A Disciple Remembers What's Most Important (Memorial Day 2021) Series

Discipleship Matters

These Stones (Memorial Day 2021)

Joshua 3-4

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

5-30-2021

The Wall

Today we remember. We remember the more than 1.1 million men and women who have died in wartime (and 2.8 million wounded and missing) from the Revolutionary War until today. ?

I was 15 when I first began to understand this sacrifice. It started with a wall.

The first thing you notice is the scale. Two sections. 246 feet long each. The marble that was quarried in India is polished to almost mirror-like quality that you can see yourself in. Once your eyes adjust, you notice two more things. The silence. I’ve only experienced that one other time at the hole where the World Trade Centers stood in NY.

And then you see the names. Look left. Look right. 58,220 names etched into the stone.

My Aunt Diane had a list of friends that she wrote letters to while they were in Vietnam. As the weeks turned to months and the months to years, her list got shorter and shorter. These boys would be become men and then take their place on this wall.

Who were these individuals? They were normal human beings who, when presented to with the opportunity to serve, did not shy away from the danger. They answered the call. Not for medals or recognition but to protect our values as a country - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

They were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and friends. Like Paul Foster who smothered a grenade with his body and saved four of his fellow Marines.

Sergeant Foster was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. At 3:00 pm tomorrow, we will stop as a nation and memorialize heroes like Paul Foster.

We’ve doing this since Waterloo, NY first celebrated what they called Decoration Day in 1866, where volunteers would place flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.

In 1971, it became a national holiday and for most people, it is the unofficial beginning of summer. Pools will open, grills fired up, and families will gather together to enjoy a day off.

As we gather with family and friends, we need to make sure that we don’t forget to remember.

President Roosevelt said:

“Those who have enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”

Remember

The wall is a memorial, a place of remembrance. It is one of many memorials scattered all over the world to help us remember.

I asked people what was the most moving memorial they’ve ever been to on Facebook and here are some of there answers:

Arlington National Cemetery - particularly the change of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. [4,000 shoes]

“We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses.

We are the shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers,

From Prague, Paris, and Amsterdam

And because we are only made of fabric and leather

And not flesh and blood, each on of us avoided the hellfire.”

- Moshe Szulsztein

Ground Zero

Columbine Memorial

The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tn

The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa

The Oklahoma Bombing Memorial

Pearl Harbor

Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany

There is a memorial where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper crashed in Iowa. There is also a memorial where Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in Mississippi. And a memorial to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

We have an entire mall in Washington, D.C. dedicated to memorials.

Why do we do this? Because humans are forgetful and need to be reminded of important events and people.

So far

We continue this morning with our Discipleship Matters series. We’ve learned that a follower of Jesus:

[Slide] Is a disciple who makes disciples who makes disciples

[Slide] Is passionately devoted to Jesus

[Slide] Is someone who loves people with extraordinary love

[Slide] Is someone who handles conflict in a Biblical, Christ-honoring way.

[Slide] is someone who understands the Gospel clearly and shares it boldly.

Today, we are going to learn that a disciple of Jesus is someone who remembers what’s most important.

Turn with me to Joshua 4.

Prayer

Get Ready to Move

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.” (Joshua 3:1-4)