4/15/51

Scripture: Matthew 6: 19-34.

Text: Matthew 6: 27; “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

For several years, in my first pastorate, one of my duties involved a very lovely drive. Living, and doing most of my work, in the central part of the island of Maui, in Hawaii, I had to drive periodically to the eastern tip of that island to preach in English at a Wananalua Church. The Hawaiian pastor of the church in Hana ministered in other churches, some distance farther, on the days when I preached in the pulpit of Wananalua Church. My drive was over some 60 or 70 miles of road along the windward coast of the island. That is where the northeast trade winds drop their rainfall. And despite the fact that most of the water coming down those many mountain valleys was taken into a system of ditches and tunnels for irrigation of sugar cane, there was still enough water coming down the stream beds to provide numerous waterfalls of great beauty. Tropical ferns lined some of the roadway as it wound in and out of each deep gulch.

To one side of the road there were numerous cliffs which rose abruptly and steeply toward the summit of the volcanic mountain, Haleakala. From the other side of the road one could constantly see out over the limitless blue expanse of the Pacific ocean in the direction of San Francisco, 2100 miles away.

But I didn’t spend very much time looking that way while driving, for it was mountain road, rather narrow, quite steep in places and very winding. One pays close attention to the business at hand on such a trip! And seventy miles of it becomes physically tiring! One of the things I watched for, in very wet weather, was any evidence of small landslides. It took only a few tons of earth and rock, sliding down one of those man-engineered cliffs, to block the road for hours until a road crew might arrive to remove it. And the thought frequently crossed my mind, as it did the minds of other drivers: “What if one of those rocks up there should let loose, just as I came by, and fall on me!” (comforting thought!!) -- and the car I drove did not have a turret top!

Well, that never happened to me, except in my mind. But it has happened in the minds of many people. And safety councils rather want it to happen there (in the mind) so that each driver will exercise what caution and alertness he can muster, to avoid accident. After all, it can be disastrous to come too fast around a blind curve upon a large rock that has already fallen upon the roadway! It is not uncommon, when driving in mountainous country anywhere, to come upon signs which say, “Beware of falling rocks.” It would probably not be amiss to vary the sign now and then by having it say, “Beware of fallen rocks.” This is a hazard of driving in that kind of country, and no precaution can entirely do away with the hazard. Your rate of speed has nothing to do with it; nor has the condition of your tires; nor has the way you handle your car. It makes no difference whether you are a good driver or a bad driver. If a rock should fall, well, it falls; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Perhaps this is typical of the kind of troubles that no caution can avoid, and which have nothing to do with one’s conduct. If a swollen stream floods a valley, the home of the mayor and the cells of a jail alike may be inundated. When lightning strikes a fence, it may be the farmer, or his cattle, that, standing nearby, are killed. When rain falls, in season or out, it falls on the just and the unjust alike. [Matthew 5: 45]. Cancer is no respecter of persons, but may appear in man or woman, old or young, deacon or drunkard, farmer or physician. [Tornado or hailstorm].

The insurance people have a name for some of these things. They call them “acts of God.” When they come, they come, and that’s that. One does what he can to remedy the damage, if a remedy is known, and adjusts life, so long as he has it, to the event. This is not fatalism, but a recognition that God has set up certain laws of operation in nature -- laws which govern inanimate things, and which even vitally affect living things -- people among them. Trouble that we know how to prevent, we do well to anticipate and prevent. But what shall be our attitude toward those troubles that we can do nothing to prevent?

1) A common attitude toward this problem is that of worry. Probably worry is the most widespread transgression that marks our inconsistency as Christians. Perhaps we should keep it at the top of a list of private and corporate sins for which we should seek forgiveness.

Suppose some timid soul, meeting one of those signs along the road, peers ahead and spots an overhanging ledge that fills him with dread. What if he decides not to risk it, turns around and retraces his track? Or suppose he does decide to risk it and drives on? What has he accomplished by his worry? Neither his driving or his anxiety has had the least effect on the rock. The worrying of the driver neither secures nor loosens the rock. It has no effect on the boulder; but it has a marked effect on the driver!

I suppose that we seldom realize how destructive a thing worry can be. It interferes with sleep, with sound judgment, with good health, with family well-being. It shortens tempers, and makes some as snappy as a terrier. It heightens physical disorders and retards recovery from illness. Hard work, even overwork, is far less likely to kill anybody than is the strain or tension of our anxiety. Probably we should live longer, and more usefully, if we could adopt the philosophy of an old man of the South who said:

“When I works, I works hard;

When I sets, I sets loose;

When I worries, I goes to sleep.”

Maybe a little more sleep, earned after a day of faithful work, would engulf our worries with healing. And our dispositions might be sweeter; our lives --- mental, physical, spiritual --- healthier.

Jesus had somewhat to say to this problem -- quite a bit, in fact. “Take no thought for the morrow,” said he -- that is, no anxious, troubled thought. --- Or we might say, “Don’t worry about tomorrow” -- for that is what he meant. “Which of you,” said he, “by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature?” [Matthew 6: 27]. That is to say, “Who can think 18 inches more of height upon himself?” You can’t worry yourself up. Fretting about a lack of inches will not create or increase those inches. That is one of the things you have to accept. Are you any better able to cope with difficulties of tomorrow by borrowing tomorrow’s troubles today?

Now of course we must make a distinction, as want to, between thoughtful consideration and useless fretting. Thoughtful consideration, careful planning, even a considerable degree of anticipation, mixed with willingness to be adaptable, is quite an essential for constructive living. And it is quite possible that the old boy who “sets so loose,” and goes to sleep too easily, could use more foresight. The story didn’t say! But the fretting that destroys one’s appetite for food, and betrays self-confidence, leaving one sleepless and miserable, -- that is useless -- even harmful.

Have you heard of the little boy who was quite content and happy over his kindergarten? It seemed nearly all play to him, and it was just his dish! But when he moved up to first grade the following year, he got the shock of his life! He had to do more purposive thinking; more learning of the kind he recognized as work, and less of what he regarded as play. He was somewhat unhappy about it, and sometime, in the midst of learning to write the letters of the alphabet, his lower lip would tremble and he would then burst into audible sorrow. His teacher and his parents finally found out what he was worried about. He had been told that he had 12 years of school before him in order to finish high school; possibly 4 years of college after that; and even more, if he wished to enter one of the professions or some kinds of business. They found out that, beyond his struggle with the alphabet, he was worrying about going to college and what he would do there! Well, if that seems ridiculous, just think of some of the fairly remote or distant eventualities on which we adults focus our tense anxiety!

Of course, if you are not Christian, perhaps you have plenty to worry about! But if you are Christian, remember that you are a child of God. It is not only futile, but wrong, for a Christian to be so weak of faith that he cannot live in trust of his Heavenly Father. Now there are some rocks that might fall on us; -- some of them, devised by the ingenuity of man, that are perfectly devastating, heavy and sinister. The only way to deal happily with them is the way of faith; -- faith in the purposes of God; faith in the presence of God; faith in the promises of God; faith in the power of God to deliver us through our troubles. I know of nothing but that kind of faith in God that can free us of our fear. And if we be ruled by fear, can we be said truly to have faith in God?

A good deal of our modern strain and tension is due to our unwillingness to accept situations that are beyond our control. Christians must be realists as well as idealists; and Christ was both. We plan a trip; somebody gets sick; and we have to postpone it. Is anybody, whomever, benefited by our self-pity or resentment over it? The train is late; does any amount of glaring at the hands of my watch stop the watch hands or speed the train? You are a businessman and your secretary is sick in the hospital and you fume at the work piled on your desk. Does the fuming keep down your blood pressure or cure the secretary’s illness, or get the work finished? Common sense tells us, in matter-of-fact tone, that the best thing to do is to accept what cannot be helped, and to make what adjustments are necessary. Any changes brought about by our completely uncompromising attitude toward difficulty is not a change for the better.

We have to learn to cooperate with the inevitable. “Man proposes, but God disposes.” It may sound like mock piety when you hear the expression “God willing” added to the announcement of someone’s plans. But that nevertheless represents a clear recognition of life’s contingencies and our own helplessness to change some unforeseen events. Now and then a rock will fall. We don’t know when, and we can not find out for sure.

One of the definite promises of Christ was this: “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” [John 16: 33]. Is anyone going to escape the pangs of bereavement? Not if his own life achieves any length of days! Meanwhile, better say those things of friendliness and affection now rather than leave them unsaid for some future day of regret. In reminding ourselves that Jesus told his followers: “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” we must further remind ourselves that he added: “But be of good cheer.” In other words, “Cheer up.” --- “I have overcome the world.” [John 16: 33].

The last thing you want to do when the rocks fall is to reject your faith. Fortify it right now -- every day. Let it grow like a well-exercised body. And then rely on it; trust in God, when some rock of darker fortune falls on you, or on your path. In times of calamity or sorrow, lay hold on the eternal life of God and his grace.

Peter Marshall, who used to be pastor of a big church in Washington, DC, called attention to the way an oyster meets trouble. Not all oysters have this kind of trouble, but now and again some oyster will somehow get a sharp grain of sand lodged inside its shell where it scratches and cuts the tender part of the oyster. What shall the oyster do?

1) Metaphorically speaking it could shake a fist at the Creator and say, “Why pick on me?” “Why should I suffer so?” “What have I done to deserve this?” “With all the billions of oysters on the seaboard, how is it that this grain of sand gets lodged against me?”

2) Or the oyster might say -- like some men and women say: “It can’t be true! It just isn’t so. I must not permit myself to believe it.”

3) It could say, as some very fine people are reported to say: “There is no such thing as pain. That is an error of the mind, and therefore I must project my thoughts on the positive values of beauty, truth and goodness. If I succeed in this, then I shall know that pain is unreal.” But the oyster does not do that.

4) Another attitude it could adopt -- an attitude commendable for its fortitude, courage and determination. It could say: “This hard thing that cuts and stabs me must be endured. I must show that I can take it. I won’t give in.” There is something noble and praiseworthy about that.

5) But the oyster does something even better than that, and certainly better than any of the other possible solutions. Recognizing fully the presence of the grim intruder, it begins right away to do something about it. Slowly, and with infinite care, it wraps upon that grain of sand, layer upon layer of a plastic, milky substance that covers each corner and cutting edge. Gradually, very slowly, very certainly, a pearl is made ---- “a thing of wondrous beauty wrapped around trouble.” In its lowly way, this humble oyster has learned, by the will of its Creator, to turn a torturing grain of sand into a pearl!

Perhaps one enters the very presence of the Lord of all Life through gates bedecked with the pearls that have been made out of our heartaches, our disappointments, and misfortunes --- troubles that are made, by the grace of God, into something lovely.

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Dates and Places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, April 15, 1951.

La Crosse, June 17, 1951.

Sparta, June 17, 1951.

4-H Club Sunday Service at Lake Nepco, June 13, 1954.

Port Edwards, March 20, 1957.

Wisconsin Rapids, September 17, 1961.

Wood County Infirmary, September 27, 1961.

Waioli Church, February 29, 1976.

Park View, Wisconsin Rapids, February 22, 1977.

Delta, WI, September 11, 1977.

Hancock, WI, October 16, 1977.

Moon Beach, September 20, 1978.

[Appended to the manuscript of this sermon is the following written prayer, apparently delivered in Babcock 8-13-72, Waioli Hui’ia Church 2-18-73, again in Waioli 2-20-76, Delta 9-11-77, Hancock 10-16-77, and Moon Beach 9-20-78.

Eternal Spirit, from whence come our spirits and in whom is all our peace and power, we worship Thee. Thou are like the sun at noonday, too bright for our eyes to gaze upon, yet known to us by the light and warmth that blesses the earth. We believe Thee with our minds; make Thyself real to our hearts and consciences. Grant us an hour of hospitality to the Highest, and send us forth refreshed, purified, and empowered.

Grant us the grace of gratitude. Have mercy upon any of us who find it difficult to be thankful. Save us from undue worry over tomorrow while Thou dost lead us in living for today. Give us grace to let Thee shape our planning.

While we wait before Thee, lift from us our burdens of shame and guilt, of uncertainty and anxiety. Lift the heavy and depressed hearts into a song of confidence.

Grant us, in this hour of worship, discovery of the faith that overcomes the world. And let our thanks to Thee rise warmly within us. Quicken our memories of kindnesses shown to us; refresh our recollection of the blessings of our civilization; make vivid our appreciation of our country and the freedom which has been so dearly bought for us by the patriots of centuries. We are grateful for homes that have nourished our being, for friends who sustain us, for books that inspire us. Lead us to the Christ whom Thou hast given to us to lead us out of our darknesses.

Give us tranquillity. Let us find serenity and steadfastness beneath the stress of a busy world, that we may learn to be like the one who built his house on a rock. Do Thou posses our souls in peace.

Give us courage, O Lord -- courage to be honest, straightforward, unafraid, truthful. Build in us the basic virtues without which we can do nothing of permanent worth.

Give us vision, Lord. Thou hast made it that Thy will should be done here upon earth. In days of greed and strife and selfishness and misunderstanding; show us how to help with the bringing in of Thy kingdom.

For all sorts and conditions of men we pray Thee. Wherever soldiers of the common good fight the battles of decency and goodwill, be Thou their strength and shield.

Grant these our petitions in the name of Christ Thy son.

Amen.