May 30, 2004

"Profiles in Courage"

John Kennedy wrote a book several years before he was elected president, a book won the Pulitzer Prize. Any of you more mature folks remember the title? That’s right, it was Profiles in Courage. The book was made up of stories about courageous men and women from the pages of American history. One such man was Edmund Ross of Kansas, a member of the U.S. Senate after the Civil War. This was a time when Congress wanted revenge on the beaten South with a brutal occupation that would drive the former rebels into poverty for generations.

Who was Edmund Ross? A real nobody. Today he is forgotten. But in 1867, this Congress that was bent on vengeance was opposed by President Andrew Johnson and his more moderate policies, so the leaders of Congress decided to get rid of Johnson by impeachment. They brought him to trial in the Senate and started counting votes. They needed 36 votes to convict Johnson and remove him, and the 36^th vote was none other than Ross. It was in the bag, But Ross declared that the president deserved “as fair a trial as any man has ever had on earth.”

When he said that, the leaders knew that Ross’ vote was shaky, so they began to put pressure on him. Don’t throw your career away, they warned. They offered bribes. The people of Kansas, who had suffered greatly in the war, poured telegrams in on him, demanding his support for conviction. Finally the day of the vote arrived, and in the Senate chamber the chief justice of the Supreme Court called for each senator’s vote. By the time he reached Ross, 24 guilties were in and 11 more were certain. That made Ross’ vote the deciding one.

Ross later wrote that he knew he was “staring into my open grave,” but he cast his vote “Not guilty,” and his one vote saved Johnson from removal from office. Ross promptly received word from the speaker of the state legislature back in Kansas that “I reject you like I would any traitorous dog” and soon he lost his seat in the Senate. He lived most of his life in disgrace, but he had stuck to his convictions and saved the president from an unjust conviction. He had shown real courage.

Courage is an appropriate topic for us to chew over on this Memorial Day weekend. This is a special time to thank God for the courage of the men and women who gave, as Abraham Lincoln once said, “the last full measure of devotion” so that people like you and me could be free. We do lift them up to God in gratitude today and rightfully every day. But courage means much more than military courage. Every one of us, to be able to lead successful lives, lives that are blessed by God and made fruitful, needs to add courage to their Christian character—courage to do what’s right in a world that’s gone wrong, courage to stick it out in the tough times, courage to proclaim Christ when it’s not the cool thing to do.

So in honor of Memorial Day, let us make courage the latest stop in this sermon series I call Building the Christian Character. We’ve only got two more weeks to go before I wrap this up on Confirmation Sunday. Last week we looked at faith, and before that at kindness, patience and peace. Courage, we all would agree, is an essential part of the mix. So how do we get it?

   William Miller wrote a book a few years ago called “The Mystery of Courage,” and the title implies that courage comes from some unknown source deep within the soul. Most of the book is drawn from military sources, including a Vietnam veteran named Tim O’Brien, who recalls a night when he was sitting with his company commander, Captain Johansen. He tells O’Brien, “I’d rather be brave than almost anything.” Miller makes it clear that he greatly admires courage. He writes, “Most men and many women would rather be known for their courage than any other virtue.”

And that really rings true for me. How about you? Everybody admires courage. But hardly anybody thinks of himself as brave. Would you be honest with me this morning? Would everyone here who thinks of herself as brave please raise your hand? Courage really is a mystery to us.

Once I interviewed a couple men who were paratroopers in World War II, and they were veterans of the D-Day invasion who had dropped into France in the middle of the night with the intent of making as much havoc as they could behind the German lines. I was amazed at the casual way they described all this, and I said, “Excuse me if this is a stupid question, but where did you find the courage to jump out of an airplane at night to go into battle once you were on the ground?” And the one paratrooper replied, “They were shooting at us. We just wanted out of the plane as fast as we could.”

Brave men indeed. Now the Bible has many powerful examples of God-inspired courage, and I want to focus on the story of Joshua and the pep talk he received from the Lord.

How many of you would be brave enough to admit that sometimes you need a pep talk before plunging ahead with something unpleasant, many even something scary. Most of us. And we never had to do anything as scary as Joshua did. He got the call to take over from Moses, who had led the Hebrew people for well over 40 years. And not only take over from Moses, but Joshua had to lead the people into Canaan, defeat the people already living there in battle and keep the constantly bickering Hebrew people from falling apart.

Joshua probably felt like Harry Truman did when he succeeded the late Franklin Roosevelt as president. Truman asked the reporters gathered at the White House, “Did you ever have a hay bale fall on you? Yesterday the whole weight of the moon, sun and stars fell on me.”

The very fact that God has to tell Joshua three times in only nine verses to be “strong and courageous” surely means that Joshua is feeling exactly the opposite, weak and cowardly. He’s loaded with self-doubt.

But this is so important to catch: God doesn’t give Joshua a pep talk about confidence or self-esteem or inner strength. He doesn’t tell him to be brave so that he’ll be a hero and people will remember him after he’s dead. He doesn’t talk about what Joshua might do. He talks about what the Lord will do. Rely on my promises, he says, not in your own strength. “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, your God, am with you wherever you go.” Wow. Good words for our graduates, don’t you think?

What we see here is something seen over and over again in the Bible. The courage that God wants us to display is courage grounded in and on his power, and our trust in that power. It’s not grounded in human will or human abilities, and certainly shouldn’t result in human pride. In 2 Samuel King David writes a song that praises God for several victories God had given him. He makes it clear who should get the glory for those victories when he writes, “God delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.”

Note that David gives credit where credit is due. God gets the credit for delivering him. His enemies were too strong, he couldn’t beat them, God had to do it for him. Then in verse 28 of the same song, David adds, “You deliver a humble people, but your eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down.” He warns everyone that God favors the humble, and the proud he takes down a peg. This is the message of the Bible over and over again. Take courage, because the Lord will fight on your side; give God praise, because your victories are his doing.

In the movie Chariots of Fire, there is a wonderful scene in which Eric, a devout Scottish Christian, enters the 1924 Olympic Games. He runs because it pleases God to see him use his ability. But his qualifying heat in the 100 meters is scheduled on the Sabbath, and Eric refuses to take part, despite pressure from the Olympic Committee. However, a British nobleman gives him his slot in the 400 meters, so Eric has a chance to win a gold medal. As he stands at the starting line for the race someone hands him a note that reads, “God honors those who honor him.”

Eric won the 400 meter gold medal, and became a missionary to China.

Now Joshua and David, and maybe Eric, are prime examples of Old Testament courage. They are warriors, and they take up arms for God and with God. But in the New Testament courage becomes defined as standing up for moral principles, for daring to preach the good news of the gospel even in the face of death. That’s the kind of courage Paul was praising when he wrote to the people of Rome. “You used to be a slave to your fear, but now God has adopted you as his children and set you free. So don’t be afraid to share in Christ’s suffering, for we are also going to share in his eternal glory.”

There are three points I want to share with you as we talk about ways to make courage a rock-solid part of our Christian character.

First, when there is no way out, let God in. In the various stages of life, we get to certain points when we have no choice but to take a step forward and face the consequences. But first, we have to get prepared. A young man was flunking out of college, and he sent a telegram to his mother, “Flunked out. Prepare Dad.” His mother sent him back a reply: “Dad prepared. Prepare yourself.” How should we prepare to face the worst? Let God in. Years ago I took the Dale Carnegie Course, and we were taught how to stop worrying. We were told to imagine the worst possible outcome to a situation, and then mentally accept it. After that, whatever came along wouldn’t seem so bad.

Well, letting God in means much the same thing, except that we should imagine the worst possible outcome, and then imagine God’s presence right there with you. If we let God in, then everything we do will be against the background of God’s rule in our life. Whatever else happens to us, we will know that God is in control of the situation, and us.

When there is no way around, follow God through. The Gospels tell us that Jesus fixed his sight on Jerusalem, and headed in that direction over the pleas of his disciples, who knew that he was marked for death there. But Jesus knew that there was no way around Jerusalem. His destiny lay there, and he could not fulfill that destiny without embracing death on the cross. That doesn’t mean his human heart was thrilled about it. We see him in the garden as he prays, “Father, if you are willing, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

Do you know what a blocking back does in football? His job is to plunge into a hole in the line ahead of the runner with the ball. And if there should be a snarling, drooling, 250 pound linebacker coming in like a missile, bent on taking the ballcarrier’s head for a trophy, the blocking back’s job essentially is to lay down his life for his teammate. This blocking back, who weighs maybe 210 pounds, is to throw his body into the path of this speeding locomotive linebacker, the explosion will cancel out both of them and the ballcarrier can make a nice gain.

Let me ask you something. Aren’t you glad, little ballcarrier that you are, to know that Jesus Christ, the ultimate blocking back, has already laid down his life so that Satan, the baddest linebacker of them all, your sworn enemy with every intent of destroying you and your soul, cannot stop you short of the goal line? Let me tell you how to get courage—when there’s no way around, follow God through.

And third, when there is no way off, follow God over. Jesus knew there was no way off the cross for him. His enemies wanted him dead, so he told his disciples that in Jerusalem he would be crucified. But even there he promised that wouldn’t be the end of the story. He said on the third day, he would rise again. Jesus knew there was no way off the cross, but there was a way over the cross. It’s called resurrection. Because of this, Jesus could say with courage, “In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

Do you know what the hardest thing in the world is, the act that requires the most courage? It’s to be out on a limb, taking a stand for your convictions alone, like Edmund Ross. In a psychology experiment 10 students were brought into a classroom and shown a picture of three lines. They were told to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line. But nine of the students had been secretly told to raise their hand when the teacher pointed to the second longest line. And when the 10^th student gave the correct answer, he looked around at the others and sheepishly pulled his hand down. It worked every time. Don’t miss that—the 10^th student was right, but he lacked the courage to stick it out alone

The symbol of God’s protection is not a straight line, but a circle which has no beginning and no end—it goes on forever. Always underneath you and round about you are God’s amazingly strong arms. We never walk in darkness alone. Faces may change, and the circumstances may be different, but God is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, standing guard over life. He is the X factor in human affairs. Things may seem impossible when he is left out of the mix, but if we live aware of his presence, there are no impossibles.

I am given credit regularly for having a lot of courage. People admire me for doing what I do in spite of the polio, and I accept that graciously. I hope that I can inspire others to keep going from time to time. But sometimes I wish that people who give me credit for being so brave could see me sitting on the floor some mornings with tears streaming down my cheeks because I just can’t put the braces on one more morning. Then they would understand that the courage doesn’t come from me, it comes from God. He is the X factor. His is the victory. And if God can make me brave, he surely can do it for you.

I don’t know what you are struggling with in your day-to-day life, but I suspect your difficulties are great. I know that some of you struggle with physical problems as you get older and less independent, or family problems, or money problems, or emotional problems. Life had a way of making you confront your fears and you either conquer your fears or they conquer you. There is no middle ground.

I look at you graduates who are just beginning to experience how difficult life really can be, and I pray for you earnestly. I think the world is a much colder and nastier place than it was even 32 years ago this month, when I graduated from college. The job market is tougher to crack, evils like pornography and drug use have become more widespread and even accepted, there is more in our culture that is degrading and less that is uplifting and spiritually refreshing. You need God to be part of your life, today more than any generation has ever needed God.

To all of you I say, when there is no way out, let God in. When there is no way around, follow God through. When there is no way off, go with God over. In First Corinthians we read “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” Like Joshua, you can conquer, because God is on your side.