Beeson podcast, Episode 458 Timothy George August 20, 2019 Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George. Timothy George: Welcome to today's Beeson podcast. We're going to hear today a sermon that I preached on the occasion of our spring commencement this past spring at Beeson Divinity School. I was persuaded by several folks that I should give the sermon. It's the first and only time I've ever done that at a Beeson commencement. And I took as my text Hebrews 11:31 through 12:3 about being surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses. That's the theme, Dr. Smith, of Hodges Chapel. Robert Smith Jr: Yes, it is. Timothy George: So I thought it would be an appropriate thing for the students as they're preparing to leave their studies here and go out into the service of God to be reminded of what we're surrounded with every time we enter Hodges Chapel. And I call this sermon, Through the Gates of Pearly Splendor. Robert Smith Jr: I listened to the sermon with great interest because Dean George, you are a Dean who can preach and ungrammatically stated, but theologically and truthfully correct. You are a preacher who can Dean. That's what you did. We listened to the voice of the Dean as he listened to the voice of the Beeson Divinity School community. Dean George, thank you so much for that profound message. Thank you for listening to the voice of the beast of the community and the listening to Sherri Brown who is our Director of Admissions who said that, "Every class has a personality that defines it." And then of course you listen to the voice of the text and you brought the two together. The voice of the text that you chose from Hebrew, Hebrews 12 and one, "And let us run with perseverance." Matched the voice of Sheri Brown's analysis that this class was defined by the personality of perseverance. Robert Smith Jr: So you brought those two together. I think that's quite wonderful to marry the community and to marry the Canon of Scripture together. You open up with a comment made concerning Elizabeth Elliott who talked about servant leadership doing what you call the most unique commencement time because it was held at night. And you drew out of that your title, the title from a poem that she learned, Through the Gates of Pearly Splendor. I felt you effectively employed the sense of sight in Hodges Chapel, the empty niches, and you challenged the students and said, "We left some of the niches empty. Perhaps through your service you will fill those niches after graduation, the heroes of faith, the cloud of witnesses. Not only those biblical cloud of witnesses, but church historical cloud of witnesses and perhaps some of you will be that for those that you leave behind, the negative imperatives are being married to the positive implications. Don't neglect so great salvation, don't harden your heart." Robert Smith Jr: Those are negative imperatives from the text, but then you gave positive implications from scripture and from church history. I appreciate it and it's so easy to follow you, not only this message, but all of your preaching, the outline, the structure. Three banners. One, Jesus has broken through the bubble. Two, Jesus has bequeathed to us an extended family. Three, Jesus who saves us still bears the mark of the crucifixion. As you began to close the sermon to talk to us about the necessity of having the Pan Prince of Jesus put on his hands and the above dome to remind us that he bears even in his body and we'll so in the eschaton the marks that were there as a result of him being crucified. You close with an encouragement from 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding for we know that your work in the Lord is not in vain." Very fitting, very powerful, very relevant for all of us who heard it. Timothy George: The sermon was preached on May the third 2019 in Hodges Chapel, Through the Gates of Pearly Splendor. Timothy George: In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Sherri Brown tells me that every graduating class at Beeson has its own distinctive personality, shaped in the crucible of a common lived experience over three, four or more years. And that the characteristic of this graduating class according to Sherri, is perseverance. They haven't quit. And so my first task today is to say to these wonderful graduating students, congratulations. We at Beeson all know that salvation is by grace, but graduation is by works. Timothy George: And you have worked hard, you have done well. And as our tech says, you have run with perseverance, the race that was set before you. Today we say with family and friends and all of your dear ones, we love you, we are proud of you. God speed. Now, I am keenly aware that as your speaker today, I stand in a veritable successio fidelium, a succession of faithful witnesses who have spoken on such occasions to several generations of Beeson graduates over the past three decades. And I am sorely tempted to reminisce today, to recall the great speakers we have had, pastors, professors, theologians, educators. The funny moments we have shared, the time I missed my cue in the commencement program and Dr. Westmoreland gently rescued me, but I refrain. Today I recall instead, one of the most unusual commencement talks I ever heard here. It was the only time this service was held in the evening in order to accommodate the itinerary of the speaker. Timothy George: It was the famous Elizabeth Elliot and her message was about servant leadership. It was forceful and direct and challenging, but of course we all hung on her every word, not so much because of what she said as because of who she was. Jim and Elizabeth Elliott had fallen in love as undergraduates at Wheaton college. He came from a Plymouth brethren people out in the West in Oregon. She grew up in a famous missionary family, the Howards. They both felt the call to missionary service, but in different places. Elizabeth, in the South Sea islands of the Pacific ocean, GM and the Amazonian jungles of South America. It's hard to make a commuter marriage work like that. Timothy George: Well, eventually their visions became aligned and they ended up serving side by side, husband and wife among the Waorani natives in the rainforest of Ecuador. On January the third 1956, Jim Elliott and four of his fellow missionaries would be speared to death by some of the very people they were trying to reach with the gospel of Christ. We knew that story from the writings of Elizabeth Elliott, which is why when we were trying to determine who the six martyrs were that would represent the six inhabited continents here in this chapel, Jim Elliot was a contender for North America. In the end, we chose Bill Wallace instead, but the life and witness of Jim Elliott continues to resonate. In 1949 long before Ecuador, Jim had written the words in his diary for which he is best remembered. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he can never lose. Timothy George: Jim Elliot loved literature and language. He was a poet and before they were married he taught Elizabeth a poem by one of his favorite writers, Amy Carmichael. They both learned this poem by heart, "From subtle love of softening things, from easy choices, weakenings not thus our spirits fortified, not this way went the crucified, from all that deems thy Calvary, oh lamb of God deliver me." On the day the five missionaries left on the mission from which they never returned. They gathered for what they call morning watch, time of prayer, of scripture reading, and they sang together a hymn, the hymn we just sang here in this chapel, a hymn written in the early 20th century and this line in particular, "We rest on thee our shield and our defender, thine is the battle. Thine shall be the praise. When passing through the Gates of pearly splendor, victors we rest with thee through endless days. When passing through the Gates of pearly splendor, victors we rest with thee through endless days." Timothy George: When Elizabeth Elliot published the journals of her husband, Jim, she said she believed that Jim and the other missionaries belonged to that great cloud of witnesses referred to in our texts from Hebrews. And so do you. It as though when we get to the end of that passage that Dr. Matthews read to us, someone has put the words to be continued. My wife Denise and I love to see these historical dramas that spread out over multiple episodes and it get to a really good part and then it says, to be continued, you have to wait. Timothy George: Well, the story told in Hebrews is a to be continued story and you belong to that story. You are part of its continuation. When we were designing this chapel, among other things we noticed at one point the architect pointed out that above here are empty niches. We thought about filling them in because of course we only have 16 great saints and the cloud of witnesses, our sweet 16 but we decided not to. We decided we would leave them empty. As itself sending a message that there is a place for you in the cloud of witnesses, a niche that has not yet been filled in perhaps with you as the intended occupant. Timothy George: Now this great cloud of witnesses, text in Hebrews is really the theme for this whole chapel. And in some ways our whole school. What's the matter in Hebrews? What's the problem? Have you ever noticed in reading through Hebrews how many negative imperatives there are? Don't drift away. Don't neglect so great salvation. Do not harden your hearts. Don't become sluggish, don't shrink back. Lift up your drooping hands. Strengthen your wobbling knees. The end of chapter 13, do not forget to do good. I mean, there are a lot of warnings, a lot of admonitions, a lot of negative imperatives. Don't do this or that in this letter. What's the matter? What's the problem? Well, another negative imperative that we find near the end of the book says, do not be carried away with strange teachings of all kinds. Well, some of the strange teachings that had crypted to the community of the Hebrews was about angels. They had developed a cult of angels bordering on worship of angels. Timothy George: It's strange, but I can kind of understand it. Can't you? Angels are luminous, glowing figures. Angels do not have poopy diapers. They don't get cancer, they can't be crucified. Angels are much better for a marketing plan than a savior who was tortured and lacerated and hung out on a tree to die, angels. So there was not only heresy within, but there was also persecution from without, deprivations, hardships. In the midst of this, those early Christians found themselves in a bubble, in a suffocating space, the world closing in on them, becoming smaller, smaller, smaller, cold, lonely, unbearable. To live in a bubble means to live without transcendence. And this will lead in variably either to a barren cynicism or to a phrenetic activism. There was both of those at work in this community. Timothy George: It was Nicha who said, "The world's a desert stretching, mute and chill. Who once has lost what thou has lost stands nowhere, still they were busy but bearing the rift of joy." And the result of all of this is found at the end of that text in Hebrews 12:3, he commends them to look at Jesus. So he says that you might not become exhausted and depressed in your souls. Exhaustion, depression, the twin maladies of the postmodern ministry. To counter this situation, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews sends three powerful banners of good news. Number one, Jesus Christ has broken through the bubble. Hebrews eight presents Jesus Christ as the mediator of a better covenant, one who has pierced through the bubble and now sits in heaven on the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. Timothy George: There he has entered the heavenly sanctuary, there he intercedes for us, there he pleads and prays for us here and now. You remember what Jesus said to Simon Peter in his moment of temptation? Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not, Jesus is still praying for his people, Hebrews says. In the liturgy, we say Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again, but that tryptic leaves out something important. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ has ascended, and he will come again. Timothy George: Jesus Christ has broken through the bubble. His ascension has pierced the dome and let in the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who helps us to pray, the Holy Spirit who sustains us in our weakness. The Holy Spirit who empowers us for service. Maria Mitchell was a professor of astronomy at Vassar College in the early 20th century, one of the early pioneers whose work led to the development of the Hubble telescope, which was launched in 1990. She told her students this, "Mingle the Starlight in your lives and you won't be threaded by trifles." One of her students, Tracy K. Smith wrote, "We saw to the edge of the universe so brutal and alive, it seemed to comprehend us back." Timothy George: The second banner tells us that Jesus Christ not only has pierced through the bubble, he also risen, ascended has bequeathed to us, an expanded, extended family. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16, we read about a great gulf that separates those in this world from those on the other side. But the ascension has bridged that gulf, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one church, one church, the church militant here on earth. The church triumphant. Those already on the other side of those gates of pearly splendor Jim Elliot and the martyrs sang about. This chapel is one expression of that vision, and I know it's not to everyone's taste. It's not everyone's cup of tea. We once had a famous evangelicalism preacher, whom I will not name unless you give a contribution of $1,000 or more. Timothy George: But this preacher stood in our chapel and he looked at the murals and he looked at the dome and he said, "This place gives me the willies." Well, it may give Charlie Spurgeon the willies up there in the dome or Johnny Knox here on the pulpit staring out at you. Although I'd like to think those two figures are better instructed now. Hebrews has one of the great definitions of the church in the new Testament. One we don't pay attention to very much, but we ought to. It's in chapter 12 a little further on than our reading took us. You have come to something that cannot be touched, a blazing fire, darkness. You've not come to darkness and gloom and Tempest and the sound of a trumpet, but instead you've come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels and festal gathering and to the assembly ecclesia. Timothy George: The church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, this is the church. Where is this church? In the new Testament, the church is both irreducibly local and transcendently universal. Is the church down at the corner of thus-and-so. The church that needs somebody to pass out bulletins and mock up the bathrooms and carry a casserole to the shut ins. But the church is also the body of Christ extended throughout time, as well as space, composed of those who by faith did mighty and miraculous things, shutting the mouths of lions, quenching the raging fires and others it says. Unnamed, anonymous saints who by faith, no less faith than those who had great miracles and deliverances, by faith, suffered dreadful things. By being stoned to death, Stephen, or sawn in two, maybe Isaiah according to tradition or pierced through with a sword or with spears. Timothy George: It's a remarkable thing that he says about these and that is that all of these worthy saints who made it into the Bible, their story is not finished apart from us and our story. They're not complete by themselves. God has something better in mind, a better plan for us that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole. Their lives of faith are not complete apart from us. For none of them received what was promised. They saw it from a far at a distance, but here we have no continuing city. We looked for one that is to come and the saints of old are not complete without us, nor we without them. That's a part of the message of this chapel too. Timothy George: And even the saints of choice that we have figured here for our consideration here in Hodges Chapel. None of them is an Island unto itself. I admit it's kind of an odd collection. I don't know of any other chapel in the world where both Saint Thomas Aquinas and Dr. Martin Luther stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder or John Wesley and John Calvin breathe the air of the heavenly bone above together. I'm sure that Lottie Moon would be offended at being called a saint, but there she is. There's she stands not very far from the women of the early church, the martyrs, Perpetua and Felicitas and Monica, the mother of Augusta. We do not worship saints. We do not pray to saints, but they are translucent icons. We look through the saints, so as better to see the face of Jesus Christ and his nail scarred hands. Timothy George: There's a third banner, the savior who still bears in his body the marks of his passion. Do you remember that sermon we heard earlier this semester about Dr. Frank Thielemann? It was probably one of the great sermons I have ever heard in this chapel. How he pointed us to the wounds of Jesus figured above in the painting of our dome. We construct buildings and they construct us. They shape us and form us. And when Hodges Chapel was being built, it was all the artwork was finished we took a couple of days just to look it over before we signed off on all of what had been done here. And I remember sitting right down here and looking up at the dome and something was missing. What was missing? Timothy George: I noticed Jesus had no scars in his hands. And so I called our wonderful artists, the Romanian artists to come back and we put the scaffolding back in here. We took the perilous task of climbing up there and we painted into the hands of Jesus the nail prints of his passion, his suffering. It's important that we not leave it out. So part of the great cloud of witnesses, we looked through the saints to Christ to his nail pierced hands. Timothy George: So dear persevering graduates, the class of perseverance. This is the Christ we are sending you out to follow today and I charge you to follow wherever the Savior's love may lead, into small country churches, into barrios and back alleys of the urban landscapes. For some of you, it may be a far away jungle like Jim Elliot, the societies where it is illegal and dangerous to be a Christian. For some of you to struggle against injustice and evil. Some of you to the bedside of those who suffer in pain, the hospital rooms, on the battlefields, behind prison bars. We're sending you out to follow those nail scarred hands, wherever the love of Jesus Christ may lead you. Timothy George: And when you find yourselves flagging in your faith, remember what you have learned at Beeson Divinity School. Remember what has shaped you here. Remember this chapel and its story. Remember this service and the blessing it imparts. Dear persevering students, be ever steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. And I will meet you in the morning with all the saints just beyond the gates of pearly splendor. God bless you. Announcer: You've been listening to the Beeson podcast with host Timothy George. You can subscribe to the Beeson podcast at our website, decentdivinity.com. Beeson Divinity School is an interdenominational, evangelical divinity school training men and women in the service of Jesus Christ. We pray that this podcast will aid and encourage your work and we hope you will listen to each upcoming edition of the Beeson podcast.