the strength of the Japanese empire was sinking fast. Our bombing raids plunged her hopelessly into the most extreme conditions imaginable.

We leveled her cities. We ruined her factories. We destroyed her transportation systems. And by the summer of 1945, there was almost no competition in the air or in the sea. Japanese forces had been affected by the grim reapers of hunger and privation, and they dogged every Japanese citizen.

And it was because of the division of labor that we engaged in that brought Japan to her knees. It takes coordination. The powerful results of this division of labor exemplify the power of men working together. It takes men working in coordination to accomplish great things. There must be authority and submission, as well as division of labor and flexibility.

This principle is true for the most important areas of life in church, in home, or in government. For example, in the church, there are different gifts among the members. There are hands and feet. There are different offices like elders and deacons. There are different officers like elders and deacons, each with their own responsibilities and duties.

And Scripture requires that men and women fill different roles in the church as is made plain in Titus 1 and 2. In the home, a godly division of labor is also necessary for the building of a kind of home life that is pleasing to God and is a blessing in the community. There are different kinds of responsibilities that are given to husband and wife and when they're working together in concert they produce a beautiful home life that is illustrated so so wonderfully in Ephesians chapter 5. Government also plays its unique role to punish evildoers as we learn in Romans 13. Well all of these arenas, church, home, and government, require a division of labor within the framework of the wisdom of God.

And they are all defined and all regulated by scripture so that we don't have to make up life as we go. There is a divine pattern for division of labor. Wise men understand that they can't do it all, that they need other men. The most effective men I've ever known are men who are not wise in their own eyes. They seek the counsels of the wisest around them.

We also know that no man has all the skills necessary to make his way through life. So it's important that he's humble enough to be able to identify superior skill in the lives of other people And then to work together in unity, each one serving the other for the glory of God. And in the same way that there is a wise, coordinated division of labor that was unstoppable on Iwo Jima, Our labors in work, in home, and in the church are far more effective when we work together. Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 24, verse 6. He said, For by wise counsel you will wage war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety." You know, the Apostle Paul communicated this anti-individualistic idea to the church in Corinth.

He wanted them to understand that the church was like a body with many members, each performing different but important functions. He said, for in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I'm not part of the body. Is it therefore not of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No. Much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and those members of the body which we think are less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need.

But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, and that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. So he said in 1 Corinthians 12, 14 to 26. This lesson is everywhere in scripture.

Moses learned this lesson in the battle against the Amalekites Aaron and err came to Moses aid Moses realized that when his hands were lifted up above the battle that the Israelites would be winning and then when he would take his hands down then the Amalekites would win and would suffer and his people would suffer devastating losses. But his hands became so tired he could not hold them up anymore. So Aaron and Ur came to his aid and literally held up his arms. And the armies of Israel were victorious because of the help that he got from his brothers who had different gifts and different functions. And so we notice in this scene first of all the appreciation that Aaron and Ur had for Moses and the tremendous help they were to their brother Moses.

And it was their combined effort that allowed them to accomplish this great work of God. And This is a clear picture that stands in contrast to envy, individualism, grasping, and dissatisfaction that we often see in people's work life because we don't fulfill the same functions. Let me give you a few ways that fathers can help their sons prepare for a powerful division of labor. Here's the first. Teach your son to look within for every form of envy toward others who perform other functions.

It's easy to diminish your own contribution in your own mind because of envy and dissatisfaction or you might fear that the other guy will get the glory and you'll miss out on it all. But a father needs to help his son fight envy that comes up in his heart when he sees the skills and the opportunities of other men. He will be swallowed up by envy if he doesn't understand the doctrine of division of labor. There are a number of dramatic examples of how this happened in Scripture where people despised the roles of others and they suffered terribly for it. One of the amazing stories in scripture is of Miriam, who refused to accept the division of labor that God had established during the wilderness wanderings.

She was filled with envy and she was swallowed up by it and the result was the envious rebellious people were in turn swallowed up by the ground because it was so contrary to the unity that God desired among his people in the wilderness. Numbers chapter 16 verse 30 tells us the root cause of Miriam's rebellion. It says this, but if the Lord creates a new thing and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord. This just makes it so clear that it wasn't Moses particularly they were rejecting, but it was the Lord. It was the Lord's division of labor that he had established.

Miriam wanted something different in the division of labor than what the Lord had provided her and it caused her to rise up against Moses, against the one that God had chosen. It was envy and strife that caused all those people to be swallowed up by the ground. The first thing a father needs to pay attention to in training his son to understand division of labor is he needs to teach his son to look within for envy, to mark it, repent from it, and run from it. The second thing that a father needs to do in order to help his son understand division of labor is that he needs to train a happy and a harmonious worker. If a father is able to help his son look within for envy then it will help him in this second aspect of training sons to labor, and that is a father needs to set his sights on training a happy and a harmonious worker.

Unhappiness with our station often makes us unable to work in harmony with others, the others that God has put us with. That's why the apostle himself, Paul, said that he had learned in whatever state He found Himself to be content. Contentment with what God has provided establishes harmony, and it's a good medicine. It makes the work seem easier, And it makes the work go more quickly. So a father should set his sights on training a happy worker.

That means that he first of all needs to lead by example. As a happy worker himself, If he's a grumbler, if he's a barker, if he's upset with everybody around, then he will be training his son to be an unhappy and unharmonious worker. Well if he's able to help his son be a happy and harmonious worker. It will help him in this next responsibility and that is it will help him train his son to rejoice in the differences. God has ordained that we're not all the same and we don't play the same roles in life because God in his own wisdom has designed a multiplicity of giftedness and he spreads out a diversity of gifts and functions in his world and it's absolutely a marvel.

The best thing for a father to do is help his son learn how to marvel at the different gifts that God gives. Not to belittle the gifts that are given others, or to despise his own. But my experience is that so many workers, instead of marvel, they grumble and they become bitter because they have no appreciation, they have no rejoicing in the differences. And so many workers spend valuable years pining away because God, the sovereign God, has given gifts in a way that are not appreciated by that unhappy worker. But here's the deal with wise men.

Wise men rejoice in the differences And they will not envy men who are equipped to do a different job or even a better job. And the fourth thing that a father can do to train his son to be an effective worker is that he explains to him that personal obedience is often required for the good accomplishment of the whole. You know not only was the battle for Iwo Jima filled with men who had to obey orders. But the transformation of Mount Suribachi and everything that happened on that island was the result of courageous visionary leadership that was carried out by obedient men who obeyed their orders. And they faithfully carried out the things that were pressed upon them.

And they often went against their personal inclinations. And a father has to teach his son that there are times when he has to go against his personal inclinations. And a father will even find himself standing in the way of his son's own personal inclinations. How will they get through that When a father is asking his son to do something he doesn't want to do, well there will be a clash. But how that father handles the clash and the aftermath of the clash will make all the difference in the world.

Does that father take the time to reconcile with his son? Does that father take the time to explain in detail the reasons for the clash? And also, does that father repent himself for the times that that clash was really generated by his own foolishness. Well, the fifth thing that a father needs to do is he needs to demonstrate the importance of gathering a wide base of counsel. Sons need to learn not to be wise in their own eyes, but to go for the best counsel.

Solomon communicated this as clearly as any. He said, plans are established by counsel, by wise counsel, wage war. Proverbs 20 verse 18. Godly counsel is the key. Hosea said it in Hosea 4-12.

My people ask counsel from their wooden idols and their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray." You know, seeking wise counsel is the key to everything in a man's work life. Godly counsel is the key. Hosea spoke of the tragedy that there was in Israel when people looked to ungodly counsel. He said, my people ask counsel from their wooden idols.

And that's a tragedy. The sixth thing that a father must do with his son is to coach him to play his part, but to play it with all of his might and then to trust God with the results. You know, In God's economy, each one has a function to perform. But if anyone in the chain is weak or irresponsible, then the whole is affected. That's why boys need to learn to exert themselves with all of their hearts.

They need to carry their weight with joy in their heart, to work in harmony, to not despise the labors of others, and to know that God will see to it that they won't work in vain, but they've got to do it with all of their hearts and to provide their own labors as a blessing to those that are around them. God has called boys to work not just to benefit themselves, but to benefit the whole, to benefit the whole church, the whole company, the whole country. God has designed boys and men to work with such a passion that their work doesn't just feed themselves, but it feeds the others as well. And that's the wisdom of division of labor. Helping a boy pull his own weight happens when you help him understand the principles of how to work with other people and how to appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of others, how to play his part and remember that his labors can be multiplied if he's able to work harmoniously with other people, and how his labors will be destroyed if he's not able to do that.

Here's some questions for reflection and conversation on this whole subject of division of labor and pulling your own weight. Here's some questions. Why is it important that everyone is not like you? What do you believe are the greatest strengths that God has given you? What great goals could you accomplish with a coordinated effort with people who have different skills than you do?

Is there anything that needs to be stirred up from inactivity? Paul said to Timothy, do not neglect the gift that is within you. Is there anything that needs to be revived and honed and practiced? And the way that Paul said it stirred up. What skills do you need to complement your own efforts?

What implications do the following scripture passages have to do with your work? 1 Corinthians 15, 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 10.31, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Colossians 3.17, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3 23, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men.

You might ask yourself is there anyone you need to come alongside and help because they need what you can provide. Well once a boy understands where he fits into the work scene and he knows how to pull his weight, he's ready for the next step and at this point a father needs to help his son have it in his heart to take on mighty challenges. An illustration of youth taking on mighty challenges is the battle for Iwo Jima. And it is here that we saw the youth of the nation take on a massive deployment one of the most amazing deployments in all of military history. God forbid that we would allow our boys to be lazy pleasure seekers who love to hang out and play games and produce nothing.

You know we live in a day and age where people are looking for a stress-free life, they're looking for how to increase their leisure time, they're looking how to escape responsibility at all costs and they're looking for someone to whisper in there, you deserve a break today, do something for yourself. That is not a biblical message because boys need to be prepared from their youth up so that they're ready for great efforts when they have their own families, when they're serving as adults in their own churches. But how does a father help his son take on mighty challenges? Well the imagery of the battle for Iwo Jima can help us understand more about the possibilities. In contrast to this gravitation toward leisure and reduced responsibility, those involved in the battle for Iwo Jima engaged in an absolutely herculean effort that was the epitome of stress fatigue and gigantic effort the battle for Iwo Jima was was a logistical effort that was executed 4, 000 miles away from the planners These planners would take 80, 000 troops and move them 6, 000 miles across the ocean to this little tiny island that was two miles by five miles long and it would require over 800 ships to make this deployment happen.

This was without question one of the most difficult and complex deployments in the history of warfare and this is the kind of thing we ought to prepare our sons for. The preparations for Iwo Jima took on almost mythological proportions as the Marine 5th Division alone had enough food to feed the population of Atlanta for a month. Each marine took ashore 1, 322 pounds of food. They brought water, morphine, grease, spare parts, carburetor rebuild kits, plasma, paper, pencils, Bibles, batteries, K-rations, C-rations, dog food, and of course my father's personal favorite, Hershey chocolate bars. By the hundreds and thousands, He loved those chocolate bars.

Colonel Joseph Alexander described the challenges this way, quote, Iwo Jima represented at once the supreme test and the pinnacle of American amphibious capabilities in the Pacific War. This was a build-up that even Hollywood could not reproduce. So on February 19th at 9 a.m. Admiral Turner ordered land the landing force and what a force it was that landing force was a tightening noose of hundreds of ships that went out seven miles from the island as the marine divisions were landing. Even though the whipped up sea had made it dangerous to land, they kept on coming and the arc was drawing tighter and tighter in for the kill.

There were LSTs and LSMs and LCIs gathering in, the ring of ships drawing tighter and tighter. Small boats were moving in and out, bearing flags to mark the rallying points where the landing waves would come in. The logistical problems were so great that the Japanese wagered that we would never do it because it was so difficult. They were dead wrong. They underestimated both our resolve and the largeness of the scale with which we were prepared to operate.

What they saw was a massive deployment far beyond their expectations. Well What can we gain from this situation for the discipleship of our sons? There are five things that fathers can do. They can extol, exorcise, exhort, explain, and expose. I'll take them one by one.

First of all, a father must extol the glory of great accomplishments. First, hey let's communicate to our sons that great energy is usually required for great deeds and that in all of warfare and in all of life it's necessary to make great preparations and to work with all of our hearts and remember that he who is slack in hand becomes poor but the hand of the diligent makes rich proverbs 10 4 Lest we keep our thinking only on an earthly plane, we ought to remind ourselves that the most glorious accomplishment in all of history was accomplished through a tremendous outpouring of endurance. We learn about the massive effort of our Savior in Hebrews 12, 1-4. The text reads, Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that considered such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

You have not yet resisted unto bloodshed, striving against sin." Well, a father should extol the glory of great accomplishments and not despise them, but to hold them up as examples to help his son to labor with diligence until the job is complete. The second thing that a father must do is to exercise their fear of great effort. This second lesson exposes the most common barrier that people face in doing anything of importance. And that is fear of great effort. So many projects are never started because people are just afraid of the hardship.

They're afraid of the persevering labors. They get a great idea, and then they just shrink back because it looks too big, because it requires too much of them. You know, there's this undercurrent running through the souls of most of us that goes like this, if it's easy it must be right, if it's hard it must be wrong. A Christian might put it like this, if it's effortless it must be of the Lord. Well I've known a number of people who've recoiled from starting companies, churches, and many other things because they were just afraid of what it would cost them in time and in difficulty.

While boys should be filled up with the knowledge that God is Almighty and that they have no reason to fear failure, the greatest deeds are accomplished when fear of effort is banished. By faith, the Lord desired to banish this same kind of fear in the spirit of Jeremiah. And He said, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32, 26-28.

Fearful, fateful, fretting fathers have an insidious influence on sons in this regard. Fearfulness in fathers, in heart and speech, is a poison to a son's soul. It will have much influence, so he must guard his heart so that he doesn't spread the fear infection. A father sets the tone. Well, not only does a father do well to exorcise his son's fear of great effort.

He ought also to exhort his son to embrace suffering as necessary for a greater good. James explains it like this in James 5 verse 10, My brethren take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Paul, who understood fatigue and hardship and poured out his life as a drink offering, said this in Romans 8 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." You know, when a father comes through the door after a hard day at work, his countenance tells all, is he rejoicing in his sufferings as a necessary good, or does he come home dragging, complaining, and obsessing for his need for relaxation? Well, a father should exhort his son to embrace suffering as necessary for a greater good. And then a father must explain the stories of the great efforts given in Scripture.

This is how our great heroes of the faith functioned. Noah built an ark for a hundred years. Moses took millions of people through the desert for 40 years. Joseph labored for 14 years, providing for the starving people of Egypt and the surrounding countries. These also were massive deployments.

We don't want boys to grow up like Peter Pan, but like Paul, who was so engaged in his work that he would glory in his sufferings and he would say I had no rest in my spirit 2nd Corinthians 2 13 fathers ought to read to their sons the stories in Scripture that catalog the great efforts that are displayed there. There are many massive deployments there and a father should help his son not to be afraid of them. Well the last thing that a father should do is he should expose his son to the truth that the battle belongs to the Lord, while the availability and the effort belongs to us. Proverbs 16 1 says, the preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer is from the tongue of the Lord. Let's be men like this, engaging in great deeds that involve great effort.

Let's not be the kind of men who settle for little projects that require little effort and make little difference. Let's understand division of labor. Let's do our part. Let's rejoice in the differences. Let's give the work all of our hearts and let's not allow our children to waste their lives hanging out and playing games and being entertained.

Let's take them with us to the great projects that God has given us. Let's get them early into high-stakes accomplishments. Let's do something that matters even if it might be hard. Here's some questions you might discuss with one another. Are there things that you have not done for fear of the cost?

Should they be revived? What great effort might be before you that you should not shrink away from now. What do you learn from Noah's 100-year project in building the ark? What fears do you have that might be keeping you back from great efforts? Is there one great thing that you believe that God has called you to accomplish?