If we
try to live a good life, it's still more difficult, for then we're torn between
our pleasures and principles, between the things we want to do and what we
ought to do.
And if
we're trying to live a Christian life, the difficulty becomes unbelievably
great, for, we try to do God's will as we see it in Jesus, yet many times we're
not sure what it is, but even when we are sure, we don't always want to do it.
God's
will is that we care as much about our neighbor and our neighbor's children,
their education and welfare, as we do about our self and our own children; and
sometimes we can't bear our neighbors, especially if they're noisy or nosy.
God's
will is that we care about our enemies, and the fact is that most of the time we
don't care about them at all. They bring out the worst in us, and sometimes
incite us to say and do things which, afterwards, we wish we hadn't.
And the
people around us don't help much. Some of them don't believe in God, and they
think we're rather idiotic if we do, so we’re not going to get any support from
them.
And the
hardest thing of all, is that they don't respond to our efforts to treat them
the way Christ has asked us to treat them. If they've done something that
offends us and we forgive them, they’re almost scornful of our forgiveness. And
if this were not enough, life doesn't seem set up for this sort of behavior.
After we've made every effort to live as nearly as we can according to the
teaching of Christ, life knocks us down flat – either physically, financially,
or socially.
So if
we've never come to the point where we're almost ready to give up trying to be
a Christian because it's so difficult, if we've never come to the point of
saying, "This is impossible, I can't do it," we can be pretty sure
that we've never tried.
The
surprising thing is that when we're ready to give the whole thing up, we see
one or two people, who stop us.
For our
purpose, let's say it's a married couple. They’re trying to live the same kind
of life we are. They’re up against the same sort of difficulties, they meet the
same resistances in life and in the people around them but they’re undefeated!
The minute we meet them we're aware that they know where they're going, what
they’re trying to do, what they can do, and what they can't do. We look at them
more carefully, and notice: that when either one of them fail, as one does
because one is human, he or she isn't crushed, doesn't crumple. He or she
acknowledges one’s failure honestly, accepts the forgiveness of God, and begins
again.
And
when one is hurt, as one is bound to be if one is at all sensitive, one cries
- usually in private; but one never pouts, never sulks, and one doesn't take it
out on other people. He or she gets up
and goes on with strength from sources that are invisible, and the very places
where one was hurt most deeply seem to be the places where one’s strength is
greatest. When and if we know him or her better, we find out, at least in part,
what the secret is. We never know, of course, what the whole secret is because
we can never fully enter into another person's life, but we get a clue to the
secret.
We find
out for one thing that he or she is not trying to do it all by oneself. He or
she has sense enough to know that the kind of life that Christ expects one
can't live by oneself alone. He or she is human like all the rest of us and, if
one depends only upon one’s own strength he or she, or both of them would be
lost.
The
consequence is that we never feel they are making a colossal effort to be good.
We feel rather, that something is coming through them, almost without their
knowing it – life, love, power, vitality, energy.
That
doesn't mean, that they haven't done anything about it, the way we used to
think in school that things came easily to people who didn't have to work at
all in a course. A window has to be washed if one want to see through it, not
even a pane of glass can transmit light unless it's kept in proper condition.
We know, therefore, that they have kept the channel clear, and this means many
a lonely battle of which you and I are never aware.
We're
often tempted - I know I am – to think that the great ones, the ones who have
helped us the most, have never been in the dark, that they shine with a
perpetual brightness. We all know better, but sometimes we need to be reminded
that they have been in the dark.
One of
the great saints in the world of our time was Donald Baillie of Scotland. He
taught theology to generations of students at St. Andrew's in Aberdeen.
He had
a quality that drew students as he shared his mind and spirit. His book God in
Christ, is one of the great books on Christology, the meaning of Christ.
After
he died, his equally famous brother, John Baillie, published a book of sermons,
preceded by a preface in which he told something of his brother's life.
One of
the things that he told was how his brother's life was haunted from beginning
to end by periods of depression, and he quoted this from a letter that his
brother once wrote: "When the darkness is on me, I walk down the street, and
I see people walking aimlessly about, and shops and cars and a few dogs, and it
all seems to mean nothing, and to matter not at all."
Then his
brother John, revealing his extraordinary devotion to his younger brother, went
on to say that while this handicap never left him, it never crippled him; in
fact it increased his usefulness, for because of it he drew himself to students
who were going through similar tunnels of darkness. The important thing to
remember, about the person who is undefeated in his or her attempt to live a
Christian life is that in spite of the dark intervals, he or she is still
living in the Light.
And
there's a difference, whether one knows it or not, just enough of that Light
comes through, to shine on others, and make them change their course.
You may
wonder why I have chosen to speak about the influence of One Christian on
Another. It’s because I am grateful for those in the past along with those in
the present who when I need it, provide encouragement to continue on my
spiritual journey.
I know
that the Church as an institution is often disappointing. It
moves slowly, cautiously, and sometimes makes great mistakes. At
times it doesn't help when we’re at the crossroads and need help desperately;
and we can turn away disappointed.
But
there are individuals within the Church who aren't disappointing. They’re
what Paul called the “saints”, and I’m taking the opportunity to
thank God for each and every one of them.
How I
wish I could name all those who have done for me things comparable to what/
Donald Baillie did.
You
must know others like them, people living and dead who make you proud to be in
their company, and who lift your spirit by their steadiness and by the life
that they communicate. Ever since I was a boy my ear has been caught by the
lines, mostly by the beauty of their sound, which were read to us this morning
from the first page of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians where he addresses “the
saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus.”
I first
heard it read from the KJV, and I quote: Paul prays: “that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may
know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power.”
I must
confess I never knew exactly what it meant, but I had a feeling of what it was.
When I
read J. B. Phillips' paraphrase of it, I got the message. This is the way it
reads: “This is my prayer, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ will give you
the spiritual wisdom and insight to know more of him, that you may receive that
inner illumination of the Spirit which will make you realize how great is the
hope to which he is calling you . . and how tremendous is the power available
to us who believe in God.”
That’s
it!
Let us
pray:
We’re
thankful for all the saints who have kept the faith and who in spite of
weakness and loneliness and temptation, have nevertheless walked in the Light.
In our dark hours help us to remember them, to name them one by one, to turn to
them and be strengthened by their faith. We ask these things in the name of
him, who is Light to the world.
Dr. John Sullivan
Former Officer
Canada
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