Brave Because of Jesus

Veterans Day 2021 -

Also formerly known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, remembering November 11, 1918…and in other countries, this day is also known by those names. Marked the end of WWI. There is some very cool history about that day and time period. But ultimately it was an end to a long battle between nations. We call this day Veteran’s Day now…It is called Armistice Day in other countries and Remembrance Day in yet others. It is set aside as a day to remember both the end result, an end to the fighting - peace, but also to remember how that we got to that place in history…because of many who bravely and courageously fought for others. To think less about themselves and more about those around them. 4 years before that day, on Christmas, soldiers from both sides of the fight laid down their weapons to sing carols together, play soccer with homemade balls, and take photos with each other. Through all of this, we see glimpses of the human heart. The possibility of laying aside outside influences for peace…and the fight for life as well. In both situations…either laying weapons down…or standing ready to fight…both take the heart posture of bravery and courage.

Today we’re going to be looking at bravery…courage. And we’ll be building on what we talked about last week. Last week we looked at the idea of how helpless we are. Helpless in light of our eternal life and in light of our ability to walk with the spirit day to day.

Because of our sin and our sinful nature, we can’t heal ourselves, we can’t obtain forgiveness ourselves, we can’t be good enough to get back to God like it was in the beginning. Not only that but there is an end-game to life as well…and there’s a judgment between life forever with God or eternity apart from God. We needed a savior. Jesus.

And through Him, we have so many things given to us. Forgiveness, Eternal life with God, God’s spirit living with our spirit daily. Those are just a few. But in those, what we have is security and Hope.

This hope is not based on a wish but it is a hope based on Christ’s empty grave. Amen?

And if our Hope is secure…that secure…we can trust that we are being remade, recreated from the inside out, made new, reborn, to begin to live life, that full life Jesus talks about.

John 10:10 records Jesus’ words, the enemy comes to steal your life…I came to give it back to you. In other words, Jesus came to wipe away our sin that separates us from Him and give us new eyes and ears and hearts to see and live in reality....reality. Not the lies that Satan has used to keep power over us.

So…with all that said, Jesus came to give us security, Hope, God’s promise....so that we can be brave and to have courage to face each and every day. Paul said to do your best to live according to God’s will because the days are evil…and from what scripture says, it looks like we’re going to need bravery and courage to face each day.

So thinking about veteran’s day, I think we have a picture of bravery. What that might look like. I think we have an idea about courage.

In the old testament, if you look up the term bravery, you’ll find that word used mostly in terms of battle and soldiers and the like.

When you get into the New Testament, you see that word used a bit less but the words bold or courage are used much more. There are less references to bravery or courage with actual battles or war, but the Greek words that carry the idea of courage are used much more in terms of living as a follower of Christ…being the church in tough times. So we’re going to think a bit about why we can be brave.

If you want to read along that’s fine but I’d like to just read to you a rather lengthy passage from Paul. A bit later we’ll read another passage from Paul when he’s in a different situation of life…but I think we’ll see that his courage and bravery did not change even though his circumstances did.

We’re going to be in the book of Romans 8:28-39 ...

So what did you hear in there that pertained to a secure hope and bravery and courage.

If Jesus did all that he did, “If God is for us...”

“Who can bring an accusation against us...”

“What can separate us from the love of Jesus?”

“We are more than conquerors...”

Now… let's jump back to our words…brave/courage.

Think about this…just the words brave or courage.

What are the reasons we have the words “bravery” and “courage?”

Let’s look at this a slightly different way. The words bravery and courage wouldn’t exist if there weren’t things such as fear, hesitation, self-preservation, worry, weakness, difficulty, risk. I don’t think those words would even exist.

Someone once said that “to act with courage means to follow a particular course of action in spite of any natural feelings.”

…Sometimes we need bravery and courage to overcome the inner-self that would prevent us from following God.

That would be for sure an internal type of battle right?

Charles Sheldon who introduced the phrase “what would Jesus do” said this, “If Jesus’ example is the example for the world to follow, then it is certainly feasible to do so. We need to remember this one great fact. After we have asked the spirit to tell us what Jesus would do and we’ve received an answer to it, we are to act regardless of the results to ourselves.

Be brave because of Jesus.

Said another way, “Why be brave? Because our Hope is secure!

Some examples from accounts in history:

Moses - asked by God to confront the king of Egypt…the Pharoah. The most powerful person on the planet after first saying No to God …risk, fear, low self-esteem. What did Moses come to a decision on?

David - The battle with Goliath. Weaker, smaller, younger....but what did David know?

Daniel - There was a law written to not pray to anyone but the King. He still prayed…the king was his friend and he prayed knowing there was a personal risk to his life. What did he understand to be true?

Mary prayed that she didn’t understand why she was chosen to be pregnant with the Christ child…but she simply replied to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant…may it be to me as you have said.” She faced ridicule and a bad name. What was her mindset?

Peter jumped out of the boat when Jesus said, “go for it!” What was he thinking? Well, I’d say something completely different than the other eleven who were still in the boat. For one minute he realized something…what was that one thing?

Paul - did a literal 180 within days of pursuing Christians to have them thrown in jail or worse. After…in his words…he met the Jesus…alive from the dead...He turned and then began telling everyone, with tact and strategy, that there is great news he has come to realize. And when he did this there were some who wanted his head. Where did he get his motivation? What did he know?

These and others came to a point of decision…to do something…based on truth…what is true and good. They were brave…they had courage. They weren’t perfect by any means. But we have accounts of when they pulled through because of the truth of Jesus and their hope in Him.

Bravery....Courage.

We use those words for people who have had to make hard, or selfless decisions…or we might use them for a person who is making a decision that counters what they’ve previously done.

So with Veterans Day, we would use these words for people have going into training for potential battle...where they may be called on to be completely selfless.

We may also use this word for a person who is say coming out of alcoholism and is not giving in to their cravings anymore. They in a sense are fighting what would be easy. They are fighting the fear of doing something better…because better means change…pulling away from decisions that lead to destruction…ultimately less life. They are not giving into themselves…they are doing what is right.

In the operating room of a large hospital, a young nurse was completing her first full day of responsibilities. "You've only removed 11 sponges, doctor," she said to the surgeon. "We used 12."

"I removed them all," the doctor declared. "We'll close the incision now."

"No," the nurse objected. "We used 12 sponges."

"I'll take full responsibility," the surgeon said grimly. "Suture!"

"You can't do that!" blazed the nurse. "Think of the patient."

The surgeon smiled, lifted his foot, and showed the nurse the 12th sponge. "You'll do," he said.

She continued to speak knowing the risk she might be under.

It might also be the teenager in school who’s with a group of people talking a certain way or making wrong choices. They might have voiced their opinions before but now bravery might look like walking away.

Bravery and courage. It looks like …with all of the encouragement to be transformed…not to conform. To Follow the disciple’s example…to follow Jesus’ example…Paul writes over and over, encouraging his readers to make good and right decisions that would please God. Ultimately this looks like following God’s spirit.

Question…if we followed God’s spirit 100% of the time do you think things would go much better for us?

If this was going to be easy, living for God, I don’t think we would have this idea of being brave and courageous all throughout scripture. So really…this is about a battle, isn’t it? Paul wrote to the Ephesian church that we are in a battle…and it is very much a spiritual one. There are forces that are against us. Bravery …courage

Yes…we are called to be brave and courageous…to do the hard things for ourselves and for others. And there’s a reason.

Paul writes in another part of Scripture…that we, as a church family, are now in the ministry of reconciliation. He wrote that to the church in Corinth. He writes in 2 Corinthians 5: 20 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…just as though God were making His appeal to the world through us.”

Our bravery to follow the spirit shows. It will be evident. And when it shows, when people notice…it will beg the question, “Why do you live the way you do?”

You know where that goes, “Because of Jesus.” What we talked about last week. Because our Hope is secure in Him.

Do you want to be more brave? More Courageous to live ? Believe in Christ and ask for His spirit to guide you.

I heard someone once say that we’re not bodies with a spirit, we’re spiritual beings with a body. God’s spirit wants to get as close as he can to our spirit to help us live well, to make awesome decisions so we both see “new life” in oursevles and shine His light to others.