"THE HEART OF A VETERAN!"

LUKE 23:26-46

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the world rejoiced that the war was over. For years the proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson to celebrate Armistice Day on November 11 was observed. In 1938 the day was declared a national holiday and in 1954 the name was changed to Veterans' Day in honor of all U.S. soldiers of any war. We have in our congregation a veteran of WWII who was honored as one of 14 Veterans of the Year and his name is Dale Wachschnict. To him and to all veterans we say, "Thank you!" If you are a veteran of any branch of the service, for any length of time, would you stand if you are able? I want to speak about the heart of a veteran today. And as we honor our veterans, I want to point out the Greatest Veteran of them all, Jesus Christ. We honor our veterans, but we worship our Commander in Chief. We owe our liberty to our veterans, but we owe our eternal lives to Jesus Christ. We salute the flag, but we kneel before the Christ of the cross. Jesus Christ had the heart of a veteran. Let me illustrate the kind of heart that characterizes a real veteran. On the chapel wall at Eagle Village, a residence for boys near Hersey, Michigan, hang the portraits of two 12-year-old boys, a blond haired boy named Rick and a dark haired boy nick-named Rosy. The pictures recall an incident of several years ago. Some boys from Eagle Village were on a canoe expedition on Lake Superior when they pulled ashore to make camp. Rosy spotted something floating in the water, so he pushed off in a canoe to retrieve it. Strong winds quickly blew him offshore. The staff recognized his peril and started off in two canoes to rescue him. When Rick saw that his best friend was in danger, he insisted on going along. The staff and Rick demonstrated the first quality of the heart of a veteran, and it was the kind of heart that throbbed in the breast of Jesus Christ.

• A HEART COMMITTED TO A CAUSE: 37:
• The taunt of the crowd was for self-preservation, self-vindication, self-concern: "Save Yourself if you are Who You say You are!"
• But neither their taunt nor His own welfare nor anything else would swerve Him from the path set before Him from before the founding of the world.
• He was committed to a cause: that of fulfilling His Father's will to save the world through the cross.
• Our national veterans of all genders, generations and branches of service have demonstrated a heart committed to a cause:
• The cause of freedom.
• The cause of courage.
• The cause of love of country.
• The cause of Constitutional self-government.
• Jesus Christ was unswervingly committed to a cause; our veterans were committed to a cause; to what are you committed? For what cause would you risk life and fortune? For what purpose would you dedicate your energies, your intellect, your finances, your time?
• However noble the objective of our veterans in fighting the wars from the Revolution to the Gulf, however worthy our purposes and how altruistic and unselfish they may be, all pale in contrast to that commitment shown by the Greatest Veteran of them all, Jesus Christ.

The staff battled the elements, courageously and unselfishly committed to rescuing Rosy. They tried to effect the rescue which would change Rosy's the fate from certain death to life. In doing so, they demonstrated the heart of a veteran.

• A HEART DEDICATED TO CHANGING THE COURSE OF THE FUTURE: 42-43:
• For those on the cross, time was running out. Their lives were about to end on earth, but their eternal destinies were about to ensue.
• Though both had joined in the crowd's taunts of Jesus, one of them repented and asked Jesus to remember him in the kingdom.
• Jesus' reply changed the course of that man's eternal future. In an instant he was delivered from certain damnation and hell and taken to Paradise.
• This is a different world than it would have been apart from the dedication of our veterans. To be sure, we still live in a corrupt and twisted society, but nonetheless who knows what powers might have dominated, what tyranny might have oppressed, what despot might have ruled if it were not for the commitment of our veterans? Truly, in each conflict, they changed the course of the future.
• How will you contribute to, and impact upon, and effect for good the course of the future for your own family? For this congregation? For this city? For this nation?
• However differently our nation's history may have been written apart from the noble contribution of our veterans, nothing can compare with the change Jesus Christ has introduced into our future through the cross. He came to rescue us for time and eternity. Jeremiah records His purpose for Judah and is still His purpose for His people: "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11.

It was the desire of the staff to give Rosy a future by rescuing this boy whose life was in peril. But because of the wind, all three canoes were tossed about helplessly, and finally they capsized. They were all tossed into the raging waters. Somehow, in spite of the wind and waves, the staff members all made it to shore. Tragically, Rick and Rosy were lost in the depths of Lake Superior. All of them had risked their lives, but Rick had given his in the effort. That's the heart of a veteran.

• A HEART WILLING TO PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE: 46:
• Jesus Christ didn't shrink back at the point of death. Jesus Christ went the whole distance. Jesus Christ gave it all.
• "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10:45.
• I think no greater assessment of the degree of the price He paid can be given than that by Paul:
• "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6.
• "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.
• "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5:10.
• Our veterans were willing to pay the price:
• They gave up the safety and serenity of being at home with friends and families.
• Some surrendered their personal plans for education and vocation.
• Some suffered the loss of sight, some forfeited their limbs, and many were radically physically disabled.
• Many actually paid the price of their very lives.
• Countless young men and women, in the bloom of youth, have been willing to pay the price, however great, for the cause to which they were committed and in order to change the course of the future of this nation. They paid the ultimate price.
• What price are you willing to pay
• To maintain our national freedom?
• To be sure that you fulfill the purpose for which Christ has called you?
• To rid yourself of all that is sinful and falls short of God's high expectation of you?
• To do what you can to raise your children to have personal faith in Jesus Christ?
• To attain to the holiness without which no person will see the Lord? Hebrews 12:14.
• No greater price has ever been paid for more worthless items than Jesus Christ paid in His blood for those who couldn't have cared less.

Great effort was spent, and a high price paid, in the failed effort to save Rosy. It was an event that spoke of great commitment, love, and sacrifice. In the chapel of the home where Rick and Rosy lived, a plaque between their pictures tells the story. It says: "Rick, who loved enough to give his life for another. Rosy, who was loved enough to have another pay that price." Veterans' Day is an opportunity for us to thank those who loved enough to give their lives for others. The cross is itself a monument that speaks to all who will hear; it says: "Jesus, who loved enough to give His life for another. The world which was loved enough to have Another pay that price." "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16. God's action in Christ, Christ's action on the cross brings to all who believe the opportunity to be saved from the power and penalty of sin. But to benefit by what He did we must personally, faithfully and obediently respond for "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36. He who was perfectly obedient to the commission of His Father demands obedience from His followers. "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation" Hebrews 5:8, 9. Would you be free from your failures and sins? Would you enjoy the benefit of the new life Jesus died to give you? Have you believed in Him in such a way that you also will obey Him? Will you decide this morning, if you've never decided before, to make Jesus Christ Lord of your life? If you do, you'll find that He is an adequate, sufficient and gracious Savior, the Greatest Veteran of them all who had a heart committed to a cause, dedicated to changing your future, and willing to pay the price to do it.

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