Introduction: This past Tuesday Marty Riley our CAC Director came to me and said that the BSU team that had cleaned out the Racquet ball room had found some things that maybe we didn't want to throw away. I asked him what they were and he said, "Well there is this frame with all these names on a board that I think they may have fought in the war." We went over and looked at it and here it is…As you can see it is an Honor Roll of those who have served from this church during WWII. Some on the roll died in combat others died since then but there are many who are still living and very much a part of this congregation. From what we were able to find out the board hung in the foyer and was removed very likely during one of the remodelings of the sanctuary.

I know that over time things like this are forgotten and put away. They no longer hold the significance for us that they once did. For that reason we have this day called Memorial Day. We use a day to help us recall the sacrifice of those who have died in combat in the service of their country. Keeping the memory of sacrifice alive, especially for our generation, isn't easy.

Jesus knew that his disciples and those who would come after them would have difficulty remembering His sacrifice. So to help us remember he established a meal: The Lord's Supper. The meal that He shared with his disciples was to begin a memorial tradition for all time. Yet like this Honor Roll our remembrance can become neglected and dusty. We can allow His death for us to become something we think we deserve rather than something undeserved. Just as the sacrifice of those who have served our nation in conflict should be recalled on Memorial Day there are certain things that we are to remember whenever we share the Lord’s Supper. What are we to remember?

Listen, before we think that the death of Christ was some thing that He owed you and me Paul says remember how desperate we all really were. Have you forgotten? Did you forget that you used to be like that and you couldn't do anything about it? You have in verse 3 another one of those lists that Paul loves to give that defines the universal and comprehensive depth of human fallenness. All of us were like that. Paul himself was a blasphemer, he says in 1 Timothy 1, and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor, but he did it ignorantly in unbelief. As if to say, I did it because I didn't know any better.

Yet in spite of that God initiated our salvation. Why? Verse 4 says, "When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared." The initiative is with God. He came into the world showing His kindness and His love in the incarnation in Christ. He saved us. Again it was at His initiation. Not on the basis of something which we had done which was righteous and therefore earned, but according to His mercy.

When the kindness, verse 4 says, of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, what a great statement. Salvation is rooted in the love of God. Ephesians 2 talks about the great love wherewith He has loved us. That is why He gave us Christ. It is in God's kindness and God's love that our salvation resides. It is God our Savior, verse 10 of chapter 2, it is Christ our Savior, verse 6 of chapter 3, it all originates with Him. His love appeared. His kindness appeared and He saved us. It is God who is the rescuer. God came down and rescued us. All this is in spite of what I am apart from Christ. Apart from Him I would never be anything other than knowing the total separation of my sin. He loved me in spite of what I could never be.

Verse 5 says simply, "He saved us..." Those three words take us to the cross and the resurrection. And He did it not on the basis of deeds that we have done. We didn't deserve our salvation. We didn't deserve our transformation. Our deliverance from sin, death and hell was purely the result of God's love and God's kindness alone, nothing in us was worthy, we made no contribution to His plan, we made no contribution to His choice, we made no contribution to His work of salvation. He looked at us in pity and compassion and love and mercy and saved us. We deserved wrath. We received forgiveness. We are undeserving, we received what we do not earn. In fact, His mercy was uninfluenced and His grace was absolutely spontaneous.

One of the hardest things for humans to give up is our feeling that somehow we can earn our way into God’s favor. That somehow at the end of things that the balance sheets will be tallied and because of all I have done that is good it will negate all that I’ve done that is bad. Grace doesn’t work that way. We are not the ones who get to decide the value of our actions that are good or the shades of the darkness of our sin. So God saves us knowing we could never earn or do enough to merit His salvation. In spite of what I could never do He has rescued me eternally.

We foolishly think that we can overcome any obstacle to our desires. If we decide to change our habits or our attitudes then we can simply make those adjustments. The truth is that we discover just how helpless we are to change. Still we think when it comes to my sin that if I want to quit doing something then I can just quit. I won’t be prideful anymore. I won’t allow jealousy to control me. I won’t be greedy or lust starting now. And we fail.

Paul says that even though we could never change ourselves, removing the stains of our sin and our shame: He washed us. The agent of washing is the Word, He regenerated us...that's speaking about the new birth, He renewed us. All of that really looks at the same event, we were washed, that's one way to look at salvation, it's the cleansing of sin. We were regenerated, that's another way to look at salvation, it's new birth, new life. Then we were renewed, that's another way to look at the same event. We came out of that experience in newness of life, now living life on a completely different level.

What we could never change he has changed. I am clean. I am new. I am reborn. I am free.

The WWII generation was a generation that knew what poverty was because of the depression. They returned after the war to insure that their children would never face the hardships and struggles that they knew. The technology, economy and wealth that we are so accustomed to came as a result of their sacrifice and determination. Many of those of my generation are now inheriting the wealth of their parent’s generation. They didn’t earn it but it is theirs because they are the children of their parents.

Paul describes the riches that are ours because of our being the child of our heavenly Father. The words he uses describe it being done in a lavish fashion, " poured out upon us richly…". All of that speaks of radical transformation initiated by God not according to anything we've done, we were radically transformed and then we were infused with the Holy Spirit who was poured out on us richly. We were then made right with God through all of that, verse 7 says, and became joint heirs with Christ in the hope of eternal life. We were poverty stricken spiritually. Yet He has made us eternally wealthy and it is all because of His grace.

Conclusion: Max Lucado retells the story of the moment the decision had been made to carry out the allied invasion of Europe.

"The troops had been deployed and the battleships were on their way. Nearly three million soldiers were preparing to slam against Hitler's Atlantic wall in France. D-Day was set in motion. Responsibility for the invasion fell squarely on the four-starred shoulders of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The general spent the night before the attack with the men of the 101st Airborne. They called themselves The Screaming Eagles. As his men prepared their planes and checked their equipment, Ike went from soldier to soldier offering words of encouragement. Many of the flyers were young enough to be his sons. He treated them as if they were. A correspondent wrote that as Eisenhower watched the C-47s take off and disappear into the darkness, his hands were sunk deeply into his pockets and his eyes were full of tears.

The general then went to his quarters and sat at his desk. He took a pen and paper and wrote a message--a message which would be delivered to the White House in the event of a defeat.

It was as brief as it was courageous. "Our landings ... have failed ... the troops, the Air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches itself to the attempt it was mine alone."

It could be argued that the greatest act of courage that day was not in a cockpit or foxhole, but at a desk when the one at the top took responsibility for the ones below. When the one in charge took the blame--even before the blame needed to be taken.

Rare leader, this general. Unusual, this display of courage. He modeled a quality seldom seen in our society of lawsuits, dismissals, and divorces. Most of us are willing to take credit for the good we do. Some are willing to take the rap for the bad we do. But few will assume responsibilities for the mistakes of others. Still fewer will shoulder the blame for mistakes yet uncommitted.

Eisenhower did. As a result, he became a hero.

Jesus did. As a result, He's our Savior.

Before the war began, He forgave. Before a mistake could be made, forgiveness was offered. Before blame could be given, grace was provided.

The one at the top took responsibility for the ones at the bottom."

Tomorrow we remember those who have taken the responsibility for us and given their all. In this meal we remember the one who gave Himself for us while we were at the bottom of our sinfulness. Loved, saved, changed and rich all of that we remember in a piece of bread and a small cup of juice-the Body and the Blood.

Who you could never be--He loved you.

What you could never do--He saved you.

What you could never change--He changed you.

What you could never gave--He gave all for you...

Sunday, May 28, 2000

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

[email protected]