Judge of the Nations                                                                         11/11/45

 

Scripture:  Psalm 9

 

Text:  Psalm 9:  5, 19, 20;  “Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked; thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever .......  Arise, O Jehovah; let not man prevail; let the nations be judged in thy sight.  Put them in fear, O Jehovah; let the nations know themselves to be but men.”

 

Today is marked in various calendars of church and community for several observances.  It is Armistice Day, marking the end of a terrible war 27 years ago.  Traditionally, our community has marked it annually with parade and ceremonial, with silent prayer for those countrymen who fell during the conflict and for our nation for which they struggled.  This year, since November 11th falls on Sunday, and since a more recent conflict and uneasy victory casts its shadow beside the former event, the patriotic societies have simply suggested to citizens that they attend their churches today.  There they may offer their prayers in the midst of worship after the manner of their own conscience and preference.

 

Today is also designated as “World Order Sunday” on the calendar suggested for our churches.

 

A year and a half ago, 192 of the members of this church and congregation signed a World Order Compact, as did those in Congregational churches all across the land.  In so doing, we committed “our wills and our ways” to the end that “our nation shall help to establish an international organization for the better ordering of the interdependent life of nations, the preservation of peace with justice, and the furtherance of the general good of all peoples.”

 

Other church denominations were expressing their conviction, in their own ways, that there must be established some sound organization for the effective expression of good will and good faith among the nations of the world.  The concern for world order is a matter of lasting concern to all peoples, now more than ever before.

 

Today is also “Men and Missions Sunday” on the calendars of a great many churches of most Protestant denominations.  You may have heard the excellent 15-minute radio broadcast over WFHR at 8:15 last Friday evening in which Arthur Compton and John Foster Dulles, two Christian laymen, and others, put forth a strong plea for laymen’s understanding and ample support of Christian missions.

 

In our own church, I should like to postpone further consideration of Men and Missions until next Sunday, when we will consider the subject, together with our own church’s part in the missionary movement.

 

But on this Armistice Day, as we recall the tremendous personal and national sacrifices involved in the two titanic wars of a single generation, we ought to give some thought to the matter of world order, and offer heart-searching prayer for the better realization of a community of nations.

 

All over the earth, thoughtful people are uneasy.  A mighty war has been concluded in victory for the side to which we happen to belong, and in utter defeat for the former axis powers.  The believers in democracy have, by the victory, been given a chance that would have been snuffed out in any defeat by the axis powers.  But this is precisely what it is - a chance.  The war has settled the question as to who is strongest just now.  The question of how righteousness and justice are to be established, and to continue functioning, is now before the world.

 

People are uneasy - some jittery - some pessimistic - some alarmed.  Nerves have been frayed by the harrowing years of pressure and conflict.  But they have been more than jarred by three mighty explosions in New Mexico, in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki.  Men talk, seriously and solemnly, about the possibility of mass death, controlled only by push buttons at desks in consulate offices here or abroad.  Our country and its British Allies temporarily hold the secret of this appalling power, with the assurance that it cannot long remain secret.

 

Twist or turn as we may, we cannot escape from the crisis that is much more fundamental than the crisis of war.  We drive ourselves from one false solution to another as we consider secrecy, armament and conscription, treaty possibilities and the rest of our secular-inspired list of solutions.

 

And while this goes on, so does war.  The major conflict brought to a close, its tides still ebb and flow in countries of the Pacific, and its sparks smolder on the continents.

 

The truth is this: that the fate of the world depends on the strength of moral and religious forces.  The fundamental issues so violently laid before us in the ultimatum of atomic energy are more squarely up to us in Christian churches than anywhere else.  For the basic solutions are religious.

 

The only real hope for world order lies in a deeper faith in God, and therefore in man as a child of God; in a more sacrificial effort to make brotherhood the guiding principle of society.

 

Christian men and women must heed the call of the churches to repentance, worship and service.  The time is so short, and our unpreparedness is so great!  We must act steadily and swiftly to strengthen Christian evangelism and education for ourselves and all men.  We must support every expedient control of atomic energy which offers us a little more time in which to work.

 

We have known for a long time that our scientific and technical knowledge is outrunning our spiritual qualification to handle such power.  We know that it is criminally wrong to place a stick of dynamite, with cap and fuse, in the hands of a three-year-old.  The tot hasn’t the maturity to handle such explosive power intelligently or rightly.  Far greater power is now in the lap of a whole civilization that has had no sufficient growth in knowledge of how to control such power for good.  We’re going to have to grow up in a hurry to save ourselves!

 

There is only one way to turn, in so great and appalling need - toward God almighty who alone can perfect such a miracle!  Therefore let us, in our weakness and ignorance, seek God’s strength and light.  In our churches, in our homes, let us in humility seek His guidance for our selves, for our homes, for our nation, for our world.

 

And wherever others may be turning to God, or may be persuaded to turn to God, all over the world, let us look in help and fellowship.  Christian missions have paid great, and to some people unexpected, dividends in spirit and tactics during the past few years.  This is especially obvious in the Pacific and in the Orient as many a grateful soldier and sailor has said in his letters sent home.

 

The missionary outreach is more important than we can comprehend.  For it means the constant expansion of the spirit of right.  We have been glad for every declaration of right purpose as our nation passed through the months of mounting danger before, and during, our participation in the war.  The formulation of the Atlantic Charter gave us and the world a mighty lift in spirit, to ground that must not be lost in cynicism.  Suppose there is disillusionment as to whether that Charter includes the Pacific as well as the Atlantic; the colored races as well as the white, and so on.  We should be silly to throw it out just because the perversity of man keeps its expression imperfect.  We’ve got to make it work!

 

We hear a lot about the Four Freedoms; Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear.  Do we really have them?  Will we ever really have them?  How free can we be if others do not, or can not, attain to the same freedom?

 

Of one thing we may be sure: these freedoms will never come to us as a gift unless we make a point of deserving them.  If we are to have them, we must willingly share every responsibility that goes with them.  Perhaps the price is too high for some.  But here is the price stated for all who are willing to pay; and the price of refusing them is heavier.

 

Freedom of Religion comes at the price of responsibility in serving God.  No one truly has freedom to worship God unless he Worships God!  Those to whom this freedom has been a precious thing through the years are they who have worshipped.  The ancient Hebrews worshipped; the early Christians worshipped, in spite of interference and interdiction by Roman government.  The Christians of the Reformation did not just seek escape from a church they considered corrupt.  They worshipped in the manner dictated by conscience.  The Pilgrims who came to New England came not to avoid churches but to worship.  There is freedom of religion only as there is religion.  Whoever turns his back on religious worship, turns his back on freedom of worship.

 

Freedom of Speech comes at the cost of speaking the truth - of seeking out the truth and letting it be known.  We’ve had enough of the other!  Printed speech or verbal utterance casts aside its basic freedom if it be used, through evil design or carelessness, for lies.

 

Freedom from Want demands of us the responsibility of discriminate expenditure of natural resources, without waste.  And it bears the obligation of a stewardship based on brotherhood.  The second editorial in yesterday afternoon’s local newspaper called thoughtful attention to J. F. Lincoln’s business conviction that “the sole purpose of industry - management and labor - is to serve the consumer.”  [J.F. Lincoln of Lincoln Electric Co.]  And that position sheds a sobering light on the spirit of bargaining solely for what the bargainers can “get out” of the bargain.  If we are to have freedom from want, we will get it at the price of service - of the giving of ourselves.  Isn’t it possible even to our feeble understanding that Jesus was uttering a permanent truth when he said “seek ye first the kingdom of God” - what is right - “and all these (other) things shall be added unto you.” ?  [Matthew 6: 33].

 

Freedom from Fear requires of us that we be strong enough in our own souls to face the future unafraid.  It comes at the price of fair and understanding dealings with our neighbors.  Among nations, it means the same thing.

 

Our own nation came into existence as an effective Federal entity, when each state sacrificed enough of its independent prerogatives to subscribe to a common constitution, and a Federal power of enforcement of laws which affected the common good of all.  Part of it was in the formation of a United States army stronger than the states’ armies or guards.  When we are ready to put adequate moral and physical force in the hands of a competent world government, we will be far on the road toward freedom from national fears.

 

All of our hope for a better world hinges on the attitude of people.  And our hope for good people depends on the grace of God.

 

The Bible is our unparalleled source of light on this problem.  Hundreds of years before Christ, the Psalmist observed that men and nations seemed rebuked in their sin and willfulness by God; that the wicked were brought to destruction and their very memory blotted out; that the righteous nation knows itself to be judged by God; that its members know themselves to be but men.

 

And individual people like you and me find in the Bible, as nowhere else, the suggestions that bring strength and harmony to our souls.

 

            “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” [Isaiah 30: 15].

            “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” [Isaiah 26: 3].

            “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  [John 14: 27].

            “I will fear no evil for God is with me.”  [Psalm 23: 4].

 

Nowhere else is to be found that which can so convert the life of man.  And as William James says: “The first characteristic of a converted man is the sense of a higher control.”

 

Do you remember the words of Robert Louis Stevenson: “There stood at the tiller that Helmsman known as God, and my life came around like a well-guided ship.”  The world will look better when enough men and women, so guided, stand before the Judge of the Nations, ready above all else to know and do His will.

 

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 11, 1945.