Stop the Cavalry

# Sermon - Stop the Cavalry (2018-12-30)

## A Cold War Christmas

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What comes to mind when you think about the 80s?

For me the 1980s aways seem like a decade in bright neon colours. The decade of big suits, big shoulder pads, and even bigger hair!

Maybe for others, it can be easy to look back on the 80s with nostalgia - a more innocent age before the internet, social media, and fake news.

But the reality is that for many in the UK the 1980s were a time of high unemployment, high inflation, and love 'em or hate 'em politcians.

It was the decade of strikes, the Brighton hotel bombing, and the era when the cold war between Russia and the US reached boiling point.

That last one, the Cold War, seems like something that is largely forgotten today.

Even though the Cold War was something which shot through so many of the songs that get millions of listens on YouTube and Spotify.

Here, let me give you some examples.

- OMD's Enola Gaye is filled with reference to Hiroshima, and the song is even named after the plane that dropped the A-bomb at the end of world war 2.

- Alphaville's pop classic 'forever young' contains the line: "hoping for best but expecting the worst, are they gunna drop the bomb or not?"

- And of course Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two tribes" which feature in the video a parady wrestling match between American President Ronald Reagan and Russia's Konstantin Chern-enko

- There are plenty more too...

- Nina's 99 'Red Balloons',

- Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World",

- and Peter Gabriel's "Games without Frontiers".

All massive 80s pop tracks with this dark undertone of russian/american nuclear threat and a anti-cold war theme.

But maybe the most unlikely sucess was in 1980, when Jona Lewie' Stop the Cavalry. In a 2015 interview with the Gaurdian, Lewie said:

> "I started thinking about the Crimean war and the Light Brigade, about how officers would yell “Charge!” and few of the men who did so would come back. Then I started thinking about other scenarios, like the trenches in both world wars.

> Back then, in the late 1970s and early 80s, the possibility of nuclear war felt very real, so I also penned the line: “Mary Bradley waits at home, in the nuclear fallout zone.”

Clearly, Lewie' lyrics and musical hooks resonated with how british people becuase it sold over 4 million copies,

Which catipulted it to number 3 in the Christmas singles chart. And gave it a place on every christmas compliation album to this day.

But like other Christmas songs in this series, when was the last time you start down to think about the lyrics you've been hearing and humming along to all decemeber long?

Well that's what I'd like us to do, and to do it we are going to compare the themes in Jona Lewie' song to the themes of the Old Testament prophet, Micah who lived some 2,700 years ago.

To do that I'd like us to look at three things:

1. What the song got right - War is never glamerous (v1, 3)

2. What the song got wrong - War is inevitible (v2, Matthew 2:16)

3. What the song is hoping for - War will end (v2, 4-5)

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## War is Never Glamerous

Firstly then, what the song got right. War is never glamorous.

In that same Guardian interview, Jona Lewie talks about the most divisive line of his Christmas hit. The first one. He says:

> "The opening line – “Hey, Mr Churchill comes over here / To say we’re doing splendidly” – wasn’t a dig at Churchill, who was a great leader during the war.

> I just imagined a tired private who was fed up with Churchill forever trying to gee up the troops, who would be shot if they deserted."

Whatever you think of Lewie' poety or his politics, the first verse of Stop the Cavalry captures what is true of all warfare down through the ages. And that is the simple truth that War is Never Glamerous.

Often times, the bible, and especially the Old Testament, is criticised by skeptics and athiests due to the amount war contains.

But I think it is worth pointing out that the Old Testament never glamorises war. It may be written to shock us, or wake us up to the seriousness of sin, but it never delights in human conflict.

Micah's prophecy begins in v1 with a warning of a coming siege, a national invasion.

and jumping in where we are it can be hard to get a handle on what is happening. I'm not sure when you last read Micah, so let me give story so far.

Micah was a prophet, someone who recieves messgages from God, about 700 years before Jesus' was born.

At that time, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the southern Kingdom of Judah, and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. For ease I just call them the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.

And both kingdom's were under threat from the superpower of the day, the Assyrian empire.

Micah speaks to both kingdoms and he does not pull his punches. He targets corruption among the religious elite, corruption in the leaders, and warns that the Assyrians invasion is God's judgement on the nation, and much more.

And in chapter 5:1 & 3 Micah paints a bleak picture. In verse 1 he warns the cities of Northern Kingdom to brace for war. Take a look:

> "Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod."

The assyrian army is on the way and they are going to lay siege to their cities.

Now in those days, seiges could last for weeks, even months as the attacking forces surrounded a city and either tried to break through the defences or simply wait until the citizens ran out of food.

But with the Assyrian army's shock and awe tactics, their advanced technology, and their high trained professional army, they were masters at ending seieges quickly and brutally.

And onces they'd conquoured a region or they usually made an example of its leaders. Which is exactly what happened to the northern kingdom.

The reference to striking the rulers on the cheek at the end of v1 was, in ancient times a way to humiliate your enemy. In those days, for anyone to strike the king would have meant execution.

But so strike an conquoured enemny king in the face was a way of publicily saying to the conquouered people 'we own you, we can do what we like with you and there is nothing you can do about it.'

If that's not bad enough, take a look at v3:

> "Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites."

If you are wondering what on earth that means well you are not alone. It seems that even the brighest and best among the commentators are divided over how to understand this verse.

But however we understand it, one thing is clear, Israel will remain deserted and without king for a really long time.

Like so much of the undercurrent in 80s pop music, and in Stop the Cavalry, Micah's vision of the northern kingdom's future is not glamorous, it is dark, bleak, and seemingly hopeless.

For many of us this idea of war not being glamourous probably seems obvious. War isn't nice yes Liam, what next 'water is wet'?

I've made the point for a good reason, many people my age and below have no personal connect to war or armed conflict.

I know a couple of people who've served in the forces and seen action, but none of them ever wanted to talk about it. I have no living relatives who served in World War 2 and I certainly have no memory of any who served in World War 1.

Granted I have an interesting in Modern European History, especially from the end of the First World War to the fall of the Soviet Union, but it is all book knowledge. I have no personal connection to that time.

Now imagine what it will be like for those in our Sunday school? For many growing up today where does they picture of warfare come from? It comes from computer games.

Games like fortnite, battlefield, call of duty, and others. I'm not saying these games are necessarily bad, but they do have a tedancy to present a glamerised view of war and cheap value to life.

So you've been shot? No probelm, find cover and your health will come back. Oh you've died? No problem you'll soon respawn or be back in next round.

Here's the thing, I've played my fair share of war genre computer games over the years.

So long as you are abiding by the age restrictions, you've thought it through, prayed about it, and have a clear conscience then fine.

I have no problem with you letting your twelve year old play fortnite, or even yourself enjoying a few rounds off Call of Duty when the kids are in bed.

But please take the time to sit down with your twelve year old child, or grandchild, and discuss the message Fortnite is sending about armed conflict and the value of life.

Or take time to consider the vision of war which call of duty is presenting to you every time you pick up your controller.

War might be a multi-million pound cash cow for the global gaming industry, but as Micah reminds us, and as Jona Lewie captures so well in Stop the Calvary, war is never glamorous.

And as the reality of war fades out of living memory, its vital we teach or children and grandchildren that war is not a game.

## War is inevitible (v2; Matthew 2:1-6, 13-18)

>Last Christmas I brought Abi a "Where's Wally? puzzle. It was about 1000 pieces I think, and recreated a famous "where's wally" scene in puzzle form.

>I've never been a huge puzzle fun, but I did enjoy looking for Wally hidden away in a scene full of a Wild West Visual puns.

>I don't know if you ever sat down with a Where's Wally picture, but it is easy to think, "how hard can it been to a fine a man of similar build and look to Liam, in red and white stripy jumper?"

>Well, it turns out, really hard! You can stare for hours at it and not find him, but once you do find him you wonder how you couldn't see it in the first palce. Those in the know tell me that the trick is to remember he is always near the middle of the picture!

>In away, Stop the Calvery is the Wally of our Christmas series. Unlike all the other artists and songs we've looked at so far, Jona Lewie never set out to write a Christmas Song, but an anti-war song.

And when you strip out all the 'Christmassy' sounding bits gone, the only reference to the festive season is the longing of Lewie' soilder "wishing he could be home for Christmas" with his girlfriend whose waiting for him in the "nuclear fallout zone"

But then, the soilder character in the song is not asking for us to 'Stop the calverly' for Christmas like the famous Christmas Truce during World War I.

The Soilder wants to 'stop the calvary' for good. He doesn't want to see an end to war for a day, but forever.

But here's the problem, one's does not 'stop the calavery'. As much as we might, and should, work to foster peace around the world, war is sadly inevitble.

To explain what I mean I want to take you to the place where Micah's prophecy reappears in Matthew 2. No need to turn their, let me summarise the story for you.

IN Matthew 2: 1-18, Matthew records the historical events surrounding the arrival of magi, or wise men from the East.

Guided by a star the wise men arrive in Jerusalem looking for the one 'who has been born' king of the Jews.

Herod the Great who had spent his entire reign styling himself into the King of the Jews didn't like the sound of this at all and so called togather the Jewish leaders in the city asking where this king was supposed to be born.

"the little twon of bethlehem" they reply, quoting him Micah 5:2 from this mornings passage.

Herod then hatches a plot, he asks the wise men to search for this newborn king, and repost the location back to him so that he can worship him too.

The rest of the story is familiar to us. The wise men visit the family, and present Jesus with the three gifts: Gold; incense, and myrrh. Then warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they go back to their country by a different route.

Often times that is where the children's nativity version ends. Because Matthew 2:16 tells us that,

> When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

It's grim reading, Matthew presents us with a historical sketch of a king who is

- power hungry - Herod wants to hold on to the throne no matter what

- He's devious and a manipulative - he spins the wise men a story to get them to do his bidding

- He' i's a liar and outwardly religious - he recognise that the baby is important but has no intention of worshipping him

- he's proud - He is easily angered when other best or embarres him

- He's violent and he abuses power - he uses his own troops to murder children

- He hates God - Whether Herod knew it or not his hatred is directed aginast the Son of God.

But like all the gospel writers, Matthew is as much a theologian as he is a historian. He's not simply tell us about what happened, but also why it matters.

And when we look over that list - power hungry, devious, manipulative, lying, outwardly religious, proud, violent, abusive of power, a hater of God - it reads like one of Paul's sin lists, right?

And for good reason, in the historical plot line Herod represent sinful humanity's natural reaction to God and his king. And it is our natural reaction too.

Look, I'm not saying we'd go as far as Herod. But think about it, every time we sin we reveal that there is a part of us which wants to set the rules, which wants to be king in a way that only Jesus can be.

And this refusal to submit to king Jesus was at the heart of Herod's sin and it is at the heart of ours too.

Our sin reveals that their a conflict, a war, between God and his Kingdom on one side, and Humans and their kingdoms on the other.

But that conflict doesn't just just effect the vertical relatrionship between ourselves and God, it spills out into our horizontal ones too. And not just in the everyday, but also on the world stage.

Think about it, how many wars have been a result of violent, power hungry, devious and manipulative governments who've abused they're powers?

Or leaders who've been too proud to back down, walk away, or turn the other cheek? How many acts of war have be committed by outwardly religious people who inwardly hate God?

The message of "Stop the Cavalry" is similar to the John Lennon song Shaun kicked off the series with. Like Lennon, Jona Lewie says 'War is over, if you want it' all you need to do is stop the cavarly.

But the problem is that war between peoples and nations is an inevitable result of the war with God which is taking place in every human heart.

And as much as we might want it to be otherwise, until the world is at peace with God, we will never have lasting peace with one another.

## What the song is hoping for - War will end (v2, 4-5)

Finally, what the song is hoping for - War will end (v2, 4-5)

On Christmas day, I spent a lot of time listen to the radio. Now I don't know if it was simply God's providence, or whether working on this series made me more attuned to it.

Whatever it was, I was stunned by the amount of overtly Christian songs this otherwise non-religious station were playing.

Modern version of carols like Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World, but also covers of more contemporary songs like 'Mary's Boy Child,' 'When a Child is born' and 'Mary did you know?'.

I also noticed was how so many popular Christmas songs contain longings for genuinely Christian things. So many of them where hoping for 'peace on earth and good will to all men' even if it were only at a Christmas party, or with family and friends.

And same goes for Stop the Cavalry. The final verse of the song contains these lines, listen to this,

> If I get home, live to tell the tale

> I'll run for all presidencies.

> If I get elected I'll stop—

> I will stop the cavalry

Its a powerful picture, right? A human leader becoming the ruler of every nation and bringing in a new age of peace. Sounds good.

Well the reason it sounds so attractive is because Jona Lewie is unknowning communicate a bibical desire that stands at the very heart of Christmas.

Take another look at Micah 5 with me. v2 doesn't simply tell us where Jesus would be born so that the wise men would know how to find him it also tells us what he will be like.

- Since Bethlehem is the family home of King David, this king would the promised heir to king David's throne.

- He will be "the ruler of Israel". Often in the prophets words like Israel, Judah, Zion, they're more than just places. They are biblcal shorthand for all God's people. So this king would be the ruler of all God's people (wherever they happen to be)

- But he is more than that his "origins are from old, from ancients times" or "from the days of enternity" as other translations put it.

Clearly, through Micah God is promising his people more than just a human ruler would come for them, he is promising that he would come for them.

And of course that is exactly what he did 700 years later in the birth of Jesus.

But let's keep moving, Micah still has more to say. In v4-5 he tells us that is king,

> He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

> And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.

Unlike Herod, unlike human leaders throughout history, and unlike the leaders in Micah' day, this King Jesus would be a sherpherd king.

He would guide and protect his people, leading them into time and place where they can live securely, and in peace, in a kingdom that would spread over all the earth.

Micah wants us to see that Jesus would not only be the priomised King and the God-king, he'd also be the king of kings.

Both Micah and Jona Lewie are longing for a day when a human king would rise up, stop the calvary for one and for all.

But that is where the similarities end, Stop the Cavalry looks forward wishfull thinking trust in politics to bring peace. Micah points us to a real event in history, to the Lord Jesus who would be their peace.

You see Christians are called to wisely engage in the political system, voting not along party lines but along biblcal values and as conscience allows.

But unlike the rest of the world that is not only best hope for peace in the world. Our hope for peace in the world is in the one who brought us peace with God.

So exactly did Jesus bring us peace with God. He does it through the cross. The cross is God's peace offering to his enemies.

Its his way of saying, "You are my enemies, you should face justice. but instead my son is going to face that justice for you so that you can become my sons and daughters."

ON the cross Jesus took the punishment for our sins so that we could have peace with God. You see, through his death and return to life, Jesus isn't a way peace with God, he is our peace with God.

But is doesn't stop there. As we come to know Jesus, the peace we have with God starts to overflow into our relationships with others.

Long standing grudges are let go of, broken friendship, families, and marriages a repaired. Old hurts are forgiven and allowed to heal.

The amazing truth of Jesus death and resurrection is that as we share the gospel with others, and they place their trust in Jesus, then the Holy SPirit is at work 'stopping the calvary' one human heart at a time.

As they find forgiveness and new life in Christ they find peace with God, a peace that overflows into the relationships and interactions with others. And so God's kingdom of peace spreads throughout the world.

But more than that we look forward to the day when Jesus will return to 'stop the cavalry' once and for all. When he returns he will right every wrong and bring all of history's herod's to justice.

On that day their will be peace with God and between humans on the earth forever.

To to put it another way, Jesus isn't one way to have lasting peace on earth, he is the only way to have peace on earth.

But that peace is only for those who have turned from their sin and trusted in Jesus as their saviour. For those who don't, their personal war on God will continue forever, without end in hell.

At Christmas we remember that Jesus is our peace. He was born to "stop the cavalry" both between God and humans, and around the world.

## Stop the Cavalry

IN our series, suffle Christmas Songs we've been looking at popular Christmas songs and seeing how they point to something which finds it true expression in the good new of Jesus.

Today we rounded off the series with Jona Lewie's "Stop the Cavalry". A song that reminds us that War is never glamourous.

Somnething which is important to teach our children and grandchildren as the realaity of war fades from living memory.

However, "Stop the Cavalry" fails to see that war is not a problem with politics but a problem with people.

Humanity is at war with God and that war spills over into human life whether on a personal or national level.

But it is also a song that long for a day when a new leader will emerge to bring in a era of peace and security.

Today Micah has shown us that this king as already come in the Lord Jesus. The Jesus who came, not to bring peace, but came to _be_ our peace through his death on the crosss.

And will one day return bring a new world and an eternal peace for all who trust in him.

Where's your peace today? With 2019 ahead of you, where are you look for peace?

Find it in the Lord Jesus the one who was born to be our peace.

Let's pray.