MEMORIAL DAY 2004
Remembering the sacrifices for our freedom
EPH 5:30-32
From Jamestown to Plymouth; from the French and Indians to the struggle for independence; from the wars to end all wars to the present skirmish in Iraq, millions have laid down their lives to make us free.
I lost uncles in WW 1… cousins in WW2… foxhole buddies in Korea… and high school classmates in Viet Nam.
But the one whose sacrifice means the most to me is: Jesus Christ.
Those who were sacrificed in war gave us political freedom… but
Jesus Christ gives us eternal freedom.
No matter what you think... Jesus is REAL!
His sacrifice is real! His salvation is real!
He was born in Bethlehem of Judea ... just like the prophets said.
Tacitus, perhaps the greatest Roman historian of the first century, speaks volumes of Jesus.
Josephus, a Jewish historian born A.D. 37, tells of the crucifixion of Jesus from the Jewish point of view.
The Encyclopedia Britannica uses 20,000 words in describing Jesus… more space than is given to any other single individual -- Aristotle, Cicero, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed... all of whom lived ... worked ... and left their mark on history.
But none marked history ... and the future of mankind nearly as much as Jesus ... our Christ.
Jesus is the very hinge-pin of our history.
Since his death, burial and resurrection… He has given us 2 major jobs to do until he returns:
1. Love one another just as God loves us ... and
2. Share the good news of Jesus as the Christ to everyone everywhere.
As we memorialize the sacrifices for our freedom, have we done what he asked us to do?
And, how do you share Christ effectively—with clarity?
Joseph Turner, English painter, painted a picture of a storm at sea that was so realistic ... you could almost feel the wind and the spray in your face.
When asked how he had captured the essence and intensity of the storm so completely, he said:
"I went to the coast of Holland and hired a fisherman to take me out to sea in the next storm.
Entering his boat as a storm was brewing, I asked him to bind me to the mast. Then he steered his boat into the teeth of the storm.
Turner said, "The storm raged with such fury ... that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat.
Not only did I see the storm in its raging fury, I felt it, he said.
It blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it.
Afterwards, I returned to my studio and painted the picture."
How do we show someone the REAL Jesus?
The same way Joe Turner painted the picture of the storm!
We have to EXPERIENCE Jesus ... all the way from creation ... until His return!
Let’s take a look at our JESUS BOOK ... First:
Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
This is how we identify with Jesus:
• He is the Head; we are the body.
• He is the bridegroom; we are the bride.
In both ... we—the church—are inseparably joined to Jesus our Christ!
Marriage is NO mystery. Consequently, Paul is referring to something else when he says: This is a great mystery!
As we look at this mystery, we might even get an entirely NEW viewpoint about ADAM, himself.
BUT... a little background first:
THE BIBLE, from page one... line one... all the way to the last word of the last book: The Bible is a JESUS BOOK!
Let’s start on line one:
Gen 1:1, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Where’s Jesus, You ask?
Well, John 1:1 tells us: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
The picture may be dim at first, painted in with broad strokes with very little detail.
Now, we dip into the NEW TESTAMENT to find the detail to more clearly see that it is JESUS as he stood in eternity past and spoke this universe into existence.
Colossians 1:15 tells us: (Jesus...)Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (not the first to be born ... but ranked first above all who are born)
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
From this we see JESUS... GOD --our JESUS-- the WORD ... is the one who created… the one who holds creation together.
Now the SECOND PICTURE:
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
ADAM—the FIRST Adam—is a picture of Jesus:
1. Deep Sleep is the death experience. The taking of the rib caused a spilling of the blood.
2. God literally built (Made means to BUILD).
God BUILT a woman using existing materials.
We have no idea how long God took in building Eve. BUT some TIME did pass, and when she was complete, God:
3. Brought her unto the man. That which was wrought by the deep sleep and the spilling of blood is now complete and is returned to the one who suffered for it to happen.
Ephesians 5:25 ... as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
THIRD PICTURE brings us to the great MYSTERY!
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
You know the story up to this point:
• God told Adam ... he could eat of any and all trees in the Garden ... with the exception of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
• This conversation occurred before Eve built out of Adam’s rib and brought back to him.
• Her information was second-handed!
Maybe she didn’t understand it completely!
Maybe Satan ... knew he couldn’t get to first base with Adam.
We don’t really know why... But
Eve was easily swayed. She had more faith in Satan’s lie than God’s word.
But, what does that have to do with Jesus?
Adam blew it too. Eve offered it to him, and he ate also!
Dr. Gene Scott, pastor of the University Cathedral in Los Angeles often says the first thing he is going to do when he gets to heaven is to look up ADAM ... and punch him out. He started all of our problems!
That’s when you look at what he did from our point of view.
Let’s look at it from Adam’s point of view:
• Here you are ... God’s perfect man
• You have complete control over all living creatures -- dominion ...
• Everything that you need for a fulfilled ... comfortable ... satisfying life is provided ...
• God comes down in the cool of the evening for real quality time
• Sharing all of this with a perfect wife -- a true helpmate ... designed and built explicitly for your complete ... total ... satisfaction ... and enjoyment.
• Someone to share all of God’s bounty with ...
AND NOW!
She is gone!
• She has dirtied herself...
• She turned from God...
• The curtain has fallen...
• She is SEPARATED!
Not only from God, but also from Adam!
ADAM now finds himself looking across a great gulf.
Look at poor ADAM ... still HOLY ... still walking with God ... no spot or blemish.
But he has lost his WIFE—the love of his life, the helpmate that God built especially for him.
SHE’S GONE!
Her sin has ripped them apart!
I can imagine, ADAM considering an eternity without the one God built for him.
God has said: It is not good for man to be all ONE!
A BIG part of his life is missing!
I would like to think that ADAM thought:
• I love her so much ... I will give up the glory of God’s fellowship ... just so that I can be with her ...
• So that I can share with her God’s gracious plan of salvation
• So that we can continue in the oneness that God gave us, here in the garden.
It was the ONLY way ADAM could re-unite with Eve to father the Godly line that would ultimately bring SALVATION to the human race beginning in that stable in Bethlehem.
1Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
ADAM—a FIGURE of HIM to come—a SHADOW, a PATTERN!
ADAM, too, paid a great price to be reunited with the love of his life.
As the first Adam did for his bride, so too, Jesus, the second Adam, does for mankind to save his beloved bride—the church—from an eternal separation.
Jesus—our Christ—gave up his glory. He left the perfection of Heaven, the fellowship of the Godhead, to become sin for us.
1Corinthians 5:21 For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The FIRST ADAM, by ONE brought death—separation—so that the LAST ADAM suffered separation that he might bring life—fellowship with God—to many.
Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Adam ... by faith ... taught the plan of redemption to his sons:
• Abel followed in FAITH and brought a sacrifice according to God’s Word.
• Cain—Invented RELIGION—and brought what he wanted: A sacrifice according to his own good works.
Cain, following the dictates of the flesh, angered by rejection, and influenced by Satan, attempts to wipe out the Godly line by murdering Abel.
ADAM then fathers SETH to keep the Godly line going.
The great mystery that puzzled Paul was not two people becoming one in marriage but—like ADAM—Jesus would give up all that he had in Heaven to become SIN for us.
He wanted so much to be united with the church—his BRIDE in an eternal oneness that awaits all of us who believe, and who trust him for our salvation.
That’s the GREAT MYSTERY: That JESUS could love us so much that He would toss it all just to be with us NOW and FOREVER!
Still shadows, still broad brush, but the picture of Jesus continues to emerge.
We need to learn to recognize what treasure we have in the Bible!
More than a hundred years ago, a man picked up an odd rock from a North Carolina stream bed.
It was different from most rocks—a little heavier. He used it as his cabin doorstop.
Several years later a geologist who was hiking in the area stopped at the cabin and noticed the doorstop.
Without a second look, he recognized as a huge lump of gold—the largest gold nugget ever found east of the Rockies.
Like the man who failed to recognize his own gold, we can easily fail to recognize our Lord and Savior ... unless we learn to see him in his word.
Some time ago, an old country preacher, at a social gathering, asked an actor to recite the twenty third Psalm.
The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would recite it also.
The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received a polite applause.
The preacher’s voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished.
But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.
Later someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."
Today, do you know the Shepherd?
Have you accepted Him—Jesus the Christ—as YOUR shepherd?
When you do, there is no more mystery.
The picture of Jesus is complete.
As we pause to honor those who gave their lives for our political freedom… let us also remember the one who sacrificed his life in the great angelic conflict to give us eternal freedom from sin and its penalties…
• A freedom that gives us abundant and eternal life,
• A freedom that exempts us from condemnation and eternal punishment.
Wars between nations come and go, but the sacrifice of Jesus as our Christ gives us peace now and forever.
Please! Share this good news with those who are struggling for peace in their lives, harmony in their homes, and satisfaction in their communities.
