“To The Unknowns”
Text: Acts 17:16-31
AM
NOTE : Special Veterans Day Sermon
Intro:
This morning I would like to bring you a message entitled “To The Unknowns” Tomorrow is Veterans Day and many across our nation will be stopping for a time to remember those who have served to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. This year as we seem to be rolling to the brink of war once again, I think it is good for us even more important for us to remember not only the purposes of war but also the scars of war.
We have many veterans in our midst here this morning, and I would like to take just a few minutes to recognize them and their service.
Illus: WHAT IS A VET?
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry theevidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, whose juvenile behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She--or he--is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another--or didn’t
come back at all.
He is the Quantico Bay drill instructor that has never seen combat--but has
saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals
with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass
him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose
presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket--palsied now and
aggravatingly slow--who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who
offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just
lean over and say, "Thank you." That’s all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot: "THANK YOU."
It is the soldier,
not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier,
not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
This morning we want to say thanks to all of those who have served, and are serving.
HAVE ALL VETERANS COME FORWARD
Share Branch, Years Served, Position, and if War Veteran When and Where.
Lets take a just a moment and thank these for serving so that we can enjoy the freedom that we have in America. I told you that the title of my message is “To The Unknowns” There is a special place in the heart of the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington
D.C. called the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” This special crypt is guarded 24 hours a day by U.S. Soldiers, members of the 3rd United States Infantry (The Old Guard).. On this sacred site there are four graves. 3 of them occupied and 1 now empty. The first one was placed there on the morning of November 11, 1921, Armistice Day, at 8 :30 A.M. The casket contained a soldier that had died on the battlefields of France in World War One. On the tomb read these words…"Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier
Known But to God.” On May 30, 1958 a 2nd and 3rd casket were placed in front of the of the tomb.
Two separate dates were carved in the white marble slab covering the casket.
1941 – 1945 World War II
1950 – 1953 The Korean War
A Fourth Casket was placed in a grave on May 28th, 1984. It contained the remains of a fourth soldier…this one from the Vietnam War. Now remember I said that on of the graves is empty. In 1999 the body of the Unknown Vietnam Veteran was identified as United States Air Force First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie. The Vietnam Tomb now remains empty with these words engraved on the stone “Honoring And Keeping Faith With America’s Missing Servicemen" As I said this very special shrine represents all of the soldiers who have given of themselves, and some who have given their lives so that we might enjoy the freedom that we have today. It is a special place, this sacred Shrin represents the unknowns of War.
The People, The Patriotism, and the Pain.
I would like to take a look at another shrine to an unknown this morning…this one to an unknown God.
Acts 17:16-31
Paul presents to the people of Athens the God that He serves. This morning I would like to take a look at the description Paul gave of this
unknown God.
1)He Reveals the unknown God as Sovereign vv 24-26
Illus
A burglar broke into a house one day. As he was stealing the valuables he heard a voice out of the darkness that said, "Jesus is watching you". He almost choked. He stoped and looked around and then he shook of his fear and went on stealing some more. Suddenly just as before the voice cam and said Jesus is watching you. He was trembling so bad he could hardly contain any composure. He finally approached the corner and there was a bird cage with the cover over it. The words came from the CAge, Jesus is watching you. The thief pulled off the cover and saw the parrot. He said with an angry voice, what is your name? The parrot replied, MOses. The thief replied, what kind of wierd person would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied the same kind of wierd person that would name a Rottwiler "Jesus".
Paul reveals that this unknown God is completely Sovereign. He describes this sovereignty in several ways.
a. Self Sustaining
In the midst of all the idols they were standing in, Paul makes the claim that His God is Self Sustaining.
All of the other idols they were created and maintained by men.
But Paul introduces a new concept to them. His God does not live in temples built by hands. And human hands do not serve him, as if he needed anything.In fact God gives all men life and breath and everything else. This God we serve is independent and self-existent. Remember we are serving Him not because He is in need of us, but because we are in need of Him.
b. Creator
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven” Another concept that He introduced to the men of Athens is that God created man.
Man did not create God. When men create god it is something like children deciding their discipline.
Man creates gods that are convenient to Him. In so doing sin is perpetuated from on generation to another.
This is why it is so important that Scripture is our Rule and Standard. James says that men sin when they are tempted by their own desires. That is why we see men battling with the same sins they did 8 thousand
years ago. Greed, Power, and Lust.
When we put our trust in a God we created we will feed those desires. When we put our trust in the God that created us, He will lead us away from those desires.
If you want freedom from the sinful habits and attitudes you struggle with, come to the God who created you, and get to know Him…there is freedom in that relationship.
c. Moderator of the Times of Men
Paul also says that this God is instrumental in the affairs of men. He says that he set the times and locations for men to dwell…WHY: so that men would seek Him.
Another Paul Reveals about this unknown God is that not only is HE Sovereign but He is also the Sustainer of man.
2)He Reveals the unknown God as Sustainer vv 27-28
a. God places us in positions so we will seek him
Heb 12:11
b. He is not as far off as we think
Romans 8:37,38 Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
c. We function under His sustaining hand
2 Cor 12:9,10
3)He Reveals the unknown God as Supreme Judge vv 29-31
a. We are God’s offspring
We should not think of God as an object…but a Father
b. He commands all people to repent
c. Jesus is the Key
Conclusion
To the Unknowns.
In Arlington cemetery stands a Tomb that symbolizes the unknowns lost in war. We don’t know much about them…but they are a symbol to us to help us remember.
In many communities and cities today stands Tombs that symbolize an unknown. Their spires reach to the skies.
And many people each Sunday go and pay tribute to an unknown God. They don’t know much about Him, but it is a symbol of something they know they should do.
My statement to you today is this. We serve a God that desires us to KNOW Him. Our text spoke the words that we need to seek after Him, because in reality is in
not that far off.
Do you know him this morning?
Or is this building a Tomb to the Unknown for you.
I encourage you this morning that you can know Him for yourself.
