ANZAC Day 2010
The Difference A Great Commander Makes
Luke 7:1-10
I’ve titled today’s message “The Difference a Great Commander Makes”, and as we read the story from Luke 7 a little earlier you may have assumed that the commander I am referring to is the centurion mentioned in the story. He was a commander in the Roman army and a person of great significance in the community.
For sure he was a man who exhibited a number of signs of greatness, which we’ll talk about a little later, but the most impressive demonstration of his character was in the way he acknowledged Jesus as someone greater than himself. (Kind of reminds you of John the Baptiser doesn’t it)! Here was a man who enjoyed respect and commanded obedience because of the position he held and the way he treated others, yet he feels unworthy to have Jesus enter his home. He believes that Jesus can command his servant to be well and it will be so, regardless of where Jesus is when He makes that command. Such faith impressed Jesus greatly, and it provides a great lesson to us.
Before we explore that lesson today I want to fill you in a little bit on why we’re looking at this today - we 6 weeks into a study in the gospel of John and suddenly we’re darting over to the gospel of Luke! The reason is ANZAC Day. We’re going to take a brief look at some of the events surrounding the Gallipoli campaign that was the first combat action that the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps faced, landing in what is now called ANZAC Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25th, 1915.
First, let me fill you in a little bit on what was going on on the political scene. The Ottoman Empire (what we now call Turkey) was becoming allied with Germany and the other Axis powers, and had been attacking Russia in the Black Sea and across the Caucasus mountains. Russia asked Great Britain to attack Turkey from the Mediterranean in order to distract the Turks from attacking them, and also to provide a way for Russia to receive supplies since they were almost completely cut off from their allies in Europe.
The idea was to sail a fleet of warships up a narrow passage called the Dardanelles and to capture the Ottoman capital city of Istanbul, which would take Turkey out of the war and provide a sea link for Allied supplies and reinforcements.
What most people don’t realise is that British agents were in secret negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, and had been authorised to offer them 4 million pounds to withdraw from the war. However on March 15th 1915 they were ordered to cease negotiations because the British had discovered that the Turks were short of ammunition for their forts guarding the Dardanelles. They decided to use military force rather than political persuasion and bribery, and the result was over 140,000 Allied casualties and over a quarter of a million Turkish casualties - 130,000 men killed and 260,000 wounded. If only they’d known that the costs would be so high and their objectives would never be met. I think it would have changed their decision!
Three days later on March 18, 18 British and French battleships, escorted by smaller warships, attacked the Dardanelles forts. One officer wrote that ‘it looked as if no human power could withstand such an array of might and power’. Yet 3 of the battleships were sunk, leading them to abandon the naval push until ground forces could neutralise the forts. If only they’d known that those forts were almost out of ammunition and would probably not have withstood another naval assault.
After a horrific landing operation on April 25th, a commander of one the British landing forces walked to within 500 meters of the strategic village of Krithia. If only they’d known that the village had been abandoned, they could have rushed to occupy it on that first day. Instead they spent time consolidating their positions on the beaches, and never got so close to Krithia again.
On August 7th the ANZACs mounted a coordinated assault on the high ground of Chunuk Bair and Baby 700. (Remember the ANZACs had been pinned down on the beaches below those ridges for months). The New Zealand force was to take the highest peak of Chunuk Bair in a surprise attack during the night. An Australian Battalion was also to take out the machinegun positions that guarded the ridge called the Nek leading to a hill called Baby 700. Then artillery units would bombard the Turkish trenches at Baby 700 and two regiments of Australian Light Horse would climb out of their trenches and attack the Turkish lines in waves of 150 men at a time (by the way they’d left their horses in Egypt!) While this was happening the New Zealanders were to storm down from the peak at Chunuk Bair to catch the Turks from the rear in a classic hammer-and-anvil manoeuvre.
However the New Zealanders did not capture Chunuk Bair till the following day, and the machinegun positions overlooking the Nek were also not destroyed. Nevertheless the attack was ordered to begin. Unfortunately, the officer in charge of the artillery barrage had not synchronised his watch with the officer in charge of the ground assault, and the result was there was 7 minutes between the barrage stopping and the ground attack starting. This meant that the Turks had time to re-take their positions and were warned in advance that an attack was about to occur. The first wave over the Nek were slaughtered, as was the second. One officer tried to halt the attack, but was overruled. However as the third wave stalled the attack was finally called off. Unfortunately the message did not get to the officer in charge of the fourth wave, who commanded his men to continue the attack. About 80 more men left their trench and were mown down before the order was finally passed through. If only they’d known.
This is pretty depressing and frustrating stuff. But ANZAC is meant to remind us of these things. It’s to remind us that war is not glorious, it’s ugly and futile and we need to do everything we can to avoid it, and to rescue those around our world who are caught up in it.
But there are also some important spiritual truths that relate to our everyday lives that I want to share with you, based on what we have been reflecting upon so far.
Romans 8:28-39
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
As the ANZAC story demonstrates, we make plans thinking we have the resources to carry them out, but so often they fail. God has a purpose for us, but His purposes never fail. He knew the outcome of His plan before He even began the first step of putting it into place. God foreknew us as His children before we ever accepted His offer of new birth into His family. He predestined us to be made like Jesus before we had even breathed our first breath. Because he knew and planned out these things, He has done what is necessary to bring them about.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I want you to understand there is a spiritual battle being described here. The objective for this battle is not a thin strip of land in Turkey as it was for the ANZACS, the objective is our membership in God’s family. The objective is our participation in God’s eternal Kingdom. The objective is for us to know the love of God that will never be exhausted and can never be overcome.
Many people have thought that achieving that objective is through some sort of human endeavour – being good enough, being religious enough, being generous enough or whatever.
But none of us are capable of winning that battle. None of us can achieve peace with God. None of us deserve to be included in His family, allowed into His kingdom. Despite our best efforts we all break God’s laws and we are all corrupted by evil which God cannot accept.
The good news is that God has dealt with this problem for us. Jesus’ death and resurrection has won us forgiveness and victory over sin. Our acceptance by God does not depend on what we do by but on our acceptance of He’s done. Our enemy, Satan, would like to prevent us from living in God’s kingdom, and he accuses us of things that would make God have to reject us. But because our sins are dealt with by Jesus, Satan does not have a leg to stand on. He does not possess greater power with which to steal us away from God, and since Christ has taken the evil stain from us Satan has no claim on us for himself. We are washed clean! We are safe! The victory is won, not by us but by our great Commander, Jesus Christ.
Now I want you to notice the things Paul lists from verse 35:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Is Paul saying that God’s love and power protects us from these things – prevents us from experiencing them? Nope, he’s writing to people who are and will be going through exactly these sorts of things! The encouragement is that none of these can steal the victory that Christ has won for us. None of these things can steal our eternal salvation. None of them can stop us from experiencing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and all that He produces within us: love, joy, peace, patience and so on. None of these things can separate us from God’s all-conquering love.
That’s a mindset that you really need to develop. Too often we use tough circumstances as an excuse for ungodly behaviour and attitudes. We agree that forgiveness is important but what that person did was just too horrible. We agree that you shouldn’t break the law but we were running late for work so we went faster or ran that red light. We agree that we shouldn’t take our anger out on other people but it was a hard day at work – couldn’t the kids see I was exhausted?
Yesterday we had 5 guys for basketball which meant none of us got a rest. I played almost the whole second half with a stitch! During that half the ref made what I thought was a tough call against one of our guys after an opposition player yelled out some advice! I said to the ref that it was the wrong call and that he shouldn’t let that player tell him how to referee the game. I wasn’t being aggressive but that comment was still out of line. It was not respectful or loving to the referee and did not show godly character. A bit later I came alongside the ref and apologised, and I need to make sure I don’t do it again. Regardless of what any other player is doing or how well I think the referees are going, I need to live by the Spirit and show the fruit of the Spirit in my conduct. Circumstances are not God – don’t allow them to control you the way only God should. Jesus has won the victory so live in that victory.
You might say “If God loves us so much why does he allow us to suffer in these sorts of ways? Why doesn’t he take away my sickness or restore my loved one or prevent that crime and so on.”
You might have had the misfortune of hearing so-called Christian teachers who teach people to actually abandon the way of Christ and expect God to give them nothing but ease, health, pleasure and wealth.
There are many things we could say about that today, but I’m going to restrict myself to focussing on just one approach to that question.
Let’s go back to Luke 7:1-10.
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
This centurion is a great guy. The Jewish leaders in Capernaum love him, which is really unusual! Normally Jews would despise Gentiles and especially a centurion in the oppressing Roman army! They would not associate with such a person, certainly never enter their house or eat with them. Yet this man respects their religion so much that he has even built them a house of study and worship – a synagogue. So the elders go on his behalf to ask Jesus to heal his critically ill servant for him. It was probably quite humbling for the elders to do this, but such was their respect and appreciation for the Roman.
But notice the way the elders speak to Jesus – “This man deserves to have you do this for him, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue”.
Does that sound a bit rich to you? Imagine praying to God in that way “Lord, you should heal so and so because they have served you more faithfully than most others do”; or “Lord, after all I’ve given to the Church over the years can’t you just help me through these financial problems?”.
I don’t think too many of us would be that blatant about it, but I do wonder whether sometimes we have a sense of entitlement that is not appropriate. God has given us everything in Jesus, yet sometimes we demand what we think we deserve. Well if God gave us what we deserve we’d all be in a lot of trouble!
Sometimes we don’t trust our all-knowing and all-powerful Commander to accomplish His good purposes that come from His love for us. When the going gets rough we think that Satan must be winning, or circumstances have got the upper hand. Something’s gone wrong. Nope, in “all things God works for the good of those who love Him” (Rom 8:28). We need to learn to tune in to the good work that God is doing instead of allowing those things to interrupt our relationship with Him. We need to learn to trust in His love for us and His power at work in and for us. We need to learn that His purposes are bigger than temporary comfort, possessions, status and so on. As hard as it is sometimes, faith shifts us to a greater perspective. Look at the perspective that the centurion has:
Luke 7:6-10
“Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
The centurion doesn’t use the usual term “Rabbi” when addressing Jesus, he calls Him “Lord”. A commander in an occupying army of the world’s greatest empire calls a wandering teacher in a fairly obscure corner of that empire “Lord”! Not only that, but he does not consider himself worthy of Jesus’ personal attention and presence. He believes that Jesus has such authority as to be able to command miracles at a distance, and Jesus proves him to be correct in that judgement.
Is it wrong to ask God for miracles? Absolutely not. But ask knowing who is Lord. Don’t ask with a sense of entitlement, ask with humility.
I listened to a sermon recently where the preacher was commenting on the way most Christians pray. We pray as if God were our servant, not our master. We bring a list of things that we would like God to do. His suggestion was that we need to spend more time asking God what He would like us to do.
This centurion knew about authority, and he knew Jesus had it. He was familiar with battlefield dynamics and how difficult it can be to have orders properly followed, but he seemed to recognise that if Jesus said something it was as good as done.
Let’s finish by going back to Gallipoli. The Gallipoli campaign was very complex, and there were a lot of things that were done very well. Ultimately though it failed primarily because of bad decisions from those in command.
Imagine being a soldier in an army where the Commander knew absolutely everything. His plans always succeeded. He was completely undefeatable. Would you be trying to tell that Commander what to do, or would you be asking that Commander what His orders were for you to carry out? Imagine the confidence you would have in carrying out those orders knowing that they had come from this Commander. That’s what it’s like to live with Jesus in charge of your life.
