React or Respond

React or Respond

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip *came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Jesus Foretells His Death “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes.” Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. (John 12:20-33)

A person’s character is not determined so much by what life does to him but as to whether he reacts against or responds to life’s circumstances.

There are two sail boats of the same size and class on the lake. One is traveling south and one is traveling north. The same wind, blowing from the same direction is powering them both, one to the north the other to the south. That what makes the difference in the direction traveled is the set of the sail. The sail on the ship is set to react against the wind; the sail on the other is set to respond to the wind.

There are two people ill with the same infection. The doctor prescribes an anti-biotic. One begins to improve and the infection subsides. The other breaks out in a rash and the infection increases. That which makes the difference is this: one body responds to the treatment and the other reacts against the medicine.

Dr. E Stanley Jones tells of a missionary couple to India whose only child, a daughter contracted typhoid fever in India and died. At first the parents reacted against this, and rebelled against what they thought was unjust treatment on the part of God. They resigned from the mission, and began to pack and to return home. Then these servants of God in the “far country” came to themselves and said with Job: “the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” They submitted themselves to the will of God. They responded to the love of God and sought God’s will in the midst of untold circumstances. Through their tears they saw many Indian girls ill with leprosy. They said, “We do not want them to die as our daughter.” They laid the foundation of an institution which has grown to become one of the largest Leper Asylums in India.

The announcement of Dr. Vick’s resignation came as sad news to say the least. We rejoice with him that God has led him to a position of responsibility and trust that he is admirably qualified, and that God has opened before him as avenue whereby he may use God-talents to minister to many servants of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and that his outstanding preaching ability will now benefit a greater amount of people. We are exceedingly thankful for sixteen years of dedicated leadership in the program of this Church, of talented preaching in ‘holding forth the Word of Life,’ and of a consecrated ministry to those in need. Naturally and rightfully so many are asking: What of the future? In part the answer to such a question depends upon us as individuals and as a Church react against or respond to this unhappy circumstance, ever recognizing that this event is within the providence and according to the will of God.

In the Scripture we read this morning we beheld our Lord on the eve of His passion. His public ministry was drawing to a close. Jerusalem and the cross were waiting. The dark appointed hour had come. This was neither an hour nor experience to be desired. The sum total of physical pain, mental anguish, and spiritual burden is beyond our ability to comprehend. If ever there was an adverse circumstance, this was it. If ever anyone had the right to feel that life was toppling in, that fate was picking on Him, the man, Jesus of Nazareth who had dedicated His life to doing good, and He had such a right.

Just for a moment, this man – bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh – seemed to shrink from it. In related passages in the other gospels we hear Him pray, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” For a brief time He seems to react against the cross. He said, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Shall is say, Father save me from this hour, let this cup pass from me? Shall I make that my prayer? But how can I pray thus when I know that it was for this hour I came into the world? I cannot do to my will but the will of my Father who is in heaven. No to make that prayer would to be to contradict the whole purpose of my being. This alone shall be my prayer: father, glorify thy name. Not my will but thine be done.” Then “came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” So Jesus went to meet His destiny. He did not react against this circumstance of life, He responded to it. He did not rebel; He submitted and committed Himself to the will of His Father.

The good news of the gospel is that we, too, may find victory over distressing circumstances. We can overcome sickness, sorrow and suffering; pain, persecution and privation. We can rise above the heritage that is ours and the environment in which we find ourselves. Our lives should not be broken but molded by adverse circumstances. In the experience of Christ we behold a two-fold catalyst that transmutes a human reaction against difficulty into a divine response toward it. We find an alchemy that transforms the base metals of human experience into the pure gold of Christian character.

Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify thy name.” a commentary on this prayer is one offered in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not my will but thine be done.” This is a prayer of commitment. Following the cross, Jesus gave himself in to complete trust to the love and the will of God. He kept back nothing. He asked that God would design to use Him and that which was happening to Him for God’s glory; and the rest He left with the Father.

In the midst of our Gethsemane, while facing our cross we must learn to pray His prayer and mean it – Father glorify thy name; thy will not mine be done. We beg not that we may escape that which threatens us, but that we may see it through with honor; that we may so bear ourselves that whatever befalls us, God may be glorified. If we would be made and not broken by that which happens within the Providence, not necessarily within the intention, but within the love and care of God, then this must be our prayer.

In response to this prayer of renewed commitment God gave reassuring response: “I have glorified my name and I will glorify it again.”

“I have glorified my name.” what did that signify? “The total activity of Jesus up to this point was included here: everything He had done, every word He had spoken, had been God glorifying His name. all the compassion that had healed the sick, the pity that had fed the hungry, the love that had cheered the lonely, the mercy that had sought the sinful, the power that had broken the fetters and shackles of habit and set the prisoners free, all the grace that had availed for Peter, for Zaccheus, for Matthew, for Mary Magdalene, for a host of others – all this had been glorifying His name, showing forth through Jesus the character of the eternal.” (James S Stewart)

“I will glorify it again.” What did that signify? In the days that still remain to you, I will glorify my name “by death and resurrection greater than that of Lazarus, glorify it by a mightier deed than the stilling of the storm ofr the feeding of the multitude, glorify it by a salvation that will reach out beyond the narrow limits of the land of Judea and the lost sheep of the house of Israel to embrace all nations of mankind, a gospel that will outlast the stars and stand towering o’er the wrecks of time forever! I have glorified My name through the short years of your ministry; and now supremely and forever, I am about to glorify it again.” (James S Stewart) So Jesus, strengthened by the voice to heaven, went forth to His last conflict like a conqueror.

If this is the words of the text meant to Jesus, let us now ask what they mean in the experience to the Christian today. “I have glorified my name.” Can you not look back along the way you have traveled and “trace the rainbow through the rain” and confidently testify “surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life?” There were difficulties that may well have left you bitter and disillusioned, hard and cynical, had not Jesus laid His hand upon you, just as He did on so many ailing folk in Galilee, and delivered you by His grace. There were joys so splendid and magnificent that you knew they came from heaven. Has not His grace proved to be sufficient and His mercies have not failed?

Then why doubt the future? “I have glorified my name, and will glorify it again” – through all you experience on the yet untraveled way. The God “in whom we live and move and have our being” is the “same yesterday, today and forever.” His mercies are new every morning, His compassion fail not. Has He not promised never to leave us, never to forsake us. Are we face tomorrow we need “an absolute, enthusiastic confidence in God,” who said, “I have both glorified my name in you and will glorify it again.”

It is in your power and no one else’s power what you do with your life. To this degree you are “the Captain of your soul and the master of your fate.” When the “woes of life o’er take you” you can react against them, wrap yourself in the garments of self-pity and become bitter and cynical. Or you can respond with a new commitment unto God and with confidence in His continuing faithfulness move out to “become more than a conqueror through Him who loved you” and gave Himself for you. In His strength you can rise above any of the beatings of life and overcome even as Christ overcame. The choice is yours.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church, Charleston W VA, March 11 1962