REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
Ephesians 6 v 10
On Sunday, people will gather once again on
this special day, to remember the great sacrifices made by men/women, many of
whom paid the supreme sacrifice of their lives, whilst others were injured and
disabled for life.
As the years roll by, the number of
those who were alive during the last World War grows ever smaller reducing by
the year. But the memories do not fade,
as we recall how this nation stood alone on the brink when all seemed to be
lost and there was even talk of surrender.
But God raised up a man who refused to surrender and instead rallied the
nation to perform such heroic deeds.
How sad and shameful so many young
people do not, and will not, try to learn of this glorious chapter of our
history, never having had to endure the horrors and hardship of war. Such has been the direction of education in
recent years in (state) schools, they have little or no knowledge of what was
done that they may have all the privileges they now enjoy. To so many Churchill is the name of a dog
representing an Insurance Company rather than one of the greatest Prime
Ministers of this country.
We think of the brave young men, some
barely left College, who defended our skies or were shot down over German
cities; others who perished on a French beach, or drowned in deep waters, or
were tortured in a Japanese prison camp; they gave their lives for principles
they loved or believed in.
We have to add those who fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq in wars
which should never have been started, as we replaced one horror for even worse.
All these men and women would have cried for the ideals which took their
lives, to be remembered and honoured. What would they say if they knew what
things were going on this country now?
Would they wonder if their great sacrifices were worthwhile as they
looked at us?
How disillusioned, as they looked at
their injuries; those who came home with shattered limbs, or blind eyes, and
saw people making huge compensation claims for minor injuries, and taking legal
action for hurt feelings caused by mere words.
How would they react to see some
pumped up public official saying the flag they fought under could not be
displayed lest it upset someone from another country?
Those men and women had a faith and a belief, and now we Christians have
to take over that fight. As they fought
the Battle of Britain, we must fight For Britain.
The world has largely rejected Christianity, without having anything to
put in its place to combat the evils of the world. All we hear today is about ‘human rights,’
yet in all walks of public life, even to the highest level of government; we
have flagrant deceit, corruption, being economical with the truth and
unrestricted immorality, the sort of behaviour which sends out the wrong
message to the young and gullible.
Under the guise of equality, all manner of restrictions are being
enacted to restrain freedom of speech and religious faith. People can be perfectly equal without being
the same. Not so long ago we had a Prime
Minister who by his intransigence made freedom of religious expression a legal
offence, and so a greater penalty could be given than if convicted for burglary
or physical assault.
Christian principles and values were
the foundation of this nation’s base, as were many of the social institutions
and the legal system of the country. Our
nation’s future depends on the acceptance of the standards of the Bible.
Not all who condemn the moral slide are bigoted and narrow minded. Those who fought for their country, all those
veterans knew what counted in life as they fought for a safer world. The men on the fighting lines knew things had
to get better. .
We have a society which is encouraged
to forsake a Christian consensus and live, not by Christian principles, but by
substituting other principles. We are
submerged in a world that is committed to falsehood, which is why we are called
to proclaim the truth.
Today, there will be people in all
our Churches who would not normally be there, thus revealing a spiritual
content in their lives. Indeed, almost
all people have some spiritual longing; there are so many of these people who
would be of enormous value to the Church and who in turn could add so much to
their lives. Within each one of us there
is a need for things which money can’t buy, and desires which cannot
express. Whilst the majority may not be
willing to accept it, we all need a spiritual life. We need God and the forgiveness, which He offers
in Jesus Christ. Without this our souls
are restless. The only obstacle is a lack of motivation.
Many people are like the two British
soldiers who found themselves lost in the deserts of Iraq. They eventually came
across an American Officer in his jeep. As they approached him they didn’t even
bother to salute and simply blurted out ‘excuse me mate, can you tell us where
we are?’ The General took umbrage at
their casual attitude and sternly replied, ‘Do you know who I am?’ at which one
of the soldiers turned to the other and said, ‘Now we are in real trouble, we
don’t know where we are and he doesn’t know who he is!’
Neither do we know who
we are and why we are here, so we just live for today and who cares about
tomorrow. And that is how we will remain unless there is some
communication from the outside, from the One who has made us. A godless
self-centred life is a fruitless and empty one.
We need a daring programme of revival, which God is
challenging us to make. We within the
Church need to ensure our services are always meaningful and encouraging. However, there is reluctance within some
Churches to preach a vibrant Biblical message for fear of being criticised as
being offensive to other faiths.
Whilst Christianity has been the faith of this country for
centuries, in recent times our Churches have retreated and allowed a secular
agenda to exercise undue influence on both society and the Church. People, I believe, are longing for and
wanting spiritual leadership. Our strength is limited only by our faith. Will that faith let us move mountains or
stumble over mole hills?
Wen you become a Christian you effectively become like a
soldier, there is warfare between what the world wants and what God has laid
down, and we enter a battlefield. The
Bible calls on us to stand firm and not yield.
When the Romans invaded a country they would burn their boats
so there could be no means of retreat, hence the saying burning your boats. God is telling us He will give us all the
power we need and the Bible calls on us to put on the whole armour of God.
In today’s passage Paul is giving guidance and draws on the
imagery taken from a Roman soldier’s uniform with a portrayal of Christian life
as a warfare, using spiritual metaphors for the resources given to the
Christian soldier.
Paul looks at the belt
which holds the soldier’s uniform together, a breastplate to defend his heart,
sandals specially made with spikes in the soles to enable to get a good
foothold on the ground to dig his feet in and a helmet to protect his head. A
shield protects him from the darts of
the enemy and he has a sword to go on the attack.
Applying them to the Christian, Paul is referring to the belt
of truth which is the gospel, which holds our faith, and we must have a pure
heart to live according to that truth, and then stand firm and not let our head
be turned by false teaching.
Every army needs to
attack, and we should be promoting Christianity as vigorously, as other faiths
push their faith, armed with the two edged sword of truth. Our faith is not someone has made up; it is
based on the historical and divine Jesus Christ who calls for people to turn
back to God. Never
let us be ashamed to tell of a Saviour who gave His life on the Cross, so that
all we unworthy people may have our sins forgiven because He died that we may
be made righteous for heaven when our life on this earth is over.
All who treasure
the Christian faith, and the memory of those who gave their lives to preserve a
Christian heritage, must work and pray for a spiritual revival of the Christian
Church. The valiant hearts that died to
preserve the loveliness of these lands we call Great Britain, will not be
failed by God.
May we, on this special day, well remember the sacrifices
others made that we might be here at this hour?
We must never ever forget the lives of so many gallant young men and women given that we may
have peace in our lives
I want us to remember also those brave young American men, who joined our nation in the fight for freedom on the shores of France as the invasion of Europe was made, and the airmen who flew planes from our air fields nightly over enemy territory, some never to return, but who are still in our thoughts as we see their graves in the American cemetery so far from their native land.
No comments:
Post a Comment