Robert T. Young - "The Best Place to Work for Christ" (September 28, 1975)

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	(choir hymning)	0:30
	(orchestral music)	1:59
	(choir hymning)	2:44
	(orchestral music)	5:00
	(choir hymning)	6:00
-	The majesty and glory and power of God	7:05
	reminds us that we have not always responded	7:09
	to the possibilities	7:14
	which are ours to live	7:16
	as loving responsible people.	7:18
	Let us now make our corporate confession.	7:22
	Oh Lord, holy and righteous God,	7:27
	we acknowledge before you	7:32
	that we do not love you above all things.	7:34
	We do not really love our neighbor.	7:39
	We are divided one from the other,	7:43
	by age, status, race, and sex.	7:46
	We've made false barriers	7:50
	of neighborhood, class, profession,	7:52
	and we lacked the conscious	7:56
	that should have caught me out	7:58
	Christian affirmation.	7:59
	We accuse ourselves before you, oh God.	8:02
	We adore you, whose nature and name is law,	8:07
	to forgive us	8:12
	and in forgiving to heal us	8:14
	so that our lives, our communities	8:17
	and our institutions	8:21
	will finally be changed.	8:23
	Amen.	8:25
	And now, oh God,	8:28
	we pray that you were here for us	8:30
	as we make our personal confession	8:32
	and the silence of this place.	8:35
	Amen.	8:55
	We know through Jesus,	8:58
	that God is loving and forgiving.	9:01
	And when we acknowledge who we are,	9:05
	God forgives us and frees us	9:08
	to move into the future as loving, caring people.	9:11
	And we give thanks for this.	9:17
	Amen.	9:19
-	May I take this moment	9:29
	to say a word of welcome	9:30
	to those of you who are visiting	9:32
	as a part of parents' weekend	9:35
	at the university, this weekend.	9:38
	I hope that it has been a good weekend for you	9:41
	as you have been reunited at least momentarily	9:43
	with your son or daughter,	9:48
	or even in the cases of a few,	9:50
	with sons and/or daughters.	9:52
	We are glad to have you here on the campus.	9:56
	And we are particularly pleased	10:00
	to have you worship God with us in this place	10:02
	on this holy day.	10:05
	We worship here though,	10:09
	not only at 11 o'clock,	10:09
	but may I remind you since it is not noted	10:11
	in the bulletin today,	10:14
	that we worship again this evening at 6:30	10:16
	in the chapel	10:19
	with an informal service of worship,	10:19
	we worship on Wednesday morning	10:22
	with communion service and the Memorial Chapel	10:25
	and on Thursday evening at 5:15	10:28
	with our non-sexist liturgy,	10:31
	a worship service for all persons.	10:34
	You are invited to share	10:37
	in these experiences of worship of God with us.	10:39
	I call your attention though,	10:44
	and that's the main reason I am here	10:45
	at this moment,	10:48
	to a very special announcement,	10:51
	which is unprecedented in the life of this chapel,	10:52
	an announcement requesting your help	10:57
	and requesting more specifically	11:01
	your financial help.	11:02
	As those of you know,	11:06
	who worship here regularly,	11:08
	all of the chapel offerings received	11:09
	in every service of worship here,	11:11
	go to meet the needs of other persons.	11:14
	The university and its budget	11:19
	maintains the life and the work of this chapel,	11:21
	including the upkeep of the building,	11:25
	all materials and supplies for all that we do	11:26
	and all salaries,	11:29
	thus bringing us to say	11:30
	to those who worship here,	11:32
	every penny you give goes to serve others	11:34
	in the name and in the spirit of Christ.	11:38
	That's why we are making it	11:41
	not a part of the chapel offerings	11:43
	not a part of the university's budget,	11:46
	but we're making a very special appeal	11:49
	to help us buy new robes for chapel choir.	11:50
	The chapel choir	11:55
	is the largest student organization on campus	11:56
	with some 180 or more students	12:01
	and a total of over 200 persons,	12:03
	members of the choir.	12:06
	We have however, only 148 full choir robes,	12:08
	that means the black robe and the white collar.	12:13
	So you see some with black, some with white	12:16
	and some fortunately have a full set.	12:18
	We are all blessed Sunday by Sunday,	12:24
	by the magnificent music that this choir	12:28
	provides us as a part of their	12:31
	and our worship of God.	12:34
	Ben Smith and Bob Perkins,	12:37
	and the choir members	12:41
	give of themselves day by day	12:42
	to serve God and to serve us.	12:46
	We're asking that you	12:50
	either as an individual or as a family,	12:52
	or maybe two or three	12:55
	or a half dozen students of you	12:57
	might want to go together	12:59
	and combine your resources to buy one robe.	13:01
	I have suggested this approach	13:05
	and we're using this approach	13:06
	because I'm convinced that	13:08
	there are at least 200 persons	13:08
	or 200 groups of persons or 200 families here	13:11
	who will help us outfit the robe,	13:15
	the choir with new robes.	13:17
	This is not much	13:21
	for one person or one family	13:22
	or one group of persons,	13:24
	it would be much from our chapel offerings.	13:25
	It would be much to ask of the university.	13:27
	So I invite you to share in this special project	13:31
	so that as the choir,	13:34
	one of these days comes precessing down the aisle	13:36
	that can all be robed alike.	13:39
	We can all rejoice and having had	13:43
	a part in that.	13:45
	You are requested to share	13:48
	in this special project,	13:50
	which for the first time is for us,	13:53
	but also is for the glory of God.	13:56
	(choir hymning)	14:47
-	The Old Testament lesson	19:20
	is from the Prophet Daniel,	19:21
	chapter one verses one through eight.	19:23
	An oracle concerning Nineveh.	19:29
	The book of the vision of Nahum of Alqosh.	19:33
	The Lord is a jealous God and avenging.	19:39
	The Lord is avenging and raffle.	19:43
	The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries	19:48
	and keeps wrath for his enemies.	19:52
	The Lord is slow to anger	19:56
	and of great might.	19:59
	And the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.	20:02
	His way is in whirlwind and storm.	20:08
	And the clouds are the dust of his feet.	20:12
	He rebukes the sea and makes it dry.	20:17
	He dries up all the rivers,	20:22
	Bashan and Carmel with her.	20:26
	The bloom of Lebanon fades.	20:29
	The mountains quake before him,	20:33
	the hills melt,	20:36
	the earth is laid waste before him,	20:39
	the world and all that dwell there in.	20:42
	Who can stand before his indignation?	20:47
	Who can endure the heat of his anger?	20:52
	His wrath is poured out like fire	20:56
	and the rocks are broken asunder by him.	21:00
	The Lord is good,	21:05
	a stronghold in the day of trouble.	21:08
	He knows those who take refuge in Him,	21:12
	but with an overflowing flood,	21:17
	He will make a full end of his adversaries	21:19
	and will pursue His enemies into darkness.	21:23
	Here ends the lesson.	21:29
	Will you stand please	21:32
	for the reading of the gospel?	21:33
	The gospel taken from St. Luke 8:26-39.	21:44
	Then they arrived	21:54
	at the country of the Gerasenes,	21:55
	which is opposite Galilee.	21:58
	And as He stepped out on land,	22:01
	there met Him a man from the city who had demons.	22:04
	For a long time, he had worn no clothes	22:09
	and he lived not in a house,	22:13
	but among the tombs.	22:16
	When he saw Jesus,	22:19
	he cried out and fell down before Him	22:21
	and said with a loud voice,	22:25
	"What have you to do with me, Jesus,	22:28
	son of the most high God?	22:30
	I beseech you, do not torment me."	22:33
	For He had commanded the unclean spirit	22:38
	to come out of the man.	22:41
	For many a time, it had seized him.	22:43
	He was kept under guard	22:46
	and bound with chains and fetters,	22:49
	but he broke the bonds	22:52
	and was driven by the demon into the desert.	22:54
	Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?"	22:58
	And he said, "Legion."	23:03
	For many demons had entered him.	23:07
	And they begged Him not to command them	23:10
	to depart into the abyss.	23:13
	Now, a large herd of swine	23:16
	was feeding there on the hillside	23:18
	and they begged Him to let them enter these.	23:21
	So he gave them leave.	23:24
	Then the demons came out of the man	23:27
	and entered the swines	23:29
	and the herd rushed down the steep bank	23:32
	into the lake and were drowned.	23:35
	When the herdsmen saw what had happened,	23:39
	they fled and told it in the country.	23:42
	Then people went out to see what had happened.	23:48
	And they came to Jesus and found the man	23:51
	from whom the demons had gone	23:55
	sitting at the feet of Jesus	23:57
	clothed and in his right mind,	24:00
	and they were afraid.	24:03
	And those who had seen it, told them how	24:07
	he who had been possessed with demons was healed.	24:09
	Then all the people of the surrounding country	24:14
	of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them,	24:17
	where they were seized with great fear.	24:21
	So He got into the boat and returned.	24:25
	Now the man from whom the demons had gone	24:30
	begged that he might be with him,	24:33
	but Jesus sent him away saying,	24:36
	"Return to your home	24:39
	and declare how much God has done for you."	24:42
	And he went away proclaiming	24:46
	throughout the whole city,	24:48
	how much Jesus had done for him.	24:51
	The gospel of the Lord.	24:55
	(orchestral music)	24:58
	(choir hymning)	25:07
-	Let us with surety and certainty,	25:45
	make our corporate affirmation of our fate.	25:48
	We are not alone.	25:52
	We live in God's world.	25:55
	We believe in God who has created	25:57
	and is creating,	26:01
	who has come,	26:03
	and the truly human Jesus,	26:04
	to reconcile and make me,	26:06
	who works in us and others through the spirit.	26:10
	We trust God who calls us to be the church	26:14
	to celebrate life and its fullness,	26:19
	to love and serve others,	26:22
	to seek justice	26:25
	and resist the evil,	26:26
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	26:29
	our judge and our hope,	26:33
	in life and death	26:35
	and life beyond death,	26:38
	God is with us.	26:41
	We are not alone.	26:43
	Thanks be to God.	26:45
	The Lord be with you.	26:48
-	And you same.	26:51
-	Let us pray.	26:52
	Oh, Holy God,	27:03
	you know who we are,	27:06
	hear us as we wait and pray	27:09
	and turn restlessly and search of you.	27:13
	We bow before you with joyful hearts,	27:19
	because life has been good to us,	27:22
	with heavy hearts	27:27
	because of personal pain,	27:29
	with fearful hearts	27:33
	because of a terror which is facing us,	27:35
	with waiting hearts,	27:39
	to hear a word we need at this time,	27:42
	we ask you to receive our thanks	27:47
	for all that brings us joy and love	27:50
	for the reunion with those we love,	27:55
	for the love and care which we receive	27:59
	from expected and from unexpected sources,	28:03
	for those who work,	28:08
	that we may live,	28:11
	those who heal us, teach us,	28:13
	who provide our clothing, shelter and food,	28:15
	and to those who clean up	28:22
	from our waste and disorder.	28:23
	And we pray, oh God,	28:27
	that we will receive from you comfort	28:30
	and support and vision,	28:33
	which will enable us to live	28:36
	without pain and anxiety and fears.	28:39
	We give you thanks oh God,	28:44
	for every community of love,	28:47
	where we have known our sins are forgiven,	28:49
	and for every ministry of grace	28:53
	where our offenses	28:56
	and the burden of an uneasy conscience,	28:58
	and also the frictions and resentments of life	29:01
	are resolved in forgiveness and mercy.	29:05
	And we pray, oh God,	29:11
	for those who have been overcome	29:12
	in the struggle of life,	29:14
	whether by the inhumanity	29:17
	of their neighbors' action	29:19
	or about their own limitation,	29:21
	I buy those hazards of lies	29:24
	which face all of us,	29:25
	that they may contend against injustice	29:29
	without a bitterness which is destroying,	29:33
	may overcome their own weakness with diligence	29:37
	and may live creatively and redemptively	29:42
	in the place where they found themselves.	29:45
	Hear our prayers, oh God,	29:50
	for those persons who give that energies	29:52
	to care for persons who are suffering	29:55
	and oppressed and exploited,	29:57
	who are in need of liberation,	30:00
	of food,	30:02
	of human love and caring.	30:03
	And we live to your loving care and comfort.	30:07
	Those persons who are serving and caring	30:11
	for their neighbor in need,	30:15
	discover pain and suffering.	30:17
	And we prayed that the vision	30:20
	of the suffering Christ	30:23
	may be redemptive to their pain.	30:26
	And now, oh God,	30:30
	we lift to you those persons we know	30:31
	who need your love and support.	30:37
	Hear us as we lift them	30:40
	in the silence of this time.	30:41
	We give you thanks	31:01
	that you do hear and respond to us	31:01
	when we come to you.	31:04
	And now may we pray the prayer of Our Lord.	31:08
	Our Father, who art in heaven,	31:13
	hallowed be thy name,	31:16
	thy kingdom come.	31:18
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	31:20
	Give us this day our daily bread	31:25
	and forgive us our trespasses	31:29
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	31:31
	and lead us not into temptation,	31:36
	but deliver us from evil,	31:39
	for thy is the kingdom,	31:41
	the power and the glory,	31:44
	forever and ever, amen.	31:45
-	Steven Vincent been a once wrote,	32:07
	"Life is not lost by dying,	32:11
	life is last minute by minute,	32:15
	day by dragging day	32:19
	and all the thousands small uncaring ways.	32:22
	Life is precious.	32:28
	Life is valuable.	32:30
	Life is irreplaceable.	32:32
	Life is meaning.	32:34
	Life is loving.	32:36
	Life is serving.	32:38
	Life is wanting, hoping, caring, giving.	32:41
	Life is, life is.	32:46
	No matter how you might want	32:51
	to complete that sentence,	32:52
	whatever words or symbols or expressions	32:54
	you choose to use,	32:57
	life is.	32:59
	All of these,	33:01
	this Gerasenes man filled with demons	33:02
	was missing.	33:05
	And so I ask of you and of myself this morning,	33:08
	how much of life,	33:11
	how much of real life are you and I missing?	33:12
	Our scripture lesson,	33:19
	which was so beautifully and meaningfully	33:21
	read for us this morning,	33:23
	from the gospel according to Luke,	33:26
	is a very strange passage	33:27
	describing a most bizarre experience	33:29
	in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.	33:32
	There was a man from the city,	33:35
	a man who was filled with demons	33:37
	who lived out in the country.	33:39
	He ran around with no clothes on.	33:40
	He lived among the tombs of all places.	33:43
	This man came to Jesus.	33:46
	And when confronted with the Christ,	33:47
	he cried out,	33:49
	"What have you to do with me?	33:51
	Oh son of God of the most high?	33:52
	Do not torment me."	33:55
	Jesus commanded the unclean spirits	33:59
	to come out of this man.	34:01
	They entered into a herd of swine	34:02
	and of all things,	34:04
	a swine rushed down the cliff into the lake	34:05
	and were drowned all killed later.	34:07
	The man Luke tells us cleansed of his demons	34:10
	and in his right mind,	34:14
	sat at the feet of Jesus.	34:16
	Jesus was implored by the people	34:18
	to leave that part of the country.	34:20
	And the man wanted very much to go with Jesus.	34:21
	And Jesus said, "No, no return to your own home	34:24
	and declare how much God has done for you."	34:28
	A strange story.	34:33
	Filled with things expected,	34:35
	filled with things very real	34:38
	and filled with some things unexpected,	34:40
	day by dragging days has been.	34:43
	Life is lost	34:47
	in all the thousands small uncaring ways.	34:48
	This story of the Gerasene man filled with demons	34:52
	may not be fully biographical or autobiographical	34:55
	for any one of us,	34:59
	but there is a little bit or a whole lot.	35:01
	There is some I presume to say of you and me,	35:04
	and this story.	35:08
	So let's look at it.	35:09
	There's some things in this story	35:10
	that one would naturally expect	35:12
	in any story about the life of Jesus,	35:14
	wherever Jesus appears,	35:17
	people in need are there.	35:19
	Indeed, people in need or attracted to him	35:22
	just as surely and just as quickly	35:24
	as steel pans are attracted to a magnet.	35:27
	We know that there is some power	35:32
	magnetically attractive	35:34
	in this man from Galilee,	35:35
	and where He is,	35:36
	there are the blind,	35:38
	the lonely, the sick, the death,	35:39
	then from the lame and even the dead.	35:41
	So knowing that Jesus attracts those in need,	35:45
	one would have expected that a wild	35:50
	and demon-filled man would appear.	35:52
	And then one might naturally expect the response,	35:56
	which comes from the man,	35:59
	"What have you to do with me?	36:00
	Jesus, son of the most high God?	36:02
	do not torment me."	36:05
	Well, you see, when we are in need,	36:08
	when we cry to God,	36:11
	when we open ourselves	36:14
	and reveal some of our wild and weird nature,	36:15
	when the real person within us	36:18
	is laid bare before the presence of God,	36:20
	when some of the masks come off us,	36:23
	the very first cry	36:25
	that may outer from our lips	36:27
	may very well be,	36:28
	"What have you to do with me Oh God?	36:29
	Please, please do not torment me."	36:33
	Then we also expect Jesus,	36:37
	this word of God made flesh,	36:39
	this ever present love revealed to us,	36:42
	we expect this Jesus to care.	36:45
	Yes, we would be shocked	36:49
	if Jesus were not to care, wouldn't we?	36:51
	As we read the story,	36:54
	we anticipate eagerly that	36:55
	that if no one else around cares about this man,	36:56
	Jesus will and he does.	36:59
	He is concerned, He loves,	37:01
	He wants to help.	37:04
	He tries to understand.	37:05
	He reaches out.	37:06
	He stops to listen and to hear.	37:07
	And he pauses to look at the man.	37:10
	And Jesus does just, as we might expect,	37:12
	he asks for the man's name,	37:14
	but he wanted to know much more	37:16
	than the man's name.	37:18
	"What is your name?" He said,	37:19
	which in Hebrew means,	37:21
	"Tell me my friend, who you are.	37:22
	Tell me about your family, about your history.	37:25
	What is life like for you?"	37:27
	And the man said, "I am Legion,"	37:30
	for he was filled with many demons,	37:32
	and Jesus knew immediately who he was	37:34
	and what his needs were.	37:36
	The expected also comes	37:39
	when Jesus caused the mad demons	37:42
	to come from the man	37:44
	and to enter in to this swine, why?	37:46
	We come to the heart of the gospel here	37:51
	my friends,	37:53
	because life teaches us	37:55
	that when someone is saved,	37:56
	a price has to be paid.	37:59
	When salvation comes, someone suffers,	38:02
	when someone is redeemed,	38:07
	someone bears the burden.	38:09
	When someone is made whole,	38:12
	another person hurts in the process.	38:14
	William Stringfellow points this out to us,	38:20
	the validity of this truth in his book,	38:23
	"A Private and a Public Faith."	38:25
	When he talks about the Broadway musical	38:27
	and very popular movie of just a few years ago	38:29
	and titled "West Side Story."	38:32
	Stringfellow writes West Side Story	38:35
	as a musical and a movie.	38:37
	It is also a good business venture.	38:40
	"It's commerce." He said.	38:43
	It is literature.	38:44
	It is an attempt to tell in contemporary idiom,	38:45
	the story of Romeo and Juliet.	38:48
	It is good music.	38:52
	It is sociology.	38:53
	West Side Story, He says is also theology.	38:54
	What happens?	38:59
	What is it that happens in West Side Story?	39:00
	There are two groups You will recall;	39:03
	one Puerto Rican,	39:06
	the other Italian,	39:07
	who are deeply estranged from each other.	39:09
	They are enemies,	39:11
	Stringfellow writes,	39:12
	they fight, a boy is killed	39:13
	and out of the death of one boy,	39:16
	the two groups then become reconciled	39:18
	to each other.	39:20
	Does that sound?" He says,	39:21
	"Does that sound really familiar to you?	39:23
	It is familiar." He says,	39:25
	if you have ever heard and beheld the gospel	39:27
	in the church,	39:29
	one dies and many are reconciled.	39:31
	That is the word of God.	39:34
	The point is, that when someone is helped,	39:40
	someone else pays for it.	39:45
	Out of sacrifice, comes redemption,	39:46
	out of death comes life.	39:50
	When a baby is born,	39:53
	a mother mother has to bear the pains	39:54
	of that birth.	39:56
	When this man was healed from his demon,	39:59
	some herdsmen or herds man lost their swine.	40:01
	When the love of God	40:06
	was supremely revealed in Jesus,	40:06
	he had to die.	40:10
	That is the word of God.	40:15
	That is the gospel.	40:17
	That is the expected in your life and in mine.	40:20
	Well then there's some things	40:28
	that are vividly real in this story,	40:30
	as real, as stained glass windows in this chapel,	40:32
	or as real as the sun shining outdoors right now,	40:35
	one real experience is seen	40:38
	in the crowd's reaction to this man.	40:42
	Listen, they found him sitting	40:45
	at the feet of Jesus	40:48
	clothed and in his right mind.	40:49
	And they were free.	40:54
	Strange isn't it?	40:57
	As long as he was mad, he was no bother.	40:58
	The crowd could tolerate him.	41:04
	They were not concerned,	41:07
	but when they came upon him in his right mind,	41:09
	they were afraid.	41:13
	His madness didn't worry them,	41:15
	his sanity, his hell, his fate,	41:18
	filled them with fear.	41:22
	So it is with some of us.	41:26
	We really don't know what to do	41:27
	with someone made whole in Christ.	41:29
	Why is it that we back off or our stand	41:33
	at arms length,	41:35
	or we become a little leery,	41:36
	or we feel a bit uneasy about someone	41:38
	who is sitting at the feet of Jesus	41:40
	in his or her own right mind.	41:42
	It was Dwight L. Moody, the evangelist	41:46
	of the turn of this century,	41:47
	who once said, "The world has yet to see	41:49
	what one person totally obedient	41:54
	to the will of God today can do."	41:56
	I have an idea	41:59
	that we would probably be afraid,	42:00
	but we want others to have	42:03
	just the right amount	42:05
	of the spirit of Christ in them.	42:06
	We want them to have enough to make them good.	42:07
	We want them to have enough	42:10
	to make them just right to suit our tastes,	42:12
	but not too much.	42:15
	Or if they have too much	42:16
	of the spirit of Christ in them,	42:18
	we become afraid.	42:19
	Another real experience in this story	42:22
	and in our lives, I think,	42:25
	it's seen in the man's reaction to Jesus.	42:28
	What was that?	42:31
	He wanted to be with Jesus.	42:33
	So it is with us.	42:37
	When someone comes to mean a great deal to us	42:38
	as Jesus did to this man,	42:40
	when someone has helped us,	42:42
	when someone has strengthened us or guided us,	42:44
	we want to be with that person,	42:46
	a doctor, a counselor, a coach,	42:49
	a nurse, a teacher,	42:52
	a neighbor of brand who helps us in a time,	42:53
	or in many times of desperate need	42:57
	is someone we then want to be with	42:59
	and to share life with.	43:02
	And this man you see had been changed	43:03
	and transformed so radically and so completely	43:05
	from madness to sanity,	43:08
	from sickness to health,	43:10
	from brokenness to wholeness,	43:11
	that he wanted to share life with the one who was	43:13
	responsible for that.	43:16
	So he asked Jesus to let him go with him,	43:19
	thinking that this would be the way	43:22
	that he could live	43:24
	in this loving presence forever.	43:25
	Luke tells us that the man even beg Jesus	43:28
	to let him go with him.	43:31
	And now after the expected and after the real,	43:33
	after they expected elements	43:37
	in the real elements in this story,	43:38
	we come to those that are unexpected.	43:40
	The word of Jesus,	43:42
	which is unexpected,	43:44
	at least to me is,	43:46
	"No, you cannot go with me."	43:47
	I care greatly for you,	43:51
	you care greatly for me.	43:53
	God's love is now very present in you.	43:55
	Your love for God is now very present in you.	43:58
	But no, no I don't.	44:02
	My friend want you to go with me, go home,	44:04
	return to your own home	44:08
	and declare how much God has done for you.	44:10
	And you went away proclaiming	44:13
	throughout all the land, the whole city,	44:14
	how much Jesus had done for him.	44:16
	Oh, goodness.	44:20
	Can that really be?	44:21
	Is this true that Jesus told this man,	44:22
	not to follow him, but to go back home?	44:24
	Are we hearing correctly	44:28
	when we hear Jesus say,	44:29
	"Go, go back home,	44:31
	return to where you came from?"	44:32
	There, tell how much is that correct.	44:34
	William James at the age of 26	44:38
	is supposed to have said to a friend,	44:40
	much, would I give much,	44:42
	would I give	44:44
	for a constructive passion of some kind.	44:46
	This man had a passion, a constructive passion,	44:51
	a passion for the Lord, Jesus Christ.	44:54
	And he wanted to express it to act it out,	44:56
	to live on it.	44:59
	And he thought he could express it best	45:00
	by leaving his community	45:01
	and by going with Christ.	45:03
	"Not necessarily so." Jesus said.	45:04
	"This man had an awesome life-changing experience	45:10
	with the grace of God."	45:13
	Real rich, wholesome, healthy, vivid to him	45:14
	through Christ in those moments.	45:18
	And he thought that if he were to know	45:20
	and to feel fully the presence of God,	45:21
	the grace of God continually in his life,	45:24
	that he would have to be beside Christ	45:26
	all the rest of his life.	45:28
	"Not necessarily so." Jesus said.	45:30
	Jesus said, "Go home.	45:33
	There, you can fulfill your passion to serve.	45:35
	There, just as much as with me,	45:38
	you can experience the grace of God."	45:40
	The blessed place then to work for Christ	45:43
	is right where you are,	45:45
	right where you and I are.	45:51
	You say, "But Bob, that's the hardest place."	45:55
	My friends, I couldn't agree with you more.	45:59
	And that may be precisely the reason	46:03
	that we're told to go back home,	46:05
	wherever home may be for you right now,	46:08
	the best but often the hardest place	46:11
	to serve Christ	46:13
	is where we live our everyday.	46:14
	Helen coupled the other chaplains and I	46:17
	in this university council with many students,	46:19
	not the least among this number	46:23
	are children of preachers.	46:24
	Why is it that preacher's children	46:27
	often complain most	46:29
	about their father not being available,	46:30
	about them showing little or no concern for them?	46:34
	As one of our students said to me	46:36
	about his preacher father,	46:38
	"My dad always had time for everyone,	46:39
	everyone, but us children."	46:42
	Why is it that many students here	46:47
	often cry out my roommate?	46:49
	"My roommate has time on others	46:52
	down the hall and across the campus,	46:54
	but never any time or any concern for me?	46:56
	She can be kind to everybody else on campus,	47:00
	but I catch it."	47:03
	Why is it the doctors' families	47:06
	often need more healing	47:08
	than any others in the neighborhood?	47:09
	The doctor, mother, or father,	47:11
	gives endless hours to care for others	47:15
	to heal someone else,	47:18
	but how about those at home?	47:19
	Why is it that we can often talk	47:23
	to a total stranger	47:25
	about God or Christ or being Christian,	47:26
	but we freeze up,	47:28
	or we can't find the right time	47:29
	or the right words	47:30
	to talk with our friends or our family.	47:31
	It's hard, very, very difficult	47:33
	to share with those back home	47:37
	how much God has tongue for me, very hard.	47:39
	This points out,	47:46
	I think some of our real need today,	47:47
	right now in this country,	47:49
	and that need is that	47:53
	for those of us who claim the name of Christ	47:53
	to be living on proclaiming the love of God,	47:56
	right at home, right where we are every day,	47:59
	if this were so,	48:01
	if this were so,	48:04
	and if this were being done,	48:05
	perhaps Richard Pryor would not get away	48:06
	with degrading and dehumanizing and demeaning,	48:09
	not only himself, but his people,	48:12
	Patty Hearst would not make a mockery of herself	48:16
	and of her family and her friends,	48:19
	or perhaps Squeaky Fromme or Sarah Jane Moore	48:23
	would not have to take shots	48:28
	at the president of the United States	48:30
	in order to gain some publicity	48:31
	and some affirmation,	48:33
	perverse as it may be.	48:35
	I'll bet you that someone	48:36
	or that many someones missed many opportunities	48:39
	to tell these persons about the love of God	48:42
	and what God had done for them	48:45
	and could also do for each of them.	48:47
	Why is it that this is hard,	48:51
	hard to understand?	48:54
	Why is it that this word, "to return home"	48:58
	is surprising and unexpected?	49:01
	Perhaps it is because we like the preacher	49:02
	or the roommate or the doctor,	49:05
	think that we have to go somewhere	49:07
	that we have to leave and follow.	49:09
	We think that service to Christ	49:12
	is out there somewhere	49:13
	when really Jesus says simply,	49:14
	but with direct bluntness, "Return home."	49:16
	Now we get some idea about	49:21
	why Jesus told this man.	49:23
	And does he say it to us,	49:24
	"Return to your home	49:26
	and declare how much God has done for you?"	49:28
	Return home.	49:31
	That's precisely the best place	49:32
	to experience the grace of God.	49:34
	Return home.	49:37
	That's precisely the best place	49:38
	to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.	49:40
	My friends this morning,	49:46
	when you receive the grace of God,	49:46
	will you express the love of Christ to others?	49:50
	Will you return home, wherever home may be,	49:55
	and tell others how much God has done for you?	50:01
	Amen.	50:10
	Amen.	50:12
	(orchestral music)	50:21
	(choir hymning)	50:54
	(orchestral music)	54:18
	(choir hymning)	56:31
	(orchestral music)	56:41
	(choir hymning)	56:52
	(orchestral music)	58:49
	(choir hymning)	58:55
	(orchestral music)	1:01:05
	(choir hymning)	1:01:39
-	Accept this offering of ourselves before you	1:02:51
	for the service of all people.	1:02:56
	And we pray that all our living	1:02:59
	will be for the glory and affirmation	1:03:02
	of your creation	1:03:05
	and the spirit of your son, Jesus, the Christ.	1:03:07
	Amen.	1:03:12
	(orchestral music)	1:03:15
	(choir hymning)	1:03:56
	Go to the place	1:08:07
	where God has given you responsibility	1:08:09
	and may the blessing of God,	1:08:13
	our creator, redeemer, and sustainer,	1:08:16
	go with you and support you	1:08:21
	now and forever more.	1:08:24
	(choir hymning)	1:08:29
	(bell chiming)	1:09:38
	(orchestral music)	1:09:54

Item Info

Title:

Robert T. Young - "The Best Place to Work for Christ" (September 28, 1975)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4r789q3x

Date:

September 28, 1975

Speaker:

Young, Robert T., 1935-2009

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0793
ref6786_sgd
uachapelsermaud
duke:627898
dcrau002757
ark:/87924/r4r789q3x
9fb2ff33-10c8-4e26-89c2-4ab3fedd4a32

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Robert T. Young - "The Best Place to Work for Christ" (September 28, 1975)

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