Is Anything Worth Dying For?

Human beings are not animals, although we have many characteristics which are similar to those of the animals. One of these characteristics is the instinct for survival. Most animals will flee in terror to protect themselves and their young from danger. Deer will run for their lives when they see or smell human beings or other threats to their well being. Most of the time human beings act with greater reason and with more deliberation than animals, but we, too, want to survive and will usually take whatever actions are necessary to assure that survival. But does our instinct for survival override all other considerations? Is there ever a time when we should sacrifice our lives for a cause, a person or an idea?

Pat Apel, a Presbyterian preacher from Hazelhurst, Mississippi, wrote a book in 1991 with the title, Nine Great American Myths: Ways We Confuse the American Dream with the Christian Faith (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc.). Pat Apel tells of one student's reaction when the United States government revived its selective service system a few years ago. He refers to an article by Associated Press which printed a picture of a Princeton University student carrying a poster which read: “Nothing is worth dying for.” Pat Apel makes this observation on the Princeton student’s attitude: “It was a sad comment when compared to the motto of the University: “Princeton in the nation’s service” (p. 199). A sad comment, indeed!

While reading Pat Apel’s book and meditating on the Princeton student’s poster, I began to wonder about how many Americans feel that there is nothing worth dying for. The majority of Americans believe we have the greatest country in the world--the best political system, the most freedom and the greatest number of opportunities--but is America worth dying for? For many of us, our families are very dear. Life has great meaning because of our family relationships. Would you die for your family? Our faith in God and our commitment to the church of Jesus Christ form the very center of our Christian lives, but is our faith in God, in his Son and in his word worth dying for? Is anything worth dying for?

What if our American forefathers had felt nothing was worth dying for? Do you know what our ancestors sacrificed to build this “land of the free and home of the brave?” Hundreds of thousands of them left the comfort and safety of Scotland, Ireland, England, Spain, France and other countries to come to this new land to build a democratic form of government where they were free to worship God or not to worship God, where their posterity could build their lives according to their own beliefs and commitments. American pioneers moved westward across this great land to find more opportunities, greater freedom, but they did so at their own peril. Thousands of them died, but they believed their deaths were not in vain. They were building a nation for themselves, for their children and for us. Modern Americans are indebted to the founding fathers for their sacrifices on our behalf.

What if our Jewish and Christian predecessors had felt that nothing was worth dying for? The Old Testament tells of may battles which Israel fought under the leadership of Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon and others. Figures of the casualties suffered in these battles are not usually given, but thousands and thousands of God’s servants must have died in the fierce fighting between Israel and her enemies, such as, Amalek, Syria, Moab, Egypt, Babylon and other countries. Did the Jewish patriots sacrifice their lives for a worthless cause? Was the nation of God worth dying for?

When one turns to the New Testament, he finds men and women who loved the cause of Christ so much they counted it an honor to die for it. Tradition says--although we have no hard proof of it--that everyone of the apostles except John died in the service of their king, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Acts 12 records the death of James, the brother of John. “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain in the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:1-2). When Herod saw how much the killing of James pleased the Jews, he made an effort to kill the apostle Peter. He apprehended Peter, put him in prison, but the Lord delivered him (Acts 12:3-4, 11). Kings and other rulers had no qualms about killing God’s people, but the early Christians did not start a military revolution to prevent being killed. They suffered --even to the point of dying--for their Lord and Savior. Was Jesus Christ worth dying for?

Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been martyred for the cause of Christ. The very first Christian martyr was Stephen--one of the seven chosen to minister to the Grecian widows (Acts 6:5, 8), and a courageous gospel preacher. Luke tells us that Stephen was “full of faith and power” and “did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 7:8). Stephen’s work angered the Jewish leaders. “Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen” (Acts 7:9). The Jewish leaders were not able to refute the great truths which Stephen was preaching. They secretly seduced men to testify against Stephen, saying, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God” (Acts 7:10-11). Stephen justified his faith in Christ by showing that the Old Testament had pointed to the coming of Christ and his kingdom. He referred to the Jewish leaders as “stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart.” He accused them of acting just like their fathers who had persecuted the prophets and “slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:51-52).

The Jews became violent and began gnashing their teeth at Stephen. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit said, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). The Jewish leaders cried with loud voices, stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord. They cast him out of the city and stoned him to death. Stephen prayed for the Lord to receive his spirit and then said with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” When he had spoken those last words, he fell asleep (Acts 7:57-60).

You cannot keep from being impressed by Stephen’s great courage and total commitment to the cause of Jesus Christ. Was any of that really worth dying for? Did Stephen die in vain? My friends, if you have listened to my brief review of the life and death of Stephen, you know he did not die in vain. He died in service to our Lord Jesus Christ and will be rewarded with the crown of life. Jesus said to the church at Smyrna: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Was eternal life through Jesus Christ worth dying for?

Bishop J. B. Lightfoot of the Church of England published the book, Apostolic Fathers (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a reprint) in 1891. Bishop Lightfoot tells the story of an early Christian martyr by the name of Polycarp, who incidentally was a disciple of the apostle John. Polycarp lived between 56 and 155 A.D. He served as bishop of Smyrna and was killed during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. According to the church historian, Eusebius, Polycarp was a disciple of John’s, although Polycarp never mentioned his relationship to John. Polycarp was arrested for refusal to confess Caesar as Lord. Some of the Roman authorities asked Polycarp, “Why, what harm is there in saying, Caesar is Lord, and offering incense, with more to this effect, and saving yourself?” At first Polycarp would not answer his persecutors. Finally, he said, “I am not going to do what you counsel me.” A Roman magistrate pressed hard to get Polycarp to confess. “Swear the oath,” he said, “and I will release you: revile the Christ.” Please listen carefully to eighty-six year old Polycarp’s words: “Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and he had done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my Kind who saved me” (pp.111-112)?

Polycarp asked his captors to give him permission to go to his room to pray to God almighty. He then surrendered to the Roman authorities to be burned at the stake. The Roman soldiers were going to nail Polycarp to the stake, but he said, “Leave me as I am; for He that has granted me to endure the fire will grant me also to remain at the pile unmoved, even without the security which you seek from the nails”. Polycarp then prayed to God almighty: “May I be received among these in thy presence this day, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as thou didst prepare and reveal it beforehand, and has accomplished it, that thou art the faith and true God. For this cause yea and all things, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee, through the eternal and heavenly High-priest, Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, through whom with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for the ages to come” (p. 114). The fire was set and this good man’s soul passed into eternity. Was Christ, his king and high priest, worth dying for? Would you and I die, if need be, for the cause of Christ?

Hebrews 11 records the faith of Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, of Moses and of other heroes of the faith. The Hebrew writer would like to have told of other great men and women of faith, but time and space would not allow it. Please listen to his summary of men and women who belonged in God’s Hall of Fame. “And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson and of Jephthath; of David, and Samuel and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy) they wandered in deserts, in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:32-40).

If, by some miraculous power, you could talk with those men and women who died in their service to God, do you believe they would confess that doing the will of God was not worth dying for? What would John the Baptist, or Stephen, or the apostle James say if you could talk with them today? When they died for their devotion to the cause of our Lord, were they anticipating “the better resurrection,” of which the Hebrew writer spoke?

There is one other question I must ask you before our time expires: What if our Lord Jesus Christ had thought that nothing was worth dying for? What if our heavenly Father had thought so little of human beings that he was unwilling to send Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins? No man could have taken Christ’s life from him, had he not voluntarily laid his life down for our transgressions (John 10:18). But God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). The Son loved us so much that he was willing to lay down his life for us.

Old Testament predictions make it very plain that the coming of the Messiah would be as a sacrifice for our sins. “Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5). By divine inspiration, the apostle Peter applied Isaiah’s prophecy to Christ. “For even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him who judges righteously: who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that, we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you are healed” (1 Pet. 2:21-24). How grateful you and I ought to be that our Lord Jesus Christ thought we were worth dying for!

One of the conflicts which arose among the apostles related to which of the apostles would be greatest in Christ’s kingdom. The mother of James and John asked Jesus to grant that her two sons be in high positions in the kingdom--one on the right hand and one on the left (Mt. 20:20-21). Jesus asked James and John if they were prepared to drink the same cup he would drink and to experience the same baptism he would endure. He was speaking of the pain and suffering he would know. They assured him they would be able to go through the same suffering and pain. He told them that they would suffer for his name, but it was the Father in heaven who would decide the ones who would sit on his right hand and on his left. “But whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:27-28).

The word “ransom” (lutron) in this passage refers to the price paid for the release of those who were in bondage. The verb form of the same word is translated “redeem” and refers to our release from sin by the death of Christ. “Forasmuch as you know you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Pet. 1:18-20). What if Jesus had been unwilling to pay the ransom price?

Most Americans know the name Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian dissident, who spent many years in Russian prisons. While in prison, he became a believer in Jesus Christ and thanked God he was permitted to be in prison for his resistance to an oppressive government such as the Soviet Union. Michael Novak’s book, Moral Clarity in the Nuclear Age (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., 1991), quotes Solzhenitsyn of saying, “In a state of psychological weakness, weapons even become a burden for the capitulating side (that is, the side in a conflict which is willing to compromise its convictions). To defend oneself, one must also be ready to die; there is little such readiness in a society raised in the cult of material well-being” (p. 132). Could Alexander Solzhenitsyn have been thinking of American citizens--many of whom are not willing to die for any cause.

The early Christians were ready to die joyfully for the cause of our Lord. Josh McDowell’s book, Josh McDowell Answers Five Tough Questions (Wheaton: Tynedale House Publishers, Inc., 1991), tells of the martyrdom of some of the early Christians. He quotes the fourth-century church historian Eusebius who wrote that the Christian martyrs “with joy and laughter and gladness” received the final sentence of death. “So that they sang and sent hymns and thanksgivings to the God of the universe even to the very last breath.” Josh quotes Tertullian as saying, “The blood of the martyers is” the seed of the church (pp. 375-376).

My friends, please answer this question before God almighty: Is anything worth dying for?

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

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