WEBVTT 1 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:35.463 What one thing do you wish more than anything else? 2 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:43.543 If I could wave a magic wand and give you one thing, 3 00:00:46.910 --> 00:00:48.967 what would you ask for? 4 00:00:48.967 --> 00:00:50.490 And I don't mean stand up here 5 00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:52.730 and let other people hear you, 6 00:00:52.730 --> 00:00:56.373 but, in your secret desire. 7 00:01:00.470 --> 00:01:03.020 What one thing do you want more than anything else? 8 00:01:08.380 --> 00:01:09.213 Popularity? 9 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:14.313 Some skill? 10 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:21.503 Conquering of some habits? 11 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:25.933 Money? 12 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:35.630 What would be the one best thing for you? 13 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:43.020 This is what St. Paul was writing about 14 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:45.820 to that little church in Philippi that he loved so much. 15 00:01:48.160 --> 00:01:51.560 It is my prayer that the what, 16 00:01:56.530 --> 00:01:59.963 that your love may grow more and more. 17 00:02:04.830 --> 00:02:09.830 If we thinking of the one best thing for us, 18 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:13.583 think of love, 19 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.173 we probably would think of wanting to be loved. 20 00:02:23.870 --> 00:02:25.320 There is some wisdom in this. 21 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:29.543 Being loved is necessary to the good life, 22 00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:32.950 but Paul was wiser 23 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:38.943 and spoke of the ability to love. 24 00:02:41.950 --> 00:02:44.863 The most important gift, 25 00:02:48.230 --> 00:02:51.560 history has a strange way of underscoring 26 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:56.233 these sometimes surprising insights of scripture. 27 00:02:57.710 --> 00:02:59.063 Just two illustrations, 28 00:03:00.980 --> 00:03:02.640 the Ponderous Tome by 29 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:06.753 William Alanson White on psychotherapy, 30 00:03:08.670 --> 00:03:12.460 scores of analyses of the situations 31 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:14.330 of people in mental breakdown 32 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:20.740 with each an examination of the possibilities of recovery 33 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:25.680 and in each prognosis, 34 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.920 a study of the degree to which, 35 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:29.783 resentment, 36 00:03:31.370 --> 00:03:32.433 suspicion, 37 00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:35.343 hostility, 38 00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:38.280 have become habitual 39 00:03:41.290 --> 00:03:44.733 to the degree that they are habitual, 40 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:50.403 the chance for recovery from mental breakdown is less. 41 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:54.923 Love is essential to mental health. 42 00:03:57.330 --> 00:03:59.893 Another illustration on the opposite side, 43 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:05.333 a professor of psychiatry at Verdict, 44 00:04:06.540 --> 00:04:09.720 whose hobby has been a lifetime study 45 00:04:09.720 --> 00:04:14.720 of what he calls, five great systems of human wisdom. 46 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:18.760 They seem very different than one way. 47 00:04:18.760 --> 00:04:21.083 The ancient Hindu system of Yogi, 48 00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:27.660 the secret devotionals of the church order, 49 00:04:30.820 --> 00:04:31.940 the symbolism of the 50 00:04:31.940 --> 00:04:35.443 Roman Catholic mass dynamically interpreted, 51 00:04:37.380 --> 00:04:42.380 a symbolism of some of the higher orders of Masonic ritual, 52 00:04:44.690 --> 00:04:48.663 and the classical writings of contemporary psychoanalysis. 53 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.033 For this purpose eliminate the theological factor. 54 00:04:55.650 --> 00:04:58.860 And here one has an amazing similarity 55 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:05.033 and description of the basic human problem. 56 00:05:06.690 --> 00:05:10.190 The struggle of the human spirit for liberation 57 00:05:10.190 --> 00:05:14.893 from artificial and unnecessary restriction. 58 00:05:16.940 --> 00:05:21.490 And in each of these different as they may seem 59 00:05:22.780 --> 00:05:25.253 the description of the movement toward maturity, 60 00:05:27.440 --> 00:05:31.163 towards freedom is the same. 61 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:34.593 The movement away from suspicion, 62 00:05:35.670 --> 00:05:36.503 to trust, 63 00:05:38.070 --> 00:05:39.003 from doubt, 64 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:40.893 to faith, 65 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:43.653 from hostility, 66 00:05:45.070 --> 00:05:45.903 to love. 67 00:05:49.410 --> 00:05:51.093 How wise St. Paul was. 68 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:55.450 It is my prayer 69 00:05:58.254 --> 00:06:01.663 that your love may grow. 70 00:06:03.270 --> 00:06:04.420 Now how does love grow? 71 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:11.263 May grow more and more rich in knowledge. 72 00:06:12.310 --> 00:06:16.253 Christian love is not just a sentimentalized goodwill. 73 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:21.133 Christian love is fed by facts. 74 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:26.760 No movement in history 75 00:06:26.760 --> 00:06:30.780 has placed such a priority upon knowledge 76 00:06:30.780 --> 00:06:32.080 as the Christian movement. 77 00:06:33.890 --> 00:06:36.973 It was a school master of Europe, 78 00:06:38.380 --> 00:06:40.910 it was a school master of North America 79 00:06:40.910 --> 00:06:43.173 in our decisive year. 80 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:47.160 For several centuries, 81 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.293 the school master of Latin America. 82 00:06:51.190 --> 00:06:54.693 Until the last decades the school master of Africa. 83 00:06:57.370 --> 00:06:59.860 Asia has its ancient systems of education, 84 00:06:59.860 --> 00:07:02.120 but they've been revolutionized by the impact 85 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:05.623 of the ideals of Christian education. 86 00:07:08.140 --> 00:07:09.860 And the picture of the wise man 87 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:11.840 worshiping at the feet of the Christ child 88 00:07:11.840 --> 00:07:13.923 there is profound truth. 89 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:19.710 The Christian movement has taken the commandment, 90 00:07:19.710 --> 00:07:21.870 thou shall love the Lord thy God, 91 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:23.640 with all my mind 92 00:07:23.640 --> 00:07:24.990 and clouded into history 93 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:28.803 with amazingly fruitful harvest. 94 00:07:30.340 --> 00:07:31.990 And today the question is urgent, 95 00:07:33.650 --> 00:07:36.310 one hates to use Russia so much as a scare, 96 00:07:39.110 --> 00:07:41.323 but let's look at this relationship. 97 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:45.443 According to UNESCO figures, 98 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:52.700 Russia today with 9% on the world's population 99 00:07:52.700 --> 00:07:56.393 is printing 20% of the world's books. 100 00:07:59.086 --> 00:08:03.750 The United States with 6% on the world's population 101 00:08:04.700 --> 00:08:08.180 enjoying 46% of the world's wealth 102 00:08:10.640 --> 00:08:15.403 is producing 3% of the world's books. 103 00:08:18.825 --> 00:08:20.783 In the last two years, 104 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:26.240 Russia has produced more books in English alone 105 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.683 than were produced in the United States. 106 00:08:32.989 --> 00:08:34.903 But the issue is still more personal. 107 00:08:39.950 --> 00:08:44.320 The Russian people whose per capita income is 108 00:08:49.170 --> 00:08:51.950 that of the lowest per capita income 109 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:53.563 represented in this sanctuary. 110 00:08:55.590 --> 00:09:00.040 Our buying on an average of prices many book per capita, 111 00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:01.743 as people of the United States. 112 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:08.580 Now it may seem a strange question to ask, 113 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:10.850 but it becomes one of the overriding questions 114 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:12.200 in the life of this nation, 115 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:15.493 how much do you read? 116 00:09:19.010 --> 00:09:21.060 The real question to ask students, 117 00:09:21.060 --> 00:09:23.960 is how many books do you read that you don't have to read? 118 00:09:27.810 --> 00:09:30.990 How long has it been since you've stretched your brain 119 00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:33.453 on a tough book that nobody made you read? 120 00:09:37.970 --> 00:09:39.223 When you're on vacation, 121 00:09:40.060 --> 00:09:42.160 which do you prefer, a book or television? 122 00:09:47.040 --> 00:09:48.770 When you're home and can do what you want, 123 00:09:48.770 --> 00:09:50.240 do you keep a tough book open? 124 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.693 So if you have 1/2 an hour you can try no idea. 125 00:09:58.810 --> 00:10:02.500 The increasing mental laziness 126 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:08.403 of so many people in our nation, 127 00:10:11.400 --> 00:10:13.390 it's to me the most dangerous element 128 00:10:13.390 --> 00:10:15.940 in our relationships with Russia as of this moment. 129 00:10:18.020 --> 00:10:21.060 It is my prayer that your love may grow more and more 130 00:10:21.060 --> 00:10:22.823 in knowledge. 131 00:10:25.640 --> 00:10:27.850 And writes Paul, 132 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:30.083 in all manner of insight. 133 00:10:31.210 --> 00:10:33.940 The word insight is one reason why I like so much 134 00:10:35.150 --> 00:10:37.063 this translation of Dr. Moffitt. 135 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:42.720 From the point of view of a layman 136 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.240 in the field of psychology, 137 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:47.330 I wonder if we can't say, 138 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:49.480 and I'm sure that this is biblically sound, 139 00:10:50.520 --> 00:10:53.973 that the word insight in this context really means, 140 00:10:55.040 --> 00:10:59.920 the ability to apply knowledge out there 141 00:10:59.920 --> 00:11:03.100 to one self in here 142 00:11:04.010 --> 00:11:08.913 so that one is changed by those facts. 143 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:12.773 Knowledge takes brains, 144 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:19.440 insight takes brains plus courage, 145 00:11:20.690 --> 00:11:23.240 the rareness and the most precious form 146 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.053 of courage in the world, 147 00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:29.583 the ability to be honest with yourself. 148 00:11:32.270 --> 00:11:34.423 I am sure this is what the scripture means, 149 00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:39.360 be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 150 00:11:44.050 --> 00:11:45.750 I was 16 years with about a missions 151 00:11:45.750 --> 00:11:46.583 of the Methodist Church, 152 00:11:46.583 --> 00:11:49.503 and that time we had to move on missionary three time. 153 00:11:50.730 --> 00:11:52.030 A remarkable person, 154 00:11:52.030 --> 00:11:55.000 one of the foundations in the United States 155 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:56.270 publishing a book recently 156 00:11:56.270 --> 00:11:59.010 on a certain technical field in foreign aid 157 00:11:59.010 --> 00:12:00.030 wrote to this missionary 158 00:12:00.030 --> 00:12:03.160 that he was one of the ablest persons in his field 159 00:12:03.160 --> 00:12:04.103 in all the world. 160 00:12:05.400 --> 00:12:08.810 The first time I met him, his wife showed me an essay 161 00:12:08.810 --> 00:12:13.143 he had written on the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. 162 00:12:14.890 --> 00:12:18.150 One of the most beautiful essays 163 00:12:18.150 --> 00:12:21.413 on the meaning of love I have ever read. 164 00:12:24.290 --> 00:12:26.270 We've had to move him three times 165 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:32.483 because he is so irritable in some of his relationships, 166 00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:37.000 that five years is about the longest he can be left 167 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:38.500 with the same group of people. 168 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.870 He has a great deal of knowledge about love, 169 00:12:43.870 --> 00:12:46.423 but it has never become insight. 170 00:12:49.510 --> 00:12:51.180 This may be the most decisive issue 171 00:12:51.180 --> 00:12:52.980 about the education you've gotta do, 172 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.393 whether knowledge becomes insight. 173 00:13:04.010 --> 00:13:05.610 It is my prayer wrote St. Paul, 174 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:08.380 that your love may grow more and more rich in knowledge 175 00:13:08.380 --> 00:13:10.643 and an all manner of insight. 176 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:13.610 And now we begin to see 177 00:13:13.610 --> 00:13:17.210 the kind of logic which St. Paul has. 178 00:13:17.210 --> 00:13:21.680 It's not like the logic of John Calvin. 179 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:23.680 That logic is like having a bulldozer 180 00:13:23.680 --> 00:13:24.920 and setting all the controls 181 00:13:24.920 --> 00:13:26.650 and then just ploughing remorselessly 182 00:13:26.650 --> 00:13:28.230 through whatever you meet. 183 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:32.750 The logic of St. Paul is more like a bird in flight, 184 00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:34.300 like a swallow with the sunset. 185 00:13:35.750 --> 00:13:37.730 If you look from the outside you see no reason 186 00:13:37.730 --> 00:13:39.500 for all these dotting and movings, 187 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:41.433 but there is a strong internal logic. 188 00:13:42.750 --> 00:13:44.800 We saw with St. Paul, 189 00:13:44.800 --> 00:13:45.713 and now we see it. 190 00:13:47.115 --> 00:13:49.580 What is the result of love fed by facts, 191 00:13:49.580 --> 00:13:51.100 becoming insight? 192 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:51.933 First, 193 00:13:54.660 --> 00:13:59.660 enabling you to have a sense our plot is vital, 194 00:14:03.270 --> 00:14:05.013 don't we need it. 195 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.263 We live in an over stimulated century. 196 00:14:13.010 --> 00:14:18.010 We are threatened by having too many good things to do. 197 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:23.520 We are surrounded by people, 198 00:14:23.520 --> 00:14:26.483 so busy doing good things that they disintegrate. 199 00:14:30.140 --> 00:14:31.810 The real issue in this world 200 00:14:31.810 --> 00:14:34.810 is having the courage to say no to many good things 201 00:14:36.670 --> 00:14:40.147 in order to do the vital things. 202 00:14:43.640 --> 00:14:45.320 It is quite possible in the church 203 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:48.973 to be so busy doing good things for God that you go to hell. 204 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:52.470 That you have time for God himself, 205 00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:55.283 never know what prayer really can mean, 206 00:14:56.860 --> 00:14:58.650 can become a stranger to yourself. 207 00:14:58.650 --> 00:15:02.580 It's possible to be so busy reading good books 208 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:04.380 that you never learn anything vital, 209 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:08.990 because you don't read the great book. 210 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:14.433 How do we know what is vital? 211 00:15:17.770 --> 00:15:19.683 Oh, for this some people want rules, 212 00:15:21.950 --> 00:15:23.233 this is child. 213 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:25.900 Rules won't work 214 00:15:26.940 --> 00:15:29.850 they're out of date they farther codified, 215 00:15:29.850 --> 00:15:31.473 the world moves on. 216 00:15:32.380 --> 00:15:33.880 How do you know what is vital? 217 00:15:35.010 --> 00:15:36.907 It is this process of growth, 218 00:15:38.873 --> 00:15:42.423 love fed by facts becoming insight then you know. 219 00:15:44.110 --> 00:15:48.220 The first result enabling you to have 220 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.343 a sense of what is vital and the second, 221 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:55.400 more surprising and rewarding still 222 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:01.513 that you may be transparent. 223 00:16:04.150 --> 00:16:05.440 That's why there is a second reason 224 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:07.823 I liked Dr. Moffitt's translation so much. 225 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:13.810 Transparency I suppose is the best test 226 00:16:13.810 --> 00:16:15.653 of the Christian life. 227 00:16:17.110 --> 00:16:19.650 And transparency I suppose it's the one thing 228 00:16:19.650 --> 00:16:22.173 which some of us fear most. 229 00:16:25.880 --> 00:16:30.820 The proligerous amount of nervous energy, 230 00:16:30.820 --> 00:16:33.653 which we pour into pretending, 231 00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:40.083 hoping that people will not see what we really think, 232 00:16:42.060 --> 00:16:44.883 will not know what we really feel, 233 00:16:46.800 --> 00:16:51.073 cannot tell our actual desire. 234 00:16:56.700 --> 00:16:58.610 I think it may be true 235 00:16:58.610 --> 00:17:01.910 that most of our really bad dreams at night 236 00:17:03.760 --> 00:17:06.580 result from this implication of our fear 237 00:17:06.580 --> 00:17:10.633 that we should find out what is really within it. 238 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:17.080 Joshua L. Liebman, 239 00:17:17.080 --> 00:17:19.213 wrote that book called Peace of Mind. 240 00:17:20.290 --> 00:17:22.790 It stayed at the top of the best seller list 241 00:17:22.790 --> 00:17:24.807 for long months. 242 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:28.990 But the most remarkable thing about that book 243 00:17:28.990 --> 00:17:31.340 was not the way it's sold, 244 00:17:31.340 --> 00:17:34.370 but that one could write such a book and forget to say 245 00:17:34.370 --> 00:17:37.033 the most important thing about peace of mind. 246 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.663 For the secret of peace of mind is transparency. 247 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:48.850 One of the most delightful illustrations, 248 00:17:48.850 --> 00:17:51.473 which is to give was that Socrates. 249 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:56.833 You remember how you (murmurs) hated him, 250 00:17:58.531 --> 00:18:00.263 and wrote the play to lampoon him. 251 00:18:02.340 --> 00:18:03.740 Now I see in your hometown, 252 00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:06.110 whenever a play like this were to be produced, 253 00:18:06.110 --> 00:18:07.253 everybody went. 254 00:18:09.750 --> 00:18:12.370 And if one of the greatest writers of comedy 255 00:18:12.370 --> 00:18:13.870 on our history were to write a play 256 00:18:13.870 --> 00:18:16.403 for the sole purpose of making fun of you, 257 00:18:19.530 --> 00:18:21.983 what you would do when the play was presented? 258 00:18:24.030 --> 00:18:27.670 Well, I probably would have headed to high hills 259 00:18:27.670 --> 00:18:30.963 and find me a dark cave and hide in the shadows, 260 00:18:31.970 --> 00:18:32.993 but not Socrates. 261 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:36.700 He knew this was gonna be a good play 262 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:38.570 he wanted to see it, 263 00:18:38.570 --> 00:18:39.773 and he got a good seat. 264 00:18:41.100 --> 00:18:44.970 They run with laughter as he was lampooned, 265 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:46.030 what did he do? 266 00:18:46.030 --> 00:18:47.533 He roared with laughter. 267 00:18:51.280 --> 00:18:53.630 You remember that in those days they wore masks 268 00:18:55.860 --> 00:18:58.830 and an artist I think unknown to Socrates 269 00:19:00.630 --> 00:19:03.730 had made a mask which was superb replica 270 00:19:03.730 --> 00:19:05.203 of Socrates' own face. 271 00:19:06.410 --> 00:19:08.260 There was no possibility of mistake 272 00:19:08.260 --> 00:19:09.973 as to who was being Lampooned, 273 00:19:12.610 --> 00:19:15.183 and premiere to this unknown artist. 274 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:21.500 At the end remember, Socrates stood 275 00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:24.910 so that the people could see 276 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:27.930 what a great job this artist had done in making a face 277 00:19:27.930 --> 00:19:29.480 that looked just like Socrates, 278 00:19:32.950 --> 00:19:34.537 this is transparency. 279 00:19:35.820 --> 00:19:38.663 He was what he was he wasn't going to pretend. 280 00:19:42.570 --> 00:19:44.303 As far as the extent of him, 281 00:19:44.303 --> 00:19:45.903 he had himself off his own hand, 282 00:19:49.800 --> 00:19:51.133 this is peace of mind. 283 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:58.250 You might try it someday 284 00:20:00.340 --> 00:20:01.440 it might interest you. 285 00:20:05.203 --> 00:20:06.880 And you know I'm sure 286 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:10.380 that this is much easier for you 287 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:11.823 than it was for Socrates, 288 00:20:15.020 --> 00:20:17.750 for you know something vitally important, 289 00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:19.973 which Socrates did not know. 290 00:20:20.840 --> 00:20:23.317 So its dynamics involved him as much as you, 291 00:20:27.021 --> 00:20:28.321 have you believe it or not 292 00:20:29.630 --> 00:20:31.393 you have a right to know, 293 00:20:35.370 --> 00:20:38.543 that since Christ died upon the cross, 294 00:20:40.760 --> 00:20:43.193 your sins are not held against you. 295 00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:48.880 Any sin which you confess 296 00:20:51.560 --> 00:20:52.393 is forgiven, 297 00:20:56.550 --> 00:21:00.787 God doesn't remember it against you. 298 00:21:00.787 --> 00:21:03.040 You know you'll see far better than Socrates 299 00:21:03.040 --> 00:21:04.803 that you have nothing to hide. 300 00:21:08.120 --> 00:21:12.593 And because of this incredible action of God's love, 301 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.943 even the meanest and the dirtiest thing of out of your past, 302 00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:23.280 if you will be honest about it to God 303 00:21:25.860 --> 00:21:28.393 becomes to you strangely asset, 304 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:34.713 a source of wisdom that you can use for future, 305 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:43.383 that you may be transparent. 306 00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:50.810 And then finally, two last results 307 00:21:56.470 --> 00:22:00.090 that you may be of no harm to anyone 308 00:22:01.620 --> 00:22:04.083 in view of the day of Christ. 309 00:22:05.620 --> 00:22:07.727 Now that last phrase is a tough one. 310 00:22:10.110 --> 00:22:11.480 In view of the day of Christ, 311 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:13.990 I don't remember any of my seminary Greek, 312 00:22:13.990 --> 00:22:16.380 but I will never forget the lecture given one day 313 00:22:16.380 --> 00:22:21.380 by Dr. Davies on the prepositions used in the Greek texts. 314 00:22:24.470 --> 00:22:29.470 Whenever the gospel say that Jesus looked at a person, 315 00:22:31.278 --> 00:22:36.278 always the meaning of the Greek text is that he looked into, 316 00:22:38.570 --> 00:22:39.923 instead of at. 317 00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:46.220 Then if you'll go back and see some of his encounters 318 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:48.203 you'll understand what happened. 319 00:22:49.840 --> 00:22:52.400 We romanticize a great deal about him, 320 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:55.607 I do not know whether we would enjoy meeting him, 321 00:22:58.300 --> 00:23:00.130 of whom the ancient prayer says, 322 00:23:00.130 --> 00:23:02.963 unto whom all hearts are opened, 323 00:23:04.410 --> 00:23:06.610 all desires known 324 00:23:08.690 --> 00:23:12.183 and from whom no secrets are hid. 325 00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:18.740 Would you like to have him look into you? 326 00:23:28.750 --> 00:23:31.200 Could he look all the way down 327 00:23:34.230 --> 00:23:37.240 and find no desire 328 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:43.093 to be of harm to anyone? 329 00:23:50.964 --> 00:23:53.360 You see it is these hidden hostilities 330 00:23:53.360 --> 00:23:55.890 which we protect so jealously 331 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:00.893 that the major reason we are so afraid of transparency, 332 00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:05.463 these points 333 00:24:09.820 --> 00:24:12.050 how much we need this prayer of Paul 334 00:24:13.860 --> 00:24:17.603 that our love fed by truth, 335 00:24:18.850 --> 00:24:22.043 applied to ourselves until we grow intact, 336 00:24:25.120 --> 00:24:26.470 so that we may have a sense 337 00:24:26.470 --> 00:24:28.910 of what is vital and be transparent, 338 00:24:28.910 --> 00:24:32.690 free from this kind of clinging hostility 339 00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:33.893 which is our poison. 340 00:24:37.340 --> 00:24:38.173 And then last, 341 00:24:40.970 --> 00:24:43.750 you're not covered without harvest of righteousness, 342 00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:45.490 which Jesus Christ produces 343 00:24:45.490 --> 00:24:47.860 to the glory and the praise of God. 344 00:24:47.860 --> 00:24:49.300 I didn't know whether I'd have time, 345 00:24:49.300 --> 00:24:52.213 but now I wanna say just two things. 346 00:24:54.100 --> 00:24:55.183 The first is that, 347 00:24:57.020 --> 00:24:59.983 I can't preach the rest of this sermon really, 348 00:25:01.430 --> 00:25:02.263 but you can. 349 00:25:06.050 --> 00:25:07.823 He said, I don't know you well enough, 350 00:25:10.270 --> 00:25:13.213 but every one of you illustrates this lie. 351 00:25:14.900 --> 00:25:18.190 This verse begins with love it ends with people. 352 00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:20.920 The harvest of righteousness is what happens to people 353 00:25:22.830 --> 00:25:24.450 because you live like this. 354 00:25:30.385 --> 00:25:33.052 There are marvelous stories here 355 00:25:34.528 --> 00:25:37.427 of the harvest of righteousness which you have shown 356 00:25:40.290 --> 00:25:42.760 and what you have done for people 357 00:25:42.760 --> 00:25:45.030 because you have lived more like this verse 358 00:25:45.030 --> 00:25:46.423 than you yourself realize. 359 00:25:47.970 --> 00:25:49.670 I wish I could illustrate from you 360 00:25:53.580 --> 00:25:57.133 because many of you are far closer to this than you know. 361 00:25:57.133 --> 00:25:59.167 But you see our problem is that 362 00:26:00.590 --> 00:26:02.393 our harvest is spotting. 363 00:26:05.050 --> 00:26:07.250 This is a promise of a full harvest. 364 00:26:13.300 --> 00:26:15.640 Now I will take time to see, 365 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:17.610 to tell you the most moving 366 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:21.920 picture of this I have seen recently. 367 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.840 And if there is a newspaper reporter in here, 368 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:26.623 I must ask this not be printed. 369 00:26:28.010 --> 00:26:29.883 A recent visit to East Berlin. 370 00:26:32.230 --> 00:26:34.773 I came in from Poland into Czechoslovakia. 371 00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:39.850 The people in Poland and Czechoslovakia 372 00:26:39.850 --> 00:26:44.850 are obviously less tense than they were even five years ago, 373 00:26:44.910 --> 00:26:47.310 you can see it in the way they walk the streets, 374 00:26:49.564 --> 00:26:51.260 it's fun to walk those streets at night 375 00:26:51.260 --> 00:26:53.820 in Poland and Czechoslovakia, 376 00:26:53.820 --> 00:26:55.440 it's something you would never see in the States 377 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:59.930 where they share joy of just a family walking together 378 00:26:59.930 --> 00:27:04.600 quietly on the streets is enough to feel the streets, 379 00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:06.950 and these were either draft times of the night. 380 00:27:08.250 --> 00:27:11.663 And there's a nice atmosphere as you watch their faces. 381 00:27:12.840 --> 00:27:14.940 But then go into East Germany 382 00:27:14.940 --> 00:27:17.880 And immediately you can tell when you crossed the line, 383 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:18.923 greater prosperity, 384 00:27:20.157 --> 00:27:22.030 houses that are better painted, 385 00:27:22.030 --> 00:27:23.400 the streets are better repaired 386 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:25.280 the clothes are better. 387 00:27:25.280 --> 00:27:28.173 And so it's the greatest shock to get into East Berlin. 388 00:27:30.710 --> 00:27:31.980 I got there by accident. 389 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:35.050 The first time was put on a train to go to Leipzig, 390 00:27:35.050 --> 00:27:36.450 I don't yet know what happened 391 00:27:36.450 --> 00:27:38.530 we ended in East Berlin. 392 00:27:38.530 --> 00:27:40.823 My visa set to go only to Leipzig. 393 00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:46.663 I was with two friends from Czechoslovakia. 394 00:27:48.010 --> 00:27:53.010 We got off in an enormous railroad station, 395 00:27:53.100 --> 00:27:55.490 before the war the kind of thing crowded 396 00:27:55.490 --> 00:27:57.460 now strangely empty. 397 00:27:57.460 --> 00:27:59.720 There's all this service were being held this morning 398 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:02.570 and there were no preacher, no choir and no congregation. 399 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:09.220 We walked through this emptiness up steps to a street 400 00:28:11.260 --> 00:28:12.593 and there was no traffic, 401 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:14.853 the lights were poor. 402 00:28:17.370 --> 00:28:19.900 And the bit of the sunlight that was left 403 00:28:19.900 --> 00:28:22.600 one could see the buildings 404 00:28:22.600 --> 00:28:26.220 and the great gaps between from the bombings 405 00:28:26.220 --> 00:28:29.750 where no buildings had appeared, 406 00:28:29.750 --> 00:28:31.060 and there was no traffic. 407 00:28:33.360 --> 00:28:34.370 I said to my friends 408 00:28:34.370 --> 00:28:36.120 that we must not call the Methodist 409 00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:39.750 because I was violating a visa 410 00:28:39.750 --> 00:28:42.563 and I knew that what we did would be known to the police. 411 00:28:43.860 --> 00:28:46.480 Well, one of them might often telephoned 412 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:48.743 to hotel after hotel there was no space. 413 00:28:50.110 --> 00:28:55.030 And then looked the name Methodist, 414 00:28:55.030 --> 00:28:57.633 a district superintendent called. 415 00:29:01.090 --> 00:29:05.460 I stood on the street knowing that in just East Berlin, 416 00:29:05.460 --> 00:29:07.260 there are a million and a 1/2 people 417 00:29:09.070 --> 00:29:10.743 haunted by this emptiness. 418 00:29:13.020 --> 00:29:14.610 What kind of an atmosphere is it 419 00:29:14.610 --> 00:29:16.963 that drives people off of the street? 420 00:29:19.480 --> 00:29:21.093 This strange darkness. 421 00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:26.880 Then like an explosion of sunlight 422 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:31.450 was the face of this boy, 11 years old, 423 00:29:31.450 --> 00:29:32.900 I learned his name was Mateo, 424 00:29:33.860 --> 00:29:38.860 open, square, secure this infectious grand, 425 00:29:39.300 --> 00:29:42.000 he came up to me and said, "You're coming to my home." 426 00:29:44.045 --> 00:29:46.740 And I found they'd called this method of test, 427 00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:47.703 he'd send his boy. 428 00:29:49.090 --> 00:29:50.490 So we picked up our luggage. 429 00:29:51.490 --> 00:29:56.490 We walked seven or eight strangely empty and silent blocks. 430 00:29:57.720 --> 00:29:59.270 We got to this apartment house. 431 00:30:01.970 --> 00:30:03.760 Then in Harlem I would've felt at home 432 00:30:03.760 --> 00:30:08.300 because the steps creaked in the walls, 433 00:30:08.300 --> 00:30:10.450 if they'd had any pain was peeling, 434 00:30:10.450 --> 00:30:13.133 it was not dirty it was incredibly decrypted. 435 00:30:14.380 --> 00:30:17.760 And as in any communist country the minutes at one appears, 436 00:30:17.760 --> 00:30:20.840 there is a face looking over the wall 437 00:30:20.840 --> 00:30:24.770 the inevitable reporter. 438 00:30:24.770 --> 00:30:26.900 We climbed the steps I said nothing. 439 00:30:26.900 --> 00:30:30.393 I was obviously enough American without my accent. 440 00:30:32.340 --> 00:30:34.263 Mateo led us into a door, 441 00:30:35.970 --> 00:30:38.563 we entered the apartment the door was shut behind. 442 00:30:41.770 --> 00:30:43.217 The cheerful one, 443 00:30:47.260 --> 00:30:49.300 the father and mother were gone, 444 00:30:49.300 --> 00:30:51.373 the daughter 16, a daughter 21. 445 00:30:52.990 --> 00:30:55.400 The older daughter used to haunt me. 446 00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:57.690 She had polio as a child. 447 00:30:57.690 --> 00:30:59.710 When it came time for her to enter the university, 448 00:30:59.710 --> 00:31:03.473 she was not allowed because she was active in the church. 449 00:31:04.860 --> 00:31:07.460 And the best job that you to can get, 450 00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:09.710 and she has a first-class mind 451 00:31:09.710 --> 00:31:11.883 is to be a secretary to her father. 452 00:31:13.110 --> 00:31:14.630 Now, her youngest sister has come along 453 00:31:14.630 --> 00:31:15.990 and things are more relaxed on her. 454 00:31:15.990 --> 00:31:18.890 Younger sister is in medical school at government expense. 455 00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:21.710 I don't know what this does to you. 456 00:31:23.690 --> 00:31:25.293 I think about Utah often. 457 00:31:26.790 --> 00:31:28.540 They got supper for us. 458 00:31:28.540 --> 00:31:30.380 I wanted to see Stalin LA, 459 00:31:30.380 --> 00:31:33.820 and I wanted to see the wall at night from the east side, 460 00:31:33.820 --> 00:31:35.420 I'd seen it often from the west. 461 00:31:36.800 --> 00:31:39.710 We went, the Stalin LA, the old, 462 00:31:39.710 --> 00:31:42.550 it's not the Karl Marx LA that's a showplace. 463 00:31:42.550 --> 00:31:46.483 A street three quarters of a mile long, 464 00:31:48.130 --> 00:31:50.170 lavish building, 465 00:31:50.170 --> 00:31:52.110 very modern apartment houses, 466 00:31:52.110 --> 00:31:55.773 beautifully equipped star windows. 467 00:31:56.930 --> 00:32:00.973 All of the best housing in East Berlin they're jammed, 468 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:02.903 but no people. 469 00:32:04.190 --> 00:32:07.533 Brilliantly left two blocks you might find 20 people, 470 00:32:09.800 --> 00:32:12.270 like a stage of a theater that is set, 471 00:32:12.270 --> 00:32:13.870 and the actors forgot to appear. 472 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:19.010 Then we went down to the east side of the wall. 473 00:32:19.010 --> 00:32:22.120 We went down a street which I have known in its busy days. 474 00:32:22.120 --> 00:32:25.810 And there isn't a city in Durham or Raleigh quite as busy. 475 00:32:25.810 --> 00:32:28.520 We walked two blocks and didn't see a person. 476 00:32:28.520 --> 00:32:32.880 A street car went by it had two conductors, 477 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:35.070 about 1/2 an hour later it came back 478 00:32:35.070 --> 00:32:38.523 it had nobody in, not a passenger either time. 479 00:32:40.870 --> 00:32:43.143 We got back to the apartment about 11, 480 00:32:44.380 --> 00:32:46.443 the supper dishes are still on the table. 481 00:32:47.280 --> 00:32:50.200 I was put in the master bedroom, 482 00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:51.870 the cleanliness of this place, 483 00:32:51.870 --> 00:32:54.320 the orderliness and the tightness of it. 484 00:32:54.320 --> 00:32:57.060 The only place to iron in the apartment 485 00:32:57.060 --> 00:33:01.330 was very neatly set up on the top of the dresser table 486 00:33:01.330 --> 00:33:02.833 there was in the apartment. 487 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:08.090 We have to leave at six at five o'clock, 488 00:33:08.090 --> 00:33:09.990 Mateo got up and got breakfast for us. 489 00:33:12.930 --> 00:33:13.930 I wanted to go back, 490 00:33:13.930 --> 00:33:16.620 I wanted to see if the place was as warm and radiant 491 00:33:16.620 --> 00:33:18.183 as this incredible memory. 492 00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:23.203 So during later meetings in West Berlin I made two trips. 493 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:26.850 The first time since I had to send a telegram, 494 00:33:26.850 --> 00:33:29.293 I was followed by the police, three men. 495 00:33:30.420 --> 00:33:33.170 Not uninteresting it's kind of fun. 496 00:33:33.170 --> 00:33:35.110 You know, you see if they can play tricks on them, 497 00:33:35.110 --> 00:33:37.310 and they see if they can play tricks on you. 498 00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:41.010 And you'll go into a store and ask directions, 499 00:33:41.010 --> 00:33:41.910 and as soon as you get out 500 00:33:41.910 --> 00:33:43.620 one of them darts in to see what you asked. 501 00:33:43.620 --> 00:33:45.570 So you go back in and ask for the directions again, 502 00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:47.270 just to enjoy their embarrassment. 503 00:33:52.120 --> 00:33:54.140 But then when you get to the apartment 504 00:33:54.140 --> 00:33:57.490 and you start climbing the five flights of steps, 505 00:33:57.490 --> 00:33:58.920 and three of them follow you 506 00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:02.610 up to the all five flights of steps 507 00:34:02.610 --> 00:34:04.810 and stand behind you when you knock at the door, 508 00:34:04.810 --> 00:34:05.853 it is not amusing. 509 00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:15.023 That night the parents were there. 510 00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:20.400 The father asking questions so eagerly about Africa, 511 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:23.207 the hunger to know about the rest of the world. 512 00:34:25.940 --> 00:34:28.203 I finally said to them, 513 00:34:31.177 --> 00:34:32.550 "Do you have trouble with the police 514 00:34:32.550 --> 00:34:34.120 because you have visitors from the west?" 515 00:34:34.120 --> 00:34:35.700 Because I saw from the guest book 516 00:34:35.700 --> 00:34:37.800 that they had many visitors from the west. 517 00:34:38.720 --> 00:34:41.490 The mother is an attractive brunette 518 00:34:43.030 --> 00:34:44.643 with remarkable strength. 519 00:34:45.640 --> 00:34:47.780 Now I can understand a man saying this, 520 00:34:47.780 --> 00:34:49.293 I can understand any one of us saying it alone 521 00:34:49.293 --> 00:34:51.080 but when a mother says this 522 00:34:51.080 --> 00:34:53.533 with the welfare of children involved, 523 00:34:54.500 --> 00:34:57.363 she said, slowly and thoughtfully, 524 00:34:59.477 --> 00:35:03.663 "Yes, we sometimes have trouble with the police, 525 00:35:05.550 --> 00:35:09.263 but we have decided we will not stop. 526 00:35:10.910 --> 00:35:15.750 We want our home to be a bridge 527 00:35:17.190 --> 00:35:19.813 between the east and the west. 528 00:35:21.470 --> 00:35:26.470 This is why we think God put us here." 529 00:35:32.964 --> 00:35:35.297 And I thought of two things. 530 00:35:36.520 --> 00:35:38.883 One verse, "The light shineth in the dark, 531 00:35:40.540 --> 00:35:42.490 the darkness comprehended it not." 532 00:35:43.967 --> 00:35:46.603 And I thought of this last phrase of our scripture, 533 00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:49.690 the life of that family covered 534 00:35:49.690 --> 00:35:51.240 with that harvest of righteous, 535 00:35:52.700 --> 00:35:54.853 which Jesus Christ produces, 536 00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:58.550 to the glory and the praise of God. 537 00:36:03.432 --> 00:36:04.265 Amen. 538 00:36:13.690 --> 00:36:16.493 We will hear this scripture as our prayer. 539 00:36:20.160 --> 00:36:23.993 Grant oh God, our father for each here.