Worth Fighting For

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This message has a patriotic theme as it was given during July 4th weekend. It highlights principles of faith that are worth fighting for and even dying for.

Written Excerpts:

I wanted to use this week’s sermon to speak about a topic related to the Independence Day holiday that we just celebrated on Friday.

I thought I would introduce the sermon by sharing a few quotes from leaders of the past. I think you will find these interesting and appropriate for our consideration. This first one speaks specifically about freedom and liberty.

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! (Patrick Henry) http://www.brainyquote.com

The latter part of that quote is probably familiar to most of us. These words of Patrick Henry illustrate the sentiments of many of the patriots in the early history of our country. They truly believed that dying free was far better than living in slavery and tyranny. Those people clearly felt that there was something worth dying for.

This quote by Patrick Henry and others like it are especially appropriate in connection to the celebration of our nation’s Independence. Freedom and liberty are certainly valuable in the eyes of God. I tried to emphasize that truth last year with a sermon titled, “Liberty Is God’s Idea.”

I found a few other quotes that I think are certainly relevant for our modern situation in America.

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. (Alexis de Tocqueville, French political writer) www.brainyquote.com

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. (Edward Abbey, Author) www.brainyquote.com

The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain. (George McGovern) www.brainyquote.com

As you probably remember, George McGovern was a liberal candidate for president of the US many years ago. While his words are certainly appropriate, it must be pointed out that the “higher plain” to which he says our country must be called can only be measured by a permanent, objective standard of morality and truth, which many classic liberals even in McGovern’s day were all too willing to deny.

Finally, I want to share some quotes that relate to the matters of faith, morality and God. Yes, freedom and liberty are invaluable, but there is something else that is just as valuable and certainly “worth dying for” as well.

I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God. (Robert E. Lee – www.brainyquote.com)

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. (James Bryce, English Diplomat – www.brainyquote.com)

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life, is, or very soon will be void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections. (Samuel Adams: Letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775, www.foundingfatherquotes.com)

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments. (Charles Carroll: Unknown, www.foundingfatherquotes.com)

We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments. (James Madison: Unknown, www.foundingfatherquotes .com)

… he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. (John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Clergyman and President of Princeton University --Sermon at Princeton University, "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men," May 17, 1776., http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/ foundingfathers_3.htm)

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." (Patrick Henry, Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution --The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii. http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/ foundingfathers_3.htm)

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (John Adams: Address to the Military, October 11, 1798, www.foundingfatherquotes.com)

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…." (Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence --Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237. http://christianity.about.com/od/independenceday/a/foundingfathers.htm)

I have taken up considerable time to share these quotes from various leaders in the early years of our nation, but I felt that they were well worth sharing.

I hope that we can see more clearly that many of these patriots who willingly laid down their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, held religious and moral convictions that provided the foundation for their opposition to the tyranny and injustices they confronted. Their commitment was not simply to freedom alone, but to freedom as understood and defined by the moral standards revealed in the Word of God.

They obviously felt that there were some things that were worth dying for! Or, to put it another way, some things aren’t worth living for.

So, today I would like to use these ideas to transition to a challenging passage of Scripture in the Gospels.

In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus had just engaged in a conversation with his disciples concerning his true identity. Peter boldly declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for which he was highly commended by the Lord.

Then in verse 21, Jesus begins to tell them more plainly and openly than ever before how that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die.

Peter, the man who had just been highly commended for his confession of faith about Jesus, begins to rebuke the Lord. The things that Jesus just revealed did not fit in with Peter’s idea of Messiah.

But Jesus knew that His death and the atonement by His blood was absolutely essential for the salvation of the world. So, He rebukes Peter and tells him that he is not being mindful of the things of God, but only the things of man.

In other words, Peter’s concept of Savior, Messiah, and salvation were all tainted with human ambition, not divine motivation.

According to Matthew’s account, Jesus immediately begins to teach His disciples more thoroughly about the cost of discipleship. If He was going to give up His life, then they would be expected to lay their lives on the line as well.

I. Discipleship requires a new behaviors.

(William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary) To deny self is not the same as self-denial; it means to yield to [Christ’s] control so completely that self has no rights whatever. To take up the cross means the willingness to endure shame, suffering, and perhaps martyrdom for His sake; to die to sin, self, and the world. To follow Him means to live as He lived with all that involves of humility, poverty, compassion, love, grace, and every other godly virtue.

(Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament)  Mark 8:34 - Let him deny himself. The word is aparneomai. … it means "to forget one's self, lose sight of one's self and one's interests." The [tense of the] verb … speak[s] of entrance into a new state or condition. It is "Let him at once begin to lose sight of himself and his own interests." Take up his cross. The cross was the instrument of death. Here it speaks of death to self. Follow Me. The word "follow" is akoloutheō "to take the same road as another does." It is used with the associative instrumental case. It is, "Let him follow with Me." The idea is not that of following behind another, but that of accompanying the other person, taking the same road that he takes and fellowshipping with him along that road. The first two imperatives are aorist, giving a summary command to be obeyed at once. The "coming after" and the "taking up" are to be obeyed at once and are to be a once-for-all act. That is, these acts are to be looked upon as a permanent attitude and practice of life… The word "follow" however, is in the present imperative, which commands the doing of an action and its habitual, moment by moment continuance.

II. Discipleship produces new principles.

Saving one’s life, means losing it.

Losing one’s life means saving it.

To live, one must die.

III. Discipleship reveals eternal values.

What profit in gaining all earthly wealth, but losing eternal soul?

Conclusion:

Jesus clearly believed that you and I were worth dying for! Do we feel the same about Him?

Do we feel the same about His Word and His commands?

Do we believe that principles based upon the Word of God are worthy fighting for and doing what we can to not only preserve them, but to promote them and propagate them as well?

I find myself repeatedly coming across articles and stories that reveal just how little I have been willing to risk for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am sure that some of you have been aware of a Christian pastor who is also an American citizen that is in prison in Iran. I want to read a short article about him and his wife that I just got from the American Center for Law and Justice.

This pastor is only one example. I’m sure that many of you have also heard reports in the news lately about the woman who was sentenced to die in Sudan because she had married a Christian and her biological father was a Muslim. She was repeatedly given ultimatums to give up her faith in Jesus or be executed. She hasn’t been executed, because of the intense pressure that has been put on the gov’t in Sudan for her release, but she was willing to die rather than deny faith in Jesus.

Most, if not all, of the patriots who played important roles in the early establishment of our nation were men and women who sincerely believed that there were universal and timeless principles that were worth dying for.

Freedom and liberty were values that they considered so valuable. But a significant portion of those patriots also believed that God’s Word, the Ten Commandments, and moral principles were essential to the establishment of true liberty in this nation. They were willing to give up their lives to make religious liberty a gift that every American would share.

The question that challenges my own heart this morning is this: “Do I hold any moral and spiritual values so dear that I am willing to give up my life for them?” “Do I especially consider my faith in Jesus and allegiance to His will so important that I am willing to give my life?”