|
So Great A Cloud of Witnesses
09/23/2007
I just finished watching the movie “Saving Private Ryan.” Of course, I cannot condone the language or the acts that occur in it and it is definitely for adults. It is a very violent but from all accounts very accurate account of a true incident that occurred in World War II. Four brothers from one family are all sent off to war and three of them are killed. When the Army Chief of Staff learns of the great sacrifice of this one family, he commissions a team of men to go out and find the lone surviving son Private Ryan and return him to his home.
In the process, almost all of his rescuers (including their leader Captain Miller) pay the ultimate price to ensure his salvation. In the one of the final scenes, Miller pulls Ryan close and with his dying breath whispers in his ear “Earn this…”
Many years later a much older Ryan returns to Normandy to visit the grave of Captain Miller. He kneels in front of the white cross engraved with his name:
“My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn't sure how I'd feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. And I've tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes, I've earned what all of you have done for me.”
He rises with tears in his eyes and turns to his wife and says “Tell me I’m a good man… Tell me I've led a good life…”
I couldn’t restrain the tears from flowing from my own eyes. I was unable to speak what I saw to my wife, so I am attempting to write it here. I saw the scene a little differently. As I watched man after man fall in battle on my behalf they were no longer WWI soldiers…POW! There goes Stephen…BOOM! Peter dies a painful death…CRASH! Paul’s life is snuffed out…WHOOSH! Polycarp perishes in flame…
Hebrews 11:32-38 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
Instead of Captain Miller gasping his last breath I see our Lord dying on that cruel cross. I lean forward and hear his dying words whispered to me “Earn this…” It is more than I can bear.
I understand that I can NEVER earn what Jesus did for me on the cross. That’s the “stumbling block of the cross.” I didn’t deserve it then and regardless of how far I grow in obedience and knowledge and sanctification I never will deserve or earn the completed work He did on my behalf that day. But I want to…I want to walk in a manner worthy of my calling.
Galatians 5:11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called
When I think of how great a price has been paid on our behalf by our Lord and the saints that have preceded us in order to deliver untainted and uncompromised the Word of God, the Gospel, and the core doctrines of the faith I feel a responsibility to value their sacrifice by holding on to what they have purchased. By teaching others these truths and passing them on to future generations (if the Lord tarries). By fighting for these truths and if necessary dying for them as did the saints who preceded us. By not just standing idly by when the truth is twisted and edited and compromised in the name of pragmatism or effectiveness.
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Will we be able to stand in good stead with those who by faith paved the way for us in their own blood in order that we might receive God’s truth? Or will we be ashamed of how we weaseled and rationalized our way? What will be our legacy of faith?
My hope is that someday when I kneel before He who bore the cross on my behalf that He will be able to say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Hebrews 12:1,2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
|
