This message is an edited version of a sermon given at Loving God Fellowship. Copyright © 2008 Loving God Fellowship, Inc. http://www.LovingGodFellowship.org . You are encouraged to share this message with those you know that are hungry for God’s Word.
A Cause Worth Dying For
By Rev. Greg Johnson
Matthew 5:10-12
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday was on Tuesday of this week, January 15th. Tomorrow, we will celebrate his life as a national holiday. I’ve been pumped this week as I’ve been thinking about what this one person did to make a difference in our world. Was he persecuted? Yes, it even cost him his life.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my heroes. This year in our city, Jon Strauhal, a young man that is a law student at Willamette University, organized a 5k run and one mile walk in honor of Dr. King. I ran the 5k yesterday, My wife Becky and daughter Kelsey did the one mile walk and Salem Campus LGFer Gina Harris did the run. We all are wearing our race tee shirts today. I thanked Jon after the race for what he had done in organizing this first year event and I told him that Loving God Fellowship would commit to sponsoring the event next year and in the years ahead as this becomes an annual event for our city. And hopefully, we will have more LGFers participating next year. Who knows, through it, God may rise up another Martin Luther King that will make a difference in our day. We need more Martin Luther King’s in our day. We need more Jon Strauhal’s in our day.
Our city’s paper, The Statesman Journal, had the following story that was published Friday, January 18, 2008:
Area honors Dr. King’s vision
Equal rights still a work in progress, director says
By THELMA GUERRERO-HUSTON
January 18, 2008
His impassioned speech changed the course of the nation, with 250,000 Americans -- black and white -- on hand to demand equal rights for people of color and an end to legal segregation.
Nearly 45 years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, area residents prepare to honor King’s life and work with a number of events.
At A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village, volunteers and staff on Monday will draw on King’s dream of a united, multiracial nation by teaching children about Oregon’s diverse cultures.
"It’s important to teach children to accept people for who they are and for them to know that all cultures are worthy of respect," said Kim Baldwin, the museum’s assistant director.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day set aside by the federal government to mark King’s birthday.
King was born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, and his name became synonymous with the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
King advocated nonviolence, and some of his most noteworthy battles were the Montgomery bus boycott, the Birmingham campaign and the Selma March in Alabama, and the march on Washington, D.C.
His targets primarily were the underlying poverty, unemployment, lack of education and blocked avenues of economic opportunity confronting people of color.
King was assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.
That same day, then-U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., spearheaded legislation for a national holiday to commemorate the slain civil-rights leader.
After intense resistance from extreme conservatives and several Southern states, the bill languished until it was signed into law in 1983 by President Reagan.
First celebrated in 1986, the holiday is held on the third Monday in January.
Films, music, inspirational speakers and volunteer projects are on tap this weekend and throughout next week in celebration of King’s life.
As part of the celebration, Willamette University’s Multicultural Institute on Saturday will host "Stride Toward Freedom," a 5K run/walk event.
"Some people say we’ve come a long way since Dr. King’s fight for equal rights," said Gordy Toyama, the institute’s director. "But it’s really still a work in progress."
When I read the story, I immediately went to the paper’s online website to post a comment on the story. I was a bit taken back at what I saw. Listen to the very first comment posted by “marcus97301”:
I sincerely hope that the Hispanic community will not take this opportunity to cry and whine about illegal alien criminals deserving special rights. This has been done before, and it is an insult to the people that fought for civil rights of legitimate Americans- as opposed to foreign national cheating borderhoppers. Illegals have rights in their own countries. I really do suggest they return to those countries ASAP! Peace.
The next comment posted by “The Voice” says:
I wonder if there will be any special music, dance, parades, school education classes or anything to honor the two Presidents that USED to be honored at this time of year: Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
Oh wait, they were evil white folks who don’t fit the NEW historical model of what is really important to our heritage as Americans.
My kid at 15 knows more about MLK than any President or other American leader.
Something is wrong with that story.
President’s day is and has always been in February.
This is the comment I posted and, by the way, my post id is PastorGreg.
Dr. King is one of my heroes as he used his life to make a difference. I will be participating in the Stride toward Freedom 5k on Saturday in his honor. I hope and pray that all will find a way to honor him in the days ahead and celebrate how he used his life to make a difference.
“The Voice” quickly responded to my post with this post.
Pastor Greg, as a pastor, I assume of the Word of God, whom had a greater influence and would be more of a "hero" to a pastor: MLK or Billy Graham?
Would you do a 5k run for Dr. Billy Graham and his passion for the souls of the lost?
Just curious.
The emerging church is alive and well is it not?
We "old fashioned" modernists are lost in our rhetoric I guess.
Before, I could respond to “the voice”, the “avenger” posted this comment.
"I have a dream!!" That someday we can rid our state and country of all illegal aliens.Then all of law abiding citizens can say "Free at last,Free at last,Free at last!!!".
How sad. Again I was a bit taken back by what I was reading. I responded to “the voice” with this comment.
Dr. King and Dr. Graham are both my heroes. I didn’t say that Dr. King was my only hero. They both had different missions placed on their life, but they both utilized their life to make a difference in our day. People that utilized their life to make a difference are my heroes, regardless of beliefs or race. And yes, I would run a 5k in honor of Dr. Graham.
I don’t have the expertise to comment concerning the "emerging church" or "old fashioned modernists." I am convinced that Christ followers are "alive and well" and I imagine that includes some "emerging church" folk and some "old fashioned modernists."
Know that you are loved.
I didn’t hear back from “the voice”. You can click on http://community.statesmanjournal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21489 and read all the posts and put your two cents worth in..
Wow. Racism and hatred are alive and well in 2008. But not for the Christ follower. No, you see, the Christ follower loves God with everything they have and they love other people as they love themselves. They are willing to give their life for others as Christ did. They are willing to go to jail protesting unjust laws, that do not treat people equally, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.
What would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. say to us today in 2008? The same things he said in the 1960s. Listen to what he had to say.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten....America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness--justice. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.
Christ gave His life for people.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life in making a difference, dreaming of the day when all people of every race would be treated equally and justly.
What have you discovered that you will die for?
The night before Dr. King was assassinated; he concluded his message titled “I Have Seen the Promised Land” with these words:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Jesus said (Matthew 5:10-12 NIV) "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. {11} "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. {12} Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. found a cause worth dying for. It was the cause of Christ in taking a stand for justice and liberty for all.
The cause of Christ is worth dying for. Yes it is.
Amen.
Know that you are loved,
Greg Johnson
www.GAJohnson.org
Founding Pastor
Loving God Fellowship
www.LovingGodFellowship.org
Loving God Fellowship is an interdenominational Christ following fellowship with a revolutionary new church plant in Salem, Oregon, and a worldwide Internet church community @ http://www.LGFinternetChurch.org .
