“The Cost of Freedom”
Slogan: "Freedom isn't free", "freedom is not free", or "freedom ain't free" is an idiom in the United States that expresses gratitude for the service of members of the military. It implicitly states that the freedoms enjoyed by many citizens in Western republics are only possible through the voluntary risks taken and sacrifices made by the military. A problem with the saying is that a particular war or military engagement may not be fought in any particular sense for the freedoms of Americans but what are viewed by some groups within the U.S., as national interests.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_isn%27t_free
Poem: Penned by Kelly Strong: Commander Unites States Coast Guard
This poem is important to Kelly because he wrote it as a high school senior (JROTC cadet) at Homestead High, Homestead, FL. in 1981. It is a tribute to his father, a career marine who served two tours in Vietnam. When he finds others trying to take credit for the authorship of the poem, Kelly sees it as a dishonor to the man who inspired the poem, his Dad.
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE
I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze;
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform,
So young, so tall, so proud;
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought ... how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilot's planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers graves?
No ... Freedom is not Free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still;
I listened to the bugler play,
And felt a sudden chill;
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend;
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands ...
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington ...
No ... Freedom is not Free!
~ Kelly Strong© 1981 ~
The reminder for all of us today on Memorial Day Weekend is that freedom is not free and it rings in our minds that sacrifices do cost us. The reality check is sacrifices or offerings which cost us nothing usually have no eternal value.
A Chicago Story from sermoncentral.com:
STORY NUMBER ONE
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder. Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good!
In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block. Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had the best of everything: clothes, cars and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn’t pass on to his son: a good name and a good example.
One day, Eddie reached a difficult decision. Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against the Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire in a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he would ever pay.
You could say as a result of this true story that Eddie’s freedom was not free it cost him his life but his sacrifice set his son and family free.
STORY NUMBER TWO
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O------. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet. As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold. A squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward the American fleet.
The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber’s blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.
Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O---- and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival he reported in and related the event surrounding his return.
The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had in fact destroyed five enemy aircraft.
This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy’s first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man. So the next time you find yourself at O’Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch’s memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It’s located between Terminals 1 and 2.
Once again we could say that freedom is not free because it comes with a great price and Butch paid the great price so that you and I could be free.
SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER? They emphasize the truth - freedom is not free it comes with a price.
Main Point of stories: And oh by the way: Butch O’Hare was Easy Eddie’s son.
Definition of Memorial – definition from http://www.bing.com/search?q=memorial+definition&form=QBRE&qs=AS&sk=&pq=memorial+def&sp=1&sc=6-12
1. Commemorative object or event: something that is intended to remind people of somebody who has died or an event in which people died, e.g. a statue, speech, or ceremony.
2. Commemorative: intended as a reminder of a person or event or as a celebration of somebody's life and work.
T.S. – Today is a day to remember and honor our Vets but I also believe we need to honor another great leader whose sacrifice is reflected in the cross you are all looking at in the front of the church today.
Thesis: Memorial Day is a day to remember the ultimate sacrifice that many men and women gave to this country and to you and me personally. But I also want us to remember another meaning behind Memorial Day which is to honor the greatest sacrifice of all time when a General in the army of God gave His life for us so that we could be set free. His willingness to sacrifice his life has presented to us an opportunity to enter into Heaven for eternity and to experience freedom in this life on earth.
I am reminded of the following verse that tells me that what we experience today in this service and on every Sunday is freedom in our spirit our soul. That same freedom which seems free was also paid with a great price.
Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Each of us here today enjoy the freedoms we have in the USA as a result of soldiers giving up their lives. But we also need to understand that Jesus the general or leader of God’s army willingly gave up His life so that you and I can enjoy the freedom we have in the Spirit today as well. We could not worship the Lord today like we do if it were not for the sacrifice of Jesus. His sacrifice cost dearly because it cost His life. But He gave it willingly so that you and I could experience the freedom we have in the Spirit – the gift of His inheritance – the ability to have an intimate relationship with God today. All these perks or freedoms came as a result of Jesus Sacrifice.
But I want to come back to the thought I opened with today – Freedom is not free – freedom will always cost a great price and Jesus paid that price for you and me.
I think we need to understand that each of us must be willing to pay the price for the Kingdom of God today. This means giving offerings and sacrifices to the Lord – the one who sacrificed for us – that cost us something: David understood this concept as it is revealed in his story toward the end of his life:
Scripture Text: 1 Chronicles 21:22-26:
22David said to him, “Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.”
23Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”
24But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
25So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels of gold for the site.
26David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
David knew that an offering or a sacrifice needed to cost him something or it really did mean that much to him. He offered up this sacrifice to the Lord to spare the lives of many people in Israel and he knew it had to cost him. His sacrifice spared the life of many soldiers and saved Israel from destruction. He was willing to pay the price so that deliverance and freedom could return to Israel.
Jesus also was willing to pay the price so that you and I could experience freedom in the spirit. We exercise that freedom every time we pray, we mediate on the words of the Lord, when we read our Bibles and when we come together for worship services like today. This freedom we experience today did cost someone their life! Jesus’ gave an offering to us that cost Him everything.
This freedom that we experience today also cost many other followers of Jesus their lives. Throughout the history of the church people like you and me have paid the price to worship and serve Jesus with their lives.
All the disciples except one were martyred for their message of Jesus. The freedom that we have today to serve and worship the Lord cost dearly with Christians giving their life for the Kingdom of God and the message of Good News. This Bible that I hold and we have in the chairs cost 1,000’s their life. This Bible is not free it cost many people their lives yet many take it for granted.
One man who gave his life so that we could all own and have a personal Bible was William Tyndale:
William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall, Tindill, Tyndall; c. 1492 – 1536) was a 16th century scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and Martin Luther.[1] Tyndale was the first to translate considerable parts of the Bible into English, for a public, lay readership. While a number of partial and complete translations had been made from the seventh century onward, particularly during the 14th century, Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution. This was taken to be a direct challenge to the hegemony of both the Roman Catholic Church and the English church and state. Tyndale also wrote, in 1530, The Practyse of Prelates, opposing Henry VIII's divorce on the grounds that it contravened scriptural law. In 1535, Tyndale was arrested by church authorities and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year. He was tried for heresy, strangled and burnt at the stake in 1536. The Tyndale Bible, as it was known, continued to play a key role in spreading Reformation ideas across Europe. The fifty-four independent scholars who created the King James Version of the bible in 1611 drew significantly on Tyndale's translations. One estimation suggests the New Testament in the King James Version is 83% Tyndale's, and the Old Testament 76%. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndale).
Today I become perplexed at how people want to embrace Christianity and yet they don’t want it to cost them anything. I think I see the same attitude in many citizens in this country as well. We have some in America who take for granted their liberty and freedoms because it has not cost them anything. But the freedoms we enjoy came at a high cost. So I parallel back to our Bibles, the Christian faith and eternal salvation and I see some who take all of that for granted as well but it too came at a high price.
I believe that all of us should have the mindset that says, “I will not offer a sacrifice or offering that does not cost me something.” Nothing in life is free – it always costs. Your faith in Christ cost – your freedoms in this country cost. So what price are you willing to pay for these two blessings of freedom? Are you willing to sacrifice anything for either one of these blessings?
So let’s take a moment and apply this message deeper: Do you want something for nothing? Do you want freedom in the Spirit? Do you want the freedoms you enjoy in this country to continue? Then you too have to pay the price to pass it forward. I believe a time is coming for some and for others it’s already here where you too will have to pay the price for freedom, for freedom in the Spirit with the Lord and for maintaining the freedoms in this country.
Romans 12:1, 2 states, “
1Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God.
2Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.
We are asked to be living sacrifices for God. A living sacrifice means it will cost us our life, our will and our self-centeredness. To be a living sacrifice means I place the values of others above my own and I commit to living my life for the one who gave His life for me. I do this because this is the most sensible way to serve God. It is also the most sensible way to serve my country too. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to change our mindsets from self-centered to God-centered. Then we need to go out and let our lives reflect our belief system of being willing sacrifices. This means it will cost us all something if we do it right.
Chip Ingram in his book “Living on the Edge” states this, “Total commitment is the alignment of one’s motives, resources, priorities, and goals to fulfill a specific mission, accomplish a specific task or follow a specific person.
So it’s very clear that total commitment means absolute surrender. It means the alignment of your will, your mind, your emotions, your possessions, and your relationships around a person, goal, or cause. In Romans 12:1, God commands us to offer our bodies (ourselves) as a living sacrifice. He tells us that acceptable worship to Him begins with the act of surrender (or total commitment).
It’s easy to hear those words and begin to emotionally withdraw and think that’s too high a price, or that’s something “I could never do.” But I would argue that our initial emotional reaction to the call to total commitment is rooted in our warped view of God and our warped view of what total commitment actually is and what it is not. Total commitment is about being wise and smart, not necessarily being noble or virtuous. It’s not so much about self-denial but about logic and common sense. It’s not so much about what we lose; it’s about what you gain” (page 18).
Conclusion:
I believe our nation became great because we were formed as one nation under God. Everyone in the Revolutionary War was willing to pay the price of freedom, they where willing to sacrifice for their country to be a “One nation under God.” The battle cry of the Revolutionary War was, “No king but king Jesus!” Our nation became great and will only stay great if people still choose to be living sacrifices for her.
Yet in the same vein of thought we need to be reminded of our freedom in the Spirit. Our churches and Christianity will only remain great if the people who are part of this eternal movement choose to be living sacrifices for their King and kingdom.
When we decide to no longer sacrifice for our country or for God then we will no longer be great but will fall into the history books as a nation or a religion that once was but no longer is relevant because no one wanted to continue to pay the price.
So I conclude with two questions today:
1. “Are you willing to pay the price for the freedoms you have in this country?”
a. Kennedy said, “Ask not what can my country do for me, but what can I do for my country.”
b. What are you willing to give to keep this nation free?
i. Your time?
1. Helping out others in the time of disaster?
a. Like many are doing today in Joplin, Missouri?
ii. Your life in service to your country?
1. By joining the military?
2. Going into politics?
3. Volunteering?
iii. Your taxes? – How about this thought: Are you willing to sacrifice more than what you have to pay in taxes?
iv. Are you willing to give up certain programs we as a nation cannot afford?
v. Are you willing to compromise with others for the benefit of the country?
vi. Are you willing to offer an offering that costs you dearly?
vii. Are you willing to vote for what you can get or vote and be willing to give things away to others?
2. “Are you willing to pay the price –make the sacrifice for the freedom you enjoy as a Christian?”
a. Your freedom and the freedom of others lay’s within your decision to give or not give to God’s Kingdom?
i. Are you willing to tithe to your church?
ii. Are you willing to give above your tithe to your church? In an offering?
iii. Do you feel that the church owes you or you owe the church?
iv. Are you willing to sacrifice your time to serve in the church?
v. Are you willing to commit to read and know your Bible?
vi. Are you willing to become involved in service projects within your church to the community?
vii. Are you willing to sacrifice and bring your kids and youth to their services?
viii. Are you willing to faithfully attend church on Sunday’s as the 10 Commandments guide us too?
ix. Are you willing to give up stuff at home to help the church support the poor and missions?
x. Are you willing to sacrifice for the school and the kids who come to our school?
xi. Are you willing to serve in your position at church sacrificially as a leader?
xii. Are you willing to sacrifice so another person can enjoy the freedom of the Spirit?
xiii. Are you willing to give up your chair for another?
b. You can give nothing or everything (It’s your choice) but know this if you give it all --- you will receive the greatest blessings in this world and beyond.
3. Romans 12:1: 1Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God.
PRAYER: Pray for Jeany Schmidt going back to Guinea West Africa to serve this week.
