On Memorial Day, our thoughts often turn to those who have passed away, especially to those who gave their lives serving our country. They risked everything so we could have the freedoms we enjoy today. If you served in the military at any time, would you please stand, so we can express our appreciation?
In one little Midwestern town, Miss Jones had the distinction of being the oldest resident in town. So when she died, the editor of the local paper wanted to print a little article remembering this dear old lady, except he couldn’t think of anything to say when he sat down to write the article. Miss Jones had never done anything terribly wrong. She had never spent a night in jail or had ever been drunk. On the other hand, she had never done anything significant.
With this still on his mind, the editor went down to the local café, and there, ran into the local funeral director. He too was having the same trouble. He wanted to put something on Miss Jones’ tombstone besides “Miss Nancy Jones, born such-and-such a date and died such-and-such a date,” but he couldn’t think of anything to write either.
The editor decided to go back to his office and assign the job of writing up a small article for both the paper and the tombstone to the first reporter he saw. When he got to the office, he ran into the sports editor, who got the assignment. So somewhere in some little community in the Midwest there is a tombstone which reads:
Here lie the bones of Nancy Jones,
For her life held no terrors.
She lived an old maid. She died an old maid.
No hits, no runs, no errors. (C. C. Mitchell, Let’s Live!)
I’m afraid to say, “That’s the way many Christians live their lives.” They’ve never done anything terribly wrong, but they never accomplish anything significant for the Lord.
Peter Marshal, former Chaplain of the United States Senate, put it this way some time ago: He said, “Christians [today] are like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs out of bathtubs.”
Many of us are afraid to take risks. Many of us are afraid to get into deep water. And yet we have a faith which equips us for deep water. We have a faith which encourages us to take great risks and to attempt great things for God.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me on this Memorial Day weekend, to a passage which memorializes a man who took great risks for God. That passage is found in Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, where we read about Moses, and the kind of risks his kind of faith encourages us to take.
Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. (NIV)
Pharaoh had decreed that every new-born Hebrew boy be thrown into the river. Yet, when Moses was born, his parents refused to do it. They disobeyed the king’s edict, hiding baby Moses for three months. That’s because they feared God more than any man. They respected the Lord, and it gave them the courage to do what was right even if it meant certain death.
That’s what faith is all about, my friends, and by faith we can do the same thing. By faith, we can be bold to obey God even if others don’t like it.
Peter Cartwright was a 19th Century circuit-riding, Methodist preacher, who was not afraid to tell it like it is. On one particular Sunday, before the service, he was told, “President Andrew Jackson in here; be careful what you say.”
So when Cartwright stood to preach he said, “I understand that Andrew Jackson is here. I have been requested to be guarded in my remarks. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn’t repent.”
The congregation was shocked and wondered how the president would respond. After the service, President Jackson shook hands with Peter Cartwright and said, “Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world.” (Leadership, Winter 1991, p.49)
You see, Peter Cartwright feared God more than he feared any man. In fact, it was his fear of God that gave him the courage to stand up to any man, even those in positions of great power. And that’s what our faith in Christ does for us. It gives us the courage to obey God even when others might be offended.
So dear believing friend, put your faith to work and…
FEAR GOD MORE THAN YOU FEAR ANYBODY ELSE.
By faith, be bold to obey God despite what your friends might say. By faith, have the courage to do what’s right even if the whole world is doing what’s wrong. Take a risk, and take a stand for Christ in the way you live your life day in and day out.
There are a lot of metaphors for the church these days. Some see it as a hospital to heal the sick and wounded. Some see it as a family where everyone is accepted. And some see it as a school where we are taught the word of God.
These metaphors all have something to offer, but they don’t really capture the essence of what Christ designed the church to be. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). In other words, Jesus sees the church as “an army that engages and defeats the enemy to see the Kingdom of God advance.”
I like the way songwriter and worship leader, Brian Doerksen, puts it. He says, “Becoming a worshipper means becoming a warrior… And by toning that down…we have sent men and women away from the church in droves. It’s time to call them back,” Doerksen says, “as worshiping warriors.” That is as “warriors who are surrendered to God, warriors who know that their authority comes because they are under authority, warriors willing to wait even when everyone else is rushing ahead, or [warriors willing to] act decisively…in obedience” to their commanding officer, Jesus Christ, even when everybody else is lagging behind in disobedience. (Brian Doerksen, Make Love, David C. Cook, 2009; www. PreachingToday.com)
Young person, that means you choose to remain pure even if it means losing your boyfriend or girlfriend. Businessman, that means you choose to operate your business with absolute integrity even if it means losing a customer or two. All of us, that means we choose to obey Christ no matter what anybody else says or thinks about us.
We are NOT vacationers on a cruise ship waiting to be coddled and pampered. We are warriors on a battleship going to war against the enemy of our souls and every soul on this planet. So quit sitting around, afraid you’re going to lose the luxury of a comfortable life. Instead, by faith, get off your duff and get busy for God. By faith, do what your Commanding Officer is asking you to do. By faith, fear God more than anybody else. Then by faith…
FORSAKE THE WORLD.
By faith, turn away from its passing pleasures. By faith, give up its wealth and fame even if it means criticism and mistreatment. That’s what Moses did.
Hebrews 11:24-27 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. (NIV)
Moses could have had it all. After all, he was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Unimaginable wealth and power awaited him in Egypt, but he forsook it all to be mistreated with the people of God. Why? It’s because his eyes were on a bigger prize. His eyes were on the invisible Lord God Himself, and he valued that relationship more than anything else.
By faith, Moses left Egypt, and by faith, you and I can do the same thing, as well. By faith, we can forsake anything this world has to offer for a closer walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
George Beverly Shea was a young man in the late 1920’s aspiring to become a well-known singer. He entered Houghton College in New York in 1928 to get some good music training, but family financial problems caused him to leave after only one year. He found a job as a clerk for an insurance company and continued his vocal training while living with his parents in New York. He sang in churches all over the city and for local Christian radio broadcasts.
Then, one day, a director for a network radio station heard Bev Shea sing and arranged for him to audition for a part with the Lynn Murray Singers who had a nationwide radio program. Bev Shea was excited about the prospect of singing on a nationwide, network radio program and being heard by large numbers of people. He had a chance to make “big money,” so he went to the audition and was offered the job. There was one drawback, though. If he sang for the Lynn Murray Singers, he couldn’t sing for Jesus anymore.
Bev Shea agonized over the decision. It was during the days of the great depression, and his family really needed the money. Then, on a Saturday night, his mother found a poem written by Rhea F. Miller. She wrote out a copy and placed it on the piano. On Sunday morning, Bev Shea found that poem and a tune popped into his head to go along with the words. He wrote it down, and that morning he sang it for the first time in the church where his father was the pastor.
Those words helped Bev Shea make the decision of a lifetime. He turned down the offer to sing with the Lynn Murray Singers so he could sing for Jesus the rest of his life. Soon after that, Billy Graham asked him to be a part of his team, and as they say, “The rest is history.”
We sang those words earlier today:
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land,
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand:
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway!
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
George Beverly Shea lived those words. He forsook the world! He gave up “the treasures of Egypt” (as it were) for a closer walk with Jesus Christ.
What will you do? What will I do? Jesus made it very clear: “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). So we have a choice. What will it be? God or money?
I urge you, dear friends, by faith, make the right choice. Take a risk! And by faith, choose to fear God more than any man or woman. By faith, choose to forsake the world. Then by faith, choose to…
FOLLOW THE LORD TO VICTORY.
By faith, choose to believe God enough to obey Him. By faith, trust Him enough to do what He says. That’s what Moses and the Israelites did.
Hebrews 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. (NIV)
While they were still in Egypt, God told the Israelites to sprinkle the blood of a lamb on the posts of their doorways. The death angel was about to come and kill every first born male in every house in Egypt, but anyone who stood under the blood of the lamb would be spared. So that’s what Israel did in obedience to God. They stood under the blood of a lamb, and God not only delivered them from death; God also delivered them from Egypt.
1500 years later, God Himself sprinkled the blood of His Lamb on two wooden posts. Those posts formed a cross on which Jesus died in our place so we wouldn’t have to. Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Now, all God asks of us is that we, by faith, stand under the cross. By faith, depend on what Jesus did for us there, and so find deliverance not only from death, but also from this world’s grip on our passions.
Through the blood of a lamb, God delivered Israel from death AND from Egypt. Pharaoh, who had enslaved them for nearly 400 years, now ordered them out of the country, but their troubles were far from over.
After Israel fled Egypt, Pharaoh thought about all the slaves he let go – over 2 million. So he changed his mind and came after them with his entire army. That’s when Israel found herself backed right up to the Red Sea. There was a mountain to her right, a mountain to her left, and the Egyptian army out front closing off any way of escape. Then God told them, “Cross through the sea,” and that’s exactly what they did!
Hebrews 11:29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. (NIV)
Exodus 14 says that Moses raised his staff, God divided the waters, and Israel went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Well, the Egyptian army saw this and thought, “We can do it too!” So they gave it a try only to find themselves in way over their heads. They couldn’t do what God’s people did, because they didn’t have the faith; they didn’t believe God.
You see, our faith as believers in Christ allows us to do what others cannot do. We can follow the Lord to victory; unbelievers cannot even if they try to do everything the believer does.
So when you’re talking to people, who don’t know Jesus yet, don’t talk to them about trying to live a better life; don’t talk to them about giving up their bad habits; don’t talk to them about doing good things, because it just won’t work. Instead, point them to Jesus and talk about their need to trust Him!
Maybe you’re one of those people. You’ve tried everything Christians do to become a better person, but none of it is working. You’ve tried going to church. You’ve tried saying your prayers. You’ve even tried helping people and doing what’s right, but none of it seems to work. You’re still stuck with your miserable life.
Well, let me let you in on a little secret: The answer is not trying harder; the answer is simply trusting Jesus. Call upon Him. Ask Him to save you from your sins, believing He will. Then you will be able to follow Him to victory in your own life.
Moses and the Israelites were able to cross the Red Sea on dry ground, because they believed God. Pharaoh and the Egyptians, on the other hand, drowned in that same sea, because they believed only in themselves.
My dear friends, don’t believe in yourself like the Egyptians did. Believe in God like the Israelites did and follow Him to victory. By faith, do what God asks you to do even if it seems impossible. Stand under the blood of the Lamb and cross that sea! Stand under the blood of Christ and live a life of obedience to God! Stand under the cross and follow Jesus even through the wilderness all the way to the Promised Land!
Yo-Yo Ma, one of the most famous cellists in our day, once said, “When people ask me how they should approach performance, I always tell them that the professional musician should aspire to the state of the beginner. In order to become a professional,” he says, “you need to go through years of training. You get criticized by all your teachers, and you worry about all the critics. You are constantly being judged. But if you get onstage and all you think about is what the critics are going to say, if all you are doing is worrying, then you will play terribly. You will be tight, and it will be a bad concert. Instead,” Ma says, “one needs to constantly remind oneself to play with the abandon of the child who is just learning the cello.” (Jonah Lehrer, Imagine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, pp. 110-111; www.Preaching Today.com)
That, my friends, is also the only way to live a life pleasing to God. Jesus said, “The greatest [people] in the Kingdom of Heaven” are those who “humble themselves like [a little] child” (Matthew 18:4). In other words, only when we abandon ourselves in childlike trust of our Heavenly Father can we walk in obedience to Him. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
So go ahead. Take a risk, and by faith, fear God more than anybody else. By faith, forsake whatever this world has to offer. And by faith, follow the Lord to victory in your own life. By faith, do what others cannot do and live a life pleasing to God.
I close with this prayer from a young Haitian Christian: “Lord, don’t let us put our load of trouble in a basket on our head. Help us put them on Jesus’ head. Then we won’t have headaches.” (Wally R. and Eleanor J. Turnbull, “God Is No Stranger,” Light Messages, 2010, p.82; www.PreachingToday.com)
