dcrau002698001.wav / Van Bogard Dunn - "That Which Is Your Own" (September 29, 1974) / Duke Digital Repository

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Let us worship God, creator, Redeemer, sustainer.

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Let us pray.

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Grant us grace, oh God, as we gather with joy and with hope

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to find here in this place, renewal of our whole selves,

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body, mind, and spirit,

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as your word speaks to all that we have

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and all that we are, through Christ, our Lord, amen.

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Grace to you, and peace from God, our father,

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and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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It is fitting and good to acknowledge our presence

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before the Lord, God almighty.

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As we do, let us be aware of God's call and of our response.

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His will and our ways.

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Those things we have done which we ought not to have done.

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Those things we have not done which we should have done.

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Let us confess our sins as we pray together.

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Oh God, you have shown us a land of promise,

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but we keep looking back.

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You have sent us forth and we have hesitated.

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You have made us for freedom, and we have been rigid.

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You have confronted us with people who hurt,

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and we have pulled down the blinds.

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You have urged us to intimacy,

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and we have kept people at arms length.

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In this holy moment,

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wipe away our tears for losses long endured,

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cleanse us from regret for past mistakes,

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quicken our wills to an instant response to your love,

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that we may become persons ready to serve

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in love and joy in your name.

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Have mercy upon us oh Lord, and grant us your salvation,

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in the name of Christ, amen.

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In the privacy of your own self,

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I invite you to continue with your prayer of confession.

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Dear friends in Christ, oh, God has been merciful to us.

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We are free to live, for we are a forgiven people.

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His word says to us, if we walk in the light,

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as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

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And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin.

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Amen.

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Would you stand?

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Hear the good news.

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He who is faithful in a very little

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is faithful also in much.

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He who is dishonest in a very little

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is dishonest also in much.

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If then you have not been faithful in me,

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in the unrighteous mammon

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who will entrust you the true riches.

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If you have not been faithful in which is another's,

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who will give you that which is your own?

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No servant can serve two masters,

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for either he will hate the one and love the other,

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or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and mammon.

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The Pharisees, who were lovers of money,

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heard all of this, and they scoffed at him.

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But he said to them,

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you are those who justify yourselves before men,

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but God knows your hearts.

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For what is exalted among men

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is abomination in the sight of God.

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May the Lord bless this reading

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and hearing of his holy word.

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Together let us affirm our faith.

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We are not alone.

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We live in God's world.

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We believe in God, who has created and is creating.

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Who has come in the true man Jesus

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to reconcile and make new.

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Who works in us and others by His spirit.

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We trust Him.

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He calls us to be in His church, to celebrate his presence,

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to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,

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to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.

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Our judge and our hope,

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in life, in death, in life beyond death God is with us.

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We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

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The Lord be with you.

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Let us pray.

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Oh God, our Father.

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Loving and good.

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Gracious and merciful.

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Ever willing to reach out and accept and forgive.

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To you we raise our hungering hearts

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in prayers of hope and joy.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for this time to worship, to sing hymns,

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to be with others who have felt that strange

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and wonderful feeling in their hearts

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that can come only from your spirit.

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Thank you.

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It is good to be here,

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to feel in the midst of so much that is strong

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and frightening that it almost overwhelms us.

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The peace that comes

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from the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

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And yet Lord, many of us are tired.

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Weary down to the very marrow of our bones

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of being told what we ought to know, what we ought to do,

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what we ought to give, how we ought to live.

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And of never being helped to understand why.

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This which we call church, this of which we are a part

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seems to reflect much of the world which surrounds us.

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We're given answers to questions we never ask.

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And are made to feel guilty about not taking part

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in plans which we never helped to make.

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Somehow Lord, yes, Lord.

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The way of the church doesn't always fit into the joyous,

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free, explosive, and renewing way that you offered

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when you walked this earth and that you offer even now.

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So we come to worship,

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to hear again the strange and compelling story of Jesus,

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and of how he cared for ordinary, confused,

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rejected, searching people.

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People so very, very much like us.

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Show us, oh God,

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the way to that abundant life which you have promised.

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Help us to receive and to share the love of Christ.

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Oh God, bless Mrs. Betty Ford

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with your love and your presence.

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Be close to her husband and her children.

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As we pray for them,

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we recall all others who this day suffer from pain,

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illness, disease, hunger, loneliness.

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Those who this night

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will sleep only on beds of pain and misery.

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God be merciful to all in Honduras

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who still suffer from the ravages of the hurricane.

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As we pray for others,

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help us to be willing to give of ourselves, to serve them.

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Oh God, as we look at ourselves,

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we know and must admit and say to you

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that we have received much, and therefore we know that

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from us much is expected.

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Help us to give freely and joyfully through Jesus Christ,

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who gave his very all for each of us,

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and for all others we pray.

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And we pray together now the prayer

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which our Lord has taught us to pray.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

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on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread.

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Forgive us our trespasses

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as we forgive those who trespass against us.

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Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

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and the glory, forever.

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Amen.

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I'd like at this moment to mention two opportunities,

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which I invite you to give of yourself.

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The administrative committee of the chapel

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has given me permission to say to you

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that all of the offerings received

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in the service of worship this day

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will go for a special offering to be sent

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to church world service

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or to some other appropriate church agency

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for the relief of those who suffer in Honduras.

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If you did not come prepared to give

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and to give generously this morning,

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I invite you simply to send an offering to the chapel

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during the course of this week.

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And to return next Sunday with a very special gift

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to give for this same purpose.

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The administrative committee has approved

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the offering both this Sunday and next Sunday

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to go for this very, very desperate purpose.

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So in the name of Christ, I invite you this morning,

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not for my sake or even for your own,

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except for the satisfaction of having helped to give

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and to give generously,

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so that some of those still living and suffering

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may be relieved even partially.

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Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday,

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from 11 to 4:30 in the Duke Indoor Stadium,

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the Cameron Indoor Stadium, the blood mobile will be here.

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It only takes a few minutes to give a pint of blood.

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So let me encourage you to mark your calendar

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either for Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday.

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And if you are physically able,

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and most of you I'm sure are,

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encourage you to go to the indoor stadium,

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even if you've never done it before, or even if you have,

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and give for the sake of someone else.

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Two opportunities for giving this day.

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Let me invite those who are members of the chapel staff,

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the music staff, the hostesses, the secretaries,

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the ministers and all, and your spouses,

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and those who are members of the religious life staff,

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the chaplains to the university,

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those who are present this morning

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to stand for just a moment, if you will.

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Members of the chapel staff, and religious life staff,

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and your spouses.

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Some of these persons are new with us

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on the chapel staff or the religious life staff this year.

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So to give you an opportunity to meet and speak with them

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and to give them an opportunity to meet and speak with you,

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we've arranged to have some coffee or tea or lemonade

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or whatever it is on the south lawn

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immediately following the service of worship.

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And Dr. Dun has also agreed to remain there

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for a few minutes following the service

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so that you might speak with him.

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So let me invite you to come

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to have a cup of coffee or whatever,

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and to meet those on the chapel staff

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and the religious life staff,

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and to meet Dr. Van Bogart Dun.

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Thank you.

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And so I welcome back home to duke this morning,

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in your behalf, the Reverend Dr. Van Bogart Dun.

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He did his divinity school studies here.

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He completed his doctoral work here.

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For a number of years he has been Dean

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of the Methodist theological school in Delaware, Ohio.

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An outstanding churchman, writer, preacher.

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A man who has been a friend to many persons

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in and outside the church.

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A man who has close personal and family ties with Duke.

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And it's a pleasure to welcome him back home.

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And in case you had not noticed it,

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his daughter was the lector for today,

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also a Duke graduate and currently a first year student

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at UNC law school.

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So we're glad to make this a family affair.

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And in the name of God, Bogey,

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we welcome you back and we hear you now

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as you proclaim his word to us.

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The text for the morning is written

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in the 16th chapter of Luke, at the 12th verse.

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If you have not been faithful in that which is another's,

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who will give you that which is your own?

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We gather here because Jesus raises questions

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which probe the depths of our lives.

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The text for today is an example.

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The subject is money,

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a basic and inescapable necessity of all our relationships.

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Neither persons nor institutions

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can avoid the elementary economics of a balance sheet.

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How much is coming in and how much is going out?

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What items hold priority in the budget?

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Why is getting and spending an issue of ultimate importance?

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The words of the text are open-ended.

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They stimulate hard questions.

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To whom does money belong?

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What is faithfulness in the use of money?

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How does the use of money determine our destiny?

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Money, in the context of this chapter,

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is clearly understood as that which is another's.

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Money is not ours in any absolute sense.

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It is always held in trust.

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References to riches and stewardship

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in the parables and sayings of Jesus

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are not used to instruct us

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about our limited responsibilities to other men,

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but rather to reveal to us

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that all our riches belong to God.

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Money is not a peripheral concern in the New Testament.

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It is a central issue in the teaching of Jesus,

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because he always sees it in the larger context

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of God's power and presence in human history.

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You and I will never understand what he is talking about.

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We will never understand that our money

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comes under the absolute and unconditioned ownership of God,

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unless we are enlightened by his experience.

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That is our Lord's experience

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of God's ruling action in the whole creation.

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If you have not been faithful in that which is another's,

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who will give you that which is your own?

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There is a radical claim in this text.

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The radical claim is clarified

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not by the deadly legalism of the letter,

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but by the lively poetry of the spirit.

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Hear the words of the Shamish,

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the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof,

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the world, and those who dwell therein,

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for he has founded it upon the seas

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and established it upon the rivers.

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Since God's ownership of the world

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and those who dwell therein

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is the fundamental fact of our existence,

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you and I are temporary trustees of our wealth,

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accountable to God for its use.

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What is at stake in our relationship to riches

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is not a new set of rules for commercial activity.

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They really won't work that way,

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but a new attitude toward everything.

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The expression "that which is another's"

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is really a trivial matter

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unless it is the occasion for our confession

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that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

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This is no new note in the church.

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Christian faith has always emphasized

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the importance of money,

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because money is a part of everything we do.

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The quality of every realm of our existence,

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whether it be family, church, school, or nation,

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is decisively determined by our attitude toward money.

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When we insist, as we often, do that our money is ours,

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absolutely, unconditionally, to use as we see fit,

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then all that we do in the whole range of our relationships

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is perverted by the poison of self-service.

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One of the reasons we have difficulty understanding

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the biblical warnings about idolatry

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is that we define idolatry in the wrong way.

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The idolatry of our age is not the worship of some object,

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but the rejection of the basic truth,

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that money is that which is another's.

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The atheism which really corrupts us

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is not the intellectual denial of God's existence,

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but rather the practical rejection of his Lordship

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by the use of our money as if it were really ours to spend

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according to our pleasure.

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I would like to see some things changed in my home,

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in my church, in the school that I serve,

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and in this nation.

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But the fact is this:

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there can be no real change in my home, or church,

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or school, or nation without a change in budgets.

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If you have not been faithful in that which is another's,

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who will give you that which is your own?

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If the text functions this morning to lead you to confess

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that money, like everything else,

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is owned absolutely to God,

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then how is this faith demonstrated

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in what we do with our wealth?

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What does it mean to be faithful in that which is another's?

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Faithfulness in the use of money is more

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than the prudential morality of keeping exact records,

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of accounting for every penny,

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of honoring the law enough to stay out of jail.

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If it were not more than all of these things,

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it would hardly be worth our time this morning.

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Some of the greatest ripoffs in our society

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are committed not by organized crime,

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but by respectable individuals and institutions

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operating on the assumption that the only criteria

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for investing capital or the use of money

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is the question of profits.

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For instance, there will never be any effective control

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of strip mining in this country

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until the management of the coal companies,

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their stockholders, and the consumers of power

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are more concerned

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with the conservation of human and natural resources

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than with a high yield on invested capital.

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To be faithful in that which is another's is to use money.

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To use it for a purpose.

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To use it to achieve God's purpose among men.

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In the gospel of Luke,

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God's intent for his children is no secret.

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It is disclosed early on in the gospel,

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when Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah

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to identify himself with the purpose of God.

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"The spirit of the Lord is upon me

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because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

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He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

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and recovering of sight to the blind.

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To set at liberty those who are oppressed.

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To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

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The purpose of God in Luke, in the entire Bible

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is not a theological abstraction.

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It is not a matter for idle debate.

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It is a program of action.

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It is a response to the poor, the captives, the blind,

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the oppressed, not in some far off future,

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but in the immediate present of actual suffering.

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We begin to understand the radical nature

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of Jesus teaching about money

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when we experience the claim made upon all our riches

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by the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed.

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The 16th chapter of Luke closes with the familiar parable

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of the rich man and Lazarus.

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The rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen,

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and who feasted sumptuously every day,

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ignored Lazarus who lay at his gate, full of sores.

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They both died.

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Lazarus was carried to Abraham's bosom

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and given the comfort he was denied on earth.

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But the rich man was sent to Hades,

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and tormented by his separation from Abraham and Lazarus.

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There are no more terrible words of judgment

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in the entire Bible

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than these spoken by Abraham to the rich man.

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"Son, remember that you, in your lifetime,

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received your good thing,

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and Lazarus, in like manner, evil things.

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But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.

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And besides all this, between us and you

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a great chasm has been fixed

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in order that those who would pass from here to you

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may not be able,

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and none may cross from there to us."

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This is more than a fantasy about comfort in heaven

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and torment in Hades.

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It is a parable about faithfulness in the use of money.

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The rich man was tormented,

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not because he failed to support

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religious practices and institutions,

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but because he failed to use his wealth

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to relieve the suffering of a poor, starving man.

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You and I, personally and as representatives of our family,

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church, school, and nation,

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are custodians of immense wealth.

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We cannot claim ignorance as an excuse.

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We are taught by the best teachers of all,

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the suffering poor at our gates.

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The decisive question for us and for our institution

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is how we use our wealth, here and now, in this life.

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To preach good news to the poor,

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to proclaim release to the captives

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and recovering of sight to the blind,

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to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

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If you have not been faithful in that which is another's,

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who will give you that which is your own?

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The power of the text lies in its contrast,

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and its contrast between that which is another's

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and that which is your own.

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What does "that which is your own" mean?

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It refers, of course, to true riches.

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Treasure in the heavens that does not fail,

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where no thief approaches, and no moth destroys.

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Clearly then the contrast is not between money

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and some other thing, but rather between money

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and a reality infinitely more precious

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than any possession.

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That which is your own

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is nothing less than God's gift of himself.

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And the reason unfaithfulness in the use of money

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determines our destiny is that it reveals a fatal choice,

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a decision to live in dependence upon money

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instead of in dependence upon God.

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Trust in money deprives us of the confidence and integrity

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which come only from trust in God.

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Faith is an exclusive relationship.

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It does not tolerate two objects.

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No servant can serve two masters,

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or either he will hate the one and love the other,

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or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and money.

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The text really raises a question

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about how we understand ourselves.

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How do we identify ourselves?

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What defines our worth?

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What is the nature of our security?

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All of these questions are answered

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by the clarifying action of God on our behalf.

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We are the poor who are rich

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in the good news of God's care for us.

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We are the captives who are released

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by the forgiveness of our sin.

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We are the blind, who are brought

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from darkness to light by the reality of grace.

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We are the oppressed, who are freed from anxiety

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by the miracle of trust.

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We are God's little flock,

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established and sustained by our Father's good pleasure,

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by his gifts of gospel, release, sight, and liberty.

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That which is our own is not some thing

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that we have in addition to other things,

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but rather it is the realization

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of God's gracious purpose in our lives.

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It is the gift of our being.

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If we do not understand ourselves in this way,

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then inevitably we will misunderstand others.

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The important discernment

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in looking upon the starving poor at our gates

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is not the assessment of the difference between them and us,

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but the insight into the fundamental solidarity

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which binds us together.

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When we do not use our money for them,

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we fail to be what God intends,

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and therefore reject the gift of that which is our own.

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Awful punishment of those of us who are unfaithful

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in the use of money

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is the loss of that which is our own true riches.

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The chasm fixed between us and the poor,

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between us and Lazarus, is more than a mythological motif.

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It is a psychological and sociological reality

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of separation from self and labor.

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Seeking to save our lives by trusting money,

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we have succeeded in losing them.

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No man can give us what we have lost.

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In terms of what men may do,

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the word of judgment is final between us and you.

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That is between the comforted poor and the tormented rich,

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a great chasm has been fixed,

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in order that those who would pass

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from here to you may not be able,

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and none may cross from there to us.

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But in terms of what God does,

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the word of judgment is qualified by the word of hope.

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The good news of God's gracious purpose for us,

49:32

no matter how we have loved money

49:37

and used our wealth to serve ourselves,

49:39

God's good pleasure is to give us that which is our own,

49:43

and his good pleasure remains unchanged

49:48

as the most powerful force in the world.

49:51

The chasm between arrogant riches and suffering poverty

49:55

is bridged by Him who for our sakes became poor.

49:59

This is not an event in the past,

50:05

but is the action of the living word of God

50:08

voiced in the text now in the acceptable year of the Lord.

50:10

If you have not been faithful in that which is another's,

50:17

who will give you that which is your own?

50:21

When we receive the gift that God intends,

50:27

the gift of our life conformed to his purpose,

50:33

God's power is working in us.

50:38

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine,

50:43

a 90-year-old retired Methodist preacher, suffered a stroke.

50:46

Because he lived alone it was several hours

50:52

before he was found and taken to the hospital.

50:54

I went to see him.

50:58

I expected him to be preoccupied

51:00

with his physical condition,

51:03

worried about the cost of medical care,

51:05

concerned for the uncertainty of his future.

51:09

But his first words were

51:13

"Bogey, I'm worried about the people

51:16

who are starving to death.

51:20

Something has gone wrong in a world

51:24

where a few help so much while many are in want."

51:26

And then he went on to say,

51:33

"If I had my ministry to live over,

51:35

I might not stay very long in one church,

51:39

but I would preach more plainly and more urgently

51:43

about our obligation to feed the hungry."

51:48

That old man had received the gift of that which is his.

51:54

Quietly, imperceptibly, the gospel does its work among us.

52:04

Although no man can bridge the chasm of separation

52:13

created by our unfaithful use of money,

52:16

God reaches us now and then with His love.

52:20

Our lives are open to that which is our own:

52:24

true riches, treasure in the heavens that does not fail.

52:28

So the text teaches us something that we know.

52:36

It teaches us that money, like everything, belongs to God.

52:41

And Jesus's gracious words

52:46

enable us to receive it thankfully,

52:48

and to use it faithfully.

52:51

Money offers us the opportunity,

52:55

the gracious opportunity to work with God,

52:57

to preach good news to the poor,

53:01

to proclaim release to the captives

53:04

and recovering of sight to the blind,

53:06

to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

53:09

When we are faithful in that which is another's,

53:13

then we receive the gift of that which is our own.

53:18

In the name of the Father,

53:28

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

53:29

(upbeat organ music)

53:38

(upbeat choral music)

54:11

(soft organ music)

56:43

(dramatic choral music)

57:43

(upbeat organ music)

1:02:17

(upbeat choral music)

1:02:42

Oh Lord our God, send down upon each of us

1:03:42

your Holy Spirit to cleanse our heart,

1:03:46

to hallow our gift, and to perfect the offering

1:03:50

which we make of these gifts and of ourselves.

1:03:55

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer, amen.

1:04:00

(upbeat organ music)

1:04:08

(upbeat choral music)

1:04:48

The grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

1:07:51

The love of God, the Father.

1:07:57

The communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit

1:08:00

be with you this day and forevermore.

1:08:04

(gentle choral music)

1:08:11

(classical organ music)

1:09:25

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Duke University Archives