Memorial Day Speech (Monday, May 26, 2008)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters, Comrades in arms,
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you at such a hallowed event. As I look at the tombs of our fallen comrades, I would like to make the following proposition – that humility and love are two sides of the same coin. At memorial events such as this one, you have often heard men quote:
· John 15:13 HCSB No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ demonstrated such sacrificial love by willingly laying Himself down on a wooden cross in our stead, without struggle, and by allowing cruel men to drive metal spikes into His body, so that we could go forth freed of the curse of sin.
We all know very well that this same kind of sacrificial love is displayed whenever heroes answer their country’s call to defend its people. Today, I want you to understand the underlying character trait that leads to such love. Sacrificial love - heroism and service - requires humility. I have proof. In Philippians chapter 2 we read:
· Philippians 2:3-8 HCSB Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. (4) Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (5) Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, (6) who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. (7) Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, (8) He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death--even to death on a cross.
It was Christ’s humility that led Him to love us enough to lay down His precious life in our stead. It was humility that caused Him to think that we were worth His blood. It was humility that led the humans whose bodies lie beneath us now to throw themselves into the fray and pay the price of our freedoms with their own blood. It was a humble act to look at their comrades and determine to protect them, regardless of the cost.
The United States is presently engaged in a titanic struggle that spans the globe. In an effort to free us of the tyranny of fear, her sons and daughters have put boots down in the dust of dozens of countries. However, I would like to propose that the greater battle lies not in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran, but within each of our hearts.
The Romans, too, had a world spanning empire. They, too, had huge mobile armies, advanced weaponry and technology. Yet, Rome was sacked by barbarians who had little to no discipline and no advanced weaponry. The underlying cause of this loss was Roman hubris, Roman pride, and Roman arrogance. Their culture had devolved into a continuous elevation of the self. It was completely focused on a narcissistic orgy of self-indulgence. It was this – this focus on the self that led to the cowardice and avarice that eventually brought about their downfall.
The greatest spiritual threat that America faces today is not Islam. It is not the differences that have splintered Christianity into a thousand conflicting and mutually destructive shards. It is not the hundreds of cults that have arisen amongst us…Moonieism, Raelism, Mormonism, Armstrongianism or any other “ism” you care to think of. The greatest threat facing America is the cult of self.
We are constantly urged from womb to tomb to consider our desires above those of others. Our school system tells our teachers to elevate the self-esteem of our children even at the cost of their character and education.
Every commercial tells us “you deserve this, you owe this to yourself, you deserve a break today.” We are told to indulge ourselves by using credit cards, borrowing against an unknown future so that we can satiate our senses today.
I know of a biblical example of this kind of thinking, of this kind of financial planning. It was the prodigal son who profligately spent his inheritance in the face of an oncoming famine and we know where he ended up! Starving in the company of pigs!
This cult of the self would not be so destructive had it not invaded our church’s sanctuaries and been trumpeted from pulpits that should have instead been preaching, “Have the same humble mindset as Christ Jesus Who laid down His life for others!” No! Instead we have “seeker sensitive churches” that sycophantically pitch their brand of Christianity using the slickest of sales pitches designed to ingratiate the church to the lowest common denominator in the human heart.
From coast to coast, we are encouraged to see what we can get out of our church experience. If we are emotionally excited by the services, then it was a good thing. If our children are adequately entertained, then that is the church we will attend. If our ears are tickled and our sins are not condemned, then that is the religion of our choosing.
Brothers and sisters, our selfishness and egoism will be our undoing. Let us look to those who have gone before us and see how they laid down their lives for us, buying our freedom, purchasing our culture at tremendous personal cost.
In the words of Jeremiah, let us stand by the roadways and look. Let us ask about the ancient paths: which is the way to what is good? Then let us take it and find rest for ourselves (Jeremiah 6:16).
Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Let us seek His face and obey His commands. Let us look to the left and to the right, see our neighbors and consider them more worthy than ourselves and serve them.
Listen to me carefully. I know these are hard words. But if there is one lesson to be learned from the place in which we stand, it is this: we will all die. Someday, somewhere, each of us will die. We may choose to not believe it, but it is the truth. We may choose to ignore this terrible fact, yet it remains nevertheless. They will bring our bodies to a place like this, they will throw dirt on our faces and return to the church to eat potato salad. That is a fact of life.
My question to you is this? How will you die? How will you live? What will they say about you as they sit around those tables eating finger food? Will they praise the fact that you had a plasma TV before anyone else on your block? Will they speak endlessly about your last great promotion, or of the parties you attended? Or, will they speak of lives changed by your sacrificial love?
Will they shrug their shoulders at your passing and move on to the next insignificant event in their lives, or will they cry at the loss to humanity? Will you soon pass on into the oblivion of fallible human memory, or will people meet each year in a place like this and thank God for your sacrificial love? It is your choice: the way of pride and self-indulgence, or the path of humble service.
Look not only to the graves. Look to the men and women that stand before you in their uniforms. Look to our elders who have led us to this place with flag upraised with arthritic hands, their feeble knees still trying valiantly to march. Stop! Do not turn away as their creaking voices speak of far flung places like Tripoli, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Ho Chi Min Trail or Baghdad. Listen and learn! These men and women chose the path of humble service to their fellow man. Imitate them in the way they imitate the humble mindset of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and our country will have a long life. But if you buy into the culture of conspicuous consumerism, worship the false god Mammon, and fall down before the idol of self, we will lose everything.
Please bow your heads in prayer as I ask for our God’s blessing upon us:
Father, we confess that we have not been faithful in heeding Your commands. We have not been good stewards of Your land. As a representative of the pastors of American churches, I confess that we have not been faithful stewards of Your Word or Your people. Forgive us, we pray.
Holy Spirit, sweet dove, fan the flames of humility and repentance in our hearts. Incline our hearts to the words You inspired men to write thousands of years ago in Your Scriptures.
Lord Jesus, many in this gathering claim You as their Lord and Master. Help us to exemplify sacrificial love to our fellow men. Strengthen our hearts so that in our pursuit of justice and righteousness, we will be adequate ambassadors of Your kingdom.
I ask for Your blessing on these men and women who stand before You, Triune God. Elohim, consider their heroic service to their fellow man and have mercy on their souls. As they have demonstrated this humility in the past, may each continue to live a humble life of service, depending not on their own thoughts and philosophies but on Your ways and on Your thoughts. May they seek not the luxurious meats of this world’s kings, but every word that comes out of Your mouth.
These things I pray in my Master Jesus’ name. Amen.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you at such a hallowed event. As I look at the tombs of our fallen comrades, I would like to make the following proposition – that humility and love are two sides of the same coin. At memorial events such as this one, you have often heard men quote:
· John 15:13 HCSB No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ demonstrated such sacrificial love by willingly laying Himself down on a wooden cross in our stead, without struggle, and by allowing cruel men to drive metal spikes into His body, so that we could go forth freed of the curse of sin.
We all know very well that this same kind of sacrificial love is displayed whenever heroes answer their country’s call to defend its people. Today, I want you to understand the underlying character trait that leads to such love. Sacrificial love - heroism and service - requires humility. I have proof. In Philippians chapter 2 we read:
· Philippians 2:3-8 HCSB Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. (4) Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (5) Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, (6) who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. (7) Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, (8) He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death--even to death on a cross.
It was Christ’s humility that led Him to love us enough to lay down His precious life in our stead. It was humility that caused Him to think that we were worth His blood. It was humility that led the humans whose bodies lie beneath us now to throw themselves into the fray and pay the price of our freedoms with their own blood. It was a humble act to look at their comrades and determine to protect them, regardless of the cost.
The United States is presently engaged in a titanic struggle that spans the globe. In an effort to free us of the tyranny of fear, her sons and daughters have put boots down in the dust of dozens of countries. However, I would like to propose that the greater battle lies not in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran, but within each of our hearts.
The Romans, too, had a world spanning empire. They, too, had huge mobile armies, advanced weaponry and technology. Yet, Rome was sacked by barbarians who had little to no discipline and no advanced weaponry. The underlying cause of this loss was Roman hubris, Roman pride, and Roman arrogance. Their culture had devolved into a continuous elevation of the self. It was completely focused on a narcissistic orgy of self-indulgence. It was this – this focus on the self that led to the cowardice and avarice that eventually brought about their downfall.
The greatest spiritual threat that America faces today is not Islam. It is not the differences that have splintered Christianity into a thousand conflicting and mutually destructive shards. It is not the hundreds of cults that have arisen amongst us…Moonieism, Raelism, Mormonism, Armstrongianism or any other “ism” you care to think of. The greatest threat facing America is the cult of self.
We are constantly urged from womb to tomb to consider our desires above those of others. Our school system tells our teachers to elevate the self-esteem of our children even at the cost of their character and education.
Every commercial tells us “you deserve this, you owe this to yourself, you deserve a break today.” We are told to indulge ourselves by using credit cards, borrowing against an unknown future so that we can satiate our senses today.
I know of a biblical example of this kind of thinking, of this kind of financial planning. It was the prodigal son who profligately spent his inheritance in the face of an oncoming famine and we know where he ended up! Starving in the company of pigs!
This cult of the self would not be so destructive had it not invaded our church’s sanctuaries and been trumpeted from pulpits that should have instead been preaching, “Have the same humble mindset as Christ Jesus Who laid down His life for others!” No! Instead we have “seeker sensitive churches” that sycophantically pitch their brand of Christianity using the slickest of sales pitches designed to ingratiate the church to the lowest common denominator in the human heart.
From coast to coast, we are encouraged to see what we can get out of our church experience. If we are emotionally excited by the services, then it was a good thing. If our children are adequately entertained, then that is the church we will attend. If our ears are tickled and our sins are not condemned, then that is the religion of our choosing.
Brothers and sisters, our selfishness and egoism will be our undoing. Let us look to those who have gone before us and see how they laid down their lives for us, buying our freedom, purchasing our culture at tremendous personal cost.
In the words of Jeremiah, let us stand by the roadways and look. Let us ask about the ancient paths: which is the way to what is good? Then let us take it and find rest for ourselves (Jeremiah 6:16).
Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Let us seek His face and obey His commands. Let us look to the left and to the right, see our neighbors and consider them more worthy than ourselves and serve them.
Listen to me carefully. I know these are hard words. But if there is one lesson to be learned from the place in which we stand, it is this: we will all die. Someday, somewhere, each of us will die. We may choose to not believe it, but it is the truth. We may choose to ignore this terrible fact, yet it remains nevertheless. They will bring our bodies to a place like this, they will throw dirt on our faces and return to the church to eat potato salad. That is a fact of life.
My question to you is this? How will you die? How will you live? What will they say about you as they sit around those tables eating finger food? Will they praise the fact that you had a plasma TV before anyone else on your block? Will they speak endlessly about your last great promotion, or of the parties you attended? Or, will they speak of lives changed by your sacrificial love?
Will they shrug their shoulders at your passing and move on to the next insignificant event in their lives, or will they cry at the loss to humanity? Will you soon pass on into the oblivion of fallible human memory, or will people meet each year in a place like this and thank God for your sacrificial love? It is your choice: the way of pride and self-indulgence, or the path of humble service.
Look not only to the graves. Look to the men and women that stand before you in their uniforms. Look to our elders who have led us to this place with flag upraised with arthritic hands, their feeble knees still trying valiantly to march. Stop! Do not turn away as their creaking voices speak of far flung places like Tripoli, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Ho Chi Min Trail or Baghdad. Listen and learn! These men and women chose the path of humble service to their fellow man. Imitate them in the way they imitate the humble mindset of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and our country will have a long life. But if you buy into the culture of conspicuous consumerism, worship the false god Mammon, and fall down before the idol of self, we will lose everything.
Please bow your heads in prayer as I ask for our God’s blessing upon us:
Father, we confess that we have not been faithful in heeding Your commands. We have not been good stewards of Your land. As a representative of the pastors of American churches, I confess that we have not been faithful stewards of Your Word or Your people. Forgive us, we pray.
Holy Spirit, sweet dove, fan the flames of humility and repentance in our hearts. Incline our hearts to the words You inspired men to write thousands of years ago in Your Scriptures.
Lord Jesus, many in this gathering claim You as their Lord and Master. Help us to exemplify sacrificial love to our fellow men. Strengthen our hearts so that in our pursuit of justice and righteousness, we will be adequate ambassadors of Your kingdom.
I ask for Your blessing on these men and women who stand before You, Triune God. Elohim, consider their heroic service to their fellow man and have mercy on their souls. As they have demonstrated this humility in the past, may each continue to live a humble life of service, depending not on their own thoughts and philosophies but on Your ways and on Your thoughts. May they seek not the luxurious meats of this world’s kings, but every word that comes out of Your mouth.
These things I pray in my Master Jesus’ name. Amen.
posted by Pastor Pauley | 11:25 PM
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