John 15:12-14
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Those who have laid down their lives to protect the freedom of their countrymen paid the ultimate price. Freedom comes with a price: the responsibility to obtain it and then maintain it. This requires vigilance, courage, sacrifice, and honor. Recognizing heroes gives us hope.
· You don’t have to be a believer to be a hero, to love something else more than self
· Even those who are not saved give tribute to the values of vigilance, courage, sacrifice and honor
· Why? Because it is instinctive to give self to something bigger; we are all created in the image of God, and this instinct comes to us from God
· We know these things instinctively (“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”) because God has placed them in us, regardless of the problem of sin
· We all long for a better life, a better home, a better country, and a better world; this too is instinctive
· God has provided these things upon our faith in His Son, who truly loved us more than self and was the ultimate hero that should be remembered/memorialized
· Christ is the ultimate example of the selfless hero: all other heroes (whom we honor on Memorial Day) are following His example
· This does not save them personally, but observing their sacrifice is another revelation of the love of God to mankind
Jud 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Jud 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
1Ki 15:5 Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
· These Scriptures contrast those that did only what was in their self-interests and a leader that did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (and even he was not perfect as noted)
· It is a necessity for social order that our leaders see themselves subject to a higher calling and not just personal pleasure
· This is how freedom is won and maintained
Why bother to sacrifice since we’re going to heaven anyway?
· It is difficult for people to understand why Christians should engage in social and civic responsibilities when:
· This world is not our final home
· We are longing and striving for heaven
· There is a “sweet by and by”
· The atheist doesn’t have to explain why there is suffering, but they do have to explain why there is any good at all.
· It is the existence of heaven that requires dealing with conditions here on earth, conditions that we will try to improve by defending truth and justice
So why are we involved?
· For freedom – men are only truly free when free from sin; no political body can change the soul; and we are only free from sin when have the guarantee of heaven
· For accomplishment – to work is honorable, to sacrifice divine; before we enter the presence of God, we first have His presence enter us in this sin-cursed world to transform our lives
· For our fellow man – to lead them to faith as we have been led, out of a sense of gratitude of the blessings we have received with the desire to share this with others: “greater love hath no man than this”
· Heaven is the search for satisfaction (Heb. 11:13-16)
· Even though dissatisfaction can be a result of sin, it can also be the inherent longing for a “better life” because of the heaven-shaped vacuum in our souls
· We know we are not complete, so this dissatisfaction is a necessary pain in order to endure this life
We were built for heaven
· Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:7-9, made for man)· The tree of life for the healing of nations; we were born to long for this place (Rev. 22:1-2)
· The better country, the shining city on a hill, the Promised Land: the song of our soul
· Life is a journey, not a destination
Being a hero, honoring heroes, and making this world a better place with truth and justice, are a part of the journey (I Peter 2:13-17
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