In Jesus Holy Name August 2, 2009
Acts 6:7-15, 7:55-58
“The Unavoidable Question” Part V
In the movie “Saving Private Ryan” the opening scene shows an old man walking down a wide path through a colonnade of evergreens. He has a full head of gray hair; He wears a light blue windbreaker over a golf shirt. His gait is quick but stiff. Behind him trail his family. His wife is the closest, his son and daughter-in-law step or two farther behind, bracketing their children.
When he finally turns to his right, he steps onto a vast lawn lined with thousands of white crosses that extend toward the horizon. Here and there a Jewish star adds to the procession of markers that contrast starkly against the green sward.
James Ryan’s determined march finally halts in front of a particular cross. Here it is, his captain’s cross, the name, the date: Captain John W. Miller, June 13, 1944.
He speaks a few words, notes that he is alright. For him this visit to the Normandy American Cemetery is no sight seeing tour. There is an unspoken question that has dogged him all his life. The unspoken question brought him here. You hear him ask his wife…”Have I been a good man?”
The scene now shifts to the beach landings at Normandy and how Captain Miller was requested to begin a search for James Ryan. You see, Captain Miller and his squad did find Ryan with the remnants of 506 Baker Company. They had orders to secure a bridge. Captain Miller’s squad stayed to help protect the bridge. The German’s soon came with a company of men and two Panzer tanks and two Tigers. The Battle raged. Captain Miller’s squad and the remnants of the 506 were unable to stop the advance. Captain Miller’s squad retreated to the other side of the bridge. Several man were hit and collapsed. Captain Miller took a shot beneath his ribs as he struggle to fix the wiring on a detonation device. Suddenly a British Tankbuster air craft flew in and blew up the tanks. Of the squad that came to find Private Ryan only two men escaped relatively unscathed. In the final moments before Miller died. Ryan heard these words from the lips of Captain Miller: “James. Earn this….earn it.”
Not everyone experiences what James Ryan did in such a dramatic way….we all have life questions….”is there purpose in my life?” James Ryan wants to know if his life has been worthy of the sacrifice of Captain Miller and the other men who gave their lives for his. As the family leaves the cemetery James Ryan turns to his wife and asks: “Am I a good man?”
Does there exist an exact way of calculating the answer to this question? What makes the good we do good enough?# Is our life worth the sacrifice of others? Has my life been important, valuable to family and community?
But there is another more important question that Captain Miller had to ask himself and his squad. The question shows itself in the drama that unfolds as the squad searches for Private James Ryan. This is the other question. Are you willing to sacrifice your own life to save one? (pause) For whom would you die? Your child, your spouse, a friend? What cause would be big enough for you to be willing to sacrifice your own life?
If you go to Switzerland, they will tell you the story of Arnold Von Winkeiried who, at the Battle of Sempach, grabbed a host of Austrian spears, pulled them into his chest and allowed his comrades to break the enemy lines and win the battle. If you speak to a member of the native American tribe, The Cheyenne, they will tell you of a 15 year old Dog Soldier named Little Hawk. On July 11 1869 at Summit Springs, Colorado, his village was attacked. Little Hawk had a chance to escape. Instead of saving himself, Little Hawk stood fast, and through his bravery he allowed the escape of many women and children. Remembering his death, someone said, “he threw his life away for the People, as a brave man should.
On December 4th 2006 an enemy grenade landed in the Humvee where PFC Ross McGinnis was manning a machine gun. McGinnis could have jumped. He didn’t. Instead he used his back to smother the explosive. The President of the U.S. gave a posthumous Medal of Honor to the private’s parents. At that ceremony he said, “America will always honor the name of this brave soldier who gave his all for his country.”
Jesus is also a man who lived in history and willingly gave up his life, suffered death on a Roman cross so that all who would believe in him would live. The apostle Paul wrote: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
So, What makes Jesus’ sacrificial death different from those I have just mentioned? When you search the pages of human history you will not stumble upon anyone like the Savior, Jesus. He lived a perfect life, never broke any commandment. The innocent Son of God died for guilty humanity. He gave his life up to death on the cross as a perfect substitute. Today, Christianity would be a dead religion, except for one thing. Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus had stayed dead you would have forgotten about him. You would have said, “He was a great man.” “He was special.” but He died. And that would have been the end of our discussion. Jesus is alive.
Let me return to the question that Captain Miller had to ask himself… is the rescue of one man worth the giving of my life? On whose behalf would you die? Would you endure persecution for the sake of Jesus and his message? Would you stand for your Christian values, your faith, in the face of public ridicule, the loss of your church property as the Episcopalian congregations in the Central Valley are doing? (One of our members shared an article from Cal Thomas printed in the Fresno Bee this past week on this very topic.)
These questions bring us to the book of Acts and the life story of Stephen. The first century Church was only a few months old at the most. The church was growing beyond expectations. In these early chapters we have seen how Satan sought to destroy the infant church through “moral compromise” with Ananias and Sapphira. Satan then used the civil and religious authorities to arrest and jail the apostles. When neither tactic worked Satan again tried to wreck havoc inside the church using internal squabbles over the distribution of food and cultural and racial differences. These strategies did not work. Satan ups the ante…..
Stephen is arrested. He is brought before the Sanhedrin. False witnesses were produced. He was charged with blasphemy against Moses and against God.
Chapter 7 is Stephen’s sermon. He simply restates the entire history of God’s work in the world through Abraham. He repeated the promises of God to Abraham. The promise of the land and descendants. He told the story of Joseph. He retold the story of Moses and the Exodus, the selection of David to be King of Israel. He went on to say that God was in the world in the person of Jesus whom they killed on the cross.
Upon hearing those words the Jewish religious leaders were furious. In that moment the Holy Spirit gave Stephen a vision of Heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. They covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices and they seized him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. As he fell to his knees he cried out: “Lord do not hold this sin against them….then he fell asleep.”
Stephen took a stand. Through the centuries countless individuals have not wavered from Jesus in the face of death. Paul and Peter both were martyred in Rome. In 155 A.D. the Bishop of Symrna, Polycarp, was burned at the stake because he refused to burn incense in the temple dedicated to the Roman Emperor.
Almost every culture, every society, every generation can name noble men and women who sacrificed their lives so that others might live. Whether it was the family of Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonheoffer, they like Stephen refused to deny their Savior Jesus.
Jesus said: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whosever loses his life for me will save it.” This is a profoundly radical message in our popular culture. We have an entire industry teaching us how to “find ourselves“.
In one generation America has experienced a dramatic transformation from a producing society to a consuming society. Forty years ago, we measured our economy by what we produced. Textile mills employed hundreds of thousands in the South. America was the engine of the world’s economy. Today we measure our economy by what consumers spend. Watch how economists make their forecasts on confidence polls. How closely do they watch Christmas sales? Consumer spending?
In the transformation to a purchasing culture instead of a producing culture we have managed to reverse the Protestant work ethic. Delayed gratification was a virtue. Today the concept of delayed gratification is seen as a denial of some inherent natural right. Consumerism has not merely changed spending habits but beliefs and values.
Shania Twain summarized this new purpose in her song
Ka-Ching:
“We live in a greedy little world
That teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly
Then turn around and spend it foolishly.
We’ve created a credit card mess
We spend the money we don’t possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it’s shoppin every Sunday at the mall.
Chorus: Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It’s such a beautiful thing….ka-ching
Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You’ll live like a king
With lots of money and things
All we want is more
A lot more that we had before
So take me to the nearest store.
Until the housing crisis Americans came to see money as the key to pleasure and pleasure the key to happiness. Happiness became the goal of life.
Money, of course, is not an evil. The Bible says the Love of money is what contaminates it. There’s nothing wrong with working hard, earning a living, accumulating resources, improving life for our families, investing for the future and contributing to the world around us at the same time. We all want to make things better for our children and our community.
Now, stop for a minute… I’m sure you are asking…how did he start with the self sacrifice of Captain Miller for the sake of one life, Private James Ryan and the martyrdom of Stephen and end up quoting Shania Twain whose song captured the consumer mentality that has gripped the American soul? It looks like this sermon is all over the board. Well, let’s see if I can pull it together.
The question asked by Private James Ryan at the cemetery in Normandy is one we all ask: “What gives life meaning? What is my purpose?
One part of our nature says: Life has a higher purpose… Captain Miller answered that question. Stephen answered that question.
The other battle in our nature wants us to indulge every ounce of our being into instant gratification.
Ka-ching… All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store.
Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It’s such a beautiful thing ka-ching
The happiness it brings
Does it? Americans have discovered and are still discovering that self indulgence has not brought fulfillment. Why do you think Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” has sold so many copies in America?
Satan has effectively used our culture to draw Christians away from our God given purpose which brings true satisfaction to the human soul.
The “pursuit of happiness, our Founders said in the Declaration of Independence, is a God given right. But the word happiness as the Founders used it has been drained of its meaning in our commercialized 21st century culture. Happiness was found as one lived a “virtuous life”. This could only be achieved by righteous living, decency, honor, doing good.#
What we truly long for isn’t boundless riches. What we desire is a sense of significance and value. Proverbs 11:28 “A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump, a God shaped life is a flourishing tree.” It all starts with God. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal….. Happiness.
For thousands of years brilliant philosophers have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life… the purpose of life…. The answer is found when you ask God. The Bible is our Owner’s Manual, explaining why we are alive, how life works, what to avoid. We find happiness when we worship our creator, when we serve others rather than self.
Consumerism has tried to convince us that this is all there is…. But this life is not all there is. Life on earth is a dress rehearsal for eternity. Stephen saw eternity. The Holy Spirit gave him a vision of the resurrected Jesus… that is why his face was like the sun. He had no fear. He lived with integrity and truth. So must we.
