Waldo Beach - "High Time" (October 12, 1958); James F. Peter - "God's Rights" (November 23, 1958)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | It's usually some day in October. | 0:25 |
After the initial dinner of the opening of school is passed, | 0:31 | |
you're walking somewhere amid falling leaves, | 0:37 | |
or on one of those rare times, | 0:44 | |
when you meet yourself coming the other way, | 0:46 | |
and of a sudden, you are overtaken by a somber sadness, | 0:51 | |
which is unaccountable. | 0:59 | |
It's a deep twinge of autumn melancholy. | 1:03 | |
It's not home sickness, unless it be a cosmic home sickness. | 1:09 | |
It's nothing that student health service | 1:16 | |
can do anything about. | 1:19 | |
Usually, you shake it off and jump into the next activity. | 1:22 | |
But for the moment that it seeps in, it's very real. | 1:29 | |
It's an encounter with the mystery of time | 1:35 | |
and the passing away of all things. | 1:40 | |
It's a glimpse of the soul into the sadness of trenchancy. | 1:44 | |
It's nowhere better put than in the 90th Psalm, | 1:53 | |
which is an October Psalm. | 1:58 | |
"Thou does sweep men away, | 2:01 | |
they're like a dream, | 2:04 | |
like grass which is renewed in the morning, | 2:07 | |
in the morning, it flourishes and is renewed, | 2:11 | |
in the evening, it fades and withers." | 2:15 | |
The 90th Psalm deals with a problem of time. | 2:21 | |
One of the most elusive and unavoidable mysteries | 2:25 | |
in anybody's theology. | 2:29 | |
What is time? | 2:33 | |
This stuff, this medium, | 2:36 | |
we all talk about and swim in all the time. | 2:40 | |
Saint Augustine says, "If nobody asks me what it is, | 2:50 | |
I know perfectly well, but if anybody asks me, | 2:53 | |
I'm at a complete loss to say." | 2:56 | |
Dial 28111 in Durham, and you'll hear the correct time. | 3:02 | |
But if you should dare to ask the voice, | 3:11 | |
"Thanks, but what is time?" | 3:14 | |
You only at a click for an answer. | 3:19 | |
The machine can't handle this simple question. | 3:22 | |
The Bible is acutely and fascinated | 3:28 | |
by the mystery and problem of time. | 3:31 | |
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, | 3:36 | |
there are many ponderings of the Jews | 3:39 | |
and the early Christians about the meaning of the word. | 3:44 | |
In the New Testament, there are two main words, | 3:50 | |
which both are translated as time in English. | 3:56 | |
But this translation obscures | 4:02 | |
the radically different meanings that they have. | 4:05 | |
The two words are Chronos and Kairos. | 4:11 | |
Chronos, C H R O N O S. | 4:19 | |
We're all aware. We live in it and buy it. | 4:23 | |
Chronos means clock time. | 4:28 | |
The steady regular beat of passing, of trenchancy. | 4:32 | |
The thin edge line that moves along inexorably | 4:40 | |
without change of pace, | 4:44 | |
making the not yet, the no longer. | 4:46 | |
Chronos means succession. | 4:53 | |
The mechanical parade of moments into oblivion. | 4:55 | |
And though you can stop the clock on the scoreboard, | 5:03 | |
you can't stop time. | 5:07 | |
As such, it is a negative principle. | 5:12 | |
It's a negating power. | 5:16 | |
Chronos wears the mask of death, | 5:20 | |
and carries life downstream toward nothingness. | 5:23 | |
Farther time carries aside, cuts all the grass down. | 5:30 | |
Or is the hymn has it, | 5:36 | |
"Time like an ever rolling stream bears all its sons away." | 5:39 | |
It's this passing into nothingness of Chronos, | 5:47 | |
which makes us, I think, strangely sad this time of year. | 5:51 | |
Somehow, along with the Islamic, | 5:58 | |
we have an inkling of the weariness of years, | 6:00 | |
even before we become gray hair at alumni | 6:05 | |
back for homecoming. | 6:08 | |
We know the burning of slow time. | 6:11 | |
We know that living is a slow form of dying. | 6:18 | |
Nothing stays fixed or fast. | 6:23 | |
The years of our life are soon gone and we fly away. | 6:28 | |
If this be all there is to time, | 6:36 | |
if Chronos be the only kind of time | 6:38 | |
we have to live in and contend with, | 6:41 | |
then I suppose we tend to react to it | 6:45 | |
in one of two opposite ways. | 6:47 | |
One way would be that of the good solid junior, | 6:52 | |
the extremely average man you see everywhere between classes | 6:58 | |
who has a look of benign bored fatalism on his face. | 7:05 | |
He takes Chronos as something to get through. | 7:12 | |
College is a kind of Gothic house of detention | 7:18 | |
in which he's serving time or marking time, | 7:26 | |
until he can begin really to live. | 7:31 | |
He's postponing his existence until he gets out. | 7:36 | |
In a very amiable, casual sort of way, | 7:43 | |
he's busy finding past times | 7:46 | |
and elaborate devices for fooling around. | 7:51 | |
He talks about the university as they, the guards. | 7:56 | |
They'll let you graduate if you have so many credits | 8:05 | |
or they'll let you go home at Christmas, | 8:09 | |
and I'm sweating it out until then. | 8:14 | |
Temperamentally, he's a clock watcher. | 8:19 | |
He leans toward the door when the bell rings. | 8:23 | |
Time's up. | 8:30 | |
He's been known to walk out of class with the bell | 8:31 | |
even if the professor has only paused on a comma. | 8:35 | |
Denizen of dope shop and dive, | 8:41 | |
he's an expert in refined doddling, | 8:46 | |
anything to make the time go faster, | 8:51 | |
even sitting through the show twice. | 8:55 | |
But this response to Chronos makes time something to beat, | 9:00 | |
something to get through. | 9:06 | |
The clock and the calendar become the enemy. | 9:09 | |
For it's a strange thing about time as Chronos, | 9:14 | |
try to make it go faster and it seems to go slower. | 9:18 | |
Throw it away and it sticks to your fingers like pitch. | 9:26 | |
"I've got time on my hands," he says, | 9:32 | |
but it hangs heavy and weighs down his soul. | 9:36 | |
He's bored and beat, | 9:41 | |
because he's tyrannized by Chronos, the enemy. | 9:44 | |
He may profess that he's having a high old time at college. | 9:50 | |
Actually, he is serving time as a slave. | 9:55 | |
The opposite reaction might be that of the frantic female, | 10:04 | |
maybe on east or at least east of Eden, | 10:10 | |
who always takes Chronos as the only kind of time there is. | 10:15 | |
But instead of waiting to get through it, | 10:22 | |
she is going to beat the clock no matter what, | 10:25 | |
if it kills her. | 10:29 | |
She's the kind of that jumps into college | 10:32 | |
and rides off everywhere at once. | 10:35 | |
She has a kind of obsessive passion about time, | 10:38 | |
and runs scared catch up | 10:43 | |
about two weeks behind the whole way. | 10:46 | |
Her mind is now a kind of cluttered list of things to do, | 10:52 | |
study for quiz, finish book report, committee at 6:30 | 10:57 | |
committee at 7:00, write Joe, write home, | 11:01 | |
press dirt, get no dose. | 11:04 | |
(audience laughs) | ||
Her constant nightmare is of missing trains by 30 seconds. | 11:16 | |
She has a kind of panicky feeling | 11:23 | |
that as God's special gift to Duke University, | 11:25 | |
it's all up to her to keep it from falling apart. | 11:30 | |
(audience laughs) | 11:34 | |
But she's had ridden by time by striving with it, | 11:36 | |
as something to conquer. | 11:42 | |
In the attempt to beat it, she is beaten by it. | 11:45 | |
She does not realize that she's running away from herself | 11:49 | |
rather than toward herself. | 11:53 | |
At my back, I always hear times winged chariot drawing near. | 11:57 | |
Appearances to the contrary, | 12:06 | |
she is the spiritual counterpart | 12:08 | |
to the tired captive of Chronos on west. | 12:12 | |
For both of them, time is the enemy. | 12:18 | |
Both miss the mark of college | 12:21 | |
by failing to grasp the inner meaning of time | 12:25 | |
or to hear its inner momentum. | 12:29 | |
Their fate is something like that of the poor man | 12:34 | |
who looked out from behind the times | 12:38 | |
and had his head taken off by a passing event. | 12:42 | |
The biblical understanding of the problem of time | 12:49 | |
provides wisdom. | 12:53 | |
Correct if I think of both these attempts. | 12:55 | |
It speaks to the condition, | 12:59 | |
both of Bob Bored and Sally Frantic. | 13:01 | |
The psalmists, the prophets, the chroniclers, | 13:07 | |
the writers of the New Testament, | 13:11 | |
are certainly conscious of time as Chronos, | 13:14 | |
as sheer succession. | 13:18 | |
But they are more impressed by another dimension of time, | 13:21 | |
the depth dimension which appears within Chronos, | 13:26 | |
and that is Kairos. | 13:32 | |
K A I R O S. | 13:36 | |
Kairos means not clock time but the right time, | 13:41 | |
the crucial time, the time of opportunity, | 13:48 | |
the time of expectancy, decision, choice. | 13:53 | |
Kairos means the moment in the fairy tale | 14:00 | |
when the clock is just about to strike 12. | 14:03 | |
It means high time. | 14:10 | |
The biblical understanding of time as Kairos, | 14:15 | |
conveys also that it is the moment of opportunity | 14:20 | |
provided by God for decision. | 14:24 | |
It is the chance offered from the divine side to be seized, | 14:27 | |
to be met by the human response of obedience. | 14:35 | |
And when a person grasps the challenge, | 14:41 | |
the call within Kairos, he fulfills his Kairos. | 14:45 | |
Then time as Chronos is transformed | 14:52 | |
from enemy to friend. | 14:58 | |
Chronos is no longer something to be lit in frantic pace | 15:01 | |
or to be waited through in boredom. | 15:06 | |
Now it becomes the instrument for the expression of Kairos. | 15:11 | |
Isn't this true in a general way, in our own experience, | 15:18 | |
when you are absorbed in something completely, | 15:25 | |
Chronos seems to tear by. | 15:29 | |
"I forgot all about time," we say. | 15:33 | |
There are many facets of Kairos as high time, | 15:38 | |
which apply directly to where we are | 15:44 | |
in our jumbled confusions weighed down | 15:47 | |
on the nether side by Chronos. | 15:52 | |
Looked at as just Chronos, | 15:58 | |
October is the running down time of year. | 16:01 | |
Looked at as Kairos, | 16:08 | |
October is the high time of the year. | 16:11 | |
One meaning of it is the Kairos is crucial opportunity. | 16:19 | |
It is decisive opportunity. | 16:24 | |
Lowell's poem catches the urgency of Kairos, | 16:29 | |
wants to every man and nation comes the moment | 16:34 | |
to decide in this strife of truth with falsehood, | 16:38 | |
for the good or evil side. | 16:45 | |
And the choice goes by forever, | 16:48 | |
twixt at darkness and at light. | 16:52 | |
In a morally serious universe, | 16:57 | |
the fulfilling or the muffing of opportunity | 17:00 | |
has permanent consequences. | 17:05 | |
We pass this way but once. | 17:09 | |
We miss the right turn and it's forever missed. | 17:13 | |
You can't go back again to the crossroads. | 17:20 | |
You can't go home again to start over. Really. | 17:25 | |
So maybe, that should be said in a low tone of voice | 17:32 | |
at homecoming weekend. | 17:35 | |
Choices are fateful. | 17:41 | |
Future destiny is prefigured in the now. | 17:43 | |
It is decided now how it will come out. | 17:48 | |
The now, the moment may be protracted duration of Chronos. | 17:53 | |
It may be a day. It may be a season. It may be a year. | 18:00 | |
The long or short of it is a little moment. | 18:07 | |
What matters is the content within the duration. | 18:10 | |
Another point of relevance, | 18:15 | |
in the biblical understanding of Kairos, | 18:20 | |
is the faith that within the slow beat of Chronos, | 18:24 | |
God provides all sorts of openings. | 18:30 | |
Kairoi leads chances for the seeker to grasp. | 18:36 | |
For many, college is a kind of limbo | 18:46 | |
of vocational uncertainty, suspended animation. | 18:49 | |
When we are asking very anxiously, | 18:56 | |
"What am I cut out for?" | 18:58 | |
By senior year, if we have no clear lead, | 19:02 | |
we get inwardly panicky. | 19:07 | |
The way out of this limbo is to see college as high time, | 19:12 | |
the time of your life to find yourself, | 19:19 | |
by grasping the leads that Providence offers. | 19:26 | |
But how and where do these leads come? | 19:33 | |
How do I know a Kairos when I see one? | 19:39 | |
How do I spot my Kairos, my hour, when it appears? | 19:45 | |
There's no infallible rule for this question, | 19:52 | |
no clear bell rings when the hour is it had. | 19:57 | |
But in the Christian faith, the form that Kairos takes | 20:04 | |
is when a student's spirit is stabbed awake | 20:09 | |
to some great human need out there | 20:14 | |
where the times are out of joint, | 20:19 | |
and when he is also alerted to | 20:23 | |
talents or gifts within himself that can match these needs. | 20:26 | |
There's nothing mystical or magical or spectacular | 20:35 | |
in the appearance of Kairos. | 20:40 | |
No flags wave, no cannons sound. | 20:43 | |
It involves hard-headed realism | 20:50 | |
in the understanding of the sicknesses of society, | 20:52 | |
physical sicknesses, political, economic, racial. | 20:57 | |
And then the patient responsible cultivation | 21:05 | |
of one's own tools and skills to meet the need, | 21:09 | |
thus redeeming the times, fulfilling one's Kairos. | 21:13 | |
Saying with Isaiah, "Here am I, send me." | 21:20 | |
In this way, Kairos overcomes the slow attrition of Chronos. | 21:27 | |
One is no longer a victim of time, | 21:34 | |
but a servant of eternity. | 21:37 | |
There's yet another facet of the biblical grasp of Kairos, | 21:43 | |
which is the corrective to the frantic despair of the coeds | 21:51 | |
racing with time and thinking the universe depends on her. | 21:56 | |
It's a curious but profound paradox in the biblical faith | 22:05 | |
about Kairos. | 22:09 | |
At once, it holds that Kairos is decisive decision for man, | 22:12 | |
but also, | 22:19 | |
that God is Lord of time. | 22:22 | |
It's up to me, but the outcome is not all up to me. | 22:26 | |
"Thou art my God," says the psalmist. | 22:34 | |
My times are in thy hands. | 22:38 | |
This curious sort of faith | 22:45 | |
which goes deeper than strict logic, | 22:46 | |
is a faith in a Providence which orders our times, | 22:52 | |
which rules and overrules men and nations. | 22:55 | |
This faith is the ground of resolute action. | 23:00 | |
It's also the stay against strain and fret, inaction, | 23:06 | |
against the dread, | 23:14 | |
the fears it will lose the battle of time. | 23:17 | |
It's the same God of Isaiah who asks, | 23:22 | |
"Who will go for us?" | 23:25 | |
Providing Kairos' opportunity, | 23:29 | |
who is the New Testament God who provides also assurance. | 23:33 | |
Be not anxious. | 23:37 | |
If then, the sense of Kairos is a renewal | 23:42 | |
to the victim of empty time, | 23:45 | |
giving him a sense of purpose, | 23:49 | |
it's also salvation from frantic despair. | 23:52 | |
Action which rises to the challenge of high time | 23:57 | |
is a reflex action of faith in Providence, | 24:02 | |
which both offers and sustains. | 24:07 | |
It is unstrained and patient | 24:12 | |
because it is an instrument of the cosmic patience. | 24:16 | |
It is a poised waiting on the Lord. | 24:20 | |
A waiting in action. | 24:26 | |
But note that those who wait on the Lord | 24:32 | |
rather than on themselves, | 24:35 | |
are exactly those who run and are not weary, | 24:37 | |
who walk and do not faint. | 24:44 | |
Perhaps the double meaning of Kairos | 24:50 | |
is contained in the casual admonition | 24:55 | |
we speak to each other on campus, | 24:58 | |
"Take your time." | 25:01 | |
On the one hand this means, | 25:04 | |
this is the moment, it won't come again, | 25:07 | |
grab it. | 25:11 | |
But also it means relax. | 25:14 | |
The times are in God's hands. | 25:19 | |
It means to live and work in the present that is given to us | 25:21 | |
without regret at yesterday's misses | 25:27 | |
or anxiety at tomorrow's threat. | 25:31 | |
It means to live within the slow turning of time, | 25:36 | |
the drift toward nothingness, | 25:44 | |
with the confidence of a child of eternity. | 25:47 | |
Let us pray. | 25:56 | |
Eternal God. | 26:07 | |
Lord of all times. | 26:11 | |
So teach us to number our days, | 26:16 | |
that we may get a heart of wisdom. | 26:21 | |
Now may the peace of God which passeth it all understanding, | 26:26 | |
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, | 26:33 | |
and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 26:38 | |
And the blessing of God Almighty, | 26:43 | |
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, | 26:46 | |
be among you and remain with you always. | 26:50 | |
- | In the name of the Father, and of the Son, | 27:05 |
and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. | 27:07 | |
The text is in the 20th chapter of the gospel, | 27:13 | |
according to Matthew and the 15th verse. | 27:16 | |
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? | 27:21 | |
Is thine eye evil, because I am good? | 27:27 | |
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? | 27:33 | |
There isn't exaggeration | 27:43 | |
just for the sake of dramatic effect. | 27:45 | |
In this story which Jesus told of a householder | 27:48 | |
who went out at various times in the day | 27:52 | |
to pick up for his vineyard. | 27:54 | |
It was in those days, | 27:58 | |
what we today would call an employer's market. | 28:00 | |
And every open space had its gathering of unemployed, | 28:04 | |
waiting about, hoping to be engaged, | 28:09 | |
even if it were for only the last hour of the day. | 28:12 | |
So far, the story is very true to life. | 28:18 | |
What may be a little unreal however, | 28:24 | |
is the householder's action. | 28:27 | |
After agreeing with those whom he employed at dawn | 28:30 | |
to pay them the usual day's wage, | 28:33 | |
and entering into no such agreement with those | 28:37 | |
whom he sent into his vineyard at later hours of the day, | 28:39 | |
in nonetheless paying all of them at the day's end, | 28:44 | |
the usual day's wage. | 28:48 | |
One doesn't have to be a 20th century trade union advocate | 28:53 | |
for whom are axiomatics, | 28:58 | |
such slogans as 'A fair day's pay for a fair day's work', | 29:00 | |
and 'Last to come, first to go' | 29:05 | |
to feel something strange and a little unpalatable | 29:10 | |
in this householder's action. | 29:15 | |
We can be sure indeed that many of those | 29:19 | |
who first heard the story from the lips of Jesus himself, | 29:21 | |
felt that way about it too. | 29:26 | |
For an employer to act in that way isn't true to life | 29:29 | |
and it's not strict justice. | 29:33 | |
But that only serves to emphasize that the standards | 29:38 | |
which men are accustomed to employ sometimes differ | 29:41 | |
from those which are applied in the kingdom of God. | 29:46 | |
That Jesus bothered to tell such a story at all, | 29:52 | |
and that Matthew, | 29:56 | |
out of the many which were available to him for selection, | 29:57 | |
should have chosen to include this one in his gospel, | 30:00 | |
suggests that here is a story | 30:05 | |
with important lessons to teach. | 30:07 | |
And one of these lessons is this, | 30:11 | |
that all are equal before God. | 30:15 | |
All are equal before God. | 30:20 | |
I don't think there's any doubt | 30:26 | |
about the identification of the characters in this story. | 30:27 | |
The householder is God, | 30:32 | |
the laborers, the various classes of people | 30:35 | |
whom God allows to work for him. | 30:38 | |
And those who are so privileged to for God | 30:42 | |
do so on a basis of equality. | 30:46 | |
The service of no individual | 30:49 | |
being of greater intrinsic worth than that of anyone else. | 30:52 | |
It is possible for someone who serves God | 30:58 | |
only half a lifetime | 31:03 | |
to equal in faithfulness another person | 31:05 | |
whose every day has been one of service. | 31:09 | |
We who are working for the kingdom of God here today | 31:14 | |
can make just as greater contribution | 31:18 | |
as those who were here, 5 and 25 or 200 years ago, | 31:20 | |
if we are willing. | 31:28 | |
The reason why those sent into the vineyard | 31:32 | |
at the end of the day | 31:34 | |
had been standing about all day long in the marketplace idle | 31:35 | |
was that no one had engaged them. | 31:41 | |
God's call comes to different individuals | 31:47 | |
at different times and with widely different opportunities. | 31:50 | |
What this story has to teach, | 31:56 | |
is that the same blessing is there for all | 31:59 | |
who will respond to the call with readiness, | 32:02 | |
whenever it may come to them. | 32:07 | |
It can be mentioned also, | 32:12 | |
even if only incidentally on this occasion. | 32:14 | |
But this story contains certain social implications, | 32:18 | |
which those of you who are interested | 32:24 | |
in seeing how the Christian gospel | 32:26 | |
should affect the order of our society, | 32:28 | |
and I should hope that you all have such an interest, | 32:32 | |
may care to note. | 32:35 | |
One of these implications comes to light, | 32:38 | |
as we think of this matter | 32:41 | |
of the equality of all before God. | 32:42 | |
In the story you see, every man, | 32:47 | |
irrespective of the number of hours he worked, | 32:51 | |
received a day's pay. | 32:55 | |
And the implication is that in a social order | 32:59 | |
governed by Christian principles, | 33:02 | |
everybody who is willing to work | 33:05 | |
will receive a living wage, | 33:09 | |
whether in fact he finds full employment or not. | 33:12 | |
Now that doesn't constitute an encouragement | 33:18 | |
to slack workmanship. | 33:21 | |
Probably quite a number of employers | 33:25 | |
would have to echo the sentiments of the factory manager, | 33:28 | |
who, when he was asked, | 33:32 | |
"How many people work in your plant?", | 33:34 | |
replied, "All Bellford of them". | 33:37 | |
The attitude of which that manager | 33:44 | |
had evidently had too much experience | 33:46 | |
is no part of Christian ethics. | 33:48 | |
You won't find basis here | 33:51 | |
or anywhere else in Christian teaching, | 33:53 | |
for the attitude which seems to have twisted | 33:56 | |
the old slogan into, | 33:58 | |
'A fair day's work pay for half a day's work.' | 34:01 | |
That ought to be clear enough from the biblical injunction. | 34:06 | |
If a man will not work, neither let him eat. | 34:09 | |
The principle implied is that if a man is willing to work, | 34:15 | |
society should see that he receives a living wage. | 34:19 | |
And it's revealing to note that this is the principle | 34:25 | |
which was being put into operation in this story. | 34:28 | |
And the difficulty only arose | 34:32 | |
because other workers complained. | 34:34 | |
Where there are dissatisfaction and inequality in society, | 34:40 | |
there are there because of the imperfections of the people | 34:45 | |
who make up the society. | 34:49 | |
They arise out of envy and selfishness. | 34:53 | |
And they can only be done away with | 34:59 | |
when man's natural inclinations | 35:01 | |
have been subordinated to other motives. | 35:03 | |
As Christians, we hold that all men are equal, | 35:08 | |
and that we can never be satisfied with a social order | 35:13 | |
in which anyone in need is left unassisted. | 35:17 | |
And it may be worth reminding ourselves, | 35:23 | |
that this belief in the equality of men | 35:27 | |
takes its rise out of religious belief. | 35:32 | |
After all, there's no empirical evidence | 35:38 | |
for the statement that all men are equal. | 35:40 | |
And where a society has cut itself of drift | 35:45 | |
from its Christian foundation, | 35:49 | |
belief in the equality of men | 35:52 | |
and in the respect for each individual's personality | 35:55 | |
which follows from that belief, | 35:59 | |
are among the first civic values to be dispensed with. | 36:01 | |
The first lesson from this parable then, | 36:07 | |
all are equal before God. | 36:11 | |
The second lesson is this. | 36:17 | |
Our dealings with God are not on the basis of bargaining, | 36:21 | |
rather is the truth. | 36:28 | |
This, that we hear God's call, we obey, | 36:30 | |
and we find the reward | 36:36 | |
greater than ever we could have bargained for. | 36:37 | |
How wrong it is then | 36:43 | |
to make comparisons of the gifts which we have | 36:45 | |
with those had by somebody else, | 36:48 | |
and wonder why God hasn't endowed us more richly. | 36:52 | |
How wrong it is to put the efforts | 36:58 | |
which we have made alongside | 37:00 | |
those put forward by somebody else, | 37:01 | |
and murmur because God hasn't rewarded us more richly. | 37:05 | |
This is the point of the householder's question. | 37:11 | |
Is thine eye evil because I am good? | 37:15 | |
Are you bearing me a grudge because I'm generous? | 37:21 | |
The householder had kept his word with the men | 37:28 | |
whom he had engaged at the beginning of the day. | 37:31 | |
And it was no concern of theirs | 37:34 | |
what, out of his generosity, | 37:36 | |
he should choose to do with others, | 37:37 | |
even though their labor had been | 37:40 | |
neither so long, nor so arduous. | 37:42 | |
There's an occasion recorded in the gospels | 37:49 | |
where Jesus had the same thing to say in real life. | 37:51 | |
On that dawn, when after a night's fishing, | 37:56 | |
His disciples returned to find their risen Lord | 38:00 | |
waiting them on the seashore. | 38:04 | |
The conversation that morning, | 38:09 | |
especially as it related to the apostle Peter, | 38:11 | |
was tense and keen. | 38:15 | |
Leading up to the master's prediction | 38:18 | |
that Peter would meet his death by martyrdom. | 38:20 | |
And Peter taking all this in, | 38:26 | |
suddenly pointed to John and said, | 38:28 | |
"What of this man? | 38:31 | |
Would he have to undergo similar suffering?" | 38:35 | |
And the answer which Jesus gave is worth fearing in mind, | 38:41 | |
"Lest envy should ever mar your service." | 38:44 | |
If I will that he tarry till I come, | 38:50 | |
what is that to thee? | 38:53 | |
Follow thou me. | ||
And this is the call which comes to all of us, | 39:01 | |
not, what will God do with this man or that man, | 39:04 | |
but what does God want of me. | 39:09 | |
If I will that others tarry till I come, | 39:13 | |
if I will that others go through a pathway of life | 39:18 | |
that seems to have nothing of the difficulties | 39:21 | |
that confront you, | 39:24 | |
if I will, that they perhaps because of their weaker faith, | 39:26 | |
don't have to put up with what you have to put up with, | 39:31 | |
what is that to you? Follow me. | 39:36 | |
That's the call that comes to all of us. | 39:45 | |
We don't bargain with God. | 39:48 | |
And in truth, what idiots we would be | 39:53 | |
if we did try to bargain with God, | 39:57 | |
if we did attempt to tie him down | 40:00 | |
to our are petty conceptions | 40:02 | |
of what constitutes a fair thing. | 40:04 | |
To do so would be only another expression | 40:09 | |
of that all too common man centered outlook, | 40:12 | |
which was put in a nutshell by the epitaph that runs, | 40:16 | |
"Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde: | 40:20 | |
Have mercy on my soul, Lord God; | 40:24 | |
As I wad do, were I Lord God, | 40:28 | |
And ye were Martin Elginbrodde." | 40:30 | |
Much different and much more a proper expression | 40:37 | |
is the ejaculation that is attributed to St. Augustine. | 40:41 | |
"Oh my God, if I were God and thou Augustine, | 40:47 | |
I would wish that thou were God and I Augustine." | 40:55 | |
We don't bargain with God. | 41:01 | |
The third lesson is really a summary of the other two, | 41:07 | |
and it's this, "That God is sovereign." | 41:10 | |
And that is to say that God's grace is sovereign. | 41:16 | |
Because it is His very nature to be gracious. | 41:21 | |
The sovereignty of God is a fact that's declared | 41:27 | |
on every page of the Bible. | 41:30 | |
It's the point for instance, | 41:34 | |
of that very well known story, | 41:35 | |
that's in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, | 41:39 | |
where Abraham, tested by God, | 41:42 | |
proceeded to make a sacrifice of his dearest possession, | 41:46 | |
the son of his old age. | 41:50 | |
You'll remember the story, | 41:55 | |
how the old man Abraham and the young lad | 41:57 | |
climbed the mountain. | 42:00 | |
And the lad said, "Father, I can see the wood and the fire, | 42:02 | |
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" | 42:07 | |
And Abraham, | 42:11 | |
knowing rather more than he did at the time, really said, | 42:14 | |
"My son, my son, God will provide a lamb | 42:18 | |
for the burnt offering." | 42:22 | |
And how just at the point | 42:24 | |
of Abraham's taking out a knife to slay his son, | 42:26 | |
because he believed that this was what God wanted of him, | 42:30 | |
he heard a voice saying, "Abraham don't do that, | 42:34 | |
because now I know that you'll love me, | 42:38 | |
because you have not withheld thine only son from me." | 42:41 | |
Now while it's integral to that story, | 42:47 | |
that sometimes surprising how people quote this story | 42:50 | |
without remembering its ending. | 42:54 | |
While it's integral to that story | 42:56 | |
and to the conception of God which it enshrines, | 42:59 | |
note that sacrifice, though it was demanded was not exacted. | 43:02 | |
While that's integral to the story, | 43:09 | |
there's nowhere in it a suggestion | 43:11 | |
that God was not entitled to make such a demand. | 43:13 | |
He is sovereign. | 43:19 | |
And when Jesus says, | 43:23 | |
"If any man come to me, | 43:26 | |
and hate not his father, and mother, | 43:28 | |
and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, | 43:31 | |
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." | 43:34 | |
He too is making exhaustive demands. | 43:39 | |
Such sacrifices as hating our families, | 43:46 | |
and all else that we properly hold dear, | 43:50 | |
may not be exacted from us. | 43:53 | |
But for true discipleship, | 43:56 | |
there must be no doubt as to their legitimacy. | 43:59 | |
They are legitimate demands. | 44:03 | |
God is sovereign. | 44:08 | |
He can do what he wants with His own. | 44:11 | |
And since He is sovereign, He is judge. | 44:18 | |
And shall not the judge of all the earth do right? | 44:22 | |
None but He has the authority | 44:28 | |
to make of us the supreme demands of service. | 44:30 | |
And none but He decide | 44:35 | |
what will be the reward of our service. | 44:38 | |
He is sovereign and we leave it all to Him, | 44:43 | |
assured of this, | 44:47 | |
that He is always giving to the sons of men, | 44:48 | |
more than they can ever expect or deserve. | 44:52 | |
Before our God then, | 44:59 | |
we are all equal, all dependent on His grace, | 45:00 | |
who is sovereign Lord of all. | 45:05 | |
Those in the story who complained, | 45:11 | |
evidently considered that as they had contracted | 45:13 | |
at the rate of a penny for 12 hours work, | 45:17 | |
those who had but worked one hour, | 45:21 | |
should have received only the 12th of a penny. | 45:23 | |
And there is such a thing as a 12th part of a penny. | 45:29 | |
But there's no such thing as a 12th part of the love of God. | 45:34 | |
He doesn't deal with us after the mathematics of our minds, | 45:40 | |
but He comes to us, | 45:44 | |
offering us all of Himself in Jesus Christ, | 45:47 | |
in whom we see, as we can see it nowhere else, | 45:52 | |
the infinite love of God for us men. | 45:56 | |
And in whom we hear, as we can hear it nowhere else, | 46:00 | |
God's calling us to give Him the whole of our service. | 46:05 | |
Then grant us Lord in all things thee to own, | 46:13 | |
to dwell within the shadow of the thy throne, | 46:18 | |
to speak, to work, | 46:21 | |
to think and live and move, | 46:25 | |
reflecting thine own nature, which is love. | 46:27 | |
That so by Christ redeemed from sin and shame, | 46:33 | |
and hallowed by thy spirits cleansing flame, | 46:37 | |
ourselves, our work, and all our powers, | 46:42 | |
may be a sacrifice acceptable to thee. | 46:47 | |
Now unto the God of all grace, | 46:55 | |
who have called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, | 46:56 | |
the glory and dominion forever. | 47:01 | |
Let us pray. | 47:05 | |
Almighty and everlasting God, | 47:17 | |
in whom we live and move and have our being, | 47:20 | |
who has created us for thyself, | 47:25 | |
so that can find rest only in thee, | 47:28 | |
grant unto us such purity of heart | 47:33 | |
and strength of purpose | 47:35 | |
that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing thy will, | 47:38 | |
no weakness from doing it, | 47:44 | |
but in thy light, may we see light clearly, | 47:47 | |
and in thy service find perfect freedom, | 47:51 | |
for Jesus Christ's sake. | 47:56 | |
We remember before thee, the multitude of every name | 48:00 | |
who are joined with us throughout the world. | 48:04 | |
Oh, Lord save thy people and bless thine inheritance, | 48:07 | |
feed them also and lift them up forever. | 48:12 | |
And we beseech thee, | 48:16 | |
knit surely together by servants on earth and in heaven, | 48:18 | |
that we ,being even now of one fellowship with the saints, | 48:23 | |
may come to be of one company with the redeemed | 48:29 | |
who Lord thee forever and ever, | 48:33 | |
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 48:36 | |
Unto God's gracious mercy and protection, we commit you. | 48:42 | |
And the blessing of God Almighty, | 48:47 | |
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, | 48:49 | |
be upon you and remain with you always. | 48:53 |
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