10/25/53

Scripture: Acts 17: 22-32

Text: Acts 17: 26; " [God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

Truly great is the spirit that enables a person to stand up and say, in love and simple honesty, what he knows to be right. That kind of spirit had laid hold of Paul. It was not just that he was fearless and zealous. He had been all of that when, as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee, he had persecuted the Christians with zeal and thoroughness. But, having become a changed man, he taught and preached the Christian gospel with greater zeal and thoroughness; for he knew, with all certainty of soul, that it was right and that the righteousness that people hope to bring about springs from the Eternal whom Jesus Christ called "Father." Following his conversion to Christianity, Paul had been chief exponent of the missionary notion that the gospel of right in Christ belongs not to any one people (many had supposed it was just for the Jews) but to all people. He traveled about on several long missionary journeys, helping to establish churches, little communities of believers, wherever he went.

On one of his later journeys, he got clear over to Athens, in Greece. He had visited place after place, staying in each community until the hostility of unsympathetic elements made it necessary for him to leave, in order not to bring down persecution on the small groups of Christians in the place. Then, moving on to new communities, he at length arrived in Athens.

First he went to the Jewish synagogue and disputed there with the Jewish men. Then he met Greek philosophers who were interested in what he had to say. One day Paul stood up on Mars hill, or in the middle of the Areopagus, and spoke out: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything. .... And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth." The King James authorized translation of the Bible reads "made of one blood all nations for to dwell on all the fact of the earth."

It was a significant way to put a great truth. An interesting side light is the modern discovery that bodily blood does not differ essentially among people of differing races, creeds, nationality or language; but may be used interchangeably, in the blood banks, according to type alone.

But Paul was speaking in a sense deeper than this interesting physical truth. He was talking of the spiritual bonds and the common creative origin of all people of the earth. The peoples of the earth are one. Now to say with Paul that "all people are one," is not to blink the plain fact that people are different; that no two individuals are identical, or even very much alike; that people do differ vastly in appearance, in race, language and nationality; in religious expression and ideology; in loyalties; in education; in degree of integrity; in almost every imaginable way.

It is not to shut one’s eyes to the painful circumstances that there are fiercely conflicting ideologies; vast differences in custom; appalling inequalities of educational opportunity; and stubborn prejudicial cleavages among the people of the earth. We live with this condition and must deal with it constantly, intelligently, vigorously.

But Paul’s contention that all people are basically "made from one," that there is an essential unity of mankind, is a vivid attempt to state basic truth. The great diversity of at least thirteen states, which are still sovereign units, with their own state governments, is placed in better perspective when we know those states as part of our Republic that is the United States. The great diversity of church denominations, each independent of the other and sometimes very critical of one another, is brought to proper proportion when each church, and each member therein, thinks of that particular family of the faith as part of the church of Christ universal.

On this "World Order Sunday," we remind ourselves that 16 years ago there was signed, by official representatives of nation, the charter of the United Nations. A sincere and promising step was taken, when after careful study, the United Nations was brought into being at San Francisco through adoption of this charter. There is deep and continuing significance in the United Nations for all of us in the Christian churches. For we are dedicated to strengthening and extending the ideal of the brotherhood of man within, and across, national boundaries.

Part of the national unity of this country rests upon the intelligent tolerance and understanding that exists among the churches in our nation. If our nation has an essential greatness it is in devotion to truth as revealed by God, and discovered by the adherents to religious faith. Our very diversity, so long as it has also this religious unity, becomes a source of strength.

This should be equally true of the international community. Here, tolerance and understanding; an awareness of the common destiny of all mankind, without regard to race or creed or origin, is (1) a mark of civilized approach to our fellow men and (2) the essential basis of the international unity we seek today.

In the United Nations one speaks of fundamental human rights. The observance of these rights is not confined to the adoption of lofty resolutions but in the practice of that tolerance between individuals and nations that may establish the neighborhood of peoples.

The establishment of our own Republic was a slow and difficult matter. The states were brought together by the necessity of making common cause against foreign control that had become tyranny. There was hot disagreement between states. Formation and ratifying of a constitution was slow. Differences continued for years and years. At least one major war was fought over the union of the states when that union was threatened by grave differences over slavery and how to abolish it. And we still not only tolerate but encourage the expression of differing opinions through political parties and their platforms, not as a divisive thing but as a very basis upon which we can arrive at the common ground that keeps us united!

The United Nations is still a young effort to bring about better world community. There is vast inequality in the shouldering of responsibility. There is tremendous difference of opinion, and pulling for power among major blocs. But there is also a tremendous striving for peace which must not be abandoned.

These are some of the measures that commend the UN to our continued, whole-hearted support:

(1) The measures to effect peace between warring nations, and to anticipate and prevent further armed outbreaks;

(2) Efforts to develop and extend the whole range of economic and social cooperation over a widening area of the globe;

(3) Programs of technical assistance that promise far more benefit than mere relief.

The UN sponsors far more constructive activity than the struggle for prevention of war. (1) United Care for Children; (2) United educational and cultural approaches are some of the things that build the peace, but get lost from public attention, and even have their appropriations tragically reduced, because we see only the one, military facet of the UN organization. The specialized agencies of the UN alone make a formidable list.

(1) International Labor Organization;

(2) Food and Agriculture Organization;

(3) United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(4) International Monetary Fund;

(5) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development;

(6) International Finance Corporation;

(7) International Civil Aviation Organization;

(8) Universal Postal Union;

(9) International Telecommunication Union;

(10) World Meteorological Organization;

(11) Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization;

(12) International Trade Organization; and

(13) International Atomic Energy Agency.

Justice Douglas remarks that "each of these is in a sense a government unto itself. In some a majority vote controls. The constitution of the International Labor Organization, for example, provides that while a member government may object to the inclusion of any item on the agenda, a two-thirds vote of the delegates present can put it there." [Article 6]

Coming back to the efforts to control conflicts and preserve the peace, there is even more success attributable to the UN in the controlling of war’s threats than we are prone to remember. It is true that wars did not cease with the adoption of the UN Charter, and the treat of war has not abated. But a check will show that the UN has been instrumental in bringing fighting to an end in (1) Indonesia; (2) Palestine; (3) Kashmir; (4) Korea; [(5) Egypt; (6) the Congo.] No durable peace has yet been assured between Israel and the Arabs states; between Indian and Pakistan over Kashmir, or in Korea. But at least organized warfare has been suspended, thus bringing about the opportunity to seek peace without further destruction. The way is open for negotiation which is not possible in the heat of open warfare.

There are those who attack the UN with the assertion that it represents an invasion of our national sovereignty and that of other nations. But the very fact that the major portion of the load in repelling the invader in Korea fell upon the USA exposes the fact that the UN lacks controlling authority over its member nations. The UN is still chiefly a voluntary association. It is an opportunity to build constructive World Order. It is not yet an achievement, except in limited sense. Because it is an opportunity, it is still deserving of our support.

Though it lacks authoritative strength, it is still highly significant as a forum for a wide range of discussion. Out of this discussion many opinions finally coalesce in resolutions that have real effect. For example, the first time a resolution was presented in 1952 by India concerning the problem of the prisoners in Korea who did not want to be repatriated, it was scornfully rejected by Russian, and later by Communist China and later by North Korea. But as the matter was discussed and debated at the UN, enough world opinion began to take shape to encourage a different stand. And so, several months later, the Communists asked for reopening of the truce talks and finally agreed to a truce which followed closely the terms of the India resolution.

[It is embodied in the charter of the UN: "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace." Of course the UN action in Korea was the first time the outlawry of aggression was implemented by direct military police action by the community of nations.

In 1956, armed intervention broke out in the direction of Egypt. On November 2 of that year the General Assembly of the UN voted 64 to 5 for a cease-fire on the actions taken against Egypt. Later that month, it created an international command force of the UN to supervise the cessation of hostilities; and, in a matter of a few days, hostilities ceased.

When the Republic of the Congo asked for help from the UN to maintain its government from the machinations of a foreign power, and when, in response, the Security Council, on July 13, 1960, resolved to extend that aid, the principle of the independence of nations was strengthened. As the world is evolving, there are few, if any, nations that can go it alone - not even the USA. Our national economy is dependent to a considerable extent on materials from, and trade with, other nations. Our safety, and our progress, is dependent on cooperation with other nations. So it is with others.]

Each meeting of minds in the fields of international controversy is hard-won; but there is some degree of progress, some arrest of destruction and killing; some cautious opening of hope which would not be available at all with the UN organization for that degree of world order which the peoples of the world will voluntarily support.

Meanwhile, it is well for us in the USA to remind ourselves that the tides of revolution are running high in Africa, the Near East and the Far East. And, if "God has made of one, all people," then it is obvious that those who have been shackled by imperialism and colonialism in the past have an inherent right to throw off those shackles. We of this nation did in the years about

1776 AD! If formerly enslaved and subjected people can achieve self-respect and self-sustenance, without falling under a new dictatorial authority, they should at least have our understanding and patience.

Because this is a ferment much greater than local conditions, greater even that the conflict between a world that cherishes freedom or longs for it, and a world that wished to throttle freedom under a new tyranny, we shall probably see conflict during all of our lifetime. But we need the organization for every possible peaceful move. The UN is vastly important from this viewpoint.

United Nations Day is observed today on a global basis, cutting across national boundaries, erasing regional differences of culture, race, religion and language, and drawing a vast segment of humanity together in dedication to the cause of peace, human dignity and welfare. No easy optimism that the UN will save "succeeding generations from the scourge of war" will suffice. For the world is too full of its wars and rumors of war, its sufferings and distress. More than one-third of the peoples of the earth have to labor in desperation for the next, inadequate meal! My daughter writes that the first good monsoon rain in Maderai, South India, in 5 years means a literal hope of life for thousands who have not had enough rice!

[Justice William Douglas has reminded us that "Only 15% of the people of the world earn more than $450 a year. The vast majority [of the people of the earth] live out their lives below what we of the West think of as the subsistence level. (The average annual income in the United States is more than $2000 as against less than $100 for a third of the world’s population)."

In the face of this condition we have a moral obligation to do far more than simply be opposed to a lot of things, including communism. We must see the world’s problems in affirmative terms.

History will record our utter failure unless we address ourselves to the needs of our time. If we are favored with a comfortable standard of living, we must be concerned with ways to help the hungry and needy and illiterate masses of the world to help themselves to better living and greater self-respect. To whom much is given, from him much is required. We must do our full share in bringing order to a disordered world.]

The UN’s constructive, patient, persistent and positive efforts toward World Order are deeply right, because they are in line with the basic religiously-motivated understanding that God hath made of one spiritual origin, one creation, all people to dwell on the face of the earth.

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, October 25, 1953.

Wisconsin Rapids, October 22, 1961. [the material in the text in these brackets were added for the later sermon.]