Memorial Day - A Day To Remember

Memorial Day – A Day to Remember

Scriptures: John 15:13; Mark 10:45; Acts 6:8-10

The title of my message is “Memorial Day – A Day to Remember.” This morning I want to share with you why we should take a moment and reflect on why we celebrate Memorial Day – the day we remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice – their life – for our freedom. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this; that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) I want you to think about these words this weekend because this is why we are celebrating Memorial Day tomorrow. Although you may not know anyone personally who died for your freedom, I hope to share with you why you do have a reason to reflect on this day. Traditionally, we reflect on those who died in times of war, but I want to remind you not only of those individuals, but a few others who died so that we could be free spiritually. So I will start with those.

The person who truly stands alone on the list is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone else I talk about this morning – I talk about because of what Jesus did IN them and what He did THROUGH them. Last month we celebrated Easter, the day we set aside to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection. You know the story. He was beaten and ultimately killed so that we would have an opportunity to be free from sin and spend an eternity with Him upon our death here on earth. Jesus did this willfully for He knew what the goal was. He said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” He died because He loved us! And then there was Stephen, the first martyr after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Stephen might not be one that you would normally think about, but his death was recorded in the book of Acts for a reason. Stephen was one of the seven men who were chosen by the Holy Spirit to care for the Church body so that the Apostles could continue their focus on spending time in prayer and in ministering the Word. In his role, he was one of the first deacons of the New Testament Church. Acts 6:8-10 records, “(8) And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. (9) Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. (10) And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.” Stephen was a man of faith, who walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, and who did wonders and miracles. He was so full of faith that those who opposed Him could not win an argument with Him as He spoke under the power of the Holy Spirit. He was stoned to death for his beliefs, for his confession and his love for Christ. As they were stoning him, Stephen asked Jesus not to hold it to their account. He was the first martyr of the Christian faith.

Then we have several of Jesus’ disciples and the apostle Paul who did not die of natural causes. They died under the hands of those who were opposed to the spread of Christianity. Although their deaths are not recorded in Scripture, history records that Peter was crucified upside down for he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same position as Christ. Andrew was reported as being crucified on an X-shaped cross. Phillip was crucified on a tall cross in the country now known as Turkey. Bartholomew was flayed alive in what is now known as India. Matthew is reported as dying as a martyr. Thomas was killed with a spear and was buried in India. James, son of Alphaeus, was thrown off the temple by the Jews and beaten to death with a club. It is believe that Paul was beheaded in Rome. These all died for their faith and belief in Jesus Christ and for spreading the gospel, which then found its way to us some 2000 years later. So our first remembrance for Memorial Day is for those whose death paved the way for our spiritual freedom, which gave us the opportunity to spend an eternity with Christ. I am grateful for their lives and I hold their remembrance in my heart.

Next I want to examine Memorial Day in the context that we are all familiar with, remembering those who died serving their country. As you know, Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemetery. By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers. Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those who lost their lives in the Civil War. But 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. So, in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as a federal holiday that would be observed on the last Monday in May.