WEEKEND Edition 29-30 May 2021 “Memorial Day”

On September 24, 1917 an unnamed Ohio congressman read the following into the Congressional Record:

“…The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother are their children.”

President Woodrow Wilson referred to these women as “gold star mothers.

President Obama, on September 24, 2010 proclaimed “As we pay tribute to the valiant men and women in uniform lost in battle, we also recognize the deep loss and great strength of those who share in that ultimate sacrifice:  America’s Gold Star Mothers and Families.”

Memorial Day weekend honors those American families who have paid the ultimate price by sending their sons or daughters off to military service, only to receive the news of their death. A very high percentage of ALL those American killed in military service have died in places outside the USA, fighting to either earn or defend liberty for Non American peoples of the world. In most cases those Americans did not speak the languages of the countries in which they fought and died for the liberty of the people of those nations. So on this Memorial Day weekend, how do we, and how does the world honor American “gold star families”?

Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this: that they lay down their life for their friends.” (John 15:13) Would you consider that Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, was a “Gold Star mother”? Jesus was killed in action, but a different type of military action. Jesus had left heaven to come to earth to engage a war for all of humanity! Jesus was fighting for the liberty of every and all human beings, of every generation and every nation. Jesus was fighting against Satan and his evil kingdom. Jesus fought for the liberty of my life and yours… liberty from our bondage to our sin and our justice condemnation to eternity in hell with Satan! (Romans 3:10-26; 5:8; 6:23)

The ultimate victory was not Jesus defeating Satan by destroying Satan, but rather Jesus living a perfect, sinless life, then giving His life as the atonement sacrifice, paying the death penalty for each of us, so God could forgive our sin and rescue us from our sin bondage!, and assure us of eternity not in hell, but in heaven with Him! God then adopts us into His family, declares us justified from all our sin, and sends His Holy Spirit to live within us. (Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:1-10) We become a transformed people of God! (1 Peter 2:9) This is the Gospel, the good news, of Jesus! Has it become YOUR Gospel, my friends? 

In His resurrection, Jesus ultimately defeated Satan, the power of sin, and death! (Hebrews 2:15)  In His ascension back to heaven, Jesus re-assumed His position of sovereign and supreme authority in heaven, on earth and everywhere in all universes. (John 17:5; Colossians 1:15-22) From His throne, Jesus rescues and redeems thousands of human beings everyday, (Hebrews 7:25) and receives into His heaven thousands who have ended their earthly journey. (Luke 23:43)

So I ask you, each of you, the most important question any human being can answer: Has Jesus Christ rescued YOU from the dominion of Satan’s evil kingdom in your life? Have you trusted fully and only in Jesus for your rescue from your sin condemnation and your sin bondage? Are you still a POW… a Prisoner of War, the ultimate war for your soul? Or are you FREE from sin bondage and sin condemnation, because of the work of Jesus in your life?

In our “Walking with Jesus” journey, we’ve been traveling lately with the apostle Paul and Barnabas, in about the year 46ad. Theirs is a special journey. They were selected and sent out by the Holy Spirit of God, (Acts 13:2-4) commissioned to take the story and truths of Jesus Christ to places where people were living in hopeless bondage to the dark kingdom of Satan, because they had never heard of Jesus, and the deliverance from evil that Jesus had earned for them, and was ready to accomplish in their lives. This first ‘missionary journey’ began in Antioch in the Syria region north of Israel, where a dynamic, multi-ethnic movement of Jesus followers had so profoundly impacted that city, the Jesus followers were first given the name “Christians” there in Syrian Antioch! (Acts 11:19-26)

From there Paul, Barnabas and John Mark had sailed to the island of Cyprus, where Paul spoke the truth of Jesus in many locations. Then they sailed north to Perga where John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13) From there Paul & Barnabas, continued north to Pisidian Antioch where a great many Jews and Gentiles both accepted their message and trusted in Jesus as their deliverer. From there Paul & Barnabas have walked east, more than 100 miles, arriving now in the city of Iconium. (Acts 13:51)

Dr. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, the account of the spread of the Gospel across the Roman Empire, recounts that Paul & Barnabas were initially well received in Iconium. “They spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” (Acts 14:1,2) Evil always rises up in opposition to good and righteousness, everywhere in the world, doesn’t it? Paul & Barnabas were bringing hope, deliverance, freedom, and many people on Cyprus Island, then in Pisidian Antioch and now in Iconium were experiencing spiritual deliverance! But it didn’t take long in any of those places, for evil to respond, just like in every place around the world in our day where the hope of Jesus is proclaimed! How do you see this happening in your city, your country? 

Now watch this my global friends: Memorial Day weekend is not about one battle, or even one war. The sad truth is American men and women have been called to arms EVERY YEAR for more than 150 years, because at any moment in time there are people in many places of the world crying out for help as aggressors try to enslave them or destroy them! Think of that… the reason these desperate people cry out for American military help is because EVIL is wreaking havoc among them! The evil of drug cartels, or military huntas, or evil dictators, or gang warfare, or radical, militant groups of every kind, or corrupt governments, even some who say they are being sent by their god to kill and destroy.

Jesus said this to His disciples the night before His final battle, as He went to the cross: “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Years later John the apostle, the only disciple who stood courageously at the cross, with Jesus’ mother, as they watched Him die… that John wrote this: “…the whole world is under the control of the devil, the evil one.” (1 John 5:19) Paul, a few years later, wrote this to encourage Christians across the Roman empire “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against… the power of this dark world and against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Put on the full armor of God so when the day of evil comes you will be able to stand your ground…” (Eph. 6:10-18)

In closing today, on this Memorial Day weekend, I invite us to consider this: all around the world today God honoring people are trying to stand for truth, for what is right, and doing so in the face of what appears to be unbridled evil! Perhaps you feel like this is the battle you are fighting? Look what Paul and Barnabas did in Iconium: “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord Jesus, who confirmed the message of His grace by empowering them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” (Acts 14:3) 

That reminds me of what happened after Peter and John were warned by authorities to stop talking about Jesus in Jerusalem! (Acts 4:18) They gathered with fellow Christ followers and prayed, asking God for boldness. And Luke writes: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly!” (Acts 4:31) May I ask, is that what is needed in your city, your country today, my friends? Jesus following people who will pray asking God for boldness, and then empowered by the Holy Spirit stand up against the evil all around us in Jesus’ Name, speaking God’s truth boldly? 

And if we do that, do you suppose Jesus might do in your city what He did in Iconium and Jerusalem, when Jesus followers stood boldly, “…empowering them to do miraculous signs and wonders.”!  In times of battle, courageous warriors risk it all to defend the helpless, defeat the enemy, achieve deliverance and freedom for those in bondage and fear. Some lose their lives in the fight, and in America we honor the military fallen this Memorial Day weekend. 

I call us to honor those who have fallen in the spiritual fight against evil. The martyrs of all nations who have been killed standing boldly speaking the truths of Jesus, standing on the unwavering truths of Holy God as evil advances all around. This picture sits on a shelf looking at me, near the table where I write “Walking with Jesus” each day. It reminds me… 13 missionaries caught in the crossfire of a civil war in the Belgium Congo in 1964, 6 of them children. Yet today, a church stands not far from where their blood was spilled, and the name of Jesus is honored in the region where they lived, served and died! 

Will you and I stand boldly, speak God’s truth boldly, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to see miraculous things happen in our cities, our nations, in the face of evil and opposition, as Paul & Barnabas did in Iconium?

Here’s a Memorial Day song celebrating the ultimate price JESUS paid, to earn our freedom! Oh worship my friend, and thank Jesus, and pray… consider the reality of the desperation of our world and God’s readiness to do something powerful through His people in our day, where you live: