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L O O K I N G A T L I F E
is Never Won
CostFreedom
Many people, making even the smallest of donations, enable Our Daily Bread Ministries to reach others with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible. We are not funded or endowed by any group or denomination.
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Our Daily Bread MinistriesPO Box 15, Kilsyth, VIC 3137, AustraliaTel: (+61-3) 9761-7086, [email protected] Our Daily Bread MinistriesPO Box 303095, North Harbour, Auckland 0751, New ZealandTel: (+64-9) 444-4146, [email protected]
without
Commemorating the ANZAC Day CentenaryCommemorating the
ANZAC Day Centenary
Commemorating theANZAC Day Centenary
Cover Image: iStockphoto.comInterior image taken from flickr.com
Freedom Is Never Won Without Cost © 2015 by David Cook. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Our Daily Bread Ministries. All rights reserved.
Printed in Indonesia.
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LestWeForget
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Freedom Is Never Won Without Cost
Commemorating the ANZAC Day Centenary
Australia Day is celebrated on the 26th of Janu-ary each year. This is the day when in 1788 elev-en ships comprising the First Fleet entered what is now Sydney Harbour under the leadership of Captain Arthur Phillip. The mission was to es-tablish white settlement in Australia, initially as a penal colony. Though this is Australia’s official national day, most Australians recognise that the greater day is the 25th of April, ANZAC Day, which celebrates the country’s national unity and what it means to be Australian.
This is the day when we remember those who have served our nation in wartime, beginning with the Boer War, World Wars I and II, the wars in Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and various peacekeeping missions throughout the world. This is not a day focused on one city, Sydney, and one place, Sydney Harbour, but a day that is celebrated by all, from our largest cit-ies to our smallest towns.
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Until 31 December 1900, Australia consisted of six independent states, which federated into the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australian troops fought for the first time un-der centralised Australian leadership during the Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902). It was, however, the Great War, World War I, which saw Australian men and women enter the war effort in great numbers.
The population of Australia in 1914 to 1918 was approximately 4.9 million. 416,000 Australians enlisted, representing 38.7 percent of the male population aged between 18 and 44 years old. 61,514 were to perish and 155,133 were wound-ed in action. This was a massive national and per-sonal sacrifice on the part of the young nation.
I have visited the First World War battlefields of the Western Front which ran through Belgium and northern France. From there, no deceased Australians were returned home and their head-stones reflect the tragedy:
“Remember their sacrifice and learn from their experience.”
“Christ will clasp the broken chain closer, when we meet again”
“Aged 24. Another life lost. 8.8.1918. Our hearts are broken, for what?”
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Why Do We Celebrate ANZAC Day on 25 April?
It was because on this day in 1915, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) landed at Gallipoli, Turkey. This was the first major engagement in the First World War for the ANZAC forces.
At that time, Britain had joined France and Rus-sia in a war on Germany and the Austro-Hun-garian Empire. The Turks, on the other hand, had joined Germany and declared war on the Allies. Russia was surrounded and Winston Churchill, Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, realised that Russia must not fall to the enemy, for then Germany could concentrate all its forces on the Western Front. Churchill argued that the Dardenelles, the narrow sea passage between the Aegean and the Black Seas, must be kept open for the shipment of vital supplies to Russia. The ANZAC forces were dispatched to defend this strategic location.
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The result was a bloody failure. Churchill was sacked from the War Cabinet and all allied forc-es were eventually withdrawn by January 1916. Though a failure, great courage was exhibited by those who landed on the rugged and mountain-ous western side of what is now known as the ANZAC Cove.
The ANZAC forces were left holding a front that was 1.5 kilometres long and barely 500 metres wide; such was the ferocity of the Turk-ish defence. Australian casualties were 26,111 of which 8,000 were killed in action, died of wounds or succumbed to disease. Nine Victoria Crosses for exceptional bravery were awarded. Nearly 3,000 New Zealanders died and there were 7,991 casualties and one Victoria Cross awarded.
The war historian C.E.W. Bean was the first to suggest the term “the spirit of the ANZAC”. He said, “It stands for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat.” These qualities are celebrated every ANZAC Day. It is right for us to honour and re-member those who fought and some who died consistent with this ANZAC spirit, for it is im-portant to remember that freedom is never won without cost.
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Not Taking Freedom for Granted
As we recall together the price paid for our free-dom, it is a good occasion to remember another historical moment in which a costly sacrifice was made for an even greater freedom.
Just as we remember the courage of those men on the Turkish cliffs, 100 years ago, so the Christian faith focuses on the events in first century Palestine, especially on a Roman cross, where Jesus Christ died to pay the price for our freedom. Christianity is unique in that it guar-antees true freedom from two brutal tyrants. Firstly, religion—man’s effort to win and keep God’s favour. Such religion is a doubly cruel tyrant, making impossible demands on us and then threatening adherents with the worst pos-sible punishment if those demands are not met.
Christianity, on the other hand, is about pro-vision, not requirement; supply, not demand. Christianity is about what God has done, not about what we must do. Christianity triumphs
over the tyranny of reli-gion by taking away its
necessity. God sets guilty people in the right with Him, be-cause His love has
satisfied His justice.
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How does God do that? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), but Jesus never sinned. Even the worst enemies of Jesus could not accuse Him of anything apart from eating with the wrong kinds of people.
When He died, it was a voluntary act on His part (John 10:17-18). The Bible says, “Christ died for our sin” (1 Corinthians 15:3). His death on the cross was to free us from the tyranny of sin and its penalty. Sin is the second tyrant. It holds us captive such that we do not do the right we want to do, and we keep doing the wrong we do not want to do. Jesus took all of our wrongs and paid the penalty by dying on the cross for us. He res-cued us from being prisoners of sin to be freed people who could live life to the fullest. That is what Christianity is about—the death of the in-nocent for the undeserving. A real death in a real Palestine, in as much turmoil then as it is today.
The real bodily resurrection of Jesus is God’s warranty that His death was effective and that guilty people can now be forgiven through Him.
Those for whom Jesus died must recognise their part in His death. They must renounce their sin, entrust their lives to Him, and live for Him.
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An Appropriate Response
Freedom is precious, for it is always won at great cost to others.
That is why it is good to pause and remember each ANZAC Day those who have served the cause of freedom. And it is good to pause and remember the greatest victory of all, won at the cross, where Jesus Christ died for you and me.
Freedom is ours because of costly sacrifice. It is a great price Jesus freely paid. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not per-ish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV).
John 3:16 has been called the Bible in miniature. This verse sets out clearly how much God loves us, what He has done about that and how we can have life forever with Him.
But a personal relationship with God is not auto-matic; you need to respond. You can do that by simply praying the words of John 3:16, but re-
place “the world” and “who-ever” with your name.
And then begin living a life of loving Him.
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Hopefully this little leaflet has helped you to think further about the cost of freedom. If you have been challenged to think further about Je-sus, the best idea is to get hold of a Bible and start reading. We encourage you to make contact with a local church as well, where you can get additional help with any questions you might have.
We at Our Daily Bread Ministries would also like to help! We publish two regular booklets called Our Daily Bread and Our Daily Journey, which will help you to read the Bible and talk with God each day. These are available at no cost to you. To receive samples of these daily Bible reading notes, fill in the attached tear-off slip and return it to our office.
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