Epworth Student Ministries

3077 Valleyview Drive     Toledo Ohio 43615       419.531.4236

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December 26, 2009

For eight hours, he prepares his uniform and his mind for duty. Every day of his duty, he gets a fresh haircut. When he is on duty, he will not vary from his command a single step, or for a single second, no matter the weather, no matter the hour of the day, no matter the day of the week, no matter the number of people watching, and no matter if no one watches at all.

You’ve seen his picture, of course, for he is the unflinching guard, the sentinel, a member of the Third United States Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, the men and women who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, just outside our nation’s capitol.  For every minute of every day, since July 2, 1937, the Old Guard has stood guard. And there is nothing casual about the way the work is done Arlington. When a sentinel comes on duty, he walks exactly 21 steps across the tomb, representing the 21-gun salute, the highest honor given to any military or foreign dignitary. When he turns, he faces the tomb, and remains in that position for 21 seconds. He turns again and walks 21 steps across the tomb. When he completes the short journey, he stops, turns toward the tomb, and pauses for 21 seconds. Over and over, the sentinel repeats the process, until his shift is completed.

When the job is done well, it is nearly impossible to discern any movement of the young soldier’s head, or weapon. With an average age of only 22, these young, enlisted men and women, with ranks ranging only from Private First Class to Specialist, prepare for weeks to take a turn at the tomb.

They will be assigned to groups by their height. No more than two inches will separate those who take responsibility for duty shifts.  Yet, somehow, all of the sentinels seem taller, straighter, and a bit prouder. Part of the reason for the ramrod appearance would be from the shoes the soldiers wear. Though they are standard, military issue boots, the heels and soles are built up a bit, not for protection from the weather, but to aid in the walking, the turning, and the distinctive clicking of the heels. Strict training ensures that the guard will be unflinching and unwavering in duty, no matter the heat of summer, no matter the driving rain of December, or the frozen snow of February.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the guard will remain posted, and the steps will remain perfect, even when there is not another soul in sight, when no one is watching to see if the sentinel remains diligent at midnight.  You just don’t walk the same way when it’s your turn to guard the tomb.

Neither should we, those who carry the guard for the name of Christ.

We’re embarking on a new year, and our minds are drawn to new commitments, or even fresh versions of previous commitments. Whether your hope for 2010 includes a better way of studying, preparing for exams, balancing your budget, or simply finding less of you to balance on your bathroom scales, almost everyone is in a mood to consider change as the New Year approaches.

The challenge from the Bible could encompass all of that change. To put it simply, the Bible’s message is that we’re expected to walk in a different way, once we follow Christ. It doesn’t matter if a crowd is watching or if no one at all is watching. It doesn’t matter if the watch is pleasant, or difficult. It doesn’t matter about the circumstances, the physical, emotional, or even spiritual strain. Walking as a follower of Jesus requires a different step than the rest of the world … and sometimes, I’m afraid, it requires just as much work as if we were members of the select force that guards the Tomb in Arlington.

Pull out and open your Bible to the book of Ephesians. The message from Ephesians is incredibly relevant, despite the fact the words were written nearly 2,000 years ago. The city was a huge city, and a transportation hub. The culture of Ephesus had several similarities with our culture. Though their technology was different, their weak points were the same. They had a tendency to like sinful practices. They were materialistic to a point of overkill. They had sexual practices that left nothing to the imagination, and nothing seemed to shame them.

Yet, right in the midst of a very difficult environment, a church sprang up. As Paul ministered to this small group of Christians, it became obvious that people were hungry for something real. They wanted something more than what their money could buy, more than what their lustful imaginations could create. As they listened, as they considered the life of Jesus, and as they changed their ways, their number began to grow. In fact, so many people in Ephesus came to Christ and began changing their way of living, the economic core of the city was threatened. Change so dramatic came to the town, a riot involving 25,000 or more people broke out, with the writer of this little letter being the focus of the fury. (Acts 18-19 has the full story.)

Eventually, long after he had to rush out of Ephesus in order to save his life, Paul wrote his church with a simple instruction for what he expected of them. He urged them to do what you’re probably hoping to do as a new year dawns. He called them to a new way of living, or as the guards around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier might say it, to a new way of walking.

Ephesians 2:8-10. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift —  not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation — created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

Paul is always careful to remind us that we’re saved by grace, and by no other means. You can’t avoid enough sins, bake enough pies, make enough hospital visits, read enough Bible, or give enough money to be saved. Just can’t. You can’t “walk in a way that honors God” and hope that’ll be enough to walk your way into heaven. If we haven’t accepted the gift of grace, there will be no grace at all.

With Christmas just passed, I suppose many of you received all kinds of electronic gadgets as Christmas gifts. My goodness … you’ve got MP3 players, PDA’s, DVD players, cell phones, and personal computers loaded up with software that will make your head spin.

Now here’s the deal. If you received such a gadget as a gift this Christmas, it was free. It didn’t cost you a dime. You didn’t have to pay sales tax on it, and you didn’t have to wait in line in an overcrowded store to buy it. You didn’t have to pay for shipping, and you didn’t even have to wrap it. Your one and only goal in the transaction was receiving and accepting the gift. That’s it. That’s all. There’s nothing more in the transaction process. You don’t need some theological treatise to understand the concept of receiving a Christmas gift. It’s easy, it’s wonderful, and it’s common.

But that is the point. Receiving the gift of salvation, receiving the ultimate Christmas gift is easy, it’s wonderful, and it’s even common. Millions and millions of people believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. But there’s as big a step between receiving Christ and living a life that’s worthy of that gift as there is in receiving an MP3 player and actually figuring out how the thing works. A person with a personal computer who takes the time to learn how to use it effectively is a completely different animal than a person with a personal computer who is just flabbergasted by the thing. How different an animal? It’s like this. The people who got in there and figured out the computer first, made the most money. Some of them are the richest people in America. The people who first saw the potential of the Internet were the people who made the most money from the Internet. Even today, now that the Internet has become a common part of life, some people make money off their junk by selling it on E-Bay, but millions of Americans haven’t taken the time to understand how E-Bay works, so their junk just takes up space, and the potential profit slips away.

Paul discovered, after he was saved by grace, that through his faith in Christ, he could better control his thoughts, his lusts, his anxiety, his anger, and his feelings of guilt. He didn’t find a prison of things he couldn’t do because he had accepted Christ … he actually found a freedom from knowing Christ that allowed him to sing while he was in prison!  Paul knew all that would happen, if people would just plug into what was available to them.

So get it clear right from the start that there’s a huge difference between receiving the gift of salvation, and then using that relationship. Huge difference. Your actions in life have nothing to do with how you are saved. Salvation is by grace alone, grace made available only by the death of Jesus on the cross.

The letter to the Ephesians is a letter to Christians, and remains a message to Christians in 2010, a message to you and me. Paul says, “I urge you to walk in a way that’s worthy of the calling you have received.”

The Bible is making a challenge to each of us.  The way you walk … the choice of how you live … is completely up to you.  So how will 2010 look for you?  I pray you and I will make this year a banner year for standing strong, for standing tall, and for standing proud of the way we represent our Savior.