Remember
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I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.
As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
INTRO.- Thomas Monaghan is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Domino’s Pizza. From 1970 to 1985, Domino’s grew from a small debt-ridden chain to the second largest pizza company in America.
When asked to account for the phenomenal growth of the company, Monaghan explained, “I programmed everything for growth.” And how did he plan for growth? “Every day we develop people—the key to growth is developing people.”
Not special cheese, not a tasty crust, not fast delivery schedules, but people!
Just as Thomas Monaghan emphasized the importance of people, so must we. Where did Monaghan get the idea that people were so important? I don’t know where he got his idea but I know where the importance of people first started. IT STARTED WITH OUR CREATOR!
Gen. 1:26-27 “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
There it is! God said, “Let us make man in our image.”
We are God’s image bearers! God made the human species as the most important thing in all of His creation!
God’s emphasis in scripture has always been on people! God is interested in people because people are His highest creation!
God loves people
God wants all people to be saved eternally!
God sent His to pay our sin debt and bridge the gap of sin which separated us from Him
He forgives and gives new life to all who repent and have faith in Him
God loves people!
God wants us to love people
If He didn’t love people then why did Christ die on the cross for the sins of people?
RS: What does Memorial Day weekend mean to you? Extra time off from work? A three-day weekend? Eating? Grilling out? Fun time? The Indy 500? Or perhaps remembering others?
ILL.- At a commuter train station a policeman noticed a woman driver with her head bowed over the steering wheel in obvious discomfort. The police officer asked her, "Is there anything wrong?"
Half crying and half laughing, she said, "For ten years I have been driving my husband to this station every morning to catch this train. THIS MORNING I FORGOT HIM!"
Brothers and sisters, the worst forgetfulness of all is to forget people! One of the biggest lessons that we need to learn is that God didn’t put us here for us! God put us here for others!
IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO THINK OF OTHERS, TO LOVE OTHERS, AND TO REMEMBER OTHERS!
In II Timothy 1:3-5 we see that Paul remembered his friend Timothy.
V. 3 - “I constantly remember you...in my prayers.”
V. 4 - “Recalling your tears....”
V. 5 - “I have been reminded of your sincere faith...”
Paul remembered Timothy in several ways. He remembered him enough to pray for him. He remembered Timothy’s pain in life. He recalled his tears. And remembered that he was a man of faith in the Lord. Timothy was important to Paul.
PROP.- On this Memorial Day weekend we need to think about people. God put us here to remember people!
This weekend has been set aside to remember those who lost their lives in service to this country. They gave their all so that we might continue to enjoy the blessings of Liberty. We owe a debt of gratitude to them and remember them should occur more than one weekend a year.
Today, let us rememeber:
1- remember the deceased 2- remember the living
I. REMEMBER THE DECEASED
Rom. 1:8-9
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you
ILL.- Someone has well said, “Say goodbye to me, but not to the thought of me.”
We need to remember the deceased.
This Memorial Day weekend we should look back and remember people. We should remember the deceased:
deceased veterans, deceased family members and friends.
ILL.- I have read that on an average day about 750 people will visit the USS Arizona in Hawaii and on Memorial Day weekend about 4,600 people will visit that memorial. And on an average day some 3,000 people will visit the Vietnam War Memorial and on Memorial Day weekend 7,600 people will visit it.
Their sacrifice is what gives us our Freedom!
We should never forget them.
Remember their families as well.
While we are remembering the deceased and feel their loss, their family and friends face that loss every day
People count.
Live in the good examples and lessons they taught us.
If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.
“If a man dies, will he live again?” There are several answers to that question.
- Science says, “He may live again.”
- Philosophy says, “He hopes to live again.”
- Ethics says, “He ought to live again.”
- Atheism says, “He will never live again.”
- Jesus Christ says, “He shall live again.” (John 11:25)
Rev. 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Though they are gone from us now, it is not the end!
There is a reunion for those who died in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, take heart! Remember and rejoice! In Christ, we will live forever! Or as someone else put it, “Death is not a period but a comma in the story of the Christian’s life.”
II. REMEMBER THE LIVING
II. REMEMBER THE LIVING
ILL.-Ron was a fifteen-year-old teenager, a tenth-grade student at Granger High School. It was game day, and he was the only sophomore suiting up with the varsity team. Excitedly, he invited his mother to attend. It was her very first football game, and she promised to be there with several of her friends. The game finally ended, and she was waiting outside the locker room to drive Ron home
"What did you think of the game, Mom? Did you see the three touchdown passes our team made and our tough defense, and the fumble on the kickoff return that we recovered?" he asked.
His mother replied, "Ron, you were magnificent. You have such presence, and I was proud of the pride you took in the way you looked. You pulled up your knee socks eleven times during the game, and I could tell you were perspiring in all those bulky pads because you got eight drinks and splashed water on your face twice. I really like how you went out of you way to pat number nineteen, number five and number ninety on the back every time they came off the field."\
"Mom, how do you know all that? And how can you say I was magnificent? I didn’t even play in the game."
His mother smiled and hugged him. "Ron, I don’t know anything about football. I didn’t come here to watch the game. I came here to watch you!"
The moral of this story is: PEOPLE COUNT MOST OF ALL!
Football is fine. Football is fantastic for some people.
But people are supreme! People are more important than football.
We should remember those living with the pain of loss
We should remember those alive who served and those who are still serving. We should remember each other!
Once gone, we still remember them fondly, but we MUST not squander our opportunity to cherish each other now, while we are still breathing!
Phil. 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
As followers of Christ, we must look out for the interests of each other
That is part of what God expects of us
This verse was addressed to the church at Philippi, but also reminds us of other texts which tell us to take care of those in need around us
ILL.- A lady in MO passed away in 1985. She was a widow and had only one son, who was also deceased. She was a member of a Baptist church and was always thinking of others. Her pastor relates that she said one time, “I believe in giving flowers to the living.”
By that, she meant that she believed in remembering people while they were still living. She loved doing things for the living. She didn’t wait to send flowers in honor of the deceased. She did that, but she preferred to give flowers in various forms to the living. But those flowers were in the form of bicycles, refrigerators, cars and no telling what else.
People need to know that we care about them and love them while they are still living.
Care enough about them witness
Care enough to lighten their load
Care enough to spend time with them
ILL.- John Wesley said:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Gal. 6:9-10
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
At times, it is thankless
At times, serving others and bearing their burdens can be overwhelming
Let us heeds Paul’s advise to the believers in the churches within the province of Galatia:
Don’t grow weary..... in time we will reap.
Remember the living.
CONCLUSION------------------------------
Memorial Day is not about drinking and partying.
It isn’t about travel and time off from work.
It is rightly about people.
Please remember the fallen who sacrificed for our freedom
Remember the living who serve us and look for those we an serve.