“Memorial Day”
“Memorial Day”
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© May 29, 2016
What are some of the Memorials that we set up in the world and what are they used to memorialize?
· Edifices:
o The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.
A suitable centerpiece for the proposed 1889 Exposition Universelle, a world's fair to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution.
(There are seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are engraved in recognition of their contributions. Gustave Eiffel chose this "invocation of science" because of his concern over the protests against the tower), as well as a plaque at the top listing the engineers who built the tower. [1]
o The Statue of Liberty is one of 121 protected National Monuments in the United States. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of Freedom and of friendship with France, who built and gave it to us.
o Cathedrals, Churches and places of worship…
o Mausoleums in memorial of those who died,
o Stadiums, memorializing the city’s team,
o Cultural Auditoriums and Centers, etc., often memorializing the contributor who funded its construction.
· Historical icons and statues of men and women to who were known for their achievements.
· Each of us also has dominating memories that capture our attention and often the attention of the world…that we keep in memorial in our hearts.
What is unique about Memorial Day when it comes to “memorials”?
“Memorial Day” has been established for one purpose only, to remember the fallen who fought for the freedom of our country.
· Do we categorize any of these soldiers into rank, intellect, ability, ethnicity, or any other comparison?
· Do we select soldiers to be honored today because they were well known and had high position?
· Do we identify special soldiers because they were humble in wanting to give their lives in service for their country?
· Do we select soldiers for honor today because they were brave heroes who died valiantly in battle?
· Do we deny any because they may have been terrified when faced with certain death or were less of a skilled soldier than any of their peers, or were killed by “friendly fire”?
No. There is no select group or individual that we honor over another.
What is the only thing that qualifies those whom we honor on Memorial Day?
The only qualification of the ones we honor today is that they gave the ultimate sacrifice for our Country, that through their life’s blood, the springing up of freedom has been nourished in a people for generations. For these, we give God thanks.
A Day of Memorial
“On Memorial Day, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.
The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon, their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.”[2]
Memorial Day emphasizes the sacrifice gained for our country physically for the freedom of our nation. There is also a Spiritual battle for the redemption of our souls.
As with Memorial Day, all those who come to God are accepted under only one qualification – a qualification established by God alone…that those who come to God must have a personal and life-changing relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ, the Messiah. No other qualification is considered…if it were, anyone could try to obtain favor with God through some heroic deed or good things we have done, other than through God’s Provision of the Sacrifice of Christ, as payment for our sin (Eph. 2:8-9).
The Flag of our Country is placed beside the headstone of those who have fallen to identify those who fought for our country. This could be similar to why families often have the symbol of a cross, engraved on the grave marker or tombstone as a sign of relationship with Christ.
The Battle for our Soul is also marked with a Regular Service of Memorial for the One who Gave His Life to Redeem Us
This Memorial our Church Celebrates the First Sunday of Every Month
It is the service that most Christian Churches call “Communion”, or “The Lord’s Supper”.
Communion, or The Lord’s Supper
· The Broken Unleavened Bread represents the Broken Body of the Death of Jesus Christ on the Cross fulfilling the universal requirement that death is the just payment for sin against God (Rom. 6:23). Only the sinless “Lamb of God”, Jesus Christ (John 1:29), could justly pay the severity of that penalty by His own life, for those who would accept His provision, in this sinful world.
· The Cup representing the Redemptive and Sacrificial Blood that Jesus Christ poured out to cleanse us from our sins and establish a New Covenant (as compared with the Old Testament Law relationship) between God and mankind.
[The New Covenant: Jer. 31:31-34; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:11-10:18; 12:18-24.]
The Two Battlefields in the Spiritual Realm
· The Kingdom of this World
Colossians 1:13
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves….
Ephesians 6:11–12
11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 2:1–3
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
· The Everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ
Daniel 2:44 (Read the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of kingdoms that will rule the world in Daniel 2, concluding with the following verse.)
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
Revelation 11:15-16
15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
The Confusing Voices echoing the “Knowledge of Good and Evil”
Psalm 2:1–3
1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”
Everyone is very aware that there is Good and evil in the world. These are primary themes, in one form or another, for the majority of books, movies, performances, political movement, and religious organizations in our world today. This battle is an ongoing war of these two “kingdoms” for the heart, souls and loyalty of all mankind.
The Brokenness of the heart
There are many things that can break our heart, which cause us great guilt and pain.
· The Pain of Sin
· The Anxiety of Guilt
· The Sorrow that Leads to Repentance
2 Corinthians 7:9–10
9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Spiritual battles lead to death. Either a spiritual death and condemnation before God when we die, or our choice to die to our carnal nature, in order to have a growing spiritual life before God.
The Death of the “Old man” (as typified in baptism)
Galatians 2:19-20
I have been crucified with Christ. 20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 6:3-11
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were qburied therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in tnewness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free1 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The Christian’s Memorial Day is not only a Memorial remembering Jesus’ Death, it is also a Rejoicing in Jesus’ Powerful Resurrection
· We Rejoice in the fact that our Messiah, the Lord Jesus, conquered Death and Rose Again.
1 Corinthians 15:3–4
3 … Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
Hebrews 2:14
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
· We Rejoice in the realization that we do not have to suffer the penalty of sin: death!
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
· We Rejoice in the realization that we too, because of the victory of Jesus Christ can have Eternal Life!
1 Corinthians 15:13–14, 17, 20, 26-27a, 51-54 (read the whole chapter!)
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.”…
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 … then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
Jesus’ Resurrection also means that we, as sinful human beings, can have a New cleansed Life in Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:9–11
11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Resurrection of Christ also represents our hope of a Memorable Walk with a Transformed Life in this world and of one day appearing with Jesus Christ in Glory!
Colossians 3:1-4
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Conclusion
This is Memorial Day weekend. We honor the more than a million soldiers who, in our history, have given their lives so we could have a free nation.
We also recognize the dynamic of Spiritual warfare and honor the One who made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins before a Holy God, and have Eternal Life.
[1] Wikipedia, “Eiffel Tower”
[2] Wikipedia, “Memorial Day”