Memorial Day -
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season.
Memorial Day - a day of remembering …
Originally called Decoration Day
Remembering those lost in some of our wars
The Revolutionary War - 25,000
The Civil War - 625,000
World War I = 116,516
World War II - 405,399
The Korean War = 36,516
The Vietnam War - 58,209
The War Against Terror > 6,600
The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard (almost 700 mostly guarding the coast of the USA in WWII)
Prayer for those who are now in harm’s way …
Remember! It’s an important word in the Word.
How important is remembering? > 231 verses with “remember” in the NIV
OT kings were to write in their own handwriting the Law of the Lord and read it every day
Deuteronomy 17:18b-19 says:
The King “is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.
“It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.”
Have you every had someone say to you, “you’d better write this down?” That means it’s something important!
Remember! What does that mean to us on a day-by-day basis?
We need to remember our great salvation!
- Some claim that if we do not know the date and time of our
salvation we are not truly saved.
- If we do know the date and time that is great
- If we don’t that’s ok, too.
Examples: Karenlee (saved in a moment in time) - Cindy Lea (understanding and placing her trust in Jesus over a long period of time)
We need to remember Who saved us and how He saved us.
The thing we really need to remember is the great mercy shown to us by God.
The great transformation in our lives.
1 Peter 8:9
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
Remember what we were without Him and what He has made us into.
We need to remember our past sins and we don’t need to remember our past sins.
We need to remember our past sins because:
The memory reminds of our great deliverance
The memory serves as a warning of what we could return to
We don’t need to remember the guilt of our past sins because
The devil will use the guilt to bring unfounded condemnation
(ill. "I can't forgive myself")
However …
We do need to remember the guilt of our past sins because
Without remembering the guilt we may be enticed to sin again
That’s about us, what about the sins of others … should we remember them?
Until we reach the point where our minds grow senile we have no choice but to remember the sins of others, it is what we do with those memories that matters.
We can embrace or forgive the memories of the sins of others whether they are committed directly against us or not.
Do you ever walk into a room and wonder why you went there? Of course!
Do you ever see a person who hurt you but you can’t remember what they did? NO!
That unforgettable memory coupled with unforgiveness steals your life from you.
Here’s how it works:
- Someone hurts you - it may not even be a big thing
- Whenever you see them you remember and the hurt comes
back and you relive the event
- Whenever someone mentions them the hurt comes back and
you relive the event (usually telling the story to the person)
- The unforgiven offense starts popping into your mind at
random times and you relive the event
- When you wake up at night the unforgiven offense pops into
your mind and you relive the event
- Every time you relive the event it makes you angry or hurt all
over again depend on your personality type and you’re all
stirred up inside
- This spills over into other events in your life and causes
problems in other areas and with other people
- Your life is being consumed with this unforgiveness
In the meantime … the person who offended you is living a delightful life, unaware that you are reliving this moment over and over and over and over and over …
Now, you might say that they did not ask for your forgiveness.
There is not one Scripture that says that they must ask forgiveness before you grant the forgiveness.
You may say that you have not sinned against them …
Really?
Every time you remember and refuse to forgive them it is a sin.
Every time you repeat the event to someone who does not need to know about it, it is a sin.
Now, here’s the big question! Do you want your life back????
Then, forgive.
Forgiveness will enable you to start living your life without the constant reminder of the offense against you.
Forgiveness will release you from the constant agitation or constant depression caused by the offense.
But you say, “I can’t forgive! It’s impossible!”
Pray, “Lord, I can’t forgive them, help me to forgive and love them!”
Whenever the thought comes back to your mind ask the Lord to help you again and again and again and again …
How do I know so much about this? I know because I struggled with unforgiveness for years and years and would still be in the grip of anger and hurt if not for the Lord.
So, we’ve talked about remembering those who died so that we might live in a land of liberty and freedom.
Then we talked about the inevitable memories of those who have sinned against us and the liberty and freedom that can come from forgiveness.
Finally, we must always remember and never forget that eternal freedom comes though Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:1-4
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
“For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.
“And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
So, Memorial Day is about remembering those who fought and died for our freedom that we enjoy in America today.
And, today we also remember the great gift of freedom purchased by the death of Jesus Christ just as we do every Sunday and hopefully every day in between.
On this Memorial Day remember true freedom.
It is only though Christ that spiritual freedom exists.
This is true freedom. This freedom can be experienced whether you live in the USA or in Iran.
It can be outlawed but it cannot be taken away.
This is the only freedom from the ravages of wrongs done to us.
This freedom comes from forgiveness demonstrated by Jesus.
This freedom comes by forgiveness enabled by the Holy Spirit.
So, what do you remember today?
Do you remember what you were before you were saved?
Invitation
Benediction:
May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)
