Last Friday was Veterans Day, when we honor all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. We commemorate Veterans Day on the eleventh of November each year because it was at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 when the major hostilities of WWI were formally ended. As with Memorial Day each year, Veterans Day is an opportunity for us to honor those who have served and to remember that freedom is never free, for it comes at the cost of the sacrifice of others – if not at the cost of their lives, then at the cost of a part of their lives that leaves them forever changed. Thank you to all who have served this nation through military service.

During this Thanksgiving season, we recognize and give thanks for the multitude of sacrifices that have benefited each of our lives, from the service of our veterans to the sacrifices of our parents to the many ways our church family helps to bear our burdens to the numerous other people who have gone out of their way to help meet our needs over the years, often unrecognized.

In light of our passage from Sunday, where Jesus rebukes the Sadducees for not knowing the Scriptures, we recognize and give thanks for the many sacrifices that have been required for us to be able to benefit from these same Scriptures. From the lives of many of the prophets themselves (Matt 23:34-35) to the lives of many of the first Christians to the nearly countless lives of other followers of Christ who have bled and died to preserve these Scriptures and to translate them into our native tongue. We honor their sacrifice by pressing on to know the Scriptures. We dishonor their sacrifice by persisting in ignorance.

We close every Sunday service by remembering the greatest sacrifice on our behalf and how this should influence our lives: “because Christ gave His life for us, we should live our lives for Him.” Let us honor the sacrifice of others by seizing hold of the benefits that have been won for us.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Evan