"Forty Brave Soldiers"
Sermon Transcript for August 1, 2004
By Rev. Dan Sinkhorn
A couple of weeks ago Cindy Winteregg, who did a lot of coordination on the booth at the Johnson County Fair, informed me that we had forty people, forty different individuals signed up to work in the Grace Church Fair booth. And immediately my mind shot back twenty-five years to a song that I heard sung in a little prayer group in my high school that I was a part of called “Forty Brave Soldiers for Jesus”. And the song touched me; it changed my life in a lot of ways so that I’ve never forgotten it. I’ve long since forgotten the melody; and when I thought of that a few days ago, I searched high and low for the song but couldn’t find it. I did find the words. I’m not going to sing it to you because I don’t remember how it goes. But I would like to read you this story:
Sixteen hundred years ago, the pride of the Roman Army, the 12th legion, was stationed at Sabastae, just south of the Black Sea. It was mid-winter, and a harsh order had just come by messenger from the capitol at Constantinople. Reigning, as emperor at this time, was Valerius Liscenious, whose vicious hate for Christianity had caused the deaths of untold thousands of martyrs. Snow was falling as the emperor's new law was read to the soldiers standing at attention.
"Under penalty of death", read the commander, "all members of the Roman Army must at once offer sacrifices to the emperor and acknowledge him as their one and true god."
No one blinked an eye. They were Roman soldiers, the most highly disciplined in the world, but every mind immediately went to the forty among their ranks who were Christians. The same thoughts went through each soldier's mind. 'The Christians will never sacrifice to the emperor. They will never desert their God.'
As soon as the soldiers were dismissed, a captain came to the commander's tent and announced that there were forty soldiers who would not perform the sacrifice to the emperor. They were immediately arrested and put in the custody of Agleos, the chief jailer, who marched them off to military court.
The commander opened the trial's formalities by saying, "Of all the soldier's who serve the empire, none are more loved by us, nor more needed right now than you. Do not turn our love and respect into hate and contempt. How important can this Jesus be? Bow down to the emperor and this will all be over."
But the leader of the forty said firmly, "The Word of God says, 'Thou shalt not have any gods before me!' We have made our choice. We will not sacrifice to the emperor. We will devote our love to the Living God.
Because he did not have the authority to sentence the Christians to death, the commander had to wait for the arrival of the inspector general, who would be making a visit to the 12th legion in about a week. The Christians were put in the custody of Agleos, the jailer for that entire week. When the inspector general came, he agreed with the decision of the commander, and gave the Christians a choice. "Worship the emperor or be delivered over to torture . . .. and death."
The Christian remained firm. "You can have our armor," they said, "our names, our very lives. We have made our choice. We prefer God."
Then the soldiers heard their sentence. They were to be bound with strong ropes, and led to the shore of a nearby frozen lake. At sundown they were to be stripped and marched out to the middle of the ice. At any time they could change their minds and go through the ritual of sacrifice to the emperor in a heated bathhouse on the lake shore.
Agleos - the jailer, who had been caring for the men for a week, watched, as the forty soldiers were stripped and marched, shivering, onto the ice and into the darkness. Guards were posted all around the shore to make sure they did not try to escape. As they marched, they sang:
Forty brave soldiers for Jesus; Forty brave soldiers for Christ. We'll be true to our God and stare death in the face as we perish on this lake of ice. We'll be forty brave soldiers for Christ.
For a while their song echoed all through the camp, but as the hour of midnight approached, and the temperature continued to drop, their voices grew more and more weak. Then one of the forty was seen emerging from the frigid darkness. He was giving up. He would sacrifice to the emperor. He fell to his knees on the shore and began crawling to the bathhouse. Only Agleos, the jailer, was awake to hear the voices of the ones still on the ice whisper thirty-nine brave soldiers for Jesus.
Agleos watched the man enter the bathhouse and emerge quickly, apparently overcome by the heat. He saw the man collapse on the ground and lie still.
At that moment, something happened to the heart of Agleos, the jailer. What it was only he and God will ever know. The guards reported hearing a great cry, which jerked them awake. Rubbing their eyes, they watched as Agleos, the jailer, wrenched off his armor, and ran onto the frozen lake and into the darkness shouting,
Forty brave soldiers for Jesus; Forty brave soldiers for Christ. We'll be true to our God and stare death in the face as we perish on this lake of ice. We'll be forty brave soldiers for Christ!
You can see why I remembered that story for so many years. We’re living in times and in a place where probably most of us will never be asked to make such a choice. We’ll probably never be asked to choose life or death for the sake of Christ. But all of us will be asked, sooner than you think, to choose whether to worship the one true living God or some false God. What are the false gods in your life? What temptations keep you from serving God? What draws you in to serving your own will rather than Gods? Do you realize our lives are like those of the soldiers, like Agleos the jailor? And each of us every day is given a choice and how often we choose the wrong thing. And perhaps it is because our life isn’t at stake that we don’t take it seriously enough.
The forty who volunteered to work in the fair booth probably didn’t see their task as anything all that special. And please don’t think that if you weren’t one of the forty this is a criticism because it is not. But those forty made the choice to give up something in order to devote themselves for a few hours for reaching out to their community in the name of Christ. Sixty-five gave up the evenings of the last week and these Sunday services in order to reach out to the children of our community and our church when I know there were other things that they might have wanted to do.
Cindy Bills was going to come and speak to you, but she’s been very ill and she told me just a moment ago that she had to go home; she just wasn’t well enough to come up and speak to you. But Cindy said to the last service how, when she was given the opportunity to become one of the volunteers for vacation bible school, that she was afraid. And as it got closer, she got more and more nervous. And I can tell you Laura fielded a lot of emails and phone calls from Cindy and some of the other people like her who were first timers at this; and they were worried. They were afraid that they couldn’t handle it. The first Monday night of vacation bible school, at about 10:00 p.m., I sat down to my computer because it said I had an email message. It was from Cindy Bills. And it was just this ecstatic short little message that said, “Wow, Reverend Dan, this is the best thing I have ever done. I am having a ball.” I hope she’ll forgive me for saying this, but she left. Her husband came to me the next day because she decided that he should help with vacation bible school too. And he said, “She talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked about vacation bible school. And not just Monday night, but Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night too!” You see, it started out being the fearful thing. It looked a lot like a great personal sacrifice but it turned out being a tremendous blessing. And for those who serve it is always that way, isn’t it?
I don’t know how many times in my life, especially over the last seven or eight years, that I have received that phone call at the worst hour, the most inconvenient time—come to the hospital, to meet someone in my office, to be where a person is in need, perhaps they’re sick, they are dying, perhaps there is a crises in their life. It never seems to happen at a convenient time. We lost Paul Holstein this week and I announced to the ladies who had worked so hard to build this beautiful set that Thursday night we were going to have to take it all down and make the church ready for a funeral and after the funeral they would have to put it all back up. I wish you could have seen their joy. I wish you could have seen how much happiness it gave them to serve. They weren’t upset because they had to do that, they were pleased that they could and should. And so when the family and friends who gathered to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Paul Holstein, this church was the place of reverence. It’s still a place of reverence now. Reverence from the joy of children. And they put it all back up, fed the family a great dinner, washed the dishes, helped put the church back in order for vacation bible school, and then came back a couple of hours Friday night later and did it again. And I didn’t hear anybody complaining; I saw joy. That’s the volunteerism or the service of a Christian.
Each one of us is being called to fulfill something of God’s gifting. Each one of us has been given something that God intends for us to use for His glory. And there’s your choice, there’s your opportunity to be like Agleos, the jailor, and hear the sound of God calling you and run willingly, enthusiastically to a place of surrender and sacrifice because you know it is the right thing to do and because you understand the dividends that will be paid back to you, passed down and overflowing by God, our Father.
I want to urge you—find your place of service here at Grace. I’m going to tell you unashamed that this is one of those talks. If you are not serving in some part of Grace Church, you need to be. I mean, you need to be for your own sake. Now we are going to ask you today specifically to sign up to help with Children’s Ministries and a couple of other things. And I want you to know that if you are like Cindy Bills and you’re a little afraid, you don’t think you can handle it, you are not sure you can hold out, that’s why we have the person I consider the best Children’s Minister in Johnson County, and I’m very biased, I’ll say the best one in the whole state of Indiana. Stacey Bradburn, now Stacey Erdman, sorry, is the best. And if you volunteer to help her in Children’s Ministry, she won’t let you down. She’ll make sure you are equipped. She’ll make sure you don’t fall. And Reverend Mike and I will make sure that Stacey doesn’t fall because that’s what we are here for. But don’t hesitate. Stacey will meet you at that table out there in the lobby and you just come to her and say, “I feel that God’s asked me to help with Children’s Ministries.” She’ll find a place for you that is appropriate for your gift. She’ll help you.
There are other places of ministry at Grace Church. I can not name them all but I will name a few that are asking you for help right now—The Barnabas Team has just begun, is out there now at the close of the service, they are going to be looking for your help. You’ve heard of the Care Team Ministry, it is now called the Phillip Team. And the Phillip Team is called that because it reminds us of the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian. You know, there was this guy who came for a divine appointment and Phillip was called out to meet him for that divine appointment and serve him. That’s what those people do. When newcomers are here, they pass out those cards and they greet those people at the close of the service, to be like Phillip. The Barnabas Team is a team of people who befriend those newcomers after they’ve been coming for a while and comes along side them for a time; help them find their place and their fellowship here at Grace in the name of Jesus.
Friendship Eight is signing up right now and if you’ve never done Friendship Eight you need to consider doing that because Friendship Eight is one of these places where gosh, I don’t know what could be easier. You get together with a bunch of nice people and you eat, talk, and play. You know my last Friendship Eight group included a guy in our church who is a bull rider and teaches people all sorts of equestrian skills and cowboy stuff. And we went out to his place and I got to ride horses again after a long time of not being able to do so. I rode his training bull. Well, I didn’t ride. I was up and I was down. I told that story at the last service and I didn’t realize they were here; and he brought a picture. So if you want to see a picture of me moments before I went crashing down, here it is. It’s a great opportunity to make new friends.
And believe me when I tell you, that is part of your place of service and surrender because any time God asks you to do something out of the ordinary, for a lot of us it is a sacrifice. Nothing will bring you closer to God than the fellowship of other Christians. Listen to that story; think about that story—forty brave soldiers for Jesus. Do you think it would have been easier for one? What motivated Agleos to join their number? He witnessed their fellowship and it changed his life and opened the door to his heart. Join in these things that are going on. There are countless ministries here. Reverend Mike and I feel that it is our responsibility to bring to you every opportunity that we can to answer the prayer that you might be asking. “God I want to do something, what do you want me to do?” Well, start watching your mail; watching your publications here at church, we’re going to give you everything you can think of. And not to overwhelm you but to give you opportunity for you to see what God is calling you to do. And all we want to ask you to do is try, just try. If you find out it isn’t exactly what you wanted to do, then keep trying. Everything you do that is outside your normal routine may be an act of sacrifice and service, so we want to earnestly call you for that now.
Now, I want to make one more announcement type thing and then we’ll move on and finish our service. Another thing you need to do, both because it is an urgent need and because it is a kind of ministry, Stephanie would you run that slide please? This is the last Sunday that you will be able to sign up at that table out there for the church photo directory. Now, if you’ve resisted doing that, I understand but I want to remind you of some important things. First of all, it is free. And that’s a word that always gets my attention. It won’t cost you nothing to get your picture taken and it will cost you nothing to get at least one 8” x 10” of that picture. The sittings will be here at the church and also at the Franklin United Methodist Community. What you will be doing as you come and sit for that portrait, is you’ll be helping to create a tool that will make our ministry stronger because, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a lot of people around here and it’s hard to remember everybody’s names. Our visiting pastors will want to know exactly who they are visiting. Our pastors, Senior and Associate, will need those tools to help us to recognize everyone and give the best and most appropriate ministry. You will serve each other by being able to identify one another. That’s why you wear the nametags; that’s why you get your picture put in there. If you haven’t set up an appointment for your portrait, please do so today at the close of the service. I want to urge you to do that.
Now, service doesn’t go unnoticed here at Grace. There are so many places of service; if only I could list them all right now for you I would. But for the moment, since this is a celebration of children, I’d like to recognize those people who have served the Children’s Ministries of Grace Church throughout the last year. If you’ve worked in the nursery, if you’ve served in Super Church, Kids Club on Wednesday nights, if you’ve served in vacation bible school program or one of the children’s musicals, if you’ve done anything for children here at Grace in the last year would you please stand right now. Please don’t be bashful. You are like our forty brave soldiers. And we want to pray a blessing on you right now. Again, if you are comfortable with it, I urge you to extend your hands and let’s pray, “Heavenly Father, I thank you for these who have given of themselves in your name to the children of this church and this community. I praise you Lord for their witness. And I thank you Lord that your love has shown through them to the children and they will remember the grace they felt through them for the rest of their lives. Lord, thank you for their sacrifice, these brave soldiers for you. And Lord, let their witness urge others to join them in that service. Oh Lord, watch over them and the ones they love. Protect them and provide for them as you always do again and again. And in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless them now we pray. Amen.”
Don’t sit down. Now the rest of you stand. And as we close this service, let me ask a blessing for you because while you may not be among those who served children lately, you are all called and many of you have answered the call and given of yourselves. And many of you through the power of the Holy Spirit may be feeling called again today. So I want to ask a blessing for you. Will you bow your heads? “Gracious God, I thank you and I praise you for all of these people who call themselves yours, who serve you here at Grace Church and other places of ministry according to your call. I pray that you will fill them anew with your Holy Spirit and enliven in them the gifts that will make you happy and that will serve your Kingdom. And I ask you Lord to send them forth as witnesses. And I challenge them Lord in your name to go to those tables and sign up for the places of ministry. And if there is something that they want to do and they haven’t gotten it figured out yet Lord, then send them to their pastors so that we can guide them to a place of ministry. And we do it all for your glory, in your name, and for your praise. Amen.”
Now God bless you and go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
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