Please note: This sermon was used during a service in which we invited the local fire department, EMT’s and Sheriff’s department to recognize their sacrifice and committment to our community. We gave them a certificate of appreciation and a lapel pin commemorating 9/11 and had a prayer of dedication for them during the service.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11)
September 11, 2001. It is a date in history that none of us will ever forget. I am sure, that everyone of us here can recount our activities that day, and how the events affected our lives.
Personally, I was in Silverthorne, Colorado on that day. I was attending our annual District Conference. I woke up about 6:30 mountain time and began getting ready for the day. At around 7:00, I turned on the news. I was watching Fox News. I could hear a sense of urgency in the reporter’s voice, so I sat down to see what was happening. He was reporting on a plane that had somehow crashed into the World Trade Center. At that time, no one was sure what had happened. They were speculating on whether or not it was an accident. For a couple of minutes, he spoke with someone who was an “expert” on air travel. They talked about an accident that had happened many years earlier to the Empire State Building. As they were talking, they were showing a live picture of the World Trade Center. As I was watching, suddenly the second plane came into the picture from the right and crashed into the second tower. It is something that is etched in my mind forever.
By the time the horror was over, another plane had crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Immediately after each crash, Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Crews were converging on the scenes. As thousands of people were attempting to flee these sights of terror, these men and women were rushing in to help protect the innocent and rescue those who were injured. In the hours that followed, our nation came to understand what the word "hero" really means.
It had been a long time since we had seen true heroism on such a broad scale, and I believe our nation had forgotten who the true heroes really are.
For some reason, we began putting that label on people who could play sports, sing songs or act on TV or in the movies.
But on September 11th, the true definition of heroism came shining through once again. On that day, we discovered that:
• True heroes aren’t the men rushing for touchdowns, they are the men and women who are rushing to the scene of a burning building, or an automobile accident – willing to risk their own lives to save the life of someone else.
• True heroes are not recognized because they wear baseball uniforms, they are recognized as the men and women in Police and Fire uniforms. They are the ones who are wearing scrubs in the Emergency room and at the operating tables.
• True heroes aren’t the people who take center stage at a concert, they are the ones taking classes in their spare time so that they are trained to the best of their ability when they come to your aid.
• True heroes aren’t the ones wearing gold medals on their chests, true heroes are the ones with the badges on their uniforms.
• True heroes aren’t the modern day pop stars driving around in their big limousines, they are the officers driving around in cars that promise to “protect and serve.”
One year ago, we also discovered that the true hero could very well be the person sitting in the seat next to you as you travel across the country.
As the days and weeks passed, we began to meet the true heroes personally. Men like Jeremy Glick and Todd Beamer who were just a couple of the many heroes aboard flight 93 who led the charge against the terrorists with the words, “Let’s Roll.”
The The Rev. Mychal Judge – who is officially listed as the first fatality of 9/11 – who rushed to the scene as a fire department chaplain to assist and pray with the hurting only to be caught in the collapse of the first tower.
Men like Bryan Clark, who pulled Stanley Praimnath to safety from the 83rd floor of the second tower, but, only after the two men prayed together for protection while they were separated by an 8 foot wall.
Stories of true heroism from 9/11 have been told numerous times over the past year, and every time I hear one of them, I have a new respect for what the term “hero” really means.
That is why we decided to have this special service today. Although most of the men and women who came forward earlier would probably deny the idea that they were somehow “special” or “heroes,” we recognize in them the selfless sacrifice that is inherent in heroism. And for that, we want to say “thank-you.”
Thank you, because you are willing to help others when they are in need. Thank you, because you give up your time and energy to serve this community. Thank you, because when it comes right down to it, you are true heroes.
As I have been contemplating the idea of heroism over the past year, more than once, I have been drawn to the passage that we read for our Scripture reading this morning. Listen again to some of the words that Paul wrote to the Romans:
7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
It occurs to me, that as members of the Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and even the Ambulance Crew, these men and women have stated that they are willing to put their lives on the line for us – that if it came right down to it, they would be willing to die in order to save the life of another person.
God’s word tells us that that kind of commitment is very rare. He says “7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. With those words, Paul confirms something that all of us instinctively assume; “it is very difficult to die for someone else.” If we do give our lives for someone else, we do so with the hope that they are a righteous and good person. That they “deserve” our sacrifice.
But listen again to the rest of the words of Paul in this passage:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
These are amazing words. What God is telling us in this passage is that while the men and women who are heroes in our community are willing to sacrifice their lives for someone – hopefully a good and righteous person – Jesus Christ willingly died for the evil and unrighteous person. He died for the “sinner.”
His life was not given because we deserve it. We haven’t earned the right to go to heaven. Jesus died exactly because we couldn’t earn it. You see, that is what the Bible is all about. If you took this book, and read it from cover to cover, you would discover that it is the story of God’s love for man.
In Genesis, you would read about the creation of man. You would read about the wonderful world God created for him to live in. You would read about God and Man walking together in the garden of Eden. Then you would read about man’s sin – his willful disobedience to God. You would discover that the fellowship of the garden was broken. You would find that for the first time ever, death became a reality because of sin. AS you continued to read, you would see that man draws farther and farther away from God, living on his own terms, doing whatever he thinks is best. Constantly sinning – killing, cheating, lying, stealing. But, as you read, you would also discover that while man was doing his best to destroy God’s creation and live without Him, God was still reaching out – trying to have the intimate relationship with humanity that He created them for. You would see it in His love for Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and the entire nation of Israel.
Finally, as you come into the New Testament, you discover that God’s love for us was so great that He was willing to allow Jesus Christ to live and die for us – so that we could live – not just for 70 or 80 years here on earth – but live eternally with Him in heaven.
Jesus – in every conceivable way – became a true hero. Although innocent of any sin – He was willing to die for us – so that we could live with God eternally.
How is that so?
Well, First of all, the Bible tells us something that we are very aware of: all of us are sinners. We say it like this; “nobodies perfect.” The Bible says it this way: “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Although all of us agree that no one is perfect, what we often forget is another lesson from God: “the wages of sin is death.” You see, according to God’s standard – our lack of perfection means that we deserve to be punished. We have earned the “wages of sin.” We deserve to get paid. We have earned death and hell.
But, the good news is that Jesus Christ paid those wages. We are told that “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
You see, Jesus Christ died for you. He died for me. Like the heroes of 9/11, He willingly sacrificed His life so that I could live – the difference was that he didn’t die so that I could add a few more years to this life – he died for my eternal life. He didn’t ask me to make myself better first. He didn’t ask me to straighten up and turn over a new leaf. We are told that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He didn’t tell me to “earn His death.”
Tom Allen, a pastor and former Army Ranger, tells this story:
I finally saw Saving Private Ryan about two weeks ago. I was extremely proud until the last minute of the movie.
As the movie began, I was proud watching the Rangers take Omaha Beach. Then the story begins when they receive a mission to go deep into enemy territory to save Private Ryan. They hit skirmish after skirmish, and some of them are killed along the way. They finally get to where Private Ryan is holed up, and they say, "Come with us. We’ve come to save you."
He says, "I’m not going. I have to stay here because there’s a big battle coming up, and if I leave my men they’re all going to die."
What do the Rangers say? "We’ll stay here and fight with you." They all stay and fight, and it’s gory and hard, and almost everyone dies except Private Ryan. At the end, one of the main characters—Tom Hanks—is sitting on the ground. He’s been shot and he’s dying. The battle has been won.
Private Ryan leans over to him, and Tom Hanks whispers something to him. Everyone in the theater is crying because Tom Hanks was shot; I was crying because of what he said—it was so terrible. Private Ryan bent down and Tom Hanks said, "Earn this." The reason that made me angry is no Ranger would ever say, "Earn this." Why? Because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years has not been "Earn this." The Ranger motto for the past 200 years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this." I volunteered for this.
So, when Private Ryan bent down, if Tom Hanks was really a Ranger he would have said, "Sua sponte, I chose this. This is free. You don’t pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That’s my job."
And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there, what you do not hear is "Earn this." You never hear Jesus say, "Earn this." He doesn’t say, "I’ve given everything for you. Now you need to gut it out for me." What he says is "Sua sponte." I volunteered for this. You don’t have to pay anything for it.
One of the hardest things for us to do is receive Jesus’ gift of salvation. Why, because our pride tells us we don’t deserve it. We haven’t earned it. We are not good enough. And yet, Jesus says – he who believes in me will never die. And even if he dies, he will live again.
You know, one year ago this week, men and women rushed into a burning collapsing building in order to save thousands of innocent people from a fiery death. Many who went in never came out. They became heroes.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ rushed into a fiery hell. He did it not to save innocent people, but to save the guilty – the sinners – you and me. In the passage we read this morning, Paul tells us
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
We were not friends of God. We were not innocent victims. The fact is, Jesus rushed in to save “enemies.” I know that is a hard label to put on someone. But it isn’t mine – it’s God. He’s the one who tell’s us we were His enemies.
The question is; how are we to respond? Will we ignore Jesus heroic efforts to save us, and try to get out of the fire ourselves, or will we accept his death as payment for our sins and have fellowship again with God.
When you get right down to it, it’s pretty simple.
Are we willing to give ourselves to the Savior, or will we continue to live our lives apart from Him?
As he was preaching his first sermon after Jesus had ascended to Heaven, the people of Jerusalem asked Peter what they had to do to be saved. His answer to them is the same answer for us today;
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Paul in writing to the Romans expressed it this way:
“if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
This morning, as we close I would ask you, what will your response be? Are you going to ignore Jesus sacrifice for you, or will you accept His death as the payment for your sin? It is as simple as ABC.
A. Admit that you are a sinner. You have said it in the past, “nobodies perfect,” now admit it to God – Lord I am a sinner – just as you said I was – I cannot make myself perfect, therefore I need your help.
B. Believe. – Believe that Jesus Christ died for you. Believe that God gave his only begotten Son. Believe that God desires to dwell in your heart and have you dwell in His heaven forever.
C. Confess – confess to God and to others that you are a believer in Jesus Christ. Remember, Paul said that if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, we will be saved. Make your faith a public commitment to Him. This doesn’t mean that you have to go around the community making a fool of yourself. Confess Jesus is Lord and make Him Lord and Savior of your life.
You know, after the first of the twin towers was struck last year, the second tower was immediately evacuated. Shortly after 9:00 someone came over the loud speaker and gave the OK for people to return to their offices. Even as the announcement was being given, the second plane was turning towards its target.
Many people believed the "OK" and went back to work. They never returned.
Let me tell you right now - It is not "OK." Without Jesus Christ, there is no safe place. I would urge you not to return to the world without the absolute assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
It is my prayer that everyone of us here this morning will truly consider what Jesus Christ has done for us and respond in faith to His invitation to become children of God.
