Samuel Proctor - Sermon Untitled (May 29, 1994)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
(organ music) | 0:02 | |
- | Good Morning. Welcome to worship | 1:04 |
at the Duke Chapel. | 1:06 | |
I'm Brenda Curtin and today our preacher | 1:08 | |
would be the Reverend Dr. Samuel Proctor, | 1:12 | |
who is here in residence at the Duke Divinity School. | 1:15 | |
Today marks Trinity Sunday in the life of the church. | 1:20 | |
It's the time when the church celebrates | 1:24 | |
the work of the Holy Spirit | 1:27 | |
and emphasizes God at the same time | 1:31 | |
in its Trinitarian aspect | 1:34 | |
calling attention to God's threefold nature. | 1:37 | |
I would like to draw to your attention | 1:43 | |
that this afternoon at six o'clock | 1:46 | |
there would be a recital, an organ recital in the chapel. | 1:49 | |
All are welcome. | 1:53 | |
This morning our first hymn is a hymn that is | 1:57 | |
one that invites a congregational response. | 2:02 | |
Please join in as we sing | 2:09 | |
that the choir will sing it to a familiar tune. | 2:11 | |
Thank you. | 2:16 | |
(organ music) | 2:20 | |
- | [Everyone In Church] ♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty | 3:02 |
♪ Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. ♪ | 3:13 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and mighty! ♪ | 3:23 | |
♪ God in three persons, blessed Trinity! ♪ | 3:34 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee, ♪ | 3:48 | |
♪ casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; ♪ | 3:58 | |
♪ cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, ♪ | 4:09 | |
♪ which wert and art and evermore shalt be. ♪ | 4:20 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee, ♪ | 4:30 | |
♪ though the eye made blind by sin Thy glory may not see, ♪ | 4:43 | |
♪ only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee, ♪ | 4:54 | |
♪ perfect in pow'r, in love, and purity. ♪ | 5:05 | |
(organ solo music) | 5:16 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! ♪ | 5:28 | |
♪ All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth ♪ | 5:39 | |
♪ and sky and sea. ♪ | 5:44 | |
♪ Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and mighty! ♪ | 5:51 | |
♪ God in three persons, blessed Trinity. ♪ | 6:02 | |
- | Let us pray. | 6:22 |
Hallelujah God is in the midst of us. | 6:26 | |
Therefore let us worship and rejoice. | 6:31 | |
Let us give praise and thanks for the great benefits | 6:35 | |
we have received at God's hand. | 6:38 | |
Precious God we thank you for this opportunity | 6:41 | |
to gather as a church to give praise | 6:45 | |
and worship to your name. | 6:48 | |
We pray O God that you would grant us those things | 6:51 | |
that are necessary for our life and our salvation. | 6:54 | |
We confess that we have sinned against you | 6:59 | |
and your holy law | 7:03 | |
and pray that you would look down upon us in compassion | 7:05 | |
and mercy and forgive us and restore us | 7:10 | |
according to your precious promises. | 7:15 | |
Hear these our prayers in the name of the Father | 7:18 | |
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. | 7:24 | |
Congregation | Amen. | 7:27 |
- | You may be seated. | 7:29 |
- | Let us pray together the prayer for illumination. | 7:41 |
- | [Everyone In Church] Open our hearts and minds oh God. | 7:47 |
by the power of your Holy Spirit | 7:50 | |
so that is the word is read and proclaimed, | 7:53 | |
we might hear your word joy this day. Amen. | 7:56 | |
- | The first lesson is taken from the letter to the Romans | 8:06 |
the eighth chapter verses 12 through 17. | 8:10 | |
So then brothers and sisters we are debtors | 8:18 | |
not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. | 8:21 | |
For you if you live according to the flesh you will die. | 8:25 | |
But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body | 8:29 | |
you will live. | 8:33 | |
For all who are led by the Spirit of God and children of God | 8:35 | |
for you did not receive a spirit of slavery | 8:40 | |
to fall back into fear | 8:42 | |
but you have received a spirit of adoption. | 8:45 | |
When we cry "Abba Father" | 8:48 | |
it is that very spirit bearing witness with our spirit | 8:51 | |
that we are children of God | 8:55 | |
and if children then heirs, heirs of God, | 8:58 | |
and joint-heirs with Christ. | 9:01 | |
If in fact we suffer with him | 9:03 | |
so that we may be also glorified with him. | 9:07 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 9:11 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 9:13 |
- | The second lesson is taken from the book of Isaiah. | 9:20 |
The sixth chapter verses one through eight. | 9:23 | |
In the year that King Uzziah died, | 9:34 | |
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; | 9:36 | |
and the hem of his robe filled the temple. | 9:41 | |
Seraphs were in attendance above him; | 9:45 | |
each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, | 9:47 | |
and with two they covered their feet, | 9:51 | |
and with two they flew. | 9:54 | |
And one called to another and said: | 9:56 | |
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; | 9:58 | |
the whole earth is full of his glory." | 10:02 | |
The pivots on the thresholds shook | 10:05 | |
at the voices of those who called, | 10:08 | |
and the house filled with smoke. | 10:10 | |
And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, | 10:14 | |
for I am a man of unclean lips, | 10:17 | |
and I live among a people of unclean lips; | 10:20 | |
yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" | 10:24 | |
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, | 10:27 | |
holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar | 10:30 | |
with a pair of tongs. | 10:33 | |
The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: | 10:35 | |
"Now that this has touched your lips, | 10:38 | |
your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." | 10:41 | |
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, | 10:45 | |
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" | 10:48 | |
And I said, "Here I am; send me!" | 10:53 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 10:57 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 11:00 |
(organ music) | 11:19 | |
(organ drowns out choir) | 11:29 | |
- | Today's Psalm is number 29 verses one through 11 | 16:59 |
found on page 761 in the hymnal. | 17:04 | |
Please stand in sing the Psalm en gloria responsively | 17:07 | |
(organ music) | 17:12 | |
♪ Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ♪ | 17:20 | |
♪ ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. ♪ | 17:25 | |
Congregation | ♪ Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name ♪ | 17:31 |
♪ worship the Lord in holy splendor. ♪ | 17:38 | |
- | ♪ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; ♪ | 17:44 |
♪ the God of glory thunders, ♪ | 17:49 | |
♪ the Lord, upon many waters. ♪ | 17:53 | |
Congregation | ♪ The voice of the Lord is powerful; ♪ | 17:59 |
♪ the voice of the lord is full of majesty. ♪ | 18:04 | |
- | ♪ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; ♪ | 18:11 |
Congregation | ♪ the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. ♪ | 18:17 |
- | ♪ The Lord makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, ♪ | 18:24 |
♪ and Sirion like a young wild ox. ♪ | 18:30 | |
Congregation | ♪ The voice of the Lord ♪ | 18:35 |
♪ flashes forth flames of fire. ♪ | 18:39 | |
- | ♪ The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness, ♪ | 18:42 |
Congregation | ♪ The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. ♪ | 18:46 |
- | ♪ The voice of the Lord makes the oaks to whirl, ♪ | 18:53 |
♪ and strips the forests bare; ♪ | 18:57 | |
Congregation | ♪ And in his temple all cry, "Glory!" ♪ | 19:01 |
- | ♪ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; ♪ | 19:08 |
♪ the Lord sits enthroned as ruler for ever. ♪ | 19:13 | |
Congregation | ♪ The Lord gives strength to his people! ♪ | 19:20 |
♪ May the Lord bless his people with peace! ♪ | 19:25 | |
- | ♪ O glory be to you creator and to Jesus Christ our savior ♪ | 19:33 |
Congregation | ♪ and the Lord and Spirit, blessed is He. ♪ | 19:41 |
- | ♪ As it was at a time began ♪ | 19:48 |
(organ drowns out congregation singing) | 19:52 | |
Please be seated. | 20:02 | |
- | The gospel is taken from John | 20:16 |
the third chapter verses one through 17. | 20:18 | |
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, | 20:26 | |
a leader of the Jews. | 20:28 | |
He came to Jesus by night and said to him, | 20:30 | |
"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher | 20:34 | |
who has come from God; | 20:37 | |
for no one can do these signs | 20:39 | |
that you do apart from the presence of God." | 20:41 | |
Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, | 20:44 | |
no one can see the kingdom of God | 20:49 | |
without being born from above." | 20:51 | |
Nicodemus said to him, | 20:55 | |
"How can anyone be born after growing old? | 20:56 | |
Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb | 21:01 | |
and be born?" | 21:04 | |
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, | 21:06 | |
no one can enter the kingdom of God | 21:09 | |
without being born of the water and Spirit. | 21:12 | |
What is born of the flesh is flesh, | 21:15 | |
and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. | 21:17 | |
Do not be astonished that I said to you, | 21:20 | |
"You must be born from above.' | 21:23 | |
The wind blows where it chooses, | 21:27 | |
and you hear the sound of it, | 21:29 | |
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. | 21:30 | |
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." | 21:34 | |
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" | 21:37 | |
Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, | 21:42 | |
and yet you do not understand these things? | 21:47 | |
"Very truly, I tell you, | 21:50 | |
we speak of what we know | 21:52 | |
and testify to what we have seen; | 21:54 | |
yet you do not receive our testimony. | 21:57 | |
If I have told you about earthly things | 22:00 | |
and you do not believe, how can you believe | 22:02 | |
if I tell you about heavenly things? | 22:05 | |
No one has ascended into heaven | 22:08 | |
except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. | 22:11 | |
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, | 22:15 | |
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, | 22:20 | |
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. | 22:23 | |
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, | 22:27 | |
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish | 22:31 | |
but may have eternal life. | 22:35 | |
"Indeed, God did not send his Son into the world | 22:37 | |
to condemn the world, | 22:41 | |
but in order that the world might be saved through him. | 22:43 | |
This is the word of the Lord. | 22:48 | |
Congregation | Thanks be to God. | 22:51 |
- | I thank God for this privilege | 23:07 |
of being with you here once again | 23:09 | |
in this glorious chapel | 23:12 | |
and for being a part of this Duke University community | 23:15 | |
and fellowship as we worship together. | 23:20 | |
You will notice on the program | 23:26 | |
that there is no subject announced for this morning | 23:29 | |
and that's because I was away after classes ended, | 23:34 | |
away in New Jersey at my my home | 23:39 | |
and they cannot find me | 23:42 | |
to find out what my subject would be today, | 23:45 | |
and I hope ernestly that that blank space | 23:49 | |
is not indicative of what the sermon will really be. | 23:52 | |
(congregation laughs) | 23:56 | |
Matthew chapter 22, beginning at verse 15. | 23:59 | |
you will find the basis for the message today. | 24:06 | |
Then the Pharisees went | 24:10 | |
and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. | 24:13 | |
And they sent their disciples to him, | 24:19 | |
along with the Herodians, saying, | 24:21 | |
"Teacher, we know that you are true | 24:23 | |
and teach the way of God truthfully, | 24:28 | |
and care for no man, | 24:32 | |
for you do not regard the position of men. | 24:34 | |
Tell us, then, what you think. | 24:37 | |
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, | 24:41 | |
or not?" | 24:46 | |
But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, | 24:48 | |
"Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? | 24:52 | |
Show me the money for the tax." | 24:56 | |
And they brought him a coin. | 24:59 | |
And Jesus said to them, | 25:02 | |
"Whose likeness and inscription is this?" | 25:03 | |
They said, "Caesar's." | 25:07 | |
Then he said to them, | 25:09 | |
"Render therefore to Caesar | 25:11 | |
the things that are Caesar's, | 25:13 | |
and to God the things that are God's." | 25:15 | |
And the subject is rendering on to Caesar. | 25:21 | |
This has to do with the relationship | 25:27 | |
between the Christian and the state. | 25:29 | |
What happens when we perceive the will of God | 25:34 | |
to be one thing and the state seeming | 25:36 | |
to be moving in another direction? | 25:41 | |
How do we render to Caesar appropriately | 25:45 | |
while standing likewise in the midst of the kingdom of God? | 25:50 | |
It is clear from this passage in the Gospel of Matthew | 25:56 | |
that the enemies of Jesus were trying | 26:00 | |
to get him into deep trouble. | 26:03 | |
They tried to get him to say | 26:06 | |
that he had no obligation to Caesar. | 26:08 | |
That he lived beyond and above the government of his day. | 26:12 | |
They asked him what they owed to Caesar | 26:17 | |
tempting him to say | 26:21 | |
"Nothing. You owe Caesar nothing" | 26:23 | |
And that would have meant trouble. | 26:27 | |
He would have been accused | 26:29 | |
of stirring up a revolt against the Emperor. | 26:31 | |
But Jesus asked for this coin | 26:35 | |
that you heard about and he asked | 26:37 | |
"Whose face was stamped on the coin?" | 26:38 | |
It was Caesars, of course. | 26:42 | |
So he said "You rend onto Caesar what is Caesar's | 26:43 | |
and unto God what is God's." | 26:47 | |
In other words the master acknowledged | 26:52 | |
the role and function of the state | 26:54 | |
whether he liked it or not. | 26:58 | |
We do not live in a vacuum we live in a fixed locus | 27:00 | |
with given geometric parameters, | 27:06 | |
a place with its own history | 27:10 | |
and it has a government that controls it. | 27:13 | |
And people who live within these parameters | 27:16 | |
are under some kind of authority. | 27:19 | |
So Jesus granted that | 27:23 | |
and those of us who follow him face the same reality. | 27:25 | |
Much that the government does | 27:30 | |
and much that the state allows or disallows | 27:32 | |
may displease us. | 27:35 | |
But we are all realistic the presence of the state | 27:38 | |
is a given for us. | 27:42 | |
We're thinking about this primarily now | 27:45 | |
because so many things are coming together. | 27:47 | |
Tomorrow is a national holiday, Memorial Day, | 27:51 | |
a time we remember those who have given their lives | 27:55 | |
for this country. | 27:58 | |
During 1994 we were celebrating | 28:01 | |
the landing of the Allied troops in Europe | 28:04 | |
in the beginning of the end of the war, | 28:09 | |
that was fought to end all wars. | 28:11 | |
This is the 50th anniversary of Eisenhower | 28:13 | |
and the D-day landing. | 28:18 | |
Then we've just had the funerals of Richard Nixon | 28:21 | |
and Jacqueline Onassis, | 28:24 | |
and we've heard all of those days reviewed over | 28:26 | |
and over and over again on television. | 28:29 | |
We've been told that we have come | 28:33 | |
to the end of an era and all of that. | 28:34 | |
And any sensitive person would be inclined therefore | 28:38 | |
to raise the question, | 28:41 | |
"Which way is the government going, | 28:43 | |
which way is the state going | 28:45 | |
and for a Christian what role do we have in all of this?" | 28:47 | |
We recognize that we do need some arrangement | 28:53 | |
for honoring personal property, | 28:56 | |
for protecting us from theft and confiscation without cause. | 28:59 | |
We need some agency to ensure the safety | 29:04 | |
of the water we drink the air we breathe | 29:06 | |
and the food we eat, | 29:09 | |
however imperfectly this may be done. | 29:10 | |
We need control of traffic, | 29:14 | |
disposal of waste, transport of people, | 29:16 | |
education of children, prevention of crime | 29:20 | |
and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. | 29:24 | |
And we cannot invent these arrangements | 29:27 | |
every Monday morning. | 29:29 | |
So the state the government has its place | 29:31 | |
and function and fortunately for us, | 29:35 | |
it is a democratic state. | 29:38 | |
But there was another dimension to our being | 29:41 | |
and here comes the problem, | 29:44 | |
We're more than physical objects | 29:46 | |
in a given locus in time and space. | 29:48 | |
We have minds and wills and we are spiritual beings. | 29:52 | |
We make choices we assess our options, | 29:58 | |
we canvass our alternatives. | 30:02 | |
We are spiritual and moral beings | 30:05 | |
and we relate to realities beyond time and space. | 30:07 | |
We have a natural hunger for God | 30:12 | |
and a thirst for righteousness. | 30:14 | |
So while we live under the state | 30:16 | |
we live also under the reign of God as well. | 30:18 | |
So we must respond to the claims of Caesar, | 30:23 | |
and we must respond also to the claims of God. | 30:27 | |
And it is this obligation of every one of us | 30:31 | |
to understand how the two loyalties are binding upon us. | 30:35 | |
The problem is what to do when what we believe | 30:40 | |
to be the will of God is one thing | 30:44 | |
and what we observe to be the trends in the state | 30:47 | |
turn out to be something else? | 30:50 | |
In Jesus day there were some people who withdrew | 30:53 | |
from the whole problem. | 30:56 | |
They were the Essenes, a small sect of people | 30:57 | |
who went to the caves who withdrew from society. | 31:01 | |
Paid no allegiance to any human. | 31:06 | |
They paid no taxes they withdrew | 31:09 | |
from all temple authority, the Essenes. | 31:11 | |
And they went on living, | 31:15 | |
honoring no earthly potentate. | 31:18 | |
That may be possible for a few people | 31:22 | |
but surely not an alternative for most of us. | 31:25 | |
And there are no doubt some persons | 31:29 | |
who would like to do that today. | 31:31 | |
That's not our problem. | 31:33 | |
Our problem is that there are some people | 31:35 | |
who know that the authority is here | 31:37 | |
and who have decided to live above the law. | 31:40 | |
Who engage in lawless living as a career. | 31:43 | |
Then there are those sad persons | 31:47 | |
who live beneath the law | 31:49 | |
who are not even counted, | 31:52 | |
do not submit for any kind of registration, | 31:54 | |
out of touch entirely. | 31:58 | |
Do not benefit from any of the benefactions | 32:00 | |
of the state at all. | 32:03 | |
We have a class of unregistered, uncounted, | 32:05 | |
non-enrolled, non-participating persons | 32:09 | |
who live virtually beneath the law. | 32:12 | |
In the book of Judges, | 32:16 | |
there was a sentence that reminds us | 32:18 | |
of what it is like to live | 32:19 | |
without the benefit of some established order. | 32:21 | |
It says "In that day there was no king in Israel | 32:24 | |
and everyone did that | 32:30 | |
which seemed to be right in his own eyes." | 32:31 | |
I don't water live under any such arrangement as that. | 32:35 | |
Chaos, everyone doing that which seems | 32:39 | |
to be right in his own eyes. | 32:41 | |
In our own time we have seen that kind of chaos | 32:45 | |
when sovereignty is splintered | 32:49 | |
when authority is absent and chaos reigns. | 32:51 | |
Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, | 32:55 | |
and the Soviet Union after Gorbachev, chaos. | 33:01 | |
So Jesus recognized the state. | 33:05 | |
He recognized temple authority. | 33:09 | |
"Render unto Caesar" said the master. | 33:11 | |
Come now let us acknowledge that as Jesus taught | 33:15 | |
we do have something to render to Caesar, | 33:18 | |
and we should be exemplary in that. | 33:21 | |
Our example as Christians and as citizen | 33:24 | |
should be a model for others in civic and public behavior. | 33:27 | |
We ought not to get so holy now | 33:31 | |
and so far above other people in self-righteousness | 33:35 | |
that we do not do our civic duty. | 33:39 | |
In our case fortunately, the state is the people, | 33:42 | |
it's all of us, it's all of us. | 33:46 | |
We are the temporal body and we are the spiritual body. | 33:49 | |
I remember in our church, | 33:53 | |
we had a church and a corporation. | 33:55 | |
Same people sitting there | 33:59 | |
and on the third Wednesday night in July every year | 34:00 | |
we had an annual church meeting. | 34:04 | |
At that meeting we talked about prayer, | 34:06 | |
the condition of the church, | 34:08 | |
Bible training, visiting the sick and all of that. | 34:11 | |
The state had no interest in that whatsoever. | 34:14 | |
They didn't care if we jumped on one foot | 34:17 | |
and spat over our left shoulder, made no difference. | 34:19 | |
But when that meeting adjourned | 34:23 | |
the same people sitting right there | 34:26 | |
were called to order again. | 34:27 | |
This time the Abyssinian Baptist Church incorporated meets, | 34:30 | |
and oh the state had a lot to do with that. | 34:35 | |
This had to do with our accounting procedures, | 34:38 | |
had to do with bank accounts, mortgages, | 34:41 | |
loans that we had made to build apartments for the poor. | 34:45 | |
This was the legal meeting, | 34:48 | |
same people meeting at one time as a family of God, | 34:50 | |
meeting in another five minutes as a corporation. | 34:56 | |
And so this is the way we are. | 34:59 | |
And we ought to be just as dedicated | 35:02 | |
when we are meeting as a corporation, | 35:04 | |
as when we're meeting as a spiritual body. | 35:07 | |
I remember how embarrassed I was when I was a boy, | 35:10 | |
a local pastor in my hometown | 35:13 | |
was seen walking around the streets with an umbrella | 35:16 | |
and we all wondered why wasn't he driving. | 35:19 | |
We found out that his license had been suspended. | 35:22 | |
The preacher had been zipping through town at high speed | 35:25 | |
and had had his license suspended | 35:29 | |
because he had three or four speeding violations, | 35:31 | |
and he was grounded. | 35:35 | |
He thought of that as a joke and he laughed about it. | 35:37 | |
He's gone home now but he'll never remember he'll never know | 35:41 | |
that I thought of that as awful when I was a kid. | 35:45 | |
That here this pastor is such a poor citizen | 35:50 | |
that he speeds through the neighborhood | 35:53 | |
and has his license suspended. | 35:56 | |
That was no joke at all to me, even as a boy. | 35:58 | |
Our country's in deep trouble now | 36:03 | |
because we have so many young people with no civic sense. | 36:06 | |
No awareness of a social contract, | 36:09 | |
no loyalty to the body politic at all. | 36:12 | |
And we grieve over this, | 36:17 | |
but they have such poor examples | 36:20 | |
at the very highest levels of government | 36:22 | |
that we wonder if we haven't taught them | 36:24 | |
how to be so disregarding of the body politic. | 36:27 | |
We have a New York Supreme Court judge right now | 36:31 | |
serving a jail term for harassing a former lover. | 36:35 | |
One of the most embarrassing cases we had in New York. | 36:40 | |
Now we have the head of a government committee, | 36:44 | |
a powerful committee being indicted | 36:47 | |
for whatever they call it, it amounts to stealing, really. | 36:50 | |
Three candidates for the Supreme Court | 36:54 | |
and a cabinet officer had to withdraw their names | 36:56 | |
because they had not contributed social security | 37:00 | |
contributions for housekeepers. | 37:04 | |
These housekeepers were often persons | 37:06 | |
who had just come to this country, | 37:08 | |
who spoke English poorly, who needed the money, | 37:10 | |
took these jobs for low wages, paltry pay | 37:14 | |
and then were ending up with no Medicare, | 37:18 | |
no old-age benefits, at the hands of people | 37:21 | |
who went to the finest Ivy League universities | 37:24 | |
in the country. | 37:28 | |
That was a disgrace, | 37:29 | |
and many of them were experts in the law. | 37:32 | |
Christian citizens ought to be exemplary. | 37:36 | |
Rend unto Caesar is no light matter. | 37:39 | |
We ought to be teaching other people how to do it right. | 37:42 | |
Jesus said "Give to Caesar what Caesar is due." | 37:47 | |
It is elementary to be a good citizen | 37:50 | |
as a part of our Christian stewardship. | 37:53 | |
Part of being a good citizen also | 37:56 | |
is to scrutinize the government. | 37:58 | |
Not to roll over for dead and become a kind of spectator. | 38:00 | |
Part of being a good citizen is to observe its ways, | 38:06 | |
its assumptions, its goals and its implicit values | 38:08 | |
in the light of our commitment to the kingdom of God. | 38:12 | |
What a temptation it is to withdraw from the confusion | 38:16 | |
and failure of the society | 38:19 | |
and then retreat to our Walden pond somewhere, | 38:22 | |
or to react in violent defiance | 38:26 | |
like John Brown at Harpers Ferry, | 38:28 | |
or to get lost on a Greek island drinking gin and tonic | 38:31 | |
and snorkeling off the stern of an 80-foot yacht. | 38:34 | |
There are all sorts of ways of escaping | 38:39 | |
all sorts of ways of reacting to our unhappiness | 38:42 | |
with the prevailing Authority. | 38:45 | |
But Caesar is real, the state is a given, | 38:47 | |
we must find out how best to render unto Caesar. | 38:51 | |
One way to Rend under Caesars to keep trying | 38:56 | |
and trying and trying, never giving up | 38:58 | |
until we find better answers to our failures. | 39:02 | |
Much better than whining, | 39:05 | |
much better than giving name-calling, | 39:07 | |
all of these ugly ugly labels we attach to people. | 39:10 | |
Better than telephoning mean-spirited talk-show hosts | 39:14 | |
and fueling an already inflammatory atmosphere | 39:18 | |
with more hate and cynicism, | 39:22 | |
we want to be a part of the answer | 39:24 | |
not a part of the problem. | 39:26 | |
"Render unto Caesar." Jesus was in earnest. | 39:28 | |
If pornography on television is playing havoc | 39:33 | |
with our values and seducing the generation | 39:36 | |
to treat family life casually. | 39:39 | |
And if freedom of speech allows such filth | 39:42 | |
to pollute the airways we've got to keep on trying | 39:44 | |
and we've got to find another answer for all of this. | 39:48 | |
We've got to render unto Caesar constructively. | 39:52 | |
We've got to go so far as to find out | 39:56 | |
what products are sponsoring this filth. | 39:58 | |
And we can make known our disgust | 40:01 | |
and let those sponsors feel it where it hurts. | 40:04 | |
When a young tennis star was found caught up in drugs | 40:07 | |
her sponsors found it too risky to promote their products | 40:10 | |
among the young with her name. | 40:14 | |
We pray for her but all of this was withdrawn. | 40:17 | |
Quiet passive acquiescence amounts to consent. | 40:22 | |
Evil prosperous when good people do nothing, | 40:27 | |
and some times that nothing may really be something. | 40:30 | |
I kept hearing the name of Delta Airlines, | 40:34 | |
on a very ugly program in our community in New Jersey. | 40:38 | |
And I did not think that Delta wanted its name connected | 40:43 | |
with all of that race baiting and ugliness. | 40:45 | |
And what did I do? | 40:50 | |
I sat down and wrote an eight page letter in hand | 40:51 | |
writing to the president of Delta Airlines. | 40:54 | |
And I told Delat Airlines what a wonderful reputation it had | 40:58 | |
you know "Delta's ready when you are," | 41:02 | |
but I didn't want to see Delta Airlines' name | 41:05 | |
connected with such filth and I told the president | 41:08 | |
"You must not listen to this program, | 41:11 | |
there are many ways to advertise your wonderful airline | 41:13 | |
but hardly like this." | 41:16 | |
Oh I got an answer from somebody | 41:18 | |
in the public relations office saying | 41:20 | |
"We contract out our advertising | 41:22 | |
and we don't select the programs | 41:24 | |
and bla bla bla bla bla" | 41:25 | |
But I want to tell you something | 41:27 | |
this Sunday morning May the 29th. | 41:28 | |
I've not heard Delta's name | 41:31 | |
connected with that program anymore. | 41:33 | |
I don't know whether my letter did it or not, | 41:35 | |
but all I know is I sent it | 41:38 | |
and I haven't heard Delta's name on that program | 41:41 | |
since I sent it. | 41:44 | |
If we are troubled and terrorized | 41:46 | |
by unemployed street rovers who are too poorly educated | 41:48 | |
to be gainfully employed, too poorly reared | 41:52 | |
to respect the space, the person, | 41:54 | |
and the privacy, and rights of others. | 41:57 | |
And too isolated and alienated to be reached with reason, | 42:00 | |
then somebody special in our country, | 42:04 | |
somebody in one of these big foundations, | 42:08 | |
somebody buried in one of these departments, | 42:11 | |
in a great university like Duke. | 42:13 | |
One of the corporate teams somewhere ought to be able | 42:16 | |
to huddle together and tell us | 42:19 | |
what produces such anomalies in our society. | 42:21 | |
This cannot remain a mystery forever. | 42:25 | |
Somebody who's good in psychology and social theory | 42:28 | |
and Social Work in urban studies ought to be able | 42:31 | |
to couple up with somebody else | 42:34 | |
and diagnose this cancerous condition | 42:36 | |
and help us all to get at its roots. | 42:39 | |
It is not worthy of Christians simply to sit down | 42:41 | |
at cocktail parties and call names. | 42:45 | |
Bright people like mice ought to be able to say | 42:47 | |
"We can get to the bottom of this and let's do it." | 42:50 | |
We need our brightest people to get a handle on this issue. | 42:56 | |
Capital punishment that's one thing, | 42:59 | |
building more jails that's one thing, | 43:01 | |
passing tougher crime laws, | 43:03 | |
but all of this is like treating the blisters | 43:05 | |
and we need to get at the fever. | 43:09 | |
There is the capacity among us to find these causes | 43:12 | |
and if we can send a spaceship a world away | 43:16 | |
into the distant horizon to find a malfunctioning camera | 43:19 | |
and fix it, no highways, no road signs, nothing out there | 43:23 | |
and we can send up through mathematical calculation | 43:28 | |
a spaceship and find a camera fix it and come on back, | 43:31 | |
on time, then we can find our way into the minds | 43:35 | |
and value systems of a lost generation, | 43:39 | |
and bring them to wholeness and meaning. | 43:43 | |
We call now not only | 43:46 | |
to live as citizens of the kingdom of God | 43:49 | |
but to render unto Caesar | 43:52 | |
and to take our place in solving these problems. | 43:54 | |
Here we are inescapably members of a finite community, | 43:57 | |
citizens of the state | 44:01 | |
and participants in the dynamic society. | 44:02 | |
The failure and weakness, the brokenness | 44:05 | |
and fragmentation of that society, | 44:07 | |
all of these things cry out to us. | 44:09 | |
It is not just that we may have peace | 44:11 | |
and can take some of the locks off the door | 44:14 | |
and get rid of these ferocious dogs | 44:16 | |
we've had to buy not just for that alone | 44:18 | |
but there are lives out there being destroyed. | 44:21 | |
And we want to concern, be concerned about any human life | 44:25 | |
that is wasted without worth and significance. | 44:28 | |
The temptation is to turn down the volume, | 44:32 | |
draw the curtains shut out the news | 44:35 | |
and then let chaos reign. | 44:39 | |
But this is the real world and we must find a way | 44:42 | |
to render unto Caesar constructively. | 44:44 | |
This brings us to the next concern | 44:48 | |
after we acknowledge what we owe to Caesar, | 44:50 | |
we must end confess what we owe to God | 44:52 | |
as citizens of both kingdoms, | 44:55 | |
we have a dual obligation. | 44:57 | |
And while we live in Caesar's kingdom | 44:59 | |
we live also in God's kingdom. | 45:01 | |
We live in the state standing body deep, | 45:04 | |
in the necessities and challenges of the state | 45:07 | |
but we also internalize the mind of Christ | 45:10 | |
and we are in economy of heaven | 45:14 | |
even while abiding here. | 45:16 | |
So we don't come | 45:18 | |
to our citizens' responsibilities empty-handed | 45:19 | |
with no agenda of our own at all, oh no. | 45:23 | |
We come as persons subscribing | 45:27 | |
to the values of the kingdom of God. | 45:30 | |
We have our own wish list, we are kingdom oriented | 45:32 | |
and we must give witness to the truth that is in us. | 45:37 | |
Rending unto Caesar is one thing | 45:41 | |
but we are not through when we do that. | 45:43 | |
We must go on and render unto God | 45:45 | |
which is our higher calling. | 45:48 | |
And you'd be surprised that when we rend unto God, | 45:50 | |
sometimes we do an awful lot | 45:54 | |
to help in our rendering unto Caesar. | 45:56 | |
Many of you may recall something | 46:00 | |
that was called crossroads Africa. | 46:02 | |
A Presbyterian preacher Jim Robinson in Harlem | 46:06 | |
got the idea of recruiting college students | 46:10 | |
to go into needful places | 46:14 | |
on the continent of Africa for six seven or eight weeks | 46:17 | |
in the summertime and he led these students | 46:22 | |
in doing teaching, agricultural work, health services | 46:26 | |
and all of that, and students enjoyed it. | 46:30 | |
Some of them went summer after summer. | 46:34 | |
This was a preacher with a good and a positive idea | 46:37 | |
to help out in a critical situation in the world. | 46:42 | |
That's rendering unto God. | 46:45 | |
But guess what, when the Peace Corps people heard about it, | 46:48 | |
President Kennedy heard about it, | 46:52 | |
Vice President Humphrey heard about it, | 46:54 | |
they went and organized the Peace Corps | 46:56 | |
and the next thing I knew I was recruited | 46:59 | |
to work with the Peace Corps. | 47:02 | |
And instead of me having 20 volunteers in Nigeria | 47:03 | |
for six weeks, I had 795 for two years. | 47:07 | |
And later as associate director of the Peace Corps, | 47:14 | |
I had 16,000 in 38 countries. | 47:17 | |
This is one of the finest parables I know of | 47:21 | |
what it means when Christians render unto Caesar | 47:25 | |
that which is Caesar's and then render unto God | 47:29 | |
that which is God's, | 47:32 | |
doing that marvelous original Christian thinking, | 47:34 | |
approaching problems in the name of Christ. | 47:37 | |
You'll be amazed at how a Caesar can change | 47:40 | |
and follow the example of the kingdom of God. | 47:43 | |
Well, we come now to our last consideration | 47:49 | |
and that is one of these days if we keep working at it | 47:53 | |
we want to be shocked. | 47:57 | |
We want to see that when we render unto Caesar, | 47:59 | |
it rend unto God, it may be the same rendering. | 48:02 | |
We may be talking to the same issues | 48:06 | |
and with the same results. | 48:09 | |
I don't know how you feel about it | 48:11 | |
but I can't get used to this idea | 48:13 | |
of a new South Africa to save my life. | 48:16 | |
It is just downright shocking to me. | 48:19 | |
I may be stupid but I'm telling you | 48:23 | |
I can't get used to it at all. | 48:25 | |
Because there was a 300 year process | 48:27 | |
of a minority in South Africa ruling 24 million people, | 48:32 | |
a powerful majority. | 48:37 | |
This was so indelible in the culture | 48:39 | |
in the Africana brutal bond, | 48:42 | |
the whole society rigged up around apartheid. | 48:44 | |
Then the leader of the African National Party | 48:48 | |
was in prison 28 years, | 48:51 | |
over 10,000 still dark nights | 48:55 | |
in prison watching through those bars. | 48:59 | |
The Stars finding their places slowly every night. | 49:03 | |
What on earth was he thinking about | 49:07 | |
for 10,000 some odd nights in prison? | 49:09 | |
A good man who done no wrong | 49:13 | |
but who wanted to correct the wrong, | 49:15 | |
it seems so impossible for one man | 49:17 | |
to move something so huge, | 49:20 | |
which is the whole state of South Africa, | 49:22 | |
with its culture and its institutions. | 49:24 | |
And we thought that if he ever did come out of jail, | 49:27 | |
he would be blind or crazy or sick tubercular | 49:30 | |
shaking unsteady and mind and body. | 49:34 | |
But my soul he came out standing tall | 49:38 | |
seventy years old, | 49:42 | |
his mind as clear as a bell, | 49:44 | |
organized his party, | 49:48 | |
made a bid for an election was elected president. | 49:50 | |
And then as president was not mad with anybody, | 49:54 | |
he said we want to forget the past, | 49:58 | |
he made the former South African president | 50:01 | |
his deputy president | 50:04 | |
and another opposing group deputy president. | 50:06 | |
And said "Now let's show the world | 50:09 | |
how to have a multicultural society | 50:11 | |
with justice and fairness." | 50:14 | |
You know one thing, if this had happened in Bible times | 50:16 | |
it would have taken up six or seven books of the Bible. | 50:20 | |
(congregation laughs) | 50:23 | |
There was one exile of the Jews, | 50:27 | |
that lasted seventy years | 50:29 | |
and there were some eight books of the Bible | 50:31 | |
dealing with the Exile. | 50:34 | |
If this Nelson Mandela story happened | 50:38 | |
1200 BC 2000 BC, | 50:41 | |
all of our children would be reciting it in Sunday school. | 50:44 | |
Right now | 50:48 | |
it says something to us about what happens | 50:50 | |
when the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar | 50:54 | |
are brought together by somebody's idealism. | 50:57 | |
Somebody's fortitude, somebody's tenacity, | 51:01 | |
somebody's imagination. | 51:05 | |
Somebody rises up and transcends culture, | 51:07 | |
transcends all of this temple authority, | 51:11 | |
and reaches for something greater. | 51:15 | |
Well we've been obsessed for a long time with a vision | 51:18 | |
or what an ideal order ought to be, haven't we? | 51:21 | |
Plato wrote about his Republic, | 51:24 | |
it wasn't the way I would like to see things at all. | 51:26 | |
Isaiah saw a vision of the lion and the lamb | 51:30 | |
lying down together | 51:32 | |
John of Patmos, or New Jerusalem four square with 12 gates, | 51:34 | |
coming down from heaven. | 51:38 | |
Hobbs had his vision of his Leviathan, | 51:40 | |
and then Tennyson sang lyrically about Locksley Hall. | 51:43 | |
But our blessed Savior Jesus Christ | 51:48 | |
prayed as simply as possible. | 51:52 | |
What did he say? | 51:55 | |
"Thy kingdom come on earth | 51:57 | |
as it is in heaven." | 52:02 | |
Rendering unto Caesar, rendering unto God, | 52:04 | |
these things converging with one marvelous obligation. | 52:08 | |
"Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." | 52:13 | |
May the lord bless you all. | 52:17 | |
(organ music) | 52:22 | |
(organ drowns out choir singing) | 53:06 | |
- | The Lord be with you. | 58:55 |
Congregation | And also with you. | 58:57 |
- | Let us pray. | 58:59 |
Precious God, you who by your word | 59:11 | |
created order out of chaos. | 59:16 | |
We thank you that you are the creator of all things. | 59:22 | |
We thank you for your son Jesus | 59:29 | |
who by his power and his might | 59:32 | |
brings to us justice and peace. | 59:38 | |
We praise you today for your blessed holy spirit. | 59:42 | |
A spirit who grants us renewal and revival, | 59:47 | |
and convicts us ever of righteousness. | 59:53 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 59:58 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 1:00:00 |
- | O God you have made us in your own image | 1:00:03 |
and redeemed us through your son. | 1:00:06 | |
Look with compassion on us, as your family. | 1:00:09 | |
Take away from us arrogance and hatred | 1:00:15 | |
which infect our hearts. | 1:00:19 | |
Break down the walls that separate us | 1:00:22 | |
and unite us with bonds of love. | 1:00:25 | |
Work through us in the struggle | 1:00:30 | |
and help us O God as we remember today | 1:00:32 | |
our brothers and sisters in South Africa and South America. | 1:00:38 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 1:00:46 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 1:00:48 |
- | Eternal God, in whose perfect Kingdom, | 1:00:51 |
no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness. | 1:00:54 | |
No strength known but the strength of love. | 1:01:00 | |
So spread abroad oh god your spirit | 1:01:06 | |
that all peoples may be gathered under the banner | 1:01:09 | |
of the Prince of Peace. | 1:01:13 | |
Today as we pray for your peace in the world | 1:01:15 | |
we remember our brothers and sisters in Rwanda, | 1:01:19 | |
in Haiti, in Bosnia, in Herzegovina. | 1:01:23 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 1:01:30 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 1:01:33 |
- | Fellow God your church with all truth | 1:01:34 |
in all truth and with all peace. | 1:01:38 | |
Purify it from all corruption and error | 1:01:42 | |
and direct it in the ways of truth. | 1:01:48 | |
Inspire us to witness so that by our lives | 1:01:52 | |
we might truly Lord live a life | 1:01:58 | |
that renders to the building up of your kingdom. | 1:02:01 | |
Help us to be faithful stewards | 1:02:07 | |
to that which you have committed us. | 1:02:11 | |
Grant now O God, your peace in all that we do. | 1:02:16 | |
Lord in your mercy. | 1:02:22 | |
Congregation | Hear our prayer. | 1:02:24 |
- | We'll now have our offertory. | 1:02:31 |
Let us stand and sing together. | 1:02:35 | |
Rather the choir will lead us in an anthem | 1:02:45 | |
as we have our offertory. | 1:02:47 | |
Let us prepare to give. | 1:02:48 | |
(organ music) | 1:02:52 | |
(organ drowns out choir singing) | 1:04:14 | |
Gracious God we thank you for your many mercies. | 1:12:24 | |
We realize oh god that we are unworthy, | 1:12:30 | |
but we thank you that you in your grace, | 1:12:35 | |
Have allowed us to come to you again. | 1:12:39 | |
We give to you but a portion of all you have given to us. | 1:12:42 | |
And now we return to you our most humble and hearty thanks. | 1:12:48 | |
For your loving goodness, for your kindness, to all of us. | 1:12:54 | |
We pray O God that you would continue | 1:13:01 | |
to let your blessing pour down upon us. | 1:13:04 | |
Today we thank you especially for our Savior Jesus Christ. | 1:13:07 | |
We pray O God as we seek to live | 1:13:13 | |
in that which he had taught us | 1:13:16 | |
that you might be a constant guide. | 1:13:19 | |
And now we pray all these things with thanks giving | 1:13:22 | |
through Jesus Christ who taught us when we pray to say. | 1:13:26 | |
- | [Everyone In Church] Our Father, who art in heaven, | 1:13:32 |
hallowed be thy Name, | 1:13:35 | |
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, | 1:13:37 | |
on earth as it is in heaven. | 1:13:41 | |
Give us this day our daily bread. | 1:13:44 | |
And forgive us our trespasses, | 1:13:46 | |
as we forgive those who trespass against us. | 1:13:48 | |
And lead us not into temptation, | 1:13:52 | |
but deliver us from evil. | 1:13:55 | |
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, | 1:13:57 | |
for ever and ever. Amen. | 1:14:02 | |
(organ music) | 1:14:05 | |
(organ drowns out choir singing) | 1:14:51 |
Item Info
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