Howard C. Wilkinson - "The Question Is Personal" (September 8, 1968)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(piano playing) | 0:07 | |
- | Grace be to you and peace from God, our father, | 2:55 |
and from the Lord, Jesus Christ. | 2:58 | |
We welcome all of you to this university service | 3:01 | |
of worship on this Sunday, | 3:04 | |
which is one of two university recess Sundays, | 3:06 | |
during which we are pleased to have the members, | 3:10 | |
and some of the coaches | 3:13 | |
of the Duke University Football Team worshiping | 3:15 | |
with us as a group and assisting as leaders in this service. | 3:18 | |
Whenever we worship as a Christian people, | 3:24 | |
we acknowledge our relationship to God, | 3:26 | |
our understanding of what He has done | 3:29 | |
for us in Jesus Christ, | 3:31 | |
and what he has called us to be in His spirit. | 3:34 | |
When we worship as Christians, we worship together. | 3:38 | |
For we acknowledge also our community one with the other. | 3:42 | |
Come then let us worship the Lord for He is our maker, | 3:47 | |
and we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. | 3:52 | |
Serve the Lord with gladness. | 3:56 | |
Come before His presence with singing. | 3:58 | |
Let us lift our hymn of praise and adoration, | 4:02 | |
"Come, Let Us Tune Our Loftiest Song". | 4:05 | |
(Piano playing) | 4:10 | |
♪ Come let us tune our loftiest song ♪ | 4:19 | |
♪ And raise to Christ our joyful strain ♪ | 4:28 | |
♪ Worship and thanks to Him belong ♪ | 4:38 | |
♪ Who reigns and shall forever reign ♪ | 4:46 | |
♪ His sovereign power our bodies made ♪ | 4:56 | |
♪ Our souls are His immortal breath ♪ | 5:05 | |
♪ And when His creatures sinned He bled ♪ | 5:15 | |
♪ To save us from eternal death ♪ | 5:24 | |
♪ Burn every breast with Jesus' love ♪ | 5:33 | |
♪ Bound every heart with rapturous joy ♪ | 5:42 | |
♪ And saints on earth with saints above ♪ | 5:51 | |
♪ Your voices in His praise employ ♪ | 6:00 | |
♪ Extol the Lamb with loftiest song ♪ | 6:10 | |
♪ Prolong for Him your cheerful strain ♪ | 6:19 | |
♪ Worship and thanks to Him belong ♪ | 6:28 | |
♪ Who reigns and shall forever reign ♪ | 6:37 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 6:46 | |
- | Let us offer unto God, our unison prayer of adoration. | 7:01 |
Let us pray. | 7:07 | |
Eternal God, most blessed and most holy, | 7:10 | |
we worship and adore thee. | 7:14 | |
We acknowledged thy infinite glory. | 7:17 | |
We celebrate thy divine majesty. | 7:21 | |
We praise thee for the wonder of life thy Love | 7:24 | |
in Jesus Christ our Lord, | 7:27 | |
accept we beseech thee the adoration of our hearts, | 7:30 | |
and by thy Holy Spirit enables us to worship thee | 7:35 | |
in the beauty of holiness, | 7:39 | |
for to thee Father, Son and Holy Spirit. | 7:42 | |
We ascribe all honor and glory now and forever, amen. | 7:46 | |
And now as our savior Christ has taught us. | 7:53 | |
We humbly pray together saying, | 7:57 | |
our father who art in heaven, | 8:01 | |
hallowed be thy name. | 8:04 | |
Thy kingdom come, | 8:06 | |
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | 8:09 | |
Give us this day our daily bread, | 8:13 | |
and forgive us our trespasses, | 8:16 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | 8:19 | |
and lead us not into temptation, | 8:23 | |
but deliver us from evil | 8:26 | |
for thine is the kingdom, | 8:28 | |
and the power and the glory forever, amen. | 8:30 | |
- | The scripture lesson this morning is 2 Timothy 4:1-8. | 8:47 |
I solemnly charge you in the sight | 8:55 | |
of God and of Jesus Christ, | 8:57 | |
who shall judge the living and the dead | 9:00 | |
in the light of His appearance and His reign. | 9:02 | |
Preach the word, | 9:05 | |
never lose your sense of urgency. | 9:07 | |
Make protests, shake, say sharp words, | 9:09 | |
give comfort to all the patients | 9:13 | |
that the work of teaching requires. | 9:15 | |
For time is coming when men | 9:19 | |
will not tolerate wholesome instruction, | 9:21 | |
but to gratify their own evil desires, | 9:23 | |
they will provide themselves with | 9:26 | |
a continuous successions of new teachers, | 9:27 | |
because their ears are itching so to be tickled. | 9:30 | |
And they shall turn away from the hearing the truth, | 9:33 | |
and will wander off after manmade fictions. | 9:36 | |
But as for you, | 9:40 | |
be always self-control, face hardships, | 9:42 | |
work to spread the gospel, | 9:45 | |
discharge all the duties of your ministry. | 9:47 | |
As for me, | 9:50 | |
already my life is being poured out on the alter, | 9:52 | |
and the time of my departure is at hand. | 9:54 | |
I have had a part in the great contest, | 9:57 | |
the course that I was set, I have finished. | 10:00 | |
I have kept the faith, and now the prize awaits me. | 10:04 | |
The garland of my righteousness, | 10:08 | |
which the Lord, the upright judge will award me on that day. | 10:10 | |
It not alone unto me, | 10:15 | |
but also to all of them who have loved and thought | 10:17 | |
of His appearing. | 10:20 | |
- | During the last decade, | 10:31 |
there is an organization | 10:33 | |
or more properly speaking, a movement, | 10:34 | |
which has come into great prominence, | 10:37 | |
throughout the entire United States. | 10:39 | |
This is known as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. | 10:43 | |
There is a sense in which we might refer to it more properly | 10:47 | |
as either a, as a fellowship, | 10:50 | |
more so than either a movement or an organization. | 10:54 | |
It operates within the ranks | 10:59 | |
of professional football and basketball athletes. | 11:01 | |
It operates in the amateur ranks | 11:06 | |
of college and university athletes, all sports, | 11:08 | |
and it operates at the high school level. | 11:12 | |
It is a group that is committed | 11:15 | |
to the Christian understanding of life and to Jesus Christ. | 11:17 | |
It is a group that is seeking to make the witness to Christ, | 11:22 | |
which Christian layman can make | 11:27 | |
in athletes in an athletics. | 11:30 | |
Each summer, this fellowship has a number | 11:35 | |
of summer conferences, national conferences. | 11:39 | |
About 10 years ago, there was one held, | 11:43 | |
and there were 300 people who attended it. | 11:46 | |
This past summer, | 11:49 | |
they have had to have nine | 11:50 | |
in order to accommodate the athletes | 11:51 | |
of all of these categories who have wanted to attend. | 11:54 | |
This summer, we had three of our sports represented | 12:01 | |
at the national conferences, football, basketball, | 12:06 | |
and wrestling. | 12:09 | |
And we will hear a very brief report from two | 12:11 | |
of our football players who attended one | 12:15 | |
of these national conferences. | 12:17 | |
They will give you a few of the highlights | 12:20 | |
of what was done and why, | 12:22 | |
at one of our summer conferences of the FCA. | 12:26 | |
Larry and Randy, will now in the next few minutes, | 12:30 | |
present this report. | 12:34 | |
(feet walking) | 12:38 | |
- | I attended the FCA conference from June of 2nd | 12:42 |
to June of 7th at Black Mountain, North Carolina. | 12:46 | |
And the feeling that I had going to this conference | 12:50 | |
is one that, well, maybe you get a chance, you know, | 12:55 | |
to meet some famous athletes, | 12:58 | |
especially pros because I'm interested in football, | 13:00 | |
and you know, maybe I can pick up a few pointers | 13:04 | |
or something. | 13:06 | |
And it's the second one I've been to. | 13:08 | |
And I don't know, I went up there thinking that, you know, | 13:11 | |
"Football is about the only thing for me." | 13:17 | |
And yet I came away thinking, "Well, these pros, | 13:21 | |
I thought football was their whole life, | 13:25 | |
but it really isn't." | 13:27 | |
'Cause you see guys like Don Shinnick and Willie Richardson, | 13:29 | |
stand up in front of a group of there were $600 there, | 13:32 | |
and tell us what God means to him. | 13:37 | |
Well, it's really, | 13:40 | |
it really got to me because I thought these guys, | 13:41 | |
if you watched them last night on TV playing, | 13:45 | |
it seemed like a world of violence. | 13:48 | |
And for them to stand up there and say that, | 13:51 | |
"The most important thing in my life | 13:54 | |
is not winning the NFL championship | 13:56 | |
or being the most valuable player on our team. | 14:00 | |
It's going to church on Sunday and sitting there talking | 14:03 | |
to young guys like you," | 14:07 | |
when he was speaking to me, | 14:08 | |
"and telling them what God means to me.' | 14:10 | |
Well, these guys stood up there every morning, | 14:15 | |
a little assembly we had, | 14:18 | |
and told us exactly what God meant to them. | 14:21 | |
Guys like Steve Sloan were there, former great Alabama, | 14:24 | |
and numerous others. | 14:29 | |
And to me, several years ago, | 14:31 | |
this would have been impossible. | 14:35 | |
Because I was, I thought I was a Christian. | 14:38 | |
And I thought that when I went to church on Sunday, | 14:43 | |
that this made me a Christian, | 14:46 | |
but yet these men had the power and the internal strength | 14:48 | |
to stand up and say, "Well, this is what God means to me." | 14:54 | |
And put it in just flat terms. | 14:58 | |
They didn't try to hide it in a lot of terms, | 15:00 | |
you'll hear nowadays, | 15:02 | |
but they just spoke right to me saying that, | 15:05 | |
"This is what God is. | 15:08 | |
And this is what He means to me when I'm | 15:10 | |
on the athletic field." | 15:12 | |
And I'd never thought of it in these terms before. | 15:14 | |
And it really, it took on a new meaning to me | 15:17 | |
to know that the God was there on the field with me | 15:20 | |
as well as in back in the dorm or in church. | 15:24 | |
And it was this FCA conference I think that | 15:28 | |
it really brought me to understand that God is | 15:31 | |
a full time affair, | 15:34 | |
not just an 11:00 am affair on Sunday morning. | 15:36 | |
And we had, it wasn't just the strict religious atmosphere | 15:42 | |
that you think of a religious conference would be. | 15:46 | |
We competed in what is known as the Dogpatch Olympics, | 15:50 | |
where various pros, college and high school athletes | 15:54 | |
are put together on teams, | 15:58 | |
and they compete against each other. | 16:00 | |
And as you can imagine, the competition is quite rough, | 16:03 | |
but it's also right much fun. | 16:07 | |
And the main thing I wanted to tell you | 16:11 | |
this morning was just that, | 16:13 | |
being an athlete does not put a guy up on a pedestal | 16:15 | |
as a killer or a rough neck, as you, | 16:20 | |
as many people think a football player is. | 16:24 | |
But yeah, when a guy like Don Shinnick | 16:27 | |
whom I admire a great deal, | 16:30 | |
and whom I formerly thought was just a rough neck, | 16:32 | |
and a guy that went out on Sunday afternoon, | 16:35 | |
and tried to make his living by hurting other people. | 16:38 | |
When a guy like that can stand up in front of me and say, | 16:41 | |
"The most important thing in my life is Jesus Christ." | 16:44 | |
It means a great deal to me. | 16:48 | |
And I think it changed my life in more ways | 16:50 | |
than I can ever imagine. | 16:53 | |
Because now when I go to a athletic event | 16:55 | |
or something that's nature, | 16:59 | |
and I look across the line and there's a guy. | 17:00 | |
So, you know, I saw him at FCA conference, | 17:03 | |
and he's not over there just to win this game, | 17:06 | |
and to hurt people. | 17:10 | |
But there's a guy that's just really my friend. | 17:12 | |
He's not going to try to ease up just because I'm | 17:15 | |
a Christian athlete or be good to me, | 17:19 | |
but he's over there competing 100%. | 17:21 | |
And yet when this game's all over as it is, | 17:24 | |
and most things in life, again, | 17:27 | |
that he's going to be able | 17:30 | |
to walk across that line and shake my hand. | 17:31 | |
And I know that we'll be Christians together. | 17:34 | |
(feet walking) | 17:38 | |
- | I attended the conference at the Blue Ridge Assembly | 17:44 |
from the 9th to 14th of June. | 17:48 | |
Our mark conference, | 17:51 | |
very much similar to Larry Dempsey. | 17:52 | |
A typical day at a conference, | 17:54 | |
you get up at about seven o'clock | 17:56 | |
in the morning and have breakfast. | 17:57 | |
And after breakfast, | 17:59 | |
you have a quiet time where you go out | 18:00 | |
in the woods or by stream, just read your Bible and pray, | 18:02 | |
and just try to get your day off on the right foot. | 18:07 | |
After this you'd have a morning assembly, | 18:11 | |
which was delivered by Doctor Lauren Young, | 18:13 | |
which would really make you think about just exactly what | 18:16 | |
you're on this earth for, | 18:19 | |
and what you're supposed to get out of your life | 18:21 | |
as a Christian and as an athlete. | 18:24 | |
After this, we'd go to our Dogpatch Olympics | 18:26 | |
as Larry described, have various teams. | 18:28 | |
Competition could get quite rough in those. | 18:31 | |
After these we'd have a huddle session, | 18:36 | |
a huddle group is a group of about 10 or 11 boys | 18:38 | |
with a leader. | 18:40 | |
And you just sit around and talk about any problem that | 18:43 | |
would come to your mind, no matter what it was. | 18:45 | |
Just a feeling of being together in an atmosphere where | 18:50 | |
you could just tell anything that | 18:55 | |
you might have bothering you. | 18:57 | |
After lunch, we'd go to an afternoon assembly | 19:00 | |
where somebody like Don Shinnick, he's really a clown. | 19:02 | |
He'd get up and just go through all kinds | 19:06 | |
of things that he'd do but all in fun. | 19:09 | |
This would be followed by free time, | 19:12 | |
time for you to just go off and think by yourself, | 19:15 | |
play a swimmer thing and you'd have super. | 19:17 | |
In the evening you'd have a assembly again. | 19:20 | |
This time a pro athlete would get up | 19:24 | |
among the group and witness before Christ. | 19:27 | |
This has been one of the most meaningful experiences | 19:31 | |
that I've ever been to. | 19:33 | |
See one of these pros stand up there, | 19:36 | |
and deliver a message like this. | 19:39 | |
Guys You don't even think it really taught | 19:41 | |
to get up and give such a message coming, | 19:44 | |
you know, just directly from his heart. | 19:48 | |
After these, you go to a buzz session | 19:52 | |
about 10 o'clock at night, | 19:55 | |
to be led by some of the names that you hear, Steve Sloan, | 19:57 | |
Coach Jean Sterling of Texazenium, Don Shinnick, | 20:03 | |
Bob Vogel, Max Bond. | 20:08 | |
Some of these men would be in charge of these buzz sessions | 20:13 | |
where you think you'd go to and talk about football | 20:16 | |
or basketball, track. | 20:20 | |
To go in there and they wanna talk | 20:23 | |
about their question experience and wanna make | 20:24 | |
you be a Christian. | 20:26 | |
Want you to come over to their side, be on their team, | 20:28 | |
be a winner doesn't necessarily mean you have to come out | 20:31 | |
of every game being a team with the winning score. | 20:34 | |
But when you come out all over you, you're the winner. | 20:37 | |
There were special appearances made through the week. | 20:44 | |
Guys like Paul Anderson, the world's greatest white lifter, | 20:47 | |
and Bobby Richardson, | 20:50 | |
former second baseman of the New York Yankees. | 20:51 | |
And all was a time for some of us | 20:55 | |
to begin a new Christian experience, | 20:57 | |
one that would be meaningful for us the rest of our lives, | 21:00 | |
for others it was a time to renew their | 21:03 | |
so that they may carry on their Christian witness, | 21:06 | |
now for the rest of their lives. | 21:10 | |
(feet walking) | 21:14 | |
- | Let's continue our service at worship as we lift | 21:24 |
our thoughts and our lives before God, | 21:28 | |
as we move into a time of prayers for thanksgiving, | 21:31 | |
prayers of intercession and supplication for our needs, | 21:36 | |
let us pray. | 21:40 | |
The Lord be with you, | 21:42 | |
- | And with your spirit. | 21:43 |
- | Let us pray. | 21:45 |
Almighty and everlasting God, | 21:49 | |
who has so wondrously created us, | 21:52 | |
and who does daily sustain us, | 21:54 | |
we lift to the ya thanks for this opportunity | 21:58 | |
of worship. | 22:00 | |
Thy majesty oh Lord is shrouded in mystery, | 22:02 | |
and thy ways are far beyond our knowing. | 22:06 | |
Yet thou has come close to us in Jesus Christ, | 22:10 | |
and has called us to come before thee, | 22:14 | |
in adoration and in praise and in love. | 22:16 | |
Oh Lord, who are the father of us all, | 22:23 | |
thou has made of one blood all the nations of mankind, | 22:26 | |
and thou has placed us upon this earth for our home, | 22:30 | |
thine as of providence by which age after age, | 22:35 | |
the families of mankind have been fed, | 22:38 | |
and dine is the abundance that blesses those | 22:42 | |
who have plenty and to spare. | 22:44 | |
Thine o Lord is the justice, | 22:47 | |
which amidst the turmoil of history has given it both | 22:50 | |
a course and a direction. | 22:53 | |
Thine is the mercy by which man has reached out to man | 22:56 | |
with healing that binds up the broken heart, | 22:59 | |
the torn body and the disturbed mind. | 23:03 | |
Thine oh Lord, is the love that brings light | 23:07 | |
to every day of our lives, | 23:10 | |
and close friendships and associations we're | 23:13 | |
a true cultivation of the spirit, | 23:16 | |
enables us to speak comfortably one to the other, | 23:19 | |
and especially in our homes and in our families | 23:23 | |
where love protects us against all our foes | 23:26 | |
as with each other we share the love | 23:30 | |
which thou alone destined part to us. | 23:32 | |
Thou oh God our loving father, | 23:35 | |
who injustice and mercy directs our ways and provides | 23:39 | |
for all our needs, Holy art thou God, | 23:43 | |
and thy praise is our great delight | 23:47 | |
in thee is all our hopes. | 23:50 | |
We thank thee our father for what thou has done for us. | 23:53 | |
Oh Lord, even as we thank thee for thy gifts to us, | 24:01 | |
we are aware of our imperfect stewardship | 24:05 | |
of ourselves and of thy world. | 24:07 | |
We confess that we have not always lived responsibly before | 24:10 | |
thee and our fellow men, | 24:14 | |
in our personal and our national life. | 24:16 | |
We have allowed too often our rivalries | 24:19 | |
to become obsessions, | 24:21 | |
and our competitions to become wars. | 24:24 | |
Forgive us, our father for all of those sins, | 24:27 | |
which have made us incapable of welcoming thy love | 24:30 | |
in our hearts and in our lives, | 24:33 | |
encourage and empower us we ask, | 24:36 | |
to desire the life that is life indeed. | 24:39 | |
We lift our prayers of God for all | 24:44 | |
who need thy help this day, | 24:46 | |
for those who are in any way suffering in mind or in body, | 24:49 | |
especially do we remember before thee | 24:54 | |
the wide Fellowship of Christian Athletes, | 24:56 | |
those who share the concern | 24:59 | |
to live as free and Christian men in all facets | 25:01 | |
of their lives. | 25:05 | |
We pray for coaches and players | 25:08 | |
that on the playing fields of our universities and schools, | 25:11 | |
the lessons, not only of sport, | 25:15 | |
but also of life might be learned. | 25:17 | |
We ask thy special blessing for all those who would like | 25:21 | |
to know the joy of competitive sports, but who cannot. | 25:24 | |
The frail of body, the weak, the sick, the lame, | 25:28 | |
the crippled, and all those whose lives are cast | 25:34 | |
in such a way that games are luxuries | 25:37 | |
which they cannot afford, | 25:39 | |
as all alone chance do, oh Lord, | 25:41 | |
bring to all such men and women fullness of life, | 25:44 | |
and the developments of their own talents. | 25:49 | |
Finally, oh Lord, we pray that by thine aid, | 25:53 | |
we may keep through all the changes of our life, | 25:57 | |
the joy of a clear and a Christian conscience, | 26:00 | |
knowing that by thy grace, | 26:03 | |
the gifts which are within each of us, | 26:05 | |
may not be lost through disuse | 26:08 | |
nor destroyed through misuse, | 26:10 | |
but developed in these the days that thou has given to us | 26:13 | |
for greater service to our neighbor and for thy kingdom. | 26:17 | |
These things, and whatsoever else thy'll see as needful, | 26:21 | |
and right for us, we ask them the name of Christ, | 26:25 | |
not having seen, we love and faith, amen. | 26:30 | |
May we rise as we sing, the hymn of adoration, | 26:41 | |
"O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing". | 26:45 | |
(piano playing) | 26:48 | |
♪ O for a thousand tongues to sing ♪ | 26:55 | |
♪ My great redeemer's praise ♪ | 27:00 | |
♪ The glories of my God and King ♪ | 27:05 | |
♪ The triumphs of His grace ♪ | 27:10 | |
♪ My gracious Master and my God ♪ | 27:16 | |
♪ Assist me to proclaim ♪ | 27:23 | |
♪ To spread through all the earth abroad ♪ | 27:28 | |
♪ The honors of your name ♪ | 27:33 | |
♪ He breaks the power of canceled sin ♪ | 27:39 | |
♪ He sets the prisoner free ♪ | 27:44 | |
♪ His blood can make the foulest clean ♪ | 27:50 | |
♪ His blood availed for me ♪ | 27:55 | |
♪ He speaks, and, listening to His voice ♪ | 28:02 | |
♪ New life the dead receive ♪ | 28:07 | |
♪ The mournful, broken hearts rejoice ♪ | 28:12 | |
♪ The humble poor believe ♪ | 28:20 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 28:26 | |
- | Professor Sandy believed that the best translation | 28:42 |
of verse seven of the fourth chapter of Paul's second letter | 28:46 | |
to the Ephesians was, | 28:50 | |
"I have had a part in the great contest. | 28:53 | |
I have run my race. | 28:56 | |
I have finished my course." | 28:58 | |
I would like for us to think about the significance | 29:01 | |
of this verse as it is applied to our own lives, | 29:04 | |
in our own time and in our own place. | 29:09 | |
I am sure there are times when quite properly | 29:15 | |
you engage in the same activity I do. | 29:19 | |
Sometimes late at night, | 29:23 | |
sometimes while reading the newspaper or watching television | 29:25 | |
or walking, which is of wondering whether | 29:30 | |
this world will ever resemble civilization, | 29:36 | |
wondering whether the time ever will come | 29:41 | |
when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, | 29:43 | |
when swords will be beaten into plowshares, spears, | 29:49 | |
and to pruning hooks. | 29:54 | |
When Isaiah's dream of the lion, | 29:56 | |
and the lamb feeding together will come to be a reality. | 29:59 | |
Whether the time actually will come when violence | 30:05 | |
in the streets will be replaced by the safety of a child | 30:08 | |
to play in the streets by day or by night. | 30:13 | |
Whether the time will come when poverty will be erased | 30:17 | |
as this one of our national secretaries has said, | 30:20 | |
it will be in 10 years, | 30:23 | |
whether the time will ever come when justice will prevail | 30:27 | |
in human relations, when there will be brotherhood. | 30:30 | |
When powerful nations do not move in, | 30:34 | |
and stifle and throttle the liberty and freedom, | 30:38 | |
and the civil rights of their neighbors. | 30:42 | |
I am sure that it is proper for us to wonder about this. | 30:46 | |
And I confess that I do spend some time occasionally, | 30:49 | |
wondering whether this actually will come to pass. | 30:52 | |
Really though, deep in my soul, | 30:59 | |
I believe that Jesus Christ was right when He said that | 31:03 | |
the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. | 31:08 | |
I actually now have faith that this is my Father's world. | 31:13 | |
This is God's world and He is ultimately in control of it. | 31:20 | |
And it will not finally get out of hand. | 31:25 | |
I do believe that eventually the kingdom of God will come, | 31:29 | |
and the reign of God will be recognized | 31:34 | |
throughout the universe. | 31:37 | |
So that the real question for me | 31:40 | |
to spend time thinking about | 31:43 | |
to address myself to is not the question of, | 31:46 | |
well, the kingdom of God come. | 31:51 | |
The question for me is when it comes, will I be in it? | 31:56 | |
The real question for me as for the Apostle Paul is not, | 32:03 | |
is there a great contest being waged in the world today, | 32:10 | |
and will God win that contest? | 32:17 | |
But my question and the apostle Paul's question is, | 32:22 | |
have I had a part in it? | 32:27 | |
The apostle Paul was able to say at the near the end | 32:30 | |
of a rather dazzling career of Christian witnessing, | 32:35 | |
"I have had a part in the great contest. | 32:40 | |
I have had a part in the great contest." | 32:45 | |
Paul did not say on that occasion when he was writing | 32:49 | |
to the Ephesians, there has been a great contest. | 32:52 | |
There is a great contest going on. | 32:55 | |
At this stage in his life, | 32:58 | |
he was reflecting on the fact with great satisfaction | 33:00 | |
that he had had a part in it. | 33:03 | |
That is the place where it begins | 33:06 | |
to make a difference for him, | 33:09 | |
it begins to make a difference for us. | 33:11 | |
The question then is not for a person who has faith, | 33:15 | |
and moral order, will at one day come out on top. | 33:20 | |
But the question for each of us individually is | 33:25 | |
will it do so with my help or will it do so in spite | 33:30 | |
of my opposition? | 33:35 | |
I believe that the question which I should address myself to | 33:40 | |
is the question of whether good causes will be allowed by me | 33:47 | |
to be established without my help. | 33:54 | |
Because some good causes have been and are being, | 33:58 | |
and will be established whether I helped them or not. | 34:01 | |
This has always been true. | 34:08 | |
It is true now, and it will be true. | 34:10 | |
The significant question is whether they will achieve | 34:12 | |
the degree of success they do, | 34:17 | |
but my assistance and participation | 34:21 | |
by my dedicated assistance | 34:23 | |
or whether it will be with the sweat and toil of others. | 34:26 | |
In 1959, Duke University Football Team, | 34:37 | |
won four games and lost six. | 34:44 | |
I was here at that time and knew that team very well. | 34:49 | |
This team, which won four and lost six had on it, | 34:56 | |
Mike McGee, who that year was properly awarded | 35:01 | |
the Outland award for being the greatest interior linesman | 35:06 | |
in America, in college football. | 35:11 | |
In addition to Mike McGee, | 35:15 | |
there were other individual players who did a good job | 35:16 | |
for the Duke football team. | 35:22 | |
But the team as a whole lost 6 1 4, | 35:24 | |
and brought the season to a resounding climax | 35:28 | |
by losing to the University of North Carolina | 35:33 | |
by a score of zero to 50. | 35:35 | |
If ever I saw a group | 35:40 | |
of people who were disheartened, discouraged, | 35:43 | |
and who believe that the world had already come to an end, | 35:47 | |
it was either that football squad | 35:52 | |
or the silent fans who filed out of the stadium | 35:55 | |
that afternoon. | 35:59 | |
They did not look forward to a game the following Saturday, | 36:02 | |
which they might win. | 36:05 | |
There was an old game the next Saturday. | 36:06 | |
They had to endure that situation all summer long. | 36:09 | |
And it was a long hot summer. | 36:12 | |
And as the players and coaches assembled | 36:16 | |
on that first Sunday in September here | 36:19 | |
in the chapel where we are now, | 36:22 | |
I think the question that was running through the minds | 36:24 | |
of the players was, "Is there any use to report?" | 36:27 | |
And we used to go out for football. | 36:30 | |
Well, I saw something happen that fall. | 36:35 | |
It was an individual thing. | 36:41 | |
It was a personal thing with each one of a number | 36:44 | |
of players on that squad. | 36:47 | |
There was nobody like Mike McGee on that squad that fall, | 36:52 | |
there was not any one individual performer who was | 36:58 | |
in his own right, a great outstanding player, | 37:02 | |
but I saw some individual men who determined that whether | 37:07 | |
the team as a whole won or lost, whatever it may be, | 37:14 | |
the final outcome of the great contest, | 37:17 | |
as far as the team was concerned, | 37:19 | |
they were individually going | 37:22 | |
to give it everything they had. | 37:24 | |
That in so far as it depended on them individually, | 37:27 | |
they were going to win. | 37:32 | |
I remember Don Altman, Jack Wilson, Dwight Bumgarner, | 37:35 | |
Art Browning, Stan Crisson, and others. | 37:39 | |
Who simply decided that they would attack the problem | 37:44 | |
at the point where they had control over it. | 37:50 | |
And where did they have control over it? | 37:55 | |
Don Altman had no control over Jack Wilson, | 37:59 | |
and Art Browning had no control over Dwight Bumgarner. | 38:02 | |
Stan Crisson had control over himself, | 38:07 | |
and Jack Wilson had control over himself. | 38:10 | |
And individually a good many of the players resolved | 38:13 | |
that in so far as it was up to them, they were going | 38:17 | |
to do their best. | 38:20 | |
I do not have to tell you the result because it is written | 38:25 | |
into the history books of Duke University Athletics. | 38:28 | |
That group of fellows finished the season eight and three. | 38:32 | |
And they went out to the Cotton Bowl as the champions | 38:40 | |
of the Atlantic Coast Conference. | 38:43 | |
And although the officials of the Cotton Bowl, | 38:46 | |
had been bitterly criticized | 38:49 | |
by sports writers in Texas for picking Duke | 38:51 | |
to play against the mighty Razorbacks of Arkansas, | 38:56 | |
who were champions of the Southwest Conference, | 39:00 | |
and very highly rated nationally. | 39:03 | |
In spite of the fact that the Razorbacks played one | 39:06 | |
of their great games that day, | 39:08 | |
that's a bunch of fellows wearing the uniforms | 39:11 | |
of Duke came back the victors in the Cotton Bowl. | 39:15 | |
The reason was not that for some strange reason, | 39:21 | |
they were playing football that year. | 39:25 | |
That's what the team had played the year before. | 39:27 | |
It was not that there was a great challenge. | 39:30 | |
It was that here were a group of individual human beings | 39:33 | |
who decided that so far as it was up to them, | 39:36 | |
they would do their best. | 39:41 | |
And they did, and the cumulative effect | 39:43 | |
of the dedication of these individuals made the difference. | 39:46 | |
Now, that is what the Apostle Paul is talking about | 39:52 | |
with reference to the Christian life. | 39:55 | |
It is not that we are a bunch of individualists, | 39:59 | |
and that Christianity is strictly | 40:03 | |
an individual private affair. | 40:04 | |
It of course is a group affair. | 40:08 | |
And the church is a fellowship | 40:10 | |
like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. | 40:12 | |
We are a group, we are a fellowship, | 40:14 | |
but I cannot make your decisions for you. | 40:17 | |
And you cannot make me a dedicated person. | 40:19 | |
We need to attack the problem | 40:25 | |
at the place where we have some control over it. | 40:26 | |
And that leads me to say that we do not want | 40:31 | |
to misunderstand either | 40:33 | |
of two things about what the Apostle Paul was saying. | 40:35 | |
In the first place he was not bragging. | 40:40 | |
He was not boasting when he said, | 40:41 | |
"I have had a part in the great contest." | 40:43 | |
He was not saying that anything | 40:46 | |
or everything that he had done as a Christian, | 40:48 | |
was something that someone should pat him on the back for. | 40:52 | |
What he was saying was | 40:57 | |
that while all this was going on, | 41:00 | |
that God was doing in the world | 41:03 | |
in my time through Jesus Christ, | 41:05 | |
I had the great satisfaction of being involved in it. | 41:08 | |
I had a part in the great contest. | 41:12 | |
The second thing we did not want to misunderstand was, | 41:19 | |
possibility here that | 41:23 | |
this might be interpreted as a kind of selfishness | 41:24 | |
also saying, "Well, if the world as a whole wants to go | 41:27 | |
to hell, that's its business but as for me i'm going | 41:30 | |
to save my soul." | 41:33 | |
Other people may be wrong, they may be lost. | 41:37 | |
They may be wicked, | 41:41 | |
but I'm going to see to it that I don't do anything | 41:44 | |
that God could consider wrong. | 41:46 | |
This is a kind of selfishness, | 41:51 | |
which sometimes we see in the church. | 41:52 | |
People being so intent upon their own Christian witness, | 41:56 | |
that they lose sight of the purpose of it and become selfish | 42:00 | |
and say, "I simply want to establish my own party." | 42:03 | |
This was not yet. | 42:07 | |
It was based upon a recognition | 42:09 | |
that even as we come kicking, and screaming into this world, | 42:10 | |
one at a time, and even as we die out of this world, | 42:17 | |
one at a time. | 42:21 | |
So, there are a number of significant choices which we have | 42:24 | |
to make in unitary individual personal fashion. | 42:27 | |
And the question about righteousness | 42:33 | |
in the world is at its base a personal question. | 42:35 | |
"Will I have a part in it, or will I not?" | 42:39 | |
We should be unwilling for righteousness to prevail | 42:44 | |
in our place in our time, without our assistance. | 42:48 | |
I see in the congregation here this morning, | 42:57 | |
some people who are members of a church | 42:59 | |
with which I was at one time identified. | 43:02 | |
During the time that I was there, | 43:07 | |
we were engaged in a building project | 43:10 | |
to erect a complete new church. | 43:12 | |
And according to the best estimates that we could get, | 43:16 | |
it was going to take three or $400,000 to do this. | 43:19 | |
One of the leaders of the congregation said that the most | 43:24 | |
that that congregation of 1300 people could raise | 43:27 | |
to apply on to a new church would be a $100,000, | 43:30 | |
and they would be doing very well if they did that. | 43:34 | |
In the final result at congregation properly put | 43:38 | |
into their new church and its furnishings, | 43:43 | |
and lot over a million dollars. | 43:45 | |
The 100,000 of which a well-informed, | 43:49 | |
and well-intentioned leader had said would be the maximum | 43:53 | |
in the beginning he himself gave almost half | 43:56 | |
of that 100,000 himself. | 44:01 | |
Why did they give? | 44:07 | |
They gave not because one man looked at another and said, | 44:09 | |
"Now, what's he going to give? | 44:13 | |
And therefore, what should I do in the light | 44:16 | |
of what he's going to give?" | 44:18 | |
But the mood and psychology of the congregation became this. | 44:21 | |
And this was expressed verbally on a number of occasions. | 44:24 | |
This church will be built. | 44:29 | |
We have faith that it will be built. | 44:32 | |
The only question for me as a member of it is this, | 44:35 | |
when it is built, | 44:39 | |
will I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have done | 44:41 | |
my part of it, that it was not built by others. | 44:44 | |
And I come in then to enjoy it. | 44:49 | |
But when it is there, | 44:52 | |
will I know that I have done my sacrificial part. | 44:53 | |
And because enough individual people decided | 44:59 | |
to answer that question in the affirmative, | 45:03 | |
they were able to do what they should have done, | 45:05 | |
and it made them feel good. | 45:08 | |
Whenever we begin to look at what someone else is doing | 45:11 | |
or not doing and make the decision of what we will do | 45:14 | |
on the basis of that, | 45:18 | |
we're approaching the question from the wrong side. | 45:21 | |
You know, this is the meaning of the teaching, | 45:25 | |
which Jesus tried to give the apostles when He ponited it | 45:26 | |
to the widow who came in the temple and put in a mite, | 45:30 | |
I'm not going to translate that | 45:35 | |
into American money because the value | 45:36 | |
of American money is changing all the time. | 45:38 | |
But the widow put in her mite, | 45:41 | |
which was whatever the value of it monetarily, all she had. | 45:44 | |
And Jesus made the point here that although what she put in | 45:50 | |
to the temple treasury wouldn't buy very much | 45:55 | |
in objective terms. | 45:59 | |
The significance of her act was that she was unwilling | 46:02 | |
for the temple to stand there and perform its ministry week | 46:06 | |
in and week out without her maximum participation. | 46:11 | |
That's the whole point of it. | 46:16 | |
And for Jesus, this was as important in this poor widow, | 46:19 | |
as it would have been in an extremely wealthy man, | 46:24 | |
as long as he was doing his maximum best, | 46:28 | |
she was doing her maximum best. | 46:32 | |
They were equal in the sight of Jesus Christ. | 46:34 | |
This is the meaning of democracy. | 46:39 | |
When we look at political systems, | 46:42 | |
we do not choose democracy on the basis that | 46:44 | |
it is more efficient than dictatorship. | 46:47 | |
It's not as efficient as dictatorship. | 46:51 | |
When you go to try to pass laws or work out systems | 46:55 | |
of governmental agencies could do it so much more simply, | 46:59 | |
and efficiently if we had dictatorship. | 47:03 | |
But the genius of democracy, | 47:06 | |
and the reason why we settle for a less efficient system is | 47:09 | |
that it is based upon the individual participation | 47:13 | |
of every citizen. | 47:16 | |
When I walk into a voting booth, | 47:18 | |
my vote carries as much weight as the vote of George Wallace | 47:21 | |
or Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, or anyone else. | 47:25 | |
The participation of the individual is the key to democracy. | 47:30 | |
It's interesting when you stop to think about it, | 47:36 | |
how this runs through all of life, | 47:38 | |
the question is always personal. | 47:41 | |
Do you know what the significance of the punishment | 47:45 | |
of Moses was when he had committed that great sin | 47:48 | |
against God in the wilderness? | 47:52 | |
The significance of that punishment is right at this point, | 47:55 | |
God had chosen Moses to lead the children of Israel out | 47:59 | |
of the house of bondage through the great wilderness, | 48:02 | |
and around up to the edge of the promised land. | 48:05 | |
While they were in the wilderness, | 48:09 | |
they ran out of water. | 48:11 | |
They pass through a dry place | 48:12 | |
like almost every congregation does sooner or later. | 48:14 | |
But during this very dry period, | 48:20 | |
God showed Moses that there would be water | 48:25 | |
in the rock of Meribah Kadesh. | 48:29 | |
So, Moses went over there with his staff, | 48:34 | |
and struck the rock and water came forth. | 48:36 | |
And instead of giving the credit to God, | 48:40 | |
he took the credit for himself. | 48:42 | |
Now, what was his punishment? | 48:46 | |
His punishment was not that this great expedition | 48:49 | |
that he was leading would fail in its objective. | 48:55 | |
No, the children of Israel were still going | 49:00 | |
to claim the promised land. | 49:03 | |
They would still go around and cross the river Jordan, | 49:06 | |
and climb up into Palestine. | 49:09 | |
What was the punishment? | 49:12 | |
The punishment was when they go in the promised land, | 49:14 | |
you will not be with them. | 49:19 | |
That was punishment enough. | 49:24 | |
Moses had, of course wanted the children of Israel to go | 49:28 | |
into the promised land. | 49:32 | |
And he knew they would, | 49:33 | |
but he had also anticipated the great thrill | 49:34 | |
of walking up the western bank of the Jordan River, | 49:37 | |
and being a part of that victorious march. | 49:41 | |
But he was denied this. | 49:46 | |
And the fact that he could not personally be with them, | 49:49 | |
was the most severe punishment that could be given | 49:53 | |
to a great man like Moses. | 49:57 | |
Fortunately for you and me, | 50:02 | |
on this day we stand in front of many challenges, | 50:06 | |
and no one has said to us, | 50:10 | |
"You may not be a part of the great contest." | 50:12 | |
We can be. | 50:16 | |
There is peace to be established in the world. | 50:19 | |
No one of us should be willing | 50:24 | |
that peace should be established without our having made | 50:25 | |
a contribution to it. | 50:28 | |
We live in a day and in a place that cries out | 50:32 | |
for the establishment and realization of equality, | 50:35 | |
and brotherhood and racial matters. | 50:38 | |
It needs to be established. | 50:42 | |
And I have faith that one day it will. | 50:44 | |
But the question for me is will it be established | 50:48 | |
by the help of others and without me, | 50:51 | |
or will it be established with my help? | 50:53 | |
So that the day comes when there is racial fraternity, | 50:58 | |
and brotherhood. | 51:01 | |
And I can say I had a part in that. | 51:03 | |
I didn't sit back and wait for others to do it. | 51:07 | |
I believe the day will come when we will turn | 51:12 | |
from the ethical and moral morass, | 51:14 | |
which much of our country is wallowing in today | 51:18 | |
to some kind of decency and purity in sex relations, | 51:21 | |
in all the areas of personal morality. | 51:27 | |
The question will be that I have a part | 51:31 | |
in bringing this about, | 51:33 | |
or did I sit on the sidelines and smirk and laugh, | 51:35 | |
and tell dirty jokes while other people cleaned up | 51:38 | |
the country. | 51:40 | |
There is a need for a great tide of decency and right in | 51:44 | |
this country. | 51:50 | |
And there are many people who are feeling this, | 51:52 | |
and wanting to help. | 51:56 | |
Will you be a part of the help? | 51:58 | |
Will I? | 52:00 | |
That's the question. | 52:01 | |
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, | 52:04 | |
the strife of truth with falsehood, | 52:08 | |
for the good or evil side. | 52:10 | |
Then it is the brave man chooses | 52:13 | |
while the coward stands aside, | 52:16 | |
till the multitude makes virtue | 52:19 | |
of the faith they had denied. | 52:21 | |
Will we be among those who say with Paul, | 52:25 | |
"We have had a part," | 52:28 | |
or will we be among those who will be so glad | 52:31 | |
when righteousness is established, | 52:35 | |
and we will welcome it's coming, but we'll have to admit, | 52:37 | |
we did very little to bring it about. | 52:40 | |
Let us pray. | 52:44 | |
Almighty God, our father, | 52:46 | |
we thank thee thou has matched us against this hour with all | 52:49 | |
of its problems and agonies. | 52:53 | |
We thank thee for that. | 52:57 | |
Now, do thou give us grace and dedication and determination | 53:01 | |
to be faithful in our own area of responsibility | 53:09 | |
for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. | 53:17 | |
As we rise to sing our closing hymn, | 53:25 | |
let us ask ourselves whether this hymn really represents us. | 53:31 | |
Do we feel that this is somehow God's world? | 53:35 | |
Or is it my father's world? | 53:39 | |
And am I about my father's business? | 53:43 | |
(piano playing) | 53:47 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 53:52 | |
♪ And to my listening ears ♪ | 53:56 | |
♪ All nature sings and round me rings ♪ | 54:01 | |
♪ The music of the spheres ♪ | 54:06 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 54:11 | |
♪ I rest me in the thought ♪ | 54:15 | |
♪ Of rocks and trees of skies and seas ♪ | 54:20 | |
♪ His hand the wonders wrought ♪ | 54:25 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 54:30 | |
♪ The birds their carols raise ♪ | 54:35 | |
♪ The morning light the lily white ♪ | 54:41 | |
♪ Declare their Maker's praise ♪ | 54:46 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 54:51 | |
♪ He shines in all that's fair ♪ | 54:55 | |
♪ In the rustling grass I hear Him pass ♪ | 55:00 | |
♪ He speaks to me everywhere ♪ | 55:05 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 55:10 | |
♪ O let me ne'er forget ♪ | 55:16 | |
♪ That though the wrong seems oft so strong ♪ | 55:20 | |
♪ God is the Ruler yet ♪ | 55:26 | |
♪ This is my Father's world ♪ | 55:31 | |
♪ Why should my heart be sad ♪ | 55:35 | |
♪ The Lord is King let the heavens ring ♪ | 55:40 | |
♪ God reigns let earth be glad ♪ | 55:46 | |
♪ Amen ♪ | 55:51 | |
(piano playing) | 55:59 | |
- | Let's bow our heads for prayer of dedication, please. | 1:02:10 |
Dear God we raised to you, our father, | 1:02:14 | |
this small offering, | 1:02:17 | |
this most humble token of love and appreciation | 1:02:19 | |
in return of your many most gracious deals, amen. | 1:02:22 | |
- | And now receive the blessing of God, | 1:02:28 |
unto God's gracious mercy and protection, do we commit you. | 1:02:32 | |
The Lord bless you and keep you. | 1:02:38 | |
The Lord make His face to shine upon you, | 1:02:43 | |
and be gracious unto you. | 1:02:47 | |
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, | 1:02:50 | |
and give you peace this day, | 1:02:53 | |
and forevermore, amen. | 1:02:58 | |
(upbeat music) | 1:03:03 |
Item Info
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