To Die For

What would you be willing to die for?  When we look back through history, we’ll see that a bunch of different people have been willing to die for a lot of different things.  Many, many people have died for the idea of freedom.  We have some favorites of those – those who fought in the Revolutionary War and World War II, for example.  Some people have given their lives to help their family/friends/countrymen have a better chance of winning a battle – the men at the Alamo, the soldiers of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts (the unit the movie Glory was based on) and the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae (the movie 300 is supposed to based on them).  There are also lots and lots of people who have been willing to die because of their religious beliefs – for example, the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, the Waldensees, Joan of Arc, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. 

Now, we may not agree with all these folks, in fact, we may be diametrically opposed to what they believe in, but they all believed with all their hearts in something that was so important to them that they would give their lives for that cause.  Truly, if any one of these people had had any tiny germ of doubt, he (or she) would not have gone through with it. The truth is, nobody dies for a lie, not if they know it’s a lie, anyway.

Ya know, we’ve talked before about the accuracy of the prophecies leading up to Christ.  But here we can go even further.  What if all of that WAS just coincidence?  What if it WAS a huge hoax?  Once Christ had died, the movement would have fallen apart.  It’s not like these apostles were really, really brave guys.  They all ran off at the first sign of trouble.  They hid in their houses for fear of the Roman guards.  If the Resurrection were a lie, everything would have ended right there, but it wasn’t and it didn’t.

When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, everything changed.  For the disciples, it was a life transforming moment.  In that instant, each disciple knew that everything that Jesus had said was true and, as far as we know, he didn’t waver after that.

 “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:  to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days,…And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” Acts 1:1-3,9 KJV

The apostles believed what they saw and what they had experienced so strongly that from that moment on, they went willingly wherever God led them.  And their lives weren’t any easier from then on either.  They were chased and persecuted for the rest of their lives.  Just in the book of Acts we get a little taste of how things went for them:

“…the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. …But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:1-3,17,18 KJV
“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.” Acts 5:17-18
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.  And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.  Peter therefore was kept in prison:…” Act 12:1-5

Do you think these guys would have put up with this if they were not 100% convinced of the truth of the Messiah and the resurrection of Jesus?  How long do you think they would have continued to perpetrate a lie or a hoax once they were faced with imprisonment, brutality and death?  You know, a lot of people have even denied the truth they knew to escape those things.  No one would die for a lie!

According to a gentlemen named Grant R. Jeffrey in his book The Signature of God says:

“…history reveals that not one of these men, who knew Jesus personally, ever denied their testimony about Him despite the threat and reality of imminent death.  This proves to any fair-minded observer that these men possessed an absolute unshakable personal knowledge about the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”

Mr. Jeffrey goes on to tell what is believed to be the fate of each of the apostles according to a church historian called Schumacher.

>         Matthew was killed by a sword wound in Ethiopia.

>     Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt by horses until he was dead.

>         Luke was preaching in Greece until he was hanged.

>       John was the only apostle who died of old age…but not because no one tried.  At one point John was boiled in oil in Rome.  He was unharmed.

>         Peter was crucified upside down at his own request.  He said he was not worthy to die the same way Jesus did.

>         James was thrown down from the pinnacle of the church in Jerusalem.  He fell over 100 feet.  When they discovered that he had survived the fall, he was beaten to death.

>         James (John’s brother) was beheaded in Jerusalem.  According to this account, the Roman guard was so amazed to watch James defend his faith that he declared his own faith and knelt beside James to be beheaded for being a Christian as well.

>         Bartholomew was in Armenia when he was whipped to death.

>    Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece after being whipped.  According to his story, he survived for two days and preached about Jesus the whole time.

>         Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India.

>         Jude, Jesus’ brother, was killed with arrows.

>         Matthias was stoned and beheaded.

>         Barnabas was stoned to death in Salonica.

>         Paul was tortured and beheaded by Nero in Rome after he had spent a long time in prison

These men didn’t become rich or powerful by saying they were followers of Christ and that they knew He was alive.  They gained nothing for sticking to their story.  In fact, they died because they refused to give up what they knew was the truth.

Is there anything that you believe in so strongly that you would die rather than give it up?  I believe we’re all going to have to answer that question for ourselves before Jesus comes to take us to Heaven.  If we’ve been living with compromise, will we be able to take that stand when the time comes? 

What would you be willing to die for?

Stand Up

Ya know, I can think of two very different kinds of heroes. The first is the fireman who runs into a burning building or the soldier who throws himself on top of a grenade and saves the lives of his buddies. (I’m using the generic “he” here, meaning he or she.) It takes someone special to be that kind of hero, someone who is brave, loyal, and impulsive. His parents probably said over and over again, “Doesn’t that child think before he acts?” And the answer is, probably not. That’s part of why he is able to do what he does. I could never be that kind of a hero. I’d look at that grenade and think, “Ooh, I bet that would hurt.” And then step behind the nearest tree. The people who can act instantly and purposefully and accomplish what others could not or would not do are amazing and necessary people. God has given them each a truly special gift.

There is another type of hero, though. This is the person who after careful and thoughtful planning makes the move that almost always leads, if not to death, then to general unpleasantness. History books are full of these kinds of heroes.

If you were raised in Texas, more specifically, San Antonio, you’ve heard the story of the Battle of the Alamo thousands of times. Whatever historians say about their motives, those men believed in something so strongly that they stayed and fought, knowing how it would end. I also think of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the guys the book/movie, Glory, was written about. They were the first black regiment formed in the Civil War. If you don’t know the story, rent the movie. What a story of courage. You can probably think of others. I’d be interested in hearing about them.

The Bible also has stories of men and women who believed in something so strongly that they were willing to accept whatever consequences came. Think about Stephen. He stood before the Pharisees and, in the face of false witnesses, spoke calmly and with the authority of truth, knowing all the while exactly what would happen when he stopped talking. If I were in his situation, I think I would have just kept talking…like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Then I thought of Samson, after he was captured and blinded, performing his last feat of strength knowing that he would be killed along with the Philistines. The Apostles and all the early Christians knew that believing in Christ as the Messiah could get them killed in some hideously painful ways.

Jesus, himself, falls into that category. He knew before He created us that He would end up giving His life for us. And He created us anyway. Can you imagine?

How do we get to the point where we can choose to stand bravely for what we believe in no matter what it costs us? I’m not sure I know. I think that we have to start by making little, seemingly insignificant choices along the way. Then “the big choice” is one more in a long line of choices that have now formed the foundations for our lives. Sometimes, though, the day-to-day choices we make just don’t seem that important, and maybe most of them aren’t. But how will we know which ones are the important ones?

Think about it, how often do we choose to watch TV or study our Sabbath School lesson or read something that will bring us closer to Christ? Do we hold back a little tithe and/or offering because we’re a little short this month? Do we choose to sleep in Sabbath morning, or come to Sabbath School? One by one, these choices don’t seem like that big a deal. The world won’t stop if we choose to sleep in next Sabbath morning. What difference do little choices like these make in the long run. Well, read through this e-mail I got just today. (What a coincidence.) Now whoever started this e-mail claims it is true and happened at USC. Whether it really happened or not, I think it will illustrate the importance of building on a solid foundation of choosing God.

There was a professor of philosophy [at USC], who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester proving that God couldn’t exist. His students were afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. Some had argued with him in class from time to time, but no one had ever really gone head to head in a debate with him because of his reputation. On the last day of every semester, he would say to his class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up! If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can’t do it.” And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. No one ever challenged him. Maybe most of the students agreed with him, but certainly, a number of Christians had to have slipped through…quietly, without drawing any attention to them selves. For twenty years, they had all been too afraid to stand up.

Finally, a freshman came along who was a Christian. He had heard the stories of about this professor, and he was afraid. Every morning for that whole semester, he prayed that he would have the courage to stand up, no matter what the professor said or the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith…he hoped.

Finally, the last day of class came. The professor walked to the front of the class and said, “Is there anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, “You FOOL!!! If God existed, He would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground.” He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off the toe his shoe. From there it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. Three hundred students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of His power through Jesus.

Will you …