Back to Sermon Index Memorial Day May 25, 2008 The question arose pretty early in the life of the church...how are we as Christians to live in our countries? How are we to be in relation to the government, communities and countries. This was especially true in Rome. There were a host of allegiances. Most of the towns and regions were captured territory by the Romans. The Romans had conquered the known world of the Mediterarian. From the British Isles on the north to North Africa on the south...from Spain all the way through modern Turkey into the Persian empire. Territory after territory was captured by the Romans and each was assimilated into their unique empire. Some things the Romans allowed to remain the same. People were free to worship their local deities, as long as they added the Roman gods into the mix. And local governments were allowed to stay in place in the mid management level down...as long as they now swear allegiance to Rome and continue to send the taxes to the empire. But the Romans were brutal when it came to any group that they considered a threat to the cohesiveness and continuation of the great eternal empire that they considered Rome. The Early Christians questioned how to belong to Rome...how could they belong to and support a system that continued to enslave millions of people and who promoted lifestyles contrary to their view of morality. The Romans at first allowed the Christians to exist without much interference. But things began to change as the numbers grew and the movement spread through out the empire. These Christians did not hold the same values as the Romans...they did not believe that the strong deserved to oppress the weak. They did not believe that the rich, the strong, the Roman were better than all else. They worked hard to care for the poor, a futile endeavor by Roman value. They chose leaders by the work of the Spirit, not by their social status or their wealth or their citizenship or position. In the church, all were equal in Christ...no man or woman, no rich or poor, no slave or free, no Greek or Jew or Roman... And these Christians have a king, a lord that is not Caesar. Every Roman was to bow down and worship Caesar and to proclaim allegiance by saying "Caesar is Lord". But the Christians begin another proclamation, that "Jesus Christ is Lord". And so the Romans begin, slowly and sporadically at first, to persecute the Christians. They are made to leave their jobs and homes, they are beaten and ridiculed, they are imprisoned and eventually they are killed. Paul writes his letter to the Philippians from a Roman Prison. We know that Paul was executed by Caesar sometime around 64 ad. Peter is reported to be executed the same year. How are Christians to live in society? What is our allegiance to be? Paul makes clear in Philippians and in other writings several things. The Christians is to be a good citizen in that they are to do good to others, to help their neighbor, and to live a moral and quiet life that does not cause trouble and does not call the attention of the Roman government. If they are to suffer persecution, it should be obvious to all that they are suffering for their faith, not because they did something wrong or lived a raucous life. We are told to pay our taxes and to pray for our leaders...to pray for them in earnest that they may honor God and seek to be fair and good leaders And Paul warns them that they should be careful of those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. What does Paul mean by this phrase, "enemies of the cross of Christ"? The Cross represents the love of Jesus. A love that is not self centered or selfish, but which is sacrificial. We are told that God demonstrates his great love for us in that while we are still sinning, Christ dies for us. The Cross of Christ represents a love that gives itself and is willing to give up its life for those it loves. A love that holds nothing back. The Cross of Christ represents God's love, given in Jesus life and his death. Paul says that those who are enemies of Christ are destined for destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame...and their mind is focused on earthly things. They are destined for destruction. It is like the story of the Rich fool that Jesus told. Perhaps you know it. the Rich fool worried about what to do with all his riches. He had so much that he did not know what to do with it all. So, instead of thinking of others and what he might do with his great wealth, he continues to focus on himself. He says to himself, I will make bigger barns and warehouses to store all my wealth. So he does...and when he finally finishes he is not happy. He worries about his wealth...and in many ways he does not own it, it owns him. So bigger barns and warehouses still...and when they are finished he says to himself, "now I can live at peace" but an angel comes to him that very night and says "fool, tonight your soul is required of thee...who will get all you have saved now?". How rich was he then? The old joke goes like this: who much did Howard Hughes leave? He left it all. The enemy of the cross of Christ is the selfish person, who's destiny is destruction. And their god is their stomach. This is a somewhat graphic but very understandable illustration. Their really worship themselves, and their god is really their appetites. Their real focus of their life, their true worship, is to satisfy their own hungers and desires. Whether they be physical, emotional, sexual, or whatever...we all have seen people who are focused on their own stomach...I have to be careful here! They spend all their energy on the momentary pleasures of life. The reality is that these pleasure are good, in moderation and humility, but that they are not what truly satisfies the soul. These pleasures are here this breakfast and gone by lunch...ever demanding but not fulfilling. Their worship is feeding themselves and all their hungers. And they are people who over time lose their sense of shame. They tell themselves that wrong is right enough times where they begin to believe it, and they lose a sense of shame at what they do. We see it sometimes in people who do crime...they seem to have no sense of how their actions violate others, it is all about themselves. They are proud of that for which they should be ashamed. We also can see it in small ways. There are some who have for so long put themselves first that they can no long see how they treat others with contempt or rudeness...whether in a restaurant or on the road or in a business...they have lost their sense of what is good and bad because they have for so long focused on themselves. And they focus on earthly things. Their minds have become earth bound, and they only believe what they can see or hear or touch in this moment. When he says earthly, this is opposed to heavenly. They are focused on the temporal, not the eternal. What you think matters. We are told by the Apostle a little later in this letter; "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things!" The bible says 'as a man thinks, so he is.' As Christians, we are to be of a different mindset than the world. We are citizens not of Rome, but of heaven. Not of America, but of heaven. We are not to think on earthly things, but to focus on heavenly things and living in relationship with Jesus. We are to think on whatever is noble, good, true, praiseworthy... We are to value sacrifice above self. This is contrary to the message of the Roman empire and many in our empire...it is not the survival of the fittest or even each one looking out for themselves...but losing our lives for Christ sake, caring for the needy and the downtrodden and the weak. It is loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute you. It is being a citizen of heaven and an ambassador of our Lord Jesus. This memorial day, we need to be reminded of these things. We value and recognize service and loving sacrifice. This is the core of the Christian ethic, the Cross of Christ. And it is appropriate for memorial day, a day to remember the sacrifice of our men and women in the service. They serve us and many are asked to give the highest sacrifice. We owe a special recognition and care to our service men and women who are coming back from the war in Iraq. These young, and some not so young, volunteered to serve our country and many are making huge sacrifices for us all. The war in Iraq is very different than any war we have had before in several ways. One way is that battlefield medicine has advanced such that many who would have died just a few years ago are saved. I was at a meeting with Chaplin's from the Veterans Administration this week and they said that this war's signature wound is Traumatic Brain Injury...because of the nature of the roadside bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices or IED's. Over 300,000 soldiers have come home with Traumatic Brain Injury (many who would not have survived in earlier conflicts) and face a lifetime of difficulty. In addition, another 320,000 have returned suffering from Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. The level of suicide among soldiers in the field and those returning is a much higher percentage than in any previous conflict. It is difficult to express what we feel in our hearts toward them. Many disagree with the war, but value highly and honor greatly the service of these service personnel. We are at war, and have been for years now...but unless you have a family member or close friend who serves, the war is something on the news from far, far away and we are not sharing in their sacrifice. We have not been asked to do anything...to give anything...to sacrifice ourselves in any way. As Christians, we may not agree with the war...it is hard for us to agree with any war! But we must be examples of compassion and support to those who are serving there...so I am going to ask you to make a sacrifice for our troops. We have two young people connected to our church who are serving in the military: Amanda Chestnut and Matthew Davis (who is Amanda Langworthy's husband). Over the next two weeks, we want to put together a special encouragement package for both...with notes of encouragement to each, as well as various gifts of cookies, DVDs' and more. I would also like to make a special offering for an organization called Adopt a Chaplain. They ship support boxes to chaplains serving in Iraq and Afghanistan...they ask for things that might surprise you... DVDs for the troops are in great demand. They don't like war movies, but classics and comedies are great. Most people have some DVDs that they don't really watch any more that might make a soldier's life easier. Our car box can also include bibles and religious books as well as simple gifts of cookies, trail mix, sweets, candies, and Otter Pops, the frozen juice pop are in huge demand. Chaplains are also looking for school supplies, colored markers (crayons melt), paper, coloring books, backpacks, kids tennis shoes (used is fine if in good shape) and sports equipment for working in Iraqi and Afghani schools and with their children. While we are citizens of heaven, we also live here and should set good examples for caring for our young people who are serving us all. Back to Sermon Index