THE ULTIMATE ISSUE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 83, 24 April 1937, Page 12

THE ULTIMATE ISSUE

Here are the closing passages of a sermon preaehed by Dr. F. Townley Lord in Bloomsbury Oentral Baptist Church, London, on our Lord's words to Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world." They are appropfiate at this season, especially in view of the times through which we are passing. He says: — However closely we search the Gospels we shall not find any hint that Jesus doubted the ultimate-issue. "They shall comfe froin the east and the west, from the •north and the eouth, and sit down in- the Kingdom: of God." "Was • this ,a, hppe merely, ■ thp .expression of . Hxs .optimistie ,moments; or . was it the f Utter^npe .oLc4fpi..cpnvictio^ UndoUbtedly the lattef, .We 'J^nQW that as He surveyed the Judaism of His own aay Hc' was' deeply moved. He knew the hardness of their hearts and could f orcsee thfeir rejectibn of ^iih, But, to quote t>rs Md'ffatt; "He faeed death, not in-a mood of eSchatologieal desperafcion, ;bnt in the consciousness that His self-sacrifiee would . avail to redeem the wider circle, It is in this sense that we must interpret His own words, "l'j if I be lifted. up, will draw all men Uiito Me. ' r Jeeus will win. His kingdoiu Will be established. . For this confidenee - we rely- on-Him, aiid if we ask what was the basis of His conviction, we find the reply ,(quotiiig 'I)r. Moffatt again)1 in the consciousness of God, the living Father, who sustained it. It was his inward communion with the Father, .rather than any apocalyptie dogma about the prospeets of the Idngdom, that gave Hinr* feertainty as He looked beyond the Cross and the Resurrection into the ages that were to come. $n this, I suggest, we shonld follow Him. Better than painting the future consummation of His Kingdom ln lurid and speetacular colours; better than attempting to . calculate tipies. and seasoMj is the quiet and confident assuranfe that in the end truth will conquor falsehood, love Will' dOminate hatred, and heatity' will effafte ugliness. *It is such a faith that we need ^ in disappointing times like tliese. We live in an age which reveals, as in a searchlight, the bankruptey of statesmansMp. We are beginning to see that seientiific mechanism in itself cannot save the world. One by one the pillars on which we moderns have built our civilieation are beginning to eraek; While I was preparing this address I learned that one of the European dictators had said, "Let it be clear that 'our desire for peaee by collaboration is backed by several million bayonets. ' ' That^ any responsible leader eatt bring the ideas of peace and bayonets into such elose conjunction is significant. It tells us that, as a race, we have a long way yet to go ere we realise the dreams of ttusuSi ^ ' " Happily for our peace Of mind there is another Power in this world. And if the Gosp'el means anything at all it means that God will vindicate Himself. "He shall aceomplish that whereiinto I fl,m sent. ' ' To believe this. is to turn away from the policies of men and to seek again that cairn reliance on the will of God that carried Jesus vietoriously through the opposition of His day. Recently in ecclesiastical cirCles mueh has been heard of the call to personal evangelism, Well, -that call must be obesyed. It is Still the duty .Of every { one of us to win others for Christ. But there is another duty no less nrgeiit. Much of the indifferenee to organised Christianity to-day arises from a f eeling that aftef all these years we have not yet learned how.to make the spirit of Christ effective in our economie and international relationships. This is a fcask which calls for our earnCst cbnsecration, for the great dream of Christ ivill not have been realised until in every spliere of human conduct, and among all the raees of the earth, the will of God is honoured and obeyed. What a stupendous task! Stupendous, indeed ; but we may remernber that it is God's task, and in it we may be coworkers With Him.