12/31/50

Scripture: Ephesians 3

Text: Ephesians 3: 11,12; “...Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness ...”

It has been observed that modern man has become idolatrous in the worship of a new god called “Security.” While many men have honored this deity in many ages, the sacrifices recently laid upon its altar are more lavish and wholehearted than ever before.

During this past year, people, thousands of them, struck their jobs not over issues of working conditions or even wages so much as over old age security benefits. A financial editor of an eastern newspaper observed that “when a young fellow comes in looking for a job, his first question is not ‘what are the chances of promotion’ but ‘what kind of pension’ he will get forty years hence.”

The nation is being shaped into what is popularly being called the “welfare state.” And the ballots of the voters indicate that this is what the voters want -- assurance against unemployment, against illness, against old age.

England staggers under the financial weight of its “cradle to grave” security program. The Citizen’s Security Act of the State of Washington in our own nation calls for welfare expenditures equal to one half of that state’s total expenditure for all purposes, including education. The cost of the security that men want is staggering.

We are building a great radar screen around our nation, at great cost. We are pouring billions into bombs, and the means of delivering them. We shall probably double the size of our output in the lethal monsters. Yet book counters mock us with the title, “No place to Hide.”

So the story goes -- the god Security demands much, and we appear willing to sacrifice our wealth and the power of our manhood upon its altar.

A few voices have been raised against this idol worship. Last summer General Dwight Eisenhower urged students entering Columbia University to “grab opportunity, not security.” He said further: “I am quite certain that the human being would not continue to exist if he had perfect security.” Someone else adds the opinion that “security in its very essence is static. It is the antithesis of progress.”

Now let no one minimize the importance of security. Only a fool throws all precaution out the window, squandering his earnings, energy and ability on the moment alone. But let all men recognize that complete security is static; that progress is dynamic; that some matters have rightful priority over others; that the dynamic has priority over the static.

Recall the names of men and women who have contributed most to human progress across the years. It may be that an ultimate security was a distant objective for them. But that which distinguished their efforts was a venture of spirit, a fresh boldness. Civilization advanced with their efforts, not with those who rested in their security.

If American people today are interested solely, or even chiefly in security for Americans, then our peril is indeed dreadful. But if we are interested in a way of freedom and opportunity for all mankind, we are in the dynamic tradition where Americans ought to be. Soviet Communism has succeeded in selling a new form of slavery to hoards of people under the persuasion that their revolution is a form of progress. Americans ought to be able to do much better than that, and we can if we have not lost the spirit of venture.

Those who established the freedom and welfare of this land came here not so much for security as for opportunity. Some say that times have now changed -- and they have! But has the change caused boldness to be less a virtue? Does not civilization begin to feed upon itself, and to slow down when security becomes its first concern?

The matter of social responsibility must not be minimized. We all have a social responsibility for the welfare of the members of society. But we may note a dangerous irresponsibility on the part of many who talk about social responsibility. Any development, regardless of its noble claims, which minimizes the importance of individual initiative, and the obligation of man to face life with courage, is unhealthy and dangerous to society.

We are in need of new boldness. The declaration that there is no “place to hide” causes many to scurry about in a frenzied search for a safe place. Should it not rather elicit the cry, “Who wants to hide?” Is crouching in a cave or a bomb shelter really living?

I submit for your thoughtful listening, some lines found upon the body of an Alaskan missionary:

“Let me die working -

Still tackling plans unfinished - tasks undone.

Clean to its end, swift may my course be run;

No lagging steps, no faltering, no shirking.

Let me die working.

Let me die thinking -

Let me fare forth still with an open mind,

Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to find;

My soul undimmed, alert, no questions blinking.

Let me die thinking.

Let me die giving -

The substance of life for life’s enriching;

Time, things and self to heaven converging.

No selfish thought --- living, redeeming, loving,

Let me die giving.”

The literature critics may determine whether or not that is poetry of a high order. But the spirit is thrilling! It is the spirit that this age requires.

People are needed today who will pull down the idol Security. Christians should be such people. For of all people, Christians ought to know what constitutes true security. True security is not found in caves, in man-formulated guarantees, but in the spirit of man.

The lives of the ancient prophets of Judaism make enlightening and stimulating reading --- Amos, Hosea, Ezekiel, Isaiah and the rest. These men spoke boldly, fearlessly. They lived in times of danger or decadence. But they were the saviors of their day and generation. Like our Lord, the Man of Nazareth, who came later, they condemned the religion of undisturbing comfort which disintegrated into formal guarantees and convenient assurances. Whenever the god Security usurped the throne of the living God, they cried out in vigorous protest and testimony.

And when Jesus spoke, mocking the comfortable caution of the Jewish leaders of that time, the hearts of those who heard were quickened. Men’s faith was restored by his boldness. Jesus spoke out of what we would consider great insecurity --- no place of his own to lay his head at night, no property, no army, no political organization, no police protection -- and finally a victim of hatred, intrigue and ruthless violence. But the truth to which he gave divinely inspired witness still stirs the hearts of listening people after more than 1900 years of the comings and goings of men.

Look in the book of Acts and read there the account: “Now when the people saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered; and recognized that they had been with Jesus.” [Acts 4: 13]. Hear also the words of some of these same disciples in time of danger as they prayed: “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness.” [Acts 4: 29].

There is a little church building somewhere in England which bears this inscription: “In the year 1653 when all sacred things in the nation were either demolished or profaned, Sir Robert Shirley, Baronet, founded this church, whose singular praise it is to have done the best things in the worst times, and hoped them in the most calamitous.”

Christians ought to keep alive the spirit of boldness. During the Nazi oppression, Bergrov of Norway looked Quisling straight in the eye and flatly refused to line up his church behind Nazi ruthlessness. The Danish clergyman, Kaj Munk, was murdered by the Nazis for his forthrightness in declaring, “Be cautious? Was Christ cautious? Were the martyrs cautious?”

The boldness of Christians stems not from foolish disregard of facts, but from faith in God. It is fear that drives a man to his knees before the idol Security. It is faith, faith in himself, in his fellow man, and in the God who goes with us even through the valley of the shadow of death, that enables a man to turn his back of the false idol.

You remember the story of Moses, how he led the children of Israel out of Egypt, out of what security they had as a slave people into the freedom and insecurity of the wilderness. There they lived for 40 years. When Moses went off into the mountain to find, further, the will of God for those people, they became fearful. They must have a god, even if they had to make the idol with their own hands. So they fashioned a calf out of the gold that they had along, and began to worship this new idol. When Moses returned, he destroyed the idol. Their faith in Jehovah restored, they advanced to their Promised land.

Perhaps we need most of all, to remember the voices of those who have communed with the living God, and again search their sayings and doings for our own right way.

Let there be a new boldness in finding and asserting our faith and in affirming that in it alone may the right kind of security be found. Our fears must be rebuked and our idols cast down.

A few years ago a popular song swept over the nation’s airwaves for a few weeks: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” became pronounceable in rhythm --- and then were promptly forgotten for some other fancy. But the book of Daniel, in the Old Testament, is worth searching for names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. For theirs is the story of those who would not be shaken in their faith even though they were threatened with torture and death. [Daniel 3: 12-30].

Like those young men, let us declare:

“If it be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us. But if not, be it known to all, we will not worship this golden image.” [Daniel 3: 17-18].

Whether we live or die in our uncertain age, let our life be not that of cowards, but let us enter a new year with bold and earnest faith as befits those who trust in the Lord and live “working, thinking, giving” confident in His right.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, December 31, 1950.