Other than the military and first responders, do any of you have a job for which you would be willing to die? What about people? Do you have anybody in your life for whom you’d risk it all? A “martyr” is someone who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of belief, principle, or cause. One of my favorite speeches is Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” where he said, “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” For what or whom are you willing to give your last full measure of devotion? For Paul, he saw this commitment in the life of Epaphroditus (the pastor at Philippi). We also see this type of sacrifice in Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the world so that by believing in Him, we can experience true freedom from sin and death.
Philippians 2:30: “For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away.”
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Scott Maxon 