Building a Living Memorial
Memorial Day Sermon
Chuck Sligh
May 26, 2013
The skeleton and some of the basic thoughts for this sermon is borrowed from a sermon by Daniel Austin titled A Living Memorial which may be found on SermonCentral.com. Most of the meat on the skeleton is pretty much my own fault.
A PowerPoint presentation of this sermon is available by mailing a request to me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Philippians 1:3-5 – “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”
INTRODUCTION
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, it is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. I’m so thankful for ALL the sacrifices our soldiers and their families make to defend our country and all it stands for.
But the greatest debt we owe is to those who made the ULTIMATE sacrifice for our country by giving their lives for their country. Many of you may have a grandfather, a father, an uncle, a brother, a close friend or a fellow soldier who died in the service of our country. May we never forget that freedom is not free: it is paid for by the blood of patriots.
It’s important that we have days like Memorial Day to help us to remember those things that are worthy of being remembered.
We have many ways to memorialize the things we feel are important:
• We have PRIVATE memorials in things like scrapbooks, diaries, photo albums, and family videos.
• We have PUBLIC memorials, often landmarks: Dams, bridges, highways, libraries, schools, and websites, not to mention statues and national memorials to fallen soldiers, all created so that we will call to remembrance the importance of these past deeds and the people who did them.
• THE OLD TESTAMENT is full of memorials and calls to remember important events and people.
For instance…
> You may not know it, but THE RAINBOW was a memorial of God’s judgment against sin and of His promise that He would never again destroy the world by a flood.
> THE PASSOVER FEAST was a memorial to remind the children of Israel of how God delivered them from captivity to the Land of Promise.
> God instructed the Israelites to build MEMORIALS OF RIVER STONES to memorialize the Ark of the Covenant crossing of the Jordan River.
God instituted these memorials so His people would remember important historical events from the past.
• Fast forward, and we see that God instituted memorials in THE NEW TESTAMENT as well:
> THE LORD’S SUPPER is a memorial. Jesus commanded “do this in remembrance of me”—and churches have been commemorating the Lord’s Supper, or communion for over two millennia, just as we did this morning. It’s a symbolic memorial: the bread reminding us to look back and remember the body of Christ that was given up for our sins on the cross, and the blood reminding us of the blood He shed to save us from our sins.
> BAPTISM is a memorial. – It too is symbolic, a visual reminder of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins.
But I want you to consider something else this morning—the idea that your very life should be a memorial. I’d like you to consider this morning what kind of memorial you’re building with your life—your personal living memorial.
Each of us is building one, you know. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it’s happening. For our family, our friends, our co-workers, and the brethren—we’re building a memorial that will remain after we’re gone. How will you be remembered after you are gone?
Illus. – On June 3, 2003—just a few days short of ten years ago—we buried my mother. At the funeral, several of my siblings and I got up and shared something significant about how our mother had touched our lives in significant ways. I had the privilege and burden of preaching her funeral—the hardest thing I ever did in my life. But in that sermon I related some wonderful ways her life mattered in others’ lives.
Her life was a memorial of service to God and others.
• She served her God with dedication and passion.
• She served her family with the same amount of commitment.
• She served my dad in ways he never fully appreciated until she was gone.
• She served her church as a beacon of light, as an example for others to follow.
People from around the country came to her funeral to testify what a blessing she had been in their lives.
One of these days, you will leave this earth just as my mother did, that much we know for sure. What we don’t know yet is… What will your loved ones remember about your life? What kind of memorial will you leave?
I’d like to suggest today a plan for the construction of your personal living memorial. We’re going to do some spiritual construction this morning. How can you build a memorial to God with your life?
I. FIRST, BUILD ON THE FOUNDATION OF GOD’S WORD.
A.
B. There’s only one thing in our world that has always been constant, never-failing, never-changing, and always true.
C. The only thing in this world that can ALWAYS be relied upon is the Word of God.
D.
E. Paul told Timothy, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
F.
G. The “word of truth” here is the Word of God, which Timothy had received as a child from his mother and grandmother.
H. If you build your foundation on HUMAN IDEAS, you’ll build it ON SHIFTING SAND; if you build your foundation on THE WORD OF GOD, you’ll be building ON THE SOLID ROCK.
I.
J. The Word of God will never fail you or let you down!...
• It’s the key to knowing what’s right and wrong.
• It has the answers for making your marriage a success.
• It’ll tell how to rear kids who honor their parents and are successful in life.
• It teaches you how to get along with people without a lot of unnecessary conflict and how to handle conflict when it arises.
• It tells you how to be successful in life—true success, that is; the kind that counts for eternity.
• It has a plan the best plan for prosperity in this life.
• It tells you how to have joy and peace.
• Most importantly, it tells you how to be saved and know Jesus, the Savior.
K.
L. Nobody ever went wrong who made the Word of God his or her foundation for their life!
M.
N. Illus. – I remember how the Word of God was the foundation of my mother’s life.
1. The only potential conflict my sister and I had after her death was over who was going to get her Bible!
2. We didn’t give a hoot about the furniture or anything else that belonged to her.
3. The only thing I wanted was her Bible because locked in the pages of her Old Schofield Bible are scribbled scores of notes and thoughts on the meaning of Bible words, and how verses of Scripture applied to her life; there are thousands of underlined verses on virtually every page from Genesis to Revelation, and there were scores of cross references.
4. My mother studied her Bible every day and she tried to live by its teachings.
5. I remember hundreds of times getting up for school to see my mother’s Bible on the dining room table where she had been reading it the night before.
6. What a memorial to faithfulness to God—because she built her life on the foundation of God’s Word.
7. My sister, by the way, God her Old Schofield…because I’m just too nice.
O.
P. Listen, if you read, and study, and LIVE OUT the Word of God in your life, you’ll have a firm foundation for your living memorial.
• When THE STORMS OF TRIAL come—and they will—your memorial will lie in ruins if your life is not built on the strong foundation of God’s Word!
• When TEMPTATION comes, you’ll fold like a blade of grass if the Word of God is not the foundation of your life.
• When DOUBTS assail you, you’ll be blown about to and fro unless the Word of God is your foundation.
Q.
R. Make the Word of God your foundation.
S. READ it; STUDY it; but most importantly, OBEY what it says.
II. ON TOP OF THE FOUNDATION OF GOD’S WORD, SECONDLY, BUILD THE FRAMEWORK OF FAITH IN CHRIST.
Look with me at Matthew 16:13-18 – “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The rock upon which the church of Jesus was built was not Simon Peter, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. The rock upon which the church was built was the confession of faith made by Peter, that Jesus is the Christ—or the messiah—the son of the living God Jesus is saying that it is in faith in HIM as the Savior and Son of God that the church would be built.
The bedrock teaching of the New Testament is faith in the Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
In John 6, Jesus taught some hard things to the multitudes that followed Him. At one point they asked, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” These people thought salvation and a relationship with God was all about something they DID that was good or religious to make God smile on them.
But Jesus would have none of it. He replied by saying this in John 6:29 – “…This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” The only work that God will accept for salvation is faith in Him whom God the Father sent—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the only sure framework to build your life memorial on. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Illus. – In 1954 my brother was electrocuted to death. Little did my parents know that God would take this tragedy and turn it into a blessing. It was through that horrible, sad catastrophe in their lives that my parents, for the first time in their lives, started to think seriously about God and eternity. Dad came to Christ a little later, but just a day or two after Al died, my mother turn to God in her bed of sorrow and put her faith in Christ for her salvation. She had trusted in her works and her good life up to that time—but in the crucible of sorrow and grief, she turned to Jesus. And not just to deliver her from her grief. It was in the midst of her anguish that she realized that she did not have the Savior in her life. She had some good works; she had some good intentions; she had s modicum of religion; she had some church…but she didn’t have JESUS. She bowed her head and prayed, “Lord I’ve been living without you, going my own way. I know Jesus died for me. Please save me and cleanse me of all my sin.” And that very moment, the Savior came into her life and transformed her permanently. Never was she the same again.
Have you ever come to that place in your life? I don’t mean the place of sorrow, but to the place where you recognize your need; where you recognize that you have a sin problem that God needs to deal with. Have you come to the place where you recognize that RELIGION just isn’t good enough; that GOOD WORKS cannot can’t save you; that GOOD INTENTIONS are not enough to please God enough to make up for the wrong things you’ve done. Have you come to the place where you realize there’s something missing—a true relationship with Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.
You may have grown up in church all your life; you know the lingo; you know the do’s and don’ts and all the ins and outs of the church; you know the songs by heart; you can pray as good as the rest of them. But deep down in the inner recesses of your heart, you know it’s all a GAME; it’s all a SHOW; you’re just PLAYING A PART. In reality, you don’t have JESUS! What you need today is JESUS!
John said in 1 John 5:11-12 – “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
Do you have the Son of God in your life today? If not, come to Jesus today by faith! Start with the foundation of God’s Word, then build a framework of faith in Christ.
III. FINALLY, BUILD THE WALLS OF THE MONUMENT OF YOUR LIFE BY YOUR WORKS.
As we said before, works do not, and cannot save you. But once you’ve trusted in Christ and been saved by God’s grace, God wants you to build a living memorial by works done out of joy in serving our wonderful Lord.
In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Here is laid out in clear detail that it is FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST that saves, not good works. But the very next verse goes on to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
As far as SECURING salvation is concerned, we are Christ’s workmanship— that is, HE saves us and keeps us saved. He does it all! But He has a purpose for us as His workmanship—we’re created to do good works for God and we’re ordained to walk in good works. Works cannot not save you, but they show God’s workmanship in the life of the believer. Works are not the MEANS to salvation, but they are EVIDENCE of salvation.
Illus. – I told you about my mother’s salvation earlier. Before she truly had a relationship with Jesus Christ, she had no desire to obey God or serve others.
But when she found Jesus, she became His special workmanship, His special project, an instrument to be a blessing in the lives of others. The works that flowed from Mom are too numerous to mention. At her funeral, scores of people came up to me and my siblings and told us of meals Mom had prepared for them; or counseling she gave them; a few times a good scolding when they needed it; Mom’s faithful prayers for them when they were going through a trial; or something as mundane as keeping their kids when a loved one was in the hospital—and it went on and on.
What a memorial to God’s workmanship in a person’s life!
CONCLUSION
So what kind of living memorial are you building for others to look back on and remember! In our opening text, Paul looked back on his time of service with the church in Philippi and said, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you...” (Philippians 1:3).
Will your wife, your children, your friends thank God for every remembrance of you? Or will their memories they’d rather forget—memories of anger and selfishness and misplaced priorities?
The way to avoid that is to build your living memorial right.
• By building it on THE WORD OF GOD through reading it, studying it and obeying it.
• By having a real and living, life-transforming FAITH in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.
• And by showing the reality of that faith through WORKS of obedience to Christ’s commands and service to others.
