Creighton Lacy - "Custodian or Christ?" (June 26, 1983)

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	(positive organ music)	0:03
	(gentle organ music)	8:09
	(intense organ music)	10:21
	(upbeat organ music)	15:12
	(indistinct choir singing)	16:01
Woman	Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you	18:38
	from God, our creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ.	18:40
	Now, with a clear mind and open heart,	18:45
	let us in truth confess our sins before one another	18:49
	and almighty God.	18:53
	Let us pray.	18:55
	Oh God, our creator,	19:06
	in love for Your creation,	19:08
	You sent Jesus to claim a city and its people	19:10
	to establish a kingdom of fellowship and service.	19:14
	Yet, You saw Your son rejected, betrayed,	19:19
	deserted, condemned, and crucified.	19:22
	We confess that all too often,	19:26
	we fail to respond to Your redeeming approach to us,	19:28
	not trusting ourselves, we do not trust You.	19:33
	Forgive us, oh Lord, such flagrant sin.	19:37
	Help us to open our very beings,	19:41
	heart, mind, will, and soul	19:44
	to Your mercy and to the urgings of Your Holy Spirit.	19:47
	Through Jesus of Nazareth, now Lord and Christ.	19:51
	Amen.	19:56
	(child shouts)	20:04
	(loud thud)	20:15
	There is therefore now no condemnation	20:23
	for those who are in Christ Jesus	20:26
	who walk not according to the flesh,	20:29
	but according to the spirit.	20:32
	In the name of Jesus Christ,	20:34
	our sins are forgiven.	20:36
	Let us then give thanks for God is good	20:40
	and God's love is everlasting.	20:43
	Thanks be to God, whose love creates us.	20:47
	Thanks be to God, whose mercy redeems us.	20:51
	Thanks be to God, whose grace leads us into the future.	20:55
	We welcome you this beautiful summer Sunday morning	21:01
	to worship here with us in Duke University Chapel.	21:04
	It is now the fifth Sunday after Pentecost	21:08
	and we pray that God's spirit will richly bless you today	21:12
	as we have gathered here as God's people,	21:16
	expecting to be filled with God's spirit	21:19
	and sent forth in compassion as God's servants.	21:22
	We are pleased today to have participating in our service	21:29
	Mrs. Barbara Delapp Booth as our lecturer.	21:34
	I wanted you to note that there is a printing error	21:38
	in the bulletin listing her name.	21:40
	Also, Mr. Shane Doty is our organist for this morning,	21:44
	playing the Flentrop organ	21:48
	and we look forward to the special music	21:51
	that he will bring to us at two points in the service today.	21:53
	Our preacher this morning is no stranger to many of us.	22:00
	The Reverend Doctor Creighton Lacey is a professor here	22:04
	in the Divinity School at Duke University.	22:08
	He is currently professor of World Christianity	22:11
	and some of you know that Creighton	22:15
	was himself born in China,	22:18
	son of Methodist missionary parents and grandparents.	22:20
	He has recently returned from another trip to China.	22:25
	I know that his sermon this morning will be reflective	22:30
	of that experience in his life.	22:32
	Dr. Lacey, before coming to the Divinity School,	22:36
	has served as a missionary to the country of China	22:39
	and has made many visits there since.	22:44
	He has taught at both the University of Nanking	22:47
	and later at Fukin Union Theological College.	22:50
	He is a former Fulbright research scholar in India	22:54
	and a Danforth visiting professor of philosophy	22:58
	at the International Christian University in Japan.	23:02
	We have heard many times of Dr. Creighton Lacey's work,	23:07
	including books and articles about the Asian cultures	23:12
	and international affairs.	23:17
	He continues to write for the New World Outlook	23:20
	and we continue to receive his perspective	23:22
	on world missions.	23:25
	Dr. Lacey is not only an honored teacher	23:28
	in the life of the Divinity School here,	23:31
	but he is friend and pastor to many students	23:34
	and many of us on campus.	23:37
	We welcome him warmly in returning	23:39
	to the Duke Chapel pulpit.	23:41
	We look forward with eager anticipation	23:44
	to the sermon he will bring today.	23:46
	The sermon title is "Custodian or Christ?"	23:49
-	Let us pray.	24:07
	Oh Lord, our God, You have given Your Word	24:09
	to be a lamp unto our feet	24:12
	and a light unto our path.	24:15
	Grant us grace to receive Your truth in faith and love,	24:17
	that by it, we may be prepared unto every good word and work	24:23
	to the glory of Your name through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	24:28
	Amen.	24:32
	The Old Testament lesson is from Zachariah 12,	24:35
	verses seven through 10.	24:39
	And the Lord will give victory	24:42
	to the tents of Judah first.	24:44
	That the glory of the house of David	24:46
	and the glory of inhabitants of Jerusalem	24:49
	may not be exalted over that of Judah.	24:52
	On that day, the Lord will put a shield	24:56
	about the inhabitants of Jerusalem	24:58
	so that the feeblest among them on that day	25:01
	shall be like David.	25:04
	And the house of David shall be like God,	25:06
	like the angel of the Lord at their head.	25:09
	On that day, I will seek to destroy	25:13
	all the nations that come against Jerusalem.	25:15
	I will pour out on the house of David	25:19
	and the inhabitants of Jerusalem	25:21
	a spirit of compassion and supplication	25:24
	so that when they look on him whom they have pierced,	25:28
	they shall mourn for him	25:31
	as one mourns for an only child	25:33
	and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.	25:36
	Here ends the reading from the Old Testament.	25:42
	The epistle lesson is from Galatians chapter three,	25:46
	verses 23 through 29.	25:50
	Now before faith came, we were confined under the law,	25:54
	kept under restraint until faith should be revealed	25:59
	so that the law was our custodian until Christ came	26:04
	that we might be justified by faith.	26:08
	But now that faith has come,	26:11
	we are no longer under a custodian.	26:13
	For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.	26:17
	For as many of you as were baptized into Christ,	26:22
	have put on Christ.	26:26
	There is neither Jew nor Greek.	26:28
	There is neither slave nor free.	26:31
	There is neither male nor female,	26:34
	for you are all one in Christ Jesus.	26:36
	If you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,	26:40
	heirs according to promise.	26:44
	Here ends the reading from the epistle lesson.	26:47
	(gentle organ music)	26:58
	(upbeat organ music)	28:00
-	Will the congregation please stand	30:45
	for the reading of the gospel lesson?	30:47
	The gospel lesson is from Luke chapter nine,	30:54
	verses 18 through 24.	30:58
	Now it happened, that as he was praying alone,	31:02
	the disciples were with him and he asked them,	31:05
	"Who do people say that I am?"	31:09
	They answered him, "John the Baptist."	31:12
	But others say "Elijah."	31:16
	And others that one of the old prophets has risen.	31:19
	He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"	31:22
	Peter answered, "The Christ of God."	31:28
	But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,	31:33
	saying, "The son of man must suffer many things"	31:37
	"and be rejected by the elders and chief priest and scribes"	31:40
	"and be killed and on the third day, be raised."	31:45
	He said to all, "If any man would come after me,"	31:50
	"let him deny himself"	31:55
	"and take up his cross daily and follow me."	31:57
	"For whoever would save his life, will lose it."	32:01
	"And whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it."	32:05
	Here ends the reading from the gospel lesson, amen.	32:10
	(organ music)	32:17
	(indistinct choir singing)	32:25
	(baby cries out)	33:12
Pastor	In the intimacy of the Duke community,	33:25
	I had decided that it was unnecessary	33:27
	to say an introductory personal word this morning.	33:30
	But just an hour ago, I had a telephone call from Bob Young	33:35
	to assure me that his prayers as well as his hears	33:39
	would be tuned to this service.	33:43
	So I cannot forgo a word of very genuine appreciation	33:46
	for what he and the religious life staff	33:51
	and this chapel have meant in my own life	33:55
	over nearly 30 years here at Duke	33:59
	as well as in the life of this university.	34:01
	He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"	34:07
	And Peter answered "The Christ of God."	34:12
	He said to all, "If any man would come after me,"	34:17
	"let him deny himself"	34:21
	"and take up his cross daily and follow me."	34:23
	The law was our custodian until Christ came,	34:28
	that we might be justified by faith.	34:32
	But now that faith has come,	34:35
	we are no longer under a custodian,	34:37
	for in Christ Jesus,	34:40
	you are all children of God through faith.	34:42
	Some of you know that as a seminary professor,	34:48
	I am not strongly committed to lectionary preaching.	34:51
	The lessons selected in rotation	34:54
	by whatever learned biblical scholars	34:56
	do not always contain much in common.	34:59
	What I want to say or even what the Holy Spirit	35:02
	wants me to say in a particular sermon	35:06
	does not always fit the prescribed text.	35:09
	But I like to be accommodating on occasion.	35:13
	Here we are for this week and this Sunday and this moment	35:16
	presented with two of the most familiar passages	35:22
	in the New Testament.	35:25
	"Who do you say that I am?"	35:27
	Whoever would save his life would lose it.	35:30
	Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.	35:33
	There is neither Jew nor Greek.	35:38
	There is neither slave nor free.	35:41
	There is neither male nor female,	35:43
	for you are all one in Christ Jesus.	35:46
	Few of you who attend church even infrequently	35:52
	have escaped hearing sermons on one or both of those texts.	35:55
	They may suggest a pious personal relationship to Jesus	35:59
	or the majesty of the incarnation.	36:04
	They can exalt martyrdom	36:08
	or the patient acceptance of sacrifice and service.	36:10
	They can be used to justify feminism or racism in reverse,	36:15
	depending on whether human differences are seen	36:19
	as non-existent or as real but not decisive.	36:22
	The program of religious music,	36:28
	entitled "Joy" on this morning's local radio station,	36:31
	followed the same theme.	36:36
	Some of you may prefer to meditate	36:38
	upon your own interpretations	36:40
	and your own applications of these texts,	36:42
	instead of listening to mine.	36:45
	That is okay.	36:48
	Beloved, I am writing no new commandment,	36:50
	but an old commandment which you had from the beginning.	36:53
	The old commandment is the word which you have heard.	36:56
	As I have lived with these passages during the past month,	37:03
	I have come to the conclusion	37:06
	that there is not a simple dichotomy between law and faith,	37:08
	between sin and salvation,	37:13
	between custody and freedom.	37:16
	Rather, there is an intermediate step of belief,	37:19
	of desire, of intellectual ascent,	37:23
	which precedes a commitment to Christ	37:26
	as the Lord of our lives.	37:29
	This, I think, can be seen	37:31
	in the confessions of Peter and of Paul.	37:33
	The disciples had been living and traveling with Jesus	37:37
	in times of failure and times of success,	37:40
	in days of doubt and days of confidence.	37:44
	They loved and respected Him as friend and teacher.	37:48
	They had entrusted their lives to Him for a while at least.	37:52
	Yet to most of us, as to the multitudes about whom he asked,	37:56
	Jesus was still the fulfillment of the law,	38:00
	the Messiah, the reincarnation of John the Baptist,	38:03
	or Elijah, or one of the old prophets.	38:07
	He was the embodiment, even the verification, of tradition.	38:10
	They had no inkling this early in his ministry	38:16
	of how radically Jesus would turn their world upside down,	38:19
	how radically He would turn the entire world upside down.	38:24
	Peter, and perhaps others,	38:30
	were beginning to have a glimmer of the truth,	38:32
	a suspicion that, at least, this was a very remarkable man.	38:34
	Peter may have known the scriptural promises	38:38
	better than the rest.	38:41
	He may have wanted to acknowledge the divine purpose	38:42
	in this ministry of which he was a part.	38:46
	He may have sought to put the unity of the 12	38:48
	in more immediate, intimate terms	38:52
	than merely invoking John the Baptist or Elijah.	38:54
	Whatever his basis for his insight,	38:58
	Peter blurted out a startling assertion.	39:00
	"The Christ of God."	39:04
	The Anointed One.	39:06
	The Deliverer.	39:08
	The Liberator.	39:10
	To his credit, he emphasized the divine initiative	39:12
	rather than the political expectations.	39:16
	Strange, is it not, that Jesus should immediately hush up	39:20
	the very response he had wanted to hear	39:23
	after deliberately pulling forth the confession	39:26
	which would separate his disciples	39:29
	from the unimaginative crowd.	39:31
	He then charged and commanded them to tell this to no one.	39:34
	These friends should hear the shocking truth,	39:39
	that the son of man must suffer many things	39:43
	and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes	39:46
	and be killed, and on the third day, be raised.	39:51
	They must hear but not understand.	39:55
	They needed to believe in His mission,	39:59
	to be told the theoretical cost of discipleship,	40:01
	but they did not yet know what it meant to take up a cross	40:05
	or to lose their lives for His sake.	40:09
	A similar progression is implied, it seems to me,	40:14
	in the passage from Galatians.	40:17
	Before faith came, we were confined under the law,	40:19
	kept under restraint.	40:23
	The law was our custodian,	40:25
	says the revised standard version.	40:28
	But it is revealing to note some of the other terms used.	40:30
	Schoolmaster, says the King James version.	40:34
	Tutor, in the New English Bible.	40:37
	A strict governess, suggests J.B. Phillips,	40:40
	in what 30 years ago, may have been prophetic feminism	40:44
	or sheer chauvinism.	40:47
	A disciplinarian or truant officer,	40:49
	according to some commentators.	40:52
	Two weeks ago, I drove out of our church conference grounds	40:55
	behind a bumper sticker which said, "Divine truant officer."	40:58
	I do not know what the message was meant to convey,	41:03
	but for me, it was neither an appealing designation for God	41:06
	nor an adequate description of Christian ministry.	41:11
	Contemporary translations are even more threatening.	41:15
	The law kept us all locked up as prisoners,	41:18
	says today's English version and the New English Bible.	41:22
	We were prisoners in the custody of the law.	41:26
	On a university campus,	41:31
	it may be risky to list tutors and schoolmasters	41:33
	as synonymous with truant officers and prison custodians.	41:37
	Certainly, the language reflects a long,	41:42
	abandoned concept of education,	41:45
	a Greek model in which the instructor	41:47
	was also a disciplinarian,	41:50
	the teacher a molder and example of moral behavior	41:52
	as well as intellectual achievement.	41:57
	If some of us still believe	42:00
	that ethics should have a major indispensable place	42:02
	at every level of education,	42:06
	it is generally defined as value orientation,	42:09
	rather than adherence to law.	42:12
	With all due respect to the legal profession,	42:15
	it sometimes appears as if law is a dirty word	42:17
	in the theological vocabulary,	42:21
	in discussions of freedom and grace.	42:23
	It should not be.	42:27
	It was not for Paul.	42:28
	In the verses directly preceding today's text,	42:30
	he writes "Is the law then against the promises of God?"	42:33
	Certainly not, for if a law had been given	42:39
	which could make alive,	42:41
	then righteousness would indeed be by the law.	42:43
	The law can guide, instruct, discipline,	42:47
	keep in custody.	42:52
	It does not "make alive"	42:54
	as the revised standard version so vividly puts it.	42:56
	The scripture Paul goes on to say,	43:00
	consigned all things to sin.	43:02
	Not simply law itself, but legalism.	43:05
	Not simply rules and regulations,	43:09
	but the reliance on tradition and custom.	43:11
	But something more is needed	43:16
	as both Jesus and Paul realized.	43:18
	The Christian is not meant to be locked up in the law,	43:21
	in tradition, in the past.	43:24
	For grace and freedom to operate,	43:27
	for the human spirit to come alive,	43:29
	there must be a recognition of the Christ,	43:31
	which makes us all children of God through faith.	43:34
	It is an important step,	43:40
	this acknowledgement of what God has done,	43:41
	by making visible the divine involvement in human history.	43:44
	It is an essential step.	43:48
	This affirmation that Jesus is indeed God's gift,	43:50
	not merely a symbol of our aspirations.	43:54
	It is not a sufficient step.	43:58
	Insofar as they represent theoretical belief	44:02
	or intellectual assent,	44:05
	neither Peter's confession nor Paul's call for faith	44:08
	constitutes the final goal.	44:11
	The crowds who listen to Jesus preaching	44:14
	were not prepared for any ultimate commitment.	44:17
	The signs of the times,	44:20
	the political and psychological circumstances	44:22
	were not ready even for an atoning death,	44:25
	much less for a redemptive resurrection.	44:29
	The disciples had not yet understood	44:33
	what it meant to deny oneself,	44:36
	to take up a cross daily and follow Him,	44:38
	to lose one's life for the sake of Christ.	44:41
	Have we?	44:45
	We have had 2,000 years to learn, to practice, to imitate.	44:48
	Millions of persons, including most of those	44:54
	who listen to these words,	44:57
	have made some profession that Jesus	44:58
	is indeed the Christ of God.	45:02
	But perhaps, we have not yet discovered	45:05
	how that can and should alter our lives.	45:08
	Perhaps, we have been too eager to escape	45:13
	from the custody of the law,	45:15
	from the truant officer of tradition,	45:17
	from the prison of self-indulgence	45:20
	before we have accepted Christ	45:22
	as our schoolmaster and tutor,	45:25
	as our mentor and model,	45:28
	as our Lord and redeemer.	45:31
	We have settled for an assertion of faith	45:35
	instead of going through faith,	45:38
	which means beyond faith as well as by faith,	45:40
	in true and living discipleship.	45:44
	The decisive test, as Paul points out, is that	45:48
	for those who have truly put on Christ through faith,	45:51
	there is neither Jew nor Greek,	45:55
	slave nor free, male nor female,	45:58
	for you are all one in Christ Jesus.	46:01
	Six weeks ago today, I was worshiping in a church in Peking	46:07
	in the People's Republic of China.	46:11
	Named at the turn of the century for Francis Asbury,	46:14
	the building had been closed to Christian worship	46:18
	for over 16 years until just a few months ago.	46:20
	In fact, four years ago,	46:23
	there were no Chinese church services	46:25
	celebrated in public anywhere in that country.	46:29
	Today, there are at least 300.	46:32
	Some estimates go as high as 600 each week.	46:35
	The next hymn that we are to sing together this morning	46:39
	was the first one I sang	46:42
	in a recent Chinese Christian congregation.	46:44
	And I hope you will note well the fullness of meaning	46:47
	for people in those circumstances.	46:51
	If I may, for a few minutes,	46:55
	apply our scriptural formula to the church in China,	46:56
	it may help to challenge us	47:00
	to deeper commitment and broader fellowship in Christ.	47:02
	Protestant missions first came to China in 1807.	47:08
	Roman Catholics much earlier of course in erratic movements,	47:12
	with little permanent impact.	47:16
	Many of those early missionaries,	47:19
	present accounts not withstanding,	47:22
	had a genuine love for the Chinese people	47:24
	and a concern for their social and political and economic	47:27
	as well as spiritual welfare.	47:30
	But the religion they brought	47:34
	was primarily a religion of law,	47:35
	a demand for conversion,	47:38
	a custodian of morals and culture.	47:40
	The symbol of rectitude was Moses or one of the prophets,	47:44
	Martin Luther, or John Wesley,	47:48
	possibly Confucius or Laozi.	47:51
	There was much good done in education,	47:54
	health, social services,	47:57
	emancipation from fear and superstition,	48:00
	but it was largely geared to Western institutions,	48:04
	Western controls,	48:08
	Western theology.	48:10
	Then came in 1949 what the Chinese still call liberation.	48:13

-	Church as well as the nation,	0:03
	this meant escape from foreign domination,	0:05
	an opportunity to build an indigenous society.	0:07
	Despite the traditional Marxist distrust of religion	0:12
	as an instrument of colonial exploitation,	0:15
	several thousand missionaries continued	0:18
	to work in the People's Republic of China	0:20
	until our two countries came to the brink	0:23
	of declaring war on the Korean Peninsula.	0:26
	Meanwhile, economic and ideological pressures	0:30
	on the church gradually winnowed the wheat	0:34
	from the chaff.	0:38
	Rice Christians, those who had counted on financial	0:40
	or educational or political advantage from contacts	0:43
	with Westerners drifted or were frightened away.	0:46
	Rural churches closed for lack of funds	0:51
	and also because preachers were required	0:55
	to join the productive workforce	0:57
	instead of being, in Marxist terminology at least,	0:59
	parasites on society.	1:03
	City churches were often consolidated or merged,	1:06
	their educational and social services	1:09
	taken over by the government,	1:11
	their buildings converted to secular uses.	1:13
	In a sense, this did represent a form of freedom.	1:18
	What Christianity did survive	1:22
	was no longer dependent on foreign support	1:24
	or dominated by foreign missionaries.	1:26
	Hence it could no longer be branded a Western religion,	1:29
	a tool of cultural and political imperialism.	1:33
	In a sense too, this represented	1:37
	a courageous period of faith.	1:40
	Those who remained in the churches	1:43
	until all of them were closed	1:45
	by the cultural revolution in 1966	1:47
	did so under suspicion, criticism	1:50
	and often persecution.	1:54
	It is sometimes said that Westerners	1:57
	are like an oak, firm and rigid in moral righteousness	2:00
	or dogmatic principle	2:03
	until the storm becomes too violent	2:06
	or the lightning strikes	2:10
	and the tree is shattered.	2:12
	A Chinese, on the other hand,	2:14
	is like a bamboo or a willow	2:16
	bending with the wind,	2:18
	bowing to necessity but springing back	2:19
	to healthy growth when the tempest is over.	2:22
	By yielding to political pressures	2:26
	and by declaring their proud	2:29
	and genuine patriotism,	2:31
	some Chinese Christians managed to retain	2:34
	a limited recognition from the government	2:36
	and an even more restricted amount	2:39
	of religious freedom.	2:42
	This was a nominal affirmation of faith.	2:44
	To some, especially critics in the West,	2:48
	a compromised confession.	2:51
	It said in effect, Jesus is the Christ of God	2:53
	but Mao Zedong is the custodian of daily life.	2:58
	It said in effet, there is no significant difference	3:01
	between Chairman Mao's powerful slogan,	3:05
	serve the people and Jesus' gentle appeal	3:07
	to love your neighbor.	3:11
	It said in effect, we affirm the truth	3:14
	of the gospel in answering ultimate questions	3:16
	about life's purpose and heavenly rewards	3:18
	after we have taken care of economic prosperity,	3:22
	political stability and national security.	3:26
	Does any of that sound familiar?	3:31
	The period since Mao's death	3:35
	offers somewhat different opportunities for formal faith.	3:37
	Chinese church leaders are embarked	3:41
	on a heroic attempt to build a new structure,	3:43
	a new institution, a new community for Christ	3:47
	in what they call the post-denominational era.	3:51
	Our Western labels derived from	3:55
	historical doctrinal issues	3:58
	in Europe and America have been cast aside,	4:01
	pastors and church buildings are occasionally identified	4:06
	as formerly Methodist or formerly Presbyterian	4:09
	but are today united in a cooperative parish	4:13
	simply called as in New Testament times,	4:15
	the Christian church in a given locality.	4:18
	Some communities hold Saturday services	4:22
	in deference to the Seventh Day Adventist heritage.	4:25
	Local units, a single congregation	4:29
	or a coalition of churches	4:31
	now set their own qualifications	4:34
	and their own rituals for ordination,	4:36
	for baptism and for holy communion.	4:39
	After 13 years of complete silence,	4:42
	the word of God is being proclaimed in public services	4:46
	in hundreds of places in China.	4:50
	It may be a circumscribed word,	4:53
	it may be as some Christians told me privately,	4:57
	a political word but it is being preached	5:00
	and it is being heard.	5:04
	That leads to another category of would-be disciples.	5:08
	Every Sunday in China,	5:11
	thousands of young people, men and women	5:12
	and youth, born since liberation in 1949	5:15
	are hearing the good news that Jesus	5:19
	is indeed the Christ, the Son of God.	5:21
	It should be added parenthetically	5:25
	that public indoctrination of children	5:27
	is still forbidden.	5:30
	Pastoral testimony and parishional observation suggest	5:32
	that 1/4 to 1/3 of the congregations	5:35
	are made up of people under 30,	5:38
	people who have been taught for decades	5:41
	in school and society that religion	5:43
	is an opiate of the people,	5:45
	an obstacle to social revolution,	5:47
	an unscientific superstition.	5:50
	Today they are wanting to find out if that is true.	5:53
	Today they are asking questions	5:57
	not only about ultimate goals and values,	5:59
	but about the spiritual foundations	6:02
	of freedom and democracy.	6:05
	Jesus still asks, who do you say that I am?	6:09
	These Chinese youth reply,	6:14
	well, our grandparents tell us	6:16
	that you are Elijah or one of the prophets.	6:18
	Our pastors in church tell us	6:21
	that you are the Christ of God.	6:23
	We don't know.	6:25
	We don't even know what that means.	6:27
	There are some in China	6:32
	and some in America	6:35
	who do know what that means.	6:37
	They are the ones who have walked	6:41
	through the valley of the shadow.	6:43
	They are the ones who have taken up the cross	6:45
	to follow him.	6:48
	They are the ones who have lost their lives	6:50
	for his sake.	6:53
	During the cultural revolution of 1966 to 1976,	6:56
	most Chinese intellectuals suffered severely	7:00
	for their Western ideas,	7:04
	for their elitist education,	7:06
	for their reluctance to accept ideological conformity	7:08
	as a substitute for progress.	7:12
	Christians often endured even greater harassment,	7:15
	rejection, isolation and worse.	7:19
	They had foreign friends,	7:23
	they had alien ideas,	7:25
	they had a vision of humanity and of truth	7:27
	which transcended petty party policies.	7:30
	I asked one former colleague	7:36
	who spent several years in prison	7:38
	whether the guards identified their Christian prisoners.	7:40
	They knew who we were, he replied,	7:45
	by our attitude toward them,	7:48
	toward our fellow prisoners	7:50
	and toward our incarceration.	7:52
	Then he went on to tell me about one guard	7:56
	who had been particularly cruel and sadistic	7:58
	so that my friend dreamed often	8:01
	of someday getting even	8:03
	but when he was released,	8:05
	rehabilitated to an influential position,	8:07
	he could not do so.	8:11
	I knew, he told me, that if the gospel	8:13
	of Jesus Christ is ever to have an influence	8:15
	in this great land of ours,	8:18
	it will not be by hatred and revenge	8:21
	but by love and forgiveness.	8:24
	What will a man gain, the New English Bible asks,	8:29
	by winning the whole world	8:32
	at the cost of his true self?	8:34
	What about us, complacent American church goers?	8:41
	With numerous theological reservations	8:46
	or reformulations, we have made the intellectual	8:48
	and verbal assertion that Jesus is the Christ of God.	8:51
	For some this still means a reincarnation	8:56
	of Elijah or the prophets,	8:59
	a custodian of the law,	9:02
	a truant officer or a governess.	9:04
	For others, it is a recognition that something,	9:08
	no, someone has come into the world	9:12
	to transform it and us.	9:15
	But we are bound not Christ's admonition	9:19
	but by our own selfish blindness	9:21
	from entering into the full glory	9:24
	of that recognition.	9:26
	We have seen the hope	9:27
	that lies unfulfilled in the custody of the law.	9:30
	We have declared our faith	9:35
	that God has indeed come into this world.	9:37
	We have not yet translated that personal reality	9:41
	into everyday love.	9:45
	We are not yet ready to take up the cross daily,	9:50
	we are quite determined in fact	9:53
	to save our life in every way possible economically,	9:55
	militarily, psychologically,	9:58
	we are very certain that not only there are Jews	10:01
	and Greeks, slave and free, male and female,	10:04
	friends and enemies	10:09
	but also that we know which are best for us.	10:11
	We are not all one in Christ Jesus.	10:18
	But the promise is there,	10:24
	the possibility is there	10:28
	because the Christ is there.	10:33
	Amen.	10:38
	Let us pray.	10:40
	Show us, oh God, the importance	10:44
	and the inadequacy of law.	10:47
	Show us, oh God, the ineffectiveness of nominal	10:51
	and intellectual faith.	10:54
	Show us, oh God, the transforming power	10:58
	of total self-sacrificing commitment	11:01
	to your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ	11:05
	who alone can make alive.	11:10
	Amen.	11:15
	(lively organ music)	11:23
	(congregation sings)	12:02
-	As the people of God,	14:47
	let us affirm what we believe.	14:48
-	We believe in God	14:51
	who has created and is creating,	14:53
	who has come in the truly human Jesus	14:56
	to reconcile and make new,	15:00
	who works in us and others by the spirit.	15:02
	We trust God who calls us to be the church,	15:06
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	15:10
	to love and serve others,	15:13
	to seek justice and resist evil,	15:16
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	15:19
	our judge and our hope.	15:23
	In life, in death, in life beyond death,	15:25
	God is with us, we are not alone.	15:29
	Thanks be to God.	15:33
-	The Lord be with you.	15:35
-	And also with you.	15:37
-	Let us pray.	15:39
	Let us come in peace this day	15:53
	and pray to the Lord	15:55
	for the world in need of reconciliation and peace	15:58
	that a spirit of hope may grow among nations	16:03
	and peoples, we pray to you, oh Lord.	16:06
	For the church of Jesus Christ	16:10
	that it may be filled with truth and love	16:13
	and may be eager to serve as Christ's ambassadors,	16:16
	we pray to you, oh Lord.	16:21
	For the mission of the church	16:24
	that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel	16:26
	to the very ends of the Earth,	16:30
	we pray to you, oh Lord.	16:32
	For those who do not yet believe	16:35
	and for those who have lost their faith,	16:38
	that they may receive the light of the gospel,	16:41
	we pray to you, oh Lord.	16:44
	For the poor, the persecuted,	16:47
	the sick and all who suffer,	16:50
	for refugees, prisoners and all who are in danger,	16:53
	that they may be relieved	16:58
	and protected, we pray to you, oh Lord.	16:59
	For all those how have been in our hearts	17:04
	and in our private prayers,	17:06
	for our families, friends and neighbors	17:08
	that they may live in joy, in peace	17:12
	and health, we pray to you, oh Lord.	17:15
	For ourselves, for the forgiveness of sins	17:19
	and for the grace of the Holy Spirit	17:23
	to truly amend our lives,	17:26
	we pray to you, oh Lord.	17:29
	We thank you, Lord, our God,	17:32
	for all the blessings of this life	17:35
	and we will exalt you, oh God, our creator	17:37
	and praise your name forever	17:41
	and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord	17:43
	who taught us to pray saying.	17:47
-	Our Father who are in heaven,	17:50
	hallowed be thy name,	17:53
	thy kingdom come, they will be done	17:55
	on Earth as it is in heaven.	17:58
	Give us this day our daily bread	18:00
	and forgive us our trespasses	18:03
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	18:05
	and lead us not into temptation	18:09
	but deliver us from evil	18:12
	for thine is the kingdom,	18:14
	and the power and the glory forever.	18:16
	Amen.	18:19
	(tranquil organ music)	18:26
	(lively organ music)	23:41
	(congregation sings)	23:57
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:09
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:11
	(congregation sings)	24:15
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:27
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:29
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:32
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:35
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	24:38
-	Giving us all things, oh God,	24:51
	will you now receive these gifts of your people.	24:53
	Help us to render unto you all that we have	24:57
	and all that we are	25:00
	that we may praise you with our whole lives.	25:02
	In Christ's name we pray, amen.	25:05
	(lively organ music)	25:13
	(congregation sings)	25:48
	And now the peace of God	28:46
	which passes all understanding,	28:48
	keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God	28:51
	and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord	28:56
	and the blessing of God Almighty,	28:59
	creator, redeemer, sustainer	29:02
	be among you and remain with you always.	29:05
	Amen.	29:10
	(lively organ music)	29:13

Item Info

Title:

Creighton Lacy - "Custodian or Christ?" (June 26, 1983)

Description:

It is one thing to profess with our words, or intellectually assent, that Jesus is the Christ of God, but it is something else to allow that truth to transform the entirety of your life. The call of the Gospel is not simply to make the confession, as Peter did, but to also pick up your cross daily and follow him. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 33:25. Sermon end time: (Part 2) 10:40.
Key quotation: “Millions of persons, including most of those who listen to these words, have made some profession that Jesus is indeed the Christ of God. But perhaps we have not yet discovered how that can and should alter our lives.”

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4028pt6q

Date:

June 26, 1983

Speaker:

Lacy, Creighton

Biblical Book:

Chapter and Verse:

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0157
ref7837_xcw
uachapelsermaud
duke:320983
dcrau001148
ark:/87924/r4028pt6q
caa0c2f0-fb44-40ce-adcf-d525de0646a2

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

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United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Creighton Lacy - "Custodian or Christ?" (June 26, 1983)

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