God’s great grace, His
magnificent mercy and His powerful peace are yours, now and always, from God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In Christ Jesus:
This
is, perhaps, a terrible way to begin a sermon, but I start by quoting a most
evil man. His name is Osama bin Laden:
He
said: “For more than
seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the
holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to
its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors and turning its
bases in the peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring
Muslim peoples."
"These
crimes and sins committed by the Americans", he said, "are a clear
declaration of war on God, his messenger and Muslims. And [Muslim scholars]
have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad [Holy War] is
an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."
"On
that basis and in compliance with God's order," he concluded, "we
issue the following [edict] to all Muslims: The ruling is to kill the Americans
and their allies. It is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it ...
This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God ... We call on every
Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded, to comply with God's
order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they
find it."
To
thousands and thousands of radical extremists, Osama Bin-laden is a hero. To thousands of young men and women
who are ready to die at his bidding, he leads the fight in a "holy
war."
But…
To you and me and the
majority of the civilized world, he's anything but a hero.
He's a heinous and despicable
criminal who needs to be brought to justice.
To you and me and the
majority of the civilized world, his war is anything but
holy. It intentionally and
cruelly seeks to take the lives of innocent men
and women who know nothing of his
grievances.
That's
why, whenever I hear those two words "hero" and "holy" in
the same sentence with "Osama Bin-laden", my stomach turns and I get
angry because those who use those words have no sense of their meaning. And I'm
sure that many of you feel the same way.
I've
been thinking about those two words a lot as I have reflected on the events of
September 11th. And I've come to realize something: There are wars
being fought all the time that truly are "holy" - in the highest
sense of that word. And the people who fight those wars truly are
"heroes" – again--- in the highest sense of that word.
The
rescue workers both civilian----- like the police and firefighters--- and
military---like the National Guard----in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in
the recent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
They are truly heroes.
The Medical people, who while under
gunfire and in dangerous conditions--- came to the aid and healing of countless
numbers of people injured and sick in the aftermath of Hurricane. They are truly heroes
Faithful
people throughout this country, like you, who brought relief supplies and are
sending money to help countless numbers of people in need in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. They are
truly heroes.
What
Osama Bin-laden does and who Osama Bin-laden is---and those who support him ...
are hollow, sad and sorry figures of the real heroes of this world.
And
so today, on this day of remembering September 11th, 2001, I want to reclaim the words “holy wars” and set them back up on the
pedestal where they belong.
I
want to talk about some real "holy wars" and some real "heroes"
who have given - or will give - their lives to fight them.
I
think we need
to
know about,
to reflect on, and
to appreciate both the wars and the
people.
Specifically,
I want to talk to you about 3 kinds of holy wars and the heroes who do
battle.
Gen.
Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said: "I firmly
believe that this is the most important task that the U.S. military has been
handed since the Second World War ... And what's at stake here is no less than
our freedom to exist as an American people."
He's
right. As citizens of the United States, you and I have been blessed beyond
measure with the ability…
to
follow our dreams….
to
choose our own destiny… and
to
live in peace and safety.
We
have been, since the founding of this nation, a free people. We are the
definition of what that means for the rest of the world. It is a sacred gift,
graciously given to us from the hand of God.
But
that freedom has been challenged and attacked in recent years. And heroes have risen to defend it, and
heroes have given their lives for it.
Over 1,800 American
soldiers----men and women of our military have been killed in Afghanistan and
Iraq, and over 10,000 others wounded and injured.
Gen.
Myers has rightly called them heroes, because "they put their lives on the
line on behalf of freedom." Our
hearts go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives. And it
is hard to express my gratitude in proper words for people that are willing
and--- like many of you---who have been willing to sacrifice for freedom."
But
the heroes who have sacrificed their lives aren't limited to the military. Two
weeks after 9/11 happened, commentator Peggy Noonan, who writes for the Opinion
section of the Wall Street Journal, wrote a wonderful article called
"Courage Under Fire.” She wrote:
"Although
their heroism has been widely celebrated, I don't think we have quite gotten
its meaning, or fully apprehended its dimensions. But what they did that day,
on Sept. 11--what the firemen who took those stairs and entered those buildings
did--was to enter American history, and Western history. They gave us the kind
of story you tell your grandchildren about. I don't think I'll ever get over
it, and I don't think my city will either.
What
they did is not a part of the story but the heart of the story.
"We all, of
course, know the central fact: There were two big buildings and there were tens of thousands of people, and it was
8:48 in the morning on a brilliant blue day. And then 45 minutes later the
people and the buildings were gone. They just went away ... three thousand dead
... And more than 300 firemen dead.
"Three
hundred firemen. This is the part of the story that reorders your mind when you
think of it. For most of the 3,000 dead ... they just happened to be there, in
the buildings, at their desks or selling coffee or returning e-mail. But the
300 didn't happen to be there, they went there. ...
They ran into the
burning building and not out of the burning building.
They ran up the
stairs, not down.
They went into it, and
not out of it.
They didn't flee, they
charged.
It
was just before 9 a.m. and the shift was changing, but the outgoing shift raced
to the towers and the incoming shift raced with them. That's one reason why so
many were there so quickly, and the losses were so heavy. Because no one went
home. They all came.
And one after another they slapped on their
gear and ran up the stairs. They did this to save lives. Of all the numbers
we've learned since Sept. 11, we don't know and will probably never know how
many people that day were saved from the flames and collapse. But the number
that has been bandied about is 20,000----20,000 who lived because they
thought
quickly or
were
lucky or
prayed
hard or
met
up with (were carried by, comforted by, dragged by) a fireman.
"... What those men did on that
brilliant blue day in September--was like D-Day. It was daring and brilliant
and brave, and the fact of it--the fact that they did it, charging into harm's
way--changed the world we live in. They brought love into a story about
hate--for only love will make you enter fire.
"So
it was like D-Day, but it was also like the charge of the Light Brigade: Into
the tower of death strode the three hundred ..."
They
took responsibility under conditions of chaos. They did their job under heavy
fire, stood their ground, claimed new ground, moved forward like soldiers
against the enemy. They charged ... And like the soldiers of old, ... they gave
us a moment in history that has left us speechless with gratitude and amazement
..." They were heroes in the
holy war for freedom.
The
second war is the War for life. As
gripped as I am by what these men did, I am even more moved by the heroism of
another group of men who didn't intentionally stride into danger. They just happened
to be there, in harm's way, but they, too, like the firemen gave their lives
for others. John 15:13 tells us: “The greatest love is shown when people lay
down their lives for their friends.”
Newsweek
reporter, Karen Breslau, told the story this way:
"At
8:45 a.m., four minutes after takeoff, United Flight 93 was still climbing to
cruising altitude, moving west across Pennsylvania, when, in New York, American
Airlines Flight 11 plowed
into
the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At that same instant, hijackers were
already in control of another aircraft.
United
Flight 175, which had taken off from
Boston a minute earlier than Flight 11, was making a sharp turn over northern
New Jersey, bearing down on the South Tower. American Airlines Flight 77, which had taken off for Los Angeles
from Dulles at 8:10 a.m., had made its own U-turn in the skies over Kentucky,
and was headed back toward Washington ...
By
9:35 a.m., both towers of the World Trade Center are in flames and Flight 77 is
bearing down on the Pentagon.
"Air-traffic
controllers try to contact United Flight 93,
asking the pilot to verify his altitude. There is no response from the cockpit.
Minutes later, at 9:38 am, the plane makes a hair-pin turn just south of
Cleveland and heads for Washington. Controllers hear a man, in thickly accented
English saying 'This is your captain. There is a bomb on board. We are
returning to the airport.'
"In
the passenger cabin, it is bedlam. Three men wearing red bandannas are in
control. The passengers had been herded to the back of the plane, near the
galley ... Todd Beamer tries to use his credit card on an Airfone installed in
one of the seatbacks, but cannot get authorization. His call is automatically
routed to the Verizon customer-service center in Oakbrook, Ill. ...
Beamer
tells operator Lisa Jefferson that one passenger is dead. He doesn't know about
the pilots. One hijacker is in the rear of the plane, claiming to have a bomb
strapped to his body. The conversation is urgent, but calm.
Minutes
later ... "Beamer tells Jefferson that he and several men plan to jump the
hijacker in the back. He also tells her 'I know I'm not going to get out of
this' and then asks her to recite the Lord's Prayer with him. The last words
Jefferson hears are 'Are you ready, guys? Let's roll.'"
No
one knows for sure what happened after that. "Investigators are operating
on the theory that the men somehow made their way up 100 feet from the rear of
the plane into the cockpit. The last transmission recorded on the cockpit voice
recorder is someone, probably a hijacker, screaming 'Get out of here. Get out
of here.' Then grunting, screaming and scuffling. Then silence."
"Who
knows where our country would be without the heroes of Flight 93? Where were
those terrorists going to fly the hijacked plane?
The
White House?
Air
Force One?
The
Capitol?
Somehow,
the darkest day in American history could've been worse, officials insist,
without the courage of the people who stormed the cockpit. They saved lives,
even as they lost their own."
Soldiers,
firemen, passengers on an airplane - gave up their lives in a war for the
sacred and God-given right to freedom---gave up their lives for others. That
is what makes the war holy. And that's what makes them true heroes.
I'm telling you these stories because I think
they will shed a new and different light on the third and final Holy
War.
What
war is that? It's a war for something more sacred than freedom, more sacred
than the breath of life itself. It's a Holy War for the hearts and souls of
regular people like you and me. What's at stake for you and me in this
war is not freedom or physical life. What's at stake here is our eternal
destiny.
Romans
5:6-8 tell us: “When we were utterly
helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”[NLT]
You
see, you and I have a problem that puts us in real danger. We are sinners.
We sin. We disobey God, deliberately.
We
lie,
we
steal,
we
use His name as a curse word,
we
dishonor our parents,
we
refuse to acknowledge and worship Him completely with our whole lives,
we
hate instead of loving ... and the list could go on and on.
We're sinners, through and through - every
person in this room, including me. We have turned our back on God and gone our
own way, even in the most trivial of matters.
And
because of that, according to the Bible, we have put an insurmountable distance
between ourselves and God. All of our sins are piled high in the middle, like a
mountain standing in the way. There is no way we can atone for even one sin or
to remove it on our own.
Spiritually speaking, we are in a
war where millions of people are dying every day. We need a hero who will be
willing to make the ultimate sacrifice…who will put his life on the line on
behalf of our spiritual freedom….that we can have and enjoy eternal freedom. We
need a hero who will give up his life so that somebody like us - somebody who
He doesn't even know Him - can live.
Spiritually
speaking, we are trapped on the upper floors of a burning building and we can't
get out on our own. We need a hero who will do something daring and brilliant
and brave, who will charge into harm's way and change the world we live in, who
out of love will enter the fire and lay down his life to rescue us.
Spiritually
speaking, we are in a hijacked airplane about to be crashed. And we can't stop
it. We need a hero who will courageously storm the cockpit and saved our life,
even as He loses his own.
That's
the spiritual reality that describes every one of us because of
the trap of sin,
the deadliness of sin,
the disease of sin.
We
are marked by it. Trapped by it. And
condemned by it. And if something dramatic and heroic doesn't happen, the
separation from God will become eternal.
What
we really need is a Hero who will lead a holy war to rescue us.
And the Bible tells us
that we have one. There is a Hero who has already fought the holy war for you
and me. And not only did He fight it, He won it through the sacrifice of His
life. His name is Jesus.
“God
was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's
sins against them” 2 Corinthians 5:19
[NLT]
God
looked at you and me and the mountain of sin that separated every one of us
from Him - a mountain that we put there - and said, "I love them. I will
do something about this, something they cannot do for themselves. I will
provide a way to remove it and be reconciled to them."
God
sent His Son, Jesus - the Messiah, the Savior, the Christ - to pay for and
atone for our sin. And when He died on the cross, the Father took the weight of
the sin of the entire world and put it on Him. It was so great that Jesus
literally became sin. And when the Father turned his back on Him it
was a judgment of sin. Jesus - God's own Son - was cast away from His Father's
presence.
The
amazing thing is that Jesus chose that
destiny---for us----out of love.
He went to war for us---out of
love
He ran into the fire or us--out of
love.
He charged the cockpit for
us---out of love
He gave up his life for you and
me---out of love.
He is our
hero, but He is not a dead hero. He rose from the dead three days after His
crucifixion, and ascended to Heaven where He is alive today.
So,
what are we to do about this?
The Bible is very
clear.
As
God's partners, we beg you not to reject this marvelous message of God's great
kindness. For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day
of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today
is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 [NLT]
No
rational person would refuse the offer of a soldier who volunteers to go into
battle for them.
No
righted-minded person would refuse the self-sacrifice of a few people so that
hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of others would live.
No
sane person would refuse the help of a fireman who entered a burning building
to save them.
In
the same way, the Bible pleads with us---begs us, "do not reject God's
kindness."
Come
to the point in your life where you stop pretending that you are a good person,
good enough to be accepted by God on your own merits, because you are not.
Come
to the point where you admit the truth - that you are a sinner, that you choose
again and again, in little things and in larger things, to do your own thing in
disobedience to God. And
Come
to the point where you realize that you can do not one thing about the mountain
of sin you have put between you and God.
You
can’t get rid of it.
You
can't cover it up.
You
can't atone for it.
Your
only hope is to turn to Jesus and throw yourself on to His shoulders and let
Him carry you out of the building.
Let
Him save you. He’s the only One Who can!
Amen.