With Face Forward                                                               5/27/45

 

Scripture:  Philippians 4: 1-9

 

Text:  Philippians 3: 13b-14a;  “...this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God ...”

 

Two thoughts we have in mind today to remember, as we have, those who have gone before in through the portals of the eternal, and to recognize and commend those who face forward from graduation through the portals of a commencement.  The moment of commencement is one of those extraordinarily happy spots that dot the highway of a life.

 

Of course the education of these young people, like that of all of us, began in childhood in a home.  It continued there, where so many of the lessons of right and wrong, of trust and hope, of love and faith were learned while they went on to school in their first grades, continuing through elementary school into high school.

 

With the encouragement of parents and friends, of teachers and counselors all along the way, these young folk have learned the lessons and cultivated the skills which have brought them to the completion of twelve grades or steps, in their growth.  To reach this point is in itself a proud achievement.  There have also been extra achievements all along the way, that are remembered and marked at this graduation - skills learned in speech, in music, in athletic teamwork, in dramatics, in management of various activities and in sheer ability to get along well with other people.  Graduation counts them up and recognizes them with due ceremony.

 

Any such celebration, however, not only looks back in a quick survey of the past, marking the progress achieved, but looks forward to the future with plans for what comes next.  It is so with every event of life.  “Birth” is the end of one stage of development and the beginning of the struggle and adventure and achievements of human life.  “Marriage” is the culmination of years of growing and learning in two people, and then of a period of acquaintance and courtship.  But it is an event which faces the future.  Its chief significance lies in what two people can accomplish, working as one team, one home, for the good of their world.

 

That which we call “death” marks the end of an earthly span and a wide portal into the eternal future.

 

All along the way of this earthly span, there is time only to mark the event and then face ahead.  Such a moment, is this graduation and this commencement.  And we rejoice, with these members of the class of 1945, in their achievements and in their hopes and plans for the future.

 

A man who had had a lot of experience wrote some advice to some of his friends, then, which is still good advice for all in facing the future, now.  He said:  “Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

 

Today I remind you of this same good advice.  We have to be continually aware of both good and evil around us.  Someone has remarked that many people go through three stages; the first (1) being a stage of unbounded optimism when everything seems rosy and all things are possible; when it seems that a few people with good intentions, and some pep about it, can surely change the evil ways of the world.  Then (2) there may come a stage of disillusionment and cynicism when one sees the meanness of the world, the carelessness and waywardness and selfishness of people and concludes that nothing very much can be done about it.  Then (3) comes the stage of faith, when, knowing the weaknesses and tricks and evils of people and of living, one nonetheless faces forward in trust that the ultimate is goodness, and puts his force with all of the good forces he can find.

 

Of course, life sometimes strikes a sour and discordant note in the harmony.  Disappointments come.  One can despair, rebel and grow sour with them, or he can look around them to the next hope.

 

Of course some of one’s neighbors turn out sometimes to be less than one had hoped, as a certain doctor occasionally discovered.  Probably most physicians send out their bills for professional services at the end of each month to all patients treated that month.  But this doctor had a different system.  An Irish politician said to him, sometime after he had received treatment, “How it it, doctor, that you haven’t called on me for my account?”  “O,” said the doctor, “I never ask a gentleman for money.”  “Indeed, then, how do you manage if he doesn’t pay?”  “Well,” replied the doctor, “after a certain time I conclude he isn’t a gentleman, and then I ask him.”

 

I hope we may all face forward, looking first for the gentleman, the lady, in people of every sort.  It will not always be found.  We may now and then find that it has been momentarily lost in ourselves.  But it is worth looking for and cultivating; and it is surprising how often it can be found.

 

Another things I should like to say to the graduates, to these who are at commencement.  This past week I saw two motion pictures of life in China during war time.  Some of you saw them too.  One had to do with the almost unbelievable sufferings of Chinese people on the earth at the hand of a ruthless enemy.  The other had to do with the dealings of American pilots with the same enemy in the air.  The latter one was titled “God is my Co-pilot.”  Some of it was pretty good.

 

I don’t know why the title was worded in just that way.  There is a good idea in it.  But I want to suggest a rewording of that title for you - and for all of us that I think is better.  I would put it this way:  “I am going to be God’s co-pilot.”

 

To say “God is on my side,” or “I want God to be on my side,” is like the desire of a child to know that his parents believe in him, and that is good.  But it also suggests sometimes the attitude of the boy who says “I’ve got a Dad that can lick your Dad.  You can’t beat us!”

 

The ultimate issues of life are in the hands of a God who is forever right.  It is our concern, not that he be sure to get over to our side, but that we be sure to be on his side. 

 

When you pray, make it not so much an effort to get your way with God, as an effort to find what is God’s idea of right for you so that you can go ahead with Him.  When you think of whatever is honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report - try to think what God has been showing people through the ages to be honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report.

 

With face forward, then reaching toward the accomplishments and goodly prizes of the future, “be thus-minded,” as Paul said, “and God shall reveal ... this unto you.”

 

May you go through the rest of life looking for the good in people, and looking for the good of God.

 

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, May 27, 1945