1/29/56

Scripture: II Peter 3: 8-18

For parents, each age and each stage of growth in the lives of their children is interesting. There are some who are so particularly fond of the little child, just beginning to walk and talk, responsive to the cuddling, the affection, the encouragement of mother and father, that they say, “O I wish that the baby would stay just like this for a long time. I hate to see him grow older.” And then having said that, the father and mother instantly know that this is not what they want at all. For, above all else, they do want the baby to grow, and to grow well in body, in mind, in social adjustment, and in spirit.

Most folk look with pity upon the person who has been deprived of physical growth. There was a man who became a box office attraction in the past century. His name was Charles S. Stratton, but he was far more generally known as Tom Thumb. For years he was exhibited by the circus man, P. T. Barnum, as a money earning attraction. But people paid their admission and crowded in to see Tom Thumb out of curiosity to see what a person, dwarfed in body, might be like. Few, if any, would aspire to the same fame as that which came to Tom Thumb. For the curious folk would prefer to be unsung and unknown, yet normal in stature, than to have stopped, themselves, somewhere in the process of growth.

And if a stunted body evokes pity, a stunted mind is also, and perhaps still more, pathetic. A starved or stunted spirit is no less pitiable.

Common experience tells us that we ought to grow. The Bible tells us that we ought to grow. In its accounts of the appearing of Jesus, there is a long period between the story of his birth and the comments upon his ministry wherein details of his life are not given. But the Scripture does say that Jesus, during that time, “increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” [Luke 2: 52]. He grew up, both in body and in wisdom.

It is a deep truth that we ought to grow. We may not stand still as personalities. The human body grows until it reaches a normal adult size. Then it still normally absorbs enough to maintain itself in the balance characteristic of its age.

The human mind needs more constant and continuing growth. It is doubtful if it should ever “remain in balance.” It either grows, or loses. If it constantly goes through all the same routines, thinking all the same thoughts, it is too prone to go to sleep. And sleep, beyond the necessary daily allowance, becomes a form of deterioration. We may fool ourselves over feel comfortable. But time will not let us stand still indefinitely. Something in us rebels, unless we march along with time.

Our need to grow expresses itself in our restlessness when we think that we are not improving our time. We rebel when time does not bring progress in something we care about. Growth is our great need.

[Here we are missing pages 4 and 5 of the handwritten manuscript]

The more they knew of him the deeper their desire to be like him. His mind, with its great wisdom and infinite understanding made him the Master Teacher.

One noticeable feature of the growth that was in Jesus, is that his knowledge was blended with a grace which learning does not always possess.

Some knowledge actually adds to the dangers of living. Justice Jackson, experienced member of the US Supreme Court, said: “It is one of the paradoxes of our time that modern society needs to fear only the educated man ..... The most serious crimes against civilization can be committed only by educated and technically competent people.” How desperately we need to grow into Christ’s combination of grace and knowledge.

What do we mean by the grace of Christ? (1) For one thing, it means his grace of manner. He not only did the right thing, but he did it in the right way. His was a grace of manner which drew little children to him. He had that grace of speech which could disarm the fears of those who had been honestly suspicious of him. When he met and talked with the woman at a well in Samaria, this grace of speech appeared with telling effect. She had come in a sullen mood. She suspected his motives when Jesus began to talk to her, especially since he appeared to be a Jew, and Jews at that time usually had no dealings with Samaritans. But Jesus gracefully dispelled her resentment and revealed new resources for right living. [John 4: 7-26].

You remember the story of that grateful woman who brought the precious alabaster box and began to anoint his feet. Disciples rebuked her for her extravagance. But Jesus, in his gentlemanly considerateness, healed the wounds of their words by his gracious tribute to her generosity. [Luke 7: 37-50].

Of course the grace of Jesus was more than his manner, but it did include good manners. Politeness has a refining influence. Perhaps, in some instances, it is possible that good manners are only a social veneer or polish. (But polish often brings out the beauty and grain of the wood underneath!) We respect, and desire, sincerity. But, in our desire to be sincere and genuine, let us not mistake rawness for realism. For good manners can be just as real as brutal frankness. The grace of good manners belongs to the gospel of Christ.

(2) But grace is also deeper. Graciousness of spirit may be courteously considerate of others’ opinions without compromising one’s own convictions. Even those who are mentally tall may put down an ear to the level of those whose ideas have not matured as well or as far, without showing a stoop. And it is possible for the strong to slow the pace for those of less strength without seeming to hold back.

When Jesus stood before a fallen woman who at that time was about to be legally stoned to death, he did not crush her already bruised spirit by adding words of condemnation to those of her accusers. But, with no commendation for the wrong she had done, he yet managed to restore her hope with the quiet admonition to “go and sin no more.” [John 8: 3-11].

(3) But gracefulness of manner and graciousness of spirit do not explain all of what early Christians meant when they spoke of the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” They saw, in him, the grace of God --- that unmerited favor which God grants to his children over and above, and beyond, what law and justice require.

We glimpse this extra goodness of God in nature where the colors of a landscape, or the beauty of an evening, though not foretold, are so unexpectedly and magnificently beautiful.

We see it in history, when into a world, already created and ordered by law, the Eternal sent more. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

And when people see Jesus, they often say: “God is like that.”

We easily say, and usually rightly, “Well I can’t be like that. His grace and his goodness are too high for me. I cannot attain unto them.” Probably God knows we will not and can not. But God does expect us to try. The divine command is not that we be a copy of Christ, but “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Growth is not just copying. It is the power given to us to become something more in our own right.

We sometimes think of ourselves as self-made people. We make our fortunes; we make our goals; we make our schedules. Yet we are not made by our own determination. We are “receivers,” or we are nothing. We did not get life by our own efforts. We received it. The talents we being with, and trade with, are gifts. You remember that a story told by Jesus has just the same commendation for the servant with two talents as for the one with five talents. Each one was given the talents to use, and used them with accountability. Maybe you can remember the first dollar you earned. But you cannot remember the first gift you ever received, for all the care which has nurtured each of us through infancy, and all the factors and forces which prepared us to earn our first dollar, were gifts to us.

The power of growth by which we transmute the elements of soil and sun and opportunity and experience into the stuff of life -- all this is God’s gift to us.

Now what difference does this make in daily living? Just that we ought be more grateful? We should live in gratitude, but more than that. If we are to grow into great living, we must learn better how to receive from God. Read the Bible with an eye for the word “receive” and see how often it occurs there. Growing is so much a matter of properly receiving.

The mind is not a mere machine for digging up and storing facts. Small minds, and those who are merely clever, can do that. But the growing mind is the one which, with the facts perceived, can see life steadily and see it whole. This ability in growth builds great literature, great statesmanship, great goals, great achievements. Even in an age of narrow and intensive specialization, we must have people, we must be people of large vision, sensitive to the spirit of God and moved by His power.

Does a composer “make” his melodies? Victor Herbert said that many of his tunes just “came to him” in his dreams, and he woke up singing and whistling them. A former editor of a musical magazine, “Etude,” Dr. James Francis Cook, dreamed that he saw a famous composer going around the city of Florence bragging about some new composition. Whereupon, Dr. Cook, when he awoke, wrote down some lines which he called, “The Moment of Triumph.”

The moment of triumph is always very dangerous,

Because you believe that you have made

Your book,

Your picture,

Your drama,

Your symphony,

Your victory.

Poor fool! Poor fool!

Do you not realize that you are merely

The glove on the hand of God?

Those lines, and others like them, witness to the truth that we are receivers and that most of what we believe we have created is merely our arrangement of what we have received. Therefore, though we can not, in our own strength, make ourselves like Christ, we can yet grow in his grace and his knowledge.

And if we are to receive the forces which make for growth, we must put ourselves in contact with them. We must set ourselves in the midst of whatever suggests to us the grace and knowledge of Christ, and reminds us of them.

Not only need we be exposed to these influences, but we must yield our hearts to him as a “seed yields itself to the soil.” “If a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it bears much fruit,” said our Lord. And unless it does so, it remains alone.

Our Lord brought self-surrender to self-development. And out of that may grow the hope of the earth. And because he gave himself completely, men and women give their hearts to him.

Thus do we begin to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, January 29, 1956

Boy Scout District Camporee, September 21, 1958

Youth Lenten Luncheon meeting, Wis. Rapids, 4-3-63

Wisconsin Rapids, September 10, 1967