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Not glory in war but respectful of those who made sacrifices on our behalf.  ANZAC day is an annual reminder of the cost of war and the courage of ordinary people in the face of trial.

James 4:1-2 "Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start?  Isn't it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?  You want something and you haven't got it; so you're prepared to kill. You have an ambition you can't satisfy, so you fight to get your way by force."  (Jerusalem Bible)

Illus:  Kids dare one another…”I Dare Ya” and invariably it is a challenge to perform some foolish and meaningless activity, yet often we can feel compelled to respond to the dare.  Some would say that young Australians response to the declaration of war in 1915 was just such a ‘national’ dare.  In the midst of appalling waste of life there shone through ordinary men and women an extraordinary courage and daring.

Journalist and Historian Charles Bean was Australia’s first war correspondent and went on to help found both our Commonwealth Archives and the Australian War Museum. Born in Bathurst, he was with the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli and believed that ‘…the consciousness of Australian nationhood was born’ on the 25th of April 1915.[i]

In his first report published as the official press representative with the Australian Expeditionary Force, he says that

“…It had long been known that the Third Australian Brigade, consisting of Queenslanders, South Australians, Western Australians, and Tasmanians, had been chosen to make the landing… It was eighteen minutes past four on the morning of Sunday, 25^th April, when the first boat grounded…orders…were that shots, if possible, were not to be fired till daybreak, but the business was to be carried through with the bayonet. The men leapt into the water, and the first of them had just reached the beach when fire was opened on them from the trenches on the foothills which rise immediately from the beach. The landing place consists of a small bay about half-a-mile from point to point with two much larger bays north and south. The country rather resembles the Hawkesbury River country in New South Wales, the hills rising immediately from the sea to 600 feet. To the north these ridges cluster to a summit nearly 1,000 feet high. Further northward the ranges become even higher. The summit just mentioned sends out a series of long ridges running south-westward, with steep gullies between them, very much like the hills and gullies about the north of Sydney, covered with low scrub very similar to a dwarfed gum tree scrub.”

“It is impossible so say exactly how many of the enemy were holding this particular portion of the coast; perhaps 500 to 1,000...By the time the first part of the main body was forming up on the beach the Turks had brought up their troops from the other side of the peninsula, and a fierce attack began, which lasted all day. As fresh troops arrived on the beach they were in most cases sent straight into the firing line…It was in that first afternoon that the Australians, and later the New Zealanders, obtained their first experience of shrapnel in this war. During the first day, when they had rushed a position which was rather like a section of the Blue Mountains, full of winding gullies, it was naturally difficult to discover the position of all the enemy’s guns…Hour after hour one watched shrapnel bursting over the flank ridge, along which the infantry were lying. The Navy could do practically noting to help, because we could not tell them where to fire... One of the British officers who was out in an exposed position observing for this battery was hit through the cheek, the bullet taking away all his teeth on one side of his mouth. He went down to the beach had the wound dressed, and returned to his post…. Some of the New Zealanders were caught during the night out in the open by a machine gun, and lost many of their number…. On Monday, the second day of landing, the enemy again pumped shrapnel on to the ridges…they must have fired 600 shells at the landing place…Early on the second morning, the Eighth Australian Infantry repelled four Turkish charges…”

Matthew 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“One Salvation Army Chaplain, William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, became the most popular soldier in Australia.  He was awarded the Military Cross by the King.  At the end of the war he was farewelled by his battalion with brass bands, flags, cheers and tears. General Birdwood wrote "I am indeed sorry to lose your services. I cannot tell you much I have appreciated all you have done for our boys with, I know great self-sacrifice, and I may add, complete success.  On his return to Australia in 1918 tumultuous crowds greeted him at every state capital and smaller cities. …many people traveled hundreds of miles to grasp his hand and thank him for some kindness he had shown a loved one. In Melbourne hundreds were turned away from the Exhibition Building which was filled with over 7,000 people…‘Fighting Mac’ inspired many books and magazine articles. His dedication compassion and heroic service to his fellow soldiers resulted in all but unbelievable exploits. One must ask what prompted a man in his late 40’s to voluntarily put himself in such positions of danger, continual exhaustion, ceaseless anxiety and grief, and a persistent feeling of not being able to do enough? From the Middle East, to Gallipoli and later France, William McKenzie spoke of love of God and His forgiveness for all humanity. Mac shunned the spotlight, turning down dozens of offers and left for mission work in China. He died in 1947 and at his funeral teary-eyed diggers marched six abreast along the Sydney streets.”

“Born in Scotland, Mac longed for adventure and so in 1885 at the age of 15 he took a ship to Brisbane and began work on a cattle station. He became known in the pubs of Bundaberg as a drinker and fighter. He turned away from the religion of his parents but never quite forgot it. At the age of 20 in a Salvation Army meeting he knelt and received Jesus as his Savior and Lord. From that time on he dedicated his life to serving God and his fellow men. He cut his teeth by impatiently urging people to become Christians, and was dismayed when they showed their contempt by burning down his hut - but never gave up. He joined the Salvation Army, studied the Bible, prayed night and day… He was 44 years old when war was declared in 1914 and the first man to sign up as a Chaplain.”[i]

“[At Gallipoli] The Battle of Lone Pine was the bloodiest battle the Australians had fought. The young ANZACS charged straight into the face of machine guns leaving the Turkish trenches knee-deep in with the dead and dying. Australians won seven Victoria Crosses that fateful day but left 800 wooden crosses marking the graves of those gallant young men. After the horrific battle he wrote: "My experiences of getting the wounded out of the trenches, over the dead and dying was sickening…as Turkish guns were busy day and night. I buried in all something like 450 killed in this charge." [ii]

 

John 19:17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

Declare:   Heroes don’t always look like heroes until they dare something that others would give up on.  That’s why Jesus will always remain one of the greatest heroes of this earth.

"A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares about more than his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free." John Stewart Mills

Col Stringer says that “McKenzie won greatness by taking Christian solace to the front-line battlegrounds. He risked death daily to be with his beloved men. He was buried alive twice by enemy gunfire, only to be dug out as cheerful as ever. But ‘Fighting Mac’ never did anything in half measures; it was not only the Turks that felt the wrath of this man of God, but the dens of vice in Cairo that lured the young Light Horsemen. McKenzie led a raid of handpicked Australians and dragged scores of young soldiers literally out from the brothels ‘by their ears’. Armed with firebrands and sticks they stormed through the streets setting the whole district ablaze (the Battle of the Wazzir). Leaving the pavement littered with unconscious natives, the Australians enthusiastically slashed through the fire hoses and prevented the extinguishing of the fires. The area was razed to the ground. At the war’s end, an official declared ‘There are men in Australia who would never have returned had not Padre McKenzie single-handedly challenged those hell-houses of Egypt."[i]   Padre McKenzie loved God and loved his soldiers.  He took risks with personal safety and even disobeyed orders in order to be with his men.

McKenzie carried a trenching shovel into battle as chaplains were not allowed to carry weapons, he refused orders to remain behind the fighting and would charge the Turkish lines with his men.  When Aussie troopers begged him not to risk his life McKenzie replied: "Boys, I’ve preached to you, and I’ve prayed with you. Do you think I’m afraid now to die with you?

Matthew 21:12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

Matthew 23:13 ¹³"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.^[3]

Matthew 23:27 ²⁷"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Jesus would say "Men, women, boys and girls, I’ve preached to you, and I’ve prayed with you. Do you think I’m afraid now to die for you?

Declare:  The world is changed by those who dare.

Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

McKenzie said "I had three [services] yesterday… Amidst the booming guns we sat on the hillside in fading light and sang the familiar hymn 'Jesu' lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly' the strains of that grand helpful prayer wafted across the valley and were taken up by men on all sides who were engaged on duty. The sentries standing guard, with bayonets fixed, lowered their heads and joined in. 'Plenteous grace in Thee is found'. While we were singing a platoon of armed warriors marched past to take up their positions in the trenches; they too went on singing, 'Let Thy healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within.' Men realize as never before that the most manly thing to do is to worship and glorify God." [i]

“William McKenzie credits God for saving his life through the terrible war.  “Later on the bloody battlefields of France ‘Fighting Mac" wrote how his life had been spared on numerous occasions by an angel of the Lord. He learned to listen to the inner voice of his spirit that the Bible speaks so much about: "They started shelling…and some fell in close proximity. I had buried several fallen heroes...when my guardian angel said: ‘Get away from here quickly.’ I obeyed instantly and was about 25 yards away when a big shell landed right on the spot where I had been standing a moment before. I only got a shower of earth. At all times of great danger…. I am quietly conscious of this guardian angel’s presence. I cannot see him or tell what he is like, but I hear his voice saying: '‘Do not go there!’ ‘Get in here!’ ‘Lie down in that shell hole!’ and such-like messages. I could give six instances in the past week when a prompt attention to his instructions has saved me from those big shells. I now know that if I pay heed and obey God I shall continue unharmed until my work is finished, so if I fall on the field you will know the reason." (William McKenzie – Anzac Padre, Page 51).”[ii]

Psalm 46:1-2  God is our refuge and strength,  an ever-present help in trouble.  ² Therefore we will not fear…

According to the ANZAC Story Website “…The British had contributed 468,000 in the battle for Gallipoli with 33.512 killed. 7,636 missing and 78,000 wounded.   The Anzacs lost 8,000 men in Gallipoli and a further 18,000 were wounded. The Anzacs went on to serve with distinction in Palestine and on the western front in France.  Australia had a population of five million - 330,000 served in the war, 59,000 were killed.  New Zealand with a population of one million lost 18,000 men out of 110,000 and had 55000 wounded…”[iii]

William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie once wrote home "Many of the bravest and best are gone…. War is nothing short of insensitive folly. It is inconclusive in its results and devastating in its ultimate consequences."

The Australian SAS motto is “He who dares wins”.  While daring alone does not always ensure winning it is guaranteed that those who never dare anything will likely never win much.

Declare:  While in your daily endeavors you may not be standing on Gallipoli’s shores, yet you will face trails beyond what you believe your strength is to cope, you will find yourself in unfair and unreasonable situations, you will wonder how you can overcome great challenges in family, business, study, health and more…but it is guaranteed that nothing is won unless someone dares.

Closing Illus:  I Dare You

Personal / Cell Study Questions

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