WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.317 --> 00:00:02.984 (air whooshing) 2 00:00:17.095 --> 00:00:18.690 The text of sermon today 3 00:00:18.690 --> 00:00:23.363 is found in John's gospel chapter 10 verse 10, 4 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.387 the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 00:00:27.387 --> 00:00:29.770 "I am come that you might have life 6 00:00:31.010 --> 00:00:33.467 and that you might have it more abundantly." 7 00:00:35.130 --> 00:00:38.210 This is not the text which was originally selected 8 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:41.660 for the sermon this morning and I am not the preacher 9 00:00:41.660 --> 00:00:44.723 who was originally selected to deliver the sermon today. 10 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.160 It is on an occasion such as this, 11 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:52.150 that we see the value of announcing next Sunday's preacher 12 00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:53.823 in the way we always do. 13 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:57.370 We do not print in the bulletin, 14 00:00:57.370 --> 00:01:00.993 The Reverend Dr. Jones will preach next Sunday. 15 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:04.460 We print in there, the Reverend Dr. Jones 16 00:01:04.460 --> 00:01:06.620 in the present tense is scheduled 17 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:09.470 to deliver the sermon next Sunday. 18 00:01:09.470 --> 00:01:14.090 And last Sunday, it was true when we said that Bishop Fraser 19 00:01:14.090 --> 00:01:17.680 was scheduled to deliver the sermon today, 20 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.290 but we are reminded of the truth 21 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:20.677 and the scriptural injunction, 22 00:01:20.677 --> 00:01:23.517 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow." 23 00:01:24.830 --> 00:01:27.700 When sometimes the very severe cold 24 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:31.150 developing the day before a man is scheduled to preach 25 00:01:31.150 --> 00:01:33.530 and getting worse during the evening, 26 00:01:33.530 --> 00:01:36.650 makes it impossible for him to deliver the sermon 27 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:38.470 which he had so carefully prepared 28 00:01:38.470 --> 00:01:40.840 and to which he had looked forward 29 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:43.310 in the days of preparation. 30 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:45.300 This morning, Mrs. Fraser called me 31 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:48.680 and said that the Bishop who, as I already knew, 32 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:52.240 had been on a very heavy schedule, had exhausted himself, 33 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:54.650 and yesterday caught a cold 34 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:57.320 and it became worse during the night 35 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:00.660 so that he had an extremely bad cough this morning 36 00:02:00.660 --> 00:02:03.510 and she felt that he really could not deliver the sermon. 37 00:02:04.610 --> 00:02:07.410 We regret this very much of course, 38 00:02:07.410 --> 00:02:11.260 and we shall look forward to an occasion when Bishop Fraser 39 00:02:11.260 --> 00:02:14.313 will come and preach for us here in the chapel. 40 00:02:16.060 --> 00:02:20.330 The only thing which this presents to me 41 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:23.903 in the form of a problem is a matter of self identity. 42 00:02:25.820 --> 00:02:29.640 I know that it is clear from the dictionary, 43 00:02:29.640 --> 00:02:33.053 what the function of a Bishop coadjutor is, 44 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:39.160 he is supposed to fill in if the bishop becomes the ill 45 00:02:39.160 --> 00:02:41.700 in addition to the other very important duties, 46 00:02:41.700 --> 00:02:43.713 which the Bishop coadjutor has, 47 00:02:44.763 --> 00:02:47.290 but what the dictionary does not make clear 48 00:02:47.290 --> 00:02:51.803 is the identity of the man who coadjutes the coadjutor. 49 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:58.885 And in case someone is thinking that the verb coadjute 50 00:02:58.885 --> 00:03:02.850 is properly used, let me hasten to assure you 51 00:03:02.850 --> 00:03:05.610 that the dictionary indicates 52 00:03:05.610 --> 00:03:09.080 that the word in the form of a verb coadjute 53 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:11.963 is both used correctly and rarely. 54 00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:16.630 I am sure that one reason in North Carolina, 55 00:03:16.630 --> 00:03:19.940 at least why it is used rarely is that Bishop Fraser, 56 00:03:19.940 --> 00:03:22.680 who is a strong and vigorous churchman 57 00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:25.673 almost never needs someone to substitute for him. 58 00:03:28.690 --> 00:03:31.760 You do not have to live as long as Methuselah 59 00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:35.400 to find the experience which Bishop Fraser has had 60 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:39.060 as an experience of your own when some unexpected illness 61 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:40.560 prevent you from doing something 62 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:42.243 which you very much wanted to do. 63 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.870 Speaking of Methuselah, I am reminded of a statement 64 00:03:45.870 --> 00:03:49.460 I heard President Eddy of Chatham College 65 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:52.020 make about two weeks ago in an address. 66 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:53.840 And he said that, "Faculty members 67 00:03:55.230 --> 00:03:57.830 who have not had any new ideas lately, 68 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:01.620 but who claimed tenaciously to their academic tenure 69 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:03.237 should remember Methuselah." 70 00:04:04.890 --> 00:04:07.340 He said, he thought that if a person 71 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:11.840 would recall Methuselah, he would not want to be remembered 72 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.523 in the same way Methuselah is remembered, 73 00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:19.633 namely only for the length of time that he was around, 74 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.810 that we should seek to be remembered 75 00:04:22.810 --> 00:04:27.090 by something better than that. 76 00:04:27.090 --> 00:04:29.930 Mr. Jones was connected with Old Siwash 77 00:04:29.930 --> 00:04:32.793 for the space of 40 years. 78 00:04:34.340 --> 00:04:36.590 In case some of you may be wondering 79 00:04:36.590 --> 00:04:38.770 whether we are already often running 80 00:04:38.770 --> 00:04:40.683 in a sermon on Methuselah, 81 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:45.023 we might very well just be in that situation. 82 00:04:46.400 --> 00:04:49.430 After all, what does a Methodist preacher say 83 00:04:49.430 --> 00:04:52.980 to a church full of frustrated Episcopalians 84 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:57.033 on an occasion like this, do you preach on? 85 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:05.180 Rufus Jones, the late great Quaker, 86 00:05:05.350 --> 00:05:07.050 was giving an address here at Duke 87 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:09.763 during the time that I was a divinity student, 88 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:15.037 in which he said that, "Methuselah was around so long, 89 00:05:18.520 --> 00:05:20.960 spent so much time on the face of the earth 90 00:05:20.960 --> 00:05:23.310 that the ladies had to wash the dishes 91 00:05:23.310 --> 00:05:25.620 for him a million times." 92 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:28.640 Now only a person with a mathematical bent to his mind, 93 00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:31.830 such as Dr. Jones would have gone to the trouble 94 00:05:31.830 --> 00:05:35.070 to figure out how many times the ladies 95 00:05:35.070 --> 00:05:36.910 would have to wash the dishes for a man 96 00:05:36.910 --> 00:05:40.900 who lived on the earth 969 years. 97 00:05:40.900 --> 00:05:42.920 There was something however about that statement 98 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:47.800 that caught my fancy, I thought about it some years later 99 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:52.800 and wondered if a man who had been here allegedly 969 years 100 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:55.900 was not important enough so that someone 101 00:05:55.900 --> 00:05:57.553 would have written his biography. 102 00:05:58.910 --> 00:06:00.560 I found that it had been written. 103 00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:04.680 I was so impressed when I read the biography of Methuselah 104 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:06.653 that I decided to commit it to memory. 105 00:06:07.780 --> 00:06:11.060 And I did memorize the entire biography of Methuselah 106 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:13.630 and I'm going to recite it to you here this morning 107 00:06:15.320 --> 00:06:17.253 from start to finish every word of it. 108 00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:20.440 However, I should reassure you 109 00:06:20.440 --> 00:06:23.393 before I commence that it is a very brief biography, 110 00:06:24.510 --> 00:06:27.490 but that in no way detracts from the value of it 111 00:06:27.490 --> 00:06:29.130 or the insights we would gain 112 00:06:29.130 --> 00:06:31.900 from this brief biography of Methuselah, 113 00:06:31.900 --> 00:06:35.650 because very often brief biographies are more revealing 114 00:06:35.650 --> 00:06:39.210 about the life and experiences of the man 115 00:06:39.210 --> 00:06:41.913 than a more lengthy biography would be. 116 00:06:42.750 --> 00:06:44.850 For example, Benjamin Franklin's biography 117 00:06:44.850 --> 00:06:48.410 that was given by the little boy who had in his class, 118 00:06:48.410 --> 00:06:49.690 been given the assignment 119 00:06:49.690 --> 00:06:51.980 of bringing in a one sentence biography 120 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:56.403 of some famous American is illustrative of this point. 121 00:06:58.380 --> 00:07:00.920 After some research in the school library, 122 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:04.310 he wrote this one sentence biography of Benjamin Franklin. 123 00:07:04.310 --> 00:07:07.560 He said, "Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, 124 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.320 moved to Philadelphia, he met a girl on the street, 125 00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:12.070 she laughed at him, he married her 126 00:07:12.070 --> 00:07:14.078 and discovered electricity." 127 00:07:14.078 --> 00:07:17.110 (congregation laughing) 128 00:07:17.110 --> 00:07:19.570 It is my opinion that this brief biography 129 00:07:19.570 --> 00:07:22.250 may have been more revealing of the life of Franklin 130 00:07:22.250 --> 00:07:24.763 than some of the longer ones that have been given. 131 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:29.030 And so it is with the biography of Methuselah, 132 00:07:29.030 --> 00:07:31.790 brief though it is, found in chapter five 133 00:07:31.790 --> 00:07:33.630 of the book of Genesis. 134 00:07:33.630 --> 00:07:37.723 It is indeed an interesting and insightful biography. 135 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:41.737 Here it is. 136 00:07:41.737 --> 00:07:46.737 "Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech. 137 00:07:50.280 --> 00:07:53.493 After the birth of Lamech, he lived 782 years 138 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:00.923 and became the father to other sons and daughters. 139 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:07.310 Thus altogether, Methuselah live 969 years," period. 140 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:18.373 That's all it is. 141 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:25.310 This is the complete biography of the man who of all men, 142 00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:26.880 who walked the face of this earth, 143 00:08:26.880 --> 00:08:28.553 spent the most time doing it. 144 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:33.823 There is the complete memoirs of Methuselah. 145 00:08:36.170 --> 00:08:39.050 Now brief though that biography is, 146 00:08:39.050 --> 00:08:40.560 when you try to boil it down 147 00:08:40.560 --> 00:08:43.940 to what is really significant about it and what is unusual, 148 00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:46.910 you can omit even some of what is there 149 00:08:46.910 --> 00:08:50.140 and not lose anything that is unusual. 150 00:08:50.140 --> 00:08:52.860 For example, there's not any particular point 151 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:55.160 in mentioning how old he was 152 00:08:55.160 --> 00:08:59.423 when his first one was born, you can omit that, 153 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.820 you can omit also the fact that he left some children 154 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:08.880 to be his heirs in spite of the fact that, as I'm finding, 155 00:09:08.880 --> 00:09:11.370 heir-raising can be a hair-raising experience. 156 00:09:11.370 --> 00:09:13.453 There isn't anything unusual about it. 157 00:09:14.310 --> 00:09:19.310 So the only unusual thing that is left to say 158 00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:24.437 in the life story of this man is that he was here 969 years. 159 00:09:27.650 --> 00:09:31.710 Now this biography becomes all the more interesting 160 00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:33.840 and all the more significant 161 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.750 when you remember where it is found, 162 00:09:36.750 --> 00:09:41.713 it is found in the Book of Life, the Book of Life. 163 00:09:43.490 --> 00:09:48.490 Now if mere existence has anything to do with life, 164 00:09:49.780 --> 00:09:53.330 Methuselah should have been number one in the Book of Life, 165 00:09:53.330 --> 00:09:54.733 but he is not. 166 00:09:57.820 --> 00:10:01.180 For example, the Book of Life 167 00:10:01.180 --> 00:10:04.693 gives the apostle Paul 3000 verses. 168 00:10:06.680 --> 00:10:09.463 It gives Methuselah three verses. 169 00:10:10.570 --> 00:10:12.480 And Methuselah, according to the record, 170 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.093 existed 15 times as long as the apostle Paul. 171 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.370 Well, how do you account for that? 172 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:23.283 Was the Bible of prejudice against Methuselah? 173 00:10:24.370 --> 00:10:27.040 Was he some kind of atheist? 174 00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:29.460 Was he a low character? 175 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:32.323 No, not so far as we can tell. 176 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:37.030 According to the record, he was not a bank robber, 177 00:10:37.030 --> 00:10:40.770 he was not an adulterer, he didn't drink liquor, 178 00:10:40.770 --> 00:10:45.480 he didn't use profanity, he did not make an illegal profit 179 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.330 on fertilizer tanks, 180 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:49.653 he was not a member of the John Birch Society, 181 00:10:50.630 --> 00:10:52.800 as far as we can tell Methuselah 182 00:10:52.800 --> 00:10:54.803 was a fairly decent sort of person. 183 00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:59.360 The Bible didn't have very much good to say for him, 184 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.623 didn't have anything bad to say against him. 185 00:11:02.870 --> 00:11:07.620 We might even have written his biography in shorter space 186 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:11.150 than the space given him in the Bible 187 00:11:11.150 --> 00:11:13.870 and have described it in the terms of baseball, 188 00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:17.293 no hints, no runs, no errors, that was Methuselah. 189 00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:23.350 Well, now we are up against a problem. 190 00:11:23.350 --> 00:11:25.750 If we find that in the Book of Life, 191 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:29.830 a person who apparently had more of it quantitatively 192 00:11:29.830 --> 00:11:32.950 than anyone else is almost brushed off. 193 00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:33.893 What is life? 194 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:38.440 Of course, in an academic community, 195 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:42.290 the sensible thing to do is the same as it is 196 00:11:42.290 --> 00:11:44.670 in a non-academic community. 197 00:11:44.670 --> 00:11:46.270 You want to know what a word means, 198 00:11:46.270 --> 00:11:48.490 you consult the dictionary. 199 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:49.343 What is life? 200 00:11:50.497 --> 00:11:54.460 But I began by looking in the on bridge dictionary, 201 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:56.963 I found there were 10 definitions of life. 202 00:11:58.180 --> 00:12:02.210 About half of these words define the term 203 00:12:03.260 --> 00:12:07.003 in terms of itself, life is life. 204 00:12:08.211 --> 00:12:09.044 There it is. 205 00:12:10.300 --> 00:12:12.160 The other half of the definitions 206 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:15.560 referred me to other words, which in turn referred me back 207 00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:17.283 to the word with which I began. 208 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:21.590 I found this a rather frustrating experience, 209 00:12:21.590 --> 00:12:24.913 and I decided to try a vest-pocket dictionary. 210 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:26.970 And the more I thought about it, 211 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:29.160 the more interesting this process became 212 00:12:29.160 --> 00:12:30.810 because of the fact (congregation laughing) 213 00:12:30.810 --> 00:12:33.670 that the average man uses the a vest-pocket dictionary, 214 00:12:33.670 --> 00:12:36.760 and I was very much interested to know what the dictionary 215 00:12:36.760 --> 00:12:39.353 is saying to the average man about life. 216 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:46.630 I obtained a vest-pocket dictionary, turn to the word life, 217 00:12:46.630 --> 00:12:48.260 and so help me. 218 00:12:48.260 --> 00:12:51.423 This is what it said, life, 219 00:12:52.550 --> 00:12:57.513 that period of time between birth and death, 220 00:13:01.670 --> 00:13:06.407 life, that period of time between birth and death. 221 00:13:09.660 --> 00:13:12.690 This is what the dictionary tells the average person 222 00:13:12.690 --> 00:13:14.840 about life and the terrible thing about it 223 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.760 is that the average person accepts this 224 00:13:17.760 --> 00:13:19.783 as an adequate definition of life. 225 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:22.080 That when you have your name 226 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:24.260 listed on the roster of those who have been born 227 00:13:24.260 --> 00:13:26.930 into this world and who subsequently have died out of it, 228 00:13:26.930 --> 00:13:27.830 that you've lived. 229 00:13:29.590 --> 00:13:33.113 That when you have spent 60 or 70 years eating and sleeping, 230 00:13:34.060 --> 00:13:37.200 passing or flunking examinations, paying your taxes, 231 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:41.160 being married, having children, that you've lived, 232 00:13:41.160 --> 00:13:42.303 that this is life. 233 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:48.270 Well, I do not know what you think about it, 234 00:13:48.270 --> 00:13:50.300 but I believe that the average person 235 00:13:50.300 --> 00:13:53.010 who follows this definition of life 236 00:13:53.010 --> 00:13:56.550 and uses it as his understanding of what life is, 237 00:13:56.550 --> 00:13:59.150 finally comes to agree with Macbeth, 238 00:13:59.150 --> 00:14:03.300 that "It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, 239 00:14:03.300 --> 00:14:04.707 signifying nothing." 240 00:14:09.040 --> 00:14:14.040 So then, let's turn back to the Book of Life 241 00:14:15.010 --> 00:14:18.393 and see what it has to say about life. 242 00:14:20.030 --> 00:14:22.080 Now I should caution you that at this point 243 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.120 as well as at many other points, 244 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.010 you will not find in the Bible 245 00:14:26.010 --> 00:14:28.500 specific dictionary definitions 246 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:31.220 of the greatest realities and values. 247 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:33.440 You do not find for example, 248 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:38.010 a dictionary type definition of God or of Christ 249 00:14:38.010 --> 00:14:41.893 or of the church or of the Bible or of life. 250 00:14:42.950 --> 00:14:46.960 What we do find in the Book of Life is windows that are open 251 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.243 through which light shines on any subject. 252 00:14:52.910 --> 00:14:54.770 But when we look at the use 253 00:14:54.770 --> 00:14:56.833 of the word life in the New Testament, 254 00:14:57.730 --> 00:15:01.810 we find that it is used approximately 130 times 255 00:15:01.810 --> 00:15:06.810 in the New Testament and all of these 130 instances 256 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.463 in which the word life appears in the New Testament, 257 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.690 more than half of those refer to something 258 00:15:15.690 --> 00:15:17.690 that is not mentioned anywhere 259 00:15:17.690 --> 00:15:19.423 in the biography of Methuselah. 260 00:15:21.270 --> 00:15:25.680 That is to say the word life is used about 80 times 261 00:15:25.680 --> 00:15:26.753 in the New Testament. 262 00:15:27.770 --> 00:15:30.660 When it does not even refer at all 263 00:15:30.660 --> 00:15:34.173 to a mere period of time between birth and death, 264 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:39.030 it refers to a quality of existence 265 00:15:39.030 --> 00:15:41.433 rather than to a quantity of existence. 266 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:44.560 As a matter of fact, 267 00:15:44.560 --> 00:15:47.500 we find as we look at the teachings of Jesus Christ, 268 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:50.730 that there is no value, whatever, none, 269 00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:55.730 absolutely none in mere earthly existence as such, 270 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.147 Jesus said concerning one man, 271 00:16:00.147 --> 00:16:03.520 "It would have been better had he never been born." 272 00:16:03.520 --> 00:16:05.503 He saw completely missed life. 273 00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:12.010 Now it is possible for a person 274 00:16:13.260 --> 00:16:17.743 to be in the presence of great art without ever seeing it. 275 00:16:19.530 --> 00:16:22.100 It is possible for a person to be in the presence 276 00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:26.103 of great music without really hearing it. 277 00:16:28.530 --> 00:16:32.440 It is possible for a person to be in the presence of life 278 00:16:34.010 --> 00:16:35.083 without living it. 279 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:40.770 And therefore, I believe it is extremely important 280 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:45.773 that we ask ourselves and be very sure of the answer, 281 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:48.600 what is it? 282 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:53.587 Which our Lord Jesus Christ had in mind when he said, 283 00:16:53.587 --> 00:16:56.640 "I am come that you might have life 284 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.027 and that you might have it more abundantly." 285 00:17:02.060 --> 00:17:05.060 He was not talking about earthly existence, 286 00:17:05.060 --> 00:17:07.790 because if that were what he was talking about, 287 00:17:07.790 --> 00:17:11.400 he came to the wrong place when he came to this earth, 288 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:13.730 we already had that before he came. 289 00:17:13.730 --> 00:17:16.770 He said, "I have come that you might have," 290 00:17:16.770 --> 00:17:19.913 this assumes we didn't already have what he came to give. 291 00:17:20.760 --> 00:17:22.770 Methuselah had more of it than anyone 292 00:17:22.770 --> 00:17:26.290 apparently who has lived since the time of Christ, 293 00:17:26.290 --> 00:17:28.973 if it's simply a be earthly existence, 294 00:17:30.830 --> 00:17:34.830 what was it that Jesus said he came to give 295 00:17:34.830 --> 00:17:36.373 and to give in abundance? 296 00:17:39.620 --> 00:17:43.393 I would like to use a parable in answering that question. 297 00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:47.530 A parable similar to the parable which Dean Clellan 298 00:17:47.530 --> 00:17:49.440 used two weeks ago in his sermon 299 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.973 on the way at the River Kwai. 300 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:57.700 He was speaking of the way that was followed 301 00:17:57.700 --> 00:18:02.700 by those who were building a bridge across a river. 302 00:18:02.810 --> 00:18:07.810 Today, I would like for the river itself to be the parable, 303 00:18:09.130 --> 00:18:12.490 it could be the River Kwai, it could be any other river. 304 00:18:12.490 --> 00:18:14.930 You've often heard it said that life is like a river, 305 00:18:14.930 --> 00:18:17.010 but have you ever asked yourself, 306 00:18:17.010 --> 00:18:21.343 what is it about a river that is like life? 307 00:18:23.300 --> 00:18:27.090 In my opinion, there are three things about the river, 308 00:18:27.090 --> 00:18:30.973 which illustrate Jesus' teaching concerning life. 309 00:18:33.510 --> 00:18:35.860 Now I did not select the number three 310 00:18:35.860 --> 00:18:40.050 because this is a sermon, but so far as I can tell, 311 00:18:40.050 --> 00:18:42.480 there are three things and only three things 312 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.870 about the river which illustrate the teaching 313 00:18:44.870 --> 00:18:46.843 which Jesus gave concerning life. 314 00:18:48.180 --> 00:18:50.360 I would like to mention them. 315 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:55.360 The first is that the river takes all of its water 316 00:18:57.210 --> 00:19:02.210 and channels it going in one direction. 317 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:09.150 It does not dissipate its water in a scattered attempt 318 00:19:09.150 --> 00:19:12.420 to go in all directions at once. 319 00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:15.513 If it did this, it would be not a river, but a swamp. 320 00:19:17.940 --> 00:19:21.780 It takes all of the water that is given to it 321 00:19:21.780 --> 00:19:26.190 and channels it, goes in one direction. 322 00:19:26.190 --> 00:19:28.500 It does not divide its water even 323 00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:32.270 and send half uphill and half downhill, 324 00:19:32.270 --> 00:19:35.083 it sends all of its water in one direction. 325 00:19:36.860 --> 00:19:41.713 Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "No man can serve two masters. 326 00:19:42.780 --> 00:19:45.980 Either he will hate the one and love the other, 327 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:49.357 or he will cleave to the one and despise the other." 328 00:19:51.060 --> 00:19:56.060 You cannot basically serve two masters and have life. 329 00:19:56.290 --> 00:19:59.440 There are people who attempt to serve two masters, 330 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.163 they do not find life as Jesus came to give it. 331 00:20:06.260 --> 00:20:08.933 The integration of the personality, 332 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:15.150 the basic drives of mankind, intellectual, emotional, 333 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:20.880 physical, must be unified and going in one direction. 334 00:20:22.300 --> 00:20:25.397 We find in the book of Proverbs the saying, 335 00:20:25.397 --> 00:20:28.600 "Go to the ant thou sluggard, 336 00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:31.107 consider her ways and be wise." 337 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.387 We might call in a seminar proverb and say, 338 00:20:34.387 --> 00:20:37.750 "Go to the river thou scatterbrain, 339 00:20:37.750 --> 00:20:42.750 consider its ways and be wise, go in one direction." 340 00:20:44.820 --> 00:20:46.810 Now there is a fine line of distinction 341 00:20:46.810 --> 00:20:51.810 between having a one-track mind and going in one direction. 342 00:20:53.770 --> 00:20:57.013 This is no call for us to have one-track mind. 343 00:20:58.620 --> 00:21:02.150 I doubt that there is any person in history 344 00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:04.530 whose interests were more versatile 345 00:21:04.530 --> 00:21:07.630 than those of our Lord Jesus Christ. 346 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:11.690 And yet history records the life of no person 347 00:21:11.690 --> 00:21:15.880 who was as unified, basically one, 348 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:17.773 as our Lord Jesus Christ, 349 00:21:19.547 --> 00:21:22.290 "I have come to do my Father's will." 350 00:21:22.290 --> 00:21:27.223 His Apostle Paul said this one thing, I do. 351 00:21:29.430 --> 00:21:31.370 If we're going to find life, 352 00:21:31.370 --> 00:21:36.000 we have to be unified in our whole personality structure, 353 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.630 decide that there is one thing we're going to do 354 00:21:38.630 --> 00:21:40.180 and then do it. 355 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:41.850 But that by itself is not enough 356 00:21:41.850 --> 00:21:45.003 because that could be very bad and very wrong. 357 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:49.713 It could be wrong if we went in the improper direction. 358 00:21:50.710 --> 00:21:53.580 Here again, we find an illustration 359 00:21:53.580 --> 00:21:55.690 from the parable of the river, 360 00:21:55.690 --> 00:22:00.433 which gives us insight into Jesus' teaching concerning life. 361 00:22:02.470 --> 00:22:05.170 What direction does the river flow in? 362 00:22:05.170 --> 00:22:10.170 Does it flow in keeping with the laws of the world 363 00:22:10.810 --> 00:22:15.810 in which it finds itself or does it flow against those laws? 364 00:22:17.750 --> 00:22:20.980 Does it cooperate with the way the world is built 365 00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:24.853 or does it defy the structure of the universe? 366 00:22:26.670 --> 00:22:29.020 Well, of course, the answer to that is obvious. 367 00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:33.370 It obeys the law of gravity from the beginning 368 00:22:33.370 --> 00:22:36.793 of its course, until it empties itself into the ocean. 369 00:22:37.800 --> 00:22:40.580 It obeys all of the laws of the universe 370 00:22:40.580 --> 00:22:42.113 in which it finds itself. 371 00:22:44.060 --> 00:22:47.883 If it did not, it would cease to be a river, 372 00:22:49.030 --> 00:22:53.430 but it does cooperate with the way the world is built, 373 00:22:53.430 --> 00:22:58.173 it does obey the laws of the universe and it is a river. 374 00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:03.930 At this point, I think we stand able and ready 375 00:23:03.930 --> 00:23:08.193 to see one of the most profound aspects of the whole gospel, 376 00:23:09.670 --> 00:23:12.140 which is that our Lord Jesus Christ 377 00:23:12.140 --> 00:23:17.140 did not come to this world so much to coax you and me 378 00:23:18.470 --> 00:23:21.160 into doing what he wants us to do 379 00:23:22.650 --> 00:23:27.650 as he came to declare to us the way things are. 380 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:35.100 Then if you want life, live it that way, 381 00:23:35.100 --> 00:23:37.653 if you don't, you can live against that. 382 00:23:39.127 --> 00:23:40.863 "Whatsoever a man soweth, 383 00:23:43.130 --> 00:23:47.610 that ought he to reap," said Jesus? 384 00:23:47.610 --> 00:23:52.610 No, he simply said, "Whatsoever a man soweth, 385 00:23:53.280 --> 00:23:55.187 that shall he reap." 386 00:23:57.190 --> 00:23:59.500 That's the way the world is built. 387 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:03.120 If you want life, cooperate with that, 388 00:24:03.120 --> 00:24:05.923 if you do not cooperate with it, you will miss life. 389 00:24:07.130 --> 00:24:09.870 Our Mathematics Department here at Duke University 390 00:24:11.090 --> 00:24:14.630 does not teach students that it would be a fine thing 391 00:24:14.630 --> 00:24:19.630 if two and two should someday equal four or in so far, 392 00:24:19.750 --> 00:24:22.000 as you have influence in your lives, 393 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:23.430 dear students from now on 394 00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:25.943 try to make two and two equal four. 395 00:24:27.660 --> 00:24:30.673 This is not the teaching of our Mathematics Department. 396 00:24:32.490 --> 00:24:35.630 They teach that whether we like it or not, 397 00:24:35.630 --> 00:24:38.350 whether this is the way we would have done it 398 00:24:38.350 --> 00:24:43.350 had we been designing mathematics, two and two are four, 399 00:24:43.550 --> 00:24:47.570 they always have been, they are now, they always will be. 400 00:24:47.570 --> 00:24:49.450 And if you want your paper to come out 401 00:24:49.450 --> 00:24:50.840 right on the examination, 402 00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:53.300 and if you want your business affairs to be right 403 00:24:53.300 --> 00:24:54.890 when you do them in the future, 404 00:24:54.890 --> 00:24:56.870 you'd better be adjust yourself 405 00:24:58.080 --> 00:25:00.413 to the fact that two and two are four. 406 00:25:03.830 --> 00:25:07.613 The way of the transgressor is hard, 407 00:25:10.290 --> 00:25:12.640 brotherhood is a law of life. 408 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.000 It is not some fine ideal 409 00:25:16.030 --> 00:25:18.900 that Jesus would like for us to practice, 410 00:25:18.900 --> 00:25:22.000 but there is in this world a law of brotherhood, 411 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.120 we can cooperate with it and have life 412 00:25:24.120 --> 00:25:26.883 or we can seek to break it and be broken. 413 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:30.980 Honesty is not something 414 00:25:30.980 --> 00:25:34.110 that Jesus would like for us to practice merely, 415 00:25:34.110 --> 00:25:36.410 honesty is a law of life. 416 00:25:36.410 --> 00:25:38.670 If you are honest, you can find life. 417 00:25:38.670 --> 00:25:41.120 If you are dishonest, you are certain to miss it. 418 00:25:42.350 --> 00:25:46.670 Truth, justice, all of these great principles of the gospel 419 00:25:46.670 --> 00:25:50.900 are laws of the universe which we can either cooperate with 420 00:25:50.900 --> 00:25:55.213 and find life, which we can ignore and be destroyed. 421 00:25:57.810 --> 00:26:01.420 Third, the river illustrates 422 00:26:01.420 --> 00:26:04.263 another teaching of Christ concerning life. 423 00:26:06.670 --> 00:26:09.930 The river does not hold the water selfishly, 424 00:26:09.930 --> 00:26:13.030 which is given onto it, but it passes it on, 425 00:26:13.030 --> 00:26:14.123 it gives it away. 426 00:26:16.070 --> 00:26:18.660 This is one of the teachings of Christ 427 00:26:18.660 --> 00:26:21.373 that is central to our whole understanding of life. 428 00:26:23.050 --> 00:26:25.423 We are to be like the river in that regard, 429 00:26:26.930 --> 00:26:31.260 we are to give, to sacrifice, 430 00:26:31.260 --> 00:26:36.250 we are to live in dedication for the glory of God and others 431 00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:40.283 rather than for our own glory and our own selfish advantage. 432 00:26:41.650 --> 00:26:44.717 Jesus said when he commissioned 70 and sent them out, 433 00:26:44.717 --> 00:26:48.283 "Freely you have received, freely give, 434 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.420 give to him that asketh of thee, 435 00:26:51.420 --> 00:26:55.827 and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." 436 00:26:58.610 --> 00:27:00.363 This is the teaching of our Lord. 437 00:27:01.450 --> 00:27:03.990 Well, but you say, what does this have to do with life? 438 00:27:03.990 --> 00:27:05.710 Sure, he said to do that, 439 00:27:05.710 --> 00:27:07.710 but what does that have to do with life? 440 00:27:09.130 --> 00:27:14.010 Our Lord Jesus Christ explained that there are some people 441 00:27:14.010 --> 00:27:16.593 who seek to save their lives, 442 00:27:17.800 --> 00:27:21.360 but they don't save them by seeking to save them. 443 00:27:21.360 --> 00:27:22.770 And there are other people 444 00:27:22.770 --> 00:27:27.440 who with selfless abandon give themselves 445 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:29.520 for the glory of God and the good of others 446 00:27:29.520 --> 00:27:34.500 and rather surprisingly, find that they have saved 447 00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:38.273 and found their own abundant life. 448 00:27:40.650 --> 00:27:43.293 This is the teaching of our Lord about life. 449 00:27:44.190 --> 00:27:47.340 Paradoxically, if you wanna have life, 450 00:27:47.340 --> 00:27:49.140 don't be too much concerned about it, 451 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:52.040 be concerned about the lives of others, 452 00:27:52.040 --> 00:27:55.290 and you will find gloriously and abundantly 453 00:27:55.290 --> 00:27:56.763 that it comes back to you. 454 00:27:59.540 --> 00:28:01.400 In the university service of worship 455 00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:03.550 in the Duke Chapel every Sunday, 456 00:28:03.550 --> 00:28:05.373 we receive an offering of money. 457 00:28:07.520 --> 00:28:10.120 If you have thought about it, which I hope you have, 458 00:28:10.120 --> 00:28:13.840 did it seem to you that this offering was being received 459 00:28:13.840 --> 00:28:17.950 in order that we might conduct these services here, 460 00:28:17.950 --> 00:28:19.823 pay for the lights and the heat, 461 00:28:21.100 --> 00:28:25.910 well, not the heat right now, but in the wintertime, 462 00:28:25.910 --> 00:28:28.750 the janitor service, the preachers and so on? 463 00:28:28.750 --> 00:28:30.520 If you thought that you were mistaken 464 00:28:30.520 --> 00:28:34.090 because not a penny of the chapel offering 465 00:28:34.090 --> 00:28:36.010 goes to maintain the chapel service. 466 00:28:36.010 --> 00:28:38.610 This is done by the university 467 00:28:38.610 --> 00:28:41.550 because it believes in the Christian religion 468 00:28:41.550 --> 00:28:43.360 and wishes to have a Christian service 469 00:28:43.360 --> 00:28:45.113 of worship on the campus. 470 00:28:46.250 --> 00:28:48.840 We have an offering of money in this service 471 00:28:48.840 --> 00:28:52.723 because you and I have a need to give. 472 00:28:54.350 --> 00:28:55.940 And all of this money is put 473 00:28:55.940 --> 00:28:58.430 in a benevolent budget under the administration 474 00:28:58.430 --> 00:29:00.870 of the Duke University Religious Council 475 00:29:00.870 --> 00:29:03.053 and it goes for others. 476 00:29:04.370 --> 00:29:08.570 The reason we do this is there is no true spiritual life 477 00:29:08.570 --> 00:29:09.583 without giving. 478 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:12.233 There cannot be. 479 00:29:13.290 --> 00:29:18.290 Our need to give is prior to God's need to receive. 480 00:29:18.330 --> 00:29:20.380 He said back in the Old Testament days, 481 00:29:20.380 --> 00:29:22.960 when the people thought they were doing God a favor 482 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:26.307 by killing their cattle and putting them up on the altar, 483 00:29:26.307 --> 00:29:29.360 "Do I need your sacrifices, 484 00:29:29.360 --> 00:29:32.223 the cattle on a thousand hills are mine? 485 00:29:33.550 --> 00:29:35.660 If I were hungry, I wouldn't have to have you 486 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.047 kill one of yours for me to eat." 487 00:29:40.870 --> 00:29:45.470 God taught us stewardship first by asking the human race 488 00:29:45.470 --> 00:29:49.093 to kill its best and put it on the altar and burn it. 489 00:29:49.980 --> 00:29:52.810 It was not for missions, it was not for orphans, 490 00:29:52.810 --> 00:29:57.040 God didn't need it, we had a need to give that was prior 491 00:29:57.040 --> 00:29:59.900 and primary to God's need to receive. 492 00:29:59.900 --> 00:30:02.470 And then after we learned that, 493 00:30:02.470 --> 00:30:06.973 he taught us the finer realities of Christian stewardship. 494 00:30:08.760 --> 00:30:12.530 Like the river, we have life only when we give, 495 00:30:12.530 --> 00:30:15.900 when we pass on, when we sacrifice. 496 00:30:15.900 --> 00:30:19.230 And when we cease to do what the river does, 497 00:30:19.230 --> 00:30:22.780 we become like the dead sea, which receives only, 498 00:30:22.780 --> 00:30:25.453 and does not give, we become dead. 499 00:30:27.830 --> 00:30:31.560 Well, Jesus Christ came to this world 500 00:30:32.580 --> 00:30:35.040 to give us something we did not already have. 501 00:30:35.040 --> 00:30:38.610 We had a period of time between birth and death, 502 00:30:38.610 --> 00:30:42.683 Methuselah had 969 years of it, but this is not life. 503 00:30:44.450 --> 00:30:48.950 Jesus Christ came to teach us to live unified lives, 504 00:30:50.810 --> 00:30:52.233 going in one direction. 505 00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:55.760 The direction indicated by the laws 506 00:30:55.760 --> 00:31:00.760 of his spiritual universe and to seek the good of God 507 00:31:01.320 --> 00:31:03.913 and the welfare of God's children first, 508 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:10.940 assured that our own needs would be fully cared for 509 00:31:10.940 --> 00:31:12.253 in such a life of giving. 510 00:31:15.878 --> 00:31:18.545 (air whooshing) 511 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:23.830 Oh God, our Heavenly Father who has loved us into life 512 00:31:24.710 --> 00:31:26.833 and who doesn't love us throughout life, 513 00:31:28.420 --> 00:31:33.370 we offer onto the now our hearts praying that each of us 514 00:31:33.370 --> 00:31:37.220 may be born again into that new life of the spirit, 515 00:31:37.220 --> 00:31:42.220 which Jesus Christ has come to give to everyone. 516 00:31:42.760 --> 00:31:46.340 And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 517 00:31:46.340 --> 00:31:48.660 the love of God the Father and the communion 518 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:51.100 and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, 519 00:31:51.100 --> 00:31:55.023 rest upon you and abide with you now and evermore. 520 00:31:59.403 --> 00:32:01.820 ♪ Amen, amen ♪