Start From Here                                                                    5/29/49

 

Scripture:  (Read Philippians 3: 7-17)

 

Text:  Philippians 3: 13,14;  “This one thing I do --- I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

 

Memorial Sunday and the Sunday nearest graduation have often coincided, as they do this year on this Sunday.  At first thought, they would seem to have no connection except through a coincidence on the calendar.  On second thought, they do have a relationship.  For life is a continuous process.  The opportunities of today and tomorrow were bought by the efforts, sacrifices, hopes and plans of those who lived yesterday.  There is a sense in which all who love righteousness now, and will do their part to promote it in the future, are a part of the “fellowship of saints” who have gone before.  Our pointed remembrance of those who have lived before us, particularly those whom we have known, is a healthy reminder that we live our lives not alone, but in company with others who are living now, with all who have gone before, and -- believe this -- with all who shall come after us.

 

Tomorrow, our community will pause for holiday remembrance of those who have gone on.  The nature of the observance draws particular attention to those who have given life in service of country.  But it is a day of living remembrance for all our dead, and of grateful rededication to the purposes of their living and ours.  Today I want particularly to mark the significance of graduation, for we rejoice in this group of young folk who are at a commencement in their lives.

 

A tourist, driving through the rolling hills and winding roads of the countryside, stopped to inquire of a villager the way to South Braintree.  The man thought a moment and then say, “Well, stranger, if I were you and I wanted to go to South Braintree, I wouldn’t start from here.”  Perhaps it might seem desirable to start from somewhere else on the next step following this commencement.  Probably there are a considerable number of us in this room who think we might like to start tomorrow morning from somewhere else.  We may even enjoy a little fantasy about it.  But the place to start from, even if the road should be narrow, winding and hard to describe, is here, and the time is now, and the circumstances the reality with which we must deal.

 

An important reality is the matter of our choices; the attitudes by which we propose to be guided; the standards of right we expect to maintain.  With no hesitation I recommend Christian standards, not only to young people of a graduating class but to everyone who hears these words.

 

Real life starts from Jesus Christ.  Christian truth is not something to be pursued like a butterfly.  It is rather something to begin with and live by.  We can represent Jesus Christ truly only as we ourselves become, in a real and reverent sense, the incarnation of his truth.  Our lives must be alight and alive with Christian principles.  What our generation needs, more than anything else, is men and women who are fully Christian in thinking, in living, in the spirit of his love.

 

Jesus loved people - all sorts and ages and conditions of people.  We remember a particular instance in which, as told in the book of Mark,  [Mark 10: 21], Jesus was talking to a young man who had come to see him.  “And Jesus looking upon him loved him.”  The young fellow had just about everything.  Jesus loved him especially for what he was and what he could give in service.  Unfortunately that young man wasn’t willing to give himself in service - perhaps partly because of what he had.

 

1)  Consider the advantage of youth.  “You have everything.”  A young man has an athletic body, a fine face, good clothes, brains, personality-plus.  A young woman has a fair face, attractive hair, lovely clothes, intellect.  They have a considerable training in education.  Perhaps some have the opportunity for more.  Everything hopeful lies before youth.  It has time, yet, which age does not have.  But the big questions may not yet be life-decided.  Where are you going?  Better start from here, and now.

 

2)  Consider the peril of youth -- the very fact that it has everything.  This generation of youth enjoy a great many things which it never helped to earn, and whose real value in terms of cash and meaning it does not realize.  The town in which we live, its streets, its stores, its factories, its churches, its beautiful river banks, were earned by someone else.  One’s education seems to come fairly easily.  But somebody was responsible for adequate school buildings, truthful text books, organization of courses to be taught.  We all take for granted freedom and civilization often forgetting that they were purchased at tremendous price.

 

The peril of our time is that we have so much of everything handed to us.  Any smart traveler ought to be well aware of the perils as well as the advantages of his road.

 

3)  What, now, is the responsibility of youth?  “Have you got what it takes?”  Discipline --- I mean both self-discipline and the ability to take right discipline from others, honesty, courage, courtesy, compassion --- all these values have been built up for us by the Christians who have gone before us.  What have we to give to Christ?

 

There is a student movement known as Christian Horizons Limited.  It lists 2,500 openings for young men and women in missionary service in 70 countries - openings in teaching, medical practice, nursing, agricultural improvement, social welfare and many others.  Who will do something about it?

 

A number of things may be profitably considered as we consider our advantages, our perils, our responsibilities, our choices -- we who have so much.  One thing that is suggested in the Christian attitude is a sense of pilgrimage.  To discover Christ is not the end of a search but rather the beginning of life’s adventure, the point from which the journey is really begun.

 

Position will come to these young folk now standing at commencement, as it does to all of us.  But let position not be the end or aim of our course.  Position is only a place to perform a task.  Let our spirits be continually moving on as on a pilgrimage.

 

Lovely things will come to these young folk, as they do to all of us.  Let them not be used for show and ostentation, but only for inspiration.  Look at lovely things, cherish them, receive from them what they have for you of loveliness.  But be not their slaves.  Here is a vibrant piece of contemporary prose paraphrased to this meaning:  “You pilgrims, you crusaders on life’s road, if you find a flower blooming by the wayside, pluck it and take it along with you.  If you use it to inspire you for the pilgrimage, for the great crusade, good and well.  But it any pilgrim should use that flower for ostentation, throw him out, and let the cavalcade move on.”

 

Along the pilgrimage, never cease to be a person, one who responds to God.  You become a person when you hear the Word of God and do it.  A person takes to the road not always sure where it will lead, but sure that God knows, and willing to follow His lead.

 

An ancient catechism begins with the question: “What is the chief end of man?”  And the answer is given: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”  To make God visible in a life, in thought and behavior, that is the matter of supreme importance on life’s pilgrimage.

 

Along life’s way you and I want to be well-integrated people.  There are conflicts that can arise and prevent us from being unified personalities.  Pugnacity and selfishness may come into conflict with the restraints of society and with our consciences.  Or there may be a disproportion of ambition and capacity as in the case of the student who wants and tries to be on the honor roll, but has not the capacity to be an honor-roll student.  Perhaps a worker wants a promotion to a coveted job, but has not the capacity to perform what the job demands.  Another source of conflict may arise in the desires one has versus the demands of family.

 

But there is a balance possible that will keep these conflicts in control.  That balance is necessary to a well-integrated being.  Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, in “The Art of Living,” tells of the process of balancing-up in a lazy student who had an excellent athletic record.  As a student, he was so poor that it was rumored that at the close of the sports season it would be “curtains” for him at that school.  One day in psychology class, the professor spoke of the rays of the sun falling on a sheet of paper with no effect except to illuminate and slightly warm the paper.  But when a sun glass converges those rays, focusing them on a single spot on the paper, that spot catches fire.  Some understanding insight flashed in the mind of our athlete and he said aloud, “I see it!  I see it!”  the whole class tittered with laughter.  But the fellow so concentrated his own attention and resources on his work thereafter that he finished his academic year very well indeed.  He was changed from a failure to a success and the rumor that he would have to leave school was completely foiled.

 

Every life needs a dominating purpose.  For Christians that purpose is taking our religion seriously.  Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these (other) things shall be added unto you” [Luke 12: 31], --- in their proportionate and rightful place.  Paul said, “This one thing I do --- I press toward the mark for the prizee of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  With that central purpose, he could face shipwreck, unruly mobs, prison or hunger.  John Wesley at Aldergate had an experience of which he said: “I felt that I did trust in Jesus Christ and him alone for my salvation.”  After that he was ready for anything in connection with his self-appointed work of carrying the gospel to un-churched and underprivileged people.

 

Are you a conflict, or an integrated person?  A civil war, or a human being?  It is important to have a central purpose.  Let Jesus Christ give you your life’s purpose, your focus of ambition.  And you may travel from here to there with joy.

 

And old teacher came near the end of his life.  He had worked for years with young folk in India and he loved it.  As he grew weaker, a friend heard him whisper, “I see the kingdom coming.”  The friend said, “I would give everything I have in the world for a faith like that.”  To which the old teacher replied: “That’s just what it cost me -- everything.”

 

When you find a purpose that is worth everything you have and are, that is happiness indeed.

 

----------------------

 

Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, May 29, 1949.