Uncommon Faith (Part 1)

Introduction

History of Memorial Day

Next weekend we will celebrate “Memorial Day.” As you know, Monday is actually the day of celebration, but far too often Memorial Day is remembered more as a long weekend that announces the arrival of summer than it is a somber occasion to reflect on those who gave their lives for us to enjoy the freedoms that we have.

Have you ever thought about how “Memorial Day” came to be? Well, let’s look at a brief history of the holiday.

When the Civil War ended in the spring of 1865, it had claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history. As a result of this great conflict our country established the country’s first group of national cemeteries.

By the late 1860’s, before the official end of the Civil War, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless number of fallen soldiers, by decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

While we don’t really know exactly where these tributes began, we do know that one of the earliest records of such a tribute was organized by a group of former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865.

Next, on May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance to be held later in that month. He proclaimed “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

General Logan called the day Decoration Day, and picked May 30th as the day, because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

Despite these records the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day in 1966.

Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

“Decoration Day” gradually became known as “Memorial Day.” In the early days it only honored those who lost their lives while fighting in the Civil War. However, during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War I and II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day to be a federal holiday.

World War II

Wars have had a profound impact on our nation. Many times our country has worked to stay out of world conflicts, but inevitably those conflicts are brought to us. This was the case with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, nearly 83 years ago.

That event along with the ensuing war produces what many regard as “The Greatest Generation.” Men and women, military personnel and civilians all made sacrifices in order to conquer the enemies of our nation.

Yet, years earlier in Germany, a heinous power was rising to power, right under the nose of German churches. Many theologians, scholars, and intellectuals kept silent as they watched the eradication of the “sick and so called incurables.” In a self-exposing poem, Martin Niemöller shared his guilt (and the guilt of the German church) with the world. The National Holocaust Museum has part of the poem inscribed to remind us to guard our freedoms carefully. Niemöller wrote:

“First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Martin Niemöller

Niemöller made confession in his speech for the Confessing Church in Frankfurt on January 6, 1946. Allow me to read a portion of that speech this morning.

... the people who were put in the camps then were Communists. Who cared about them? We knew it, it was printed in the newspapers. Who raised their voice, maybe the Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, those opponents of religion, those enemies of Christians—"should I be my brother's keeper?" Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the middle [of society]? Only then did the church as such take note. Then we started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can we say, we aren't guilty/responsible? The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written in the newspapers. ... I believe, we Confessing-Church-Christians have every reason to say: mea culpa, mea culpa! We can talk ourselves out of it with the excuse that it would have cost me my head if I had spoken out. We preferred to keep silent. We are certainly not without guilt/fault, and I ask myself again and again, what would have happened, if in the year 1933 or 1934—there must have been a possibility—14,000 Protestant pastors and all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000 Communists in the concentration camps, in order to let them die. I can imagine that perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 Protestant Christians would have had their heads cut off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued 30–40,000 million [sic] people, because that is what it is costing us now.

There is a well known German theologian who did take a stand against the atrocities that were going on in Germany, and the young, eloquent theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in a Nazi prison camp just days before the Allied Forces liberated the camp.

Today

Today Christians find themselves in a battle that is strikingly similar to the battle that the German church faced in the 1930’s.

Today, we are in a cultural battle. The culture seeks to silence everyone who come against its ideas, values, opinions, and feelings. And today we are at a cross road. We can take our stand and risk the anger, and venom of the culture. Or we can seek to make the gospel appealing to the culture by making our God conform to the culture’s ideals.

Isaiah experienced conflict with the culture of his day. In Isaiah 5, Isaiah records the words that God spoke to Israel. God spoke these words in a place where Isaiah could hear what He had to say. God ends up giving Israel a series of “woes” or warnings.

Today we live in a culture that truly desires to be their own god! Just like Isaiah’s day, our culture wants to get rid of God’s rules, and define the rules of life for themselves.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Isaiah 5 and we’ll begin with verse 11.

Isaiah 5:11 NIV

Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.

God’s Woes

Woe to those who chase after their drinks all day long (v. 11a). These are people are chasing after everything kind of pleasure they can find—nothing is off limits. If that doesn’t describe our world today I don’t know what does.

Woe to those who stay up late at night drinking and becoming drunk (v. 11b). God is reinforcing the idea that humans have a desire to lose themselves in sensuality.

Isaiah 5:12 NIV

They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.

Woe to those who party too much (v. 12a).

Woe to those who have no regard for the deeds of the Lord (v. 12b).

This verse reinforces the fact that humans pursue every kind of sensual pleasure they can find!

Isaiah 5:20 NIV

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil (v. 20a).

Woe to those who make darkness light, and light darkness (v. 20b).

Woe to those who call bitter sweet, and sweet for bitter (v. 20c).

Once again, this warning is applicable to our culture today. Look at the culture today—it seems like everything that God says is “good” the world says is “evil.” And the things that God says is “evil” the world tries to make it out to be “good.”

We see this in marriage. We see it in God’s gift of life—the life of a child. We see it in sexuality as humans try to redefine what a man and a woman is. We see in sensuality as people seek after happiness above all else! Truly verse 20 describes the culture in which we live.

But God doesn’t stop there. Look at verse 21.

Isaiah 5:21 NIV

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

Woe to those who in believe they are wise (v. 21a).

And Woe to those who believe they are clever—or have understanding (v. 21b).

If I had a dime for every time someone tried to convince me I was weak, or even ridiculous for believing in the Bible I could have retired years ago! People today think trusting in God is foolish.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul said:

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What about you? Is the Bible foolishness, or is it the power of your salvation.

Isaiah 5:22 NIV

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,

Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine and mixed drinks. God warns those who try to substitute all the world has to offer for what He can offer.

Solomon wrote:

Proverbs 16:25 NIV

There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Let me ask you a question—what path are you following?

Isaiah 5:23 NIV

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.

Woe to those who accept a bribe to let the guilty go free (v. 23a).

And Woe to those who deny justice to those who are innocent (v. 23b).

Throughout Scripture, God has always desired His people to care about justice. Especially for justice for the unfortunate. As He spoke to Isaiah, God reminds His people that there is NO room for those who would chase after a bribe instead of justice.

So What

It is time for followers of Jesus to stand up for what is right. Regardless, of what it costs.

Today, it is time for followers of Jesus to risk being silenced, jeered, slandered, and even assaulted for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Today it is time for followers of Jesus to encourage the culture to come back to absolute morality—the absolute morality that is found in God’s Word.

Right must once again be right and evil must once again be seen as evil!

Humans have always loved darkness because their deeds are evil (Jn. 3:19). And we must stand against that evil.